Parish Council Elections: 4 May 2023

Posted on April 20, 2023April 21, 2023 by Dan Duke

Elections for both South Oxfordshire District Council an Dorchester-on-Thames Parish Council will take place on Thursday 4 May 2023. The Village Hall is the designated polling station and will be open from 7.00am until 10.00pm.

The new ID process will be in force and voters will be asked to show an acceptable form of photo ID. For more information contact
www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/voter/voter-id or call the helpline on 0800 328 0280.

The Election results will be announced on Friday 5 May.

Both pages below are copied from the May edition of Dorchester News

Dorchester St. Birinus Primary School – May News

Posted on April 17, 2023March 11, 2024 by Dan Duke

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

Dorchester St. Birinus Primary School – March News

Posted on March 13, 2023March 11, 2024 by Dan Duke

As the spring term whizzes by, we continue to be proud of everything our children are achieving here in school. There has been so much going on. Our younger children have visited the Science department at Abingdon School where they took part in some exciting space workshops.
We took some of our older children into the Abbey to watch a brass band play and find out all about the different instruments.
We continue to send two groups out to Forest School every week and the children have experienced lighting fires and making and eating stick dough to try and stay warm!
We also celebrated World Book Day by sharing one book across the whole school. Each class completed work based on a beautiful story called ‘The Missing Piece’ written by Jordan Stephens and illustrated by Beth Suzanna. There is a colourful display in the corridor to celebrate some of the work inspired by the book.

As the weather improves we have much to look forward to as we have trips out planned to the Mosque in Oxford, the Living Rainforest and the lambing at Bishops Court Farm.
We would like to say a huge thank you to anyone who has already bought books for our school from our Amazon wish list. We are enjoying using the books to help us increase our knowledge and understanding of the world. We really appreciate your kindness. If you would like to buy a book for school our wish list can be found at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3EAI7Q6N5EB2E?ref_=wl_share

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 gym. 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

Dorchester’s Coronation Weekend : 7th/8th May

Posted on February 20, 2023March 6, 2023 by Dan Duke

Note: Any updates made will be to the event page on the website

The booking site for the Dorchester-on-Thames coronation party on Sunday 7th May is now open to take your orders for places at our long party table in Queen St. Your tickets also get you tea and cup cakes with the modest booking fee going to support youth groups in the village. Of course you can bring your own picnic and drinks but our booking site also offers sandwiches and more exotic cakes if you’d rather we did the hard work for you. And finally you can pre-book BBQ food and order your coronation mug (please note those lucky enough to be under 16 will be getting a free small mug from the Parish Council). So, everything you need for a grand day out. Click here to join the party:

www.ticketsource.co.uk/dorchesterabbey

Mark the coronation weekend in your diary and celebrate our community in Dorchester with a fun weekend of street party, village fundraising to help our young people and volunteering to improve our environment!

Sunday 7th May 3pm-8pm – The Big Dorchester street party in Queen St – Book your seats and also get your free tea and coronation cake. Add to it with your own picnic or tea to share with friends. Enjoy the pop up tea room, cake stall, bar, BBQ and live music. £2 per adult and £1 per child raising money for the local youth groups who are running fun activities in the school playground to entertain all ages. Why not organise a group for your street to sit together?

BH Monday 8th May – ‘The Big Help Out’ – Volunteering in our community – Support a local group, contribute to our community and have fun by volunteering for just a few hours. Activities from cleaning to gardening will be on offer with something to suit any age or skill! More details in the next Dorchester News, on facebook and the village website. Simply sign up on the village website for something that works for you and your family.

Can you help? Thank you to those who have already put their names forward to help with set-up and/or on the day. Please do contact the event organisers Nick and Steph Forman, Mike and Jill Corran and Geoff Russell – via parishclerk@dorchesteronthames.co.uk

Street party and volunteer booking link: will be open by early March

Dorchester St. Birinus Primary School – February News

Posted on February 17, 2023March 11, 2024 by Dan Duke

All our children continue to work hard and shine their lights! We have enjoyed a variety of exciting experiences across this term including a visit from ‘Wheelpower’ a charity supporting wheelchair sports, an Open the Book assembly and a children’s disco.

Our Year 1 and 2 children enjoyed inviting their grandparents into school to share toys that they used to play with during their grandparents day. What a great experience for all involved!

We would like to say a huge thank you to our volunteer helpers who come in to hear children read. If you have time to spare or a skill to share, please do get in touch if you would like to come into school as a volunteer. We always need people to support with hearing children read.

As you will be aware, we are fundraising for new library books. Our PTA have organised an adult quiz night in school on Friday 24th March from 7pm. We would love to welcome our community in to take part. Teams can be from 1-6 people. Tickets cost £10 each. There will be a bar and you are welcome to bring your own snacks.

We would like to say a huge thank you to anyone who has already bought books for our school from our Amazon wish list. We are enjoying using the books to help us increase our knowledge and understanding of the world. We really appreciate your kindness. If you would like to buy a book for school our wish list can be found at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3EAI7Q6N5EB2E?ref_=wl_share

Jo Staples
Headteacher