Dear Teacher

A poem written by Emma Robinson and read by Sir Ken Robinson

The scrapbook

Your child’s first day of school is a big moment, for you as well as them. Written by Emma Robinson and read by Sir Ken Robinson, Dear Teacher is a powerful and moving insight into the emotions of a parent on their child’s first day.

The challenge

Dear Teacher is a very sensitive and emotional poem, it speaks about an experience all parents can relate to. To reflect the poem’s sensitivity and delicacy, it was crucial for us to choose the right visual style and tone. The imagery had to be engaging and relatable, stopping people as they scrolled through social media and creating a moment of reflection.

The film

Dear Teacher embodies the emotional and important day that is your child’s first day at school. To tell this story fully we chose a hand drawn style and used a range of relatable and heartwarming imagery to reflect the poem’s narrative. This imagery included scenes emphasising how small the child was, placing him next to a measuring stick while the outline of a mother and baby inside the iris of an eye reflected how time can pass in a blink. We recreated the experience many parents go through, showing a mother proudly taking photos of her son in his uniform with her phone. This visual storytelling was joined by a voiceover by Sir Ken Robinson, adding to the poignancy of the animation. This poignancy was completed by sensitive music, which brought a heightened emotive tone and added another layer of gravity to what occurred on screen.

The context

You can read more about author Emma Robinson here. The poem Dear Teacher appears in the audiobook edition of Sir Ken Robinson’s You, Your Child, and School.

About the clients

Dear Teacher is a poem written by author Emma Robinson. Drawing on the themes of motherhood and friendship, Emma is the author of four books including the recent Where I Found You.

Sir Ken Robinson is a prominent figure in education and has been many things including a teacher, writer, researcher, government adviser and speaker. We were honoured to animate Sir Ken Robinson’s RSA Animate, part of the RSA Animates series.

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