Welcome to ourDecember newsletterwhich will keep youinformed of importantsuccess stories, schoolevents and ways inwhich we can worktogether to ensure thebest for our children.

Meon Junior SchoolNewsletter

December 2018OUR GUIDE TO THE SCHOOL NEWS,

INFORMATION AND EVENTS.

Dear Parents/Carers,We've finally made it to the end of the term and what a greatone it has been! We've had a number of events such as theChristmas Show, carol concerts and open afternoons to keepus busy. It has been wonderful to see so many parents sup-porting our events and this term we have had record numbersof parents attending. Your children have been amazingthroughout and it is so lovely to see them so proud to sharetheir achievements with you.I would like to thank our dedicated staff who have made allthese events possible and ensured that your children get thebest learning experiences possible. The first term is always aneventful one, with new classes settling in and getting used toeach other and new children joining our school for the firstterm.  Our Year 3's have settled in beautifully and are rising tothe challenge of the Meon Mastery vision and values. I amespecially impressed with the excellent quality of work I amseeing in the pupil's books and displays across the school -and those of you who have attended our open afternoons andparents evenings will have seen the effort, hard work and highstandards demonstrated first hand.Lastly, I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to you parents.We have been bowled over by your supportive Christmasmessages and engagement in all we do. We couldn't do halfthe things we do without your support and encouragement.Working together in partnership is helping our children to bethe very best that they can be.I hope you all have a restful and enjoyable break and I lookforward to seeing you in the New Year.Merry ChristmasSara Paine

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

Children in Need DayA huge thank you for your incredible generosity on Children inNeed Day. Everyone hada great deal of fun andthe final amount bankedfor Children in Need wasa fantastic £300.

Also, a tremendousthank you to everyonewho donated food andother items to the Salva-tion Army’s ‘Reverse Ad-vent Calendar’. A hugeamount of items was de-livered to this very worth-while cause.

A huge well done to all the Year 3 and 4 children for an ab-solutely fantastic Christmas performance, providing a perfectstart to the Christmas period. Playing to a packed hall, thechildren put on a performance that will live long in the mindsof those lucky enough to be there.The wonderful acting, beautifulsinging and energeticchoreography produced anoutstanding Nativity enjoyed by all.Also a really big thank you to allthe year 3 and 4 staff for theirincredible enthusiasm and hardwork.Well done years 3 and 4.

Year 3 and 4’s wonderful performance of ‘It’s Christmas’

Do you have any items about your out of school activities or achievements you wouldlike included in our next school newsletter?If so, please give them to Mr Bayliss who will do his best to include as many as he can.

Year 5 ZooLab

Year 3

Year 4 Pompey in the Community

On the 16th November, we were lucky enough to have Zoolab visit our school. We were shown some extraordinary animals,including a terrific tarantula, a ridiculously funny rat, a slithery snake, a creepy hissing cockroach and a huge slippery AfricanSnail. The experience was a memorable moment for us all and we would definitely recommend it any day. Not only were wegiven lots of information by Joe, the animal handler, but we were able to hold all the animals (apart from the tarantula, ofcourse). It was a great day!Claudia Smith

Year 6

Food TastingOn 7th December, theISS school lunchpeople made us treatsbut they added fruitsand vegetablesinside. They did thisto talk about a healthydiet and introduce usto new foods. I reallyenjoyed it and myfavourite part wastasting thescrumptious snacks. Iwould rate the day10/10.

Noah T

Gilberts Sweet ShopWhen we went to the sweet shop, the lady that workedthere told us some information about the shop a longtime ago. What I liked about the sweet shop was that itsmelled of lots of different kinds of sweets. It was lovely!The sweets we brought back were scrumdiddlyumptiousso we couldn’t wait to try them. The apple sour sweetswere very very very sour! It was great!

Sienna R

ChristinglesOn 13th December, we went to St.James’ Church and brought ourChristingles with us. When we got there,we took off our coats, hats, gloves andscarfs (so they didn’t burn). My favouritepart was lighting the Christingles andhaving a moment’s silence to think.

Jenson

In year 6, we have been learning about the SecondWorld War. To start our topic, we went to FortNelson for the day. During our day at Fort Nelson,we learnt all about beingin the Home Guard. Theactivities we enjoyedincluded: movingammunitions, bombdisposal, planeidentification and drilltraining.

Everyone in year four enjoyed a fantasticpoetry workshop from Pompey in the Com-munity. They came in and taught us how towrite a poem based on the theme “Diversi-ty!”. There were lots of celebrities in the vid-eo reading the poem which we used forinspiration. Hopefully one of our competitionentries will win the chance to be publishedin a poetry book!Max Jackson

Dates for your diary

Dear Parent/Carer,

As Christmas is getting closer, children and young people allover the country will be writing lists to Santa or giving hintsabout what they would like under the tree.Technology is now a very popular item on many children’s listswith tablets, smartphones and game consoles likely to beasked for this year.Whilst we want children to enjoy their presents, it is alsoimportant that parents look at ways to ensure that theirchildren use these devices safely. This includes settingparental controls and understanding that video games havePEGI ratings similar to the classification for films.Other things that you may want to consider is managingscreen time so that you can monitor the amount of time beingspent on each device. This is useful for meal times or duringthe school holidays.Finally, once the tinsel has come down and we welcome theNew Year, make sure that you continue talk to your childrenabout online safety.

Merry Christmas

Mrs Chandler

E-Safety

JANUARY7th January 2019 INSET8th January 2018 Start of Spring Term15th January 2018 5B swimming (10 weeks)

FEBRUARY15th February 2018 Break up for half term Non-uniform Day25th February 2018 INSET26th February 2018 Return to school

MARCH7th March 2019 World Book DayAPRIL5th April 2019 Break up for Easter Non-uniform Day23rd April 2018 Start of Summer Term2nd May 2019 INSET6th May 2019 Bank Holiday

The 12 E-Safety Tips of Christmas

1. Set parental controls on new devices 2. Talk about safe selfies 3. Know the PEGI ratings for games 4. Set a digital sunset 5. Manage screen time 6. No tech at mealtimes 7. Remember the ratings for Apps 8. Set up home internet filtering 9. Don’t share personal information10. Protect your password11. Talk to your children about e-safety12. Remember online stranger dangerBallet

My name is Jasmine Foscheri. I won this trophy by tryingmy hardest in ballet (and always paying attention). Ireceived it at my dance Christmas party.The trophy is gold with marble at thebottom and has my name engraved inblack on a gold plaque. I go dancingthree times a week to the Marie Clarkeschool of dance. I love dancing!

Rock Steady AssemblyA huge well done to all the children who took part in theRock Steady assembly on Thursday 13h December. Thewhole school was thoroughly entertained by their fantasticdisplay of musical skill. Performing in front of a live audi-ence with a band is not easy. The children played a rangeof instruments (guitar, keyboard, drums and vocals); theirperformances were superb. Also, a big thank you to all theparents who attended and to Luke, the Rock Steady teach-er, for his tremendous enthusiasm, musical and song ar-ranging skills.

Children, there are between7 and 10 Rudolphs hiddenwithin this newsletter.How many can you find?

The Autumn Term Performing Arts After School Club cameto an end last week. After school on Friday 14th, the childrenperformed and sang a short Christmassy play to theirparents, based around a melting snowmen.

All the children were brilliant and clearlyhad great fun. A big thank you to MrsBarrett, the music teacher, for all of herhard work this term.

Performing Arts After School Club

Attendance News

Legally, all children of compulsoryschool age must be in receipt of fulltime education. Under section 444of the Education Act 1996, parentsof a child of compulsory school ageare under a legal duty to ensure theregular attendance and promptpunctuality, of that child at school.School gates open at 8.40am and classregistration is at 8.50am. Pleaseensure that your child attends schoolevery day in time for registration.Children who arrive after the gateshave closed, will need to sign in via theoffice. Any child arriving after theclose of registration at 9.05am willbe recorded as ‘U’ which isequivalent to an absence for thatsession. Unauthorised and persistentlateness may result in a fixed penaltynotice or prosecution.

Attendance Champion

Huge congratulations to Lexie Butler-Wilson our Attendance Champion forthis half Term. Our mascot will bepresented to Lexie to keep in her classfor the next half term. Lexie hasconsiderably improved her attendance.Well Done Lexie keep up the goodwork!

WINNING CLASS THIS HALF TERM

A very big Well Done to Class 3R whohave the highest attendancepercentage for this half term 97.91%and have won the trophy to keep intheir class for the next half term.

Holidays in Term Time: The Facts

Term time holidays have very muchfeatured in the press recently.

However, there have been no changesto the law which states thatHeadteachers may not grant any leaveof absence during term time unlessthere are exceptional circumstances.These can be defined as rare,significant, unavoidable and shortperiods of time.

Circumstances will always vary child tochild and all requests for leave ofabsence should be made, using theappropriate leave of absence formavailable from the school office, prior tothe absence.

When making a decision as to whetherto authorise an absence, the student’sprevious attendance records may betaken into account. If an event canreasonably be scheduled outside ofterm time, then it will not be authorised.If a request for leave is not granted andthe child is absent on the datesnotified, the matter is subject to referralto the local authority, who will issue afixed penalty notice.

In order for the school to authorise anyfurther absences due to illness, medialevidence is required.

Regular attendance is important foryour child. Not only does the law re-quire it, but also because it is the bestway of ensuring your child makes themost of the educational opportunitiesavailable to them.

A very big Well Done to all those childrenwho have achieved 100% attendance forthis term. Certificates and stickers will begiven out on 21st December.

A draw is held each term for all children with100% attendance and a separate draw forchildren with 100% punctuality. A prize of a£5 voucher will be presented for Lower andUpper School. This will be drawn on 21st

December.

Jan AtrillOffice Manager/Attendance Officer

Group %Attendance

Year 3 96.63

Year 4 96.38

Year 5 96.49

Year 6 96.24

2017-2018 96.43

2016-2017 95.74

Attendance percentages

Santa Fun Run

Lucy Crackle

On Sunday 9th December, I ran a mile ina really silly santa suit that was way tobig for me which I boughtand bedazzled myself. Iworked really hard for thismedal which I received forcompleting the run forcharity. The medal isglittery red and shaped asa stocking.

Year 5 open afternoon

On Thursday 13th December 2018, Year5 had a Fantastic Beasts open afternoonwhere we showed off our magnificentModroc creatures, spectacular informa-tion text presentations and homemadehomework. Firstly our parents visited ourclassroom and had a good look at ourwork. Then they could walk around theother classrooms and see the fantasticwork from the other children. If theywanted to, they could have a little chatwith some of the people showing off theirpresentations. It was a truly fantastic af-ternoon. Thank you to all the adults whocame and enjoyed our presentations. Itmade it really special as so many peoplecame and saw what wonderful work year5 have been doing. We would also like tosay a big thank you to the teachers forletting us have this afternoon.By Maggie and GracePS. The next day, we were delightedwhen Year 3 visited our classrooms tosee our wonderful work.