Understanding Attention–A Short Poetry Collection for Focus and Learning KS3–KS4 | PSHE | English |

Understanding Attention is a short poetry collection designed to help students explore focus, restlessness, and learning without pressure or blame.

Rather than telling students to “pay attention”, these poems invite them to understand how attention naturally moves, settles, and becomes available. The collection offers a calm, classroom-safe way to talk about focus as a human experience, not a behaviour problem.

Each poem can be used on its own or together as a gentle sequence across lessons, tutor time, or PSHE.

What’s included in this bundle

Five original classroom poems, each with optional teacher prompts:

1. Restlessness – understanding attention before focus
2. Wandering Attention – noticing how attention naturally moves
3. Distraction Isn’t the Problem – reframing distraction as a signal
4. Settling – allowing attention to relax without force
5. Uncovering Attention – recognising focus as already present

Each poem includes:

• A one-page classroom poem
• A separate page of optional teacher reflection prompts

How teachers use this collection

• As short lesson starters or tutor time reflection
• To support conversations about focus, learning, and behaviour
• As a calm reset during busy or emotionally charged days
• With no expectation of discussion or written work