EPISODE 3 – THE BURGLARY

In role as company members coming to work. We had previously discussed that the room directly through the door would be the company reception area, where a ‘secretary’ would have a desk or office to sign people in to the building. We actually went outside the classroom and walked up to the back door. As I approached the door I suddenly stopped and began to peer through the glass, saying ‘something seems to be wrong’. I asked a couple of the children to look through the glass (the image would be blurry as the glass was frosted). They began to say they could see a lot of mess, tables upturned, things broken or smashed. Someone spotted a broken window. We decided to enter but agreed not to touch anything – some children offered to phone the police. We quite quickly decided that a burglary had taken place. As the children explored the reception area they began to spot all sort of clues – finger prints, footprints, a diary, a cigarette stub. They also discovered that one of our storage rooms had been broken into and emptied of all the salvage artefacts, including some valuable items. At this point I received a phone call from the police, saying they wouldn’t be able to get there for a while, but would we help by writing down / drawing all the clues we’ve found and also listing the items stolen. We did this and ‘sent’ all our information to the police who began to investigate the burglary.

The class were fascinated with the whole idea of the burglary (especially a very lively and vocal group of boys!) and came up with more and more fantastical ideas about how it happened and who did it. Those who wanted kept phoning ‘ sending messages to the police with new evidence – responses from the police were invariably enthusiastic and grateful for their help!!)