Just before February half term, we held our annual Art week, all the classes had the opportunity to draw a self-portrait – these drawings have provided a fantastic display in our main corridor to represent the family of our school. Each class has also been engaged in some additional art activities looking at different artists – an exciting week of art.

World Book Day was on Thursday 5th March – the children had the opportunity to come dressed as a character from a book (or in non-uniform if they preferred). As always there was a great array of costumes and the fun of guessing what characters they had come as. . This year, we also held a ‘Cook for Books’ cake sale at the end of the day to raise some money to buy some sets of class reading books.

Fox Class headed off to Narnia (in the Abbey), the children had helped prepare some of the exhibition, so it was great for them to take part in the workshop based around the book. They imagined themselves as evacuees and ventured through the wardrobe door. They all had a wonderful experience.

There has been much excitement in Squirrel Class with the arrival of eggs and an incubator. All the children in school had the opportunity to predict which egg would hatch first and we did not have to wait long as the chicks started to hatch two days later. I kept popping in to have a look to see how they were getting on and it was lovely to see the children’s joy.

As I write this, I am currently enjoying the delights of the Woodlands Centre with Owl class and Mrs Eacopo on their residential in the Brecon Beacons. Apart from being just a little damp, we have had a great time canoeing, climbing, caving and mountain walking. Of course the biggest challenge of the week was to make our own beds – I am still have a smile about their antics even now. As always this is a great week to challenge and push ourselves past our comfort zones. I am proud of the whole group.

Russell Leigh

Headteacher

It has been another dramatic month for the emerging local plan. The Secretary of State for Housing Communities and Local Government, Robert Jenrick MP, issued another legal direction, this time ordering the council to progress the plan through examination, to be adopted by December this year. This followed Oxfordshire County Council voting to take over the plan, should it be asked to do so. The new direction means the plan stays with SODC, but under strict conditions and with the threat of further intervention if deadlines are not met. London’s local plan has just met similar intervention, so we are not alone on this front. I’m not certain this is what was meant by localism!

At SODC we passed a motion asking for resources to explore all opportunities to address the council’s concerns about the plan, particularly on housing to meet local needs, enhanced environmental policies and the council’s declared climate emergency. This will include suggesting alterations as the current plan goes to inspection, as well as via schemes such as the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 and the Oxford-Cambridge Arc which will likely have a major influence on future plans for the area.

I attended a conference on the ‘Arc’ in London, chaired by John Howell MP. While there is still a lack of clarity and leadership on the project, it does provide an opportunity, since the government appears very committed to innovation and leadership on environmental standards and transportation, such as East-West Rail. There were more announcements about the Arc in the recent budget, including that the Expressway is ‘paused’ – not cancelled as some have claimed.

We had a great turnout for our exhibition about the new SODC office building, and lots of useful feedback on its proposed design and features.  There’s a project website at https://southoxfordshirehq.wordpress.com/ which will be updated as the project rolls out.

Some people have questioned the need to build a new Council office at all, so it’s worth pointing out that SODC currently spends several hundreds of thousands of pounds each year renting, heating, lighting and maintaining 135 Eastern Avenue, Milton Park.  Any homeowner will appreciate that it’s more financially sensible to own your own home and to invest in making it as cheap to run as possible. We’re very confident that this is a prudent investment in the future financial stability of the Council.

At the time of writing, we have cancelled most upcoming activities and meetings due to the Coronavirus outbreak, with staff working from home and many council departments focused on keeping essential services running in challenging circumstances.

Look after yourselves out there, and your neighbours too.

Robin Bennett

The Cinnamon Trust is the national charity whose wonderful volunteers help people over retirement age and those in the latter stages of a terminal illness by offering all kinds of pet care. We urgently need dog walking support for a local owner and their adorable dog who would just love to go for a good walk, so we wondered whether any local people might like to register as volunteers, or if you would be able to help us publicise our need for volunteers in the area. If an hour a week can be spared to help this would make all the difference to the owners being able to keep their fury companions living with them. If anyone would like to volunteer or even have a chat about what’s involved please ring in on 01736 758701 or email appeals@cinnamon.org.uk we would love to hear from you.

Registered Charity No: 1134680 The Cinnamon Trust is a limited company registered in England and Wales. Registered Office: 10 Market Square, Hayle, Cornwall, TR27 4HE. Company Number 07004861

As you will know the Dorchester Royal British Legion Branch was suspended two years ago. However, with a number of new and enthusiastic members we believe there is now sufficient support within the village to form a new committee and revive it to a fully constituted Branch again.

Therefore we would like to invite all current Royal British Legion members to a meeting in the White Hart at 7.30pm on Wednesday 18th March to explain what we are planning and to gain your agreement to move forward. There will also be an opportunity for members to express their views on any Legion matters as well as reforming the Branch.

If we are successful we will then be able to continue the Remembrance Day parade as in previous years. If not there will need to be major changes in future Remembrance parades starting November 2020.

Please make a note in your diary and we hope to see you on 18th March.
Chris Hill, Andy Pay, Charlotte Bennet, Guy and Tania Glover.

Royal British Legion