Birchwood Update 1/10/2018
- Josie Evans
- Oct 1, 2018
- 10 min read
Birchwood Update week Commencing 1/10/18
Set a course for your future at Birchwood College
Make sure that you come along to our College Open Evening this Thursday 4 October between 6pm and 8pm to visit what has become the “College of choice” for east Warrington.
At Birchwood College, we have a wide range of courses to choose from, all of which are tailored to suit individual students’ needs and requirements. We work hard to create a positive working environment for learning and our caring staff are aware of the importance of an excellent relationship between teacher and student.
Identified by OFSTED as a ‘good college with high quality provision which is both inclusive and aspirational’. It is a great place to be!
See the College section of this update for our highlights of this year’s results.
Meet our staff and students, look at our facilities and find out why we really are the College where you matter.
Birchwood Community High School Open Evening – Thursday 27 September
Last Thursday gave us the opportunity to really celebrate our ethos of ‘Pride in our School’ as we held our Open Evening for prospective learners and their parents and carers.
Our staff worked hard to provide exciting and stimulating activities and demonstrations for our visitors to take part in.
Mr Jones astounded our visitors by running his hands through the flame of a bunsen burner, the Performing Arts Department allowed us to sit in on a live rehearsal of Beauty and The Beast, trampolining and basketball were available in the Sports Hall and a Mad Hatter’s tea part was taking place in English!
Learner guides were on hand to show our guests around and share their views about life as a Birchwood Learner. As usual, we were proud of the feedback that we received about our guides and the professional way they assisted during the evening. Learners also assisted in each department as ambassadors for learning, helping our young visitors with activities provided. Thank you to everyone involved for sharing your time and pride in our school.
A huge thank you also goes to our talented and dedicated staff who put so much time and effort into making the evening into such a success.
Finally, thanks go to all our visitors; we are so pleased that you enjoyed the evening and look forward to welcoming your child into our Birchwood High School Community next September.
Any visitors who would like to see more of our school and get a feel for day to day lessons, please join us for a ‘SEE US IN ACTION’ OPEN MORNING
‘See Us in Action’ Open Mornings
One of our school mottos is ‘Pride in our school’ and to show how proud we are of our school, we are inviting prospective new learners for 2019 and their families to join us for a personalised tour of school with our Headteacher.
The tours will take place from next Monday 24 September to Friday 5 October between 9.30am – 12pm and must be booked in advance.
To book your tour email Joinus@birchwoodhigh.org with details of your preferred date and time
Birchwood rewards.
The top 200 learners who collected the most BIRCH points were issued golden tickets last week and they proudly entered their tickets into our first golden ticket raffle.
The prizes on offer were two £20 Amazon Vouchers.
Mrs Bryan conducted the highly anticipated draw at lunchtime on Friday and the lucky winners were Emese Mudra in 10WG and Heidi Perrin in 8RT. Congratulations girls.
Keep working hard for your BIRCH points, as the top form group in every year group this week will earn themselves a bacon buttie brekkie!
La Journée Européenne des Langues, European Day of Languages
Last Wednesday was European Day of Languages and our Languages department in conjunction with the kitchen celebrated with an international menu in our dining room, and a languages quiz.
Year 7 and 8 learners were also asked to design a pair of flip-flops (the ultimate travel accessory!) to celebrate the different tourist sites that there are to visit in Europe. Learners needed to demonstrate they had researched their chosen destination and represent their findings in a creative way.
The top four winning entries will have their designs made into a real pair of flip flops ready to wear next summer and the form with the most entries will also receive a prize.
The deadline for the competition is this Friday, 5 October
Foodbank Friday, BCHS commits to offer regular support to the Warrington Foodbank
As part of our school ethos of working with the community, we have decided to make a regular commitment to support the Warrington Foodbank.
Traditionally we have had only one foodbank collection at Harvest Festival and though there was always huge support, what we did was a drop in the ocean for those in Warrington who are not as fortunate and due to circumstances, find it hard to put even basic food on the table.
Therefore, to show our support we will collect donations monthly, which we will deliver to the foodbank on the last Friday of each month.
Rob from the Warrington Foodbank was delighted and said, “This is fantastic, a regular donation that we can depend on will make all the difference to our supplies”.
The foodbank have supplied us with a trolley for donations, which will be by the general office. So if you can afford to send something in to support this worthy cause then please send either donations in with your child or drop donations into reception.
Thank you for your support. For a list of goods that the Foodbank are short of see here
Macmillan coffee morning
Well done to our learner officers who organised a cake sale last Friday in aid of the Macmillan World’s Largest Coffee Morning appeal. They raised just over £120 for this wonderful cause.
Huge thanks go to all of you who supported by donating, baking and of course buying and eating all those lovely cakes. Thanks to you all.
Birchwood’s take on Beauty and the Beast
A schedule of this week’s rehearsals can be found here
BIRCHwood Team talk
We have had a great start to the year for uniform standards. Thank you very much to all parents and carers for your support. Please remember to clearly mark your child’s name and form on their uniform and any personal belongings they bring to school.
This helps our office staff enormously with items of lost property promptly returned to their owner. Thank you again.
Signing out of school for appointments during the school day
If you wish for your child to sign out of school during the school day, Please ensure that they have a note, a copy of their appointment letter or that you have emailed school on contactus@birchwoodhigh.org to let us know. thank you for your co-operation.
Keeping your child safe
Safely using the roads as a pedestrian
Some of our learners, particularly our new Year 7s may be travelling to school on their own for the first time. It is important to get into good habits as a pedestrian before the dark evenings arrive.
For hints and tips on pedestrian road safety see here
Extra-curricular timetable
Please take a look at our extracurricular timetable to see what great activities are available for your child to take part in both after school and at lunchtime .
Please remember to give your feedback on Parent View
Just a reminder that if you have a spare ten minutes in your day please complete the Ofsted survey about our school. Your views are important to us.
All you need to do is log on here then click on “Give your views” on the top tab and register. It will take about 10 minutes of your time but it will support us to give an accurate picture of our school at our next OFSTED visit and will also allow us to see more of your feedback.
Thank you for your support.
Years 8 - 12, Ski residential trip to France, Friday 15 February – Friday 22 February 2019
For your information, the remaining balance for this trip must be paid by 23 November. Thank you.
Year 7
A date for your diary
Year 7 Parents’ Opportunity to Meet with Form Tutors – Thursday, 18 October, 3.30 to 6.30pm
Your child has now been at Birchwood Community High School for almost half a term and we would like to invite you into school to give you a clearer picture of how they have settled in. This will give you the opportunity to meet your child’s form tutor again and to receive up to date information on you’re their progress. We will be sending home a letter with more information shortly.
Year 7, Show My Homework
Please be aware that Year 7 must use Show My Homework from today. This means the end of the paper planner. If your child experiences any issues with Show My Homework, please ask them to speak to Mr Nickson or Mr Lewis in the IT office opposite M15.
For an easy log on info sheet see here
Year 8 -
Miss Mac’s Fortnightly attendance competition winners
Lancashire Cup Rugby League Final
Well done to Jacob and Ethan in 8RT and Jamie and Jack in 8DC, who took part in the Lancashire Cup Rugby League Final yesterday. The boys play for Latchford Giants under 12s who came away with a fantastic 10-0 victory against the Leigh Miners.
Well done boys.
Year 9 - No specific information
Year 10 - No specific information
Year 11
Calling all year 11s
Make sure that you come along to our College Open Evening this Thursday, 4 October between 6pm and 8.00pm to visit what has become the college of choice for East Warrington.
At Birchwood College, we have a wide range of courses to choose from, all of which are tailored to suit individual students’ needs and requirements. We work hard to create a positive working environment for learning and our caring staff are aware of the importance of an excellent relationship between teacher and student.
Identified by OFSTED as a ‘good college with high quality provision which is both inclusive and aspirational’ It’s a great place to be!
See the College section of this update for our highlights of this year’s results.
So come along to visit us. Meet our staff and students, look at our facilities and find out why we really are the College ‘where you matter’.
Looking to the Future and next steps for Year 11
According to the Government, young people must stay in education or training until at least the age of 18. See the information here
They must do one of the following:
stay in full-time education, for example at a college/6th form
start an apprenticeship or traineeship
spend 20 hours or more a week working or volunteering, while in part-time education or training
Learners have been following a careers programme throughout year 10 to prepare for this and will continue to learn about post 16 options, through Learning4Life lessons this term, assemblies and presentations.
You are also warmly invited to attend the Birchwood College Open Evening on Thurs 4 Oct 6-8pm where you can find out about the many courses offered here at Birchwood College. There will be a presentation by the Head of College at 6pm.
If your son/daughter requires a careers interview to discuss post 16 plans please contact our Careers Adviser, Mrs R Morris rmorris@birchwoodhigh.org
Media Studies tour to Prague 14 - 17 February 2019
Please be aware that the final payment for this trip should be made before 7 December 2018
Birchwood College
Don’t miss out on our College Open Evening.
Visit our college to talk to our staff and students and see the personalised programmes we are able to offer. This year our results were fantastic, our best ever.
100% of A-level Geography, Maths and PE students at Birchwood College achieved the top grades of A*-C.
Our acting students results were 100% Distinction*, the top grade possible, in the Level 3 BTEC Acting course
Our music students all achieved Double Distinction*, the highest grades possible, in their Level 3 BTEC Music Diploma course. Three of the students are going on to study at the Royal Northern College of Music in September, which is an outstanding achievement. No wonder Birchwood has such a fantastic reputation for the Performing Arts!
Health & Social Care students at Birchwood College have performed at the highest level. All the BTEC Sub. Diploma and Diploma students have achieved on or above their target grades.
Level 3 BTEC Sport students also achieved some excellent results, many of them receiving a Distinction* grade. Sporting courses continue to be a real strength at Birchwood College, providing a platform for students to progress into the sports industry.
Just a few reasons why Birchwood College is a force to be reckoned with in post 16 education!
Other School information:
Keeping in touch gets even easier with the introduction of the Xpressions website
We are pleased to announce that Groupcall Xpressions is now available to access on your computer via a website. The login page can be found here.
This gives you a further way, as well as accessing the APP on your mobile phone and tablet, to view information about your child
Once you are set up you will be able to see information such as:
Free messages sent by the school delivered to the app
Attendance and absence information
Attitude to learning (“ATL”) scores for each lesson.
Daily/Weekly timetable information
Xpressions is completely free of charge to you and supports Apple iOS, Android devices and now Windows operating system.
In order to use the Xpressions, school must have your correct mobile number and email address on our school system. Forms are available from the school office to check and update your details or you can simply email them to the school. You will need to make sure you keep these details up to date in future to maintain access to the service.
We hope that you take advantage of this new service, which has replaced our ParentsLive system. If you have any issues or need to know more please contact Mr O’Reilly here at school on aoreilly@birchwoodhigh.org
Mobile phone sanctions
We would like to remind parents and carers about the school rules on using mobile phones.
Learners must not use mobile phones between the 8.50am and 3.00pm on school days. Teachers will confiscate mobile phones where a learner breaks this rule. The only exception to this rule is when a member of staff asks learners to use their phones in a lesson to support their learning
Confiscated phone are taken to the school office and process below is followed:
First offence: The phone is locked in the school safe where it can be collected at the end of the day by the learner.
Second offence: As above but a Year Team Leader after school detention is issued and parents and carers are informed.
Third offence: The phone is confiscated and locked in the safe and school inform a parent or carer who are asked to collect the phone at the end of the school day. The learner will also receive an after school detention with a member of our Senior Leadership team.
Children on site out of school hours
As a Community School, we welcome clubs and booked activities to use our facilities and school grounds outside the school day. We have become aware though that there are groups of both learners and ex learners on site in the evenings. Please make your child aware that learners are only allowed on site after the school day, if they are part of an organised and booked group. Thank you for your co-operation.
School Nurse: Please note that the school nurse comes into school every Wednesday from 12.15- 1.30pm and is available in the BSR Mentoring Room if any learners or students have any health related issues they would like to discuss.
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