Poets in School

Poets in School
VISITS & FEES

A visit can take the form of up to five or more sessions in a day (performance and/or workshop). For example, one of our typical days in a school consists of two performances in the morning of one hour each and one or two workshops of an hour or longer in the afternoon.

For charging purposes we divide performances and workshops into sessions of between 45 minutes and one hour in length. This format can be varied to suit the needs and timetable of each place we visit. (See Programmes page.)

We also offer shorter visits to fit into a morning, middle of the day or afternoon and we can combine performance and workshop in the same session.

Performances
We present our poems, stories and songs to any size group (usually in the hall.) Some of the poems and songs are acted out using costumes, masks and props with the help of volunteers from the audience.

We also encourage the whole audience to join in with the performance by repeating parts of the poems, singing along with the songs and producing sound effects when needed!

This all makes for a lively and stimulating show. If requested, we can tailor the material to include particular themes, topics, or to reflect the time of the year e.g. Christmas, Spring, National Poetry Day, World Book Week etc.

Workshops

The main aim of the workshops is to encourage children to write and perform their own poetry and/or stories. We are happy to design workshops, which suit the particular educational aims of the school if so desired. We usually start the workshop with a short exposition and model poem which we write with lots of input from the children and then split into small writing groups. The participants then read/perform theirwork (if they wish) at the end of the session or later in school.

The workshop is best if it comprises no more than 60 children (depending on space). For Secondary Schools we prefer single class groups. We are also happy to work with smaller groups if preferred. .

Fees

Unless otherwise negotiated our fees are now all-inclusive as follows:-

Programme	Length of Day	Fee
Infant & Nursery Schools
A+	Whole Day plus (Five sessions) - As for Primary & other Schools in the section below.	£450
A	Whole Day (Four sessions) - (This is the usual day) As for Primary & other Schools in the section below.	£400
B	Three Sessions - As for Primary & other Schools in the section below.	£350
C	Two sessions - As for Primary & other Schools in the section below.	£300*
D	One Session - As for Primary & other Schools in the section below.	£250*
Primary, Junior, Preparatory & Special Schools
A+	Whole day plus (Five Sessions) - This is a day where we run three sessions straight through the morning then two in the afternoon.	£550
A	Whole day (Four Sessions) - This is the usual day - two sessions in the morning, two in the afternoon.	£500
B	Three Sessions - Two in the morning, one in the afternoon or vice versa	£450
C	Two Sessions - Morning, afternoon or each side of lunch.	£400
D	One Session - Morning or afternoon.	£350
Secondary Schools
A+	Whole day (Five sessions or more) - fitting in with school timetable.	£650
A	Whole day (Four Sessions) - as above.	£600
B	Three Sessions - as above.	£550
C	Two Sessions - as above.	£500
D	One Session - as above.	£450
N.B. Unless marked with an asterisk* the above fees are all-inclusive with no other charges for travel or accommodation etc. but please note that we would like a complimentary lunch of some sort (e.g. school meal or sandwiches ) For more explanation of Programmes with examples see Programmes page.
Evening Presentation/workshops	First hour Each additional hour N.B. If in conjunction with a day visit the fee is £100 per hour including the first one.	£300 £100

Meals & Refreshments

During our visit we ask the school/other organisation to provide us with a lunchtime meal (school dinners are fine!). This sometimes applies to morning and afternoon visits. We would also be grateful for access to the staffroom (or kitchen) so we can make ourselves tea or coffee during the day

Practical requirements

(Not obligatory but very helpful!) Once a booking is confirmed we will send you a short checklist of things we would be grateful for the school to provide or organise in advance to help the day run smoothly & a poster to advertise our visit.

Books for sale

We will let you know if we would like to offer books and poster-poems for sale during the day and if a book-signing/selling session could be arranged at some point (after school for example). We will send you a poster to advertise our visit to parents/pupils, which mentions the books currently available. This could be photocopied and enlarged for maximum impact. We would be grateful if pupils/parents could be reminded to bring in money to buy books if they wish to and if the school has no objection.

Poets

Usually two of us will be present but please note that if, for reasons beyond our control, one of us is unable to take part in a visit this will not affect the fee (which is based on a one person visit).

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