This new school is the newest member of the Rhodes Park Schools Group, which has been at the forefront of private education in Zambia for over five decades.
Rhodes Park School started out as a small nursery school that was established in 1966 to cater to Lusaka’s white and expatriate community, who were the historically inhabitants of the suburbs of Rhodes Park and Fairview.
The School was purchased by a Lusaka lawyer, the late Mwansa Folotiya and his wife Lydia in 1973. Primary classes began seven years later in 1980. Further growth over the following years resulted the need for more space and in 1985, a large plot of land was secured at Sibweni Road, Northmead, Lusaka.
The current phase of the Rhodes Park School’s development began in late 1993, when ownership and control passed into the hands of the children of the late Mwansa and Lydia Folotiya after their untimely demise. The school started a major expansion and redevelopment programme that has seen it grow to become a leader in Zambia’s private education sector. Rhodes Park School offering classes from Nursery to Grade Twelve across it’s three campuses.
Plans for establishing additional schools began in 2010, with various opportunities being assessed. A holding company called EduCorp was incorporated in 2012 in order to best represent the evolving family ownership structure and offer opportunities for appropriate partnerships.
In mid-2012, a lease was entered into for the premises at the corner of Kabulonga and Bishops Roads, Kabulonga, that had once housed Lake Road School. At this ideal location, we set about establishing Woodford School Lusaka, which welcomed its first pupils in May 2013.
Over the next five years, we expanded on the space originally available with a number of purpose-built structures and developed some of the existing buildings in order to accommodate the growing school population. The campus now offers a range of facilities that allow us to provide excellent education and high service standards.
However, with growth, came the need for additional facilities, including those for sports and the arts. Coupled with the need to eliminate rental costs and secure the long-term future of the institution, we acquired a 2-Hectare plot on Main Street, Ibex Hill Lusaka, where our new future campus has already started to be established. Construction started with sports fields and a combi-court that was commissioned in 2021 and that is used for PE and sports. The school is scheduled to fully move to Ibex Hill at the beginning of 2024.
Ashford Academy is already building on our tradition of offering quality private schooling and add the option of boarding to the Group’s academic offerings.