13 June 2025

Headmaster's Newsletter, Friday 13th June 2025

Dear Parents

The theme of this week has been ‘Learning from our Mistakes’. In Monday’s assembly, we had an amusing—and rather enlightening—time helping the pupils realise that making mistakes is something we all do. There were even a few gasps of astonishment as pupils discovered that yes, even teachers sometimes get things wrong!

Mistakes can make us feel rubbish. We can feel sad. Frustrated. Annoyed. Even useless. At times, failure and mistakes can tempt us to give up altogether. They can become the very thing that stops us from learning and reaching our full potential—but only if we allow them to.

What’s needed is a shift in mindset. As difficult as they may be to deal with, mistakes are, in fact, opportunities to learn. I shared the well-known story of Thomas Edison, who is said to have failed 10,000 times before finally inventing the working lightbulb. When asked about those failures, his response was, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

While it may sound glib at first, this attitude reflects the essence of a powerful growth mindset—the belief that we grow through challenge, and that failure is simply part of the learning journey. At Dumpton, we hope to nurture this mindset in our pupils, helping them to embrace mistakes, persevere through difficulty, and build the resilience they need to thrive.

Below you’ll read of some amazing achievements from our pupils over the last week. I can almost guarantee that every single one those successes have been built on a healthy dose of failure too. As our school motto reminds us: “You can because you think you can...”

Dumpton Foundation
Yesterday was an important moment in the school’s long history as we launched the Dumpton Foundation. We do hope parents received the launch letter, and there’s a beautiful brochure to accompany this and explain in a little more detail what the Foundation is all about, and how it can support the school’s future development. We’re delighted to be able to undertake projects over the summer, with the Swimming Pool and Adventure Playground both getting significant refurbs – and a big thank you again to Dumpton Friends and Luxury Care for getting us started with such amazingly generous donations. If you are interested in supporting the Foundation with any size of donation, or in just finding out more, please click here: https://www.dumpton.com/dumpton-foundation

Swimming Nationals
After months of disciplined preparation and extra swimming sessions, our National Finalists performed superbly on Saturday at the London Aquatics Centre, alongside 1500 swimmers from over 220 schools. Our Y5/Y6 Girls Relay Team took 5.71 seconds off their qualifying time, whilst the Y7 Girls Freestyle and Individual Medley Relay teams both set PBs too. It was then over to our individuals. Izzy B qualified for the final of the 50m Backstroke in style, and in a highly competitive final finished in a brilliant 4th place. George W also made the final in the 50m Free with a huge PB, and then finished a superb 9th in the country. We’re bursting with pride at their achievements, and the children deserve huge credit for the hard work and determination that goes on behind the scenes.

U11 Cricket
Our Mixed U11A Cricket Team have become the ESCA County Champions after beating Bryanston Prep on Tuesday. This year's group of boys and girls have had an exceptional year, reaching County, Regional and National Finals in Netball and Hockey already - so this is a lovely way to round of their efforts. Well done!

Wessex Regional Athletics
An exceptional week of sport continued at the Senior Wessex on Wednesday. We had so many children taking part, and plenty of success, including dozens of finalists and medallists. A fantastic 10 children qualified for the National Finals – Bea A (75m Hurdles and 300m), Seb N (75m Hurdles), Luca L (800m), Martha AI (Discus), Izzy N (Javelin), and the U14 Girls 4X100M Relay Team. Bea was also voted Best Female U14 Athlete – a fantastic achievement.

Y2 Sports Fixture and Transition Day
As well as buddying up with Y7 pupils our Y2 children this week also had their first ever sports fixture at Dumpton yesterday. They played cricket and football with parents spectating and enjoying match tea afterwards. A most enjoyable afternoon for all!

Y4 Trip and Camp Out – from Mrs Brass
Year 4 have been learning about Climate Change and the human impact on our environment so this week we visited Bournemouth's Oceanarium to see their wonderful range of aquatic creatures, before doing a litter pick, on the beach. The children were so enthusiastic about clearing the beach and had a lot of fun. Upon our return to school, we set up camp on the lower field and spent the evening playing woodland games, roasting marshmallows and sleeping under canvas. The Year 4 team were so pleased with how well the children collaborated in all of the activities, their empathy towards one another and their resilience in school today, despite not having slept as well as usual.

Y8 Leavers’ Programme
Our brilliant Y8 pupils completed their Dumpton Certificate exams on Tuesday and have now reached the end of the academic curriculum at Dumpton. They started their Leavers’ programme with Laser Tag, a fun overnight Camp Out here on the school site, a Performing Arts workshop, French Day, Orienteering and enjoyed a brilliant sunny day at the Water Sports Academy today. The next three weeks will see them participate in a wide range of activities which acts as the finale to their Dumpton career.

Pre-loved Pop Up @ Dumpton
Pre-loved Pop-Up @ Dumpton will take place on Monday 23rd June from 3.30pm on the Front Lawn adjacent to the Pre-Prep Country Dancing Show, with proceeds from the sale going to organisations working for sustainable fashion around the world. A reminder that we are still accepting donations of clean good quality adult and children’s clothing/shoes and sports kit such as hockey sticks, shin pads, astro shoes, trainers, cricket kit, tennis rackets etc. NB no items of school uniform please, as these should go to the second-hand uniform shop in the usual way.

With best wishes

Christian Saenger
Headmaster

Key Events W/B 16.6.25

WEEK B

Week 8: Theme of the Week – Entrepreneurial Spirit

Monday 16 June

All Day ABRSM Exams (requested date)

Y8 Leavers’ Programme: Go to Work with Parents Day (work experience)

16.25-17.15 Verbal Reasoning with Mr Morgan (Y5)

Tuesday 17 June

All Day Bryanston Familiarisation Day (for pupils starting Y9 in September)

Y8 Leavers’ Programme: Geocaching