Birchwood High School

Today, Mrs Hinksi hosted a lunchtime pizza party for Year 8s, celebrating the top 21 students with the most house points, zero behaviour points and excellent attendance. Well Done!

Today, we continued our Chemistry Week celebrations with an exciting visit from GSK staff, who ran a hands-on workshop for students. The workshop focused on how scientists determine which coatings to use on tablets to control how quickly different medications dissolve in the stomach. By choosing different coating substances, they can adjust the rate at which a tablet dissolves. To explore this concept, students used lemonade to replicate the acidic environment of the stomach and coated Smarties with various substances, including jam, honey, mayonnaise, deodorant, and hairspray. They then dropped the coated Smarties into lemonade and timed how long it took for each coating to dissolve, giving them a fascinating insight into the science of tablet design. At lunchtime, students also had the chance to make their own lava lamps using oil, water, food colouring, and effervescent tabletsa fun and colourful way to learn about chemical reactions!

Christmas Concert - Tickets now available via Parentpay.

Birchwood News | October Edition is out now. Follow this link to read more: https://www.birchwoodhighschool.co.uk/_site/data/files/birchwood-news/4A8FFCFAE0D106F8588191062C0D1594.pdf

Happy Halloween Today we hosted our Halloween Charity Day with sweet cones and a Halloween maze. Thank you to our House Team for all their hard work.

Congratulations to our October Students Of The Month Each month, our faculties select a winner who has shown exceptional effort, academic achievement or a positive attitude in their lessons.

Calling all budding photographers Our Autumn Scenic Photography Competition is running again this year. This competition is open to all our staff and students. If you would like to enter, please email your photograph to acollyer@birchwoodhigh.org.uk along with your full name, form, year group and house in the email message. Competition closes Friday 8 November.

It was fantastic to see so many familiar faces at last week's Careers Fair with several Birchwood alumni returning to share their career journeys. It was inspiring for all our current students to hear from those who were once in their shoes. Eilidh Malcolm – Quality Manager at GSK Jack Willmott – Willmott and Lake Estate Agent Lauren Marks – Customer Development Executive at Britvic Daniel Jones – Member Consultant at Saffron Walden Building Society George Keen – Academy Strength and Conditioning Coach at Tottenham Hotspur Tabitha Gray – Audit Trainee (Apprenticeship Degree) at Price Bailey Gemma Day – Herdswoman Kathryn Day – Radiographer at Broomfield Hospital

Visit Birchwood's Career Fair with over 40 businesses, training providers, colleges and universities represented.

This week our Year 12s travelled to Mersea Island to take part in a range of teambuilding activities designed to push them outside of their comfort zone and get to know different students within the sixth form.

BioCraft Competition. In celebration of Biology Week, Birchwood is running a BioCraft competition inviting students to create a biology-inspired 3D artwork from recycled, or other, materials. Ask Mrs Pressland for more details. Competition closed Monday 4 November.

English was brought alive yesterday as Year 11 were treated to a visit from the Globe Players. After performances of 'Romeo and Juliet, 'An Inspector Calls' and 'A Christmas Carol', students were given the opportunity to quiz the actors on the texts to help develop their own analysis.

Open Week: Monday 7 October - Thursday 10 October. If you were unable to attend last week's open evening or would simply like to visit Birchwood again during a normal school day, please book a slot during our Open Week. Please complete our booking form: https://forms.office.com/e/4Nry33LGQQ

Yesterday we were proud to celebrate European Day of Languages by inviting our students to bring in items that celebrated the food and culture of their country of heritage.

Birchwood High School Open Evening: Thursday 3 October 4:30pm-7:30pm. The Principal's Presentations will take place at 4:30, 5:15, 6:00 and 6:45pm. These do not require any prior booking. Tickets will be handed out on the night as you sign in. Tours of the school will be hosted by our current Year 7s throughout the night. We look forward to seeing you there!