| Headteacher | Mr John Clemence |
|---|---|
| Specialism | Community College |
| Location | Odell Road Bedford Bedfordshire MK44 1JL England |
| Local authority | Bedford |
| DfE URN | 109706 |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Students | 1681 |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Ages | 13–18 |
| Website | SUS Website |
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 150 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.
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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 one in maths at the end of year ten and several other subject modules such as science and english throughout year 10they finish GCSEs in 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.
| House | Letter | Colour |
|---|---|---|
| Grange |
|
green |
| Ouse |
|
orange |
| Templar |
|
red |
| Colworth |
|
yellow |
| Parentine |
|
purple |
| Loring |
|
blue |
At the beginning of the 2003-4 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 led 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.
In late 2009 plans were confirmed for the construction of a new science centre, with construction due to begin early 2010. [1] The centre was completed in November 2010.
Sharnbrook Upper School Media Department offers students the role of studio hands in the "Broadcast Team". The group is responsible for the running of the school broadcast system, which replaces the traditional whole school assembly. The broadcast is filmed, live, in a special television studio and gallery, situated in the heart of the media department.
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.
The school day begins at 8.30 am and ends at 3.15 pm, except on Mondays and Thursdays, when there are some lessons in the sixth form that finish at 4:25 pm.
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.
Sharnbrook Upper School, along with its feeder middle and lower schools, form part of the North Bedfordshire Schools Trust (which itself was created out of the former Learning Community 7).[2] 7 of the schools were awarded school trust statuses in April 2007, with further schools in the Sharnbrook catchment were also awarded trust status later in 2008.[3] 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 NBST of Bedford LEA.
Bedford Borough Council has decided to implement a two-tier education system in the borough, meaning that Sharnbrook will be converted from an upper school to a secondary school, and take pupils from the age of 11. The changes are due to take effect from September 2014, and will include the school expanding to use the current site of Lincroft Middle School to accommodate increased pupil numbers. The status of this change is uncertain due to the loss of the Building Schools for the Future funding needed.
However in 2010 the school took academy status which allowed it to remain part of a three tier education system.