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. Our Schools Sports Coordinator works in a range of our feeder schools, developing links which raise the profile of 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 and T12 students from our upper school and sixth form also work with young pupils in these schools on other occasions. Year 10 and 11 students also visit pupils in a local primary school once a week. 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.

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.

Beaumont is also a member of the North East St Albans Extended Schools Consortium – known as Nexus in which each school works  to meet the core offer of extended services that the Government wants 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 plays an important role in enabling the consortium to offer significant support and opportunities to the local community. All Nexus services and events are actively promoted by the school and again a number of them are held at or run by Beaumont.

The benefits of the Extended Schools Consortium are many:

Further information is available on the Nexus page.

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.