Message from the Executive Principal, Alastair O'Connor and the Senior Leadership Team
On behalf of the Staff, Students and Governors of Barnes Wallis, I would like to thank you all for your support this year and wish you all a wonderful summer break.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our Governors who give up their time all year to support and challenge us throughout the academic year. A list of our Governors can be found on our website under Academy Information.
This term has been a very busy one with a focus on celebrations and rewards. I hope you can find time to read our last newsletter of this academic year and enjoy the summer break.
Term 6 has been jam packed for BWA students both outside and inside of the classroom. Whilst Y11 sat their final exams and we wished them a fond farewell, students in Y7-10 completed their Key Performance Indicator (KPI) assessments in all subject areas across the curriculum. We have celebrated fantastic results in lessons and had a great day on 12 July with our Y10 students who had a mock results day.
Assessments can be daunting and we know how challenging revising can be which is why we continue to review and promote our student handbooks to ensure the knowledge that they contain allows our students to be successful. These are a key tool used in lessons and also in our tutor time programe, alongside retrieval booklets. Student handbooks will be back in September - bigger and better and will also include a handbook for Key Stage 4.
We thank you for your continued support with homework, revision and assessment preparation
Sparx Maths
This half term has seen a drive on Sparx Maths. BWA have provided maths homework support at break times and increased homework rewards. Students were asked to boost their completion of maths homework, and they rose to the challenge.
The determination of staff and students has led to BWA jumping up the Sparx national leaderboard to place 124 out of 2000 schools, we also achieved 1st place in DRET for maths homework.
Alabama Space camp 2024
The Barnes Wallis Academy was lucky enough to be able to send two students to Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama. This was courtesy of Northrop Grumman which is an aeronautic company responsible for such aircraft as the B2 Stealth Bomber.
The two students, Jacob and Lexie both attended Space camp along with Mr. Keeler and they took part in many activities such as experiencing what it is like to walk in the moon’s 1/6th gravity, a zero-gravity simulator, being trained by real NASA crew and building rockets which they launched successfully.
They also got to see many exhibits such as the lunar lander, moon buggy, real spacesuits worn by actual astronauts on space missions. The whole space camp was surrounded by real rockets including the huge Saturn V rocket which is a super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA for human exploration of the moon during the Apollo missions.
Mr Keeler attended the Space Academy for educators where he learned how to bring the skills developed by NASA into classroom.
After training with real astronauts and NASA groundcrew, Mr Keeler intends on passing on the skills and knowledge to the students of Barnes Wallis Academy.
Jacob and Lexie both graduated from space academy and the received their certificates from none other than Space Shuttle astronaut Woody Spring who accounted over 12 hours of space walk time and was responsible for the investigation of Space Station construction techniques and large structure manipulation, which is handling and manoeuvring large objects in a zero-gravity environment whilst on a spacewalk.
Work Experience
As part of our ongoing careers programme Barnes Wallis Academy is committed in helping our students to make informed decisions at key times in their education. Over the last term we have given our pupils the opportunity to engage with employers, apprenticeship providers as well as areas of public service to provide career and post 16 advice.
The highlight for careers this term has certainly been our yr 10 work experience week. The majority of our yr 10 spent the first week of July with a range of different employers, experiencing the world of work at placements such as schools, garages, universities, farms, beauticians and much more.
Well done year 10!
This term we reviewed our PSHE curriculum with Parents/Carers.
At Barnes Wallis we focus on PSHE (personal social, health and Economic), RSE (relationship sex education, SMSC (spiritual, moral, social and cultural) FBV (fundamental British values) and faiths. Students access these topics through weekly PSHE lessons, collapsed days, our ‘thought of the week’ and our Barnes Wallis Way ethos.
On the 10th of July - Parents and Carers attended a PSHE consultation evening, giving feedback that they would like more support and guidance next year concerning vaping- The risks of aerosol misuse- How to protect our students from cyber bullying- Further support when it comes to online behaviours- Questioning what makes for a healthy relationship?- Tackling misogyny- The dangers of AI generated images and deep fakes.
This term we have used 'Lincolnshire safety Partnership' and 'Stevensontraining' to deliver topics on tackling anti-social behaviour, reducing reoffending, crime and disorder prevention, substance misuse prevention, serious violence prevention, concerns concerning sexting, consent and the sharing of inappropriate images online.
INSPIRATION AWARDS 2024
The DRET Inspiration Awards 2024 took place on Thursday 27th June and I am delighted to announce that Barnes Wallis Academy won one of the most prestigious Awards of the evening, with Miss Slinn winning DRET Teacher of the year award.
We also had the following nominations for Barnes Wallis
- Sustainability Champion - Denise Girling
- SEND inclusion Award- Nicky Banks
Congratulations to all those who were nominated and have won awards.
Caythorpe PGL Residential
Our Year 8's had a wonderful weekend in Early July at Caythorpe PGL residential. Enjoying the over 65 acres of space and adventure activities that were used to challenge, motivate and raise aspirations.
Their adventures including zip wires, giant swings and orienteering, and thrilling water-based activities such as canoeing and raft building.
Geography Field work
One of the most enjoyable and important aspects of the study of Geography is fieldwork. It is a requirement of the GCSE course that we complete fieldwork with the students and in July we took students to Skegness (as part of the Physical component of the course) and Sheffield (as part of the Human component of the course
During their time out of school, students worked in small groups completing a range of data collection tasks.
All Star Netball
The All Star netball team had their residential trip earlier on in the term at Candover Hall. The girls stayed away Friday until Sunday playing lots of netball and getting involved in other activities. Both the U13 and U15 team participated in the tournament against some strong competition. The U15 girls played amazing winning their age group and the U13's came a brilliant second
DRET Choral Festival with the BBC Singers - 5th July
Students from Barnes Wallis had the unique opportunity to perform alongside the best choir in the country - the BBC Singers at the Grimsby Auditorium. The Choral Festival that encompassed 16 school choirs tackled demanding repertoire including the 'O Fortuna' from Carmina Burana (otherwise known as the theme tune to the Apprentice) and the Chichester Psalms by Leonard Bernstein. Students did a fantastic job of singing in Latin, German and Hebrew! The evening finished with a rousing rendition of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' and 'Hope and Glory' by Pete Letanka. Well done to the school choir - you were all fantastic.
SEXTORTION
You may have already picked up the national news story on the crime of ‘Sextortion’.
This type of crime involves an adult offender (often from an organised crime group based overseas) threatening to release nude or semi-nude images and/or videos of a child or young person, unless they pay money, or meet another financial demand, such as purchasing a pre-paid gift card.
Victims of any age and gender can be targets, however a large proportion of cases have involved male victims aged 14-18.
I would therefore like to share with you a letter and poster from the National Crime Agency and poster which provides useful strategies of support and reporting. We will of course be covering this topic in future personal development lessons.
DRET SUMMER CUP
On the 8th July the 'Dret summer Cup' once again took place at the Grantham Meres Leisure Centre. Barnes Wallis Academy were well represented with 71 Students competing in Athletics, Boccia, Swimming Table Tennis and Tennis.
All the student gave their all with some very well earned individual bronze, silver and Gold medals
District Athletics Championships
On Thursday the 4th July Year 7, 8 and 9 took part in the Coastal and Wolds Championship athletics at King George Stadium in Grimsby. This is the first time the school has entered this event and was a good practice day before summer cup. All students performed to their best ability and the training being done had show in the results. Millie in Year 8 won her age for Javelin and broke the record held for this event. Katie in year 9 won both her events of shot putt and discus. Aidan in Year 9 also came away with a gold coming 1st in the 1500m.
Rewards Days
The learning environment that students/parents and staff help shape at Barnes Wallis ensures that all students acquire the knowledge they need to progress through key milestones in their education journey and embark on careers of your choice.
It is imperative that students are rewarded when they exhibit good behaviours and uphold the principles and values of the Academy.
We want to let students know when they have done well and this term we have rewarded students 20x compared to that of any consequences and have celebrated with all students in roll call, reward days and assemblies.
This term we have celebrated with all students in an inclusive rewards day for All, but also ensuring we celebrate individuals and groups of students who have either had; the highest reward points; most improved behaviour; good and or improving attendance attendance, good homework.
This term our Year 10 students enjoyed a trip to Tolethorpe Hall to watch and embed one of their GCSE texts- A Midsummer Night's Dream.
They watched the four Athenians run away to the forest only to have Puck the fairy make both of the boys fall in love with the same girl. The four run through the forest pursuing each other while Puck helps his master play a trick on the fairy queen.
Charter Reward Trip
In June students that had attended 10 or more sports clubs throughout the term, were placed into a draw for student charter reward trip at Nottingham University. The lucky students had a fantastic day experiencing some new sports as well as getting involved in some old favourites. They were lucky enough to try wall climbing, wheelchair basketball, boxing, touch rugby and dodgeball. The climbing wall was a big hit with a few making it all the way to the top
YEAR 11 PROM
Our Year 11 Prom took place on Thursday evening, 27th June at Dower House Woodhall.
The students had an amazing evening with a buffet, disco and awards ceremony.
A big thank you to all the staff who contributed towards a fantastic send off for our Year 11s. We wish them all well in the future.
Colour Run
The student who took part had to make their way round our colour track passing through our colour stations. We had some very willing staff on hand to help cover the students in powdered paint. The event was so much fun with all the students and staff looking like rainbows by the end of the day. Thank you to all who participated we raised an impressive £500
STAFF NEWS
At the end of the academic year we are unfortunately saying goodbye to a number of esteemed colleagues and we hope you join us wishing them all the best in their next steps and thank them for their commitment and dedication to our community
- Ms Ball- History teacher
- Ms Castley- SENCO
- Mr Chapman- PE teacher/Head of Year 8
- Mr Popple- Teaching Assistant/Tutor
- Ms Carter- Teaching Assistant
- Ms McGregor- Sports Enrichment officer
- Ms Anderson-Trickey- Technician
Next term we will also see some staff moving to new roles. We are delighted that Miss Ashfield has been promoted to the role of Vice Principal and will be leading on quality of Education, Miss Jorgenson will become Assistant Principal of Inclusion/SENCo and Mr Keeler and Miss Aldridge will take up Heads Of Year/House roles
We would also like to welcome the following new members of staff to Barnes Wallis Academy:
- Mr Hobson - PE Teacher
- Mr Pike - History Teacher
- Ms Mersh - Health and Social Care Teacher
- Chloe Malone - Food/Science Technician
- Anthony Willetts- Science Teacher
- Mr Murphy- Trainee teacher
- Ms Otterburn- Sports Enrichment Officer
2024/25 Academic Priorities
Dates for the diary
Thursday 22nd August - Year 11 Results Day
Wednesday 4th September - New Year 7 Students return after the summer break
Thursday 5th September - All Students return after the summer break
Follow us on Instagram on barneswallisacademy and twitter @Barnes_Wallis_
The following organisations are there to support parents and students over the summer break. Young minds also have an excellent parent line - 0808 802 5544.
Safeguarding over the Summer Break
When the Academy is closed there is always someone who can help you.
If you are concerned that a child is suffering, or likely to suffer significant harm, you should contact your local authority safeguarding partnership directly.
Please go to our website https://www.barneswallisacademy.co.uk/ for the relevant contact information if you have any welfare concerns.
In an emergency, call 999.
For any other queries, please contact us via cip@dret.co.uk.
If you have a general enquiry during the summer break please contact the office on enquiries@BarnesWallisAcademy.co.uk There is limited access so it may take a few days to respond.