D Coleman in Year 9 has achieved his Chief Scout Gold Award. This would be an impressive achievement ordinarily but this is particularly impressive because he had to adapt his approach due to lockdown restrictions, overcoming additional barriers. To earn the Award, David had to organise meetings with other scouts and plan expeditions. He has been scouting from a young age and loves getting involved in things. In school, he is now a Cadet AND completing Duke of Edinburgh!

Help us raise money for the NSPCC by donating your unwanted clothes! 

All of Year 7, 8 and 9 pupils have been given a bag2school bag for this collection but you can use any bag you have!

Send them in to Barr Beacon reception before 22nd June 2021.

The more bags we have, the more money we raise for charity. Let's show the Beacon Value of consideration for others by cleaning out our closets!

A new WisePay App is now available for Android and Apple devices. You can download it from the Google Play or Apple Store.

Please note that you can't have both the new and old apps running side by side so you must uninstall the original app for the new one to work. The original app does still work so if you prefer to use this then you can continue to do so

The process for logging into the new app is the same as it was for the original app:

1. Enter the organisation code of the school (37658154)

2. Enter username 

3. Enter password

4. Child's first name 

5. Child's last name

Here are some FAQs and a User Guide for parents when using the new app: 

New WisePay App FAQs_V2.pdf 

WP App User Guide_V1_0206.pdf

Express Yourself: Week commencing 22^nd February

For our Express Yourself challenge, pupils are spending three afternoons away from their screens, taking part in creative activities designed by our teachers. There are activities related to each subject.

Here are some of the outcomes:

This is a great and useful diagram completed away from the screen: Superficial Surface of Human Heart by V. Sahdev in Year 7

K. Nicholls in Year 9 has made 'Pain Au Chocolat' using one of the activities from the modern foreign languages department.

Here is some history creativity from K. Owen in Year 10.

She created the trench system as a personal project, which was linked with her study of her Conflict and Tension topic, as well as her own passion for history. She did apologise for the castle being made of Duplo as this was the only ‘Lego’ available! She is currently creating history resources in the form of a 'game'. We look forward to seeing her resources from this. 

Here is some more brilliant history modelling of trench warfare – this time from Year 10 J. Martin.

I decided to some litter picking in my local community. When I got home I did some research  about the local area. Here is what I found out:

The word 'barr' is Celtic for hill. Barr Beacon is the highest point in the West Midlands. Perry Barr was once kown as 'little barr' but was renamed.

Great Barr was documented in the Doomsday Book as 'Barra'. It was one of many hills where fires (beacons) were lit to warn of enemies.

Doe Bank Lane was a field boundary from the royal borough of Sutton Coldfield. It was a ditch with one side higher than the other and was used to stop deer from leaving hunting grounds.

Bridel lane was a very rural rack that went from to Walsal, to Sutton Colfield and further on to Liechfeild.

In WW2, Americans soldiers were stationed in the Pheasy Estate. Most of their equipment was buried in the fields near dobank park.

With her fascination with wolves, G. Askey in Year 10 has created an amazing papier-mâché wolf using newspapers as part of her creative piece for the Express Yourself Challenge. She did a fabulous job! 

On Tuesday, 9 February 2021, we will celebrate the 18th edition of Safer Internet Day with actions taking place right across the globe. With a theme once again of "Together for a better internet", the day calls upon all stakeholders to join together to make the internet a safer and better place for all, and especially for children and young people.

Read on to find out more about practical ways in which you can get involved in the celebrations. Whether you are a young person, a parent or carer, a teacher or an educator, a policy maker, or whether you represent an organisation or industry, everyone has a role to play in creating and maintaining a better online world.

And, noting the global reach of the Safer Internet Day campaign, on this site you’ll also be able to discover more about the planned actions of European Safer Internet Centres, global Safer Internet Day Committees and a range of organisational and industry supporters – we’re progressively updating profiles for the 2021 campaign, so please check back often for the latest updates.

https://www.saferinternetday.org/resources

On Wednesday 2^nd December we held our Annual Awards Evening. This year it took the form of a virtual event, however the significance of the event remained the same. We joined together to celebrate the achievements of our pupils during the last academic year and celebrate their successes.

Our Guest Speaker was Dr Dan Perry, a former Head Boy of Barr Beacon School in 1997, who is now a Children’s Orthopaedic Surgeon at Alder Hay Children’s Hospital and a clinical trial lead for the British Orthopaedic Association. Dan gave an inspirational speech which would have provided great motivation to our pupils.

We were also joined by Mr Mills, who had taught at Barr Beacon School for over 45 years, to present an awarded named in his honour to our most outstanding Mathematician.

Tyne in Year 11 produced this poem to commemorate Remembrance

Close your eyes,
Take a breath.
Just for a minute that’s my request.
Pay your respect to those who fought,
To give us the freedom we were brought.
To those who fell,
Those who cried,
Those who tried but sadly died.
So close your eyes
Take a breath.
Remember our heroes:
That’s my only request.

For our Remembrance Commemorations this year our Cadets performed a special ceremony which was introduced by our Flight Lieutenant (and Director of English) Mrs Muller.

Then Cadets read the poem ‘In Flanders Fields’. The Last Post, played by music teacher Miss Chater, heralded the silence and her performance of Reveille concluded it.

The Kohima Epitaph was then read by a Cadet ahead of the wreath being laid by our Head Boy and Head Girl. The ceremony was broadcast to all form groups.

In order to pass GCSE English language, each pupil needs to be assessed on their speaking ability. This assessment will take place during school time. Although it does not form a part of their GCSE grade, they will receive a separate grade for this element: either Pass, Merit or Distinction. This result will be reported on the GCSE certificate in addition to the grade 9-1.

For Year 10 only we are required to provide audio-visual recordings of the presentations of a sample of candidates. These recordings will not be shared with anyone other than the exam board and secured in accordance with GDPR regulations. Year 11’s assessments will not need to be recorded.

Each pupil has received a lesson about how to prepare and what to include in their assessment but, should they have any questions, they can ask their teacher or contact Mrs Kapcia or their English language teacher on Teams. We have also produced a video explaining how to prepare for the assessment, which is available here:

You can also view below some speaking and listening videos featuring pupils from other schools (these are materials sent out by the exam board).

This assessment was awarded a Distinction

This one was awarded a Merit 

You may want to support your child by helping them practise their presentation.

If you have any queries about these assessments, please contact Mr Lowbridge-Ellis, Deputy Headteacher.

From September, music students at Barr Beacon School will be learning the ukulele! 

Aldridge & District Lions Rotary Club have awarded us their Educational Endowment Fund so that we can purchase a whole class set of ukuleles.

Thank you so much Aldridge & District Lions!

https://e-clubhouse.org/sites/aldridge/

Every week, teachers are nominating pupils who they know have been working the hardest. 

We will be giving House points to everyone nominated and entering their names into a weekly prize draw for online shopping vouchers.

Let your teacher know what work you are doing through Microsoft Teams or your school e-mail address.

Parents/Carers: if you want to share what work your children are doing at home you can tag us on Twitter @barrbeaconsch