The Wensleydale School PTFA

14/12/2025

One more week to buy tickets for the pupil's Christmas Raffle, great prizes to be won. School Leaders selling tickets during break and lunchtimes all week. Raffle drawn on final day of term.

11/12/2025

Amazing news!
New raffle prize.
Elite Squad Laser Tag, Bellerby
Voucher for 6 players
Incredible prize, thankyou for the donation

10/12/2025

FOWS have organised a raffle for the pupils to have in school. All prizes are suitable for the pupils or they could gift them as Christmas presents. 20p a ticket, £1 a strip.
Thankyou to the following local businesses who donated prizes, we really appreciateyour support:
Gilsan Sports
Up to Scratch
Hewsons
Lambert's
Milners of Leyburn
Campbell's of Leyburn
Coop
House and Home
Savoy cinemas
Donations from FOWS & staff
If any other local businesses wish to donate please get in touch.

21/11/2025

Please sign up to the free app to support us in fundraising for our school. Every new supporter will raise £2 for our cause by just signing up. Then you can raise more when you start your Christmas shopping! FOWS and The Wensleydale School appreciate your support. Thank you.

You can raise a free, bonus £2 donation for a cause you care about if you sign up to support them via our app this November. Watch to learn how!Get our app: ...

12/11/2025

Good evening, thanks to everyone who joined Friends of Wensleydale School (FOWS) meeting tonight. Some great fundraising ideas discussed. More information coming soon!

18/02/2025

Rabbits and Russians...what do they have to do with this Wensleydale landmark? If you've ever driven from Aysgarth to Hawes, you'll have seen Lady Hill on the right hand side going towards Hawes.

The distinctive round hill rises from the River Ure flood plain below, with a crown of trees. The hill is really a drumlin, a perfect half-buried egg shape formed by a moving glacier. The Scots pine trees which top the hill were planted to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.

Look closer and you'll also see there's a tumbledown wall around the hill. Was this just a fanciful endeavour by a landowner to clear the surrounding land? Why did the trees need to be fenced in? According to local stories, the wall was built thanks to the Normans and the last Russian Czar...

"Curiouser and curiouser", I hear you say. And actually you'd be right - there's a rabbit connection too.

We can thank the Normans for bringing rabbits to Yorkshire, where they were bred for food and fur. Silver-haired rabbits were particularly prized for their fur. It's said that local game dealer Frank Sayer-Graham (who was responsible for the building of Aysgarth Rock Garden) made a good living from breeding and selling silver-haired rabbits to line car coats. He may even have supplied the last Czar of Russia with rabbit furs.

The rabbits were bred and kept within a walled warren at the top of Lady Hill. The high wall supposedly prevented wild rabbits from interbreeding with the silver-haired ones and it was easier to catch rabbits from within a relatively small walled enclosure. The furs were probably carried off to eager buyers via the nearby Wensleydale Railway.

Photo: Guy Capenter

09/01/2025

We've already raised over £100 through Easy Fundraising, help us to keep building this total for The Wensleydale School & Sixth Form. Thank you to everyone who has supported us so far, we really appreciate it.

Help us when you shop with 7,000+ brands. Join now.

08/01/2025

Wensleydale School calendars available to buy at the school office between 9am and 3.30pm. Hewsons or Wonky Tree Bookshop have also kindly agreed to stock the calendar so you can pop in there too to buy a copy. £7.50 each and all funds go towards supporting our pupils at Wensleydale School. We appreciate your support.

Wensleydale School Calendar available to buy for £7.50 each. Please purchase via Parent Pay. Pupils have created artwork based on North Yorkshire landmarks. Here is a taster from the calendar. Limited number available. Would make a great Christmas gift for family and friends.
The Wensleydale School & Sixth Form