The inaugural TES SEN Show Poetry Competition 2021 is a national poetry competition for pupils in primary and secondary education to spark creativity and conversation around special educational needs and disability (SEND) education. It’s part of a much bigger drive in the SEND and neurodiverse community to celebrate creativity and encourage young people to engage creatively with the world around them, and develop a love of reading, creating and generally exploring their skills.
Through the given theme of ‘Dreams and Aspirations: a vision for SEND inclusion’, the poetry competition this year was an exercise that invited educators and pupils to meditate on the themes of inclusion and accessibility, and especially how young people experience inclusion. It also encouraged entrants to expand on the idea of what they think inclusion should look like on a personal and on global level, and transform those dreams and aspirations into a piece of poetry.
The aim of this competition was not only to foster a flowering of poetry and creativity in young people who have spent the best part of eighteen months learning in what were perhaps stressful or non-ideal situations as necessitated by the global pandemic, but also to encourage dreams and aspirations amongst all children and young people, especially those with SEND.
The winners were chosen by a panel of award-winning experts: Cressida Cowell, Children’s Laureate and the number one best-selling author and illustrator, Sarah-Jane Critchley, author and founder of the Different Joy Partnership, Carol Allen, an award-winning Education Advisory Teacher for ICT and Inclusion, Bella Cope, member of the Autism Education Trust’s Young People’s Panel, Beverley Walters, the Head of Content at the TES SEN show, and Matt Govett, The Event Director of the TES SEN show. Jack S. Churchill of Succeed With Dyslexia was in attendance at the TES SEN show last week to congratulate the winners at the awards ceremony, presided over by Cressida Cowell.
Primary - Individual (Ages 5-11)
Primary and Secondary - Group
Secondary - Individual (Ages 11-19)
You can check out the very talented winners as well as all the other entrants at the TES Poetry Competition Anthology of Entries and Results.