The recognition is based directly on feedback from students and parents collected during the 2025/26 academic year. More than 700 schools took part in Edurio's parent and pupil experience surveys, with ten schools nationally recognised in each award category. 

MECE received the KS3 Transition Award and Parent Partnership Award Secondary. Together, the awards provide recognition from two different perspectives: students' experience of school and parents' experience of working with the school. 

The KS3 result is particularly significant. At a stage when pupil happiness typically declines nationally, MECE has been recognised for sustaining it. 

The award recognises the school's success in sustaining pupil happiness from Year 7 to Year 9 while remaining above Edurio's national benchmark. 

MECE's second award provides a different perspective. The Parent Partnership Award Secondary places the school among the top ten secondary schools nationally for parents' satisfaction with the school's efforts to engage them, providing national recognition of the relationship between families and the school. 

Emma Bliss, Headteacher at Maiden Erlegh Chiltern Edge, said: 

"We are delighted to receive national recognition for both student happiness and parent engagement. These awards reflect the culture we work hard to build every day at Chiltern Edge: a school where students feel they belong, where high aspirations are encouraged, and where strong relationships underpin success.

"Our values of Aim High, Be Inclusive and Work Together are more than words. They shape the experiences of our students and families, and it is particularly rewarding to see this reflected in feedback from those who know the school best.

"This is a proud moment for our whole community." 

Small school, big heart 

The two awards recognise areas that are central to the experience MECE wants to provide: a school where students are known well, enjoy coming to school and feel they belong, alongside strong relationships with parents and carers. 

Those qualities are particularly relevant as MECE moves towards a smaller two-form-entry model, deliberately building on the benefits the school has experienced from smaller student numbers. 

Smaller numbers combined with the school's large, green site create a distinctive environment: a close-knit community where students are known well, relationships are strong and there is space to learn and develop. 

The school will continue to combine this environment with high academic expectations, strong support, great enrichment and wider opportunities, and excellent preparation for students' post-16 options. 

MECE is also entering an important period of investment, with new capital investment beginning in spring 2027 as plans for Chiltern Education Hub develop around the secondary school at its heart.