Head of Economics and Business Studies

Beaconsfield High School  

Beaconsfield  High School is a highly successful, happy and exciting girls’ selective  school situated close to the centre of  the beautiful, historic town of Beaconsfield in the south of the county  of Buckinghamshire. In the summer of 2018 we received the ‘Exceptional  Schools Award’ which only 45 schools in the country have attained.  We  have an outstanding academic record and one  of the top state schools in the 2018 Sunday Times state secondary  schools rankings. Our Sixth Form gained one of the best set of results  Buckinghamshire and saw over 76% gain A*-B at A2 and this year 6  students took up Oxbridge offers. In the past three years  we have commissioned and opened three brand new state of the art  science laboratories, a new Astro Turf and a new Sixth Form study area.  The school has undergone extensive refurbishment in other areas.

Our  students are very talented in many ways and are keen to learn within  their classrooms as well as outside of them. The  curriculum is demanding but also broad and we believe passionately that  education of the whole person is as important as the mind. There is an  ethos of choice, opportunity, variety and openness and the girls expect  to take up leadership opportunities at any  stage in their career with us. We compete in many sports at regional  and national level, have been invited to take part in the Model United  Nations at European level and are incredibly proud of many other  remarkable achievements that the students achieve with  the help and support of a strong and dedicated staff body. 

We  seek to offer our students imaginative and inspirational teaching to  help them achieve the very best academic results and  progress of which they are capable. This is within a broadly based  educational experience and a well-structured system of supportive and  individualised pastoral  care. The School’s most recent inspection  report, from May 2007, describes Beaconsfield High School  as “an outstanding school where students have keen appetites for  learning, flourish and  make excellent progress.” Their high standards  and achievements are a credit to the staff, governors and, not least, to  the students themselves who work hard and make  best use of the superb academic and pastoral support they receive. This  does not mean, however, that we are complacent and we seek to develop  and improve opportunity for learning and teaching for both staff and  students. 

Caring for every individual

At Beaconsfield High School we genuinely care for the girls as  individuals. Even before they join us in Year 6, we give special  attention to finding out about and caring for their needs. Each girl  joins a house and as we get to know them better, the sense of family  grows. Tutor groups are under the care of a Head of Learning who has an  overall view of the academic and social progress  of the year group as a whole as well as individuals. We also run a  Getting Life Ready programme that promotes wellbeing and resilience in a  pressured life and highly academic environment; this also extends to  the staff. We have and maintain very positive relationships  with parents and carers and are lucky enough to have many parents who  volunteer to support the school through our ‘Friends’ PTA and other  shorter and longer term projects.

Learning and progress

Beaconsfield  High School is first and foremost an academic school, dedicated to the  pursuit of excellence for our students  as well as our staff. The school continues to focus on the development  of learning and  progress and has involved both students and staff in  developing its own language for learning. We are beginning to embed this  during the  present academic year. 

Staff   training is focusing on quality first teaching and the use of  strategies such as ‘flipped learning’. The focus on thinking  hard continues to build and create dialogue about learning through  Teach Meets, Teaching and Learning Briefings and other means. A newly  refurbished staff room has been created as a meeting space to help both  the formal and the informal discussions take place  in a pleasant and convivial setting. 

The subjects studied at University by our alumnae cover the widest possible range of  disciplines. Among the most popular  university choices are Bristol, Bath, York, Exeter, Nottingham and Warwick. 

History

In  2016 our school was 50 years old. The School was one of the first in  the country to become a Specialist College in Technology  in 1995, it was then in receipt of two further specialisms - Modern  Languages and following the "outstanding" Ofsted in March 2007, we were  offered a third specialism and chose to build on our established  tradition of developing leaders, both staff and students,  by becoming a Leadership Partner School. 

Beaconsfield High School became an academy in September 2014 and subsequently gained capital funding to undertake extensive  renovation works to our older  buildings and improvements of our internal infrastructure. 

Location

The local area enjoys a wide range of shops and amenities and is close to some of  the most attractive countryside in England. Transport links are excellent and central London can be reached by train in around 30 minutes. Junction 2 of the M40 is nearby.