Weekly Newsletter - 4th October 2019

Dear Parents,
All of our reception and nursery children are now in school and have settled brilliantly. We are thrilled that they are part of our school community and we hope that pupils and their families feel at home here at Mead already.

A massive thank you to parents of our Reception pupils for attending the Macmillan coffee morning and for your contribution of cakes and donations for such a worthy cause. We raised £70 and are grateful to all who contributed.

Our recent Jeans for Genes Day raised a total of £350 and on behalf of this worthy charity I want to thank you for your support.

Harvest Festival
We are holding our Harvest Festival assembly on Tuesday 29th October. This year, once again we are going to give your donations to the Harold Hill Foodbank who do such a wonderful job helping local residents in times of need.
We would therefore be grateful if children could start bringing in donations from Monday 14th October. The Foodbank have specifically asked for non-perishable items as they cannot pre determine when the food will be distributed.

Year 6 Parents - 31st October 2019
The deadline for applying for secondary school places is fast approaching. Please ensure that you have registered for an online account and applied for a secondary place before this date. If you require any assistance please come into the office and see Mrs Kinchella.

County Lines Talk - Tuesday 15th October @ Broadford School-Time to be confirmed
The Learning Federation is hosting a presentation evening from Peter Wilson from the Metropolitan Police (Trident), regarding Child Criminal Exploitations and County Lines within Havering. This important information will assist with equipping members of the public and parents to be vigilant in supporting all children / young people regardless as to where they live. These talks have been very well received and are highly recommended for parents.

Diary Dates
Monday 7th October- LAMDA session in the afternoon for some of our more able pupils
Tuesday 8th October- Mead netball team playing Broadford after school
Wednesday 9th October -Madagascar class are visiting the local Fire Station in the afternoon and we have a visitor coming into school to talk to year 5 about Junior Travel Ambassadors. We look forward to welcoming some pupils from Brookside infants who are coming to visit our farm animals in the afternoon. Some of our year 3 pupils will be attending a Forest School session in the afternoon.
Thursday 10th October- KS1 parents are invited into school for a reading workshop between 8:30 and 9:30
Friday 11th October -Kenya class are visiting the local Fire Station this afternoon


Autumn Term Parent Consultation Evening - Monday 14th & Tuesday 15th October
We are looking forward to welcoming all parents on Monday 14th & Tuesday 15th October for parent consultation meetings. You will have the opportunity to meet your child’s new class teacher and find out how they have settled so far this year. The teachers will also explain the expectations for the end of the year for your child.
Our Year 6 prefects will also be on hand to show you to the hall and asking parents to complete our annual parent survey.
Hopefully you have all completed the meeting request form-Appointments will be sent out next week.
https://forms.gle/zF3LJExkUpxhj7Kh6


Monday 14th October- Parents Evening 1

Tuesday 15th October- Parents Evening 2

Friday 18th October- Last day of half term

Monday 28th October- Pupils back to school

KS2 Hall
We have now had confirmation that the underpinning of our KS2 hall will be completed by the beginning of December. Based on this, we are now able to organise our Christmas performances for week beginning 9th December. I will notify you of the exact dates in my newsletter next week, once I have consulted with my teachers.


INSET Dates for 2019-20
Please note the school closure dates for this academic year.

INSET day 1- 4th September

INSET day 2- 3rd April

INSET day 3- 20th July

INSET day 4-21st July

INSET day 5- 22nd July
Please note that the final day of the summer term for pupils will be on Friday 17th July, 2020.


Term Dates 2019-20
https://www.havering.gov.uk/downloads/file/2023/term_dates_2019-2020


Havering Catering Services
Week beginning Monday 7th September is week 3 on the Havering catering services menu. All meals are served with unlimited salad and vegetables and cost £2.25.
Please be reminded to top up your child’s catering account as we cannot provide dinners for pupils whose accounts exceed a debt of £10.
Havering catering Service now provide a breakfast club for Mead pupils. For £1.50 your child can have a bacon or sausage sandwich or beans on toast with cereal or toast or fresh fruit or yoghurt plus a drink.
We will also have speciality days when other items such as pancakes and muffins will be available.
In order for you to book a place you will need to deposit the money in advance in your Squid account.
Please do not send your child to school to attend breakfast club if there are no funds in your account as they will not be admitted.


Attendance Update
Well done to Mexico class who had the highest attendance in Y5&6 at 98.3% . Scotland had the highest attendance in LKS2 at 98.3% and Palau had the highest attendance in KS1 and overall at 98.4%. Well done to them!

Have a wonderful weekend

Mrs L. Smith

Headteacher

Brilliant Biker's come for Breakfast!

Biker's Breakfast was a great success with over 70 children cycling or scooting to school last Friday. The children enjoyed eating their breakfast at school with their friends and thought it was a good opportunity to socialise.

Many of the children showed they were very independent by getting their own breakfast ready. The teachers were very impressed. 

Thank you to all of the parents, staff and children that got involved. We hope that you will continue to cycle, scoot and walk to school so that we keep travelling in a healthy and environmentally friendly way.

Road Safety Councillor Visit

We were delighted to welcome Jan Sargent from Gooshays Ward and Martin Goode and Brian Eagling from Harold Wood Ward. The councillors had come to listen to the presentation our JTAs had made about suggested alterations to road safety in the local area.

We know that as Mead has got bigger there are lots more children coming to school. We want them to be safe.

Amie

When we were outside doing our survey we saw lots of near misses. These were due to bad parking, speeding cars and children taking too long to cross. If we made some changes it would be a lot safer.

Pawel

The councillors were very impressed at the range of options that the children had worked on with the council safer travel team.

• possible one way roads to ease congestion
• narrowing of the roadway to one vehicle
• enhanced crossing pints
• 20mph speed limits
• humped crossings

The children have been really engaged with this project. It is clearly something that matters to them!

Miss Doherty.

When the councillors left they said that they supported the proposals and would be looking forward to discussing them with their residents.

Mead Junior Travel Ambassadors

On Thursday, we awarded our current JTA's with their JTA Crystal to recognise and thank them for all their help, hard work and dedication throughout this year. They have helped plan, organise and deliver various events as well as ensuring they carried out the rest of their travel duties. Well done to  Amelia, Paris, Pawel, Aimee, Amelia and Frankie.

Although, we are sad to say goodbye to them we also used the opportunity to share and celebrate what they have achieved this year. They welcomed and informed our new JTA's from Year 5 about the role of a JTA so that they are prepared to begin their travel duties in the new school term.

Congartulations to our new JTA's, Kyanna, Kerry, Chanelle, Sophie, Maddison and Biddy.

Bike Safe Competition Winners

Reuban from Madagascar class is the KS1 winner and Ricardas from Brazil class is the KS2 winner of our Bike Safe Competition. They made a fantastic effort to come to school safely by wearing their helmets and have both won new scooters. Ricardas was so dedicated to being safe that he even took his helmet all the way to London on a recent Yr 6 trip.

Our JTAs also made a visit to classes to go over some top tips with pupils:

How to teach road safety to your children
Follow these basics to help you and your child stay safe when cycling:

• make sure your child's bike fits and that all your bikes are roadworthy;
• if you're on the road with children, take up a position behind them. If there are two adults in your group, it's a good idea to have one at the back and one in front of the children;
• helmets are particularly recommended for young children. Ultimately, wearing a helmet is a question of individual choice and parents need to make that choice for their children;
• set a good example, follow the Highway Code and teach children road safety and awareness.

Road safety rules for kids

• don't jump red lights or cycle on the pavement unless it's a designated cycle path;
• signal clearly at all times;
• ride in a position where you can see and be seen;
• make eye contact with other road users, especially at junctions, then you know they've seen you;
• when riding at night always use a working white front light and red back light, plus a red rear reflector - it's the law!

The runners up of the competition each won a goody bag with exciting biking accessories. They were Jay Jay (Madagascar), Ivan (Kenya). Amy-Leigh (Italy), Samuel (Northern Ireland), David (U.S.A) Joseph (Canada) and Mrs Medhurst.

Bike Safe Competition

During this half term, Mead Primary School will be running a Bike Safe Competition to increase the awareness of travelling to school in a safe and sustainable way.

If you wear your helmet when travelling to school on a scooter or bike you will get a Helmet Point. The children with the most Helmet Points at the end of the 6 weeks will win a prize.

When you cycle or scoot to school wearing your helmet, take your helmet into class where your teacher can help you record it on the Bike Safe Tracker.

Gold level Accreditation 2017

On Monday the 20th November 2017, two JTA's from Mead Primary School attended STARS Travel Plan Conference in the Camden Centre. The JTA's were involved in various activities throughout the day in which they had to look at different scenarios involving travel to school. The JTA's collaborated with local schools to come up with ideas on how to travel to school safely and ensure it was sustainable travel.

At the end of the day there was an award ceremony in which Mead Primary School was awarded Gold level accreditation for the 5th consecutive year. This means Mead Primary School is within the top 10% of London schools that have transformed their travel habits, resulting in a reduction in the number of car journeys made every day.

Well done to the parents and children of Mead Primary School for ensuring that the travel to and from school is both safe and sustainable. Keep up the good work!

Considerate Parking Campaign

Parking near schools is one of the biggest frustrations for residents around Havering. Considerate Parking is a campaign that aims to promote safe and considerate parking, encourage families to Park and Walk, have a Park Away Day or take part in the Parent Parking Promise.

We work in partnership with Transport for London (TfL) to help address the issues and improve parking in their local community. We also have a range of initiatives and resources to support our objective and promote the campaign.

Pupils have been promoting “Perfect Parking” through assemblies, lessons and by asking Mrs Smith to include comments in the newsletters.

With the help of the Havering Travel Plan team, the pupils have produced a banner for the main gate that highlights the need to avoid parking on the zig zag lines.

We need to stay off the yellow zig zags so that drivers can see the children as they cross the road into school. If people park there a child might get hit by a car.

JTAs