Ashton School is a

co-educational 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 ...

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

secondary school situated in

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, Ireland. It was founded in 1972, following the merger of the Cork Grammar School and Rochelle School. As of 2017, Ashton School had over 500 pupils.

Formation

Cork Grammar School was a Church of Ireland

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

for boys. Founded in 1881, it was originally based in Sydney Place in Cork city, and intended to offer an alternative to parents "who had been sending their children to England, to educate them". The school ultimately acquired Ashton House (a large 19th-century house on the Blackrock Road) and moved to the new site in 1956. Rochelle School was a predominantly Church of Ireland preparatory school for girls. Founded in 1829, it was originally based at Cook Street and South Terrace, before moving to Rochelle House (a large house also on the road to

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) in 1863. Cork Grammar School (boys; 1880s-1970s) and Rochelle School (girls; 1820s-1970s) operated as separate schools until 1972, when they merged. The newly amalgamated co-educational school occupied the Ashton House site, from which its current name was taken. Rochelle House was used for boarding accommodation for a period, before being sold in 1999. Between 2013 and 2015, additional facilities were developed at the school, and the original Georgian-era building was refurbished.

Alumni

Alumni of Ashton (and, prior to their merger, of Cork Grammar School and Rochelle School) have included: * Herbert Cassidy, Dean of Armagh *

Paul Colton William Paul Colton (born 13 March 1960), known as Paul Colton, is an Irish Anglican bishop. Since 1999, he has served as Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross in the Church of Ireland. Biography Paul Colton attended St Luke's National School, Doug ...

, academic in law and

Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross The Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross is the Church of Ireland Ordinary of the united Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross in the Province of Dublin. The current bishop is the Right Reverend Paul Colton William Paul Colton (born 13 March 1960) ...

* Mary Elmes, humanitarian activist * Ken Good,

Bishop of Derry and Raphoe The Bishop of Derry and Raphoe is the Church of Ireland Ordinary (officer), Ordinary of the united Diocese of Derry and Raphoe (Church of Ireland), Diocese of Derry and Raphoe in the Province of Armagh (Church of Ireland), Province of Armagh.''C ...

* Peter Foott, film director, producer and screenwriter *

Robert Hilliard Robert Martin Hilliard (7 April 1904 – 22 February 1937) was an Olympic boxer, Irish republican, Church of Ireland minister and communist. He was killed in the Spanish Civil War fighting in the International Brigades. Biography Hilliard was ...

, boxer for Ireland at the 1924 Olympics, minister at St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast, and volunteer during the

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* John Jermyn, Ireland field hockey international who represented Ireland at the

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* Henry McAdoo,

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, former flanker for the

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References

{{reflist 1972 establishments in Ireland Secondary schools in County Cork Anglican schools in the Republic of Ireland