Birchwood School

Kia ora e te whānau, we hope you enjoy reading our latest newsletter:

BIRCHWOOD UPDATE - T3W5 - 2026 Check out this Email Newsletter designed by wendy safey.

Such a busy day at Birchwood today. A Kapa Haka group performed at a Nelson City Council Citizenship Ceremony, Football in schools, Rugby 7s Tackle Tournament, and Bike Skills. As always our tauira did us proud displaying our Grow values.

The Birchwood Giants had their last game at Saxton on Friday afternoon. Well done to the boys for showing our Grow values during the season. Special thanks to Alana & Nati for coaching & managing the team throughout the term

Today’s Maths Week Challenge was a relay. Hub against Hub, racing to complete a list of 20 questions. And the winning Hub…Seaview🤗

Yesterday for maths week we measured dinosaur footprints. Today was dinosaur eggs. Well done Pohutakawa for guessing the correct number. Our junior students have great skills in estimation!
How many eggs do you think are in the jar?

Some amazing things happening at Birchwood at the moment.

Our Jump Jam groups both finished third at their competition held at Nelson Boys College on the weekend. They are now qualified to represent the Nelson region at the National Competition.

We kicked off Maths today with the first of our whole school maths challenges.

Finally, we have been able to recognise our students who show our GROW values at last Friday's assembly, and today's GROW assembly.

Well done to our netballers competing at Saxton today. You did us proud showing the Birchwood GROW values

This week we celebrated Te Rā o Tumeke Tumuaki (Principal Appreciation Day).

It was an opportunity for the Birchwood School community to acknowledge the dedication, leadership, and care that our new Principal, Ben, brings to our school. We celebrated with a special morning tea on Wednesday and, today, Ben was presented with cards and messages centred around a fun 'B for Ben' theme at assembly. We appreciate you, Ben!

BIRCHWOOD IS AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF SIGNIFICANCE

Kia ora whānau

You may have noticed that a large area of grass was recently dug up in Jellystone Park. While the digging originally took place to relocate some underground cables, something completely unexpected was uncovered...

Prehistoric bones, fossilised eggs, and ancient fossils were discovered!

These incredible artefacts appeared to have been hidden beneath our school grounds for thousands—perhaps even millions—of years. It was an extraordinary discovery, and experts were eager to investigate.

On Thursday morning, shortly after 9.00 am, every class had the opportunity to visit the discovery site and see these remarkable finds up close before they were carefully removed for preservation and further study.

Adding to the excitement, a local newspaper reporter visited the site to photograph the discovery and interview staff about what had been found so they could share this incredible story with our wider community. A scientist from the Cawthron Institute was also on site, carefully documenting the discovery, examining the evidence, and beginning to piece together the story behind these fascinating prehistoric remains.

In all of Birchwood's history, we have never experienced anything quite like this. It was a unique opportunity for our students to witness what happens when an important prehistoric discovery is made and to imagine what life may have been like long before our school existed.

Who knows what secrets our school grounds have been hiding all this time? We can't wait to continue exploring the mystery together!

See the photos and watch history unfold!

What an amazing Week 2!
Between meeting with whānau about our strategic plan, hosting our curriculum information evening, welcoming University of Canterbury students to learn about our Garden to Table programme, and making a major archaeological discovery onsite, we still managed to fit in rugby, choir, Jump Jam, recognise students showing our GROW values, and a fantastic assembly to round out the week.

Kia mauri ora tō rā!

Have a great weekend whānau.
Bring on next week!