Things were not looking good for the Bank Manager when we arrived at Radipole Primary School to work with Year 4T. He was supposed to be joining us for our workshop, but instead we received a rather alarming phone call. The Bank Manager was trapped inside the belly of a whale, his oxygen running low and time running out. Not ideal.
Fortunately, 4T were on hand to help. Their first challenge was to work out exactly how to rescue him, writing a clear set of instructions that would get him out of the whale before his oxygen ran out. There was just one small problem: the instructions needed to be clear enough for someone else to follow.
Luckily, we had a very special guest to help us bring our ideas to life. Illustrator Euan Saunders joined us for the workshop, producing a series of fantastic technical drawings to illustrate the different steps of the rescue operation. You can check out more of Euan’s work on his website.
With the Bank Manager’s rescue plan underway, it was time to turn our attention to some of our own survival situations. And what a collection of emergencies we came up with! Some were genuinely enormous challenges, including how to solve climate change and how to bring back the dinosaurs. Others were a little more domestic, such as how to bake the perfect Victoria sponge, or how to turn yourself into a banana, you know…the usual.
The beauty of a survival guide is that it can tackle absolutely anything. Whether you’re facing a global catastrophe, attempting an impossible feat or simply trying to get a cake out of the oven in one piece. The children in Year 4 threw themselves into the challenge, showing just how much you can do with a little imagination, some careful thinking and a willingness to tackle the impossible.
As ever, we couldn’t have done it without our Marvellous Mentors. A huge thank you to Sue, Clive, Michaela and Trish for all their support throughout the workshop. We’d also like to thank the wonderful staff at Radipole Primary School, particularly Mr Topham, for helping make the session such a success.