Alumni and Development
Over the last year we have continued to see our alumni community continue to go from strength to strength. Most excitingly, we saw a return to in-person events. From our ASA Leavers’ BBQ in September and our ASA London Drinks in November, to the ASA Sports Reunion & Tournament in March, and a sold-out ASA Summer Lunch in July – there has been something for all of our alumni. Plus, with international travel on the agenda again, we were able to host reunions for our alumni in Nigeria, Madrid, Munich, The Hague, & Paris. Thank you to all who volunteered to help organise these events, and of course, to all those who attended. Alongside this, we have continued connecting with our global alumni community digitally. Our #throwbackthursday posts continue to be hugely popular, and we have loved hearing everyone’s memories of their time at Ashford School. We also hosted a virtual talk with Former Head of Science, Brian Stockwell, in which he spoke about the Science Experiment that was sent by Ashford School into Space in the 1990s! Our alumni community have continued to volunteer their time to lead careers talks and share their expertise with our students, for which we are incredibly grateful. Speakers this academic year have included: Chartered Clinical Psychologist Dr Emma Stevens (née King, Squires, 2002) Senior Datalink Engineer at Collins Aerospace & Former Chief Pilot Captain Enid Otun (Alfred, 1980) Author Nicola Pryce (née Snelson, Nightingale, 1975) Head of Revenue Transformation at Liberty Speciality Markets Rachael Lukehurst (Pilgrims, 1999) Assistant Director Chessie Wilton (Merchants, 2013) Architect at Holloway Studios & RIBA Mentor Rebecca Wise (Pilgrims, 2011) MRes Microbiology student and Laboratory Technician Megan Fox (Merchants, 2017) Business Applications Sales Executive Toby Harris (Franklins, 2013) Head of Operations at UK Antarctic Heritage and Ice Maiden Team Member Sophie Montagne (Merchants, 2001) Pentathlete & Mechanical with Automotive Engineering Student James Wilton (Pilgrims, 2018) Former Magistrate and JP John Hosking (Former Chair of Governors & Ashford School Foundation Patron) This year we also saw the introduction of an exciting new ASA Prefect role, which was taken up by Charlotte in Year 13. Charlotte supported the Alumni & Development Office with various initiatives including the ASA School Tie, developing content for social media, and working on the launch of a School charity day for the Ashford School Foundation which raised money for the Foundation’s Bursary Fund. Thank you to Charlotte, and we look forward to meeting our Prefect for 2022-23. We have continued to celebrate the history of the School, installing blue plaques around the Senior School site commemorating the history of buildings, gardens, and trees. Thank you to Ashford School Association Committee who generously agreed to fund these. We are also delighted to announce that this year’s recipient of the Tom Watts Travel Award, following an extremely competitive application process, is K-Leigh Hargreaves (Merchants, 2018). The Tom Watts Travel Award provides financial assistance to leavers who are considering undertaking challenging journeys or expeditions. K-Leigh will be travelling to Córdoba in Argentina through Projects Abroad to work at an Equine Therapy Centre where she will be supporting people with disabilities. After a successful bursary campaign last summer and the generosity of our alumni community, the Ashford School Foundation was able to award 6 new bursaries, and next academic year will be supporting a total of 15 students. We hope to continue to grow the resources of the fund so that the Foundation can continue to support more talented pupils receive a transformative education here at Ashford School.
4
