The Ofsted Inspector, The Blackberry Picker & Why the Hedgehog Knocked

Despite it being an Ofsted day, the session in Wilby Primary School was a real romp - the children were enthusiastic and imaginative and the teacher and the assistants were lovely to work with. It was a real team effort and even the Deputy Head kept escaping from Ofsted to join in. Having got the group to write their own poems about their Suffolk lives, we then chose their best lines to create a group poem. And what emerged was a fun, sad and sometimes surreal picture of Suffolk childhood that was also unnerving and almost disturbing (in a good way). Like a modern country folktale.

I don't know where the 'blackberry picker' and the 'disappearing blackberries' came from but I liked them and how people were complaining about it. It seemed to set the tone for the whole poem. We even had time to order the piece and also come up with a rather amazing title. Who wouldn't want to read a poem called that? The Deputy Head was so excited that she brought the Ofsted Inspector into the classroom at break and show him the poem. He read it slowly, with almost a smile on his face, his hand scratching his chin. He got to the end. 'I don't know what to make of that,' he said, 'but can I take a copy?'

WHY DID THE HEDGEHOG KNOCK? WHY DID THE FOX LIMP? AND WHAT'S GONE WRONG WITH THE CHICKENS? In the churchyard I climb trees to the top swaying back and forth from the wind blowing. This high tree lets me see over three acres of land and the fox in the sunny forest is my favourite thing to spot. People are complaining that the rare endangered blackberry is disappearing. They say it’s the blackberry picker who looks like a chicken and has Einstein hair He turns them into poison. My Mum heard a knock at the door and it was the hedgehog. Lush green grass grows all around Wilby but sadly when winter come it turns to mud. But look! Surprise is a donkey living on a farm. I give him a biscuit that has chocolate on. The old acorn tree stands in my garden, I think it’s never going to die. Amber and Florrie help me through the hard times and I feed mints to Ronnie the pony when he’s sad. I went trekking for my birthday and each time I said go faster, the horse stopped. I have 19 pets including two cats, I love them all even though they’re fat and I also love Yorkshire puddings and pork. Sometimes I hide in my secret den in the bushes near the flooded ditch. I saw a fox near our pond I thought it was going to kill the duck but then I saw it limping. I like the way the wind passes through the trees but I don’t like the four annoying cats that wander round my house. I shoot plates with an air rifle – six in a line, hit one and it explodes! But I can’t stop the Zombie chickens, they claw me and bite me again and again.

Year 4 & 5, Wilby Primary School