Introduction
This page gives general information about Ampleforth College. When vacancies occur links will be placed on this page to give further details. This will normally be done a day or two before any press advertisements and the pages will remain live until a day or two after the closing date for applications.
About the Abbey and College
Ampleforth College is a Roman Catholic Co-educational Independent School (HMC), run by a community of Benedictine monks. It is in a rural environment but with excellent local amenities in the village including primary schools, medical centre, shops and public houses. The delightful market town of Helmsley is five miles away and York, which is a major cultural centre in the North, is easily reached by car in thirty-five minutes. Several other market towns are within easy reach and it is on the southern edge of the North York Moors National Park. The Abbot of Ampleforth is Chairman of the Ampleforth Abbey Trustees, which is the legal entity that owns and governs the foundation. St Laurence Education Trust is a separate limited company formed under the Abbey Trust. This also has charitable status and is responsible for both Ampleforth College and for St Martin’s Ampleforth. The Abbot of Ampleforth is the Chairman of Governors acting with the Council and Chapter of Ampleforth Abbey and with the assistance of a lay Advisory Body.
The monastic community has a long history, dating back centuries before 1802 when it settled at Ampleforth. The Abbey is responsible for Ampleforth College and for other work for the Catholic Church. This includes a number of parishes mainly in Lancashire, and St Benet’s Hall, a house of study in Oxford.
The College is one of the country's major independent schools, with about 449 boys (13 - 18 years) and 171 girls living in ten boarding houses. The College accepted day-girls into the sixth form for more than twenty years although this was not widely advertised and numbers were very small. In 1998 it was decided to respond to increasing demand and to accept day-girls into a sixth form mixed house. In September 2001, girls were accepted as full boarders in the sixth form in their own boarding house. Since 2004, the College has been fully co-educational with about 90 girls in Years 9 – 11. This number is expected to increase further.
St Martin’s Ampleforth is a prep school for boys and girls as day or full boarding students from the age of 7 up to 13, with a nursery and pre-prep covering the ages 3-6. It was formed in September 2001 from the merger of Ampleforth College Junior School and a nearby Catholic prep school, St Martin’s.
The teaching staff is monastic and lay, and consists of about 84 full-time members, of whom 7 are monks. There are also about 5 part-time teachers, of whom 2 are monks. There is an increasing proportion of female lay teaching staff, currently about 30%. The staff-pupil ratio of just over 1:7 ensures small classes and the availability of individual guidance for the development of the talents and the encouragement of the interests of individuals.