Computing with Miss Hayward
Thank you Miss Hayward for a fabulous coding lesson. We love Splatty Bug!
Headteacher’s Welcome Message
We wish you a very warm welcome to the Birkwood Primary School website and hope that by using this site you will get a picture of our vision, aims and the values we uphold.
It is a huge honour for me to write as Headteacher of our lovely school. We are striving to deliver an exciting knowledge-based curriculum and of course, are extremely mindful of the impact of COVID 19.
We have undertaken a thorough Risk Assessment in order to minimise risk, which is regularly updated.
Our school is a caring, supportive and family orientated community where we encourage our children to ‘be the best that they can be’. This is achieved by us having an exciting and relevant curriculum that meets our children’s needs. We seek to develop the whole child, harnessing and celebrating each of their unique talents, strengths and personalities.
Our high quality learning environments include a Trim Trail on the large playing field, a purpose built children's kitchen, so that they can cook as part of their learning in Science, Maths and Literacy. Thanks to Big Lottery Grant and Tesco ‘Bags for Help’ funding, we also have a community and sensory garden area where children grow vegetables, fruit, flowers and herbs. In addition, we have a potting shed and poly tunnel, thanks to Community First Grant funding.
Our strong and committed Governing Body have made the decision to keep class sizes as small as possible in Foundation Stage to ensure high quality support for our youngest children. We have outstanding provision in our Early Years Foundation Stage Unit with 2 mini-ICT suite areas and excellent outdoor facilities.
At Birkwood, we recognise and value the vital contributions that our parents, families and wider community make in the education of our children. Birkwood is truly a family and we are very proud of our #IncredibleCommunity.
Our school’s life is underpinned by our inclusive motto:
‘Inspire, Cherish, Achieve Together.’
With best wishes,
Mr. Daniel Wood
Headteacher
Consolidating Knowledge
Our Sea Lions completed a range of activities to consolidate their understanding of adding and subtracting fractions.
UKS2 Girls’ Football
The girls loved their first football session. They were put through their paces and enjoyed taking part in a series of skills-based games. Enjoy this video, created by two members of the UKS2 Tech club!
Jazzy Beats!
Year 6 combined technology with music. They were set a challenge – use a variety of programs to try to create a ‘jazzy beat’. They worked brilliantly and produced some catchy pieces!
The Power of Parenthesis
The Year 6s learnt that parenthesis can be used to have a glimpse into what a character was feeling on the inside. They will be using this when they write diary entries as explorers.
Care and Concern for Others
The Butterflies loved baking to help school fundraising for Children In Need. We discussed kindness and the importance of having compassion towards others. We agreed that we all have a responsibility to show care and concern for others.
Industrial Designers of Technology!
In DT this week, the Butterflies worked like engineers to use equipment safely and effectively. They used skilful hands, excellent communication and problem solving to choose equipment and materials to make working winding gear. We were very impressed with the results and thought about how this design progressed throughout the industrial revolution. We learned that first, women could operate the crank, then ponies took over to take heavier loads. As technology developed, steam engines drove the winding gear, before finally, the dawn of electric power brought on mass production.
One Kind Word!
We hope you enjoy the anti bullying messages. The Butterflies made this film during their ‘Inspired By Tech’ week. All clips have been filmed by the children themselves and they were then guided to create and edit the iMovie. We would like to thank all of those who helped by sharing one kind word!
The Butterflies went to the National Coal Mining Museum England
The Butterflies loved their trip to the National Coal Mining Museum this week. We learned about the history of coal mining and even got to go ‘down t’pit!’ for a meet-the-miner underground tour. We also enjoyed our science focussed workshop about how the Davy lamp saved lives by preventing methane gas from igniting a naked flame. What an unforgettable experience!
Under the Sea
Fabulous VR activities to finalise our ‘Inspired by Tech’ week. We’re ‘under the sea’!
We’re Keeping our Minds Healthy!
We made breathing buddies with Natalie and Ellie from Barnsley Family Centres as part of our Friday mindfulness sessions.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The Year 5 Eagles had a wonderful time re-enacting scenes from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. It helped us to understand the play and the characters. Thank you Paul for a brilliant workshop.
Happy Halving
The Year 1 Pandas have been working super hard in Maths! We have been using counters to help us answer a variety of questions on halving.
Henri Matisse
Today, 29th November, in French the Year 3/4 Meerkats have been learning about the work of the French artist Henri Matisse. They have really enjoyed learning about his techniques and then have tried to create their own pieces of art using Matissse’s as inspiration.
Read all about it!
Our Year 6 children will finish the week by reading a newspaper report and catching up on the news from around the world! There were lots of fascinating facts in this week’s issue.
Beautiful Handwriting
The Year 5/6 Eagles are working hard to improve their handwriting. We decided that choosing Christmas carols would help to keep us motivated. We were so proud that we wanted to decorate and display our work for everyone to see.
Memorial Sculptors
Three Year 6 Children attended the unveiling of Barnsley’s Covid Memorial Statue. This is the first Council Memorial in the whole country. What’s even better is that the 3 children had their artwork incorporated in to the sculpture’s base! Three budding Graham Ibbotsons for certain. A wonderful afternoon; we are so proud that our children’s work has contributed to something so special. It will be there for future generations to enjoy as well! We remember those who have been affected by COVID 19. A moving and thought provoking afternoon.
EYFS Slide Complaint
When something isn’t quite right, we are of course within our rights to complain politely! This was the course of action taken by an EYFS Superstar as she wrote to me explaining her disappointment at the slide being out of action. As the letter was so clear and polite, action was taken immediately. Thankfully, everything is now up and running! The pen is mightier than the sword!
Early Reading At Birkwood
Enjoy our Early Reading at Birkwood. This presentation explains what we are doing with our youngest readers. Remember to give us a call if there is anything you wish to know. This is the presentation shared by Miss Ward at our Reading Event.
We are so good at counting and comparing!
The children have been learning to recognise amounts quickly. They have been playing track games where they roll the dice, say how many they land on and then count out the correct amount of counters. They then compare amounts with their friends using the words more than, less than and the same. The child with the most wins! As you can imagine, there is always some competition to roll the highest amount!
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