November 2011 Issue - The Woodroffe School

The second Inter-schools Cross
Country Championships took
place at Budmouth in torrential rain
on 9 th November. Woodroffe results
were outstanding with the Junior
Boys and Senior Girls both winning
the team events. There were some
superb individual performances as
shown above. These were even an
improvement on the excellent results
last week at Colfox.
Top Places Secured in Cross-Country
Year 7 Girls Junior Girls (Year 8/9) Senior Girls (Year 10/11)
Tamsin Edge 1 st Abi O’Leary 9 th Layla Felgate 1 st
Somer Horsfield 9 th Florence Swan 12 th Abi Dare 3 rd
Hope Horsfield 16 th
Mollie Hansford 5 th
Abi Speake 6 th
Lydia Clapp 7 th
Georgia Down 11 th
Mr A R Brown
Year 7 Boys Junior Boys (Year 8/9) Senior Boys (Year 10/11)
Oliver Caute 2 nd Henry Riddle 2 nd Jack Videan 4 th
Lewis Pearson 3 rd Ross Scadding 3 rd Joshua Caute 5 th
Devon Wellman 6 th Kieran Yorke 4 th Reuben Heeler-Frood 13 th
Ollie Achieves Gold!
The School is very proud of the
achievements of our 2009-10
Head Boy. Ollie Rice, has achieved his
ultimate goal, a Duke of Edinburgh Gold
Award. He started his journey at The
Woodroffe School and completed his
final award earlier this year. In an email
to Mrs Vincent, Ollie said: “I have done
it! I went to St. James Palace today to
Oliver Browne 11 th
Angus Staples 15 th
Henry Bartlett 25 th
Iain Ross 6 th
Henry Felgate 12 th
Jack Ratcliff 28 th
Oli Pennington 31 st
Bryn Davis 41 st
collect my Gold Award Certificate. It was
a brilliant day and getting to meet and
speak to HRH the Duke of Edinburgh
really was the icing on the cake,
although it feels so strange to have
completed the Award after it was part of
my life for quite a long time.
“I just wanted to send you this email to
say a massive thank you for all of the
hard work that you and Mr Vincent put
into helping complete the D of E’s at all
levels but especially at Gold with there
being a lot of happy memories. I also
wanted to thank you for the constructive
criticism you gave on the expeditions
and I have definitely taken the things
you said on board.
“I feel like I have come in full circle in
terms of D of E as with the ACF I will
soon be going on a course to manage
the Award within the Platoon here in
Bath, I have to say I’m looking forward
to others enjoying the award as much as
I did.”
New Parent Governor Announced
We are delighted to announce that
Mr Jon Oates was recently elected
in the Parent Governor Ballot. Jon is a
Chartered Structural Engineer working
from his own practice near Hawkchurch
and has four years’ previous experience
working as a Parent Governor at his
daughter’s primary school on the
building and finance committees.
Jon commented on his election,
saying, “I am looking forward to the
interaction with the school and hope
that my contribution over the next four
years will be instrumental in helping to
maintain the extremely high standards of
the body I am about to join.”
We would also like to extend our thanks
to all the other candidates for their
participation and continued support.
Mock Bar Trial, 12th November
smartly attired group of sixth
A formers participated in the regional
heats of the Bar National Mock Trial
Competition at Plymouth Crown Court
on 12 November. They defended cases
against Queen Elizabeth Academy
Trust (Credition) and Truro College and
prosecuted against Devonport High
School for Girls. The event is organised
by the Citizenship Foundation.
In preparation for the event the group of
15 had spent two months studying the
cases and preparing for their parts.
Jack Keenan made a very convincing
defendant – charged with the robbery
of a building society and driving the
getaway car in the first case and a
student accused of assault in the
second. His defence lawyers, a terrier
like Tasmin Fowler and calm calculated
Tom Clarke did an excellent job.
Tasmin’s confident summing up
speeches to the jury were remarkable
considering she had celebrated her 18 th
birthday the evening before, with many
of the other participating members!
James Dunford and Jo Hillier
thoughtfully questioned their witnesses
asking some difficult questions as
prosecuting barristers. Jo in particular
had the defendant’s father squirming in
the witness box.
Charlie Taylor carried out her duties
as court usher most efficiently and Ed
Firman made an excellent court clerk.
Finlay Prescot, Duncan Love and
Lucy Caton expertly played the part of
witnesses. Lucy’s portrayal of a junior
clerk who had witnessed the robbery
was firm and she responded resolutely
to some challenging questions.
Duncan’s knowledge of and interest in
fashion clothing was a revelation. It was
Finlay’s dodgy past, in his role as Jack’s
father that resulted in Jack being found
guilty. We hope Jack’s sentence won’t
be too severe.
Harvey Werb, Megan Vincent-Pearsall,
Holly Dascombe, Jenny Baker and
Nichola Williams concentrated well in
their roles as jury members gaining
much from the experience.
The judges commented favourably on
the performances of all participants.
Each of the cases was presided over
by a practising barrister. They are most
professional and provide some excellent
feedback on their role, the expectations
of the jury and the operation of the legal
system and courts.
The team is grateful to Mrs Cropp who
spent many hours helping them prepare,
understanding the workings of the crown
court and instilling some confidence in
them whenever they had self doubt.
Also a big thank you to Mr John Riley
(a district judge from Bridport) who
kindly gave his time to help the team
prepare and also provided great support
attending the event itself. Also to his
wife Christine for bringing some tasty
treats so no one got hungry.
Mr J R Thomas