The best poems about school
Our edit of the best poems about school that both kids and adults will love.
Many of us feel that our school days were some of the best in our lives. Here, read our selection of fun and silly poems all about school experiences that are perfect for reading with children and sure to bring a nostalgic smile to the face of every adult.
Discover our edit of the best poetry books.
Round and Round
John Kitching
Round and round the playground,
Marching in a line,
I’ll hold your hand.
You hold mine.
Round and round the playground
Skipping in a ring
Everybody loves it
When we all sing.
Round and round the playground
That’s what we like:
Climbing on the climbing frame,
Riding on the bike.
Round and round the playground,
All together friends.
We’re sad, sad, sad
When the school day ends.
Dinner Lady
David Harmer
Today at school
I cut my knee.
The dinner lady
looked after me.
She washed away
the blood and dirt,
then put a plaster
where it hurt.
Where Do All The Teachers Go?
Peter Dixon
Where do all the teachers go
When it’s four o’clock?
Do they live in houses
And do they wash their socks?
Do they wear pyjamas
And do they watch TV?
And do they pick their noses
The same as you and me?
Do they live with other people?
Have they mum and dads?
And were they ever children?
And were they ever bad?
Did they ever, never spell right?
Did they ever make mistakes?
Were they punished in the corner
If they stole the chocolate flakes?
Did they ever lose their hymn books?
Did they ever leave their greens?
Did they scribble on the desk tops?
Did they wear old dirty jeans?
I’ll follow one back home today
I’ll find out what they do
Then I’ll put it in a poem
That they can read to you.
Where Teachers Keep Their Pets
Paul Cookson
Mrs Cox has a fox
nesting in her curly locks.
Mr Spratt’s tabby cat
sleeps beneath his bobble hat.
Miss Cahoots has various newts
swimming in her zip-up boots.
Mr Spry has Fred his fly
eating food stains from his tie.
Mrs Groat shows off her stoat
round the collar of her coat.
Mr Spare’s got grizzly bears
hiding in his spacious flares.
And . . .
Mrs Vickers has a stick insect called ‘Stickers’
. . . but no one’s ever seen where she keeps it.
At the End of a School Day
Was Magee
It is the end of a school day
and down the long drive
come bag-swinging, shouting children.
Deafened, the sky winces.
The sun gapes in surprise.
Suddenly the runners skid to a stop,
stand still and stare
at a small hedgehog
curled-up on the tarmac
like an old, frayed cricket ball.
A girl dumps her bag, tiptoes forward
and gingerly, so gingerly
carries the creature
to the safety of a shady hedge.
Then steps back, watching.
Girl, children, sky and sun
hold their breath.
There is a silence,
a moment to remember
on this warm afternoon in June.
School Trip
Tracey Blance
Line up
search in panic
for partner on the coach.
An odd number – one left over
Why me?
Teacher
Paul Cookson
Loud shouter
Deep thinker
Rain hater
Coffee drinker
Spell checker
Sum ticker
Line giver
Nit picker
Ready listener
Trouble carer
Hometime lover
Knowledge sharer
The Teacher’s Day in Bed
David Orme
Our teacher’s having a day in bed –
She’s sent her pets to school instead!
There’s . . .
A parrot to read the register,
A crocodile to sharpen the pencils,
A canary to teach singing,
An adder to teach maths,
An octopus to make the ink,
An elephant to hoover the floor,
An electric eel to make the computer work,
A giraffe to look for trouble at the back,
A tiger to keep order at the front,
A reed bunting (can’t you guess?
to help with reading, of course!),
A secretary bird to run the office
A piranha fish to give swimming lessons
(Glad I’m off swimming today!),
A zebra to help with crossing the road,
Oh, and a dragon to cook the sausages.
I bet that none of you ever knew
Just how many things a teacher can do!
What Teachers Wear in Bed!
Brian Moses
It’s anybody’s guess
what teachers wear in bed at night
so we held a competition
to see if any of us were right.
We did a spot of research,
although some of them wouldn’t say,
but it’s probably something funny
as they look pretty strange by day.
Our Headteacher’s quite old-fashioned,
he wears a Victorian nightshirt,
our sports teacher wears her tracksuit
and sometimes her netball skirt.
That new teacher in the infants
wears bedsocks with see-through pyjamas,
our Deputy Head wears a T-shirt
he brought back from the Bahamas.
We asked our secretary what she wore
but she shooed us out of her room
and our teacher said, her favourite nightie
and a splash of expensive perfume.
And Mademoiselle, who teaches French,
is really very rude
she whispered, ‘Alors! Don’t tell a soul,
but I sleep in the . . . back bedroom!’
All of the poems above are from The Works chosen by Paul Cookson.
The Works 1
by Paul Cookson
Full of poems from the very best classic and modern poets, this collection is bursting with riddles, tongue twisters, haikus, cinquains, songs, limericks, nonsense poems, narrative verse and more! This books offers children the perfect introduction to the wonderful world of poetry.