Welcome to Miss Offord’s Blog

It has been a long hard term at Birchfields but I have been really pleased with the way in which pupils, parents, governors and staff have been working together to benefit all the children in our Birchfields family. Our standards are improving, our attendance is getting better and many people outside the school have commented on the excellent behaviour of our children. We’ve just enjoyed a lovely school sing-a-long and it just goes to show what we can achieve if we all work together. There is a real buzz in the air at Birchfields and I am really looking forward to next term and the new challenges we will all meet together. I hope that everyone has a really safe and happy Christmas and look forward to seeing you all in the New Year.

Miss Offord

It’s been a busy start to the new term at Birchfields and I have been really pleased with the work I have seen and improved behaviour, especially in the playground. Next week we are having a visit on Thursday afternoon from three headteachers from Gateshead and Hartlepool. I have worked with these Headteachers to improve all of our schools and I have already visited their schools in the North East. I would like to see Birchfields looking its best and for us all to be doing the best job we possibly can next Thursday, so I can show these visitors just why I am so proud of our school. Good luck everyone!

Welcome back everyone to the new school year at Birchfields. It has been wonderful to see everyone again after the Summer break. I would like to extend a special welcome to all the new staff, pupils and parents who have joined Birchfields this week. There have been a few changes to the school during the holidays. Our newly decorated KS1 corridor looks fantastic and has made a big difference to the noise levels. The playground has been extended so there is now much more room to play and the footballers are safely in their cages. Unfortunately, the toilets in the foundation unit are not quite finished so we are having to work in a smaller space this week.I’m ashamed to say that over the holidays Betty was the naughtiest rabbit at Posh Bunny Motel so she is grounded at the moment but I hope to bring her in to see you all when she has learnt to behave in the Birchfields way. I’m looking forward to catching up with all of you and working hard to make life at Birchfields even better.

Miss Offord

Well it’s the end of another fantastic year at Birchfields. We’ve seen a lot of progress from all the children and a lot of developments in school including our trim trail and multimedia suite. The end of term has been a real celebration of everyone’s accomplishments with geography week, celebration week and our performance evening and leavers’ assembly. I was particularly pleased to visit our parents’ ’share group’ to see the hard work they have been putting in so that they can help their children at home. Don’t forget children, to do a little bit of reading and maths every day so that you are ready for the new term. I would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to all our staff who have worked very hard this year and a goodbye and thank you to Mrs Martindale, Mrs Sheikh, Mrs Shaw, Mrs Howse, Mr Tiller and Mr Crowley and wish them good luck for the future.

Through the summer there will be some exciting developments in the playground, extra toilets built in Foundation Stage and decoration of some corridors, classes and the staffroom. We also look forward to welcoming 13 new members of staff to Birchfields who will help us to raise our standards of care and achievement even higher. I hope all pupils, parents, staff and governors have a great Summer and look forward to seeing you all again in September.

Miss Offord

Last week we had a visitor to school who said that he really liked Birchfields before he even arrived because he had been on our Bloggsite and thought it was fantastic. I’ve just visited everyone’s bloggs and I have been so impressed with the exciting work that is going on throughout the school from chicks hatching out in the Foundation Stage to spreadsheets in Year 5. I was also invited to attend a terrific class assembly, which was fun but also showed how well all 5P had learned in lots of subjects accross the curriculum. Now is the time of year when we look back and think about how well we have worked together since September but it is also a time to look forward and prepare for a new school year. I think our bloggsite has been a real success this year and I look forward to how we can improve it even further next year. Well done to all of you !!

Good luck to all our Year 6 children who are doing their SATs tests this week. I am looking forward to seeing you all at Breakfast Club and I know that you’ve all worked really hard and that you will all do your best. Year 6 will be doing their tests in lots of different rooms so I’m asking all the rest of our pupils to be really considerate and walk around school very quietly.

Best Wishes

Miss Offord

Hello Everyone!

I have just been looking at all the blogsites and they look amazing! It’s wonderful to see everyones work and to find out what’s going on. I’d recommend that everyone looks at the School Council blog, remember children the School Council is there to represent you so make sure that you let them know your opinions. I will be updating my blog regularly to keep everyone up to date and I would love to receive your comments on anything to do with school life. For any animal lovers among you, my rabbit Betty, will have her own blog and she would love some comments too! Have a lovely Bank Holiday!

Miss Offord

Hello everyone!

I’m really excited about our new Birchfields Blogsite and I’m really looking forward to the whole Birchfields community contributing to it. I hope you will be able to show everyone what a brilliant school this is. I’m certainly looking forward to looking at all the interesting news and articles that will soon be available here for the world to read. I can’t wait to hear from schools in other countries, especially in the year we are going for International Schools Award. Good luck everyone with your blogging!

Miss Offord