Viet Minh Chau Nguyen
Art C, History of Art C, Psychology A
“Ashbourne showed me that there is an open world and that you need to be open minded to be successful”.
Chau found out about Ashbourne College through the local British Council in her hometown. Her dream was to become a fashion designer and she was looking for a place to study that would support her dream. “I chose Ashbourne because it’s also in the heart of London, one of the world fashion capitals and it is closely located to museums and arts galleries. Sometimes I had lunch in Kensington Gardens, such a beautiful location”.
Upon her arrival, Vietnamese Chau was given a very warm welcome by all staff. “I got the support that I really needed when I first came to England. It was the first time I lived independently, far away from my family and my country. I think starting education in the UK with Ashbourne is much easier for international students like me, as I had a strong emotional support from my tutors. It felt like being part of a family.”
Her timetable was quite demanding, as she was attending lessons from 9am to 6pm every day, but her teachers made every subject and every moment quite special. “The best thing about Ashbourne was our tutors. They were very inspiring and passionate about teaching their subjects. Our tutors always encouraged us to obtain high academic achievement. It was an amazing experience to be at Ashbourne because, with the small number of students per tutor, there was always a close contact. I cannot choose my favorite lesson or tutor as I liked them all!”
Plenty of great memories come back to Chau when she thinks of her time at Ashbourne, and one in particular: “Designing and participating in the two Christmas shows, which were my first fashion shows, was the best moment ever”. She felt a sense of achievement that gave her the strength to follow her chosen career.
Photos from Chau’s MA Fashion Design Show, January 2010
Lan Huong Bui
Accounting A, Economics A, Further Mathematics C, Mathematics A
"My decision of joining in Ashbourne and studying here has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. Why, you may ask. So let me explain myself a bit more. The first wonderful thing is that I have had invaluable opportunities to work with experienced and responsible teachers, who did not hesitate to spend their free time to answer my questions and helped me. I really appreciate that. Meeting cool and friendly teenagers from many other countries in the world is the second fantastic thing. Studying together everyday, talking to each other about our families and ourselves, rehearsing and performing together songs in the School Revue, these are all lovely memories that I believe my friends and I can never forget. The third interesting thing is, whenever I have troubles, regardless of what I define 'troubles', I know I could go and talk to the 'Kirby's angels', and guess what, they always help me to sort things out smoothly. J Ashbourne is like a big family, I am so proud that I am a part of it!"
Utku Alhun
Biology A, Chemistry A, Mathematics A, Physics A
"What sets Ashbourne apart is the high degree of flexibility it offers in helping the students shape their own futures. In a close-knit community that values and encourages diversity, it fosters academic and social self-development, making the transition to university life seem effortlessly smooth. I cannot over emphasise how instrumental Ashbourne was in helping me realise my aspirations."
Duc Thong Nguyen
Computer Science A, Further Maths A, Maths A, Physics A
"Choosing to study at Ashbourne was one of my best decisions because I was so well cared for both academically and personally. This was especially true in preparing for my interview at Cambridge, where I received a lot of help from my Personal Tutor."
Kim Anh Tran
Accounting C, Economics C, Maths B
"Studying at Ashbourne has been the best choice that I have ever made for my life. Ashbourne gives the students great opportunities to feel a part of the whole big group as we can prepare for and perform in the annually School Revue and other extra activities. I also have been taught by very experienced and responsible teachers who really cared about the performance of every single individual in the classes. Besides, since the very first days I came here Ashbourne has become my second home where I can get helped with all my troubles and I am really proud to be a part of this big family."
Kevin Khaw
Chemistry A, Further Maths A, Maths A, Physics A
“My one and a half years at Ashbourne were probably the most enjoyable years of my education life at that point. Being a small college, I felt that it enabled strong individual interaction between teachers and students. Its relaxed timetable ensures you have sufficient time for other commitments unrelated to academics. The small-sized classes are the essential ingredient which had helped not only me, but for the most of us achieve what we had sought to achieve. My teachers were also the reason I managed to achieve what I had gone to Ashbourne for, which were excellent results. Indeed, we had forged close bonds with each other and every now and again when I sit in lectures and when the lecturer addresses 800 or more students, I think back on those times when I got the all-important individual attention from my teacher who actually knew me by my name! How I truly miss those days.
To be really honest, I did not look through the whole list of subjects offered at Ashbourne as I already had my mind set on the traditional subjects, i.e. the Sciences and Maths. But after having a peek at the website and the list of subjects, I have to admit, anyone wishing to enroll at Ashbourne can rest assured that whatever they wish to study will be offered in the college bundled with excellent quality of teaching, this being one of the college’s strongest points in conjunction with its small sized classes! As exams approach, the revision gets a lot more intense especially with the mocks, so there should be no reason for bad grades. I went into my exam hall extremely well prepared from all the teaching I had received towards the exams.
Kensington is just the perfect location for Ashbourne! I can’t imagine the college being anywhere else but Kensington. One will not run out of choices for lunch and I do regret not making full use of the shopping opportunities there. A Marks and Spencers round the corner right next to Whole Food’s Market. We tend to take things for granted, absence makes the heart grow fonder indeed. Hyde Park being right next to the college, a great place to enjoy the RARE snowfalls and a nice summer day out.
I have managed to keep in touch with some friends and have also built a much larger network in university. Life in university would have been really horrible without people to hang around with! Being the LSE, there are so many more Malaysians to mix with and it’s nice being around people you have things in common with. The transition to university didn’t prove much of a shock for me, the LSE is very traditional and we were supplied notes (bound in a book!!) and lecture slides off the website and some lectures are even recorded so should you miss anything, you can just watch the lecture off the internet. In some way we are spoonfed, but not as much as we were in Ashbourne. My class teachers and lecturers have fixed office hours during which you can visit them should any questions in our work arise unlike Ashbourne where the teachers are all ready and prepared to offer whatever help they can at anytime of the day so getting hold of a teacher is extremely easy. But whatever it is, I am still loving my time in LSE!
I love the UK so much I can’t bear thinking of going back to Malaysia to work. I am really praying hard that I can find a job in London and stay on in this country. I have always liked London very much and that has not changed at all. Leaving the UK would be leaving such great times (in college and in university) behind and that would be very hard. Life here is great, fullstop!
Would I recommend others to study at Ashbourne? Definitely!"
Amer Nazri
Art A, Biology B, French A, ICT B
"
The college as a whole adopts a friendly atmosphere, and its subjects are taught in a nice laid-back fashion, allowing students to communicate with tutors freely. They can therefore offer help and advice in other matters as well as those concerning my education."
Hui Xian Tan
Chemistry A, Maths A, Physics A
“Throughout my one and a half years at Ashbourne, I managed to meet some wonderful people with different backgrounds from different countries and I quickly blended into the warm college community. The friendly and supportive staff were always there for me, ever ready to help, to give advice or just to lend me their ears every time I needed their assistance. Besides that, the teachers were also very experienced and excellent in their teachings and guided me tirelessly in all the subjects. I would love to express my utmost gratitude to them for helping me in achieving the results that I wished for in my A-Level exams.”
Christian Skripnikov
"Studying at Ashbourne and being a foreign student is not hard at all. You get a lot of attention from the teachers and if there is anything I don’t understand I get given enough help to overcome the problem. All the staff are really nice and the atmosphere in the school as a whole is friendly and relaxed, but you still get a lot of stuff done in the course of the day."
Evgenia Semenova
"Ashbourne College is a good basis for future education. From an early age, the business world has captivated my attention and I believe that Ashbourne College offered the best education to prepare me with excellence to face the challenges ahead. Business is a challenging area and highly competitive, the course at Ashbourne College will put me on track with the path I have chosen and improve my career prospects. "
Oscar Drewitt
“I feel very proud of my results, having completed my A Level in 18 months. Ashbourne has supported me to a great extent and some of the teachers that I have had there have been exceptional. One of my courses was slightly more turbulent but I feel I have achieved a satisfactory result. I am looking forward to going to Edinburgh.”
Armen Safieh-Garabedian
"Coming from a small school in a small town like Jerusalem, Ashbourne was an excellent choice to study A-levels. Small classes and the personal approach that I had gotten used to would have probably been difficult to find anywhere else in such a large and buzzing city as London. The teachers were very helpful and friendly and I believe that was instrumental to my success at the exams. I was also able to choose any combination of A-levels I wanted and that was a very attractive prospect for someone like me wanting to do Art and Mathematics at the same time. The help I got from the personal tutors in applying to my the university of my choice was a great advantage as well."
Jenny Wu
"I can say from the bottom of my heart that Ashbourne felt like a home as well as a college. No matter what happened outside of the school you always felt welcome and supported. Confidence is the key word that Ashbourne gave me…And that’s exactly what I left with."
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