We have been very lucky to be joined by a doctor, nurse and paramedic at Barr Beacon School this term. Pupils met with the healthcare professionals and asked them questions about their careers. It was a chance to hear about the inspiring work they undertake each day, but also to hear about the realities of the profession to help our pupils decide if this career is for them. For pupils in Year 9, it was a chance to consider their career path after reflecting on their GCSE option choices; and for students in Year 12, who will shortly be approaching their university and apprenticeship applications, it was an opportunity to gain that all-important advice to help them make their final decisions. 

Year 12 Aspiring Medics visited Imperial College London for the first ever In2Med School Hackathon. After months of preparation, students delivered a presentation addressing a health need in their local community to a panel of doctors, with our two teams choosing to tackle diabetes and substance abuse in the homeless. Our teams were competing against schools from all over the UK and faced difficult questions from the panel of judges. Both teams performed brilliantly under pressure and one team made it into the Top 5, winning a prize for Most Engaging Presentation. 

The whole project allowed our students to develop a vast range of skills in preparation for medical school. Students put themselves out of their comfort zone presenting to large audience of experts, but every single student rose to the occasion and represented Barr Beacon School admirably. 

We extend our thanks to all of the wonderful volunteers at In2Med School, who organised this opportunity for our students.  

35 Year 9 pupils visited the University of Birmingham to take part in language masterclasses. Pupils experienced learning two languages out of Portuguese, Catalan, Mandarin and even Russian! Barr Beacon aims for all pupils to study French or German at GCSE and the day was a way of showing year 9s what it could be like to study a language at university. Pupils also enjoyed exploring the campus, in the shadow of Old Joe, the famous clock tower. The pupils were a credit to themselves and the school in their conduct and participation in the event.  

Pupils in French and German have been busy honing their translation skills. Pupils in Year 8 and Year 9 have entered Oxford University’s Anthea Bell Translation Competition. The national competition challenges pupils to translate tricky poems or literary texts into English from German or French. Well done to Florence P 8C1, Finley J 8C1, Alexandra Tr8C1, Vikhyati S 9W2 and Malaika L 9W2 for your entries. Find out more about the competition here: https://www.queens.ox.ac.uk/research-at-queens/translation-exchange/anthea-bell-prize/ 

A number of Year 8 pupils were given the incredible opportunity to take part in a virtual STEM session on Monday 20^th March 2023. The pupils who have shown an interest in the possibility of pursuing a STEM career in the future, took part in an engineering activity where they were guided by STEM experts to create a Rubber Band Car. The session delivered by The Smallpiece Trust, was mapped to the curricula of England and Wales, to ensure a valuable, educational opportunity for all students who took part. Pupils were keen to create their car from a range of recycled materials and test to see if it worked. The opportunity enabled our pupils to develop their STEM skills through using their knowledge and creative abilities to achieve the final goal. Lots of excellent cars were created.

Twelve of our Year 9 pupils competed in the splendour of Birmingham’s Great Hall against schools from across the length and breadth of the West Midlands. Our teams did us proud winning some rounds and all three of our 4 person teams came comfortably within the top 10. The visit also included a tour of the university and highly engaging physics lecture from Professors of the Physics department at Birmingham. One of our pupils commented that they could “really see myself studying here if I work hard enough” and all agreed it offered a brilliant insight into what life and learning at a top Russell Group university could be like.

Year 11 pupils took part in a languages workshop with a Freelance Translator, Jae Marple. Jae is able to choose which work he takes on and has tailored his career to his passion, translating for the Football industry. Most recently, Jae has been translating articles for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar and the FIFA Women’s U19 World Cup in India. He has been fortunate enough to create transcriptions of press conferences and interviews with famous managers and players, including Arsène Wenger and Patrick Vieira for the Invincible documentary. Jae speaks many languages, but specialises in Spanish and French. He set our year 11 French pupils a challenge, to translate an article he had to complete himself for the World Cup. Pupils enjoyed translating real life material and dived into the challenge of decoding unfamiliar phrases and words, using their knowledge of the football industry.

Year 13 students all took part in a workshop delivered by KPMG. Students were able to experience what it is like to work for a huge global business, taking on the role of consultant for the day. In teams, students made a pitch to solve a real life problem faced by KPMG, using cutting-edge technology within their solution. In the process, students had the chance to develop a range of transferable skills ready to take with them to the workplace or university. 

Our visiting KPMG representative said: “It was a pleasure meeting your students. I was incredibly impressed with their enthusiasm approaching the challenge. Every team showcased an array of skills and worked together extremely well to find a solution. Their creativity also stood out as a clear strength.”

Pupils with an interest in pursuing STEM careers attended an engaging workshop from Collins Aerospace. They gained an insight into the many different types of engineering careers by speaking to 6 different apprentices, learning about roles from Mechanical Design Engineering to Business.  

Pupils were also set a challenge to create a parachute to protect an egg and were able to launch and test their designs. In the process, pupils gained skills of team work, communication and problem solving. The event was a huge success, with all pupils saying they had enjoyed the workshop and several pupils intending to make an application for an apprenticeship with Collins. 

What made the event extra special was that it was run by our Alumnus, Harry Pickard, who is now working as a Manufacturing Engineer after securing a Degree Apprenticeship when he left Barr Beacon School.

Our pupils said: “I’ve really enjoyed it. This definitely sounds like a great job to have.” (Kellen, Year 11); “Overall the work shop was very helpful. It summed up what could be achieved in the engineering field and delved into the specifics and niches of the industry. Collins Aerospace also did a very good job explaining how you can enter the company from either the university route or straight from school by joining their apprenticeship scheme. I left the talk with a much better understanding of engineering and a desire to learn more.” (Corey, Year 13)