Ashford School
Ashford School is a coeducational independent boarding and day school in East Hill, Ashford, Kent. There are 480 students in the Senior School (ages 11 to 18) and 360 in the Prep School (ages 3 to 11). The school is owned and run by the United Church Schools Trust and is a member of The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC). The current headteacher is Mr Michael Hall, who has been Headmaster of Ashford School since September 2018. Ashford School was recently ranked one of the UK's top 20 coeducational, independent schools and was voted Independent School of  the Year 2010. It was also a Good Schools Guide award winner in 2011 and at the Archant Good Schools Show it was voted one of the country's top five boarding schools. The School was endorsed as outstandingly successful in every category during the most recent inspection by Independent Schools Inspectorate in 2014. The school is located within walking distance from Ashford International railway station which is 37 minutes from London St Pancras railway station via High Speed 1. Boarding life starts at age 10 at Ashford School where pupils can choose a range of boarding options: flexi, weekly  or full. The school has 3 boarding houses: Junior boarding house Brooke & Refuge and senior boarding houses Brabourne and Alfred. History. The school was founded in 1898 by Mrs Muriel Thimann, who opened a small school for "ladies" in Queens Road, Ashford. Nothing much is known of this school except that, before long, it was necessary to move to larger premises; first in Wellesley Road in 1903 and then to two houses in the High Street in 1905. In 1910 Mrs Edwards bought the school and renamed it "The Modern High School for Girls". Within a short time the school  expanded into another, adjacent house in the High Street and then finally moved to yet again bigger premises on East Hill in 1913. For the vast majority of its existence it has been a school only for girls. In 2005 it merged with Friars Prep School in Great Chart and in 2006 boys were admitted in some year groups and it is now a fully co-educational school from the age of 3 to 18 offering boarding and day facilities. Mike Buchanan was first appointed the headmaster of Ashford School in February 2005. Space shuttle experiment. In 1992 a science  experiment designed by four girls at the school flew on the Space Shuttle on flight STS-47 The experiment had been designed in 1985 by the girls who had won a competition organised by Independent Television News. The chemical garden experiment was successful but the Liesegang rings failed to operate correctly due to a friction in parts of the mechanism. On their return they were displayed in the London Science Museum. The seven-year delay had been caused by the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster which occurred in 1986 shortly before the intended flight. A.. A. is a semiannual school magazine with  sections including Poetry, Fiction, Art&Photography, Opinion and Debate. All content is contributed by Ashford School students. Ashford School International Centre. The Ashford School International Centre (ASIC) has been opened as of September 2015. This section of the school has been designed to meet the needs of non-native English speaking pupils, from the outset becoming a world-class centre of excellence. ASIC is an 18th-century Grade II listed building, which has undergone a multimillion-pound refurbishment, providing state of the art teaching classrooms alongside boarding rooms. This school will allow pupils from around the world to complete iGCSE before  joining the rest of the school.