Prospectus
Please watch a short film about the school, download a copy of our prospectus and look at all the information on the site. Hopefully ithey will give you a real insight into the school.
Sixth form prospectus
Please download a copy of our sixth form prospectus.
Open evening
The opening evening for prospective students looking for entry in the 2008-09 academic year will be on Thusday 4 October 2007. The evening will start at 6 p.m. and end at 9 p.m. Alex Russell, the headteacher will give two addresses. The first will be at 6.15 p.m. and the second at 7.15 p.m. Each address will last about 30 minutes.
The school will also be open from 9.30 a.m to 12.30 p.m.on Friday 5 October for parents and prospective students to tour the site and see us at work. If you cannot make that time you are welcome to make an appointment any time. Please contact the school office to arrange this.
Admissions
All admissions are handled by Bucks County Council. You can check whether your postcode falls in to our catchment area by going to the authority's address checker.
Prospective Students
Dear Prospective Students
You will be joining a school that values you, wants you here and will do everything in its power to help you to succeed. We have one objective: to give you the best learning experience that we can. Every single one of you has a talent or talents that we want you to express. There are so many opportunities for you – we hope that you will take them.
It is a really exciting time for the school. We have really built on our success as a specialist arts college and we have wonderful facilities in art, drama and music aswell as ICT and PE. We have seen a dramatic rise in academic performance over the last year and we aim to better those results this summer. All in all we believe we have the school that will give you a really great future. We hope that you will make the most of it. Remember; if you want to know anything or try something new then just ask. We want to know what you think and will do our best to make it happen.
Of course we will visiting all our primary feeder schools in the summer but above all I would love to welcome you to the school, to have a good look round and see us in action. Please contact us and come and visit us at your convenience. We will always be able to accommodate you.
Your sincerely,
Alex Russell (Headteacher)
Organisation of the school
The structure of the school day
Time |
Activity |
08.55 |
Registration and assembly |
09.10 |
Lesson 1 |
10.10 |
Lesson 2 |
11.10 |
Break |
11.30 |
Lesson 3 |
12.30 |
Lesson 4 |
13.30 |
Lunch |
14.15 |
Lesson 5 |
15.15 |
End of school |
Each period is one hour long and we operate a two week timetable.
Please follow the links for further information on term dates, the current staff, the curriculum, the organisation of classes, reporting and assessment, arrangements for homework, communication with parents, rewards, school uniform, extra-curricular activities, provision for gifted and talented students, learning support, school fund and membership scheme, PTFA and governors.
Please feel free to contact the school at any time.
Lunch arrangements
Students may either:
- Remain in school for lunch which may take the form of:
- (a) a self-service cafeteria meal eaten in the dining hall and paid for on selection. The catering company provides a wide range of foods, including vegetarian options
Or
- (b) a packed lunch brought from home and eaten in an area designated for the purpose, or at the picnic tables, or on the edge of the field in summer (glass bottles should not be brought on to the premises. Litter should be placed in the bins provided or taken home).
Please note the following:
-
Students are not permitted to leave the premises
-
Students using the cafeteria queue in year groups in designated areas outside the dining room, (or in the hall during winter and in the event of wet weather) supervised by staff.
-
In exceptional circumstances, a temporary lunch pass is available from the health and welfare officer when a parent makes a request (by letter, please) for the child to leave the premises.
Transport
The authority provides bus passes to students who live in Hedgerley, Farnham common and seer green (queries regarding school transport should be directed to Buckinghamshire county council, transport department, telephone: 01296 3837432).
Parents from outside this reserved area whose requests for school places are granted are required to meet their own transport costs.
We ask that students should arrive punctually at the coach stop or at school in the case of local children. Repeated lateness cannot be tolerated.
All students are expected to observe a code of conduct when travelling by coach or public transport to ensure their own safety and that of others (please refer to the separate sheet sent to you with admission documents).
NB once students arrive on the premises, whether by coach, car, or on foot, they are not permitted to leave without staff permission.
At the end of the school day, the coaches will normally be parked in the coach bays. Staff supervise students as they board. In the event of the late arrival of a coach, students should line up in the designated area by staff and wait quietly. When the coach arrives and has come to a halt, a member of staff on duty will give them permission to board.
On arrival at school and when leaving the premises, students must behave sensibly, use designated crossing points and be aware of traffic. Safety is of paramount importance.
Parents are respectfully requested not to come onto the school site to deliver or collect their children, as the resultant traffic congestion constitutes a considerable safety risk to both staff and students. Please arrange to drop them and meet them in Beaconsfield old town or on the housing estate adjacent to the school. This may involve a short walk for your child, but may prevent an accident.
Attendance
Attendance and academic success are closely linked. It is very important that your child’s attendance meets or exceeds a target of 93% for the year. We expect children to attend regularly and punctually. Children should not be kept from school without previously obtaining the headteacher's permission, except in the case of illness or emergency.
In the case of an illness that may keep the child away from school for some days, please inform the school by telephone as soon as possible.
On returning to school following an absence, a note must be given to the student's form tutor, who will pass it to the health and welfare officer. This is required even though notification of absence by telephone may already have been made.
Where a student’s attendance causes concern, the year leader will discuss this with the education welfare officer who will advise on further action and support.
NB the law gives the power to authorise absence to the school, not the parent.
The school should be informed in advance by letter of any dental or medical appointment. We ask that, wherever possible, appointments be kept to out-of-school hours. (It is not expected that students will be absent for a whole day for such appointments).
A student leaving the school for a dental or medical appointment must report to reception before leaving the premises and, on his/her return, must sign in.
Teachers will require students to make up classwork and homework missed through absence, and we welcome the support of parents in this matter.
Holidays
It is not desirable for students to be away from school on holiday during term time, as such absence can seriously disrupt the continuity of learning. Not only does the student miss the teaching provided: he/she is also less prepared for the lessons building on that teaching after returning. There is a consequent risk of under-achievement, which both teachers and parents must seek to avoid.
Parents are therefore asked not to request leave of absence for a family holiday in term time. Whilst recognising the financial advantages of taking a holiday outside peak periods, it is felt that these are outweighed by the disruption caused to learning and the effect on the attendance record of the child, concerns shared by the education welfare service and the dfee.
If you wish to consider taking your child out of school for a holiday, please request the relevant form from the head/leader of year. You are required to explain the exceptional circumstances, which have led to the request. It is vital that you:
- Do not ask for absence when your child is preparing for or taking examinations and important tests *
- Give at least four weeks’ notice - and, in any case, make the request before confirming a booking
Each request for holiday leave will be considered individually. The most important consideration is the effect the absence would have on your child’s education. Although they have the power to do so, schools and governors are not obliged to agree to absence for a holiday. Regulation 12 of the education (schools and further education) regulations 1981 states that schools cannot legally authorise more than 10 school days absence in a school year (i.e. September to august) unless there are exceptional circumstances. Permission will not be granted for leave of absence immediately prior to or during assessment or examination periods*. Where a student’s attendance is already causing for concern (i.e. below 90%), it is unlikely that absence for a holiday will be authorised by the school.
If permission for leave of absence is granted, this will be confirmed by means of a letter. It is the responsibility of the student to see teachers prior to the holiday to collect work.
It is important that the child returns promptly to school and, on doing so, ascertains what needs to be done in order to make up any arrears of work. Where a student fails to return within ten school days of the agreed return date, and there is no good reason for this such as illness, the school may remove his/her name from the roll.
Parents are thus asked to consider very carefully the possible consequences of any additional period of absence from school before making their request.
Detentions
A detention may be given by a subject teacher for:
- persistent failure to complete homework
- misbehaviour in a lesson
- failure to come adequately prepared for a lesson
These detentions will normally take place during morning break or the lunch period. However, if the student fails to attend or to complete the work, repeats the offence, or, where the member of staff considers the offence to be sufficiently serious, an after school detention may be necessary. A letter giving details of the offence is issued in the case of an after school detention and parents are asked to sign the letter and return it, via the student, to the member of staff concerned. At least 24 hours' notice of an after school detention is given so that transport arrangements can be revised where necessary.
Detentions are not used as a first resort and usually result from failure either to complete some previously set task or to observe the school's code of conduct. Your support is essential in helping us to maintain high standards of work and discipline by endorsing the use of detentions as one of a range of sanctions enforced by the school. A few parents question a detention because of the inconvenience it causes, usually with transport arrangements. It must be emphasised that students can avoid being put in detention by doing what is required, and any parental annoyance should be directed at them, rather than at the subject teacher or clerical staff.
NB Section 550B of the Education Act 1996 gives schools legal authority to detain students at the end of the school day.
Going 'on report'
When a student's behaviour or standard of work is felt by his/her teachers to require closer supervision, then a Report system may be put into operation, over an agreed period and in consultation with parents, in order to give the student the support required.
This involves the student in setting targets for improvement and in getting a comment from subject teachers on his/her performance in every lesson. These are usually written on a form designed for the purpose, or, in some cases, in a notebook. The 'Report' is seen daily by the child's form tutor and year leader, who will sign it. Parents are also asked to read and sign the 'Report' daily so that they can monitor their child’s progress.
Where a student is experiencing considerable learning or behavioural difficulties, we discuss with parents the suitability of involving outside agencies, such as the County Psychological Service, Child Mental Health (formerly Child and Family Guidance) or Outreach support from staff attached to the Wycombe Grange Student Referral Unit who will work with students, parents and school staff.
Exclusions
If a student continues to show poor behaviour or there is a single incident of significant poor behaviour then that person will be excluded. In the main this will be within school and consist of:
- Removal from all lessons and working in supervised isolation in the Focus Room
- Break and lunchtimes being taken separately from the rest of the school
- An element of community service
However, in some instances there will be no alternative but to externally exclude a student from school. In both instances parents will be informed.
The health and welfare officer
The school is fortunate in having a full-time, qualified nurse as the School Health and Welfare Officer who also has a counselling qualification. She deals with medical and attendance matters and should be consulted about any medical problem which may in any way affect your child's education. She is also responsible for organising:
- Hearing Tests (where a defect is suspected)
- Sight tests (where concerns arise and during Years 9 or 10 when requested by the Health Authority). Parents will be advised if an appointment with the optician needs to be made
- Vaccinations: Diphtheria, Polio and Tetanus boosters in Year 10; BCG in Year 9
- Medicals: for some Year 11 school leavers and for other students whose health and/or attendance causes concern
Medicals may also be conducted at any time during a school year if required eg where a student is experiencing serious health problems so that attendance has been adversely affected.
If your child is unwell or injured in school, he/she will be referred to the Health and Welfare Officer. In most cases, the only treatment required will be a kind word, a glass of water, a plaster or pain relief, after which the student will be sent back to the class.
Pain relief can only be administered if parents have completed the permission section on the medical form.
Should your child be too ill to continue in school, you will be contacted so that he/she can be collected and taken home.
The following points should also be noted:
- Where medicines are prescribed to be taken during the school day, these must be handed over to the Health and Welfare Officer by the student for safekeeping. A form requesting the administering of these medicines must be filled in by the parent/guardian. The HWO will also store students' emergency medicaments (e.g. inhalers, insulin, epi-pens etc)
- EMERGENCY CONTACT NUMBERS MUST BE GIVEN TO THE SCHOOL AND UPDATED AS NECESSARY. PLEASE ALSO ENSURE THAT YOU HAVE AN EMERGENCY CONTINGENCY PLAN TO COLLECT YOUR CHILD FROM SCHOOL IF YOU ARE UNAVAILABLE.
- The Health and Welfare Officer should be informed of any absence from school which is likely to be prolonged, and will pass on requests for work to subject teachers, via the Form Tutor or Head of Year, as appropriate.
- Students leaving school premises for dental or medical treatment must bring written notification of appointments to The Health and Welfare Officer and report to Reception before leaving the premises and on their return.
- Students who arrive after registration MUST report to the finance office so that the register of attendance can be amended.
Student conduct
The success of each student largely resides in the general behaviour of students in class and around the school building. At The Beaconsfield School, we set high but reasonable standards of behaviour and expect the School’s Code of Conduct to be adhered to, as well as to the additional requirements of Classroom Expectations.
General guidelines
- Students are expected to display courtesy and consideration for others at all times
- It is expected that students will maintain a high standard in terms of personal conduct, honesty, respect for the property of others and appearance
- Students are expected to respect and be tolerant of other people's point of view. Fighting, bullying and foul language are always unacceptable
- Students are expected to listen, and respond appropriately, to staff instructions
- Students are expected to respect and work with all individuals, regardless of race, gender, age, religion or disability
Code of conduct
- Students are expected to move safely and sensibly around the school at all times.
- Students are expected to attend school unless they are ill, and to be on time for school and for each lesson.
- Students must remain on the school premises at all times during the day.
- Students are expected to keep the school clean and tidy. Litter should be put in bins. Eating is only permitted in the dining room, areas and at the picnic tables at lunchtime. All food purchased in the dining hall must be eaten there. No glass bottles should be brought onto the premises.
- Students arriving early for school may go to the dining room. Students should not be in teaching rooms or corridors before the start of the school day, or during morning break or lunch time, without a supervising adult.
- The school has a No Smoking policy. Smoking is forbidden on the journey to and from school, as well as on the site. Cigarettes, lighters and matches must not be brought onto the premises.
- In wet weather, students may go to the Dining Hall. At lunch times they may go to the Hall. The library is also open at these times for those students who wish to do some homework or read.
- Students should observe the Code of Conduct governing behaviour when travelling to and from school. Cycling is forbidden on the school premises. Cycles should be securely locked and security marking is advised. Students bringing cycles to school are advised to take their cycling proficiency test and to wear a helmet.
- Full school uniform must be worn on all occasions and when travelling to and from school. Uniform and equipment should be named. Jewellery such as necklaces and rings should not be worn, by either boys or girls, for reasons of safety. Students may wear a wristwatch and one pair of plain metal stud earrings.
- Movement rules and out of bounds areas will be explained to students on their arrival.
Students should remember that, in or out of school, our reputation is affected by the way we all behave.
Classroom expectations
The classrooms and specialist areas are places of work. While each subject area will have slightly different expectations, certain basic rules will be common to all.
At the start of lessons
Students should:
- Arrive on time.
- Wait quietly if necessary.
- Take out books, writing equipment and place the Logbook on the table/desk.
During the lesson
Students should:
- Get ready to work without being told.
- Listen when the teacher or other students are talking to the class.
- Put up a hand to answer questions or attract attention.
- Take a full part in the lesson.
- Let the teacher know if you need help.
- Students should not distract or disturb other students.
- Do not eat or chew in class.
- If a student arrives late, he/she should apologise quietly and explain.
At the end of the lesson
Students should:
- Only pack up when told to do so.
- Leave the room tidy, (i.e. push chairs under tables and pick up any litter around the desk area).
- Leave the room only when told to do so.
In Emergencies, students must always obey the instructions given by the teacher.
Lost property
Enquiries about lost property should be made to The Health and Welfare Officer. However, many of the problems which arise over missing clothing and equipment could be avoided if parents could ensure that ALL items of clothing and property are clearly marked with the owner's name.
As the School cannot be responsible for losses, we request that students do not bring large sums of money or valuables into school but, where this is unavoidable, they should be left in the safekeeping of the Finance Officer.
Please note that the Education Authority does not accept responsibility for the loss of, or damage to, any property belonging to students, including bicycles.
Students should not leave anything in the cloakrooms unless such items are secured in lockers. If your child requires a locker one can be rented through Independant Locker Solutions. Please fill in the attached form and return it to ILS with payment.
In exceptional circumstances, staff may confiscate property. This may be for reasons of discipline, health and safety or because it is considered that the value of the item is such that it should not have been brought into school. In such cases, parents will normally be contacted in order to make arrangements for the collection of the item(s) concerned. Meanwhile, the item will be kept securely locked away.
Mobile phones
The School reluctantly permits, but certainly does not encourage, students to carry mobile phones in order that they may contact parents in the event of a problem with transport. These must be kept switched off during the school day. As with other items of personal property, the School accepts no responsibility for the loss of - or damage to - mobile phones. Phones which are being inappropriately used will be confiscated and can be returned only to a parent. Please do not try to contact your child on his/her mobile phone during the school day.
Please note that Examination Boards do not permit mobile phones in exam rooms. This applies to Key Stage 3 Tests as well as GCSE, VCE and GCE A Level Examinations.
CD/MP3 Players, hand-held computers and computer games etc are not allowed and are likely to be confiscated and returned only to a parent.
Complaints procedure
The Education Reform Act 1988 requires all schools to publicise channels which enable parents of students attending school to register complaints about the delivery of the curriculum, including Religious Education.
If such a complaint arises, it should normally be discussed informally in the first instance with the Headteacher but, if circumstances prevent this, the complaint should be brought to the notice of the Chairman of Governors or the Area Education Office.
Financial assistance for students
Free meal provision at school
Provision of food in the middle of the day will be given free of charge to a student whose parents are in receipt of INCOME SUPPORT or who him/herself is in receipt of INCOME SUPPORT, Income Based Job Seekers Allowance (IBJSA) or Child Tax Credit (those who are not entitled to Working Tax Credit and whose annual income, as assessed by the Inland Revenue – does not exceed £13,230).
NB If you child is currently in receipt of free school meals, or you think that you child is entitled to them, you must fill out a new application form to enable your child to continue/start taking the free meals. The relevant form is available from the School Finance Office. |