​We look forward to welcoming students and their parents and carers to our Post-16 Information Evening on Wednesday 1st December from 4:30pm.  Invitations and more information have been sent to parents and carers of our own Y11 students by email.  Applicants from other schools are of course also welcome to attend.  For more information see our website and email [email protected].

Several of our students attended the VIP launch of the Dartmoor Line on Wednesday 17 November, with Grant Shapps MP, Secretary of State for Transport. Along with children from St James CE Primary School, Okehampton Primary School, and guides and brownies from Okehampton, our students produced poetry, posters and bunting to celebrate the reopening of the line after almost 50 years!  The reopening also coincides with 150th anniversary of the railway first arriving in Okehampton in 1871, and the 70th anniversary of the creation of our beautiful Dartmoor National Park.

Our students enjoyed live music, travelling on one of the first trains out of Okehampton Station, delicious refreshments and received a goody bag!

From Saturday 20 November, public trains will be running from Okehampton to Exeter via Crediton; for the first time since 1972.

You can read the report on the launch in the Okehampton Times here.  For more information on the Dartmoor Line, including its history and campaign for its reopening, see GWR's dedicated Dartmoor Line website.  Best of all, watch the video from Devon Live capturing the launch day from the station and on board the train, including interviews with some of our students and staff.
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Huge congratulations to Callum (Arnlod), Tyler (Ellis), Lachlann (Hooper), and Rene (Lang) — all Y11 2021 alumni — who have been selected for Devon Rugby Under 18s squad for this year's county competition.  Good Luck for the season ahead!  We'll be watching and cheering you on!  (See Devon RFU's announcement here.)

Congratulations to Casey Plaskett in Y11, who qualified for and subsequently competed in the National Schools Equestrian Association Championship for Dressage last month. Casey picked up an 8th place, which is a fantastic result at championship level, competing against students from across the country. Well done Casey for representing our school at a championship event.

Three of our students were also part of qualifying teams this weekend at Duchy College. Imogen Gingell Y11, Ellie Garrett Y11 and Neve Webber Y7 have now qualified in dressage and show jumping for the riding clubs junior winter championships, which take place next spring.  Well done and good luck at the champs!

​Pictured are Imogen, Ellie and Neve at this weekend’s competition. 

We are very proud of Thomas Watts, 2021 Y11 alumni, whose wonderful design is now the official logo for GWR's Dartmoor Railway Line, which reopens next week after nearly 50 years. 

Mr Griffiths was delighted to attend the unveiling of Tom's design at Okehampton Station alongside his family, Joe Rowing Deputy Headteacher of Exeter Mathematics school (where Tom is now studying), GWR's Head of Strategic Service Development, Network Rail's Senior Sponsor, and a representative from Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership.

Tom said that "the silhouette of the walker in my logo represents me next year, doing Ten Tors with Exeter Maths School. It also represents the freedom given by the moors, welcome both during and after the restrictions of the pandemic."  

You can read more about Tom's logo and the Dartmoor line in GWR's official press release here, on the Dartmoor Line's website here, as reported in the Okehampton Times here, and as reported on Devon Live here.

​Our Young Climate Warriors Club organised for students to take part in the National Forest of Promises event today. Students made promises to the planet, as well as promises they’d like world leaders to make. This event, led by WWF, aims to raise awareness of climate change in schools during COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow. Okehampton’s leaves will be added to the national Forest of Promises and support the College action plan to help continue to reduce our impact on the planet.

We will be holding our AGM on Wednesday 20th October from 7pm to 8pm.  We would love to welcome new members even if you only have a small amount of time to offer.  Please come to the main reception area. If you are going to be late drop us a message and we will be there to meet you.  You may also wish to visit our dedicated Parents, Teachers and Friends Association Facebook page.

The inaugural Everything Okehampton Gala Weekend takes place on the weekend of 22-24 October, taking place at the College in collaboaration with Everything Okehampton and Okehampton United Charities.  (The weekend was a huge success, as reported here in the Okehampton Times.)

We very much look forward to welcoming prospective students and their parents, carers and guardians to our open evening on 29 September, and subsequent open mornings, which take place every Wednesday morning. 

​Follow the link below to book your place for the Evening slots.
https://okehampton-college-open-evening-ticket.eventbrite.co.uk
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Follow the link below to book your place on the moring tours.
https://okehampton-college-tour.eventbrite.co.uk
​(The moring tour is ONLY for parents that cannot make the evening)

We wrote to our students this morning, as they collected their GCSE results:

“When you receive your results today, remember, we are enormously proud of you. Our respect and admiration for the way you have overcome the genuinely extraordinary and at times gruelling challenges of your Y10 and Y11 cannot be overstated. You have been tested — in more ways than one — and have shown the character and resilience to complete your studies despite having to endure the disruption and uncertainty caused by this sickening pandemic. From the national lockdowns and school closures, the move to remote learning, the loss of much of our extra-curricular activities, the sudden requirements to self-isolate, having to adapt to the stringent safety measures in school… you have responded with commitment, maturity, patience, and compassion for others. And all this while you navigated your way through the emotional demands and pressures that the pandemic has invariably placed on us all.

We sincerely hope that you know your teachers recognise all that you have faced and, indeed, achieved. They have worked tirelessly and have been utterly, unswervingly committed to your success in these most extraordinary of times. They have been driven by their ambition for you, by their determination to ensure that you could benefit from the best opportunities to learn, to show what you have learned and, moreover, to ensure that you were offered fair outcomes for your progression. As a staff, we have been privileged to witness your development into the remarkable young people you are. So, we will say it unashamedly again, we are proud of you.”

Whilst there have been some exceptional individual successes, we are incredibly proud of and excited for all our students. 15 students achieved the highest grades, 9-7 or equivalent in all their subjects, with 8 students achieving grade 9 in over half of their subjects. Over 20% of all grades awarded were grades 7 or above, and over 50% of all grades awarded were grades 5 and above. More than 3 in every 5 students achieved grades 9-5 in at least 5 subjects, and half of our students achieved grades 9-5 in at least 5 subjects including English and mathematics. Over 4 in every 5 students achieved grades 4 and above in at least 5 subjects. Many results also illustrate the truly remarkable progress several of our students have made over their time with us.
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The process we followed to arrive at their Teacher Assessed Grades this year was thorough and rigorous, and teachers worked incredibly hard — in extraordinarily challenging circumstances, with the support of our Dartmoor Multi Academy Trust family, against a backdrop of uncertainty and other coronavirus related pressures — to ensure that the grades students have achieved were based on our ‘fair, reasonable and carefully considered judgement of their performance across a range of evidence, on the curriculum content that they have been taught’.

We wrote to our students this morning, as they receieved their A Level and equivalent results:

“When you receive your results today, remember, we are proud of you. We cannot begin to express our admiration for the way you have faced down the extraordinary challenges that have come your way throughout Y12 and Y13, the resilience you have shown completing your studies through the pressures of a pandemic and the disruption and uncertainty that has come with it.  None of us had to face the kind of educational turbulence you have been forced to cope with: national lockdowns and school closures, remote learning, adapting to the necessarily stringent safety measures in school, intermittent and out-of-the-blue requirements to self-isolate — all at the same time as navigating your way through the emotional pressures that the pandemic has inevitably brought for us all.  But I hope you know that your teachers know and recognise this, and have worked tirelessly, diligently, and thoughtfully as a result to make sure that you had the best opportunities to learn given such extraordinary circumstances, that you had appropriate opportunities to show what you have learned and, moreover, to ensure that you are offered fair outcomes for your progression.  As one commentator has said of the entire profession, your teachers have gone the extra mile — and then a few.  Just like you.”

We are incredibly proud of and excited for our students.  Around 85% of students who applied to University have been offered their first choice places.  8 students achieved three A* grades and 1 in 5 students achieved three A*-A grades.  Many results also illustrate the truly remarkable progress several of our students have made over their time with us.
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The process we followed to arrive at their Teacher Assessed Grades this year was thorough and rigorous, and teachers worked incredibly hard — in extraordinarily challenging circumstances, with the support of our Dartmoor Multi Academy Trust family, against a backdrop of uncertainty and other coronavirus related pressures — to ensure that the grades students have achieved were based on our ‘fair, reasonable and carefully considered judgement of their performance across a range of evidence, on the curriculum content that they have been taught’

Dartmoor Multi Academy Trust are delighted to announce they will be welcoming a new Free School to its wider network of schools.

Following a successful bid to Devon County Council, the Trust will manage the new Free School presumptive for Devon, which will open in September 2022.

The Free School will be for learners with SEMH (social, emotional and mental health special needs) from the Mid Devon region who will be allocated places by Devon County Council in conjunction with the Trust. 

The new school will be located in Okehampton and have 40 places initially for Early Years to KS4 and will grow year on year up to 100 learners.

Dartmoor Multi Academy Trust is excited about welcoming the new free school into its community of family-oriented schools. As a MAT with a strong local identity, it is looking forward to using its strong local knowledge and strong local connections to support all young people – both within the Trust, in the wider area and in Devon as a whole – to reach the best possible outcomes.

The Trust is passionate not only about recognising and meeting needs in the region, but truly impacting the life chances of children and young people across Devon.

Dan Morrow, Trust Leader for Dartmoor Multi Academy Trust, said:
                                                                                                      
“DMAT is delighted to have been successful with this bid and we are thrilled that such an important entitlement for our children and communities will be within the DMAT family. This will help us on our journey to be the transformational offer that we know our families so richly deserve.  As part of our Trust, the new free school will impact positively not just on the learners and young people who access it, but the schools, and communities from which they are drawn. We’re excited to get this process underway and continue to positively expand our family of schools.”

If you are aged 13-17 and interested in joining the Okehampton Volunteer Police Cadets, register your interest by emailing [email protected].