The three week trip over the Easter holidays took the intrepid group of staff and students into Nepal’s bustling capital Kathmandu, hot, busy and a world away from Sheffield. After a couple of days getting their bearings and recuperating from the long flight they headed straight to the Himalaya! Taking on a trek towards Ama Dablam and the Everest region, they saw the highest place on Earth and lived and breathed the Nepali culture and mountain air. On their return from the Himalaya they embarked on community led work with a UK registered charity operating in Nepal. Our amazing students had prepared lessons and activities to help promote and develop the English language skills of children in the Kathmandu valley. These projects are organised by RNV Nepal (registered charity number 1197238) and we continue to  support them to promote education in Nepal and contribute to the wider objectives of the charity. These experiences were life informing for our students. A full account of the trip written by our Head of Outdoor Education, Mr Watchman, can be found here: Nepal 2023 Newsletter

The recent production of Chicago was a celebration of everything Birkdale is about. The talented cast was accompanied by outstanding musicians, set designers and technical crew. Everyone pulled together to create something truly special. The story is set in roaring twenties Chicago, nightclub dancer Roxie Hart murders a faithless lover and convinces her hapless husband, Amos, to take the rap...until he finds out he's been duped and turns on Roxie. Convicted and sent to death row, Roxie and another "Merry Murderess," Velma Kelly, vie for the spotlight and the headlines, ultimately joining forces in search of the "American Dream": fame, fortune, and acquittal. There were superb individual performances from Iona (Velma), Hannah (Roxie) and Adam (Billy Flynn) to name but a few, along with a cast of pupils from across the year groups from S3 to U6. They performed one show-stopping song after another including; Razzle Dazzle, Cell Block Tango, and All That Jazz. It was a fantastic showcase for the best of Birkdale talent, with particular mention going to our Sixth Form girls. Without their talent and dedication we couldn't have put on such a unique show. Thanks to everyone involved including East Street Sheffield for the loan of costumes and props.

Over the February half term, 35 pupils and 6 staff embarked on a cricket tour to the UAE. Over the course of the week, the three teams took part in 15 fixtures, winning a third, including games against Rajasthan Royals Academy, Dubai International Academy and Zayed Academy. They also came up against two other English touring schools in Lancaster Grammar and Kingston Grammar. In and around all the cricket, the pupils were also able to enjoy multiple excursions such as going to the top of the Burj Khalifia, a day at Yas Waterworld, a visit at Sheikh Zayed Mosque and cycling around YAS Marina GP circuit. The week was topped off with a tour meal and awards, with prizes given out for most improved player and team tourist of the week. The whole week was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone, with lots of memories and friendships made along the way.

We are always thrilled when Old Birkdalians come back to visit us. Last week, the Modern Languages department welcomed back former pupil Rafal Faraj, who is currently in his second year studying Law and Spanish at Oxford University. He shared his passion for languages, the Oxford application process and his experience of studying Law to an audience of middle school and sixth form pupils. Emphasising the global and multilingual nature of many of the University's students, he urged pupils to continue with a language. He explained that at University, A Level subjects (especially the third or fourth choice subject) were quite often immaterial whereas language skills remained.  

We are delighted to announce that Upper Sixth student, Nat has been offered a place at the Joffrey Ballet School, New York, USA as a Jazz and Contemporary Trainee with the option of graduating as a Bachelor of Fine Arts if he wishes to pursue that route. This is clearly an amazing achievement and a reflection of the outstanding quality of his work. He has also been offered a place at URDANG at City, University of London which is viewed as one of the UK's finest performing arts colleges with an international reputation. Nat is now researching which option he would most like to pursue and as part of this he will visit USA on a Taster experience. We will watch Nat's progress with great interest and wish him every success for the future.

The results are in for the Bebras Computing Challenge that took place at the start of November. Thanks to the addition of Computer Science to the S2 curriculum we were able to enter 212 students for the Bebras competition this year and it has paid dividends. Across the four age group categories Birkdale students managed to bag themselves 55 Gold Certificates. This places them in the top 10% of the 350,000 students who entered Bebras this year. Notable successes included 'Best in School' for Tommy in S1 and Ollie in S3 (pictured), Ruaridh in S5 and Matt in U6. Matt achieved a rare perfect score this year to crown his many previous computing successes. Golden ticket winners also earn an invite to take part in the Oxford University Computing Challenge - a further competition to be run in January 2023. We have already started training at Code Club for this event which has a heavier focus on programming than the Bebras questions. Students can come along to Code Club on Thursdays to join in or use the tutorials online that can be accessed through the Bebras site.

Birkdale Sixth Form students Ed and Oli recently completed the Ironman 70.3 in Portugal. They undertook this test of endurance to raise funds for The Peace Garden School in Nepal. RNVNepal is a charity which Birkdale have been associated with for over 20 years. We would like to congratulate Ed and Oli on this fantastic achievement. They wrote the following account of their incredible journey. If you would like to support them please go to their gofundme page: https://gofund.me/1d492d17 "We both felt quite nervous the night before and neither of us had much sleep before the alarm went off at 5.15am. We left the hotel 30 minutes later and arrived at the race at 6.15am to go through pre-race checks, ensure everything was ready for the different stages and get our wetsuits on. It was very busy with around 2,500 competitors, race officials and several thousand supporters. The course was a treacherous one and started with us running down the beach into the Atlantic ocean for a 1,900-meter swim. The water was really cold and people were competing for space, and were quite physical at times. Just over 30 minutes later we exited the sea and had to run 500m up a hill to T1, the transition stage where we had to get out wetsuits off and get ready for the bike leg. We took off on our bikes for the 90km ride and very quickly started to climb out of the town. The next 25kms were spent riding through the hills above Cascais, which had some brutal climbs but also some down hills where we got up to 70kph at times. There were two real highlights on the bike stage, the first was the opportunity to cycle around the Estoril F1 track as well as 50km of riding along the coast on closed roads. At this stage Oli was doing really well and Ed was just behind him, but then unfortunately Ed had a flat tyre which he could not fix. The only choices were either to withdraw or cycle 20km to the next bike station for specialist technical help, so he put his head down and cracked on, although at about 60% of the speed he had been doing. Unfortunately, the mechanic could not help, so the only option he had was to carry on for the last 5km, yet with even more bad luck his front tyre was damaged, and so he had to ride the last 5km with two flats, which was really tough. Meanwhile, Oli had rushed through T2 and was quickly on the two-lap run along Cascais bay. It was now the middle of the day and with the sun beating down it was in the high 20’s, the race had been going for around 4 hours by now, but the crowds were fantastic with lots of support. When the time came we both ran down the finish line to hear our names over the tanoy and lots of applause from thousands of spectators. [...]

Birkdale’s pupils celebrate best results in three years – despite impact of pandemic Despite the huge challenges of studying for GCSEs during a pandemic, pupils at Sheffield’s Birkdale School are celebrating the best set of results in three years – exceeding the last set of grades from examinations in 2019 and the centre assessed grades of 2020 and 2021. Three in ten results (30%) were at the highest possible grade 9 with nearly half (48%) at the top two grades, 8 and 9, with two-thirds (66%) at 7 and above. Across the School there have been stories of individual success, with one in ten pupils achieving an entire set of results at grade 9. While 15 departments had over half of pupils receiving results at the top two grades – 9 and 8. Peter Harris, Birkdale School Head, said: “Congratulations to our pupils on an excellent set of GCSE results across the school which have been achieved despite the extremely difficult circumstances faced over the past two and a half years. “The achievements show the fortitude and resilience of our pupils, the innovation of our teachers and staff, and the support of our wider family in limiting as much as possible the impact of the pandemic on their education. “It is clear the hard work everyone in the Birkdale family put in when schools closed and lockdowns began has made a huge difference – from investing in our online learning provision, to supporting our children’s health and wellbeing, to bringing our community together in innovative ways at a time when we were forced apart. “I would have been proud of those efforts whatever today’s results had shown, but for them to positively reflect the commitment and energy is hugely welcome.”