Ashford School

Since September 2025, Ashley Currie, previously principal deputy head at Repton School in Derbyshire. Following his master’s in theoretical physics at Durham, he started working as a maths teacher at St Edward’s School and Magdalen College School in

About 70 per cent of the prep move up to the senior school (automatic entry), joined by a handful or so from Spring Grove. The remaining 25 per cent come from around 15 local state primary schools, plus some further out, eg Aldington Primary. Places

A fifth depart post GCSEs, mostly to local colleges or grammars. Most sixth formers to university, 40 per cent to Russell Group. Exeter, Bristol and Nottingham most popular. PPE gets a solid take-up most years, but subjects wide-ranging overall,

In 2025, 61 per cent 9-7 at GCSE; 36 per cent A*/A at A level (68 per cent A*-B).

‘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 heard of grades regularly being turbo boosted,

Twelve per cent receive support, mainly for autism, ADHD, hearing impairment, dyslexia and dyscalculia. Three EHCPs when we visited. The department, comprising two learning support rooms for interventions, is run by a full-time SENDCo and five

The inaugural arts festival, set to become an annual highlight, was recently extended to a two-week extravaganza including jazz on the lawn, a radio play, voiceover workshops and a visit from the Smoking Apples Theatre Company. It’s not the only area

Most sport happens just across the road, where there’s a sports hall, newly re-surfaced Astro (‘it’s gorgeous, so bouncy,' raved a pupil) and sports field – a favourite space for many pupils, we heard. ‘It feels a bit like home,’ said one, ‘I

Boarders make up a fifth of the school, accommodated in two houses. Eighty per cent are full-timers, half of these international (predominantly from Asia and West Africa). Weekly boarders are mainly British nationals. Vast majority of boarders are

The recent ditching of the vertical house system was met with mixed reviews – some miss the interaction with different ages. However, with the introduction of prefects and the senior deputy head leading the well-gelled pastoral team (form tutors,

Pupils as you find them: unpretentious, honest, open and good company. ‘No sense of entitlement,’ said one parent, with many making considerable sacrifices to send their children here. A significant proportion didn’t set out to go private but became

Means-tested bursaries (between 10–50 per cent) attached to scholarships in academic, sport, drama and music (no upper limit fee remittance).

An authentic and perhaps surprisingly down-to-earth school that lives up to its motto, Esse Quam Videri (To be rather than to seem). Aspirational but unpressurised, with impressive extracurricular. A ‘great place to work out who you are', as one