Dear Parents,
Often when young children are asked to stop doing something they like, their usual reaction is to express disappointment, a negative emotion or in extreme cases, outright defiance. It was therefore, with some trepidation, that we welcomed Dr Aric Sigman to the school on Monday to talk to the boys in Years 5 to 8 about smartphone use and screen time, but of course, Beacon Boys do tend to buck such stereotypical trends. A talk that started with large cheers and excitement when presented with certain games and apps that the boys were familiar with, changed tangibly by the end of the session to reflection and understanding as to why we, as parents and educators, are so keen to limit and restrict their engagement. Boys were proud to admit that they had restrictions at home and one parent fed back to me this week that their son had declared that, “I do not want a smartphone until I am 18!” after returning home on Monday. I forwarded this to Aric, who was delighted to hear that Beacon Boys were so receptive to his message and that this embracing of limitation was rare and something to be extremely proud of. One of his recommendations in the parent talk later that day (notes of which are HERE if you could not attend) was for the school to collaborate with its parents on a consistent message. This we have already started with a number of you, and a document and guidelines will be finalised in the coming weeks and circulated to refer to at both school and home.
A key message from the talk was that children model their parents’ behaviour at all levels. I also believe this to be true and have for years tried to educate my two sons in what I believe to be ‘excellent music taste’. In their pre and early teen years, they appeared to actively reject my ‘80s and 90s classics’, preferring to listen to what I could only generously describe as ‘car alarm music’ or ‘just a couple of people shouting’. A couple of years ago though, a breakthrough, as when I asked what Joseph was listening to on one occasion, expecting full well that it wouldn’t be on the Radio 2 playlist that week, he surprised me by replying, ‘Oasis’. I was never a massive fan of that band but I couldn’t be prouder, particularly as now he started to explore all the music I had been playing him since birth. Arctic Monkeys, Radiohead, Shed Seven and The Smiths started to echo out of his bedroom. Therefore, after The Beacon Open Day tomorrow morning, we are on a family trip to Wembley in the afternoon to see the reforming of Oasis. Having spoken to a number of parents and staff this week, it seems there will be a quite a lot of Beacon in the audience at Wembley this weekend; great to know that our school community has such an acquired taste in music.
Have a good weekend,
Nick Baker