The Lost Locket: A Magical Day in Forest School

By Allan Marsh

On a sunny afternoon in June, four of Mrs. Johnson’s students—Blogger, Petal, Amira, and Billy—attend Forest School. Each child is asked to explore Forest School, discovering the fantastic creatures living in this outside environment. When they return to the willow circle to compare notes, Petal realizes her precious locket has gone missing.

Together, they undertake a frantic search, but because of the time, Mrs. Johnson has to call off the hunt. Petal’s grandmother gave her that locket right before she died, so Petal refuses to give up and so do her faithful classmates. They have no idea the magic that’s about to occur.

Secretly, their teacher Mrs. Johnson is Kayla, the Good Witch of all Forest Schools. Kayla transports the four children to a different dimension where they enlist the help of a mystical grasshopper named Dylan. The kids have two days to find the locket and return home. If they’re late, they’ll be trapped in a different dimension forever!

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Feb 24, 2021
• ISBN: 9781665516419

Allan Marsh

Allan Marsh spent fifty years working at various architectural firms. He is now Deputy Chair of Governors at Leigh St. Mary’s Church of England Primary School. There, he assists with the magical Forest School: a learning environment that teaches children about the wonders of our planet while acting out subjects they learn in class such as Viking Day, Anglo Saxon Day, and Roman Day.

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Copyright © 2021 Allan Marsh. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 02/24/2021

ISBN: 978-1-6655-1637-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-1638-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-1641-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021902571

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Dedication to Callum Lee Peers

Preface

Cast of Characters

Prologue

Chapter 1   The School Day Begins

Chapter 2   Forest School Begins

Chapter 3   The Lost Locket

Chapter 4   Kayla – Witch Protector of all Forest Schools

Chapter 5   Day One in Woodland

Jackson

Dylan

Captain Oliver & Sargent Adam

Monsieur Remy & Family

Stevie Pricks

The Willow Tunnel

Geldof

Queen Kateryn & General Sting

Boris & Jeremy

Logstock, The Stag Beetles & Dylan’s Farewell

The Jacaranda at The Hotel California

Chapter 6   Day Two In Woodland

Logtown

Jingles

Dev Boy & Joggers

The Trip to Eden

Einstein

Chapter 7   Back Home

Song Titles etc.

Dedication to Callum Lee Peers

On the 18th.May 2020, I heard of the passing of a young child, Callum Lee Peers. Just a week earlier, on 13th. May 2020, Callum was 11 years old. Callum was suffering from Neuroblastoma, a terrible form of cancer and was being treated by the wonderful people at GOSH. Last September, after being touched by his story and along with a few others, I took part in a sponsored walk from Anfield, Liverpool, back to Leigh, approximately 21 miles. This was to raise funds towards Callum’s treatment. Callum was a big Liverpool FC fan. Despite all of Cullum’s problems and they were massive problems, you only ever saw this young child with a massive smile on his face, never banging on the desk claiming that life had dealt him a bad hand. He loved life and was not afraid to let the world know.

On Saturday 16th.May Callum, who had been rushed into hospital, finally had no strength left to fight this horrible disease and unfortunately he passed away. He will now be delighting the Angels in Heaven. I only met Callum once, but through his wonderful family’s Facebook postings, it was as though I had known him forever. I was absolutely heartbroken at the loss of such a truly wonderful young soul.

This publication is a story of mystical magic in our school’s Forest School, based around four children, a mercurial teacher and a mystical grasshopper. It is supposed to make you smile and fill you with intrigue as the story unfolds. I would like to think that Callum would have enjoyed the story and I dedicate it to him and his wonderful family. Callum, God must have known how special you were and still are. You are now in his care, the bravest soldier that I have known. R.I.P. Callum.

Preface

I am Deputy Chair of Governors at Leigh St Mary’s C E Primary School, a school in Leigh, Greater Manchester, that is very dear to my heart. It is staffed by a truly wonderful team consisting of, Head Teacher, Teachers, Teaching Assistants and other staff, who all work tirelessly, seeing that all our children get the best education and support, which, sometimes, is very challenging.

Nevertheless, irrespective of those challenges, no pupil is ever cast aside and irrespective of the cost, our wonderful staff give all the support necessary to all children, making sure they not only feel safe, but know that they will receive a fabulous education to carry them forward, in good stead for when they enter into secondary education.

One thing that I do at school, is help as assistant to Mrs Johnson in our wonderful and magical Forest School, an outside environment that is the envy of other Primary Schools in the area. It is a learning environment helping to teach the children about the wonders of our planet. Forest School is also used as a tool, to act out subjects the children are learning in class, such as Viking Day, Anglo Saxon Day, Roman Day and the like.

At the moment I, like most people am living in ‘lock down’ during this awful pandemic. Whist engaging in a telephone conversation with Mrs Johnson, I jokingly said that, as it looks like school may be closed until at least the end of June, I should write a story about a day of magical fantasy in Forest School. She took me up on that challenge so, as a completely unprepared amateur – hear we go.

I should add that this publication is also a tribute to our fabulous Forest School Practitioner, Mrs Johnson, aided not only by myself, but also Mrs Javenbar, who just quietly carries on with all tasks in- hand and Mr. Gee, our ever willing parent helper. Also, we must not forget all the fabulous teachers, staff and of course the children of Leigh St Mary’s.

I have always had the capacity to dream and I find it hard to switch my mind off. Believe me, I have some crazy dreams. That is possibly the reason why I don’t sleep very much, my crazy mind goes into overdrive until, I suppose, fatigue sets in and I drift off into the land of normality. Although, not in every case, but in the main, my ‘dreams’ are usually about being with someone who is very special to me and to be honest, I believe that without these dreams I would not be sat here now.

One reason why I took on this challenge was, for a few hours a day, it gave the me the opportunity to forget about what is going on in the world at this moment and help me pass the time, which, a lot of people just now are struggling to do. Without this, I would in all probability, after doing whatever I do in the mornings and early afternoons, just fade off into my dream world.

So, the first thing I had to consider, was a plot for the story which, me being me, did not take too long. The next thing was to decide on the characters. The children were easy, but I also needed to invent characters to represent the animals and creatures that you find in Forest School. I decided to base them on famous celebrities from the world of entertainment, my world of entertainment and the cast of characters follow on from this preface.

To add a bit of fun and a challenge for whoever reads this crazy story, I have included in the dialogue, song titles or sayings, of the actual real life or sometimes mythical characters. So, let’s see how many you can spot (children may need to consult with their elders).

You will also find that after this page, there is one word you will not find anywhere amongst this publication. That word is ‘basically,’ a word that has a nothing meaning, a word of no use. It is used too often by the youth of this world (and unfortunately older people who should know better). I will show you what I mean:

Basically, what I did was,

Basically, what I said was,

Basically, what I meant was, etc., etc., etc.

Why the need to use this preceding word?

Why not just say ‘What I did was----‘or, What I said was----‘or ‘What I meant was----‘etc., etc., etc.

The word should be expunged from the English Language.

Cast of Characters

Just to give you a clue with regards to the characters

Anyway, with all that out of the way, again, here we go.

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Prologue

It was a sunny Monday afternoon in June when, because none of Mrs Johnson’s helpers were available, it had been decided only four children, Blogger, Petal, Amira and Billy, all from Key Stage 2, could attend Forest School that day.

The lesson outside had started, which included the searching all over Forest School by all four children, for creatures living in this fantastic outside environment, returning to the Willow Circle to discuss the outcome of their search.

When time came to go back into school, Petal was horrified to learn she had lost her precious locket, given to her by her Grandmother just before she passed away. A frantic search of Forest School was carried out by everyone but, because of the time, Mrs Johnson had to call off the search and the locket appeared to be lost. Petal was heartbroken, refusing to leave Forest School until the locket had been found. In a show of unity, Amira, Blogger and Billy also refused to leave Forest School and all four of the children demanded that the search continued.

What happened next was to turn out to be a magical, mystical adventure that these children were going to experience and yet not remember. Or would they?

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Chapter 1

The School Day Begins

It was a beautiful Monday morning in early June at St Mary’s as the children arrived at school. You could hear all the exciting chatter and laughter of these young charges, telling stories of their adventures over the weekend. The hustle and bustle of the younger children running around, playing, as they wait for the doors to be flung open to begin their school day. Parents were chatting, passing time before they exited the playground, some sighing with relief that their children were, for another week, firmly in the charge of the teaching staff in school, allowing them to carry on with their own, no doubt, busy days. However, for four of these children, now starting the new school week, the afternoon of this particular Monday is going to be an afternoon like no other.

The day in school had started just as every other previous Monday. Names were called out:

‘Good Morning Charlie,’ bellowed Mrs Cooper.

‘Good Morning Mrs Cooper,’ came the enthusiastic reply from Charlie and a tick went into the attendance register. Occasionally, there was no reply, so an absent mark was entered. When the register was completed it was taken to the General Office so attendance figures could be recorded.

It was now time for morning assembly in the school hall, usually orchestrated by Mrs Cratchet, the wise and worldly head teacher of St Mary’s. This was an important start to the week, welcoming the children back into school, giving them the chance to settle down after their weekend activities. Following on from assembly, there would be curriculum based lessons, followed by break time, then, back to lessons, eventually arriving at the time for lunch.

It was after lunch that the children attended Forest School.

Forest School was attended by a different class each day, worked out over the school year, so that every class got equal time in this fabulous out door wonderland. It was so structured, that, half of a class attended one week, with the remainder of the same class the week after. Both sections of the class completing the same programme. This was carried out by allocating each class term times, to complete their Forest School allocated periods. However, Monday afternoons were a little different, as only a few special children attended.

Forest School is a fabulous outside environment, where the children are taught the wonders of nature, along with special theme days such as Viking Day, Anglo Saxon Day, Roman Day and so on. These special days follow on from learning about these periods in history in the classroom. The children were shown how to make toys, jewellery, bow and arrows, spears, tools and other items of those times in history and re-enact, under supervision of course, what we will call skirmishes. The children were also allowed free time, with the mud kitchen being the most popular destination. Many a budding chef has arisen from the mud kitchen.

In the charge of Forest School is the mercurial Mrs Johnson, a very passionate Forest School Practitioner. She is normally ably assisted by Mrs Javanbar, a member of the school staff, Mr Marsh, a school governor and enthusiastic parent, Mr Gee. This particular Monday however, was going to work out a little differently, as Mrs Johnson would be abandoned by her team. Mrs Javanbar was needed in another part of the school, Mr Marsh had a hospital appointment and Mr Gee had a family emergency.

Because Mrs Johnson had no assistants today, the number of children who could attend Forest School on this Monday afternoon would, for safety reasons, need to be reduced. There was a decision to be made on which children would attend. After discussing with Mrs Cratchet, it was decided that, instead of the normal eight children who would attend Forest School on a Monday, only four children could attend this day’s afternoon session. The four were chosen, today all from Key Stage 2.

Billy: a somewhat strange boy, as in class he can be quite disruptive and yet, in Forest School, he was quite the gentleman.

Blogger: (not his real name, but the only one he would answer to), who always wants to be in charge, no matter where he is.

Amira: a young girl, quiet by