Welcome to the latest edition of Rough Notes, thank you for taking the time to read our monthly publication.
As we head towards the Christmas break, I would like to take the opportunity to thank our community for their ongoing support, it is very much appreciated.
Our students continue to bounce back with confidence following the disruption of the past two years at the hand of the pandemic. It has been great to see them continuing to enjoy some of the wider curricular opportunities on offer. Our students have enjoyed success in the sporting arena and continue to engage in the choir and orchestra opportunities on offer, with the hope that we might be able to deliver a Christmas concert.
It is important that we can continue to offer these wider experiences. During the last two pandemic hit years, students have missed out on some of the opportunities that help to make the educational experience special. We continue to work hard to address this where we can.
On Thursday 25th of November, we welcomed former headteacher turned author, Gary Toward to the school. Across the day, he delivered presentations about his work as an author and then ran a session for some of our most talented young writers. Once school was closed to students for the day, Gary acted as our first keynote speaker at the Jurassic Coast Teacher Network TeachMeet event. Staff from Woodroffe were joined by educational professionals from across the region to listen to Gary’s words of wisdom and share their experiences. However, I am sure the big draw of the evening was the ‘chip butties’ on arrival!
As I mentioned earlier, we have enjoyed much success in the sporting arena. The boy’s rugby teams have won titles at Year 10, Year 9 and Year 7, with other year groups continuing to put in quality performances. Our girl’s football teams have progressed to the next round of their respective competitions and our netball teams continue to be very competitive at all age groups. Oscar and Mia both won their respective cross-country races at area events with brilliant individual performances and Lucca in Year 11 displayed great sporting behaviour when he approached the finish line in the area cross-country and the boy in front slipped and lost his shoe. Lucca stopped, helped him, and allowed him to finish ahead. He could have gone on but showed real character.
Ella in Year 10 won silver at the recent Southwest regional gymnastics’ championships and in the British Championships for Acro Gymnastics, Devon became national champions in the Grade 5 Men's 4 competition, Catie won a silver medal in the 11-17 Women's Pair event, Oscar won a silver medal in the 12-19 Men's Pair event, Ella finished fourth in the 11-17 Women's Pair event. What a talented bunch we have!
On Saturday 13th November our 6th Form Ten Tors teams began their practice with a short walk to Eype’s Mouth and back over Golden Cap. They were joined by some very game staff who enjoyed the walk too! We are looking forward to following their progress leading up to the event in May 2022.
On Monday 15th November, all staff participated in a training session ran by Mel at Space Youth Project surrounding LGBTQ+ support for students and young people. The session was excellently delivered and appreciated by all.
Our young carers were given an opportunity to attend a drama production in Bridport entitled ‘Who Cares’ delivered by Lung Theatre on the 12th of November. The feedback was incredible, and we are delighted to have been able to provide some much-needed support for our young carers.
I hope you enjoy our latest edition of ‘Rough Notes’. Should you wish to find out more about our school, news, or events, please visit the school website which I am sure you will find useful. In addition, for regular updates, why not look at our social media outlets:
The Woodroffe School Headteacher can be found on Twitter - @HeadteacherTws
The Woodroffe School can be found on Twitter - @WoodroffeSchool
The Woodroffe School on Instagram – woodroffeschooldorset
Best wishes,
Dan Watts
Headteacher