Leighton Middle School

Leighton Middle School is a popular and successful, Local Authority maintained, 9 – 13 middle school. Every year we are oversubscribed and at the request of the Local Authority we are currently expanding to increase our intake number from 120 to 150 in each year group. By 2019 there will be 600 pupils in our school.

Leighton Middle School is situated in the middle of Leighton Buzzard town centre, enabling us to feel at the heart of the local community. Leighton Buzzard is an expanding market town set in easy commuter reach of London and Milton Keynes.

Our school benefits from supportive parents and engaged pupils.

We are a school that takes continuous improvement seriously. In 2013 Ofsted found that we had high ambitions:

• Key leaders and governors of the school communicate a high level of ambition for its pupils and have worked effectively to improve teaching and learning.
  
• Pupils are making good progress and improving in their reading and writing throughout the school, especially in Years 5 and 6.
  
• By the end of Year 8, standards in English are above national expectations and are well above expectations in mathematics.
  
• There is good provision for all pupils to develop their talents and, as a result, individual pupils of all abilities make very good progress in specific skills and subjects.
  
• Teachers have good subject knowledge and plan interesting and imaginative lessons and, as a result, pupils enjoy their learning.
  
• Disabled pupils, those with special educational needs and those known to be eligible for free school meals are making the same progress as other pupils.
  
• Pupils conduct themselves very well in class and around the school, and incidents of poor behaviour are rare.
  
• Pupils feel safe at school and their parents have a high level of confidence in the school to look after them well.
  

The school has continued to make strong progress from inspection and this is reflected in the annual Quality Assurance Reports produced by Challenge Partner Reviewers. Good systems of appraisal and self-evaluation ensure leadership at all levels is aware of individual pupil’s learning journeys and those of groups. This helps leaders to know how improvements can be facilitated.

Middle Leaders and teachers have strong subject specialisms and this ensures high quality schemes of work provide a coherent and consistent curriculum.

A commitment to CPD is at the heart of our drive for school improvement. Our school prioritises spend in this area and we have a tradition of developing our staff from NQTs to middle leadership and beyond.

The school has committed significant funds to the development of ICT across our site. In the last few years our network and infrastructure have been upgraded to ensure that the backbone of our structure has capacity for the future and developing wireless technologies.

Our school site is both beautiful and historic. Our buildings and park-like grounds are a unique aspect of our school; they are set in a conservation area and include three listed buildings. The Main House is 19th Century and was the home of Mary Norton who lived here as a child. The Base, our SEN provision room, is 18th Century; its columns and marble entrance way look out across the lawns. Through Lottery Funding this was restored and is a hub of activity at social times for some of our more vulnerable pupils. The third of the listed buildings is our Hall, which is 17th Century, it is set with oak beams and is the oldest building on our site.

Given the quality of provision at the school and the ever increasing levels of over-subscription for places at Leighton Middle School, Central Bedfordshire is funding a major building programme to allow the school to expand. This building programme is well underway and should be completely finished by September 2017. The building programme will provide two new and enlarged playgrounds, an enlarged dining room, seven new classrooms, improved access to toilets and office space.

Leighton Middle School is a strong member of the local learning community of schools, LC2. Whilst maintaining our independence and unique flavour, we seek to work in partnership with other schools locally. Our local partnership enables our pupils to continue to thrive as they move to their Upper Schools and we are very proud of their success at GCSE and beyond – last year 77% of our pupils achieved 5 A* to C including English and Mathematics.

Most recent outcomes from KS2 are above national average and demonstrate accelerated progress from our baseline entry data. Our KS2 performance for the last three years is comfortably above coasting standards. To enable us to have a robust externally verifiable baseline and exit data regime we have adopted GL assessment testing in Reading and Mathematics. These tests confirm our judgement regarding the excellent outcomes for Leighton Middle School pupils.

As a school we believe Personal Excellence should be a key motivator and driver of success. We believe that every child who tries their best deserves to have that success celebrated. This belief permeates our provision and our expectations. As a result of this, our provision for vulnerable pupils, SEN pupils and the most able is well developed and based on research and outcomes.

Whilst we are not a church school, we have strong links with our local parish church. Our traditions include regular Christmas and Easter Services.

Extra- curricular provision in our school is excellent. Every lunchtime and afterschool there is a wide range of extra-curricular provision available. These activities are well supported by our pupils and as a result we have highly successful sports teams and musical groups. We also have excellent provision for Science Crest Awards, Computer Clubs and Arts based activities.

Our school offers wrap around care with a school breakfast provision and Bluebell Childcare offering afterschool care.

Leighton Middle School is a unique school, with an excellent staff team, a strong Governing Body and with wonderful pupils. It is a place where everyone works together to fulfil the school aim;

To create a happy school where every member feels valued and able to achieve Personal Excellence.