2nd July 2021 — The Beacon, a prep school for boys aged 3 to 13 in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, has announced the appointment of Nick Baker as Headmaster with effect from July 2022.

Nick brings to the school a wealth of educational experience having worked in both state and independent education for the past 20 years, to now leading one of the most sought-after prep schools in Central London.

Nick is Headmaster at Wetherby Preparatory School, an independent day school for boys aged 7 to 13 located in London.

Nick has established himself as an outstanding leader, and as Headmaster for the past 14 years, he has developed the school of 400 boys in a highly competitive London market to a position where Wetherby is a principal feeder to London's independent day schools and the country's top boarding schools.

Nick grew up in Amersham, attending Chesham Preparatory School and Dr Challoner's Grammar School in Buckinghamshire before studying Geography at UCL.

Alongside the demands of his current role, Nick was also Chair of Governors at Chesham Preparatory School in Buckinghamshire for four years.

Charles Miller, The Beacon’s Chair of Governors, said: "The applications for this prestigious Headship were of an extremely high standard and we are delighted to have appointed such an experienced Headmaster with such a strong track record.

We are confident that Nick will provide outstanding leadership and that he truly understands and will promote The Beacon’s strong values and ethos.

We look forward to welcoming Nick Baker to The Beacon Community along with his family."

Nick Baker said: "Growing up in Amersham, I thoroughly enjoyed the company of Beaconians and now feel truly honoured to be joining their community next July.

Throughout the recent recruitment process I was struck by the passion, dedication and professionalism of all the staff that I came across – they love their school and feel so proud to work there.

I am really looking forward to working with them, the Governors, the parent body, and, of course, those brilliant Beacon boys."

As the 11th Headmaster of The Beacon, Nick Baker will build on the strong foundations of Will Phelps, who has made the importance of offering a balanced, all-round education with a strong focus on kindness and pastoral care his lasting legacy during his dedicated tenure at The Beacon.

Will moves on to the Headship of Cheam School in Newbury.

19th November 2020 — The school has long taken its responsibility to the local community and wider environment extremely seriously and has introduced a wide range of recycling and environmental projects over the past few years. One of the most recent additions to the school was their Kitchen Garden, where the boys enjoy planting, tending to and harvesting their own produce to use in their Cooking & Nutrition lessons. In fact, over the first national lockdown, The Beacon’s Cooking & Nutrition teacher, Kim Rowland, used the school’s produce as ingredients for meals she and her community cooked for frontline staff in local hospitals.

It was when planning a bee-friendly flower patch in their Kitchen Garden that the school first investigated the idea of funding their own beehives. The incredibly helpful team at The Chalfonts Beekeepers’ Society were delighted to help and supplied 800 jars of locally-sourced honey for the school to sell to its community in order to fund two beehives to be located near the school.

“We have had an amazing response to our appeal,” said The Beacon’s Headmaster, Will Phelps. “Over half of the honey jars have been purchased in just under a week and we are well on track to be able to fund our very own beehives. It was incredibly important to us that we support our local honey producers, while doing what we can at school to encourage our boys to be more aware of the impact of our local plant life when planting bee-friendly flowering plants at school and at home.”

“The Chalfonts Beekeepers’ Society is excited to be involved with this initiative at The Beacon School,” agrees the Society’s Secretary, Gillian Jones. “This activity strongly resonates with our main objective to educate the public in the craft of beekeeping, which covers not only the art of keeping bees, but also sustainability by ensuring there are enough flowering plants for the bees. We are also delighted to have the school join our club and we look forward to welcoming the boys to visit their hives, which are to be managed at our Chesham Apiary.”

17th June 2020 — Over 60 boys pulled on their aprons, whipped out their wooden spoons and baked up a storm, producing an amazing range of cakes, cookies, tray bakes and other sweet treats to enter their school’s ‘Great Beacon Bake Off’. Following strict socially distancing guidelines, the boys then delivered their carefully baked treats to Beacon staff members waiting outside their school buildings.

The cakes were quickly whisked away to Wexham Park Ambulance Station, where they were sampled and ‘judged’ by a team of very willing Wexham Park Hospital paramedics. Following the tasting session, the cakes and baked treats were distributed to NHS frontline staff at Wycombe, Wexham Park and Amersham hospitals, as well as to a local Wexham care home, Oak House.

The Beacon was inspired to launch its Thank You Bake Off by the school’s Cooking & Nutrition teacher, Kim Rowland, who, together with her Seer Green community, has been preparing and delivering home-cooked meals throughout lockdown to Wexham Park and High Wycombe Ambulance Stations, as well as to Wexham Park and John Radcliffe Hospitals.

“The courage and heroism of our NHS staff during the last three months, as everyone knows, cannot be over emphasised, “ says Kim. “As the Beacon boys have whole-heartedly embraced their online cooking and baking lessons through lockdown, I felt The Great Beacon Bake Off would be the perfect opportunity for a bit of fun in the form of a competition but, most importantly, to say a massive heartfelt thank you to all our heroic NHS and care home staff.”

She continued: “I am so proud of all our Beacon bakers. The standard of baking and the effort that went into every bake was outstanding. What a great way to say thank you!”

So what was the final bake-off verdict from the discerning panel of paramedic judges? “It was an absolutely amazing effort, they were all incredible and it was very difficult to choose the winners,” said Andy Battye, Head of Paramedic Operations for East Berkshire and South Bucks. “From all of us to all the Beacon boys, a huge thank you.”

30th January 2020 — The Beacon School in Amersham was delighted to welcome author Lucy Hawking to speak to Beacon families and members of the local community this month through its partnership with the Chorleywood Bookshop.

She enthralled a packed audience as she talked about Unlocking the Universe, the last book she wrote with her father, Professor Stephen Hawking.

"It was so amazing," said Year 5 Beacon pupil Aaran. "I had started reading her book, so it was really inspiring to listen to her speak. I was especially blown away to learn gravity bends time as well as objects!"

13th November 2019 — Part of the hugely successful Chorleywood LitFest, which The Beacon proudly sponsors, the afternoon with Cressida Cowell was a complete sell-out. Avid young readers, clutching copies of Wizards of Once: Knock Three Times, Cressida’s third book in her new best-selling series, came to hear Cressida enthral them with stories of the inspiration behind her stories and incredible illustrations.

Cressida, who was appointed as the Children’s Laureate in July, seized the opportunity to encourage her young fans and their families to always read for pleasure. “Tell the adults in your life to read to you way beyond the age when you can read to yourself,” urges Cressida. “Just 10 minutes a day can make so much difference. If you’re reading a book with your parents and it makes your mum laugh or your dad cry, that sends an incredibly important message. Books have that power.”

One of Cressida’s biggest fans, Year 3 Beacon boy Eesa, enthused: “I have read six of the How to Train Your Dragon books, so it was really exciting to meet Cressida. She has inspired me to be an author.”

“Author visits are a great way of inspiring children to read,” agreed The Beacon's Librarian Katie Turrell. “However, Cressida’s visit seemed to work on so many levels as the adults in the room were as engaged and enthusiastic as their children.”

After her passionate and engaging talk, Cressida spent a long time with each child, signing their books, chatting to them about their own aspirations and having photos taken. It was an afternoon her young fans will remember for a long time.

16th October 2019 — Guests had the opportunity to explore the Pyramids of Giza, walk across the surface of the moon and even examine the sea floor whilst swimming alongside sharks thanks to immersive and interactive demonstrations provided by exhibitors NVOY Technologies, Lenovo, ClassVR and RingCentral.

The Beacon’s Headmaster, Will Phelps, said: “This was a fantastic opportunity for school educators to get together and see how Virtual Reality can transform our pupils’ learning. Virtual Reality allows our children to engage in experiences not possible or practical in the ‘real world’. We are very excited about the potential opportunities for our boys when we introduce VR learning into our curriculum next year.”

The Beacon’s pupils also got their chance to experience this incredible next step in teaching and learning. “I’d never tried a VR Headset before,” said enthusiastic Year 4 pupil Michael. “It was so exciting! I felt I was in the middle of all the action – it would be amazing to use this in our lessons.”