PAGE 1 TRADITIONAL VALUES | CONTEMPORARY EDUCATION NEWSletter WEEK 13 | 16 DECEMBER 2016 AUTUMN 2016 The last week of term and the excitement of the boys is palpable. We have had the most delightful Reception Nativity, always a lovely event. The carol services were fantastic, with beautiful singing from everyone present, bringing the spirit of Christmas to the whole Beacon community. The Christmas concert was another highlight and Christmas lunch in the new dining room worked well with staff and boys enjoying a very festive meal together. I would also like to congratulate our sports teams for another very successful term. I wish you a very happy holiday and look forward to seeing you all again in the new year. NEWS from The Headmaster
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PAGE 1 TRADITIONAL VALUES | CONTEMPORARY EDUCATION
NEWSletterWEEK 13 | 16 DECEMBER 2016
AUTUMN
2016
The last week of term and the excitement of the boys is palpable. We have had the most delightful Reception Nativity,always a lovely event. The carol services were fantastic, with beautiful singing from everyone present, bringing thespirit of Christmas to the whole Beacon community. The Christmas concert was another highlight and Christmas lunchin the new dining room worked well with staff and boys enjoying a very festive meal together. I would also like tocongratulate our sports teams for another very successful term.
I wish you a very happy holiday and look forward to seeing you all again in the new year.
NEWS from The Headmaster
The last week of the Autumn term is always magical in Pre-Prep. There are moments which are sublime and thosewhich are ridiculous. No one could have watched the Reception Nativity and remained cold-hearted. The tiniest boys inthe school gave a wonderful performance; they have made such tremendous progress in the in first term in school. Itreally was lovely. Comedy moment of the week was undoubtedly at the pantomime in Windsor. One of my moreexperienced, I would never use the word mature, teaching assistants was cheerfully singing away to a Justin Timberlakesong when a small five-year-old stretched out his hand and covered her mouth. ‘Will you please be quiet?’ he asked inthe politest possible tone, ‘as I’m trying to listen’……. I quietly guffawed and continued eating my nut-free ice cream.Very many thanks for the generous gifts I have received over the last few days. My drinks cabinet is well and trulyrestocked. Have a lovely Christmas everyone. Richard Haley, Head of Pre-Prep
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NEWS from Pre-Prep
Music News
The Music Department is looking forward to welcoming two new teachers to the staff next term. We are also delightedto welcome back Debbie Ivens as a singing teacher.
Mrs Hannah Horton is a freelance viola player, working with many exceptional orchestras such as the RoyalPhilharmonic, Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and both the Northern and English National Ballet companies. She isalso an experienced violin, viola and piano teacher, working both in schools and also privately.
Mr Martin Jarvis is a freelance tuba player, frequently playing in London orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic,Philharmonia and at the Royal Opera House. He has also recorded for television and radio and played in various WestEnd Shows. Martin has over twenty years brass teaching experience in schools, and is currently the Lower Brassspecialist at Harrow School and Aldenham School.
Their combined expertise will be greatly welcomed by The Beacon in January. Should you be interested in your sontaking up the violin, viola or a brass instrument then please do let me know as I can always arrange a taster session foryour son. Liz Van Tromp, Director of Music
Congratulations to the following boys who have all passed their Trinity Guildhall Guitar Examinations:
Khyal Amin Grade 2 – Pass; Oliver Davey Grade 2 – Merit; Joshua Penton Grade 2 – Merit; Oscar Mabon Grade 3 – Merit; Henry Ryland Grade 1 – Merit; Ayaan Rahman Grade 1 – Distinction
Christmas Crackers Concert update
Last week Beacon Voices and Vintage Voices sang in a concert at King's Church, Amersham with the AmershamCommunity Choir to raise funds for the Samaritans and South Bucks Hospice. We raised £2000 each for the twocharities, which is amazing! Elaine Brown, Music Teacher
NEWS from Performing Arts
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Out Of The Blue
Out of the Blue put on twofantastic concerts for us thisweek. The Oxford-based a capellagroup gave Beacon Voices aworkshop in the afternoon andthe boys then joined OOTB onstage to sing one numbertogether at each concert. Thesinging was beautiful and theenergy and dynamism of thegroup hugely impressive. A fewthousand pounds was raised,which goes to the charity Helenand Douglas House. We verymuch hope they will return againto sing for us next year.
All years have been working on their projects, Year 8 in particular have nearly finished their pinball machines with manydifferent types of contraptions and holes. Other Years still have a few more weeks left to complete their projects. Theholiday club has been well subscribed, all applications must be in the form of an email to Mr Van Rooyen.
The Masters of Innovation teams have been decided:
Eddystone
Matthew Jones Y8, Joshua Hooles Y7, Max Hayes Y6, Robbie Dawson Y5
Portland
Oliver Okhuijsen Y8, Ben Eckersley Y7, William Bleakley Y6, Oli Hales Y5
Trinity
(a) Thomas Creighton Y8, Xavier Currill Y7, Fraser Creighton Y6, Ollie Serkis Y5
(b) Charlie Clark Y8, Alastair White Y7, Zac Haydon Y6, Henry Graham-Lane Y5
Cromer
Max Conway Y8, Max Maintzer Y7, Maxim Michau Y6, Manhar Saggu Y5
Trinity and Portland will face each other to decide which of the two house teams goes through to face Eddystone andCromer as well. Portland do have two teams but the other is not yet fully represented. On Monday this week all houseteams had an introduction to the competition and how it works.
In other news, Cooking and Nutrition Enterprise Club raised over £200. Last week Year 4 had Japanese food whichturned out to be much hotter than they expected and a few of them needed several glasses of water afterwards!
Max Wilson Y8
It is the end of the Autumn Term and Christmas is almost here.We have all enjoyed the Christmas Fair, the School CarolServices and the Nativity Production. We have sat down to afantastic Christmas Lunch prepared by our wonderful cateringstaff and numerous mince pies have already been consumed.We all deserve a good rest (and more turkey and mince pies !!).
We hope you have all enjoyed the last term, particularly thenew boys to The Beacon. Hearing about the amazing thingswe have all done since September, we should all be really proudto be Beacon boys. Great job, guys!
The Year 8s have been very busy this term. Many of us have had Assessments for our next school and many haveimportant exams next term – we wish everyone the very best of luck. Outside the classroom, we have visited the WorldWar One battlefields, been on a field trip to the River Chess and we’ve sung and played music throughout.
The Year 8s have played many sports too, of course. To those of us who have played our last term of rugby at TheBeacon, it has been great fun. Good luck to the Year 7s who have the chance to represent the 1st XV next year.
Finally, we would like to thank all the staff on behalf of the boys for their hard work and we wish you all a very happyand relaxing (for some of us!) Christmas. We look forward to seeing you all in 2017.
Best wishes, Tom, Oliver and Johan
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NEWS from the DT Dept.
NEWS from the Head Boys
X-ray Donation
The Science Department was delighted to receive a donation of old X-ray filmsthis week. The X-raysare somewhat of a rarityin the digital age but anextremely usefulteaching tool. Wewould like to thank theSlade Family for theirgenerous donation toThe Beacon. If any ofyou have any unwantedold X-rays that youwould like to donate tothe department, wewould be very grateful.
Christmas Lectures
On Tuesday evening my brother, who is an ex-Beacon student, and I went to one of the Royal Institution ChristmasLectures. The lecture was about food and how it produces energy. The video is released online on 27 December at7:00pm. If you watch it you would definitely see my brother and would have a slight chance of seeing me! Irecommend it as it is so funny and you might just learn something new. Click here for more information.Manvir Bawa, Year 7
Burning Food with a Christmas twist
Year 7 boys have been calculating the amount of energy in different foods by burning them and using the energyreleased to heat water. However, they did this with a Christmas twist, using a variety of festive fare. This builds on theirwork in Cooking and Nutrition which covered the new Eatwell guide, different nutritional needs (age/gender/activity)and adjusting recipes to reduce fat.
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NEWS from the Science dept.
Le goûter avec Year 5
Those Year 5 boys who have been learning French this term especially enjoyed their end-of-term lesson when wepretended that they were French children enjoying their afternoon tea (known as le goûter). They had to ask for theirfood in French, and fake moustaches helped to create an authentic atmosphere! A big thank-you to Jake, our cateringmanager, for supplying the delicious provisions, which were enjoyed by all. Joyeux Noël!
Year 2 Italian Club
This term’s final session ofYear 2 Italian Club wasmarked by a party, at whichthe boys learned about theChristmas season in Italy.They were especiallyinterested in the story of LaBefana, a kind old witch whodelivers presents to Italianchildren on 6 January(Epiphany). Children who havebeen naughty sometimesreceive just a few lumps ofcoal - what bad luck! BuonNatale a tutti!
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NEWS from Foreign Languages
The Beacon Book Club
The next meeting of the Beacon Book Club will take place onFriday 20 January from 8.15 am in the Library.
We are reading The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd and/orThe Light Between the Oceans by M L Stedman.
All welcome! Katie Turrell
Look out for our new Twitter feed for Beacon school events. Youcan now follow us on @beacon_events1 to find out about forthcoming events and to hears news of events as andwhen they happen!
Chess News
Congratulations to the following boys who qualified for the prestigious London Junior Chess Championship. RoryConner, Arran Dhanda, and Conor Ford (Year 5) and Akaash and Aaryan Agnihotri (Year 4). They will play in the finalat University of Westminster on 17 and 18 December.
Well done and good luck boys!
Festive Greetings from the Medical Team, the Estate Team and the Administration Team
A big thank you from the staff for all your Christmas good wishes. We, in return would like to wish you all a veryHappy Christmas and New Year.
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Sitting Comfortably
Kalvin and his twin brothers wonCaptain Tempest's chair from Return tothe Forbidden Planet in a special rafflethis week.
KitAid
Six boys from Year 5, Edward Overy, Manhar Saggu, Nayan Manu, LukeWilson, Kieron Patel and Conrad Sammars, have started an exciting newinitiative at The Beacon to support KitAid.
KitAid is a charity that recycles pre-loved football kits (shirts, shorts, boots,goalie gloves and shinpads) and distributes them to underprivilegedchildren and adults in some of the World's poorest countries.
Please have a look over the Christmas holidays to see if you have anyfootball kit that is no longer required. Mr Miles and the boys involved willbe delighted to receive your donations at the start of the Spring term.Thank you for your support. Steve Miles, Head of Middle School
Also in the NEWS
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Year 6 Enterprise Club
The final total for the fundraising that the boys in the Year6 Enterprise Club have beendoing in support of the BPS atthe Christmas Fair is £260.
Behind the Wire
Conrgratulations to Sam Cooke and Jasper C who made over £́200 forSam's charity ‘Behind the Wire’ by selling his homemade Christmas cards.
A very special ChristmasService
Henry A read Luke Chapter2 8-20 at the Archbishop ofCanterbury's ChristmasService.
Radio Christmas
Several of our Year 6 boys took part in Radio Christmas again this year.This radio station is run entirely by a team of volunteers during Decemberand raises funds for Street Kids Direct, a charity supporting projects forchildren and young people on the margins of society in Latin America.The boys very much enjoyed the experience and broadcast a rap writtenby one of them.
Also in the NEWS
Christmas butter making with Mrs Morris
The School Council
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Sports NEWS
NEWS from the Pool
Recently, Year 4, 5 and 6 swam at Haberdashers’Aske’s inthe last Divisional gala of the year. Several of our Year 6swere still busy in Return to The Forbidden Planet, sosome tired and rather sparkly cheeked boys from thechorus stepped in - a huge thank you to them!
We raced St Martin’s and Haberdashers’ Boys, the latterwere impressive across all of the age groups. Overall wefinished a respectable second, with our Year 4As andYear 6As finishing in first place!
There were some fantastic individual performances tonote: Ethan Richards-Knight, Year 4, who took a verycomfortable first in the 1 length backstroke (a talent tobe watched); Toby Davey, Year 5, who swam up andtook first in the Year 6 2 lengths freestyle; Alex Schiavi(Captain), Year 6, who had to switch events from hispreferred stroke and won the 2 length breaststrokeconvincingly (always a wonderful swimmer to watch).
A late night for all, but valuable racing time for theteam and it was great to see an improvement in ourrelay handovers and readiness poolside.
Well done and thank you to all involved.
Allie Foden-Ellis
The Beacon Swim Squad
Sports NEWSCross Country success for Woody
Well done to Woody J who produced a superb performance in the recent SEAA Inter County Cross CountryChampionships held in Oxford. He finished 24th and was the top Bucks finisher. This was an U13 boys race so hisachievement was even more impressive given that Woody has another year in this age group. This should stand us ingood stead for the National Prep Schools Cross Country Championships in March. Stephen Winter
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IMPORTANT DATES for your diary
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And FINALLY…
DATE TIME EVENT
Monday 9 January Start of Spring Term
Happiness is… Wearing a Christmas jumper of course!
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