Sharnbrook Academy
Sharnbrook Upper School and Community College, commonly referred to as SUS or simply Sharnbrook, is a large, rural comprehensive upper school located in Sharnbrook, a village near Bedford in the English county of Bedfordshire. Built in 1975, the school now has over 1800 students and around 200 staff, and includes a large sixth form of around 650 students.
The school is very popular and is currently oversubscribed, with some parents resorting to moving house into Sharnbrook's catchment area to guarantee their children a place at the school. Quite a sizeable proportion of sixth form students join the school in Year 12, having completed their compulsory education at other schools.
The headteacher is John Clemence, who was previously the Head of School. The principal for 2001-2006, Peter Barnard, retired at the end of the Autumn Term in December 2006.
Age range of students
Most students join the school in Year 9, aged 13-14, taking National Curriculum assessments (SATs) at the end of the academic year. They take GCSE exams at the end of Year 11 (ages 15-16), after which some students will leave to pursue their careers. Most, however, stay and join the sixth form (Years 12 and 13, ages 16-18+), where they are joined by a large number of students who have completed their GCSEs at other schools and have moved to Sharnbrook for their final two years at school.
Vertical tutoring
| House | Letter | Colour |
|---|---|---|
| Colworth | yellow | |
| Grange | green | |
| Loring | blue | |
| Ouse | orange | |
| Parentine | purple | |
| Templar | red |
At the beginning of the 2004-5 academic year, Sharnbrook introduced vertical tutoring, a pastoral system in which each tutor group has students from each year group, from Year 9 to Year 13 (Upper Sixth). In contrast, almost all UK secondary schools organise their tutor groups horizontally, with the school population divided primarily into National Curriculum year groups, and each form or tutor group has students from only one year group. The school's senior management now share their expertise in running a vertical system by running workshops and seminars for headteachers, senior managers and pastoral leaders from around the UK.
To accommodate the new vertical tutor groups, a House system was devised, comprising six houses, one of which every student is a member. Most of the staff are also assigned to a house. Each house contains fourteen tutor groups and is lead by a Head of House and an Assistant Head of House, titles which are sometimes abbreviated to HOH and AHOH, respectively. Traditional Heads of Year still exist, although their role has greatly diminished with the arrival of Heads of House.
Various ideas were considered when deciding how to name the houses, including the suggestion that they be named after members of the Simpson family. The houses were, however, eventually named after medieval manors of Sharnbrook village. The houses and their associated colours are displayed in the table to the left.
Facilities
- Art rooms and gallery, including a ceramics room
- AstroTurf sports pitch
- Climbing wall
- Dance studio
- Interactive whiteboards
- Language lab
- Music centre, incorporating a recording studio
- Paula Radcliffe Community Sports Centre
- Playing fields
- School farm
- Sixth form centre, built in 1999
- Tennis courts
- Television studio and edit suites
Specialist school status
Sharnbrook has been granted specialist school status as a media Arts College. It is also a Training School, a Partnership Promotion School, a Beacon School and has received the Artsmark Gold and Sportsmark awards from the Arts Council England and Sport England, respectively.
School day
The school day begins at 8.30 am and ends at 3.15 pm, except on Mondays and Thursdays, when there are some lessons until 4:30 pm.
Catchment area
The catchment area for Sharnbrook Upper School includes the parishes of Bletsoe, Bolnhurst and Keysoe, Carlton and Chellington, Clapham, Dean and Shelton, Felmersham and Radwell, Harrold, Knotting and Souldrop, Little Staughton, Melchbourne and Yielden, Sharnbrook, Stevington, Milton Ernest, Oakley, Odell, Pavenham, Pertenhall, Podington, Hinwick and Farndish, Thurleigh, Turvey, Riseley, Swineshead and Wymington.
Learning Community 7
The schools in bold are middle schools, whose pupils move to Sharnbrook after Year 8. Underneath each feeder middle school are the lower schools that feed them. This pyramid of schools constitutes Learning Community 7 of Bedfordshire Local Education Authority.
- Margaret Beaufort Middle School, Riseley
- Eileen Wade Lower School, Upper Dean
- John Gibbard Lower School, Sharnbrook
- Kymbrook Lower School, Keysoe
- Riseley Lower School, Riseley
- Thurleigh Lower School, Thurleigh
- Harrold Priory Middle School, Harrold
- Lincroft Middle School, Oakley
- Bromham Lower School, Bromham
- Milton Ernest Lower School, Milton Ernest
- Pinchmill Lower School, Felmersham
- Oakley Lower School, Oakley
- Ursula Taylor Lower School, Clapham
Notable alumni
- Paula Radcliffe, marathon runner and world record holder
- Henry Luxemburg, actor best known for playing the role of Toby Mills in the soap opera Hollyoaks
- Oliver Gavin, racing driver
- Matt Jackson, professional footballer (Luton, Everton, Charlton (loan), Norwich, QPR (loan), Birmingham (loan) Wigan)
Other
It has been announced that the school will blow up, in September 2007.
References
External links
- Sharnbrook Upper School Website
- Ofsted Report June 2006
- VerticalTutoring.org, a website created by Sharnbrook's Principal, Peter Barnard