Newsletters

Dorchester News - 27th March 2026

Newsletter

27th March 2026

 

Dear Dorchester Families,

We have had a wonderful last week of term, celebrating Spring with beautifully decorated bonnets and joyous singing yesterday. This morning, we reflected on the Christian meaning of Easter and the events of Holy Week. This is such a special time for Christians, and there are many services and events taking place at our local churches. All the details can be found in the news article below if you and your children would like to attend.

It has been music to our ears to hear that the government is beginning to issue guidance for very young children on what might be appropriate screen time. Sadly, a few children in school have told me that they intend to spend the entire holiday gaming. Whilst I am sure this is not the reality, if you are finding it a challenge to limit screen time, you might find the following helpful:

  • Agree a daily screen time limit with your child at the start of the holiday, and try to include some completely screen-free days.
  • If you are going away on holiday, consider leaving devices at home.
  • Set a good example—take a moment to review your own screen time too!
  • One of the concerns with excessive screen use is that children miss out on other activities that support their development. Try to get out and about: go on nature walks, set up obstacle courses, visit a museum or art gallery, build a den, go bird watching or make a DIY bird feeder, paint hard-boiled eggs for Easter, create a sock puppet show, draw a comic strip, make some spring nest cakes… and, of course, read.

Whatever you are doing, we hope you have a wonderful break and wish all those who celebrate a happy and joy-filled Easter.

School reopens to children at the normal time on Monday 13th April. If the weather allows, children may return wearing summer uniform. Our uniform list is available here: https://www.dorchesterprimary.com/page/?title=Uniform&pid=62. Please double-check the requirements for your child’s age group before purchasing any new items.

With many thanks for your continued support.

Cathy Bell
Headteacher

{item_alt_tag}

Latest News

27 Mar 2026
Summer Clubs
Summer clubs will be announced and open for bookings on the first week back after Easter. In the meantime, please see external club details below;
Read more
27 Mar 2026
Year 3 Easter experience
Year 3 had a wonderful time on their trip to the Local Easter Experience! The children spent the morning taking part in a range of fun activities and learning about the meaning of Easter. The behaviour of Year 3 was excellent throughout the trip and they represented the school brilliantly. W...
Read more
27 Mar 2026
Year 6 D&T
Year 6 had an exciting D&T Day designing and building playground models that met a detailed set of specifications. They developed new skills throughout the process and brought their ideas to life, creating impressive models that not only worked brilliantly but also exceeded expectations...
Read more
27 Mar 2026
Top of the form, Success!
  Congratulations to our top of the form team - They successfully beat St Mary's 72 - 55 and are through to the Semifinals. Well done to you all.     
Read more
27 Mar 2026
New Summer Menu
Please see below, new Summer menu from Olive Dining.    
Read more

{item_alt_tag}

Friends of Dorchester School

 

  •    

 

 

 

The reading challenge has been extended to cover the Easter Holiday - you can send money in during or after the Easter Break. 

 

We hope World Book Day has provided opportunities to celebrate reading and your children’s favourite stories.  To continue the love of reading, we are today launching a sponsored reading challenge to encourage reading and help the school provide more books. 

The project is being organised in conjunction with our local Usborne Partner, Mandy West, and all the money raised will go towards brand new books for our school. 

In addition to the sponsorship money, Usborne will also donate up to 60% of the total raised in EXTRA FREE BOOKS to the school. So for every £600 raised, the school will get an extra £360 in FREE Usborne books!

Please help us to enhance the school’s reading resources for pupils by encouraging your child to spend a small amount of time each day either reading to themselves, to others, or being read to. They can read books, comics, magazines, newspapers, menus, websites, recipes, poems, leaflets, instructions – anything with words! 

If you are able to support our sponsored read, please could you send donations in via BACS to the Friends of Dorchester School account (A/C No: 11783370, Sort code: 60-24-28) or in an envelope to your child’s class teacher including their name and class. All children will be reading in school and we have emailed a grid with some fun reading ideas to use and a sponsorship form.  All children taking part will receive a certificate of participation after the event.

There will be extra break time for the class with the most participants!

We look forward to lots more books for your child to read, share and enjoy.

Happy reading,

Friends of Dorchester School

 

 

 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/ 

https://www.instagram.com/friendsofdorchesterschool_pta?utm_source=qr&igsh=MnplMHZnN3c3cHRi

 

Local events and clubs

27 Mar 2026
Sutton Ecology Centre Easter Holiday Activities
       
Read more

Learning Highlights

& Peek of the Week

27 Mar 2026
Nursery: What happened to Jesus in the Easter story?
This week in Nursery, we have been learning about Easter and how Christians celebrate Easter. We have learnt about the Easter story in the Bible; starting with Palm Sunday, this is when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and people, waved palm leaves. We made our own palm leaves to wave in celebr...
Read more
27 Mar 2026
Reception: Can you tell your family the story of the first Easter?
This week we learned the Easter Story. We retold the story of Jesus arriving in Jerusalem and made palm leaves which we waved as the people would have waved as he arrived. We learned about the last supper and we had bread and wine (blackcurrant squash) as we re-enacted the Last Supper. The children...
Read more
27 Mar 2026
Year 1: How did we make our spider sculpture?
In Art this half term, we have been learning about 3D sculptures. The children enjoyed making a class spider sculpture based off of Louise Bourgeois ‘Maman’ Sculpture. The children used the skills of rolling to create the sculpture out of paper and then painted it to look like a spider...
Read more
24 Mar 2026
Year 2: What have you learned about toys?
Throughout our topic, the children have explored the history of toys, including the earliest types, the materials from which toys are made, notable toy manufacturers such as Ruth Handler and Mattel, and the reasons behind the changes in toy materials over time. How much of this information can th...
Read more
26 Mar 2026
What do you remember about the Easter Story?
Year 3 have had a brilliant half term and have worked hard across the whole curriculum. We are very proud of the effort and enthusiasm they have shown in all areas of their learning. They have particularly enjoyed learning about maps and different biomes, and have really impressed us with how muc...
Read more
26 Mar 2026
What have you enjoyed learning about this half term?
   
Read more
24 Mar 2026
Year 5 - How can we use apparatus to practise balance and travelling skills?
As part of our PE lessons, Indigo Class have had a great time swimming, making all staff proud of their achievements. Sapphire and Blue classes have been learning about balances and ways of travelling using the big PE apparatus. The wall bars, tables and benches gave us lots of challe...
Read more
27 Mar 2026
What was the best part of your DT Playground model?
Our DT project has been hugely successful this week, and we were particularly proud of the way the children worked together so well. Collaboration is a key pillar underpinning our curriculum at Dorchester, and it was wonderful to see the children working well at both their DT skills and at work...
Read more

Safeguarding and Pastoral Care

20 Mar 2026
Online Safety March
Virtual Private Network A Virtual Private Network (VPN) helps make your connection between a device and the internet more secure and can help protect personal information and add privacy. However, whilst a VPN has benefits, it is important that you are aware that if your child is using a VPN, the...
Read more

Lunch Menu

Our new Summer menus are available here. 


Upcoming Events

To view the school calendar click here.

Good Friday
All Day
03
April
Easter Monday
All Day
06
April
Children return to school
All Day
13
April
Sapphire Class Assembly
9:00am – 9:30am
24
April
Indigo Class Assembly
9:00am – 9:30am
01
May
Polling Day - School partially closed to all year groups except Year 6
All Day
07
May
Polling Day - School closed to all children except Year 6
All Day
07
May
Rose Class Assembly
9:00am – 9:30am
08
May
Topaz Class Assembly
9:00am – 9:30am
22
May
Half Term Break
All Day
from 25 May until 29 May
25
May