Tony has visited hundreds of high schools around the UK and several internationally, to great acclaim. These range from large, inner city, multi-cultural schools to smaller, rural schools, international schools, academies, free schools, PRUs, embassy schools and prestigious preparatory and independent schools.
A visit from Tony to your school could feature a talk, a video presentation and performance to one or a number of year-group sized groups, even to the whole school, and/or a series of class-sized or targeted writing and performance workshops.
Teenagers are often hooked in by Tony’s unique experiences of performing alongside current pop superstars at stadiums and arenas, then further engaged by selected, powerful, gritty poems, before being inspired and empowered to write their own. Sessions can major on identity, confidence, empowerment and creativity or be more closely tailored to GCSE-related material and outcomes.
Tony’s workshops, performances and talks with all ages are never less than inspirational and can be targeted to gifted and talented groups, disengaged groups, reluctant readers and writers, to transition taster days, awards evenings, etc.
Following a discussion about common preconceptions and prejudices about poetry: “boring, old fashioned, hard to understand, not relevant to my life” etc, Tony will often perform his slam-winning poem “Start All The Clocks” to counter these prejudices. The discussion will then go on to how the performance used variations in speed, volume, tone and movement and the lessons that can be drawn from this as both students of a set text and writers of new material.
For details of rates and dates and to discuss booking a primary school visit please click here.
Extract from “Take This Pen”
Welcome! We’re expecting you!
We’ve saved a place for you. It’s true
that you are us and we are you and
poetry is for you.
You’re different. But we’re the same!
Strange family, all with different names
But we’re all lit from a single flame.
And poetry is for you.
So here’s a gift to you from me
The pen a poet gave to me
Take it. It will set you free.
And poetry is for you.