Community Activities

CHURCH LINKS

The school has developed strong links with St Mary's Parish Church, Barwell. The Rector of Barwell designated as an ex-officio governor of our school. During the current inter-regnum period this role is filled by the Rev'd Andy Cain, a parent of a child in school and belonging to the Hinckley Parish. Mr John Nottage, Church Warden at St Mary's is also a governor of the school and takes a regular and active interest in our activities, providing support for swimming.

The school worships in St Mary’s Parish Church at certain times of the year. Junior Songs of Praise and carol concerts organised in the church by the school have proved to be very popular with the whole community. The Carol Services in 2008 were extremely well attended and the pupils in Year 4 led four excellent services. Our school choir linked with the choir of St Mary's to jointly lead worship at their carol service on the Sunday evening before Christmas.

Our Year 6 children will take part in a special service in church in July during the week before they leave our school. Each pupil will receive a Bible as a leaving gift from school and church.

St Mary's Church supports us each year in covering the cost of buying these Bibles to present to our Year 6 leavers.

To find out more about St Mary's Parish Church please click on the following website link:

St Mary's Parish Church, Barwell

The school has also forged links with the Salvation Army in Hinckley , with whom we work throughout each year and especially at harvest time when we donate gifts of money or tinned and packet foods to their appeal. Majors Julian and Julie Rowley are welcome guests in our school. Mrs Rowley enjoys leading assemblies and has spoken with the children on many occasions.

We are pleased to have active year round links with

Living Rock Community Church. Alex Graves is the lead member of the Children's Worship Team in the church. Alex's lively assemblies in school are appreciated and enjoyed by children and staff each half term.

To find out more about Living Rock Community Church please click on the web link below:

Living Rock Community Church

We are pleased to have forged an active link with Barwell Methodist Church through the attendance of Rev'd Andy Murphy at many school events during the course of this year so far. Rev'd Andy has led some super assemblies and has supported many other activities in school.

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SCHOOL LINKS

Hinckley Area Schools Partnership

Barwell CE Junior School is part of the Hinckley Area Schools Partnership. Staff attend meetings and training with staff from twenty eight other schools in the area. This is an effective network of schools that provides an excellent and cost-effective range of training and development opportunities for teachers, support staff and governors on issues of current importance and relevance to education at infant, junior and senior levels.

Children in Lower Junior classes enjoy taking part in the annual Hinckley Area Schools Partnership Group Dance Festival. Twenty four children performed to packed audiences on two consecutive evenings at the end of Spring Term 2008. This activity is to be repeated this term, again with Year 4, led by Miss Harris.

The annual Hinckley Area Schools Partnership Sports Awards Evening is a highlight of the local summer sporting calendar. Individuals and teams are nominated by each school in the partnership and pupils are honoured for their sporting achievements, dedication and fair play.

Earl Shilton, Barwell and Stoney Stanton Family of Schools

We are part of a cluster of nine schools that work together to support one another in the immediate local area. Headteachers meet regularly to discuss local issues and to work together. This year our main focus is to develop integrated extended services across all schools. We have appointed Mrs Joanne Hudson as our Extended Schools Cluster Co-Ordinator to lead this initiative and to develop additional opportunities for out of hours learning across all nine schools.

Barwell Infant School

Our school enjoys cordial relationships with all schools in the local area. Links are especially strong with the schools which we feed from and to. We liaise very closely with staff at Barwell Infant School and provide opportunities for parents and children due to transfer to us to see our school in advance and to get to know teachers and support staff in Year 3.

During Autumn Term 2008 the children in Year 2 at Barwell Infant School came to watch our Remembrance and Advent Assemblies, each performed by a class from Year 3. At Christmas Year 2 enjoyed our Year 5 production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. they also attended St Mary's Church to watch and take part in our Year 4 Nativity Carol Service. Children in Year 3 in the Juniors enjoyed travelling back to the infants to watch the younger children perform and sing in their Christmas production.

We shall again welcome Year 2 children into school this term to see our Year 3 Easter production.

Heathfield High School

We also liaise closely with Heathfield High School where most of our children transfer to at the end of Year 6. Parents and children are invited to see the facilities at Heathfield during Autumn Term in Year 6 and all children have two ‘taster days’ at the High School towards the end of their final term in Year 6.

We are always delighted to welcome Graham Jones - the Headteacher at Heathfield - to our school. He liaises closely with our staff and children regarding transfer of pupils. During Spring and Summer Terms Mr Jones will lead special assemblies in our school for children in Year 6. The Head of Year 7 will also make special visits to our school to meet with Year 6 pupils. Year 6 teachers from our school team with a teacher at Heathfield each year to share good practice.

This year, we have been very pleased to welcome staff from Heathfield into our school to work with groups of Year 6 pupils on scientific projects

To find out more about Heathfield High School please click on the web link below:

Heathfield High School

William Bradford Community College

We have developed closer links with some departments in particular at William Bradford Technology College. Their technology college status releases funds for the senior school to support their feeder primaries in their development of the curriculum in ICT, Maths and Design and Technology. We have welcomed members of the Maths department from William Bradford into our school to work with our children on problem solving activities. Children attend occasional ‘Maths Masterclass’ activities at William Bradford – activities designed to stimulate the most able of our Year 5 mathematicians.

We were pleased to again welcome Mrs Harrop and her drama students into school at Christmas, when they presented an excellent pantomime which children in all year groups enjoyed very much (oh yes they did!)

To find out more about William Bradford Community College please click on the web link below:

William Bradford Community College

Training Links

Barwell CE Junior School is recognised as a school which supports training and professional development of teachers at all stages. We are partnered with the University of Northampton, accepting onto our staff student teachers in training each year.

We have links with the Leicester University where we support students in PGCE training.

We also support the development of teachers and leaders in other schools within the county through links forged with the Local Authority School Improvement Service.

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LOCAL COMMUNITY LINKS

Barwell Surestart Children's Centre

Barwell Surestart Children's Centre is a newly built facility on our school site. It's purpose is to provide activities and opportunities to enhance the local provision for children and young people and their families.

The Children's Centre building is managed by the school. Activities are planned and organised by a team of staff led by the Hinckley and Bosworth Children's Centre Co-ordinator - Becca Knowles. Activities take place each day of the week, in school holidays as well as term time. They include Baby Clinics, Stay and Play, Baby Massage, Childminder Groups, Parenting Skills, Adult Learning and many more. There is access to Job Centre Plus advice, Legal Aid, Smoking Cessation advice and Family Planning.

We are delighted that this facility has come to our area and can already see what a tremendous addition it is to provision for families.

Barwell Library

We are pleased to be working with Library Services for Education and Librarians based at Barwell and Earl Shilton Libraries this year. We engage our children in all local library events. This term pupils from Year 4 will be visiting the library as part of our focus on developing a love of books and reading. Librarians are involved in helping us to plan and prepare for a special Reading Development evening for families of pupils in Year 3 and Year 4 during Spring Term.

Community Policing

We are pleased to be working with the police in a variety of ways this year. In September pupils in Year 6 worked closely with the police on an initiative aiming to persuade drivers to keep to speed limits on the roads around the village. We have also worked with the police to raise pupils' awareness of personal safety issues. We have been asked to help combat crime by making pupils and parents aware of local issues and how to report concerns.

We appreciate seeing our local beat police on a regular basis and are glad that liaison with this aspect of our community has gained in strength in recent years.

The Elderly

Children and staff from school visit the elderly residents of Harvey House and Saffron House each October to distribute gifts of fruit, vegetables and tinned food from our Harvest Thanksgiving. We visit the residents throughout the home, sometimes joining in activities. The residents and staff often ask the children to sing for them before we go. We also distribute gifts to elderly residents in Church Close and St Mary's Court.

The choir visited both Harvey and Saffron House during the final weeks of Autumn Term 2008. The children and staff sang traditional and modern carols for the elderly residents. The care home staff were very kind to us and gave us drinks and sweets as a Christmas treat.

Adult Learning

Family Learning (Keeping up with the Children)

We are privileged to work with our adult tutor, Mrs Marion McMillan each week. Marion comes into school each week to work in the Community Room with families of our pupils so that they may better understand the ways in which English and Maths are taught in school today. Adults find this a really useful and interesting class which helps them to brush up on their own skills whilst learning about how their children are taught. Training and refreshments are provided free. Some participants have even gone on to complete GCSE Level Maths and English within this setting.

If you would like to join in the next class which begins in later in the year, please contact the school office.

GO LEARN

An exciting range of courses such as Family First Aid, Beginner ICT, Literacy and Numeracy, learning a foreign language and Family Learning are available to adults in our neighbourhood. These are advertised on the 'Go Learn' website - just click on the link below to find out more.

GO LEARN WEBSITE LINK

Barwell Athletic Minis Football Club

Barwell Athletic Minis have used our field as a training ground on Saturday mornings and for matches on Sunday afternoons from June 2007. We are pleased to be able to offer this facility to the club who have direct links with the school through parents and pupils.

For more details about Barwell Athletic Minis Football Club click on the website link below:

Barwell Athletic Minis FC

Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness

The Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Club hold their Tuesday evening meetings and exercise classes in our hall each week.

For more information click on the website link below:

Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness website

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BUSINESS LINKS

Earl Shilton Financial Services

We continue to benefit from the sponsorship of Earl Shilton Financial Services. Mr Colin Gibson has provided support for sport in school through provision of football kit and full squad sports T-shirts complete with our school name. Mr Gibson has also donated sports equipment and trophies to the school.

We are very grateful to Mr Gibson for the level of support provided by Earl Shilton Financial Services and we have been delighted to welcome him into school each Summer to present our end of year sports trophies to pupils and teams.

Barwell + Earl Shilton Building Society

We are delighted to have formed links with the local building society.

We had the opportunity to enter a competition in which our children designed and made items to celebrate the 150th birthday anniversary of the building society.

Jake from Year 6 was delighted with his success, and so were we. Jake's prize was £250 with which to open a Child Trust Account + £150 for the school to spend on Art and Design resources. Well done Jake!

Leicester City Football Club

We are part of the LCFC Incentives Programme and enjoy the associated privileges.

Children in Year 3 enjoy the visit that Filbert Fox makes to school each year to promote reading.

End of year certificates for 100% attendance and outstanding achievement are awarded to pupils. We have the opportunity each year to take one pupil with 100% attendance and one pupil who has displayed excellence in achievement to the Walkers Stadium for a special celebration and presentation. The pupils are given a conducted tour of the stadium and meet first team players for photographs and autographs.

Crowfoots Carriers

We are indebted to Crowfoots Carriers for their extremely generous gifts of fabric to support our dramatic productions. We now have a wardrobe department to be proud of!

Focus DIY (Hinckley)

We are also very grateful to Focus DIY (Hinckley) for providing us with gifts of emulsion paint to prepare the backdrops for our productions. We seem to go through gallons so all donations are welcome!!

Asda and Morrisons, Hinckley

We are grateful to the Asda and Morrisons Superstores in Hinckley for supporting us with a range of projects, including the provision of bottled water in school and donation of gifts of food for the elderly and homeless at Harvest Time.  thanks to Asda for supplying us with a superb 9' display Christmas tree for our hall this year - it looked stunning and was appreciated by all.

Local shops, restaurants and small businesses

We are very grateful to over thirty local businesses who regularly support us very generously by donating prizes to our annual raffle and who helped to distribute promotional leaflets about our events. These contributions were very much appreciated.

Angelo's Chippery

Thanks to Mr Andreas from Angelo's Chippery for continuing to support our school with provision and free delivery of suppers at FoBS fund-raising events. Thanks also for continuing to collect funds for our school and for providing meal vouchers for our pupils from time to time.

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CHARITABLE LINKS

Over the years we have supported a wide range of charities, regularly raising over £3000 each year for good causes. Below is an update of our activities and plans for this academic year.

Autumn Term 2008

Harvest Gifts

Fresh and packaged food were donated to school by families of pupils as part of our Harvest Thanksgiving celebrations. All donations were distributed amongst the poor and needy and the elderly. The Salvation Army took six large boxes of tinned and packaged food to give to the poor. Some produce was donated to Harvey House and Saffron House and every elderly resident of Church Close and St Mary's Court received a gift box containing fresh and packaged produce.

Breast Cancer Care

In October we nearly over £300 to Breast Cancer Care through our 'Think Pink' activities organised again this year by Miss Peace, with Mrs Marston's support. These included a 'Pink CSI Barwell Day', a 'Ladies' Pink Pamper Evening' evening, a Pink raffle, and Pink games .

British Legion Poppy Appeal

Mr Spring again brought us poppies to sell in early November. We again ran out of poppies this year and had to ask for extra supplies. We raised over £50 for the British Legion Poppy Appeal.

Children in Need

The children were keen to support the National Children in Need appeal again this year. Through a non-uniform day and various sales we raised over £400.

Rainbows and St Mary's Parish Church, Barwell

The children chose these charities as the charities to which we would donate the money raised through collections at the Nativity Carol Services held in St Mary's Church.

We were able to donate £45 to St Mary's Parish Church and £45 to Rainbows.

LOROS (Leicestershire Organisation for the Relief of Suffering)

We have again sold 'Christmas Cuddlies' - small soft toys costing £1 each, to raise funds for LOROS. We shall continue to support LOROS during Spring Term. with funds raised from our 'Fitness in School Day'

Summer Term 2008

HOPE Against Cancer

Throughout 2007 - 2008 we were committed to supporting a local charity called Hope Against Cancer. This charity was founded by Wendi Stevens (wife of Bishop Tim) to fund cancer research at leicester University.

Year 6 pupils with a particular interest in science were able to visit the research facility to see the work in action.

We raised over £1500 to support this charity and were proud to present our cheque in July 2008.

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