The Ashcombe 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 ...

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

and

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

located in

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England, about south of London. It is in Mole Valley District and the council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs roughly east–west, parallel to the Pipp Br ...

in the

English county The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term "county" is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

History

The Ashcombe School was established in 1976, by the merger of Dorking County Grammar School and Mowbray School. The co-educational Dorking County Grammar School had been founded in 1931 with the Amalgamation of the Dorking High School for Boys (1884–1930) and St.Martin's Church Of England High School for Girls opened in 1903. Mowbray Secondary Modern School for Girls opened on an adjacent site in 1953. The schools were close enough to share the school kitchen. The Ashcombe School became a Specialist

Language College Language Colleges were introduced in 1995 as part of the specialist schools programme (SSP) in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, modern foreign languages. Schools that successf ...

in September 1998, allowing it to receive additional funding. It was featured in

the Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

and

the Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

as a school that teaches

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

. Previously a community school administered by

Surrey County Council Surrey County Council is the county council administering certain services in the non-metropolitan county of Surrey in England. The council is composed of 81 elected councillors, and in all but one election since 1965 the Conservative Party has ...

, in January 2017 The Ashcombe School converted to academy status. The school is now sponsored by the South East Surrey Schools Education Trust.

Notable former pupils

Dorking High School for Boys

James Chuter Ede James Chuter Ede, Baron Chuter-Ede of Epsom, (11 September 1882 – 11 November 1965), was a British teacher, trade unionist and Labour Party politician. He served as Home Secretary under Prime Minister Clement Attlee from 1945 to 1951, becomi ...

, Lord Chuter-Ede of Epsom, Labour MP and

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...

* John Gandee, British diplomat; High Commissioner to Botswana from 1966 to 1969.

Dorking County Grammar School

* William Cole English conductor, composer and organist. Teacher at Dorking County School 1937-40 *

Michael Colborne Michael Melville Colborne Royal Victorian Order, LVO (20 January 1934 – 21 September 2017) was born in Epsom, Surrey and attended school at The Ashcombe School, Dorking County Grammar School. was a Royal Navy officer and private secretary to Cha ...

, Royal Navy officer and private secretary to Charles, Prince of Wales, and later the Duke of Westminster. * Patricia Fothergill, pioneer in

robotics Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrat ...

and control languages, helped develop the

Freddy II Freddy (1969–1971) and Freddy II (1973–1976) were experimental robots built in the Department of Machine Intelligence and Perception (later Department of Artificial Intelligence, now part of the School of Informatics at the University of Ed ...

robot pioneer in robotics and robot control languages. * Sir Stephen Lamport, Receiver General at Westminster Abbey, former diplomat and Deputy Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales. *

Liz Lynne Elizabeth Lynne (born 22 January 1948) is a British politician, and was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the West Midlands for the Liberal Democrats from the 1999 European election until she retired in 2012. Previously she had bee ...

, Former Liberal Democrat MP and MEP *

Tom Mangold Thomas Cornelius Mangold (born 20 August 1934) is a British broadcaster, journalist and author. For 26 years he was an investigative journalist with the BBC '' Panorama'' current affairs television programme. Personal life Tom Mangold was born ...

, award-winning BBC journalist and writer * Sir Erich Reich,

Kindertransport The ''Kindertransport'' (German for "children's transport") was an organised rescue effort of children (but not their parents) from Nazi-controlled territory that took place during the nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second World ...

refugee, Austrian born entrepreneur and charity fund raiser.

The Ashcombe School

Evan Davis Evan Harold Davis (born 8 April 1962) is an English economist, journalist, and presenter for the BBC. He has presented ''Dragons' Den'' since 2005. In October 2001, Davis took over from Peter Jay as the BBC's economics editor. He left this p ...

, economist and BBC journalist *

Jamie Mackie James Charles Mackie (born 22 September 1985) is a British former professional footballer who played as a striker or winger, most notably for Queens Park Rangers, Plymouth Argyle, and Oxford United. Born in England, Mackie played for Scotland. ...

, Scotland international footballer

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashcombe School Educational institutions established in 1976 1976 establishments in England Secondary schools in Surrey Dorking Academies in Surrey