A GLOBAL education is provided for children at Beech School in Golcar.

Described as “a family not an institution” this friendly community extends the hand of friendship across the world.

Through the British Council’s Comenius project, children have friends in Poland, Hungary, Germany and Spain and the opportunity to visit them.

And the school also has strong links with the Kibuye Primary School in Kampala, Uganda.

The links form an important focus throughout the school curriculum with children learning about the geography, traditional foods, songs and dances and composers the countries the school has joined forces with.

As well as being global citizens, children at Beech School are encouraged to be responsible citizens within their own school community.

Headteacher Jenny Hume said: “It is a strong focus within my philosophy in school that I want the children to be an active part of the community and that everyone should give to as well as take from the environment in which they are. Every child has a job to do in school from sharpening pencils to filling water bottles, from litterpicking to clearing away after lunch.

“In this way, the children learn to function as constructive members of our schools society.”

Children at Beech have the opportunity to take part in a huge range of clubs. The whole school is “off timetable” on Wednesday afternoon to give them the opportunity to develop new skills outside the classroom.

Film making, photography, ICT, gardening and walking are among those on offer and the school also has a successful gospel choir.

Children take part in a variety of inter school sports competitions with successes recently being achieved in gymnastics.

The school has also gained an excellent reputation for the quality of its stage productions with a summer performance of “Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat” the biggest and best yet.

Small class sizes, on average 21, mean children get lots of adult attention to support their learning.

And lunchtimes are also a well-thought out part of the school day.

Children sit around small tables and enjoy “family style” service and varied menus.

Mrs Hume said: “Before Jamie Oliver even though of the idea, children at Beech were designing menus for lunchtime.

“They met with catering staff and received the advice concerning nutritional content for school meals.

“The outcome is an excellent and varied menu, which is periodically reviewed, re-evaluated and updated by the children working with the school cooks.”

Flexible nursery care is provided in school from three-years-old and the rooms are newly refurbished with a European theme to tie in with visits by pupils. This includes lovely kindergarten in Austria. There is also an Out of School club at Beech.

Mrs Hume added: “We believe that our school is very special and forms a positive, vibrant learning community to which all children, staff, parents and members of the wider community contribute.

“We believe very strongly that every child matters . Children learn best when they feel good about themselves, and we focus on the need to develop children’s self confidence.

“Our teachers and support staff are outstanding in terms of qualifications, experience and commitment.”