Mark Rutherford School is a successful and vibrant academy located in the northern part of Bedford on the edge of town. We currently have ~1300 students on roll aged between 11 and 19 years of age. Our most recent Ofsted inspection graded us as good and it was recognised that “students behave very well in lessons and around the school”. We believe every child is unique and take pride in the opportunities within the curriculum, as well as those on offer as extra-curricular, to support and guide our students. Most of our students live in Bedford and the outlying villages.

Our school is built on a large and pleasant campus with extensive green spaces. We have a range of excellent and well maintained facilities including a recently refurbished indoor Sports Hall and all weather tennis courts. Specialist accommodation includes a Drama Hall (to include a purpose built studio for performances), music rooms (for students to rehearse and practise, as well as there being provision for Music Technology) a dance studio and well-resourced teaching rooms with specialist equipment for Art and Design, Design and Technology, Science and Computing. Our Space 4 Learning is a multi-purpose facility used by students to access a range of resources to support their studies whilst also being popular for teaching, learning and independent study. The Sixth Form also have a number of places to undertake their directed study, to include The Vicinity and a Common Room. Our Nightingale Unit is a purpose built specialist provision for students on the Asperger/Autism spectrum; dedicated teachers and Learning Support Assistants work in this outstanding part of our school.

Our teachers are highly qualified, committed and dedicated professionals who always focus on the raising of standards and developing each student to reach their full potential. Our examination results are good and continue to improve; our Sixth Form results place us in the top 10% nationally.

Our wider curriculum provision is a very successful feature of our school; sporting activities, the performing arts, international visits (to include Borneo, Peru and Cambodia) as well as STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art and Maths) have a high profile with many students enjoying and engaging in these opportunities. We have recently become the first school in Europe to own a portable planetarium to support the delivery of STEAM subjects.

Mark Rutherford School has many practices in place to support and enhance staff well-being to include effective human resource support systems and benefits such as childcare vouchers, cycle to work scheme as well as discounts and special offers on health care plans.

Please visit our website for further information about our academy to include our most recent news and our YouTube channel for our monthly ‘Rutherford Report’.