Tino's Tales: New Beginnings

Settle down to hear all about Roberta’s first day back to school then try our fun Teddy Tales activity sheet!

It most definitely was not Roberta’s favourite time of the year. And this year was even worse than usual.

She loved the school summer holidays so much. She, Rupert, Tino, Tilly and the other bears would spend their days together: they went for walks, had picnics, visited museums, gardens and farms, went cycling, read books, played games, did jigsaw puzzles, swam at the beach and had so many adventures together.

Roberta dreaded going back to school in September because the bears didn’t see each other as much and she had heard that when they went back this year, everything was going to be very different.

‘Have a lovely day, be kind!’ said Bill, as Tino, Tilly, Rupert and Roberta headed out of the front door to walk to school. They had carefully packed their bags with the things that they needed and Bill had made them their packed lunches as a special treat for the first day back.

‘What’s the matter, Roberta?’ asked Tilly, as Roberta hung back behind the others who were keen to hurry to school.

‘I don’t want to go,’ admitted Roberta, her eyes looking down sadly.

‘Why not?’ puzzled Tilly, who couldn’t think of anything better than seeing her friends, the teachers and helpful staff, the fun and exciting lessons and the outdoor play area.

‘I’ve heard that there are new rules,’ worried Roberta. ‘We have to sit on our own at a table, not share our pens and pencils, stay away from each other at break times, and we can’t go on school visits either.’

Tilly hadn’t heard about this, and was starting to feel a little worried too, when she heard her name being called and dashed off to greet her friend who was waving at her from across the playground.

Roberta was alone and didn’t know what to do. Her bottom lip wobbled, and she thought she might start to cry.

‘Roberta!’ called Miss Waters, her teacher. ‘I’ve been looking for you. This is Bella, she’s new and doesn’t know anybody. I hoped you would look after her.’

Roberta could see that Bella had been crying so must be very sad. She led Bella to their classroom, where Miss Waters had given them desks next to each other.

‘I’m so glad I’ve got you,’ smiled Bella to Roberta. ‘I didn’t want to come to school today because I thought it would all be very different from my old school and I was worried I would get lost and be lonely.’

Roberta smiled back. All her friends and teachers were here and the school was the same place she’d left behind before the holidays. It was much harder for Bella who was starting a brand new school. Roberta realised that apart from a lot of ‘Remember to wash your hands’ signs, there was no need to worry because school wasn’t really very different this year after all!

Teddy tales: Teddy School

Roberta has been playing some word and number games in her school lessons. She has got stuck on some of her games, can you help her?

Click here for the teddy school activity

Tino, Tilly, Roberta, Rupert, Lord Meight and all of Bill’s collection of 269 bears will soon be moving into a new home at Mr Simpson’s Teddy Bear Museum in Milestones Museum. Find out how we’re getting the bears ready for their move.

Tino's Tales was made by Mark Fenton, Ruth James, Caroline Johnson, Helen Sinnamon and Nick Suffolk

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