Remote Learning Guide - The Beacon School

#BeaconExcellence: Online

BeEducated

through the lockdown by our Beacon teaching staff

The Beacon’s Mission Continues Our School’s mission has always been about inspiring the boys to achieve their full academic and personal potential within a happy, safe and stimulating environment. Our aim is to continue to provide an education of the highest quality, delivered by our caring and dedicated team of teachers to your sons at home.

To achieve this, the School will, with the support of parents, continue to: • P romote high standards of academic achievement through consistent expectation and encouragement.

• Nurture talent and provide opportunity for all across the curriculum.

• E nable pupils to develop the social and emotional skills needed to believe in themselves, show consideration for others and value diversity.

• F oster a love of learning, thinking and communication skills to enable pupils to work independently and as part of a team.

In addition, we hope to create a special sense of our Beacon Community online, through Beacon virtual Assemblies, and to also create opportunities for new families to see The Beacon through virtual Open Mornings.

Finally, we are looking at how we can support our wider community at this time.

Being kind is one of the most important attributes of being a Beacon Boy and we commend not only our pupils, but our staff and parents too, for the many wonderful acts of kindness they have shown recently, from preparing and delivering food to our NHS keyworkers to picking up litter in our communities. The Beacon has partnered with local charity Restore Hope, who are using our Dining Room to package food parcels and supplies for disadvantaged children and their families, and we continue to explore how we can share our educational expertise and facilities with those less fortunate than ourselves.

As always The Beacon remains at the forefront of exemplary education, and we will continue to prepare our boys to strive to be the best they can be and to shine as Beacons of our Community.

Will Phelps Headmaster

Being kind is one of the most important attributes of being a Beacon Boy.

2

Upper School

Edward Tenison Head of Upper School

Tom Nicholls Acting Deputy Head of Upper School

UPPER SCHOOL Subjects providing live online lessons

Subjects providing activities for boys

Classics

Maths

Performing Arts

English

PSHE

Art (some activities will be live)

Geography

Science

History

Self and Society

MFL

Morning Tutor Time and support from tutors

IT

Assemblies will be pre-recorded DT, Games and PE will not operate

CORE LEARNING SKILLS

The PSB Core Learning Skills underpin our curriculum and are a key element to our contribution to 21st century.

If you have any concerns, your first point of contact is your son’s tutor.

Caroline Yolland, our School Counsellor, will be running a support helpline for boys and their families every morning between 09:30 – 13:30. Boys and their parents can contact Caroline on 01494 736160 or by email at cyolland@beaconschool.co.uk during these times.

James Skea, our Senior Master, continues as our executive lead on safeguarding. He can be contacted at jskea@beaconschool.co.uk

3

Middle School

Steve Miles Head of Middle School

Trevor Powell Acting Deputy Head of Middle School

MIDDLE SCHOOL Subjects providing live online lessons

Subjects providing activities for boys

English

Maths

Performing Arts

Geography

PSHE

Art (some activities will be live)

History

Science

Cooking and Nutrition

MFL

Self and Society

IT

Morning Tutor Time and support from tutors

Library

Assemblies will be pre-recorded DT, Games and PE will not operate

CORE LEARNING SKILLS

The PSB Core Learning Skills underpin our curriculum and are a key element to our contribution to 21st century.

If you have any concerns, your first point of contact is your son’s tutor.

Caroline Yolland, our School Counsellor, will be running a support helpline for boys and their families every morning between 09:30 – 13:30. Boys and their parents can contact Caroline on 01494 736160 or by email at cyolland@beaconschool.co.uk during these times.

James Skea, our Senior Master, continues as our executive lead on safeguarding. He can be contacted at jskea@beaconschool.co.uk

4

Lower School

Jemima Elcomb Head of Lower School

Wendy Phillips Deputy Head of Lower School

LOWER SCHOOL Subjects providing live online lessons

Subjects providing activities for boys

English

Maths

Performing Arts

Humanities

Science

Art (in Year 4 some activities will be live)

MFL/International Studies

Self and Society (with adapted content to relect the current situation)

Cooking and Nutrition

IT (Year 4) Library

Morning Tutor Time and support from class teachers

Assemblies will be pre-recorded DT, Games and PE, Learning Outside the Classroom and IT will not operate

CORE LEARNING SKILLS

The PSB Core Learning Skills underpin our curriculum and are a key element to our contribution to 21st century.

If you have any concerns, your first point of contact is your son’s tutor.

Caroline Yolland, our School Counsellor, will be running a support helpline for boys and their families every morning between 09:30 – 13:30. Boys and their parents can contact Caroline on 01494 736160 or by email at cyolland@beaconschool.co.uk during these times.

James Skea, our Senior Master, continues as our executive lead on safeguarding. He can be contacted at jskea@beaconschool.co.uk

5

Pre-Prep

Ryan Steward Head of Pre-Prep

Lucy Gordon Deputy Head of Pre-Prep

Claire Sharp Head of Early Years

PRE-PREP: YEARS 1 AND 2 There will be four or five online lessons daily

Subjects providing activities for boys

English

Performing Arts

Maths Topic (Science, Art, RS, PSHE)

Assemblies will be pre-recorded

International Studies (Year 2)

DT, Games and PE and IT will not operate

Tutor Time

PRE-PREP: RECEPTION There will be three online lessons daily

Subjects providing activities for boys

English

Performing Arts

Maths Topic (Science, Art, RS, PSHE)

DT, Games and PE, IT and Tutor Time will not operate

CORE LEARNING SKILLS

The PSB Core Learning Skills underpin our curriculum and are a key element to our contribution to 21st century.

If you have any concerns, your first point of contact is your son’s tutor.

Caroline Yolland, our School Counsellor, will be running a support helpline for boys and their families every morning between 09:30 – 13:30. Boys and their parents can contact Caroline on 01494 736160 or by email at cyolland@beaconschool.co.uk during these times.

James Skea, our Senior Master, continues as our executive lead on safeguarding. He can be contacted at jskea@beaconschool.co.uk

6

#BeaconExcellence: Online Beacon boys will be taking part in live lessons delivered by their teachers, mainly using Microsoft Teams designed especially for school with functionality built in for virtual classrooms.

We are very ambitious about our programme.

We have every confidence in our teaching teams who are working hard to ensure all is set up to provide a compelling learning experience for every Beacon boy.

We have researched best practice and considered other schools’ offerings and experiences, including independent schools in the Far East that have been closed for some time.

We have also tailored the programme to the specific age groups of our boys.

No school has had to operate in this way before. Please can we ask you to come with us on this journey in the spirit of partnership between school and parent that is a hallmark of all successful education. This is a new experience for everyone and we ask you to bear with us if things do not go as expected.

Our academic ambitions for your sons are undimmed and we look forward to the time, soon, when we can get back to The Beacon site and our teachers can get on with what they do best.

7