Meon Junior SchoolNewsletter

Autumn2018

YOUR GUIDE TO THE SCHOOL NEWS,INFORMATION AND EVENTS.

Welcome to our firstnewsletter of the yearwhich will keep youinformed of importantsuccess stories,school events andways in which we canwork together toensure the best forour children.

Tel: 02392 732844email: enquiries@meon-jun.portsmouth.sch.ukHeadteacher: Mrs Sara Paine MA NPQH

A huge thank you to everyone who attended our World’s BiggestCoffee Morning and to those who very kindly donated cakes toenable the day to be such a great success. We are delighted to bedonating ₤330 to the very worthwhile charity, MacMillan CancerSupport.

World’s Biggest Coffee Morning

Dear Parents,

We have had such a positive start to the year. This first half termhas just flown by with all the exciting learning opportunities wehave engaged in. Legoland being my personal favourite!This half term we have seen the launch of our new school vision -Meon Mastery.

‘Mastering skills, knowledge and understanding.Acting with thought and bravery’

I am really pleased with how the children have responded and I amalready hearing conversations about being brave and thinking be-fore they act.

Thank you to all of you who worked with your child to identify thevalues that you felt were the most important. The results were col-lated and I am very exciting in naming our schools values as:

RespectfulKind

Self-beliefIndependent

CreativeFocused

I am sure you will agree that these values will enable the schoolcommunity to uphold principles that ensure we have high aspira-tions for your children and develop the whole child. We will now beusing these to create a new home school agreement that we hopeto be sharing with you soon.

I hope you all have an enjoyable and relaxing half term.

Yours sincerely,

Sara Paine

A reminder please not to park on the zig-zag lines out-side the school as well as not stopping in the middle ofthe road to drop off or collect your children. This is verydangerous and could lead to a serious accident so wewould ask everyone to make sure they park responsiblywhen dropping off or collecting their children.

Thank you very much!

Parking on the zig-zag lines

Year 4 Blue Reef

Year 5 Legoland

Year 3 Open AfternoonOn Friday, it was Open Afternoon. All of Year 3 got to build a tower to improve the Portsmouth skyline us-ing 4 bits of A4 paper, 20 pieces of spaghetti, a hand full of marshmallows and metre of tape. We only had25 minutes to complete the tower! I had a great time but the hardest thing was not eating the tiny marsh-mallows!On Monday, we tested our structures to see if they could withstand an earthquake. We put our structureson a tray of jelly and our teachers shook the tray to see if the structures were strong enough - mine stayedup without anything falling off.Samuel Bitri

Year 6 Music WorkshopAll of Y6 took part in a music workshop, learning to use Samba instrumentssuch as drums and go-go bells. They played rhythms in time with each otherand rotated around and experienced all of the different instruments.

"The whole workshop was really good fun." Abbie Mason

"When we all played at the same time, we had to really concentrate onkeeping the beat of your own instruments otherwise the whole piece wouldhave fallen apart." Eric Micu.

"Some children even had the chance to be the conductor of the orchestraand lead the group; this was fun." Dylan McGraph.

On Friday 12th October, Year 5 visited Legoland. Even though the journey on the coach seemed like avery long time, it was all worth it as it was brilliant! When we arrived, each class got into their groups of6/7 and we all headed to the entrance. As soon as we had our tickets checked, we went to the rides asquick as our feet could take us. The first ride we went on was a teacups ride called ‘Spinning Spider'.This was Mr Bayliss’ favourite ride as he thought they wouldn’t be fast. Turns out he was wrong! Next,we set off to join another queue but this time for ‘Ninjago’... a 4D ride. The experience was worth the35-minute queue because you got to earn points by shooting monsters. After working up an appetite,we stopped for lunch. As our topic is Scream Machine, Mr Bayliss thought it was be good for us all togo on the Ferris Wheel - another favourite of his. At the top of the wheel, you could see an amazingview of Windsor. The workshop was great fun because we got to build our own rides out of Lego andused the pulleys and gears to make our rides go really fast. Our last ride was in Knight’s Kingdomwhere we went on the Dragon rollercoaster. We all screamed as we zoomed around the track. It reallywas a white-knuckle experience! In conclusion, all staff (including Mrs Paine) and pupils in Year 5, hadan excellent time at Lego Land and we would love to go again!

Year 4 had a great time at the Blue Reef Aquarium. We saw many animals including: turtles, otters, lionfish, pufferfish and sting-rays. The stingrays were very good at dancing. Our group thought the fish tunnel and the Amazon Room werethe best attractions. We all really enjoyed watching the otters being fed. After that, we had a tour around theaquarium. Sadly, the end of the day came too quickly and we had to go back to school.Charlotte and Harry

Children, do you have any items about yourout of school activities or achievements youwould like included in our next newsletter?If so, please give them to Mr Bayliss who willdo his best to include as many as he can.

On Friday, fifteen year 4s went to a multi-sports competitionat the Mountbatten centre. We competed in many differentsports such as football, dance and tennis. We came 2nd outof 12 teams. As we we competing against year 5 teams, wewere very pleased. We all had lots of fun.Lola and Casper.

A huge well done to Blake Edwards who has just finished a fantas-tic show week at the Kings Theatre where he played the role ofBenji in Priscilla Queen of the Desert. He showed great talent anddedication and looked great dressed as Kangaroo in the finale. Hesang his solo song beautifully and received a review stating ”thisboy will go far and has singing ability way beyond his years”.

Joshua Garrett

Tel: 02392 732844email: enquiries@meon-jun.portsmouth.sch.ukHeadteacher: Mrs Sara Paine MA NPQH

Tuck ShopWe are pleased to announce that we are expanding therange of snacks available in our Tuck Shop. The following(subject to availability) are available:

Pancakes - 25 penceHot cross bun - 25 penceMalt loaf - 25 penceFruit - 25 penceChoob (yoghurt) - 25 penceBabybel - 25 penceFruit juice carton - 30 penceSmoothie carton - 50 penceSalami - 50 pence

Dates for your diary19th October 2018 NON UNIFORM

Break up for half term

29th October 2018 INSET

30th October 2018 Return to school

6TW & 6J Fort Nelson

Halloween Disco

31st October 6B & 6WL Fort Nelson

NOVEMBER

2nd November 2018 Individual photographs with siblings

7th November 2018 Book Fair

19th November 2018 Y3,4,5 Flu vaccinations

DECEMBER

3rd December 2018 Decorations Day

17th December 2018 Y3/4 Nativity

18th December 2018 Y3/4 Nativity

19th December 2018 Children’s Christmas lunch

20th December 2018 Y5/6 Carol Concert

21st December 2018 CHRISTMAS JUMPER DAY

Break up for Christmas

JANUARY

7th January 2019 INSET

8th January 2019 Start of Spring term

Drum Club AssemblyOn Monday 24th September, we had a drum assembly set upby Mr Bayliss. Firstly, Mr Bayliss talked to us all about the ef-fort, dedication and persistence it takes to learn how to playthe drums. Also, he spoke about how hard it is to stand upand play in front of an audience. Lastly, he announced whowould be playing the drums. “Maggie, Lola and Peaches”, hecalled. First up was Peaches and to no surprise, she did anamazing job and showed bravery. Next up was Lola and,even though she hadn’t played in two years, you would neverhad known. Impressive! Finally, it was my go and by thesounds of it, the audience enjoyed it. To our surprise, Mr Bay-liss even had a go and he was BRILLIANT! He blew thesocks off everyone and even got a standingovation. As it was a special birthday for MrBayliss, he received gifts and everyonesang ‘Happy Birthday’. It was an assemblyto remember; it was so much fun!

Maggie Frazer

School Council

Congratulations to the following children who have all beenelected by their classes to be school councillors.3R – Freddie Seabrook, Mimi Dredge, 3D – Sammy Carter,Isabelle Wilson, 3S - Martha Simpson, Samuel Bitri, 4P –Charlie Jatta, Didi Ezuko, 4MF - Reeya Etwar, Raehun Etwar,4M - Blake Edwards, Evie Helms, 5BM – Macey Parker,Jacob Merry, 5S – Billy Trevett, Laila Rose, 5B – MaggieFrazer, Jack Campion, 6TW – Dylan McGrath, Simon Ball, 6J– Ashton Allen, Dolly George, 6B – Imogen Maggs, RonnieMatthews, 6WL - Jayden Campbell, Layla Lock.

Being a school councillor is a very responsible position andthe chance to play a very important part in the life of MeonJunior School. This includes:

• Listening to the views and ideas of other children.

• Representing these ideas during school council meetings.

• Coming up with ideas to help improve the school.

• Making decisions that affect school life.

• Having the responsibility for a budget.

At the beginning of this academic year, all children and staffhave been placed into one of four houses: Mary Rose, War-rior, Alliance or Victory. The children can earn habit pointsfor their house and we are delighted with the enthusiasmthey have shown in doing so.

A huge well done to the following children who have beenvoted in as house captains by the whole school:Warrior - Ashton Allen & Leila GreyVictory - Lola Green & Adam CollierAlliance - Layla Smith & Alyssa KryclerMary Rose - Freddie Rogers & Keeley Parker

House Captains

As you are aware, good attendance and punctuality are essential for your child to make good progress and achieve their full potential. The government attendance target is 96% or above.

Helpful HintsØ Do not take a holiday during school time.Ø Please telephone the school office before 8.50am on the first day of your child’s absence.Ø Book routine medical / optician / dental appointments for after school or during school holidays.Ø Notify the school, well in advance, of any medical appointments and bring in appointment cards / letters.Ø Respond promptly to school enquiries about unexplained absence.Ø Provide evidence, such as a letter from the hospital, for whole day medical appointments.Ø Keep us well informed of any ongoing medical conditions that may affect your child’s attendance.Ø Make sure you have alternative arrangement for a friend or relative to bring or collect your child in an emergency.Ø If you are not sure whether your child is well enough to attend school, bring them anyway. They often perk up during the

day but we will contact you if they don’t.Ø If you child has a well-known childhood illness, contact the school for advice about recovery time.Ø Always make sure we have an up-to-date telephone number for you. Jan Atrill

Office Manager/Attendance Officer

Attendance News

Attendance Champion HALF TERM TROPHY

This half term 3R have had98.39% attendance. VeryWell Done to all the chil-dren in 3R.

Current Year AttendanceGroup % Attendance

Year 3 97.32

Year 4 96.93

Year 5 96.31

Year 6 96.85

2018-2019 96.85

2017-2018 95.71

A draw is held each term for all children with 100% attendance and a separate draw forchildren with 100% punctuality. A prize of a £5 voucher will be presented for Lower andUpper School for each of these categories.Keep up good attendance and punctuality to be in with a chance to win.

Lottie Ball has the most improved attend-ance this half term and willbe awarded the AttendanceMascot.Well done Lottie, keep up thegood work!

During the morning we do allow the children to bringin a snack to maintain their energy levels untillunchtime. However, we do insist that this is ahealthy snack, e.g. fruit, dried fruit (crisps, choco-late, sweets and chewing gum, etc, are not al-lowed). We do have a tuck shop, open duringmorning playtimes, which sells a range of snacksstarting at 25p.

At Meon Junior we encourage healthy eating.

Please note the following recommended guidelines set outby the British Nutrition Foundation.A child’s lunch should include the following:

• A portion of starchy food, e.g. wholegrain bap/bread, sesa-me seed pitta bread, plain crackers, pasta or rice salad• Fresh fruit and vegetables, e.g. apple/orange/banana,cherry tomato, carrot sticks, mini fruit chunks, etc• A portion of milk or dairy food, e.g. cheese, plain/fruit yo-ghurt, etc.• Small portion of lean meat, fish or alternative, e.g. two slic-es of ham beef, Quorn, cheese, tuna, egg or hummus, etc.• A drink - fruit juice, water, squash or milk.• A small chocolate bar or packet of crisps may be includedas a treat.Water is freely available throughout the school day

to all members of the school community. The waterfountain is located in the playground. In addition, allthe taps in the classrooms are drinking water. Allthe children are encouraged to have a plastic waterbottle in school and are advised to drink regularly.The bottle must not contain any other drink asidefrom water.

We have several children with nut allergies in the school.Please do not send in any food items containing nuts(peanut butter sandwiches, Nutella, snickers bars, etc.)for your child’s lunch.

Playtime snacks

Packed lunches

Water for all

Nut allergies

Healthy Eating