Queensbury Upper School ˈkwiːnzbəri is a mixed, 13-18 upper school

Upper school

Upper Schools tend to be schools within secondary education. Outside England, the term normally refers to a section of a larger school. There is some variation in the use of the term in England.-State Maintained Schools:...

 and sixth form

Sixth form

In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...

 in Dunstable

Dunstable

Dunstable is a market town and civil parish located in Bedfordshire, England. It lies on the eastward tail spurs of the Chiltern Hills, 30 miles north of London. These geographical features form several steep chalk escarpments most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north.-Etymology:In...

, Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The school has been awarded Specialist Technology College

Technology College

Technology College is a term used in the United Kingdom for a secondary specialist school that focuses on design and technology, mathematics and science. These were the first type of specialist schools, beginning in 1994. In 2008 there were 598 Technology Colleges in England, of which 12 also...

 status.

History

Kingsbury Technical College for Boys (a mixed-sex grammar school) and Queen Eleanor's School for Girls were merged in 1972 to form Queensbury Upper School, when Bedfordshire changed from a two-tier school system to a three-tier system

Three-tier education

Three-tier education refers to those structures of schooling, which exist in some parts of England, where pupils are taught in three distinct school types. A similar experiment was also trialled in Scotland....

.

Queensbury was the second Grant-maintained school

Grant-maintained school

Grant-maintained schools were state schools in England and Wales between 1988 and 1998 that had opted out of local government control, being funded directly by a grant from central government...

. The school had been flagged for closure but the community, including the local MP, David Madel

David Madel

Sir David Madel is a politician in the United Kingdom. He was a Conservative Party Member of Parliament for South Bedfordshire and later South West Bedfordshire from 1970 until he stood down at the 2001 general election....

, fought to keep it open and took advantage of the introduction of the grant-maintained system introduced in 1988. Grant-maintained schools were abolished in 1998, and Queensbury converted to a Foundation School

Foundation school

In England and Wales, a foundation school is a state-funded school in which the governing body has greater freedom in the running of the school than in community schools....

. The ten years as a Grant-maintained school

Grant-maintained school

Grant-maintained schools were state schools in England and Wales between 1988 and 1998 that had opted out of local government control, being funded directly by a grant from central government...

 had seen it increase in popularity from very low enrollment numbers (as the school was due to close) to being heavily oversubscribed.

Location

Queensbury is surrounded by three roads, Canesworde Road, Langdale Road and Hilton Avenue (Most of the roads located in this area are named after places in the Lake District

Lake District

The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...

). It is in South West Dunstable

Dunstable

Dunstable is a market town and civil parish located in Bedfordshire, England. It lies on the eastward tail spurs of the Chiltern Hills, 30 miles north of London. These geographical features form several steep chalk escarpments most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north.-Etymology:In...

, but takes children from across Dunstable and the surrounding villages.

The site

Because the school used to be two separate schools, the buildings are quite a distant apart. There are two entrances from different sides of the site. On Langdale Road, there is the entrance to East building (the former Queen Eleanor's), and opposite Meadway there is an entrance to West building (via. Canesworde Road). The most recent addition to the school was 'Central' building in 785489.

Due to the site previously being two separate schools, there is some duplication in rooms across the school. There are, for instance, two gyms, main halls and canteens. Until the completion of Central building there were also two staff rooms; one per building.

Houses

Queensbury uses a 'house' system to encourage teamwork and competition within the school, with awards and huge slices of cake being given to houses for various events. Each form class is assigned to a house, designated by the PE teachers after a few PE lessons to make the houses balanced. The houses used to be selected randomly and the tie you wore represented the house. The houses and colours are shown below. Each house is named after a road around the school.

House	Road Named After	Location of the road
Hilton	Hilton Avenue	south
Langdale	Langdale Road	east
Cansworde	Canesworde Road	north - west
Mead	Meadway	north west