Barnard grew up in the town of Otley in Yorkshire. Her father was a university lecturer and her mother was an Artist who later became a jazz singer. She graduated from Newcastle Polytechnic (now Northumbria University), with a First Class B.A. (Hons) with distinction in fine art and received a Post-Graduate Diploma in Electronic Imaging at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design. In 1988, Her post grad video work Dirt and Science featured Jane and Louise Wilson and toured internationally as part of the ICA Biennial of Independent Film & Video, curated by Tilda Swinton.
Her debut feature, The Arbor (2010) won several awards including Best New Documentary Filmmaker at Tribeca Film Festival New York, Best Newcomer and Sutherland Awards at The London Film Festival, Douglas Hickox Award at British Independent Film Awards, The Guardian First Film Award, Best Screenplay at the London Evening Standard Film Awards, the Sheffield Documentary Film Festival Innovation Award and the Jean Vigo Award for Best Direction at Punto de Vista International Documentary Film Festival. She was nominated for the BAFTA Outstanding Debut Award in February 2011.
Critics have likened Barnard's realist yet lyrical work to that of Ken Loach. Time Out said of The Selfish Giant, "this is ‘Kes’ revisited in a post-Thatcher northern England."
