Beacon Life Be Together

The Year of the Rabbit

Chinese New Year started on Sunday 22 January this year and this year it is the Year of the Rabbit. To celebrate, our Reception boys made lanterns using red, yellow, and orange tissue paper and a rabbit silhouette cut out of black card. They shared a book called Peppa's Chinese New Year, which taught them lots of interesting facts. They also learnt that people celebrate by eating delicious foods, wearing smart clothes, meeting with families and often there's fireworks! Lastly, the boys made rabbit-shaped shortbread biscuits to enjoy.

Ramadan Assembly

Ms Shahid, an English Teacher at The Beacon, spoke to our boys in assembly about Ramadan. The aim was to acknowledge the arrival of the month of Ramadan and to share the experiences of Muslims who observe fasting.

The boys learnt that Ramadan is the 9th month of the Islamic calendar when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset for 30 days and that the act of fasting teaches Muslims to be charitable, kind and resilient. This is also the time when Muslims distribute food to their neighbours, friends and family; they arrange feasts at Iftar time and welcome others to join them. At the end of the month of Ramadan and when the new moon arrives, Muslims celebrate the festival of Eidal-Fitr - one of the two most important Muslim festivals.

Holocaust Memorial Day

Our boys in Years 6, 7 and 8 remembered Holocaust Memorial Day by joining a live webinar with author, Tom Palmer, and Holocaust Survivor Mala Tribich.

The boys also spent a morning watching presentations from Mrs

Olhausen, Mr Tenison, Mr Winter and Mrs Compton, whereby they spoke about the difficult times during the Holocaust and the dramatic events that took place.

Donor Impact Report

The Beacon Pathway

To mark The Beacon’s 90th Anniversary, we are creating a new Beacon Pathway.

Anyone associated with The BeaconOld Beaconians, parents, staff, governors and friends - can purchase a specially engraved brick (or bricks!) which will form part of the new path design and be a part of Beacon history! Your brick can be personalised to include your name or the name of your family, together with your years at The Beacon, e.g. J Bloggs (OB 1981-9). Bricks can also be dedicated to others as a present or as a memorial.

Bricks can be purchased at a cost of £100 which includes two lines of engraving, with each line having 15 characters including spaces. Double bricks are also available at a cost of £200 with four lines of engraving.

All funds raised through this initiative will be split between the Headmaster’s Bursary Fund and projects that help to benefit our boys and improve their educational experience.

Visit www.beaconschool.co.uk/supportus/name-a-brick to find out more and purchase a brick before 31 May.

Over the Spring Term, we were excited to share The Beacon’s first ever Donor Impact Report highlighting the progress made by our Headmaster’s Bursary Fund. Thanks to the phenomenal support shown by our Beacon Community, we were thrilled to welcome five new boys to The Beacon last year on 100% bursaries.

We are enormously grateful to all our parents, alumni, staff, governors and friends who have so generously supported the Headmaster’s Bursary programme, which continues to broaden access to the school by ensuring that a Beacon education remains accessible to bright and talented boys regardless of their families’ financial circumstances.

Further information about the Headmaster’s Bursary Fund and also The Beacon Bursary Fund, a separate charity that offers financial assistance to existing pupils whose families find themselves in temporary financial difficulty, can be found on our website, beaconschool.co.uk

Read the report.