The Beacon’s decision to admit girls has been a hot topic in the wider community this week and it’s fair to say the school has been inundated with messages, enquiries and registrations since our announcement last Friday. Your support for the decision has meant a great deal to all of us here, and my colleagues and I feel very much that we are together as one community as we enter this next stage of our school’s development. Whilst there is much to plan and prepare, be assured that it is very much business as usual for The Beacon. Everything in this school is considered against the core principle of ‘what is best for the pupils?’ and that will continue, every single day, irrespective of the gender of those pupils. If you have any concerns or questions regarding this decision, or indeed any aspect of the future of The Beacon, please do come and meet with me and my colleagues; the ‘Ambition of The Beacon’ is very much our specialist subject.
Whilst world leaders congregated in Davos this week, in Chesham Bois we welcomed over 60 school leaders and Sarah Green MP for the ‘Smartphone Free Childhood’ conference hosted by The Beacon this morning. No tension, upset, combat or controversy at our conference and certainly no rogue speakers; rather a completely collegiate and aligned group of educators and parents deeply concerned for the wellbeing of young people and their increasing interactions online. It was a rich and incredibly useful session with many takeaways that I took for our school as well as sharing our approach and communication around the topic with others. And, with neat synergy, our ‘conference season’ continues on Tuesday when we host the regional IAPS Debating Competition, with boys and girls from competing schools discussing the motion, ‘This house believes the UK should follow the Australian model and ban social media for under-16s.’ We are nothing but on brand at The Beacon it seems…