In 2000- 2003 CLPE has been working with schools in the Peckham EAZ
to produce two anthologies of children’s writing. All the schools in
the EAZ are involved. The anthologies are part of a more general
celebration of achievement in these schools, the overall title of
which is ‘The Best of Peckham’.

This year CLPE produced a set of teaching notes to go with the two previous anthologies. The notes formed part of a teaching pack sent out by the EAZ – not only to EAZ schools but to all Southwark schools. The editorial group reported that teachers were excited and appreciative about this support for their work with children’s writing.

The third anthology Wishes, Lies and Dreams, is now published in (June 2003).

Year 1: This Is Just To Say The title of the first year’s anthology, This is just to say, picks up on a poem by William Carlos Williams. What the children wrote directly in response to this title was very varied and lively. The voice speaking the poem was sometimes cross, as in Omotola Oyekoya’s indignant poem:

‘This is just to say
I don’t approve of you borrowing my satin dress,
You’ve stained it again just like you always do….’

But just as often poems with this title were messages of love and gratitude to parents, grandparents and friends.

Included in the collection are poems by children and students of all ages, from age 5 to age 16, and from many children writing in English as a second language, sometimes taking as their subject some aspect of their country of origin. This makes the collection truly reflect the community it represents, as Daniel Harvey’s poem suggests:

English, Jamaican, African, Indian What would Peckham be without them? People walking in crowds, talking to friends English, Jamaican, African, Indian Languages spoken, cultures mixed…. Peckham!

The anthology was launched in the first week of July 2001, as part of ‘The Best of Peckham’ celebrations, at a festive concert attended by over 300 parents and children. Over forty children performed their poetry with style and energy. The anthology was the subject of an article in the Times Educational Supplement. Multiple copies were sent to all the schools in the Peckham EAZ and used as starting points for writing sessions.

Year 2: Thinking about my life In 2001-2002, schools in the EAZ contributed to a second anthology of writing, ‘Thinking About My Life’. As part of the initiative in the second year, all schools were able to invite a writer into school. The writers who took part in this initiative included Adisa, James Berry and Valerie Bloom.

The writing in the second year took its cue from the overall title of the anthology. Children were invited to write autobiographically, in either poetry or prose, about their lives so far, as in this poem by Bobbi Hunter (age 5):

There’s Only One of Me No one can do a somersault underwater like me. No one can read like me, slow. No one can swim as fast as me. No one can ride a bike like me, With no hands!

There were contributions that related to children’s memories and to their sense of themselves. There was writing about homes and families, schools and friends. The anthology gave a good picture of what it is like to be young in Peckham today.

Year 3: Wishes, Lies and Dreams
This is the third Peckham EAZ anthology of children’s poetry. This time the theme chosen for the anthology is different from previous years, and the choice of ‘Wishes, Lies and Dreams’ as a title has produced less concrete real-life poetry and more fantasy and invention. This year there is a light-hearted energy about the poems sent in for the anthology. There are more poems from young children, more imaginative and surreal poems, and more poems that tease or amuse and set out to make the reader laugh. The teachers in the editorial group, who represent all the schools in the EAZ, were unanimous in stressing how much children had enjoyed writing on this theme.

The title of this year’s anthology is taken from the title of a book about teaching poetry, written in 1970 by the American poet and teacher Kenneth Koch. In his introduction to this book, Koch says that after his poetry sessions in one New York primary school there was a great change. ‘A lot of children there are writing poetry now who would not have been otherwise and their feelings about it are different too. They may have had a distant respect for poetry before, but now it belongs to them.’ Through these EAZ poetry anthologies, poetry belongs to the children of Peckham too.

The editor of the poetry collections is Myra Barrs (Co-Director, CLPE)
Joe Rea is the Co-ordinator of Peckham EAZ

Power of Reading