Heads PA (Maternity Cover) | Milton Abbey School

23 December 2025

JOB DESCRIPTION

TITLE: PA to the Head and Clerk to the Governors

(Maternity cover)

DEPARTMENT: Head’s Office / Administration

JOB PURPOSE: The PA to the Head is responsible for ensuring the effective running of the Head’s office, supporting the Head and Senior Deputy Head, and separately the Board of Governors

RESPONSIBLE TO: Head and Chair of Governors

Duties and Responsibilities

This role, supporting the work of the Head and the Board of Governors, is a vital role, operating at the heart of the school. The post holder will have access to confidential information, requiring absolute discretion at all times.

Key responsibilities include the following, although this list is by no means exhaustive:

Head’s Office

• To act as an effective and efficient Personal Assistant and ensure the smooth running of the office, including

o To deal with the Head’s email, letters (including admissions letters), telephone calls and general communications

o To prepare agendas and reports, take and publish minutes of internal meetings as required

o To organise the Head’s electronic diary with a focus on balancing Head’s availability

for internal events and meetings with external conferences and countrywide /

international travel

o To manage the detailed planning of all aspects of Head’s travel countrywide and international in liaison with the Deputy Head Development to attend conferences, fairs and visits prep and senior schools.

o To support the Head in the management and administration of

• Parent – school relationships, including the administration of meetings

• Staff meetings with the Head

• To complete all administrative tasks in relation to Head’s internal events and entertaining and assist with the preparation of termly whole school events and fundraising events in conjunction with the events team. To make arrangements for events held externally on behalf of the Head. To assist with creating an annual programme of parents’ events.

• To support the Head in meeting all statutory requirements of the Head’s role

(including inspection readiness, in conjunction with the Head of Compliance) including maintaining the school complaint and behaviour records

• To co-ordinate news for publications and reports (including end of term parent letter and Head’s reports to Governors)

• To support the Head in the management of the Head’s Budget and prepare expenses and card statements.

• Any other duties reasonably requested by the Head

Senior Deputy Head’s Office

• To liaise between the Head and Senior Deputy Head on parent issues and

Milton Abbey School | 13-18, Co-educational, Full Boarding or Day | www.miltonabbey.co.ukHead’s PA & Clerk to the Governors (Maternity Cover) Dec 2025 communication ensuring appropriate and prompt response

• To coordinate and publish Senior Leadership Duty Cover during term-time/holidays

• To liaise with the Head and Senior Deputy Head to assign parent meetings and appointments

• To undertake general administration for the Senior Deputy Head (SDH) including diary management, telephone call handling, email support and processing of letters

• To support the Senior Deputy Head in the management of the Senior Deputy Head’s Budget and submit invoices as required for processing

Other tasks

• To assist the School Chaplain with preparation and printing of the Order of Service for End of Term and other events

• To administer the preparation of the annual Leaver’s yearbook.

• To administer the student leadership selection process for the following year.

• Database management of mailing and contact lists separate from the school system

Clerk to Governors

• To prepare the annual meeting calendar with the Chair of Governors and make any amendments throughout the year.

• To act as a secretary for all meetings of the Governing Body and prepare and organise these meetings in full, including drafting an agenda with the Chair of Governors, IT and room set up as well as catering.

• To draw up the meeting minutes for review and approval by the Chair of each meeting thereafter. To publish meeting minutes as required after approval.

• To update the governors’ files including meeting minutes, records of personnel and trainings

• To make arrangements for governor’s visits to the school each term

• To assist with management of companies house and charity commission

• To administer the process of governor recruitment and induction where required

• To administer the process for leaving governors where required

• To establish and service Governors’ Appeal panels for hearings associated with disciplinary matters, grievances and parental complaints

• To ensure that governors are inspection ready to the standards inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate

• Any related tasks reasonably required by the Chair of Governors

Skills and Attributes required

The post requires an understanding of, and commitment to, the primary importance of safeguarding within our school, a courteous, welcoming and caring demeanour, absolute discretion and a flexible approach.

The successful postholder will be able to discuss at interview a career which demonstrates:

• experience of working as an administrator at a senior level

• experience of handling customer enquiries sensitively, promptly and effectively

• excellent written and verbal communication skills, including strong secretarial and IT skills

• experience of dealing with a range of external stakeholders

• the ability to plan, organise and anticipate requirements well in advance to support the smooth running of the school

• strong team working skills, flexibility, and a high level of initiative

• a focus on problem-solving and task completion

Milton Abbey School | 13-18, Co-educational, Full Boarding or Day | www.miltonabbey.co.ukHead’s PA & Clerk to the Governors (Maternity Cover) Dec 2025

TERMS OF APPOINTMENT

The following provides guidance, without prejudice, on the likely main provisions of a Contract of Employment.

Fixed term contract: As this opportunity is covering maternity leave, it shall be available for fixed term only with one month notice to be provided by the school when this comes to an end. Where possible, the school will provide more notice and prior to the contract coming to an end, possible alternative employment that may become available at that stage will be discussed

Holidays: This role is year-round role (i.e. the successful applicant will work through the school holidays subject to the following). The successful applicant will enjoy with 5 weeks paid holiday per annum (prorata) which should be taken outside the school term dates. Bank holidays outside term dates are also available to take as paid holiday

Hours: Monday to Friday generally 08:00 – 1700 (including 30 minutes unpaid lunch break) and Saturday mornings (term time only) generally 08:30 – 12:30. Some flexibility may be required during term time to accommodate late meetings or urgent requirements, however it is expected that the successful candidate will reduce their weekly working hours accordingly outside of term time, to offset the annual expected working hours average 40 hours per week.

Salary: A competitive salary is offered to the successful candidate depending on experience and qualification.

Probation: The position is subject to a 16-week probationary period.

Pension: A contributory pension scheme will be available including life assurance.

Other benefits: Meals on duty (e.g. full three course meal at lunchtime) (non-contractual benefit), free on-site parking, Employee Assistance Programme, use of facilities such as the gym and swimming pool at specific times.

Medical Fitness: Any offer of employment will be conditional upon the appointee’s fitness to carry out the role. New employees will be asked, following an offer of employment, to complete a questionnaire regarding medical fitness.

Milton Abbey School | 13-18, Co-educational, Full Boarding or Day | www.miltonabbey.co.ukHead’s PA & Clerk to the Governors (Maternity Cover) Dec 2025

Criminal Check

(DBS): As a School, Milton Abbey requires all new employees to complete an Enhanced level criminal background check through the Disclosure and Barring Service. It is a condition of employment that the employee should not have been convicted of a criminal offence against children, nor have been dismissed from or resigned from a previous employer for misconduct of a similar nature.

References: In addition, all new employees are required to provide two satisfactory references from two separate sources, one of sources should be from a previous employer. The school may also contact any previous employer, where the position has involved working with children or vulnerable adults.

APPLICATIONS

Applications must be submitted on a Milton Abbey School application form with a covering letter. Your application can be supported by a CV but applications by CV alone will not be considered.

Further details may be obtained from our website or from HR email [email protected] or telephone 01258 880484.

Please address your letter to the Headmaster, James Watson and send the letter,

application form and any supporting paperwork to:

By post Or by email

HR Department
Milton Abbey School [email protected]
Blandford Forum
Dorset
DT110BZ

Milton Abbey School | 13-18, Co-educational, Full Boarding or Day | www.miltonabbey.co.ukHead’s PA & Clerk to the Governors (Maternity Cover) Dec 2025

We will contact all applicants to either invite them to interview or advise them that on this occasion their application will not be taken further

Admissions Officer | Milton Abbey School

Editorial team

23 December 2025

JOB DESCRIPTION

Admissions Officer – Visa, Agents and International Admissions

Duties and Responsibilities

• To ensure that all admissions enquiries are handled professionally, courteously, efficiently

and effectively, from initial call to handover to Housemaster, in line with the aims and

ethos of the school

• To share responsibility for the maintenance of comprehensive, detailed and accurate

Admissions information database

• To maintain detailed and current understanding of Milton Abbey pupil recruitment and

retention numbers, trends and patterns, briefing Head, Deputy Head Development and

Admissions and Director of Finance as required

• To monitor and respond to all enquiries and contacts related to Admissions, including:

o Monitoring Admissions Phone, directing enquiries to appropriate team members

o Monitoring relevant email accounts and action inbox, and have shared oversight of

Admissions@

• To handle initial enquiries from prospective parents

• To maintain and promote good communications with entrants from enquiry to arrival

• To administer and maintain detailed and accurate Admissions information via database

• To lead on all statutory and regulatory Admissions requirements

• To support the planning and hosting of prospective parent and pupil visits

• To plan and implement the Admissions calendar

• To administer and coordinate our work with presenting schools

Parent Visits

• To share responsibility for all prospective parent visits and to lead on visits by agents

• To ensure the Deputy Head Development and Admissions, Head and SENDCO have all

relevant information and paperwork to make accurate and appropriate admissions

decisions

• To ensure any reasonable adjustments for interviews or assessments are put in place, in

consultation with the Learning Development Department

• To devise a bespoke visit for each applicant, focusing on areas of interest and need

• To organise and brief pupil guides, liaising with Head of Sixth Form

• To follow up visits appropriately and efficiently with parents/agents

• To ensure regular contact with registered, confirmed and enquiry families, liaising with

Marketing Officer to support communications for mailings/social media and events

Milton Abbey School | 13-18, Co-educational, Full Boarding or Day | www.miltonabbey.co.ukAdmissions Officer – Visa, Agents and International Admissions Dec 2025

• To liaise with colleagues including the Head, Deputy Head Development and Admissions,

SENDCO, Director of Finance, Head’s PA, Senior Deputy Head, Deputies, and HSM, as

appropriate with regard to prospective pupils, pre and post visits

• To ensure the school is prepared for tours, in conjunction with the Head of Operations

Staff Liaison and Briefing

• To ensure that House Teams, Health Centre, and Deputies Team are fully briefed on

arriving pupils

• To provide Admissions induction and training for teaching and house staff

• To communicate with the Deputies Team to ensure appropriate induction processes,

class allocation and academic setting are in place for mid-year and mid-phase joiners

• To liaise between parents and the Head of Lower School/VI Form on suitable options for

incoming pupil

Statutory and Regulatory

• To arrange with Deputy Head Development and Admissions the annual review, and

Governor sign-off, of Admissions Policy

• To coordinate the school’s Visa and Immigration work, taking responsibility for the CAS

allocation process for relevant new pupils according to Home Office rules and guidance

• To ensure that all pupils residents overseas have appropriate guardianship arrangements,

meeting statutory requirements

• To remain conversant with developments in immigration relevant to boarding, undertaking

relevant training

• To maintain all school records in line with current Child Student Visa policy

• To ensure registration, confirmation and joiner forms are fully completed

• To maintain necessary communication with and administration for, the UKVI, including up

to date paperwork on all CAS entries

• To be responsible for Child Student Visa Parent and School Policies along with Guardian

Agreements and Agent Agreements.

• To act as a UKVI Level 1 user

• To lead on inspection of Admissions, keeping all documentation and records inspection-

ready, in consultation with Head of Compliance

• To ensure that all legal requirements and statutory guidance (including Independent

School Standards Regulations, Keeping Children Safe in Education and Home Office

Guidance) are followed and documented

Milton Abbey School | 13-18, Co-educational, Full Boarding or Day | www.miltonabbey.co.ukAdmissions Officer – Visa, Agents and International Admissions Dec 2025

Information Collection and Provision (in support of the work of Deputy Head Development

and Admissions)

• To share oversight of the admissions database system, running off reports as required

and ensuring that all leads and contact information are stored accurately

• To prepare topic papers for the Deputy Head Development and Admissions, e.g.

overseas student recruitment, day pupil numbers

• To provide the Finance Director and Head with pupil numbers update weekly or as

required

• To be responsible for information relating to the retention of pupils in liaison with HSM

team and the Head

• To draw up a departmental Admissions Handbook, detailing processes and policies

Exhibitions/Recruitment trips

• To identify, and organise attendance at, recruitment events (UK and overseas)

representing MA at events as required

• To organise a schedule of overseas trips/UK trips and online meetings for senior staff, as

directed by Deputy Head Development and Admissions

• To commission appropriate exhibition/display materials from Marketing Department

Analysis and Strategy

• To use data to provide strategic updates/identify patterns and trends in recruitment

• To support the Deputy Head Development and Admissions in identifying and developing

new opportunities, strategies and methods for marketing the School nationally and

internationally

• To develop new overseas and UK markets through contact with new and existing agents

and education consultancies

• To work with Finance Director and Head of Marketing and Events on recruitment

initiatives.

• To help to plan the Admissions calendar (e.g. Open Days, Introductory, Taster and

events)

Routine Admissions Administration (tasks vary day to day and are split in the department)

• To schedule zoom and on-site visits, communicating weekly list internally

• To input telephone /website/email prospectus enquiries into our Admissions Database)

and follow up with a letter and prospectus

• To produce Admissions mailings (call to action emails, confirmation of attendance for

open days etc, new pupil information mailings, prep head/Agent marketing run etc) as and

when required

Milton Abbey School | 13-18, Co-educational, Full Boarding or Day | www.miltonabbey.co.ukAdmissions Officer – Visa, Agents and International Admissions Dec 2025

• To provide Events Team with mailing lists from database for events, e.g. Open Day

invitations

• To create and maintain individual pupil records for all prospective pupils and all new

joiners on iSams via inbox, calls, agent requests

• To request and process Admissions documents, including school references and learning

support questionnaires

• To administer required EAL/CAT4 testing for applicants, recording, and distributing results

• To liaise with Accounts for all agent and parent payments (reg fee/deposit/commission)

• To update attendance/post attendance for Open Days/Taster Days and follow up as

required

• To maintain paper and electronic files for current and prospective pupils

• To collate new pupil information which is centralised and distributed as required

• (GCSE results, new pupil forms)

• To ensure detailed and accurate entry of all new pupil information on ISAMS

• To coordinate and distribute joiner information/parent booklet in consultation with Senior

Deputy

• To assist the events team with commercial lets and other events, particularly outside

school term time.

Educational Agents

To manage relationships with Educational Agents including but not limited to;

• Onboarding (including referencing and other due diligence)

• Contracts and financial agreements

• Communications regarding candidates

• Seeking support where required on immigration formalities

• Signing off commission payments and monitoring expenditure against budget.

Any other duties reasonably requested by the Head, which may involve working flexibly with

occasional evening and weekend work (with time off in lieu by agreement with Deputy Head

Development and Admissions).

Skills, Experience and Personal attributes required:

• Several year experience working in a face paced administrative role working to high

standards of accuracy and efficiency.

• Take responsibility, where appropriate, for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of the

children and young people in School, where applicable.

• Team working skills, discretion and clear understanding of confidentiality are essential.

• Good communication skills with all groups of staff, managers across the School and with

all external organisation is essential.

Milton Abbey School | 13-18, Co-educational, Full Boarding or Day | www.miltonabbey.co.ukAdmissions Officer – Visa, Agents and International Admissions Dec 2025

• Excellent IT skills across a number of relevant platforms, including word, excel, zoom,

teams, outlook and PowerPoint.

• The post holder will be expected to maintain a polite manner and smart appearance when

communicating virtually.

• Ensure adherence to all School Policies and Procedures as an employee.

• Attend relevant training courses internally or externally, as requested, to update skills and

for the benefit of both parties.

Experience working in an admissions department in an education setting would be ideal but is not

essential.

TERMS OF APPOINTMENT

The following provides guidance, without prejudice, on the likely main provisions of a Contract of

Employment. Contracts for each appointment will be bespoke to the role.

General This role is year-round (52 weeks). 25 days holidays plus bank holidays

that fall outside of term time.

Hours: 40 hours per week.Monday to Friday generally 08:30 – 17:00 (including 30

minutes unpaid lunch break). Some flexibility may be required during term

time to accommodate admissions events, some of which will be on

Saturdays, for which time off in lieu will be available.

Salary: A competitive salary is offered to the successful candidate depending on

experience and qualification.

Probation: The position is subject to a 16-week probationary period.

Pension: A contributory pension scheme will be available including life assurance.

Other benefits: Meals on duty (e.g. full three course meal at lunchtime) (non-contractual

benefit), free on-site parking, Employee Assistance Programme, use of

facilities such as the gym and swimming pool at specified times.

Medical Fitness: Any offer of employment will be conditional upon the appointee’s fitness to

carry out the role. New employees will be asked, following an offer of

employment, to complete a questionnaire regarding medical fitness.

Milton Abbey School | 13-18, Co-educational, Full Boarding or Day | www.miltonabbey.co.ukAdmissions Officer – Visa, Agents and International Admissions Dec 2025

Criminal Check

(DBS): As a School, Milton Abbey requires all new employees to complete an

Enhanced level criminal background check through the Disclosure and

Barring Service. It is a condition of employment that the employee should

not have been convicted of a criminal offence against children, nor have

been dismissed from or resigned from a previous employer for misconduct

of a similar nature.

References: In addition, all new employees are required to provide two satisfactory

references from two separate sources, one of sources should be from a

previous employer. The school may also contact any previous employer,

where the position has involved working with children or vulnerable adults.

APPLICATIONS

Applications must be submitted on a Milton Abbey School application form with a

covering letter. Your application can be supported by a CV but applications by CV alone

will not be considered.

Further details may be obtained from our website or from HR email

[email protected] or telephone 01258 880484.

Please address your letter to the Headmaster, James Watson and send the letter,

application form and any supporting paperwork to:

By post Or by email

HR Department

Milton Abbey School [email protected]

Blandford Forum

Dorset

DT110BZ

We will contact all applicants to either invite them to interview or advise them that on this occasion their application will not be taken further.

Christmas snow

Editorial team

23 December 2025

This month Barry Cuff has chosen two chilly postcards , both sent with Christmas greetings

his rather brief and formal greeting was sent on 22nd December 1906 to Cardiff.
The gates of the Bryanston Estate are instantly recognisable even today – in 1906 they led not to a school, but to the private home of the Portman family. The house beyond the gates had only recently been completed, in 1894, for the 2nd Viscount Portman, who declined to live in his late father’s residence (Knighton House) and commissioned a grand new mansion.

This postcard, with its snowball fight, was taken just 12 years after the new house was completed, when the family were enjoying the high point of the estate’s wealth – a flurry of construction across the estate, included the distinctive red-brick cottages that remain today.
But the fortunes of the Portman dynasty began to shift after the First World War. A rapid succession of deaths brought heavy death duties that even this estate couldn’t absorb. The mansion was closed up, its contents auctioned off in 1925 in a sale that lasted two full weeks. It stood empty until 1927, when it was sold – along with several cottages and grounds – for £35,000 to JG Jeffreys, the young, innovative Australian schoolmaster who opened Bryanston School the following January.
‘A Very Happy Xmas to Mr & Mrs Carlton Riches with kindest regards from M Wichwood [Pag?], Old Bank House, Blandford’

This postcard, sent 22nd December 1925, captures a rare but much-loved Dorset winter pastime: skating on Ashmore’s village pond. Though the scene is captioned, it would have been instantly recognisable to locals even without it – the surrounding cottages look much the same today.
Ashmore remains the highest village in Dorset.

In colder winters, like that of 1925, the pond would regularly freeze deep enough to skate on – a tradition now largely lost to warmer winters.
The message on the back of this card – sent to Miss Price in Canterbury – is brief but seasonal:
“With compliments of the season. From J. & R. Coward, Ashmore.”

Wimborne in the 1950s | Then and Now

Editorial team

22 December 2025

This month Barry Cuff has selected two images of Wimborne Minster – and while the passing decades have brought inevitable change to the town, its sense of place remains strikingly intact.
The towering silhouette of the Minster still anchors the town, just as it did when Currys delivery vans advertised cycles as well as radios and televisions, and full-height double-decker buses served the town. Independent shops have come and gone, but the rhythm of the High Street continues. The photographs from the middle of the last century capture everyday life looking remarkably similar to that 75 years later.
Today’s streets might have different cars, the streets themselves have different edges, and the shopfronts less signage and awnings, but the view down Eastbrook or along the High Street is still unmistakably Wimborne.

The 1950s High Street is a busy place – and it was served by double decker bus. Note the Currys delivery van, front left.

Today the High Street is still recogmisable. Coles, front right, is now the Museum of East Dorset, and the Albion is now known as 1777 at the Albion.

Wimborne Minster visible through the streets to Eastbrook Bridge over the Allen. ‘Then’ postcards courtesy of the Barry Cuff Collection, and ‘now’ images by Courtenay Hitchcock

The scene today – The large white building which housed the Citroen garage and Banwell the antiquarian bookseller is gone, but much of the rest of the street is recognisable, despite modern facelifts

Dorset housing: targets vs needs

Editorial team

21 December 2025

Rupert Hardy says Dorset’s draft Local Plan could be ruled unsound if it sticks to inflated government housing targets – ONS data says Dorset’s true need is far lower

Dorset Council’s emerging Local Plan risks being found unsound if it continues to rely on the government’s Standard Method figure of 3,246 new homes a year. The latest household projections from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) now cast serious doubt on that target.
Just as Dorset residents thought the Local Plan (LP) Consultation was over – and we agree it was a very time-consuming process for those who got involved – Dorset Council (DC) now needs to consider the latest ONS 2022-based household projections, published in late October. They indicate that Dorset’s true household growth will be between 1,700 and 2,000 per annum, depending on migration assumptions. This stark difference exposes a fundamental conflict within the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) itself. On the one hand, the NPPF requires councils to use the government’s Standard Method to calculate housing need. On the other, it requires plans to be effective – that is, demonstrably deliverable over the plan period. In Dorset’s case, these two tests cannot both be met. A plan built around 3,246 homes a year would not be deliverable, so it cannot be considered sound.

Aerial view of new housing being built on the outskirts of Wimborne

Government housing targets
By way of background, we have consistently argued that the government’s Standard Method produces housing targets that are both unsustainable and undeliverable. The method applies an arbitrary baseline of existing housing stock and then inflates it to reflect assumed affordability pressures. In Dorset, this generates targets of around 3,300 homes a year – figures that bear no relation to reality.
Over the past two decades, delivery has averaged only 1,300 homes a year, and anything close to the government’s target would overwhelm local infrastructure. North Dorset CPRE strongly supports the council in pursuing a locally justified housing figure based on Dorset’s environmental capacity, infrastructure limitations, and genuine housing need, including truly affordable homes for local people.
In support of this, we welcomed Dorset Council’s decision to commission, jointly with Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP), an up-to-date assessment of Dorset’s housing need. This work, together with new evidence such as the Green Belt Review and site assessments, should inform a draft Local Plan that is realistic and environmentally responsible. The ONS Household Projections make it even more important.

The evidence from ONS
The ONS projections, which incorporate the latest population and migration data, show that:
Under the recommended migration category variant, Dorset will see growth of 29,430 households (≈1,730 p.a.) between 2026 and 2043.
Even under a high in-migration scenario, growth rises only to 35,349 households (≈2,080 p.a.).
The Standard Method requirement of 55,182 homes is therefore at least 20,000 dwellings higher than any credible demographic projection. Moreover, 88% of Dorset’s projected household growth comes from people aged 70 and over, with almost all of the increase in one- and two-person households as average household size continues to fall. The Local Plan must reflect this reality.

Dorset’s physical constraints
Even if demand were sufficient, Dorset faces severe environmental and infrastructural limitations:
More than 40% of the county lies within National Landscapes (formerly AONBs), protected for their scenic and ecological value.
The county has a dispersed rural settlement pattern, limited public transport and a road network already at or beyond capacity in many areas.
Utilities and public services (sewerage, GP capacity, water supply, schools) are constrained and cannot easily accommodate large-scale dispersed growth particularly re health care for population growth in people over 70 years.
These constraints further limit both the scale and the location of sites that can realistically be delivered. A target of 3,246 homes a year would force development into unsustainable locations, in direct conflict with the NPPF’s environmental and infrastructure principles.

House building in Shillingstone. Image: CPRE

Market realities
Developers build to meet demand, not targets. Dorset already has 10,000 plots with planning permission that remain undeveloped. Increasing allocations or permissions will not result in faster build-out: it will simply lengthen developer control
of supply.
Demand for housing is not governed by theoretical, over-simplified formulae which purport to reflect “need” or “affordability”. Even IF local incomes rise substantially or major subsidies are introduced, the market cannot absorb the level of construction implied by the Standard Method.

Consequences of the Standard Method
Proceeding with an undeliverable target exposes the Local Plan to two levels of failure. At examination, the Plan risks rejection by the Planning Inspector as unsound, since its housing strategy would fail the NPPF test of deliverability. On the other hand, if adopted, the Plan would inevitably fail to meet its own delivery targets, fuelling speculative development and undermining confidence in the planning system.

A realistic approach
North Dorset CPRE therefore urges the council to:
Base its housing requirement on the ONS 2022-based projections, particularly the migration category variant, implying around 1,700 or so dwellings per annum;
Demonstrate that this level is both deliverable and potentially compatible with Dorset’s landscape and infrastructure capacity;
Highlight the inherent policy conflict within the NPPF as part of its evidence to Government and the Planning Inspectorate and
Ensure that the terms of reference for the forthcoming Housing Needs Assessment make full reference to ONS 2022-based projections and the local need for truly affordable social rent housing.
Such an approach would be consistent with the evidence, faithful to NPPF soundness tests, and sustainable in Dorset’s environmental context.

George Hosford’s had enough – and so has the Grumbler

Laura

21 December 2025

What happens when the people who own the land stop caring about it? In this final episode of the year, George Hosford returns with a fierce warning about farmland, legacy and the future of British agriculture. There’s also hope – in the form of a new beekeeping centre in Shillingstone, a pioneering housing project near Bridport, and even a delightfully furious festive Grumbler. It’s Dorset at its most thoughtful, practical and sharp. Hit play.

The Frustrated Farmer returns: George Hosford says “If you don’t care about the land, you shouldn’t own it.”

This month, George is angry – and rightly so. As public support payments disappear and corporate investors quietly sell up, a new crisis is brewing: farmland is being snapped up by those with no connection to it, and no interest in what happens next.

In another powerful interview, George makes the case for long-term stewardship over short-term gain – and explains why land ownership rules need urgent reform if we’re to protect Britain’s food, soil and future.

He says that we have people buying farmland who don’t want to farm, don’t want to engage with local communities, and don’t care what happens to the land – and why that should worry everyone.

Bees and the Big Build: A new chapter in Shillingstone
Jenny speaks to Ian Condon about the new eco-friendly North Dorset Beekeepers’ Centre – complete with honey warmers, public displays and a demonstration hive window for curious visitors.

💬 “We’ve built something special – a teaching centre, a community space, and a love letter to bees.”

Hope at West Farm: new beginnings for Dorset’s hidden homeless
Jill Cook from Salvation Army Homes explains how a new supported housing project near Bridport will offer not just shelter but space, safety and purpose to vulnerable young people.

💬 “You can’t fix homelessness with a roof alone. This is about roots, growth and confidence.”

The Grumbler Returns: Christmas, 1874-style
Boot-losing mud, weaponised wassailing, and nutcrackers no one asked for – our festive Grumbler has thoughts.

A Dorset Christmas Lament, 1874

Editorial team

20 December 2025

I daresay the season of goodwill has arrived, though you would hardly know it from the state of affairs in our parish. The roads, for instance, are now so deep in mud that a man may lose a boot simply attempting to cross from the smithy to the bakery. Yet every year the parish council – a body composed chiefly of gentlemen whose boots are mysteriously never muddied – assures us that repairs are imminent. I believe these repairs are scheduled to occur around the same time as the Second Coming.
As for the post, it remains wonderfully reliable: provided you do not actually require your letters to reach you. Only this morning, a parcel addressed to my neighbour Mrs Docket was discovered wedged in a hedge half a mile from her door, the string gnawed through by either a rat or, more likely, a disgruntled postman. Mrs Docket insists she will write to the Postmaster General. I wish her every joy of that.

The perils of intemperance
Our local traders seem possessed by a festive madness, convinced that every household requires a mechanical nutcracker or a self-stirring gravy ladle. I am certain these contraptions will soon gather dust beside last year’s “improved” candle-holders which had the admirable quality of setting tablecloths alight.
Meanwhile, the young insist on gathering in the square for what they call “seasonal merriment” – a pastime involving loud music, questionable dancing and the consumption of drinks so sweet they might reasonably attract wasps in January. Naturally, they complain bitterly when anyone suggests their revelry might be heard half a county away. I recall when a simple wassail song was considered lively enough, and no one required a portable brass band to accompany them.
And now the rector has declared that this year’s Christmas sermon will address “the perils of intemperance, vanity and modern excess”. A brave choice, given half the congregation derives its chief joy from precisely those pursuits. Still, I applaud his optimism; I believe it is the only cheerful thing I have witnessed in weeks.

A merry Christmas
I do not wish to seem unseasonal. Christmas, after all, is a time for hope, reflection and the annual rediscovery that one’s relations are altogether more trying in person than on paper. I shall dutifully partake of the goose, endure the pudding, and attempt to look grateful when presented with another knitted muffler of alarming hue.
But if, by the grace of all that is holy, the weather should refrain from raining sideways for an entire day, I might consider 1874 a triumph.
Until then, I remain,
Yours in wintery exasperation.

The Grumbler – the open opinion column in The BV. It’s a space for anyone to share their thoughts freely. While the editor will need to know the identity of contributors, all pieces will be published anonymously. With just a few basic guidelines to ensure legality, safety and respect, this is an open forum for honest and unfiltered views. Got something you need to get off your chest? Send it to [email protected]. The Grumbler column is here for you: go on, say it. We dare you.

Ploughing up old problems – and new ones

Editorial team

19 December 2025

George Hosford muses on profit-driven big agribusiness, vicious mink and the rediscovered therapy of a day behind the plough

A letter landed in my lap recently from a well-known corporate farming agency – the kind that manages thousands of acres for landowners, running slick operations with bulk buying power for fertiliser, chemicals, tractors and fuel. They run crop trials and manager trainee schemes and employ highly skilled managers who might oversee 3,000 acres each. They appear to be bailing out of many of their farming contracts because they have found that – surprise, surprise – agriculture is no longer giving them enough profit.
For years, these agencies promised landowners better returns than a traditional tenant could offer. But the Basic Payment Scheme is gone (axed two years early). The new SFI is closed to fresh applications, and a vague promise that it will appear ‘next year’ is simply not good enough for an industry that functions on decade-long decision cycles.

For the first time in 23 years, the plough was rescued from the bushes and pressed back into action on Travellers Rest Farm.
All images: George Hosford

Input costs have soared. Crop prices have tanked. For those with finely balanced contractual arrangements, it’s a perfect storm.
Corporate farming brings scale and efficiency – but I wonder whether it fits the sustainability, climate-friendly, clean water and soil health agenda that so many preach these days? How much love is lavished on the land that is farmed in this way, when one ‘farm’ is really six stitched-together blocks, spread across 20 miles? One might say it is inevitable, as food production becomes ever tighter financially, but the heart is being ripped out of rural life.
There is a link to the debate on Inheritance tax buried somewhere here. Land holdings become ever larger, farms have for many years been bought up by wealthy individuals who have earned their wealth elsewhere, or sometimes by real farmers selling farmland for development, who are allowed to roll over the often astronomical proceeds into more land, tax free (thanks to capital gains tax rollover relief, which to my mind needs reform before IHT).
But more often than not land is bought up by people or institutions looking for a safe investment, who are not farmers. In the past they would have rented it out to a tenant to do the actual farming, but sadly this happens a lot less these days because of the corporate farming agencies who convince the owners that they can earn more for them than a tenant could afford in rent as a one-person business. Perhaps we all need to take a good hard look at what is best for the land and the environment. If landowners are not going to farm the land themselves, should they be allowed to own it at all? Discuss.

Water voles have no defence against vicious and deadly mink

Destroy the squirrels
An evening spent on the bank of the Stour at Cowgrove farm near Wimborne, as a guest of the Badbury Rings farmer cluster group, was a real treat last month. Neve Bray from Dorset FWAG (Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group) brought us up to date on local beaver releases and progress. There are known to be beavers on parts of the Stour now – their presence is hard to confuse with any other species, their toothmarks and the obvious strength of their jaws are unmistakeable. Some farmers worry they will cause flooding of farmland and devastation of trees, while others are prepared to take the long term view: slowing down water movement in heavy rainfall periods, which should actually reduce flood risk downstream, and the creation of more watery habitat.
Dr Merryl Gelling from the Mammal Society then provided a fascinating talk about water voles, whose population has been devastated by predators – largely mink, an alien species which now exist widely in the wild. They have either escaped from fur farms (until the 2002 ban) or were released on purpose by misguided anti-fur farming protestors, who have inadvertently caused the near-destruction of the water vole in the UK.
Mink are just the right size to fit into water vole burrows, the entrances to which are usually located just below the water line on rivers, to protect them from non-swimming predators, and they have no defence against the vicious and deadly mink, which also causes much damage to salmon and ground nesting bird populations.
There are now a number of mink destruction schemes operating around the country, using traps baited with smelly mixtures involving meat, fish or, best of all, the scent from another mink. With luck, a scheme might begin soon on stretches of the Stour. Training is available to groups who wish to undertake such activity. The squeamish should not blink: the mink is a deadly predator which causes huge environmental destruction (once caught it is illegal to release).
The same is the case with rats and grey squirrels. In the 1880s, the 11th Duke of Bedford, recklessly released imported American grey squirrels, which he considered to be ‘interesting exotics’, from his Woburn estate. He also presented breeding pairs to landowning friends around the country. His catastrophic actions have resulted in the near-destruction of our native red squirrel, all but wiped out in most of the country by habitat poaching, and by the disease squirrelpox that was brought into the country by greys. There are now an estimated 2.7 million greys in the UK, and less than 200,000 reds, which only remain in isolated places like Brownsea Island in Poole harbour, the Isle of Wight, and more widely in Scotland.
To optimise success rates from all the tree planting that well-meaning environmentalists wish landowners to carry out, they also need to find people who are prepared to trap and destroy grey squirrels, on a very large scale. The grey is responsible for staggering amounts of damage to trees across the country, by eating out growing points, and damaging bark.
I could start on deer here, which also challenge our chances of reforesting areas of the country, but that could be too much for one sitting…

Direct drilled wheat emerging well among the remnants of the previous oil seed rape crop

Digging out the plough
Finally, we returned to an old fashioned and often highly damaging machine last month. On most of our autumn acreage we have stuck to drilling direct, as we have done for the last four seasons. But this method did not work well when we tried it the last time we terminated a grass ley, so after much debate we opted for the return of the plough … just as soon as we could find it.
It eventually turned up in the bushes, and Will spent two days with wire brushes and numerous buffing discs removing 23 years of rust. He then set forth into the first of two herbal ley fields due to return to wheat cropping.

His elbow grease worked wonders: within a couple of turns of the field the plough furrows were properly shiny, and turning over the soil beautifully. The furrow press trolling along behind the plough, kindly loaned by Nigel from Gussage, did a good job of firming the soil to help prevent the next tractor into the field from sinking too deep and making a mess. The plough was followed by the Vaderstad Rapid drill, which consists of a set of discs in front of the drill coulters: these should shake down the soil a little, and disturb any lurking leatherjackets (the larva of the crane fly, or Daddy long legs – a voracious devourer of young cereal plants and the reason we’d had to rummage for the plough in the first place).
We needed to push on promptly with the drill before we got some wet weather, because freshly ploughed soil turns to a pudding very quickly when it starts raining, and takes far longer than undisturbed soil to dry out again.

The Vaderstad weaves its magic: plough to seedbed in one pass

One soon remembers why we gave up ploughing all those years ago. It is slow, labour and fuel intensive, leaves the soil loose and vulnerable to rain, destroys organic matter and wears out metal and rubber on machine and tractor. Sowing into grassland presents its own special issues, but we only had 35 acres to do, and with luck will get a better wheat crop than we might have done any other way.
Never say never.
Before we leave ploughing, here are some thoughts from nature writer John Lewis-Stempel’s latest book England, A Natural History:
“I am always happy ploughing. A mental state, according to scientists at the University of Bristol, enhanced by the very soil itself. A specific soil bacterium, Mycobacterium vaccae, activates a set of seratonin-releasing neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus of the brain – the same ones targeted by Prozac. You can get a very effective dose of Mycobacterium vaccae ploughing. Or gardening.” Presumably you’d get an even bigger hit if ploughing behind a horse.
You can follow George’s unabridged farm diary on his blog viewfromthehill.org.uk

Abbey104 Album of the Month: AVTT/PTTN

Editorial team

19 December 2025

Supergroups are all the rage. The success of Boygenius, the hyper-successful collaboration of indie-folk heavyweights Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker, has inspired a slew of similar projects, including another contender for this column with an excellent recent release, Snocaps. But something I most definitely did not have on my bingo card at the start of 2025 was a new collaboration between North Carolinian Americana duo Avett Brothers, and alternative rock icon / Faith No More frontman Mike Patton.
Patton, evidently a fan of Scott and Seth Avett’s work, reached out to the duo and a period of remote songwriting collaboration followed, from which the tracks comprising AVTT/PTTN were formed.
The resulting work leans more heavily towards The Avett Brothers previous work: however the contributions of Patton cannot be underestimated. The nine tracks included on the record are wholly without the superficiality which has at times self-sabotaged the brother’s ability to connect deeply with the listener (I present as evidence Kick Drum Heart from their otherwise excellent 2009 L.P., I And Love And You: “We’re holding hands in the rain, s-sayin’ words like ‘I love you’”).
Somewhat surprisingly, it all hangs together extremely well, feeling essential and weighty rather than (as with many other similar collaborations) superfluous and fleeting.

The album opens with a trademark picked guitar and a flourish of tambourine, before Patton, backed by the brothers in a line which feels like a deeply honest reflection of the mental health issues which saw him cancel Faith No More’s 2021 tour, intones “I’ve been taking time to get well all alone, but parts of me aren’t healing”.
And while similar themes pervade the record, it’s not all doom and gloom. In the steady ballad Too Awesome, a refrain of “You are beloved, you are a gift. The mountains bow before you, the wind it calls your name” provides the balance essential to prevent the album from descending into self-pity. It’s a fine line, but AVTT/PTTN walk it with aplomb. Let’s hope this is just the start.
4.5/5 stars

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