Welcome to the last edition of Rough Notes for 2022, where has the time gone? Thank you for reading our monthly publication, don’t forget to look out for them in the New Year.
The December 2022 edition is special, we have now produced our 100th Rough Notes.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many contributors over the years. The students and staff have provided a huge range of content from music performances to robotics, skiing to gardening club, maths challenge to sporting success and from beach profiles to creative writing and mock trials, to mention but a few.
The staff and students are the heart and soul of any great school. Our staff and students are brilliant, and they give us so many positives to celebrate, write about and share, I truly hope that you have enjoyed reading about their journey through school and beyond.
I would like to give special thanks to Mrs Coles for her work in collating the material that goes into each edition of Rough Notes. I would also like to thank Mr Neesam, without whom, it would not have been possible to produce such an inspiring and professional publication. Thank you both, you have brought great memories to the wider Woodroffe community.
Despite this being a short December in school, yet again, our students have been extremely busy. On Thursday the 15th of December we held our first carol concert since 2019 at St. Michael’s Church in Lyme Regis. The concert was fantastic, and it was lovely to see you there, joining in with the classic carols.
Our Head and Deputy Head prefects (Freddie, Tilly, Grace and Archie) supported my delivery of the Christmas Assembly where we looked at the Christmas story and linked it to the United Nations Convention On The Rights Of The Child (the child-friendly version can be found here: The Convention on the Rights of the Child: The children’s version | UNICEF). When we return in January, Mr Hennessy, working with a core group of students, will begin the process for accreditation under the Rights Respecting School programme. We look forward to seeing this develop over the coming months.
Our year 9 history students enjoyed a visit to the Tank Museum where they learned about the realities of armed conflict during WWII. The Tank Museum does fantastic work and helps to bring history to life, we are grateful for their continued support in further enhancing our curriculum.
Our sports teams have continued to play competitive fixtures against schools both near and far, and they have been successful too. Our girl’s rugby teams enjoyed a visit to Dorchester Rugby Club where coaches from Bath Rugby led a personalised development day. As well as the more established sports, we are now supporting students in a new indoor rowing club with the help of the Lyme Regis Gig Club and 6th Form students have enjoyed sessions with a martial arts instructor. Yet again, our cross-country runners performed on the big stage with several notable wins. A special mention to Oliver in year 9 who has been selected for the England Trampoline squad, a fantastic achievement. Congratulations to you all, you have been amazing.
We were delighted to host Loders CofE Primary School (all of them) to our first dance performance at Woodroffe. The students loved the opportunity to visit ‘big school’ and looked amazing in their synchronised dance. Mrs How has done an amazing job preparing the students for their performance, we look forward to further visits from local primary schools across the year.
Year 7 students enjoyed a visit to the traditional panto, oh no they didn’t I hear you cry but, they really did have a fantastic day out.
Over the Christmas break, we are supporting local families with food vouchers and Christmas hamper deliveries. We recognise that the current financial situation is tough and that Christmas can bring added pressure to families. Please speak to us if you would like us to look at providing support for you over Christmas. I would like to extend my thanks to Sue Davies at LymeForward for their continued support of our Christmas Hamper project, it is very much appreciated. For further information on the work of LymeForward, please follow the link below:
LymeForward - Providing vital support & improving wellbeing within Lyme Regis
We hope that our students get a well-earned rest over the Christmas period, it has been a long term for them all. It is important that students continue to attend well in the run-up to the Christmas break. Following three disrupted years, we want to ensure that all students have the best possible attendance and are working closely with families to make this happen. Below you will find some statistics that help to show the impact of missed time in school:
What does the percentage attendance mean?
As you will see opposite, even at 94% attendance, students will still have missed 50 hours of teaching by the end of the year.
I hope you enjoy the special 100th 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.
Thank you for your support over this term, it has been appreciated by us all at Woodroffe, we look forward to working closely with you in 2023.
Дякуємо за вашу підтримку протягом цього терміну, це було оцінено нами всіма в Woodroffe, ми з нетерпінням чекаємо співпраці з вами у 2023 році.
Wishing you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year,
Бажаю вам щасливого Різдва і щасливого Нового року,
Dan Watts
Headteacher