Latest news at Ashmount School......

• Macmillan Coffee morning

  Mon 15 Oct 2018

  Many thanks to all of those parents and carers who were able to join us to support our recent coffee morning in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. 

   

  These kinds of event provide our Secondary pupils with an excellent opportunity to develop their independence skills, whilst raising vital funding for some very worthwhile charities. 

   

  We are delighted to announce that the coffee morning raised over £145.  

   

  Macmillan have already been in touch with our students to thank them for their efforts, saying: 'Thank you for having a Coffee Morning for Macmillan. We hope you and your guests had a lovely day and enjoyed spending time together over a cup of coffee and some tasty treats. We’ll get straight to work using the money you’ve raised to help make sure no one faces cancer alone. From the moment they’re diagnosed, all the way through treatment and beyond.'

• All aboard the Ashmount Express!

  Mon 15 Oct 2018

  We are pleased to announce that the latest phase of our playground developments - a wooden train - was installed on Friday 12th October 2018 by Leicestershire company Red Monkey. 

   

  We hope that the new train will give our students more opportunities to engage in role play and interactive games together during break and lunch times.

   

  Special thanks to members of our Primary Department who have recently painted our playground equipment shed too. 

  

• Ashmount hits the right note with Music Mark membership

  Wed 03 Oct 2018

  We are delighted to announce that Ashmount has been nominated and supported financially to become a Music Mark member by our local authority's Music Service / Hub in recognition of our commitment to providing high quality music education for all children and young people. 

   

  Chief Executive of Music Mark, Bridget Whyte, writes, 'We would like to thank you for all the hard work you and your colleagues do to ensure that pupils at your school are able to access and engage with a high quality music education. Your dedication to offering and delivering a broad and balanced curriculum is both welcomed and celebrated.' 

• Ashmount volunteer receives recognition at Charnwood Heroes Awards 2018

  Mon 01 Oct 2018

  On Saturday 29^th September 2018, Charnwood celebrated the important role that volunteers play within our local community by holding the annual Charnwood Community Heroes.

   

  We are extremely fortunate to receive support from a large number of very dedicated volunteers throughout the school year, and so it is always difficult to highlight specific volunteers for recognition. However, volunteer Shaun Crate is, without doubt, one of the most inspirational individuals to volunteer in our school to date.

   

  Shaun started volunteering at Ashmount approximately three years ago for a day a week. This has steadily increased to the point where he now volunteers in our school for three days every week.

   

  Shaun has supported pupils with special educational needs of all ages and abilities across our Primary Department, including English and Maths sessions; swimming and PE sessions; and all of the foundation subjects, as well as supporting groups on educational visits.

   

  Shaun works alongside support staff at lunchtimes to help our pupils with the most profound and multiple learning difficulties to develop their fine and gross motor skills, and to develop their interaction and engagement skills.

   

  What is perhaps most inspirational is the fact that Shaun has cerebral palsy and so has his only challenges to overcome when providing support to our pupils. This means that he is not always as quick as he would like to be in getting around school and that he sometimes has to repeat himself to make himself properly understood.

   

  In Shaun’s own words, ‘You have two choices: you can sit back feeling sorry for yourself, or you can put a smile on your face and get on with it’.

   

  It is no surprise that some of our students who have physical disabilities feel comfortable in asking Shaun personal questions about the challenges he faces.

   

  We would like to congratulate Shaun for being recognised for his efforts by being presented with a Certificate of Appreciation by Councillor Christine Harris, Mayor of Charnwood.

   

  Shaun received further recognition on the day by being presented with the Harry Cook Award, given in recognition of his dedication and commitment to volunteering at Ashmount School and the difference he makes to the lives of pupils and staff.

   

  Congratulations, Shaun!

  

• Ashmount awarded Healthy Schools status

  Fri 28 Sep 2018

  We are pleased to announce that Ashmount School has been awarded Healthy School status by Leicestershire County Council.

   

  The national Healthy Schools programme promotes the link between Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE), Healthy Eating, Physical Activity and Emotional Health and Well Being.

   

  Special thanks to our Healthy Schools Coordinator Katie Gerighty for all of her hard word towards developing our Healthy Schools provision across school and achieving the award.

• Jeans for Genes Day

  Fri 21 Sep 2018

  Thank you to all of our pupils, staff and visitors who took part in this year’s ‘Jeans for Genes Day’ on Friday 21^st September 2018.

   

  Altogether, we collected over £180. Your donations will make a big difference to the lives of children and families living with genetic disorders.

• Ashmount Staff take to the netball courts for local charity

  Fri 14 Sep 2018

  Ashmount staff took to the netball courts on Sunday 2nd September 2018 to face up against another 24 teams in a charity netball tournament held at Ashby School. 

   

  Organised by the Brown Dog Cancer Charity, a local charity which raises money to purchase vital equipment or infrastructure to improve the detection or treatment of cancer, the event raised an incredible £4,500.

   

  We look forward to supporting the charity by taking part in future events. 

• Ashmount School achieves Gold School Games Mark Award for the third year running!

  Tue 28 Aug 2018

  We are delighted to announce that Ashmount has achieved the Gold School Games Mark Award for the third year running for the 2017/18 academic year.

   

  Launched in 2012, the School Games Mark is a Government led award scheme facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community, and we are delighted to have been recognised again for our success.

   

  We have seen an even greater number of our young people competing in local inter-school competitions this year. We are extremely proud of our pupils for their dedication to all aspects of school sport, including those young volunteers, leaders and officials who made our competitions possible.

   

  As part of our application, we were asked to fulfill criteria in the areas of participation, competition, workforce and clubs, and we are pleased that the hard work of everyone at our school has been rewarded this year.

   

  Special thanks go again to our PE and Sports coordinator Claire Malpas.

• A Message from the Headteacher

  Fri 13 Jul 2018

  It has proved to be another extremely successful year for Ashmount. Our Ofsted inspection judged the school to be 'Outstanding' for the third time in a row in January, and we were named as a National Support School by the Department for Education in March. Other highlights have included our pupils being invited to perform at The Curve and De Montfort Hall, and achieving success in a range of sporting events held throughout the year.

   

  However, as always, we are most proud of the personal achievements that our pupils have made this year—from those pupils that have developed greater confidence with their communication skills to those that are now able to access our local community with greater independence. None of these achievements would have been possible without the continued support of our parents and carers, and this is best demonstrated by the record numbers of parents and carers who were able to attend our summer fayre and sports days this term. We would like to wish all of our pupils and their families a very happy summer holiday.

   

  David Deacon

   

• A Message from the Chair of Governors

  Thu 12 Jul 2018

  The summer holiday weather has beaten us, date-wise, this year—but it was lovely to see so many parents and friends supporting our sports afternoons recently, enjoying both the weather and the great sporting achievements! Well done to all our pupils and thank you to everyone who came along to support them.

   

  This has been a term, post Ofsted, in which Governors have been able to relax a little and participate in the more enjoyable elements of governance at Ashmount. We've been able to come into school to see pupils participating in the ‘Shine’ performance, and to see the excited anticipation prior to fun trips to Twycross Zoo and Twin Lakes. And sometimes, in amongst monitoring and meetings, our visits are made more exciting by learning about awards achieved, such as the Primary Sports Development Award, or invitations to join end of term celebrations as we say goodbye to students progressing to the next phase of their educational life.

   

  These are the parts of governance where we can see the development and enthusiasm of our students, celebrate the non-stop dedication and hard work of all our staff—and also recognise how much support in these less typical activities is given by parents and carers. Your help, involvement, and constant ' back up' in all school achieves is invaluable.

   

  Thank you everyone for all your efforts, in so many different ways, in supporting school working with our students—they really are recognised and so very much appreciated.

   

  And from the Governors—we wish you all a wonderfully relaxing summer break, in this very untypical but welcome hot weather, and look forward to seeing everyone refreshed and raring to contribute to another very successful year in the life of Ashmount school!

   

  Jean Lewis

  Chair of Governors