Welcome to the St Albans School Enrichment Blog.

Here you will find children in action as they participate in activities to extend their learning.

EPRO8 Competitions

Our three EPRO8 teams did a fabulous job with their entries.

Congratulations to The Technologists and The Evengineers who made it through to the regional competition and to The Technologists who will participate in the next round early in term three.

Year 6 Young Writers

The Year 6 children have had their turn working with Sue this week.

Check out their amazing writing here.

The Iron Apocalypse

by Audrey

It was the year 2045 during the iron apocalypse and an iron Hippogriff named Ironheart pushed its way through the crowd of fleeing humans. With a swish of his deadly tail he sliced the heads off three armed men. Their blood dyed the tip of his tail a deep crimson. He had to make it back to his master.

Finally he reached the nuclear plant, it's eerie yellow light giving the surroundings a zombie-like hue. Looking around, not seeing anyone, he walked straight through the projected wall.

The iron master sat on his throne of scrap metal. Even at the best of times, he was not someone to trifle with.Every time Ironheart entered the throne room he shivered and felt as though his battery was at 2%.

The iron master sat looking regel, as though he was expecting something, or someone. "Ironheart, good good good" he hissed through his jagged teeth. "I was beginning to think you weren't going to show."

Ironheart bowed his head in shame, pawing at the ground. The noise of his hard nails scraping on the floor would startle anyone, but the ironmaster was unfazed.

An unfamiliar sound drifted from the heart of the plant. It was the sound of a small human sobbing.

"Ironheart, I need you for an important job. A small human is here and I need you to execute it immediately. I can only trust you to do this," he said, his smirk visible in the dim light.

Ironheart started for the door but paused.

"Down the corridor first door on the right" called the Iron master, with a wave of his hand.

In seconds the hippogriff reached the small chamber. The human was a girl. She was huddled under a small shredded blanket. She may have been only ten years old with dirty auburn hair and big brown eyes. Ironheart towered over the cowering figure, wishing he didn’t have to kill her. He raised his knife-like tail and was about to drop it. A warmth spread up from the tip of his tail to his sharp beak. The girl looked up at him with tears in her brown eyes.

How could he kill this girl? Why would he WANT to hurt this small thing?

Ironheart lowered his tail and bowed his head. The girl looked up at him in surprise. She stood and backed away.

“Wha-what are you? Wh-where d-did you c-come from?” she asked shakely.

The hippogriff taped his chest then his iron wings.

“Metal lung? Metal Heart? Iron heart!” she guessed.

The hippogriff nodded, then shook his head and dipped his neck.

“Y-you don’t want to kill me? W-why?” she asked.

He shook his head and jerked it towards the door.

“Escape? What now?” she quired.

He nodded, then started towards the door.

She jumped on his shoulders and lay down like she was dead.

Ironheart galoped out the door then let the small shaking girl slide to the floor unhurt .

He opened his beak to speak and said “I- I can talk! Thank you! You freed me from the iron master!”

If the girl's jaw had dropped any lower it would have hit the ground. “You can talk? Why now? WHAT IS GOING ON?” she demanded.

“I was created by the ironmaster to destroy human life. He wanted to control me. Then the ironmaster bred an army of iron animals fully under his command. He robbed us of our voices and made us feel no emotion. But now I can feel, and talk. I will be forever grateful to you” he explained.

The girl thought for a minute and said “But you saved MY life! That means we are even!”

“No, because you are still in danger. Grave, Grave danger” sighed Ironheart.

Then Ironheart heard the sound of tinkling metal. “The harpies, '' he groaned. Searching for a hiding place he shoved the girl under a bush. Flocks of metallic harpies rushed overhead, darkening the ground below. Harpies are fowl creatures of darkness and even when he was enslaved he hated them with a burning passion. Harpies were small metal birds, with deadly sharp beaks and infrared vision. Infrared vision! It wouldn’t work around here because the necuer plant was steaming hot. So hot ice would melt a hundred yards away. The harpies were practically blind here. Or were they? One of the harpies did a dive and landed right on top of a passing human.

The human spine was sliced clean out and it's blood spouted like a scarlet fountain. Ironheart fought the urge to scream and fling himself at the demonic bird. Ironheart didn't want to let another drop of human blood spilled, but how? Then he realized a way to do it. As soon as the harpies passed he pulled the girl out from under the bush. “I have an idea”

One hour later the girl (he found out her name was Sadie) and Ironheart met up and put together all the materials. They had built a large magnetic rocket. Tying himself to a pole Ironheart gave the signal. A large yank pulled him so hard he almost flew and smashed his head into the rocket. But the chain held fast. Harpie after harpie hit the side of the rocket, straining against the pull of the magnet but could not get off. The air was thick with flying metal. Finally the iron lord pinged through the air hissing like a snake as he went. “You will regret thisss you soft hearted hippogrthhh” He hissed. “3, 2, 1, LIFT OFF” he shouted his voice booming. Sadie hit the big red pulsing button and the rocket soared into the sky. Ironheart felt the chain's links break apart and heard the screams of Sadie as he lifted up, up, up into the sky and slammed hard into the side of the rocket. But it nothing mattered anymore, there was no hope for him now. All the screams died down as they all melted together into a hot, melting mass of iron. Their screams of terror melted together in a big ringing metallic noise. Back down on earth, everyone was cleaning the streets and checking for the wounded and dead so that they could be taken to their families. The mayor was the first to die and then his whole family had followed so they had no leader. The king and queen the whole royal bloodline was slowly wiped out.

In the middle of the scrapyard a small crumpled figure sat shaking and sobbing with all her might. The only person that saw her was a traffic warden who was clearing the area. “Are you alright dear?” she asked kindly. “No. My only friend, he saved us. The Iron Hippogriff. He saved me! And us all. I have nothing left of him but this old chain” she sobbed. The traffic warden noted something on her phone, then said “You have more than that left of him, you have his memory. Who are your parents? Where are they now?”. “Their names are Arabella and Cambell Chadwick. But my father, he is gone now. He was taken prisoner just before me. I don’t think he survived” she sobbed tears rolling down her dirty cheeks. Then from out of the shadows crawled a man, his clothing dirtied and frayed. His face lit up in a wide smile as his eyes reached Sadie. “Daddy!” she cried out, the man drawing her into a deep hug. “It's over. Finally over”

THE END

Clara's Story

“How’s the weather up there?” someone asked. “How’s it going fur face?” “Gutless” some other high school kids yelled. Timmy shuffled down the hall to his locker. He put his backpack inside and then started trudging down the hall to class. After his teacher called out the roll she announced that spot trial sign ups were today.

“ You all start P.E this week” She called after them. Timmy had P.E after break. When the teacher mentioned this he felt his stomach drop into nothingness and his face went white. Timmy looked ghastly. Another student approached him.

“Are you feeling alright?” Then she whispered “I don’t want to do P.E either” Timmy looked surprised. “By the way my name is Phoebe.” She shyly put out her hand. Timmy shook it. “I’m Timmy and I’m glad someone else hates P.E”

Timmy was a 6ft lion and he had a thick bushy mane and a big toothy grin. His favourite thing to wear was a shirt, shorts and a tie. In the big pineapple, (aka New Lork) in the city of Danhattan there weren't many talking lion families around so a lot of the time Timmy’s family got teased and it was hard for Timmy to make friends. There were only three other lion families in Danhattan and the children in their households were only cubs. Also, people always thought that Timmy looked scary.

“Diiiinggg” The bell rang and now it was time for the worst subject ever. Physical Education. But at least his new friend, Phoebe was in his class. That made it a little bit better but not a lot. “Ok, P.E class.” Mrs Donalds said. “This term we will be practicing catching and throwing because we will be looking at rugby. Right, I need someone to do a demonstration for me” She looked around her class and pointed straight at Timmy. “ Ok, come up here and I will show you how to score a try in rugby.” Timmy slowly got up and moved to stand next to where the teacher was standing. Some people whispered rude things to him as he walked past, but Phoebe kept encouraging him. Mrs Donald whispered something to him and as soon as she threw him the ball he raced all the way to the other end of the court with the ball still in his hands and touched the ball down on the line. The entire gym class was in shock and then suddenly everyone started cheering, “Well done” and “Great job”

After class Mrs Donalds raced after him. She asked him if he was trying out for the rugby team and his reply was “Absolutely not”

“why”

Grace's Story

Once upon a time there was a cat scientist named Jeremy.

“ Yo yo Jesbo! Hi there, mad cat scientist!” These were pretty much the only things Jeremy heard one cold morning in Catville as he raced up and down the hallway. It was December the twentieth and Jeremy was hard at work creating a robotic lady for him to spend Christmas with. He was almost finished, he just needed to attach her feet, then he was done.

A few hours later Jeremy was sitting on his couch testing his new robot, Clarissa. She had rose coloured hair with razor-sharp horns sticking out of her head, she had indigo rocket boots and a sky blue dress with a dragonfly on it.

Jeremy was tired so he went to bed and didn’t wake up until half past seven the next morning.

He went to work and had an uneventful morning and a boring lunch, but at three o’clock his mood changed. The most beautiful cat he had ever seen walked through the door to his office, she said to him “hi, I’m Cheesey and apparently I’m sharing an office with you now, so where should I put my stuff?” “Over on the other desk maybe?” Jeremy replied questioningly. Cheesey sat on her chair and started arranging her stuff nicely. “ would you like some help?” Jeremy asked “ yes please” replied Cheesey happily. So they spent the rest of the day sorting out Cheesey’s things and joking like they had known each other for years.

When it was time for Jeremy to go home he invited Cheesey over for dinner and she accepted. For dinner they had lasagne and afterwards Cheesey stayed for a film.

Then there was a disaster. Clarissa malfunctioned, spraying oil and sparks everywhere, she flew around the room, her rocket boots knocking everything over, she flew above jeremy and Cheesey, they ducked and crawled to the door with Cheesey, surprised that they had made it out alive.

Cheesey asked if Jeremy wanted to go to her house to finish the film, he said yes, so they went to Cheesey’s house and finished the film with popcorn and lemonade. The next day at work, Cheesey brought in more stuff for their office and made it beautiful, with a new coat of white paint and blue-green cushions and new white desks each with a new turquoise lamp. Jeremy was amazed, he had never seen his office look so good! That was when he realised he needed a house makeover.

The end

Joe's Story

A mysterious figure as quiet as a mouse as he snuck into the royal bone home to commit a terrible crime. Quickly sneaking the mysterious figure took the dead queen's arm from her coffin and quickly snuck out as sneakily as possible.

The city’s best private detective Sea dog hurried up the long drive to the bone home in his fishades fis fish 1 to get the information to his mission. Pulling up to the parking lot the private detective Sea dog climbed out of his car that cost him a whopping 2.543 million fishy coins. Knocking on the castle's grand front door, Sea dog was greeted by the royal family’s chief butler who said “follow me up to the living room”. Finally the top of the seemingly never ending stairs Sea dog saw the royal family’s 208 flipper foshfung tv. The king greeted Sea dog and said in a sad sounding tone “the dead queen fishy’s arm was stolen last night”. The king who is called fosssssh told Sea dog the motives of the three suspect’s. The suspect’s were evil snail, his motive is he wants to increase his wifi signal at all costs and the queen's bones can receive a very refined signal. There’s fish of death, his motive is he needs money and fast. It might be him because the queen’s arm is worth a lot of money. Last but not least is the sea crab of death, his motive is he will do anything to cause suffering and pain. The reason Sea dog was called in to solve this mystery instead of anybody else is because he punches bad people for fun, he eats poop because he’s a dog and they eat poop. He also is very good at punching people in the nose so hard it will go into their face and they will die a very painful death. The last reason is he’s very accurate in the art of shooting poo in a straight stream from is butt. So off Sea dog set to go and interrogate his first suspect, the sea crab of death.

Pulling up to the sea crab of death's coffin home Sea dog felt the normal blood and guts sensation you get when you are close to the sea crab of death's coffin house. Pushing as hard as he could, Sea dog busted open the door to the sea crab of death‘s coffin, struggling against all the guts of the latest animals and prisoners the sea crab of death had eaten, noticing that there were no pools of blood on them indicating that somebody had walked over them lately. Anxiously moving like anybody would if you were in the sea crab of death’s coffin home Sea dog spotted the sea crab of death, Sea dog tentatively moved towards him and tapped him on the back feeling his cold hard skin and as the sea crab of death turned Sea dog thought the water around went cold as the sea crab of death creepily smiled at him. The sea crab of death was a massive coconut crab and was as big as a dustbin and as solid as a rock. Nervously Sea dog started to ask questions like “where were you last night”? And “do you know anybody else who might be involved with the murder”? The only two answers that Sea dog thought would be worth noting was “I wAs aT hOMe riPpInG aParT Leftover SpiNeS TO eAt tHe JuiCy NERVES iNsIde”. And “ I saW FisH Of DeaTh IN tHe Bone pAlaCe ParKinG LOt. Sea dog thought the fish of death being in the parking lot of the bone home was pretty suspicious but before going to his house he went to the evil snail's house.

Reaching the evil snail's house which was just an abandoned aerial tower Sea dog approached the tower. At the window Sea dog saw a bone and some flesh which made him think to himself I’ve got him, I've got him. Sea dog knocked quickly and quietly hoping he would be able to catch the arm thief red handed, literally evil snail had red hands! Evil snail came to the door as fast as he could, which wasn’t very fast because he is a snail to answer it. Evil snail jumped in fright as he saw Sea dog nearly break the door as he cart wheeled in heading right to the window where he had seen the bones and flesh or what he thought he saw. At closer inspection, Sea dog saw the ‘bones and flesh’ was just some electrical wires and wooden planks. Apologising quickly because evil snail wasn’t really that evil Sea dog left to go to the fish of death’s hole to interrogate him.

One last time Sea dog drove his car to the fish of death’s hole in the ground that he called home. But when Sea dog arrived the fish of death wasn’t there so he decided to get back in his car and wait. Just as he sat down in his car he got a text on his seahorse fishnova phone that the king wanted him to come to the royal bone home right now and stay the night there to make sure no other body parts were taken. So off Sea dog set off for the last time for the day in his fishades fis fish 1. Or so he thought.

Coming up the long driveway to the bone home once more Sea dog saw the butler in the parking lot with the dead queen’s lost arm! The way Sea dog knew this was the real dead queen's lost arm and not a fake is because Sea dog was an intelligent dog and was shown a picture of the arm in the royal living room. Sea dog reacted with his lightning fast reflexes by stopping his car and shooting a small sticky poop onto the butler's feet to stop him from moving. Sea dog then loudly shouted for the bone home guards since they were coming out to guard the castle for the night. Sea dog could see the guards Quickly running to him so he briefly told them what happened and what they had to do. The guards then arrested the butler and took him to the dungeon where he would eventually get sent to the crab of death's coffin and be eaten by him also so he could be interrogated by Sea dog.

Down in the deep, dark depths of the dungeon Sea dog and the butler whose name was the fish butt was being interrogated by Sea dog. Sea dog asked a few questions like “why did you take the dead queen’s arm”? And “why did you think you would get away with this?

The fish butt replied “I took the queen’s arm because I want to cause panic and as many suicides as possible”. The suicides are because the dead queen is sacred to the fish people and if anything is wrong with the dead queen it would make the fish people sad enough to commit suicide. He also said “I didn’t want to get away with this, I just want people to die”. The reason the fish butt wants to cause death is because he is a sadist. That was the end of the interrogation so Sea dog said to the guards “Chuck him to the sea crab of death, I never want to see his ugly face again”…

Luca's writing

There he was the robot with only himself to keep him company. No one knew where he came from even he himself didn’t know where he came from he said that he just woke up in the middle of a forest. The robot longed for two things: a home and some friends that understood him, neither of those things he had ever had.

Slowly the robot walked through the forest looking for apples, pears and lots of different fruits to gather for those were his only fuel. Suddenly he saw something furry scurry across the dirt path the robot chased after the creature but it was way too fast so the robot gave up. Slowly the seasons changed and fruit was harder to find, the robot started to feel quite ill and it ran behind a tree before his body started to shut down first his arms stopped working, then his legs and before he knew he was just a pile of metal laying on the ground. The robot was asleep for months, then one day when the furry creature was taking a stroll through the forest he spotted the robot and gathered lots of fruit to feed him, the creature waited and waited for the robot to wake up but since it was a robot it took a whole month for the robot to digest the fruit when the robot finally woke up the furry creature ran away.

But since the robot had been asleep for months when it woke up his vision was very blurry. The robot cried “help” and the furry shy creature came out of hiding and came up to the robot. Slowly the robot's vision came back and the robot realised that the furry creature was a cat. When the robot and the cat became more familiar with each other the cat then directed the robot to the place where the cat stayed at an old abandoned cottage the robot and the cat became good friends. The robot gave the cat a name he named him jimmy.

Then one night a dog that had been possessed by its owner attacked Jimmy and ran off into the forest. Jimmy was badly wounded and the robot had to use his medical skills to help heal Jimmy’s wound. Once jimmy was fully healed the friends set off to find the dog after a while of walking the friends found a cave and inside it was about ten animals in cages but one of the cages were empty that must have been the dogs cage because a dog was laying on the ground being beaten with a whip by its owner. The robot then pulled out his missiles he had installed earlier that day the robot then shot the owner and saved the animals.

The robot gave all the animals names they were Jack, Bart, Lucas, Eve, Sammy, Rio, Bob, Pascal, Seb and Amelia. They all loved different things Jack loved drawing, Lucas loved building with the robot, Eve loved books, Sammy was addicted to tv, Rio loved playing ball with the robot, Bob loved games like monopoly (and he always wanted to be the dog), pascal loved playing hide and seek, Seb loved music and wanted to be a conductor and Amelia loved dolls. They were a happy family and lived happily ever after.

Monty's Writing

A flash of bright light. And in the middle of a field, not far from a small town the iron man appeared.he was standing as still as a statue, taller than a tree, and was as wide and broad as a bookshelf. He must’ve weighed a ton, being made completely out of metal. With his eyes glowing and his joints creaking the wind blew and twirled around his shiny

he looked around, wondering where he was. His large, iron head swivelled round and saw the bright lights coming from the town.

Curious, the iron man strode towards the town, each step a couple feet long. Luckily it was night, so no one was around. The iron man was able to see with his infrared vision and found his way onto a street. Not long afterwards he had found something that had caught his attention- a street lamp. He closely examined the tall metal pole. He tapped it, he kicked it, he poked it. Whatever it was, it wasn't very interesting. Were these the people of this world? Maybe. Further down the road he spotted a gas station, and walked towards it. He stopped beside the forecourt and saw the pumps and paying box. These things didn’t seem very interesting either. Then a robotic voice boomed- “nothing that interesting on this planet,it should be taken out of the archives.”

Then,into thin air, it disappeared once more.

Ruben's Writing

CLUNK, CLANG rusty metal banged together as destruction 2000 ran stiffly through the forest at an alarming pace, taking down small trees as he went. Destruction 2000’s microchip was at the brink of flying away, then soon he was to be a free clump of trash and weapons. The flail in his hand whacked away any unnecessary shrubbery or tree. If he continues at this rate there could be a road fit for a monster truck or even a plane runway. His cricket pads were starting to rip and split, as so were the gloves. Destruction 2000’s ammo stacks were flooded with explosive bullets that fitted well into the two m-9s that were slotted in between the belts. He stopped, with his supersonic hearing he could just make out the cry of a tiger calling to its cubs a few hundred yards away, drawing his sword Destruction 2000 crept silently but steadily toward the animal. Soon he was 10 yards 5 yards 2 yards then SHING. HOWL.

Silence.

The slaughtered animal lay on the forest floor cold still.

Wet Mos spattered on the sticks. Destruction 2000 had shredded the tiger skin and used it for a roof on his homemade campsite while the tiger meat was over the fire. Sparks crackled and spat out like an aggressive, wild animal trying to catch something faster than it.

The later it got Destruction 2000 started to feel woozy and a bit sick. “Battery’s low, battery’s low” a voice beeped ”battery’s low”. Destruction 2000 felt like getting his axe from the pouch on his back and hacking open his chest to get that voice out of his System; it drove him up the wall.

The sound of the fast flowing river around him was like someone singing, a few seconds later Destruction 2000 fell to his knees, closed his ugly metal eyes as the long recharge started.

Dr. Depression woke up startled, his nightmare had been long and bad about a robot that ran through the forest waving a flail destroying everything, slaughtered a tiger and collapsed of battery loss and also made a hut by a river that was fast flowing. Then Dr. Depression realised something, the robot in his dreams was the robot he first created, Destruction 2000. Although his microchip had fallen off it must have stuck to an arm. That’s why the vision was not from the Neck, thought Dr. Depression.

Luckily he had been tracking Destruction 2000 for a while now and Dr. Depression knew Destruction 2000 was a long way from home. Fiddling with his long grubby fingers, each one fit with a centimetre long nail with dirt underneath look in the mirror only to see an old ugly face staring back at him. The twinkle in his brown eyes had gone away long ago and his lips were all cracked and bloody. His hair was just pin pricks all the way round the dandruff full skull. His ears were rather large but Dr. Depression was surprisingly deaf, probably because of all the work with loud Machines. His sweater was old and torn with massive holes; it was not really a sweater at all. It was the same story as his pants. They were grey with dust and were torn as much as his sweater. Not that you could see them under the black smudged lab coat. Then Dr. Depression remembered something; he had been tracking Destruction 2000 for a few months and had had time to make another robot…

Destruction 2000 woke up, to a voice beeping “full charge, full charge, full char…

The voice never finished, Destruction 2000 had got his axe, hacked open his chest and ripped out the cord. Although Destruction 2000 had not been programmed feelings he let out this sound that sounded like a dustbin being dragged without wheels.it had been raining last night and the river had flooded, causing Destruction 2000 to be on an island which was a problem because he had not been built waterproof, nor had any idea how to make a boat or a raft. As the water rose slowly higher and higher, closer and closer to the camp. Destruction 2000 was suddenly whisked away into the air held by a robot that looked exactly like him. Destruction 2000 drew his m-9 and pointed it at the mysterious robot. click-click BANG click-click BANG click-click Destruction 2000 loaded but never fired. There was no point, the new robot had to be invincible.

Anna's Writing

He whizzed and clunked. Completely unaware, he continuously munched. Crunch, crunch, munch. The dew-soaked grass tasted tantalising. Something clunked again. His head abruptly lifted, startling the birds and bees and around him. Smoke weaved around his rope-like tail. The beast stared through his startling eyes and dashed for the large pond ahead of him. His hoofs dug into the rich soil and he struck to a halt. He carefully dipped his tail in the biting blue. It was a worried clunk. His tail flew to the bottom without remembering the carnivorous fish only yards away. Something sharp hit his hard and shiny skin. Enraged, the creature uplifted his tail and raced through the meadow. He roared and everything shook and fell silent. The Only sound was the gentle hum of the bees fluttering to the nearest flower. The fish let go. The piece of metal stamped and a river of steam made a wild escape through his hard snout. “Nerves. Very interesting…” Muffled a small voice appearing to be from the bush. All the attention hit the voice like a bullet. A scramble through the bushes and the figure was gone. He didn’t bother to chase it, although he had no idea what it was. But the sky had lay down to rest now and the thousands of peering eyes watched over, guarding the empty, vast sky.

The birds sang like an orchestra. Their wings flapped and thumped like an instrument playing. All was full and happy again. The bull lay still at the strike of dawn though. A rope net was thrown over the humongous body, encasing the bull in a trap. The bull awoke. His hoofs pushed and he poked his huge iron horns at it but it still stayed unharmed. It was happening again, smoke wrapping around his tail. The ruby flames burned through the rope easily and the bull was safe. But the voice wasn’t finished. It chased and it chased but the bull was immune. He pulled a rectangle-shaped lump of metal out from his pocket and spoke. “Mission failed. Commonsense operation iron” Reported the figure. A tremendously big helicopter uplifted into the clouds. It was chopping the air into thinner, more artificial pieces. A rope threaded down. Soldiers dressed in camouflage patterns slid down the rope landing thoroughly on the lush emerald grass. “Let’s get this over and done with. CYBER903 COME HERE” Shouted an exploding and certainly angry voice through a red and white megaphone. “He’s getting away!” Confirmed the first soldier. “Then chase him you fool!” Spat the second. A stampede of men jumped towards the bull. The bull was still but puffing smoke. His tail lit again but he didn’t care. His attention was encasing around the soldiers. It was colder than ice. It was like an arrow piercing your skin. They still charged and threw more nets around him. Frightened, he squirmed his ginormous body in circles while he kicked and poked. His tail came through. It didn’t seem to burn these ropes. They were harder. Older. “Aren’t Cow skin best. Told you’s” Scoffed a hollow voice in the back of the hoard. “Three, two, one!” Something as sharp as the fish pierced through the metal. His huge, overlooking eyes closed slowly as he fell onto the ground. “Mission successful”

Chapter two

The air smelled hard and mistreated. “What’s he been eating?” Thundered a close voice. “What’s around him sir. Grass mainly” Squealed a voice. “Stupid bull.” Muttered the impressively angry voice. “That idiot.” The mad voice said rather rudely. “I wish he was here so I could slap him” It was very obvious that this man was rude and ungrateful. The bull opened his eyes slowly. The room was clearly surrounded by layers of hard metal. There was a spotlight on an oak desk. Apart from that the room was pitch black. A man sat at the desk writing what looked like a letter. “Awake! Such a weakling for a bull” It spat. He was lying on a plank of wood, held down by the same hazardous ropes. His mouth was strapped shut as if he would bite. The man stopped writing and stood up. “You are military property. Owned by the U.S.S” The bull tried to roar. Only a murmuring sound came out. “You try. And you fail. You go up. And you come down.” He weighed the pressure of the conversation “It’s all the same. Robert here has put a tracker in you and we know where you are, and where you will go.” Robert waved shyly in the background. By now the bull had broken free of his ropes and had made a break for it. Although scared he made a break for his imprisoned life. “Uh Uh… no breaking free. Your mine. My horrific, hostile monster” Poked and slashed, ripped and tore but The bull couldn’t get through. His tail lit, surprised, the man angrily spoke again. “I see what you mean Robert. More exotic” The door flung open. The silver bull threw himself out. His hoofs pounded on the cold, frosted floor making a repeated pattern. He ran like the wind through the clouds of marching soldiers. It was like being infected, each time a soldier was near the bull they chase after it. His horns ripped open the titanium gates and he powered through the open. This was not the lush meadow He had been hoping for. It was bare, naked. The happy conversations that usually passed through tree branches were now quiet rumours plodding through snapped twigs. The grass was yellow and as short as the annoying red ants that marched like the soldiers did. No bees or birds fluttered through the new growing trees. It was like winter, chewing on every remnant of life. He stood, the soldiers caught on but he realized he had to pull through his body grew magnificent, rising flames. They left a trail of pain burning through the nothingness. He charged through the empty shadow of a meadow. There was a bush up ahead. He trampled on carcasses of unsuspected rodent citizens of this pathetic bush. He stopped. It was magnificent. His bush. The birds and the bees hummed their hi earthly tune. He was home again, At last.

The end by Anna Gifford

St Albans School

Day two

The air was fresh. Crisp but natural. The sky glistened with the sun’s earthly glow. It was the day to decide a president

‘1910 PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE’ flags would wave in the clouds, colours flying. Citizens were out on the streets parading in their shades of hope. The energy danced around the city leaving a trail of joy wherever it went. Reporters were buzzing like bees collecting nectar in a flower patch.

The irritated maid had trouble with all the footprints on the floor.

A man walked through the doorway, he was tall and mysterious. His footprints were huge and looked un-human. He wore a huge brown coat covering his body and a vast sun hat that was weighed down almost on purpose. His shoes were clumpy and large.

“Mister President sir, you can not go undercover forever.” Urged the maid. “Margrett, be quiet. Those reporters are like dogs! They can sniff out any secret in their way” Spat the man. “How’s Ilsa? Is she okay or have the reporters got through to her too?” He asked. “She’s fine. It’s time you go stand up to the reporters anyway!” Scowled Margrett.

“Never…” He Hissed as he snuck into the next room ahead of him.

In this room was a baby girl. She lay asleep. The room was warm and cozy. Pictures dressed the room overlooking her protection. Stuffed animals lined her cot and piled in one corner forming what looked like a pyramid. The President muttered something about her. Then he snuck out of the room gently closing the door behind him.

“Mister President!” “Sir! I have some questions for you”

“Mr. Gilbere!” A camera flash blinded him, he ran like the wind. Not looking at which room he was going in, he opened an old and tattered looking door and jumped in. This was the basement door. He tumbled in head first, the immense pain swelling in his head. The spokesman heard the crash and ran in. Shortly afterwards the maid came in with a camera.

“Help me!” cried the spokesman. So the maid rushed out to find help. Down in the basement spiders, were huge, dangerous ones. One with a red streak across its hairy back edged towards them. It dropped slowly onto the president. It crawled over the motionless body tapping its sharp legs. It was dark and the spokesman was sitting by the president only feeling heat. The spider crawled into the left pocket of the president's waistcoat. Its web fell onto the spokesman’s lap.

Everything was silent. The spokesman plucked at it and threw it across the still room. He flew up the broken stairs and out into the filled hallway, he slammed the door behind him noisily startling the citizens that made the hallway look like a flowing river bouncing over rocks.

The maid returned with several nurses and one man who looked incredibly strong. The man that was incredibly strong lifted the president up the stairs with ease. The way he did it made it look like anyone could do it. The president was put in an ambulance. Strangely the ambulance blended in with the vibrant rainbow citizens.

As the sun lay down to rest the eyes of the sky lit up again watching over the city. The celebration settled and all was still.

The sun rose up like a ball being thrown across the enlightened sky. The president was well again and all was normal. He returned to the government and switched on the television.

“President Robert Gilbere has been elected and will now have four years in office.” Buzzurt. He switched the channel

“The president has returned to office!” Buzzurt.

“Mister President. If you are watching television right now we suppo-” Buzzurt.

The president strolled out and went into the baby’s room. She was there but Robert could not see her face. He pulled the cover gently down so he could see her smiling face. He peered down but couldn’t her at all.

He gasped dramatically at the empty sheets then sprinted out onto the roaring streets. Traffic was piled up but that didn’t stop. He ran through the red, silver and black cars in total rage. He quietly stopped on the ripped sidewalk. An old restaurant was in front of him. Starving, he went inside.

The air was heavy, musty and damp. No one was inside the broken-down building. Suddenly The president felt a tingling feeling in his pocket.

He stood as cold as ice and as still as a statue. The hairy, delicate legs danced across his vertical body. The room seems to come dark as if someone had turned off the light, which they had.

“Well, well, well, Robert, what do we have here? You're stuck in your spot and me free to move. Such a pity, such a pity.” A figure spat. His voice seemed to bounce off the walls. The spider had now reached his neck, contacted, the president was so frightened he just mumbled in reply. The door slammed shut.

The spokesman came into the small abandoned shop. “Just you and my old friend…” He teased. The spider climbed like a ballerina up his chin.

“Wondering where your baby girl has gone?” the spider crawled up to the nose. “I know where she is…”

Robert’s face tightened.

The spider took its time walking over to his ear. “Want to know?” It reached the ear.

“I know everything” It poked at it. Another mumble from the president. The spider slowly but surely slid cleanly inside of his ear…

Core Ed Visit

A group of our Techie Kids were very lucky and had the chance to work with some people from Core Ed to help develop our understanding of the Digi Awards and how these will be judged in 2021.

We had lots of fun exploring ideas and discovering new filming techniques. .

2021 - STREAM in Action

The children in Kāhu are all having a turn at working with Sam in the STREAM Room - Room 25.

STREAM is Science, Technology, Robotics, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics.

We learned about the design process and used this to help solve the problem.

Kāhu are taking turns - check out the photos and challenges below.

2020 Highlights

Epro8 Competition

The EPro8 Challenge is an engineering and problem solving competition. Every year over 10,000 students from 800 schools from throughout New Zealand take part.

In Term 3 we put together 3 Epro8 teams:

• Rooms 15/16 The St Albans GONKS: Gus, Harry, Neave and Henry

• Rooms 17/18 The Big Brain Bunch: Dylan, Ben, Zeke and Jamie

• Rooms 20/21 The Nickin McChuggets Sarah, Ruben, Harry and Leo

Preparation: During term 2 the teams came together to practice developing their STEM skills with our newly purchased STEM kits. During this time the teams were also developing their ability to work well as a team in preparation for the Term 3 Regional Challenge.

Challenge: Due to Covid 19 this year the competition was held at school and entries were videoed and sent in for judging along with a 1 page report. Each team was challenged to create a robotic creature for the ‘Mayors new zoo’ all the while ensuring they met the challenge guidelines and rules!

Congratulations to all 3 teams who created 3 amazing creatures:

Jamal the Owl, Flumo the Octopus and Crocomotor the Crocodile.

A BIG Congratulations to all our teams for their wonderful creations. An extra congratulations to the two St Albans teams who have qualified for the Canterbury semi- finals: The St Albans Gonks who created Flumo the Octopus and The Big Brain Brunch who created Jamal the Owl. The semi finals will be held at Kaiapoi North School on Tuesday 1st September: 9.30-12.30pm. Good luck to both our teams.

Meet the St Albans Epro8 teams for 2020

The EPro8 Challenge is a competition, an engineering and problem solving race.

Every year over 10,000 students from 900 schools from throughout New Zealand

take part. Next term St Albans have 3 teams entered representing the 3 year ⅚ hubs.

Rms 15/16 Team 1 : Harry, Gus, Henry, Neave

Rms 17/18 Team 2: Jaime, Zeke, Dylan, Ben

Rms 20/21 Team 3: Harry, Ruben, Leo, Sarah

These teams will have a week to complete their challenges.

Teams compete to:

build large sized structures

solve practical problems

engineer using pulleys, motors, gears, wheels and axles

invent machines that can complete simple tasks

undertake unusual and fun experiments.

construct basic electronic circuits.

solve interesting problems using practical maths