Ashlawn School

Ashlawn School Academy Trust, more commonly known as Ashlawn School (or simply Ashlawn), is a large partially selective secondary school located in Rugby, Warwickshire, England that specialises in Science, Computing and Leadership. It is a partial grammar school. This means that these students need to score highly in the 11+ examination to gain admission. This exam is shared with other local grammar schools. The grammar stream performs exceptionally well. In 2013, the school was awarded with an OFSTED Outstanding rating (the highest rating) in all categories.

In 2014, Ashlawn became a National Teaching School. These are the top schools in the country which help other teachers train from other schools.

Around 1,750 pupils attend the school educated by 90 full-time teaching staff, with total staff at around 110 members. The incumbent headteacher is Lois Reed, who replaced former professional rugby union international Peter Rossborough after his retirement in 2008.

History

Foundation

Ashlawn School was previously known as Dunsmore School for Girls and Dunsmore School for Boys until 1985, when they merged with another secondary school, Fareham High School, to become today's Ashlawn School.

Recent history

In 2005 the school was granted Special Science College status, entitling the establishment to government grants for new educational equipment, such as portable tablets with internet access. These are linked up to data projectors so that presentations and research can be done online and easily in front of a class. In April 2009 it was also awarded a Leadership College status. Both achievements have been commemorated with the construction of monuments, a rainbow coloured piece of modern art (created by a local artist), for the Science College status, and a large text embossed sun, for the Leadership status.

In early 2007 the school received planning permission from Rugby Borough Council to erect a wind turbine at the school, making it one of the first in the country to employ such a scheme. Also, in 2010, a number of Ashlawn's buildings were fitted with solar panels to cut down on their carbon footprint even further.

As of January 2010 Ashlawn School has been working closely with Yamaha Music School to enhance the teaching of music in the local area. Students have access to specialised equipment which normally would not be available and expert teachers. The initiative was kicked off on 11 December 2009 with an event led by Troy Miller, drummer for artists such as Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson and Daniel Merriweather.

In October 2012, work began on a new bespoke expressive arts centre which was completed in mid-2013. The centre is now available out of hours (e.g. the dance studio, drama rooms) marking the school's first building partially dedicated for use by the local community.^[1] The building was officially unveiled by Rugby Mayor Cllr Tony Gillias on 20 June 2013, ready for use in the upcoming Autumn term.

Academy status

In May 2010, the secretary of education approached Ashlawn to become an Academy and on 1 April 2011 the school took on the Academy status. and is now run by the Ashlawn School Academy Trust.^[2]

The Ashlawn Media Team

In December 2010 the Ashlawn Media Team (a large student-ran project) was founded by students, Alex Hewitt, Jonny Norton and Brandon Randle. The Team's goal was to produce a variety of internal videos for school events such as Parent's evenings, Sports days and Open days. Their videos became a huge success with staff and students alike, prompting recognition and appraisal from a mass of parents and visitors.

Since the graduation of the core team in 2014, the ex-students regularly return to Ashlawn to assist with the teaching of GCSE and A-Level Media production, and the generation of videos, graphics and internal/external media for the school.

Notable alumni

• Lauren Taylor - Professional Golfer

References