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CAT Institute of Education

 
Welcome to the CAT Institute of Education
On Tuesday, Mrs Clarke and Mrs Fisher took two teams of budding bakers over to The Polesworth School to take part in The Great Cat Bake Off 2025. Birchwood were joined by teams from The Polesworth School, Dordon and Grange Park. After a busy and exciting day of baking, all seven teams who entered the competition produced fantastic cakes based on this year’s theme of seasons. Our Year 6 team, each baked a separate flavoured cake and put them together before covering in seasonal decorations, whilst our Year 5 team choose to depict the Birchwood tree changing over the seasons. The judges then had an extremely difficult task to decide on just one winner based on the presentation, individual design and of course the taste of the cakes created! In the end it was Dordon who were announced as the winners. Well done to everyone who took part! 

As part of the Academies Art Curriculum Network Group’s enrichment programme, Birchwood participated in a collaborative textile art project themed ‘Unity’. Alongside seven other schools, 16 of our children contributed to a large-scale wall-hanging that will be displayed in a central location within our Trust, following a showcase in each participating school. Mary Taylor from Crazy Mary Crafts led the project, sharing her expertise in creative workshops. It was an enjoyable day and our children's sewing skills truly shone!

On Friday, 20th June, our Year 4 boys' and girls' football team took part in the CAT Challenge Cup tournament at Aston Villa's prestigious Inner City Academy. This event brought together ten of our Trust schools and well over 100 enthusiastic children. Despite it being a very warm afternoon, both Birchwood teams performed exceptionally well, demonstrating true teamwork and sportsmanship while thoroughly enjoying their afternoon of football.

Congratulations to our girls' team, who managed to win two, draw two, and lose two of their six games, finishing third overall. They played with huge smiles on their faces and celebrated every goal as if it were a World Cup winner!

Well done also to our boys' team. The boys' teams were split into two groups. Thanks to a couple of last-minute screamers, the boys managed to top their group after winning five games and drawing one. In the final, the boys emerged as comfortable 2-0 winners, retaining the CAT Challenge Cup that they had secured the previous year.

We would like to thank Mr Chape from Wood End Primary for arranging the competition this year. We also want to extend our gratitude to all the staff at Aston Villa for hosting the event, and to our own Aston Villa coach, Jack Johnson, for organising and managing the entire occasion. Well done to all participants for contributing to a successful and memorable tournament.