Amberfield School

Amberfield School
Motto Valens sed Clemens
"Strong but Gentle"
Established 1927
Closed 2011
Type Independent day school
Religion Protestant
Headmistresse(s) Pearl Webb, Linda Ingram (in the later years)
Location Nacton Road
Ipswich
Suffolk
IP10 0HL
England Coordinates: 52°01′11″N 1°14′26″E / 52.0198°N 1.2405°E
Students c. 300
Gender Girls (Boys 3 - 7 years)
Ages 3–16
Houses Brook, Cobbold, Wolsey / laterly Dunwich,Rendlesham,Thetford and Tunstall
Colours Blue, Green, Red / laterly Blue,red,yellow and green (respectively)
Publication Amberfield Plus
Website Amberfield School

Amberfield School was a small private school in Nacton, England, coeducational up to the age of 7 years, and for girls up to the age of 16 years, which was established in 1927 and closed in 2011 due to financial problems. The last headmistress was Linda Ingram. It was set in countryside with surrounding fields and wildlife. It won the Lego League Robotics UK Championships[1] and the World Primary Robot Dance Championship held in Suzhou, China as part of RoboCup Junior in 2008.[2] The school occupied the site of Nacton Workhouse,[3] near woodland where the body of one of the victims of the Ipswich 2006 serial murders, was found.[4][5] The school is a member of the Girls' Schools Association.

Sport

The school was successful in tennis with the under-15 team reaching the quarter-finals of the national competition in 2007.[6]

Notable former pupils

School closure

On 12 October 2011 the school website was replaced by a press release headed "Amberfield School to close".[7] It stated that "Amberfield School will close on 31 October 2011 and go into liquidation thereafter due to unsustainable losses". BBC Look East that evening reported that the debts were over £1 million and that the school would in fact close on Friday 14 October 2011, which it did. At the time of closure there were 32 teaching staff and 23 non teaching staff, also 157 pupils, 70 down on earlier levels.

On Saturday 15 October 2011 a news report headed "Comeback hopes as school is closed in debt crisis" [8] stated that given just 48 hours' notice a group of parents had tried to raise £200,000 to keep the school running until Christmas, but with parents concerned for their children’s education seeking places at other nearby independent schools, closure of Amberfield was inevitable. The parent group subsequently stated it would not give up hope of seeing the school reopen in the New Year.

References

  1. ↑ "Robot students set for global trip". Evening Star. Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. 2005-03-02. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
  2. ↑ "Dancing, daring, dribbling robots to invade Shrewsbury". General News. The Open University. 2007-03-26. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
  3. ↑ "Suffolk killer will die in prison". BBC. 21 February 2008. Archived from the original on 30 August 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-11.
  4. ↑ "Women murdered in Suffolk". BBC News (BBC). 2006-12-16. Archived from the original on 30 August 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-11.
  5. ↑ "Third prostitute found dead". Evening Star 24. Archant Regional. 2006-12-10. Retrieved 2009-01-26.
  6. ↑ Watson, Stuart (2007-12-05). "School bids for LTA club status". Evening Star 24. Archant Regional Ltd. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
  7. ↑ http://www.amberfield.suffolk.sch.uk
  8. ↑ East Anglian Daily Times 15 October 2011