Beaconverse: Recent Episodes
The Beacon
In this episode, we were delighted to welcome the Co-Chairs of our Beacon Parents’ Society to discuss everything the BPS Committee involves, from organising exciting events for our Beacon Community to enjoy to fundraising and planning new school development projects.
In this month’s episode, we will be discussing well-being; one of the core values strongly supported at The Beacon. The welfare and well-being of our boys is the primary focus and every member of our Beacon Community strives to ensure our boys feel happy, secure and confident.
Each half term, we focus on embedding one of our Beacon values into school life, and wellbeing is the value of focus this half term. In light of this, we are pleased to welcome Sandy Drury, our wellbeing coach and counsellor, to discuss the importance of building a positive mental health culture at the school and to give us some insight into her role.
In this month’s episode, we discussed The BeaconX, our newly launched online educational platform. We talked about the upcoming courses and touch on the future plans for BeaconX.
We were delighted to welcome Mark Walker, Head of BeaconX, as well as Mika Paker and Sam Privett who run some of the online courses.
In this month’s episode, we are delighted to welcome Nick Baker, our Headmaster and our newly appointed Head Boy Team; Dino, Sam and Shaan.
Where will be delving in to why the boys applied for the position and their mission this academic year. We will also be discussing the importance of a Head Boy Team at the school with Mr Baker.
In this month’s episode, we were delighted to welcome Ed Tenison, our Head of Upper School, with two of our Year 8 winners from our Kids MBA entrepreneurial course. We discuss this brand-new initiative, which is now a great asset to our Year 8 Leavers’ Programme.
We were thrilled to welcome three of our Beacon alumni in this episode of Beaconverse. The gentlemen take us back in time at The Beacon, giving us insight into what school life was like in the 40s to early 60s... as well as giving our boys a piece of advice.
Many thanks to the following for joining us:
Graham Kimber (OB 1942-48)Iain Ward (OB 1950-57)
Bernard Culverhouse (OB 1956-62)
Graham Kimber attended The Beacon between 1942-1948. He left for Merchant Taylors' and did 2 years National Service obtaining a commission in the "Gunners" before joining Esso Petroleum now EXXON Mobil. Graham started off serving fuel at service stations before moving into distribution and then ran the company’s public relations operations in the UK. He left to join Bunzl and is now retired.
Iain Ward joined Winterbourn in 1950 and was at The Beacon between 1951-1957. Iain went on to Berkhamsted School after which he joined the British India Steam Navigation Company. Iain lived in Hong Kong for many years where he was Superintendent of the territories’ marine police force. He is now retired and living in East Anglia.
Bernard Culverhouse was at The Beacon between 1956-1962. Bernard went on to Berkhamsted School and read Philosophy at the University of Aberystwth. After his degree Bernard was offered a job by his neighbour which took him into a career in sales and marketing in the semiconductor industry – better known now as the silicon chip business, a job that took him around the world. Bernard retired early and now lives in rural Devon.
We were thrilled to welcome three of our Beacon alumni in this episode of Beaconverse. The gentlemen take us back in time at The Beacon, giving us insight into what school life was like in the 40s to early 60s... as well as giving our boys a piece of advice.
Many thanks to the following for joining us:
Graham Kimber (OB 1942-48)Iain Ward (OB 1950-57)
Bernard Culverhouse (OB 1956-62)
In this month’s episode of Beaconverse, we are joined by our Head of Lower School, Jemima Elcomb, and Deputy Head of Lower School, Wendy Phillips, to talk about the benefits and provisions we offer here at The Beacon in Years 3 and 4.
If you are thinking about sending your son to an Independent Prep School from Year 3, have a listen to find out more about these vital two years of learning and the opportunities available to boys in Lower School at The Beacon.
In this months episode, we are joined by our Housemasters and Mistress along with our 4 heads of house to take part in our Beaconverse Battle of the Houses competition. They take part in a series of question rounds in order to earn house points. They were tested on knowledge of The Beacon, from its history to modern day facts.
I'll warn you now, you will be sure to fall victim to the very contagious laughter throughout this podcast.
We are joined by our Head of Middle School, Steve Miles, as well as Leo and Rory from Years 5 & 6 to discuss our new Future Sparks Programme.
In this months episode of Beaconverse, we speak to our Headmaster, Nick Baker, and our newly appointed Head Boy team.
We discuss exciting plans they all have and Nick takes part in a 'Quick Fire' round.
In this months episode of Beaconverse, we spoke to our former Interim Headmaster, Simon Detre, all about our Summer 'Jubilee' Term under his leadership. He kindly answers questions submitted by our Beacon boys.
In this episode of Beaconverse we chat to our newly appointed Head of Music, Dr Gavin Lockley. We delve into his extensive career and how his passion for Music was ignited.
Gavin also gives us a small taster of his Opera singing skills as well as a beautiful demo on the Piano.
We hope you enjoy!
In this month’s episode of Beaconverse, we were pleased to welcome Mrs Olhausen and Mr Tenison, who were accompanied by two of our Year 8 boys, to discuss life in Upper School at The Beacon.
We explore the benefits of staying at the school in Years 7 and 8, learn a bit about the Senior School preparation programme, as well as hear from the boys who highlight some of their favourite parts of Upper School.
Thanks for listening, we hope you enjoy!
We are delighted to release our 5th episode of Beaconverse. This months episode is all about our Nursery department with guests, Claire Sharp (Head of Early Years) & Ryan Steward (Head of Pre-Prep).
During this episode we delve into the Nursery curriculum as well as the adult to child ratio.
In this episode, we are joined by our Headmaster Mr Will Phelps, and our Deputy Head Mr Simon Detre, to discuss the heavily debated topic of Single-Sex Education. With an extensive background of leading independent boys' schools, we hear some insightful opinions from both Will and Simon.
As our Headmaster, Mr Will Phelps is departing from The Beacon at the end of this term, we take a moment to reminisce on some of his highlights from his time here at the school. He also tells us about his farewell fundraiser for the Headmasters Bursary Fund.
Click here to donate to our Just Giving page.
Mr Simon Detre, our interim Headmaster for the Summer term, of which he has renamed 'The Jubilee Term', gives us an overview of this plans for the upcoming term.
Beaconverse - Episode 3, Wellbeing
A big thank you to our guests:
Mr Sam Privett - Head of Self and Society
Mrs Kim Rowland - Head of Cooking & Nutrition
Mrs Lucie Thomas - Yoga and Mindfulness Coach
Mrs Caroline Yolland - School Counsellor
In this episode we cover:
- An overview of Self & Society at The Beacon
- The Beacon philosophy on Wellbeing
- Wellbeing awareness and benefits
- Wellbeing tips in the home
- Health & wellbeing in diet
- An overview of Cooking & Nutrition at The Beacon
- Brainfood & conscious food recommendations
- Mindfulness sessions during Tutor Time
- True of False 'Nutrition' Round
- An overview of Yoga Club at The Beacon
- Live 'Become Aware of Your Feet' breathing exercises
- Self-esteem in children impacts & facts
- Tips on how to help improve self-esteem in children
In this months podcast we delve into the Drama department as well as hearing a spooky reading from our Librarian Mr Brown.
We hope you enjoy!
Episode 1 explores the topic of Math's at The Beacon, with various events happening this week, we speak to our special guests all about it.
Our Host; Deputy Head Boy, Felix.
Special Guests; Ms. Kearns, Mr. Porter, The Beacon School Maths enthusiastic pupils, Milan and Kevin.
A big thank you to everyone who took part in our first podcast. Keep an ear out for new episodes coming soon.