60 Years of Barr Beacon School
Past Newspaper Articles
Barr Beacon School opened in 1958. To celebrate the school’s first 60 years, here are just a small selection of some past newspaper articles from everyday life at school over the past few decades. Click the images to enlarge them.
60 Years Anniversary - Celebration Event
Friday 12th July saw Barr Beacon School celebrating its 60th anniversary year, with more than 700 former pupils and teachers returning for a special celebration evening. This included pupils who started Beacon in its first year, 1958, right through to those who only left recently. Current pupils led tours of the school buildings, many of which brought back memories. Early in the evening, entertainment was provided by a troupe of dancers from Key Stage 3 and there was a parade from our RAF Cadet force.
Later, a 20-piece big band, managed by a former Beacon pupil, played an hour of favourites in the Main Hall. This was followed by a two hour set of music from across the decades, curated by our talented resident ‘DJ Mellow’, a pupil in our current Year 10. The evening was a tremendous success and we would like to thank everyone who attended for making it such a special celebration.
We would love if you could share some stories and photographs from your time at school. Please get in touch via – alumni@barrbeaconschool.co.uk
Alumni Stories
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Back to the '70s'
Former Barr Beacon teacher Andrew Neenan has sent us these photographs from the late 1970s. The shots feature the school production of ‘Oh What a Lovely War!”, technology lessons, and several form tutor groups. If you were here in the ‘70s, do you recognise anyone?
Andrew Neenan shared his experiences of being a maths teacher at Barr Beacon for 27 years:
“I taught maths at the Beacon from 1973 to 2000 and worked alongside Mr Mills for most of that time, and also Ms Clayton. My particular interest and responsibility was applied maths (mechanics) at A level but I taught the whole age and ability range. I did a six month maternity leave cover just after I left which took me to 2001 and followed with some supply sessions until 2004.
“From 2001 my main employment was at another school on a 0.7 timetable which I supplemented with some private tuition and exam marking. I retired in 2010 and continued exam marking A level mechanics for a few more years. Since then have been a man of leisure.
“I still meet up with a variety of ex-Barr Beacon staff for a meal. There was a remarkable sense of comradeship amongst the staff which continues when we meet up.”
