Welcome to the BEACON ACADEMY!
This is an exciting year for Beacon as we begin teaching the Diploma Programme. it’s a logical conclusion to all we do, and it might be said that we have been preparing for this since we began the School in 2001.
The Beacon Academy is on its third year, teaching grades 9-11 and looking forward to growth, but enjoying these years, when we can be a small community that knows everyone by name, where students share tables at the canteen regardless of grade level, and where teachers, students and staff pick up quick games on the basketball court or the playing field.
The same collaboration manifests in the classrooms, where, because expectations for assessment are transparent and students are graded on their achievements against those expectations rather than on a curve, there’s an atmosphere of collective engagement. The engagement carries into investigations in the Science Lab or the Art rooms, into group solutions to math problems, or discussions around a table.
The engagement carries on outside of the classrooms into the gym or the playing field, as well as in involvements that we have begun to forge with the communities nearby. Because even as we build academic rigor and foster critical thinking skills, we know it’s the opportunities for these involvements that will allow our students to understand who they are, and to grow into their fullest selves.
We hope that the information contained in this site of what we do and who we are, coupled with the images of the facilities, provides the information you seek about the school. There’s of course no substitute for a visit, with the opportunities to chat with students and teachers and to look into classes, so please give us a call. We are happy to show you the school.
See you here soon.
Sincerely,
Maria Elena Paterno-Locsin
Head of School
CURRICULUM OVERVIEW
The Beacon Academy is an independent, non-profit, co-educational school that will provide a four - year college preparatory program to children of all nationalities, ages 14 - 18. Its curriculum, based on the International Baccalaureate (IB) Academic Programmes, will exhibit the best aspects of the Filipino ethos, and will prepare its graduates for both local and overseas colleges and universities.
Beacon expects its students to become engaged citizens who value diversity of thought and belief, and are committed to fairness and justice. The curriculum is guided by a commitment to the values that underlie the approach to education: interactive learning, rigorous and disciplined thought, communication, holistic understanding
The Beacon Academy is envisioned to complete the academic and co-curricular programs at the Beacon School. Students at the Academy will beengaged in class investigations, participate in thoughtful discourse, and build friendships and close relationships with classmates and teachers.
Each year, Beacon students from grades 3 to 10 take a standardized test called the International Schools’ Assessment or ISA. This test is a service offered by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), a service meant to provide statistically reliable information that can be useful in school and in the home.
Schools may use this information as a benchmark, to see how their own student population compares to those from other international schools in Asia, Europe, Africa, The Middle East, the Americas and Australia. Parents, and students, may use this information to better understand an individual student’s academic progress.
The ISA is an assessment of mathematical literacy, reading and writing. It is administered over two mornings, with each test lasting for 45 minutes to 1 hour. A total of five tests are administered, two for math, one for reading, and two for writing.
The Beacon Academy administered the ISA test to Ninth and Tenth Graders last February 8 and 9, 2012. The following graphs illustrate how Beacon Academy students fared, in comparison to all other schools that participated in this year’s ISA testing. In 2010-11, over 53,000 students, in 289 schools, took the ISA tests. These numbers have continued to grow.
Grade 9 ISA results:
Grade 10 ISA results:
The Beacon Academy community is invited to attend this year’s Personal Project Fair, the culminating activity of the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP) undertaken by Tenth Graders. The fair will be held on Wednesday, 18 April 2012, from 10:00 – 11:10am at the Academy campus Snacks will be served. (read more…)
We would like to thank everyone who came to the DP Orientation last 22 March 2012. Please find attached the DP Course Catalogue for students graduating in 2014 here. (read more…)