Forty years of co-education will be celebrated at Harrogate’s Ashville College this month (November) at a lunch for former pupils and staff members.
Amongst the attendees will be a number of the school’s first girls, whose arrival in September 1982 transformed the College overnight from being a boys’ boarding and day school into a thriving mixed school.
The anniversary lunch is being held at the College on Saturday, November 19, and those attending will hear from Ashville’s first female Head, Rhiannon Wilkinson, and Beth Mottram, President of the Ashvillian Society, the school’s alumni association.
They will also be able to take a tour of the College and see for themselves how much it has changed in the intervening years, in particular the creation of a standalone Sixth Form Centre, refurbished and extended dining hall, a purpose-built early years facility, and state-of-the-art sports centre and all weather pitch.
The transition to co-education was engineered by the then Headmaster, David Norfolk, who described the first girls as ‘pioneers’.
Speaking a few years later he said it had “certainly enriched the education which pupils at Ashville enjoy”, and “made the school and its pupils better fitted to face an unknown tomorrow”.
The girls’ boarding house was later named Norfolk House in his honour.
Beth Mottram, who attended Ashville between 1998 and 2009, and became President of the Ashvillian Society at its AGM last July, said: “We are really looking forward to welcoming back some of the first girl pupils, and honouring their place in the College’s history.
“The strength of Ashville as a community owes a huge amount to the transition to co-education in 1982, when for the first time sisters could join their brothers as pupils.
“The 40th anniversary lunch will be a wonderful occasion at which we will celebrate the Ashville family and the important steps made four decades ago to broaden the community and make the College what it is today.”
For more information about Ashville Prep School, please visit www.ashville.co.uk or call 01423 566358.