Exciting news from Ashville College: Discover plans for major investment at the Open Morning
The upcoming event on Saturday 9 March is a fantastic opportunity to experience the school environment and hear about the College’s major plans to invest in facilities and educational opportunities for young people
Ashville College is inviting parents to its Senior School and Sixth Form Open Morning on Saturday 9 March, after it announced outline plans for the biggest investment in its academic and sporting facilities in its history.
It is developing a campus masterplan that will add pace and scale to the transformation of large parts of its estate ahead of the school marking its 150th anniversary in 2027.
The investment also heralds the start of a new era for Ashville as it focuses on becoming exclusively for day pupils, who currently form more than 90 per cent of its growing school community.
Its boarding offer will gradually be phased out, freeing up space that will be reimagined and repurposed to enhance the educational experiences and opportunities that Ashville offers all its pupils.
A bright future for an academically ambitious school focused on holistic education
In a letter to parents sharing an insight into the future vision for the school, its Head Rhiannon Wilkinson said: “Investing in both facilities and educational opportunities will be a great source of future strength for the ‘new’ Ashville.
“The decision to wind down boarding is made from a position of confidence, and it brings us many opportunities as an all-through, co-educational day school.
Rhiannon WilkinsonOur plans revolve around a commitment to creating a culture of academic aspiration and success, a nurturing environment for every single pupil, an inspiring co-curricular provision and the development of skills, ideas, talents and capacities to face the opportunities and challenges of the 21st century.
“We will be able to develop our teaching spaces to accommodate the new styles of teaching and learning and curriculum design which a changing world of work necessitates.”
She added: “We have plans to develop social and study spaces for our pupils and we are keen to invest further in our sporting facilities.
“We also want to redesign and upgrade a number of other areas across the campus as we further develop a modern learning environment for all our pupils.”
The school has already started to partner with architects and designers to take forward its vision. It has pledged to share more details and images of the planned improvements next term, when parents, pupils and staff will be invited to give their views.
Achievements validated through detailed inspection
Ashville is also celebrating positive feedback from two different inspection teams, after weeks of intense scrutiny. Both the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges Commission on International Education (NEASC) spent part of the Autumn term at Ashville College.
In all, over 200 parents, pupils and staff were interviewed or shadowed during September and October last year, helping inspectors to gain a comprehensive insight into the school community.
And, in both detailed reports now published, there was praise for the holistic approach not just to the pupils’ education, but their development and well-being outside the classroom. “The College speaks often about encouraging pupils to be the best version of themselves, but I believe we can take considerable encouragement from common themes in both reports,” she said.
“The fact they highlight Ashville’s equal focus on life both inside and outside the classroom suggests the College really has taken some significant steps towards giving our pupils a solid foundation, not just for their next steps in education but their subsequent lives as adults.”
To find out more and register for the Senior School and Sixth Form Open Morning on Saturday 9 March, click here.