Birchwood Update 7/10/2019
- Josie Evans
- Oct 7, 2019
- 10 min read
Birchwood Update week Commencing 7/10/2019
Important dates for your diary:
Plan ahead - This term’s Important dates for Your Diary
October
3 October – Birchwood College Open Evening, 6pm – 8pm
10 October – Birchwood College Welcome to KS5 Evening, 6pm – 7.30pm
17 October – Year 7 Meet the form tutor, 3.30 – 6.30pm (NB amended date from that it Yr 7 parent/carer handbook)
November
7 November – Year 11 Revision launch, 6.30pm – 7.30pm
14 November – Class of 2019 Presentation Evening, 6.30pm – 7.45pm
Week of 25 November – BCHS School Show, Aladdin
December
5 December – Year 9 Performance Review Evening, 3.30pm – 7pm
20 December - 6 January - Christmas break
Birchwood College Open Evening
Thank you to all the visitors who came to our Birchwood College Open Evening. Feedback was excellent, with all visitors really enjoying the evening. Huge thanks to our students who were on hand to speak to prospective students and parents and carers. Visitors were impressed at our confident and articulate students who are obviously proud to be part of our College.
Also, many thanks to our committed staff who have worked so hard to make the event a success.
If you have any further questions about college and courses available don’t hesitate to contact Chris Burrows, Head of Birchwood College at cburrows@birchwoodhigh.org
Year 7 proudly recite the Poem New Beginnings to echo their new beginnings at BCHS
Last Thursday was National Poetry day and Ms Mills alongside our English department wanted to do something special to celebrate the day and the beauty of poetry.
So, our year 7 learners performed and videoed a recital of Tony Walsh’s poem New Beginnings.
The poem echoed beautifully their new beginnings here as members of Team Birchwood and they really did work as a team in their form groups to bring the poem alive.
Our two soloists Katie Clarke and Taylor Murphy-Clark really must be commended on their confidence and delivery at the very start of the recital.
We are so proud of their performance, showing such commitment to a fantastic start to their time at BCHS.
Click here to view the video.
Proud to be working with our next generation of learners
Last week we gave a warm welcome and opened our doors to years 5 and 6 children from our local primaries.
And again, this week we were working hard on re-enforcing our ties with local primaries as we invited visitors into school and went off site to visit Locking Stumps primary.
Wednesday saw year 5 children from Gorse Covert Primary come to us for a science activity morning where they had the opportunity to learn about chromatography and aerodynamics. The children had a great time and really loved the hands-on approach to science
Thursday saw the first of our Year 5 after-school clubs start as sixteen excited children from all our local primaries came to take part in our Little Languages club. The after-school clubs are a fantastic way for local year 5 children to get a feel for what high school is like and meet other children locally from the area. Throughout the year we will be running a variety of clubs based around science, computing and English, for more details contact jevans@birchwoodhigh.org
Finally, on Friday, Mr Goodrum took a number of our learners to visit Locking Stumps Primary for a science activity morning based around recycling that they were hosting for Birchwood cluster primaries. Our learners had a great time helping to organise the activities and joining in with the judging of the teams taking part.
Well done to everyone involved in these activities both learners and staff.
Harvest festival Foodbank Collection
To celebrate Harvest Festival time, we would like to have a collection of food and toiletries for the Warrington Foodbank. We are asking you to support by sending in an item or two from the list on the photograph below.
Your child’s form tutor will be collecting the donations and forms will be asked to prepare a specially decorated box in which they can present their goods. In the past we have had some really amazing and creative boxes, including a sheep box made with cotton wool balls and the learners particularly the lower school love decorating the boxes and take great pride in them on assembly day.
Ms Mills has decided to add an added treat by awarding a prize for the fullest and the best decorated box which is a lovely gesture.
Staff are also asked to make a donation using the foodbank trolley in the admin corridor.
We hope you can support us to support the Foodbank and provide a meal or treat for those less fortunate.
The Culcheth Eagles triumph with the help of three of our learners
Congratulation to three of our year 9 learners Luke Wilkinson, George Roberts and Luke Gosling who play Rugby league for Culcheth Eagles, when they romped home with a trophy after their team played in the Under 13s North West Counties Plate.
The final took place in September against Halton Farnworth Hornets and was an easy victory for the Eagles, thrashing the opposition 34 - 4.
The team based in Shaw Street train twice a week to become the best and were delighted with their fantastic win in which they were strong from the very beginning.
Well done to our boys for all their hard work and commitment, we are very proud of your achievement.
Tweets of Praise
As part of the English departments focus on creating and fostering a culture of celebration and success, each member of the team have created their own Twitter account. Teachers will be posting excellent examples of learner work and sharing key information about revision sessions, after school clubs and revision materials. Learners have already been so eager to share their fantastic work and really demonstrate their pride in their work.
Just search for the teacher’s name followed by BCHS e.g. MrsDempseyBCHS
Birchwood’s take on Aladdin.
A schedule of this week’s rehearsals can be found here
Keeping your child safe
This Thursday, 10 October, is World Mental Health Day and to reinforce the importance of good mental health, form tutors will be discussing mental health and well-being during form time and learning for life throughout this week, pointing our young people towards help that they can access in school and on the web.
Help and guidance can be found on the following links:
Football Fixtures
Pitches at both BCHS and Culcheth are unplayable, therefore, there is no school fixtures for Year 7-10 this week.
The Year 11 game will still go ahead on Wednesday on the 3G.
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 before, after school and at lunchtime .
Learning Superstars
Please find our star learners of last week for our languages and English and science departments
Year 7
Year 7 photographs
Please be aware that Year 7 Kittle photographs will be sent home with your child via their form box.
Year 7 Parents’ Opportunity to Meet with Form Tutors – Thursday, 17 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 in to 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 your child’s progress.
Your child should have brought a letter home with details of how to book your appointment which can also be found here
Welcome to Key Stage 3 Evening Information
Thank you to everyone you attended our Welcome to KS3 Evening. For your information a copy of the PowerPoint can be found here
Year 8 - No specific information
Year 9 - No specific information
Year 10 -
Year 10 photographs
Please be aware that Year 10 Kittle photographs will be sent home with your child via their form box.
Year 11
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.
If you would like to book a careers appointment for your son/daughter to discuss their post 16 options please email our Careers Adviser Mrs R Morris rmorris@birchwoodhigh.org
Birchwood College
Birchwood College Open Evening
Thank you to all the visitors who came to our Birchwood College Open Evening. Feedback was excellent, with all visitors really enjoying the evening. Huge thanks to our students who were on hand to speak to prospective students and parents and carers. Visitors were impressed at our confident and articulate students who are obviously proud to be part of our College.
Also, many thanks to our committed staff who have worked so hard to make the event a success.
If you have any further questions about college and courses available don’t hesitate to contact Chris Burrows, Head of Birchwood College at cburrows@birchwoodhigh.org
Other School information:
Useful Contacts for your child and to to keep by your phone:
Year 7 Team Office in Art Building
Year 7 Team Leader & Officer – Mrs Butler: Telephone extension 202
Year 8 and 9 Team Office is at the top of main corridor
Y8 & Y9 Team Officer – Ms Hickson: Telephone extension 290
Y8 Team Leader – Mrs Jenkinson/Ms Gilchrist
Year 9 Team Leader – Ms McAlinden
Year 10 and 11 Team Office is in D&T/EPR building
Y10 & Y11 Team Officer - Mrs Bird: Telephone extension 229
Y10 Team Leader – Mrs Jones
Y11 Team Leader – Miss Russell
Please support us in ensuring that our facilities are the best they can be
Please be aware of rules regarding learners being on the school site outside school hours.
Some damage has been caused to the site and a learner has been hurt trying to climb over the fencing. We would like to remind you that learners are not allowed on the school site at any time unless they are with a member of staff. The rule about this is below:
Unless there is a member of staff running a special extra-curricular activity, the school site is out of bounds for all learners on weekdays after school clubs have finished (usually after 4.30pm) and at weekends and during school holidays.
Please support us by making you child aware of this rule so that our facilities are the best they can be for us to use in school time and for the community to book and use out of school hours.
Thank you for your support in this matter
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 Phones, Earphones and Speakers in school.
Phones and headphones may be brought in to school but must be kept in bags or zipped in blazer pockets out of view at all times. Learners must not use phones at any time on the site between the bells at 8.50 and 3.00pm unless they are asked to do so by a teacher in a lesson for a reason that is related to learning. In this case, the teacher will issue instructions on the use of phones or headphones, which must then be followed. If a phone is out during the school day, even to check the time, this will be confiscated. There is a staged system of sanctions and mobile phones, earphones and speakers are counted as identical items. If you think a learner is using a smart watch in the same way as a mobile phone, please speak to their Year Team Leader or Year Team Officer.
If a learner is concerned about an issue at home and feels they need to speak to a parent, they need to go to the Year Team Office and discuss this with Year Team Officer. Staff should confiscate mobile technology items that are visible and in use during the times specified. They should be taken to the school office. The system of sanctions are:
Stage 1 - First offence
The item is confiscated and locked in the school safe
The item is collected by the learner at the end of the day
One behaviour point is issued by the Office
Stage 2 - Second offence
The item is confiscated and locked in the school safe
The item is collected by the learner at the end of the day
One behaviour points issued by the Office
Stage 3 - Third Offence
The item is confiscated and locked in the school safe
Parents/carers are informed and asked to collect the phone at the end of the school day
One behaviour points is issued by the Office.
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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