Last Thursday we arrived at school to find: socks pinned up on a display with a sign saying, ‘Free Dobby’, a message written in what looked like blood saying, ‘The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir beware’, a trail of spiders going out the window and a letter from Professor Dumbledore! The letter from Dumbledore warned us that Death Eaters had cursed the school and we had to spend the day in the Forbidden Forest, while staff performed powerful counter curses to make the class safe again. Mrs Ashton-Smith was busy casting spells (we always knew she was a witch) so Mr King dusted off the Plaistow and Kirdford sorting hat and it put us in our houses: Unicorn, Acromatula, Basilisk and Werewolf. Mrs Ashton-Smith returned having done all she could so we headed off to the forest…

When we arrived at the forest we had to search for our house mascot, then we had lessons… Potions with Ms Smith, where we investigated pH using Shrivelfig juice, ground claw of Horntail and Troll snot! Herbology was led by Mrs Chase. We prepped our lunch: sausages, mashed potatoes and ratatouille, with honey biscuits for dessert. Mrs Ashton-Smith taught us the ancient art of wand making, with knowledge passed on to her from Ollivander. -we demonstrated some excellent whittling skills. We also used happa zone to create house banners. Mrs Jesse was in charge of the fire and cooking. We didn’t see any house elves helping her but there must have been, even the most powerful witch or wizard couldn’t have done all that on their own!

Finally we received word that the classroom was safe, so we headed back -just in time for our parents to collect us! What a day!