Ashford School A GSG School
- Ashford School
East Hill
Ashford
Kent
TN24 8PB - Head: Michael Hall
- T 01233 625171
- F 01233 647185
- E admissions@ashfordschool.co.uk
- W www.ashfordschool.co.uk
- A mainstream independent school for pupils aged from 11 to 18 with a linked junior school
- Read about the best schools in West Kent and East Kent
- Boarding: Yes
- Local authority: Kent
- Pupils: 523; sixth formers: 157
- Religion: Non-denominational
- Fees: Day £20,358; Boarding £29,796 - £41,490 pa
- Open days: Thursday 30 November 2023
- Review: View The Good Schools Guide Review
- Ofsted report: View the Ofsted report
- ISI report: View the ISI report
- Linked schools: Ashford Preparatory School
What The Good Schools Guide says..
‘Not an exam factory,’ say parents but results are nonetheless on an upward trajectory, which pupils attribute to animated teaching, interactive lessons and academic support clubs ‘in everything’. We saw the ‘vibrant’ and ‘engaging’ teaching reported by parents and pupils in action in a year 9 physics lesson where the class was designing steam turbines. After clear instructions (health and safety warnings such as, ‘You’ll cook like a piece of chicken!’) and Bunsen burners fired up, pairs got to work, reminded that ‘the turbine that spins is the winner’. Discipline has clarity. Maintaining a good reputation is seen as key, not least because of the town centre location, so school takes misbehaviour seriously even out of school...
What the school says...
Whatever the starting point at Ashford School we have high aspirations for your child. Through our adventurous approach to learning our aim is to ensure your son or daughter is articulate, confident and fluent with excellent social skills and a secure moral framework and, at the end of their school career, gains a place at one of the world's leading universities.
Our parents choose us because of our welcoming, inclusive ethos and happy children; focus on helping each child make progress with high quality, expert teaching leading to excellent results; excellent full and weekly boarding; strong leadership which sets out to delight; rich programme of music and drama; huge range of visits and expeditions, and extensive co-curricular activities that help to develop key personal characteristics; strong team sports for boys and girls and value for money. We are just 37 minutes from London by train and benefit from rapid access to the continent via Eurostar. The London airports are all within 90 minutes and we run a bus service to the surrounding towns and villages. ...Read more
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Other features
All-through school (for example 3-18 years). - An all-through school covers junior and senior education. It may start at 3 or 4, or later, and continue through to 16 or 18. Some all-through schools set exams at 11 or 13 that pupils must pass to move on.
Sports
Fencing
Shooting
Sailing
What The Good Schools Guide says
Headmaster
Since 2018, Michael Hall, previously CEO and principal of GEMS Wellington Academy in Dubai for a year. Grammar school education, followed by economics degree from Liverpool and master’s in education management. Brief stint in the City before realising his ‘true vocation’. Proud to have gained experience ‘in all sections of a school’: boarding master, economics, geography and sport teacher and head of sixth form at AKS Lytham; deputy head at Kingston Grammar; then eight years as head at Bedford Modern. Wistful about the latter, saying he ‘loved its unpretentiousness’. No surprise, then, that outreach is a passion – he is determined to change mindsets locally that Ashford is not an ‘elitist school’ but very much part of the community, including hosting competitions for local state schools.
Told us that ‘whatever we...
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Overall school performance (for comparison or review only)
Results by exam and subject
Subject results
Entry/Exit
Special Education Needs
Learning support is provided to pupils on the basis of individual assessment and need by our own Learning Support Teacher. Where additional support is required, private lessons are arranged with one of our peripatetic teachers. These lessons are charged as an extra.
| Condition | Provision for in school |
|---|---|
| ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder | Y |
| Aspergers | Y |
| Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders | Y |
| CReSTeD registered for Dyslexia | |
| Dyscalculia | Y |
| Dysgraphia | |
| Dyslexia | Y |
| Dyspraxia | Y |
| English as an additional language (EAL) | Y |
| Genetic | |
| Has an entry in the Autism Services Directory | |
| Has SEN unit or class | Y |
| HI - Hearing Impairment | |
| Hospital School | |
| Mental health | Y |
| MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty | |
| MSI - Multi-Sensory Impairment | |
| Natspec Specialist Colleges | |
| OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability | |
| Other SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty | |
| PD - Physical Disability | Y |
| PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty | |
| SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health | Y |
| SLCN - Speech, Language and Communication | |
| SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty | |
| Special facilities for Visually Impaired | |
| SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty | |
| VI - Visual Impairment |
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