Year 10 pupils enjoyed a visit to the University of Oxford, where they took part in a workshop exploring what Oxbridge has to offer. Following a question and answer session with current students, pupils were given tours of both Oriel and Worcester College. We were delighted to meet our tour guide Lily Hong: alumna of Barr Beacon School, who is now studying Mathematics and joined Worcester College.  

E. Kaur said she was definitely considering applying to Oxbridge after the visit, and L. Francis said he was fascinated by all the history he had learnt, especially after learning Oriel College holds a copy of the re-issued Magna Carter in its library, dated 28^th March 1300.

To celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III pupils in years 7,8 and 9 took part in #thekingsbunting celebration held by the Lord Lieutenant of the West Midlands. Pupils were set the challenge to make the bunting made of out sustainable resources. We had lots of fantastic entries made from a variety of sustainable resources such as recycled cardboard and upcycled bunting from previous celebrations. Pupils in 8M1 even created their own bunting out of recycled fabric which they hand sowed to create their masterpiece. 

To help judge the winning entry, Deputy Lieutenant, Mr Jatinder Sharma CBE, was invited into Barr Beacon School on Friday 5^th May. As part of his Deputy Lieutenant duties, Mr Sharma met with Mrs Hibbs and a 6^th form pupil K Owen, to plant a Magnolia Tree to commemorate the Coronation. He then went on to have tea and scones with 15 year 7, 8 and 9 pupils who had achieved the highest amount of praise points in their year groups. Mr Sharma spoke to the pupils about his role as Deputy Lieutenant and his plans for the Coronation Weekend. Pupils were also given the opportunity to ask Mr Sharma questions. The most popular question asked was if he had met the King, to which Mr Sharma answered yes, when he was given his CBE at Buckingham Palace in January 2023.  

Before leaving Barr Beacon School, Mr Sharma had the very difficult decision of deciding the best form group’s bunting. In the end, he chose 8C1’s bunting because of the intricate details that had gone into each piece of bunting. Mr Sharma was very complementary about the pupils he had met at Barr Beacon School stating “they were some of the politest pupils he has had the pleasure to meet” and that he would be telling King Charles all about them, the next time he was at Buckingham Palace.

“On Friday 5th May 2023,  myself and 4 other year 7s along with 5 pupils from both year 8 and 9 had tea and scones with the Deputy Lieutenant in Barr Beacon bistro. The scones were homemade and delicious! Each pupil got to talk and shake hands with the Deputy Lieutenant, he also told us about his badges and about all of his wonderful opportunities. The reason we all got to experience this is because of our high number of praise points that we earned in lessons. My favourite part was getting to listen to all of his fascinating stories associated with King Charles! We are so grateful to have been lucky enough to join in on this opportunity. It was amazing to meet the Deputy Lieutenant in person, especially on the week of King Charles coronation”. By L. Scrivens 7B1

At Barr Beacon School we want to offer our pupils the very best opportunities and experiences. Our extra-curricular offer is something we are very proud of as currently, we have over 40 different activities on offer ranging from: Contemporary Dance to Sewing Club; from Cricket to Lego Club.  

One of our year 8 pupils has written this piece on why she enjoys going to Mindful Crafts and the benefits it has to offer.   

Mindful Crafts is an amazing club. I love how I and my fellow club members connect through talking whilst doing mindful activities or games. One week we coloured in Stitch from Disney’s Lilo & Stitch. I enjoyed this because it helped me to relax and be mindful, something we do not get much time to do during our lessons! We have also made door hangers, played colouring games and my favourite, making walking crabs out of origami. When the holidays are approaching (for example, Halloween, Christmas and most recently Easter) we made homemade decorations and cards to give out to our family and friends. I find Mindful Crafts really relaxing, amazing and fun! I would really recommend anybody who loves doing the things to come along every Monday.

F.Palmer 8C1

Matrix’s first ever cross-trust pupil awards event, held at Millennium Point on 20^th April, was a fantastic success.

Pupils were recognised for exemplifying our trust values of creativity, resilience, selflessness, enthusiasm and continuous improvement. There were also awards for exemplary members of our Cadet Forces.

With more than 7000 pupils across our trust schools, it was really difficult to choose the 46 award winners. Those who did receive the awards should feel deservedly proud of their achievement.

The awards-giving was punctuated with several fantastic performances, including DJs from Barr Beacon, a piano virtuoso from Year 4 of Bloxwich Academy and Etone’s ‘Mega Band’. Before the event, we had over an hour of performances from pupils across our trust schools, all of who had been selected to perform after a trust-wide talent competition, which had more than 100 entrants.

The evening started with a video relating the story of our trust up until the end of 2022. Our CEO Ms Draycott then spoke about the two newest schools, Smestow Academy and Wednesfield Academy, who joined the Matrix family this year.

There was also a special video explaining ‘what a makes a Matrix pupil’, starring a teacher from each of our schools.

Here is what some of our parents and carers have said about the event:

“The awards ceremony was fantastic. It was great to see pupils getting their awards and the fantastic performances from across the Matrix Academy Trust schools.”

“It meant so much to see all the pupils being awarded for life skills rather than academic achievement. The head teachers giving a little speech about each pupil was a lovely touch and really personalised it.”

“Thank you for a wonderful evening.  It was very special to see everyone receiving their awards.”

“Thank you for a special evening celebrating the achievements of pupils.  We are especially proud of our daughter!”

“Tonight was simply amazing!” 

Ms Draycott and Director of School Improvement Mr Lowbridge-Ellis introduced each of the awards and our headteachers explained who they had chosen and why. Trustee Sir Mark Aspinall bestowed the awards on the worthy winners.

Congratulations to Year 8 pupil D.Siddque  for winning the chocolate hamper in our Easter Draw.  We hope he enjoyed consuming the contents!

Thank you to everyone who supported this Sixth Form Charity Event by entering the draw.  We raised £157 for our chosen charities:  Freedom From Torture and Promise Dreams.  

So far this year, we have raised a total of £615.07, through various charity events.  

Sixth Form students are busy organising the next one and we are looking forward to your support once again.

Year 11 pupils were visited by Jae Marple, a professional translator based in Brownhills. Jae, has done extensive work translating in the world of sport and tourism into English from French, Spanish and Portuguese including at the recent Qatar World Cup. Jae, a former pupil of Barr Beacon, visited the school and talked about his career as a professional translator. Pupils then had a go at translating an article Jae was commissioned to translate about the Moroccan football team. Pupils worked extremely well. Jae will continue to work with the school and has offered to mentor 6 pupils in the summer term. They will have to submit a translation to him before they do an online call with him to discuss the translation.