Our Year 12 Students were visited by the team at Ask Apprenticeships to gain advice on pursuing apprenticeships after Sixth Form. Students learnt about the key places to find vacancies and were given top tips for succeeding.

Barr Beacon School was once again lucky to be visited by WPR agency. Our Year 12 students had the chance to learn about a new career that they never knew existed, discovering how a career PR links to their current studies and the creative opportunities within the field. After learning about the career from two professionals in the industry, students then had the chance to create and pitch their own PR campaigns for a new bug restaurant in Birmingham. Our visitors praised the innovative ideas of our students and said that some of their ideas could easily be used by their firm on real projects.  

As part of National Apprenticeship Week, Year 11-13 students attended a webinar from BMW with lots of advice on how to submit a successful application. Competition for apprenticeship is fierce, especially at the bigger firms, and the well-attended session at Barr Beacon alone shows just how much interest there is in the apprenticeship route.

Our aspiring medics and dentists in Year 12 attended the 3^rd annual In2Med School Hackathon. They presented a healthcare initiative to doctors at University of Birmingham, following 6 weeks of careful preparation and research. Our team ‘Healthy Horizons’ won Runner Up for their detailed research and innovate ideas on how to tackle diabetes in the local community. Our second team ‘The Plaques’ focused on the affects of vaping on dental health and certainly won the audience vote with their engaging performance. Both teams put a huge amount of effort into their projects and we are extremely proud of their achievements.

Year 12 students have enjoyed two engaging assemblies from Aberystwyth University this term. Each assembly had a twist to make it more fun. First students discovered how to choose the right university and course though a music quiz. Then students learnt how to make the most of open days, with the addition of a few guessing games. All of this was carefully designed to encourage students to start thinking about their next steps early, so they are fully prepared to make a competitive application next autumn. Our students enjoyed the interactive nature of the assemblies, making the information accessible and enjoyable to learn. Moving into next year, we will be focusing on apprenticeships, and students will begin preparing their applications next summer.

Students can access a useful Open Day Calendar here.

Barr Beacon School has a long history of working with the National Citizens Service to give our pupils access to an amazing opportunity to boost their CVs.

NCS offer fantastic summer residential experiences for 15-17 year olds, where pupils can get out into the world with their friends, take part in new challenges and build new skills. By taking part in teambuilding activities and a charity project, our pupils have boosted their confidence and independence whilst giving back to their local community.

Pupils at Barr Beacon School have been taking part in NCS for many years, and we consistently have very large numbers of pupils who sign up. This year we are proud to have achieved Bronze Champion School status. Across the whole of Walsall, Barr Beacon School was the state school with the highest number of pupils signing up to take part.

It is wonderful to see Barr Beacon School pupils being so open to new experiences and embodying our Beacon Values which enable our pupils to be compassionate, community-minded individuals who contribute positively to our society.

Barr Beacon School’s Annual Careers Fair is a staple and heavily anticipated event in our careers calendar. Every pupil has access each year, having the chance to learn about their future career pathways from employers, apprenticeship providers, training providers and universities.

This year we welcomed some new guests to help our pupils explore more pathways; these included Barhale, The Department for Work and Pensions, EQUANS, The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and Transport for West Midlands Skills Academy. Our university reps came from both local options that are popular amongst our students, such as University of Birmingham and Aston University, but we were also delighted to welcome representatives from as far afield as Falmouth University, Manchester Metropolitan University and University of Sheffield. Our local colleges helped our Key Stage 4 pupils explore their further education choices, and we had strong representation for creative career pathways from Access Creative and BOA. Even our pupils with an interest in Football had access to information from the University Campus of Football Business. Finally, some of our pupils choose to progress to Training Providers, to help them on their way to apprenticeships, with In-Comm Training showcasing the engineering and business pathways on offer.

The smooth running of the event was only possible due to the hard work and support of our Sixth Form Charity and Events Managers, who helped to greet our guests, support our younger pupils to engage with the event and serve lunch.

We look forward to welcoming more guests next year.

Our Senior Team came up with a new idea to support their whole year group with their upcoming career applications. They requested that volunteers from local businesses visit the school to give mock interviews to everyone in Year 12. This was a big task, as it relied on people giving up their time to support a very large cohort of students. However the local community did not disappoint and we were pleased to welcome 14 very generous volunteers to Barr Beacon School.

The idea behind this was to help student’s become more familiar having formal interviews and help them to learn how to make a good impression with real employers from the world of work. Where possible we tried to match pupils up with an employer from the industry they were thinking of pursuing. Our volunteers were from backgrounds in an array of professions, including engineering, IT, construction, HR, education, psychology, business and finance.

The event received very positive feedback, with over 98% of students saying they found it helpful and 100% of students saying it made them feel more confident about the real interviews ahead of them.  

Some of the student feedback included:

“I was able to get feedback from an actual employer within the field that links to the career option I've chosen and gain an insight of the genuine expectations and requirements to work in that career.”

“Not knowing the interviewer made the interview more realistic.”

“The interviewer was very friendly and gave a lot of information and feedback.”

“I was given tips and tricks for future interviews.”

“The mock helped me to think on the spot about any questions future employers may ask me, improving my critical thinking skills.”

Year 9 pupils with an interest in construction, property and design were given the unique opportunity to take part in a workshop led by Birmingham City University. As well as learning about careers within the built environment, pupils were introduced to the influence of sustainability on these future professions. However, this wasn’t any ordinary presentation; representatives from the university had brought along their own board game to teach pupils in a much more fun and interactive way. The Climania game was created by thirteen young people from Birmingham, working with two Birmingham City University staff and external collaborators. They developed the board game to inform people of the role of the built environment in the climate emergency, hence their strapline: “CLIMANIA: The Climate Action Game”. With a focus on urban planning and retrofitting, pupils were able to play their way through the construction process and learn as they went along.

Our pupil feedback was very positive:  

 “I wasn’t sure what to expect at first, but that was actually pretty fun.”

“I have learnt about new things I didn’t know before, like retrofitting.”

“I don’t think my home is that environmentally friendly, but I’ve got some ideas now on how to improve it.”