Ashby School
| Ashby School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
 | |
| , | |
| Information | |
| Type | State |
| Established | 1567 |
| Headteacher | Vivien Keller-Garnett |
| Number of students | 1500 (approx.) |
| Campus | Ashby-de-la-Zouch |
| Website | www.ashbyschool.org.uk |
Ashby School, formerly known as Ashby Grammar School is a co-educational day and boys' boarding comprehensive school in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1567 and is now a specialist technology school.
The school has grown immensely in recent years, with the ambitious goal of Headteacher Vivien Keller-Garnett to replace all the mobile classrooms. The school has spent considerable funds on the construction of a new science block, new rooms in the design department, and more recently, two new blocks built to accommodate music, art, media studies and English.
Ashby School is based on two main sites (A and B blocks), based on adjacent roads. Around 100 teaching staff are currently employed, and a wide variety of sixth form courses are offered. The school has achieved the best exam results in the local area and highly satisfactory Ofsted results, such that new intake is oversubscribed every year, with some families moving house into the catchment zone just to secure a place for their children.
The school has been key in the Ashby Family of Schools, a local effort to link schools of different ages ranges and make the transition between schools much easier for schools. Various departments work with teachers from local primary schools to provide masterclasses and workshops for the younger children. It also boasts a sub-standard music department with only one member of staff that can teach and knows the sylabus. The other has no idea on how to teach or communicate with students. The able and well-accomplished member of staff can only be there four days per week, which is a great shame as the students have to suffer the prensence of the lesser/badly abled cover teacher.
Notable alumni include Alexander Henry Green, and two VC winners, David Brent and Bernard Vann.
'Da Vinci' and 'Tip Tops'
Da Vinci is the school's current gifted and talented system, developed by Malcolm Salt, a teacher at the school. In reply to the national 'talk' about schools' G & T schemes, Da Vinci provides regular opportunites for its members, encouraging them to further their abilities. Numerous trips have been made to Oxford University for various lectures. Da Vinci also monitors the performance of all pupils, to ensure that hard work is maintained.
The Tip Tops is a related group, also founded by Mr Salt, for primary pupils from the Ashby Family of Schools. The pupils meet after school on a Friday and are taught advanced mathematics, literacy, science, and generally encouraged to think outside the box and begin to develop their own opinions. The lessons help to provide more challenging work for the pupils which their own schools do not supply themselves.
Peter Murfitt
Note: Peter Murfitt also attends this school.