Newsletters

Dorchester News - 7th June 2024

Newsletter

7th June 2024

Dear Dorchester Families,

It has been lovely to welcome the children back to school this week and to hear all about their half-term adventures.  Lovely to have the sunshine back too.

Many of our Year 5 children have been away enjoying their first school residential visit this week.  They have been staying at Penshurst Place, near Tonbirdge in Kent - where they have been camping in the forest and practising all sorts of survival and Bushcraft skills.  It looks like they have had an amazing time and we are looking forward to welcoming them back later this afternoon.  If you would like to see more of what they have been up to, visit our (Year) Five Go Off To Camp page on our school website.

This week we also started our Adult Back to Netball sessions for parents, with 15 turning up to the first session.  Everybody thoroughly enjoyed themselves and I hear from Carol, our netball coach, that things were pretty competitive!  The sessions run on the school playground on Tuesdays from 6:30-7:30pm.  The sessions are for women of all abilities and levels of fitness and experience - whether you haven't played since school, have been out of action due to an injury or have never played before, these sessions are suited to everyone who is keen to give it a go.  Best of all, thanks to a successful bid for grant funding to offer this, the sessions are completely free of charge.  If you would like to give it a go, just turn up - no need to register in advance.

On Wednesday next week (12th June), a photographer will be in school to capture updated pictures of all we offer here at Dorchester Primary.  The photos will be used across our website and social media channels, as well as in printed materials such as our prospectus, new family induction packs etc.   We will, of course, only use children for whom we have the relevant photo permissions.  It would be great if all children could wear their uniform smartly that day, long hair is tied back, no jewellery etc so that we have the largest possible selection of children to photograph.  Thank you.

Have a lovely weekend.

Kind regards

Cathy Bell

Headteacher


News

07 Jun 2024
Dorchester's Biodiversity!
Jack, in Buttercup, made an extraordinary discovery this week - a beautiful stag beetle! We can see from the smaller mandibles (jaws) that this is in fact a female stag. What an amazing find! It just shows what a lovely environment we have here outdoors at Dorchester to attract such amazing wildlife...
Read more
04 Jun 2024
Roll Up! Roll Up! The Circus is in Town
We are thrilled to welcome Happy's Circus to the Sutton Education Trust this September.
Read more

Class Notes

07 Jun 2024
Nursery: What could be in the egg?
It has been a very busy first week back in Nursery.  On Thursday, we arrived to find a nest in one of our tuff trays and some giant eggs that had been laid. The children have all been using their mark making skills to make posters so that everyone knows that we cannot touch them. The children h...
Read more
07 Jun 2024
Reception: How do you make gingerbread biscuits?
The highlight for Reception this week has been the disappearance of two gingerbread men that were made for our Headteacher!  Find out about our adventures....
Read more
04 Jun 2024
Year 1: What coins and notes can you recognise?
Our highlight of the week was exploring our school grounds to see what plants we could find!
Read more
04 Jun 2024
Year 2: Where is Southern Africa?
This week we started our topic on Southern Africa. We located the continent of Africa, and looked at the countries in the Southern region. Countries commonly included in Southern Africa include Angola, Botswana, the Comoros, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Sout...
Read more
06 Jun 2024
Year 3: How did you make your 2D cardboard shapes stand up?
What a brilliant start to the new half term! Year 3 have all come back focused and ready to learn for our final half term. We have started a new writing unit where we will be looking at writing a biography about William Kamkwamba; the children have been amazed at his resilience and determinatio...
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06 Jun 2024
Year 4 - Do you think Henry should be allowed a divorce from Catherine of Aragon?
We have become detectives this week, finding the real reasons why Henry VIII wanted to divorce Catherine of Aragon. We are going to put these to good use over the next few weeks to write a newspaper article on the scandal that was the reformation - the beginning of the Protestant church...
Read more
07 Jun 2024
Year 5 Update Next Week...
With lots of children out on residential this week, and many other children doing loads of fun things in school, we will catch up with all the various different highlights from Year 5 next week!
Read more
06 Jun 2024
What surprised you from our Drugs Awareness/Mental Health talk?
Year 6 have had a visitor from the charity Narconon, who visit schools to deliver key information about the dangers of different types of drugs, including cigarettes, vapes, alcohol, caffeine in energy drinks etc. We also learnt about the reasons why some people decide to experiment and the effects...
Read more

Sports News

07 Jun 2024
Year 6 Cricket Competition
Though the whole team had a fantastic day, and made huge improvements throughout the matches, they did, sadly, lose all three of their games today. It takes real spirit and courage to keep your head up high in circumstances such as these, and huge credit to the team for maintaining their smiles...
Read more

FODS News

15 Mar 2024
How can you help with this year's Summer Fair?
Read more
07 Jun 2024
Tombola Donations
24th June will be non-uniform day and bottle donations are being requested for this please :) All details available on the poster!
Read more

SAVE THE DATE – Summer Fair on 29th June. We will once again be having external stalls, If you or someone you know would like to have a stall at the fair, please email us at dorchesterpta@gmail.com.

A big thank you to all parents & carers of Nursery, Reception, Year 1 & 2 for all your Father’s Day Shop donations, as well as Year 4 parents & carers for your cake donations & to those who volunteered to run the cake sale today. We couldn’t do these events without you. The next cake sale is on Friday 14th June, it will be year five’s turn to donate cakes & run the sale. Thank you for all your donations.

Volunteer opportunities for weekly cake sales are now open. Please click on the web link for your year group (or copy it into your web browser if clicking doesn't work) to go to the signup sheet:

Year 5: https://volunteersignup.org/E3CHH

To sign up, just follow the instructions on the page. It only takes a few seconds to do. Thank you for volunteering, all details of the upcoming cake sales can be found on the cake sale poster below.

We love to hear your feedback & suggestions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at dorchesterpta@gmail.com

We have so many exciting upcoming events for the children. Please see key dates below for full details. Thank you for all your donations & continued support.

Key dates:

Every day after school, ice creams will be for sale outside the hall. £1 each, don't miss out! (Closed on wet weather days)

Monday 10th June: Year's 3,4,5 & 6 Father's Day gift donation day in exchange for non-uniform.

Thursday 13th & Friday 14th June: Father’s Day Shop, Please pay on gateway. £2 per child.

Friday 14th June: Year 5's Cake sale, Year 5 parents & carers please leave all cake donations with your class teacher or the office in the morning. Thank you.

Monday 24th June: Bottle donations for the Summer Fair tombola in exchange for non-uniform.

Saturday 29th June: Summer Fair 12-3pm

Do you know about Your School Lottery? Dorchester Primary School is part of this fantastic lottery. This lottery has been set up specifically to raise money and make a difference for our children! It's a fantastic way to bring parents, carers, teachers, and the wider community together, in partnership with our school, and at the same time give something back. There are lots of amazing prizes to be won, your support is greatly appreciated, and we wish you good luck! To sign up or find out more information, please visit the website via this link: https://www.yourschoollottery.co.uk/lottery/school/dorchester-primary-school?fbclid=IwAR2UqkYQ4Yf79s9ZZul-tgcgLtJp9McVlXXqWutUrjklVom85O1EppaUonM

If you aren’t already, please follow us on Facebook where we keep you up to date on all things FODS! Find us at: Friends Of Dorchester School PTA

 

Safeguarding and Pastoral Care

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Are you worried about a child?
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-is-child-abuse/spotting-signs-child-abuse/

If you think a child could be at risk of significant harm, you can call the children's social care team at the council in Sutton (Go to their website)

020 8770 6001 (Monday to Friday, 9am and 5pm)     020 8770 5000 (out of hours)

Always call 999 in an emergency


Lunch Menu

Our summer menus are available here. 


Upcoming Events

To view the school calendar click here.

Early Years and KS1 Non Uniform Day - Fathers Day shop donations
All Day
07
June
Net4All Mums and Daughters (Years 4-6) Netball
9:30am – 10:30am
From 14 Jan and on Sunday each week except for 18 Feb
09
June
Key Stage 2 Non - uniform day - Fathers Day Shop donations
All Day
10
June
Boo Theatre KS2 Drama Club
3:15pm – 4:15pm
From 22 Apr and on Monday each week until 15 Jul except for 29 Apr, 06 May, and for 27 May
10
June
Reception Sports Day
9:15am – 10:15am
12
June
Year 5/6 Sports Day
9:15am – 12:00pm
14
June
Net4All Mums and Daughters (Years 4-6) Netball
9:30am – 10:30am
From 14 Jan and on Sunday each week except for 18 Feb
16
June
Boo Theatre KS2 Drama Club
3:15pm – 4:15pm
From 22 Apr and on Monday each week until 15 Jul except for 29 Apr, 06 May, and for 27 May
17
June
New Reception Parents Meeting
All Day
20
June
Year 5 Tchoukball Festival
1:30pm – 3:30pm
20
June
New Reception Parents Welcome Information Evening
7:00pm – 8:00pm
20
June
Borough Athletics (Large schools)
12:00pm – 3:30pm
21
June
Net4All Mums and Daughters (Years 4-6) Netball
9:30am – 10:30am
From 14 Jan and on Sunday each week except for 18 Feb
23
June
Non Uniform Day - Tombola Donations
0:30am – 1:30am
24
June
Boo Theatre KS2 Drama Club
3:15pm – 4:15pm
From 22 Apr and on Monday each week until 15 Jul except for 29 Apr, 06 May, and for 27 May
24
June