Newsletter
6th October 2023
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Dear Parents
There has been so much going on in school this week. Our Year 6 children have taken to the playground and the streets as they continue to hone their cycling skills as part of the Bikeability programme, which equips them with the skills and confidence they need to cycle on today's roads. Lower down the school, Year 1 were treated to a visit from a range of incredibly realistic dinosaurs in their workshop, and the children were able to...... Year 5 are enjoying their swimming lessons (Blue Class this term, with the others to follow in future terms), and in other sporting events, children have been out to represent their school at the Multiskills Festival for Year 5/6, the Arrows Event for Year 3/4, and a group of year 3 children managed to find their way back from an Orienteering Challenge.
Thank you to everyone who attended the FODS meeting on Wednesday evening, which was focused on planning for the children's Sparkle Party/Discos in November and the upcoming Christmas Fair. It was especially lovely to welcome some new faces from our Nursery and Reception 2023 parents - it is always great to have fresh new ideas and opinions. Now that the Scrapstore Playpod project is underway, we will shortly be announcing the next focus for our fundraising - and it's really exciting - so do watch this space.
I hope you enjoy the promised sunshine this weekend.
Kind regards
Cathy Bell
Headteacher
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Headteacher for a Day
We are looking forward to being Headteacher and Deputy Head for the day next Friday. We have decided that it will be a non-uniform day (no crop tops or very short skirts/dresses, and sensible shoes please). We are also hoping to extend playtime for everyone on Friday as long as they have tried their best with their learning and completed the tasks their teacher has set for them.
Thank you.
Alana (Headteacher) and Hailey (Deputy Headteacher)
Friday October 13th, 2023
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Welcomes and Goodbyes
This week we said a fond farewell to two member of our learning support team, Marsha and Charlie, who are both leaving us for pastures new (although we will still see them as they both have children at school). Thanks to both of them for all they have given during their time with us - they will be greatly missed.
We have been delighted to welcome Beatriz to our staff team this week. Beatriz is working in our school office as a Business Administration Apprentice, and is already settling in and learning the ropes. We look forward to welcoming Charlie and Kirsty to our LSA team - Charlie is joining us on Monday and Kirsty in the near future. A huge Dorchester welcome to all of you.
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Harvest Festival Assembly
Our Harvest Assembly will be held on Wednesday 18th October from 9:00-9:45am. We will be donating to the foodbank at the SOS SEN charity shop on Central Road in Worcester Park. They have asked for basic cupboard long life staples, such as cereal / juice / tea / coffee/ pasta /tins-all types / crisps / sauces / biscuits / jelly / tinned fruit / tinned or packet deserts / long life milk / long life ready to bake bread / rice / crackers etc.
If you are able to provide your child with an item from this list, please send it to school on Wednesday 18th October. The children will bring their donations into assembly so that we can give thanks together before donating the items to SOS SEN.
Parents are welcome to join us for our Harvest celebrations.
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Parent Consultations
Our Parent Consultations take place on Wednesday and Thursday next week. Please aim to arrive 10 minutes before your appointment time and enter the school through the middle gate and into the hall. Your children's work will be available to look at in the hall and Mrs Hall, Mr Dennis and I will be on hand. If you can look at your child's work before your appointment, we would be really grateful if you could the take their books to their class with you at your appointment time - it saves us a bit of a clear up job at the end of the evening. Thank you.
Older children sometimes like to attend their consultation appointment with their parents - this is fine if that is your preference, but there is no requirement for children to attend the meetings. Equally, it is no problem if you need to bring your child with you - you can leave them in the hall with us (please make sure we know you are leaving them with us!) while you go to your appointment or take them with you.
The Scholastic Book Fair will be running in the hall so, once you have heard about how wonderfully your child is doing, you may want to treat them to a new book - or they may want to bring their pocket money to buy one. The school gets a very good rate of commission on all book sales which means we can then top up our library selection.
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Class Reps Needed
Thank you to everyone who has volunteered to be a class rep this year.
We are still looking for Class Reps for the following classes:
Buttercup Class
Topaz Class
Fern Class
Sapphire Class
Indigo Class
Purple Class
Class Reps form a vital link between FODS and our wider parent body, and are an amazing support to the school. They help their child's class teacher to sort out rotas, organise volunteers etc. It is especially important for the Year 6 classes to have Reps as (with the support of all the parents) they organise the children's end of year leaving activities which make the end of their time at primary school so special.
If you would like to get involved or just want to know more about what the role involves, just catch Mrs Bell, Mrs Hall or Mr Dennis at the gate or drop an email to the school office.
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Pokémon Cards
We know that collecting and swapping cards is a great activity for children, and we are quite fond of Pokémon ourselves. Unfortunately, though, having these cards in school causes lots of problems that end up being very time-consuming for staff to sort out - trying to work out exactly who owned which card and who meant to swap and who didn't, and who changed their minds, is a bit of a nightmare for our already busy teachers. Please do not allow your child to bring Pokémon (or any similar cards) into school. Thank you.
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Open Events for Prospective Parents
We have several Open Events running throughout the Autumn Term for parents looking for places in Nursery or Reception for September 2024. If this applies to you please register for one of the events using the link below. If you know anyone else who is interested in finding out about all we have to offer here at Dorchester, please share this information with them. Thank you.
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24 Sep 2023
Open Events for Admissions in 2024
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05 Oct 2023
What percentage of animals that live on Earth are wild?
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05 Oct 2023
Libraries are not just for books.
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06 Oct 2023
We certainly have some hot shots amongst our Year 4 children.
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06 Oct 2023
On Wednesday 4th October, 10 children from year 3 went to Stanley Park Primary School, where this year's Orienteering and Outdoor Adventurous Activities festival was being held.
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03 Oct 2023
We had a great morning of sport on Monday at Purley Sports Club!
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Friends of Dorchester School (FODS) Update
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Thank you to all that attended this week’s meeting. We have a lot of exciting events being planned for the children to enjoy including a lovely Christmas Fair. Watch this space for future updates.
Our next meeting will be held Wednesday 18th October at 7.30pm, please meet us at the main office if you can attend. All parent & carers are welcome so please come along if you can, it’s a great way to get involved and share your opinions.
CAKE AND DOUGHNUT SALE 19TH OCTOBER
Please bring cake or doughnut donations to school Thursday 19th October. Please leave all cake or doughnut donations in the school office or with your class teacher in the morning. We will be holding a cake sale after school that day, please find us outside the office.
Amazon Prime Big Deal Days are coming up 10th & 11th October. If you are planning on grabbing some deals, please remember Amazon is on Easyfundraising. It’s a great way to earn some funds for the school. Please see details of Easyfundraising below.
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05 Oct 2023
How can we be respectful to each other in Nursery?
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05 Oct 2023
Why did the Butterfly not understand that the Monkey's Mum looked like him?
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04 Oct 2023
Is there anything we don't know about dinosaurs?
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05 Oct 2023
In Maths this week, the children have been consolidating their knowledge of numbers to 10 and 100 and spotting the similarities between each of them. They have written question and exclamation sentences in English and have begun to look at the features of a diary in preparation for writing their own...
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06 Oct 2023
This week we have been learning about perfect present tense in English. We have learnt how to change a verb into the past tense, and add either has or have before the past tense verb, to write sentences in the perfect present tense. We have also recapped using conjunctions and adverbs of...
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06 Oct 2023
Our goal this week is to brush our teeth brilliantly!
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06 Oct 2023
Making our Writing Fabulous!
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05 Oct 2023
We're fabulous at being scientists!
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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
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Lunch Menu
We apologise for the disruption to school lunches at the current time whilst we work to get the gas extraction system fixed. The part we need is on its way and we hope things will be back to normal early next week.
Our menus are available here. Next week is Week 3.
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Upcoming Events
To view the school calendar click here.
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