The Barnwell School Newsletter - Issue No 25, December 2018

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

Campus

HeadTalk...Dear Students and Parents,We have come to the end of a very long term and the whole school community is looking forward to a well-earned rest. Year 11 and the Sixth Form have worked hard completing their mock examinations and we look forward to them forgingahead towards their final few terms before the summer examinations.

Schools are always busy places and as you have seen from our weekly newsletter, our students have had the opportunity to participate in so many exciting and inspiring lessons and activities. Starting with the Year 7 AdventureWeekend and ending with the Christmas Show and Christmas Dinners, staff and students have been involved intheatre trips, guest speakers, school competitions, rehearsals and far too many extra-curricular clubs to mention.All of that in only the first term!

I am sure that you would like to join with me in thanking all the staff at Barnwell School for their continuedtremendous hard work and commitment to the students during the year.

On behalf of everybody at Barnwell School, we wish you, your family and the students a very merry Christmas anda Happy New Year.

Mr M Roberts - Head of School

Christmas Show 2018 On Thursday 13th December, over 150 students took part in our annual Christmas Show. The event is a wonderful opportunity for us to show off the talents of our students within Expressive Arts.

Act 1 contained a fantastic mix of music and dance, with Megan D and Jemimah O opening the show with an acoustic Christmas classic.Year 8 and Year 9 dance companies wowed the audience with their tightly choreographed ensemble routines, and we were treated to a host of musical numbers from the talented bands and vocalists in KS3. The A Level Dance students closed Act 1 for the students, but not before the audience were surprised by a special Christmas message from the staff!

Year 7 were the stars of Act 2, with Layla M, Ella S and Archie D demonstrating outstanding performances in the pantomime production of Cinderella. The dancers and musicians completed the show, representing Expressive Arts with pride and joy. All of our Year 7 studentswho were treading the Barnwell boards for the first time did an amazing job, and we can’t wait to see how they progress over the coming years!

Well done everyone! The Expressive Arts team

1StepYouthDancePlatform

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On Sunday 9th December, students from our Year 8 ‘Elevate’ Dance Companyand Year 9 ‘Accelerate’ Dance Company travelled to the University of Bedfordshirefor the 1Step Youth Dance Platform.

During the day students were given the opportunity to take part in a creativehip-hop contemporary workshop where using flow and dynamic qualities wasreally important to capture the style – students all gave it a good go!!

There was also a dance and photography session with a professional photographerwhere students had the opportunity to consider movements and still positionsthat would be appropriate to capture – props were also used at this point – fromhats to umbrellas and tea cups, students had lots of fun!

The technical rehearsal in the Campus Theatre was the first chance for studentsto get on the big stage with all the professional lighting and sound equipmentwhich was a really exciting experience and a chance to experience life as a professional performer.

Then the main event – the show itself! Students from both groups showcasedthe stunning work that they had been working on in their respective dancecompany rehearsals and performed amazingly – with passion, energy and determination they all stepped up and delivered brilliant performances that theycan all be very proud of. Well done to all students involved and bring on thenext show!

Miss Blackwell

DANCELet’s

Save the Children Christmas Jumper Day 2018

For the last few years we have supported the Save the Children Christmas Jumper Day, helping raise money to help their work to support children acrossthe world who are suffering as a result of war, natural disaster or poverty.

This year over 200 Barnwell students and staff took part, wearing their festive knitwear and making the day festive and fun.We raised over £200

for this very good cause – an excellent achievement.

Thank you to all staff and students that took part and if you would like to findout more about Save the Children and their work, or donate to this very goodcause, please visit them at: www.savethechildren.org.uk

Mr Reavell

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Student ReviewAt the beginning of the year, some students (including myself) whotook drama for their ‘filter GCSEs’ were selected and invited to anafter-school drama club every Thursday. In the group, we were told by Miss Parker - the creator of this all - that in the future, we will beperforming as different characters that we will have to design.

In the first few weeks, our group was learning new tactics and discoveringunique methods of acting, such as: round / by / through and clearlydemonstrating emotions as well as characteristics in performances.These helped us develop our drama skills and have a once-in-a-lifetimeopportunity. We learnt and made fantastic sequences for contact-onlymovements (touching your partners hand could result in them performing an arm circle) which we are going to perform in the finalperformance.

However, during the last couple of weeks, we have created characters(for example: the hero, the joker...) which will be used in our play inFebruary. We have also been making a part of the script for our scenes!

Overall, the experience so far has been exciting and excellent. I havecut out paper masks, performed, learnt drama skills that enhance myabilities as a performer, worked on stances and walks that present thecharacter’s emotions, and looked at drama practitioners. We have workedour way up from simple acting to the more difficult parts. It’s been so muchfun, and I finally look forward to my Thursdays thanks to Miss Parker!

Written by Amy G – Year 9.

The Year 9 ACTivate Drama performance will take place on Thursday 14th February.

Ticket information will be available in the weeks before.

DRAMAYear 9ACTivateDrama

Each Thursday after school, selected Year 9 students havetaken part in ACTivate Drama.This afterschool program hasaimed to teach these studentsdrama skills that further developtheir understanding of dramaas a subject and prepare themfor GCSE content.

This term, students have deviseda performance based on animage stimulus and created aperformance which will be performed before the Februaryhalf term holiday.

Miss Parker - Drama

Hogwart’s in theSnowAs a reward for longstanding student and teacher participation in the excellentWarner Brothers Education Programme, Ms Pellen and Mr Ledster were invited to return. This was for a private event preview: Hogwart’s in the Snow, on Tuesday20th November. Evidently, various Youtubers/influencers, local and nationalpress, were invited to this prestigious event.

After being consulted about the latest education projects, we offered suggestionsfor improvement and future development. Then we were given VIP lanyardswhich entitled us to a free tour, photo, hot meal and Butterbeer, as well as thepriority preview of Hogwarts in the Snow. As I am sure you can imagine, thisexperience was truly magical, making us even more determined to return withBarnwell students in tow!

OperationEDGEWe have also been participating in the Stevenage Police project Operation Edge, bycreating an innovative audio-visual media campaign.

This has involved interviews, research,pre-production, weekend shoots,verbatim voiceover, as well as an intensive editing process. The finalproduction will be submitted on Friday 14th December, and there willbe a Cineworld screening in January.

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HalloweenHogwartsAt 11am on Thursday 11th October,we arrived at Warner Brothers Studiosfor our film marketing workshop andstudio tour. We were excited to learnthat this trip coincided with ‘Halloweenat Hogwarts’ – featuring death eaterdancers on the iconic wooden coveredbridge! There were gasps of appreciationwhen the Hogwarts doors opened, finally revealing the great hall in all its Halloween glory.

The workshop gave us a fascinatinginsight into the business of promotinga high concept film, as well as somevaluable backstage gossip (Spidermanspotted eating a cheeky Nando’s innearby St Alban’s). We also learnedabout extensive research which informed the production, marketingand distribution of The Crimes ofGrindelwald.

As the tour proceeded, we were thrilledby the new Enchanted Forest section,and issued with wands to ward off thedeath eaters which loomed and lurchedat us during lunch. One even followedus into Diagon Alley…

As always, the final stage of the tour,with the model of Hogwarts itself,provided a breath-taking finale.

The feedback from this annual mediatrip is always gratifying: “That was brilliant!”“I had no idea there were so many different roles and responsibilities involved in media production.”

“When can we go again?”

CREATIVEMEDIAat

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CommemoratingWomen’s SuffrageMeanwhile, back at Barnwell, ourown studio production teams havebeen hard at work. In November,local media producer Craig Maret,fellow artists Anji Archer and TinaCulverhouse worked tirelessly with arange of students from KS4 and KS5 ona local film project to commemoratethe centenary of Women’s Suffrage.This work focused on the letters andstories of local suffragettes whomade an important contribution tothe cause. It was inspiring to bringthe words of Lady Constance Lyttonto life, devising original script,voiceovers and silhouetted vignettes -edited and enhanced using Adobesoftware.

Our visitors were really impressed bythe creative and technical abilitiesof the many different students whobecame involved, and we can’t waitto see the finished films before theyare shared in school and on localplatforms.

CREATIVEMEDIAThisGirlCanMedia Students in Year 10 are refining

their first production assignment in

response to feedback. After studying

the high profile ‘This Girl Can’campaign, they were asked to

‘replicate and innovate’ in response

to previous research and analysis.

TVProductionAnd finally, on Monday 10th December, there was a pioneering A Level TV Production workshop day. This involved 35 Upper School students across the rangein various capacities: as cast and crew, studio audience, panel and participants.The aim of the day was to produce key footage to edit into an opening sequencefor a brand-new TV show, in response to the first A2 Media TV production briefto be undertaken at Barnwell School.

“The day was an incredibly successful, informative,productive experience foraudience, cast and crew.Every single person made adifference to the production.Students found the wholeexperience interesting andmost importantly, enjoyable.I hope that this will inspireother media/creative artsstudents to undertake ambitious projects and fulfil their ideas, with the supportof the school.”

Producer/Director - Inayah Shah - Head Girl Year 13

Round-up...All in all, not only has this been an incredibly busy term for Media staff and students, but also an extremely fulfilling one. We are all looking forward to 2019,which promises to be just as challenging and rewarding. Amongst other things,we will be re-branding and re-launching BYT YouTube channel to showcase allour hard work this year.

Creative & Media Club - Upper School

EXPLOSIVEGeographyYear 9 students have been getting creative! They were tasked with ‘Make a volcano’for homework and the outcome has been inspirational! Ideas have included:• Experiments – volcanic explosions using Mentos and coke • Models – paper-macheting volcanic models • Cakes – baking madness from flapjacks, cup cakes and giant multilayered cakes• Crosswords – classroom activity • Jigsaw puzzles – competitive group work • Poems – creatively written poems using wide vocabulary and #WOW• Raps – using backing tracks • PowerPoint presentations – very informative with great photos • Posters – colourful and eye catching • Minecraft – visual and creative representation

In addition, not only did students have to be creative, they had to present theirhomework to the rest of the class improving their confidence and public speaking skills.All students did a fantastic job having earned pride points and positive slips for theirtremendous efforts! Well done guys, I’m so proud! #CreativeHomework #GeographyFTW #GeogSquad #TeamAhmed

Miss Ahmed

GEOGRAPHY

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Year 10 and 11 GEOGRAPHYFIELD TRIP

This year’s Geography field trips to Stratford,east London were a great success. 90 studentsin total went to Stratford to conduct theirfieldwork for the Geography GCSE course onregeneration in East London. The students looked at how parts of thisarea had been redeveloped for and after theOlympic Games in 2012, and the impacts ofthis regeneration. They compared two contrasting areas of Stratford, one area beingCarpenters Estate and the other being EastVillage (previously Olympic Village, the accommodation where the athletes stayed in2012). In each area, they compared differentenvironmental quality features through carrying out field sketches, environmentalquality surveys, car surveys and a public perception questionnaire. Along with somefantastic masterpieces from our buddingartists, this helped the students see the real-world impacts of regeneration on living conditions and services in east London. The students went boldly and confidentlyinto the public with their questionnaires andeven the busy Londoners took time out oftheir day to stop and answer questionnairesabout the local area for our students.They then followed up this fieldwork withcollecting secondary data from various websites. They gathered census informationon the crime rates in the contrasting areasand on the demographics of each area usingthe census. This fieldwork investigation willnot only be used to answer exam paper 2 onUK Geographical Issues but has given thestudents good grounding of how to carryout an investigation using decision-makingskills, analytical skills, and problem-solvingskills (and much more!) which will be transferable in many areas within school and outside school life. Although year 10s were slightly unluckier withthe weather, the students were enthusiastic,and they made it a great day out! They all really enjoyed seeing geography in the realworld, especially the hour lunch to catch upon Christmas shopping in Westfield shoppingcentre!

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Young Education ‘My Money Week’What is it?The tenth annual My Money Week took place from 11 - 17 June 2018, thanks togenerous support from Martin Lewis OBE.

My Money Week is a national activity week for primary and secondary schools thatprovides a fantastic opportunity for young people to gain the skills, knowledge andconfidence in money matters to thrive in our society. As part of the special week allstudents in middle school entered a National Competition.

The CompetitionSecondary students explored financial action planning. We challenged students to tellus about a financial action plan for a future goal, using a story, a poem, an article or apictogram. The judges were particularly impressed by the detailed planning of thestudents as well as their creative approaches to achieving their goals.

The resultsMassive congratulations to Amy G in Year 9 who achieved the runner up position inthe National Money Week competition. Over 150,000 people were said to take partin this year.

Amy was invited to take part in the awards ceremony which took place at the Towerof London. She was presented with a trophy, a certificate, a £25 gift card and shealso won £250 for the school. Several students from Barnwell were featured in thecreative section of the display at the event.

Excellent work Rosie H (Year 10), Amanda J (Year 10), Reem Al-H (Year 10), Chloe M(Year 9), and Emma G (Year 9). Congratulations again to Amy Gray and well done tothe Maths team!

Amy G’s work is featured along with a photo of her receiving her award!

My Money Week may be over for this year, but it will return from 10 - 16th June 2019!

The UK Maths Challenge dates for this academic year are:• Intermediate Maths Challenge:

7 February 2019-this is for Years 9 and 10

• Junior Maths Challenge: 30 April 2019-this is for Years 7 and 8

MATHLots going on with

Kaffee und KuchenAs part of their GCSE course, Year 9students of German have beenstudying “Customs and Festivals”. It seemed the perfect opportunity,after working so hard on their recentassessments, to treat them to a tasteof ‘Kaffee und Kuchen’.

The German equivalent to the Englishteatime, the German tradition ofKaffee und Kuchen (coffee andcake) takes place between 3 and4pm, when Germans will enjoy either a simple cake or, perhaps onweekends, a slice of somethingmore extravagant, such as theSchwarzwälder Kirschtorte (BlackForest Gateau), while they catch upwith family and friends.

The Year 9 students enjoyed takinga slice out of their busy learningschedule to get a little taste of German culture.

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Year 7s and 8s It has been a busy term with some fantastic food being produced by the students. Year 7 have focused on high-risk foods and have had an assessment on Chickenwith lemon, garlic and rosemary, baked on sliced potatoes and wrapped in foiland baked. The aroma always brings in the teachers (especially Miss Blackwell)and the sausage plait demonstrates pastry skills and high-risk foods.

Year 7s The Year 7s made Brunsli chocolate cookies originating inSwitzerland. The recipe is from the chef Yotam Ottolenghi, and are flavouredwith Chinese 5 spice, cocoa, ground almonds and sugar. Considering it wastheir first attempt, it was very impressive!

FOODTechnology(Mr Mendelsohn)It has been very busy as usual inFood Technology, across bothKS3 and KS4. Launching for thefirst time is:

Food Technologyis now found on Instagram andyou can requestto follow us by

searching for barnwellfood.

Here you will see photos, newsand students work in the foodtechnology classes, food trips,visits, or food related articles.For more information, pleasespeak to Mr Mendelsohn.

A huge thank you to all the students and parents who havehelped in food this term, welldone! Looking into 2019 someexciting projects coming up will be:

Chef Elite:A small group of students whowill be the representatives of theFood Technology departmentin many ways, including healthyeating and recipe development.

The Barnwell Cookbook:An exciting project that we willlook to develop as the yeargoes on. The book will includestudent, staff and parents’recipes.

FOODTECHNOLOGY

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FOODYear 8s Year 8s have been focusing on buildingknowledge around theory as well as practical.Temperatures, and bacteria reproductionis a focus. Technical practical skills andthe assessment challenge of a choice ofthree dishes has tested even the mostconfident of students.

Homework has continued to support the food students with the knowledge they will need forGCSE, and homework has been of a high standard.Well done keep it up!

Year 10s and 11s Year 11’s are currently focusing on their portfolios for the vcert course they are currently studying. They also completed one of their written exams, during the mock week, which students felt positive about. We have a very busy time ahead of us now, so a complete focus after the break is critical for these students.

Year 10’s, have enjoyed the investigation side of their course, making pastry and investigating the different types of fatsin our foods.

Cooking Club – 2018 Wow! This term has been the most attended by students and parents andGrandparent’s since the beginning of the club. Well done to many Year 7s whohave attended every week and a massive thank you to all the helpers who havecome along to support and get involved in the Barnwell Cooking Club. We havemade some incredible dishes, which can only be described through photos, soplease enjoy.

TECHNOLOGY

Enjoying Pizza making as always

Year 9 TechnologyOption Second year in, and the Year 9Technology option is going really well.

Focusing strongly on the skillsthat are required for GCSE, theYear 9 students have beguntheir food journey with the importance of the EatwellGuide, diet and menu planning.

The practical then allowed thestudents to demonstrate theirknowledge of theory and practical skills.

Some of the students reallypushed themselves and outcomeswere fantastic.

STEMClub STEM club spent the first half term investigating the science behind witchcraft andwizardry, charming snakes from sugar, changing water into wine and producingholograms to name a few of the activities.

Students are currently investigating the science and technology behind film making.The picture shows eggs representing stunt riders. They need to be cushioned bythe air bag, which must be inflated to the correct size and have an opening whichallows the bag to deflate at just the right rate to safely land the egg, demonstratedbelow by Callum-Mac D and Branwen R from Year 8.

Students have also made green screen films, so it looks as if they are somewhereexotic while they report to the camera, and they are currently making small scalesets which can be used in filming, to save on locations. Each week, we do something different, so if you are interested, come and join us.

All students are welcome at STEM club which runs every Wednesdayafter school until 4.15pm.

ECOSchools ECO schools are still spreading the Environmentally Friendly message aroundBarnwell School. Previous successes include starting to recycle food scraps fromFood Technology, reducing the amount of litter around school to deter unwantedwildlife on campus and reducing the water consumption of our community. We also had “switch - off – fortnight” and there were prizes up for grabs for staffremembering to turn their lights off when they are not needed. These prizes wereawarded by the students.

All Students are welcome at ECO Schools Club, which runs every Fridaylunch time 12.45-1.15pm.

Static Electricity! Many Year 8 students learned about electricity in science recently.

The topic started with Static Electricity, and nothing demonstrated thisbetter than the Van de Graaf generator. Beautifully illustrated by Julia Kin 8y1, who is negatively charged, along with the dome of the generator.Because each strand of hair has the same charge, the strands repeleach other and stand on end. The charged person can also pass on a small electric shock to anyone too near, which is not for the feint-hearted!

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STEM

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WORLDskillsOn Thursday 15th November, students from Years 9-11 took a coach to the Birmingham NEC to visit the WorldSkills Fayre.

The event showcased professions which have a STEM link and students wereencouraged to get involved at stands; for example, they could have a fake woundapplied as if they were in a film, practice the speed at which they could wrap ropefor a car company and dismantle a computer at an IT stall.

Also taking place were the finals of various National Competitions in skills suchas Bricklaying, Electrical Engineering and Plastering, so the students could seeyoung people demonstrating what they have learned in these areas.

Colleges and Universities were also well represented, so students could find outabout courses which might be of interest to them and which options at GCSEor A Level might be most suitable.

Our students got a lot out of the day, not least some freebies, to remind them of the people they spoke to and the opportunities in STEM careers that they found out about!

The Faraday ChallengeThe annual IET Faraday Challenge is an engineering-based competition for schools. Six teams of six students, aged 12-13 years, compete against one another to see whocan design, create and promote the best solution to a given challenge. All challenges are genuine, real-life engineering problems.

In September we hosted three teams of Nobel School students who challenged three teams of Barnwell students.The challenge is kept secret as the takes place all over the country. The school with the highest scorers goes through to a final, with the opportunity to win a cash prize for their school. The studentsworked very well together and demonstrated our school values of ‘Pride, Resilience,Innovative, Determination and Empathetic’ perfectly. Unfortunately, despite some excellent work, we were not victorious this time.

Well done to the Nobel Team, who won this round of the competition. The winningstudents won a trophy, a book token each and will go through to the next round of thecompetition. Well done to all the students who took part, I look forwardto next year’s competition.

STEM STEMThis term six Year 8 studentstook part in a fantastic STEMevent at MBDA in Stevenage.

The ‘girls only’ event was designed to encourage femalesinto the wonderful world ofengineering and the amazingopportunities it brings as a career. It was an insightful daythat gave the students the opportunity to be an engineerfor a day by planning, buildingand testing on a project.

I would love to give more information to what theirchallenge was, however, it is top secret!

The girls did so well and theyworked hard while competingagainst 7 other schools and nowhave a much better understandingon what engineering is allabout; having some excellentopportunities to listen to arange of engineers who workat MBDA.

Who knows, we may have thenext top engineer amongst ushere at Barnwell!

The

BigBangFair

On 5th November Barnwellrepresented Stevenage at theBig Bang Fair at Parliamentwith their @AffinityWater@TBB_Eastern @CRESTAwardsproject.

Five students from our EcoSchools group presented theirwater project to MP’s & VIP’sat the Houses of Parliamentfor the Big Bang Event.

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SocialBTEC Level 1 Introductory Certificate in Healthand Social CareStudents have been developingan understanding of the importance of effective communication within thehealth and social care sector.They took part in two role-playsituations. One involved feedingan elderly person who is unableto feed themselves. Then theyhad to organise and present anarts and crafts activity for pre-school children with specialeducational needs.

The whole group demonstratedexcellent creative skills as wellas communicating with kindnessand empathy.

Miss Pritchard

RemembranceWEEK In the week beginning Monday 5th November, students from Barnwell participated in events both in and out of schoolto commemorate the end of the First World War.

This Remembrance Week included several activities for students: reading and creating theirown WWI poetry in English; exploring life for a WWI soldier in History; contributing to the#ThankYou100 campaign in Barnwell Pride and creating poppies for the remembrancegarden in Technology.

The response from the students to the activities during the week was nothing short offantastic. It was wonderful to see so many individuals engaging with the #ThankYou100

campaign, and the pictures only show a small amount of what went on. As a school wealso commemorated the event on Sunday 11th November, with our Head Boy and HeadGirl laying a wreath at the local war memorial on behalf of the students and staff ofBarnwell.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those students and parents who contributed to our Remembrance week by buying poppies, taking part in activities acrossthe school and sharing their own personal stories and accounts of people they knewwho served in WWI. #ThankYou100