Coalville's Kip McGrath education centre is organising a poetry competition for children ahead of the summer holidays.

The idea is to write an acrostic poem - that is, a poem in which certain letters of each line spells out a word, name, or phrase when read vertically.

Most often, it is the first letter of each line that spells out the word, but they can be placed anywhere on the line.

When they are placed elsewhere in the line, it forms a kind of hidden 'code'.

Helen Harper, of the High Street Kip McGrath in Coalville, says she wants local children to get thinking about how they want to write their poem.

She said: "The competition is to write an acrostic poem for the word holidays.

"But we're running this across the whole of Leicestershire - that's four centres, including Coalville.

"So we'll target our own local primary schools, and you can enter through the Coalville centre.

"But if anyone sees us on Facebook, then they can also enter. But you can also get in touch through the Coalville centre's email address.

"We think it's something nice for children to do as we approach the holidays.

"Also, it's a great way of involving children who have a great love of English.

"It also co-incides with National Writing Day tomorrow (June 21), so it ties in with that as well."

There are more details of how to enter on the Kip McGrath Facebook page.

A post from Kip Coalville says: "All we want you to do is write us an Acrostic Poem where the first letter of each line spells out the word HOLIDAYS.

"There are some fabulous prizes up for grabs!

"The closing date is 12noon Saturday 8th July."

You can contact Kip McGrath Coalville at [email protected].