What a strange start to the Summer Term.
We arrived at school this morning to find that there were branches and sawdust scattered down the path leading to school! Where did they come from?
Throughout school there was sawdust and more logs – further evidence that something peculiar had happened.
During assembly, Mr. Guest asked if anyone knew anything about the appearance of these logs. No-one did! Mr. Guest was quite annoyed as the cleaners had been in over the Easter holidays and had cleaned the school and it was now messed up. He had asked Mrs Hughes, facilities manager, to check the CCTV to see if she could shed any light on the situation.
During the assembly Mr. Guest kept getting interrupted by different members of staff. At approximately 9.10am and then at every 2-3 minutes intervals there will be interruptions as follows:
Miss Mills: Mr. Guest – I’m really sorry to interrupt your assembly but it’s a bit of an emergency- all of the paper has gone missing and I can’t do any photo copying for the classes. There was loads of paper before the holidays!
Mrs Hughes: I’ve looked through the CCTV like you asked and there appears to be a large brown thing that has been cutting the trees down.
Mrs. Baldock: Sorry, can I have Mr. Smart please there is an urgent call for him for from the police station. [Mr. Smart left the assembly and then returned]
Mr. Smart: Sorry to interrupt Mr. Guest but that was the police on the phone. They want us to ask the children if they have seen a bear! There has been reports of one in the local area!
Mrs. Baldock: Sorry to interrupt again but this parcel has just been delivered and it said it must be given to you and the children immediately.
In the parcel was a letter that Mr. Guest read out to the school.
It read:
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Sunday 12th April 2015
Dear Colebourne Primary School,
I am writing to you to ask you for your help. Recently I have been in a spot of trouble with the police and am not sure how to make things better.
As you may have noticed, there is a lack of paper in your school and I have to confess that it was me who ‘borrowed’ it. I’m not going to tell you why because I want you to read my story to find out. I’ve also got into trouble because I keep chopping trees down (hence the logs around your school). To get out of this mess, I have left some ideas of how you can help me. These are included in the envelope.
I need you to know that I am not a bad bear and that I’ve just made a silly mistake. I’ve even seen some wanted posters with my face on them. I really hope that you can help me.
Yours sincerely,
The Bear
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There was also an envelope for each year group and a copy of the book, The Great Paper Caper by Oliver Jeffers. The front cover had a picture of the Bear!
All the children went back to their classes to find out what was inside their envelopes…