PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Use Wednesday 20 September 2006

Poets Praise the SCEMES National Poetry Competition

“It makes a change from us stupid adults ignoring what we are doing to this precious earth - Poetry is simple, direct and not a government white paper.”

These strong words were recently uttered by the popular children’s poet, Andrew Fusek Peters, after he was asked if poems written by children about the environment could have any value beyond that of a literary exercise.  He went on to emphasise his point by saying, “If it can make us think, then yes, it is important, and it's equally important not to look down on children - it's them we are passing this mess of a world onto.”

These sentiments immediately reminded me of Wordsworth’s suspicion, expressed in the opening to The Prelude, that Nature, ‘wisdom and spirit of the universe’, had nurtured and trained his mind from birth in order to make him a nature poet; Her spokesman, if you like.  Shortly after reading this I saw an Open University programme which traced a direct line of influence from Wordsworth to the formation of the first National Parks in Britain, then the USA, and continuing to the present with the emergence of Friends of the Earth.

With this in mind then, the launch on National Poetry Day of the SCEMES KS2 National Poetry Competition 2006/7 on the theme of ‘the environment’, could well produce some quite powerful work.  At the very least, given the government’s strategy on ‘education for sustainable development’, which supports the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, it will be very interesting to see how schools engage with the competition and what the children have to say about it all.  As Welsh Children’s Poet Laureate, Gwyneth Glyn, said, “Poetry has the power to find simplicity in complexity, and has the magic to find complexity in simplicity.” And one could say the same of children themselves.

Better known for their National Educational Buyers Directory of Suppliers ( mailed free to over 30,000 UK schools), which is complimented by an online version, and supported by their free e-procurement services, SCEMES Ltd is taking a major step from the background of school life, where the quieter activities of keeping a school physically running are carried out, into the very centre of the action itself – the classroom.

Of this bold move Marketing Director, Robin Mathias, said, “We don’t believe that it’s the job of private enterprise to get involved in the business of teaching.  Our purpose is to provide support and make the day-to-day running of a school as easy as possible for teachers and support staff, so the decision to run a poetry competition was only made after many months of thought, discussion and research.  We actually sent a questionnaire to 20,000 primary schools to establish whether such an exercise would indeed be welcome.  We particularly wanted to find out how it could best fit the curriculum and in such a way that would be easy and enjoyable for teachers and children alike.”

Following some very positive feedback from the schools, to both the idea of a poetry competition and one on the theme of the environment, SCEMES set about the planning and preparation of the competition itself.

The easiest (and greenest) medium for reaching the nation’s schools is, of course, the internet, so the competition’s website is its centre.  This has been designed to offer children and teachers, simple, quick and direct access to the essentials of the competition and, on top of this, to offer a host of resources on both poetry and the environment.  In this way teachers can access a wealth of material that has been developed by poets experienced in the classroom, and by groups like the Poetry Society and Eco-Schools.  “In this way”, says Robin, “we are effectively doing what we do everyday – bringing together a range of resources to freely offer them to schools.”

The competition is launching with two poets, the aforementioned Andrew Fusek Peters and Gwyneth Glyn (entries in Welsh are encouraged, as are entries from children with special needs.).  Both poets will have a page on the site to share a poem or two and offer advice to our budding Wordsworths. 

Eco-Schools and Friends of the Earth are also expected to have a page on the site, as will the National Literacy Association (NLA), who are official supporters of the competition along with the National Primary headteachers’ Association (NPhA) and the National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE). 

There are also links to a host of other sites offering excellent resources, lessons, and activities for schools on poetry and environmental matters.  SCEMES will be keeping the site regularly updated with new poets, environmental information, news and links during the six months leading up to the closing date of 31 March 2007.  There will also be space for schools to post their poems and a downloadable certificate to give to all of the children who have taken part.  Of course there are bigger prizes for the winners at the national level, prizes for the children and spending money (£10,000 first prize) for their schools.

“All in all”, said Robin, “we are confident of a great response from the schools, and from the children whom we know have a keen awareness and interest in environmental matters, as well as a genuine desire to express their own thoughts and feelings.  I have to admit that all of us at SCEMES are really looking forward to something special coming out of this – touch wood – it’s sure to be an eye-opener.”

A similar sentiment was expressed by Gwyneth Glyn, in that clear and concise way of hers, when she said, “I’m confident this competition will generate some very exciting work. Writing poetry and inventing environmental solutions have much in common; originality is the key to both.”

The SCEMES National KS2 Poetry Competition 2006/7 is open to all UK primary schools and will be launching on National Poetry
Day, 5 October 2006.  Further details and registration are available at www.scemes.com

To find out more about Gwyneth Glyn visit her page at www.myspace.com/gwynethglyn or contact lleucu@academi.org

To find out more about Andrew Fusek Peters visit his website at www.tallpoet.com 

ENDS