Dear Parents,
A week of creative and performing arts this week with the Beacon Bard of the Year on Tuesday, Beacon Musician of the Year on Wednesday, and then the whole school Art Exhibition these past three days. This is a proudly traditional school but even with our traditions, we mix things up year on year and go bigger and better and challenge ourselves with different ways of doing things to enhance the boys’ education yet further.
When Mrs Oosthuizen said to me that 2025 Beacon Bard was going to be a film event with a red carpet I was sceptical and thought the impact might be diminished from what was so powerful in 2024. But of course, with her imagination and natural enthusiasm, coupled with a group of willing Beacon boys, ever eager to step up and embrace the medium, the outcome was superb and full of dramatic art. I am someone who has to concentrate really hard to follow Shakespeare’s prose but when the Beacon boys perform, it really comes alive and makes the interpretation that much more accessible.
When touring prospective parents this past term and seeing the random collection of skeletal body parts in the Art Room I have said to them that they would just have to believe me that this would come together later in the year for the Art Exhibition. And come together they did with such impressive creations – who knows what Miss Jackson has in mind for next year. To have every boy represented in the Exhibition was some feat…and provided an added dimension to the event for many boys and parents as the collection of art turned into an impromptu ‘Treasure Hunt’ as they scoured the boards and displays before finding their work. As with Beacon Bard, I was sceptical about the ‘Collaborative Doodle’ display visitors could contribute to…”It will just be a random collection of scribbles surely?” I said to Miss Jackson, “That’s the whole point” she replied. That’s me told then…
Have a good weekend,
Nick Baker