Headmaster's Newsletter, Friday 16th January 2026

In my welcome back assembly, I spoke to the children about New Year’s resolutions and challenged them to reflect on the areas of school life in which ...

Amongst all the excitement of giving and getting presents at Christmas – it’s also worth remembering that it is a time for gratitude.

I am writing in advance of the Christmas Fayre this afternoon. What a buzz there already is around the school, and I’d like to thank the whole school ...

This afternoon, our students stepped away from the usual timetable and into ‘Give Back Friday’ - a day dedicated to generosity, community, and global ...

Of all the things we ask of our pupils, resilience is probably the hardest — and arguably the most important.

We enjoyed a very special Remembrance Service on Tuesday this week. It was Dumpton at its best, with some beautiful music (including a stunning perfor...

“This is our most important theme of the week!” was my emphatic announcement in assembly.

A short week, but there is still more than enough to include in my letter to mark the end of the half term!

“Learning to stand in somebody else's shoes, to see through their eyes, that's how peace begins. And it's up to you to make that happen. Empathy is a ...

As a staff team, a mantra for this year has been ‘aiming high for every child’.

This week our theme has been Collaboration, one of the Dumpton Way Virtues that we see in action every single day around the school.

We have had a very positive and supportive reaction to Monday’s announcement of our merger with Canford to form the Canford Schools Group.

This week I had the privilege of attending the IAPS Heads’ Conference in Brighton.

It’s the end of the first full week of school, and how lovely it’s been - for all of us I am sure - to slip back in to those school routines.

The energy across the school has been fantastic, and it has been wonderful to see how quickly the children have settled into routines, ready for the t...

Huge thank you to everyone who has so generously donated to our first Dumpton Foundation projects. We have been really blown away by the response.

This week has been one of beginnings and endings!

The theme of this week has been ‘Learning from our Mistakes’.

This week, our theme of the week was safeguarding, with an emphasis on reminding children of all the ways to keep themselves safe here at school.  

Thank you for joining us this afternoon for our annual Family Afternoon. It’s a chance to come together as a community, and for parents and family mem...

Whether it's beliefs, gender, ethnicity, appearance, ability — or how someone thinks — difference should never be a cause for exclusion or criticism. ...

As I am sure you can imagine, we have been fairly bowled over to be awarded the rare accolade of a ‘Significant Strength’. 

What a term it has been! I can scarcely remember a more enjoyable, or more successful term - and this last week of term has seen us finish on a real h...

The inspectors were particularly impressed by our positive school culture and ethos, as well as our approach to character education through The Dumpto...

This week, our theme has been The Dumpton Way—our award-winning and innovative approach to placing Character Education at the heart of school life. Bu...

What a special week – there has been so much going on that’s it’s been hard to draw breath and take stock, but as I write my letter this week I am bur...

It has been a wonderfully busy week here at Dumpton, showcasing the incredible range of opportunities available to our children and the many ways they...

Perhaps the biggest difference between our own childhoods and that of our children’s is the prevalence and accessibility of the internet.

It was Children’s Mental Health Week this week, and the school was full of plenty of joy!

Our Theme of the Week was Charity, and as well as raising money today, across the week children have explored the idea of charity and its important pl...

Sport is part of the fabric of life at Dumpton.

Dear Parents Exam week: rows of desks...transparent pencil cases... sitting in alphabetical order... “When I say, you may begin”. A r...

Dear Parents It has been a pleasure to welcome your children back to school this week – they have returned terrifically! A particularly war...

Dear Parents What a magnificent term. I have lost count, over the course of this term, of the times that I have been overwhelmed with pride at wh...

Dear Parents I am writing this in advance of the Christmas Fayre this afternoon, which promises to be such a special community event. I’d l...

Community is such an important part of school life, and this was perfectly illustrated last night at the Dumpton Friends Christmas Party.

I hope every day is a special day at Dumpton – but some days are more special than others. Thursday was one of those. 

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” 

Parents will know our decision to freeze fees for the remainder of the year has given you much needed certainty, but, as soon as is practical in the S...

The better we understand your child, the better our chance of ensuring that we can understand them and support them, and help them feel that powerful ...

Harvest Assembly and thank you to every single pupil who donated items to Wimborne Foodbank today – I could barely walk through the front hall to my o...

I am so proud that we do so much to prioritise pupil wellbeing at Dumpton. We of course hope that every child at Dumpton is happy, healthy and thrivin...

Each week at Dumpton we are guided by a theme. Each theme acts as a signpost for our conversations that week, and each theme contributes in its own wa...

We received the exciting news last week that Dumpton is a Finalist in the Independent School of the Year Awards, for 'Co-educational School of the Yea...

Dear Parents This week, our first full week, feels like it has captured brilliantly what a Dumpton education is all about. On the one hand, wa...

What a terrific start to term. Despite the best efforts of the weather, it has been wonderful to see so many smiling faces as we have started the scho...

One of the things I love about working in a 13+ Prep School is the interactions between our older and younger pupils. Children can spend over a decade...

This is my favourite time of the school year. Though life is incredibly busy, the children are at their absolute best – bursting with confidence towar...

On its 80th anniversary, it has been a privilege to talk to the children about D-Day. How I have enjoyed explaining to the children the scale and ambi...

The whole school wish you and all your families a wonderful half term break and look forward to what is always a wonderful second half of the Summer T...

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much” Helen Keller 

I wrote last week about children stepping out of their comfort zones and embracing adventures, and how this is something built into the ethos of the s...