Laura was joined by Year 6 and Year 7 pupils from City of London Academy Highgate Hill, Plashet City of London Academy and Galleywall Primary School, as well as pupils from CLS, for an engaging talk about her journey as a writer.
Laura shared the story of how she moved from a career as a corporate lawyer to pursuing her dream of becoming a poet and author. After being hit by a car and spending two years largely bedbound, Laura decided to take the opportunity to focus on her passion for writing.
She gave pupils an insight into her creative process, sharing the stories and ideas behind some of her poems and books. She also explored the practical side of being a writer, from developing ideas to getting poetry collections and books published, including Porridge Please! and Welcome to Our Table: A Celebration of What Children Eat Everywhere.
One of the highlights was hearing about the inspiration behind a poem based on the petri dish in which Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, demonstrating how inspiration for poetry can be found in the most unexpected places.
The morning concluded with Laura presenting each visiting school with copies of her books Kaleidoscope: Step Into a World of Colour and Scary: Introducing the World’s Scariest Animals for their school libraries.
The day continued with a creative writing workshop for Year 6 pupils from Galleywall Primary School. Working alongside Laura, pupils explored the theme of ‘overwhelm’, sharing ideas about things that make them feel stressed or frustrated, alongside the activities and experiences that help them to relax.
Together, they transformed their ideas into a collaborative poem titled ‘WHEN LIFE STRIKES YOU’, giving pupils the opportunity to experiment with language, express themselves creatively and see how individual ideas can come together to create a poem.
One pupil said:
“I loved Laura’s talk, she’s really funny and I liked when she made all the noises from her poems.”
Another added:
“We really got to express ourselves when we all wrote the poem together.”
It was a brilliant celebration of National Poetry Day and a reminder that poetry can provide a powerful way for young people to explore ideas, express themselves and see the world from a different perspective.
