About our school

Beacon Hill Community School is at the heart of the community in the historic town of Aspatria, situated on the edge of the Solway Plain. Our strength is our size – our small numbers ensure that we can deliver truly personalised learning, ensuring students develop the academic and life skills essential to be successful, confident and resilient young people, whatever their abilities.  We dream big, work hard, don’t quit.

Headteacher’s Welcome

Image of the executive and deputy heads, Mr Hailwood and Mr Young

A very warm welcome to Beacon Hill Community School. Together with Solway Community School, we are Cumbria Futures Federation; two schools working collaboratively to provide an excellent education for students against the elegant backdrop of northern Cumbria.  We lie at the heart of the community we serve, and front and centre for us are your children and our students. Our students are individuals, and every member of our school staff sees it as a great privilege to be able to support each and every student.

Our schools have great personalities, and a set of values that do not just daub the walls and website but feature daily in how every person in the building works together.  New teachers and visitors to the school regularly comment on this, and these values provide the positive environment in which our students thrive and learn. We are academically ambitious for our students. We know within every student is a rich wealth of potential; central to our vision for everyone we teach is to inspire them to use their potential, to open their minds to new ideas and opportunities, and challenge them to be, and do, their very best. Sitting alongside this is a no less ambitious purpose to develop the moral courage and integrity of our students to do the right thing whatever their circumstances. To put it simply, to become good people, well prepared for their future lives as positive members of their families, workplaces, local and wider communities.

The quality of the relationships developed across the school helps to do this and builds a secure and healthy place on which our students can build strong foundations to make continuous progress within a safe, inclusive and ambitious environment; to go out and succeed in and contribute to the world around them.

Our small size gives us a great advantage. We see each student where they are, as individuals we know very well, and we are best placed as a result to drive progress forward. This develops a uniquely inclusive environment for each student to flourish in. No-one is overlooked, everyone is valued.

We are mindful a student’s education is not a dress rehearsal. It is important that we do everything we can to make their time with us count, especially where time has been paused for many through Covid. High quality teaching, learning and engagement is at the heart of everything we do. Our staff work hard every day, with courage and integrity, to make sure students have the best possible experience while at our schools. Our ethos removes educational barriers or any obstacles the students face to ensure all have the opportunity to do their best.

Both schools have been rated as Good providers in our recent Ofsted inspections and we are, as always, committed to high academic standards along with the highest quality pastoral care. Please come and look around, all of our staff would be very proud to show our school to you and your child.