French Trip Photos
Prep 3 and Prep 4 have returned back from their trip, exhausted but happy!
We thought you’d appreciate having some photo ‘feedback’ of your daughters so here goes…
Our Olympian Teaches P4 diving
During their summer term enrichment classes, Prep 4 pupils at Ashdell Prep School had the opportunity to experience diving sessions with some real Olympic input. Jane Cooke, head of PE at Ashdell and past Olympic and Commonwealth Games champion, coached the girls over a four week period at Sheffield’s Pond Forge Leisure Centre.
The children started their lessons by diving poolside, gradually working their way up to a one metre board dive. All of them feel they have really benefited from this special enrichment course. One pupil, Lucy, has already been selected for the National Talent ID Squad (diving); and another, Pippa, commented on her experience as follows: ‘I really enjoyed the diving. I realise how much more there is to swimming than just lengths; the classes have definitely improved my confidence in water. We are very lucky to have such an enthusiastic and talented PE teacher.’
Jane Cooke was part of the Great Britain dive team for 12 years, taking part in two Olympic Games; achieving 4th place in the 3 metre synchronized diving event in Athens in 2005. She has also competed in three Commonwealth Games, winning two bronze medals in Manchester for the one metre and three metre individual diving events.
The photo below shows the girls outside Ponds Forge with Jane’s picture on the side of the building!
SATIPS Art Exhibition News
Pupils’ work is selected for display in the national SATIPS Art Exhibition
Eight pupils - Imani Schawsmidth, Beatrix Larvin, Ella Roberts, Sophie Harrity, Lily Godbole, Amelia Hancock, Tashinga Chihaka and Liberty Richardson – have had their artwork chosen for display in the SATIPS Art Exhibition held at The Downs Prep School in Malvern 5 – 12th May. Over fifty Prep schools have contributed to the 500 pieces of 2D and 3D artwork on exhibit.
200 Heads and Art Coordinators attended the official opening on Saturday 5th May where they had the opportunity to view inspirational artwork from Prep school children all over the country. Ashdell girls had their work presented beautifully in themed collections around the hall and Ella Roberts, in particular, had her work chosen to grace the main entrance into the Exhibition, together with eleven other inspirational pieces!
Sheffield Young Artists Success
Pupils’ success in the Sheffield Young Artists Exhibition
Twenty-nine pupils from Ashdell had their artwork chosen for display in the recent Sheffield Young Artists’ Exhibition held at Pond’s Forge on 4th/5th May, where over one thousand paintings and drawings were exhibited from schools all over Sheffield.
Keira won the prestigious first prize in the KS1 section with her richly coloured ‘Birdhouse’ painting. She was presented with a silver salver by the Lord Mayor and also received a plaque and professional drawing set from the sponsor, Dutton International. Prior to the official presentation at Pond’s Forge, Keira and other prize winners were invited to meet the Lord Mayor at the Town Hall in Sheffield.
Mollie has had her 2D mixed media ‘Crocodile’ composition chosen for display in the forthcoming ‘Art in the Park’ exhibition held in the Botanical Gardens in September (only a select number of pieces are chosen for this exhibition).
Stem Reporters Award
Lucy and Mia in Prep 4 discuss Organic Chemistry and Mathematics with two different professors as part of their STEM Reporters award
Lucy and Mia have been working towards their STEM Reporters award as part of Ashdell’s Gifted & Talented Science programme. Their reports have been selected as a feature on the STEM website . The girls will find out if they have been successful in achieving their national STEM Reporter’s award on 31st May.
Click here to read more.
Swimming Gala News
Thank you to all those girls, supporters and helpers who attended the swimming gala. It was a great evening and wonderful experience, especially for the Prep 1′s. There were some great swims by everyone and a closely fought house relay race, with Loxley coming out on top, followed by Rivelin then Porter.
The final house results were:
1st Porter
2nd Don
3rd Rivelin
4th Loxley.
Charlie & the Chocolate Factory
The prep girls worked very hard during the spring term to pull together a wonderful and funny performance of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, in front of a very appreciative audience. Well done girls and a huge thank you to all those who acted, helped and supported!
K’nex Science Challenge
Birkdale School Sixth Formers support Year 5 & 6 pupils from Ashdell Prep School
During National Science and Engineering Week in March, Ashdell Prep School hosted their own inter-school KNEX Challenge for Year 5 & 6 pupils supported by Design Technology Sixth formers from Birkdale School in Sheffield.
The four boys from Birkdale supported Ashdell pupils as they worked in groups to complete their challenge: ‘To design and build a non-motorised fairground ride’; a fitting project for the NSEW theme this year, ‘The World in Motion’. Pupils were split into four groups and given ninety minutes to plan, develop and construct a fairground ride using KNEX pieces – absolutely no assembly instructions were allowed. At the end of the session, the groups presented their models to the whole school, explaining the mode of operation and giving a final evaluation, which included positive aspects about their design and a suggestion of an area for improvement.
The fairground ride designs included: ‘The Swaying Swan’, inspired by a swinging pirate ship, powered by cogs; ‘The Blade 360’, operated by a hand held lever allowing the vessel to rotate through the axle at 360 degrees; ‘Funky Ferris Wheel’, operated by rotation on the axle; and the ‘Spinning Spectacular’, influenced by a merry- go- round, spinning around a central pole.
Pupils from both schools thoroughly enjoyed this high quality learning experience; and it was a pleasure to see Sixth formers supporting the younger children, working as a team, generating enthusiasm and inspiring them to come up with innovative, workable ideas.
P1 and P2 Netball Win At SHS
Prep 1 and Prep 2 undefeated against Sheffield High School
Prep 1 and Prep 2 went down to Sheffield High School on Monday 19th March for a friendly match against the SHS. We had two teams that were both undefeated winning their games 2-0, 5-0, 1-0 and 2-0.
All the girls played exceptionally well and for most of them it is only their second ever match!!
Well done to everyone involved.
