The Ashcombe School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Dorking in the English county of Surrey.
History The Ashcombe School was established in 1976, by the merger of Dorking County Grammar School and Mowbray School. The co-educational Dorking County Grammar School had been founded in 1931 with the Amalgamation of the Dorking High School for Boys (1884–1930)Staff registers, Surrey History Centre, National Archives and St.Martin's Church Of England High School for Girls opened in 1903. Mowbray Secondary Modern School for Girls opened on an adjacent site in 1953. The schools were close enough to share the school kitchen.The Ashcombe Dorkinian Association, Newsletter June 2012
The Ashcombe School became a Specialist Language College in September 1998, allowing it to receive additional funding. It was featured in the Independent and the Guardian as a school that teaches Mandarin.
Previously a community school administered by Surrey County Council, in January 2017 The Ashcombe School converted to academy status. The school is now sponsored by the South East Surrey Schools Education Trust.
Notable former pupils Dorking High School for Boys James Chuter Ede, Lord Chuter-Ede of Epsom,Jeffreys, Kevin, "Ede, James Chuter Chuter-, Baron Chuter-Ede (1882–1965)" , Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, January 2008. Retrieved 19 April 2018 Labour MP and Home Secretary John Gandee,‘GANDEE, John Stephen’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2015; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014; online edn, April 2014 accessed 30 March 2015 British diplomat; High Commissioner to Botswana from 1966 to 1969.
Dorking County Grammar School William Cole English conductor, composer and organist. Teacher at Dorking County School 1937-40 Michael Colborne, Michael Colborner, Loyal aide to Prince Charles. Royal Navy officer and private secretary to Charles, Prince of Wales, and later the Duke of Westminster. Patricia Fothergill, pioneer in robotics and control languages, helped develop the Freddy II robot pioneer in robotics and robot control languages. Sir Stephen Lamport,Profile at Glasgow Caledonian University October 2005 Receiver General at Westminster Abbey, former diplomat and Deputy Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales. Liz Lynne, Former Liberal Democrat MP and MEP Tom Mangold, award-winning BBC journalist and writer Sir Erich Reich, Kindertransport refugee, Austrian-born entrepreneur and charity fundraiser.
The Ashcombe School Evan Davis, economist and BBC journalist Rich Good, Musician and co-founder of the band The Pleased, guitarist in the band Psychedelic Furs Sarah Ioannides, Classical conductor Jamie Mackie, Scotland international footballer
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