Firstly, our Year 11 students enjoyed a wonderful Leavers’ Assembly with form tutors sharing their most memorable moments of the last 5 years with their form groups. A slide show featuring snapshots from Years 7 –11 brought smiles, laughter and sometimes a tear to many of the year group. This was followed by a truly spectacular Prom at Bowden Hall. Our students looked resplendent in their prom outfits and a number made some very spectacular entrances! The students enjoyed a formal 3-course dinner followed by a lot of spirited dancing; it was an extremely special evening. Our thanks go to Mrs. Blackwood and the Year 11 team for organising such a successful event.

 

Last week saw the return of the annual Awards Evening. This was another tremendous evening with 77 students receiving awards for their academic effort and achievement. We decided on a different format this year with families sitting together with students to enjoy drinks and a selection of snacks. Students knew they had been nominated but only found out which award on the evening when winners were announced; this created a lovely atmosphere of anticipation and celebration. Thank you to all parents who provided such positive feedback and further thanks to Mrs. Rayfield and her team for the hard work and commitment in creating such a wonderful evening for our children. The list of award winners and link to view more photographs is available further on in the newsletter.

 

Friday 14^th July was supposed to be our school sports day. Sadly, the rain gods were very much in charge and we had no option but to postpone the event.  Thankfully, Monday was a very different day and we saw all our children participating in traditional athletics events such as 100m sprint, discus and classic relays alongside a whole range of fun games including welly throwing, sack and egg & spoon races. On top of this, there was a highly competitive inter-form bench-ball tournament. The day was an overwhelming success; our students behaved beautifully and the level of achievement was extremely high with a number of school records being smashed. Congratulations go to all our competitors and a huge thanks to Mrs. Huggins and the PE department for going the extra mile to ensure that we could make this happen! A selection of photographs can be viewed further on in the newsletter and on our social media pages.

 

We also saw success on a national scale with our Barnwood Bandits - a team of four very gifted Year 7 students travelled to the NEC in Birmingham for the National Robotics competition in June.  The team took part in 4 activities including a speed challenge and an unseen programming challenge.  They worked really hard as a team and although they didn’t win a trophy, it is important to point out that of the 340 schools entered nationwide, only 34 got through to the final with 3 schools coming from Gloucestershire (Balcarras, Barnwood and Crypt). The students also got to enjoy lots of fun STEM based activities ranging from exploding methane bubbles, RAF flight simulators and even stroking cockroaches! Congratulations for being in the top 10% robotics teams in the nation and many thanks to Mr. Holland and Ms. Wellington for co-ordinating the team entry. Photos can be seen further on in the newsletter.

 

As we enter the summer break, it is time to say goodbye to a number of staff who are leaving at the end of term. We thank them for all they have given to the school and wish them well in the future roles:

Ms. Lambden, Mrs Ballinger, Mrs Boreham, Ms. Bennett, Mr Day, Mr Foster, Mr Toy, Ms Hutchinson, Mrs Jadwat, Mrs Mauremootoo, Mr Mason, Ms Searle, Miss Bosley, Ms Wlodarska and Mr Holland.

I would like to reassure parents and carers that we are fully staffed for the new academic year and have also added to our team this year with the appointment of a full-time school counsellor, additional member of the PE team, a second Designated Safeguarding Lead and soon to be appointed Educational Welfare Officer.

 

Additionally, over the summer break, an extensive refurbishment programme will take place including the instalment of an outdoor gym and external basketball hoops for students to enjoy during break and lunchtimes.

 

It leaves me to wish you all a relaxing and refreshing summer break. We look forward to seeing you in September.

Kind regards,

Karen Clinton