The Woodroffe School Explained

The Woodroffe School
Former Name:Lyme Regis Grammar School
Coordinates:50.73°N -2.949°W
Motto:Alma Mater
"Boldness and Constancy"
Established:1923
Type:Foundation school
Head Label:Headmaster
Head:Daniel Watts
Founder:Alban J. Woodroffe
Address:Uplyme Road
City:Lyme Regis
County:Dorset
Country:England
Postcode:DT7 3LX
Local Authority:Dorset
Ofsted:yes
Urn:113901
Staff:100
Enrolment:1058
Capacity:1050
Gender:Coeducational
Lower Age:11
Upper Age:18
Colours: Blue
Red
Light Blue
Module:
Stroke-Color:
  1. C60C30
Marker:school
Marker-Color:
  1. 1F2F57
Zoom:10

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

Lyme Regis Grammar School

From 1923 to 1971 the school was known as Lyme Regis Grammar School.[1] [2] It was the brain-child of 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 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

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

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Lyme Regis Secondary School, formerly Grammar School. nationalarchives.gov.uk.
  2. Web site: LYME REGIS GRAMMAR SCHOOL/WOODROFFE SCHOOL. 1923-1981. dorsetcouncil.gov.uk.
  3. Local Lyme Newspaper, var. circ 1999