A sunny Wednesday afternoon gave Pre-School children the perfect opportunity to explore the School grounds and be inspired by the power of their imaginations.

First they found the grassy steps and read Not a Stick, Antoinette Portis’s book capturing the thrill of making potential feel real. Then the children laid back in the sun and used the ‘visual meditating’ they learned on World Faith Day to imagine finding a stick and transforming it into something wonderful.

Next they sprang into action and set off to scour the edge of the School grounds in search of their own sticks of possibilities.

Flora: “I like this stick because it’s bendy and I’m making a pasta bowl.”

Several children: “Look, Miss Bilham, it’s the Room on the Broom broomstick!”

Children used stickers, string, pipe cleaners and feathers to make their own stick-based creations, encouraging each other to celebrate their flights of fancy.

Imogen said: "I had a picnic on the grass and I had a hat on my head because it was so sunny. I made a giddy up horsey and it neighs like this."

Amber said: "I was making a magic broomstick and it had lots of feathers at the end."

After a picnic, the children were bursting to show their creations to their parents and explain about their day of imaginings in the sun.

The impact of their adventure continued when Amber later found four small sticks in the Pre-Prep’s outdoor playground and said: “I’m going to turn these into pencils.” There is now an 'It’s Not a Stick' crafting station in the Pre-School’s sheltered area so children can continue to enjoy the transformative potential of their imaginations.