Ampleforth College

Ampleforth expects each student to achieve individual success, and to this end each is challenged and supported as required by highly qualified and dedicated teaching staff, with many opportunities for enrichment on offer. The College is broadly non-academically selective but students still score in the top 7% nationally for value added i.e. they achieve considerably more than would be expected from a baseline test, and over 70% of students go on to the Russell Group of top UK universities.

Ampleforth is renowned for high-quality pastoral care which is centred on its 9 boarding houses (6 for boys, 3 for girls). Each house has a resident housemaster/mistress who lives-in with their own family, a resident Assistant Housemaster/mistress, a team of house tutors, a matron and a chaplain. Together they enable students to feel at home away from home and there is a strong sense of house identity. Many events are planned within and across the houses, which offer very comfortable accommodation and excellent facilities.

The Sunley Centre for Art & Design offers excellent facilities across the visual arts, and all members of the department are practising artists. The College has an excellent reputation for music, particularly choral, and the Schola Cantorum sings regularly at Abbey services. The new Performing Arts Centre has enabled the teaching of dance whilst recent productions in the oldest purpose-built school theatre in England include Anything Goes, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, and Elektra.

The School believes that art stimulates creativity and imagination. Drama at Ackworth enables students to develop their performance skills, confidence and self-belief, and every year the houses perform around a common theme. A long musical tradition is based on enjoyment and excellence in equal measure, and the Music Centre’s 180 seat recital hall offers a fantastic venue for the diverse range of chamber groups, workshops, choirs, bands and orchestras.