An award winning South Manchester preparatory school has adopted Manchester’s iconic symbol to encourage their boys and girls to become busy bees.
Greenbank Preparatory School in Cheadle Hulme has introduced the school mascot Banks Bee to encourage pupils from the reception class to Year Six to take part in all the many and varied school community events and enjoy all that their education has to offer.
The scheme also applies to the mums and dads with a Parent Bee award for helping their children to complete all 120 activities throughout their school careers.
What are termed as the hive activities range from smiling on your first day in school to giving a solo performance on stage, from acting in one of the school’s drama productions to planting seedlings and tending vegetables in the eco garden There are also bonus activities which extend further the range of challenges.
The awards are separated into Eco, Media, Spelling, Research and Reading tasks and get increasingly complex as the children get older, with bronze, silver gold and platinum awards available to the end of the year for the number completed.
Over the last five years Greenbank has won a series of national awards for eco friendliness, parental engagement and value for money pro rata outstanding academic results and was recently visited by a Chinese delegation to analyse the secrets of their success.
Greenbank Headmistress Janet Lowe said: “Banks Bee will encourage our children to explore all parts of the personality and work as a community to achieve their goals. It’s about firing their enthusiasm, lighting up their imagination and making learning fun.”
She added: “We chose the bee as it has such significance for all people in the region, especially our children.”