Friday 17th September, Experiential Learning.

20th September 2021Mr Barnes

Every Friday, the Young People at Beacon Secondary go off site with staff to engage in experiential learning. That is learning out of the classroom environment, developing their social and interpersonal as well as their self-esteem and confidence.

On Friday 17th September:

Aspens and Redwoods visited St Mary’s Lighthouse in the hope of spotting some seals, unfortunately they couldn’t cross the causeway to the island to look for seals but they found quite a few creatures in the rockpools and a caterpillar in the car park!  Staff would like to give a special shout out to Kai for helping to keep the beach clean by picking up litter he found and disposing of it correctly in the bin.

Some of the Young People from Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 took part in national beach cleaning week. The students went to Horden beach to help keep our beaches clean. The Group worked well and collected a lot of rubbish! Well done everyone!

National TA Day

16th September 2021Mr Barnes

Today was National TA day. We wanted to send a huge thank you to all of our TA’s

We also have an especially big well done to Miss Huse who has won TA of the year from AK teaching!

Roald Dahl Day

13th September 2021Mr Barnes

🟡🟡🟡 You may have noticed something different at Beacon Primary today?! 🟡🟡🟡


It’s Roald Dahl Day 
We have children wearing Roald Dahl’s favourite colour 🟡 and lots of fantastic characters…see if you can name them all! 


Blue Class have been using weight, capacity, time and halving in maths today to make Bruce Bogtrotter’s chocolate cake. What a great way to apply maths knowledge! 


We’ve even got to clean Mr Twit’s food-filled beard as a fine motor activity. What a whoppsy-whiffling day! 

Beacon Primary News – Week 1

10th September 2021Mr Barnes

🔴🔵🟡What day’s Friday? The best day of the week! 🔴🔵🟡

Our children and grown ups have been working hard all week as you can see in our photographs. We have the highest of expectations for behaviour and progress and it shows. 

Dojo winners this week are:
🔴 Red Class…Matthew 🎉
🔵 Blue Class … Malaki 🎉
🟡 Yellow Class…James 🎉

All of our children won a prize for reading in school this week.

📚Home readers have been matched to your child’s phonic awareness and these are being sent home today. 📚

🍭📚⭐️Please hear your child read every day and sign their reading diary. All pupils who read every day and have their diary signed will receive a prize on a Friday. 🍭📚⭐

Welcome Back!

9th September 2021Mr Barnes

We are delighted to welcome back all of the Young People to The Beacon Centre across both sites! IT has been an excellent first week back with some fantastic learning taking place already!

Here is a snapshot of what we have been up to already!

South Tyneside’s Summer Holiday Club

12th July 2021Mr Barnes

Fun, free activities and nutritious meals for eligible families

Supporting our young people and our families are part of the Council’s core priorities.  Elected Members have agreed a range of measures to support our children this Summer.  There will be free placesfor children and young people in South Tyneside who are eligible for benefits related free school meals, alongside high quality activities, to help them to build their confidence while having fun.

The activities and food provision run throughout the summer holidays from Monday 26 July to Friday 3 September. As booking is essential, we are encouraging all eligible families to sign up now.

The sessions, which cater for children aged 5 to 16, include a variety of creative and physical activities, including sports, crafts, music, arts, outdoor challenges, nature and treasure trails as well as fun problem-solving challenges, nutrition and wellbeing sessions and a nutritious meal each day.

Free food packs

Families who would benefit from a free food pack can contact Hebburn Helps on 0191 489 9707 or visit www.hebburnhelps.co.uk or Key2Life on 07833 613393  or on facebook @key2lifesouthtyneside

In addition, families on benefits-related free school meals can also receive a voucher per child for every week of the six week holidays to help with additional food costs.

Around 6,500 children in South Tyneside are eligible for free school meals but this number is growing as a result of the pandemic. There are many working parents who cannot access certain benefits who are often amongst the most financially vulnerable and may struggle with the costs of good food and activities when schools are closed.

The Council has secured almost £750,000 in government funding to run the clubs over the summer holidays and also for four days at Christmas.

The clubs are being run at various venues throughout the Borough.

Families can find out more and if they are eligible at www.southtyneside.gov.uk/holidayclub

They can also call 0191 4246688 or email [email protected]

All events are subject to availability and COVID restrictions. Activities and food are funded by the Department for Education.

Working with families?

If you work in a frontline service and know a family who would benefit from the activities that the Summer Club has to offer, or free food packs, please share this information. The Communications Team will be in touch with key services with leaflets to share with families.

A word on wellbeing

With many of us taking time out over the summer months, make the most of it by enjoying South Tyneside’s rich history and nature. There is no better time to stretch your legs, get some fresh air and enjoy some family time while walking along our beaches and coastline, in our parks and over our hills.

South Tyneside’s Family Discovery Trails are fun walks, featuring maps and family fun activities. So put on your walking shoes, grab a picnic and enjoy exploring! You can find maps at www.visitsouthtyneside.co.uk

Beacon Centre Careers Education

24th June 2021Mr Barnes

At the Beacon Centre we strive to offer Young People the best possible chance of success in life. We work tirelessly to give them not only the academic skills and qualifications to succeed but also the social and interpersonal skills that are vital to making a successful transition to the world of work.

Working with a growing range of local community partners, including Kier Construction, Equinox, Port of Tyne and Nissan, we are aiming to build a revolutionary careers programme that truly prepares our young people for their future, allowing them to learn the skills that employers are actually looking for.

With that in mind you can now find our Careers Minisite via the link here or by following the shortcut on the main Beacon Centre Website.

We are also today launching our Careers Blog which you can find here, or via the Careers Minisite.

If you would like to get involved in our careers offer, by submitting a diary entry, detailing what goes on in an average day at work, please contact Mr Barnes.

Young Writers Success!

9th June 2021Mr Barnes

We have just received the printed books containing the published work of three of our young people! A huge well done to Shane, Sam and Isaac! Each of whom have received a copy of the book and a certificate from Young Writers. If you would like to read their fantastic stories, you can do so below.

Sam – Innocent?

Nobody believed he was innocent, everyone though he did it. There was all the proof you needed. The body, the gun, the witnesses, even what’d happened in the past. Everyone knew about their big fight and he hit her straight across the face and walked out on her. He says that night never happened. Anyway, back to the present now. He was found next to her body on his hands and knees, covered in blood. The cops stormed into the room. He ran straight out the window and has been running since.

Young Writers – Case Files: Unsolved, On the Run – Page 130

Shane – The Wrong Crowd

People think the dead can’t talk, but what people don’t know is the so-called dead are alive. I’m thirty-three years old, I’ve been on the run since I was seventeen as I got involved with the wrong crowd, which ended up in a bad situation. One night the gang and I was involved with decided they were going to rob a bank. I’m now FBI’s most wanted as all my accomplices got caught at the scene. I had been a fugitive for sixteen years until the courtroom drama in which I was found not guilty, the case is left unsolved…

Young Writers – Case Files: Unsolved, On the Run – Page 131

Isaac – Mistaken Identity

His body lay on the floor in a puddle of his own blood, his body still gasping for air with a bullet in his lung. This was the third gang-related shooting this week.

He was walking through the street he walked through every day to get to his nan’s from school but he was a little bit late, he walked past a few people and noticed that he was getting followed, they started shouting at him, then they chased him, he was running for about five minutes. He turned a corner. All he heard was bang!

Young Writers – Case Files: Unsolved, On the Run – Page 132

If you are feeling inspired by these great stories, you can enter the current Young Writers Competition ” Spine-Chillers” by following this link:

https://www.youngwriters.co.uk/writing-portal/start?code=69821-503