Four Woodley Primary Schools took to the kitchen recently for the annual Woodley Schools’ Bake-Off competition, held at The Bulmershe School

Budding bakers from Beechwood, Highwood, St Dominic Savio and Willow Bank Junior schools designed showstopping cakes at home and school, then came together to bake and decorate them from scratch.  The Year 5 children worked in pairs, supported by some fantastic Year 9 student Transition Leaders, and they showed great teamwork and perseverance, adapting to deal with any unforeseen issues. 

The children also undertook an icing task, set by Nicola Jolliffe from the Jolliffe Cake Company, where they created beautiful icing roses.  

Winners

Woodley Town Deputy Mayor, Cllr Juliet Anderson, Cllr Keith Baker and Nicola Jolliffe judged the competition and chose a pair from St Dominic Savio School as the overall winners with their wonderful creation, Pollination Sensation. However, they all agreed it was a very difficult decision as the standard of all the cakes was so high again this year.

School Challenge Days

The Bake-Off is one of four Challenge Days that Woodley’s local schools take part in throughout the year. They are designed to give children the opportunity to work with pupils from other schools on tasks that they do not get the chance to do in school.  

Woodley Town Council recently awarded a grant to the schools to cover the costs of the projects, for example, the ingredients for this recent Bake-Off, which enables the schools to take part.  

The Schools’ Cluster team look forward to being able to use this grant to provide more Challenge Days, so that children in all year groups can benefit.

Woodley Town Council awards Community and Youth Grants

At the recent Strategy & Resources Committee Meeting, on 23 January, the following grants were awarded by Woodley Town Council.

Community Grants

Friends of Woodford Park – £350 – To pay towards the cost of restocking shrubs and plants in the flower beds in Woodford Park. 

You can find out more about our partnership with the Friends of Woodford Park on our page about Woodford Park.

Youth Grants

• Arc Youth Counselling – £5000 – To pay towards the cost of providing ARC’s youth counselling service in schools.

• Promise Inclusion Limited – £2500 – To support the service, providing support for children and adults with learning disabilities and / or autism.

• First Days’ Children’s Charity – £5100 – To pay towards the charity’s costs to provide Woodley Toy Library, a mobile outreach service, one to one coaching, and access to essential items for vulnerable families.

• Home-Start Wokingham District – £5660 – To help fund the charity’s home visiting support service for vulnerable, disadvantaged and isolated families.

• Parenting Special Children – £2500 – To pay towards the charity’s provision of specialist support services to vulnerable families of children and young people with special educational needs, disabilities, and early life trauma. 

Our Grants

During the current financial year, Woodley Town Council has allocated funds to make the following grants:

• Community Grants – Up to £250, for community groups / organisations either based in or supporting residents of Woodley, to fund one-off costs such as specific projects or purchases.
• Individual Grants – Up to £100, for individuals under the age of 21 living in Woodley, excelling in sporting or cultural activities, to fund representation at county, regional, national or international events.
• Youth Grants – Up to £3,000 (although exceptions will be considered), for organisations, to assist and facilitate projects that reach, engage and support young people (those aged 21 and under) in Woodley.
• Annual Grants – No cap, for fully constituted ‘not for profit’ organisations either based in or supporting residents of Woodley, to fund annual running costs or specific projects.

Should you wish to apply for a grant, then full guidelines and application forms can be found on our Grants Page.