All of this week, you can access a large Virtual Careers Fair from home. With close to 100 exhibitors to visit, there will be lots of new careers to explore.
Follow the link to take a look: https://ncw2024.co.uk/
Enterprise Masterclass
A group of our Year 9 pupils took part in an Enterprise Masterclass at the University of Birmingham. Following a tour of the campus, pupils created their own business ideas around a UN Sustainable Development Goal. They discovered new ways to generate creative ideas as a team and all pupils successfully completed an elevator pitch, which developed their presentation skills. Pupils were able to have a taste of studying Business at university and even took part in work that is usually given to undergraduate level students.
National Offer Day
Admissions
It is National Offer Day. If you have been successful in your application to Barr Beacon School for Admission into Year 7 2024, we will write to you shortly with a welcome letter and information about forthcoming key dates. If you have changed address since you applied, please contact postbox@barrbeaconschool.co.uk so that we can ensure we have the most up to date information for your child.
If you were not successful on your application, please follow the link for information about Appeals to Barr Beacon School: https://barrbeaconschool.co.uk/admissions/
Here Come the Girls! International Women's Day 2024
This week we have celebrated International Women's Day across the school, with pupils having a thought provoking assembly on gender inequality around the world. Pupils found out that gender equality is still something that we can't take for granted. Around the world, 28 young girls are forced into marriages against their will every minute! And 1/3 of women will experience violence in their life time, a figure far lower for men. But even in our own country, the gender pay gap is shockingly high for women doing the same roles as men. Year 7 pupil, S. Bains in 7B2 commented "I am shocked that women in India earn 34% less than men!"
The assembly pointed out that women shouldn't have to be exceptional to be worthy of comment. A woman engineer shouldn't be something unexpected, for example.
In order to support women in the school, out of the school, our mothers, grandmothers, friends, sisters, nieces and aunties, we must all think carefully about how we contribute to the society we live in and how we are considerate of others, never normalising the idea that women are any different to men in terms of capability and capacity for success.
This week our forms will be completing their pledges to #inspireinclusion and say how they will support women in being equal.
LGBTQ+ Month - Healthcare and Medicine
Barr Beacon pupils have learned in assembly about the Beacon Values of Equal to Everyone and Never Discriminate which learning about LGBTQ History. This year's focus has been on the contribution made to history by scientists and physicians that are within the LGBTQ+ community. Pupils learned about how, until 2003, the government made it impossible to teach about and learn about LGBTQ+. This meant that huge swathes of history were not acknowledged. In 2017, the goverment apologised for its pass policy, recognising that this was wholly inappropriate.
LGBTQ+ communities have existed throughout history and are recorded as far back as ancient civilisations such as Mesopotamia, Roman Empire, China and Ancient Greece. These cultures included gender non-conformity and diverse identification that even defy modern identification. In short, LGBTQ+ communities are a part of our world and pupils were taught about role models we should be celebrating such as Cecil Belfield Clarke, a Barbadian physician and civil rights activisit and Sophia Jex Blake, an English physician who fought for women's right to access the field of medicine.
PwC Visit
PwC visited the school to talk to our Year 12 students who are interested in pursuing apprenticeships. PwC offer a range of School Leaver Apprenticeships and Flying Start Degree Apprenticeships programmes. Representatives from the company spoke about their own experience of working for PwC and gave tips to succeed with their competitive application process.
Are you Barr Beacon School Alumni?
CALLING ALL BARR BEACON SCHOOL ALUMNI
If you’re a former student of Barr Beacon School, we want to hear from you!
Your experiences since leaving could help to motivate and inspire our current students to feel more confident in making decisions about their future. We’d love you to join our Alumni Network and stay connected with the school.
We’ve partnered with the national education charity Future First, who specialise in helping schools like ours to stay connected with their former students.
You can choose how and when you help – perhaps you can act as a career and education role model, provide work experience or become a mentor in person or online.
To sign up, just follow this link and fill in the online form – we promise it will only take a couple of minutes
https://www.futurefirsthub.org.uk/register/barr-beacon-school
We look forward to hearing from you.
WPR Agency PR Workshop
Year 12 Business and Media students took part in a PR workshop, run by WPR Agency.
After learning about what working in PR involves, and its differences to advertising, students were set a task. They put together an pitch for a new restaurant in the Bullring, encompassing media coverage, social content, influencer engagement and events. Our visiting speaker was very impressed with the innovative ideas from each group and praised students for their creativity and excellent team work when formulating ideas.
Students said they enjoyed the chance to ‘have a go’ at a real career and valued having the chance to work in a team. They were interested to share their ideas and hear what the other groups had created, and one student even said “I didn’t realise before, but I am actually more creative than I thought.”
Turing Trip - Italy
On Tuesday 23rd of January, 50 pupils from the Matrix Academy Trust travelled from Gatwick Airport for a trip to Rome with the Turing Scheme. The Turing Scheme is a government initiative that fully funds a range of international opportunities for young people to go abroad and experience different cultures around the globe. Pupils who participate in this scheme are selected via criteria provided by the Department for Education.
After a smooth journey and arriving at our hostel, we made a swift departure to our first activity. Our group of 55 tackled the metro for the first time and walked our way to “Aroma Ostia” where our host school met us for an Italian cooking masterclass. During this class, our Chef taught us how to make pasta from scratch, along with the art of producing “carbonara” sauce, a dish that was born in Italy.
Throughout the week our mornings consisted of a rotation between groups, some taking themselves back to ancient Rome by visiting the Colosseum, some visited Castel Sant’Angelo which was commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum, and some visiting our Italian partner school learning about various aspects of their culture including music, literature, fashion and food. One group even took part in an inclusion workshop raising awareness of disabilities.
After lunch, our pupils came back together and started their week by being trained as true gladiators at the gladiator school. This included a fitness assault course, practicing and testing a variety of fighting techniques before our Empress (Ms Callanan) would decide their fate. Pupils also opened their mind into the “museum of dreamers” experiencing an adult-size ball pit, various illusions and not to mention beating their fears (literally). Our afternoon of imagination delved deeper into Vigamus where pupils were led on journey of time on the evolution of video games. Our sightseeing continued when strolling down the Spanish Steps to the renowned Trevi Fountain before dining in a local restaurant.
Our final few days were spent zipping through the trees of Rome at Eurpark High Ropes. It was incredible to see the number of pupils who overcame their fears and pushed through their limits to reach new heights before we caught the train to the shores of Ostia, where some pupils even dipped their toes in the sea! Mount Vesuvius was our next destination, with a 20 minute hike up to the viewpoint at the top of the volcano and a further 5 minutes to the crater. Pupils were in awe of the beauty of the bay of Naples, before seeing the steam being produced out of the dormant volcano. Having learnt about the history of Vesuvius, our next stop was the Herculaneum, a UNESCO heritage site which was covered in volcanic ash and rediscovered during excavations in the mid 18th century.
We couldn’t have left Rome before visiting the Stadio Olimpico, home to football clubs Roma and Lazio, and currently hosting the six nations! Following this, we took a trip abroad whilst abroad by visiting the Vatican City, the world's smallest country! This tour included a visit to the Sistine Chapel, famous for papal ceremonies and used by the sacred college of cardinals.
Our week in Italy was spent experiencing various aspects of culture, encountering many new experiences and bringing more of our students together to create stronger connections.
Our pupils share their thoughts:
“The trip to italy was really great. I am very happy to have had the chance to go on a trip like this for free and have made so many friends in the process. I liked the rooms at the hostel, and how stress-free you guys made everything by everything being so organised and how there was a diverse range of things to do. The metro and bus rides were good, and got less busy due to good planning. Some things that we did that I thought I wouldn’t enjoy I turned out liking such as the school visit. The children there were lovely and despite the struggle communicating with some words, it was fun talking to them about what their life is like and comparing ours together. The museum of dreamers was my favourite because it was unlike anything I have ever done before. It was a unique experience which helped me with insight and keeping an open mind. I liked seeing the sights such as the colosseum, the Herculaneum and museums like the Vatican, gaming and the dream one. I liked the Vatican and the castle a lot because it was nice to see religious artefacts and art that I have always wanted to see. Thank you for the opportunity and choosing a great city like Rome.” - Alfie
“This trip to Italy was amazing, I’m so thankful I’ve had the opportunity to go to such a great place and it being free! Thanks to Ms Callanan, Mr Kendall, Mr Aspinall, Ms Thomson, and Ms Thompson. This week has been really fun and I haven’t felt this happy in ages! 10/10" - Dylan
"My favourite part of the Rome trip was probably day three, when we went to the Colosseum. After that we went to the Museum of Dreamers as well as the Video Game Museum. We got to try local foods such as carbonara and actual Italian pizza! I also loved the day that we did the high ropes since I have a fear of heights and I overcame it a bit! In the end it was really fun! I made new friends from schools like Bloxwich and Dame Elizabeth Cadbury. On the coach rides we sang along to songs together. Overall the trip really improved my confidence."
National Memorial Arboretum Visit
Today, 210 cadets & staff from our schools visited the National Memorial Arboretum as part of their historical and social enrichment package within the Combined Cadet Force.
Thank fully the weather was clear and all of our cadets enjoyed learning about the various monuments situated around the grounds.
We would like to thank members of the Wales & West CCF Test Team for supporting the visit, and the staff of the National Memorial Arboretum for hosting such a large group of us.
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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
