Selecting the right school for your child is one of the most important and expensive decisions you will ever need to make on their behalf. It is not a choice to be made lightly and research has shown it is a decision no longer based on the tradition of past generations

Recommendation from other parents is obviously important but every child is different and requires his or her own specific style of educational nurturing. With high expectations and demands of your child’s education, choices are no longer solely reliant on test and exam scores. Without these limitations the ‘added value’ of community, character, spirit and priorities is what independent education can now provide.

Mike Buchanan, Head of Ashford School in Kent, explains: “We did a survey of staff, parents and pupils asking them to rate the most important factors for a successful school. Teaching, the happiness and confidence of the children and a challenging but supportive environment came top. Exam results came fifth or sixth and single sex did not feature at all.”

Where tradition meets innovation
Once a small educational establishment for “ladies”, Ashford School is now a co-educational day and boarding school for girls and boys from three months to 18 years and believes firmly in ‘adventurous learning’.

There are over 700 students across the school with around 390 in the Senior School (age 11–18) of whom 125 are boarders cared for by resident teachers and support staff in newly refurbished accommodation.

Adventurous learning
Learning that is motivating, rewarding, stimulating and leads to success is the most important thing that happens at Ashford. Encouraging pupils to take responsibility for their own learning and recognising that each pupil learns differently and that making mistakes and taking risks are both part of learning is what makes Ashford stand out from the crowd.

Pupils and their parents are the central focus of Ashford School and meeting the individual and collective needs of the students enables the achievement of good results in public examinations.

The Senior School boasts playing fields on site together with two gyms, an indoor swimming pool, tennis and netball courts, boarding houses and a floodlit Astroturf. Enjoying a number of specialist teaching facilities including interactive whiteboards, Trixter bike sporting equipment and an extensive learning resource centre, Ashford has embarked on a programme to refurbish and further extend the facilities available to all pupils.

Looking to the future
Boarding at the school is full to capacity for 2009 and will facilitate further development in 2010. Music at the school is moving from strength to strength with performing opportunities around twice a month. Once a year ticketed performances with the drama department are spectacular; most recent of which was ‘Les Misérables’ and planned for March 2010 is ‘Sweeny Todd’. Sport has taken off at Ashford and further developments are planned to improve facilities in the coming years.

“At Ashford we ensure that every pupil is known, and that they know they are known. As Head, my focus is to ensure that every child is imbued with an unending craving for learning and discovers themselves by having the opportunity to explore, to know, to do, to share and to be.”
Mike Buchanan, Head.