Lyme Regis: Woodroffe awarded Teaching School status (From Bridport and Lyme Regis News)
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Lyme Regis: Woodroffe awarded Teaching School status
11:00am Wednesday 25th April 2012 in Lyme Regis By Rene Gerryts
Woodroffe School headteacher Dr Richard Steward
SUCH is the excellence of Woodroffe School in Lyme Regis it has been awarded Teaching School status – one of only 200 in the country.
Head, Dr Richard Steward, said it was an outstanding achievement to be chosen out of around 27,000 schools nationwide.
He said: “I am absolutely delighted that The Woodroffe School has been awarded Teaching School status. This is a real accolade and one that is richly deserved by the school’s staff and students.”
He added: “You have to be an outstanding school, you have to have grade one for teaching and learning, you have to have a head who is a national leader in education, you have to show you have supported other schools and have a pretty good examination record.”
Its new status means Woodroffe will be working very closely with Exeter University on their graduate teacher programme and will have more placements for graduate teachers at the school.
The school can also offer staff training for its own and other schools’ staff so there is more support for new teachers, those in their first five years and leadership and head teacher training.
Dr Steward said: “Staff from here will go out to other schools that are not doing so well.
“It is the school as a centre of excellence using its skills to support others.”
The status comes with a £60,000 grant in the first year, £50,000 in the second and £40,000 in the third.
Dr Steward added: “The idea is that we build up a portfolio of courses that we can charge for.”
Steve Munby, chief executive of the National College, said: “Teaching schools like The Woodroffe School need to be at the top of their game to take on this role – outstanding in their own performance and have a track record of raising standards through school-to-school support.
“We now have teaching schools around the country who are in a position to harness the finest teaching talent in the profession to drive school improvement in innovative ways and bring real benefits to pupils and staff.
“Trainees can learn from the best teachers in action.”
