Dear Parents
Last week I sent out a Future Schools Guide – I hope parents found it useful, and it remains a significant priority for us here at Dumpton to support you, guide you and advise you with this process, as well as ensuring your children are well prepared to secure a place at their chosen school.
As part of our preparation for senior school assessments or scholarships, every child is given a chance to have a practice interview with myself or a member of the senior team. It is one of my most enjoyable jobs! I thought I’d share a particularly brilliant answer from one Y6 girl, who, when asked whether she thought workers were right to go on strike, said: “Well, I think that depends on your perspective. We might be frustrated that an ambulance hasn’t arrived to help us, but what about the ambulance paramedics whose pay is not enough to buy food for their family? I think it's really hard for the workers, but a really hard decision for the government too.”
It has been lovely to see how confident all the pupils have been. Having the ability to speak confidently, politely and articulately to adults is another lovely product, we hope, of all the opportunities and experiences of a Dumpton education.
Assessment and Scholarship Days
We currently have numerous children preparing for their assessment day at Canford, as well as over 20 Year 8 pupils going for Academic, Sport, Music, Art, Drama and DT scholarship processes at Canford, Bryanston and Wellington College in the coming weeks. My thanks go to all the staff involved in preparing the children, and we wish all of them the best of luck on their big days.
Y1 and Y2 Games with Mr Grogan
Each Friday Y1 or Y2 get a taste of ‘Games’ at Dumpton, with Mr Grogan introducing the children to our major team sports. Our sport offering in the Pre-Prep is entirely mixed gender, and this term the children are learning how to play both netball and hockey. It’s a wonderful chance to get the children enjoying team sports from an early age, and great preparation for the Prep School games programme.
Bryanston Maths Challenge – From Mr Smith
Ivory J, Izzy N, Sean F and Aadhav D in Year 6 competed as two pairs in the Bryanston Maths Challenge, against 45 other pairs from 25 local schools. The event featured three rounds (Find the value, Countdown & Problem Solving) and both pairs had an enjoyable afternoon. Ivory and Izzy did exceptionally well to finish 4th and Sean & Aadhav finished a creditable 24th. Well done to all four pupils for representing the school so well.
Both Ivory and Izzy N have qualified for the bonus round of the Primary Maths Challenge, which is an excellent achievement. They will take part in this in a few weeks time, so we look forward to seeing how they get on in this next round.
2F Assembly
We all enjoyed a very amusing and confident assembly from 2F on Wednesday – they really entertained the audience and held our attention with a hilarious performance of Michael Rosen’s famous poem ‘Don’t’. Well done to 2F!
Y3 and Y5 Parents Evenings
It was lovely to have so many Y3 parents join us for parents evening last night, with a chance to meet all our subject specialists as well as their child’s form tutor. Next week it is the turn of Y5 – do remember that all the parents evenings this term are in person, not online! Thank you to Mr Morgan for his organisation as ever.
Celebrating World Religions
Thank you to 6M for helping us understand our theme of the week this week. We have children of all faiths of Dumpton, and appreciating the differences in our beliefs - as well as celebrating all that we have in common – is a really strong message to all the children.
Reception Dental Visit
Reception were visited by a real life Dentist today! A huge thank you to one of our Reception parents, Dr Oluwalana, for coming to talk to the children and inspiring them to take such good care of their teeth.
Wellies, even if they're smellies! - From Mrs Shaw
3W are collecting wellies as part of their Global Citizenship course in DECA. There will be a Welly Sale on Thursday 9 February at all drop off and pick ups, and any spares will be used by the school during Outdoor Ed sessions. If you have wellies you no longer need in any size (we'll take tiny ones all the way to adult ones,) please do bring them into reception by Thursday 2 February.
New Bus Route
There is a new bus route called ‘Poole and Whitecliff’ and it will be used as an overflow bus; it will be available if you cannot book your normal bus. The route is now live and available to book on our bus booking system. If you have any queries about the minibus service please email busadmin@dumpton.com.
Cross Country Success
Congratulations to our Cross Country Squad for their brilliant effort on Thursday afternoon at the Dorset Schools Championship. Seni and Marni P both came in the top 5 (out of well over 150 runners!) and have been selected in the teams to compete at the South West Cross Country Championships in February. Rafferty V has been picked in the reserves for the Year 7 Boys as well - super effort!
Key Events Next Week: (please see sports site and calendar for all fixtures)
Week 4: Theme of the week - Healthy Lifestyles
WEEK B
Monday 23 January
All Day: Bryanston Sport Scholarship
4.30pm: 5C Parents' Evening (in person)
Tuesday 24 January
4.30pm: 5P Parents' Evening (in person)
Wednesday 25 January
3.00pm: Pre-Prep Class Assembly (1G)
Thursday 26 January
All Day: Year 2 Australia Day
8.30am: Prep School Assembly - Performing Arts & Sports Reports
Friday 27 January
8.15am: Y1 & Y2 Parents Drop In Session
8.30am: Prep School Junior Class Assembly (3W)
3.15pm: Dumpton Friends - Rec, Y1 & Y2 Disco
4.30pm: Dumpton Friends - Y3, Y4 & Y5 Disco (no Junior Hobbies or Y3 Dramarama)
Christian Saenger
Headteacher