As part of our Annual Literacy Survey in early 2025, we asked 114,970 children and young people aged 5 to 18 whether they read or write poetry. Our findings show that poetry engagement remained stable between 2024 and 2025, underlining poetry's lasting relevance in children and young people's lives.
Key findings:
Children and young people as readers of poetry
Poetry reading among children and young people remained steady between 2024 and 2025. More girls, more younger children and more of those who received free school meals (FSMs) read poetry in their free time in 2025. More of those who read poetry also enjoyed reading, read daily and saw themselves as good readers.
- The percentage of children and young people reading poetry remained stable across the year. 1 in 4 (24.2%) children and young people aged 8 to 18 said in 2025 that they read poetry in their free time at least once a month. This is roughly the same percentage that we reported in 2024 (24.1%).
- Nearly twice as many of those who read poetry in their free time said that they enjoyed reading compared with those who didn’t read poetry in their spare time (46.8% vs 28.1%). More also read something daily in their free time (26.1% vs. 16.3%), and more saw themselves as good readers (80.0% vs. 73.0%).
Children and young people as creators of poetry
Poetry writing among children and young people also remained stable between 2024 and 2025. As with reading, more girls, more younger children, and more of those eligible for FSMs wrote poetry in their free time in 2025. More of those who wrote poetry also enjoyed writing, wrote daily and saw themselves as good writers.
- In 2025, 1 in 6 (17.5%) children and young people aged 8 to 18 said the wrote poetry in their free time at least once a month. This is identical to the percentage who said this in 2024 (17.5%).
- More children and young people who wrote poetry also said that they enjoyed writing more generally compared with their peers who didn’t write poetry (53.0% vs. 20.3%). More also wrote something in their free time daily (20.1% vs. 8.0%), and more considered themselves to be good writers (75.8% vs. 65.4%).
When readers of poetry are also creators of poetry
- There was a moderate positive correlation (r = 0.45) between the two, suggesting that when children and young people read poetry, they are more likely to write it too.
- 1 in 2 (47.8%) children and young people who read poetry in their free time also told us that they wrote poetry, compared with only 7.8% of those who didn’t read poetry in their free time.
Overall, the findings suggest that poetry may serve as a stepping stone to a more positive literacy identity. Additionally, encouraging poetry as both a reading and writing practice not only supports literacy development, emotional wellbeing, identity formation, and cultural participation, but, crucially, as our young respondents highlighted, also offers a source of joy and fun.