Sharnbrook Academy

Sharnbrook Academy, formerly Sharnbrook Upper School until 2017, is a large, rural academy school located in Sharnbrook, a village in the English county of Bedfordshire. Built in 1975, the school now has over 1900 students and around 300 staff, and includes a large sixth form founded in 1978 of around 650 students. Age range of students Most students join the school in Year 7 where they are aged 11. They take GCSE exams, in year 11 (ages 15–16), after which some students will leave to attend a technical college or an alternative sixth form. 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 Beginning in the 2003 to 2004 academic year through to the 2017 to 2018 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). This was initially stopped for Years 12 and 13 (Sixth-Form), when Sharnbrook became a secondary school. Vertical tutoring was ended completely when the COVID-19 pandemic started, as when the school returned for the 2020 to 2021 academic year, the tutor groups were split horizontally. In June 2022, a new house system was announced consisting of five new houses as well as the return of vertical tutoring for Years 7-10. Year 11 initially remained horizontal, however this was stopped beginning in the 2023-24 academic year. This was introduced at the beginning of the 2022-23 academic year. The new names are Cygnus, Delphinus, Pegasus, Phoenix, and Ursa. The previous houses were Grange, Colworth, Templar, Parentines, Loring and Ouse, named after medieval manors of Sharnbrook village.