Poets on the Road
From this Autumn term onwards, we're offering schools the chance to host a visiting poet for a day of workshops and performances - all free of charge - as part of Poetry Together’s joyful, intergenerational celebration of poetry.
Our goal? To help even more schools take part in the simple but powerful experience of bringing children and older people together to share poems, tea, and conversation.
Why it matters
Combats loneliness by forging new bonds between young and old
Supports literacy and emotional skills for pupils through poetry and performance
Creates uplifting, lasting memories for everyone involved
What we’ll provide - completely free:
A full-day visit from one of our brilliant poet-performers
Inspiring workshops on writing and performing poetry
A high-quality, heartwarming Poetry Together experience
We know that school budgets are tight and so thanks to our charitable foundation, we will cover the cost of the author visit.
What you need to do (and it’s simpler than it sounds):
Assign a class (Years 3–6) to take part
Arrange a connection with the older generation by: Hosting a Grandparents’ Day or inviting “grandfriends” into school, 0r visiting a local care home for a poetry exchange
Take a few photos or short videos (with permission) and share them with us
We’ll send you all the materials you need to make it easy — including posters, poem suggestions, and templates.
Meet the poets
Kate Wakeling
Rhiannon Oliver
Kate Wakeling writes for children and adults. She is the author of three acclaimed children’s poetry collections: Moon Juice, Cloud Soup, and A Dinosaur at the Bus Stop (for younger readers). Kate’s work for children has won the CLiPPA prize, The Week Junior ‘Book of the Year’ for poetry and been nominated for the Carnegie Medal. Kate loves sharing and performing her work with young audiences, with recent appearances at Shakespeare’s Globe, the Cheltenham Literary Festival and the Imagine Children’s Festival at Southbank Centre. She is a keen player of Balinese gamelan music and an enthusiastic champion of guinea pigs.
Rhiannon Oliver is an actress, poet, and workshop facilitator based in Cardiff. Rhiannon trained as an actress at RADA and has worked with companies such as Shakespeare’s Globe, The National Theatre, National Theatre of Wales, BBC, and Sky TV.
She has been writing poetry for children since 2020. Her debut poetry collection for children age 8-12 will be published by Firefly Press in 2026. Her poems feature in anthologies from Oxford University Press, Macmillan Children’s Books and Firefly Press, with further forthcoming. She has also been widely published in children’s poetry magazines and websites including, The Caterpillar, Tyger Tyger, The Toy, The Dirigible Balloon, Northern Gravy and Paperbound. Rhiannon has written and created performance videos for The Big Welsh Rhyme Time (Book Trust Cymru) and her poetry has appeared on TV (Only Boys Aloud Christmas Concert, S4C).
Rhiannon offers lively workshops centred around writing and performing poetry. She has facilitated workshops in many schools, libraries and hubs, and for organisations such as Literature Wales, The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and Coram Shakespeare Schools Foundation.
There is more on her website: www.rhiannonoliver.com