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The Sultan’s Elephant On Friday 5th May the children in Upper Nursery were invited by L.I.F.T. (London International Festival of Theatre) to a picnic in St. James’s Park with The Sultan and his Elephant. It was a great privilege to be among only 400 children from all over the country invited to this special event. The children became very involved in the preparation. It began with the use of postcards as a means of communication between the children and their friends at school during the Easter holidays and went on to designing and drawing a postcard from each child to the Sultan. During this time the role play area was converted, with the help of the children, into a Post Office. After the postcards, the children collected together artefacts and photos of the area of London that is important to them, in this case, the area around Dallington School, then placed them in a time capsule, which was decorated with photos of the immediate area. Some of the items the children chose, included a Lego model of an elephant, Mobilo pieces, a toy red London bus and group photos. One child, from each group, was chosen to present the time capsule, to the Sultan, on Horse Guards Parade. On the day, we all travelled by coach through Admiralty Arch, down a closed- off Mall, to the picnic area in St. James’s Park. We were met by two stewards, from LIFT, who escorted and cared for us all through the day. After a relaxing picnic, we all walked to Horse Guards Parade where, with great excitement, we saw The Elephant for the first time. |
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The children were amazed as it was made
of wood and leather and was asleep! After some waiting around, The
Sultan and his extraordinary entourage arrived. The time capsule was
handed over and The Sultan climbed into his house attached to the
top of The Elephant’s back. With music from a live French band
and with the help of ‘puppeteers’, in maroon velvet uniforms,
the elephant began to stir, to open his eyes, to wave his trunk and
tail and gradually to rise to his feet. That is when the true scale
of this pachyderm became obvious. To the wonderment of the children,
he started to ‘eat’ his hay and then to walk around the
parade ground, where the children were sitting. Fortunately, or unfortunately,
we were sitting by The Elephant’s water bowl so, when he stopped
for a drink, he could not resist having fun and spraying the children
with water. As he made his way around the crowd, suddenly different
music could be heard in the distance and, to the children’s
astonishment, a Little Girl ‘dressed in a green dress and red
sandals ‘walked’ into the parade ground. |
 The Elephant greeted the visitor by trumpeting and by washing her feet in a gesture of love. At last, the two time travellers had met. The children were so amazed at this spectacle that they sat silent and open- mouthed. The Little Girl climbed on to her toy scooter and set off down the Mall, The Elephant sat down for a rest and Dallington children went for a walk, to see the mysterious wooden rocket that had landed in Waterloo Place, the day before. It was from the rocket that the Little Girl had emerged a couple of hours previously. The same rocket that she would just as mysteriously leave in, two days later. Everyone returned to schoo,l water- splashed, dusty and tired, but full of what they had seen. Many children persuaded their parents to take them into Central London, over the weekend, to see again The Sultan, his Elephant and The Little Girl. |
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Experiences As the theme for the term is experiences the children have had the opportunity to help change the role play and other areas to complement their experiences. The Post Office evolved into a sorting office, with a red post van, which then changed into a canal boat, as a means of holiday transport and then, as the children were interested in making passports, into a travel agents. Meanwhile, in other parts of the room long-term experiences were happening. The potatoes continued to grow until turned out on the 20th June. http://www.potatoesforschools.org.uk/GYOP/webcam.html The children made sandwiches from the tomatoes and cucumbers they had grown on the windowsills. Quietly, without fuss, but watched over by the children, the painted Lady caterpillars grew and grew and have turned into chrysalises. This will be followed by a visit to the butterfly house at Syon Park and an age- appropriate talk on mini beasts. www.londonbutterflyhouse.com Watch out for the hissing cockroaches, stag beetles, worms etc. that have invaded Upper Nursery! |
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