The Gift of Giving!

Throughout the Autumn term, we have had a focus on philanthropy at The Beacon, with a particular interest in supporting wonderful local charities and community groups. We are thrilled to have been fundraising for a wide variety of charitable causes and have raised a staggering £3617 for all 8 charitable organisations, in addition to donating a huge quantity of festive gifts and food for those in need.

Please find below a summary of the organisations our Beacon Community have been supporting:

As we head towards the most wonderful time of year, we have been taking a moment to think about those who are less fortunate during the Christmas period. To raise awareness of this, Save the Children once again organised their annual event; Christmas Jumper Day. At school, the boys and staff have been getting into the festive spirit wearing their Christmas jumpers in aid of the charity. We are extremely grateful to our Beacon Community for the donations received, and are pleased to announce that we have raised £915 for Save the Children. Click here to discover what Save the Children do in the UK and around the world.

Movember took over The Beacon in November with a group of our Teachers growing and grooming their moustaches for the duration of the month. In celebration of Movember, our Beacon boys created their own individual moustache out of different coloured cardboard, some of which were decorated with fabulous designs. Our total raised for Movember is an incredible £1125. Click here to find out what Movember stands for and why. To read about our Movember activities, click here.

Our Remembrance Day Service and Poppy Appeal was a poignant time for our Beacon Community to remember those who have served and sacrificed. Our Year 8 boys hosted the annual Remembrance Service superbly. In preparation for the event, they wrote war poems and rehearsed a selection of hymns ready to sing and do readings in front of an audience. The event was live-streamed to parents and staff at The Beacon. Our boys wore their poppies with pride and our Beacon Community kindly donated to the Poppy Appeal, raising a fabulous £573.66. Click here to read more about our Remembrance Day Service.

Children in Need took place on 19 November this year. It’s a charity close to our hearts that supports children all over the country and around the world. We raised awareness of Children in Need, encouraging donations as one of our charities of choice to support in November.

We were delighted to be taking part in the Rotary Shoe Box Collection this year. Our boys put together lovely gift-filled shoe boxes which have been sent to Romania and will be gifted to children on Christmas Day. This is an excellent charity and overall, our boys gifted an amazing 354 boxes. Click here to find out about the Rotary Shoe Box Scheme.

Anti-Bullying Alliance is a charity we were also delighted to be supporting. Their charitable campaign ‘One Kind Word’ resonates with The Beacon ethos, as we teach our boys to be kind and the importance of caring for one another. To celebrate this charity and to raise awareness of the campaign, we joined in with ‘odd sock week’. Our Beacon boys and Teachers wore odd socks to school for the whole week, as well as donating to our JustGiving Page. We raised £140.

This year, we have contributed towards the Chiltern Toy Bank and Chiltern Food Bank charities. Our boys donated an enormous amount of food for our Harvest Festival, which will be gifted to families around the Chilterns. In total, we donated 765.kg worth of food! The boys also enjoyed bringing in some of their favourite toys to be gifted to children throughout the Christmas period.

To celebrate our passion for cooking, we were excited to support the Macmillan Coffee Morning, with our Teachers putting their culinary expertise to the test by baking a range of delicious treats available to purchase in the staff room to fundraise for the Macmillan Cancer Support charity. The charity do whatever it takes to give people the support they need living with cancer – providing physical, financial and emotional support. Click here to find out more about the Macmillan Coffee Morning. Our Beacon bakers managed to raise £268.75 selling delicious delights for a coffee morning at The Beacon.

This year, The Beacon hosted a ‘Keeping Yourself Safe’ day in conjunction with the NSPCC. Boys from Nursery up to Year 8 took part in a variety of interesting, fun and engaging talks from external speakers (tailored to the Year group). It was a pleasure to welcome representatives from the NSPCC to the school to teach the boys about the importance of safety in their everyday lives. Keeping our boys safe is paramount at The Beacon, and the NSPCC is the only charity fighting to end child abuse in the UK. We are thrilled to have raised £328 for this wonderful charity. Click here to find out more about the good work of the NSPCC.

Finally, during the Summer term, our boys took part in the first MasterCook Competition. Since then, we have created a MasterCook Cookbook incorporating their delicious recipes, so you can enjoy them at home. This is currently on sale on our website and all profits go directly to CoFarm. This is a Cambridge-based charity whose vision is that everyone will have access to locally sourced, sustainably produced food by 2030. Currently, we have raised £145.70 and counting.

Click here to find out more about CoFarm.

Click here to purchase the cookbook.

We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of our Beacon Community this term. A huge thank you to everyone for your kind donations, they are greatly appreciated.

If you haven’t done so already, and would like to donate to any of these fantastic charities, click here to view our Beacon Just Giving page.