A captivating global phenomenon, which has grabbed the attention of people worldwide, has appeared at a primary school in St Albans.
Pupils at Mandeville Primary School arrived at school on Friday, December 11 to find a monolith in their playground, resembling those spotted all over the world in recent weeks.
The day started with a video message from head teacher Cathy Longhurst to all classes, linking it to the other sightings worldwide. Children were asked to stay away from the mysterious sculpture, and that police would be attending to investigate.
PCSOs Bennett and Flanagan arrived at the school at 10am, completed their forensic investigations and took statements from the children. Pupils and staff have many theories about what it is and how it got there, but none of them are yet to be proved.
St Albans Police have since reported the strange goings on formally and alerted the public to the monolith on their official Twitter and Facebook pages.
Children in Years 1 to 6 all wrote about the event in different genres depending on their year group. Inquisitive Year 6 students, who were eager to get to the bottom of the origin of the structure and inform the general public of the monolith’s appearance, created the below report:
Police Investigate Another Strange Monolith Appearance at a School in St Albans
A mysterious object was discovered at Mandeville Primary School in St Albans this morning.
The structure resembled monoliths that have been appearing around the world in places such as Utah, Romaina, Poland and The Isle of Wight to name but a few.
Kevin Byrne, Mandeville’s Site Manager, said: “I could not believe my eyes when I arrived at school and saw the monolith this morning.
“It was certainly not there when the head teacher went home at around 7.45pm last night.”
The plain, grey cuboid structure, estimated to be 2.2m tall and 30 cm wide, was described to be “heavy, hollow-sounding and metal, using astro turf to stand up on”. The police attended the scene at approximately 9.55am when PCSO Bennett and PCSO Flanagan took forensic samples and interviewed pupils at the school.
Several students believe they spotted a strange figure around the buildings. One student in Y4 stated he saw a man behind it and children in Year 3 reported they saw a hand and a foot sticking out from behind it.
Other children reported that they had observed the monolith moving slightly, changing angles, growing and shrinking. None of this have been confirmed by evidence however.
One pupil in Year 4, who lives nearby the school said, “I heard a noise outside at about 2am but after that I didn’t see or hear anything anymore.”
Cathy Longhurst, head teacher at Mandeville Primary School said: “I’m shocked by the sudden appearance.”
Other teachers, such as Year 6 teacher, Ms Claire Sargent, were more excited saying: “I’m extremely fascinated by this!”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here