Year 10 art pupils visited Wolverhampton Art Gallery for the ‘British Art Show’, a landmark touring exhibition that celebrates the vitality of recent art made in Britain. Organised every five years by Hayward Gallery Touring the exhibition brings the work of artists defining new directions in contemporary art to four cities across the UK.
You can find out more about the show here: https://britishartshow9.co.uk
Year 10 drama pupils were starstruck after their excursion to see the premiere of a brand new play based on the inspiring life of Floella Benjamin turned into a life coaching session from Baroness Benjamin herself!
Coming To England had its world premiere at the Birmingham Rep on Thursday 31st March. It is based on the children's book by Floella Benjamin and illustrated by Walsall-born Diane Ewen.
The book tells the story of how Floella came to England from Trinidad as a child. Floella is best known to many as the presenter of children's programmes such as Play School, Play Away and Fast Forward and she is also an accomplished actress, singer, author, businesswoman, and politician.
After the play, our pupils met up with Baroness Benjamin and she talked with them for some time, sharing with them her advice for life. All pupils - and their teachers - were completely hooked and inspired.
Small number of places still available!
Ski USA 2023 was opened up to Year 7 pupils this term meaning that a lucky 46 pupils will get the chance to travel to USA in February half term 2023. These pupils will be able to have expert ski tuition every day as well as a one night stop in New York. We look forward to hearing about their adventures in the 2023!
We still have room for about 3 pupils to join the trip. Please contact as soon as possible via postbox@barrbeaconschool.co.uk if you are interested.
During Break time on Thursday 7th April 2022 our Sixth Formers will be selling Samosa for charity. They will be available for 50p each, please bring cash on the day if you would like to buy one.
14 of our pupils from Year 9 and Year 10 were selected to visit De Montfort University to have an insight into the Dance BA (Hons) course. The pupils participated in a three hour practical session, where they explored a variety of contemporary dance techniques with university lecturers and students. They were challenged with a choreography task to allow them to understand new ways of devising content.
The pupils were also given a tour around campus by third year students who were able to answer questions that our pupils had about the course and university life.
All pupils enjoyed their visit with many commenting on how much they had gained from the experience.
Year 10 have made such a fantastic start to their languages GCSE courses, with over 80% of the year studying a language. 44 of our pupils who have really impressed this year were nominated by their teachers to take part in a masterclass organised by the University of Birmingham to take part in a taster session.
Our pupils were able to listen to a talk about languages courses and combinations at the University followed by a taster session. The languages on offer included Russian, Arabic, Chinese and Japanese, as well as the two workshops our pupils took part in – Italian and Portuguese.
Pupils enjoyed the speaking practice in the new languages, with Italian being the most popular by far! They also had a brief walk through the main campus in the sunshine.
A ‘bom día’ (good day) for Barr Beacon’s linguists!
Selected Year 10 pupils have so far attended three Big Quiz events at Birmingham University for Mathematics, Physics and Biology. Our Year 10 pupils have scooped numerous awards and plaudits during these events and have received lectures from leading experts in these academic fields.
A group of Year 10 pupils visited Newnham College Cambridge, where the spring weather brightened their tour of the beautiful college grounds. Pupils enjoyed a critical reading workshop that prepared them for university level study and listened to an engaging taster lecture on realism in gaming.
A tour of the college library was followed by a delicious lunch in the grand dining space. In the afternoon, pupils explored Cambridge town and saw many of the other university colleges, people punting down the river Cam and Cambridge University Library, one of the world’s oldest university libraries home to
nearly ten million books, maps, manuscripts, photographs and priceless objects, spanning thousands of years. An inspiring experience.
Head Girl Abbey B and Charity and Events Manager Olivia M led on this term’s Sixth Form Charity Event. Thank you to everyone who supported the event by ordering sweets for Valentine’s Day. The profits will be shared equally between our 3 chosen charities: Young Minds, Barnados and the RSPCA.
Thank you to Senior Six and Charity and Events Managers for their delivery services.
On Holocaust Memorial Day, we remember all those who were murdered or affected under Nazi occupation, Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.
Holocaust Memorial Day is celebrated on 27th January each year as this was the day Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated in 1945. This year the theme is ‘One Day’. One day in history, one day when life changed, one day at a time, one day in the future, one day is just a snapshot as we look at it now.
“You didn’t think about yesterday, and tomorrow may not happen, it was only today that you had to cope with and you got through it as best you could.” – Iby Knill, survivor of the Holocaust
What was the Holocaust? It illustrates the dangers of prejudice, discrimination, antisemitism and dehumanisation. Holocaust did not just happen in one day; it was carefully planned. Between 1933 to 1945, the Nazis persecuted all those who did not fit their idea of pure Aryan race: Jews, Roma, black people, homosexuals, mentally and physically disabled people, Jehovah’s Witnesses and many others. By the end of the war, it was estimated that 11 million people had been killed. 6 million of those were Jews.
Often, we think of the Holocaust as numbers, and events of the past, but each one of them had individual stories and experiences to tell. It is crucial for us to learn from the past and educate others as we are the last generation to witness the survivors’ testimonies.
Even in recent years, genocides are still taking place across the world, it is unimaginable what the victims are going through and why in this day and age us Humans have not learnt to respect each other’s race, beliefs and differences.
The most important thing we can do is to share our knowledge to those around us, as the more we know, the more we become aware.
Take ‘One Day’ at a time and live it to the best you can make it, because everyday is a new day and every 24 hours is a new chapter.
Useful Link.
B.Fang
Deputy Head Girl
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
