Prep School

We employ a child-centred approach to teaching Maths, interweaving the National Curriculum with fresh ideas to inspire and challenge our pupils with games, projects and practical activities. We incorporate technology through online learning and games to aid independence and self-learning.

From Year 4 upwards, pupils are in set Maths lessons. We encourage them to tackle open-ended problems and investigations using collaboration, imagination and initiative.

Our budding Beacon Mathematicians participate in National team competitions, such as the UKMT and Primary Maths Challenges, frequently achieving exceptional results. We also host an annual Maths competition called ‘The Gibson Maths Challenge’ where local schools attend for an afternoon of Maths-related games and puzzles.

Our aim is to instil curiosity and passions for Maths by nurturing a growth mindset where taking risks and making mistakes are part of learning.

Our English curriculum is a working document; constantly reviewed and revised to implement new ideas and to accommodate year groups with specific needs and talents. This inspires our boys and girls to become creative thinkers, speakers and writers.

We inspire our pupils to develop a passion for literacy with additional enrichment opportunities, such as visiting award-winning authors and poets, our reading certificate BBC Young Reporters initiatives, and Drama performances to support learning of Gothic Tales and Shakespeare.

Our Accelerated Reading Programme is designed for pupils in Years 5-7 and has proven to be a huge success. Upper School boys and girls are organised into sets for English enabling us to give all abilities the opportunity to flourish.

We are proud of our long-standing success of remarkable results in English entrance examinations to senior schools.

Geography lessons are constantly refreshed with engaging topics that are relevant to modern society, using current affairs and global issues as anchor points for comprehension of the subject.

We implement enquire-based teaching, giving our pupils the opportunity to explore the world and put their skills into practice through hands-on field work, residential trips and interactive workshops.

Our newly installed Augmented Reality (AR) Sandbox is an interactive educational tool to aid learning of topography, geography, natural sciences, watershed and computer sciences. As sand is moved around, new landscapes, volcanoes, rivers, map contours and even dinosaurs move or reshape.

We promote a scientific culture that fosters an appreciation of science and its contribution to the world, giving our boys and girls the skills and knowledge to prepare them for the future.

We aim to make Science an engaging and exciting part of the curriculum to create a sense of wonder and responsibility. Our pupils learn how to make connections between ideas and how to use simple models and theories in their explanation, using a range of scientific language, conventional diagrams, charts and graphs. They are encouraged to apply their knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas to familiar phenomena, everyday objects and their personal health.

History is taught throughout The Beacon from Reception to Year 8, culminating in scholarship level work for the most able. The syllabus is based on the National Curriculum guidelines and tailored to meet the demands of senior school entrance exams in Years 7 and 8.

In Years 3 and 4 boys learn about the Ancient Egyptians, as well as the Romans and Vikings. Kings and queens, explorers and the differences between the rich and the poor in Tudor England are studied in Year 5. In Year 6, pupils study life in Medieval England with unit topics covering the Black Death and the Peasants’ Revolt. Furthermore, we look at the significance of the Magna Carta. Our boys and girls experience many hands-on events, workshops and visits, for example Ancient Egyptian and Viking days, a visit to St Albans Cathedral and a Tudor day at Sulgrave Manor.

Years 7 and 8 follow a chronological course of study, beginning with the Battle of Hastings, including Henry II and Becket and changes to the Church during the Tudor period. In Year 8, the boys study the Western Front in World War I, including cross-curriculum work on World War I poetry. This includes a trip to the battlefields of Ypres and the Somme. They then study British history from 1750 – 1900, including Empire and Industrial Revolution.

It is through learning about the past that our pupils begin to understand the present and the effect their actions will have on the future. We inspire children to understand and interpret the past, to trigger their spirit of enquiry and stimulate their imagination – to carry them off into the past, evoking interest and curiosity.

Self & Society at The Beacon is a unique and pioneering subject which has the understanding of identity at its core. Drawing from aspects of the curriculum for Religious Studies (RS) and Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHEE), Self & Society is designed to give our pupils the opportunity to understand issues of self, beliefs and belonging, ethics and opinions and relationships.

We believe very firmly in the importance of self-understanding, preparation for and support in personal development and growing up, and the ability to form and communicate an opinion while maintaining core values of respect and community.

In Lower School, Self & Society lessons incorporate a mindful approach to PSHEE alongside a bespoke RS curriculum to provide a firm foundation for pupils in discussion skills, expressing opinions and in understanding diversity of experience and beliefs in society.

In the Middle and Upper School, we focus on self-understanding and responsibility alongside more in-depth topics, including attitudes to success and failure, understanding belief systems, accountability within relationships and sex education. All boys and girls are taught Self & Society in a contemporary classroom, which was specifically designed to promote discussion and debate.

Beacon pupils are exposed to language learning from French in Nursery, moving to International Studies in Pre-Prep. Over the course of a three-year International Studies programme, children spend each term studying the language, customs, culture and geography of a particular country (or countries, if the language is spoken in more than one country). Languages currently in our programme include Mandarin, Japanese, German, Italian, Russian and Arabic. A cross-curricular approach is taken to International Studies. This means that pupils develop their knowledge in other areas of the school curriculum, such as History, Geography, Art, Cooking & Nutrition and Music. Lessons are designed to stimulate enjoyment, and incorporate a variety of techniques to encourage the children to have an active engagement in a variety of languages: these include games, short films, songs and even Skype calls to schools in other countries.

In Year 4, French is studied for one term and Spanish is studied for another term, before the pupils decide which of these two languages they would like to study from the Summer Term of Year 4 onwards into Years 5 to 8. Having already experienced language learning as fun, interesting and relevant, we find that Year 4 pupils are excited about starting French and Spanish, and are already enthused with a love of language learning.

A wide range of resources is used for the teaching of French and Spanish at The Beacon. Teaching is topic-based (rather than text-book led), using a wide range of media. Topics covered include free time, holidays, house and home and school. ICT plays a very important role in the consolidation and reinforcement of our teaching and the department is well resourced with internet-enabled devices for every class. These are used regularly for listening practice, independent work and the completion of interactive assignments.

By the time pupils leave The Beacon at the end of Year 8, we hope to have furnished them with a sound knowledge of language acquisition and the desire to continue learning modern languages – and to embark on other languages – in their next school and, indeed, in later life.

At The Beacon, both Latin language and Classics are studied by pupils in Years 6 to 8. Latin language lessons, with its focus on discovering meaning through careful textual analysis, place a strong emphasis on developing transferable cognitive skills. Studying Latin also gives our students a valuable opportunity to investigate the underlying grammatical structure of all our modern European languages, including English.

In Year 6, children are introduced to stories from Greek mythology and Roman legend, as well as beginning their exploration of the Latin language, partly via the Duolingo language app and partly through extra classroom work and assignments designed to make vocabulary links with English and other modern foreign languages.

In Classics lessons in Years 7 and 8, they follow first Greek then Roman history. From the Persian wars and the creation of democracy in Athens to the Roman invasion of Britain and the rise of Christianity, the emphasis is on how and why these ancient cultures form the foundation of our modern European societies.

In Latin, some boys and girls carry on an intensive study of grammar and syntax in order to prepare them for Senior School entrance exams or scholarships. Other pupils continue with Duolingo Latin with a focus on learning how to decode sentences, as well as expanding their English (French and Spanish) vocabulary.

In February 2019, the Classics Department organised a successful week-long trip to Pompeii and the Bay of Naples, which we hope to repeat.

The core of the curriculum is computer science, in which all our children from Nursery are taught the principles of information and computation, how digital systems work and how to put this knowledge to use through programming. Building on this knowledge and understanding, children are equipped to use information technology to create programs, systems and a range of content. Computing also ensures our pupils become digitally literate – able to express themselves and develop their ideas through information and communication technology and to become active participants in a digital world.

Internet Safety is an integral part of the Computing curriculum and all pupils are taught how to use technology safely, respectfully and responsibly.

From Years 3 to 6, boys and girls learn how to design, write and debug programs that accomplish specific goals and solve problems by decomposing them into smaller parts.

They also learn to select, use and combine a variety of software (Office 365 applications, including Microsoft Teams and online notebooks) on a range of digital devices to design and create a range of programs, systems and content that accomplish given goals. The skills learnt are used across all curriculum areas to enhance their work and develop their knowledge.

Our pupils learn to use email and find an increasing amount of work set online or sent via email. They also use My School Portal to access their homework. Using their 365 account means the pupils have access to their school resources both on and off site. It has become integral to the way the school operates.

In Years 7 and 8, the use of Computing continues to expand. The Upper School years learn to design, use and evaluate computational abstractions that model the state and behaviour of real-world problems and physical systems. Our aim is that pupils leaving The Beacon are confident and independent in their use of technology.

Computing and the digital world is growing and ever changing. We aim to help our pupils become enthusiastic creators, and not just more effective consumers, of digital technology. We are continually updating our systems and resources, preparing the children for a future that we can only imagine.