Dear Parents,
Great to see the boys this week and as many parents as I could make out through the driving rain, under my umbrella at drop off. Crazy weather but Willsfield needed more than a sprinkling of water in advance of the rugby season so we are thankful that the grass is lush and the ground is more forgiving than it was this time last week. Lots of positive comments about the new front entrance and parents’ meeting room but clearly a bit of uncertainty about how to access the building now the ‘buzzer’ is no more. Please do just open the front door – it is open between 8am and 6pm – and then speak to Kate and Molly through the hatch on the right-hand side as you enter the building.
The boys were clearly excited simply to be back at school but we supercharged that sense of anticipation in Assembly on Wednesday by highlighting key events over the course of this term. Details of a number of these – Beaconfest, Senior Schools Information Evening, Beacon Golf Tournament, Dr Aric Sigman talk – are detailed in the Lighthouse but I also draw your attention to our annual Open Day on Saturday 27 September. When my boys were at school I would always ask them, “how was your day?” and I would always get the same reply, “fine”. The follow up would then be, “what did you do?” to which the reply was always, “nothing”. That of course wasn’t true but it would have been much easier in my attempt to get any insight or nugget of information about their days if I could reference particular areas where I knew they were learning. To that end, please feel free to attend ‘Open Day’ as it is as much aimed at current parents as it is to prospectives. The whole site will be ‘open’ with boys taking part in any number of lessons, activities and workshops, showcasing the school with its best suit on – you can even sample the food that the boys enjoy at lunchtime. No need to sign up (and I won’t be offended if you want to skip my presentation!) but please be assured that you are more than welcome to come along and have a tour. ‘A Day in the Life of The Beacon School’ is one the boys’ specialist subjects, with a font of knowledge of all things Beacon and a pride and quiet confidence to ‘show off’ their school. No better example than this great photo from the BBC website in August of Dion Tollja (4B), distributing flyers to promote our touring company of Sister Act at the Edinburgh Festival…any and every angle to tell the public how great his school is…
Have a good weekend,
Nick Baker