Ashbourne College Blog

Ashbourne College is dedicated to helping our students get an early start in developing their employability skills, through our work experience support service. This not only helps them to develop their career skills and goals, but it also helps boost their UCAS applications for university. With the information we gather from our students throughout the year, their interests, skills, and prospective careers, as well as information gathered from their Personal Tutors, we carry out a curated research to provide our students with the most suitable work experience placement for them. This year, two of our students, Alia Butlin and Lewis Continue Reading →

The Royal Opera House Design Challenge [#ROHdesignchallenge] is a competition set up to encourage people from all social and economic backgrounds to be more knowledgable about opera as an art form accessible and available to everyone. Our Art & Textiles department has been attending sessions at The Royal Opera House to train for next years competition. This competition, which will form part of our September first years’ Fashion and Textiles introduction project, will examine the story of La Bohème – opera by Giacomo Puccini – and will be a chance for Ashbourne’s young designers to complete a design a project Continue Reading →

The Leavers’ Dinner is an annual tradition for our Year 13 students, as a last gathering for teachers and students to bid their farewells as they leave Ashbourne. The evening consists of a party at the Millenium Gloucester Hotel, a 3-course meal, photographers, DJ, photo booth, and the awards ceremony. Each student also receives a yearbook, which is put together by our Student Council. Congratulations to the students who received Bronze, Silver and Gold awards from our departments. We wish you good luck with your future projects. Feel free to pay us a visit any time! Click here to see Continue Reading →

UKMT STC (Senior Maths Challenge) – National Finalists:   The team performed superbly in the regional finals, coming in first (beating St. Pauls). The National final was a hard fought affair with stiff opposition from schools from all over the UK. To have finished in the top half was an admirable accomplishment. Well done team Ashbourne!     BAAO (British Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad)   This was the first year Ashbourne has held Olympiad competitions for Physics. This group of four students have excelled beyond expectations, all receiving Gold awards in BPhO Round One and subsequently gaining entry into the Continue Reading →

We are delighted to announce that two of our Year 13 music students have received awards for the ISA Music Composition Competition 2019.   Second place – Deniz Dortok for ‘Goldmunds Journey‘ Third place – Dominic Tso for ‘Homage to Beethoven and Shostakovich‘   The students will be receiving certificates as well as having their compositions featured on the ISA website.   Click below to watch Deniz, Dominic and Mark perform at the St. Mary Abbots Church during our biannual Chamber Concert. Congratulations to Dominic Tso, Mark Torochkin, Deniz Dortok, and our Head of Music Piers Tattersall for putting on Continue Reading →

Our Year 12 Fine Art students attended a first year Personal Investigation research trip to the Renaissance Nude exhibition & Phyllida Barlow at the Royal Academy and then saw a number of exhibitions in commercial galleries around Mayfair.  

Our Year 12 Geography students went to the Lake District to stay at the Blencathra Field Study Centre to carry out investigations for their individual coursework projects and other fieldwork connected with the course. The centre offers stunning views over the mountains as well as amazing food. This was an opportunity for students to learn outside the classroom and to escape the hustle and bustle of city life for a week. Students investigating physical geography analysed coastal processes at Silloth on the Solway Firth (a grey and windy coast luckily blessed with a cosy traditional fish & chips shop!), looking Continue Reading →

Another day, another award for our students! Our Year 12 Biology students participated in the British Biology Olympiad, a competition which ‘stimulates students with a interest in biology to expand and extend their talents’. Students are able to demonstrate their knowledge of the subject and be rewarded with publicly recognised certificates. ‘The competition consists of two, 45-minute multiple choice papers, which are taken online under supervised exam conditions’. Congratulations to all students who participated and we encourage you to participate next year!   A special ‘congratulations’ to: Huy Le – ‘Highly Commendable’ Award Kimia Firoozabadi – Silver Award  

Ashbourne College is pleased to inform the results for the ISA Drama competition, in which our Year 12 Drama students participated. The competition is nationwide for any independent schools who are members of the ISA (there are around 500 members). Our Drama department has proudly informed that our students have been awarded the following:   The Hurst Lodge Award for Best Senior Production Margaret Milner-Williams Medal for Best Middle/Senior Boy Performer The Hollygirt Prize for The Best Moment of Theatre in a Senior Production This is the first time Ashbourne College has participated in this competition, so we are very Continue Reading →

Last week we held our annual Staff Quiz! This was a great opportunity for one last staff ‘get together’ before the exam season starts. There was an initial warm-up music round run by Dennis, followed by the main quiz which consisted of general knowledge and problem-solving questions. Thank you to all the staff who came out and participated, and a massive thank you to Sean Pillai for organising this event! Congratulations to the winning team Sean’s Jazzy Trousers.   Teams and scores below: Sean’s Jazzy Trousers – 26/36 – Harry, Katie, Lauren, Maggie, Seema No Chance – 24/36 – Glen, Continue Reading →