A DUMPTON YEAR A YEARLY REVIEW FROM DUMPTON SCHOOL 2018/19 Also Inside... Music News | Sporting News | Visiting Speakers | School Trips | Fundraising P-R-E-P spells PREP … From the Headmaster, Andrew Browning What is a Prep School? A question I am often asked by an opportunity for improvement. A prep school should many parents as I show them round Dumpton. How is it be full of staff and pupils who take risks – who push the different from other schools? boundaries and are not afraid to fail. Contents Historically, preparatory schools were for boarders I have allowed myself another R – because it is such an A DUMPTON YEAR and prepared children for the great public boarding important word. schools of Great Britain, handing them over, ready for the challenges of public examinations and adolescence. R is also for RESPECT A yearly review of the activities and achievements But times have changed. Prep schools are now aiming Respect is everything to a community like Dumpton. to prepare young people for life after formal education Manners maketh everything. It is at the core of our only of both pupils and staff here at Dumpton School. - laying secure foundations for senior schools and school rule: ‘Treat others as you expect to be treated’. Or beyond. They are often day schools, which build a strong in short – be kind. Our School 03 partnership between home and school. And how do I know if everything is going well? Nursery and Pre-Prep 16 They aim to build emotional intelligence and a growth That would be E for ENJOYMENT Years 3-6 32 mind-set from the very beginning of the educational I probably walk past every member of staff and every Year 7 & 8 50 process – alongside the more traditional classroom pupil every day – and the thing I always look for is a Sport 58 based skills – and to produce confident, outward-facing smile. It is a subtle measure of the success of the school young people ready for an increasingly complex world. – every smile registers, like a small piece in a jigsaw. It is a love of learning that will stand children in such good How do they do that? stead as they move forward. I am going to start with P for PARTICIPATION How do we know what we are good at? There are The final P in PREP is for PERFORMANCE people reading this who have never attempted to throw If we get the right balance between participation and a javelin – including me. We could have been Olympians. enjoyment, great achievements will follow. These can So first of all, prep schools are about everyone trying be measured by academic, dramatic, musical or sporting everything. We try to help children find out what they are success, or more subtly in the self-confidence and good at and to enjoy success - which in turn builds their ambition of the pupils. With a growth mind-set anything Dumpton School confidence to have a go at everything else. is possible. Deans Grove House Wimborne, Dorset, BH21 7AF R is for RISK-TAKING and RESILIENCE ‘You can if you think you can’ as the school motto says… We may not be very good the first time we try something T 01202 883818 F 01202 848760 - but we mustn’t fear failure. We all have to learn from Andrew Browning E [email protected] our mistakes. Every time we stand up in public or try Headmaster something new – or take part in a competition – we are www.dumpton.com risking failure. The key is to see each event instead as 03 A DUMPTON YEAR 01.SPORTS HALL The new Sports Hall was opened in July after just over 14 months of building and has been completed in time for the new academic year. The facility provides a full-size netball and tennis court, along with an indoor hockey pitch, a 5-aside football pitch and three cricket lanes. As well as the sports facilities, the Sports Hall will be in use each day for PE lessons for all ages throughout the school including Nursery children. It also now accommodates changing rooms, a viewing gallery over the outdoor tennis courts and sports pitches as well as providing two new classrooms overlooking the top field. The new facility has been named the ‘Browning Hall’ and was officially opened by Andrew and Jo Browning in July following Dumpton’s Speech Day and Prize Giving before they step down after 14 years of leadership at the school. 01 02 03 02. REMEMBRANCE DAY SERVICE After a very informative assembly from 7P earlier in the week, Year 8 pupils led the Remembrance Day Service. The Senior Choir sang a beautiful anthem in assembly and then two minutes’ silence was observed at 11 am, when pupils in the Prep School and the Pre-Prep placed wreaths of poppies by the War Memorial. Anthony in Year 8 played the Last Post and Reveille – a very moving experience for all. 03. WAR ON WASTE In March, Year 6 welcomed Julie Cheshire from Wimborne War on Waste to their science lesson. Julie spoke to them about what changes they could make to their plastic use and many came up with some lovely examples of what they are already doing at home. She presented Dumpton with a Plastic Free Champion sticker for us to display to show our support for the campaign. 04. BOOK IN A BOX COMPETITION Many thanks and well done to everyone who entered the competition. The winners for the Book in a Box were Jack, Emeli, Isabelle, Evie, Izzy, Joshua, Amelie, Zak and Lauren. We also had some lovely photos, both cosy and adventurous, sent in for the Photo Competition. The ‘Cosy Reading’ winners were: 1st place, Fraser, 2nd place, Evie and 3rd place, Josslin for the cosy reading, and 1st place Georgie and Thomas and 2nd place Rosie in the Pre-Prep, and 1st place, Leila, 2nd place Lewis and Ethan and 3rd place Harry in the Prep School. The lucky winners chose a book from the Book Fair. Very well done to all! 05 A DUMPTON YEAR 04 A SCIENCE PARTNERSHIP – 25 YEARS ON….. Many years ago, as Head of Chemistry at Canford School, I took my sixth-form students each week to support science teaching in the local primary classroom of my sister, Jane Marshall, at Christ the King and Hillview Schools in Kinson. This continued weekly for 11 years, totalling around 300+ hands-on Tuesday afternoon science lessons. By the end of the project, it had grown to 15 sixth-formers delivering weekly science lessons to a primary school year base of around 90, in three classes. My sister and I then started our first Headships on the same day in September 2005, Jane at Hampreston School and me here at Dumpton. Over the past fourteen years we have continued this association, in schools just 3 miles apart. In that time, our Dumpton Year 8 pupils have led an annual Science Day at Hampreston, teaching the Year 4 class. We have had some wonderful times making and testing concrete, playing with liquid nitrogen and watching things fizz, bang and change colour. Over the years there has also been pond-dipping and vegetable growing activities to build the relationship between the schools further still. More recently we added a weekly Spring Term Science Club (run here at Dumpton), a yearly Music Workshop for both schools with Gospel Singer Ken Burton, a shared study of a local church (run by the Hampreston Year 4 pupils), a Map Skills Day hosted at Dumpton by Year 8 and a Year 4 Chocolate Workshop hosted at Hampreston. Separately, lessons have also been observed by teachers to share good practice between the schools. Children from both schools have benefited greatly – learning both as teachers and pupils – and teachers from both schools have given generously of their skills and time. We have always aimed for symbiosis – and building a love of learning in all activities. As both Heads step down from their roles, we hope that the partnership will continue, and strengthen, over the coming years. Andrew Browning, Headmaster Dumpton School 2005-2019 07 A DUMPTON YEAR IT WAS A PLEASURE TO WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL LOCAL ASTRONOMER RECITATION BOB MIZON AND HIS INFLATABLE COMPETITION PLANETARIUM TO CELEBRATE SCIENCE Thanks to Duncan Fowler-Watt, Head of Performing Arts at WEEK. Bryanston, for visiting Dumpton to Bob presented the stars and constellations to Years 1 to 4 inside the judge the Final of the Recitation dome and he also opened his travelling astronomy shop at lunchtime Competition in June. It was a with a range of scientific goodies including real meteorite rock. The pupils delightful afternoon, with the marvelled at the starry skies and really enjoyed the presentations. They eventual winners being Daisy in Year also asked some very probing questions! Thank you Bob for visiting us THE PUPILS 7, Ava and Gigi in Year 6, Megan in again. MARVELLED Year 5, Lily in Year 4 and Charlie in Year 3. Very well done to all the AT THE The pupils were very excited to finalists. STARRY SKIES! have well-known children’s author Ali Sparkes visit the school on the Friday before Book Week in March. Ali’s books have been in great demand in the school library over several years, and many children requested her as our visiting author. Ali first did a presentation to the children in Years 2 to 6 in the Assembly Hall, sharing very funny stories about her life and books, and throwing in a bit of hypnotism! She then ran interactive workshops for Years 3 to 6 in the Recital Room in which the children were involved in various activities, such as considering what makes us choose the books we read.