BEAUMONT IN THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

“The students’ contribution to the local community is excellent.” (Ofsted Report 2008 - full report available here)

As a co-educational local authority maintained school at the heart of the local community and a member of the BeauSandVer consortium of schools, Beaumont is well placed to foster community cohesion locally; we actively seek out ways of enhancing quality of life for the communities on our doorstep, seeking where appropriate to broaden their access to our expertise and facilities.

Staff and students alike have an outward focus to their school lives. Beaumont works as an Education Improvement Partner to a local secondary school, and our outreach language staff teach languages in local primary schools. Until the closure of the School Sports Partnerships in July 2011 our Schools Sports Coordinator worked in a range of our feeder schools, developing links which raised the profile and levels of achievement in sporting activities across the community. We have a long-standing Year 8 book project which links Beaumont pupils with pupils in many of our feeder primary schools, and Community Sports Leadership students from our upper school and sixth form also work with young pupils in these schools on other occasions. Year 10 and 11 students have also visited pupils in a local primary school once a week. At Key Stage 5, through their community service programme, the sixth formers help with regular visits to local primary schools, hospitals, playgroups and day care centres. Invitations to local schools to enjoy school events such as matinee drama and PE performances also develop relationships between schools and encourage younger children to feel a sense of ownership of the school should they join Beaumont in Year 7. Local primary school classes also come into the school for history, maths and ICT sessions.

Membership of the BeauSandVer consortium, enables the three schools to lead and share in good practice, and to offer a range of opportunities for 14 to 19 year olds which would otherwise not be available locally. As a member of the Consortium, Beaumont is also jointly responsible for a staff member dedicated to community outreach and liaison. The Consortium provides a wide range of community education opportunities to local people, with a discount for parents of pupils at the three schools for those courses which for which a charge is made. These courses are actively promoted by the school, and a number of them, including language lessons for adults, are held here. These opportunities foster links between the school and the local community, and broaden opportunities for learning both on a formal and  recreational basis for its members.

Until its closure in July 2011 Beaumont was also a member of the North East St Albans Extended Schools Consortium – known as Nexus in which each school worked  to meet the core offer of extended services that the Government wanted all children and their families to be able to access through schools by 2010. In early 2008 Beaumont School received an Extended Schools Award for ‘providing access to the full core offer of extended services to improve achievement, promoting parent and community engagement’. Beaumont played an important role in enabling the consortium to offer significant support and opportunities to the local community. All Nexus services and events were actively promoted by the school and again a number of them were held at or run by Beaumont. During Autumn Term, 2011, the school will continue to offer Extended Services through interim arrangements prior to the creation of Local Partnerships support for pupils and their families which is scheduled to begin in January 2012.

Beaumont contributes to local life in a number of other ways; facilities are let for local organisations and activities such as keep fit and holiday clubs,  concerts and drama productions within school and at venues such at St Albans Abbey, St Peter’s Church, and the Alban Arena contribute to the cultural opportunities available in the area, and meetings with local residents and initiatives such as litter picking serve to consolidate relationships with our near neighbours. At Key stage 3 and 4 pupils take part in a number of charity events through collections, non-uniform days, organised raffles and sponsored events to raise funds for local organisations. A number of our students have been successfully nominated for Herts Young Person of the Year Awards.