Community
We aim to enable all students to feel part of the Beaumont School community even before their time here begins formally: students joining the school are visited by the Head of Year 7 during Year 6 to welcome them to the school and to gather pastoral information to ensure a smooth transition, such as friendship groups.
In the July immediately preceding their September start at the school, new Year 7 students are invited with their parents to an evening where they meet their Form Tutors and the students with whom they will be in a form; and they also spend a day in school with their new form experiencing life at Beaumont and getting a taste of the community of which they will shortly be a part. Student mentors from further up the school link with each Year 7 form and help further the process of integration and cross-year cohesion. Our well-established system of Pastoral Care has at its heart the aim of developing co-operating and contributing members of school and society, prepared to take and accept responsibility. Student Leaders from further up the school also help to support new students as they enter Beaumont; Year 7 students are themselves later invited to join the Student Leadership programme. Students are very respectful towards each other and their teachers. Relationships are strong – OFSTED 2014 Equality of opportunity for all is a key principle underlying all aspects of school life at Beaumont. Students with Special Educational Needs have the same right of access to Beaumont’s curriculum as all other students and wherever practicable are educated alongside their peers, receiving additional staff support and specialist help in the classroom where appropriate. Where needed, academic staff mentor students who might be struggling; Teaching assistants run social skills groups for vulnerable students; Links Education Support Centre, YC Hertfordshire (formerly known as Youth Connexions) and other, targeted outreach workers support vulnerable students enabling them to engage more successfully with the school community; and peer support is provided to vulnerable students through the Young Carers Group and Social Skills groups run by members of the SEN staff. Where parents wish students to take part in extra-curricular trips and visits and finance is an issue, the Beaumont School Association (BSA) has an Inclusion Fund from which assistance may be available. Our school is accessible to all and wheelchair users have access to virtually every part of the school buildings. Within the school there are many ways in which groups of people come together to the benefit both of the school as a whole and the development of the individuals concerned. Our “Student Voice” comprises representatives from across the school and its committees are grouped vertically, thus encouraging different year groups to work together and to be aware of differing views and needs. Inter-form and House events during the year unify tutor groups in collective endeavours as students seek to achieve their best for their form, whilst Sixth Form students lead whole-school charity efforts such as fund-raising for causes such as Great Ormond Street Hospital, the Teenage Cancer Trust and the Prince’s Trust. Parents and carers, alumni and other “friends of Beaumont” are involved in the life of the school in many ways. The BSA organises an evening social event for new Year 7 parents in order to introduce them to the opportunities for developing links with the school and each other and organises a number of social and fundraising events throughout the year. Parents and friends are also invited to the many Music, PE, and Drama productions which take place throughout the year: a real feature of these events is the number of students, as well as parents, who come to support their friends and family.
