Spring is in the air (sort of) and in the spirit of growth and the emergence of new life, I am delighted to announce that Mrs Natalie Jones gave birth at the weekend to her second child, Dorothy. Our sincere congratulations to her, husband George and daughter Etta. And that’s not the end of our exciting baby news as Mrs Erin Olhausen (3B), Ms Meridyth Nankin (1G) and Mrs Olivia Kearns (4G) are all expecting and will be off on maternity leave at the end of this academic year. There is an element of synergy with the welcome return of Wendy Phillips (Year 4) from her own maternity leave this Summer Term but we are also currently recruiting for a number of positions to replace the aforementioned colleagues, and also to add to our ranks in light of the response to taking girls. Although we are delighted to have had over 80 registrations from girls, it is the interest from parents of boys now wanting to send their son to a co-educational school which we had clearly underestimated. I look forward to announcing the names and career profiles of our new Beacon people after Half Term.
Thank you for your generosity and kind words for our inaugural ‘Catering Staff Appreciation Day’. I spoke to a colleague in another school the other day and he, with raised eyebrows, remarked, “you’re brave!” when I told him I was eliciting comment from the staff and parent body regarding the school food provision. However, a thousand pounds and over a hundred comments later completely vindicates my view that Dino and his staff do the most superb job with catering. Not only does the school community enjoy the food, the comments regarding their friendliness, their cheery attitude and encouragement to try new things, all add everything to the theatre of The Beacon dining experience. I was a good boy at primary school and was only in trouble once. My crime on that one occasion: taking paper towels into the lunch service so I could scoop the ravioli into it and pretend that I had a clean plate (in those days you had to eat everything in order to be dismissed). I dreaded school dinners and school as a result, but here, as with all Beacon boys and staff, school lunches are very much a highlight of the day.
If you get recruitment right and school catering right, the rest normally falls into place! Have a great Half Term.
Nick Baker