The Barnwell School Newsletter - Issue No15, July 2015

Achieving Excellence TogetherBarnwell Middle School Shephall Green, Stevenage, Hertfordshire SG2 9XT.

Barnwell Upper School Barnwell, Stevenage, Hertfordshire SG2 9SW. Telephone: 01438 222500 E-mail: communication@barnwell.herts.sch.uk Website: www.barnwellschool.co.uk

HeadTalkDear Students and Parents,

It is hard to believe that we arecoming to the end of another schoolyear! What a great year it has been,as you will see despite this termbeing full of exams for manystudents we have still been busydoing so many other activities. Youmay recall from my Summer Termnewsletter that I had invited ourHMI Inspector back to Barnwell tosee how we were progressing sincehis last visit a year ago. Aftermeeting lots of students, staff andvisiting lessons he said ‘What adifference a year makes’. Hisfeedback was extremely positive andendorsed that Barnwell School iscertainly on track to soon be a goodschool.

The school production of ‘The LionKing’ was amazing. It was a fantasticperformance by all students.

The school has received some brilliantcomments from parents and governors.Highlights this term have includedthe PRIDE of Barnwell Awards Evening,the annual Fun Run event, WhiteWater Rafting and even a trip toNew York!

Over the summer break there willbe lots of activity at the schoolimproving facilities and theenvironment. Contractors will starton a new heating system for theUpper School Campus aftersuccessfully securing funding inexcess of £700,000.

We are currently busy planning fornext year, which looks to be a greatyear for Barnwell. In the meantime,I would like to thank you for yourcontinued support of the schooland wish you an enjoyable andrelaxing summer.

Mr A. FitzpatrickHeadteacher

TIMESCampus

On Friday 19th June we held ourannual Barnwell School Fun Run.This was a great opportunity for theMiddle School students to gettogether for a very collaborative andsupportive event whilst raising loadsof money for Keech CottageHospice. The total money raisedcurrently stands at around £700! Wealso had Greenside School join us for the first time which was a greatexperience for everyone involved.Many students in Barnwell andGreenside took the time and effortto source excellent fancy dresscostumes which added to the fun ofthe event. Thanks go to Mr Reavelland his brother Simon for the musicand for all the staff for supporting theevent in a whole range of differentways.

There were some very impressivelaps completed by students and staff,so well done to everyone who tookpart. The students showed greatdetermination and resilience and itwas another great example of ‘TeamBarnwell’ shining through again!

Mr Patching

AIM 4 UNI DAYOn Monday 29th June we hosteda team of staff and students fromBedford University who led anAim4Uni day for our Year 7students. The day provided aninsight into many aspects ofUniversity life. This excellentevent was led and coordinated byMelissa Redmond a formerBarnwell student who gained aFirst Class Honours degree atBedford University in ForensicScience and she has now goneon to work as a ForensicExaminer. Well done Mel!Thanks to all the staff andstudents from Bedford Universityfor providing an extremelystimulating, interesting andinformative day.

Karting Club began in March 2014 when BarclaySchool lent us two Karts on a long term lease.We currently have five drivers, one of which haswon our first team trophy and has progressedinto competition. Since we have been running,we have obtained two additional Karts with anotherKart coming in the near future. The team meetevery Wednesday in the Technology department

on the upper campus at 5:30pm until 7:30pm. We learn how to repair, maintainand race prepare our Karts. Our drivers have worked very hard this season to attain racing signatures on their provisional licences.

However, we are searching for some new racing starsso if you are in year 7-10 and would like to attendspeak to Mr Hull or Mr Reavell. You can race untilyou leave 6th form as it still complies with NatSKAregulations. It is not just you we need in the club; it is your parents as well because they can play a bigpart in the association too. We hope to see some ofyou on a Wednesday evening after the summerbreak.

Thank you, Team Captain – Cheyenne Davies.

FUN RUN2015

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KartingClub

Year 8ScienceField TripsAll of year 8 went on field tripsover a period of three days at thestart of July. We walked fromschool, carrying all the equipmentwe would need for our research.

We went to Loves Wood, RidlinsWood and Stevenage Brook.

In Loves Wood, we went bughunting, and found spiders, snails,a caterpillar and worms, as well asan earwig, centipedes and a moth.

We also investigated the impact ofhumans on the woodland.

In Ridlins Wood, we used aquadrat and a loggit, to investigatethe effect of sunlight availability onplant coverage.

In the brook, we dipped nets tofind thousands of shrimp, bloodworms, water beetles and even afish!

‘It was really hot!’ Sophie Conway,

‘The stream was really deep’ KeiranClarke,

‘ I kept getting stung!’ Tyler Jones,

‘It was fun splashing in the water’Rebecca Beattie,

‘The water came up to our knees’Mya Kimber

Now we are back in school, we aregoing to present what we havefound out as posters, reports andpresentations.

Report by 8H2 Science Group

The Geography and Biology AS studentstravelled to Swanage to collect data forcoursework and exams. On the first day,the Geographers were dropped off inBoscombe to study land use and theenvironmental quality in the town. Wedid this to investigate how regeneration

has helped to increase tourism and improvequality of life for the local population on the sea front. Meanwhile,

the Biologists went to the Jurassic Coast of Kimmeridge to learn field studiesand assess the area. The information we gathered helped us to decide on our individual investigation. We stayed in Leeson HouseField Study Centre, with a dormitory eachfor the boys and the girls and plenty ofgood food. The staff at the centre providedus with expertise and key information tohelp us with our fieldwork.

On the second day, the Biologists went backto Kimmeridge beach to collect the dataneeded to complete their coursework. The Geographerswent to Swanage to investigate the process of longshore drift and to profilethe beach. The Geographers arrived back at the house before the rain hadstarted, however the Biologists showed dedication and got drenched in thename of science!

On the following day, everyone went to Studland. The Geographers measuredthe blowouts in the sand dunes to show how the amount of erosion changesas you get further away from the main tourist area and the Biologists completed a transect to see the changes in biotic and abiotic factors as thedunes get older. Having returned to Leeson House, the Biologists waded inRiver Piddle to collect samples of aquatic organisms, Bradley and Liam caughtan eel! On the last night we had the evening off and had fish and chips andplayed run outs in the grounds.

The next morning the Geographers went to Bournemouth and walked toBoscombe whilst carrying out a land use survey. The Biologists stayed at Leeson and carried out a pond comparison. We then met up in Boscombe tohave an ice cream before travelling home.

SWANAGEAPRIL 2015

MBDA Glider ChallengeOn Friday 3rd July four Year 10 students participated in the MBDA Glider Challenge.The day involved working with STEM ambassadors on this challenge. The studentswere able to see real life application of science, technology, engineering and maths within MBDA through a tour, presentations and discussion with the apprenticesthat work at MBDA. As a team Luke Sugden, ToulaStavropoulos, Kieran Kanbi and Kye Grahamworked excellently together to design, build and test their glider along with delivering a presentationabout this to the judges. When it came down tothe final judged flights their glider managed to fly15.7m the longest distance flight recorded from all 18 school teams participating. Along with a trophythe students were awarded their bronze CREST awards. Well done! Mrs Cornwell 3

Congratulationsare in order!Rosie Borcherds,Year 12, deserveseveryone’scongratulations.

She is one of only 22 studentsin the whole of Hertfordshire chosen for a Nuffield Researchplacement this year. She willundertake a four week, real-life, high-level researchplacement working alongside professional scientists/engineers/technicians/mathematicians.This is not something whereshe will simply have to jumpthrough pre-planned ‘hoops’to receive an award, but academically demanding, disciplined and innovative research which will establishsomething new at the endof it.

Rosie has achieved this not only because she is intelligentbut through sheer hard workand always going the extramile in her studies. She issomeone of whom we can allbe proud and say ‘She is anexample to follow’.

Well done Rosie!

On Wednesday, 8 July, 9 students fromMr Naicker’s Year 10 Mathematics classvisited the University of Hertfordshireand took part in a series of workshopsand lectures organised by the FurtherMaths Support Programme.

During the day they analysed thefamous Josephus problem on selectionthrough a counting out game. Many ofour students were eliminated butthrough logarithmic sequencing Danielwas left standing. He went on to solve questions using binary and Base7.

Later, several of our students worked withDr Chris Saker from the University of Essex tosolve puzzles of cryptography andsteganography using nothing but paint andsome brushes.

Groups then got into teams and made thebiggest cone they could using an A4 pieceof paper. Then they filled it with sugar to see

which volume was greatest. Tassos’ team came in at an impressive third place.

In the afternoon, they took part in a lively discussion with Dr Sparks from BathUniversity who spoke about Mandelbrot Sets and tried to prove that 2 = 1.Do numbers exist or do we make them? Ourtop set Maths students will leave you todecide.

A thoroughly enjoyable and productive day.With thanks to all who took part.

Mr Grant Stevenson,Gifted and Talented Coordinator,Mathematics

Year 10Enrichment Day

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Junior MathsChallenge 2015Earlier this year, 30 students from Year7 and Year 8 took part in this Year’sJunior Maths Challenge run by theUnited Kingdom Mathematics Trust. It was a very difficult exam – all didwell but the following are to becommended and will receivecertificates.

Year 8• Megan Dent – Best in Year and

Silver Certificate

• Katie Jellis – Silver Certificate• Deni Rivers – Silver Certificate• Jason Fleet – Bronze Certificate

Year 7 • Ciara Rushton - Best in Year and

Gold Certificate• Mya Glenister – Gold Certificate• Melanie Storer – Silver Certificate• Muntaha Irfan – Bronze Certificate• Bethany Peat – Bronze Certificate

7H1 do “What they will”with Twelfth NightOver the course of the last term 7H1 have beenstudying William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

The students have greatly enjoyed their study ofthis classic tale of love, trickery and mistakenidentity. Recently the students of 7H1 weretasked with re-inventing and re-imaging the play. They were asked to think of a new setting,re-writing a scene from the play in modern Englishand in the context of their re-imagined play,creating a set, costumes and performing the play.

I was delighted and amazed with the level of fun, creativity and intelligence that thestudents were able to inject into their re-imagined plays and some excellentperformances. We were treated to versions set in nightclubs, on airliners and evenin Stevenage! The students of 7H1 have worked really hard on their study of theplay and this shone through in their fantastic re-imaginings.

Mr Latchford

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On Tuesday 30th June, a group of Year8 English Stars were lucky enough tobe invited to visit the world famousSky television studios in West Londonto take a tour and take part in a SkillsStudio workshop. The day startedwith an eye opening tour behind thescenes at Sky HQ. Students were ableto see working TV studios, editing andbroadcasting suites and were evenable to see the Sky Sports news roomrunning live!

However, the main business of the daywas spent in Sky’s state of the art SkillsStudio. This is a purpose built mediahub in which the students were ableto plan, write, film, edit and producetheir own news broadcast. All studentswere allocated a job whether it was

presenting the news, reporting onlocation, producing and directing thebroadcast or getting behind thecamera or computer to film and editthe production. The students workedbrilliantly, displaying creativity andteamwork and were lucky enough tobe able to work with experienced Skyproducers and editors. The end product was a fantastically professionalnews production on “Celebrity Culture” and the various impacts thiscan have on young people.

Everybody had a fantastic time and thestudents were outstanding ambassadors for the school, befittingof their status as English Stars.

Mr Latchford

“Sky” is thelimit for Year 8English Stars!

PRIDE ofBarnwellSchoolThe school has identified five keycharacteristics that they believedevelop students both academicallyand personally. Students have beenencouraged and rewarded fordemonstrating Passion, Resilience,Innovation, Determination andEmpathy, both within the schooland the wider community. There hasbeen a tangible culture shift instudent aspirations and self-confidence which has seen enhancedprogress across all year groups.

The first year of PRIDE culminated intwo outstanding presentationevenings, rewarding students whohad been nominated the most timesfor displaying PRIDE characteristics.The overall winners for each yeargroup were:

Year 7 – Hannah Hayter and EvieSmith, Year 8 – Chloe Bardou, Year 9– Albert Jacob, Year 10 – KimberleySlessor and Year 11 – Callum Titre.

One parent said “I just wanted tosay thank you on behalf of myselfand my son for a lovely evening.I am very proud of him and I wantedto thank all staff for encouragingand supporting him during his timeat Barnwell. I strongly believe theteachers have contributed to his development into a fine young man”.

Headteacher Tony Fitzpatrick said“We launched PRIDE in Septemberwith the intention of developingand acknowledging the talents ofour wonderful students. I am veryproud of our students and whatthey are achieving, it is lovely to beable to give them the recognitionthey deserve. So many of ourstudents have been nominated formany of the traits and are highlymotivated to achieve all five nextyear. The school has moved a longway this year, there is a great senseof optimism about the future.”

Picture: Hannah Hayter, Evie Smith, Chloe Bardou, Albert Jacob, Kimberley Slessor and Callum Titre

Participation in New Views, the National Theatre’s annual playwriting programmefor 15-19 year olds has now ended. Participants write their own 30 minute plays, with one play chosen to be staged at the NT with a professional cast. This is the first year that Barnwell has been involved and inApril we received the following message from the board at the National Theatre:“We have been overwhelmed by the standard of this year’s scripts. The totalnumber of scripts that have been submitted at the final submission this yearis a huge 276 scripts.”Two of our playwrights had their work selected for the ‘long list’. They wereMarisa Herridge (The Survivors of the Smash) and Sabrina Shah (SpeakingUp, Speaking Out):

“The starting point for my play was an emailrant…Heba is preparing for her speakingexam. Her class barely hear her speak andthey know hardly anything about her. Tothem, she is nameless, faceless…” (Sabrina).“Sneaking around isn’t the best way to havea relationship…Thomas and Edith, had nochoice. On the way to Gallipoli in May1915, a terrible train crash leaves Edith closeto death. But Thomas can’t stay, he has to

go and fight…” (Marisa). We were delighted when Speaking Up SpeakingOut was selected as one of the top plays shortlisted for the competition.Georgia Fitch (pictured below), the professional playwright assigned tosupport and review our submissions, was fulsome in her praise of bothBarnwell writers:

The Survivors of the Smash by Marisa Herridge was a major piece of work,beautifully written, and at times touchingly realised. Full of imagery, it movedat quite a pace too, there were some moments of real craft here also. I lovedthe big ambitiousness of the work, and the taking on of such a big story. Inaddition, the attempt at a love story, and a war story, that had a resonancefor us all now, was equally admirable.

Speaking Up Speaking Out by SabrinaShah is a passionate and exciting piece ofwriting. With a narrative that zoomsalong, it has a compelling fearlessness,and explores a difficult issue, from anoften silenced, marginalised viewpoint.Fuelled by an underlying burning anger,the play knows what it wants to say anduses whatever means in which to do so. The characters are bold and loud, and there is some lively dialogue alongthe way. In addition, Sabrina also manages to create some moving tendermoments, especially in terms of the mother character. Most importantly, I liked the way Sabrina structured the play, and kept us all ultimately guessing.It has been a pleasure and a privilege to facilitate this programme.

Ms Pellen

MovingImageAwards

WJEC’sMoving ImageAwards will beheld in 2015.The competitionis open to allstudents aged14-19, who arefollowing WJEC

Film or Media Studies specifications.The deadline for entries wasTuesday, 2 June 2015 and theawards ceremony will be held atthe British Film Institute, Londonin December 2015.

The categories are:• Short Film (2-5 mins)• Film extract (any genre, 2-5 mins)• TV extract (any genre, 2-5 mins)• Music Video (may be based on

tracks where there is an existing music video, 2-5 mins)

• For entrants 16 or under, any moving image production may be submitted (2-5 mins)

There will be prizes for eachcategory as well as an overallprize for the best moving imagework. Barnwell has entered twopieces of work for this award:

AnxietyAware by Charlotte Bott(TV extract) Runaway (EdSheeran) by Megan Browne(Music Video)

If successful, these awards can goon the mantelpiece with thosealready won by this cohort (BestCast Performance & Best FilmMade in Hertfordshire)

NEWS VIEWS

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On Thursday 18th March,the VI Base took theirannual trip to London tosee the musicalMemphis. This wascourtesy of ‘MouseTrap’, a foundation thatorganises trips, for thevisually impaired, toaccess West End shows.

This is what Year 8 student LatifGyandoh thought of the day.

The show was amazing and thesinging and dancing great! We had seats in the second rowso we could see everything. We joined in the workshopsbeforehand with one of the dancerswe actually saw on stage! The storyis about racism in America in the50’s and a white guy who wantedto play black music. In the touch tourof the stage we went inside his radio booth. At the end the teachersstood up and danced and clapped but I didn’t. I would really recommendthe show to my friends.

Afterwards we walked to Leicester Square to M&M world and I boughtsome souvenirs. It was really good, with loads to do and see, (thethings you can make out of M&Ms is AMAZING!) and lots of space tomove around. Can’t wait for the next trip!

by Latif Gyandoh

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R&D theatre reviewDrama Baby by Jamie Brittain, Barnwell School NT Connections Company 2015,National Theatre Regional Showcase, Royal and Derngate Theatre, Northampton

On Thursday 30th April, Barnwell NT Connections Company 2015 successfullytransferred their production of Drama Baby to this professional theatre venue. After performing to a packed auditorium, they received fantastic feedback from the

resident youth theatre, fellow teenage actors, professional practitionersand other local theatre-goers who were also involved in this prestigiousregional showcase. During the day the company also enjoyed a creativearts workshop. In addition to this, several of the Year 11 actors in thecast were able to present an extract from the show for their final GCSEDrama examination piece.“The moment with Neil getting the bra stuck on him was very funny…brilliant moment when Derek strikes a pose prior to ‘confessing’ lovefor Neil… Really great work with the ‘exam results’ section… “ (Paul Hart, National Theatre).Many thanks to Miss Cozens, Miss Anderson, Mr Hull and Mrs Triggs

for enabling this trip to proceed.Ms Pellen & Mrs Jenkins

Pitch @Act 2 Cam

DEADLINE: JUNE 30TH 2015Upper School Writing Grouphave just submitted our Top5 entries for this BBC Writers’Room writing competition,open to young people age16-21. Entitled Whispers inthe Wind, The DanielsSessions, Riches to Rags,Zombie Situation and TheGuilty Party, each pitchcomprises a 5 Part Formula,generic themes, a log-lineand a 20 beat storyline.

We have also included teaserstoryboards like the onebelow to help to ‘sell thestory’…

If selected, the winning‘pitches’ will be awarded£500 for the school and bemade into a film. This summer,winners will work with theaward-winning screenwriter,John Hickman, alongside ateam of young screenwriters,developing the original ideafrom a simple concept to afully-fledged screenplay.

ACT 2 CAM will then shoot the film and premiereit in a commercial cinema, before releasing it onto DVD or BluRay.

LG’SMEMPHISREVIEW

Review: Opening night of‘The Lion King’I came with my six year old son to watchthe opening night of ‘The Lion King’.

For someone who is good with words itisn’t often that I’m speechless. It wasabsolutely stunning! I had deliberatelyavoiding being in the hall for the lastweek as they feverishly rehearsed to ensure I got to see the finished productin all of its glory and what a gem it was!

The dancing was seamless and the students really took on the rolls of theanimals. My son was captivated by theelephants and giraffes and the use of thestage area was magnificent. The deathof Mufasa reduced a lot of the audienceto tears and really captured people’simagination.

The second act surpassed the first withbeautiful chorography, comedy andstunning vocals. The choir and orchestrawere exquisite and the standing ovationat the end was certainly well earnt. My sonloved the hyenas, Zazu and the comedyduo Timon and Pumbaa.

I loved it all and was genuinely impressedwith the quality and moved by the singing.Having seen the West End productionrecently I can honestly say they were rivalled. Well done to the cast, crew, schooland staff choir a lot of work went in andwe; the audience were truly grateful .

Miss Cowling

On the 21st May the wholeof Year 9 were off timetableto sample the delights of aLion King theme day.

Theme day was a whole burst of excitement. Activities flourished and transitions between lessons ransmoothly. We all took part in wellplanned classes from drumming andsinging to baking traditional Africancookies. Personally my favourite classwas Geography as we learnt aboutthe actual realism of the Lion King.Thank you teachers and performersfor giving us a deeper insight intothis performance throughout theday. Jack Sartain

The Lion King theme day was a goodexperience as we got to learn abouta different culture. I enjoyed learningthe language the most.

Latifah Begum

LION KINGTHEME DAY

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A Lion King-Size Review!On the 8th, 9th and 10th of Julywe performed The Lion King in theMiddle School hall; it was incredible!The most exciting part of any production is seeing it all finallycome together: the band, the acting, the set, the lighting, themake-up, the dancing and thesinging, which has taken monthsof hard work to create and perfect,all comes together to create anamazing and captivating performance.

Being involved in a production,whether your role is big or small,can be one of the most fulfillingexperiences; you make so manynew friends, learn new skills, andimprove your confidence whilstcreating a performance to beproud of.

Everyone has worked so hard andit has definitely paid off. I lookforward to seeing what next year’sproduction will bring to the MiddleSchool stage.

Rachael Thornton, Rafiki.

Kew Gardens Art &Photography Trip,Tuesday 9th June2015Mrs Agard-Vernon

Armed with cameras, cameraphones, sketchbooks and anabundance of enthusiasm, thirtyYear 9 students poured throughthe gates of Kew Gardens, London.These were students who hadopted for Art or Photography asa GCSE subject next year. The aimof the trip was to give them agood starting point, allowingthem to record experiences andexplore ideas. For many, it wastheir first visit to the world famousbotanical gardens. For some itwas an adventure, like steppingthrough a door into a magicalnew world full of surprises.

Massive, weird looking tropicalplants, lily pads the size of a diningtable, fantastic fish in undergroundtanks, tree top walkways thatwobbled scarily and of coursethe green houses so large youcould get hopelessly lost - andtwo girls did!“I never imagined you could get somuch from just looking at plants!”“I can’t wait to print out my photos!”“Yeah I really enjoyed it. It was areally good day out. I can’t believeit’s time to go back already!”

Happily we arrived back atschool exactly on time at theend of the day. We waved goodbye to a very happy coachdriver who couldn’t get overhow brilliantly well behaved our Barnwell students were. So from Mrs Ide, Mrs Bond andmyself, I’d like to say a big“Thank you” to all who came on the trip. You made us proud.Well done guys.

NEWYORK,NEWYORK! Our trip commenced on 22nd May 2015. Art and Photography studentstravelled to New York, where we stayed in the Hotel Pennsylvania on33rd Street opposite Madison Square Garden. Breakfast was early andcomprised of NY bagels and cream cheese, with a selection of deliciouscereals and juices, not forgetting the coffee.

During our visit we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Statueof Liberty, Museum of Modern Art, The Guggenheim and many more exciting attractions and of course the memorable Ground Zero. At the topof The Rock, we saw the cityscape from above and from Liberty Island we saw the sheer size of Manhattan from afar. Our favourite part of thewhole trip was top of the Rockefeller centre, Central Park and the food!

Mr Ledster and Mrs Triggs were super excited about the peanut butter shop!By Grace Turner, Emily Johnson and Rebecca Springall. Year 10

Food TechThis term, part of the Year 10s GCSE Food TechnologyExam, students have been completing theory and practicalwork. The theme is to research and produce four items thatwould be suitable to serve for an Afternoon Tea. Students havehad to use their skills knowledge and research to look atspecific criteria which includes presentation, garnishing,costings and the nutritional information of their chosendishes. The students have produced some high quality temsusing a range of skills. The Food Technology Departmentare very proud of the students who have worked extrahard over these past weeks and would like to thank theirparents and carers for supporting with the cost of the food.

Mr Mendelsohn

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On Tuesday 23rd June, BarnwellExpressive Arts students took part inthe Stevenage Festival at the GordonCraig Theatre. This festival is a twoweek celebration of the arts acrossStevenage, to celebrate the talent ofthe young people across the town. As a school, we share our performanceevening with Nobel School andschools perform items both separately and together. More thanseventy Barnwell students across allyear groups took part in creating aseries of performances incorporatingmusic, dance and drama and displayed a high level of professionalism throughout.

The students performed a wide-ranging programme, including BTECLevel 3 dance choreographies

performed by the students themselves and other members oftheir class, excerpts from the schoolproduction of Lion King, funk androck band material being used forthe school music festival ‘Barnfest’,Accelerate Dance Company and theKey Stage 3 dance club and Year 12drama performances.

Audience members came away commenting on the high quality ofall of the performances and the enjoyment so obviously evident onstage, with many commenting onthe high level of talent on offer withone spectator emailing their gratitude saying, ‘It’s unbelievablethat students can produce so muchwork to such a high standard!’. Welldone to all involved!

Mr Brown

On Monday 22nd June MrPatching, Luca and I took a tripto the Stevenage Fire Station.As Luca and I are bothAmbassadors, Mr Patchingwanted our ideas on waysthat the school could mosteffectively co-operate withthe Stevenage Fire Service,and White Watch inparticular. The visit was greatand whilst there, wediscussed how the Firemenand women could educatethe students of Barnwell

about fire safety awareness. Everyone cameup with some fantastic ideas and we look forwards to

working closely with them in the near future in a varietyof different ways.

Maddie Davies

After we had our talk with the fire service crew we got abrilliant tour of one of the fire engines. We saw all of theequipment that they use with certain fires or emergencysituations and we had the opportunity to sit in the caband try out some of the emergency equipment. Maddieand I got to hold a heat detector and see heat waves ondifferent objects. It was really good.

Luca Marshall

We would like to thank CC Richie Hamner and the rest ofthe White Watch crew for this fantastic opportunity andwe look forward to working together in the future.

Mr Patching

Fire Station Collaboration

StevenageArts Festival

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Cage Footballcomes to Barnwell

During this half term, eachTuesday lunchtime we havebeen extremely fortunate tohost the ‘Stevenage Plant’ CageFootball facility. The rules areclear; 2 players per team, 2goals to win the game or gameover after 90 seconds. ‘Nuts’ =instant win and kicking the ballout of the cage = instant lose.Simple ☺Students who have beensuccessful in winning 3consecutive games havequalified for the Grand Final.Thanks to ‘Stevenage Plant’ for providing this extremely popularaddition to our lunchtimeenrichment programme.

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The Archbishop of Canterburymeets Barnwell Students

Three Barnwell students, Lewis Kendellen, LauraWilliams and Callum Hughes were VIPs at a localevent called ‘Love Herts - #selfiewithjustinwelby’ atwhich Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterburyand leader of 80 million members of the AnglicanChurch, was the speaker.

The Archbishop was responding to video questionsposed by the students that had been made at school during

the GSCE Religious Studies lessons and filmed by a team organising the event.On the evening, the Archbishop spent so much timeanswering a question (posed by a deep thinkingGeorge Ketcher) that he didn’t have time to respondto some of the other questions!

Due to their preparedness to be part of the event,the students were amongst the first to be introducedto the Archbishop and to take a ‘selfie’ picture with him.

Mr Kingston

LANGUAGESDO YOU WANT TO BUILD A PEN PAL?In January, we initiated a project in which our students would correspond viaemail with a school in a French speaking country. Six of our lovely Barnwellstudents (Chloé Bardou, Chelsea Hawkins, Katie Jellis, Naomi Aknai, OliverPavey and Ryan Hoskins) teamed up with a school in Malicounda, in Senegal.Letters and emails have been exchanged and the students from Barnwellhave even made videos in which they presented Barnwell School.

The students have been very excited to find out about the beauty ofSenegal, although, by all accounts it can be rather hot and dusty!Additionally, Barnwell students have shown a great deal of curiosity aboutSenegalese cuisine. We will, therefore, carry out a cooking competition verysoon… But why choose a pen pal?You can…- Make new friends- Use French in a real situation- Learn cultural differences- Improve language skills - Have fun

If you are interested in taking part inthe Languages club every Friday atlunch time, please speak withMadame Deloison in ML4.

St Albans

TRIP

Year 12 History studentsrecently visited St AlbansCathedral as part of their A level unit on ElizabethanEngland. The impact of religious changes is still visiblein St Albans cathedral, withrecovered medieval art in the nave and evidence oficonoclasm. The reconstructedshrine of St Alban allowed usto imagine the atmosphere ofthe abbey church before theDissolution of the Monasteries,when it was one of England’sbusiest sites of pilgrimage.Martha Huggins said: ‘It wasfascinating to see the variousarchitectural styles in thebuilding, from Norman throughto the end of the Gothic periodin the 16th century.’ LukeEden-Walker commented: ‘It’s amazing to think that details such as the brass plateon an abbot’s grave escapeddamage and can still be seentoday. The trip brought thereligious turmoil of the Reformation alive’.

Over the May BankHoliday weekend, 39lucky students and 4teachers undertook aEuropean adventureon the annual Year 9Paris trip

SaturdayHaving arrived late on Friday, therewere a few sleepy faces on Saturdaymorning. However tiredness wassoon forgotten as we took in themyriad sights, sounds and worldfamous landmarks of Paris.

Our first stop was to take a relaxingand informative trip on the Seineand upon arrival the students caughttheir first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower!The boat tour allowed students todrink in such wonderful sights asNotre Dame Cathedral, The Louvre,Musee D’Orsay and the now infamous Pons des Arts where lovingcouples place padlocks on the bridgeto symbolise their relationships.

Following the boat trip we had theopportunity to see some of Paris onfoot, getting up close and personalwith the Eiffel Tower before walkingup to the Place de Trocadero towitness the breath-taking viewsacross Paris and of the tower (we

also found time to stop for sometraditional Parisian crepes!

A short coach journey later and wearrived at yet another Parisianlandmark; the Champs Elysee, hometo some of the most exclusive shopsin Europe. Students were treated toa walk along this world famousavenue and a quick pit stop at the‘Golden Arches’ before heading onto the Arc de Triomphe and stoppingto pay our respects at the tomb ofthe Unknown Soldier. Our afternoonwas polished off with a scramble upthe 400 plus steps at Sacre Coeur totake in unparallelled views across thewhole city.

Having had some well deserveddinner and a short rest the day wastopped off with a nightime tour ofthe city and was perfectly timed totake in the Eiffel Tower sparkles.

Sunday This was the day everyone waswaiting for….DISNEY. A fantasticday was had by all, whether thrillseeking on rides such as the Towerof Terror, meeting favourite Disneycharacters or spending lots in thegift shops!

The trip was fantastic and someamazing memories were made. Asstaff we would like to thank all thestudents (and their parents) for howbrilliant everyone was while we wereaway. The trip was a great successand we hope you all enjoyed it asmuch as we did.

White WaterRaftingOn Wednesday, 8th July ninestudents from Years 9 and 10were rewarded for their effortin PE and commitment toextra-curricular activities thisyear. Students were given theopportunity to experiencewhite water rafting and flatwater canoeing at the London2012 Olympic venue at LeeValley. The boys wereimpeccably behaved andexcellent representatives forBarnwell, they all worked hardthroughout the day and reallyenjoyed the activities, theywere also successful in notcapsizing their raft!

A big well done to: Danny KingstonKieran WestonTyler MitchellLuke SugdenStuart RietzlerDanny CarterCallum ButlerMitch ConstableHarry Hacobian

Mr Tyler

Trips’n’VisitsYr9 Paris Rewards Trip

22nd-25th May 2015

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KS3 ComputingThis year has continued to see abigger focus on computing andcomputational thinking forBarnwell students. Followingthe implementation of a newprogramme of study ICT lessons now incorporate thefundamentals of computing.

The aim is that students are nowable to understand and applythe fundamental principles andconcepts of computer science.They can also analyse problems in computational terms and haverepeated practical experience ofwriting computer programs.Students have started to code avariety of programs usingpython and learn what is inside a computer and how the differentcomponents interact and work.In addition to this students stillneed to be competent users ofICT and ensure that they are responsible, competent, confidentand creative users of informationand communication technology.

KS4 GCSEComputingStudents who are taking GCSEComputing have been learningabout the components of a computer and how they interact.In a recent lesson they took

apart PC’s to identify thecomponents. They thenresearched the function of eachcomponent.

This term has been a very busy one forYear 11’s; they have been reviewingexamination techniques and revisingfor their external examinations forUnits 1 and 3 in Business.

The Year 10’s have focused on how toset up in business and the core skills

required to do this. They have also concentrated on thedifference between invention and innovation. Students had to work in groups,looking at different inventors, the products invented, the key words and the dates each invention occurred. This exercise was highly competitive and studentswere clear about the difference between invention and innovation from it.

The Year 10’s have been working hard on Unit 1 and cover a wide expanse oftopics. Students had to research into what sole traders and franchises were,finding out the benefits, drawbacks and liability of each type of ownership.Students then had to determine which type of ownership would be mostappropriate for a local flower shop. The student’s presented their findings tothe class in a very professional manner, comprehensive information was givenand the decisions they arrived at were detailed and fully justified.

There has been a great focus on launching a student business within theBarnwell community. Students have worked hard to identify, research, costand produce promotional materials for a car washing business at the school.This business will be launched in September and will be called ‘Squeaky Clean’.This service will be offered to teachers, sixth formers and eventually extendedto parents when the school has open evenings.

Ms Lennon

GCSEBusiness

BTEC National in BusinessOver the course of the year, sixth form students have been working hard to gaintheir BTEC Business qualification. Year 12 students have covered Unit 1 - TheBusiness Environment, Unit 2 - Business Resources and Unit 3 - Marketing.Students in Year 13 have completed Unit 4 -Communication, Unit 13 - Recruitmentand Selection and Unit 15 – Career Planning.

Unit 3 has been a really enjoyable unit for the pupils as they have created theirown marketing mixes and also presented their ideas to the group, they have takenon feedback really well and evaluated their ideas.

During unit 15, the year 13s had to work independently as this was for their careerplan, they had to take part in a skills audit and most pupils found this really helpfuland contributed to their UCAS applications.

It has been a really busy year but both year groups have done well. Some pupils inthe Year 12 class are doing particularly well. Rachael Ferguson, Liam Bayford, Jamie Pyefinch, Tom Wootten and George Riley have gained Distinctions in Unit 3 and Unit 1and pupils have really enjoyed completing tasks, especially the more creative tasks.

As well as the success of the Year 12 we have had many pupils from our Year 13class completing the course with Distinction * - helping them get into university.

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As part of their Health and SocialCare course students studied a unit of work on Health Promotion. They investigated different types of healthpromotions and assessed their effectiveness. These included nationalhealth campaigns which use shocktactics to encourage us to be morehealthy and medical interventionssuch as the HPV vaccination that isprovided in schools. They then producedmaterial for their own health campaign.Year 10 students focused on an anti-smoking campaign and conductedprimary and secondary research tohelp them. They then produced aninformation leaflet, posters, billboarddesigns and a story board for a TV advertisement.

Visit to the Visual Impairment Base atBarnwell School Effective communicationis an essential skill in Health and SocialCare and students study a unit of thisat both level 2 and 3. This year sixthform students and Year 10 studentsvisited the Visual Impairment base atBarnwell in order to find out the methodsused to support communication withvisually impaired children.

They took part in a variety of activitiesthat gave them a real experience ofwhat it must be like to have a specificvisual impairment and how this canact as a barrier to communication.

They found out about the types oftechnology used to help visuallyimpaired children and also had a go onthe Braille typewriter. Thank you toMrs Ide for organising these activities.

Year 12 Health and Social Care studentslearning to use Braille. See above forpicture.

On 16th March Year 10 students, onthe Accelerated Option Route, tookpart in a week of work experience.Local business placements includedCobham Wireless Ltd, Premier Inn,Cost Coffee, Waitrose and Blue Inc.Some students organised their ownplacements with help from familymembers and friends. The FacultyAdministrator, Mrs Walker, managed tovisit a number of them and receivedsome excellent feedback from theemployers. Stacey Griffiths and InorTafa received a lot of praise from the

staff at Dunelm Mill. Dan Beard, LewisCantelow, Ayda Paulauskaite, LucyMalyon, Lilly Meegan, Lewis Pears andJake Perrier all had positive feedback. A special well done goes to RyanFaulkner at Wilkinsons and Ellie Woodsat Marks and Spencer who bothreceived excellent feedback and impressed the employers a great deal.Wilkinsons would be happy to offerRyan a job in the future which is highpraise indeed.

By Miss PritchardWork Experience Coordinator

Design andTechnology

The GCSE Resistant Materialsstudents have workedincredibly hard on theircoursework projects, whichare worth 60% of their finalgrade. Pictured here is thework of Ben Harris, LukeJeffery, Casper Cooper, HarryMarvell, Lewis Digweed,Macsen Fraser, Saul Mooreand Nathan Gibson.

The students designedproducts with a Retro or ArtDeco style and have producedsome truly outstanding work.This year our Year 10 ProductDesign students are developingtheir coursework projects andwill be working on those overthe summer holidays ready tobegin manufacture whenthey return in September.

Year 10 WorkExperience

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Health andSocial Care

Year 9BoysCricket

This year the Year 9 cricket team had an excellent run ofperformances in the North HertsDistrict Calypso Cricket Cup.They progressed from a toughgroup, winning all 3 of theirmatches convincingly. Theywere unfortunately beaten by astrong John Henry Newmanteam by 9 runs in the final tofinish Runners-up. This is anexcellent achievement, welldone boys!

Mr Launay

Max PriceMax Price competed in theRegional Combined Events(Octathlon) on the 28th and29th June in Reading.He finished 1st place with astaggering 5060 points and 2other new PB’s in Discus and400m, also equalling his PB of1.90m in High Jump.

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FencingOn Saturday the 25th of April, I went to a fencingcompetition called the Herts County Championships.All of the fencers are from somewhere inHertfordshire, or fence in a club in Hertfordshire. Inthe poule (a round – there was only one) I won twoof my fights and lost one. The girl I lost against hadbeen fencing for about four years.

In the DE (Direct Elimination; If you lose you are outof the competition completely) I won my first. Shewas a novice like me. As I came second overall in the

poule, I had to fence one of the girls that scored the least. She and I were the onlynovices in the age group, so I got ‘Nest Novice’. I was already guaranteed bronze.In the semis I lost. The girls that came 1st and 2nd both fenced for England andGB! I was pretty happy with my result- I am proud of it.

Mya Glenister (Year 7 Hoy College)

Year 8 DistrictRoundersTournamentOn Tuesday 16th June, our Year 8girls rounders team participatedin the District Rounderstournament at the Thomas AlleyneAcademy. We were placed in apool with John Henry Newman,Princess Helena College andSt Christopher School.

During the first game weplayed John Henry Newmanand demonstrated completecompetence when fielding,preventing John Henry Newmanfrom scoring highly. Communication between players wasexcellent and the girls showed a real desire to win.

The second and third games against Princess Helena College and St Christopherwere tough games. The tactics of attacking fielding techniques used by theother schools meant that some of our players were out quite quickly. Our players were determined and focused throughout but unfortunately welost both games on the last two good balls.

We didn’t make it to the quarter finals but our Year 8 team were pleased withtheir performance on the day.

I would like to congratulate the following students for their effort,performance and sportsmanship on what was a fantastic tournament.

Charlie Brooks Katie Jellis Chelsea HawkinsChloe Reeves Megan Dent Jemima OrphanouKaty Bygrave Hannah Williams

Mrs Carter

This year has been anexciting time forAthletics at Barnwellmany students havebeen recording newpersonal bests, with others excelling at notonly a District level, butat County level too!Below is a breakdown of the team and individualsuccesses this summer:

District League Year 9 & 10/11The District as a whole was extremely competitive at these age groups, and as ateam we found it more difficult this year.With many key competitors injured, orinvolved in revision groups the team wereoften missing players and did not quitereach their projected potential. However,there were some excellent individualperformances from students such as: HarryHacobian (Javelin and 400m), LiamCunnington (Shot), Kieran Weston (Hurdles/ Javelin), Luke Sugden (1500m) and TylerMitchell (High Jump). Not only have there been some excellent individual performancesthroughout the summer but the Year 9Boys team also finished in a medal positionwith Bronze overall. Well done gentleman!

District League Year 7 & 8 It has been a very successful and vibrantyear for the new cohorts in the Year 7 teamand the more experienced Year 8’s. We hadsome exceptional and dominatingperformances from students Joshua Roache(Hurdles / Triple Jump), Steven Obeng (LongJump), Harry Bass (Shot Put) includingexcellent performances from Year 7 studentsin Ollie Barnes (Discus), Lewis Nash (Hurdles),Kyle Toomey (Shot Put) and Ellie Stone(Javelin).

County Combined Events(7th May - Ridlins, Stevenage)Students selected for representing Barnwellat the Championships were Abigail Pickard(Year 9), Harry Hacobian (Year 9), KieranWeston (Year 10) and Max Price (Year 11).All four students had tough competitionfrom the best combined athletes across the

whole of Hertfordshire. Abigail Pickardfinished 11th out of 46 competitors with1949 points, Harry Hacobian finished 14thout of 41 with 1526 points, Kieran Weston finished 8th out of 15 competitors with 1534 points and Max Price finished 2nd place outof 15 competitors with 2301 points.

Hertfordshire Schools Track &Field Championships (6th June - Jarman Park, HemelHempstead) The outstanding athletes of the year havebeen Abigail Pickard (Year 9), Tyler Mitchell(Year 10), Max Price (Year 11), and RebeccaBeddall (Year 11) who were all selected tocompete at the Hertfordshire School’s Trackand Field Championships. All the studentscompeted in their strongest events, withMax Price winning both Long Jump(National Standard) and High Jump! AbigailPickard finished in an impressive 3rd placein the Year 9 girls Hurdles final.

District Championships (24th June - Ridlins, Stevenage) All of the top athletes in their respectiveyear groups were selected to representBarnwell against the strongest athletes from all schools in the North Hertfordshirearea. We were very successful over the dayaccumulating a grand total of 4 gold, 4 silverand 3 bronze medals.

Harry Hacobian – Javelin GoldAbigail Pickard – Long Jump GoldTyler Mitchell – High Jump GoldAbigail Pickard - HurdlesGoldLewis Nash - Hurdles SilverSteven Obeng – Long Jump SilverEllie Stone - Javelin SilverKyle Toomey – Shot Put BronzeOllie Barnes - Discus BronzeLiam Cunnington – Shot Put Bronze

FINAL WORDWell done to everyone who has competedand represented Barnwell School this yearin Athletics. The commitment anddedication that some students have shownthis year has been magnificent. It has beena fantastic year and everyone is lookingforward to building on this platform fornext year!

Mr Launay

ATHLETICSROUND-UP

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ATHLETICS

6th formRoundersOn Monday 27th April, ThomasAlleynes hosted the North HertsDistrict rounders tournament. And asalways there was a big turnout, on theday there were eleven teamscompeting. The Barnwell School teamincluded Leanne Wilson, RachaelTremlett, Georgia Barnes, CatherineKelly, Mariah Gunn, Rachael Ferguson,Katie Nixon, Chloe Sampford, MansaHerridge and Emma Hayter. The girls'first game was against KnightsTemplar School, it was a good gamefrom both teams. However, the girlsplayed a solid game and came out ontop winning the game 3 and a half to1 and a half.

The next game Barnwell had to playwas against St Christopher School; thegirls again produced a magnificentperformance and again came out ontop, with their second win of the day.

Now with Barnwell going into theirfinal game already through to thesemi finals, it seemed we let our guarddown and came up against a strongHitchin side that played exceptionallywell and our Barnwell team could notfind our rhythm. However, the girlscould hold up their heads high as they had already qualified for the semi-finals!

With the weather being at its best,sunny and warm, the girls again tookto the pitch against a very impressivethe Hitchin Girls sixth form team.Again it seemed the girls could notfind their rhythm and Hitchin Girlssixth form won the game deservingly.

With one last game to play, the girlswere now playing for 3rd placeagainst the promising St. FrancisCollege. It was a closely contestedgame but our girls did us proud inbeating them and coming third place!

I'd like to thank everybody for their support and dedication, well done girls!

Mrs Carter