Ashford School is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

boarding and day school in East Hill, Ashford,

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. There are 480 students in the senior school (ages 11 to 18) and 360 in the prep school (ages 3 to 11). The school is owned and run by the

United Church Schools Trust The United Church Schools Trust (UCST) is a large education charity in the United Kingdom which owns and operates a group of 12 independent schools. The charity is operating under the name United Learning as of 2012. History UCST was founded in ...

and is a member of

the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) is an association of the head teachers of 361 independent schools (both boarding schools and day schools), some traditionally described as public schools. 298 Members are based in the United ...

(HMC). Michael Hall has been headmaster since September 2018. Ashford School was a

Good Schools Guide ''The Good Schools Guide'' is a guide to British schools, both state and independent. Overview The guide is compiled by a team of editors which, according to the official website, "''comprises some 50 editors, writers, researchers and contri ...

award winner in 2011 and was voted one of the country's top five boarding schools the Archant Good Schools Show. The School was endorsed as outstandingly successful in every category during an inspection by

Independent Schools Inspectorate The Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) is approved by the Secretary of State for Education – under section 106 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 – to inspect independent schools in England. These schools are members of associations, w ...

in 2014. Boarding starts at age 10 at Ashford School when pupils can choose a range of boarding options: flexible, weekly or full. The school has 3 boarding houses: Junior boarding house Brooke & Refuge and senior boarding houses Brabourne and Alfred. Ashford School Buildings

History

The school was founded in 1898 by Muriel Thimann, who opened a small women's school in Queens Road, Ashford. The school moved to Wellesley Road in 1903 and then to two houses in the High Street in 1905 for a larger premises. In 1910, Anne Edwards bought the school and renamed it "the Modern High School for Girls". The school expanded into another, adjacent house in the High Street and then moved to bigger premises on East Hill in 1913. In 2005, it merged with Friars Prep School in Great Chart and in 2006, boys were admitted in some year groups. Ashford School is now a fully co-educational school from the age of 3 to 18 offering boarding and day facilities. Mike Buchanan was first appointed the headmaster of Ashford School in February 2005.

Space shuttle experiment

In 1992, a science experiment designed by four girls at the school flew on the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...

on flight STS-47. The experiment had been designed in 1985 by the girls who had won a competition organised by

Independent Television News Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based television production company. It is made up of two divisions: Broadcast News and ITN Productions. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, ...

. The

chemical garden Comparison of chemical gardens grown by NASA scientists on the International Space Station (left) and on the ground (right) A chemical garden while growing up Cobalt(II) chloride upA chemical garden A chemical garden is a set of complex biol ...

experiment was successful but the

Liesegang rings Liesegang rings () are a phenomenon seen in many, if not most, chemical systems undergoing a precipitation reaction under certain conditions of concentration and in the absence of convection. Rings are formed when weakly soluble salts are produc ...

failed to operate correctly due to a

friction Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and material elements sliding against each other. There are several types of friction: *Dry friction is a force that opposes the relative lateral motion of t ...

in parts of the mechanism. On their return, they were displayed in the

London Science Museum The Science Museum is a major museum on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London. It was founded in 1857 and is one of the city's major tourist attractions, attracting 3.3 million visitors annually in 2019. Like other publicly funded ...

. The seven-year delay had been caused by the

Space Shuttle Challenger disaster On January 28, 1986, the broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard. The spacecraft disintegrated above the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 11:39a.m. Eastern Time Zone, EST (1 ...

which occurred in 1986 shortly before the intended flight.

Ashford School International Centre

The Ashford School International Centre (ASIC) opened in September 2015. This section of the school has been designed to meet the needs of non-native English speaking pupils. ASIC is an 18th-century Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

which has undergone a multimillion-pound refurbishment, providing classrooms alongside boarding rooms. International pupils complete

IGCSE The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) is an English language based examination similar to GCSE and is recognised in the United Kingdom as being equivalent to the GCSE for the purposes of recognising prior attainm ...

there before joining the rest of the school.

Notable alumni

* Petronella Barker (born 1942), actress *

Liv Boeree Olivia "Liv" Boeree (born 18 July 1984) is a British science communicator, television presenter and former professional poker player. She is a World Series of Poker and European Poker Tour champion, and is the only female player in history to w ...

, model, TV presenter and poker player *

Sally Brampton Sally Jane Brampton (15 July 1955 – 10 May 2016) was an English journalist, writer, and magazine editor. She was the founding editor of the British edition of the French magazine ''Elle'' in 1985. Early life She was born in Brunei, on the isl ...

, journalist, writer and magazine editor *

Louise Burfitt-Dons Louise Burfitt-Dons, (''née'' Byres; born 22 October 1953) is a British novelist, humanitarian, and former Conservative candidate. Burfitt-Dons is best known for her anti-bullying work as the founder of the charity Act Against Bullying and ...

, writer and campaigner *

Lucy Cooke Lucy is an English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings are Luci, Luce, Luci ...

, National Geographic explorer, documentary producer/presenter, author and zoologist *

Wendy Cope Wendy Cope (born 21 July 1945) is a contemporary English poet. She read history at St Hilda's College, Oxford. She now lives in Ely, Cambridgeshire, with her husband, the poet Lachlan Mackinnon. Biography Cope was born in Erith in Kent (n ...

, poet *

Jane Druker Jane may refer to: * Jane (given name), a feminine given name * Jane (surname), related to the given name Film and television * ''Jane'' (1915 film), a silent comedy film directed by Frank Lloyd * ''Jane'' (2016 film), a South Korean drama fil ...

, Editor at Large: Fit & Well and contributor to Woman & Home * Sophie Montagne, adventurer, inspirational speaker, member of the

Ice Maiden Expedition The Ice Maiden expedition was a British Army expedition in which six women from the United Kingdom became the first female team to ski across the Antarctic continent using muscle power alone. The Ice Maidens were also the largest team to ski acros ...

Sally Preisig Sally may refer to: People *Sally (name), a list of notable people with the name Military *Sally (military), an attack by the defenders of a town or fortress under siege against a besieging force; see sally port *Sally, the Allied reporting nam ...

, voice-over artist and puppeteer (''

Tweenies ''Tweenies'' is a British live action Puppet children's television series created by Will Brenton and Iain Lauchlan. The programme is focused on four pre-school aged characters, known as the "Tweenies", playing, singing, dancing, and learning ...

'', ''

Playdays ''Playdays'' (known as ''Playbus'' until December 1989) is a British pre-school television programme which ran from 1988 to 1997 on CBBC. The show was the successor to '' Play School'' and, like its predecessor, was designed as an educational p ...

'') * Diana Speed, Radio 4 newsreader * Anna Turley, former Labour MP and Chairwoman of the Co-operative Party since 8 June 2019 * Fleur Willson, Deputy Ambassador, British Embassy Tripoli

Heads of Ashford School

* Muriel Thimann 1898–1910 * Anne Edwards 1910–1928 * Lilian Brake 1928–1955 * Mary Nightingale 1955–1971 * Sanche Thompson 1972–1984 * Tatiana Macaire 1984–1992 * Patrica Metham 1992–1997 * Jane Burnett 1997–2000 * Paula Holloway 2000–2005 * Michael Buchanan 2005–2018 * Michael Hall 2018–

References

External links

School websiteStats from www.bbc.co.ukOfsted
{{Coord, 51, 08, 59, N, 0, 52, 42, E , type:edu_region:GB , display=title Independent schools in Kent Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference Educational institutions established in 1898 United Learning schools 1898 establishments in England Ashford, Kent Church of England independent schools in the Diocese of Canterbury