There has been much excitement in Reception this half term when we had some special visitors.On Tuesday 9th May, the children came into school and were surprised to find there had been a special egg delivery.To their delight, by the end of the day all the eggs had hatched and seven chicks were happily getting used to their new surroundings.They have had the most enjoyable time watching the chicks grow, learning how to care for them and most importantly having a few cuddles.
We have been exploring the story ‘Anna Hibiscus’ Song’.Anna Hibiscus lives in Africa.We discover that in part of the story, Anna’s Aunties are pounding yams.We wanted to find out more about yams, so Mrs Robilliard took a trip to an African supermarket (in England) to buy some yams. We were surprised at how big and heavy they were!After exploring the yams with our senses of sight and touch, we tried cooking them so that we could also discover what they smelt and tasted like too.You can tell by the photographs that some of us liked the taste and some of us didn’t.
Summer 1 will involve transporting children to the continent of Africa where they will be immersed in the vivid colours of artists, traditional food and even regional African dances.They will discover a variety of landscapes by scanning QR codes to access informational videos.With beautifully rich literacy texts such as Anna Hibiscus' story and Handa's Surprise, the children will get to compare their own daily life to that of children across the world.
Animals and all their wonder will also be explored, allowing the children to become familiar with animals we may only see on TV and in books. The sights and sounds of Africa really will be the most amazing adventure for all our reception children!
Spring 2
Dinosaur Stomp
Fostering and nurturing a love of reading, books and the magic of literature is a core principle at Birchwood School. Acorn and Chestnut class were extremely fortunate that teachers didn't want to celebrate just world book day, but engaged in a whole week of celebrating stories, rhymes and books. Children were invited to bring their favourite stories in, dress up, revisit old texts we have engaged in and create their very own puppets for their theatre along with many more fantastic activities. Here are some of the magical moments from this week. What a bunch of budding literary legends in the making.
This half term the children in Acorn and Chestnut class have been exploring our new theme 'Dinosaur Stomp'! It has been a mix of anticipation and excitement as the children were welcomed back to school with mysterious foot proints that led to a huge unexplained, abandoned egg. Since then, the children have been looking after it and keeping it warm. Predictions have been made as to whether it will hatch into a snake, lizard, dinosaur or even if it just contains chocolate.
As you can see from the photos the children are fully invested and engaged in this topic.
We had great fun when we went to the Snowdome to experience real snow.
We played around in the snow, slid and spun down the snow slide, climbed and played in the treehouse and threw just a few snowballs at each other and the teachers!
This half term the children have been on an adventure. An adventure through the story of We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. We use talk for writing to help embed both the story and actions of this adventure over the course of a few weeks. This week we concluded our magnificent adventure by actually going on a bear hunt. With the wonders of Green Screen here are the children in reception retelling this story
We have been learning about the story ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’. In the story the characters encounter lots of obstacles on their journey to the bear’s cave. We went on our own sensory bare foot walk to try and get an idea about what the family might have experienced.
We really enjoyed learning about how people prepare for and celebrate Chinese New Year.We listened to the story of ‘The Great Race’, a story of the Chinese Zodiac.The Jade Emperor named a year in the zodiac after each animal that took part in the race. The children thought the rat was very cheeky as he got a ride on the ox to get to the other side, then jumped over the ox's head and won the race.
Our other learning included; role playing getting ready for Chinese New Year, picking things up with chopsticks, painting and making dragons and trying Chinese food.We even made a giant dragon’s head that we used to try out some dragon dancing.
Brrrr! It may be Winter, but that hasn’t stopped us investigating water and ice to make our own ice lollies – yum!We talked about how to make them and what would happen to the water.
'We need to pour water into a mould and then put it in the freezer to make it solid ice,' Lexi.
'The fridge won’t be cold enough to turn the water into ice,' Paige.
'Put water in the freezer so it goes solid and turns into ice.It’s really cold in the freezer,' Riley.
'We need water because water makes ice.If you put it in the freezer it will turn into ice because the freezer is colder than the fridge.When ice melts it turns into a liquid,' Autumn.
We have come back to school in 2023 ready for our learning and excited to be diving into our next theme Winter Wonderland. Within this theme we will expand our children’s understanding of the world they live in and the wonders that it hides. The children will travel by text and the brilliance of their imaginations to the Polar Regions of the globe, finding out and comparing their landscapes and the animals to those local to the UK. We will explore the qualities of snow, and ice. We will also look at features of the season of winter including the changing weather. Here are some photos of the amazing learning the children across reception have encountered so far:
We had the most enjoyable day out at Conkers Winter Wonderland! Our Christmas adventure started with a ride on the Santa Express which took us to the Elf Village. There, we listened to a story about a robin whilst enjoying a drink and cookie. We then made our very own craft robin to take home. From there we went on a magical wintery walk ending up at Santa's Grotto. Santa asked us what we would like for Christmas, told us all we have been very good this year and gave us a present. We were all very excited! After lunch we enjoyed exploring the enchanted forest before watching a Christmas movie in the 4D cinema. It was such a wonderful day and will leave us with lots of special memories.
We are very proud of all the children in Acorn and Chestnut class for doing such a fabulous job of learning all the songs and lines for their Nativity play. The end performance was amazing. Well done everyone!
Today we had the pleasure of inviting the local Reverend into school to talk to the Reception children about the Christian Faith, her job and how the birth of Jesus is important. The children asked questions, saw props and even sang Nativity songs.
After learning the story ‘Pumpkin Soup’ by Helen Cooper using Talk for Writing, we had the opportunity to go into the Food Tech Room and make our own. We discussed the recipe used in the story and the steps taken and compared it to the recipe we used at school. We got to taste the soup and most of us loved it.
We love exploring maths in many ways and this week we explored games with numbers up to 5. We worked as teams and threw bean bags into the hoops to see how many landed in the hoop and how many missed. This helped us to organise our sentence structures for combining amounts.
Later in the week we all went on a number hunt inside and outside of the school building. We were amazed at how many numbers can be found. Have a look at all our wonderful learning!
Chestnut class really enjoyed their first forest school session. We went on a walk to look for signs of Autumn and talked about the colours of Autumn while on the look out for Autumn treasures. We found different coloured leaves, twigs, acorns and berries. We put all our Autumn objects into a cup to make an Autumn potion.
Here you can see the reception children exploring the learning provision inside and outside. With many celebrations such as Halloween and Bonfire Night already being seen, you can see our children immersed in their learning. Autumn is Mrs Smith and Mrs Robilliard's favourite season with all the beautiful colours and crafts.
We had a great time celebrating National Poetry Day on Thursday 6th October. Everyone looked fantastic dressed up as adjectives. There was a fabulous range including sparkly, intelligent, old, camouflaged, gloomy and angelic. We also enjoyed watching Year 2 perform the poem 'The Owl and the Pussy Cat' to us. We then performed the rhyme 'One, Two Buckle My Shoe' for them.
Tuesday 4th October was a busy day in Reception. We spent the first part of the morning listening to poems from the visiting poet Ash Dickinson, who then helped us to write a class poem. We then spent some of the morning looking at some exciting educational apps on the iPads with Mr Bailey.
We had some very special visitors into school on Friday 14th October as our teddy bears joined us for a teddy bears picnic. We retold the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears that we have been learning, sang teddy bear songs, played games and made our own banana sandwiches to eat. Yummy!
On Thursday 22nd September local Fire Fighters came into school to talk to the reception children about the importance of their role. The children got to practice asking questions about their job and the risks they take, and also got to try on some of their amazing kit.
The children have made an incredible start to their learning journey here at Birchwood Primary School and we are so proud of how quickly they have settled and how positively they have engaged with the learning opportunities. Here are some photographs of them enjoying their first few weeks at school.
1.1. We are committed to safeguarding the privacy of the users of our services. Our services include and will hereby be referred to as 'Our Services' (our websites used to promote eSchools services and tutorial resources, specifically
https://www.eschools.co.uk
and https://academy.eschools.co.uk), 'School Websites' ( designed by eSchools and populated by individual schools themselves) and 'Platforms' (individual online services that provide teachers, learners, parents and governors with information, tools and resources) as well as our smartphone app. This policy sets out how we will treat your personal information across these services.
2. Collecting personal information on Our Services
2.1 We may process or temporarily store the following kinds of personal information:
information about your computer and about your visits to and use of Our Services (including but not limited to, your IP address, geographical location, browser type and version, operating system, referral source, length of visit, page views and website navigation paths)
information contained in or relating to any communications that you send to us or send through our website (including, the communication content) via online forms
any other personal information that you choose to send to us via online forms
manually inputted details of users added to the platform
details of users as integrated by our providers at Wonde via your MIS (if applicable to your package). For further information on integrated data please see our Data Sharing Agreement
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2.3 eSchools websites may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us and to enrich your user experience. You can adapt your cookie preferences, although please note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer. We will not, without your express consent, supply your personal information to any third party for the purpose of their or any other third party's direct marketing. For further information on how you can manage and set your cookie preferences, please see our Cookie Policy.
2.4 Information submitted through the online contact form on a school website is processed via eSchools, and passed directly to the school in question. This data is held by eSchools for 30 days (or in the case of failed messages, 90 days) before deletion. Once passed to the school this data is held by them and subject to that school’s privacy policy.
2.5 Schools are also able to add analytics tools and can therefore gather information on visits to and use of their website (including but not limited to, IP address, geographical location, browser type and version, operating system, referral source, length of visit, page views and website navigation paths). Individual visitors can manage their preferences through cookie preferences, as mentioned in 2.4.
2.6 Session IP addresses are retained to monitor and safeguard against improper usage of our services.
2.7 Content on the platform (added by staff, governors and students) and website content is added directly by School Users. This information is only used for to display on the platform in the way the user intends and is not used for any other purposes by eSchools. At a time when a school ceases to use our services the content is removed within a 14 day period as detailed in our agreement with the school.
2.8 Some of our services require the school to provide access to information they require for use with those services. For example a school using our communication tool, Letters Home, which enables schools to contact parents by email regarding important school information. In this situation a school will provide eSchools with access to the email address(es) they wish to send their communication to. Schools have granular access to ensure only the required data is shared and accessed by eSchools. The data is frequently updated to ensure that eSchools only retains up-to-date data.
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administer our services
enable your use of our services
troubleshoot and problem solve
send you email notifications that you have specifically requested. You can manage your preferences at anytime through your eSchools dashboard.
keep our services secure, safeguard against improper use of our services and prevent fraud.
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3.1.2. By registering for updates, School Staff/Governors are able to subscribe to our regular communications.
3.1.3. We will use any contact details supplied in an online form for the purposes explicitly detailed in said form. For example troubleshooting and problem solving or the provision of live online training as explicitly requested by you, the user.
3.2. We will not, without your express consent, supply your personal information to any third party for the purpose of their or any other third party's direct marketing.
3.3. eSchools understands our obligation to be mindful about the data we process and only process data that is required to fulfil our obligations in providing our services; to a school who enters into an agreement to use our services and you, the user.
3.4. We will not pass your information to third parties; except for the purpose of fulfilling our services to a school who enters into an agreement to use our services and you, the user or where we are required to do so by law.
4. Disclosing personal information
4.1 We may disclose your personal information to any of our employees, officers, insurers, professional advisers, agents, suppliers or subcontractors insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes set out in this policy.
4.2 We may disclose your personal information:
to the extent that we are required to do so by law;
in connection with any ongoing or prospective legal proceedings;
in order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights (including providing information to others for the purposes of fraud prevention and reducing credit risk);
to any person who we reasonably believe may apply to a court or other competent authority for disclosure of that personal information where, in our reasonable opinion, such court or authority would be reasonably likely to order disclosure of that personal information;
to the school in the case of improper use on the platform by individuals
4.3 Except as provided in this policy, we will not provide your personal information to third parties.
5. International data transfers
5.1. Data directly collected by eSchools may be stored and processed in and transferred between any of the countries in which we operate in order to enable us to use the information in accordance with this policy. Any third party we use is within the EEA or they hold an existing EU SCC, as in line with requirements under the GDPR. No other third party are permitted to access the school’s data.
5.2. Personal information that an individual adds to our websites may be available, via the internet, around the world. We cannot prevent the use or misuse of such information by others.
6. Retaining personal information
6.1. This section sets out our data retention policies and procedures, which are designed to help ensure that we comply with our legal obligations in relation to the retention and deletion of personal information.
6.2. Personal information that we process for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.
6.3. Data collected through analytic cookies will be retained for 26 months. Individual visitors can adapt the data collected through cookie preferences, as mentioned in 2.4.
6.4. Notwithstanding the other provisions of this Section 6, we will retain documents (including electronic documents) containing personal data:
To the extent that we are required to do so by law;
If we believe that the documents may be relevant to any ongoing or prospective legal proceedings; and
In order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights (including providing information to others for the purposes of fraud prevention and reducing credit risk). Data will no longer be kept after the termination of the contract with the school.
7. Security of your personal information
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7.2. We will store all the personal information you provide on our secure (password- and firewall-protected) servers. The web service we employ has a broad range of accreditations and certifications and the data centres used ensure the data stays within the EEA.
7.3. eSchools use a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) which creates a secure connection and uses two keys to encrypt data in transit. Despite this, you acknowledge that the transmission of information over the internet is inherently insecure, and we cannot guarantee the security of data.
8. Amendments
8.1. We may update this policy from time to time by publishing a new version on our website.
8.2. You should check this page regularly to ensure you are aware of any changes to this policy.
9. Your rights
9.1. You may instruct us to provide you with any personal information we hold about you.
9.2. We may withhold personal information that you request to the extent permitted by law.
9.3. You may change your cookie preferences at any time as referenced in 2.4.
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11. Updating information
We will only provide communication about the eSchools platform to school staff/governors who can manage their preferences at any time through their eSchools dashboard.
Part 2: Cookie Policy
Last Edited: 22nd April 2021
This Cookie Policy explains how eSchools use cookies and similar technologies in our Services. It explains what these technologies are and why we use them, as well as your rights to control their use.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small data files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. Cookies are widely used by online service providers in order to (for example) make their websites or services work, or to work more efficiently, as well as to provide reporting information.
Cookies set by the website owner or service provider (in this case, eSchools) are called “first party cookies”. Cookies set by parties other than the website owner are called “third party cookies”. Third party cookies enable third party features or functionality to be provided on or through the website or service you are using (such as advertising, interactive content and analytics). The third parties that set these third party cookies can recognise your computer both when it visits the website or service in question and also when it visits certain other websites or services.
Why do we use cookies and other tracking technologies?
We use first party and third party cookies for several reasons. Some cookies are required for technical reasons in order for our Services to operate, and we refer to these as “essential” cookies. Other cookies enable us and the third parties we work with to track and target the interests of visitors to our Services, and we refer to these as “advertising” or “analytical” cookies. For example, the embedding of YouTube and Vimeo videos, as added by individual schools, will require “advertising” cookies to be enabled in order to successfully play them. Schools that, for example, opt to track visitor data using Google Analytics will require “analytical” cookies to be enabled in order to do so. These third party cookies are used to tailor content and information that we may send or display to you and otherwise personalise your experience while interacting with our Services and to otherwise improve the functionality of the Services we provide. We also enable schools to employ cookies and similar tracking technologies in connection with their use of our Services in order to allow them to track visitors to and interactions with their school website.
How eSchools Uses Cookies
eSchools websites may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us and to enrich your user experience. The cookies differ depending on the information. You can adapt your cookie preferences, although please note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer. We will not, without your express consent, supply your personal information to any third party for the purpose of their or any other third party's direct marketing.
User Embedded Content
Our Services allows schools to embed code which may potentially contain cookies. Please note embedded content, if displayed on one of our websites, has been added by the school and not by eSchools. The embedded content added by the school may require additional cookies or tracking technologies to be enabled in order to function.
How can I control cookies?
You have the right to decide whether to accept or reject cookies. Be aware that cookie preferences are set on a per device basis; therefore you may need to set your preferences on each device you use.
Initial cookie pop-up banner: You can exercise preferences about what cookies are served on our Websites by selecting your preference from this modal which appears upon visiting an eSchools website/login screen and dashboard. You can also change your cookie preferences by clicking on the link on the footer of any page. The banner will reappear annually (August 31st to coincide with the academic year) to confirm your settings.
Browser Controls: You can set or amend your web browser controls to accept or refuse cookies. If you choose to reject cookies, you may still use our Websites though your access to some functionality and areas of our Websites may be restricted. As the means by which you can refuse cookies through your web browser controls vary from browser-to-browser, you should visit your browser’s help menu for more information.
Disabling Most Interest Based Advertising: Most advertising networks offer you a way to opt out of Interest Based Advertising. We will not, without your express consent, supply your personal information to any third party for the purpose of their or any other third party's direct marketing. If you would like to find out more information, please visit aboutads.info/choices or youronlinechoices.com.
Mobile Advertising: You can opt out of having your mobile advertising identifiers used for certain types of Interest Based Advertising, by accessing the settings on your Apple or Android mobile device and following the most recent published instructions. We will not, without your express consent, supply your personal information to any third party for the purpose of their or any other third party's direct marketing.
How often will you update this Cookie Statement?
We may update this Cookie Statement from time to time in order to reflect, for example, changes to the cookies we use or for other operational, legal or regulatory reasons. Please therefore re-visit this Cookie Statement regularly to stay informed about our use of cookies and related technologies. The date at the bottom of this Cookie Statement indicates when it was last updated.
Where can I get further information?
If you have any questions about our use of cookies or other technologies, please email us at support@.eschools.co.uk.