Ashby School

Ashby School, formerly known as Ashby Grammar School, is a co-educational day and boys' boarding Leicestershire 14-19 upper school with academy status in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, England. The school is situated in the centre of Ashby on two sites.

Ashby School
Address
Nottingham Road

Ashby-de-la-Zouch
,
Leicestershire
,
LE65 1DT

England
Coordinates52°44′54″N 1°27′48″W
Information
TypeAcademy
Established1567 (1567)
Department for Education URN138833 Tables
OfstedReports
Head teacherMr G Staniforth
GenderCoeducational
Age14 to 19
Enrolment1976
Houses4
Colour(s)Burgundy, Grey and Black
PublicationThe Ashbeian
Former nameAshby Grammar School
Websitehttp://www.ashbyschool.org.uk

History

Ashby Grammar School, the original boys' school, was founded in 1567 by Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon.[1] The girls' grammar school opened in 1901. They merged in 1972 and became comprehensive. Ashby School became an Academy on 1 October 2012.

Headteachers

Former teachers
  • Sir Mike Tomlinson CBE, Chief Inspector of Schools from 2000 to 2002 (head of chemistry from 1969 to 1977)

Infrastructure

Ashby School is based on two main sites (A, C and S blocks; and B block), based on adjacent roads. The school has spent considerable funds on the construction of a new science block, new rooms in the design department, and more recently, a new block built to accommodate music, art and media studies. However, from the 2020 academic year onwards, the former B block has been renovated into a new Sixth Form Campus where all KS5 (Year 12 and Year 13) lessons will take place; KS4 (Year 10 and Year 11) lessons now exclusively take place in the former A and C blocks.

Ashby School (School House) boarding accommodation
School House

The school provides boarding accommodation for 75 boys from 10 -18 attending Ashby School, Ivanhoe College and Ashby Church of England School. It is located in a much extended Georgian House. Ofsted noted the homely nature of the house but was critical of many aspects that no longer meet modern standards. Fifteen years ago it was judged to be good. Ofsted acknowledges that the new senior leadership team accepts the judgment and is working to resolve the problem.[2]

Day school house system

The school has four houses: Bullen (yellow), Ferrers (blue), Hastings (green) and Loudoun (purple).[3] Each house chooses a charity for the year for which it raises money.

Performance

In October 2019, Ofsted gave the school an "inadequate rating", though conceding that the teaching was good and the students were well behaved enthusiastic learners. Inadequate management procedures brought the overall grade down.Safeguarding of students was ranked as inadequate due to fire procedures being not tight enough and registers not being completed accurately, for example students being marked as educated off-site when they are actually on-site.[4]

Gifted and talented

'Da Vinci' is the school's current gifted and talented system. The 'Tip Tops' is a group of primary pupils in years 5 and 6 from local primary schools in the Ashby area. They attend after-school sessions in which they are tutored in advanced mathematics, literacy, film studies, science, art, and philosophy by gifted and talented students from Ashby School. The Ashby School's gifted and talented programme was rated three stars by the National Association for Gifted Children in 2010.[5] In November 2011 a Russian cosmonaut involved in the planning of the manned mission to Mars visited the school and gave a lecture to the 'G&T'.

Medals controversy

In 2016 Ashby School created controversy when it proposed to auction the medals, including a Victoria Cross, won by Lt Col. Philip Bent that had been donated to the school "to inspire future pupils".[6][7] The medals had been on long-term loan to the Royal Leicestershire Regimental Museum (part of Newarke Houses Museum), but had not been on display there for over forty years.[7] The school planned to use the proceeds to fund the building of a sports pavilion.[6][7] In 2018, the school received funding from the National Healthy Schools Programme for a new pavilion.[8]

Notable former pupils

Former pupils are known as Old Ashbeians.

Ashby-de-la-Zouch Boys’ Grammar School

Ashby-de-la-Zouch Girls' Grammar School

References
  1. Cross, Claire. "Hastings, Henry, third earl of Huntingdon (1536?–1595)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  2. "School House Ofsted Report 2018". ofsted.gov.uk. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  3. Care and Welfare - House System/Tutor Groups/Year Tutors/Teen Health
  4. "Ofsted report 2019". ofsted.gov.uk. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  5. "Gifted and Talented". Ashby School. Archived from the original on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
  6. "War hero family's anger over school's Victoria Cross sale bid". BBC News. 24 February 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  7. "School under fire for plan to sell WW1 hero's Victoria Cross". The Telegraph. 23 February 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  8. Owen, Dave (18 June 2018). "Dilapidated fire hit sports pavilion in Ashby to get £300k revamp". Leicester Mercury. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  9. "Prof John Betteridge". Uclh.nhs.uk. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  10. "Angela Piper's Derbyshire Childhood". Derbyshirelife.co.uk. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  11. "Diane Reay : Faculty of Education". Educ.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
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