It is fair to say that for many, a love of poetry begins with nursery rhymes, which have never gone out of fashion since their 18th-century golden age. However, according to the National Literacy Trust of those 5,000 youngsters surveyed, only half of respondents aged eight to 11 either read, write, perform or listen to poetry.  The bad news is that only one in six of those aged 14 to 16 say they enjoy the form.

As for maintaining the spell through adolescence, the material, old and new, accessible and abstruse, is out there. Simon Armitage and his two predecessors as poet laureate, Carol Ann ­Duffy and Andrew Motion, have done excellent work promoting their passion. So too did the late Benjamin Zephaniah, a pioneer of the “spoken word” performance poetry now so popular online. Let's not forget Nobel Laureate TS Eliot, who taught at RGS for a short time and whose Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats (1939) has become a West End hit, Cats: the Musical.

Indeed, there are grounds for optimism with modern media collapsing traditional demarcation lines between art forms. Hip-hop is not to everyone’s taste, yet only the most hidebound purist would deny that the genre can showcase dazzling verbal dexterity, humour and social commentary. Young fans of recital “slams” and rap battles could be said to be consuming and creating poetry while calling it something else.

With this in mind, RGS celebrated National Poetry Day, with a number of events.

• We are looking for a rising star to become the next RGS Poet Laureate.
• We hosted a school performance of Dead Poets Live for Year 8. They also debated the big question 'What is poetry for?' and listened to lines from Aboriginal culture, Olde English, even a Scottish rap battle - it was a true revival of literary history. 
• Meanwhile, the TS Eliot Club was launched at the Year 12 Fresher's Fair.
• The whole school were invited to take part in the English Department's poetry quiz. Answers on a postcard to the English Department.

Dead Poets Live  are on Instagram @deadpoetslive or their website if you would like to find out more.