Pathways to Poetry is a thoroughly engaging, well-planned and systematic approach to teaching poetry for pupils in all year groups. It has undoubtedly provided our teachers with the confidence and knowledge to plan and teach purposeful and fun lessons whilst exposing the pupils to a wide-range of poems which ordinarily they wouldn't see. As a school, we love that these units enable children of all abilities to become poets. Pupil voice tells us that children have an extremely positive attitude towards their poetry learning and look forward to it each half term. We love the support and confidence it gives to our teachers and we know that it's because of Pathways that poetry is so successful and prominent in our school!
Pathways to Poetry – Poetry for Primary Schools
A programme which enhances work on vocabulary, spoken language, reading and writing, giving pupils the opportunity to play with language orally and in writing.
An opportunity to perform and craft
The Pathways to Poetry programme is a beautiful addition to any English curriculum. It engages pupils into a world of wordplay. Vocabulary, spoken language and composition are explored from EYFS – year 6. Using these units will ensure full coverage of poetry in the national curriculum, as well as many of the spoken language objectives.
Complementing your curriculum
Complement any English curriculum
A wide range of poetry forms and styles are investigated across each year with progression in writing skills weaved throughout. These poetry units are linked to themes in Pathways to Write and Pathways to Read. However, they can be taught as a complement to any English curriculum.
For Pathways to Write schools, these poetry units are an ideal way to start each half-term as they link with the themes and introduce key vocabulary.
Length and objectives
Each unit of work is expected to last one week but it can be taken over two weeks if a longer amount of time is spent on the composition and performance aspects. The teaching sequence of each unit comprises of 5 sessions. The units cover both reading and writing objectives related to poetry.
Performance opportunity
From EYFS, where pupils engage with rhymes, up to year 6, where pupils are creating metaphors, there is an opportunity for all to practise performance and for crafting their own poetry.
Pathways is a thoroughly well-planned approach to teaching writing. It also covers inference and deduction as well as harvesting effective new vocabulary from quality texts that engage and enthuse all the children. I was particularly impressed that some very hard to reach boys were keen to write. I was initially sceptical that a picture book would provide the challenge and depth that we needed to achieve mastery. I needn’t have been!
Our teachers and children love it and the impact on our children's writing is already evident. We can see much more evidence of regular writing at length. The children are really engaged and because of the cross-curricular links, the vocabulary is noticeably improved.
Key elements of Pathways to Poetry
One-week units covering poetry objectives
A range of poetry styles covered, matched to national curriculum objectives
Cost effective: includes anthologies, free to access poems as well as compositions by The Literacy Company
Built-in focus on performance poetry
Focus on collaboration and group work
Enhances work on vocabulary, spoken language, reading and writing
Follows a mastery approach to teaching poetry
Ensures poetry elements of the national curriculum are covered
Our picks
Package pricing
Prices are subject to VAT.
| Package | Price |
|---|---|
| Full package (EYFS - year 6) | £300 |
| Single year group package | £45 |
| Individual units | £7.50 |
How long does a Pathways to Poetry unit last?
Each unit of work is expected to last one week, but it can be taken over two weeks if a longer amount of time is spent on the composition and performance aspects. The teaching sequence of each unit comprises of 5 sessions, but each session may take longer than an actual lesson depending on the class.
Do I need to have Pathways to Write before using Pathways to Poetry?
The unit can be taught as a stand-alone unit or linked with a Pathways to Write unit of work. The units cover both reading and writing objectives related to poetry.
How does this link to Pathways to Write?
The poems have been chosen to link with the themes in the corresponding half-term’s Pathways to Write unit (set 1). This ensures that key vocabulary can be familiarised prior to using the corresponding Pathways to Write unit, and for those schools already using Pathways to Write, the poetry units are an ideal way in which to start each half-term.
Do I need to buy new texts?
The programme uses a mix of freely available poems, our own compositions and poems from texts which we have found the majority of schools already own. If you would like to see a full texts and themes overview please get in touch here.
