Expansion Plans

St Andrew’s & Rushmoor Schools Partnership Vision

The Governing Body purchased a 40 acre site at the top of Manton Heights in Bedford.  We are currently in the design stage with work due to commence in early summer 2021.  The vision is to provide a modern, purpose-built ‘diamond’ structure school, combining St Andrew's School and our partner school, Rushmoor. Each school has a long history and have been working in partnership since September 2013 under the leadership of Mr Daniel, Principal of both schools.  

The new building will cater for a maximum of 680 pupils.  The ‘diamond’ means boys and girls are taught together until the age of 11, separately from 11 to 16 (in core subjects only), before coming back together again in a joint 6th Form.   The main advantage is ‘diamond schools’ are able to retain many of the positive characteristics of small schools, while benefiting from the infrastructure and economies of scale of a larger school.   

Boys and girls develop differently and this is particularly noticeable during their teenage years.  They have a different approach to learning, so teaching academic subjects separately can help.  However, co-curricular activities together maintain an appropriate level of social contact.  So when they move on together into the sixth form, there is sufficient maturity for them to cope with co-education without it being a distraction. The best of both worlds really and this has been highlighted in the national press recently who have reported the research into the subject.