The school was established in 1973. In 2007 a house-based approach to student support was developed which includes "vertical" tutor groups, meaning that form groups have a mix of ages which encourages students to have stronger relationships with other members of the school, not exclusively their own year. In 2017, the school removed the vertical tutoring system but decided to keep the current houses. After removing this system, there are only eight schools nationally that still use the vertical tutor system.
Students
The majority of students join Harlington from three Bedfordshire middle schools: Arnold, Parkfields and Robert Bloomfield. The students mainly live in the villages near Harlington including: Harlington, Toddington, Harlington Mill, Sharpenhoe, Barton-le-Clay, Silsoe, Clophill, Westoning, Greenfield, Flitwick, Luton, Chalton, and Streatley. Most students join the school in year 9, aged 13. They start their GCSE courses in year 9 and take the GCSE exams in years 10 and 11, aged 15 or 16. Some students choose to continue attending the school following their GCSEs and join a large sixth form of over 420.
Houses
As of September 2007, the forms are not sorted by year group but rather there are six houses each with 10 forms. The houses are named after Greek mythical creatures and gods, Apollo, Europa, Hercules, Midas, Pegasus, Theseus. The forms are named after the letters from HARLINGTON other than the repeated N which is replaced by the U from Upper. The name of an individual form is the initial letter of the house and the initial letter of HARLINGTOU, for example the first form in Pegasus would be PH then PA, PR etc. With the new house structure, there are a number of responsibility positions available for students to fill, e.g. House captain, and editor of the house newspaper.
Apollo
Europa
Hercules
Midas
Pegasus
Theseus
New buildings
Between October 2003 and April 2006, the school underwent a major building and refurbishment programme as part of the Mid-Bedfordshire PFI scheme. In November 2006, the Mid-Bedfordshire PFI scheme was officially opened by the Queen during a visit to Bedfordshire at neighbouring Samuel Whitbread Upper School.
