Newsletters

Term 3 2026

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A Message from Mr Derry

03 Feb 2026
Term 3 2026
It’s been a busy and incredibly productive half-term here at Barnwood Park School, with so much to celebrate across all year groups. When we returned in January, Years 7 to 10 started their Mid-Year Assessments. It has been encouraging to see how they have demonstrated their learning and progr...
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Student Experience

 

Since the October half-term, our focus has been on sharing our Legacy Colours programme. The programme aims to help and encourage our young people to continue to strive to be excellent academically, but also to recognise the importance of the wider cultural capital. This will help them to contribute to the conversations that shape who we are as strong, independent, and thoughtful human beings.

This is a whole school rewards programme that is underpinned by our four values ‘Respect, Ambition, Determination, Success’. It is designed to reward students for their efforts in the classroom and extracurricular activities, such as: fundraising, visiting theatres, reading library books, achieving house points etc. Students can receive ‘half colours’ and eventually, ‘full colours’ badges.

This week it has been a great pleasure to award the first of our half colours badges to a large number of students from each year group. We will continue to celebrate our students who have met the criteria for these awards throughout the year. 

More information and the link to the nomination form can be found on our Student Experience website page.

This term, we have also gone through a tough process to elect our House Representatives. Well done to everyone who applied and to the successful candidates. Our first meeting brought energy, enthusiasm, ideas and showed commitment to Barnwood Park School. We discussed a number of topics, including belonging, which our Year 10 representatives discussed with the wider GLT Student Council. Their feedback to the rest of the representatives was exemplary.  

We have also continued to celebrate student success with Weekly Award Assemblies, with many students winning either a 'free cookie' or the much desired 'queue jump' voucher. 

Fun Friday continues to grow in popularity with some of the previous favourites making a comeback, Just Dance and Bingo, and new ones added, like the Barnwood Lunchtime Quiz, culminating in this Friday's much-talked-about Barnwood Karaoke. 


Star Students of the Term

Year 7 – Eliana Paul-Orji
She has made a fantastic start to Barnwood Park and Year 7. She tries her best in every lesson / subject, is working really hard and is making good progress. Eliana is, weekly, in the top three for Sparx Maths and most of the time for English. At Christmas, she was in the top 15 for the whole of the Greenshaw Schools for Maths – such a fantastic achievement! She is always polite and helpful to staff and students in and around school and her attendance is over 98%. Well done Eliana – keep doing what you are doing!

Year 8 – Abigail Corcoran
Abi is enthusiastic and diligent in all she does. She participates actively in every class, producing work of the highest quality. She has 100% attendance, numerous house points, always completes her homework and is a credit to the school. Well done Abi! 

Year 9 – Iniabasi Francis
Well done for having an excellent first half of year 9. You are a real leader around school and a role model student. You also made a great house representative speech – congratulations on getting the role for Jenner House. Well done Francis, keep up the great work.

Year 10 – Lexi Williams
Lexi had a challenging start to Year 10 but has truly flourished in 2026. Her attendance has been perfect, and she has excelled in all the recent assessments, especially Maths. Lexi consistently showcases creativity and talent in her cooking skills and has also demonstrated a greatly improved attitude towards all aspects of school. Keep it up, Lexi!

Year 11 – Niamh Witts-Jones
Niamh has shown excellent commitment and focus to her studies this term. She is a pleasure to have as part of the Year 11 team. 

Homework Celebration

 
 
 
 
 

Latest News

Follow our Facebook and Instagram pages for more news and regular updates.

10 Feb 2026
'Smashed' Play
Last Tuesday, Year 7 students had the opportunity to watch an engaging play called 'Smashed', performed by an external theatre company. The hour-long event began with a powerful theatrical performance following the lives of three teenage friends and exploring their experiences with alcohol a...
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30 Jan 2026
Dance Festival
Well done to all our Dance students who performed at Cheltenham Town Hall in January! You were absolutely brilliant and a real credit to the school.
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28 Jan 2026
Renishaw Workshop
With National Apprenticeship Week coming up soon (9-15 February), we were delighted to welcome Renishaw, a leading global engineering company, into school to deliver an engaging two-hour Year 10 electronics workshop.Throughout the session, students learnt about the wide range of i...
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16 Jan 2026
Multiskills Festival
We were delighted to welcome over 200 children from local primary schools to our school for a Multiskills Festival. Our sports leaders did a fantastic job leading the activities, and the day was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone involved.
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National Year of Reading 2026

 

The Department for Education has launched a UK-wide campaign for 2026 to shift the reading culture across the country. The UK is experiencing a generational decline in reading engagement and the aim of the movement is to motivate people everywhere to see reading as a modern, social and personally meaningful way to boost skills, empathy and benefit wellbeing. 

At Barnwood Park, we want to inspire students to (re) discover a love of reading through their existing interests in areas like music, history and sports.

What does this look like at Barnwood Park?

KS3 students access Sparx Reader for their English homework, which will not only support improving their reading age, but also allow them the autonomy to choose their own books to read. We issue rewards weekly and termly for the top 3 readers in each year group, which are celebrated in Morning Greeting, assemblies and shared on the school’s social media. Students also have the opportunity to achieve awards which contribute towards their Half and Full Colours.

Barnwood Park School Library

In January, the library hosted a display of Holocaust books for Holocaust Memorial Day.

   

This February we have created a ‘Blind Date with a Book’ display in the library to encourage students to choose a new book to enjoy over half-term.

Upcoming Events

February March
LGBTQ+ history month 5th March - World Book Day

National storytelling week – 2nd - 6th 
Writing competition

18th March - Zoom book event
LGBTQ+ reading list 20th March – Author visit (Anna February Years 9 and 10)
Story writing competition Women's History Month

Library display – Valentine's Day 'Blind date with a book'

Barnwood Book Month
-'Caught reading' tickets
-'Hunt the book' lanyards
-Scholastic book fair – 20th - 25th March
-Fun Friday Quiz

Subject spotlight – English reading list Library display – Women's history
  Subject spotlight – Science reading list

Key Dates

Year 11 PPEs
All Day
from 23 Feb until 27 Feb
23
February
Year 10 Academic Progress Evening
4:30pm – 6:30pm
26
February
Year 9 Glos Uni Trip
9:00am – 2:30pm
10
March
Year 8 Academic Progress Evening
4:30pm – 6:30pm
19
March
Book Fayre
All Day
from 20 Mar until 25 Mar
20
March
Dance Move It Trip
7:30am – 8:00pm
20
March
Centrestage
6:00pm – 8:00pm
from 24 Mar until 25 Mar
24
March