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The Birkwood Values

Welcome to the Birkwood News!

23rd January 2026

A Message from the Headteacher

Please see the link above - Easy Fundraising can work for Birkwood!

Welcome to this week’s Newsletter. It has been great to see lots more fabulous learning taking place in school. I have just completed a project where we have been leading some school improvement work with a group of Headteachers in Barnsley. I was delighted to see that many ideas from Birkwood have appeared in other schools. I am very proud that we are seen as a school that is able to help others. Thank you to everybody who supported our Road Safety Poster Competition. Thank you to Mr. Davis and our School Councillors for their great work in promoting the need for everyone to stay safe.  I hope that the winners enjoy their prize!

Thank you to the families who were able to attend our Year 6 Meeting. Mr. Summerfield, Miss Whyke and the staff do some fantastic work with our oldest children. The build up to SATs is something that I am very keen to keep as worry free as possible – 100% effort is all we ask.

In sport, we secured a runners up position in Dodgeball for Years 5 and 6 at Milefield. We were pipped at the post by our good friends from Churchfield. I wish our Year 3 and 4 team all the best today!

Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive, and............. Dodge.

Please see the Sports Day dates too, these are again set early in case of poor weather.

Sports Days 2026

Cudworth Library is to reopen! Please try to support what looks to be a beautiful facility.

Enjoy our local library!

Build a burger was extremely popular with the children. Thanks to Sarah & the team for their excellence!

Build a Burger

A huge thankyou to everyone who has supported our Eco Council, by bringing in sweetie tubs for the Greene King recycling scheme in aid of MacMillan Cancer. So far we have collected 138, almost 3 times as many as last year! If you have any more tubs to bring in, please do so by 14th February 2026

Eco Stars!

Breakfast Club is now open at 7:30 each morning. The cost will be £3.50 due to additional running costs.

See Arbor to book Breakfast Club places

We are hosting an extra eSafety Workshop for families, next week. Please see the poster and families of older children please try to attend. This workshop will be really informative and is to be run by our safeguarding partners. It will be hosted by a former chair of the Barnsley Safeguarding Partnership. Online safety is something that will always require updates and refreshes as technology moves forward.

eSafety - next week

DISCO- Our February disco is on Tuesday 3rd February 4.30-6pm Tickets are now on sale. Please send money in a sealed envelope and hand to your class teacher.

DISCO Time

Bingo - Our February Bingo is on Thursday 5th February 6pm start All welcome!

EVERYBODY Welcome

Have a great weekend and as always, enjoy the family time.

Reminders

Thank you to those who attended our SEND Parent Meeting, the next scheduled get together is Monday 2nd Feb, 1:30pm.

We have another eSafety Workshop for families scheduled for 2:15pm on Wednesday 25th February.

After school care option

Community sessions delivered by Grass Roots are available. They take place on Darfield Road; the darts has caught my attention! Give it a go.

Wildcats Girls Football
Celebration Assembly Winners
  • Headteachers Superstar EYFS/KS1 - ET - Y1
  • Headteachers Superstar KS2 - DA Y6
  • Music Maestro - TG Y2
  • PE Star - QB Y3

House Points

Congratulations to Team Water who have earned the most house points this week!

School attendance Target for the Year - 97.0%

School attendance this week - 95.4%

School attendance this year so far - 95.6%

  • FS2 Berry - 97.1%
  • FS2 Costa - 92.2
  • Y1 Earps - 91.3%
  • Y1 Piper - 94.4%
  • Y2 Cox - 93.1%
  • Y2 Nightingale - 95.8%
  • Y3 Jemison - 97.3%
  • Y3 Obama - 97.1%
  • Y4 Lovelace - 91.7%
  • Y4 Wonder - 96.2%
  • Y5 Biles - 95.6%
  • Y 5/6 Angelou - 99%
  • Y6 Simpson - 97.5%

Well done to class Angelou with an awesome 99% attendance.

2025/26 Events

Sports Days

Extras
Follow us on X

Our suite of X (formerly Twitter) Handles is here for you. Below is a link for 'all things Birkwood.'

PE & Sport

PE Timetable

Appropriate trainers must be worn. No crop tops – Sports t-shirts please and shorts. A tracksuit may be worn – please make a judgment on temperature. NO JEWELLERY.

Term Dates Below

This year's school dates
Next Year's School Dates

For current Year 6 children, SATs tests will be Monday 11th to Thursday 14th May 2026.

For current Year 5 children, SATs tests will be Monday 10th to Thursday 13th May 2027.

For current Year 4 children, SATs tests will be Monday 8th to Thursday 11th May 2028.

School Dinner Menu
Weekly Cycle - Lunch
Weekly Cycle - Lunch
Weekly Cycle - Lunch

After School Clubs

Our School Vision
Our School Values

SEND Support for Families