Headmistress’s News A very warm welcome to the start of a new Michaelmas term and a very special welcome to all of our new pupils and their families who have joined our Barney community this week. It was wonderful to see so many of you here on our induction afternoons on Tuesday and Wednesday and I do hope you found these beneficial in supporting your child this year. As all the children are quickly finding their feet and establishing new friendships, I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to them excitedly exchanging stories and adventures that they have encountered over the summer holidays. The first few days have been typical Barney…busy! We decided to do something a little different with class and House time interspersed throughout the three days. Lots of bonding and getting to know each other and expectations of our new year groups, school photos, mouthguard fittings and of course the challenge of our first House Drama session prepared in just three days, with each House performing this afternoon. I wonder which House will win? School Council elections have also taken place today and I am grateful to all those children who put their names forward for the election. It is good for the children to participate in democracy in action and I hope they all enjoyed the experience. School Councillors will be announced next week. Looking forward, the activities programme starts next week and I am delighted once again with the range of activities that are on offer. Thanks to the enthusiasm and expertise of the staff, our aim is for children to experience a combination of extra-curricular activities and play time over the course of a school year. The children should not expect to undertake all the activities of their choice each term, particularly when an activity is oversubscribed, however they will be able to take part in activities each term. It is also important to leave some lunch time periods free for play and also to be aware that there will also be homework to undertake after school. The children at Barney have a variety of curricular and extra-curricular experiences to encounter; I believe that this nurtures their extraordinary capacity for understanding, problem-solving and creativity. Most of all, this allows us to foster endeavour, community, integrity, enjoyment, compassion and duty, which have been the values of Barnard Castle School since 1883. Despite being back for only three days, I am delighted that we have all returned in full swing. The Prep School has come back to life again with children’s smiles and laughter and I very much look forward to a happy and successful academic year for us all.

Laura Turner

The Barney Buzz Friday 7th September 2018

Issue Number: 906

Boarders News Old Courts swung back into life again on Tuesday afternoon with the arrival of the boarders. We welcomed nine new boarders to the house which has been renovated over the summer to provide the extra accommodation that demand has required. It has been

wonderful to witness how the returning boarders have buddied up with the newcomers and helped them to adjust to the new routines. We are excited to welcome a number of new boarding staff to the team this year including Miss Nuala Penny and Mr Oliver Morrill who are both Old Barnardians and who were also boarders here at the school. Apart from getting settled and reuniting with good friends, this week the boarders have enjoyed playing around the site and have been for a swim. We are all looking forward to the Boarders’ Fun Day on Sunday afternoon. Mr Robson

On the run! Mr Ayres and Mrs Priestley will be busy this weekend joining 56,998 other runners tackling the Great North Run. Mr Ayres is running to raise money in support of Alzheimer's Society whilst Mrs Priestley will be running for the Butterwick Hospice. Both incredibly worthy causes. If you would like to donate please click on the links below. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/simon-ayres3 https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/claire-priestley5 Many thanks and good luck to them both!

The Famous Five! Pupils in Year 5 have had a fantastic start to the new school year and the classrooms have been filled with enthusiasm and smiling faces throughout the week. With a slightly different start to the year and our exciting new House Drama competition, pupils have embraced the change and thrown themselves wholeheartedly into the tasks they have been set. The introduction to our work on democracy began with preparations for the eagerly anticipated School Council elections. Pupils enjoyed ‘selling themselves’ to their classes and persuading their peers that they would be the best person to represent them on the council. Manifestos were read out confidently and we are looking forward to displaying them all in classrooms for you to read and get to know the children in the class a little better. As staff we have enjoyed bonding in our classes and we look forward to seeing what the rest of the year will bring.

Welcome back! What a busy start to the new school year! Our Year 2 pupils arrived back at school looking very smart and excited to see all their friends again. We were also delighted to welcome three new pupils to our class. This week the children have worked hard writing their own manifestos and are looking forward to voting for School Councillors today. For the first time, Pre-Prep have been placed into Houses and have already enjoyed joining in with the House Drama sessions. I am looking forward to getting to know my new class over the coming weeks.

A snowballing start! Year 3 have had a fantastic start to the year. We have been super busy singing, practising lines for the play, writing manifestos and … having a snowball fight! We had great fun getting to know each other with our secret snowballs and look forward to finding out even more about each other over the next few weeks!

New beginnings! Our new Reception pupils have had a fantastic first few days at school and have settled into the routine very quickly. It has been a delight to see them develop new friendships and explore their classroom. We are very much looking forward to the School Council elections and seeing the outcome!

Always a drama! With Pre-Prep joining our House system this year we have launched a new competition to celebrate! The Houses have all been given two scenes from the same script to prepare with their Houses, along with two songs to learn. Pupils from Years 1 to 6 will perform their House's interpretation to the rest of the school this afternoon as part of our inaugural House Drama competition. Our Year 6 pupils have certainly enjoyed the opportunity to integrate with their fellow House members and start to take on board their leadership roles. The time spent together in Houses has been invaluable in allowing our pupils to develop their House identity and forge strong bonds that will see them through another year of intense competition and friendly rivalry. We look forward to announcing the winners next week.

The Fab Four!

Well it is certainly clear to see that Year 4 have arrived back at school with a superb attitude and desire to achieve. We are so impressed with the excellent

approach that they are all taking to-wards their House projects. We are looking forward to getting going with our first trip out relating to our ‘Roman’ topic at the end of the month. It promises to be a super day of exploration and discovery. As parents you will no doubt be inundated with numerous Roman related facts and figures, as well as being drawn in to building Lego forts, life-size reproductions of Hadrian’s Wall and some Roman dinner party creations!

Music News Congratulations to the following pupils who all passed their London College of Music Examinations at the end of last term with distinc-tion: Polly Heintz - Piano Step 1 Isobel Heagerty - Recorder Step 1 Ella Turner - Classical Sax Well done to you all!

Let them eat cake! It has been a busy three days getting to know our lovely Year 1 chil-dren. They have settled into their classes quickly and have adopted the new routines sensibly. We have had great fun getting to know each other. They enjoyed House team building activities and writing their manifestos. We even got to eat a delicious birthday cake! We look forward to seeing what next week brings.

Uniform Reminder Just a reminder that all school uniform should be clearly labelled to prevent items of clothing getting lost. We would really like all children to have the appropriate school uniform this year including the school bags and coats. We are aware that there are some delays with items ordered from PlayerLayer. Please reassure your child that they can wear their own kit until the school sports kit arrives from PlayerLayer. A reminder for the girls that if they are wearing earrings these should be a small and simple stud which must be taken out for PE and Games lessons. All hair past shoulder length should be tied up in an appropriate school coloured bobble. We would really appreciate your support with this. For your information, the Second Hand Uniform Shop, located in Longfield Lodge, is open every Friday during term time between 3pm and 5pm. Any donations can be left at the Prep School Office or the Senior School General Office.

Awards This Week:

House Certificates: Drake: Isaac Binks, Jessie Burgess, Georgina Jackson, Hugo Manners, Alia Saunders, Daisy Allison, Harriet

Hatton, Annabel Jackson, Arabella Milbank, Jack Baptist, Alexander Carr, Isla Durban, Jacob Griffin, Caitlyn

McLean, Charles Bennett, Alice Burton, Sienna Lawson, Adam Lee, Felicity Lineton, Alexander Milbank, Leo

Rokk, Evie Durban, Liberty Flounders, Lavender Lawson, Laura Watts, Max Hunton, Joseph Swann, Matthew

Burgess, Saffron Flounders, Toby Gent Gilbert: Elliott Chapman, Lily Shearn, Carter Wake, Toby

Willsmore, Dominick Armstrong, Lilly Cassidy, James Harburn, Elodie Lavery, Thomas Scott-Priestley,

Sebastian Howard, Tom Staley, Megan Sunley, Lucy Willsmore, Alex Banner, Charlie Bridges, Georgina Chapman, Matilda Chapman, Zara Scott-Priestley, George Swinbank, Samuel Wake, William Jones,

Ava Pittaway, William Pittaway Grenville: Matthew Blackburn, John Turnbull, Olivia Harland, James Nath, Isabelle Shield, Pia Willcocks,

Francesca Wilks, Finley Cable-Jones, Callum Clark-Alderson, Jenson Moody, Sophie Richardson, Hetty Barwick, Freydis Blake, Nathan Brown, Toby Rutherford, Freddie Wilks, Millie Tague, Bruno Summerson-Brown Raleigh: Oliver Barrass, Juliette Harper-Wilkes, Fenella Heagerty, Edith Smart, Hugo Thompson, Freya Turner, Archie Walder, Flora Whitaker, Fiore Catellani, Dylan Dougal, Reuben Hosking, Oona MacConachie, Peter

Stevenson, Archie Lanigan-O’Keeffe, Hugo Lanigan-O’Keeffe, Hannah Lynn, Isla MacConachie, Rory Metcalf, Joseph Stephenson, Dexter Thomas,

Harry Westgarth, Harrison Hutton, Ramneek Khokhar, Toby Green, Poppy Hendrix

Maths Puzzler Welcome back! For the first puzzler of the year I'm going to reuse a puzzler I first used as the opening of the 2016 season. As myself and Mrs Priestley tackle the journey from Newcastle to South Shields I am curious to know how far we will be running. The run is 13.1 miles or 21km - 21,000m. What is that the same as? How many toy cars? How many bourbons? How many 30cm rulers? How many family cars? It's entirely up to you what you decide to compare. We had some brilliant suggestions last time around and I look forward to seeing what ideas you come up with this time. Any answers or suggestions can be emailed to me, or delivered to my classroom, by next Wednesday for three merits and a mention in next week’s newsletter. Good luck! Mr Ayres sta@barneyschool.org.uk

Forthcoming Events

September

Sun 9 Boarders’ Fun Day & BBQ

Wed 12 Barney Friends’ Meeting, Atkinson Hall, 6pm

Wed 19 Year 6 London trip meeting for parents,

Atkinson Hall, 7pm-8pm

Fri 21 Hockey v Yarm & Ashville: U10 (H), 2pm

Hockey v Yarm & Ashville: U11 (A), 2pm

Rugby v Yarm & Ashville: U11, U10 (A), 2pm

Sat 22 Exeat Weekend

Rugby & Hockey Festival Weekend:

Clegg Cup & Seddon Cup: U10, 11am

Sun 23 Exeat Weekend

Barney Friends’ Sunday lunch with sports

Apologies for the delay in receiving the termly

calendar, these should be here on Monday and will be

distributed to your oldest child in school.

In the meantime, please refer to the calendar

on the school website.

We would like to wish a very happy birthday to:

Elliott Chapman Lily Shearn

Rory Metcalf Dexter Thomas

Mirabelle Harrison Millie Tague

Isabelle Shield

Best wishes from everyone at Prep School!

App of the Week

Countries Capital Quiz This is an app that I have been playing over the summer and one I have really enjoyed! Appropriate for all lovers of trivia and geography – this is a quiz to help you memorise the capital cities of the world. This app contains ten levels of difficulty with thousands of capital cities across Europe, Asia, America and Africa. Your score will be kept and you can rank yourself online with the millions of other players. How well do you know the world? Miss White aaw@barneyschool.org.uk