We have enjoyed a really positive start to our school year here.

All our children are working hard and learning lots. As we move towards Christmas we have lots of exciting things planned such as a visit to the panto and lots of Christmas singing.

We are really looking forward to supporting the HfT’s Christmas celebration in the Abbey where we will be singing.

Our forest school provision continues to be funded by the Hurst Water Meadow Trust. Our children really value the opportunity to learn outdoors; getting muddy and having lots of fun with our specialised forest school teacher.

The lovely folk at Wallingford Book Shop are curating a wish list for our school. If you would like to purchase a book from our list as a donation we would be very grateful and the shop will give a discount. Just pop in and tell them you would like to buy a book from our list and they will show you what’s available. Many thanks. This is in addition to our Amazon list that can be found here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3EAI7Q6N5EB2E?ref_=wl_share

If you would like to come and see what we can offer your child, have a tour and meet the staff and governors then please come to our open morning on Thursday 9th November. There is no need to book: just turn up any time between 9.30am and 11.30am.

We would love to see you.

We run a breakfast club and an after-school club in addition to extra-curricular clubs such as a stories club, a science club, board games and hockey.

You can find out more from our website here: https://www.st-birinus-pri.oxon.sch.uk/

Jo Staples
Headteacher

What a great start to a new year here at Dorchester St Birinus!
We have welcomed a group of new children into our Willow Class for their Reception year. They have really impressed us with how well they have settled and how they have integrated so brilliantly with the rest of the children in our school.

All our children have made a superb start to their new year groups and we are excited to see what our children will be able to achieve this year.
We are extremely grateful to the Hurst Water Meadow Trust who have provided further funding for us to continue to employ our specialist Forest School leader for this year.
We love going to explore the river, build dens, investigate the wildlife and learn how to take risks.

We have lots of other exciting things in the pipeline for the rest of this year too, including taking part in ‘Oxtrail’ in aid of Sobell House Hospice. We are keen to be involved in this fundraising project which will culminate in a sculpture trail across Oxfordshire next summer. In order to take part in this exciting venture we need a business who could agree to match our fundraising.

Our target would be double the number of children in the school, so we are looking for a business who could match our fundraising of approximately £150. If you work for, or run, a company who may be able to help us with this please do contact me at school: 01865340081. Many thanks.

If you would like to come and see what our school has to offer, please do come to our open morning on Thursday 9th November. There is no need to book; just turn up and one of our lovely children will give you a guided tour. School staff and governors will also be around to speak to and answer any questions you may have. We’d love to see you!

We have welcomed a group of new children into Willow Class Reception year. They have really impressed us with how well they have settled and how they have integrated so brilliantly with our Year 1 and 2 children. The new set up in Willow Class has worked amazingly well this week and we are looking forward to seeing what they will all achieve You can find out more about our school from our website here: https://www.st-birinus-pri.oxon.sch.uk/

Jo Staples
Headteacher

There have been so many exciting things going on in our school across this year and we are very grateful for the continued support from the local community.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to share some of the extra-curricular activities that have been experienced by our children across this school year as we come towards to the end of another year at school.

We have tried to enable our children to experience a range of trips out and every class has been out at least once. Some of the trips experienced by our children are a visit to the mosque in Oxford, a day at Cotswold Wildlife Park, a day out at Hampton Court Palace, a morning at Pizza Express in Abingdon learning how to make pizzas, a trip to the Science labs at Abingdon School, Hill End Outdoor Activity Centre, a Young Citizens visit to the Fire Station in Oxford and a trip to the Pantomime.

We also continue to take advantage of our local area and we have enjoyed various activities in the Abbey and at Bishop’s Court Farm.

We would also like to say a huge thank you to the Hurst Water Meadow Trust who have funded a specialist forest school teacher for us so all our children have had at least a term out at Forest School this year. We are so happy that this funding has been granted again and we will be continuing this provision for the time being. Learning to take risks and experiencing what the outdoors has to offer is a valuable part of education here at Dorchester St Birinus.

Obviously with rising fuel costs, these trips do cost a great deal of money especially if coaches are needed. If you feel you are able to support us financially in any way in order to ensure that these enriching experiences can continue for all our children, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

We have been touched by the generosity of our community in helping to raise money for our library. We are in the process of ordering new furniture and books and we will share photos in due course.

We are very much looking forward to welcoming our new children into our Reception Class in September.

We would also like to wish our Year Six children all the very best as they transition into secondary school in September. We know they are going to do us proud.

We hope everyone has a wonderful summer – it is fantastic to see the community using the Pickleball Courts.

We run a breakfast club and an after-school club. We have places available and if you would like to see what we could offer your child please give us a call to arrange a tour. You can find out more from our website here: https://www.st-birinus-pri.oxon.sch.uk/

Jo Staples
Headteacher

On behalf of our school, I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who made the Coronation event such a special day. We are so grateful to have received a significant amount of money from the event organisers to help us with our library refurbishments and I’m looking forward to sharing pictures when the library is finished.
We loved opening up our school grounds to the village and welcoming in young and old to join us on our stalls. Thank you so much for all your generosity.

Summer term is always a busy one for us with lots of assessments but also exciting things going on too. We loved the fly past from RAF Benson and hope you enjoy seeing the pictures from above that they sent to us. We tried to make the shape of a crown!
We also have a sports afternoon and a Key Stage 2 show to look forward to.

We run a breakfast club and an after-school club. We have places available and if you would like to see what we could offer your child please give us a call to arrange a tour. You can find out more from our website here: https://www.st-birinus-pri.oxon.sch.uk/

Jo Staples
Headteacher

The PTA of Dorchester St Birinus Primary School raised over £500 towards the school book fund in March with a popular quiz. The school hall was packed for the evening with members of the school community including staff, local residents and parents of children who attend the school all coming together for a battle of the brains…. And for wine and delicious nibbles!

There were several rounds including topics such as 2022, childhood days and music as well as photo rounds.

It was great to see everyone come together to have a wonderful evening and raise money. The PTA would like to extend their thanks to everyone who came, had fun and helped raise funds.

Should you wish to contribute to the book fund for the school then all donations are welcome and can be done so through the Amazon wish list https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3EAI7Q6N5EB2E?ref_=wl_share
Thank you!

We have lots to look forward to at school this summer including the coronation event in the village, some exciting trips out, sports day and our sponsored walk.

We run a breakfast club and an after-school club. We have places available and if you would like to see what we could offer your child please give us a call to arrange a tour. You can find out more from our website here: https://www.st-birinus-pri.oxon.sch.uk/

Jo Staples
Headteacher