Swindon Connecting Stories Anthology 2021 - Primary by literacytrust

Swindon: Everyday Heroes

“Congratulations to all the young writers featured in this anthology. I am so impressed by their imaginative and creative stories a must-read!” Jonathan Douglas CBE, Chief Executive, National Literacy Trust

Connecting Stories Connecting Stories

Connecting Stories, funded by Arts Council England, aims to increase children and young people’s interest in reading and writing, and to promote diverse voices and stories. Children and young people were invited to take part in a creative writing competition which has been judged by publishers, authors and community champions. This anthology celebrates their creativity and hard work. We hope all entrants feel extremely proud to see their story published and that this gives them the confidence and passion to continue writing.

Connecting Stories

The National Literacy Trust is a registered charity no. 1116260 and a company limited by guarantee no. 5836486 registered in England and Wales and a registered charity in Scotland no. SC042944. Registered address: 68 South Lambeth Road, London SW8 1RL Supported by Arts Council England Cover illustration © Steve Antony, 2021 Zine illustrations on activity pages © Kristyna Baczynski, 2021 Design and content © National Literacy Trust, 2021 Design by Jacob Hawkins All enquiries around this anthology should be directed to: contact@literacytrust.org.uk

Connecting Stories Swindon: Everyday Heroes

The National Literacy Trust is a charity dedicated to improving the reading, writing, speaking and listening skills of those who need it most, giving them the best possible chance of success in school, work and life. We support communities, schools and early years settings and campaign to make literacy a priority. The Connecting Stories campaign is a project funded by Arts Council England to increase children and young people’s interest in reading and writing and to promote diverse voices and stories. Connecting Stories provides a programme of exciting events, such as virtual author visits, creative writing competitions and activities for families to enjoy.

With thanks... We would like to thank Arts Council England for funding and supporting the Connecting Stories project. We would also like to thank Hachette UK and authors Simon Farnaby and Steve Antony, who generously supported this anthology, and extend warm thanks to the numerous community champions and corporate volunteers who have kindly donated their time to help bring this anthology together: Atlantic Books

Hannah Fogg

Cambridge University Press

Charlotte Kim

Emerald Publishing

James Kingett

Faber & Faber

Jenna Lee

Pearson

Michael Leyland

Saffron Alexander

Marykate McGrath

Sally Atkinson

Jan Papworth

Gaganpreet Kaur Basra

Allison Potter

Sheena Carman

Tahera Sultana

Dawn Claypole

Emile Tambeh

Rhona Drever

Felicia Tennant

Margaret Duff And finally, thank you to all of the children who took part. It is their stories that make this anthology so special.

Contents

A word from our Hub Manager, Anish Harrison I am delighted to have had the pleasure of reading entries from Swindon. All entries included in this anthology have really made the local voices from Swindon shine and are a testament to the creativity of children and young people here. Traditionally, anthologies don’t focus on a particular area, nor do they often include the voices of children or young people. Yet these are the very groups of people with the most creative ideas and the most relevant experiences! Creative writing helps us develop our imagination, supports our health and wellbeing, and invites others to explore worlds with us. The importance of encouraging creativity cannot therefore be overstated and it is a privilege to support this through our competition. Moreover, the voices of children and young people are so important to recognise, hear and give a platform to. This past year has been a tremendously difficult one and supporting our children to recount, escape and to express themselves through the power of stories enables us to truly listen to their thoughts and experiences. I wish you as much joy reading this anthology as I had in helping to collate it, and above all I hope it convinces you of how important it is to read the stories of others, and to tell your own story. Anish Harrison Swindon Stories

Winning entry: 02 Libby M, 9

2nd place: 05 Thomas W, 11

All entries 08 Bethany D, 7

22 Harmani G, 10

36 Shreya M, 10

10 Zubaidah C, 9

24 Gilulia L, 8

38 Soumil M, 9

12 Amelia G, 8

27 Izzy T, 11

39 Moyin O, 9

13 Ewan C, 7

30 Zara HB, 6

43 Oscar, 9

16 Grace B, 10

31 Samantha T, 10

19 Janice A, 10

34 Kal A, 9

44 Participating schools

Winning entry: Libby M, 9 VACCINATING VIOLET AND THE DOG OF DOOM Once upon a time, not long ago, in a town called Swindon, there lived a deadly dog called Covid. His vile breath and sharp teeth were only a few of the unattractive additions to his appearance. He spread a deadly virus and how he did this was: 1) breathing on people, 2) spitting everywhere, 3) biting people. He made everyone hide at home no matter what. It was to save themselves. All until one day...

day and night, from Coate Water to Town Gardens but she just could not find Covid anywhere. Until one day… Violet was slumping through Barbury Castle when a sudden sound came to her attention. It was a low growling noise. It sounded exactly like Covid. She grabbed her syringes and started squirting. The medicines sprayed all over the historic hills covering people’s kites that they were flying because of the harsh winds. Violet sprayed and sprayed until she could get close enough to get a small amount of AstraZeneca vaccine in Covid. As soon as she did this, the dog stopped. He stopped growling, he stopped baring his teeth. He just fell quiet.

A young superhero named Vaccinating Violet moved into the town, Swindon. She wore all purple except for a few red stripes in her beautiful, long, brown hair. Her job was to stop virus spreaders like Covid. She loved her job as a full time superhero. However Violet’s parents did not approve of her being a superhero, but she didn’t care. Violet carried on fighting pesky viruses no matter what.

Violet yelped. It was for happiness. The horrible monster was gone, not dead, just not absolutely vile. After that the news spread like wildfire. Thankfully it was not actual wildfire. They had had enough problems for one day.

As soon as she heard about this black wet-nosed horrible wiry haired huge monster she was on to finding him. She searched

Vaccinating Violet became famous and she got a bravery award. As for Covid, well he got renamed to Astra and yes he

still lived but no one was scared of him. So it was also a better life for Covid so I guess it changed everyone’s lives for the better. Violet’s life got even better because you guessed it she welcomed Astra into her home. So if you ever see a normal-sized dog with soft, brown hair. And if you ever see a tall twelve-year-old with red stripes in her long hair that goes down to her thighs you can be sure it is Vaccinating Violet with Astra by her side. The End

Second place entry: Thomas W, 11

Marcus was born blind, and he hated it he could never admire the scenery of his hometown, Swindon, or stare into his parents’ faces. He couldn’t even see the food he was eating. As well as that, his parents were always busy. His father, Mr Mores, was a business manager at the local shopping centre and Marcus’ mother worked long hours as a vet helping animals who had been injured. Eventually his mother and father decided to buy him a guide dog and Marcus, being the caring soul he is, loved it and named it Cookie. Cookie loved helping Marcus doing everyday things like go to school or get a chocolate milkshake from the small shop by their house. But one day Cookie became a real hero. It started with a very normal day Marcus woke up, ate his breakfast, gave Cookie her breakfast, said goodbye to Mum and Dad, got dressed, brushed his teeth and got on the bus with Cookie. Once the bus had arrived by school they got off and walked to the pedestrian crossing. By the time they reached the traffic lights a man on his daily run had already activated them

they didn’t quite catch it in time but for some reason the little alarm that goes off was still ringing which for Marcus meant it was safe to cross, so, still holding on to Cookie’s lead, Marcus started walking on to a busy road. Cookie started to bark as loud as possible, but the alarm overshadowed it and then the small dog saw a huge truck coming towards them, no one was there to see the situation after all it was early in the morning. Then Cookie had an idea, she started to run faster and faster and Marcus was getting dragged along confused what Cookie was doing, but undeterred from the irritable tugs on her lead she carried on. Cookie could see the other side of the road and still tugging her owner along, the truck was getting closer and closer, but Cookie carried on not wanting to leave her owner behind. The truck was even closer now 10 metres, 5 metres, 1metre - they had finally made it Cookie the dog fell to the ground exhausted.

questioned Marcus about the scene and with the news that Cookie was laying down with her eyes closed the truck driver quickly ran to school telling the teacher about what had happened. Eventually Cookie ended up in the vet with Marcus’ Mum fussing over her. Luckily all Cookie needed was a bit of rest.

The driver of the truck got out, staring at the exhausted looking dog laying on the floor with its worried looking owner still holding its lead trying to make it move. The man quickly

Bethany D, 7 Swindon heroes I am going to write a non-fiction story about my friend Lily’s parents called Rezin and Rebecca. Rezin and Rebecca are nurses. They look after really poorly people in the intensive care unit at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon. I think they are heroes because they are brave to look after people with Covid-19 and other serious illnesses. They have to wear full PPE. PPE is things like special facemasks, glasses, gloves and aprons. They came from India and the Philippines to help people in England if they are poorly. I want to say thanks to Rezin and Rebecca and NHS for helping lots of ill people.

Zubaidah C, 9 The Mysterious Alien It all began in a quiet town called Swindon. The world had turned around by a global pandemic known as the coronavirus. The local hospital where Doctor Zubaidah worked was not like her everyday routine anymore. Her work pager kept on bleeping. One after another patients keep coming in and needed to be treated as soon as possible. Day by day the patient numbers kept increasing. There wasn’t a second to spare. Another patient arrives as we treat the one that came in before. She goes to attend the patient in her need. This patient looked different from the rest. He must be very ill, she thought to herself. She takes him to the ward with a spare bed and starts taking his temperature. Whilst doing her checks she introduces herself and ask the patient his name. “Jeffery,” he said. His temperature was very high and was struggling to breathe. “I’m going to have to put you on a ventilator,” she said sadly.

you face?” she questioned Jeffery, but he had fallen asleep from the medication. Then with all her might and strength she pulled on the sticky thing on the side of his face. And to her shock, Jeffery was an alien. Without screaming as she didn’t want to wake the alien up, she ran to other doctors to tell them want she had saw. But nobody believed her. “What patient?” they said. “In room 50.” “That room is not a Covid patient room, it’s an empty bed.” Zubaidah was still in shock and took one of the doctors to see what she could see. A very ill alien laying dead asleep in the bed. But to her surprise the doctor couldn’t see anything. Instead told her to go home and rest. Thinking she was very tired from the long hours of working. However Doctor Zubaidah knew this was a mystery only she can now resolve. And find out how Jeffery the Alien ended up is Swindon Great Western Hospital.

Whilst putting Jeffery on the ventilator, Doctor Zubaidah noticed he had something sticky on his face. “What is that on

Amelia G, 8

Ewan C, 7

My Teacher’s Poem

Super Skye

They help me when I’m stuck,

In July last year a new friend came into my life. She was a little shiny, black dog. She is a cocker spaniel and she had loads of brothers and sisters. We decided to call her Skye. My Grandma and Grandfer had one of her sisters too and they called her Emmy.

Even if I’m crying they will still help, As if they were a part of my family, Colossal schools which we all go to, Hard things at first that always become easier, Everyday they’re there for us ready to teach us something new, Reading, writing, drawing, learning always something different, So they are the best people ever!

Skye was one of the cutest dogs I have ever seen. When she first came into our house my two sisters and me played lots with her outside in the garden with her toys because it was the summertime. We cuddled her tight and rubbed her squidgy tummy. When it was bed time I thought of how she would do in her crate, her first night away from her family. I hoped she wouldn’t be lonely. The next morning I went down stairs and my sister was there with Skye, she was very excited to see us. Skye has been my superhero in lockdown. We only had to take her out for walks but she has made it better.

We go into a big bush near where we live and we play catch and hide and seek. I feed her and we have loads of fresh air that makes me feel alive. We splashed in the puddles and I also watch a movie with her some nights. She has made two more friends called Gladys and Ethel. They are big black dogs. We have been on lots of fun walks with them in the Washpool. One day we went on a walk and she tried to catch a pheasant but she didn’t get to it in time, but she still enjoys chasing birds. We went on lots of amazing adventures in lockdown. One time we went to a lake with so many big green trees around us. We tried to play hide and seek but Skye would just follow me or run every time when I was trying to hide.

The next day I had to go to my football match Skye came with me and she was my number one fan. But then I hurt myself but she helped by licking me and I laughed She sits with me when I am at home school and keeps me company. She likes to chew things and has even chewed the corner off of my ‘Chunks’ book. “Shhhh, please don’t tell Mr Hatcliffe.” Now it has almost been a year in lockdown and it have been made better because of a good my dog Skye and I can’t wait to have more fun adventures with her in the future. She is my everyday super hero.

It had been a great summer. For the summer holidays we had so much fun. She couldn’t play in the pool put when I was in there I stroked her and she jumped up lots. We also went to my Grandma and Grandfer’s. She was sick loads of time there but we got through it.

Grace B, 10 The Adventures of Pee-Your-Pants-Man “We have a crisis.’’ Wipe said, coming into the room where Pee-Your-Pants-Man was sitting.

“Caught me again, Pee-Your-Pants-Man?’’ He said.

“What is it, Wipe?’’ Pee-Your-Pants-Man asked.

“It seems so.’’ Fred stated.

“We’re out of cheese.’’

“I wasn’t talking to you, you big furball.’’

“OH NO!’’ Pee-Your-Pants-Man replied sarcastically.

“That’s really disrespectful.’’

“Why is that a crisis?’’ Bubbles the goldfish asked Wipe curiously.

“Come on then, come on then big boy. Come and give me a hug.’’

“Because, if we’re out of cheese then we can’t work the cheese guns.’’

Fred ran up to Brodie Bank Robber and started licking his face.

“OK, let’s go.’’ Pee-Your-Pants-Man said, standing up and going to crawl out the hole that takes him to the edge of the road. “What about me? I live in a bowl. Fred, come and help me.’’ Fred the white tiger got up from his abnormally large dog bed and knocked Bubbles’ bowl onto his back. Wipe came and tied the bowl onto Fred’s back using string. He then put Fred on a lead and walked him up the steep set of stairs.

But when they were walking past the bank, they heard a smash. It was Brodie Bank Robber, the most wanted bank robber in all of Swindon. Brodie Bank Robber turned around and snarled.

“No, Fred,’’ Wipe said. “He’s bad.’’ Fred started fighting Brodie Bank Robber by biting his face. It was only gentle, but it was enough to make a few marks. Then, Pee-Your-Pants-Man joined in the fight. Wipe and Bubbles ran to the shops, which were only a few steps away. They came back a couple of minutes later with a block of cheddar cheese, which they put in the cheese guns. They started shooting Brodie Bank Robber with it from behind.

Suddenly, Brodie Bank Robber stepped back. Pee-Your-PantsMan had a triumphant grin on his face, he’d made Brodie Bank Robber wet himself, that stopped the baddie in his tracks! “Sorry, I must go and change. Then we can continue our fight.’’ Brodie Bank Robber said. “I don’t think you will be having time for that, sir.’’ There were police officers standing behind him. They put handcuffs on his skinny wrists and escorted him into the police car. “Until next time, old buddy!’’ Pee-Your-Pants-Man said, waving as the police car drove away. They turned around and headed back toward their home.

Janice A, 10 Hi, I’m Hannah and I’m going to tell you about my life as a sidekick. My colleague and sister is called Stacey and she can get really annoying at times. Writing this is going to be difficult because I’m not a good writer so I’ll have to try. To be honest, it’s going to be a privilege writing this. So today, Stacey woke up feeling a little bit down so of course I had to try cheering her up but she just got more irritated. So I went to have a shower. When Stacey and I finished having a shower and eating breakfast she felt a lot better. So we went to the local charity shop to donate some old toys that were still in good condition. I’m not going to lie, but it was kind of hard giving my precious toys and teddies to children, even though I’m, like, ten years old but at least I had Stacey to convince me. When we got back home we went to get ready for superhero training. I was so anxious because it was my first day. After we got there, Stacey left and went to find her friends. She called me to follow her but I didn’t know anyone there, but that all

changed. Okay, that was a little bit too dramatic. Then the supervisor came, he looked so familiar then I realised he was Bruce Wayne (Batman’s real name). I was about to ask for his autograph but I didn’t have a pen or paper. “Hi Bruce, how are you?” I said nervously. “Hello Hannah, I am very good thank you, how are you?” Bruce replied. “I’m very good thank you, and may I say it is a pleasure to see you,” I responded proudly. “Oh thank you, well I can see that you are very lonely, so can I show you around?” he said calmly.

When Stacey and I got home. Stacey told me she was so jealous of me because she never talked to Bruce, like, in a conversation even though she’s been there for over two years – that really made me proud. So we got ready for school the next day .When I got to our class we did English, maths and guided reading. The subject I liked the most is GR (guided reading) because there is a book we are reading which is called The Boy in the Dress by David Walliams . I wish we read the whole book. When we got home I read comics.

“Of course you can!” I said a little bit too quickly. Anyway, Bruce showed me around and the place was absolutely magnificent, I even made a friend called Juliet. The thing I really liked about her was that she liked Shakespeare especially the book Romeo and Juliet. She also told me that her parents named after Juliet from Romeo and Juliet and if she was a boy she would have been called Romeo.

Harmani G, 10 Dear Diary, Today was no ordinary day because today we surprised my neighbour for her birthday. My neighbour’s name is Olivia and she works for the NHS in the children’s ward as a nurse at GWH. Olivia is the most positive person I know, even though it’s hard to stay happy during this time. She always walks out of her house happily with her mask in her hand and with the biggest smile on her face, which brightens up my day. Olivia is a real hero but I don’t think she knows just how much of an inspiration she really is. Today was Olivia’s birthday and everyone was so excited to see her on her special day. My mum and I were at the shops and then we saw Olivia but she didn’t look happy and she didn’t have a big grin on her face, she looked a bit, well, sad. Just then, I realised why she could have been sad. All of the food was nowhere to be seen. Everyone who knows Olivia knows that she doesn’t keep much fresh and healthy food in her house because she can’t go home for her break so she buys her food from the shop when she needs it after a long, exhausting, ten-hour shift. My mum started talking to

her whilst I listened. “All the food is gone! I have nothing to eat, what am I going to do?” Olivia shouted. “Everything is gone and all the fast food places are closed.” Olivia ran out of the shop in floods of tears. She was really sad. I had never seen her like this before. I said to my mum: “Poor Olivia she looks so unhappy. What can we do to help her?” “I’ve got it,” said my mum. “We will throw her a surprise street party with all the other neighbours and we’ll all make something that we know she likes. After all, she needs a well-deserved break for her birthday.” “Yes. How did you think of that? You are a genius!” I laughed excitedly. So when we got home, we told our other neighbours about our plan and they loved it. I was so happy that we were going to make this birthday the best birthday Olivia’s ever had. We all had our own recipe for a meal which Olivia loved. My mum and I made a rich, gooey and indulgent fudge brownies and a roasted rack of lamb on a bed of creamy mash potatoes served with a side of asparagus.

It felt like we were the best chefs in the world. We were all ready for Olivia to arrive. When she came she was so overwhelmed with tears in her eyes. We did this for her because she is an inspiration and she should be recognised and appreciated for that, not just for herself but for other people as well. She is an inspiration because she is a true NHS superhero– just without a cape.

Gilulia L, 8 In one beautiful day of spring all the flowers bloomed and the nature came alive. A girl called Alisia lived in the countryside with her parents and she wished she could just have fun. For she had to wake up every morning very early and start doing her chores. But one day whilst she was doing her chores, she noticed a truly magnificent creature flying over the woods. She went to investigate. But when she got there it was gone!

To her amazement when she turned around the creature was standing there. It was a Pegasus. It told Alisia that its name was Ariana. Alisia asked Ariana if she could ride on her back. “Yes” said Ariana, then her mum called her because it was dinner time. “I’m coming”, said Alisia and after said by to Ariana. And so Alisia had made a new friend. The next day Alisia went straight to the woods to see her new friend. But whilst she was there some kidnappers crept into Alisia’s house and took her parents. The kidnappers took them to a secret location in town. When Alisia got home she noticed that her parents where gone! She also noticed a letter that said: “Come to this location in town, 73 Gas Street”. Alisia went to the location in town and found her parents all tied up. Then from nowhere the kidnappers appeared! They captured Alisia as well but they didn’t get Ariana because she was too quick for them. Ariana ran back to the woods and summoned a lot of animals including sabre-toothed tigers. Then Ariana and her army went back to the building to save Alisia and her parents.

When they arrived the kidnappers showed up and they fought each other. Ariana and her army won! She freed Alisia and her parents, then they all went back to their house and thanked Ariana. Soon they were in the newspaper and reporters from all over the world came to see them. They became famous and rich. Even the government was impressed that he gave them an award for being the bravest people. Alisia asked her parents if she could keep Ariana and they agreed. Alisia was enormously happy! A year passed and they were still together. But one day whilst Alisia did her chores, a man snuck in and stole Ariana! Alisia didn’t realise till the next day when she came into the stable and noticed Ariana was gone. She looked everywhere for her but was nowhere to be found. Then she noticed a trail of Ariana’s footprints and followed them. When she got to the end of the trail she saw Ariana all tied up. She tried to help her but a wizard showed up and scared Alisia. She ran away and the wizard laughed. Then Alisia came back later when the wizard wasn’t there so she freed her friend. At the end they came back home and lived happily ever after.

Izzy T, 11 David Attenborough and the Forest Dragon Sir David Attenborough stepped down from the train onto Platform 4 once it pulled into Swindon Station. What was he doing in Swindon, you might ask? He was here to examine a new undiscovered creature that had been spotted by two local people in Shaw Forest. Being the Great Naturalist, David was curious to read newspaper reports of this strange animal. He thought that he had discovered and studied every animal on the planet however, this creature sounded quite unique. He was interested to read that the spotters had said it looked like a dragon with fangs. Being a natural historian, he was the right person for the job of getting to know what this beast was and its habits. When he arrived in Shaw Forest, David set up his camouflage camera and pressed record before leaving to get some lunch. The tall trees towered above him, giving off an earthy smell. Local people walked past with their dogs, looking curiously at David, wondering what he is doing.

A little later, the naturalist returned with a belly full of cheese sandwiches (his favourite). David went to see if any activity had been caught on his camera. He was confused to see that the camera was gone and in its place was a giant smelly poo! He looked around confused: Who had done this?! David was annoyed about his camera but not wanting to miss this new discovery, he quickly set up another one. Muttering to himself about the camera he went and stayed at a hotel for the night. The next day the animal investigator went to check camera footage for proof that the creature did really exist. He looked on the camera screen, fast forwarding and looking for moving objects. He was beginning to get a little bored of seeing no movement when he saw a blast of fire come out from the left side of the camera then it stopped completely. Sir David was very confused... Was this creature playing a trick on him, he thought to himself.

back on the footage. There, to his delight he saw the creature for the first time! The creature was about the size of a fox cub and looked like a miniature dragon with a red scaly body, huge blue fangs and blue menacing eyes. In place of forearms, it had large bony wings and the tip of its tail had a fiery red glow. There were three thick, filthy black claws on each foot and on its head was a green mohawk. Its shins were covered in tiny fuchsia pink spots and its wide nostrils flared with each breath. “The beast is remarkable” David whispered to himself. He was so excited and couldn’t wait to share his findings in a new documentary. As the discoverer of the new species, David was allowed to name it, so he decided to call the creature the Forest Dragon. News stories about the Forest Dragon discovered by Sir David Attenborough spread and people from across the world came to Swindon in the hope of spotting it.

David reset the camera and again, went away for another cheese sandwich. A while later the animal investigator checked

Zara HB, 6

Samantha T, 10

Mummy helps me with my school work, school work, school work.

Once upon a time, there lived a girl named Susan and she was an incredibly rude and mischievous girl who was never willing to help or be nice to others which made her parents so upset. Surprisingly, one day Susan woke up and said: “good morning”, which really astounded her parents who had never heard her say anything like that before.

Mummy helps me with my school work, oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah, yeah. She helps me when it gets a bit hard, hard, hard. When it gets a bit hard like in English with spellings, also maths answers or going backwards in times tables and reading when I get the words wrong. Wroooonnnng. Oh yeah! I can’t forget reading and reading comprehension when I learnt about Indiaaaaaaaa. Also, I love learning about India, India, India. Mummy is my HEEEERRRRROOOOO in the wooorld. Anyway who else could be my hero. Oh yeah! Oh, oh, oh, YEA!

When it came to breakfast, shockingly, Susan offered to help with the cooking, setting the table, clearing up and the washing up and she did that for lunch and dinner too. At homework time she really amazed her parents. She did all the catching up and reading without a fuss and by now her parents were so proud of her and she didn’t keep her parents up with her tantrums before bed. At bedtime she went to bed on time and told her parents: “I am so sorry I never behaved myself but from now on I will be your little everyday superhero!” she whispered. She kept that promise ever since and now she lives happily with her parents and friends who forgave her for what she did in the past. However, her sweet life was about to be changed because

one day as she and her best friend, Ava, were talking. Ava mentioned that she was moving one house down and that they could maybe make another friend in the neighbourhood.

Susan and Ava were shocked as they thought someone else definitely not Tasha was going to move into the house in between them. Susan accidently blurted out: “We aren’t peasants and certainly not car wash employees!”

So Susan rushed to Ava’s house and told her about her mission for them to be friends with Tasha. Ava thought it was a great idea so Ava went to apologise and they were the greatest of friends. A week later, the girls were having a sleepover at Tasha’s and they played in the daytime and watched movies and ate popcorn and snacks, but throughout the whole day Susan and Ava realised that Tasha was very mean to her parents so they discussed the plan for Tasha.

Right then and there Susan knew that she had made the biggest mistake in all of mistake history, but as Tasha was about to speak her parents came out of their car and asked her: “Can you please come and help us unload our things?” So Tasha went to help her parents.

Tasha was commanded by her friends to be nice to her parents for the whole day, so she did and realised how proud she had made her parents and declared: “I am so sorry Mum and Dad for how I used to behave but going forward I will be your little everyday superhero!”

Days later, as Tasha’s family was settling into the neighbourhood, Susan was tired of Tasha and her broken friendship so Susan she told Tasha she was sorry for what she had done in the past, then she asked the big question: “Will you be my friend?”

Now Susan, Ava and Tasha are best friends and also good daughters to their caring parents.

Two days later, they were anxiously waiting and watching to see the school bully, Tasha, come out of a posh, silver Mercedes car and say: “Hello peasants now wash my dirty car!”

Tasha calmly replied: “I will be your friend if you get Ava to apologise to me.”

Note to all children: try and be your parents everyday superhero. The end

Kal A, 9

If you want to know what a dog zombie looks like, look below.

Dog Zombie Land In the year 9048 the Earth was in a galaxy war. People from Space and Earth were fighting for over 9,000 years. With zombies humans, animals, dinosaurs, cutlery and mangey dogs, for some reason. Superheroes have been fighting for a long time until the year 9057. The Avengers arrived at the last second. Thor raised his hammer and the biggest lightning bolt hit the boss zombie. All the zombies turned to attack the X-Men. Avengers and Justice League. Thor and Iron Man were about to blast the T-Rex zombie when Dr Strange opened a portal and the T-Rex fell into it. But his head didn’t make it so it got chopped off. Dr Strange did that thing 408 times. 99.52 percent of the earth was destroyed. 1,000 people survived but nobody was celebrating because they knew that the dog zombies will be back. How? Because this happened 870 times. So they started building a super ship to travel to Andromeda. To be continued

Shreya M, 10

Not all that glitters is gold.

glisten, this was a trap. It was a trap set by a fellow companion out for a taste of blood.

In a parallel universe. The Firs, a forest, was a very ominous place. Its trees would haunt any and all who witnessed them housing all sorts of creatures. Under that majestic world of wonders used to be an ore mine.

The credulous miner edged closer to the ‘star’ oblivious to the car-sized boulder above. He creeped towards it, as if not to scare it, when one without a cape called to him, startling him and setting off the trap.

The miners would describe finding their first ore, like finding a piece of your heart, or the last piece to a puzzle. If they were still alive.

He was stuck, unable to escape, his legs broken in the process. Adrenaline ran over ‘he with no cape’, there was a psycho in his group and his companion was in danger.

Deep underground, the prospectors would work for hours enduringly with no breaks, as if they were in a broken car, in a dangerous environment for little to no recognition. This perilous, precarious and problematic home that they were trapped in them led the soupcon of them to insanity.

Without thinking his legs moved and his arms gripped the boulder, this was an easy feat in the rush of adrenaline. He called and yelled for back-up, and another came. They dragged the helpless miner out from under. ‘He without a cape’ let the boulder fall. He became a hero.

A prospector who had been working for an accomplished amount of time sat on the cold, hard floor, hoping to strike Painite and go down in history. When, like a star in the sky, a coruscate caught his eye. This was not just a glimmer or a

As soon as the wounded prospector healed, ‘he without the cape’ went to visit. He simpered: “Not all that glitters is gold, my dear friend. Watch what you trust and what will fool you.”

Soumil M, 9 We all think of superheroes as people who fight bad guys, save citizens and have superpowers, but there are superheroes in our normal, daily life. Starting with the most common and obvious ones. The first one is policemen, people who risk their lives, trying to save civilians, from robberies to chasing down dangerous criminals. There are also firefighters, hospital workers and many more who save lives across the world which I’m going to expand on later. Firefighters are, of course, people who fight burning houses, forests and even investigate the causes of the fires. The last one is the hospital, which puts their time and effort into helping their patients the best they can while withstanding the horrible, bloody imagery and these are the main three we usually go to. The next couple of heroes will be harder to find these heroes but just as great! The first one is the homeless shelters as they help the poor by giving them a place to stay, food and happiness once again! Next is animals! Yes, you heard me, there have been instances of animals, tamed or not, saving human lives!

Whether they were a dog, a cat, etc, these animals have saved lives! And the last one for these fantastic heroes is our parents! Our parents are our real heroes. They help us to learn, feed us, shelter us and there is so much more stuff they do for us that we sometimes don’t even see. The final hero is YouTubers. The most common person who inspires you is your parent or a YouTuber, but since we’ve covered parents we will do YouTubers. YouTubers, people who either play games, cook, vlog or react on their channel inspire people to achieve their dreams.

Moyin O, 9 The girl who woke to have superpowers Chapter 1: It all begins with this girl. In a place far away, there was a young girl called Chloe. One evening, Chloe had just finished watching Frozen II and she wished she had superpowers as well.

When the night was over, she went to bed and slept but Chloe had a strange dream…

“Yes, I’ve got quite a few,” replied Chloe.

Chapter 2: The Voice In the dream Chloe heard someone talking to her and she had no clue who it was but that just made the dream even more scary. The voice told Chloe: “Today is your lucky day since your wish is coming true.”

“What will I use the superpowers for?” asked Chloe curiously.

“What wish?” Chloe asked in fear and excitement.

“Any other questions?” asked the voice.

“The wish to have superpowers, of course!” the voice said in surprise.

“Yep one more, how do I use the powers?”

“Oh yeah, are you able to make my wish come true?” asked Chloe filled with excitement. “Yes, when you wake up you will have super strength, laser eyes, the power to fly and you can become invisible,” continued the voice. “Wow!” said Chloe, full of joy.

“Okay,” said the voice. “To fight the villains,” replied the voice. “Where do I go first?” questioned Chloe. “London,” replied the voice.

“When you wake up, you will see one necklace, two rings and a bracelet on your table. On each of these items there will be a symbol describing the superpower that way you would know what it’s used for.’’ “Cool, thanks for your help!” Chloe said full of joy. But the voice was gone by the end of her sentence. Now it was Chloe’s turn to save someone from the villains…

“Any questions before I go?” The voice asked.

Chapter 3: How Chloe saves the day The next morning, Chloe saw that she was in front of the Underground train station and that was when she realised she was in London. When she stepped foot in there she could see a burglar beating an old lady. Chloe felt sorry for the old woman so she went over to the burglar and zapped him with her laser eyes then with her super strength she threw him across the room. When, the burglar landed he looked for Chloe before beating the old woman again but he had no clue that she was flying above him ready to strike. In seconds, the burglar was seeing stars. Chapter 4: How it all ends. It took, Chloe a while to realise there was a crowd around her. As soon as they saw Chloe they all went around spreading the news but one person knew a TV presenter so after that day was over she was all over the news. And when she was discovered she became famous. Her family were proud of her she was proud of herself but most importantly she saved the day once, but can she do it again?

Oscar, 9 Many people call pigeons pests but even they are heroes! Let me tell you about a pigeon that saved many lives... In 1915 a heroic pigeon saved multiple lives in the First World War. Its name was Cher Ami. Once, in the war, there was a crisis and everyone in that crisis was counting on messenger pigeons. A group of people were in terrible danger, as they were just being attacked by the enemy but also their own friends who did not recognise them. They were in terrible danger but luckily, messenger pigeons were there to help. Sadly many were shot down and Cher Ami was the only one left. It suffered many injuries but got back up, with only one leg and blinded in one eye, and managed to make it across alive. It got fitted with a wooden leg and won an award. Sadly it died shortly after. What an amazing pigeon! It is buried in Swindon and haunts it to this day.

With thanks to the following schools, whose students’ wonderful work is included in this anthology:

Abbey Meads Community Primary School Brook Field Primary School Chiseldon Primary & Nursery School Colebrook Junior School Holy Cross Catholic Primary School King William Street Church of England Primary School Kumon Swindon West Study Centre Lethbridge Primary School Mountford Manor Primary School Ridgeway Farm CofE Academy Shaw Ridge Primary School St Mary’s Catholic Primary School

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