We're Going on a School Hunt

Picture by me

My lived autistic-family-experience inspired re-imagining 

of the popular children's book "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" 

by Michael Rosen & Helen Oxenbury.

This story is written for

all the often-neurodiverse children 

failed by the current education & EHCP systems, acknowledging that, out there, in the wild forests & woods of the current educational eco-system (or edu-system), are the good, 

the very good, the very very good, 

the not so good & the terrible.  

Having experienced all these,

we are very thankful for all versions of good.  

I hope you know who you are & I hope others care enough to ask how you do it.

Image via Pinterest

We're Going on a School Hunt

We're going on a school hunt.

We're going to find a good one.

What a beautiful day!

We’re not scared.

 

Uh-uh! Uniform!

Stiff itchy uniform.

We can’t go over it.

We can’t go under it.

 

Oh no!

We’ve got to go through it!

 

Scratch pull!

Scratch pull!

Scratch pull!

Image via Pinterest by Darren Stone on flickr

We’re going on a school hunt.

We’re going to find a good one.

What a beautiful day!

We’re a bit scared.

 

Uh-uh! Traffic!

Never ending traffic.

We can’t go over it.

We can’t go under it.

 

Oh no!

We’ve got to go through it!

 

Rumble beep!

Rumble beep!

Rumble beep!

 

Image via Pinterest, The Wall Street Journal

 

We’re going on a school hunt.

We’re going to find a good one.

What a beautiful day!

We’re scared.

 

Uh-uh! Grown ups!

Noisy random grown ups.

We can’t go over them.

We can’t go under them.

 

Oh no!

We’ve got to go through them!

 

Chitty chatty!

Chitty chatty!

Chitty chatty!

 

Image via Pinterest

Image via Pinterest by Resales Botijero on flickr

We’re going on a school hunt.

We’re going to find a good one.

What a beautiful day!

We’re very scared.

 

Uh-uh! Gates!

Narrow metal gates.

We can’t go over them.

We can’t go under them.

 

Oh no!

We’ve got to go through them!

 

Clang squeeze bump!

Clang squeeze bump!

Clang squeeze bump!

 

Image via Pinterest

We’re going on a school hunt.

We’re going to find a good one.

What a beautiful day!

We’re very, very scared.

 

Uh-uh! Children!

Lots & lots of children.

We can’t go over them.

We can’t go under them.

 

Oh no!

We’ve got to go through them!

 

Shriek laugh scream!

Shriek laugh scream!

Shriek laugh scream!

Image via Pinterest

 

Image via Pinterest by Apartment Therapy 

We’re going on a school hunt.

We’re going to find a good one.

What a beautiful day!

We’re panic stricken.

 

Uh-uh! A classroom!

A chaotic, crowded classroom.

We can’t go over it.

We can’t go under it.

 

Oh no!

We’ve got to go through it!

 

Hands on ears!

Duck & weave!

Run run run!

Image via Pinterest, Joy the Baker

Image via Pinterest

 

WHAT’S THAT?

Image via Pinterest, Amanda Jane Jones on Instagram

 

One size fits all round peg sausage factory!

Too many flickering fluorescents!

No-one explaining what when or why!

 

IT’S A SCHOOL!!!!

 

Image via Pinterest

Quick! 

Back through the classroom! 

Hands on ears! Duck & weave! Run run run! 

Back through the children! 

Shriek laugh scream! Shriek laugh scream! Shriek laugh scream!

Back through the gates! 

Clang squeeze bump! Clang squeeze bump! Clang squeeze bump!

Back through the grown ups! 

Chitty chatty! Chitty chatty! Chitty chatty!

Back through the traffic! 

Rumble beep! Rumble beep! Rumble beep!

Back through the uniform! 

Scratch pull! Scratch pull! Scratch pull!

 

Get to our front door.

Open the door.

Up the stairs.

 

Oh no!

We forgot to shut the door.

Back downstairs & over the uniform.

 

Shut the door. 

Over the uniform & back upstairs.

Into the bedroom.

 

Into bed.

Under the covers with our plushies.

Image via Pinterest 

WE’RE NOT GOING ON A SCHOOL HUNT AGAIN.

Except the law says we have to so we do .... 

 

We’re going on another school hunt.

We’re going to find a special one.

What a hopeful day!

We’re not sure.

We’re segregated.

 

Uh-uh! It’s the same!

 

We’re going on another school hunt.

We’re going to find a different one.

What a difficult day!

We’re not wanted.

We’re depressed.

 

We’re going on another school hunt.

Will we ever find the right one?

What a dark day!

We’re not well.

 

Image via Pinterest

We’re lost isolated broken & alone.

 

Uh-uh! PTSD!

Painful life threatening PTSD.

We can’t go over it.

We can’t go under it.

 

Oh no! 

We’ve got to go through it!

 

WE CAN’T GO ON A SCHOOL HUNT AGAIN.

 

 The End.

S.L.

o0o

To quote Alan E Beck:

"You can't do the Bloom stuff 

until you've done the Maslow stuff."

Image via Pinterest

 The End End