Poem in Your Pocket Day!

To celebrate Poem in Your Pocket Day this year we once again held an Open Mic style competition.

In the weeks leading up the event, we printed off several short poems on library due-date slips. The slips were rolled up and placed in staff members' pigeonholes. The event was heavily promoted in assemblies, briefings, bulletins and displays around the school.

More poems were left at the library information desk. Students were encouraged to take these and memorise them for the event. They were also encouraged to come up with their own original material for the day.

On the big day, we turned the library into a café of sorts. Students that had signed up in advance were allowed to eat their lunch around the tables. We had a microphone and amp set up courtesy of the Music Dept.

This year I tried something a little differently, I let our Student Library Assistants run the show. They introduced the performers, took photos and generally made sure the program ran smoothly.

It was really great to see them take their roles seriously yet still have a lot of fun.

We had more teachers come to perform than last year by a long shot and so many students wanting to perform that the bell rang halfway through a student's poem signifying the end of lunch and our Open Mic.

It was a hugely successful event and I can't wait to start the Open Mic programs up again!