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INTRODUCTION

Advantage Schools is an ambitious School Trust located in Bedfordshire.

Formed in April 2017, we run Elstow School, Bedford Free School, Queen’s Park Academy, Houstone School and Laburnum Primary School. We believe very strongly in our values, which guide everything we do.

We exist to serve our communities – the pupils and families of Bedford and Central Bedfordshire – in order to offer a real choice of education. We specialise in an academic education that offers excellent outcomes, a great learning environment with routines and structures that ensure excellent behaviour, and phenomenal extra-curricular opportunities.

Our schools are genuinely comprehensive, and we believe that every child can go on to achieve extraordinary things.

We ensure that our curriculum is rich in knowledge, expect hard work and do not make excuses. We believe in working together with families to support our high expectations that meet young peoples’ aspirations. Every pupil should have the option to go to university at 18, and for the vast majority this should be the choice of highly-selective universities. We hence craft our curriculum around the core knowledge contained in traditional academic subjects. We believe all of our pupils have a right to the assumed knowledge that educated people take for granted, and aspire to ensure that all of our pupils join the community of educated citizens.

We are outward-facing, sharing all of what we do with other trusts, professionals and anyone who is interested.

We hope you find the information on our website useful, and you can find out more in our full prospectus by clicking the button below:

 

Advantage Schools Prospectus

 

We also know many schools have lots of questions about joining a school trust, so we have also put together a Frequently Asked Questions document:

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

Please click HERE to view the 2021 Annual Report

If you are a prospective family, pupil, colleague or a school or trust interested in working closer with us, we’d love to hear from you!

OUR SCHOOLS

Bedford Free School is a secondary established in 2012, and has grown to become a centre of excellence for students between Year 7 and Year 11. It plays a key role at the heart of the community it serves.

At Bedford Free School there is a culture of the highest expectations and aspirations, delivering on the rightful demand from parents in Bedford and Kempston for an excellent education opportunity for their children.

Bedford Free School is one of the highest performing schools in the country, making a reality of our mantra: “We believe, given the right circumstances, all children are capable of extraordinary things.” It hosts visits from hundreds of school leaders over each year who come to learn from the routines, structure, unique pedagogy and approach to curriculum.

Elstow School is a primary in the village of Elstow. The centre of its community, it has a close-knit community-centred governing body. The School, in common with the Trust, works closely with other schools to maximise the standards of teaching, and to ensure high quality development of the curriculum.  

Elstow is at the forefront of nationwide developments of the curriculum for primary age children.  We teach a knowledge-based curriculum, and the key facts are available on the school website.  As pupils learn more about the world, they develop confidence, enthusiasm and a thirst to know more.

Advantage Schools believes that there should be opportunity for every child to be the best they can, and Elstow’s teaching, curriculum and very strong history of supporting social and emotional development means that we are well-placed to meet our vision.  

 

Houstone School opened to years 7,8,9 and 10 in September 2022, and Advantage Schools are determined the school will make a positive difference to the educational landscape in Houghton Regis and the surrounding areas.

There are some key differences that we believe make Houstone School so distinctive.

Houstone School has very strong standards of behaviour, a different approach to pupils with additional needs that believes that they can meet the heights of their peers, and aspects like longer school days that fit in with modern family life, alongside a real commitment to getting the curriculum, teaching and learning right.

Houstone School, shaped by the families and the educational teams who design it, has freedom to direct resources where they are most needed, and to ensure that our curriculum is truly aspirational.

We believe that our combination of firm discipline, very high expectations, an academic knowledge-based curriculum, and a humble approach to feedback means that we can go on to be one of the highest-achieving schools in the country. We really do want to be a ‘grammar school for all’.

Our ambition is that every single pupil will be able to attend university, and most will attend the most selective universities. We are ambitious to be the best school in the country.

Queen’s Park Academy joined Advantage Schools in December 2021.

The school serves a diverse and international community, and staff pride themselves on helping every child develop as a happy, confident, and aspiring learner.

The school curriculum is designed to motivate and excite children so that they enjoy coming to school, as well as provide them with the knowledge and skills they need to continue to be successful as they progress onto their next stage of learning.

Learning extends outside of the classroom through visits to places of interest, with enrichment sessions providing Forest School and cookery opportunities for all children from Reception to Year 6.

Laburnum Primary School in Sandy is a small, friendly one-form entry primary school at the heart of the local community, where pupils are known and cared for as individuals.

Laburnum joined Advantage Schools in March 2024 with a view to becoming a local centre of excellence, able to deliver a high quality of education to pupils by focusing on effective classroom learning and wider enrichment experiences.  Staff at the school particularly value working closely with parents to ensure children can succeed within a culture of high expectations.