Collaborative whole-school poem to mark Literacy Week 2026

School is…

The screech of kids

the nutty smell of coffee

A strong cold wooden desk

The popping of pages turning

Crinkling voices on the intercom

The ding of the bell

The whistle of the wind on yard

And groaning, heavy bookshelves

Or crunching school lunches, crunch, crunch, crunch

Dashing feet chase a ball

Scuttling spiders, charging ants, rustling birds

A trundling trolley roll

The tinkling, ringing bells

And chatter of light voices

Books flapping, and clapping

Classroom doors that squeak or scream

Leaves are falling, kids are crawling,

While everyone else is keen

What if could School remember us too?

Empty nights, cold and lonely

Heavy footsteps and laughing kids

Happy or heartbroken when we leave?

While people stand and admire,

It’s doing its job, never tired

Upset, and annoyed by dirty shoes,

On its freshly cleaned tiles

And maybe it wasn’t always like this?

Duller walls, years ago, a rougher texture

Smaller hallways, always creaking

Or pencils and pens

And their constant scraping

But time, like change,

Pushes over each page

No matter how long has passed

It will always be only beginning

The first day of Autumn,