Baker’s Beacon Blog – Week 33

Dear Parents,

Before I left for Paris today, it gave me great pleasure to congratulate our Year 8 leavers with their PSB certificates.  The culmination of two years of hard work and achievement, capped off with a handshake from me and the self-satisfaction of a job well done.   A ‘preparatory’ school is exactly that; it prepares children for senior school, and, judging by the output from this exit group and those before them, Beacon boys have an ingrained work ethic and intellectual curiosity that will stand them in excellent stead for the years ahead.  As always, our boys across Years 6 and 8 feed a variety of senior schools.  We don’t channel boys into one particular school or exit point; our aim here is to provide options and choice and from the range of schools listed below from the Exit Group 2024, it represents a typical Beacon year perfectly.  Well done, boys, and keep in touch…they’ll always be a bit of Beacon in you as you go through your future senior school and employment careers.

As you are reading this, the Beacon Peloton and I will have ridden the 94 miles to Newhaven and will be just about boarding our ferry crossing for Dieppe for the second leg of our epic ‘Beacon to Paris’ bike ride.  As we rode out of the Quad with the cheers of the boys ringing in our ears this morning, it was impossible not to be inspired by such enthusiasm and noise generated from our whole community.  Do follow us on my @thebeacon_head Instagram feed over the next 24 hours and support via our Just Giving Page – we are raising money for our School’s Bursary Fund and our new Cooking and Nutrition Room as well as enjoying each other’s company and testing ourselves on such a distance.  Most tours will attempt London to Paris in three or four days but not at The Beacon…we can do this in two I reckon, particularly as I have a bought myself a new toy.  On the Ride London event a few weeks ago, I found myself very envious of my fellow riders who all had electronic gear shifting on their bikes.  Chatting breezily on the way round and as always, the marketeers’ dream subject that I am, I was convinced of the potential increase in my performance that the extra functionality would bring and sourced myself a new bike that night, despite Brigid’s insistence that “you don’t need any more bikes”.  It arrived on Wednesday and looked and felt magnificent up and down Berkhamsted High Street on a few test shuttle runs…whether or not I feel the same way or have had enough of bikes by the time we ride underneath the Eiffel Tower tomorrow afternoon remains to be seen but we’ll have fun along the way I’m sure.

Chapeau to my fellow riders and passe un bon week-end!

Nick Baker

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