Department for Education visit
We were delighted to welcome Dame Kate Dethridge, the DfE Regional Director for the South East region and the Assistant Director, Sara Brattan to Arbour Vale School on Tuesday 7th November. They visited classes, spoke to pupils and staff and met Pepper, the therapy dog. She also heard about collaborations with local schools and the Local Authority and how the school is supported by the Trust, OHC&AT.
Dame Kate was welcomed to the school by Tom, one of our secondary students, who was dressed as Winston Churchill in his smartest suit and bowler hat, which he had worn for World Book Day. After speaking to Tom, Dame Kate met with other members of the pupils’ School Council and she was pleased to hear that most of the suggestions put forward by the council are agreed to by the school leadership team.
The group dropped in on ICT club who have been working with green screens and were learning how to change the background on photos they had shot. The party then visited Weymouth class, one of the PMLD groups, before going into the sports hall to observe a lunchtime basketball session being run with the help of Sports Leaders from Beechwood School, the secondary school next door to Arbour Vale.
They also visited the lunch hall before visiting Primary pupils in Windsor class. The visit finished with Dame Kate meeting with Neil Sykes, the Principal, Dr John Wise, the chair of governors and John Prior, the CEO of Orchard Hill College Academy Trust.
Neil Sykes, said: “It was a great honour to host Dame Kate and Sara from the Department for Education. We were delighted to be able to showcase the excellent work that goes on at Arbour Vale School and to tell her about the collaborative partnerships we are working with other local schools.”
