Headteacher's Welcome

I am privileged to lead our well established community school and to work with our enthusiastic students, ambitious staff, supportive parents and committed governors. I hope that you enjoy looking at our website and that you will be able to visit the school at one of our many events.

At Ashton, we are incredibly proud of our school and its successes. We make no secret of striving for excellence in every aspect of school life for all our students. Our school motto declares that we are “A School to be Proud of” and this underpins our ethos. We provide a unique way to give students the opportunities to learn they deserve from 11 to 16, and to equip them with the attitudes, skills and knowledge that they will need to lead successful lives. We want our students to have ambition and aspirations, to stretch themselves and to reach further than they ever thought possible, We have a student centered approach to all that we do, which ensures that students are placed at the very heart of the decisions we make and the actions we take. We expect all our students to succeed both academically and socially and we support them in this journey so that they can take their place in adult life well prepared.

We place particular emphasis on members of the school community being part of the school family. With 800 students on roll, we are relatively small, which allows us to get to know our students very well, to focus on their individual needs and work in real partnership with parents and carers.

Uncompromising academic aspirations and high quality pastoral care are real strengths of our school. Pride in everything you do, from the way you speak, to the way you dress and the way you behave towards others, is the expectation. Anything less is unacceptable, we expect all our students to acquire the skills and knowledge, the maturity and confidence they need to enjoy and benefit from the school education and to enable them to move successfully into further education, employment or training. Our SCAMPS programme offers students a wide range of opportunities to engage in extra-curricular activities that will help them develop the team and communication skills, the leadership qualities and the breadth of experience they need to make their successful transition into adult life.

We are a member of two teaching schools Alliances – the Preston Teaching School Alliance and the Ripley Teaching schools alliance. This allows us to engage in the National teaching training Programme and train the teachers of the future, a responsibility we are proud to have been given. Working collaboratively within these alliances also brings substantial benefits to our school, including high quality development enrichment opportunities for our students and access to research based teaching techniques and resources.

We work with unwavering determination to give all our students confidence and a sense of purpose and direction so that they embrace all that the school offers and value education as lifelong learning, not just learning for examinations. A desire to succeed, to do everything you do to the best of your ability, to take pride in your achievements and the achievements of other members of the school family, no matter how small, is what makes us unique and what makes us confident that we are “A School to be Proud of”.