Red Room's secondary schools program, Papercuts, is a unique opportunity for students to appreciate poetry - from the inside.

Papercuts is the name for The Red Room Company's poetry education program.  It has been piloted across NSW and Victorian high schools from 2007-2009 with generous support from the Keir Foundation and the Ian Potter Foundation. This year, we have expanded the pilot's reach to Norfolk Island and Perth.  In 2010 we will be launching the program as a national initiative, beginning with a regional focus on QLD while also engaging with schools in Victoria, NSW and WA.

Papercuts is the only national poetry program for schools.  It focuses on Australian poetry and poetry's role in contemporary society by offering schools a poet-in-residence experience, combined with a written unit of poetry activities.  It has been designed to complement the NSW Stage 5 syllabus, however it is independent of outcomes and assessment based content and is therefore accessible to all states and to junior and senior years.  Written and implemented in conjunction with teachers, students and professionals in the education sector, our program has the potential to transform the way poetry is taught and experienced in Australian schools.

How it works

Papercuts features a flexible unit of poetry writing activities to be combined with classroom visits by a contemporary Australian poet.  The kit of activities provides two full weeks, but can be spread out or cut down to suit the teacher, student needs and time available.  Two distinct kits of activities have been developed from Red Room's public project archive by English teacher and Papercuts writer Tony Britten.  Papercuts teachers choose from The Cabinet of Lost and Found (written 2007) and Toilet Doors Poetry (written 2009).  Each project kit is shaped by activities that respond to the project theme.  You can use this page to explore how previous Papercuts schools have interpreted the Cabinet and Toilet Doors projects.

A poet is chosen for each school by Red Room, according to the school's needs.  Our poets are not all trained teachers, although most of them have had some if not considerable experience in teaching at different educational levels - however the value of their visits to Papercuts schools lies in their ability to talk about the writing process from the inside.  What is a poem? Why do some poems rhymes and some don't?  How do you start writing a poem?  Poets make 3-4 visits to the school, which are scheduled and designed directly between poet and teacher.  Often students will "present" a final piece of work at the poet's last visit, and the poet will present a dedication in return; sometimes the visits kick off a longer unit, to which the poet returns much later; other times, the poet's visits will be spread over an entire term.

Papercuts is provided free to schools.  Red Room asks, however, that schools consider making a nominal contribution, where possible, to the visiting poet's fees and travel costs. Schools are also encouraged to seek out a variety of grants to support their involvement in arts programs like Papercuts, and to allow their students to share their project with the wider community.

Over the next five years we aim to build Papercuts into a poetry program that reaches Australian students and schools of various denominations, locations, learning levels and resources: a program that is of benefit to students, teachers, parents and the communities in which they live.  The program encourages student participation in the writing, reading, performing and understanding of poetry.  It also encourages inter-disciplinary activity between English, Visual Arts, Design and Music departments. By highlighting forms of poetry publication and distribution, and ways of understanding poetry, Papercuts lends itself to the growing technological resources of schools and students.  We are interested in developing our role in assisting teachers with professional development focused on reading and teaching poetry, and are open to invitations and suggestions of how we can offer these services to your school. 

"I recently saw this program on display in a high school in Inner Melbourne. I must say I was highly impressed. It seemed to spark the students' interest in language and verse to a degree I had not anticipated." - Professor Geoffrey Blainey (May 2009)

"The Red Room Company...brings poetry to where students are and to where their interests lie and then transports them beyond." - Eva Gold, Executive Officer, ETA NSW (2006)

Get Involved

To register your school's interest in Papercuts 2010, fill out an expression of interest form and either email or post to Red Room. For more details, please direct enquiries to Johanna Featherstone.

Papercuts is proudly supported through 2009-2010 by the Ian Potter Foundation.