Abbotsholme School

Abbotsholme School stands beside the River Dove in Derbyshire, on a 140-acre campus near Rocester. Founded in 1889 by Cecil Reddie, it began as a boys’ school called ‘The New School’ and broke from tradition by dropping Latin and Greek for modern languages and art. Practical subjects like animal husbandry and carpentry became part of the curriculum from the start. In 2017 the school was bought by Achieve Education Ltd, a Chinese company led by Tong Zhou and chaired by Mike Farmer. The school is recognised for its progressive ideas and its arts society, begun in 1968 by Gordon Clark. Clark arranged over 1,000 concerts featuring artists such as Yehudi Menuhin, Evelyn Glennie and Alfred Brendel. The society still runs subscription concerts, films and lectures, mostly in the chapel. Clark also founded the Lichfield Festival in 1981 before his death in 1989. Visitors can walk the riverside paths and see the chapel where concerts are held. The campus includes buildings from the school’s early years and modern facilities added after 2017. Views over the Dove valley stretch beyond the playing fields. The place reflects both Reddie’s educational vision and the later influence of Achieve Education.