It has been a special week here at Dumpton. With Christmas very much in the air, there is a real buzz of excitement around the school for all the various end of term festive activities and performances.
This week it was the turn of the Nursery and Pre-prep children to dazzle us with their nativity performances. The confidence of the children on stage – and their clear enjoyment of every moment – was a pleasure to witness. They were all beaming with pride afterwards, and rightly so! For such young children to have such positive associations with performances on stage is a gift. We know that they will only grow in confidence on stage as they progress through the school, with all the very many other performance opportunities that come their way. My huge thanks go to all the staff who put in so much effort to make these special performances a reality – both our outstanding Nursery and Pre-prep teaching staff, and our super performing arts team of Mrs Bolter, Mrs Mudd and Miss Burghart.
Our ‘Performing Arts for All’ ethos means this week and next week will see nearly every single child in the school perform at least once, from our youngest Nursery pupils through to our oldest Year 8s. We are so proud of our performing arts offering at Dumpton; it benefits the children in so many ways, and really contributes to the ‘character education’ that we believe is such an important part of school life.
Theme of the Week – Empathy
Empathy has always been central to Dumpton life: our main school rule of course is ‘treat others as you would like to be treated yourself’, and our whole school approach to emotional intelligence RULER is very much based around the concept of understanding our own emotions and those of others. Empathy was therefore a natural choice as one of the seven Dumpton Way Virtues. It was explored brilliantly this week in assemblies, with Mr Moulton introducing us to his two pets – one of whom has been ‘in the red’ on the Mood Meter, and Mr Ashworth exploring the feelings of Rudolph in one of everyone’s famous Christmas Carols. The children this term have been, in general, incredibly kind to one another: the ‘Be Kind’ ethos is going from strength to strength.
Senior Choir
We are thrilled that the Senior Choir have been invited to sing for the community lunch at the Allendale Centre on Wednesday. We look forward to spreading some of our festive cheer to the local community.
School Reports
We have had Parents’ Evenings for every year group this term, and next week we will publish an ‘Autumn Term Summary Report’ for all children in Reception to Y7 on the Dumpton Parent Portal. Y8, who had their parents’ evening this week and have additional parents' evenings after their exams next term, are the only year group not to receive an Autumn Term Summary Report next week.
Parent Portal App
We launched our new Parent Portal this term, but we know that it was not particularly easy to log on. Details for how to download and access the Dumpton Parent Portal App will be shared next week – once downloaded this should make the process of accessing the Parent Portal far easier and more efficient for you all. Do look out for the information next week.
Dumpton Friends Quiz
At the Christmas Fayre, our lovely Dumpton Friends sold a great Quiz which Mr Swift kindly put together. We thought it would be lovely to share the quiz with the Dumpton community, it would be wonderful if it became an annual Dumpton tradition! Mr Swift has said that if there are enough entries, we may be able to identify a winning family from each form. If you would like to make a donation then please feel free to drop £1 off at the School Office where there is a collection pot for Dumpton Friends. There will be some hard copies in the office if you would like one, or use the PDF file attached to this email.
Next Week
There is so much happening next week, that we thought it might be useful to summarise things and add a few notes below. Please do note the Christmas Jumper Day on Thursday, as well as all the arrangements and details for the last few days of term.
Monday 12 December
11.15am: Reception Visit to Streets Meadow Residential Home
No Pre-Prep hobbies
Tuesday 13 December
9.15am: Y2 Pantomime Visit to Poole Lighthouse for performance of Cinderella
2.30pm: Y3 Christmas Play (followed by festive refreshments served in the Dining Hall)
No Pre-Prep hobbies
Wednesday 14 December
1.30pm: Senior Choir performance at Allendale Centre (Not one for parents!)
Year 1: Secret (Local) Outing!
All Prep School Sports Kit will come home at the end of the day
Thursday 15 December
Christmas Jumper Day (All children can wear a Xmas Jumper with normal uniform if they wish!)
Christmas Lunch
2.30pm-4.15pm: Prep School Form Christmas Parties (Please do not bring in any food from home)
Prep School 4.15pm - 5.45pm: No DECA, no Prep – Stay Late available for all pupils
All pupils are to take home all their belongings today
Friday 16 December
8.15am: Y1 / Y2 Parent Drop In Session
9.00am: Jamie Jigsaw Visit to Reception and a special visitor for Nursery and Pre-Prep
12.30pm: Nursery and Reception pick up
2.30pm: Carol Service – Wimborne Minster
3.30pm: Carol service ends (approx.)
All Y1-Y8 children to be collected from the Minster
Term Ends – Christmas Holidays!
Dumpton Friends Christmas Quiz 2022.pdf
With best wishes
Christian Saenger
Headmaster