Wootton Upper School and Performing Arts College is located on Hall End Road, in Wootton

Wootton, Bedfordshire

Wootton is a large village and civil parish located to the south-west of Bedford, in the north of Bedfordshire, England. The parish also includes the hamlets of Hall End, Keeley Green and Wootton Green....

. It teaches years 9-11 in compulsory education

Compulsory education

Compulsory education refers to a period of education that is required of all persons.-Antiquity to Medieval Era:Although Plato's The Republic is credited with having popularized the concept of compulsory education in Western intellectual thought, every parent in Judea since Moses's Covenant with...

 and years 12-13 in post-16 education. Approximately 75% of students previously in compulsory education stay on to the 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,...

. Wootton Upper School is the fifth best comprehensive school

Comprehensive school

A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...

 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....

. The school specialises in Performing Arts

Performing arts

The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...

, such as Music, Drama and Dance.

History

Wootton Upper School started in 1975. As the school buildings were not quite ready, it shared a site with Stewartby Middle School. The first intake was 213 students and they moved onto the Wootton site in the November, with 16 teaching staff. The first Headmaster was Mr Stanley Clews, with Deputy Head, Mr John Bonerton. The school was complete by 1978. Mr Clews retired in 1987 and then Mrs Catherine Mackenzie took over until 1999. The present head is Mr Anthony Withell. The Upper School catchment area covers far more villages than just Wootton and having achieved Beacon Status

Beacon Status

Beacon Status is a learning and skills recognition of the excellence and innovation which exists within the Learning and Skills sector for the United Kingdom. The award congratulates learning providers that deliver outstanding teaching and learning and are well led and managed...

 in 2001, it is regarded as one of the top Upper Schools in the County.

The main feeder schools are Holywell and Marston Vale middle schools.

Wootton Insight

The first is the official school magazine that runs by the name of Wootton Insight. This is an A4 booklet which is distributed to students, teachers, parents, supports and sponsors of Wootton Upper School. In 2007 a team of students were given creative control of Insight. The purpose of this was to give the reader a students perspective of how they experience life at Wootton Upper School and the activities they participate in. Previously to 2007 Wootton Insight was written by teachers and occasionally students were invited to write specific articles. Wootton Insight has been passed on to new students as they mature through the years becoming a generational magazine.
Wootton Insight's format and overall appearance changes and is unique to each issue. Since the 2007 change over Wootton Insight has kept to a standard appearance and layout with regular features: Staff Interview, PopVox and front page article normally a drama or musical performance.

Wootton Outsight

The second magazine is an unofficial publication called Wootton Outsight. There has been one issue of Outsight since its start-up in 2009. Wootton Outsight's format is usually a single black and white A4 sheet.

Upload

Upload is a school produced video about the students and activities at Wootton Upper School. Upload is produced by a team of student and teachers every half term. Each video features school clubs, trips, charity events and achievements by students and teachers.

Facilities

• Sports Hall
• Dance Studio
• Activities Studio
• Drama Studio
• Theatre Hall
• 7 Music Practice Rooms
• A Recording Booth, and Editing Room
• 11 Science Labs
• 6 ICT Suites
• Post 16 Study Area
• Student Support Centre (SEN)
• Art Rooms and Kiln Room
• Year 11 and Sixth Form Café

Secondary school

Bedford Borough Council had decided to implement a two-tier education system in the borough, meaning that Wootton would have been converted from an upper school to a secondary school, and take pupils from the age of 11. However the Borough was forced to cancel its plans for a 2 tier system with the cancellation of the Building Schools for the Future program by the new government, meaning there were no funds for the change to take place