Bridgewater School – Prep. Department

In their recent Computing lessons, Prep II have been learning about Information Technology (IT), how it helps us and where we might find it, both inside and outside of school. Today, with an unplugged activity, they looked at the benefits of using IT in the wider world, by focussing on IT in a shop and how devices can work together. We created our items for sale, scanned the barcodes and worked out the prices, before issuing our customers a receipt for their purchases. Sadly, no purchases will make it home – you’ll have to do your own shopping grown ups! – but your children should be able to explain the purchase process to you the next time you are in a supermarket!

Article by Year 13 Publicity Officer, David Edwards.

Friday 15th October saw the whole of the Bridgewater School community come together to take part in our annual ‘Pink and Yellow’ charity fundraising day. An incredibly important event in the school calendar, the day gave students, staff and families the opportunity to show their understanding and support for such important issues as breast cancer and young people’s mental health, whilst raising valuable funds and awareness for two charities close to our hearts; Breast Cancer Now and Young Minds.

According to recent figures breast cancer is now the most common type of cancer within women in the UK, with one woman getting diagnosed approximately every 10 minutes. Yet through world class research Breast Cancer Now is discovering how we can prevent breast cancer, save lives and live well with the disease. Just some of the many reasons why Bridgewater raises money for such an important cause.

World Mental Health Day, which also takes place during the month of October, highlights the seriousness of mental wellbeing, with 1 in 4 people experiencing mental health problems of some kind each year. According to research, over 50% of mental health problems are already established by the age of 14, a figure increasing over the years, and with crucial focus on children’s physical, emotional and mental wellbeing, this shows how prominent an issue this is amongst young people and how vital it is to ensure that attention is give to our mental and physical health.

Head Girl, Rowan Blessing said

“The students, teachers and families at Bridgewater all in some way hold a personal connection to these charities. The school community, especially Sixth Form, have worked tirelessly to ensure that this year’s Pink and Yellow Day was a blossoming success. From our ‘Name the Bear!’ competition (congratulations to Frankie in Prep V), to the selling of stress-balls and donuts, this year’s event raised a huge amount of money which will be split equally between these two amazing causes.”

The whole school, from Kindergarten to Year 13 thoroughly enjoyed Pink and Yellow Day and we are all delighted to have raised a huge £1,402. So thank you.

During their weekly Computing lessons this term, KG have been working on their mouse skills, showing how they can use their ‘clicky finger’ to select objects, and control and move the mouse with their hand. This morning, we went for the ‘no mess’ art lesson, choosing different objects to paint on the computers. As you can see, the children are justifiably proud of their efforts!

Our Reception children have been honing their computing mouse skills during their Computing lessons, and after some clicking and dragging mouse practice activities today, they had a chance to get ready for Halloween by carving their own pumpkins. The best thing about this? No mess! We hope you like their friendly and scary pumpkin offerings!

Jack Grealish had a disappointing midweek with England failing to create sufficient chances to break the Hungarian defence and then being substituted before the end. His mood definitely improved when he saw the Bridgewater School under 11s screaming their support and goodwill on Friday! The rest of the Man City team also received a wave and thumbs up but seeing Grealish was certainly one of the highlights for the Bridgewater team during a wonderful morning at the Etihad.

With ex England, Real Madrid player and BT Sport pundit Steve McManaman looking on the Bridgewater team started their first game against Wilmslow Prep in confident mood. This confidence was bolstered by an early goal from Alex. The team played some lovely football with Tommy Jack orchestrating play from the back with simple but very effective passes. A second cool finish from Alex put the game out of the reach of Wilmslow. A third goal from the excellent Anton was the perfect way to end the game.

Our second game was against Hale Prep who were an excellent side with strong team spirit and tactical awareness. Bridgewater had their fair share of possession but could not break down the opposition defence. Kian was excellent all morning and certainly had to be during this match. Unfortunately the game was lost 2-0 but Bridgewater did not have time to be down hearted as they went straight in to their third game against Mr. Rooney’s old school Moor Allerton.

The game was very open with lots of entertaining play. Thankfully the game’s first goal was for Bridgewater. It was the second rocket to be launched this week with Captain Kirk going in to orbit but Frankie’s rocket nearly bursting the net, boldly going in to the top corner. What a goal! Tommy Jack added another and Mr. Rooney was very content!

Bridgewater were in to the semi-final after coming second in their group and Stockport Grammar awaited. This was the game when Jacob showed much determination and a cool head, dispossessing the opposition many times and coolly passing the ball to a team mate. One such pass released Samuel who threaded yet another excellent pass to Tommy who finished well. Arthur was becoming increasingly influential in the game and all looked good for the final. Stockport’s Manchester United player had other ideas, adding three goals in quick succession past our defence. Keith kept ghosting to the back post but couldn’t quite get the important touch that was needed. Then a goal from Alex gave the team hope but unfortunately a great save from the Stockport keeper denied Bridgewater a penalty shootout and the tournament came to an end.

The play, sportsmanship and behaviour of the boys was impeccable. Well done to everyone. Let’s hope that better luck brings a trophy on our return to the Etihad next term.

It has been over 18 months since Bridgewater prep played a competitive football match. This week, we finally experienced the highs and lows of competing against other schools, and not just our own bubbles.

First up the U11 football team travelled to the Wirral and Birkenhead School, to participate in the AJIS qualifying event. Any AJIS event is always going to be a challenge for an ISA school and Bridgewater faced a demanding draw, facing grammar schools from Stockport, Kirkham and Birkenhead. In recent years, the U11s have excelled in all competitions, and this team has a lot to live up to. Although results did not go to plan, this team can be extremely proud of how they adapted and evolved during the mini tournament.

In the first game, Birkenhead were physically stronger and had more technical ability in possession. From the opening minute, Bridgewater had to face wave after wave of attack. Tommy-Jack dropped back into the centre of defence with debutant Jacob, and both had tremendous games. In goal Kian was inspired, with one save drawing admiring gasps from onlookers. The midfield of Frankie, Anton and Alex battled manfully but struggled to get a foothold in the game. Samuel and Arthur took turns to forage for scraps upfront and kept the opposition defence honest throughout the game. Birkenhead ran out worthy 6-0 winners, a score line they were to better against Kirkham in the next game.

The pattern of the first game was repeated in the first half of the next games against Stockport Grammar. By halftime, Bridgewater found themselves 5-0 and in need of some inspiration. That was to come minutes into the second half when Samuel scored a special goal to lift everyone’s spirits. With a target set not to concede in the second half, the team went one better by winning the half 1-0 and more importantly, they had started to tactically adapt to playing against stronger opposition.

Bridgewater went into the final game against Kirkham Grammar filled with confidence and optimism. Each player had a specific role and now they began to execute that role significantly better. Frankie had a fantastic game, shutting down the right side of the Kirkham attacks and found time to burst forward with menace on occasion also. Jacob and Keith blocked shots and made tackles tirelessly, whilst Tommy-Jack stamped his authority on the game the longer it went on. Tommy played a delightful one-two with Anton before threading a delicious pass through to Alex. Alex broke three tackles and rode a desperate lunge from the keeper before slotting the ball home to take a 1-0 lead. Samuel went close to adding to the tally with another fine solo effort, whilst Arthur provided some much needed energy in midfield. As Kirkham pressed for an equiliser, Kian proved to be unsurpassable and Bridgewater proudly took a 1-0 victory home to Worsley. The team will be excited to continue their development as they are back in action at the Manchester City Festival at the football academy on Friday.

Prep VI are currently studying a local history based on Worsley, and the dry autumnal weather today was perfect for getting out and about and studying history in person. A very pleasant stroll through Worsley Woods brought us out at St Mark’s Church, where a detailed exploration of the churchyard saw us delve every so slightly into the lives of some of Worsley’s previous residents by studying their headstones. Of course, prior to doing any exploration, we had an anxious wait to hear if the legend of the church clock striking thirteen times at 1pm was true or not. And the result? Well, you’ll just have to get yourself down to the church to find out! A brief visit to Worsley Delph on the return journey gave us the opportunity to see first hand the area we have been studying in class.

There is still plenty growing in the Prep garden at the moment – not least, sadly, plenty of weeds! Or, as we like to call them, plants growing in the wrong place. Having been put off by residentials, trips to Haigh Hall and torrential rain, our new bunch of Gardening Club members finally got to grips today with tidying up our plot. As we move into the winter season, we will be looking to get our garden winter ready but also planting some crops that will not mind the cold weather over the winter.

If you would like to help us, we are looking to use the It’s Good to Grow scheme from Morrisons supermarket to collect tokens for our school garden so that we can update some of the tools we use. All Prep parents should have received an email from the school today about this, and there are more details on the attachment below.

Keep an eye on the blog to see how our garden develops throughout the year!

We hope you enjoy these photos from our Prep III Stone Age workshop. We were able to learn all about how people lived, what they needed to survive and the kinds of things they ate. It was great fun! 

When faced with a selection of historical artefacts, it is usually quite difficult to work out the exact purpose of said artefacts. Is it for drinking out of? For storing food items? For decoration? What will our descendants make of a Rubik’s cube, or a fidget spinner, in hundreds of years time? That was the task that faced Prep IV this afternoon as they had to try to determine the purpose of a variety of (replica) Viking everyday objects, and also work out what they were made from.

Our historical detectives proved astute in recognising drinking vessels, brooches, beard trimmers and razors, dice, board game pieces and other items by carefully handling and examining said items. When we thought of the Vikings as a fierce, scruffy, warlike people, we actually discovered they were firmly committed to family life, loved playing games and liked to make sure they looked neat and tidy!

To round off our investigation into the lives of the Vikings, what better way to celebrate than with a wedding? Alfie and Florence elegantly donned their best Viking clothes for their special day (the wedding cakes were incidental – they were actually Patrick’s birthday cake!).

An excellent afternoon of bringing history to life…