Pastoral Care and the Wellbeing of Your Son

Teachers and Tutors From Nursery to Year 5, the boys spend the majority of their time with their Class Teacher and we ask, if you have any concerns regarding your son, that you speak to them in the first instance (whether they be academic concerns or those regarding his social and emotional wellbeing).

In Year 6, your son will move into the Tutor System and he will be assigned a Form Tutor. The Tutor System is central to all that we do at The Beacon. Through strong pastoral care, pupils become happier and achieve more in their studies. Therefore much emphasis is placed on the role of the Form Tutor and a planned programme of topics is implemented in the Tutor Periods.

There are regular year group and whole school Assemblies, as well as fortnightly House meetings. In many ways, these contact times are the most important times of the week – the link between pastoral care and academic achievement is well documented.

One of the main responsibilities of the Form Tutor is to set targets with his/her tutees; these can be academic, pastoral, sporting, social etc., and must be realistic but still raise expectations. At the beginning of the school year, we encourage all parents to contact their son’s Form Tutor to make an appointment, both to establish contact and to raise any concerns on either side, as well as to discuss and agree targets for the year. Communications should be sent to your son’s Form Tutor, who will then contact the appropriate member of staff. This is the best way of ensuring that tutors have a full and rounded picture of their tutees. Tutors and Heads of Section meet regularly to discuss the boys, and through these meetings information is disseminated to the appropriate people.

If you have any pastoral concerns regarding your son, then you should raise this issue with your son’s Class Teacher or Form Tutor in the first instance. Please be proactive about this as many issues become difficult to deal with if left for long periods of time. You are also free to raise any issues with your son’s Sectional Head. Please rest assured that Teachers, Form Tutors and Sectional Heads speak on a regular basis about your son.

At the end of the school year, a meeting between staff is held to discuss the transition of pupils so that the next year’s Class Teacher or Form Tutor is informed about his or her class or tutees.

Education Guidance, Counselling and Support Our pastoral team is further enhanced by a School Counsellor, Mrs Katrina Gibbons-Marshall, who looks after the wellbeing of the whole Beacon Community. There are times when boys need support from our trained counsellor and you may wish to discuss in confidence a private matter affecting your son’s education. Please call 01494 736160 or email counselling@beaconschool.co.uk to make an appointment.

The House System We have four Houses from Year 3 - boys are placed into one of the following: Cromer (blue), Eddystone (yellow), Portland (green) or Trinity (red). The House system provides a focus for boys’ energies on both the sports field and in the classroom, and a House Assembly takes place every fortnight, which enables success to be rewarded and team spirit fostered.

House points are recorded weekly, as are debits and commendations. Points may be awarded for good work, sporting success or general good manners and behaviour. At the end of term, the winning House is given a reward. You can view House points and commendations awarded to your son on the Parent Portal.

Assemblies Assemblies are an important part of community life at The Beacon. All boys have weekly Assembly meetings, either a Sectional Assembly, House Assembly or whole school Assembly.

Assemblies allow boys the opportunity to celebrate and share their successes - whether academic, sporting or otherwise. Community sharing is an important part of Beacon life and we regularly have external speakers deliver Assemblies on a wide range of subjects.

Eating at The Beacon Wilson Vale, our catering provider, delivers all our catering needs throughout the day: Breakfast Club, breaktime snacks, lunches, teas/match teas and evening events. All the meals provided by Wilson Vale are cooked freshly on site and the quality of our food is very high. The week’s menus are found on the Parent Portal. In Pre-Prep your son’s Teachers supervise the boys and sit with them during mealtimes.

In Year 3 and above the boys are given greater independence to choose what to eat and where to sit, although the servers will ensure that your son has a balanced plate of food. Dining at The Beacon is an enjoyable social event and we expect our boys to display good table manners. Please let us know if your son is a vegetarian, or if he has a medical problem with any particular food or if foods are excluded on religious grounds. The boys are encouraged to eat a reasonable sized portion and try different flavours.

Sleep Please make sure your son goes to bed at a reasonable hour. The school day is full and demanding and if he is exhausted, there is a limit to how much progress he can make. If this becomes a problem, please discuss the matter with his Class Teacher or Form Tutor.

Medical Matters If your son is ill, please do not send him to school. If your son needs to take Paracetamol or Ibuprofen at the start of the day, he should not be sent to school, unless this is being taken for an injury or other prescribed reason. Please also ensure that your son is eating and drinking normally and following a normal daily routine.

There is a qualified First Aider on site throughout the day. If your son feels ill, or suffers an injury, they will deal with the situation and contact you, if necessary. All teaching staff in the school are trained in basic first aid and will deal with minor injuries and administer the necessary treatment. If there is any doubt, a second opinion would always be sought.

If your son needs to take medication during the day, please first consider if he is well enough to be at school. If he is, medication should be handed to the Medical Centre staff (or the School Office in their absence) with a medical consent form and clear instructions of what the medicine is for, the dosage, when it should be taken, in its original packaging and clearly labelled with the child’s name. There are Consent Forms in the Medical Centre and on the Parent Portal for this purpose. The Medical Centre is open Monday to Friday 08:00 - 18:00.

Medication should be collected from the Medical Centre at the end of the day or when a course of treatment is complete. Medical Centre staff are unable to administer medicines or creams without written consent. Teachers do not administer medication in school, unless in an emergency or in the absence of Medical Centre staff. Teachers can administer medication on school trips and away matches, having completed the ‘Administration of Medication in Schools’ course. Allergies An up-to-date list is kept of boys with allergies and other medical conditions. Please inform the Medical Team accordingly.

Asthma Inhalers are kept by the Medical Team in the Medical Centre. Please ensure inhalers are clearly named and kept up-to-date. A record will be kept of each occasion an inhaler is used.

Conjunctivitis There is no exclusion for conjunctivitis and boys do not need to have started treatment before coming to school.

Vomiting and Diarrhoea If your son has vomiting and/or diarrhoea, he should not return to school until he has been clear of all symptoms for 48 hours. He must also be eating and drinking normally.

Head lice This is an ongoing condition and if you check your son’s hair weekly and brush or comb the hair from the scalp down with conditioner it will slow down the process of spreading to others. There are many products available to treat head lice; please seek advice from your local pharmacy.

Impetigo This is contagious and spreads very quickly. If your son catches it, he must be kept off school until lesions are crusted and healed or 48 hours after commencing antibiotic treatment.

Sun protection We recognise that the summer sun brings with it the danger of overexposure. Parents have a major role to play in dealing with this danger. The Medical Team recommends: - Parents should apply a strong, high-quality and long-lasting product to exposed areas of skin before school. - If boys are due to go swimming or to take showers after exercise, they will need to bring in a personal supply of sun protection lotion (roll-on, rather than cream) for re-application, clearly named and be able to apply it themselves. - Boys should wear their sun hats when at play. - School will not supply sun cream to pupils, due to a risk of allergic reaction. - Staff on duty may tell boys to play in the shadier areas, where possible.

Mrs F Ensor (Head of Medical Centre, full-time) and Mrs J Milne (Assistant School Nurse, part-time) are available to discuss any medical concerns on 01494 736156 or email medical@beaconschool.co.uk.

Safeguarding All staff at The Beacon who have unsupervised access to our pupils have been trained in Safeguarding procedures and have undergone enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. Mr James Skea, Senior Master, is the Designated Safeguarding Lead. Mr Steve Miles, Miss Natalie Jones (Early Years), Mr Trevor Powell, Miss Georgina Thomas and Mr Sam Privett are the Additional Safeguarding Leads. The Safeguarding Governor is Mrs Stephanie Horrocks. The School’s Safeguarding Policy is available on the School website.

As a school, we are very aware of the need to consider issues of child protection. This means that any areas where boys may be changing are out of bounds to parents and all other adults, apart from authorised staff. We appreciate your support.

School Rewards and Sanctions Throughout the school, praise is considered to be the best contributor towards good behaviour. A system of House Points and Commendations operates. Where boys do transgress the school rules, warnings and, in more serious cases, detentions and debits can be given. Parents are always contacted where serious breaches of school rules occur. The Behaviour Policy and the School’s Anti-Bullying Policy can be found on the School Website.

The Golden Rules The boys are introduced to The Beacon’s Six Golden Rules in Pre-Prep and these continue to be emphasised right through your son’s time at The Beacon: 1. Do be gentle – don’t hurt anybody. 2. Do be kind – help others. 3. Do work hard – don’t waste time. 4. Do be honest – don’t cover up the truth. 5. Do look after property – don’t damage it. 6. Do listen - don’t interrupt.