On this special day the Junior School science classroom was transformed into a designated Crime Lab with a large ‘Welcome to CSI Central’ on the board. Mr Baxter, the organiser and brains behind the day, was the Crime Scene Boss.
The entire day was planned like an elaborate escape room and unsurprisingly it took a whole week for Mr Baxter to organise.
Pupils in Years 3-6 (a.k.a our crime scene investigators), were tasked with tracking down several stolen items from around the school, using skills such as fingerprinting, police sketches and photofits.
First, they were given the voice message and a ransom note left by ‘The Black Hood’ who demanded payment for the stolen goods. The children used the skills they had learnt in their Science lesson (the Crime Lab at CSI Central), to extract a sample of ink from the note to determine whether it matched any of the pens handed in by the seven suspects, who were all teachers. This then narrowed down their search.
Next they had to follow the clues already gathered by Mr Baxter (the Crime Scene Boss) to track down all the stolen items. By following clues and footprints around the school grounds, they were able to complete their CSI checklist and discount certain suspects from the photo lineup.
At this stage, the children were now ready to go back to the lab and test the finger prints left on the evidence to reveal yet a few possible perpetrators.
The Black Hood was finally revealed in the Symonds Hall, and was infact Year 4 teacher, Miss Walton. During the big reveal at the end of the day the atmosphere was electric! “The reveal was my favorite part of the day. The look on the children’s faces was a picture. They were thrilled.” – Mr Baxter
Mr Baxter was so pleased with the success of the day and extremely grateful to everyone involved. “All the staff have been really helpful. Staff came in early to help set up and I really couldn’t have done it without them.” – Mr Baxter
