Headmistress’s News

As we approach half term, we are very much looking forward to Prep School Sports Day for pupils in Years 3 to 6

which takes place from 1pm this afternoon. If you are coming to watch, please use the Senior School entrance where

you will be directed to car parking. Refreshments will be available throughout the afternoon from the Barney Friends’

marquee. On completion of the event we will have the presentation of the Queen’s Cup. Pupils will be free to leave

following the presentation, although Taekwondo will be on as normal. We look forward to welcoming parents to an

action packed afternoon.

If you would like to watch ‘The Amazing Adventures of Superstan’ the forthcoming Year 5 & 6 play, please

return the ticket request form, which was emailed last week, as soon as possible as tickets are on a first come, first

served basis and are going fast!

Our second ‘Den Building Day’ took place last week on a beautiful Sunday morning. To see so many children and

parents there planning, hammering and sawing eagerly was a joy to watch and the children’s excitement as they ran

around working out what to add to their creations was a real highlight. The rest of the Prep School have had a

fantastic week during playtimes, exploring the dens and using them as a well deserved shelter from the sun.

I am also looking forward to the May Ball on Saturday and welcoming those attending for what I am sure will be a

most enjoyable evening. My thanks must go to the Barney Friends for all the exciting events they have arranged this

week.

It was also lovely to welcome back to Prep School 27 Preppies from the Upper Sixth to have lunch with us and

reminisce on fond memories of their time here. It is funny how everything seems so much smaller to them; they were

impressed with how much we have moved forward since they were here. An enjoyable afternoon was had by all and

we wish them all the best for the future.

I hope you all have a lovely, relaxing half term.

Laura Turner

The Barney Buzz Friday 26th May 2017

Issue Number: 867

Boarders’ News

On Saturday Miss Strachan and the boarders all

had great fun creating wax art at School before

heading into town for a spot of shopping. The

children made the most of the beautiful weather

and thoroughly enjoyed playing outside until tea

time. All the children woke up excited on Sunday

for the Den Building with the Barney Friends. We all had

a great day which was finished off with a dip in the

School pool to cool down!

Mr Killeen

To cap it off!

As the warmer weather has now arrived, and is hopefully

here to stay, we would recommend that pupils bring a

School cap and sun cream to School each day after the

half term.

School caps are available from Brookes Tailors, 3 Market

Place, Barnard Castle. Opening hours: 9:30am-5:00pm,

Monday to Saturday, tel: 01833 638103.

Year 3 roll with it!

Year 3 have been continuing their Egyptian theme

in Art this week as they made mono prints of

scarab beetles. Each child traced and created their

own printing block and learned how to use rollers

and ink to get a repeating pattern.

Measuring Madness!

Over the last two weeks, Year 4

have been undertaking a practical

Maths investigation. This has

involved them measuring the

entire Astroturf in Prep School.

The task included working out the

perimeter of the whole pitch as

well as the two internal courts,

the size of the goals and length

and widths of the lines within

the courts. They used trundle

wheels, metre sticks and the

occasional 30cm ruler when

being really accurate.

Following on from this they

drew scale diagrams of the Astro-

turf into their Maths books and

investigated how to work out the

area of specific parts of the court.

Although this has been a

challenging task, all of the

children thoroughly enjoyed the

experience and practical

applications of the Mathematics

we are learning in the classroom!

App of the Week:

Monster Hunt

This is a simple and really effective

fun app aimed at developing

concentration skills, and improving

your working memory. You get a few

seconds to view where the monsters

are hidden and then have to click on

their hiding places.

The better you get at it, the harder

the challenge becomes.

Have fun!

Fun in the sun!

This week in PSHCEE with Mrs Rowlandson, the Reception

class have been learning about ‘Sun Safety’. They listened to a

story about ‘George the Sun Safe Superstar’ and learned the

‘slip, slap, slop’ rhyme! Afterwards the children slopped on a

thick layer of sun cream and some even slapped on a hat for

our photograph!

Year 1 venture under the sea!

Year 1 are thoroughly enjoying their Art 'Recycling'

topic and they have started creating their own sea

creatures from recycled rubbish. Look out for some

fish and jellyfish arriving 'Under the Sea' very soon.

Vouch for us!

The School Council have now started to add up the

Sainsbury’s vouchers and are looking forward to seeing

what they can order this year for the whole School to

enjoy. If you find you have any vouchers still hanging

around at home, please send them in to School so we can

get the final total and send off our request.

Finding Fun in the Forest!

The Year 5 orienteering trip to Hamsterley Forest was a great

success. The morning session included map reading skills and

an idea of the course. In the afternoon the children set off to

navigate the course in small groups. The children enjoyed this

experience and realised that team work and using the map

reading skills learned in the morning were the keys to success.

Thank you to all the staff who manned base camp and

provided back up at strategic points in the forest. The children

commented how much they had enjoyed being given the

opportunity to learn for themselves. Well done to Euan,

Lorcan, Oliver and Henry who were first back with all the

checkpoints found.

Back to School!

We were delighted to welcome the Upper Sixth

ex-Preppies back to Prep School for their leavers’

lunch prior to their A Level exams.

It was lovely to see them all grown up, about to

embark on the next stage of their lives. Six of the

returning pupils are just completing their

fourteenth year at Barnard Castle School, having

arrived in the Reception class. They were treated

to a lovely buffet lunch and were met by the

photos of their Prep School play, Yee-Ha! and the

slideshow from their leavers’ Speech Day. They

couldn’t believe how young they were and how

much they had changed and how small everything

seemed now they tower over all their former

teachers!

Building Learning Power

Our Year 2 children have been thinking about the skills they need to become better learners. In

collaborative groups they discussed their thoughts and came up with some super ideas! These

included; ‘be independent, share ideas, find things out for ourselves, be confident, ask friends for help, work hard,

concentrate, think of new questions, check your work, don’t be afraid to make mistakes’ … the list went on!

Once we had discussed each group’s ideas, 2P were introduced to four new characters who as a team will remind

them how to ‘Build Their Learning Power’ and improve their learning at School. They gave the characters special

names and added speech bubbles to the illustrations which reinforced each one’s message.

Here are our

Learning Power

Heroes:

In the coming

weeks we will

add to our

heroes and

think of other

‘powers’ that

will help us to

become better

learners.

Maths Puzzler

Last weeks puzzler was Sports day related (sort of!). Can you

use the clues to find out who won the race and who filled the

other places?

Eve finished 2 places behind Carla

Debbie finished ahead of Brooke

Alice overtook the person in 3rd just before the line

Carla finished 3 places ahead of Brooke

The winner’s name is 4th alphabetically

Using the clues Rhys James worked out that the runners

finished in the following order:

1. Debbie

2. Carla

3. Alice

4. Eve

5. Brooke

This week I’d like you to use

the information in the two

complete circles to find out

which number is missing

from the third one.

Good luck!

Mr Ayres

sta@barneyschool.org.uk

Until the next edition of the newsletter, we would like to wish a

very happy birthday to:

Jonny Ross-Mitchell Lottie Baptist Freydis Blake Violet Heintz

Jack Edmunds Mila Johnson

Tabitha Hilsdon

Best wishes from everyone at Prep School!

Forthcoming Events

May

Fri 26 Sports Day for Years 3-6

Boarders’ parent/teacher meetings afterwards

Half term begins, 3:40pm-5:00pm

Sat 27 Prep School Barney Friends’ Ball, 7pm

June

Sun 4 Boarders return, 4pm

Mon 5 Second half of term begins

Cricket & Rounders v Bow School: U10 (A), 3:30pm

Tues 6 Rounders Tournament at Bow School: U9 (A), 1:30pm

Wed 7 Barney Friends’ meeting, Clarendon’s, 8:45am

Trinity Evensong, Chapel, 3pm

Thur 8 Year 5 & 6 Play Technical Rehearsal, 1:30pm

Fri 9 HMC Athletics: U11, U10, U9 (A)

Cricket v Red House: U11 (H), 2:30pm

Headmistress’s

Commendations:

Rory Metcalf Dexter Thomas

Thomas Rothwell Jessica Raper Anna Metcalf

Well done!

Awards This Week:

Special Mention Certificates:

Reuben Hosking, Vivi Gledhill, Hetty Barwick,

Isla MacConachie, Benjamin Dixon, William

Watson, Olivia Bridges, Niamh Hennessy, William

Banner, Ben Arnold, Benjamin French, Molly

Rendall, Joe Arnold, Darcy Metcalf, Archie

Rickard, Annabelle Metcalf, William Shaefer,

Samuel Baker-Bird, Maisy Squires, Alfie Franks,

Jack Edmunds, Charlie Thompson, Katie Riddell,

Jonny Ross-Mitchell

Merit Certificates:

Nathan Willoughby-Brown, Charlotte Blenkiron,

Alexander Howard, Sebastian Metcalf, Harry

Milbank, Finlay Toyne, Lottie Baptist, Tom Body,

Emily England, Benjamin French, George Goad,

Lucy Harburn, Abygail Jameson, Sophie McGill,

Freya Pinwill-Price, Molly Rendall, Jonny Royle,

Joseph Robin Truss, Theo Tweddle, Joe Arnold,

Luke Banner, Jemima Burton, Zara Dobson,

Polly Heintz, Jake Lawson, Gus Living, Lewis

Maunder-Brown, Harry Sinclair, Bella Staley,

Phoebe Allman, Isla MacConachie, Toby

Rutherford, Freddie Wilks, Konrad Blake,

Olivia Bridges, Grace Dickinson, Niamh Hennessy,

Benjamin Pelly, Isabel Warren, Quinn Williams,

Anna Metcalf, Frankie Preston, Mila Johnson, Bea

Dolby, Talitha Hayward, Rhys Jenkins, Johnny

Burgess, Fin McGuire, Harry Maude

Practice makes perfect

Tickets are going quickly for

this year's Prep School play,

'The Amazing Adventures of

Superstan'. The children in

Years 5 and 6 have been

practising hard and, as Half

Term approaches, Mrs Robertson is

quietly confident that we'll get there in

time for curtain up!

There has also been much excitement in

Year 6 as the children have been allocated

a country to research for the Tourism Fair

in June. The groups have begun to work

on their presentations this week.