The Beacon Academy

2021-2022 Updates

A Message from the Head of School

3 March 2022

Dear Parents and Students,

What, how, and under what conditions our children learn in the present are keys to their success in the future.

This was never more true than during the global pandemic that resulted in the digital migration of schools in the Philippines since March 2020 which is why the Beacon Academy chose to respond to these impossible times with integrity, innovation, and compassion. These principles informed the way the school pivoted to the digital experience of our uniquely designed academic and school life programs without compromising learning and sustaining school spirit and community.

As the pandemic steadily moves towards endemicity, the Academy will continue to adhere to the health and safety standards of the national government and intends to deliver a hybrid learning program—combining the best of on-campus/in-person and remote/ online learning experiences—for the coming school year. We do this with the openness and flexibility to phase-in the reopening campus resources and experiences when approved by the national government.

Our deliberately designed small class sizes and pedagogy allow for a unique blended learning experience in which learners are regarded as individuals, each unique as a fingerprint. Combining our work to encourage self-directed growth with meaningful in-person encounters on our green campus with light and air conducive to learning, our programs will continue the work of preparing young learners to meet the challenges and possibilities of an exciting and unpredictable world.

With our health and safety protocols approved by the Department of Education, the school will pilot this hybrid program for the final quarter of the current school year; and will release the coming year’s schedules and protocols appropriate for this mode of instruction based on established best practices and our actual experience. This will be communicated to our community prior to the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year.

In spite of their challenges, we choose not forget these last two years of online work and learning. We choose remember the innovative learning and social possibilities of new technologies, and look forward to combining the best of e-learning with an in-person experience on our nine-hectare green campus that has always been free from distraction and urban stress and marked by light, space, and air conducive to learning and wellness.

We remain committed to enhancing the Beacon Experience in our new, post-pandemic world.

Welcome to the Beacon Academy.

Mark Vincent Escaler

Head of School

The Beacon Academy

BA COVID-19 CAMPUS PROTOCOLS

INFORMATION SESSION (Saturday, March 5)

Academics at the Academy

The focus of Academics at the Beacon Academy has always been on teaching and learning. While the last two years under pandemic have brought on many challenges, these have also provided many opportunities. In a world where ideas about education and ways to learn has become increasingly noisy and uncertain, the challenges of the last two years has, more than ever, required us to reflect on on what is at the heart of teaching and learning- the ways we teach, how, and why.

We continue to build on our constructivist, inquiry-driven roots, where teaching and learning are anchored on previous knowledge and skills, where we ask questions rather than teach pre-formulated answers. As we continue to learn from each other, we encourage voices to be shared and heard, and value differing perspectives as we go about our discussions. We've also explored and applied technology that help us connect with our students more efficiently.

We invite you to go through these short videos to find out more about how we learning happens at Beacon Academy.

Ceci Francisco

Dean of Faculty

The Beacon Academy

Junior School Course Offerings of AY 2022-2023

(Grades 9 & 10 at the Beacon Academy)

The curriculum at Grades 9 and 10 integrates the content and requirements of the Department of Education with the curricular framework of the IB Diploma Programme (IB MYP). MYP students take 10 courses across the following subject groups:

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

English A Literature

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Language B Mandarin (requires previous experience)

Language B Spanish

FILIPINO

Filipino Language Acquisition

Language and Literature: Filipino

INDIVIDUALS AND SOCIETIES

Humanities

CRE (Grade 9)

Philosophy (Grade 10)

SCIENCES

Biology & Chemistry (Grade 9)

Physics & Earth Science (Grade 10)

MATHEMATICS

THE ARTS

A choice between Drama, Visual Arts, or Music

PHYSICAL AND HEALTH EDUCATION

DESIGN

THE IBMYP CORE. Service as Action in the MYP provide a balance to the academic rigor, and encourages the students to apply their knowledge in various ways, beyond academic coursework. The Grade 10 Personal Project serves to consolidate the knowledge and skills gained in the Middle Years Programme through an independent exploration on a topic of choice, creation of an output, and process shared with the community.

CORE: Service as Action

CORE: Grade 10 Personal Project

Senior High School Course Offerings of AY 2022-2023

(Grades 11 & 12 at the Beacon Academy)

The curriculum at Grades 11 and 12 integrates the content and requirements for Senior High School Academic Track - General Academic Strand (SHS-GAS) of the Department of Education with the curricular prescriptions of the IB Diploma Programme (IBDP).

All students, regardless of pathway, are required to choose one course from each Subject group, as follows at either the Standard or Higher Level:

GROUP 1: STUDIES IN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

English A Literature SL/HL

English A Language and Literature SL/HL

GROUP 2: LANGUAGE ACQUISITION.

Language B Mandarin SL (requires previous experience)

Language B Spanish SL (requires previous experience)

Filipino A Literature SL/HL

GROUP 3: INDIVIDUALS AND SOCIETIES

Business and Management SL/HL

Economics SL/HL

Psychology SL/HL

Social and Cultural Anthropology SL/HL

GROUP 4: SCIENCES

Biology SL/HL

Chemistry SL/HL

Physics SL/HL

Environmental Systems and Societies SL

GROUP 5: MATHEMATICS

Mathematics Application and Interpretation SL/HL

Mathematics Analysis and Approaches SL/HL

GROUP 6: THE ARTS.

Visual Arts SL/HL

THE IBDP CORE. These three core requirements of the IBDP provide a balance and round out the academic rigor of the Diploma Programme through independent research on a topic of choice, an interdisciplinary theory of knowledge class that encourages critical thinking about knowledge and its implications, and involvement in a range of activities that are characterized by Creativity, Action and Service.

CORE: Theory of Knowledge

CORE: The Senior Project OR the Extended Essay

CORE: Creativity, Action, Service

THE COUNSELING RESOURCE CENTER

Learn more about School Counseling and College & Career Counseling at the Beacon Academy through the Counseling Resource Center's GSite!

COLLEGE & UNIVERSITY ACCEPTANCES OF OUR CURRENT SENIOR BATCH

Adelphi University (USA)
Brescia University College (Canada)
California Polytechnic State University (USA)
Campus Spain (Spain)
College of Wooster (USA)
Concordia University (Canada)
Flinders University (Australia)
Fordham University (USA)
Gonzaga University (USA)
Hawaii Pacific University (USA)
Hong Kong Baptist University (USA)
Illinois Institute of Technology (USA)
Leiden University (Netherlands)
Loyola Marymount University (USA)
Lynn University (USA)
Marymount University (USA)
North Park University (USA)
NYU Abu Dhabi (UAE)
Ontario Tech University (Canada)
Ryerson University (Canada)
San Diego State University (USA)
Santa Clara University (USA)
Seattle University (USA)
St. Mary's College of California (USA)
Syracuse University (USA)
Universidad Catolica de Murcia (Spain)
University of Lethbridge (Canada)
University of San Francisco (USA)
University of St. Andrews - Foundation (UK)
University of Toronto (Canada)
Utrecht University (Netherlands)
York College of Pennsylvania (USA)

School Life at the Academy

A message from the Dean of STUDENTS

The School Life Program of the Academy conceptualizes, plans, implements, and coordinates student experiences that encourage, promote, and facilitate self-development, self-agency, and character formation.

It hopes to empower students to chart their own paths to development as persons, students, and citizens by

discovering themselves, their community, the country, and the world;
developing and deepening peer-to-peer relationships;
building self-confidence; and
growing as an individual.

The BA School Life develops and maintains a program of student experiences that provide opportunities for leadership, social interaction, mental & physical wellness, personality development, and creativity & artistry.

I hope you will find time to browse through our Clubs GSite to get a flavor of the range of activities we cover. Grouped into Academic, Arts, Service, and Sports & Recreation Clusters, our clubs are student-initiated, student-led, and faculty supervised. Activities are managed and done in collaboration, coordination, and integration with the Academic Programmes. Our after school program envisions a Beacon Academy student who has an awareness of, and proactivity about his/her potentials, talents, abilities, commitments, and responsibilities as a person, a student, and a Filipino.

This year, we have developed activities that recognize our online reality as well as continuing activities we have done in the past. Clubs and organizations are now project-based and collaboration between clubs is highly encouraged.

Throughout this pandemic, we continued community outreach activities within the constraints of our online reality and our students have risen to the challenge of doing outreach in a virtual environment. We have also continued to offer strength and conditioning training to our student athletes and other interested students, and our Arts Program has stimulated the creativity and artistry of students, faculty and staff.

At the core of the guiding principles of the School Life Program of the Academy is the belief that members of the Beacon Academy community (administration, faculty, staff, students) are all co-formators of each other, of our community, and of our country.

Lui Morano

Dean of Students

The Beacon Academy

2021-2022

BATCH LOGOS

THE BEACON ACADEMY CLUBS 2021-2022 GSITE sites.google.com/beaconacademy.ph/club-fair-2020-website/home

DOING CLUBS AND OUTREACH ONLINE

the Beacon Academy student council

The Beacon Academy Student Council (BASC) presents one of the best opportunities for students to exercise leadership skills. BASC is under the direct supervision of the Dean of Students.

BASC is a valuable partner in building school spirit and developing a Beacon Academy culture and community that takes care of each other and works together for the success of each and ever student, faculty member and staff.