Dear Parents
Sport is a huge part of life at Dumpton. Children’s sporting journeys start in the Nursery and Pre-Prep, and of course by aged 7 we ensure all pupils play for an hour of sport a day. I am very proud that we remain so committed to this offering, and our ‘sport for all’ ethos.
Whilst we can all be rightly very proud of the excellent progress the pupils make and the fantastic results we achieve (see below), it is always the enjoyment, the participation, and the sportsmanship that every child demonstrates that matters most to us – and we remind the children of that at every opportunity!
This is one of the reasons we invest so much energy into our sporting programme: quite apart from being brilliant fun and great for our health, sport is brilliant for character education. As most of us intuitively recognise, sports are a microcosm of life: success and failure; the power of practice; the joy of camaraderie; the importance of resilience; putting the team before the individual; learning how to win well; learning how to lose well. There isn’t much that can happen in our children’s futures that sport cannot in some way help prepare them for – it is such a wonderful way for children to learn about themselves and develop their character.
My thanks go, as ever, to Mr Randall and all the sports staff for their efforts – not only are they brilliant coaches of their respective sports, but they are supporting children’s broader character education just as skilfully.
Sports Results
And what a week it has been on the sports pitches! Firstly, a huge congratulations to all our sports’ teams – wherever I looked this week there were some fantastic team performances. Special mentions this week to our U10 Girls Netball team, who came 3rdin the Canford tournament, our U11 Girls Netball team, who came 3rdin the Bryanston tournament, and our U8 Boys Hockey team, who played 8 games, won 7 and drew one at the Forres Sandal Manor tournament. Finally, our U11 and U13 Boys Hockey team have had a fantastic week. After becoming County Champions on Wednesday (for the 4thtime in 5 years!), the U13 Boys came 4thin the IAPS South West Regionals – just missing out on qualifying for the National Finals. Our U11 Boys Hockey team went to King's Bruton for the Regional Finals, and came 5th out of 20 team - an amazing result for a team who have made so much progress over the last few years. We’re really proud of them all.
Class Assemblies – 1G and 3W
Class assemblies are quickly establishing themselves as one of my highlights of the week. I missed 1G on Wednesday due to a hockey fixture, but having seen a recording was amazed by their lovely confident performances in their assembly on courage. Today 3W had us all thoroughly entertained with their very amusing and energetic assembly on healthy lifestyles. Bravo to all who performed this week.
Year 2 Australia Day – From Miss Fisher and Mrs Morton
We started our day with a wonderful talk from Solomon's parents all about growing up in Australia and the history behind the conflict between the British settlers and the Aboriginal people. We then made fairy bread at break time and some of the children even tried Vegemite! We had some big fans of it in both classes. Following this the children made their own rainmakers and then decorated them using dot drawing and painting, inspired by aboriginal artworks. In the afternoon we went to the sports hall to play cricket. We were so proud of the sportsmanship that Year 2 displayed.
Year 8 Scholarships
Best of luck to all those involved in scholarship process next week. Around 16 Year 8 pupils will be sitting their mock academic scholarships at Dumpton throughout the week, whilst others are heading off to Canford for Music, Drama and Sport Scholarship assessment days. Best of luck to all!
Easter Holiday Clubs – Secure your place
We’re delighted to be able to host holiday clubs at Dumpton from Monday 27thMarch to Friday 31stMarch. Run by the staff here at Dumpton, these always offer the children a brilliant experience, as well as supporting parents with their childcare in the holidays. Please sign up as soon as possible to secure a place for your child by clicking on the links below.
Nursery and Reception Easter Holiday Club
Y1 to Y8 Easter Holiday Club
Group for Parents – From Mrs Wakefield
Wimborne Psychology are running some sessions for parents on Friday evenings from 24th February. They will be covering some really interesting areas that may be of interest to some of you - please do take a look at the attached poster for more details.
Key Events Next Week: (please see sports site and calendar for all fixtures)
Week 5: Theme of the week - The Dumpton Way: Be Kind
WEEK A
Monday 30 January
All Day: Y8 Scholarship Mock Exams
Tuesday 31 January
All Day: Canford Music Scholarships
All Day: Y8 Scholarship Mock Exams
8.30am:Prep School Class Assembly (7TR)
Wednesday 1 February
All Day: Y8 Scholarship Mock Exams
All Day: Canford Drama Scholarship
Thursday 2 February
All Day: Y8 Scholarship Mock Exams
8.30am: Prep School Assembly - Performing Arts & Sports Reports
Friday 3 February
All Day: Canford Sports Scholarships (boys)
All Day: Y1 Space Day
8.15am: Y3 Parent Drop In Session
10.45am: Headmaster's Book Club
With best wishes,
Christian Saenger
Headmaster