Newsletter - Birches Head Academy

March 2016
Issue 5
Newsletter
‘TRANSFORMATION’ - OFSTED 2016
JANUARY 2016
On 27 January 2016 Birches Head Academy was taken out of special measures
and judged by Ofsted as a ‘rapidly improving’ school. The Ofsted report praised
the ‘radical changes’ which have included lifting the quality of teaching, creating
a ‘culture of high expectations’ and instilling ‘pride’ in students.
Through the partnership with St Joseph’s College, improvements have
begun to take root. Ms Maguire,
Headteacher at St Joseph’s, and other staff have paired up with staff at
Birches Head to share ideas.
We want our students to stand shoulder to shoulder with other students
in the city including those from St
Joseph’s.
“Stricter behaviour rules and more
interactive lessons. Teachers want
us to do well, not just for themselves
but for us”. Alice Hopwood, Y11
“I am pleased the school is no longer
plagued by staffing shortages; the
teaching is more consistent now”.
Jack Ellis, Y11
I would like to take this opportunity
to thank all staff, students, parents and governors for their tremendous hard
work in our achievement throughout this period and for your continued support
of the academy and of your child’s learning. The strong partnership created between yourselves, the school and our students can only exist through your commitment to helping us all doing our best for your child. Ms Dixon, Headteacher
Aspire to be more
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KS3 HOUSE NEWS
It has been a really good term—Year 8 parents evening took place on 17 March which was a great opportunity
to celebrate all of the hard work that has gone into the year so far. Following on from the year 9 data capture
just before the year 9 parents evening there was one student in particular that is more than worthy of a mention here.
Julia Haras (pictured right) has so far made the incredible achievement of
having 9 subjects in the aspirational category on her report. This means that
she has managed to surpass her targets in 9 subjects and is also on track to
meet the remaining few. Excellent effort Julia, well done!
The punctuality of key stage 3 should be a huge source of pride for all students and their parents. Both year groups dramatically reduced the number
of lates compared to the same time last year. Year 8 have shown an improvement of almost 50% and currently only 1.2% have been late since September while Year 9 have improved even further with over a 50% improvement compared to the same period last year. This really is great news and
shows that the students in year 8 and 9 are constantly striving to improve.
Excellent effort
Julia Haras, Y9
It is also important to take this opportunity to thank the junior prefects
in year 9 on behalf of both Mr Willis and Mr Ashman but also the school
as a whole. Since their selection they have given up lots of their own time to help around the school with a variety of events and have received lots of positive comments from parents and visitors. This has been a really successful role and their dedication has set a really high standard for future year groups to follow. The new selection process will open for year 8 and we
look forward to seeing if they can fill the
outstanding shoes of the current year 9!
CONDOVER HALL—JUNE 2016
There are still some places left for our
fantastic trip to Condover Hall in June.
With a huge range of activities to suit all
types of people it is a great opportunity to
experience a residential trip with a wide
variety of new things to try.
Anyone that would still like to book a
place should collect a form ASAP.
This was previously only available for year 9
and 10 pupils but has now been opened up for
students of all years so if you would like to have
a new adventure or just a chance to mix with
some new people then you are welcome.
Mr Willis
Pastoral Leader KS3
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KS4 NEWS
We are now moving towards the business end of the year for Key Stage 4 students, and for Year 11, the climax of
their school careers. Standards of uniform that the key stage started with have been maintained or improved.
Year 11 students have been working really hard and a full programme of support to help with their preparations
is in place, P6 lessons after school have seen record attendances from students and that is really promising. To
keep the momentum up, sessions are being delivered over the second week of the Easter holidays and revision
booklets have been provided to Year 11 students
At this important time, attendance, punctuality and good behaviour become more and more
important. In assembly we have been showing
the names of students who have achieved
100% attendance and whose behaviour in the
classroom has been what we have asked for.
Letters will be sent home to congratulate students who have achieved zero PMD behaviour
levels and students who have 100% attendance
and zero PMD each week will receive an effort
slip. Students are rewarded when they reach
certain numbers of effort slips. Several KS4
students have reached the Bronze threshold by
achieving 35 effort slips, well done to them.
The most recent recipients were Ryan Burley,
Jade Finney, JJ Griffiths and Akeeb Hussain.
In the lucky draw Akeeb won a ten pound gift
voucher!
The senior prefects gave a presentation in assembly to Year 10 to inspire them to be the next cadre of prefects as
they prepare to hand over the mantle. They have done a superb job, an example of their work that will leave a
legacy for the school is the charitable fundraising that
the prefects have done, a morning packing shopping
raised over £400 towards a defibrillator which the
school will now be acquiring by Easter.
Aspiring prefects in Year 10 should now be filling in
their application forms and preparing their pitch!
Whilst Year 11 are focussing on their revision, Year 10
will be looking forward to their work experience placements. Most students have organised their work experience now, there are some really exciting placements,
Pharmacists, Solicitors, Emma Bridgewater, Stoke City
Football Club, Academy of Sound and Broadcasting
companies. Now is the time for students to get organised if they haven’t finalised their arrangements.
Places are still available for Year 10 students on the
Condover Hall Residential which takes place towards the end of June. This is a residential activity course in
Shrewsbury and will involve students in some exciting activities.
Birches Head Academy has purchased a small fleet of Ridgeback road cycles to complement our range of mountain bikes. We are looking forward to riding them as the weather improves and cycling activities will start up
again at school. With the Sustrans cycle route right on the doorstep we can enjoy safe cycling as far as Congleton.
Cycling club will start up again soon so if you are
interested speak to Mr Wallbank
I hope you all have a well-deserved break, but
keep on top of the studies and you will reap the
rewards.
Mr D Wallbank
Pastoral Leader Key Stage 4.
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Nathan Meredith, Lewis Crossan, Kenton
Allen, Luke Bolderson and Brandon Everill
were amongst students who completed a
fast ride to Congleton along the cycle route,
pictured here modelling the new bikes!
SACRE DAY—MARCH 2016
On 3rd March, we welcomed around 80 year 5 students
and their teachers from around Stoke-on-Trent for a pupil conference day.
Lat Blaylock and Fiona Moss from RE Today delivered
sessions on the theme of “Respect for All”.
Collaborative
learning
Students were challenged to think a little
differently about their relationships with
individuals and communities through a
range of interesting and engaging activities.
They were invited to question their beliefs
and values, consider the views of their community and think deeply about British Values and their effects on life in the UK today.
Highlights of the day included a 100-person speed-dating activity, plus a creative hour where students worked with children from other schools to create a model to represent their
views on one RE-related topic.
STUDENT COUNCIL
The Student Council meet regularly after school to
discuss and make recommendations on a range of issues highlighted by their fellow students.
On-going Training & Development
After a successful pilot project in December, the students visited the YMCA Centre in Hanley on 9 February to receive some further fundraising training and
have a tour of their facilities. Further links are being
planned.
Fundraising
Christmas Fair raised £92.95 during the last week of
term.
Valentine Sale of cakes, biscuits and cards raised
£88.60 at the end of half term.
Both events were planned, organised and run by the
students with money raised going towards the defibrillator.
Your View
A post box is now in place at Student Reception for
students to have their say on a range of issues which
affect them and any ideas they have to change things.
The Student Council will look into each post and feedback the results.
Current Project:
Improving the school dining experience:
Lunchtimes can be very busy so the team, along with
our caterers Taylor Shaw, have devised a pre-order
system for sandwiches etc. called “Grab ‘n’ Go”. This
means that their preferred choice of lunch is packed
and ready to pick up without the
need for queuing . This is proving a very popular scheme.
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MUSICAL YOUTH
Following a successful winter concert in December,
Music students have been taking part in and preparing
for a variety of exciting performances both in and outside of school.
On Sunday 6 March the Key Stage 4 Rock Band performed at MAC (Midlands Arts Centre) in Birmingham as part of the Music for Youth Regional Festival Series. The students involved were Ellie-Mae Pepper (drums), Charlotte Pollock (bass), Sean Walters
(vocals, guitar) and Jack Williams (guitar). They are
now looking forward to their next performance – a
charity gig at St. Joseph’s College on Friday 11th March.
Our congratulations also go to the band on their amazing performance at St Joseph's College. The band was
on first and performed three incredible songs with
many parents and teachers from St Joseph's inundating Miss Wood and
Miss Clayton, with positive comments on their
professionalism and
musicianship.
Band members:
Ellie-Mae Pepper
Charlotte Pollock
Sean Walters
Jack Williams
Rehearsals for our school production of
“Grease” are well underway!
Wednesday 20th &
The show will run for 2 nights and will
feature Y5 students from Abbey Hulton
and Grove Junior as well as our own
talented performers.
Thursday 21st April
Olivia Roden (Y7) will be starring as
“Sandy”, with Ben Hulme (Y7)
(pictured left) playing “Danny”.
A limited number of VIP tickets priced at £10 will be
available when tickets go on sale. These will entitle
holders to a number of special features, including a
champagne reception before seats for the performance .
Mr Hawke
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PE
Lady Taverner’s Girls Cricket
KS3 and KS4 Table Tennis
On the 15th March, the U13’s girls cricket team will compete in the Lady Tavern’s competition held at Fenton
Manor. This will be a fantastic opportunity for the girls
and I look forward to informing you of the girls success.
Also, due to the persistent interest by the girls U15’s
cricket team, we have arranged a fixture against St. Joseph’s College. This will be an interesting encounter by
both teams as we have an exceptionally strong side who I
am sure will give St. Joseph’s a difficult game. Good
Luck Girls!
Rugby (Twickenham)
On Friday 29th January the Year 7 rugby team attended
an open training session for the England rugby squad in
preparation for this year's RBS Six Nations.
The training was led by newly appointed England Head
Coach Eddie Jones. It was a fantastic opportunity for the
pupils to take part in this unique event. The team will be
representing the school at the Year 7 Staffordshire
schools' rugby festival in April held at Lichfield rugby
club.
Kilnworx Climbing Centre
The pupils have attended The Kilnworx Climbing Centre
which has been a fantastic opportunity for them to take
part in. 11 pupils from year 9 and 10 took part in the rock
climbing event on Thursday 3rd March at 12:00, This was
a fantastic experience as it was focussed around improving team work and communication skills. The pupils really enjoyed themselves and some want to take the opportunity further and have extra lessons.
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The Birches Head Academy table tennis embarked on
their first matches this term entering the North Schools
City League. The team were up against other teams from
Clayton High School, St Margaret Ward School and
Thomas Moore School. The team played superbly well. A
special mention goes to Year 8 pupil Ryan Adams
(second from the left in the photo) who won all of his
fixtures as our top seeded player.
Table Tennis England - Umpire Level 1 Award
Brook Taylor and Taylor Weston, both Year 11 pupils,
attended the Table Tennis England Umpire workshop at
St. Margaret Ward school. The boys successfully passed
the course and achieved their level one award. This
award will go towards their GCSE PE practical scores
this summer.
FARADAY CHALLENGE (TECHNOLOGY)
12 students went to Weston Road Academy to
participate in the Faraday Challenge organised
by the Institute of Engineering and Technology.
It was all about how to use the BBC microbit to
design and produce a prototype product which
was coded to perform a specific function.
This gave the students an understanding of what
it is like to be software engineer and included coding and developing an idea from initial thought
through to the production of a hopefully working
prototype.
The students behaved perfectly and were a credit
to the Academy, the hosting school even commented on the behaviour of our students and how
impeccable they were.
We entered two teams of 6 students to the competition and although they didn’t win, they both
came 2nd and 3rd out of 6 teams which we think is
an incredible feat to say this was their first hands
on experience with the microbit.
Towards the end of the day the teams were required to perform a presentation to the other
schools which explained their designs. Each team
spoke confidently and clearly and showed a level
of maturity in explaining and demonstrating their products.
All in all the day was a great success and we are hopeful of possibly hosting a similar event ourselves next year.
ROCKET SCIENCE EXPERIMENT
PLC students are taking part in the Royal Horticultural Society’s Rocket Science Experiment.
The RHS Rocket Science project, in partnership with the UK Space Agency, is a UK wide experiment and a fun, interactive way to get students thinking about how plants might grow in space. It will help them understand the difficulties of living, growing and eating in space.
In September, 2kg of rocket seeds were flown to the
International Space Station on Soyuz 44S. The
seeds will held in microgravity for 6 months with
British ESA astronaut Tim Peake taking charge of
them while on the ISS for his Principia mission
starting in December.
The seeds will return to earth in April 2016 and
Birches Head Academy will be one of 10,000
schools to receive 100 seeds from space. These will
be grown alongside seeds that have not been to
space to see if there are any differences in growth.
No one at school will know which seeds have been
to space and which have remained on Earth.
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Students will care for the seedlings, record their growth and observations over 7 weeks and enter data into a database. After all the data has been collected, the results will be analysed by professional statisticians. Leading scientists from the RHS and European Space Agency will interpret the results and draw possible conclusions, publishing
their results on the RHS Campaign for School Gardening website.
MATHS DEPARTMENT
This has been an exciting term for the Maths department, with lots going on in and around school and some big
events taking place this month.
Monday 14 March (or 3.14 – Pi Day!) marked the beginning of World Maths Week, and numbers of all shapes
took over in lessons and activities across the school.
26 Year 10 students have shown an interest in pursuing Maths at A-Level by signing up to attend a talk by inspirational speaker Colin Wright. Colin has a PhD from Cambridge and has set up his own business and website
with a focus on applied Mathematics, which means he always knows the most cost-effective way to get from A to
B by train, thanks to his handy algorithm! He will be delivering a fascinating talk about how to measure the distance from the moon to a closed room, “using nothing but a stopwatch, a pendulum, and a lot of clever thinking”.
A number of Year 9 students have been flexing their own mathematical muscles as Birches Head prepares to enter two teams into the annual competition organised by Edge Hill University. The students will be required to
tackle a head-scratching problem and present their findings in a novel or imaginative way, whether as a poster or
a video or in another medium of their choice.
Exam season is
approaching for
Year 11, who have
been putting a lot
of work into their
revision this
term. Mock exams take place in
March, and these
will be a great
opportunity for
the students to
get a feel for what
it will be like on
the big day. It will
also enable them
to identify any
Achilles-heel topics, and with revision sessions planned for the second week of the Easter holidays, it is definitely all to play for.
Saturday sessions at the Birches Head Academy of Excellence have been a great success and have met with
an enthusiastic response from our high-flying Year 11s. In our February session, students explored algebraic
methods for solving geometric problems, and discovered some of the wonders of the Fibonacci sequence and the
golden ratio (it’s everywhere!).
ANTI-BULLYING TEAM
Pop singer Beth Sherburn warned students of the dangers
of cyber bullying.
In an attempt to get the message over more powerfully
that their own teachers might be able to convey, Beth combines her own songs with a lecture on the consequences
for both the perpetrator and victim of cyber bullying.
Beth said: “Make no mistake if an instance of anyone committing cyber bullying comes to light and goes on their
record then no
employer, no
university, absolutely no one
will want to
know them.
They want team
players; no one
wants a bully on
their team.”
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they are not funny, they are sad and they need to be reported.”
“Our role is to befriend the newcomers in Y7, make sure
they are happy and find out if they are being bullied in
anyway and help them come to terms with life in big
school.” Brett Cartlidge
Beth added: “If you are being bullied on line, you must tell “It was a fantastic lecture, one of the best we've ever had
someone; remember those doing the bullying are cowards in school and certainly no one will forget what Beth was
telling us.” Margaretta Johnson
who don't want to speak to your face and who think they
are being funny and get some horrible sense of power; but
DANCE 016—REGENT THEATRE
The year 8 gifted and talented dancers performed at this
years’ Dance 016 festival at The Regent Theatre on
Thursday 3rd March.
They should be extremely proud of what they have
achieved this half term.
Mrs Adlington
They choreographed a street dance to the theme of
‘Sport in the City’ and truly wowed the audience. They
have rehearsed relentlessly for 2-3 times a week over the
last term to ensure
the piece was ready
to perform and
have included a
wide range of creative and challenging
Performers include: Eve Humphreys, Caitlin Lyons,
movements, such as
Abby Curral, Holly Bartley, Holly Clowes, Morgan Wain,
pyramid lifts and
Gemma Azarpour, Caitlin Howle, Alecia Child, Amelia Hunt,
gymnastic vaults.
Issy Breese, Libby Baskerville and Sharla Stanway
Many of the same
girls are also performing at The Victoria Hall later on
this month, in a
Contemporary style
dance based on the
fairy tale Bluebeard.
This group of girls
are inspiring and
determined to succeed.
WONDERFUL WORLD BOOK DAY
What a Wonderful World Book Day we had!
But what is World Book Day? It is an occasion where we promote
books and reading to students and young people.
We hosted an exciting mix of challenges, competitions and fun
activities to encourage our students to get involved with the
World Book Day celebrations. Throughout the week workshops
designed to ignite and inspire imagination and creativity took
place; years 7 and 8 were transported to a land of fantasy focusing on the ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ series by Cressida Cowell.
They were on fire and the smoke was rising as the enthusiasm
and creativity poured out from their pens and pencils.
Year 9 were enthused by the World Book Day Top 50 books that will change your
life… chosen by teens and young adults. After browsing the books students chose three books that appealed to them and wrote the titles
and author on a specially designed postcard titled ‘I Promise Myself to
Read. It was great to hear students sharing their own favourite titles
and we even added a few of our own favourites to the list.
At Lunchtime on WBD we had a Dragonese style theme taken from
the How To Train Your Dragon series. To take part was simple, come
along with one of your favourite books and a review. On offer were
lots of activities and competitions and of course refreshments… Viking
style cupcakes and shield shaped biscuits made for a tasty addition.
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Thank you to all of the staff and students who helped to make our
World Book day celebration a fun and memorable one. Mrs J. Lawton
ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE
Top students are being encouraged to aim high at our new Academy of Excellence. It is hoped the new Excellence Academy will enable state school students who might never have dreamed of going to universities such as
Oxford or Cambridge to set their sights on higher ambitions.
Managed by Assistant Head Mr Walklate the new Academy of Excellence is designed to “increase aspirations and
enable our best students to achieve the very best grades.”
The project has started with 32
high achievers from a year group
of 140, being invited to attend six
monthly two hour Saturday
morning sessions to improve their
English, Maths and Science skills
and develop more confident examination technique.
The top 32 students have been
attending Saturday
morning sessions
with 100% attendance.
Classes include:
Maths—
examining higher
order logic skills in
Maths
English— analysing the lyrical poetry of William Blake
that could be part
of an unseen poetry section on the
GCSE Literature paper
Science—examining different molecular structures
and their properties.
In the past we have had
problems in enabling our
best students to convert
their abilities into the top
grades; we want to see more
and more A and A* grades.
I don't mind coming into school for extra lessons
Students also visited Somat all; in fact the opposite is true; I'd come in on
erville College in Oxford
Sundays too if I thought it could help me get bet(see page 13) to meet Colter grades.” Ishaac Hassan
lege dons, talk to students about their courses and see
what life is like at one of the world's leading academic institutions. There are also partnerships with Keele, Harper Adams and Staffordshire universities with work supported by their partner school St. Joseph's College and by Newcastle under Lyme High School.
The drive for excellence is also being developed at lower age levels with those recognised with high attainment
when they come to the school being offered project work above and beyond the curriculum with courses such as
Criminology, Psychology, Archaeology and Latin, currently being developed in liaison with specialist schools in
the city and beyond.
The aim is to challenge, stretch and stimulate these eager young minds as soon as they walk through the door
10 and instil a love of learning where it is cool to be clever.
ART / PHOTOGRAPHY
The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery is working with a
production team to create a series of short videos
showcasing a range of events, activities and exhibitions
highlighting the museums varied offerings to a variety
of audiences regionally, nationally and internationally.
The student Digital Journalists get the opportunity to
work with the video production team on event days and
contribute to the digital footage archive first
hand. This aspect will provide a longer legacy for the
project providing a benefit not only for the development of new museum audiences but also for local students interested in media marketing and understanding events in their city.
The first event took place on 14 February to celebrate
the Chinese New Year.
STOKE LITERARY FESTIVAL - PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION
A small group of our Y11 Photography students were involved in creating work for a Photography exhibition at
the Stoke Literary Festival in June.
The students worked with archived photographs from the Potteries museum, celebrating the potteries industry
by editing the photographs and breathing new life into the images using digital and practical editing techniques.
The photographs will now be on permanent display in our History corridor.
Art work by:
Lucy Allerton, Khadija
Ahmed, Courtney Gibbons,
Damilola Olorunshola and
Hana Rafeeq.
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FORMER GANGSTER TELLS OF LIFE TRANSFORMATION
The self hatred that comes with a life of crime was
relived in graphic detail by former gangland thug
John Pridmore who lectured students from St. Josephs College and Birches Head Academy on just
where he went wrong.
The burly Eastender evangelist is now an international best selling author who has given his motivational lectures to hundreds of thousands of people
worldwide, but in his early twenties he was a drug
smuggling minion running protection rings for the
capital’s most infamous crime bosses.
However, when he thought he had killed a man in a
fight outside a London nightclub, he gave up his life
of crime, turned his back on the guns, booze, drugs
and girls and committed his life to God. “That is
where things finally went right,” said John.
John told a packed audience at the St Joseph’s College: “One night I was working at one of the clubs we
ran in the West-End and I hit this guy with my
knuckleduster, but when I hit him he fell straight
back and smashed his head on the curb.
I could see blood everywhere and people around
started screaming, so I left the scene and I remember being in my car on the way home thinking, ‘I
could get ten years for this.’ Slowly it came to me
that I might have just killed someone and I don’t
even care. I used to care. I used to want to make a
difference but here I was just taking and destroying
everyone around me. The only person I cared about
was myself and I didn’t think that would ever
change.
“I came home and I heard a voice speaking to me in
my heart, it is a voice we all know, our conscience,
God within us. Up to his point, I felt God was just a
nice little story to keep us from being bad, but now I
was faced with the fact that God was real and it didn’t matter what I thought.
“I have tried to make amends and apologise to those
I intimidated but frankly they were still so scared,
that I realised it would be kinder not to put them
through the pain.”
MR UNDERWOOD MEETS HIS HERO
Ms Dixon and Mr Underwood, new Deputy
Headteacher, attended a conference in Birmingham - ASCL Annual Conference 2016 –
Engage, Enable, Enrich
Mr Underwood was delighted to rub shoulders with his hero, Chris Eubank.
It just goes to show, we all can aspire to be
more...
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THIS GIRL CAN
Students went dance crazy for Sport Relief as part of the 'This Girl Can' initiative to
promote healthy lifestyles in Stoke's young women.
We held a sponsored Clubbercise danceathon to raise money for the nationwide TV
appeal and at the same time introduce the new exercise regime to girls throughout
the school.
Working in partnership with the Youth Sports Trust, we offered the girls specialist
dance and movement sessions using mini trampolines, mats, disco lights, glow
tubes, darkened rooms and chart music in place of traditional alternatives such as
netball and hockey.
Clubbercise
Danceathon
Wristbands
Sport relief
mile
“Many of girls find it
hard to get involved
with these traditional sports and rather
than see them huddled together on a
cold day on a sports
field avoiding the
wind and rain, it's
far better to listen to
what they want to do
and provide them
with a healthy alternative. Dance offers
tremendous aerobic
and anaerobic benefits and keeps the
girls active. As it is
in a darkened room
with the lights down
and music playing it
does mean they shed
that sense of selfconsciousness that
can often prevent
girls from genuine participation” Mr Jenkins, Head of PE
“I am much more likely to do this when I leave school. It's something girls enjoy
and can relate to and above all it's great fun.” Caroline Cetchova
“It's more feminine and less dirty and we all enjoy dancing together.” Shakira
Khan (pictured above),
“It's fun and I don't get embarrassed.” Chloe Parton
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Now these Year 10 girls are leading sessions with teachers and Clubbercise leaders to
introduce the routines to children lower down the school in Years 7, 8 and 9 and are
using the giant Sport Relief Danceathon as a way of spotlighting the new activity for
all girls in the Academy.
SOMMERVILLE COLLEGE, OXFORD UNIVERSITY
On Tuesday 2 February, 26 students from our newly launched Y11 Academy of
Excellence, attended Somerville College, Oxford University, part of the prestigious
Russell Group of Universities.
SOMERVILLE COLLEGE
TUESDAY 2
FEBRUARY 2016
The students received a talk from a
Senior Tutor, originally from Stoke
-on-Trent himself, all about how to
apply to university and to aim
high.
HIGHER HORIZONS DAY
CHALLENGE Y10
On Tuesday 1 March, Y10 were challenged to find
out more about Higher Education by Higher Horizons, and to dispel myths about going to university.
The year were divided into teams to prepare a
presentation about their findings, and competed
against each other to win the chance to visit Harper Adams University, Shropshire, to further compete against other schools.
The winning team will be attending the university
for the day in July.
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WW1 PROJECT—LOCAL HEROES
Y8 and 9 History students are working on a local World War One project, inspired by a new
stained glass window in St Matthews Church, Birches Head.
The church window commemorates the soldiers from Birches Head who died in World War
One, 10 students from Y8 and Y9 visited the church to view the window and talk to people working on it as well as a local historian who has researched the casualties.
Students will now
design an appropriate memorial to
these local soldiers
in World War One
which will be made
with the support of
Patera Engineering,
they will also conduct further research into the soldiers.
The aim is to unveil the memorial in the school
on the 1st July 2016, the 100th anniversary of
the Battle of the Somme and also the date when
G Bradbury, one of the soldiers from Birches
Head, was killed in action.
Anyone with information about local heroes
from Birches Head can get in touch with Mr
Greenstreet on 01782 233595.
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STOP PRESS…
The Parent Council will be a
newly formed body of parents,
representing parents, run by
parents with the support of the
Academy.
It serves as a two way communication route between parents
and the Governing Body. It
encourages parents to participate fully in the life and work
of the school.
The Parent Council aims are
to:

To promote partnership
between the school, students and parents

To develop and engage in
activities which support
the education and welfare
of the pupils

To support activities such
as charitable events and
social functions
Would you like to be part
of the Parent Council and
help support our Summer
Fayre in July 2016!
If so please contact the school
on 01782 233595 or
info@bircheshead.org.uk
DIARY DATES
Grease —20 & 21 Apr 16
Bank Holiday—2 May 16
Exam season (Y11) - 16/5/16—24/6/16
Y10 Parents evening—19 May 16
Y10 Work experience week— w/c 23 May 16
Half term — w/c 30 May 16
Summer Fayre—Saturday 2 July
Transition day (Y6) - 14 July 16
PARENTPAY / COMMUNICATION
Birches Head Academy
Birches Head Road
Stoke on Trent ST2, 8DD
Phone: 01782 233595
Fax: 01782 236647
E-mail: info@bircheshead.org.uk
A huge thank you to all parents for your support during
our transition to a cashless school. Please contact the
school if you have any queries with Parentpay.
Moved house?
Changed your mobile number?
Email address?
Please remember to let us know so that we can keep your
contact details up to date.
YOUR LGO HERE
CONGRATULATIONS, GOODBYES & WELCOMES
We say Goodbye to Mrs Lunn-Jones who is moving to West Walsall E-ACT
Academy
16