Pastoral Care

Pastoral care is central to the ethos of The Beacon. We are a happy school with a strong pastoral system involving a multi-disciplinary team who meet on a regular basis to discuss and address whole-school issues. The welfare and wellbeing of the boys is the primary focus, but the team play a significant role in how we can demonstrate our Beacon values.

Boys are encouraged to take responsibility for their actions and words, behave with integrity, work hard to achieve their best in all aspects of school life, learn how to deal gracefully with setbacks whilst building the resilience, courage and confidence that will sustain them through the changes and challenges of modern life.

Our core message of kindness is a simple yet effective school ethos, which is communicated regularly at all levels.

School Counsellor

Our in-school counsellor is Mrs Sandy Drury. Sandy is fully qualified with a BSc hons PHED Child Counselling & Therapy Diploma and has many years’ experience of working in pastoral care and counselling.

The Beacon’s pastoral ethos is that early intervention and prevention is the key element in supporting children’s mental health and wellbeing. It is of vital importance that they are given the time to feel able to talk about their emotions and feelings from an early age without stigma. Children need to feel that they have permission to share feelings and emotions in a non-judgemental environment and our supportive counselling service offers this in a consistent and caring way to our boys.

Medical Centre

The health and care of your child is of utmost importance at The Beacon. Our Medical Centre is permanently staffed by qualified nurses between 08:00 and 18:00. All our staff are first aid trained, and the Medical Centre and Early Years staff are Paediatric Level 3 first aid trained. We ask the parents of all new joiners to The Beacon to fill out a contact and medical details form. This ensures that the Medical Centre staff are aware of any past and current medical history, so that your child receives the highest standard of care possible at The Beacon.

House System

The Beacon’s House System is used to encourage hard work, good manners and resilience through healthy competition. Boys are placed in one of four houses in Year 3, with siblings joining the same house. The four houses are named after lighthouses – Cromer, Eddystone, Portland and Trinity. There are inter-house competitions in sports, debating, Design & Technology and general knowledge. The winning house members enjoy a house treat at the end of term, such as a pool party or film night. The houses are led by Year 8 boys and a House Master. House Assemblies take place every fortnight and involve team-building activities such as treasure hunts, quizzes and charity events.

School Council

The School Council comprises representatives from each class who are chosen to represent the views of the boys. The School Council enables boys to raise issues and concerns and to suggest ideas for making improvements to our School, environment and local community. The boys take part in half-termly meetings, where they hold discussions and bring along their forms’ suggestion boxes.

Mindfulness

In Pre-Prep, our boys enjoy ‘Circle Time’ as part of their programme. This teaches them to build a sense of self-awareness, encouraging them to understand and communicate their feelings.

We also run a Mindfulness After-School Club for Year 1 and Year 2 boys, which focusses on paying attention to the present moment. Allowing our boys to experience and connect with how they feel, in a non-judgemental way, enabling them to slow down and self-regulate their emotions. Learning this invaluable life skill from a young age helps them manage the ever-increasing pace of life as they grow and develop.

Mentoring

A new initiative at The Beacon is our mentoring system. Our Year 7 boys have the opportunity to extend their leadership skills by mentoring our younger boys in Lower School. The mentors organise games and discussions and offer support during break and lunch times.