Seeing the hard work of our Sixth Form Students come to fruition was a wonderful sight on Culture Day!  A group of 80 students have worked collaboratively over the last 2 months to put together a programme that was enjoyed by the whole school.

21 different nations were represented and students proudly showcased their heritage through wearing their national dress, music, food and drink and local activities.  They also put together a slide show, that was shown to all pupils and students over the week, sharing information about the different nations. 

Pupils and students from Years 7 to 13 visited the exhibition throughout the morning, partaking in the different activities and, for a small charitable donation, they were able to sample food and drink from the different nations.  Pupils in Years 7, 8 and 9 were given the extra challenge of completing an ‘Around the World’ game of bingo.  Congratulations to our winners: T.Osborne (7W1), H.Seedat(8C1), N.Hancock (8M1) and M.Abdul-Gani (9B1).  Our other winner was M.Kalia (9W2) who won the ‘Roll the Roundest Roti’ challenge.

Places ‘visited’ were: Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Brazil, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Bangladesh, China, Gujrat (India), Punjab (India), Pakistan (Kashmir, Punjab and the north-west), Sri Lanka, Turkey, Vietnam, England, with a special Beaky Blinder tribute to the Black Country, Estonia, Slovakia and Wales.

Our Sixth Form students’ aim was to leave everyone hungry for more and that is exactly what happened!  They received overwhelming feedback from staff and pupils.  The day was a huge success and just over £600 was raised for our chosen charities (Birmingham Children’s’ Hospital and Humanity First). 

Well done to our student ambassadors for doing such an amazing job!  We are very proud of them.

Feedback received:

“It was class!  I loved trying the different foods and doing the penalty shoot-out!  I tried the belly-dancing too!”  S.Doggart (11M2)

“Well done to the team of Sixth Formers who made it very enjoyable to visit each stall. I learned a lot and loved it!”  Mrs Matharu (Maths teacher)

“We loved trying the different foods. The activities such as clay modelling were fun!”  (7W1)

Pupils in 11C1 said: 

 “It was just really lovely!”

‘We wished we could have more time as it was so busy but there was such a lot to see!’ 

“It was great!”

“Please make sure there is another one next year!”

11B1 added:

“The food was great!”

“The music was great!”

“We are looking forward to getting involved with helping to organise it next year!”

“Talking to colleagues we’ve all agreed that the students did themselves proud. They were so enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the different cultures. A big success all round!”  Miss Lloyd (Year 12 Tutor)

A group of year 10 pupils said “The food was all so good!  We loved being able to get involved and have henna done as well as having the chance to wear the bindis.  Hopefully it will be on next year!”

“The photographs are so lovely! Thank you for capturing such a fantastic day! Everyone thoroughly enjoyed Culture Day!”  Miss Begum (History teacher)

“I thought this was a real success and I thoroughly enjoyed popping in. The Sixth Formers were amazing.  Well done to them all!”  Mr Brocklebank (MFL teacher)

Barr Beacon pupils are celebrating being given the prestigious Beacon Values Award.

Award winners are nominated by their teachers and then the Heads of House select one pupil per Beacon Value to receive the award for their House. The award winners enjoyed a complimentary breakfast with the Headteacher, and were awarded their coveted Beacon Values Badge. A testimonial written by teachers who nominated them for the award was read out to them. We are very proud of these pupils who embrace our Beacon Values each day.

We are excited to launch our brand-new Careers Guidance Pupil Website. 

Pupils need to be prepared for the evolving working world and so, at the heart of our Careers Programme, is a focus on building up essential lifelong employability skills.

Visit our new website to access a wealth of careers guidance, designed to support both pupils and parents.

With our brand-new resources, you can…

• Choose a subject you love and see where it might lead
• Explore your options for when you leave school
• Gain valuable advice on applying to university, apprenticeships and jobs
• Practice your interview skills
• Discover alternative options like gap years or starting your own business

Visit https://matrixcareersguide.co.uk/

On Monday 18^th March, selected year 7 and 8 boys took part in a Dance workshop led by Autin Dance Theatre. The students were extremely excited and showed fantastic enthusiasm for the workshop. They worked really well with the professional dancer, Will, and were amazed with all the places he had travelled for his dance career. Students worked on strengthening, coordination and stamina skills throughout the workshop. All students showed amazing progress when working with the professional dancer. Well done boys and we look forward to offering more opportunities like this in the future. 

Students involved- H. Dell, K. Ord, D. Seymour, K. Jallow, Y. Ali. H. Chahal, J. Wilkes, K. Mallon. M. Lukasevs, J. Lalli, N. Dhillon, J. Chapotoka, M. Lander, Z. Reid-Peart, I. Figure and K. Edwards

On Monday 18^th 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.

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!

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.