About Us

The Woodroffe School is a thriving and popular school situated above Lyme Regis and looking out across Lyme Bay. It has a comprehensive intake of around 1,000 students, with approximately 200 in the sixth form.  The school offers a unique combination of the traditional and the innovative. Students all wear uniform and visitors often remark upon their behaviour and general courtesy.  The atmosphere in the school is warm and friendly and student/teacher relationships are excellent.  Woodroffe enjoys close links with the town and has been an important part of the community for over seventy years.

A traditional approach to discipline and behaviour does not mean that the school is backward looking.  Indeed, there is a real sense of purpose and commitment to the future across the school.  As a Specialist School (Visual Arts with an additional specialism in Maths and Computing) Woodroffe is committed to pupil progress and innovative approaches to the curriculum.  There is also a powerful and far reaching community arts programme which impacts positively on all aspects of the school’s work.

Though a Dorset school, Woodroffe has a wide rural catchment, attracting students from well beyond its designated area, with over half its students drawn from Devon.  Woodroffe is full in every year and applications for places in Year 7 are always heavily oversubscribed.  The school has an excellent reputation locally and it is the reason that many people choose to live in the area.

Academic performance is very good and improving year on year. At Key Stages 3 and 4 we are always one of the top schools in the county; at A-Level we work consistently above the national average.

As a Foundation school, Woodroffe benefits from a committed and active governing body.  There is also a strong commitment to staff development and the school has the Investors in People standard.

The school is housed in an imposing thirties building but extensive modernization has taken place over the years. There is a state of the art Drama Studio, a superb Sports Hall and Fitness Suite, new accommodation for Art and Design and refurbished accommodation for Design Technology and Science. The most recent addition is the new Digital Arts room with its suite of Apple Macs.  A new laboratory was recently created following the re-organisation of the Science prep rooms.

In Years 7 to 11 the school aims to provide a broad, balanced, relevant and differentiated curriculum embracing the requirements of the National Curriculum.

In Year 7 students follow an innovative “Literacy Curriculum” based upon Literacy and Thinking Skills.  The core subjects, English, Mathematics and Science, are taught as normal;  other subjects are grouped into the following areas:  People and Places, Food and Fitness and Art and Design.  All student study Literacy/Thinking Skills for five periods a cycle (in addition to English).

In Year 8 students follow a more traditional pattern of subjects, though Literacy is retained in the bottom set.

In Key Stage 4 a broad core is maintained.  All students study English, Mathematics, Science, Physical Education, RE, ICT, Careers and Personal and Social Education.   Most study a Technology subject and about half study a Modern Foreign Language but some follow other courses.  In addition students follow option choices chosen from a range of disciplines.

The Sixth Form aims to provide a framework of diverse opportunities enabling individuals to achieve success in academic, personal and social development.  It is an important feature of Woodroffe and fully reflects the comprehensive nature of the school.

The Sixth Form curriculum is broad and flexible and allows students to develop programmes of study suited to their individual needs.  Courses include:  AS/A(A2) in Art, Design Technology, French, General Studies, Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Citizenship, English Literature, Geography, Geology, History, Music, Music Technology, Media Studies, Environmental Science, Theatre Studies, Photography and Psychology.

A programme of Personal and Social Education is organised in Year 7, and Years 8 to 11 follow a Citizenship Course.  In the Sixth Form there is a "Core" programme.  This  allows the Sixth Form to invite visiting speakers in to talk about topics which broaden their knowledge and support their General Studies examination.

In Years 7 and 8 students are placed in six forms/tutor groups of equal ability.  From Septmeber 2009  we will be setting Year 7 in two halves for Mathematics.

In Year 8 there is setting in bands within French and “deep” setting in Mathematics.  English is taught in mixed ability tutor groups throughout Key Stage 3.  In Year 9 there is “deep” setting in Mathematics and in-band setting in French and Science.

Students with Special Educational Needs are catered for through a programme of in-class support and withdrawal for specialist inputs.  Our aim is for them to retain an entitlement curriculum.

At Key Stage 4 all students study English, Mathematics, Science, Physical Education, RE, ICT, Careers and Personal and Social Education.  Additionally they follow three courses chosen from a range of subjects.  Approximately half take French and two others from Art and Design, Business Studies, Design Technology, Drama, Environmental Science, Geography, History, Spanish, GCSE PE and Applied Art.

A full and detailed report is issued for each student at least once a year.  This includes student self-assessments.  Other means of communication with parents include Progress Cards and parent-teacher meetings.  The school has a thriving PTA.

Woodroffe aims to provide a caring atmosphere in which stable relationships can be formed.  We operate a Year System for pastoral care, Heads of Years and Tutors rotating from Years 7 to 11.  We do, however, emphasize that the "academic" and "pastoral" elements of our work are inextricably linked!

We have a thriving student School Council, and an Alternative Council, both of which contribute a great deal to the work of the school. Woodroffe is committed to UNICEF’s Rights Respecting Schools agenda and was one of the first secondary schools in the country to achieve Level 1 of the RRS award.

Extra curricular activities are extensive.  Sporting and musical elements are strong, drama productions take place on a regular basis and there is an annual Art and Design Exhibition, Dance or Fashion Show and Cabaret.  The school has a Combined Cadet Force (Army, Navy and Air Force) and we operate the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and enter teams for the Ten Tors Expedition on Dartmoor.  For a full list of recent events look at our website on www.woodroffe.dorset.sch.uk.

Community links are fostered through a number of activities.  Students regularly participate in community events in town.  Sixth Formers undertake community service in a range of schools and residential homes, CCF Cadets support the Lyme Regis Remembrance Day Parade and musical groups are involved in concerts and other local events.  Members of the community are encouraged to come to school to contribute to Assemblies and a range of curricular activities. 

Following the recent OFSTED Inspection (March 2009), Woodroffe School was described as an outstanding school.  The first paragraph of the Inspector’s Report reads:

Woodroffe is an outstanding school. The improvement from good to outstanding
since the last inspection has been rigorously pursued by the headteacher, with
strong support from his senior team. The school has a very positive and friendly
ethos that focuses on developing the whole student. This is reflected in its very
strong commitment to equal opportunities and students’ outstanding personal
development. The innovative alternative school council is an example of how the
school engages its few disaffected and vulnerable students and they in turn
appreciate how hard the school has worked with them. This approach has resulted in
a very harmonious school community, with excellent relationships reported by staff
and students alike. As one parent commented, ‘Behaviour and conduct are excellent;
this school turns out a well-rounded well-adjusted pupil. I can’t fault it’. Care and
support are truly outstanding and have long been strengths of the school. The school
has been working hard on bringing academic outcomes up to the exceptionally high
standards of personal outcomes. Academic guidance through target setting, feedback
and intervention is now good overall.

Lyme Regis and District is a delightful area in which to live and work.

Further details about the school, including a prospectus, can be obtained from Mrs. Gilly Warr, Administration Manager, (Tel: 01297 442232, Fax: 01297 444762, email: gilly.warr@woodroffe.dorset.sch.uk).

Richard Steward
Headteacher