i would like feedback as to how is birkdale school.we r thinking of getting our son into the prep year starting sept.
thanks

there is a similiar thread somewhere about all private schools, personally id give it top marks. westborne also good if its still there.

personally i rate is as the biggest piece of **** i have ever been to, the staff there were ****ing rude and arrogant,
yeah i hear u say ure probbly a peasant who hates rich ppl, wrong i went to Rugby School for the past 4 years and i have been in independant schools the whole of my life I moved to sheff this year and went to birkdale for 1 term from september, it was so awful i moved to worksop college, which is far superior, the staff are more friendly, thay have miles more facilities, space staff etc.
Birkdale has about 600 ppl crammed into such a small area , god knows how they do it!!
Worksop has only 400 ppl but they have a huge grounds loadsa facilities, - swimming pool, squash courts etc,,,
imo AVOID BIRKDALE!!!!

Originally posted by khizman
personally i rate is as the biggest piece of **** i have ever been to, the staff there were ****ing rude and arrogant,
yeah i hear u say ure probbly a peasant who hates rich ppl, wrong i went to Rugby School for the past 4 years and i have been in independant schools the whole of my life I moved to sheff this year and went to birkdale for 1 term from september, it was so awful i moved to worksop college, which is far superior, the staff are more friendly, thay have miles more facilities, space staff etc.
Birkdale has about 600 ppl crammed into such a small area , god knows how they do it!!
Worksop has only 400 ppl but they have a huge grounds loadsa facilities, - swimming pool, squash courts etc,,,
imo AVOID BIRKDALE!!!!

Is this an example of the standard of spelling and grammar one can expect from the average Birkdale alumnus? If so, I'll save my money when my son's time for secondary education comes round.

lol,
i aint xactly gonna do proper grammar and spelling on a chat forum am i, since i am typing here quickly,
also i got an A in english GCSE :p
what did u get?

Originally posted by khizman
lol,
i aint xactly gonna do proper grammar and spelling on a chat forum am i, since i am typing here quickly,
also i got an A in english GCSE :p
what did u get?

Er, an A in English at O-Level (the exam which used to exist before GCSE) and A in English at A-Level. I'm not sure that's relevant but you did ask. :)

OK, so please type something in proper English to prove me wrong. I would say many, even most people here write in "proper grammar and spelling", and not the strange language of the text message.

This thread is about the quality of Birkdale School, so let's not lose sight of that. I'd be interested to know if it is worth the fees.

Well, in my opinion Birkdale is halfway up the scale as far as schools go.
You get Grade A schools such as eton, worksop, rugby, radley and so on, these will cost u about 15 grand a year. These are all boarding schools
Grade B schools then exist such as Birkdale, Westbourne, other private schools and grammar schools
and then u get the rest
TBH you are likely to be able to find a decent grammar school that will be better than Birkdale.
Frankly if you can afford it, which most people cant as it costs more a year than some people earn, then send them there.
If not i would check out some other decent state schools in the area.

Sod it, do it for the status! Send the buggers to Birkdale and don't forget to park your X5 in the middle of the road when you go and pick the up, along with all the other 4x4's which have never been off road!

ps. get the bigger wheels, you know you want to stand out in a crowd - they are like Manolo's only for cars :P

Originally posted by 1Man&hisBMW
Sod it, do it for the status! Send the buggers to Birkdale and don't forget to park your X5 in the middle of the road when you go and pick the up, along with all the other 4x4's which have never been off road!

ps. get the bigger wheels, you know you want to stand out in a crowd - they are like Manolo's only for cars :P
dont think u can get much status by going to that hell hole school birkdale!!!

Originally posted by khizman
it was so awful i moved to worksop college, which is far superior, the staff are more friendly, thay have miles more facilities, space staff etc.
Ah yes, Worksop College, the boarding school that you are sent to when you're not clever enough to go to Winchester. ;) 'Nice but dim' types.

Originally posted by khizman
lol,
i aint xactly gonna do proper grammar and spelling on a chat forum am i, since i am typing here quickly,
also i got an A in english GCSE :p
what did u get?
Well they obviously didn't teach you any manners at Rugby / Worksop did they? :shakes:

There is more evidence for life on the moon than your ability to gain a grade A at anything.

Back on topic... Birkdale seem to turn out good academic results and nicely rounde, confident individuals. Pupils seem be generally from Sheffield and the surrounding area and stay here, so you often fnd that many people running local firms went to Birkdale, and so did their parents. It seems to give a good and rounded education that's far superior to anything on offer from 90% of the local state schools.

There are undoubtably better schools in the country, but in Sheffield, for boys, it's the best!

khizman, you are pretty funny.... in the fact you can make any relation between eton and worksop college!!!!

Come on, wake up!!!! I'll give you that Rugby is probably a better school (my cousins went there) but it is different, as for sheffield....

1)Birkdale - Good Academic / Average sport
2)Mount St Marys - Stupid People / V Good Sport
3)Worksop College - Average People / Average Sport

In conclusion, Id like to think Im better than average but who knows, I only went to Birkdale!!!!

Can I just clarify something chaterbox. Are you saying that because you went to birkdale you're above average? Or is it perhaps that someone else could afford to pay for you to go to Birkdale and that makes you better than average?

Wilf

My son started at another local school we moved him to Birkdale, as we felt he needed encouragement, its a fantastic school and my son is really happy there, my regret was not starting him there in the first place. Great teachers and good feel of happy contented children there:)

the cost and sacrifice is worth it , for my sons happiness.
we are average people and don't have a vast amount of money we work hard and pay for a better education, I feel people here have been one sided about Birkdale.
When we decided he should change schools we looked at Westbourne but felt he would be more at home with in Birkdale.

I have a nephew that goes to Birkdale. I guess it depends on the parents how they view private education.

Birkdale do control the class size, as well as the child's individual development. They also get homework like readings to advance their learning. However, I think the child's learning is also down to his own tutoring at home. The number of hours he practises at home. I sometimes tutor my nephew and because he practises a lot at home, I can tell the difference in his learning abilities. They also give a choice of extracurricular subjects outside the school hours to develop their interests.

I sometimes think to myself whether private tutoring given to a child that goes to normal school, would mean the same as if he went to a private school.

For the record, I did not go to a private school, and neither did I spoke English as my first language. I went to a middle school, then a comprehensive, and then onto a college. I personally do not believe that a private school may necessarily mean good discipline, and learning. It's also down to the child, and the parents to work with the schools. Whichever school they attend.

If you want to know how Birkdale compares educational-wise, then I think it's fair to refer to the league tables. Both for the region, and also for the private school sector.

I have a nephew that goes to Birkdale. I guess it depends on the parents how they view private education.

Birkdale do control the class size, as well as the child's individual development. They also get homework like readings to advance their learning. However, I think the child's learning is also down to his own tutoring at home. The number of hours he practises at home. I sometimes tutor my nephew and because he practises a lot at home, I can tell the difference in his learning abilities. They also give a choice of extracurricular subjects outside the school hours to develop their interests.

I sometimes think to myself whether private tutoring given to a child that goes to normal school, would mean the same as if he went to a private school.

For the record, I did not go to a private school, and neither did I spoke English as my first language. I went to a middle school, then a comprehensive, and then onto a college. I personally do not believe that a private school may necessarily mean good discipline, and learning. It's also down to the child, and the parents to work with the schools. Whichever school they attend.

If you want to know how Birkdale compares educational-wise, then I think it's fair to refer to the league tables. Both for the region, and also for the private school sector.
It would be idiotic to refer to league tables from all schools ,as the only state school in Sheffield to attract similar pupils, would be Silverwood because of its
catchment area.

It depends, doesn't it ? I was just merely suggesting that because it's flexible. Without knowing the details of the OP's situation, and I don't want to pry into that area. The parents may move to a better area with a better private school, no ? They may do that, for the sake of their kid's education. If you compare a private school to a normal school, then the standard may vary, but then again, they don't exactly follow the same structure, not really...

You can compare:
state school with state school
state school with a private school or,
private school with a private school

Looking at the results, and actually go into the school and get a feel of it, is a good start. It's learning about the way that your kids will be educated, and whether you like their method of teaching. That is all.

just for the record my husband is a postman and i work as a carer all my wages pay for our son to attend birkdale and its money well spent

Brain Thrust: My "better than average" chat was in response to the hideous posts added by earlier people with regard to comparing birkdale to other schools. I still stand by my review.

As for someone else paying for it, well my old man paid for it! And i resent any comments which criticise that, he worked bloody hard and took a big hit paying for my private education, and as a result id like to think that my time spent at Birkdale gave me an excellent foundation for further academic studies and in result the edge over others in my professional career!

lol,
i aint xactly gonna do proper grammar and spelling on a chat forum am i, since i am typing here quickly,
also i got an A in english GCSE :p
what did u get?

All that money spent and you couldn't scrape an A*? Even with my Sheffield Compy education I managed an A at O level... which like the other chap indicates is rather like an A*+...

Argues against Rugby and Worksop College as being places of academic merit, I would say.

The thing with Birkdale is that if you live in Sheffield and want to educate your child privately you only have two choices... and BDale is one of them.

Final thing: nice to see that this thread has (largely) managed to avoid descending into snob / inverted snob namecalling.

I don't think private schools are worth all that money, to be honest; if your kid's smart enough to get three As at A-level then they'll get them, regardless of the type of school they attend.

My son has been at Birkdale since his first year of school and I can say I have never once regretted the decision to send him there.

Yes it does cost a lot of money and there are some parents who appear to have more money than sense, no manners and a general snooty attitude and there are those who feel they can park their 4x4's wherever they like.

However, there are 20 boys in my son's form, less in classes for English and Maths and usually a teaching assistant in these classes too. The staff are passionate about their work and it shows in the quality of teaching. I have regular contact with the learning support co-ordinator for my son's dyslexia. Not once I have I been faced with "I don't want to go to school". All the staff from the headmaster down are accessible to parents and boys to discuss any concerns they have. The boys are supported in their studies, encouraged and praised. The teaching staff have time for each and everyone of them.

Birkdale isn't a guarantee to glorious GCSE results though. The boys still have to work. Even in the prep school he has homework most nights even if its only reading. We work with him and make sure he's practicing spellings, timetables etc - so it still requires the same parental input as any school.