Latest news at Ashmount School......

• Ashmount named as National Support School

  Mon 09 Apr 2018

  We are incredibly proud to announce that Ashmount School has been designated as a National Support School by the Department for Education (DFE).

   

  The status was awarded as a result of Headteacher David Deacon being designated as a National Leader of Education (NLE) in the latest recruitment round.

   

  The award of National Support School (NSS) is in recognition of our continued high standards of teaching and learning and our recent Ofsted inspection. It is also in recognition of the impact our school has had in recent years when supporting other schools across the country.

   

  Headteacher David Deacon said, “This is a tremendous honour for Ashmount School. I would like to thank all of our pupils, staff, parents and governors for their support in making this possible.”

   

• Ashmount RDA moves to new home

  Sat 31 Mar 2018

  This month Meadow School of Riding, which hosts our school’s RDA group, has moved premises from Deans Lane, Woodhouse Eves to Bowleys Barn Farm, Normanton on Soar.

   

  The move brings about increased opportunities for our pupils as the new venue has both indoor and outdoor riding schools and a cross country track for hacks.

   

  As always we would like to say a HUGE thank you to the fabulous team of volunteers who make our Friday morning riding sessions happen.

   

• New look playground

  Fri 30 Mar 2018

  The first phase of exciting new developments in our outdoor areas has now been completed.

   

  The new equipment, supplied and installed by Red Monkey, includes a pirate ship, a castle, two trim trails, a cycle path, climbing wall and outdoor gym.

   

  A huge thank you to the Friends of Ashmount and everyone who helped with fundraising.

   

  Photographs of our new equipment are included in the slideshow below. 

  

• British Science Week

  Sun 25 Mar 2018

  Mad Science brought their labs into school recently as part of British Science Week.

   

  Students got involved in all kinds of exciting experiments, including volcano making, water bending and potion making.

   

  Photographs of some of the carousel of fun science experiments available to our students is included in the slideshow below. 

   

  

• Splash Out!

  Sat 24 Mar 2018

  Some of our primary pupils recently attended an Aqua Splash session at Loughborough University pool in an event organised by students from Charnwood College.

   

  The children worked in small groups, supported by Ashmount staff and Charnwood College students, to complete a number of fun, water-based challenges.

   

  Ashmount Assistant Head Claire Malpas said: “The children all behaved beautifully and engaged with the activities arranged. Children transported each other on large floats, played competitive games and swam through hoops as part of the festival challenges. It was great fun.”

   

• Ashmount welcomes Lady Gretton for a visit

  Fri 23 Mar 2018

  Ashmount pupils and staff were pleased to welcome Lady Gretton, HM Lord-Lieutenant of Leicestershire, for a tour of the school this month.

   

  Following her visit, Lady Gretton wrote, "I so enjoyed my visit to Ashmount. Thank you so much for giving me such a comprehensive tour of the school. There was such a happy and peaceful atmosphere wherever we went and I was so impressed by everything I saw. 

   

  You have a wonderful new school with fantastic facilitites, but it was the staff with the children who so obviously impressed me. The staff were so dedicated and the children were obviously so happy.    

   

  I send you all my best wishes for the future and for the continual progress of the school."

   

   

• Chair of Governors' Blog

  Fri 23 Mar 2018

  Well, the long awaited call from Ofsted finally arrived. Ashmount was duly inspected and, not that we ever doubted it, gained its third successive Outstanding judgement! A fantastic achievement, and thoroughly well deserved. The governors sent their sincere congratulations and heartfelt thanks to each and every one of the marvellous staff at Ashmount—but we would do that anyway! The effort they put in for Ofsted is much appreciated, and well done—but it's the consistent, everyday effort that we really appreciate and thank them for. Ashmount staff are an amazing group—where would we be without them! Thanks also to the governors for their unstinting support, and especially to the governors who supported me in the Ofsted interview. Brilliant all round—and now that's out of the way, we can concentrate on new initiatives and moving forward! Ashmount does not believe in resting on past achievement.

   

  Many congratulations to all concerned in this term's senior performance—it was a fantastic success, and I can't think how you missed out on the Oscars! Very well done to all concerned—a smashing afternoon, really enjoyed by all who attended.

   

  The newly installed playground equipment looks very exciting, and I hope it soon stops raining long enough for our students to enjoy it!

   

  We are getting ready to celebrate Science week again, and we have just had a visit from Lady Gretton, Leicestershire's Lord Lieutenant, to look at the school and the work we do, before she retires.

   

  I hope you all have a restful Easter break. Try not to eat too many chocolate eggs, and come back full of energy for a sunny summer term full, as ever, with exciting and challenging activities here at Ashmount.

   

  With best wishes to everyone,

   

  Jean Lewis

   

  Chair of Governors

   

• World Book Day

  Sun 04 Mar 2018

  An array of costumes depicting classic characters was on show for our annual celebration of World Book Day.

   

  This year the Primary Department gave the children the chance to choose their costumes and also have input in the class book and the activities. The classes read a selection of books, the children chose their favourite and then, with a little guidance, looked at the elements of the story and designed activities.

   

  Assistant Head of Primary Claire Malpas said: “This child-led approach is being increasingly used in the department as the children who are involved in the planning are more likely to be invested in their learning and increasingly engaged. The children then swapped classes to experience a different book in the afternoon. We have been working and planning across key stages more this year and the children have worked with different teachers and groups of children in role play as well as more structured work tasks.”

   

• Success at Gymnastics Competition

  Sun 25 Feb 2018

  In January, Ashmount hosted a disability Gymnastics competition for mainstream schools to attend.

   

  We were overjoyed to come second in the competition and, as a result, we were invited to the Level 3 competition at Oakham Artistic gymnasium.

   

  We had a great morning competing in three events and enjoyed the opportunity to show other schools how hard we have worked in our gymnastics sessions.

   

• Ashmount School judged as Outstanding for third consecutive time!

  Fri 09 Feb 2018

  We are delighted to announce that following our Ofsted inspection on 16^th January 2018, Ashmount School has been judged to be ‘Outstanding’ for a third consecutive time.

   

  We would like to take the opportunity to thank all of our staff, governors, pupils and their families for their hard work and dedication.

   

  The full report letter can be found in the ‘Key Information’ section of our website and will be published by Ofsted on their website on 22^nd February 2018.