One World, One City, One Birches Head

Earlier this summer, year seven, eight and nine students from Birches Head Academy took part in its annual Out and About Week. Starting on July 8, the school participated in a number of activities across Europe. Students who took part, christened the week of activities One World, One City, One Birches Head. 

During Out and About Week the timetable is suspended and the students take part in various cultural activities. The school was divided into its house teams; air, fire and water and the students cooperated with each other to develop their extra-curricular skills.

As part of the project young people from Birches Head visited Paris, Belgium and Liverpool. Other trips included Waterworld, West Midlands Safari Park, Tamworth Snowdome, Bolton Gates Riding School and Rudyard Lake.

To mark the end of the week, teachers, parents and partners of the school were invited to attend a Caribbean carnival organised by the students in partnership with Stoke Caribbean Centre.

The students also made costumes and masks for an All Around the World Parade. Patricia Ball, who deals with inclusion support at Birches Head Academy, introduced students to Caribbean dance routines.

Fourteen year old Ryan Minton and twelve year old Aphena Thompson showcased their newly developed Caribbean dance skills to the audience at the carnival.

“All the staff at Birches Head worked as hard as possible with the pupils to make the week memorable,” commented Karen Healey, head teacher at Birches Head Academy. “The objective of Out and About Week is to give the students the opportunity to experience things they wouldn’t usually have the opportunity to do.

“Last year’s theme was the Olympics, so this year we had to match its success. We chose to embrace a cultural theme,” explained Healey. “We invited in year six students from local schools to take part in the week and taught them, along with our own students, to cook Italian, Hungarian and Thai food.

“We believe that there are certain aspects of a child’s learning that must be developed through creative and physical activities, Out and About Week helps to achieve this,” concluded Healey.

Budding photographers snap up top prize

A team of amateur photographers from Birches Head High School have won first prize in the Rotary International Great Britain and Ireland’s (RIBI) Young Photographers competition. The winning portfolio came from a group of year nine and ten pupils who impressed the judges with their creativity and composition skills. 

Michael Johnson (15), Erkan Kose (15), Jake Lockett (16), Emily Haynes (16) and Lenena Gilbert (15), submitted their individual creations as part of a group portfolio. They took home the top prize for the Senior Category, age 14-17, in a ceremony that took place at the City of Stoke-On-Trent Sixth Form College.

RIBI the organizer of the Young Photographers competition is the association of Rotary clubs in England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland, comprising 53,000 members. Rotary International forms a global network of business, professional and community leaders who volunteer their time and talents to serve communities locally and around the world.

Working in conjunction with teacher Daniel Jackson, the group of five students first learned the basics of photography and how to process their images.

"We took our inspiration from the mundane and simple, day to day objects around us," explained Michael Johnson, a year nine student at Birches Head High School. "We wanted to show that even ordinary things can be photographed beautifully if light, colour and the right angle is used," he finished.

The grand prize was £50 of Wimberley’s gift vouchers, which were used to buy arts and photography supplies.

“This competition has provided students with a fantastic opportunity to gain valuable artistic skills that may become more than a hobby in time,” said teacher Daniel Jackson after the event. “Photography competitions are ideal for those creative pupils that are also interested in technology. Mentoring the group and following their progress was an inspiring journey and, we'll definitely include photography classes in next year's curriculum.”