Harlington Upper School

This article is about the upper school in Harlington, Bedfordshire. For the secondary school in Harlington, London, see Harlington School.

Harlington Upper School (HUS) is a rural, coeducational upper school and sixth form with academy status in Harlington, Bedfordshire, England.

Harlington Upper School
Address
Goswell End Road Harlington , Bedfordshire , LU5 6NX England
Coordinates	51°58′04″N 0°29′15″W
Information
Type	Academy
Motto	Creating ambitious, altruistic and accountable leaders
Established	1973
Department for Education URN	137941 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Headteacher	Helen Harris
Gender	Coeducational
Age	13 to 18
Enrolment	1401
Website	http://www.harlington.org/

History

The school was established in 1974. In 2007 a house-based approach to student support was developed which includes "vertical" tutor groups, meaning that form groups have a mix of ages which encourages students to have stronger relationships with other members of the school, not exclusively their own year.

In 2017, the school removed the vertical tutoring system but decided to keep the current houses. After removing this system, there are only eight schools nationally that still use the vertical tutor system.

Students

The majority of students join Harlington from three Bedfordshire middle schools: Arnold, Parkfields and Robert Bloomfield. The students mainly live in the villages near Harlington including: Harlington, Toddington, Harlington Mill, Sharpenhoe, Barton-le-Clay, Silsoe, Clophill, Westoning, Pulloxhill, Greenfield, Maulden, Ampthill, Flitwick, Luton, Chalton, and Streatley.

Most students join the school in year 9, aged 13. They start their GCSE courses in year 9 and take the GCSE exams in years 10 and 11, aged 15 or 16. Some students choose to continue attending the school following their GCSEs and join a large sixth form of over 420.

Notable alumni

Notable recent alumni include actress Emily Atack and rugby player Josh Bassett.

Houses

As of September 2007, the forms are not sorted by year group (age) but rather there are six houses each with 10 forms. The houses are named after Greek mythical creatures and gods, Apollo, Europa, Hercules, Midas, Pegasus, Theseus. The forms are named after the letters from HARLINGTON other than the repeated N which is replaced by the U from Upper. The name of an individual form is the initial letter of the house and the initial letter of HARLINGTOU, for example the first form in Pegasus would be PH then PA, PR etc. With the new house structure, there are a number of responsibility positions available for students to fill, e.g. House captain, and editor of the house newspaper.

• Apollo (yellow)
• Europa (blue)
• Hercules (red)
• Midas (gold/orange)
• Pegasus (purple)
• Theseus (green)

New buildings

Between October 2003 and April 2006, the school underwent a major building and refurbishment programme as part of the Mid-Bedfordshire PFI scheme.

In November 2006, the Mid-Bedfordshire PFI scheme was officially opened by the Queen during a visit to Bedfordshire at neighbouring Samuel Whitbread Upper School.

Science College and Academy

In September 2006 the school gained specialist Science College status. The school continues to teach the full range of National Curriculum subjects, but uses its strength and expertise in Science and Mathematics to support other schools and the local community. The school has also been selected by the DfES and the Specialist Schools Trust to become a Deep Support Hub for the Eastern Region.

On 1 March 2012, Harlington Upper School officially became an academy.

External links

• Official school website