Press Release
Date: 26 July 2010
First Schools Group to Offer Nationally Accredited Gifted & Talented Courses in England

The Dorchester Area Schools Partnership (DASP) is breaking new ground in the provision for Gifted and Talented students.
The partnership, led by the Thomas Hardye School and Sunninghill Prep School, have been working together with the National Association for Gifted Children to offer fully accredited Gifted and Talented courses, which is a national first. The courses begin next week at 10.00am on Monday 26th July.
The DASP pupils have been offered the courses to give them high quality holiday course provision at a reasonable cost. The aim is to help those young people who have an interest in a particular subject to develop their skills over the long summer break and achieve better results in the future. The programme is funded by parents’ contributions, subsidised by Thomas Hardye and Sunninghill Prep schools.
The courses offered over the two weeks include Art & Drama and History. Running alongside them are sports courses in tennis and archery. All the courses will be based at Sunninghill Preparatory School in the heart of Dorchester.

“It is important to expand the opportunities for our students to develop their commitment to learning,” commented Dr Iain Melvin, Head Teachers of Thomas Hardye School he went on to say “We want to encourage young people from Dorchester and the surrounding area to continue to aim high in their academic studies, this programme does just that.”

“This is just the beginning.” Andrew Roberts-Wray, Head Teacher of Sunninghill stated. “Between us we aim to offer even more over the next academic year to a wider age group and across a broader spectrum of subjects.”

The new venture looks set to put Dorchester firmly on the map for its creative, dynamic approach to education; particularly in the way that State and Independent school partnerships are flourishing.

Notes for Editors
About The Thomas Hardye School
The Thomas Hardye School is a state funded co-educational secondary school of 2300 students aged 13 to 18 years. It has consistently achieved an ‘outstanding’ rating and is described by Ofsted as ‘ one of the best schools in the country’. It is a high performing Specialism School and Science and Maths, Humanities and Special Educational Needs College.

About Sunninghill Preparatory School
Sunninghill Preparatory School is a co-educational fee paying school for children aged 2 years 9 months to 13 years. It is a friendly, caring family community striving for excellence – committed to achievement and sharing in the success of each individual child. It is a school of 150 and has recently been given the top grade possible for its Nursery provision by Sure Start inspectors.
For interviews and photographs please contact:
Sarah Smith
Marketing Co-ordinator
Sunninghill Preparatory School
South Court
South Walks
Dorchester
DT1 1EB
Tel: 07950 361179
Email: ssmith@sunninghill.dorset.sch.uk