Wearing odd socks is a great way to celebrate what makes us all unique in Anti-Bullying Week! This helps send an important message that we should all be allowed to be ourselves free from bullying and helps us celebrate Anti-Bullying Week in a fun and positive way. Thanks to Prep IV (and Samuel and Frankie!) for demonstrating their odd socks!
If you go down to the woods today
You’re sure of a big surprise
If you go down to the woods today
You better go in disguise
For every bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain because
Today’s the day the teddy bears have their picnic.
Actually, it wasn’t picnics our Pudsey bears were having today, it was our Children in Need Ramble – every class going out at some stage to enjoy the fresh air and mud in Worsley Woods.
Bridgewater Under 9s are developing quite a reputation in the sporting circles of the North West. They have played three tournaments so far, winning two and losing the final of the other on a penalty shoot-out. They have played eighteen games in the three tournaments and have lost just one game.
Since the report of the Tag Rugby festival at Manchester Grammar, the pupils have played a football tournament at Manchester City and the ISA North Tag Rugby Tournament at Wilmslow RFC. The games at the Etihad were all close affairs but the intricate passing of the Bridgewater team always gave the boys in royal blue the upper hand in possession. When possession was occasionally lost the goalkeeping skills of Jacob came to the fore. Bridgewater won their early games convincingly including a resounding victory over Stockport Grammar but despite the victories the Bridgewater goal tally never matched the amount of possession that the team had. Unfortunately this became more evident in the tense situations of the Semi-Final and Final. Both matches were very close and were eventually decided on penalties. The Semi-Final was won because of some outstanding keeping from Jacob who clawed a penalty from the bottom corner like Gordon Banks all those years ago! A deserve win but the amount of chances missed was still a concern. The final was against the highest qualifiers, Stockport GS. Surely the goals would flow and Bridgewater would be victorious? SGS had other ideas. They worked impressively and reduced the amount of possession that Bridgewater could have. The game finished 0-0 and penalties beckoned again. Jacob was impressive yet again but his counterpart was outstanding saving two penalties to secure a surprise victory. Special mention must go to Sam who scored bravely after missing earlier in the day.
The Bridgewater squad were still smarting after the previous defeat when they arrived at soggy but sunny Wilmslow to play the ISA North Under 9 Tag Rugby Championships. Unfortunately some teams had pulled out but thankfully Bridgewater were still able to play six games of intense rugby. The whole squad showed some silky running and offloading skills together with some ferocious tagging from some of the boys. Despite some strict refereeing from Mr Rooney Bridgewater won all six games and deservedly became ISA champions after a very enjoyable but muddy day!
The ISA sporting community will be watching out for the next appearance of the Bridgewater Under 9s very soon!
Getting an excitable class of Prep IV children to be quiet and mindful was always going to be a challenging task, one would have thought, but no sooner had we met our Education Officer Petra and headed out into the Middle Woods at RHS Bridgewater we quickly realised that our children we receptive to the idea of being at one and peaceful with nature.
A quick calming activity saw us close our eyes, take lots of deep breathes and simply listen to what was around us. We obviously have a few who have tried meditation before as we had a few children adopting the lotus position! The onus was to enjoy being in and with nature, not just using it as a means to an end, such as a venue for running or cycling, or just walking the dog. We then tested our observation skills, become nature detectives, using twigs and leaves around us to try and identify the many different trees. Our next activity was a tactile one as, blindfolded, the children took turns to touch tress and then decide which one their group had taken them to, based on the feel of the bark. Some groups became quite devious in their attempts to fool their blindfolded counterparts! Finally, using nature as inspiration, we were each given a piece of clay which we moulded into our own unique pieces – grown ups, these will need to go on to a windowsill to dry when you get them home (assuming they get back in one piece!).
After lunch (and an effort to remove the clay from our hands and clothes!), we moved on to the self-guided part of the day. Six questions were posed for the children to observe as we moved through the various gardens: something that would be nice with a roast chicken dinner, a vegetable, a tunnel, the most interesting red item we saw on the day, an Asian influence and the colour of the Bridgewater pigs’ feet – it’ll be interesting to see the children’s answers in the comments below! To see these, we explored the Peel Learning Garden and the herbs there, before moving through the Community Grow and Kitchen gardens. After walking to the Chinese Streamside Garden, we had to finish with a visit to the Woodland Play Area.
With the fresh air making Mrs. Booth sleepy, it was time to collect our things and make our way back to school. What a wonderful day, as usual, at RHS Bridgewater, which has hopefully given the children the chance to slow down and enjoy their surroundings, wherever they might be.
We love this post from National Online Safety about sharing kindness online, especially as it supports so well our Anti-Bullying Week message.
“Last year, around one in five children aged 10–15 in England and Wales admitted experiencing online bullying: most commonly being insulted or sworn at, or having hurtful messages sent about them. To a child who’s being bullied, the world can seem like a bleak, negative place – but just one kind word can be a ray of hope: a turning point that brightens someone’s day and resets their perspective. That’s why ‘One Kind Word’ is the theme of Anti-Bullying Week 2021. We’re supporting this year’s event by bringing you ten top tips for beating online bullying by replacing it with kindness.” (nationalonlinesafety.com)
Prep III completed some Celtic inspired weaving patterns this morning. At first, the children thought it was extremely challenging, but through sheer determination, they prevailed and should be extremely proud of the outcome!
Following Mr. Grant’s Remembrance Assembly earlier in the week, all of our Prep children across the school fell silent on Thursday 11th November in order to pay tribute to and remember the fallen who sacrificed so much for our freedom. Our Remembrance display remembers fallen family members who served our country.
#lest we forget
Prep III didn’t hear anything so exciting as a fox howl when we arrived at the Conway centre in Delamere for our day of map skills and orienteering. We did however hear the cooing of the white dove who has just this week taken up residence in the centre just this week, and who seemed to take part in our activities around the centre. Actually, Fox Howl was the name of the lodge that makes up the Conway centre in Delamere Forest, and it was around the centre that we got our first taste of map reading and orienteering skills – with our ‘nose and toes to the north’ we quickly learned to orientate ourselves in the immediate area of the centre and its ample grounds. A quick task to see who could find all the numbered posts around the centre proved that our skills were developing, and so John, our guide, took us into the adjacent pine forest to test them more fully.
The Forestry Commission have recently undertaken a large scale cull of these pine forests – they now resemble something of a Paul Nash WW1 landscape – but there was plenty of room for our teams to explore the area. Great delight was had when each team found an orienteering peg to punch their holes in their record card, proving their map reading skills and teamwork were up to the task.
After lunch back at the centre – which our resident dove tried to join with several times – it was across into the northern tip of the forest to further use our map reading skills and explore the area. We were somewhat intrigued by the frequent sightings of corn husks on the forest floor, until we realised that the neighbouring farmer had been growing corn and these were the remnants from the thieving grey squirrels and badgers! It was off to see the badger setts we went next, looking for tell tale signs of their presence – and they were easy to find! Deep holes, claw marks on tree stumps, excavated soil on the forest floor. Sadly, we didn’t see any badgers – they were all snoozing under the forest floor (well, they were until we turned up!) but it was clear to see this was a thriving colony.
After a hill run challenge, it was on to the river to practise our river crossing survival skills. Not wanting to lose any children while crossing raging torrents and seeing them swept downstream, John showed us river crossing survival techniques for a group crossing. OK, so the water was only about six inches deep and truth be told we didn’t really need them, but next time we’re in the Himalayas they will come in handy and it was good fun! Navigating our way back to the centre, it was was time for our teachers to use their navigation skills to find our way back to school.
A thoroughly enjoyable day – thanks to John for making it so enlightening for us!
As part of our History topic about the Victorians, Prep V used reference books to research and plan costumes for their Victorian ladies and gentlemen. We used wooden pegs, pipe cleaners, different material and a lot of patience and perseverance during our art lessons. The glue gun was much in demand! Although it was a challenging task, we are pleased with the results, which are currently decorating our classroom windowsill. We hope you enjoy looking at our finished peg people.
To start off our geography topic, Prep V has been making river models, so that we could learn the names of different parts of rivers. Some of us used cardboard and paint, some of us used Lego, and Layla made hers using sponge cake and colourful icing. It tasted delicious! We look forward to learning more about rivers this half term. Many thanks to our families for their help and support, we are very proud of our work!
Bridgewater School - Prep. Department 