Dinosaur Discovery!

The mystery of a collection of bones has been unravelled by Year 6 today as they uncover the real origin of a lucky find by the school caretaker. Here's a sample of the Year 6 reports detailing have discovered.

Reported by Sophie Hawthorne-Lloyd and Grace Lowe:

Did you ever think that you would find parts of a dinosaur in your school grounds? Caretaker Mr Muldoon certainly didn’t expect to almost fall over a set of bones last Friday. It seemed that Hook Junior School had a new pupil-a 125 million year old pupil from the early Cretaceous Period. However, what truly makes this dinosaur unique is the location of its find.

This species of dinosaur - the Hypsilophodon - has only ever been found in the Isle of Wight-until now. Since it has now been found in main-land Hampshire, geography experts can now conclude that there was once a land link between Southern England and the Isle of Wight as the Hypsilophodon couldn’t swim. Mr Muldoon explained, “I was so excited because the bones were really big.”

He isn’t the only person to be excited- several palaeontologists from Southampton University have been to examine the bones found in Hook Junior School Grounds. A few weeks before the find, class 6NR had been digging just a few feet above the bones; however, they didn’t know that they were there. Imagine how shocked they would have been if they had dug into one of the dinosaurs’ fossilised bones!

Though quite a few fossilised bones were found, the most relevant is the Femur bone (thigh bone). This is because the Femur tells you how large the creature was. There was also some soft tissue left which shows what the creatures’ diet was like. However, what does the fossils’ future hold?

It has not yet been determined where the bones will be placed. Head teacher Mrs Martin confirms that it will probably be sent to Southampton University. From when Mr Muldoon stumbled across the bones to when palaeontologists took them for research, members of Hook Junior School have been unbelievably excited.

Reported by Lydia Cutting and Ollie Burgess:

Bones of a Hypsilophodon have been discovered in Hook Junior School grounds by the schools caretaker, Mr Muldoon. Last weekend, Mr Muldoon, the finder of the bones thought he had just found a block of concrete, but he actually found three dinosaur bones. Mr Muldoon explained that "I was honoured to find three bones, and never thought I would be part of a dinosaur find!"

What do we know?

Dr Sylvester-Bradley presumes that these bones are from a Hypsilophodon and are going to be studied closer a southampton University. Dr Sylvester-Bradley visited Hook Junior School and spoke to Year 6 about some facts that she has found out. Dr Sylvester-Bradley quoted that "the dinosaur would have lived in the cretaceous period around 120-125 million years ago".

Who found it and how did the find it?

Mr Muldoon was filling in a hole that 6NR had started digging when they were fossil hunting. Mr Muldoon carried on filling in the hole and thought he came across a block of concrete, but no, he had actually found three dinosaur bones that were not that far from the surface.

Press conference with the palaeontologist

Year 6 were very excited to go and find out more information about what creature these bones had come from. Mrs Martin, Hook Junior School Head Teacher, was also there answering any questions on behalf of the school. Dr Sylvester-Bradley has confirmed that the pupils need to stay off the area in case they case any damage to the bones.

Lasting Impact

Hook Junior School explained that they will always remember the amazing dinosaur bones that were found in the school grounds. It will also make history easier to understand knowing that different parts of the world were once connected. As we know that the Hypsilophodon could not swim and only one other dinosaur of this kind has been found in the Isle Of Wight, so must have used his amazing running skills to get to where his bones lie at Hook Junior School.