Dear Parents/Carers

A happy 2020 to our community. At the turn of the year we are invited to reflect upon 2019 and to plan ahead for the future. The successes of 2019 help us to strengthen our foundations so that we can grow in all areas of our personal, spiritual, emotional and academic lives together as a unified community. Thank you, to parents and carers, for your positive feedback on the revised Autumn Term 2019 Summaries. I am glad that so many of you found the addition of a personal development summary useful. MJS not only strives to provide a strong academic challenge for all but also to develop your child into a responsible and respectful, active citizen. Our ever increasing co-curriculum offer is providing the children with opportunities to learn how to show mutual respect and tolerance and promotes equality of opportunity. Having a regular update that informs you of how your child is developing confidence and resilience and whether they are maintaining an active, healthy lifestyle helps to guide us in that tricky role of parenting. As we are all set to begin another year, MJS wants to thank all its staff and families who work so hard for the benefit of all our pupils. If you would like to get more involved why not volunteer. All you need to do is send in an email with your contact details and the subject line “volunteer”. We will then contact you. We wish that the New Year becomes a year of personal, spiritual, emotional and academic growth where through our community’s dedication and efforts our pupils continue to thrive. Wishing you a very Happy New Year,

Best wishes to you all, Clare D’Netto

Dates for this month

Start of Spring Term Monday 6th January 2020 at 8:55am

Parents In Partnership Sessions are: Tuesday 7th January Tuesday 14th January Tuesday 21st January Tuesday 28th January

Year 4 Trip to Colchester Castle Monday 13th January 2020 Tuesday 14th January 2020

Movie Night Thursday 16th January at 3:30-5:00pm

Year 5 Trip to Science Museum (Imax) 5H & 5RW - Tuesday 21st January 2020 5R, 5L & 5M - Thursday 30th January 2020

School Nurse Drop-In Tuesday 28th January at 9:00-10:00am

January Newsletter

Contact Details:

Manor Junior School

Sandringham Road

Barking

Essex

IG11 9AG

Tel: 020 8270 4641/ 4642

Email: office@manor-

j.bardaglea.org.uk

Website:

www.manorjunior.co.uk

Facebook:

Manor-Junior-School

Twitter: ERIC@MJS@manor-j.bardaglea.org

Office hours are:-

8:00am - 4:30pm

Words of wisdom and wellbeing

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Parents in Partnership by Mrs. Atere

A very happy New Year to you all! Thank you to all who attended our December ‘Parents in Partnership’ sessions. It has been great to see so many new faces taking a keen interest in what is happening in MJS.

Sessions began with exploring supporting children with a learning need ran by Mrs Pearson our SENCo. During this session she shared information regarding how we define SEN, some of the challenges we face and what support there is for children and parents. She also shared some wonderful resources that parents can borrow from the school to understand from a child’s perspective, what it feels like to live with different SEND needs. This was a valuable and informative session for all who attended.

The following week we had a session on healthy school meals, by our cook supervisor Lesley, who has over 30 years’ experience of working in school kitchens. She took us through the lunch menus, the ordering system, and some of the challenges she faces on a day to day basis.

The final session of the term we explored the 3i’s curriculum. We saw some of the breath-taking examples of 3D models children had made linking to their classroom text. The children have worked so hard in creating wonderful pieces of work, and went above and beyond creating exceptional pieces. This is a great way for them to engage with their learning outside of the classroom. Well done to all the parents too.

Our January workshops include:

Workshops take place every Tuesday morning at 9:05 am where refreshments are available. Parents with children are welcome.

We look forward to seeing you at these sessions.

Date Session

Tuesday 7th January Science, Technology and Engineering

Tuesday 14th January Q & A with Head Teacher

Tuesday 21st January How to Promote Good Dental Hygiene

Tuesday 28th January Supporting Your Child with Public Speaking

Personal Development - Personal Challenge by Mrs Arrarte

With the New Year upon us, now is a great time to make some changes for a better future. What is your new year’s resolution? To eat more fruit and vegetables? To cook more healthily? To remember to brush my teeth TWICE a day? To get fit and healthy or to take up a new hobby?

With the goodies around the festive season behind us, now is a great time to look for alternative healthy options. Our lunch boxes are a great place to start. Here are some ideas to help us start the new year as we wish to go on. Remember fruit and vegetable are also the only snacks allowed at playtimes so let’s help start the day the best possible way! Good nutrition is our mission!!

Well here at MJS we wish to help you with all of the above…and more!! Following our questionnaire regarding clubs a lot of our pupils have asked for art drawing and making clubs. We are pleased to confirm that Mrs Ali will be starting an art/DT club this half term along with various other clubs.

Personal Challenge: Take up a new hobby or some activity to get active.

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Message from our Year Group Leaders

A Big ‘Thank you’ for all your support.

Role play from the anti-bullying workshop

Understanding Teenage Behaviour MJS were very fortunate to be among the first schools in the borough to complete the new Understanding Teenage Behaviour course in collaboration with LBBD Adult College.

This very informative and helpful course was led by Jessica Oliver, the Assistant Educational

Psychologist working with the Child and Adolescence Mental Health Service (CAMHS).

Thank you to all who attended and congratulations on receiving your certificates, which will be a gateway to further learning at the Adult College.

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Darina in 4A.

She has

achieved two

medals in a

recent

gymnastics

competition.

The following children wanted to share their out of school

achievements with you.

We congratulate them on their achievement.

Sydney Rose in 5RW.

She recently moved up a level in football due to her hard work and concentration.

Abigail in 4B.

She has

achieved a

trophy for

being helpful.

Rhiannan in 4W.

She has achieved a trophy and medal in a

recent gymnastics competition.

Anaiya in 4PA.

She has been reading lots

and has recently

finished the Harry Potter collection.

Abigail in 4W.

She has been

given the lead

role in a

nativity.

Aminah in 4W.

She achieved a gold medal in

a recent running race.

Sytira in 5H.

She achieved three medals in a recent swimming

competition. She came 2nd in the 100m butterfly, 1st in the

100m breaststroke and first in the 50m breaststroke. She

has been working hard in her swimming lessons and is

pushing herself to achieving her best in competitions.

Attendance and Punctuality by Mrs Virdi

As you are aware we have worked closely with Manor Infant School and Barking Abbey Secondary School to ensure our holiday dates coincide and so reduce the need for families to take their children out of school during term time.

The schools have agreed to start the summer holidays early so ensuring that families who wish to get away earlier can do so. The Autumn Term ends on Friday 20th December and you are reminded that your children will be taught up to the last day of the school year on Friday 17th July. Gates opening at 8.45am but school starts at 8.55am - that means children should be in and sitting at their desks ready to learn from 8.55am. Please get your child to school on time so that they do not miss the start of the first lesson.

Congratulations to the following classes:

Please be aware that from the 1st February 2018, ALL parents will be asked to provide medical evidence for illness if your

child’s attendance falls below 90%. Without this evidence your child’s absence is likely to be marked as unauthorised.

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Week Beginning 2nd December 9th December 16th December

4A = 98.62% 5H = 99.33%

4B = 98.33% 5R = 100%

4A = 96.55% 5RW = 99%

Please ensure the school

office has your up-to-date

contact details

Details of:

Both Parents Phone numbers

& Emergency Phone

numbers

Details of:

Home address

This month we took 9 boys and 9 girls from Years 5 and 6 to compete in Sportshall athletics. There were some amazing performances, but the competition was too fierce for us to be placed in medal positions. However, the children so impressed one parent that he has offered to help with their continued training in anticipation of the summer athletics competition. Thanks Rnaaya's dad!

Please contact the school office either by telephone or email see

details on front of this newsletter.

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At MJS we have been working hard to improve the safety of our pupils around the roads in our community. To achieve this we have a small group of passionate and enthusiastic Year 5 children to encourage this at school. They are called the Junior Travel Ambassadors (JTA’s) and they have many fantastic and exciting ideas!

The JTA’s at MJS knew that its pupils wanted to be more active. So they arranged for eight ‘strider bikes’ to be used in the school during the lunch times. They have allowed pupils to enjoy cycling in a safe way whilst being active and getting exercise. So far, we have many visitors join us at MJS to discuss road safety and being seen and safe near

roads. The JTA’s organised the hugely successful ‘Be Bright Be Seen’ day at MJS, where children dressed in fluorescent and reflective clothing and we even had a visit from Zak the Zebra! The JTA’s had this to say, “We are so happy with the money raised to help make our school a more active place that other pupils can enjoy and be healthier”. As a school we raised £300 which has gone towards buying a new bike shed so that more children can be active on their way to school. Unfortunately, with over 500 pupils we were still unable to raise the amount we had hoped for.

Following this we had a JTA meeting to discuss what we could do next! We wanted to raise more money and awareness for safety around our school gates, so we organised with the help of Mr Dorrell and other members of staff a high-visual sale after school during ‘Road Safety Week’. We

were amazed to see so many families wanting to help promote road safety and active travelling in our community. Some of the things sold included, pedometers (step counters), high visual bags, fluorescent snap bands and reflective jackets.

Early in November, Mr Dorrell and Mrs D’Netto joined by members of staff from neighbouring schools went to Barking Town Hall to discuss with key road safety members of the borough, how we can make MJS and neighbouring schools a safer place to be. With problems on and around the roads discussed in depth, Mr Dorrell and Mrs D’Netto are pleased to say that change is coming, and our roads will become safer. BUT WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT… the roads are narrow and children from the Infants, Juniors and from Barking Abbey are all walking near the roads. Please consider using more active ways to travel to school instead of driving.

Be Bright Be Seen

by Mr Dorrell and the JTA’s at MJS.

Junior Travel Ambassadors

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ATTENDANCE AT MJS

“I didn’t realise taking my child on holiday during term time would be

unauthorised even though I applied for it in advance. The school explained that

this would affect their learning and that they would end up not making the

progress they are capable of.” Y5 parent.

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Team Manor

Thank you to everyone who came and supported us at our ‘Winter fayre’. A BIG festive cheer to you all. The monies raised will be shared across the two schools.

Following the success of our winter fayre we are looking to continue to develop our community links and further develop our PTA with Manor

Infants School in the form of the Team Manor PTA, ahead of our spring fayre. We are keen to get as many parents on board, to support our schools, to help raise crucial funds.

Regular meetings will be held on a Thursday Morning to

get together and share ideas. If you are interested in

supporting our school in any way, please get in touch. If

you have any queries or questions about how

you might be able to get involved please

contact Mrs Arrarte through the school office.

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