About Our School

RAF Alconbury is in Cambridgeshire, primarily a farming and light industry area. The nearest large towns are Huntingdon, Peterborough, St. Ives, and Cambridge.

London is a 45-minute train ride away. Cultural, theatrical, and sporting attractions abound in this area of England.

The first dependent's school in the Alconbury area was opened at RAF Molesworth in 1951. Students in grades 1-9 were enrolled. The RAF Molesworth School closed in June 1974 and its activities were relocated to the present site at RAF Alconbury.

Alconbury Elementary School is housed in three one-story buildings on one site with a limited playground. The buildings contain classrooms, a library, and a cafeteria. There are approximately 35 staff members including teachers in special areas such as special education, speech, physical education, art, music, gifted education, Prekindergarten, PSCD, foreign language, and host nation.

Alconbury Elementary School (AES) is located on Alconbury Royal Air Force Base, in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom. Our professional learning community includes 24 classroom teachers, and 10 support personnel. Over two hundred students are currently enrolled in AES, ranging from Preschool through fifth grade. Our stakeholders consist of military and civilian families that work at Royal Air Force Bases Alconbury, Molesworth and Wyton. They provide combat and operational support to mission partners and tenant units including, the Joint Analysis Center, the NATO Intelligence Fusion Center, AFRICOM J2-M, as well as various shops from 423rd Air Base Group squadrons, to include the 501st's only Combat Arms Training Facility.

Opening in 1955, AES has a proud history of drawing upon its unique community, diversity and talented staff to build a community of learners. A culture of high expectations is integrated into our classrooms experiences across the curriculum and is evident in our Vision statement: “To be among the world’s leaders in education, enriching the lives of military-connected students and the communities in which they live.” It is also exemplified in our thematic “Go Green Team” approach towards Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) initiatives, which include the Cambridge environmental services, PTA, and base engineers. We provide our students with hands-on building experiences with recycled materials, Read Across America activities, Amazing Reading Race, AES/AMHS STEAM Night, Digital Robotics Competitions, and a mentor program which involves military parents and volunteers; classrooms use guest speakers and volunteers within our community to provide an enriching and motivating educational experience for our students.

Our learning environment provides differentiated instruction to meet the academic, personal and social needs of our student population. Our staff is very experienced, passionate and dedicated to the needs of our students. In order to address individual student needs, teachers and grade level teams collect and analyze data to guide instruction. Diagnostic teaching is conducted using students' individual performance results to adjust and direct instruction. Our strengths in implementing best teaching practices, validating student personal contributions, interpreting assessment data, and peer collaboration in the classroom result in high standardized test scores.

Curriculum resources are selected to address individual learning styles and needs. This is exemplified by our school's use of College and Career Ready (CCR) Math and Science, Guided Reading, and inquiry-based instruction. School Support Specialists focus on providing more intensive leveled interventions in a smaller setting. All students participate in critical thinking instruction guided by our Advanced Academic Program Services teacher. Specialists and classroom teachers co-teach and co-plan to meet the learning needs of students with different abilities in the most appropriate, least restrictive environment. Collaboration between specialists and classroom teachers result in a multi-faceted, differentiated curriculum. Test scores show current teaching practices are very successful. We have a very robust Continuous School Improvement (CSI) plan and to prepare students to function as responsible citizens in our global society.

Our highly motivated learning community and cultural opportunities combine to create and extend the traditional classroom experience in powerful ways. Students are provided rich educational experiences to be prepared to be leaders and citizens in a global community at the earliest age. Shared leadership and decision making by all stakeholders create high expectations for everyone involved in the school community. In addition to the CCR curriculum elements, students at AES study British culture, science, technology, engineering, art and math opportunities through a variety of partnerships with base community support. A typical elementary host nation lesson on communities and government will not only describe the American President and Congressmen but also include the King or Queen, and the customs and practices of the British culture. Our vision statement integrates research-based teaching practices, built upon the bedrock of our community, have resulted in high academic performance, worthy of consideration for a Blue Ribbon school.