A Poet in Every Port

This teaching resource has been created as part of A Poet in Every Port. It encourages young people to get involved in the ‘Word Exchange’, a concept that guides students through capturing in poetry the unique sound of where they live, by mixing old words passed down from grandparents with modern playground slang.

A Poet in Every Port is a national project led by the Southbank Centre and the National Poetry Library to mark our 75th anniversary. Echoing the spirit of the 1951 Festival of Britain, a specially designed mobile National Poetry Library is touring the UK during the summer of 2026, visiting 11 coastal towns and cities.

But you don’t have to be beside the seaside to be a part of A Poet in Every Port. Championed by our project ambassador, the much-loved poet Roger McGough, we’ve bottled the tour’s spirit into these resources, so pupils can participate from classrooms across the country. Whether you’re on the coast or hundreds of miles inland, our teaching resources, designed for ages 9 – 14 (KS2 and KS3) invite you to join in.

By engaging with different languages, dialects and accents, you can help students develop their creative writing skills and connect deeply with the heritage of their nearest shore. Starter activities to build a classroom ‘word bank’, definitions of dialect and slang, and two comprehensive lesson plans guiding students to write their own 10-line ‘Word Exchange’ poem are all included in our main teacher’s pack.

And alongside this main pack, there are nine regional companion resources covering Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and multiple English regions. These regional guides feature tailored lesson plans, inspiring poems from local writers to spark regional pride, and creative exercises with adaptations for SEND pupils. Each of our A Poet in Every Port resources was written and developed by poet and educator Tommy Sissons.

Once completed, you can share your class’s poems with us to be permanently archived in the National Poetry Library’s collection, which also enters your school into a draw to win an exclusive in-person workshop delivered by a poet-educator. More information on this, can be found within the main teacher’s pack.