It’s still October but ‘Panto Season’ is already upon us as the excitement builds for Robin Hood later this term. This time last week I was discussing with Ms Oosthuizen, “Is three performances too many? Might it be better to just have two, and then lean on some alumni to make up the numbers in the audience?” Fast forward to Monday and the three performances sell out within the hour, and then the fourth ‘due to exceptional demand’ goes in 20 minutes. Thank you for all your support; it is humbling, much appreciated and very exciting. Some have said that this adds extra pressure on the performance but knowing my colleagues, it simply spurs them on to perform an even bigger spectacle…
With our 31 brilliant Beacon girls in attendance this term, the fast forwarding of facilities development, initial extra club and curricular provision, staffing, signage etc., has mostly been completed, however, one Beacon tradition remains as an outlier from our move to co-ed. The Beacon birthday cards, with their ‘all boy’ images are beginning to look out of place and, from half term, these will be phased out. New illustrations for each year group, drawn by local artist Helen Capewell will come into circulation and feature both Beacon boys and Beacon girls in different areas and aspects of the school. I know that many of you keep the cards year on year as your children move through the school, and the boys and girls will no doubt love these new cards as much as the previous versions. In this increasingly digital and online age, receiving post and the written word is becoming rarer and rarer, which as far as we’re concerned is even more reason to retain this tradition for our young people.
Two weeks off then, and as the parent of a Year 3 boy said to me this week “My son is sad that it’s half term as he has enjoyed his time with his teacher so much this term!” That’s lovely to hear and fear not, two weeks will fly by and the second half of term will be upon us in a heartbeat and be just as enjoyable and memorable as the first. The fervour of the Panto will still be there, but trust me, there will be plenty more to get excited about before the term is through…
Have a great half term,
Nick Baker