Written by Mrs Frost, Librarian  Kenton accepted a library invitation to visit us in the midst of his UK K2 Savage Mountain Tour for 2024. He spoke of his autobiography plus his amazing adventures and offered an informative snapshot into his life as a World leading Mountaineer, Adventurer, Speaker and Author. He gave focus to inspiration, motivation and approach to challenges as someone who has reached the summit of Everest a huge eighteen times! He explained he’s a great believer in aiming for people to constantly progress and be the best versions of themselves, stressing that for him it is the passion and enjoyment of what he does that drives him forwards – with an emphasis on progress not perfection. He reminded us that he has failed many times and this has been just as important to him as his successes. After a debilitating accident in 1996 he recalled how something inside him would not allow that to be the ending for his love of the mountains and he battled through whilst galvanising every part of his being to overcome the prognosis presented to him. He indicated that some of his early reading experiences, as serendipity would dictate, have aligned to a certain extent with his current reality. After years spent in Nepal making wonderful lifelong friends he referenced his close mountaineering friend Dorje Gelje ; a Sherpa guide who has worked with him extensively over the years and someone who he would not wish to be without in the mountains. He holds a close affinity with the general Guide and Porter community; these are the men & women who work above base camp at Everest fixing ropes to ensure safety for an influx of climbers and visitors each year. Sadly, these astonishingly hard working individuals do lose their lives to the mountains in their quest to keep everyone safe. Bereaved family members are faced with financial hardship and no social support available in Nepal. Kenton supports the Juniper Trust Charity which fundraises to help these families affected into a more hopeful and brighter future. Thank you to everyone for showing great interest in this event and should you be interested in finding out more about the Juniper Trust Charity please see a link below. Many thanks should go to Kenton Cool for his inspirational talk. We wish him well as he returns to Everest base camp with a group as we speak. We look forward to hearing more about Kenton’s future adventures and maybe a new book or two in the future! https://thejunipertrust.org/  

A group of pupils from across the year groups and four members of staff visited the stunning island of Sicily over half term. It was a superb adventure for all involved and described as the best trip ever! The quality photos were captured by Mr Clark, who also put great effort into getting everyone on, yet another, big Birkdale Adventure. They were able to visit some incredible places, walked up active volcanoes, all mixed in with a bit of Sicilian culture. The trip was jam-packed with activities including: sightseeing in the town of Ortigia; a walk up the amazing Mount Etna; visits to the Aeolian island of Vulcano; the Basalt columns in Gole dell’Alcantara and the Alcantara gorge and the ancient Greek/Roman city of Taormina for a look at the Greek theatre. There was even time for a pizza making class! All in all this was a superb adventure, which the pupils will never forget.

As the academic year draws to a close, our school community came together to celebrate the incredible achievements, efforts, and talents of our wonderful pupils at our annual Celebration & Prizegiving. From academic successes to music, sport, drama, school trips and many more accomplishments, it has been a year filled with hard work and dedication. Well done to all our pupils for their amazing efforts this year!

Over half term 31 pupils (13 S2 and 18 S3) visited Isla, to the west of Santander in Cantabria, Spain. The visit lasted five days and the pupils experienced a real flavour of the area and a range of experiences from the beachside Magdalena Park in Santander itself, the medieval village of Santillana del Mar, pre-historic caves and a wildlife reserve. Linguistic activities included buying of fruit, drinks and ice-creams, two town trails as well as regular work on diaries throughout the stay. They were blessed with mostly excellent weather were able to play games on the beach in the early evenings or even paddle in the sea. After the evening meal, pupils were given time to complete diaries as well as various other competitions and quizzes. By the end of the stay, the pupils had gained so much both linguistically and culturally and their completed diaries reflect this. Staff were encouraged by their willingness to come out of their comfort zone and speak Spanish throughout the trip. All in all, the visit was greatly enjoyed by the pupils.  We were pleased to be complimented by various members of the public with regards to pupil behaviour. Indeed, the staff team felt that everyone had been extremely well-behaved and responsive throughout the trip.  They  were a credit to the school and to their families.

Written by Divyam and Viraj from the Eco-Committee During the Easter term, spanning from 11th March to the 22nd of March, Birkdale hosted its second Eco Fortnight, featuring Birkdale’s first sustainable transport week alongside some favourites from last year. Additionally, we also had a very exciting visit from the Sheffield Hallam MP, Olivia Blake, which included an engaging Q&A session. This year we held another Battery Race, hoping to beat our total battery count of 2139 from last year. Amazingly, we smashed it, collecting an incredible 3721 batteries for recycling. Asterley secured the win with 896 points. Furthermore, our writing, art and photography competitions maintained their high standards with many reaching a professional level. Congratulations to Will (S1), Bertie (S5) and Zack (L6) for winning their respective age categories in the photography competition, and to Will in S1 (again!) for winning the art competition. Seven students were involved in delivering 4 assemblies over the first week to all of their peers from P1 to U6 (Y3 to Y13). These assemblies were written collaboratively by all members of the Eco-Committee, aged between 12 and 17, and focused mainly on the theme of Sustainable Transport. A notable addition this year was Sustainable Transport Week occurring in the second week of Eco Fortnight. For this we asked the school community to fill out a form stating their transport method for that day, helping us to monitor public transport use, and encouraged them to use public transport or walk or cycle to school when possible. To further encourage this we held form time sessions for S2 pupils discussing how to be more eco-friendly by our means of transport, particularly the issue of idling. On the second Thursday of Eco Fortnight, we were delighted to welcome Olivia Blake, Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam, to have lunch with members of the Eco-Committee and participate in a Q&A. Many brilliant and challenging questions were asked, breaching topics ranging from public transport to energy security, and everyone who came really enjoyed it. We would like to say thank you to everyone involved in this effort and making our school and the world a better place.    

Written by Sixth Form student Tom G: On the 14th of September, twenty-one U6 physicists, four French students and four members of staff embarked on a four-day trip to Geneva, a scientific, diplomatic and cultural hub nestled on the French border in Switzerland. The key focus of the trip was our day spent in CERN, and while we weren’t able to view any active particle accelerators without being blasted apart, we did visit the ATLAS detector which helped discover the elusive Higgs boson in 2012. We were also lucky enough to be taken on a tour of some of the facilities by a PhD student from Sheffield University, who also gave us a talk about his experience studying physics and working at CERN. We were also able to spend time looking around the Geneva headquarters of the United Nations, taking in the views from the top of the cathedral, and we spent a memorable night beneath the iconic Jet d’Eau – thankfully the wind was on our side meaning we didn’t get completely drenched! As another welcome break from the particle physics, we found ourselves fully immersed in Swiss cuisine with two nights of fondue: a gruyere-filled experience which none of us will forget for a gouda while. Our last night in Switzerland featured an impromptu dance party with a live DJ by the shores of Lake Geneva, which the teachers assure was a first in the history of this physics trip! Just like how the work taking place at CERN is only possible because of the hours of work put in by the scientists and engineers, our trip was made possible by the efforts of our fantastic teachers, Mr O’Toole, Miss Howes, Dr Jukes, and of course Mr Clifford. I couldn’t recommend this trip enough to any future sixth form students taking physics, although I would advise that they pace themselves when tackling a steaming pot of fondue!

Thanks to everyone who attended the Friends of Birkdale School BBQ & Fair last Friday. We welcomed around 600 members of the School community to the Johnson Grounds including pupils of all ages, parents and grandparents to enjoy the stalls, activities and food. It was a great way to kick off the school year and welcome new and current families to Birkdale. We would like to thank everyone who donated soft toys, cakes and gave up their time help set up and work on the plethora of stalls. A special mention goes to Béres who kindly donated the breadcakes for the BBQ and the gingerbread men.