& DofE Ten Tors LEGO CLUB

The Gryphon School Lego Club has just agreed on its third Lego project. After building a 6ft mosaic of the school’s Gryphon Logo, now hanging in the Conference Centre entrance, and then building a Lego model of Sherborne Abbey, which now sits proudly in the Abbey itself, members have decided (with a little help from Mr Cooke) to build a model of Sherborne Old Castle. Keeping our project local and hopefully useful, the community was an important part of the choice. However, the Lego Club want to build Sherborne Old Castle as it was in its heyday, ramparts, draw bridge, soldiers and all. The keen builders in the Club want to build it in minifigure scale – more on that in later articles as we are still in the planning stage!

We estimate it will cost over £4,000 but we have already raised a considerable amount towards the project thanks to Sherborne Abbey and the Fabulous Foundation. Other bids for funds to buy thousands of Lego bricks are in, but the Club would welcome any sponsors or donations of Lego, especially Lego castle pieces or knights. We don’t how long it will take, Sherborne Abbey took the Club 5 years as Clara pointed out at the last year 6 open evening, but we will keep you updated along the way.

The Gryphon School’s DofE and Ten Tors programme has gone from strength to strength over the last seven years. Despite the pandemic, numbers remain strong with nearly 60 students taking part in Bronze, 30 Silver and 30 for the Gold award. As they say in the Kevin Costner film, Field of Dreams – ‘If you build it, they will come’. And that is not just the students but also the grants.

Over the years (in no particular order) we have had grants from The National Lottery, Sherborne Castle County Fair, Rotary Club of Sherborne, Sherborne Castle Rotary Club, Yeovil Lions Club, Gryphon Foundation, Alpkit Foundation, John Thorton’s Young Achievers Foundation, Sherborne Chambers of Trade and Commerce, Chetnole Fair, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Tesco. We have just secured a large grant from the Phillip Barker Charity which will allow us to develop the programme and help other schools in SAST and the local area. We hope to be able to tell you more about it in the next issue. This new grant will help the Adventurous Training Programme by funding the training of more Mountain Leaders.

Not only do the students keep coming, but our volunteer pool keeps growing, training, and giving up their weekends to walk locally, on Dartmoor, across the New Forest, along the Purbeck Hills, all over the Brecon Beacons and through the Rhinog Mountains in Snowdonia. The volunteers are truly an amazing group and include staff, parents of students in the school, parents of students who have left the school, ex-pupils like Will (now a qualified Mountain Leader), willing volunteers, Mr Cooke’s friends (they are all friends now) and even family. Thank you all.

Ten Tors continues to grow, and again this year we are the largest state school in the Challenge. We have had many firsts over the years – First team to complete (2015), first all-female team (2018), first students to complete all three distances (2019), and first Year 9 students to complete 35 miles (2022). This year should see more firsts – with it being the first time we have entered 6 teams, but we are unlikely to see the first year Mr Cooke doesn’t get emotional as the teams finish – it is just the dust on Dartmoor!

The latest addition to our Adventurous Training Programme is the Sports Leaders Assistant Expedition Leader Award. Last year we ran the Level 2 qualification, but this year have decided to step up to the Level 3 qualification – with added CAT points for university. Eleven students have enrolled this year, meeting every Wednesday to learn about leadership, to go out with younger students as assistant leaders and to plan their own expeditions. We hope to update you on their, and everyone’s progress later in the year. DofE, Ten Tors and Sports leaders are for life, not just for school. The things students learn about will stand them in good stead for the future. We want all students to have the opportunity to experience the great outdoors and to believe in themselves.