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Amberfield School


FieldValue
nameAmberfield School
coordinates
mottoValens sed Clemens
"Strong but Gentle"
established1927
closed2011
typePrivate day school
religious_affiliationProtestant
head_labelHeadmistresses
headPearl Webb, Louise Amphlett Lewis, Helen Kay, Linda Ingram
addressNacton Road
cityIpswich
countySuffolk
countryEngland
postcodeIP10 0HL
enrolmentc. 300
genderGirls (Boys 3 - 7 years)
lower_age3
upper_age16
housesBrook, Cobbold, Wolsey / latterly Dunwich, Rendlesham, Thetford and Tunstall
coloursBlue, Green, Red / latterly Blue,red,yellow and green (respectively)
publicationAmberfield Plus
websitehttp://www.amberfieldschool.co.uk

"Strong but Gentle"

Amberfield School was a small private school in Nacton, England, coeducational up to the age of 7 years, and for girls up to the age of 16 years, which was established in 1927 and closed in 2011 due to financial problems. The last headmistress was Linda Ingram. It was set in countryside with surrounding fields and wildlife. It won the Lego League Robotics UK Championships and the World Primary Robot Dance Championship held in Suzhou, China as part of RoboCup Junior in 2008. The school occupied the site of Nacton Workhouse, near woodland where the body of one of the victims of the Ipswich 2006 serial murders, was found. The school was a member of the Girls' Schools Association.

History

The school was founded by sisters Gertrude, Eleanor and Margaret Roberts in 1927 from their home in Ipswich. In 1951, the school moved from Crofton Road to the former site of the House of Industry Workhouse at Nacton where it remained until the school's closure in 2011. An educational trust was formed in 1962, with Margaret Roberts and Jean Horsburgh as joint headmistresses. Margaret Roberts retired in 1966 and Jean Horsburgh retired in 1972. Pearl Webb took over as headmistress from Jean Horsburgh, until she left in 1992. Louise Amphlett Lewis headed the school until 2005. Helen Kay, a mathematics teacher, took over but left unexpectedly mid-year in 2008. Linda Ingram was then headmistress until the school's closing in 2011.

Sport

The school was successful in tennis with the under-15 team reaching the quarter-finals of the national competition in 2007.{{cite web | last = Watson | first = Stuart | title = School bids for LTA club status | work = Evening Star 24 | publisher = Archant Regional Ltd. | date = 2007-12-05 | url = http://www.eveningstar.co.uk/content/eveningstar/sport/story.aspx?brand=ESTOnline&category=SportGrassRoots&tBrand=ESTOnline&tCategory=sport&itemid=IPED05%20Dec%202007%2009%3A26%3A15%3A283

Notable former pupils

  • Maggi Hambling, artist

School closure

On 12 October 2011 the school website was replaced by a press release headed "Amberfield School to close". It stated that "Amberfield School will close on 31 October 2011 and go into liquidation thereafter due to unsustainable losses". BBC Look East that evening reported that the debts were over £1 million and that the school would in fact close on Friday 14 October 2011, which it did. At the time of closure there were 32 teaching staff and 23 non-teaching staff, also 157 pupils, 70 down on earlier levels.

On Saturday 15 October 2011 a news report headed "Comeback hopes as school is closed in debt crisis" stated that given just 48 hours' notice a group of parents had tried to raise £200,000 to keep the school running until Christmas, but with parents concerned for their children's education seeking places at other nearby independent schools, closure of Amberfield was inevitable. The parent group subsequently stated it would not give up hope of seeing the school reopen in the New Year.

References

References

  1. (2005-03-02). "Robot students set for global trip". Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence.
  2. (2007-03-26). "Dancing, daring, dribbling robots to invade Shrewsbury". The Open University.
  3. (21 February 2008). "Suffolk killer will die in prison". [[BBC]].
  4. (2006-12-16). "Women murdered in Suffolk". BBC News.
  5. (2006-12-10). "Third prostitute found dead". Archant Regional.
  6. https://heritage.suffolk.gov.uk/Monument/MSF16982 {{Dead link. (February 2022)
  7. (1997-06-03). "Amberfield History". Ipswich Evening Star.
  8. (26 June 2008). "New head for independent school".
  9. Maier, John. (14 July 2022). "A Brush With Death". The Oxford Review of Books.
  10. "Amberfield School".
  11. East Anglian Daily Times 15 October 2011
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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