The Misbourne School is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

and

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

situated in

Great Missenden Great Missenden is a village and civil parish in the Misbourne Valley in the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England, situated between the towns of Amersham and Wendover. It adjoins the village of Little Kingshill, and is a mile from Lit ...

, Buckinghamshire, England. Established in 1956, the school caters to students aged 11 to 18 and has approximately 1,096 pupils (2024), with 110 in sixth form. The school offers

A-levels The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational ...

and BTEC qualifications.

Academic performance

In the

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

report of 2022, The Misbourne maintained its 'Good' rating. Ofsted reported that the school's 'leadership of teaching and learning is a considerable strength' and noted that 'students are friendly, polite, courteous and conduct themselves exceptionally well in lessons and around the school' while 'principled and aspirational leadership embeds a culture of ambition which permeates the school' The Misbourne improved its 5 A*-C GCSE performance from 72% in 2011. to 84% in 2012, placing the school in the top four upper schools in Buckinghamshire, to its highest ever result of 88% in 2013. In the

, 99% of A level exams were passed, with 76% at A*-C and 41% A*-B. In 2019 the school reported its best ever GCSE results with 74% of pupils achieving a grade between 9 and 4 in English and Maths. According to its 2013 Ofsted report, "The sixth form is good. Students’ attainment at both AS and A2 levels is improving. Sixth formers make good progress in their work related courses" Ofsted Report April 2013. In 2022 the percentage of students who achieved a standard (9-4) pass in English and mathematics: 73%, percentage of students who achieved a strong pass (grade 5 or above) in English and maths at the end of KS4, 50%

Facilities

Partly as a result of the school's specialist statuses in Arts and Technology, the school has several ICT rooms with computers for student use. In addition, there is a printing room where photographs can be processed and produced. Students also have access to computer aided design software (

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...

). The school canteen functions as a café, operated by a third-party company. The school also has tennis courts and large playing fields. Recently the school has built an English block, giving students extra space. Due to the new English block being built there was extra area for a new sixth-form study room this room includes an area for the students to study and relax in including computer suits and 'pods'. The school's Performing Arts block was opened in 2004, in memory of former headmaster David Selman. It provides a small practise rooms for private

music lesson Music lessons are a type of formal instruction in playing a musical instrument or singing. Typically, a student taking music lessons meets a music teacher for one-to-one training sessions ranging from 30 minutes to one hour in length over a pe ...

s and student use. The classrooms are all equipped with

Casio keyboard Casio electronic musical keyboards were first manufactured in June 1979 and continue to be made by Casio today. Older units in the Casio line, despite being limited, were and still are popular with independent artists like Jack Stauber and Outkast ...

s. There is a dance studio and a recording studio equipped with music editing software. Sixth formers have access to their own private study area and ICT suite.

History

The Misbourne was the first purpose-built

secondary modern school A secondary modern school () is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Secondary modern schools accommodated the majority (70–75%) of pupil ...

in the country. The first pupils started at the school on 19 December 1955, although it did not officially open until 20 January 1956. Originally there were only twenty-five students. The school celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2005/6. The celebrations culminated in a

Jubilee A jubilee is often used to refer to the celebration of a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term comes from the Hebrew Bible (see, "Old Testament"), initially concerning ...

summer

fête In the United Kingdom and some of its former colonies, a fête or fete is a public festival organised to raise money for a charity, typically held outdoors. It generally includes entertainment and the sale of goods and refreshments. Fetes are ty ...

in June 2006 which was attended by

Cherie Blair Cherie, Lady Blair (; born 23 September 1954), also known professionally as Cherie Booth, is an English barrister and writer. She is the spouse of former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair. Early life and education Booth was born ...

. The Misbourne School was rated the "friendliest school in Britain" in 2005, on

Friends Reunited Friends Reunited was a portfolio of social networking websites based upon the themes of reunion with research, dating and job-hunting. The first and eponymous website was created by a husband-and-wife team in the classic back-bedroom Internet s ...

. In September 2006 the Misbourne was awarded

specialist school Specialist schools, also known as specialised schools or specialized schools, are schools which specialise in a certain area or field of curriculum. In some countries, for example New Zealand, the term is used exclusively for schools specialis ...

statuses in both

Arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creativity, creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive ...

and

Technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

. The Misbourne celebrated the first MizFest on 9 July 2012 students took part in music and drama performances, a fashion show, and workshops including fashion, cake baking, trampolining and Taiko drumming, with a performance by the community choir. Rt Hon

Cheryl Gillan Dame Cheryl Elise Kendall Gillan (; 21 April 1952 – 4 April 2021) was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Chesham and Amersham from 1992 until her death in 2021. A member o ...

MP, visited The Misbourne on Friday 14 March 2014. On Wednesday 19 March 2014 former Misbourne student, Lieutenant Ian Bennett, "dropped in" to The Misbourne in a Merlin Mk 2 helicopter. Bennett came back to school to talk about his career in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, and invited some on board the helicopter. Previously a community school administered by

Buckinghamshire County Council Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the east, Greater London ...

, in January 2018 Misbourne School converted to academy status.

Notable former pupils

Jennifer Higham Jennifer Higham (born 26 August 1984 in England) is a British actress who has played numerous roles in theatre, television and film. Higham attended Misbourne School in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire. She has appeared in ''Doctors'', ''Crook ...

, actor * Alex Kew, actor *

Alice Connor Alice Rose Connor (born 2 August 1990) is a British actress, born in Buckinghamshire, England. She is best known for her roles in the television adaptation of Jacqueline Wilson's novel ''The Illustrated Mum'', in the children's television serie ...

, actor * Tom Helm, cricketer

References

External links

Department for Education Performance Tables 2011
{{authority control Secondary schools in Buckinghamshire Educational institutions established in 1956 1956 establishments in England Academies in Buckinghamshire Great Missenden