JOHN MASON SCHOOL NEWSLETTER (No. 3)

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1 JOHN MASON SCHOOL NEWSLETTER (No. 3) YOUR CHILD, YOUR SCHOOL, YOUR VOICE We would love to have your suggestions or ideas on what to call the Newsletter please suggestions to Lucie Cotmore-Brown at HEADS UP! I will let you into a secret; teaching, like most things, is blend of stolen ideas. Every few years, an educator stands proud with their new idea, and those of us who have been around a bit nod and maybe sigh, because we have seen it before. Having been a teacher for 23 years in 6 schools, I have come to the conclusion that the best teaching happens when the teacher absolutely understands the needs of every child sat in front of them and the child trusts that the teacher is the expert in their field. When you have that, the teacher can then take risks and be innovative, can allow student led learning based on dilemma or inquiry. When you have that, the child feels safe and has no fear of failure, because that failure is part of their learning journey. This climate for learning can only exist where a school has at its heart the spirit of respect, honesty and kindness; this must be our way at John Mason. This week my assembly has focused on the concept of making a positive difference in the world. For me this requires two crucial things; high quality education and behaviour based on values. Our school values are: Proud of our creativity Passionate about learning Keen to inspire Valuing ourselves and each other Determined to be the best we can be If we take the first word of each phrase they sum the way I expect our children and staff to be; proud, passionate, keen, valuing and determined. They work in every situation. If we put these values at the heart of every decision made at school, we will grow ourselves an astonishing generation of young people in Abingdon your children, our future. Have a great weekend. Sarah Brinkley Follow me on

2 TEACHING AND LEARNING Modern Foreign Languages The MFL staff would like to welcome Mr Donlon to the team. He brings with him a passion for languages, especially German, French and Russian and is already enjoying sharing this with the students. MFL club got off to a great start on Wednesday with many students from year 8-11 attending. This club is on every week and open to everybody. It can be used as a homework catch up session, an informal revision environment or to develop a particular interest in European Languages and Culture. Last week the year 11 students worked on Controlled Assessments and the year 8s watched German cartoons whilst others played vocabulary games. The 6 th form learning mentors began assisting in year 7 and 8 lessons week. This is a great opportunity not only for them to further their own skills but also to help our younger learners build their confidence. They have made a positive start. This week, you will have seen that we have launched our 2015 Christmas Market Trip to Aachen for year 7 and 8 students taking German. Letters have gone out via parent mail and are also being given out in class by German teachers. For those students who are off to either Valencia or Berlin in October, please make sure that you have changed your money into Euros and have handed in any outstanding forms. We look forward to sharing our photos and stories with all of you on our return. And finally, just to clarify the expectation for Homework in the MFL faculty. Year 7 students have a vocabulary test once a fortnight and year 8 and 9 students one a week (alternating weeks for each language). This is not the only homework they are set. In order to prepare for these we encourage them to revise little and often. It would be a good idea to get into a habit of spending 5/10 minutes each day learning vocabulary, this way it becomes routine and prepares them well for GCSEs etc.there are also websites that will help them with revision a list of which is published on the JMS school website. COMMUNITY NEWS Parentmail 2 or Parentmail PMX? Dear Parents and Carers If you have a year 7 student who has just started with us, you will probably by now have registered on Parentmail 2. Parentmail 2 allows you to pay for trips, top up lunch money and sends you correspondence. Parentmail 2 will continue to run for the foreseeable future but we have introduced a new Parentmail system - Parentmail PMX. Over the coming days, everyone who has not already registered onto Parentmail PMX will receive either a text or from Parentmail asking them to register. Please follow the instructions you are given and set up your account on Parentmail PMX. It is important that you do this as soon as possible, as we will soon be organising Parents Evening and other events using Parentmail PMX and you will be able to book appointments for these events electronically through Parentmail PMX. You will still pay for trips, top up lunch money and receive correspondence on Parentmail 2.

3 If you are not a parent/carer of a new year 7 student and you have not received a text or , please first log onto parentmail.pmx.co.uk and try to log in - you may have forgotten your password and you will be given an option to re-set a password. If you are not recognised, it may be because we have an incorrect or mobile number for you - if this is the case, please events@johnmason.oxon.sch.uk with your name, your child s name and your mobile telephone number. If you have more than one child at the school, please only send one with all the details of your children on. For those of you already registered and using PMX, we are starting to send newsletters and other information out on PMX as well as Parentmail 2 - we apologise but this means you will get the same information from both systems but it will allow us to ensure PMX is working correctly. If you have children at another school that is already using PMX - the original issues we had with this have been resolved and you should be able to view the feeds from either school your children are attending with the same log in details. We thank you all for your patience during the implementation of this process. We are committed to providing a more efficient, effective service of communication for our school community. Lucie Cotmore-Brown, School Secretary Syrian Refugee Crisis You may already be aware of the current situation of the Syrian refugee crisis. As a school community we are appealing for items, both second hand and used in order to help through a charity called CalAid. On the 4th October, a group of teachers will be delivering supplies to London and we would appeal for the following items: Camping equipment including tents, covers and tarpaulin Jackets Socks Candles Belts Blankets Sleeping Bags Toiletries These can be brought into tutor groups and will be stored in school. They can be brought in on the 1st and 2nd October for delivery to the collection point on the 4th October. Many thanks for your continued support. Mrs Fairgrieve, Humanities Department School Bus Information The following information has been received from the Oxfordshire County Council. It appears that there has been some confusion with the communication of which stops will be served on route 4-FH02 from Sutton Courtenay, Milton Steventon, Drayton into Abingdon Schools. Please be advised that the bus will be stopping at the bus stop just up from Sutton Wick Lane (on google maps it is the last bus stop as you are going out of Abingdon between Corville Lane and Sutton Wick Lane) if there are students waiting from tomorrow. To be on the safe side, if the students are travelling in the afternoon want to get off at this stop and they didn t get on there in the morning, they should make themselves known to the bus driver otherwise he/she will continue on and drop at The Green in Drayton.

4 For clarity here is the official timetable I have amended the description for Sutton Wick to avoid confusion: 0735 Sutton Courtenay - Bus stop by Hairdressers, Milton Rd (heading towards Culham) opposite The Plough PH Bus stop near junc B Highways Depot (1066 Milton Road) (heading towards Milton) Milton Public House Milton Heights Co s Corner (by Home Farm Trust) Steventon Memorial Bus Stop Drayton The Flyover, opposite the Golf Club The Green Sutton Wick/Drayton - bus stop between Cornville Rd and Sutton Wick Lane Oday Hill Farm layby LARKMEAD SCHOOL JOHN MASON SCHOOL FITZHARRYS SCHOOL Bus Service - Berinsfield It has come to light that a number of students who should be getting public transport into Abingdon Schools are getting on the buses provided to OCC (ED1102 and ED1103). To get to the bottom of the allegations OCC staff will be travelling on the routes and undertaking bus pass checks in the next few weeks. If a student is trying to travel on the bus and they are not eligible to travel, they will be refused travel. Anita Syphas Transport Coordinator Oxfordshire County Is your child interested in joining our NEW children's book group, starting in October? Come and ask at the library to find out more! Follow As part of our recognition and celebrating success strategy, I will be posting success stories and positive updates on twitter. This may be recognising individual achievements or efforts, team scores, class news stories or whole school positivity! Please to keep up to date with these stories and share the success! Mr M Davies, Assistant Head Teacher DATES FOR YOUR DIARY Head of Year 11 Parents' Evening pm in the School Hall IAG, Overview of year, assessment, support, revision programmes

5 Parents Forum 29 th 6.00pm The first Parents Forum of this academic year will take place on Tuesday 29 th September at 6.00pm and will be led by the Headteacher, Sarah Brinkley. The topic will be Supporting and encouraging our children to become independent learners in all aspects of life. Thank you to everyone who has sent in questions for the second half of the meeting - if you missed the deadline for sending in your questions, there is still time - them to events@johnmason.oxon.sch.uk. Pizza for Parents during the year 7/8 disco on 22 nd October. School will be closed to students from 1pm on the 8th October so that we can prepare for Open Evening. School buses will collect children at 1.10pm. Further dates of forthcoming events can be found on the JMS Website.