Newsletters

Dorchester News - 14th Nov 2025

Newsletter

14th November 2025

 

Dear Dorchester Families

It has been a busy week at school with Remembrance Assembly, Assessment Booklets, Individual and Sibling photographs and all the usual goings-on of school life. It has also been Anti-Bullying Week, which provides a useful reminder of something we talk about regularly in school - unkindness and bullying.

Growing up means learning how to communicate, negotiate, share, apologise and forgive. Children don’t always get this right—and that’s okay. Just as mistakes in maths or spelling help them learn academically, mistakes in friendships help them develop socially and emotionally. Falling out, misunderstanding each other, and saying the wrong thing are all normal parts of childhood.

We help children to understand the distinction between a moment of unkindness—something said or done in the heat of the moment—and bullying, which is when unkind behaviour is repeated, deliberate, and involves an imbalance of power. Both are taken extremely seriously, but it is important that children and adults understand the difference so we can respond in the right way.

Our aim at Dorchester is always to guide children in following our school values,  repairing relationships, building empathy, and learning from their experiences. Our aim is for them to develop the skills they need to be kind, thoughtful and caring young people.

Enjoy the weekend.

Cathy Bell
Headteacher

 

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Latest News

14 Nov 2025
No dogs on school grounds please.
For the safety and comfort of all our students, staff, and visitors, dogs are not permitted anywhere on the school grounds (except registered assistance dogs). Please help us keep our school environment safe by leaving pets at home when dropping off or collecting children. Thank you for your c...
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13 Nov 2025
UK Bebras Challenge run by the Raspberry Pi Foundation
A huge congratulations to all members of Buzz Club who have taken part in the UK Bebras Challenge run by the Raspberry Pi Foundation.  This challenge tests computational thinking and is designed to encourage logical thinking and problem-solving skills.  We'll get the results in a few w...
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13 Nov 2025
National General Knowledge Quiz Club
Well done to the 12 children in Years 3 - 6 who represented Dorchester Primary School in the National General Knowledge Quiz Club Heat this morning.  Our three teams did very well, coming 7th, 8th and 9th respectively. An extra congratulations to the children on Dorchester 1 as this team is...
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12 Nov 2025
Remembrance service 2025
It was wonderful to see so many of our Dorchester families at the Remembrance service last Sunday. From our own choir members to many Rainbows, Brownies, Cubs and Scouts. The choir sang beautifully and Sanaya read her poem with confidence. Thank you to everyone involved for representing Dorchester s...
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12 Nov 2025
Removal of services - Hearing screening in School
We have been informed that the NHS are no longer able to offer a school hearing screening service to the year 1 intake as they have done previously. Unfortunately, the service can no longer be supported without significant investment which is not available in the current economic climate...
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12 Nov 2025
Around the World day!
Join us on Monday 24th November from 3.15pm
Read more
11 Nov 2025
Flu vaccine for those aged 4 - 16 years
Flu community walk-in clinics for children (Reception- year 11) who have missed the flu vaccine (nasal and porcine free injection vaccine) at school.
Read more
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Friends of Dorchester School

 

Thank you to everyone who attended our quiz night last Friday - With your help we have raised over £700 - This is amazing and goes directly back to benefiting the children in school. Thank you to Freshfry on Vale Road, Worcester Park - The food was a big hit! Check them out for your next takeaway. 

We also have to thank our amazing parent who very kindly donated the prize of £120 - We really appreciate the support. 

Today we hosted a non-uniform day in exchange for a jar or bottle – Thank you for all the donations. If your child forgot to bring theirs in, please hand it over to their class teacher on Monday.

Reminder that on Friday 21st we will hold another non-uniform day - This time in exchange for an item for our hampers - Please hand in to your class teacher. Items to donate per year group are on the poster below. (Thank you to Ora for the amazing poster)

We are fast approaching the Christmas fair – as always, we are unable to run this without your support. Please find the sign-up sheet below; 

volunteersignup.org/C7XJE

Remember everyone who volunteers will be entered into a special separate raffle to win an amazing hamper. 

 

 

 

 We have been made aware of an error with Amazon & eBay while using easyfundraising, please ensure that your basket is empty prior to shopping, or it will not register the use of easyfundraising.

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

 

Thank you for your continued support.

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/share/1CuW7ZyKqf/ 

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Learning Highlights

& Peek of the Week

14 Nov 2025
Nursery: Can you sing your favourite nursery rhyme?
This week in Nursery we enjoyed World Nursery Rhyme Week. We joined in with the challenge to learn a new nursery rhyme each day. On Monday we learnt ‘Sing a Song of Sixpence, which many of the children did not know. We spoke about the blackbirds baked in the pie and then decided to make our ow...
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14 Nov 2025
Reception: Which Nursery Rhymes can you remember? Can you sing it?
There were so many highlights this week! We  had Nursery Rhyme Week and learnt 5 Nursery Rhymes AND, we met our Big Friends from Year 5 on Thursday afternoon. We are looking forward to joining them for more activities this year!
Read more
12 Nov 2025
Year 1: What are the signs of autumn?
Our highlight of the week was going on an autumn walk around the school grounds.
Read more
14 Nov 2025
Year 2: What does it mean to be significant?
This week in History, we had a great discussion about the word significant: A significant person is someone who has changed events in the time they lived; improved or worsened people’s lives; changed people’s minds/ ideas or had a lasting impact on a country or the world. We compar...
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13 Nov 2025
What are the human features of Venice, Stockholm and Barcelona?
This week we have been looking at the human features found in Barcelona, Venice and Stockholm. We learnt how each city has its own unique landmarks, such as Barcelona’s busy streets and famous buildings, Venice’s winding canals, and Stockholm’s colourful old town.
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13 Nov 2025
Where are volcanoes located?
This week, we learnt about where volcanoes, mountains and earthquakes are found around the world. We discovered that many of them are located along the edges of the Earth’s tectonic plates. By looking at world maps, we identified how these natural features are spread across different...
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11 Nov 2025
Year 5 - Where in the world is...?
This week has definitely been a week when we have learnt a lot about the countries in the world. We have been preparing for our Around The World day, where parents can come to travel around the world as they walk through school on 24th November. In Year 5 we have been learning about India, Indonesia...
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12 Nov 2025
What does this image tell us about the significance of chocolate to the Maya?
Food eaten by the Maya has occupied our thoughts in History this week. The children experienced Bartering as a means of acquiring the food they needed for a Maya family to eat, which proved by good fun and showed us some potential candidates for The Apprentice! Their negotiation skills were impressi...
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Safeguarding and Pastoral Care

14 Nov 2025
Cyberbullying Advice
For Parents - Cyberbullying Advice Children being bullied online, particularly in games and via messaging apps, remains one of the top concerns of many parents and their children. Internet Matters have a range of guides and articles to support parents and carers which I have listed below: T...
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13 Nov 2025
Age ratings
https://www.internetmatters.org/advice/apps-and-platforms/skills-building/capcut/      
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Lunch Menu

Our new Autumn menus are available here. 


Upcoming Events

To view the school calendar click here.

Non-uniform day for exchange of a bottle or filled jar
All Day
14
November
Non uniform day for exchange of a hamper item
All Day
21
November
Open evening for prospective parents
7:00pm – 9:00pm
27
November
FODS Christmas Fair
All Day
29
November
Donkey Visit
All Day
12
December
Open morning for prospective parents
9:30am – 11:30am
12
December
Nursery Children End of Term Today
All Day
18
December
Years R-6 Last Day of Term - School Closes
All Day
19
December
Christmas Holiday
All Day
from 22 Dec until 02 Jan
22
December