The Woodroffe School

The Woodroffe School
Address
Map
Uplyme Road

, ,
DT7 3LX

England
Coordinates50°43′48″N 2°56′56″W / 50.730°N 2.949°W / 50.730; -2.949
Information
Former nameLyme Regis Grammar School
TypeFoundation school
MottoAlma Mater
"Boldness and Constancy"
Established1923
FounderAlban J. Woodroffe
Local authorityDorset
Department for Education URN113901 Tables
OfstedReports
HeadmasterDaniel Watts
Staff100
GenderCoeducational
Age11 to 18
Enrolment1058
Capacity1050
Colour(s)  Blue
  Red
  Light Blue
Websitewww.woodroffe.dorset.sch.uk
Map

The Woodroffe School is a comprehensive school in Lyme Regis, Dorset, England.

Lyme Regis Grammar School

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From 1923 to 1971 the school was known as Lyme Regis Grammar School.[1][2] It was the brain-child of Alban Woodroffe [Wikidata] a prominent local landowner and educationalist who in 1922 supervised the construction of the original building on the hillside site overlooking the harbour town of Lyme Regis.

For the first forty years, the school was a small mixed grammar school drawing students from a wide rural and coastal area of West Dorset and East Devon. In 1950, a decision was taken to add boarding houses to the school with strong links being formed with armed services parents and those working overseas. In 1963 the grammar school was reorganised into an 11–18 mixed comprehensive school grant serving 200 square miles or so around Lyme Regis. The school continued to take boarders, who were accommodated on three separate sites. In September 1991 became a grant-maintained school. Today[when?] there are 1,058 students on roll (sixth form 200); boarding has been phased out in line with the national decline in demand for places. The school assumed foundation status in September 1999.

Development between 1999 and 2010

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The school retained most of its grammar school facilities until 2010 when the school's swimming pool was closed and a number of former rooms were converted into computer 'IT' suites. There were plans drawn up in the late 1990s, following the closure of Allhallows, Rousdon, and other private schools in the area due (mainly to declining pupil numbers in these smaller schools), for newer buildings to be established on 'top pitch', but this never came to anything.[3] A number of the former huts on the site have been upgraded.

It was also during this time that the school receive arts college status. In 2011 a OFSTED inspection judged it 'Outstanding', the top mark.

Notable alumni

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References

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  1. ^ "Lyme Regis Secondary School, formerly Grammar School". nationalarchives.gov.uk.
  2. ^ "LYME REGIS GRAMMAR SCHOOL/WOODROFFE SCHOOL. 1923-1981". dorsetcouncil.gov.uk.
  3. ^ Local Lyme Newspaper, var. circ 1999
  4. ^ Anon (2017). "Denham, Rt Hon. John (Yorke)". Who's Who (online Oxford University Press ed.). Oxford: A & C Black. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U13465. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  5. ^ Anon (2017). "Leaver, Prof. Christopher John". Who's Who (online Oxford University Press ed.). Oxford: A & C Black. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U24069. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)