Dorchester Primary Parent Portal - Dorchester News

Dear Dorchester Families,

It is hard to believe that we have reached the end of another academic year. Once again, it has been a joy to work with you, to spend time with your children and to see them learn and grow.

It has been a hugely successful year in Sport, where we have once again been awarded the Gold Level School Games Mark in recognition of our strength in this area.

140 children have been out to represent the school across 29 events and leagues. There have been many stand out performances including:

- in basketball, our amazing team won the newly formed Borough League, the 3v3 Borough Tournament and from this were chosen to represent Sutton in the London Youth Games, finishing in an amazing 5^th place! A fabulous achievement – the bar has been set really high!

- In cross country, Emilia was also chosen to represent Sutton after finishing amongst the top runners at the Borough Championships.

- our netball B team remained undefeated in competitive fixtures, maintaining an unbeaten, and 100% win rate, record for the last two years. While our mixed netball A team earned a well-deserved 3^rd place at the Borough Rally.

- an exciting evening at the pool resulted in an impressive medal haul for Dorchester; Lorenzo, Charlotte and Sherry brought home gold, with Paige, Isobel, Scarlett and Dominic adding to the medal collection. The girls did extremely well overall finishing 3^rd as a team.

- Borough Athletics saw Emilia, Claire, Vihaan and Danny win a well-earned silver in the 4x400m relay and Aiya, our Year 3 sprint champion from last year, ran up an age group into Year 5 and won a silver medal in the sprint final.

- The Year 6 Tag Rugby team won gold at their Borough Competition

And that's just the sport.

- Our Top of the Form team progressed through the rounds and won the grand final of the Top of the Form competition - a general knowledge quiz involving many of our local schools.

- Our children achieved an incredible haul of certificates in the Primary Maths Challenge and First Maths Challenge; in the UKMT maths challenge (for children up to Year 8) a record number of our children achieved highly enough to progress to the advanced Kangaroo round, proving their mathematical worth against able children up to two years older than them.

- Our Maths Quiz Club teams performed brilliantly, with 2 of our teams being among only a handful of teams from state schools to make the National Finals at Oxford University.

- Our Choirs have treated us to performances both in school and at external events such as Young Voices at the O2 Arena and the Christmas Lights Swtich On at The Hamptons.

- Children have learnt to play the recorder, Djembe drums and Ukelele alongside other tuned and untuned percussion in their music lessons, alongside some specialist tuition in music tech for our older children.

- Three amazing Tea Time concerts have given our music soloists and ensembles the opportunity to perform in front of a live audience.

- Thanks to brilliant market research and marketing, our Buzz Club children raised in excess of £400 as part of their enterprise project

- And a mention must go to our FODS committee and all the parents and carers who have supported them in raising an outstanding £14,300 for the school this year.

Thank you all for all you do to support your children's learning and the school as a whole - we have a fantastic team of children, staff, volunteers and parents and carers here that really make it a community to be proud of.

I wish you a very restful summer break.

Kind regards

Cathy Bell
Headteacher

Summer Safety

We hope you have a wonderful summer holiday and find time to have fun as a family.

Below are some top tips in staying safe during the holiday:

1. Keep children safe around water - Go swimming at properly-supervised sites

2. Follow the five Ss of sun safety: Sunscreen

Slop on SPF 30+ broad-spectrum waterproof sunscreen every two hours

Sun hat – put on a broad-brimmed hat that shades your face, neck and ears

Sunglasses – wear wrap-around sunglasses with UV protection to shield the eyes

Shoulders – slip on a T-shirt or UV protective suit for children and remember to keep your shoulders covered

Shade – seek shade, particularly during the hottest time of the day between 11am and 3pm

3. Make sure your children know how to cross the road safely - Sounds very basic, but when young children are out and about with their friends, they can easily get distracted or might take risks when crossing roads. Ensure they have the skills and understanding dealing with roads and traffic safely.

4. Temporary tattoo (of your phone number) in case they get lost - This is a great tip to ensure your child will always be able to contact you, even if they have not got access to their own phone or have forgotten your number. It is a particularly good idea at busy events like festivals or theme parks where you could get separated in a crowd.

5. Don’t keep personalised items - It is a good idea not to have anything visible with your child’s name on like rucksacks, tops, and bracelets. If a stranger is able to easily read their name, they’ll be able to address them by it, meaning your child is more likely to trust them.

6. Talk to your child about what to do if they separate from you - If your child gets separated from you in public, a police officer would be a good person for them to ask for help, but they’re not always around. While you’ll never exactly know who is safe and who isn’t, a mum or dad with their own children is usually a good choice, they are likely to want to help and will know what to do.

7. Make a family code word - Come up with a code word which you and your children can use to reassure or warn each other in potentially dangerous situations - Pick something that is easy to remember, but unusual and impossible for anyone else to guess. This is useful for a few different situations: - When at a friend’s house, if your child feels unsafe or wants to leave without seeming rude, ask them to call you and use the code word. - If, when out in public, there’s a safety threat, you can use the word to warn your children to get close to you and leave quickly.

8. Staying safe online - Children and young people will have more free time to spend with friends and family online. Click on the link below for advice on staying safe on line: https://saferinternet.org.uk/guide-andresource/staying-safe-online-in-the-summer-holidays

9. Have fun and plan activities together - The summer holidays can be a great chance to spend time with friends and family. Some children may feel a bit lonely or may miss the routine they have when they are in school. Try to keep children’s sleep routines the same as this will help when returning to school. Plan plenty of opportunities to go out as a family and have fun.

See link for free activities

https://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/family-activities/31-free-things-to-do-with-kids

https://www.timeout.com/london/kids/activities/free-things-to-do-with-the-kids-in-london