Method of Instruction Course. 20/21 Jan 2024.

Thirty-four Non-Commissioned Officers from Barr Beacon School, Bloxwich Academy, Etone College, and Wednesfield Academy attended their Method of Instruction course held at Barr Beacon School over the weekend. 

The cadets learnt how to structure and deliver instructional sessions to their fellow cadets using syllabus training subjects as a basis. Each of them then had to plan and deliver two instructional periods which were assessed by the staff during the weekend. 

By the end of the weekend all of the cadets had earned the right to wear the coveted yellow lanyard and begin instructing within their contingents. Well done to all of the cadets who attended the course.

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World Braille Day Assemblies 

World Braille Day falls in January each year. This year, to raise awareness, we had an assembly from our SENDCO, Mrs Walker to explore what braille is and how it was created. Pupils commented that they hadn’t known about braille beforehand!  

The SEND team has also offered two fantastic opportunities to sign up for: pupils have been challenged to sign up to either learn how to read braille or how to do sign language. Our pupils were excited to be able to learn about supporting those in our school community who may need differing forms of communication to support them.  

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Are you a budding photographer?

Our chair of trustees Sir Mark Aspinall has been invited to have his photograph taken to be placed in the Victoria Law court in Birmingham. Sir Mark has over 20 years’ experience in Law across banking, financial, media, NHS, Government and FTSE corporate sector and is currently a Judge and a Governor of a local authority Primary School.

We would like to take this opportunity to see your very best photography work and give you the opportunity to have your work hung in the law court for years to come. See below details on how to get involved with our Matrix photography competition.

Submission Criteria. You can submit up to three portrait style images, each image can be of the same or a different subject. Your images should be saved in jpeg format. Images should not be altered or edited, we want to see your original photograph. Cropping is allowed. Images should be sent with your full name, form group, school name and a short write up to explain your style of image. Submit your images to photography@matrixacademytrust.co.uk

Submission Deadline: Sunday 18th February 2024. Speak to your media/creative arts teacher for help and guidance.

What is Portrait Photography? Portrait photography is best defined as a genre of photography that involves capturing the identity, personality, facial expression, soul, emotions, essence, and the overall inherent character of a subject within a photograph.

Prize. The winning submission will be chosen by Sir Mark Aspinall and Mrs Draycott. The winner will receive £150 and the opportunity to take the commissioned image in Victoria Law Court in Birmingham. The winners photograph of Sir Mark Aspinall will be proudly hung in the court. The oldest image currently hanging in the court currently is over 180 year olds. This is a chance to take a photograph that will be seen in court for many years to come.

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Food Bank Collection

Over the last 2 weeks, we have been collecting donations for Bethany Food Bank based in Great Barr.

To ensure that we collected a range of items, each House was assigned a food group and the Sixth Form were responsible for donating toiletries and sanitary items.

We are grateful for the generosity and kindness shown as we do our bit to help others.  

Thank you to everyone who donated as well as to the Year 13 students who packed it all up ready for collection.

The donations have been collected by a representative from the Food Bank and will be used to support local families over the coming weeks.

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Team Building Day

On Tuesday 12th December, 50 students across the Matrix Schools met at Barr Beacon to find out more about their “Far From Home” Italian adventure as part of the Turing Scheme. The day consisted of meeting their staff, team building activities and learning more about where they are going. This of course would not have been complete without a “surviving Italy” language taster session from a native Italian, as well as tasting some authentic Italian dishes such as ‘Melanzane alla Parmigiana’ ‘Patate, Gorgonzola e Chorizo’ and a choice of ‘Antipasti’ to awaken their taste buds. The day was finished off by writing a Christmas card back to their pen pal in our partner school in Rome, we cannot wait to visit and meet them in person! 

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100% Attendance for 6 Consecutive Years

Congratulations to 9 of our current Year 13 students who have clocked up 100% attendance for 6 consecutive years.  

This fantastic achievement was recognised and celebrated at our Annual Awards Evening last month.

We are pleased to now be able to present them with their iPads. Well done to them all!

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Christmas Raffle Winners!

Thank you to everyone who supported our Christmas raffle. We have been running 2 raffles side by side – one for a chocolate hamper and the other for a cuddly toy.

Congratulations to our two winners:  G.Hands 7M2 and I.Patel 11M2.  We hope you enjoy your prizes.

We have raised £140.00, taking our grand total this term to £1,152.81!  This is an impressive amount and we are grateful to all pupils, parents/carers and staff who support our charity events.   £305.90 of this total has gone to Children in Need and the rest will be split, at the end of the year, between our chosen charities:  Humanity First and Birmingham Children’s Hospital.   

Well done to our Year 13 Ambassadors for all their hard work in organising and running the charity events.  They are already busy planning the next one and looking forward to your support once again!

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Mock Interviews

Year 11 pupils were given mock interviews today by our Year 13 Students. The Sixth Formers received training for this last week and were able to share their recent experiences of real interviews and offer some unique advice.

The Year 11 pupils said:

“I actually enjoyed that. I was nervous at first but the Sixth Former was really nice”. 

“I have my actual interview at college soon, so I am glad I did it”.

“I’m so proud of myself, I did really well.”

“I got 49/50 and I want to do it again to get full marks. I know I can do it!”

The Sixth Form students said: 

“I was amazed by the pupils I met. They had achieved so much and were really confident.” 

“I have really enjoyed supporting Year 11 with their Interviews. I met some lovely people.”

“The pupils were fantastic. Some needed to remember to include examples of where they had developed their skills, but overall I was very impressed.”

“I felt like I had a lot in common with some of the pupils I met and I hope they found it useful to hear I went through the same struggles as them and still managed to get good GCSEs”.

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University of Birmingham

Year 7 pupils enjoyed a festive visit to University of Birmingham where they attended two Christmas Lectures. A lecture from the biology department focused on saving Christmas plants from environmental damage, and a workshop from the Mechanical Engineering team introduced pupils to how AI is helping the manufacturing industry build Christmas presents. The highlight of this was when the Robotic Reindeer entered the room. Both lectures offered the chance for our pupils to get involved with the experiments and gain a taste of what university learning is like. 

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Book Fair

Every year, we hold a Book Fair here in Barr Beacon School. It’s not only great fun for the students but it also promotes reading for pleasure and helps our school analyse pupils’ reading preferences. For 4 days in November students in year 7, 8 and 9 had a chance to browse our Scholastic shelves during their English lessons. Year 10 and 11 browsed before and after school. Pupils showed great interest in new releases, discounted books and especially stationery! We had over £200 worth of online orders and over £600 was spent by the school on books for Free School Meals students in Y7 and 8. With the total of £807.45, we have beaten last year’s sales! Many thanks to all the pupils and staff that attended. Happy Reading!

Contact Info

Barr Beacon School
Old Hall Lane
Aldridge, Walsall
West Midlands
WS9 0RF

T: 0121 366 6600
postbox@barrbeaconschool.co.uk

Monday - Thursday: 8:00 am - 4:00 pm
Friday: 8:00 am - 3:30 pm

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