Mr Barnes

Summer 1 @ The Beacon 2022

27th May 2022Mr Barnes

This has been quite an eventful half term, considering it has also been a relatively short one! From the start of GCSE season to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Celebrations it has been all systems go at both Beacon Centre sites!

The Word!

Primary pupils visited The Word. They listened to stories read by the librarian, and learnt how the books were organised and where they could find extra information on the things they love!

Bowling

Our KS2 pupils took part in another inter-school bowling tournament organised by our wonderful friends at Panathlon today. 11 schools took part and we came in third place winning bronze medals and another trophy to add to our collection. 2/3 of our team scored over 100 so will be getting an extra ‘100 Club Member’ certificate too. All of the children were fabulous ambassadors for the school. They demonstrated teamwork and resilience, excellent manners and sportsmanship.

Jubilee

Young people from both Beacon Centre sites took part in a fantastic Jubilee party including quizzes, afternoon tea and garden games. God Save the Queen!

Jubilee in the Community!

As part of the wider celebrations for the Queen Jubilee, young people along with Miss Brennan donated saplings to a local primary school!

Outdoor Learning

Having examined the nature of shelters in different habitats and the ability of animals to camouflage into their surroundings, young people were challenged to build a hidden shelter, can you spot them?

A note from me!

It has been fantastic to see the young people at our school once again pulling together and showing everyone what they can achieve. They have made a fantastic start to their GCSE exams, those year 6’s who completed their SATs did so in a way that they should be proud of.

At the Beacon Centre we are always proud of our young people and eager to show off what they can achieve when they believe in themselves. I hope you will join me in congratulating them all on an amazing half term.

Until next time

Mr Barnes

St Mary’s Light House Visit.

16th May 2022Mr Barnes

Red class have been on a visit to St Mary’s island. They have been reading the books ‘Somebody Swallowed Stanley’, which is all about looking after the wildlife in our sea and ‘Sharing a Shell’, which is all about the creatures in our rockpools. The whole class behaved beautifully and followed all instructions about water safety. They all listened carefully about why they had to wear suitable clothing, and helped each other swap into their wellies. Everyone had a great time seeing the seals swimming and climbing on the rocks. They then carefully had a look in the rock pools and were thrilled when they found carbs, hermit crabs, shrimps and fish.

Outdoor Learning at Primary

29th April 2022Mr Barnes

This week Blue class have been using the outdoor learning area to practise their phonics. Millie could write all the words independently. In Geography the children had to uncover a landmark from the UK and locate it on a map. They also looked at the difference between human and physical features.

Animal Magic

29th April 2022Mr Barnes

Animal magic in Red Class today!
The children are learning about mammals, and have set up their very own wildlife camera in the school garden to see which mammals roam there when we aren’t looking.
Jake’s saltdough mouse and Blake’s hedgehog are the mammals they hope to see. Using saltdough also helps to develop fine and gross motor skills which helps coordination. We maximise every learning opportunity here at Beacon Primary.

Commando Joe’s Staff Training

27th April 2022Mr Barnes

What is Commando Joe’s?

Commando Joe’s is one of the UK’s leading educational providers, utilising the expertise of service personnel to improve the educational outcomes for pupils through our RESPECT programme. Working on Resilience, Empathy, Self-Awareness, Positivity, Excellence, Communication and Teamwork.
Commando Joe’s

How will Commando Joe’s be used?

Within the Beacon Centre, across both sites, young people will have the opportunity to complete challenges in order to build their RESPECT development areas. This will be used both during structured lesson times and during through times when young people need time to regulate and reflect on their behaviour.

The Training

In order for the programme to have the greatest impact, it was important that the staff at the Beacon Centre experience a session first hand and had an understanding of the theory / evidence base behind the practise. To that end staff completed both classroom based and out of classroom elements throughout the day. As can be seen in the photographs below.

We are The Beacon Centre

8th April 2022Mr Barnes

At the Beacon Centre we strive to educate the whole young person, giving them access to life opportunities that might otherwise not be available to them. We are proud of the work we do with our young people and of the work they do. Here are some photos of some of the amazing things that have happened this term!

We are the Beacon Centre!

Swimming Gala

6th April 2022Mr Barnes

Young People from the Secondary site took part in a regional Swimming Gala! The results are as follows:

3rd Place for Kai breast stroke

2nd and 3rd Place for kobi back stroke

3rd Place for Connor butterfly stroke

3rd Place for Kai butterfly stroke

3rd Place for Connor diving

2nd Place for Kobi diving

3rd Place for Thomas diving

2nd Place for Kobi front stroke

3rd Place for Thomas front stroke

3rd Place for Connor and kobi relay

2nd Place for Connor, Kobi, Kai and Thomas

Under 16 boys winners

Amazing teamwork from them all!

Primary Experiential Learning

5th April 2022Mr Barnes

Every Monday our pupils have ‘Experiential Learning’ where learning comes to life for them. This week the pupils visited The Angel of The North. This linked to the sculpture topic of last term and also provided an eggcellent (see what I did there?) opportunity to practice egg rolling as part of their Faith Fortnight learning about Easter and its traditions. Red Class recreated The Angel of The North from photographs and recounted their trip to show their recount and sequencing skills and knowledge. What a fantastic week Red Class are having- great job!

World Book Day

11th March 2022Mr Barnes

World Book Day was a Cross Site affair this year with some fantastic work being completed by all young people.

Here are some more photographs of World Book Day at our Primary Site.

We prioritise reading as we believe that the ability to read unlocks the world for our pupils. All of our pupils read to an adult every day bat school, and are encouraged to read to an adult at home every evening.

We actively encourage all of our pupils to read for pleasure and have developed a wonderful library which everyone loves to use. As you can see, they really do love reading.

Meanwhile at our Secondary site, young people engaged in reading and writing tasks. They read the published work of their peers and attempted to write similar stories.

They also had a book club in which they discussed their favourite books and talked about what they liked about them.

Well done to everyone involved.

Beacon Project Based Learning

16th December 2021Mr Barnes

The young people at Beacon Secondary have been completing a project over the course of the autumn term about knife crime and its affects.

The young people are engaged extremely well with the project and produced some excellent work. They had the opportunity to speak to uindividuals from the emergency services as well as relatives of victims of knife crime.

This experience has culminated in a showcase of work, which included sculpture, art work, music and poetry, to the school and wider local community including the Police Commissioner Kim McGuinness and the Mayor of South Shields.

We are all very proud of the young people for the work they have completed as well as for their excellent behaviour during the showcase.