We have lots of excellent young writers at Thrupp, many of whom have been inspired to write a short story for this year’s BBC 500 Words competition. You can read and enjoy some of the stories from our talented children below. There may be a future author amongst them! 

A Day Like No Other

by Dilys, Year 5

Many people believe that before humans inhabited the earth it was entirely populated by dinosaurs, dodos, and things like that.  Some people, rather like myself, however, know better and this is the story of how it all began… 

Long ago, when stunbinders and cocklebuds still roamed the earth freely and all was peaceful, there lay on a soft silky hill a cluster of scarlet royal red caravans (there were lots scattered across the earth at that time). Their beautiful wooden walls were engraved with unique runes, conveying spiritual messages of peace and goodwill. Living within the wagons were bright fluorescent green Goonvivings, which to you will seem a strange name, so I will explain.  They had one large eye in the centre of their cubic, emerald, slimy faces and above it a swangloo, which was a sort of tail on their heads, that shot sharp bullets and could pick up palm sized objects. They communicated through their swangloos, they had no feet at the end of their human-shaped bodies, instead it was their wolf-like teeth and mouths at the end of slender legs which made it much easier for climbing.

On a normal day Goonvivings would collect exotic fruit from the forest and water from the stream but this was no ordinary day. Whilst the children were playing in the trees, out of the purple, one of the children spotted a huge black silhouette in the bright purple sky, heading down towards earth, they had never seen anything like it in their lives. The parents started to panic and were rushing their children into the caravans but the stunbinders carrying the caravans wouldn’t budge and they had just set off when the moving thing landed right in front of their eyes. It was a large round steel spacecraft with blue lights sparkling around the edge of it.  Suddenly a metal plate from the outside of the space craft slowly opened with a loud WHIRR, folding downwards to create a long ramp as steam bellowed out.  You could just make out the outline of a dark black figure standing inside. The figure walked ominously forward though the fog and stepped down from the ramp.  The strange figure had pale white skin, two blue eyes, a small nose and a mouth that was gaping in awe. On the top of its head was a brown clump of hair and wrapped around its waist was what looked like cheetah skin… it was a human, lots of them came flooding out of the spaceship.

After a week had passed more spaceships arrived and the whole earth was populated with humans. The humans loathed the Goonvivings, so they set their strongest men out to destroy them all.  Most of the Goonvivings were killed, but some secretly survived and apparently, they built an underground lab to plot their revenge; so, if you ever come across a manhole cover, be careful where you step, or the Goonvivings will get you…

Frances Redhead and the Pirate Adventure

by Ailsa, Year 4

I have never surrendered, and I never will. My heart is as cold as stone. I thought it would never love again. This is the story of when it did.

I was sleeping in my hammock. Dreaming, dreaming of my father. He was a brave man, my father. I loved him more than anything. But then he left. It was a quiet day, not a cloud in the sky. We landed on an island. He insisted only he and I went. While I was getting coconuts, he stole away in a small rowing boat. When I turned around, all that was left were his footprints. I have never forgiven him.

As I said, I was dreaming in my hammock, when I was awoken by a clash of thunder. According to my pocket watch, it was only one o’clock in the morning, but I was not tired. My long red hair was matted into impossible knots. I got out a brush and began to comb it. It took a while, but I got it straight. Well, straighter than normal. I felt hungry, so I crept into the galley for breakfast.

A few hours later, the rest of the crew filtered in, one by one.

“You’re up early, how come?” asked Jack.

“Couldn’t sleep,” I grunted.

I like the rest of the crew and all, but it is not the same without Dad.

Now, back to the story. It was my turn to go fishing so I went to the nets and threw one over the side. Suddenly, something strong yanked on the net. I was still holding on, and it pulled me down, down into the watery oblivion. I let go of the net as quick as I could. My lungs were screaming. I could not make it… And then there was blackness. Blackness so dark you could not describe it as a colour.

I woke up somewhere I had never been before. The sand was a mustard yellow, the sky an ocean blue. There were hundreds of palm trees as far as the eye can see. I got up and realised I had broken my leg. Luckily, I could lean on a piece of driftwood. As I limped around, I spotted a small bird. One of its wings was dragging along beside it. At first I felt sad but then I remembered how much feeling for something can cost you. I limped away. When I looked back, I saw the bird had followed me. When I saw it, I thought I saw myself in the bird. I thought what if the bird was abandoned? So, I picked it up and nursed it back to health. A week later it had healed but I couldn't let it go. Weeks passed and I grew fonder of the bird. One day smoke appeared. It was my ship! The bird and I clambered aboard and we set off into the sunset.

After that, the bird and I lived together. We had a peaceful life.

The Wild Goat Jeffrey

by Jackson, Year 3

A long time ago in the alps lived a furry kind goat called Jeffrey. Every single day Jeffrey would jump off Mont Blanc to the bottom of it. Once he thought what better idea than to parachute off Mont Blanc, but when he jumped his parachute caught a tree branch. Then a marmot heard all the commotion and made a long dark tunnel to the tree. You look hurt I'll take you to the Paris animal hospital.

The next thing he saw was a pig looking at him. Hello I am Doctor John. I am your doctor to help you with your broken left arm. Jeffrey felt worried but Bob made him feel better. It took a month or so for him to get better. At least Bob came in every day to check on him. The next day he was allowed to go back to the wild but then he saw he wasn't at Mont Blanc. He was in the Brecons! They've sent me to the wrong place. It was as cold in the Brecons and in summer it wasn't as super hot.

One day Jeffrey said I've been here long enough and he made a plan to get back home. A goat near by said I have a friend that lives in Dover. I know I can jet ski across the dreadful blue sea. I will set off tomorrow but thank you for helping me get to my home goats. The next early morning Jeffrey set off home, at 7 o'clock he was at Dover. The goat with the jet ski said I'll take you over to Calais of course. When he got to Calais, Bob the marmot was there and he said jump in my car its orange and big, it was colourful and comfy and they had fun seeing the beautiful and green mountains. An hour later they were at Mont Blanc, it was so exiting to be back and he saw the last place he was here. Now it was really snowy and cold and Jeffrey thought I am going to bed now. The next morning he got up and started a new day.

by Orin, Year 5

Alfie was a short, clever boy with eyes that twinkled like the moon's reflection on water. He lived by a rusty railway track that ran round Mars's equator. "I wish we could go back to earth," Alfie would complain every evening. "I wish we could see new people." But he couldn't do that until his rocket was fixed. Alfie's mother had a terrible, unknown disease that meant she couldn't move but that didn't stop Alfie from trying to fix his rocket.

One day, Alfie was strolling down to his rocket when he heard a sound of something gushing. At first he thought a stream was nearby but when he looked in the rocket's fuel tank, he got there just in time to see the last bit of fuel disappearing down a hole in the rocket's side. "gurgle!" went the fuel as it disappeared into the haunted village in the canyon. "Oh no," whispered Alfie, "I can't go down there." But he had no option.

With a huff, Alfie started the long walk to the steps. Hours later, after passing other abandoned villages, he found the steps. Again it was a long walk down and the same with the walk along the bottom of the canyon. After many years the walls were coated with a strange, shimmery substance that looked like melted silver on it and buckets along with railway carts were filled with it. Even the houses had a coating on the floors.

"How do I get the fuel up to my rocket?" shouted Alfie. "By breaking the curse of Mars," boomed a mysterious voice. "How do I do that?" asked Alfie bravely. There was no reply. If Alfie looked carefully, he would have seen that one of the rusty weather veins had pointed to an old shack. "Let's explore," thought Alfie. So, he went to the nearest house. Inside looked like a restaurant, he searched everything from under the floorboards to inside bowls but nothing strange happened. Same result with the next ten. He was about to give up when he noticed the small shack.  "Might as well," he sighed so he went in. He was looking in the last bowl on the floor when he noticed a strange blue glow coming from it. The glow was a small button. Alfie pressed it and the strange voice boomed, "The curse of Mars is broken."

After that, he could hear the sound of stone grinding against stone and then excited chattering. Alfie went outside to see what was going on and he was amazed. Up the walls of the canyon, he saw rows of people coming out of a hole in the wall of the canyon. Alfie was so excited as he was finally going to see other humans when they said, "We could help get the fuel back." They all swarmed up with the fuel. Alfie raced to his rocket and they went to earth. When they arrived, nobody was in sight. Alfie turned around and saw a...

The Ghost, The Witch and the Baddie

by Edie, Year 2

It is the witches day off from her diner where she makes cupcakes. Her name is Cackle and her gooey cupcakes hold the world record for being the first with blue choc mint flavour. Everyone else who has tried was too scared to make something with it as they didn’t know what it would do! Cackle found out that if you said “sweet” or “sour” the cupcake would be that flavour. Cackle the Witch’s patchwork uniform skirt has a tartan pattern and matching t-shirt and is in the cupboard for the next day. She goes to the dark spooky wood to get blue choc mint, which grows high up in the deadliest trees of the forest. She sees a shadow and flies up the tree to see what it is, but it's not what she's looking for – Its Dirty Dan her enemy, the Vampire… Duh duh duh!

“Not you meany man again!” He vanished. He had gone. The wind blew. The willow shook. The dead branches of the willow drooped over her pointy hat before the thunder. The storm was coming. She knew it! She flew like lightning. A red flash hit her supersonic eyes. It  was coming towards her pointy hat. She flew to the dark flashing thing. As it got closer Cackle realised it was Dirty Dan. She screamed! It was terrifying. His sharp teeth were twice as long as before. His mouth dripped with blood it made a dreadful trail. His long dark red and black cloak glided across the dark spooky wood. His footsteps were heavy. He was stronger than the wind.

An intelligent ghost called the Not So Ghastly Ghost had seen all of this. He was thinking up a plan. The plan was to go to them and tell her he will sort it but will have to wait 2 weeks. The not so Ghastly Ghost can change shape and if it moves two of its curves especially it squirts out a pink invisible gel that makes things disappear back to their land.

Days went past. There was no light coming from the diner. Each night the vampire Dirty Dan would spy on her. For two weeks this happened then the miracle came. Cackle went to the wood to discover Dirty Dan sat on a tree stump waiting for her. She waited too. It all happened all at once. The Not So Ghastly Ghost squirted the invisible gloopy pinky green gel at Dirty Dan’s dirty body. He disappeared to the bad land with his friends.

The diner was safe. The ghost came to live with her and they carried on making cupcakes. The ghost joined in making them too! They lived happily ever after.

Just Dragon

by Iris, Year 4

When I was a little dragon, I was about to hatch out of a green sparkly dragon egg high up in the tallest tree in the world. It felt weird because it was all wibbly and wobbly. I think it was because I was ready to hatch.  When I hatched out of my egg, my family were nowhere to be seen. I was all alone, just dragon. I looked out of my brown stick nest. It looked cool, but different… I decided to go out.

I realised I didn’t know how to fly - so I had to jump of course! The only problem was, I was scared of heights!

As I jumped, I flapped my wings in worry and realised I was already flying. I finally landed in a pile of sticks. It felt better to be on the ground again. I was so excited that I accidentally blew out fire setting the sticks on fire. It scared me so much I let out a terrific trump! Luckily, I blew out the fire with my trump.

I started to walk away and saw some palm trees up ahead. I decided I would walk to them. I went over and saw a puddle, that I wanted to jump in to. As I walked closer, I started to see something familiar. As I got closer, I started to see it more and more.

It was my family. When they noticed me, they realised they’d left me behind and ran over. I felt really happy to see them again! They promised to never go anywhere without me again.

As I grew older, they showed me some really fun things such as roasting marshmallows on a fire and marshmallow 4 in a row. But my favourite game was dragon races. If you want to learn how to play dragon races, then read on…

1. Find the tallest mountain around

2. Find as many friends as you can, but make sure you all have wings!

3. Start at the bottom and fly to the top of the mountain, along the way you have to squeeze between the to tall trees, grab and eat an apple from the apple tree, and build a snowman at the top

4. First one to the finish wins!

I love spending time with my family, they make me a very happy dragon. I guess I’m not just dragon anymore.

That is the end of my story.

By the way, my name is Spike.