Ashley Hill Primary School is this year celebrating its 50th anniversary.

The school was established in 1972 to accommodate the expansion of the village of Onchan, as the building of developments such as the Birch Hill Park estate overstretched the capacity of the older (Victorian) and larger, Onchan Primary School.

Its first headteacher was Henley Crowe.

The occasion will be marked with a gala day in May 30, to which parents and all former pupils will be invited.

It will coincide with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, and this will be marked with ‘novelty’ events.

There will be sports day events (for pupils and alumni), a picnic and commemorative memorabilia like tea towels and bookmarks.

The school now has 250 pupils, with a total of 16 teachers.

Ashley Hill sits on one of the largest plots of land of any island primary school, and as such is able to incorporate many outdoor activities into its curriculum.

We spoke to headteacher Peter Lewis, who said that looking to ‘maximise’ the use of this outdoor space as a learning environment’ was among the many things that make the school unique.

Peter, who at 38 is among the youngest headteachers in the island, enjoys playing an active role by teaching reception twice a week and, taking Key Stage 2 (ages seven to 11) for swimming classes – and making sure he always knows the name of every child in the school.

Peter started at Ashley Hill after moving from St John’s Primary where he was deputy head – though his first teaching job in the island was also at Ashley Hill, when originally there as a newly-qualified teacher in 2005.

He told us that the outdoors was one of the three core things which made the school special, and was highlighted by the Forest School – an outdoor learning space which every class uses at least once a week.

Peter said that they were ‘blessed with all the space around us’, including an area where they have allowed some football teams to practice – who also gave the school some goals to use.

‘So we do feel as though we’re the heart of the community here,’ he added.

The other two core things were: ‘The team that I’ve got here – they are outstanding, there’s no better team of teaching staff on the island.’

‘And thirdly, in terms of our mindset, it’s always about that holistic child – making sure that they’re dealt with in a compassionate, caring way.’

Holistic approaches to child development and learning recognise the connectedness of mind, body and spirit.

‘And there are our ‘learning powers’ – the school’s unique ethos revolving around their interpretation of the “four Rs” – Relationships, Resilience, Reflection and Readiness to learn – which through the use of novelty animals as mascots are incorporated into assemblies and class work.

‘So when we’re doing something like a maths problem which is proving particularly challenging, we can refer to Talulah Tortoise who shows resilience because she never gives up, she keeps on going and she tries our hardest.

‘So for us [adults], that word resilience gets banded around – but for kids they really need to understand it, that idea of perseverance and showing character and not giving up is really important’.

Asked what were the main changes he has seen in the school over the years, Peter again pointed to the development of the outdoor facilities – particularly after being the first school in the island to be acknowledged with a Platinum Woodland Trust Award, given for demonstrating ‘the way we value to the outdoors and the way we use it as an educational tool’.

A log cabin has also been built out front of the school, and an orienteering class incorporated into the curriculum.

Even on rainy days, pupils get their wellies and wet weather gear on and go out to make use of the field at lunch and break times.

All of the outdoor gear is funded by the Parent Teacher Association, which Peter said highlights how much value the parent community sees in the Forest School.

He said it was nice to have some many parents who had also gone to the school, and were so fond of it that they were ‘delighted’ to see their children come here also.

Among the well-known figures who attended Ashley Hill include Danger Mouse animator Adrian Bell, Robert Isaac and Steve Clague, a pastoral lead teacher at St Ninian’s.

Onchan is also unique in having two primary schools so close to each other, and Peter said Ashley Hill and Onchan Primary ‘work really closely together’ – for example holding junior commissioners meetings and remembrance events together.

Asked what goals the school was now focused on for the immediate future, Peter told us: ‘Since coming back from Covid, my main priority is providing high standards.

‘Because when kids are working from home there’s 250 different standards of [individual students’] behaviour, of expectations of work etc.

‘And drawing them all back into the normality of school has been quite challenging.’

Peter continued: ‘So I’d say that our next steps really are to manage and maintain, and to provide some form of consistency for a good period of time. So often people are thinking about “what we’re doing next, what’s the next thing” – but for now I think should be about getting back to equilibrium, and then building on that later.

‘A big thing for us at the moment is the wellbeing of our kids, we’re doing a lot with [mental health charity] Isle Listen, for example – so we recognise the importance of a happy child, a child whose mental health is solid’.