All posts by deesh

Up in the Air

Crowds gathered in the busy school field. It was a bright, sunny day and the fluffy, white clouds looked like cotton wool against the pastel blue sky. Excited chatter filled the air! Something COLOSSAL was about to happen …

The Great Balloon Race was about to begin. All the schools in Teddington had been asked to enter the race to raise money for the children in Syria. Nervously, two children were waiting next to a beautiful, rainbow coloured hot air balloon. They had both been chosen to represent Sacred Unicorn Primary School.

Ricky and Rosie were in Year Two. Ricky was a sensible, intelligent boy with hair as yellow as the sun and kind, sapphire blue eyes that sparkled in the sunlight. There was something extraordinary about Ricky… he could do MAGIC! Rosie (on the other hand) was a sneaky, crafty character. She loved to make mischief wherever she went! She had flame red hair, a cheeky glint in her turquoise eyes and a scattering of freckles on her nose. Perched on her shoulder was a little, tabby kitten called Ginger. Ginger (who was hiding timidly behind Rosie’s hair) was Rosie’s loyal companion and went everywhere with her. “It’s alright Ginger, we’ll be safe. I promise!” whispered Rosie reassuringly. The truth was Rosie didn’t know that for sure. Nobody did…

Suddenly, the first whistle blew. That was the signal for them to step into their balloons. Rosie’s tummy rumbled and her breathing began to get quicker. Ricky held on to Rosie’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Don’t be scared Rosie, look how beautiful the twinkling blue sky is,” whispered Ricky with a cheeky grin on his face…

The second whistle blew and the race began! A cheerful, loud noise filled the sky as the crowds beneath them roared for their school to win the race. They couldn’t waste another second and Ricky was so excited he started singing “Up, up and away we go”. The balloon jerked and started to rise slowly up into the air.

Rosie froze in fear and couldn’t keep hold of Ginger. She wasn’t helping Ricky to steer the balloon either and it was moving faster and higher up in the air. “Rosie, help me, I can’t manage it on my own,” ordered Ricky. Rosie couldn’t find the words to speak. She started shivering and shaking her head. Ginger started to purr as they passed some fluffy, candyfloss like clouds. Beneath them, everything seemed so out of reach.

Rosie began to feel a little calmer but just as she turned to pick Ginger up, she screamed because there was Ginger on the edge of the basket. “Ginger!” Rosie screeched but it was too late…Ginger had leapt out of the balloon. “Oh no,” wailed Rosie as tears dripped down her pale cheeks. “What are we going to do?” Ricky turned and looked at Rosie. “Don’t worry Rosie, I think I can help…”

As quick as a flash, he magicked up a basket, a rope and mini-air balloon. He attached the balloon to the basket, and cast another spell. Incredibly, it began to drop down to Ginger.

Below, the crowd looked up in amazement, thinking, “How on earth are they going to rescue Ginger?” A child and a teacher fainted because of the dangerous and terrible sight. The balloon race was turning into a nightmare.

Ricky screamed as loud as he could, “Get into the basket.” Ginger felt sick and scared, but managed to stab his claws into the basket and pulled himself in to it. Ginger was safe. Slowly the cat began to rise up and return to safety. The amazed crowds below began to cheer and clap.

But suddenly there was a loud bang and a clap of thunder. An incredibly rough storm descended from the sky and the balloon started to wobble. The rope slipped in Ricky’s hands and Ginger fell in to a very deep hole in the ground. Rosie and Ricky looked on in horror as their beloved cat disappeared. What could they do next to save him?

Ricky thought very quickly. He had to do something, however Rosie’s desperate sobs were not helping. Suddenly he remembered the broomstick spell from his secret spell book. “Abracadabra, turn this balloon into a broom. Alcazaam!” whispered Ricky secretly.

In a flash Ricky and Rosie were sitting on a very speedy broomstick. “What a good idea!” shouted Rosie followed by, “Don’t worry Ginger, we are coming!”

Ricky, who was an expert at broom driving, zoomed through the air and did a somersault in the air to the cheers of the crowd below. “Stop showing off Ricky, we have to rescue Ginger,” urged Rosie and as quick a flash Ricky pointed the broom in the direction of the hole.

As soon as they entered the dark spooky caves the sunlight disappeared. Ricky slowed the broom to get his bearing but unfortunately disturbed a bats’ nest, to Rosie’s horror. “We need a light Ricky. I don’t want that happening again,” exclaimed Rosie and straight away Ricky muttered some strange words and a lantern appeared on the front of the broom.

The cave was gigantic, they did not know where to start the search. The silence of the eerie caves was suddenly disturbed by a loud bang. Rickie looked around for a second. However this meant he could not see the huge boulder in front him. Boom! The broom crashed and fell. The next thing Rosie remembered was waking up with her head on something soft. Suddenly the soft patch wiggled and meowed. “Ginger” Rosie shouted with delight.

“I’ve the broom and it still works” exclaimed Ricky, “Come on, lets get out of here quick.” Rosie did not need to be asked twice and got on the broom as quick as a flash.

After a few short minutes the brave team emerged into the bright sunlight surrounding the school field. As soon as the worried crowd spotted them they cheered. Ricky, to celebrate, lit up the sky with fireworks from the back of the broom. He then flew gently to the landing spot and jumped off to further cheers.

Suddenly the Headteacher of Sacred Unicorn appeared through the crowd with a huge grin on his face. “Well done team. I think we can have a day off tomorrow to congratulate you.” When the rest of the pupils heard this they jumped for joy and lifted Ricky and Rosie onto their shoulders. Ricky smiled, looked at Rosie, and said “What an exciting day we have had.” With that, both them burst out laughing and continued enjoying being firmly back on the ground.

by Year 2 pupils from Collis, East Sheen, Stanley and St. Edmund’s primary schools

 

Daydreamer Departure

It was another grey and dull day in London. Enough rain was pouring down to fill the world’s oceans in one go. The Smiths were really excited. Due to the miserable rain? No, but because they were about to escape the horrible weather and jump on a plane to a much warmer and sunnier place…

There were four very different members of the Smith family. Mum was kind, Dad was extremely bossy, Lily was always sensible and Tom was a complete daydreamer.

Unfortunately, Heathrow airport was particularly busy that day. People were chatting loudly, suitcase wheels were squeaking across the floors. In fact, it was so noisy that you couldn’t even hear yourself think!

After what seemed like hours, they looked up impatiently at the black and yellow Departures Board for the hundredth time and realised that their short flight to Lyon would soon be taking off. Mum, Dad and Lily were so busy talking about the scrumptious pain au chocolats and practising their terrible French accent that they didn’t notice that someone had gone missing, until…

After letting out a piercing scream, Mum shrieked, “Tom! Where is my precious boy? Tom!” Dad and Lily frantically looked around to see a panicked expression on Mum’s face. They scanned the immediate area but Tom was nowhere to be seen! Fear overwhelmed them all and they were rooted to the spot. Where had he gone? By now Mum was sobbing and Dad was just about to contact the security people, when out of the corner of her eye, Lily spotted a boy wearing the same coloured clothes as Tom. He was climbing the steps of an aeroplane just outside the window of the departure lounge. This plane was not going to Lyon though, it was going to America!

Lily shouted hysterically, “There he is!” “He’s getting on the wrong plane!” Desperately they all ran to the departure gate screaming, “Stop, stop! That’s our boy and he’s on the wrong plane!”

The Smiths sprinted as quickly as they could, but by the time they got to the departure gate, it was too late. The plump security guard had closed the gate, and was gobbling up his last chocolate truffle. Mum came rushing up and demanded, “WHERE IS MY LITTLE BOY?!” But the security guard didn’t know. What were they going to do?!

Tom stared down at his i-pad as he shuffled up the stairs, pass the flight attendant and onto the plane. He was so close to unlocking the next level of his Angry Birds game, he couldn’t put it down! When he got onto the plane he walked to a window seat, sat in the cosy first class chair and looked out of the oval shaped window. It was dark outside, so all Tom could see was the shimmering runway lit by hundreds of tiny lights. As he gazed at the glow, he drifted soundly to sleep.

Tom was woken with a big bump and a ROAR as the plane wheels shrieked to a halt. He looked around quickly and soon realised he was all alone! Tom was terrified. He jumped out of his seat, and begged the nearest stewardess for help. “HELP! I’ve lost my Mum and Dad, please help me find them!”…

“Where did you last see them?” questioned the Stewardess.

“Well…erm…I last saw them at Heathrow Airport.”

Luckily, the plane was travelling back to England that night. The Pilot and the Stewardess agreed that Tom could stay on the plane until they were ready to leave.

Tom started to feel sad and lonely and missed his family. He missed his bossy Dad and his sensible sister, but most of all he missed his kind and caring Mum. He could really do with a big Mummy hug now.

The Stewardess saw that Tom was sad and took a Mars bar out of her pocket and gave it to Tom. The new passengers started to arrive on the plane. The Stewardess didn’t want to leave Tom on his own so she gave him a job to do. Tom was going to be the youngest Stewardess ever.

“Lily would love this job,” thought Tom.

On the flight Tom was very busy. He had to remind people to be careful, he had to give out the food and drinks to the passengers and he had to check everyone was wearing their seatbelt.

Soon they arrived in rainy England and Tom was excited to see his family again. As he walked off the plane, he saw them. Dad looked angry, Lily was excited and Mum was shocked to see him. Tom ran towards them and gave them all a big hug.

“This has been the best holiday ever!” He cheered as he waved goodbye to the helpful Stewardess and the Pilot.

by pupils in Year 2 from Collis, Sheen Mount, Stanley and St. Edmund’s primary schools

 

Green Flower Door

As we quietly strolled down a cobbled street our footsteps echoed all around us. My mum said it wouldn’t take us long to get there but I felt like we had been walking for ages. I had met my friend at the park and we set off together. While I was walking I noticed the street getting narrower. At first the houses were new with red bricks and shiny front doors. But as we continued further down the street the buildings became taller and strange. The bricks were faded and broken. The wind blew and rattled the windows. We could see cobwebs and broken pipes. As the rain came down it splashed on the cobbles but we didn’t mind because we enjoyed splashing in our wellies.

Suddenly I saw a green flower above a creepy door. Mum told us that’s what we would see. The red paint around the door was starting to fade because of the stormy weather. As we crept towards the door I felt cold and started to shiver. Maybe this wasn’t the door mum told us about?

What was inside? We had to find out. We couldn’t see as the dark shadows filled the doorway. We would have to go in. The dark shadows were all around us. The creepy stairs made a sudden creaking sound! Mysterious smoke wafted down the stairs with a nasty petrol smell. The shadow grew longer and longer. I felt a shock run down my spine and goosebumps on my arms. What could it be? What was it, I thought?

Then all of a sudden, green, hairy, bumpy hands came out of the smoke. Next, two ghostly feet came down the stairs, followed by dirty scales on his back, a wide lumpy head and enormous wet eyes. He stomped down the stairs. “LET’S GET OUT OF HERE!” I screamed and grabbed my friend’s hand.

“Hi, I’m Dave,” said a voice, “Please, wait a minute!”

We stopped!

I couldn’t believe his name was Dave, he sounded quite familiar. Maybe this is would be the beginning of the adventure that mum had told me about.

“I would like to show you something secret in my garden,” he said excitedly. We backed away towards the red, chipped door, just as he said, “Don’t worry you don’t have to be scared!”

Dave began shuffling through the house, heading to what I presumed was the garden, he beckoned for me to follow. We crept, shivering with fear behind him, past ragged, ripped wallpaper with sinister paintings of skeletons and terrifying creatures.

Suddenly, we reached the greasy door to the garden, as I stepped nervously through it I realised the door was made from wolf bones. Dave continued through the overgrown garden, where creepy, spiky branches seemed to grab me like sharp, pointy claws as I passed. Eventually he stopped in front of a dark slimy river that had deep purple smoke rising in puffs from it. The smell was disgusting, it smelt of old rotting fruit and smelly, cheesy shoes.

“I came from this river,” explained Dave “If you step into it you…”

But before Dave could finish his sentence I slipped on the deep, sloppy mud and went tumbling into the river with my arms flailing and landed in the water with a SPLASH!

I heard a roaring sound. There was a water tornado and a whirlpool sucked me down to the bottom of the river. I could see a tall shadow when I touched the river bed. As my eyes got used to the murky water, I realised that it was Dave. Among the things my eyes could see were….old boots, cans and bottles and a supermarket trolley.

Dave had remembered that in the back of the house he had a pipe that was used to suck people up from the river because people often slipped on the mud when they came to visit. I was terrified when the pipe sucked me up. It felt like an enormous monster but it was the pipe. When I finally came out the other end I ran to Dave and cuddled him because I was so happy. Dave was smiling at me, his recycling bag in his hand. I realised then that he wanted me to help him tidy up the river bed. ‘Let’s get started,’ he said, ‘We have a job to do!’

I smiled back and we both jumped back into the river.

by Year 1 pupils from St. Edmund’s , Stanley, Trafalgar Infants and Sheen Mount primary schools

 

The Forest Steps

It was a cold, miserable day as I was walking through the forest with my best friend. He was a playful boy and always liked to go on adventures. The path I was walking on was wet and slippery and there were a lot of puddles around me. When I was walking, I could hear the leaves crunching under my feet. I looked around me and the leaves were all kinds of colours. There were orange, yellow and red autumnal leaves. So much rain had fallen that the leaves were slimy and brown.

Whilst walking through the forest, we came across some old, black steps. David ran towards the steps to get a closer look. They looked steep. I became worried that David might want to climb them.

“Come away from the steps!” I shouted.

“I want to know what’s at the top!” David called.

We started to move towards the first step. It was wobbly and dangerous. I didn’t want to walk up them but David kept going. I was getting more and more nervous about going up the steps because they looked steeper nearer the top.

After a while, I decided to follow him and slowly climbed the first two steps. The steps wobbled under my feet and I was scared that they would crumble and break. I could see water falling from a tall tree stump and I wondered if it was slippery at the top.

Before long, we reached the huge tree stump and we heard a loud BANG!

“What’s that?” I screamed!

“I think it was thunder,” David screamed back.

I was really scared but I didn’t want David to know that. I thought about turning round but decided to do something brave and continue to the top.

At the top we found a huge door. That must have been the noise I thought. It was the door slamming. We knocked on the door but there was no reply so we went in. We looked inside and we looked around, there was a table, chairs and food on the table. Suddenly we heard voices, someone was coming!

We hid under the table. As the voices came closer they got louder. The voices sounded calm and gentle. We slowly shuffled closer to peak out from under the table. We were confident enough to come out and we whispered, “Who are you?” in shocked voices.

We saw a little girl and boy walk in through the door. They looked scruffy with muddy clothes. In a quiet voice the boy said,

“We are lost in the forest. We were picking mushrooms for our mother and we heard a booming bang and a loud growl and ran until we found this dirty, gloomy wooden house. We thought someone would be here to help us but no-one was. We waited to see if anyone would come back as there was food waiting on the table. When no-one did we left and had another look around outside. We saw you walking up to the house and decided to follow you. We are so glad to see you! Please can you help us find our home again?”

They both looked so upset we knew we had to help them. David quickly jumped up as if he had remembered something! He said excitedly, “I have a map in my pocket which could show us how to get to your house. Let’s go!”

We looked at the map of the forest and planned our way back to the other children’s house. We started walking through the foggy, dark, spooky forest. Suddenly, behind us we heard trees sound as if they are crashing down and twigs snapping. We started to run as quickly as our legs could go through the forest. I turned to look back and thought I caught a glimpse of something big, furry and orange in the distance.

“RUN!” I shouted.

“RUN WHERE?” David screamed.

I grabbed the hands of the little boy and girl and sprinted as fast as I could towards a house in the distance.

“THIS WAY” I screeched but David was standing still, looking at the furry orange creature. I felt terrified because I thought the creature might be an aggressive tiger, so I carried on running with the boy and the girl until we reached the door of the house. It looked like it might be haunted. We ran inside and slammed the door behind us. Suddenly, we heard a zooming sound and when we looked around us, we realised we had shrunk to the size of tiny ants. In the corner we could see a giant badger, who looked like he had an injured paw. All around us was the sound of witchy cackling.

“What has happened to us?” whispered the little girl.

“What is that noise?” asked the little boy.

“Never mind all of that,” I whimpered as I started to cry, “What about David?”

Just then we heard footsteps in the room above us. The footsteps were getting closer. Someone, or something, was coming down the stairs! We waited anxiously and then to our surprise a little girl appeared dressed in a witch’s cloak and hat, holding a magic wand. She looked at us and said,

“Oh my goodness! You have shrunk a lot!”

“Who are you?” I shouted, “And what have you done to us?”

“My name is Polly,” the little witch replied. “My mum is a big witch but I’m just a beginner. I have been practising using my mummy’s wand and trying out some spells. I tried to shrink my ginger kitten, Marmalade and my pet badger, George. But something went VERY wrong and both of them became HUGE! Then Marmalade ran off out of the door and poor George ran after him but he trapped his paw in the door on the way out.”

“Well you certainly managed to shrink us and we can’t stay like this forever – we need to go home and we need to find our friend David. Please can you undo your spell and make us normal-size again?”

“I don’t think I know how to do that but my Mum might be able to help when she comes back. Oh hang on I can see her now.”

The door opened an in came a big, tall lady, with spiky blue hair, wearing a long purple cloak.

“What in the world is going on here?” she said. “What have you done Polly?”

Then Polly told her all about her spells and what had happened.

“Right young lady. I’ve warned you before about messing around with my magic wand. Now let’s get this all sorted out. Give me my wand.”

Then she said some magic words and waved her wand over us. We could hear that funny zooming sound again and then we were miraculously back to our normal size!

At that moment we heard David’s voice calling us through the window. “Where are you? You’re never going to believe this but the big furry orange monster in the woods is only a giant kitten! I have no idea how he has got this big!”

“We do!” we all called and then we explained the whole story to him.

Then we watched whilst Polly’s mum sprinkled another magic spell over Marmalade and George and returned them to their right size. Then she turned to us and said, “We had better get you all home before your parents start to worry about you.”

She told us to hold hands and close our eyes and with an ‘Abracadabra’ and a swish of her wand we felt ourselves whirling and twirling through the air.

When we opened our eyes again the little boy and girl were nowhere to be seen and David and I were back at the bottom of the steps.

“That was fun,” said David. “Shall we go back up the steps again?”

“NO!” I replied, “We are going home – QUICK! Race you! Last one back is a rotten egg!”

by Year 1 pupils from St. Edmund’s, Stanley, Sheen Mount, Archdeacon Cambridge and East Sheen primary schools

 

The Giant Squirral

It was almost morning when the sun came up. It was really foggy and peaceful. Pepper was welcoming people in. She had long hair like Rapunzel, Pepper was wearing a red dress with white flowers on it. She was just fourteen and her job was to welcome children into Richmond Park at the gate. Pepper lived near to the Park and liked watching the deer from her tiny bedroom window.

One night there was a big storm with lots of thunder and lightning. The next morning when Pepper went to open the gate it was being guarded by lots of tiny squirrels. They wouldn’t let Pepper open the gate. “Why are you guarding the gate?” asked Pepper. Just then a giant squirrel appeared. He was as big as the biggest tree in Richmond Park. “I was struck by lightning in the storm and now I am a ginormous monster and king of the squirrels. We’re keeping the park to keep all the nuts for ourselves” growled the giant squirrel.

Pepper thought very carefully about what to do next. She decided to play a trick on the naughty squirrels. “I’ve found some nuts for you!” Pepper said nicely to the squirrels. Their ears pricked up and their noses started to wiggle. Pepper said, “I’ve hidden them in an owl’s nest in a hole in a tree in a deep dark wood.” The squirrels were a bit scared but went to the deep dark wood anyway. Pepper ran into the park, and bought all of the children from the village with her.

The squirrels ran into the woods to look for the owl’s nest. On their way they were lost and couldn’t decide on which way to go. The giant squirrel took charge and led the way. Later that evening, “Where are we?” called one of the smaller squirrels. They were still unable to find the tree they were looking for. “WE WILL FIND IT!” replied the giant squirrel angrily. Watching from a distance were Pepper and the children from the village who quietly laughed at the squirrels. “They can’t find the tree” said Pepper. “Good, now we can guard the gate and keep the squirrels out” said Timmy one of the village children.

Suddenly the children heard a disturbing and booming shouting. Straight afterwards they saw a squirrel family looking terrified and frightened and running at top speed towards them. As soon as the squirrels had got their breath back, the children asked them to explain what was going on.

“Nutty, the giant squirrel, is making all of us squirrels search for nuts for him and then he just eats them. My family and I are going to go hungry if we don’t stand up for ourselves,” explained the squirrel sadly. “Nutty got cross with us because we found some nuts and ate them,” continued the squirrel.

Pepper felt furious and mad at the thought of Nutty treating the others like slaves.

“We will help you defeat Nutty!” said Pepper in a calm and confident way. “We need a plan,” she said. So everybody took to thinking up an amazing and epic plan. “First we have to catch Nutty, which is going to be tricky and then somehow we are going to have to return him back to his normal size,” said Pepper.

After some time, Pepper’s best friend Billy smiled.

“I’ve got it!” he said. “We are going to have to make a trap. Everyone go home and get your spades! Squirrels, if you know any badgers or foxes that are good at digging, then fetch them, so that we can get the job done quicker.”

Within minutes the park was full of foxes, rabbits and badgers, ready to help dig a humongous, gigantic, massive hole. All the creatures were gathered together and had begun to move huge amounts of dirt from the park floor. Pepper turned around to Billy to ask him how they could get Nutty back to his usual size but Billy was nowhere to be found. He had already sneaked off whilst everyone was busy. The second part of his plan was very revolting and quite gross and disgusting. Billy went to a long, bumpy road where he had heard that there was a witch who made magical, shrinking potions. He felt petrified as he went through the squeaky door and as he did a witch appeared.

“I was expecting you” said an ugly, green, warty lady. “I suppose you want me to make you a shrinking potion?” she cackled. “I have got the recipe out ready.”

She showed him an old, dirty, scruffy recipe book.

He read the recipe:

Shrink Nuts

  • 3 Crocodile’s scales
  • 2 drops of eyeball juice
  • 4 drops of rattlesnake venom
  • 200 piranha’s teeth
  • 100g of vampire’s blood-soaked teeth
  • 1kg of Cheetah’s intestines
  • 1 squashed rat
  • 4 rare tree leaves
  • 2 table spoons of slug jam

Billy felt disgusted and sick. The witch began to busy herself finding jars and bottles all the while mixing the ingredients into a paste. The smell was pukey and like rotting vegetables. Finally it was done. The witch handed him a single nut.

“Inside this nut is the shrinking potion. As soon as the giant squirrel eats it, he will shrink to his original size.” Billy thanked her!

As soon as he was out of the door he zoomed back to the park, where he found Pepper, the children and animals standing by the completed hole, which had been covered with sticks and leaves so that you couldn’t tell that there was a hole there. Billy explained the next part of his plan to everyone.

“How are we going to get Nutty to come this way?” asked Billy. The little squirrel volunteered to go and get him by telling him that he’d found a nut. Billy then placed the nut on top of the hidden hole.

The squirrel ran off towards the dark woods. Then after some time came the humongous, selfish squirrel. Nutty looked at the nut and sprinted to get it. Finally, Nutty flopped into the trap and ate the nut. As he did he shrank back into his normal size. Everyone felt thrilled that Nutty was back to normal.

 

The Snow King

Once there lived a Snow King. He looked after the snow. Everyone who lived in his land wished it would never stop snowing. What else could they wish for? The King had an enemy called Rober who tried to melt the snow.

Far away in another land there were two boys called Tommy and Jimmy. They lived all alone with no mum and dad, all they had was sunshine outside in the garden. They wished everyday it would snow. They would play snow ball fights and Hide and Seek. They would build snowmen like in The Snowman. But no snow means no games. What a shame!

One night, Tommy and Jimmy made a special wish. They wished that it would snow! What fun they could have if it snowed.

Rober heard their wish and thought he would play a trick on the Snow King. Rober put some snow in a sack and threw it onto Tommy and Jimmy’s garden.

The next morning, Tommy and Jimmy woke up and were so excited to see snow in their garden. They played all day in the snow making snowmen, having a snowball fight and playing Hide and Seek.

Meanwhile back in the faraway land, the Snow King saw what Rober had done and he was very angry.

The Snow King roared a terrible roar and was as loud as a lion! Then he stamped so hard that his world shook and a massive crack appeared in the icy floor. When he looked through the crack he saw Tommy and Jimmy’s house with all his precious snow in their garden. Quickly, he dived into the crack and in a flash found himself surrounded by the soft snow that Rober had stolen.

Tommy and Jimmy couldn’t believe their sparkly eyes and gasped in terror before running to hide behind a tree.

“Who are you?” they asked with trembling voices.

“I am the Snow King and you are playing with my snow!” roared the Snow King angrily.

Tommy and Johnny explained that they had made a special wish and begged him not to be mean and take all their wonderful snow away. They told him their sad story and had tears running down their little red cheeks.

The Snow King thought for a while and decided that he wasn’t cross with the boys but he was furious and frustrated with Rober, the sneaky, snow-stealing super villain! He explained that he really wanted to capture Rober and put him into an icy jail where he would never cause trouble again. Together, they came up with a plan to catch Rober. The Snow King promised Tommy and Jimmy that if they helped him he would make their dreams come true…

Early one morning, the two boys made a trail of fish leading to a big hole in the snow. The Snow King had told them that Rober loved to eat fish. Rober smelt the pongy fish so he followed the trail. When he got to the deep dark hole in the snow he fell in! He didn’t know that there was a hole. After he fell down the hole, the two boys dropped a trap on him. The sparkly trap was made of ice and metal so he couldn’t get out. Rober was very angry and shouted until his face went red. Tommy and Jimmy laughed at him because he looked very funny. They thought he deserved to be trapped because he had played a mean trick. They called for the Snow King to come out from where he was hiding behind a snowman.

The King thanked them for their amazing plan.

“You have caught Rober and saved my Snow Kingdom. Now I will grant your wishes as promised,” he announced.

The boys didn’t even need to think for a second. They wanted SNOW!

“I have an idea,” said the King. “You can keep half of the snow and we will return the rest to my Kingdom. You have made me so happy. We must have a party to celebrate and every year on this day you can come to visit me in my Snow Palace”.

“But how will we get there?” asked Tommy and Jimmy.

“In your garden there is a magical bench that can lead you there,” explained the King, “all you need to do is sit on the bench and make a wish using these magic words…

Magic bench take me to the land of snow

Abracadabra and off we go!”

“Wow we can’t wait – when can we visit your magical kingdom?”

“Soon,” replied the King, “but first we must return the snow.”

“But how?” asked the boys.

“I will call my snow rocket and sleigh to transport the snow back home.”

The King stamped four times and the crack in the ice reopened. His snow rocket zoomed down to the garden. Quickly the snow rocket sucked up half of the snow leaving plenty for the boys to play with. Just then the Snow King disappeared into the rocket and zoomed off back through the crack to his far away palace. The boys were so excited their dreams had come true and they couldn’t wait to visit the King in his palace.

“I wonder where else the bench could take us?” thought the boys…

 by Year 1 pupils from  Lowther, Stanley, Sheen Mount, East Sheen and Archdeacon Cambridge’s primary schools

Fairy Tale Suitcase

One day we were walking through a spooky forest and we found a suitcase with lots of stickers all over it. We opened it up and it sucked us all in! We went straight to a fairy tale land where at first we met the three little pigs who were building a house of bricks. Some of us decided to stay and help and the others carried on…

We soon came across a girl called Little Bo Peep who was upset and had lost her sheep. She asked us if we would help to look for them. We said yes, but on the way came across a creepy, wobbly bridge. We decided to walk across but saw that there was an ugly, mean, ginormous troll underneath. We were scared but walked across anyway. He jumped on top of the bridge and we screamed. He looked scared too and told us that he was in fact a friendly troll and he would help us to look for the sheep. We carried on with our journey.

As we walked on, we stumbled across a boy, a little older than us trying to climb up an enormous beanstalk that rose into the clouds. We knew from the storybooks that this was Jack.

He told us that he was climbing the beanstalk to find food for him and his poor mother. From the top of the beanstalk we could hear a strange sound, we decided to climb up and investigate. It was a very long way up. When we reached the top we spotted loads of tiny footprints. The enormous friendly troll, whose name was John said ‘I smell sheep, and I recognise these footprints’.

The footprints led us to a castle where we found not only the sheep but a giant lady and she was crying. John the Troll asked her what was wrong. She told us she was lonely and took the sheep to make her happy. We told her that the sheep belong to little Bo Peep. The giant whose name was Daphne let us take the sheep back to little Bo Peep. She gave Jack a golden egg so he and his mother would no longer be poor and John the Troll and Daphne got married and lived happily ever after.

by Reception pupils from The Russell, Lowther and St. Edmund’s primary schools

 

Once upon a time, there was a scary, mysterious old house on top of a sand-dune in the middle of the desert.  The house was full of dusty cobwebs.  There were giant bats hanging from the ceiling and desert rats with giant teeth were upstairs in a big, dark room.  It was empty except for an ancient wooden treasure chest and inside the chest there were three old, grey, rusty metal keys.

Outside on the hot sand, two robbers were struggling up the dune on their hands and knees to the house. They were wearing black hats and stripy tops with skull and crossbones on. Their faces were angry and dirty.  They had escaped from jail and they were hungry and thirsty but they had to make it to the house because they had to find the three keys……..

Out of nowhere appeared a ghost! He looked much friendlier than the robbers had previously imagined ghosts to be, but nevertheless he gave them a fright!

The robbers wondered if they were getting so hot that their imaginations were playing tricks on them. The ghost introduced himself,

“Hello, I’m Spooky”.

Spooky was a young ghost and he came from a graveyard in Africa.  The graveyard had lots of stones, a little church and enormous trees.  Spooky really enjoyed being a ghost and he particularly liked wearing ghost clothes.  Today Spooky was wearing black stripy trousers and a white top with tiny gold spots on it. It was his favourite ghost outfit because he had bought it in a ghost shop with his friend Spikey.  He hadn’t seen Spikey for a little while but wearing these clothes had reminded him to pick up the ghost phone and call him.  Spooky had lived at the house for a very long time and he worked extremely hard to protect the treasure chest and the keys inside it.  He had battled the evil blue ghosts but he had never come across robbers before.  He felt scared.

The ghost slowly walks to the robbers.

The ghost scares the robbers.

The robbers scream and say “I don’t like ghosts.”

The robbers are happy they find the gold shiny treasure chest. The robbers have a cheeky grin as they open the chest and look inside. They see the keys inside and want to take them home.

The ghost follows the robbers and knows that the keys are magic. He wants to see the magic work. The robbers take out the keys. The keys sparkle and the robbers say, “Look how shiny they are”. They scream because they are being squashed by the magic. The robbers were squashed forever and the ghost took the keys in the treasure chest back to the house. The ghost is very happy and has a party with his ghost friend Spikey.

by Reception pupils
from Stanley, Sheen Mount and St Edmund’s schools

Daisy’s Adventure

Once upon a time there was a little girl who lived in a village by the sea. Her name was Daisy. One day she decided to go for a walk along the beach.  She walked along the stones at the bottom of the grassy bank to get to the snowy, white, sanded beach.  She decided to dig. She dug and dug and dug until she hit a treasure chest with gold and jewels inside it!

SUDDENLY…

….. as Daisy was holding the sparkling jewels in her hands, she saw some mean and scary pirates running towards her on the beach. The pirates were waving their sharp cutlasses  and they were shouting

“AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRHHHHHH !”

Daisy ran and ran and the pirates were so fast at running that they captured Daisy.

Daisy screamed “ HELP!   HELP!  HELP!  You are naughty, bad pirates!”

But nobody heard her calling.  The mean and bad pirates got her and then they took her to their pirate ship and tied her up!

A boat was sailing nearby and a girl captain heard her shouting.

“Don’t worry I’m coming to save you”.

The Captain said to her friends “There’s a little girl on a pirate ship and she needs rescuing. Shall we go out and rescue here and bring her back to shore?”

“We’ll wait until the pirates are asleep and swim over to the pirate ship and then we’ll climb the ladder and be very quiet so that the pirates don’t hear us.

When we’re on the pirate boat we have to tip-toe and whisper and please creep.   If you see a pirate you must hide. Don’t forget your torch.  Don’t shine your torch into the pirates’ window, you might wake them up.”

That night they swam over to the pirate ship…

 

….and climbed up the anchor rope, whispering all the way. When they were on the ship, they rolled out the anchor. It went down into the sea with a big SPLASH! The pirates were in a deep sleep, snoring in their hammocks, but their parrot woke up squawking loudly, “People attacking the ship! People attacking the ship!”

The girl captain and her sailors turned off their torches and hid on the deck. The pirates stumbled onto the deck, the girl captain shouted, “Attack!”

The sailors all jumped out and shone their torches in the pirates’ faces. The pirates were blinded and ran around madly and fell over the side into the water. Poor Daisy saw all this as she was still tied up and the girl captain untied her. Daisy was worried about the pirates as there was a shark in the water.

“We must save the pirates,” she said.

They put some food on the anchor for the shark. The shark swam to the food and the pirates clambered up the anchor rope back onto the boat. The pirates were so happy to be saved and were very sorry for taking Daisy’s treasure and tying her up.

They wanted to say thank you – “Let’s have a party!” they said.

 by Reception pupils

from  Sheen Mount, Lowther and Stanley primary schools

Freedom

Equal.  It wasn’t always like this.  I remember having to stand up on a bus for a white person, their disapproving stare burning into my back.  I remember having to use a different entrance in most public places; like the time I almost went into the wrong toilets – I didn’t do that again.  I remember the Mandela protests.  Mother hid my eyes from the news footage but the sounds still reached deep into my heart.   Also, the Rosa Parks story – it was the big talk back then. I didn’t understand all about racial segregation. I was only young. I didn’t really notice, I suppose that’s how life was. But now everything is different.

yr6Freedom

Just walking to work, it makes me remember how bad it was; but now, well I’m just living my own life and enjoying it while I can.  My boyfriend is white, and I’m black, back then that wouldn’t have been tolerated. It was bad back then, really bad.  It doesn’t matter now – I’m happy it’s stopped.  I used to feel that the world was like that for a reason.  But it wasn’t.  Sometimes I wonder if there was a reason and what that reason could be.

And then it happened…

*                   *                   *

I was just a child. We were walking down by the river the day they took him away. Sunlight reflected off the cool, clear water and the warm rays scorched my back. I glanced enviously at the ones who were allowed to walk on the other side, where great sycamore trees blocked the sun’s burning anger. Father took my hand gently and stared into my eyes. A feeling of warmth filled me with joy and, for once, I forgot about everything in the world. If only it could remain that way forever.

We both knew of the uneasy glances surrounding our footsteps, their stone cold glares telling us they were better. That we didn’t belong. Father had never minded. He would proudly stare past them as if they were never there; I wish they weren’t. Whatever we did, the white people’s snakelike eyes never looked away. They took small backwards steps every time we moved near. A young girl, about my age, approached me fearlessly and asked if I wanted to play with her. Her mother hurried to her side. No. They are different. As they left, the woman turned as if to say, never.

Continuing to walk, father told me not to be afraid. He told me that whatever happened, he would never forget how much he loves me. Ever. And that was when it happened.

They seemed to appear out of nowhere. Grasping him and pulling him to his knees. His hands were tied behind his back and as they forced him away from me our eyes met for the last time. He shouted. Freedom.

*                   *                   *

You wouldn’t think I would remember him now that so many years have passed. But I will never forget the desperate glare in his eyes when they took him. That one word he screamed told me everything he wanted to say. At that moment everything changed, I could no longer be the helpless child with no father. I knew what I had to do. And today was the day I was finally going to do it. I would do it in my father’s memory.

It was the 22nd August. The sun was high in the sky and the temperature was soaring. Without the shade of the great sycamore trees walking was becoming ever more strenuous.  I laboured on with the edge of the town in my sight.  It was here that I used to come with my father to sit amongst the shady trees by the riverside.  It was so peaceful; long grasses swayed in the dusty air and shards of light reflected off the rippling water.  I found the spot where we used to sit and talk and sat down.  It was then that I spotted what I had come for – it was still there after all these years.

I smiled ignoring the sticky sweat rolling against the side of my face, dripping off my chin. The small grubby flag, thrust into the soil surrounded by the trees, was hardly recognisable after all this time. It was covered in a thin layer of cracking mud and the right corner had been completely torn away. But there it was standing tall and proud swaying just slightly with the warm summer breeze, dancing in the occasional beam of sunlight which penetrated the tall trees around it.

I raised my hand gently feeling my wet palms quivering with anticipation. My arm outstretched towards the metallic pole supporting the old piece of cloth which held so many memories of mine. I clutched at it feeling its cool touch run through my arm sending shivers down my spine even though the heat of the midday sun was overwhelmingly powerful. My hair matted down in viscous clumps of sweat and dirt from a hard day work fell towards my face covering my hazel eyes which began to hold back tears.

The memories hit me in strong waves one after the other, leaving no time to even take a short breath. I remembered his muscular arm holding my small hand stabbing the flag into the ground.

“This is our spot now, Patsy. And ain’t anybody going to take it from us. I promise.” My father had grinned telling me.

And he was correct. Here it stood majestic and regal, its fifty stars in the left corner shining just as bright as ever before. He was right. Nobody had taken our spot away from us instead they had taken him. I stared at the flag which was trembling in my white knuckle grip. I pulled at it, loosening it from the ground. It shook slightly, uprooting the earth around it and I raised it higher into the air. Rays of sun shone over the tops of the sycamores surrounding the secret spot illuminating the flag; empowering me – giving me new hopes for the future.

I rolled the flag gently around the silver beam feeling the thin layer of mud flaking off and floating angelically towards the ground below. Tucking it under my arm I stepped out of the grove of trees where it had been hidden all these years and set off back towards town to do what I had planned to do. The sun had begun to cool and a small breeze was picking up, but on the inside a fiery passion was building up which threatened to engulf me in a rage of anger. Now was the beginning of the end…

Taking slow steps back into town from the place my father was made no more, I increased my stride, taking my steps to a steady pace and continued thinking, thinking about him and her.

My parents; their love so strong but their colour so wrong. Not only guilty of kissing but marrying and having me, a mixed race child born into a world divided by colour. Poor father, I cannot believe masked men did that to you, how your heart was sent to heaven by hatred when all you were guilty of was love.

The word ‘lynching’ is hardly ever mentioned these days. People say these “mean acts” only happened in other places; never round here and not to people like us but they are so wrong. The men who took my father hid their identity with white hoods draped over their faces leaving only beady eyes that pierced straight through the heart, every one of them too ashamed to reveal their true selves. Just the thought of lynching sends an image of my father dangling like a lifeless puppet, who not so long ago was laughing alongside me. But not for long. I hear the song my mother used to sing,

“Southern trees bear a strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.”

Only here though they were not Poplar but Sycamore. Those wretched Sycamores. They had to spoil my happy childhood memories, those hooded men who took my father. I’ve always pondered who was under those masks, Mr Lennon from the Hardware Store? Mr Harrison, the local sheriff? None were caught that’s for sure…

The songs refrain echoes in my head as I stomp back into town, every step now full of new determination. I look up to the vast sky and send a prayer up to my father, feel the power of his spirit strong amongst the clouds speaking back to me, sending me strength. Clutching the flag ferociously tight in my hand I make my way back into town.

Crowds of black and white faced me, some glaring maliciously, some cheering but all gathered together in the Town Square. Banners bearing my campaign slogans of equal rights, harmony and a new way forward for all, whatever their colour hung everywhere reclaiming the Sycamore trees. With pride in my step I rise up to the newly built stage to greet my supporters. Applause takes over the square, drowning out all the negativity and surrounding me with deep joy and purpose.

As I look back up to the sky, my father’s sky, I feel our cherished flag rising in my hand.

Today I make my father proud, today I wake my country up to a new challenge, today I declare my candidacy for President of the United States.

“FREEDOM!” I shout…

Written by Year 6 pupils from Stanley Primary School, Sheen Mount, Heathfield Junior, Kew Riverside and The Russell primary schools.