Welcome back to the Summer Term. As always it has been an extremely busy week in school, but it's been great to see the children return in fine form. I have seen some fabulous work, awarded lots of times table badges and listened to lots of stories around Easter Eggs!
A warm welcome to Miss Hutchinson who has had a great start to her new career at Birkwood! She assures me that she has had a lovely week and as a school, we are very lucky to have her. I'm sure lots of the parents in Foundation have enjoyed meeting her.
A huge ‘welcome back’ to Mrs. Lavender, we have missed her and it's great to see her back at Birkwood. I know baby Florence will be missing her, but I promise we’re looking after her! Mrs. Lavender & the children in Year 2 have moved into their brand-new classroom. They seem to love it! The facilities are great, and we are on the last stretch in terms of development with the transformation of the school field. The installation of a state-of-the-art sports and play facility has begun and we can't wait for this to be completed.
Many thanks to Mr. Summerfield for hosting the year 6 SATs meeting for parents. An excellent turn out from our families as Mr. Summerfield shared some vital information as well as tips on how to help the children move towards assessment week in the middle of May.
A reminder for parents of the year 6 children who are going on the Year 6 leavers visit to London, that there is an information evening next Wednesday at 2.30pm in the school hall.
We had some fantastic training around the teaching of Philosophy this week. If suddenly you have some very wide and open-ended questions at home, please try your best to answer them! Philosophy is great fun, but its vital ingredient is in the teaching children of how to develop and deepen their thinking. Thinking in a caring, collaborative, creative and critical way is crucial, and I have already observed some lovely activities in Philosophy in school.
Yesterday, the nursery children had a fabulous visit from the local fire brigade. I don't know who enjoyed the visit more - the children or the staff! Please see the photo's below.
We look forward to next week's house party to celebrate the efforts of team water! Well done to them. Also scheduled for next week is a water safety assembly - just as the weather gets warmer there will be some vital messages and keeping our children safe at all times is vital.
The individual House Point Winners enjoyed Captain's Table - well I know that I did! Well done to them.
I would like to remind everyone that dogs are not allowed on the school grounds. This includes them being on a leash or being carried. Even if the dog is friendly some people, especially very small children who are not used to them may be afraid. There is also the issue of 'toileting'! We really don't want an unhygienic playground. I am a huge dog lover myself, but we must be considerate of everyone.
Barnsley School Catering have issued their new menus. They have included 2 extra special menus, one celebrating St Georges Day and the other 'School's Out for Summer'.
As always I wish everybody a lovely weekend. Hopefully the drier warmer weather will stay with us until at least Monday. Take care.
- Headteachers Superstar EYFS/KS1 - FW Y1 Einstein
- Headteachers Superstar KS2 - LM Y5 Attenborough
- Class Times Table Rockstars - Y3 Earhart
- Music Maestro - KG Y4 Pankhurst
House Winners
- This weeks winners - Earth
- Current Half Term Leaders - Earth
- Overall Leaders - Earth
- School Attendance Target for the Year - 96.50%
- School attendance this year so far - 94.7%
- School attendance this week - 95.6%
- EYFS2 Anning - 97.5%
- EYFS2 Sharman - 94.4%
- Year 1 Einstein -97.7%
- Year 1 Nightingale -93.9%
- Year 2 Parks - 100%
- Year 2 Seacole - 95.0%
- Year 3 Earhart - 95.0%
- Year 3/4 Holmes - 95.7%
- Year 4 Pankhurst - 96.1%
- Year 5 Attenborough - 96.2%
- Year 5/6 Wollstonecraft - 95.1%
- Year 6 Kings - 94.5%
Well done to Class Parks who are this week's winners with an incredible 100%. Congratulations.
Our suite of X (formerly Twitter) Handles is here for you. Below is a link for 'all things Birkwood.'
PE & Sport
Please ensure children in KS2, Years 3-6 come to school IN PE KIT on their allocated PE Days. 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. This will be until building work is complete as we have no access to discrete changing areas.
This Year's Term Dates
Next Year's Term Dates Below
Wednesday 4th September 2024 – Children return to school
Friday 25th October 2024 – School closes for Half Term
Monday 4th November 2024 – Children return to school
Friday 20th December 2024 – School Closes for Christmas Break
Monday 6th January 2025 - Children return to school
Friday 14th February 2025 - School Closes for Half Term
Monday 24th February 2025 - Children return to school
Friday 4th April 2025 – School Closes for Easter Break
Tuesday 22nd April 2025 - Children return to school
Monday 5th May 2025 – School Closed May Day Bank Holiday
Friday 23 May 2025 – School Closes for Half Term
Monday 2 June 2025 – INSET Day
Tuesday 3 June 2025 – Children return to school
Friday 18 July 2025 - School Closes for Summer
For current Year 6 children, their tests shall be Monday 13th May to Thursday 16th May 2024.
For current Year 5 children, their tests will be Monday 12th to Thursday 15th May 2025.
For current Year 4 children, their tests will be Monday 11th to Thursday 14th May 2026.