Sharnbrook Upper School and Community College

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.

  

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. 

Facilities

• Art rooms and gallery, including a photographic darkroom and a specialist digital suite.
• AstroTurf sports pitch
• Climbing wall
• Dance studio
• Interactive whiteboards
• Main Hall and Sports Hall
• Music centre, incorporating two recording studios and a spacious music tech room
• Paula Radcliffe Community Sports Centre
• Playing fields
• Sixth form centre, built in 1999
• Tennis courts
• Television studio, edit suites and a Radio Studio

In late 2009 plans were confirmed for the construction of a new science centre, with construction due to begin early 2010. The centre was completed in November 2010.

  

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 in the sixth form that finish at 4:25 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.

North Bedfordshire Schools Trust

 

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). 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. 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.

• 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
  • Carlton Lower School, Carlton
  • Christopher Reeves VA Lower School, Podington
  • Harrold Lower School, Harrold
  • St Lawrence Lower School, Wymington
  • Turvey Lower School, Turvey

• 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

Secondary school

 

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.

Notable alumni

• Paula Radcliffe, marathon runner and world record holder
• Cal Henderson, Flickr chief software architect and web developer
• 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)
• Nick Tandy, Formula 3 racing driver
• Sean Longden, historian and author of To The Victor The Spoils, Hitler's British Slaves and Dunkirk, The Men They Left Behind.