Bridgewater School – Prep. Department

On Wednesday, the Senior School hosted a 5km charity run through Worsley Woods and the Loop Line, raising funds for St. Ann’s Hospice.  Over fifty runners took part, but invited to participate with them was a small selection of especially dedicated Prep VI runners from Mr. Grant’s Cross Country Club. Our six runners did not just run on the day, but have put in a deal of practice in the last few Club runs, running longer distances on Friday lunchtimes to get themselves ready for the 5km.

Special mention must go to Alex – although the aim was participation rather than performance, he put in a cracking run to finish 9th overall. An incredible achievement!

Well done to all – there was a sense of weary self satisfaction when they posed for this photo with Mrs. Hilton!

It was a testing first cricket outing of the season as our Prep VI boys took on Pownall Hall School. Hampered slightly by Anton’s injury in practice earlier in the week, the team battled bravely against a well organised and well practised Pownall side. Despite the result not going in our favour, the boys had a good time and performed well. Many thanks to Pownall for their excellent hospitality!

Our U11 Rounders team played a great match last night against Rishworth Prep, running our victors by two and a half rounders. Given that this was the team’s first outing together since pre-pandemic times, this was a great performance, with the team showing great spirit and skills throughout. A special mention to Frankie who was awarded player of the match from the opposing team.  Well done team!

Prep V spent an entertaining and informative afternoon learning about the Maya people last week with history facilitator Del Bannister. The Maya were an ancient civilization form Mesoamerica, and we found out about their culture, rituals, diet and clothes by working in teams to sort a range of artefacts. These included musical instruments, materials, cocoa pods, masks, fabric, a chocolate whisk and a tiny worry doll, (Mrs. Sweeney’s favourite artefact!) as well as an incredibly intricate calendar.

Having studied the artefacts, we could begin to appreciate that the Maya were a lively and colourful civilisation, and this was clearly seen in the clothes which they wore. Leila and Luca modelled the typical outfits of a Maya man and woman beautifully and looked very smart. The clothes also reflected the warm climate of Mayan lands.

We also arranged our class so that it reflected the organisation of a Mayan city. This was great for the city ruler, and the powerful priests, who told everyone what the gods wanted them to do. Then came the nobleman, who also enjoyed positions of authority. The farmers, soldiers and peasants were next in the social pyramid, and finally there were the slaves, any of whom might be needed for a human sacrifice if the gods needed appeasing. This last group were not too happy with their place in the city’s hierarchy!

Our final challenge was a food quiz, and we used our senses to identify nine different foods which the Maya people ate. Some of these were very familiar – we all recognized the vanilla pods and the cocoa pods. Rather more surprising was the lizard and the monkey… we were not sure we would like to find either of the on our school dinner menu!

Prep V engaged in all the activities with enthusiasm, asking and answering questions thoughtfully like true history detectives. Our thanks go to Mrs. Bannister for all her hard work and organisation, and to all our parents for their continued support.

According to Ofcom’s most recent research, a significant proportion of children are already online by the time they start school, with 17% of 5-year-olds owning their own mobile phone and 50% using messaging platforms. As becoming familiar with technology is generally encouraged in younger children – and has been essential for education during the pandemic – it is essential that trusted adults recognise both the benefits and the risks of infants and toddlers going online. We’ve compiled our top tips to help the under 5s start their online safety journey.

In the guide, you’ll find tips such as managing screen time, block in-app purchases and using devices together. (Source: National Online Safety)

Last week the Prep Department enjoyed a visit from The Clever Cogz Learning company which was postponed several times due to Covid……however the staff and children all agreed it was well worth the wait!

The Early Years and Prep I children all took part in the Superhero Academy where they became ‘superheroes’ helping the Police to solve crimes and tackling the superhero assault course. This gave the children the opportunity to develop their reading, maths, communication and physical skills.

Then it was the turn of the children from Prep II to Prep VI to enter the Egyptian themed escape room. They worked in groups of 15 children to solve puzzles and crack codes to escape the room. I am glad to say each group worked fantastically well and all made it out in the time given. Some groups had only seconds to spare….phew!

This was a fantastic opportunity for all the children to work as a team solving complex problems and the Clever Cogz team were very impressed with our children’s abilities and team work. A fantastic experience for everyone!

Our Prep dancing group have been training really hard under Mrs. Tunney’s guidance, and their routine from the film Encanto – to the theme of We Don’t care About Bruno – wowed the judges at their recent ISA competition at Bowden School, securing them an excellent third place! We love the confidence and ability shown by the children here – enjoy!

As the country voted for its local councillors yesterday, Bridgewater Prep voted for their Head Boy and Head Girl for next year. In an mirror of the election process, our candidates presented their rationale for being elected to the whole of Prep, and every child, from KG through to Prep VI, had the right to vote for their preferred candidates. And not a party in sight!

Well done to our new Head Boy Oliver, and Head Girl Layla, both of whom will be ably supported by Deputy Head Boy Luca.

Prep II used their recent trip to the gardens at RHS Bridgewater as a basis for their latest art project – watercolour sketches from observational photos – which support their Science topic, Plants. As well as having a fabulous day out, the children also used the visit as inspiration for these paintings. We’re sure you’ll agree they are fabulous!

Our Prep Quiz Team this morning participated in their semi-final heat, to see if they could secure enough points to qualify for next month’s national final. With a variety of questions testing a range of knowledge from history to contemporary art, politics to music, (many of which left the onlooking Mr. Rooney scratching his head!) our team worked together to pit their brains against the other participating schools. The boys showed real teamwork as they won this semi-final heat – sadly, their final points tally was not quite sufficient to make the national finals. Despite this, the team should be extremely proud of their efforts, and the depth of knowledge that they showed. Well done!