Year 7 are buzzing about their new BookBuzz books! As part of our DEC Reading programme, all Year 7’s have had the opportunity to select a free book to take home and keep. This is a great incentive to get our students into reading and they have had the choice of somefantastic authors this year. Books are due to be delivered before the Christmas holidays and friendship groups have been encouraged to pick different books with a view to swapping once they have finished one.

We are alsolooking to award reading prizes for students who complete a Reading Quiz about their book.

Bookbuzz

Up and running very soon is a fantastic new reading club before school twice a week on a Tuesday and Thursdaymorning. From 8:10am to 8:40am, students in Year 7 and Year 9 will be reading the same novel in pairs. Year 9 students with outstanding reading ages will mentor. Year 7 students and set an example to the younger students by demonstrating effective guided reading.

Today, critical thinking, problem solving, reasoning ability and ability to communicate mathematically are essential skills. These processes are the foundation of mathematics instruction at our school. In order to support your child with this, we are pleased to announce we have now introduced a numeracy session into our Friday morning form time. This session allows your child chance to embed the basic skills that they have learned throughout their education and assess their answers with help of answers modelled by our very own Maths department. What’s next for numeracy?Does your child have what it takes to be a Numeracy Ambassador? We are currently recruiting a group of elite mathematicians to take on many different roles and responsibilities. Their roles will include:- Running a homework/extra support club:Tuesday evening, 3:05 to 4:00Thursday morning 8:05 to 8:40- Chance to attend ‘Mathletics’ club where they will have a have the chance to enter interschool competitions. - Taking part in Primary intervention sessions to help develop the minds of other young mathematicians.- Participating in the development and modelling of how help of how perfect solutions should look.

We are very excited about this chance to celebrate the continued outstanding learning we see from our pupils on a daily basis and look forward to an- no uncing the successful candidate in the next newsletter.

Reading clubs

It’s been a busy few months at Dame Elizabeth Cadbury, as we have been liaising with some of the most valued and revered educationalists in the country. In February 2018, we are extremely proud to host ResearchED, anational conference that brings together some of the foremost educational thinkers across the UK and beyond. ResearchED is a fantastic, grassroots organisation, where teachers and educationalists give of their wisdom completely freely, sharing their knowledge and ideas to all who want to come along. This is the first ResearchED that has been held in Birmingham; we are up there with

ResearchED New York and ResearchED Toronto! We are really looking forward to learning from our colleagues from across the country, and sharing our own greatpractice. Tickets have completely sold out!

Tom Bennett, the founder of ResearchED and the Department for Education’s behaviour group lead, is visitingus three times over a three month period. Tom has been extremely generous with his ideas and wisdom; hisfirst visit will be ‘virtual’ by Skype, where he will be talking to our teachers, and 50 visitors from schools acrossBirmingham and the Midlands, at our LeadMeet in late November. This will be to discuss and share goodpractice linked to the curriculum. He will be visiting us in person in January 2018 for an ‘Inspiration Day’ for ourtrainee teachers and newly-qualified teachers, and finally in February for ResearchED Brum itself.Here at Dame Elizabeth Cadbury we are extremely excited to be at the forefront of sharing educational researchacross the Midlands and beyond. Our Lead Practitioners , Mrs Crabtree, Mr Hutton, Mrs Atton and Mr Delaneyare developing this across school. We are looking forward to them leading aspects of this research over the nextfew months!

Miss StonemanDeputy Headteacher for Curriculum, Assessment, Standards of Teaching

Dame Elizabeth Cadbury SchoolRespect, Aspire, Believe, Commit

Providing Support | Sharing Excellence09

We are thrilled to announce that our Sixth Form is expanding at school. After a very successful Sixth Form open event at the end of October, we are now receiving application forms from pupils both at our school and also other local schools. From September, 2018 we will be offering new A-levels courses in English Literature,Psychology, Sociology, Product Design, Maths, History and Physics, alongside BTEC subjects in Performing Arts,Health & Social Care, Sport, Business, Media and Engineering. In addition to this we have great enrichment opportunities for our Sixth Formers,

It’s been a fantastic start to the new academic year in PE. Many pupils have taken advantage of our range ofextra-curricular clubs and have demonstrated excellent determination to develop in their chosen activity. Withsuch a high number of regular attenders at clubs, the opportunity to represent Dame Elizabeth Cadbury against other schools in fixtures is an honour that many pupils work incredibly hard to be involved in. With the football season in full swing, our teams have competed in both local school league and cup matches.

With their unwavering devotion to weekly training, the girl’s football team have performed well in their openingmatches with their enduring team spirit remaining strong despite some challenging score lines. The Year 7 boys’ football team have made a fantastic start to their Dame Elizabeth journey with strong performances in their opening fixtures with only one loss. Their impressive talent has shone through during matches and they have represented the school with impeccable commitment and desire. For some players, this has given them the opportunity to represent the Matrix Trust in a Year 7 football team during a tour to Holland in 2018.

Sixth Form expansion feature

Year 7 through Year 9 Getting startedOur year 7 and year 9 pupils kick started some planning around their futures as part of our Topic Day on Friday 17th November. The first introductory session allowed them to really think about career paths and also linked into our Topic Day 3 where we invited guest speakers from different work fields to talk to our pupils about theworld of work and what qualifications are needed at secondary school.

As a parent if you need any further advice in relation to your child and careers choice then here are some usefullinks on the internet:.www.careersadviceforparents.org/.www.ukcareers.ey.com/schools/career-advice/parental-advice.www.parentadviser.co.uk/.www.princes-trust.org.uk/help-for-young-people/who-else/employment/careers-advice.www.inspiringfutures.org.uk/parents

Year 10 and Work ExperienceAs a school we are passionate about ensuring that our pupils get the very best experiences in their chosencareers path and work towards ensuring they receive some form of work experience by the end of Year 10. Thisyear we are once again working in partnership with Gordon Franks Services to support our Year 10’s withobtaining a suitable placement in July. The dates for work experience are Monday 9th July to Friday 20th July.Throughout the next few months your child will be given regular 10 minute appointments to gain furtheradvice and support in ensuring that a suitable placement is obtained as well as the necessary health and safetychecks. We have encouraged pupils to produce CV’s and accompanying letters to distribute to local businesses.

including the Duke of Edinburgh Award, a coaching certificate, peer tutoring opportunities and senior prefect positions, amongst other opportunities that will prepare our Sixth Formers for University and employment.

The expansion of our Sixth Form will mean that our students will have their own designated Sixth Form area, their own identity. We are very excited to be able to provide a wider offer so that many more of our fantastic students can stay and study with us throughout their Sixth Form years.

Careers at Dame Elizabeth

Physical Education

Student Spotlight Nathan Williams & George Whitehouse

In Years 8, 9 and 10 the standard of football performance has been emphatically strong with their dedication to training clearly shining through during competition. Outstanding individual performances from Nathan Williams and George Whitehouse have ensured that the Year 8 boys’ team are still in contention intheir league.

10Dame Elizabeth Cadbury

In a climate where we recognise children are the future; the Bloxwich Primary Academy Junior Leadership Team was formed to give children a voice in the development of their school and the education they receive. This team is fronted by the school’s first ever Head Boy and Head Girl, who were selected following a rigorous application and interview process.

They were chosen as they represent everything we want our children to aspire to; academic excellence, outstanding behaviour for learning and a spirit and determination to help others be the best they can be. The junior leadership team will work closely with the headteacher and the senior leadership team to make Bloxwich truly an outstanding place of learning.

Year 6 wanted to created poppies to remember those who have given their lives in battle and because they are the flowers which grew on the battlefields after World War One ended.

Over the past week Year 6 have learnt the brief history of the significance of the poppy and how important it is. They used the design of the poppy and created their own version to proudly display on their own locker as a sign of remembrances and respect to those who fought in the war.

Junior Leadership Team

September is always exciting in a Primary School as it marks the start of the new academic year. It’s particularly special for me as it is my first term at Bloxwich Primary as Headteacher. Over the last 3 months we have seen a number of exciting events taking place in the school. We celebrated the MacMillan Worlds Biggest Coffee Morning by having our very own Great Bloxwich Bake-off which was a great success and raised a fantastic sum of money for MacMillan Cancer support. This was followed shortly afterwards by our harvest festival assemblies and food collection which we donated to the local food bank and were informed that we made the biggest

contribution of any school. November saw children in need where children and staff came to school dressed in spots to raise money for children’s charities. I have been overwhelmed with the generosity of the local community in giving to support those less fortunate than themselves.

The focus for this term has been to encourage children to aim high and set aspirational goals for themselves. A significant event this term has been the election of the Junior Leadership Team and in particular our head boy and head girl. I am proud to introduce Ryan and Klaudia as the first ever Bloxwich Primary Head Boy and Girl. Representing the very best of the primary; determination, academic excellence, good attendance and a willingness to help others. Bloxwich Primary School continues to improve rapidly and our waiting lists and pupil numbers are testament to this. We have recruited a highly experienced, committed and stable staff and we know that we are now well on the way to make Bloxwich Academy an outstanding place of learning for the people of Bloxwich.

Miss J Gray Headteacher

Bloxwich Academy PrimaryBe The Best You Can Be

Providing Support | Sharing Excellence07

“We travelled to the RAF on our school bus, it took a while to get there but it was great fun. We arrived at the RAF and saw a few planes – they were very big! Then we went to do all the activities. First the employee’s gave a speech and told us our groups. If you had a red wrist band you were red group.

The first activity was Riveting Rockets. This was great fun! You had two pieces of metal and a rivet – you put this through the two pieces of metal then hammered it to make a round and smooth joint. Our joins were then tested by a machine that tested how much weight could the join hold before it broke.

For our next activity we made paper rockets with our partners. We made them with wings and named them. We then all shot them out of a machine to see whose went the furthest.

Two people managed to get their rocket to the back of the room!

After that we headed to a computer room and got into groups of four and programmed a little chip. We used commands to make patterns and words. We made it say welcome to RAF my name is. Then we wrote the name.

We then headed to our next activity. We got in groups of four and used the toys K’nex to make a car, then attached a rocket and used the machines we used for the rockets. The cars went far.

We had lunch and there was a colouring board at the back of the room. Finally we made parachutes and dropped them off the stairs to see whose landed first and last” (Ryan – Year 6)

On Monday 8th January Bloxwich Academy Key Stage 2 Choir will be taking part in the Young Voices massed schools concert in Birmingham. They are singing a variety of songs including African, Classical, Pop songs and a Stevie Wonder Medley, amongst other pieces! They have been working hard since September and are looking forward to representing the school in a very special way.

Here in year 6 we like to cater to the needs of every child. Our homework will always focus on the fundamental of maths and spelling that we cover in school.

However, once in a while it’s good for children to express their creativity. So this terms extra creative homework is for the children to create their very own lighthouse. All we asked for was for the children to use their imaginations to express their creativity. We had some fantastic creations made from all types of different materials from cardboard, plastic, wood and even a cake.

RAF Cosfordt

Choir Club

The Lighthouse Project

Student Spotlight BA Primary Football TeamWe are passionate about everything to do with sport and child development. This year the school football team have entered two teams to play in the upcoming fixtures against a variety of schools around Walsall. (See fixture list). The school football team Captain is Zak Hill, with the vice-captain Junior George.

By participating in sports activities in general, children’s social skills are likely to come alive as it is a fantastic facilitator to promote social interaction, co-operation, teamwork and friendship. Football club has shown it can improve problem solving skills, build self-discipline, respect for authority and team-mates, trust, leadership and coping skills. Confidence is a huge factor reinforced into the children when playing for the school team and participation in sports will only assist the development of character.

08Bloxwich Academy Primary

Chatterbooks book club is the newest addition to our lovely library on a Wednesday break time. We focus our energy on creating a calm, open atmosphere in which students can enjoy a snack and a natter with friends old and new, whilst sharing something as simple as stories in common. Students are selected on their attendance to the club; we currently have 20 students that attend regularly (nearly full capacity) only three weeks in! Therefore, if any students fancy joining, they should sign up with Mrs Franks in the Library as soon as possible.

Everyone enjoys and achieves in different aspects of literacy, so each session is varied. Reading aloud and sharing favourite titles is fully encouraged; the students love to give recommendations! For those quieter personalities, we offer

fun individual challenges and small activities to boost confidence. Sharing time is always enjoyable; with a friendly atmosphere the students are often at their most relaxed and can really express their talents for telling tales and creating fantastic pieces of writing.

Currently on the agenda this half term is the Chillerbooks challenge, in which students will need to design a spooky storybook cover to win our first competition of the year. We’ve had some amazing ideas so far, and will continue with competitions throughout the year. Following half-term, we will start on our wonderful Winter Warmers collection of books, a snuggly selection of stories for our students to settle down before the big Chatterbooks Christmas.

Sixth form students Talesha Downie, Aimee Blower and Mollie Richards took time out of the summer holiday after finishing their final studies to put their creativity to the test, designing and painting a large scale children’s mural on the theme of literacy and fantasy.

When we were contacted by local primary school Busill Jones to assist with a mural design for their new library, our students immediately jumped at the chance. The students worked hard over three days to create an imaginative and fun composition that inspired pupils and staff alike. It was an absolute honour to be invited to be involved in this community project and we are excited to work with Busill Jones primary again in the future. Bloxwich Academy Art students yet again have done us proud with their enthusiasm, passion and talent in this subject.

Chatterbooks

As we come to the end of the first half term I am delighted to share with you that Bloxwich Academy has been named ‘the most improved school for pupil progress’ in 2016-2017. This is a fantastic achievement in which everyone, pupils, staff and parents alike should be very proud.it demonstrates that all of the hard work that we do, day in day out, at Bloxwich Academy is having the impact we desire.

The challenge now is to maintain our high standards and that attendance, punctuality and attitude to work all go towards ‘being the best that you can be.’ Our Post 16 students who continue to be role models for our younger pupils will be going to our capital city, London as part of their enrichment programme and have raised funds to cater for this trip. There they will stay over and visit a number of museums and galleries to support their As and A Level studies. At this time may I remind parents of the need for full school uniform along with a bag so pupils can carry their pupil planner and equipment each and every day. This is a fundamental rule at Bloxwich Academy.

Mr SeagerHeadteacher

Bloxwich AcademyBe The Best You Can Be

Providing Support | Sharing Excellence05

Sixth form students Talesha Downie, Aimee Blower and Mollie Richards took time out of the summer holiday after finishing their final studies to put their creativity to the test, designing and painting a large scale children’s mural on the theme of literacy and fantasy.

On the 13th September 2017 , 35 pupils from the School Council travelled down to the Houses of Parliament to learn the ‘ins and outs’ of British politics. After 5 hours of weaving through multiple motorways, we arrived at parliament just in time to catch the last of Prime Minister’s questions. Our visit started with airport style security to ensure we were all safe to enter. Following this we made our way through small doorways and across court yards into the atrium of parliament. We began a tour around parliament to see the

viewing platform over the House of Commons and to the exact spot where Guy Fawkes was trialled for treason in the Great Hall. We were also fortunate enough to see some familiar faces in politics including Tim Farron and Jeremy Hunt. All of our students showed great interest and all had the confidence to ask the tour staff questions on day-to-day life in parliament. A memorable question was, ‘How do bills go from the House of Commons to the House of Lords?’ Everyone was expecting to hear of some grand, ceremonial, police escorted procedure but instead we were told it was just sent over by email. As our time slot at Westminster had come to an end we settled for a picnic lunch and a walk along South Bank to spot some iconic sites before we made our way back to school. Overall, it was an insightful day with some students showing a curiosity in a career in politics.

Bloxwich Academy pupils and staff took time out of their busy schedule to remember those who have bravely fought in conflicts. Assemblies based on Remembrance were delivered during the week, with a minute silence, at 11.00am on Friday 10th, marking an opportunity to reflect on the sacrifices of so many people. Pupils and staff associated with uniformed organisations were also invited to wear their uniform as a tribute.

On Tuesday 31st October Year 7 received an entertaining and informative presentation on road safety called ‘Streetwise’ from Performance in Education. This gave them the opportunity to explore risk, responsibility and consequences as a pedestrian, and challenged our Year 7 pupils to be able to consider and make informed decisions, manage their personal safety and understand how their behaviour affects those around them. The performance and discussions that followed particularly identified and challenged distractions to pedestrian safety such as phones, mp3 players and playing around with friends.

Our Year 7 pupils responded excellently throughout this performance and made some insightful contributions to the discussions that followed. Well done Year 7.

Student Spotlight Eco ClubEco-Club has been concentrating on recycling this term. We have been lucky enough to secure some recycling boxes for classrooms because it was decided by our group that paper is wasted in huge amounts here at Bloxwich Academy and we wanted to do something about it. The boxes are emptied by us every two weeks and they go to a specialist recycling company who use the paper to make new products such as bathroom tissue, packing boxes and sometimes back into paper!

We have been lucky enough to win another bid with The Woodland Trust for some more trees to plant on our site. We will use some of these trees to help make the primary a little greener. Whilst doing this we are hoping to meet with some like-minded pupils to support Eco Club. We also have to ensure we look after the trees we have already planted and tend to their growing needs by removing or installing protection ready for the cold winter ahead.

Houses of Parliament and Westminster

Remembrance Day

Streetwise Performance

06Bloxwich Academy

At Etone College, our Theme of the Week initiative celebrates a different event of local, national or global importance each week. On the week commencing 18th September, we recognised the invaluable work of the Jeans for Genes charity whosupport those half a million children in the UK who are affected by a life-altering

Etone College raised

£243.05for Jeans for Genes

genetic disorder. Pupils received information about the importance ofthe charity in assemblies and both staff and pupils were able to wear their jeans in support of the charity on Friday 22nd September. Our thanks go to those pupils, staff, parents/guardians for theirsupport of this event.

Jeans for Genes

‘Guten tag’ Germany

“Activities week 2017 saw a group of 29 pupils and 3 members of staff bid ‘Auf Wiedersehen’ to Nuneaton and ‘Guten Tag’ to Germany, where we spent four days exploring Cologne and some of thesurrounding towns. We arrived to beautiful sunshine and spent an afternoon exploring old-town Linz, where many pupils immediately began to immerse themselves in the German culture by heading straight for the nearest pizza stand for lunch! After an afternoonexploring and practising our German, a delicious traditional German dinner, and some much needed sleep, we woke up to another day of glorious sunshine and headed into Cologne. While we werethere we had a very informative guided tour around the cathedral, a visit (complete with tastings!) to the Lindt chocolate factory, and some free time to wander around the old town. Laden with halfmelted chocolate souvenirs we returned to the hotel for another lovely home-cooked meal and some games outside in the sunshine, before anotherearly night. Day 3 took us to Phantasialand, Europe’s largest theme park which holds an impressive six worldrecords, where we had a fabulous time until the biggest thunderstorm we’ve ever seen meant the park closed and we had to come back an hour early! The following day we headed back home, tired but happy after a brilliant few days in Germany. Thank you to all the staff and pupils whohelped to make it such a special and memorable trip. Next stop…Barcelona...!”

I am, once again, proud to announce that we are celebrating the recent release of our Progress 8 score by the Department for Education and another year of record breaking results! (Progress 8 aims to capture the progress a pupil makes from the end of primary school to the end of secondary school. It is a type of value added measure, which means that pupils’ results are compared to the actual achievements of other pupils with the same start points Nationally). This year we have continued to move the school forward and improved our performance in many key areas and are consistently producing results that are above the National standard. Our performances in Maths

and EBacc were the best in North Warwickshire. (Those pupils who achieve top grades across English, Maths, Science, a modern foreign language and humanities). We achieved a Progress 8 score of +0.25 which indicates that we are above National and once again in the top 20% of all schools across the country. Our Progress 8 score has confirmed what we knew in the summer that Etone College has performed exceptionally well. In an era where examinations are becoming more rigorous, to achieve a record haul of GCSE results and a +0.25 Progress 8 score and a second year of results which are significantly above National is simply outstanding. I would like to again thank the staff who continue to work tirelessly to prepare pupils for their exams as well as our parents and carers who work in partnership with us to support their child’s learning and progress; it is truly a team effort. I would also like to congratulate the pupils who have achieved such wonderful results and the many who have stayed with us in the Sixth Form.

Mr I SmithHeadteacher

Etone CollegeRaising Aspirations and Attainment ‘PROGRESS FOR ALL’

Providing Support | Sharing Excellence11

On Friday 29th September, Etone College enjoyed another successful MacMillan Coffee Morning. Parents and carers from Year 7 and 8 were invited in to have coffee and cake with their child. Mrs Emery, supported by a number of our Year 11prefects, served drinks and cakes in the café whilst enjoying music provided by the Etone Choir. This year’s coffee morning had a slight twist with Etone having it’s

first ‘Etone Bake Off’ competition giving staff the opportunity to win points for their respective Houses. Cakes ranged from carrot cake, coffee and cardamom and totally chocolate with the overall winner being Miss King for her lemon drizzlecake. Mrs Emery said, ‘I would like to thank all staff, pupils, parents and carers for supporting our Macmillan coffee morning.

Etone College raised

£316.00 for Macmillan

Pupils were in for a ‘Dahlicious’ treat at thestart of term this year when they encountered some of their teachers sporting rather different outfits to their normal attire! Every year in September the country celebrates the author Roald Dahl for his contribution to children’s literature. Here at Etone, we wanted to make surethat we celebrated his life and works too! After numerous deliberations, members of staff selected their favourite character and adorned their chosen costumes tremendously. Pupils were thrilled to be taught maths by The Grand High Witch! Mrs Shepheard, who played the part terrifyingly well, she even wore square-toed shoes for the occasion. Other characters that ventured in to school that day included: some Oompa Loompas, Fantastic Mr Fox and his wife Mrs Fox, The Enormous Crocodile, Matilda, Violet Beauregarde and Grandma Josephine from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Miss Spider and even The BFG! Pupils were invited to get involved in various activities in the library during break time and afterschool. It certainly was a fabulous day enjoyed by all! Mrs Elliot, playing the role of Grandma Josephine for the day said: “Roald Dahl is loved for his ability to bring stories to life through his humorous and irreverent characters. Our pupils love to read his books and have really engaged with the day’s activities.” Roald Dahl promoted imagination in his youngreaders and his legacy continues to take them on journeys into the lands of giants, inside Willy Wonka’s magical chocolate factory to name but a few. He managed to convey numerous morals through his character’s mystical powers and in doingso has created stories that will stand the test of time.

Macmillan Coffee Morning

We were delighted to welcome eleven pupils and two members of staff from Queens CofE Academy at the start of September to join us for our Most Able Maths workshop. The workshop was full ofcreative maths challenges such as fifteen cards, missing digits, puzzles and problem solving relay questions. The day was carefully designed to maximise both fun elements of maths and problem solving skills needed in the new challenging maths

SATS. Our Year 10 Lead Learners - Ella Beck, Jasmine Bevins, Sinead Hitchman, Eve Iverson, Katie Mcllveen, Francesca Paxton and Olivia Pipe supported the day with great enthusiasm. The Year 6 pupils really enjoyed their time with us and gaveus lots of positive feedback. I think the snack time in the Sixth Form area went down well too! We look forward to having similar workshops forYear 6 pupils in the future.

Year 6 Maths Challenge

Roald Dahl Day

Student Spotlight C.JonesOver the weekend commencing the 30th September, Year 10 Etone College pupil C.Jones competed in the British International OpenKarate Championship in Edinburgh. It was a tough competition with opponents from Ireland, Wales, Northern Ireland, England andScotland. Carys won all 4 of her fights to become champion scoring 26 points and conceding only 2 points in return. The weekend commencing 7th October, Carys competed in Berlin in readiness for the World Championships in Tenerife. Etone College continues to cheer Carys on as she prepares for the World Championships, and wish her all the very best of luck!

12Etone College

A year ago it was a blank space. Now, it is home to our new build. The impressive edifice is home to English and maths as well as a bespoke teacher training facility.

The classrooms have been built based on the latest evidence about how children learn best. The whole of the front wall in each class is an classic-style whiteboard. And the interactive boards are the latest

4k resolution models with excellent visibility for the whole classroom.

Part of the building’s top floor is a dedicated teacher training facility. Our SCITT goes from strength to strength and we are training 36 teachers this year. As they train they will be able to look out over the local area and, on the horizon, the centre of Birmingham.

BBC journalist and former X-Factor contestant Ashley John-Baptiste came into school to share his inspiring story with Year 11. Now 27, he related how he turned his life around when he received his mock results in Year 11. Raised in the care system, he had not engaged with school and had been suspended repeatedly. When he saw what he could achieve though, he set his sights on a history degree at Cambridge University.

“I went from hanging out with my mates on a Friday night to reading about Hitler. It’s one thing to have a dream, an aspiration, but it’s another thing to achieve it. You have to work for it.”

While he was revising for his finals exams at Cambridge University one of his friend mates persuaded him to audition for The X-Factor. Although he became part of the boy band The Risk he decided to bow out of the competition to pursue other dreams. “I had potential as a boy band member but I could be more helpful to society making documentaries on the BBC.

His parting piece of advice to Year 11 was to take care with the decisions they are making right now, because they will affect the rest of their lives.

Welcome to The BB New Build

The Inspirational Factor

To say we really value your support is an understatement. We are always looking for opportunities to involve parents and carers in the life of the school.

Already this year we have had our best Sports Day ever. Thank you to all the parents and carers who were able to attend. Alexander Stadium was buzzing with encouragement from the crowd. It must have had an impact on our athletes: we have never had as many school records broken in one day. This year’s Awards Evening was an awe-inspiring event. A staggering number of awards were given out by our chair of governors Dr Deborah Park and our honoured guest Dr Daniel Perry, Beacon’s Head Boy from 1997. This evening allows us to celebrate some of our pupils’ finest achievements and it is always an inspiring event.

Ms DraycottHeadteacher

Barr Beacon SchoolProud to Succeed

Providing Support | Sharing Excellence03

Holding Sports Day at Alexander Stadium certainly had an effect on the competitors, with more than a dozen all time school records being broken. The spectators were also on top form,

cheering their houses on and waving banners throughout the day. Wrekin were triumphant on the day, winning the most points for Sports Day. But it was Bredon who took the House cup for all of the year’s House Points.

On Friday 10th the Head Boy, George Freeth and Head Girl, Isobel Green-Morris represented the School at the Remembrance Parade held at Barr Beacon War Memorial. Assisted by two of the newly formed Combined Cadet Force Cadets, they laid a wreath in remembrance of those who have fallen in conflict. On Sunday the 12th November, George and Isobel again represented the School at Aldridge’s Remembrance Parade.

This time they took part in the parade which marched from Aldridge’s Community Centre to the War memorial where they joined others designated to lay wreaths on behalf of organisations. After the Last Post was played and a minutes silence observed, they took their turn in laying a wreath on behalf of the school to honour those who have fallen. At the end of the ceremony they then marched back to the Community Centre where they re-joined their families for a welcome hot drink

This year’s Awards Evening was an awe-inspiring event. A staggering number of awards were given out by our chair of governors Dr Deborah Park and our honoured guest Dr Daniel Perry, Beacon’s Head Boy from 1997.

Remembrance Day Parade

Awards Evening

On Wednesday our 6th Form and Year 11 pupils were fortunate enough to experience glow in the dark dodge ball and glow in the dark basketball as part of their sport enrichment and after school curriculum. All pupils took to the new surroundings well and enjoyed this unique opportunity. The experience in playing in dark surroundings with only UV lights with reflector paint and tape was a new, but great experience for all.

Glow Sports

A Record Breaking Sports Day

Student Spotlight E. Hunt

We raise a lot of money for charity at Barr Beacon, often selflessly. However, on this occasion, we got something back in return.

Ethan in Year 10 has been busy making plum jam to raise money for Scout Jamboree. He has been inundated with orders from staff. Ethan has a plum tree at home so he saw the opportuni ty and took it.

Now all we need is someone to make us some scones and clotted cream…

04Barr Beacon School

Barr Beacon Schoolwww.barrbeaconschool.co.uk

Bloxwich Academywww.bloxwichacademy.co.uk

Brownhills Schoolwww.brownhills.walsall.sch.uk

Codsall Highwww.cc-hs.com

Dame Elizabeth Cadburywww.decschool.co.uk

Elmwood Schoolwww.elmwood.walsall.sch.uk

Etone Collegewww.etonecollege.co.uk

Grace Academydarlaston.graceacademy.org.uk

Ormiston Shelfield Academywww.scacademy.co.uk

Teach West Midlandswww.teachwestmidlands.co.uk/

Kingsland Primary Schoolwww.kingsland.bham.sch.uk

In July 2017 Barr Beacon SCITT welcomed its new 2017-2018 cohort of trainees to its pre-course induction week. This week is a great opportunity for our newest trainee teachers to familiarise themselves with the year ahead, meet their fellow trainees and take a first look at key course information. We spent our time looking at the SCITT year ahead and how our trainees will develop into great teachers of the future. We began our Professional Studies programme with sessions on learning theories, memory and the many acronyms of teaching! Finally, we took our trainees on an adrenaline pumping team building day, which included a blind-folded treasure hunt, Jacob’s ladder and a range of group activities. The pre-course induction week was enjoyed by all trainees and marked the beginning of their journey to become inspirational teachers.

As a SCITT we are passionate about ensuring that our trainees understand the importance of using research and evidence to inform their teaching career.

We are proud of our strong relationship with the University of Worcester, which delivers the PGCE element of the SCITT programme and gives our trainees an opportunity to achieve up to 60 Masters credits. On 3rd November 2017 our PGCE trainees graduated from the University of Worcester. Over 50% of our PGCE trainees last year gained a Post Graduate Certificate in Education at Level 7, showing an engagement in the latest educational research at Masters level. Our other PGCE trainees gained a Professional Graduate Certificate in Education, which shows their continuing engagement with current research and debates. Barr Beacon SCITT would like to congratulate its 2016-2017 Alumni on gaining their PGCEs and hopes that this achievement marks the beginning of a fulfilling career grounded in and guided by the latest research and evidence. As a SCITT we ensure that all of our trainees have access to the latest research through our membership of relevant subject associations. We also promote evidence informed teaching through our SCITT Bulletin, in which each week we share an article, blog, podcast or publication that contributes to the current key debates and themes in education.

Our Partners SCITT Pre-Course Induction

Evidence-Informed Teaching

As the new school year has begun in earnest, Barr Beacon SCITT welcomed its largest ever cohort of 36 trainee teachers to the fabulous new build at Barr Beacon School for 2 weeks of central training. Following the this SCITT induction, our current cohort of trainees ‘went live’ and are currently living and breathing the life of an educator in our partner schools. Whilst learning the ropes in teaching isn’t always an easy journey, the support, advice and dedication that all colleagues across our partnership offer our trainees is superb. This year we have designed our SCITT training calendar to afford our trainees an extended experience in school throughout all terms and in doing so we aim to train and develop some of the very best teachers we have ever seen. At the same time, 100% of our 2016-2017 cohort started their careers in their first appointment schools as Newly Qualified Teachers. With 100% of our 2016-2017 cohort graded Good or Outstanding at the end of their training we know that they made a real difference to the education and life chances of the children they taught and we wish them every success in continuing this during the year ahead. Our NQT Alumni can also take advantage of our NQT support and development package which was launched at the start of this year. We look forward to keeping in touch and celebrating their successes! To further the success of the Barr Beacon SCITT programme, October 26th brought the opening of UCAS for applications for a September 2018 start and this year we received more applications within the first 2 weeks than ever before. To coincide with the opening of UCAS, we were proud to launch our brand new web domain – www.bbscitt.co.uk – and present our new promotional video, which is available now on our Twitter and website. These are also two great ways of keeping in touch with us and keeping up to date with all of the exciting events happening over the coming months.

Barr Beacon SCITTSchool Centred Initial Teacher TrainingYour Future | Their Future

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Do you have at least two years’ worth of experience in the field of leadership? Do you have a desire to improve outcomes for pupils in your specialism beyond the boundaries of your own school? Or, do you simply enjoy coaching colleagues enabling them to achieve success?

If you think that you fit any of the criteria above, Evolve Teaching School would welcome your application for the role of Specialist Leader of Education (SLE). As an SLE, you maintain your current position in school whilst also taking on a role within Evolve Teaching School who would broker your services and deploy you to projects in schools or authorities dependent upon need.

The work of an SLE can be varied and far reaching. Some terms will be hugely busy while others will be less demanding. Whatever the demand, you will need to gain support for your application in advance from your Headteacher. Once you have identified your area of specialism and made your application to Evolve Teaching School, we will invite you to interview to present on your area of expertise if you fit the bill. Successful candidates will assume the position of SLE for 4 years.

It’s important to note that the role is not paid and it requires you to be released from your school. However, the work of an SLE is rewarding; it is the future of school to school development and it allows you to spread your practice far and wide.

For more information, check out Evolve Teaching School’s website or email Khibbs@barrbeaconschool.co.uk

Specialist Leader of Education

Evolve Teaching School Alliance, based at Barr Beacon School is a National Teaching School working within and beyond our locality. The Alliance partnership offers a network that collaborates effectively to share first hand outstanding training and practice on a wide spectrum in a variety of different Specialisms. Barr Beacon will take a leading role in recruiting and training new entrants to the profession, identifying leadership potential and providing support for other schools.

EVOLVETeaching School Alliance

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