Dear Dorchester Families,

It has been wonderful to welcome our new Nursery and Reception children this week. They are settling beautifully into the routines of school life and are already busy making lots of new friends—it is just lovely to see.

Higher up the school, Year 5 have celebrated Viking Day—thankfully without too much looting and pillaging! The children certainly looked the part and thought carefully about the historical artefacts that tell us what we know about the Vikings today. Indigo Class have also been out for their first swimming lesson, which went—well—swimmingly! We have also held trials for our netball team, although unfortunately we had to postpone the football trials due to the heavy rain on Tuesday.

Next Friday, 18th September, is Jeans for Genes Day. In return for a £1 donation per child, children may come to school wearing jeans or denim on their bottom half, with their usual school uniform on the top half. If your child has PE on Friday, please make sure they wear something suitable for taking part—loose-fitting jeans should be fine—or bring their PE shorts or jogging bottoms to change into.

Each child should bring £1 in cash to hand to their class teacher, although larger donations are, of course, very welcome. The money raised will help thousands of families across the UK who are living with genetic conditions by funding specialised care, dedicated nurses and vital equipment. As we have children within our own school community who are living with genetic conditions, this charity is especially important to us. Thank you in advance for your support—and what a great excuse for adults to wear double, or even triple, denim on the school run that day!

Advance notice that our Harvest Festival assembly will be held on Thursday, 1st October. We will be asking for donations for Sutton Foodbank to support local families in need. Our families who are able to contribute are always incredibly generous, and this is greatly appreciated by the Foodbank team.

Please look at the news article below to see the specific items the Foodbank most needs this year and, if you are able, add an extra item to your “big shop” over the next couple of weeks.

Have a lovely weekend.

Cathy Bell
Headteacher