Welcome to Miss Offord’s Blog

We are very excited to welcome four school inspectors to Birchfields on Monday28th June and Tuesday 29th June. This will give us all an opportunity to to show  the hard work that we have been putting in to achieve our learning challenges this year. I am very proud of the progress of our  children, who have achieved the highest standards that we have ever had at Birchfields. We have achieved these standards not just by providing exciting learning opportunities but also because the whole community together have been working really hard to improve attendance. Last week was our best ever week with 96.9 attendance – well done to everyone.

Miss Offord

I’d like to say a special well done to our Year 6 and Year 2 children who have been working hard and showing their teachers just how much progress they have made. I have been really pleased with the enthusiasm I have seen in every year group in the school and the many children who have an excellent attitude to their work. I would like to say a special thank you to 3W, who have welcomed Mohammed back to the class and have been really supportive and helpful.

Miss Offord

I’d to thank all parents, staff and pupils very much for responding to our questionnaires.

In the parents/carers questionnaire:

46% of you responded which is a good response and lets us know where we are doing well and where we need to improve. 49% of you said the school had improved over the last year while only 6% thought that the school’s performance was worse. Of the parents/carers of new pupils, only 10% felt that the school had not lived up to expectations while 19% said the school was better than they expected it to be.

In academic subjects, you were most happy with Physical Development, Mathematical Development and English – Speaking and Listening; you were least happy with the delivery of History, Geography and Mathematics – Using and Applying. In non-academic areas, parents/carers were most happy with suitable class sizes, school security and school discipline; parents/carers were least happy with out of school activities, levels of homework and the use of exams and testing. Your top priority for improvement was school discipline and the parents of girls gave significantly higher scores for Creative Development and Personal and Social Development.

We are sharing these results with you, and among all staff, in order to address the issues that have been raised and give them a high priority. We thought that one way to respond better to the views of parents is for Mr Akbar (Chair of Governors) and I to hold a monthly meeting with parents/carers to discuss the way forward on different school issues. I know from reading the additional comments sent in by parents/carers, that the biggest issue currently is levels of homework. Therefore, we would like to hold our first Parents/Carers Discussion Group, in the library, at 2.45pm on Tuesday 20^th April to discuss levels of homework. All parents/ carers interested in this topic are welcome to attend. I look forward to meeting you soon.

Miss Offord

More news on the findings from our other questionnaires to follow

Well, it has been a really busy term and the children at Birchfields are continuing to improve in their English and Maths and have shown us how talented they are. I hope everyone has a lovely rest and look forward to seeing everyone back in school on Monday 12th April.

Miss Offord

It’s been lovely to see everyone back in school this week and finally the weather is warming up and we’ll get our playtimes back! I hope all our children who received trips as a reward for good attendance, enjoy themselves.

Miss Offord

Well it looks like the freeze is going to last another week at least but it will be business as usual at Birchfields. We have had a great two days of learning and exciting new snowy experiences in school. All the children who have made it into school are still in the running for our attendance prize but even better they are having the advantage of resuming their learning after the winter break. All of our staff have made it to school even those living in Lancashire and Derbyshire well done to everyone! Lets hope that we have ALL of our pupils back with us on Monday – we miss you!

Miss Offord

I just wanted to share the comment left by our Chair of Governors with all of you:

Hello

Just would like to say a big 'Well done' and 'Thank you' to all the staff, parents
and pupils for coming in to school today (Thursday 7 January 2010). Everyone of you
is to be congratulated.
 
Leader of Manchester City Council Sir Richard Leese said: "Manchester has risen to
the challenges posed by the extreme weather" and I can say that Birchfields Primary
School definitely falls into this category. The decision to open the school today
was also endorsed by Sir Richard who went on to add that "Many more schools are open
today and, while it is a decision for headteachers, I expect schools to be open
unless there are exceptional circumstances." Sir Richard's statement that
"Manchester residents have proved that community spirit is alive and well by helping
their neighbours through the cold snap." was also highlighted by some of Birchfields
parents and ex-pupils who came into school to help the headteacher, Ms Offord, and
some members of staff to clear up the snow yesterday afternoon (Wednesday 6 January
2010) when the school was closed.

Rabnawaz
Chair of Governors

Welcome back to the new term at Birchfields, I hope everyone had a lovely holiday. What a shame that we have had to close the school today. This is the worst weather I’ve ever experienced in Manchester and I had to consider everyone’s safety. I’m hoping we’ll be back in school very soon and look forward to seeing you all then.

Miss Offord

We would like to start a monthly meeting when parents can come into school and talk about an issue with Mr Akbar our Chair of Governors and I. The first meeting will be in December, when we will be talking about playtimes. If any parents or children have any comments about playtime would you please add them to this blog so that I can try to sort out any problems.

Thank you,

Miss Offord

We’ve had a good start to our second half term this week. I have been especially pleased with all the hard work that some of you have been putting in over the holidays, which shows great enthusiasm for your learning so well done!!

Unfortunately, I had to go to my Grandparents funeral over half term. However it was a chance to celebrate their lives – my Grandma was 92 years old and my Grandad 97 years old and they had been married for 70 years. After they retired they worked for many years for 2 charities Age Concern and Oxfam. It made me think of all the people in their generation who had to live through the first and second world wars and how much we owe to the older people in our society. Next week we will be remembering especially the people who fought in the first world war as the last people who fought in that war died this year too. Maybe we could make a special effort next week to help the older people in our family and ask them what life was like before we were born.

Miss Offord