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Victoria Law Courts

On Monday 18th March, our Year 12 Law students had the opportunity to visit Victoria Law Courts in Birmingham. Not only was this a fantastic opportunity to develop an understanding of the role of legal and lay personnel which is linked to their studies but also to see how the Magistrates Court and judicial processes operates first hand. 

On arrival, and after the search process, as this is a requirement when entering a court, we were taken on a tour around the Grade 1 listed building, first opened in 1891 led by Sir Mark Aspinall; Chair of the Bench. This included visiting court rooms where we were given information about each part of the room and stories from past trials held, a visit to the Law Library and some of the office areas. 

Students were also able to directly observe the different roles within the court and engage in court practice by observing one of the criminal trials taking place.  They witnessed the law in practice during the hearing of a case of criminal damage. Students were also fortunate enough to have a member of the Crown Prosecution Service come and talk to them, whilst in the court room, about the offence the defendant was charged with and even shared her email to allow them ask further questions and the opportunity of work experience! 

The visit was thoroughly enjoyed by all and the only thing that students said they were not happy about was having to leave!

Below is a sample of the students comments on the day:

Nathan – I found the trip very informative about how court works as it was different from the image I had put together in my head from what we had learned in class.

Taylor – I found the trip really interesting and enjoyable. My favourite part was actually listening to the case and seeing how everything actually works as opposed to listening to it in a classroom. The only downside to the whole day was that we didn’t have enough time to listen to the case that was on next because that case sounded really interesting! It was good to see things first hand.

Ewan – I really enjoyed the trip to the court because it showed me how the law operates. My favourite part was listening to the case to see how the cases play out with the prosecutors and the magistrate asking questions to the defendant in the glass box. The only downside was not being able to listen to more, especially the next case on a robbery. This trip has definitely opened my eyes more to the law straying me more towards pursuing a career in it.

Jai – The trip was really beneficial to our studies as it helped us gain an insight into the roles of legal personnel which is a whole section of our course. Plus, the fact we got to see a real case happen, was amazing as we got to understand and see the way legal terms are actually used in a real courtroom. Sir Mark Aspinall also gave an interesting summary of each of the courtrooms and their features, in addition to how his role of Head of Magistrates is very important.

Heebah – I had enjoyed most aspects of the trip such as going into the library and watching the cases. The staff were all lovely and extremely helpful while giving us information and touring us around, and I liked being shown around the different court rooms as well as what functions they had.

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Gold Praise Award Achievement

We are very proud to announce that Year 10 pupil, O. Awe, is the one of the first pupils in the school to achieve the gold praise badge. This is a huge achievement and a mark of the young man’s maturity and determination to succeed. O. Awe is now excelling in many of his subjects and preparing his prefect application. Well done!

We look forward to celebrating even more of our pupils wearing their gold badges with pride very soon!

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Year 12 Workshop – Wednesday 20th March 2024

56 of our Year 12 Psychologists and Biologists spent the morning taking part in a workshop on Addiction.  The workshop was led by a final year undergraduate student from the University of Manchester.

The interactive session was based around the neurobiology of addiction, including how the use of nicotine and cocaine impact our brain and health. Students completed tasks throughout the session, with a focus on group work and collaboration. Their final task was to create and deliver a persuasive presentation to their peers, summarising what they had learnt and further implementing their knowledge. 

Comments from the students:

“I thought the session was really interesting and engaging and I appreciated the mix of both listening and collaborative aspects. I also liked that we received feedback after each section of the booklet, allowing us to mark it because it meant that any mistakes or misconceptions were quickly rectified. I also thought the booklet was well organised and I liked the colour changes and co-ordination for each of the different sections.” Z. Copeland 12M2

“I enjoyed how after the knowledge was taught there were different activities to do to check our understanding and we were able to discuss our answers with others around us. The workbook was very useful as the knowledge was in there with diagrams and different ways of explaining addiction.”  O. Fallowfield 12C1

Our guest then opened the floor to questions around her field of study. Our students were also keen to ask about her experience of university, including the difficulty compared to A level and how to know which course is right for you.

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Crown Prosecution Service Webinar

Students and Pupils with an interest in pursuing legal careers, volunteered to take part in a webinar with the Crown Prosecution Service. Alongside celebrating International Women’s’ Day, with talks from some inspiring female leaders, the session allowed pupils to understand more about a career within the legal profession directly from the experts. 

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Sixth Form University Taster Lectures

Our Sixth Form students have been signing up to attend taster lectures at local universities, with popular topics including Motion Tracking using AI, Making a Murderer and a French Language Booster. 

These taster sessions are a great way for students to experience university level teaching and help them to decide what course to study. It is also an excellent opportunity to explore a university campus and get a feel for where they may wish to study.   

Our Year 12 Sports Scientists impressed lecturers at the University of Birmingham with their engagement in a series of mini taster lectures, covering everything from the nitty-gritty of Politics and Policy, to the fascinating realms of Physiology, Psychology, Neuroscience and Physiotherapy.

Sixth Form students should check their emails regularly for advertisements about university and employer taster events.  

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Comic Relief – 15th March 2024

Our Sixth Form students led on the fundraising activities for Comic Relief last Friday.

They sold 192 Krispy Kreme doughnuts and 300 samosas.  They also challenged pupils to clock up miles on the exercise bike and the rowing machine!

Thank you to everyone who showed their support and by doing so contributed to the £361.67 that was raised.

So far this year we have raised a massive £2152.86.  Well done to our student ambassadors for all their hard work.

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Youth Parliament Success

8 of our aspiring lawyers in Year 12 took part in the regional Youth Parliament Debate for the Midlands. 

They faced a number of tricky topics, spanning from the ethical questions arising from Artificial Intelligence to the cost of living crisis. 

Students prepared well for their debates and spoke with confidence to put forward their arguments. It was certainly a scary prospect for them, and they had strong competition from the opposing teams, but the students grasped the spirit of the debates quickly. Of the two debates the team from Barr Beacon School led, both motions were passed!  It spoke to the calibre of each student and their natural tenacity, articulation and awareness of the wider issues in the world. 

A teacher from Loughborough Grammar School, who was in attendance during the event, took the time to write to us: “I was so impressed with the team fielded by your school, even more so as I understand from your staff that it was their first time doing it, although this was not at all apparent from the impressive way they conducted themselves. They spoke so eloquently and thoughtfully, and worked so well together as a team, being superb ambassadors for your school.”

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CCF Updates and Opportunities

K Owen – Deputy Head Student

Cadets is an amazing extra-curricular activity that supports the growth of all those taking part, offering a wide variety of opportunities such as shooting, flying, first aid, overnight camps, formal dinner events and various competitions.

Over the last term, the younger Cadets have settled into their roles and have been learning the basics in preparation for their first set of badge work, completing lessons in first aid, air recognition and the history of the RAF. Their abilities have shone through in these areas as they completed weekly quizzes, competing against each other as well as other squadrons. The younger Cadets have shown incredible determination as they prepare for the upcoming Matrix-Mini-RAST competition, giving them the opportunity to speak to other Cadets from across the Matrix Academy Trust and to show their skills.

They also experienced their first overnight camp, taking part in some ice breakers, learning how use the Trangia’s and taking part in a blindfolded night walk through the woods. This pushed the Cadets out of their comfort zone as they worked cohesively as a team to find their way guided by ropes. Throughout the evening, the Cadets made new friendships, understanding the importance of teamwork, all whilst having lots of fun.

The older Cadets have also been working on their badge work, alongside all of the preparation that went into the Reginal Air Squadron Trophy competition, that took place at RAF Cosford on Sunday 19th November 2023. This tested Cadets in a first aid scenario, shooting, drill, general knowledge and aircraft recognition. As a school we did incredibly well, coming 6th place out of 15 other schools.

Presenting the best of Barr Beacon Cadets; they were a credit to the CCF and did the unit proud.

A Matrix Christmas Dinner night was also held, where Cadets from across the Trust came together to celebrate all of our achievements – it was a wonderfully successful evening! It gave everyone a chance to talk and meet up with new Cadets, allowing networking, along with the exchanging of everyone’s experiences from the past term. We hope to run more experiences like this one in the future.

On the 2nd and 3rd of March, a fieldcraft weekend was hosted at Barr Beacon with Cadets from Etone and Bloxwich joining us. We did a mixture of different activities, including complex first aid scenarios, reconnaissance missions on an enemy base and patrolling scenarios, amid an array of other things. The weekend provided an amazing opportunity for Cadets to bolster their knowledge and work in the field, but it was also another fun weekend.

The last few terms have been incredibly busy for the Cadet Force (with even more opportunities and events being scheduled for the near future) and I would like to say a massive well done to everyone. It has been incredible to watch the growth of the contingent and I cannot wait to see the applications coming through from those students wanting to join us within the upcoming year, and the promotions to those proving their leadership qualities.

Combined Cadet Force | Homepage

RAFAC Bader | Welcome (mod.uk)

RAF Recruitment | Find Your Role | Royal Air Force (mod.uk)

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Wellbeing Conference

Yesterday we welcomed Dr Eve Griffiths and Antonia Thomas from Outreach, who delivered training to Matrix staff on understanding the effects ACES and trauma can have on our pupils’ mental health, behaviour and understanding, as well as how we can facilitate restorative conversations in school.  We learnt innovative new ways to support our pupils in building and maintaining positive, healthy relationships, resolving difficulties and repairing harm when there has been conflict. Thank you Outreach!

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World Book Day – Maria Credali

This year the iCentre celebrated World Book day by inviting a very special guest to Barr Beacon school to perform for Year 7s. Storyteller Maria Credali, who is a part of National Literacy Trust, has performed “Seven Years a Wolf” story. The story celebrates the resilience of the human spirit in difficult circumstances, it explores the love of a father for his son and shows us how life can be not just endured but enjoyed – even in the most difficult of circumstances. An inspirational story, brimming with beautiful imagery, survival against the odds, and the triumph of good over evil. After the performance, we collected pupil’s feedback and here is what they said:

“The performance yesterday was well read and I enjoyed it, so did many other people” – Ishaaq Year 7

“The performance was incredible. I was in a trance during the entire thing. Thank you so much.” – Isabella Year 7

“I loved the performance. I thought it was great and I was listening and picturing it in my head.” – Evie Year 7

“I think that the performance was absolutely awesome! I could easily picture it in my head, that’s how good it was!” – Janelle Year 7

We are holding a short story competition for all Year 7s following Mrs. Credali’s performance. Pupils will have two weeks to write a short story using one of five short story prompts created by the library manager. The prize is a book of their choice paid for by the library. The winner will be announced in the next newsletter. Good luck to all participants. “

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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