South London student wins No Room For Racism poetry competition

Pupils from St Chad’s Roman Catholic Primary School were treated to a day to remember after Year 6 student Michaela won a Premier League Primary Stars poetry-writing competition. 

To support October’s No Room For Racism window, and falling within the UK’s Black History Month, Premier League clubs were invited to take part in a poetry-writing competition. 

This competition was part of Palace For Life’s Primary Stars programme. Last year, we delivered this programme to 112 schools across South London, which supports the National Curriculum alongside mentoring teachers. Interventions are provided within PE, Literacy, Numeracy and PSHE. 

Michaela was first selected as Crystal Palace’s club winner before going on to win the overall competition. Her powerful poem stood out in the League-wide initiative, centred on the theme “Greatness Comes From Everywhere”, which highlights the importance of education and the Premier League’s ongoing commitment to tackling discrimination. 

As a reward for her winning words, Michaela was thrilled when the Premier League arranged a surprise trophy visit to her school, along with a Premier League Primary Stars assembly featuring special guest MC Grammar, who presented her with a bespoke framed poem, with each club’s winning poet also receiving a framed illustration of their poem. 

“I feel very honoured to be able to win something as big as this,” Michaela said. “My teachers and my family inspired me to write the poem because they teach me that there’s no room for anyone to be racist.” 

Jenny Mooney, deputy head at St Chad’s, added: “I could not be prouder of Michaela. Her success in the Premier League’s No Room For Racism national poetry-writing competition is a reminder that when a young person speaks with honesty and courage, their voice can reach hearts far beyond the classroom.” 

Students in Michaela’s class also benefited from a Black History Month, Racism and Inclusion workshop, designed to spark conversations. The workshop began with a quick “who am I” quiz where famous celebrities were on the board. The students quickly spotted that the main similarities were that they were all Croydon born and or raised, very successful and from backgrounds similar to them.  

Students were then encouraged to highlight their own ‘Black History Month hero’, and many students linked their heroes back to their learning in classes and religious figures within the Catholic community. All discussions were based around adversity through hardships. 

Congratulations Michaela! 

Find out more about our Primary Education work here.