Children’s author Michael Rosen visits Cambridge pupils for Refugee Week

Children’s author and poet Michael Rosen has been visiting schools in Cambridge since January, both in-person and online, ahead of this year’s Refugee Week (17-23 June).

More than 5,000 students from KS2 and KS3 have taken part in poetry-writing workshops, and other activities for the project, which will culminate in a free concert on 30 June at the Cambridge Corn Exchange.

At the concert, Michael will perform his poetry and Cambridge school students will perform alongside him. He will host the event with Helen Weinstein, director of HistoryWorks.

Last week, Michael visited a number of schools, including Milton Road Primary, Arbury Primary, St Matthew’s Primary School, Linton Heights Junior School (with Marleigh and nine other primary schools coming together), Shirley Community Primary School (with Castle School SEN students), and finally Linton Village College last Friday (14 June), which hundreds of other students aged nine to 15 joined online.

After the visit, Michael told the Cambridge Independent: “I was working with the Year 7s. They were singing songs that I’d written the lyrics for, and they were playing instruments and doing dances based on a story that happened in my family – and then I read poems to them, all on the theme of home and refugees.

“Then about 20 of them read poems they’d already written, and then we made a ‘group poem’, a whole Year 7 poem, if you like, out of phrases that they had come up with, and turned that into a rhythm with a chorus.”

Michael gets involved in Refugee Week as a “point of principal”, as there were refugees in his family.

“We’ve been reading poems from my book called On the Move: Poems About Migration to help children think about what it is like to be a refugee,” he said.

“What I hope the children can do is hear the way I’ve written poems about this difficult subject and find ways in to writing their own poems and song lyrics.

“They can do this by picking up the tone of voice that I use, the rhythms, the patterns, and the phrases. So it is not a matter of just copying, it is more getting the hang of the spirit and the movement of the words.

“Some of the children have painted amazing pictures in their poems imagining they are refugees or in empathy with refugees who have lost their homes.”

He adds: “I have been brought up with the understanding that we are all equal and when we divide people up into superior or inferior beings, in the end we destroy ourselves.

“And a direct consequent of thinking in this way means rethinking what we mean by the word ‘home’ instead of thinking of it as a place with a fort around it or a moat around it.

“We need to think of home in a more fluid way which, if we don’t share, we are all at risk.”

Rae Snape, headteacher at Milton Road Primary, said: “It was a huge joy and privilege to have Prof Michael Rosen with us at Milton Road Primary School where we are preparing to celebrate Refugee Week in poetry and song.

“All was brilliantly hosted and organised as ever by Prof Helen Weinstein of the local Cambridge company, HistoryWorks, where Michael is ‘Poet in Residence’.

“We are so lucky to have HistoryWorks in Cambridge’s schools, having an impact on so many teachers and young people.

“At our school, Michael performed some of his refugee poems for us and shared some top tips to inspire the children to write poems themselves in empathy with refugees.

“We ended the workshop with Helen and Michael building a huge poem of lines written and performed by the young people which was wonderfully inspiring!”

Helen added: “Michael has been working with me at HistoryWorks as our ‘Poet in Residence’ for Refugee Week since January, where we’ve been holding large workshops for Cambridge KS2 and KS3 teachers and their students, visiting a huge range of KS2 and KS3 students by seeing them in person and online.

“Our aim is to reach as many nine to 15-year-olds as possible to prepare for marking Refugee Week, which is this week.

“So far we know we have had more than 5,000 young people in our workshops which has been a very satisfying experience.”

The free Voices of Hope and Compassion concert will take place at the Corn Exchange on Sunday, 30 June, from 4-5.30pm. No tickets are needed – just go along.

Musicians have scored new works inspired by Michael’s poetry, which Helen has been rehearsing, including a piece titled Mournful Hope to be performed by Netherhall School students. Two dramas will also be performed by Coleridge students: One Day and When Time Stood Still.

Also, dance groups are performing to Michael’s poetry, including a piece called Light in the Darkness, which he witnessed in rehearsal at Linton Village College, “which took my breath away”.

Visit bit.ly/3Rv2reK for more on the concert and creatingmycambridge.com/events/ for more on Michael’s work in Cambridge.