Rotary Young Engineer of the Year
We hosted the annual “rotary young engineer challenge”. This year, teams were set the challenge of creating a device to sort coins using only a limited supply of timber, card and basic fittings. They only had two hours to design and create their device. It was a packed workshop with 20 teams from across all of the six other local schools.
Our teams represented us extremely well with our foundation team securing 2nd place and our senior team securing 3rd place. Congratulations to everyone who took part in this tough competition.
Young chef competition
In June, Birchwood saw the return of the . It has been four years since this has been able to run and students from Birchwood, Hockerill, Herts & Essex and St Nicholas were very keen to show off their skill and talent. The students competed against each other to produce a three course meal for two with a tight budget of £20. They only had two hours to prepare, cook and present their tables which were judged by local experts. These included a college lecturer, the head chef at Novotel Stansted and the owner of Host.
Mr Kadlec worked extremely hard with our team of Year 9’s, Rebecca Bedwell, Amber Owen and Kiaya Payne, practicing at lunchtimes and after school to prepare for the event. They prepared an outstanding meal of duck dumplings, chicken and butternut squash curry with accompaniments and finished off with espresso cream filled profiteroles and they took the top spot, winning the senior category. Congratulations too to St Nicholas for winning the junior competition and the overall young chef.
It was a great afternoon for all and the judges highly commended all the students for their calmness under pressure and the skills they have shown. We can’t wait to defend the title next year!
Birchwood “Unsung Heroes” receive their highly commended certificate at the Indies
On Thursday 18 November, Miss Munro, Mr Osborne and myself went to the annual Indie awards at the South Mill Arts Centre. Our PPE manufacturing team had been nominated for the unsung hero award by readers of the Bishop’s Stortford Independent. It was a fantastic evening with a red carpet and meal laid on by a local caterer. We were at a table with the other nominee; Dr Sian Stanley. It was great to put a face to a name as during our time manufacturing we were in contact on several occasions to ensure the PPE went out to where it was needed locally. We were so proud to be awarded the highly commended certificate in
recognition of our work over that challenging time.
Mr Stephens, Technology
Birchwood wins the immediate level at the annual Rotary young engineer challenge
On Tuesday 16 November we hosted the annual Rotary young engineer challenge. Teams from TBSHS, Leventhorpe and the Bishops Stortford College came to compete at three different levels. It was a really tricky task for all but our intermediate team of Lucy Moorfield, Rosie Thorpe and Severin Fleet took first place with our other two teams taking a close second in their
respective categories. Birchwood won the immediate level.
Scrubs for the NHS
In between teaching Mrs Jacobson and Mrs Feather Levey have been making scrubs for the local NHS frontline staff. They have made over 20 so far!
Ear guards for the NHS
John Cornwall Year 10 has shown great initiative during lockdown. He has used his own 3D printer to manufacture Ear Guards to which medical staff can hook their face masks, thereby reducing pressure around their ears.
Rotary Technology Tournament
The Youth techology tournment was run by the Rotary Club of Bishop’s Stortford. The schools that participated were Herts and Essex, Boys High, Birchwood High, Hockerill and Leventhorpe. There where three different levels of difficulty, Foundation - Years 7, 8 and 9, Intermediate - Years 10 and 11 and Advanced - Sixth Form. The students had to build a crane, there was a lot of learning achieved and some great team work throughout. Birchwood came third in the Foundation and Immediate.
Tenner Challenge
Year 9 Business students took part in the Tenner Challenge workshop. The aim of the Challenge is to make as much profit from the initial £10 investment using a business idea of their choice.
Jo O’Rilley, the event organiser said, a big thank you to all who contributed to a great morning with sixty Year 9 students The Brazier Trust for funding, to Gladys and Dave for giving up their time to volunteer, and Mrs Dervish for co-ordinating, also to the other teachers who helped!
We covered a lot of team challenges, skills needed in the workplace and the launch of the Tenner Challenge. I look forward to hearing what the teams do this year and how much money they raise. Any profit they make the students are able to keep for themselves.
Mrs Dervish, Business
Rotary Technology Young Engineer Challenge
Well done to Foundation Team who won their category at the Rotary Technology Young Engineer Challenge held at Birchwood yesterday.
Many local schools took part. It was fascinating to see how students invented instruments to meet the requirements of the challenge they were set.
Cook-Off in Construction
In the last week of the summer term, Year 9 Construction students celebrated the completion of a bricklaying module, by enjoying a cooked breakfast on the brick BBQs they had built as their final project.
They had started this module, by doing a fantastic job of cleaning and tidying the entire Brick Yard, filling a skip the size of a minibus! Then they worked in pairs for two months to acquire the essential brick laying skills. The final outcomes, as shown in this picture, were structures to be very proud of.
Mr Newman
Construction