Our Vision and Values
Bedford Free School is a centre of excellence for students between Year 7 and Year 11, at the centre of the community.
Set up in 2012 to offer families a real choice, we offer a strong academic curriculum, values-driven culture, very high standards, and excellent extra-curricular opportunities.
We have created a culture in which we have the highest expectations and aspirations for all of our pupils, delivering on the demand from parents in Bedford for an excellent education for their children.
Our school has a positive, ‘can-do’ culture built around our values of:
It is these that drive all of our decisions.
We are proud of our “Sophie Test”. Named after the founding principal’s oldest daughter, it is our guide to decisions we make about the school. Bluntly, if it is not good enough for our own children, then quite simply, it is not good enough.
BFS is ideal for working families, providing school days that fit in with modern family life. We teach students between 8.25am and 4.00pm, with facilities available from 8.00am-5.30pm. This is perfect for families who require flexibility around work.
The longer school day means we can teach more to our pupils. As you would expect, we have a tremendous focus on academic subjects, maths, English, science, history, geography, religious education, Spanish, French, music, PE, graphics, drama and computing. We also offer an enhanced curriculum as we believe that pupils should have access to a wide range of experiences.
This enhanced curriculum, which we call electives, enables all our pupils to access high quality extra-curricular activities during the school day, so that pupils leave us as fully rounded individuals ready for higher level study. It also means that all of our pupils are able to play for school teams.
Every day, our pupils read a classic work of literature for half an hour, with pupils taking it in turns to read out loud. We also operate ‘prep’ – a 40 minute session of silent study. For younger pupils, they have often finished their homework and can enjoy family life in the evenings. For older pupils, they have made a start – something that can typically be the hardest part of homework completion. We also offer an extended supervised homework club every evening.
At BFS we believe that every pupil is an individual who can achieve extraordinary things. The journey may be tough, but we are prepared to work hard for our pupils – and we expect them to work hard in return.
Within a learning environment, where high expectations in everything from achievement to attendance and behaviour are the status quo, our aim is that pupils who come to BFS will meet these very high expectations, and that we will collaboratively break through any barriers to very high standards of achievement.
As we were a new school, we were not burdened by unhelpful traditions or obstructive cultures. From how meal breaks are managed to the relationships between staff, students and their families, our school places each individual pupil’s needs at it’s heart.
All pupils are entitled to an academic curriculum, and hence examination results are really important, but we are proud to say our school is geared towards so much more and considers the enrichment and development of our pupils. This wider curriculum provides our pupils with a rounded education that takes into account personal and social development.
As our pupils come to the end of their journey at BFS, they are given the opportunity and support to make the appropriate post-16 choice for them, be it onwards to further study at sixth form, university and beyond, into apprenticeships or vocational training or employment. We aim for all our pupils to have access to university at 18, and for the majority of them to be able to choose a highly-selective university.
We give our pupils that opportunity so they have the choices that mean that they can make the most of their future.
