Newsletters

Dear Parents and Carers,

As we come to the end of a busy and successful half term, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support and to celebrate the many achievements of our children.

Over the past few weeks, it has been wonderful to see the children engaging enthusiastically in their learning, building new friendships, and growing in confidence.

Thank you to our wonderful staff team for their dedication and commitment throughout the term. Their hard work, care, and encouragement help make The Mead such a special place for our children to learn and thrive.

This half term, we have spent time revisiting The Mead Way with all children. The Mead Way underpins our positive school culture and is built around our three key expectations: Ready, Respectful and Safe.

Ready

Children show they are ready by:

• Being prepared to learn
• Listening carefully and sitting sensibly during teaching times
• Choosing the resources they need to support their learning

Respectful

Children show respect by:

• Listening to others and speaking politely to adults and their peers
• Looking after their own belongings, the belongings of others, and our school environment
• Being kind, helpful, and considerate
• Greeting others with a "Happy Hello" and ending the day with a "Great Goodbye"

Safe

Children keep themselves and others safe by:

• Listening to and following instructions from adults
• Using wonderful walking around the school
• Making safe choices online and during playtimes

These expectations help us create a school where everyone feels happy, valued, and secure. We encourage you to talk to your child about The Mead Way at home. I'm sure they will be able to tell you all about what it means and how they demonstrate it each day.

Alongside this, we have introduced new learning behaviours to the children with this half term's focus being  resilience. We have been helping children to understand that learning is not always easy and that making mistakes, facing challenges, and trying again are all important parts of becoming successful learners. Through assemblies, classroom discussions and daily learning experiences, we have explored what resilience looks like in practice.

For our children, being resilient means:

• Having a go, even when something feels difficult.
• Not giving up when they make a mistake.
• Finding different ways to solve a problem.
• Asking for help when they need it.
• Being proud of the effort they put into their learning.

Developing resilience is an important life skill. It helps children to become more independent, confident and willing to take on new challenges. We have been delighted to see so many children demonstrating determination, perseverance and a positive attitude towards their learning.

We encourage you to talk to your child about resilience at home and ask them how they have shown this quality during the school day. 

Below, you will find the visual prompts we use in school to support children's understanding of resilience.

Thank you for your continued partnership and support. We wish all of our families a happy, restful and enjoyable half-term break, and we look forward to welcoming everyone back refreshed and ready for the next exciting part of the autumn term.

Best wishes 

Mrs Creasey 

                              A Wonderful Start to Nursery!

Our Nursery children have settled in exceptionally well and have made a fantastic start to their school journey. It has been a joy to see their confidence grow as they have begun building new friendships, learning routines and exploring their new environment. The children have been busy taking part in a wide range of exciting and engaging activities, including creative arts and crafts, story times, singing, outdoor exploration and imaginative play. Through these experiences, they have been developing their communication skills, curiosity and independence while having lots of fun. We are incredibly proud of how quickly they have embraced Nursery life and look forward to seeing them continue to thrive over the coming months.

                 Year 1 Science: Watching the Seasons Change

This term, Year 1 have been learning about the changing seasons as part of their Science curriculum. To bring their learning to life, each class has adopted a tree within our school grounds and will be observing it throughout the year. The children have been looking closely at the signs of autumn, noticing changes in the leaves, weather and the natural environment around them. As the seasons change, they will continue to record and compare their observations, helping them to develop their scientific skills and a deeper understanding of the world around them. We are looking forward to seeing how our trees transform over the months ahead!

                                    Attendance 

Whole school attendance currently stands at 96.9 % 

Attendance is strongly linked to how well pupils achieve; for this reason, the attendance of all pupils is closely monitored.  Unless your child is unwell, the expectation is that your child attends school every day.

If you are unsure of whether your child is well enough to attend school please click on the links for some useful advice from the NHS and DFE  

Is my child too ill for school?

Illness absence and staying healthy - YouTube

Please click on the links below to take you to our attendance page.

The Mead Infant and Nursery School - Attendance 

and to understand why attending every day matters in school    

Why attending every day matters in primary school

Information Schools are required to share with parents regarding penalty notices.

 Penalty Notice Information

1.  If you have not incurred a penalty notice relating to this child/children in a rolling 3 year period since 19 August 2024, then the penalty notice will be charged at the rate of £160.00, per parent/carer per child, if paid within 28 days. This will be reduced to £80.00 if paid within 21 days of receipt of the notice. Failure to pay the Penalty Notice will result in Surrey County Council considering legal proceedings against you in the Magistrates Court.
2. If you have incurred a penalty notice relating to this child/children since 19 August 2024, the rolling 3 year period will be activated from the date of the first penalty notice and the second penalty notice will be charged at the flat rate of £160.00, per parent/carer per child, if paid within 28 days. There will be no reduction for payment within 21 days. Failure to pay the Penalty Notice will result in Surrey County Council considering legal proceedings against you in the Magistrates Court.
3. If you have incurred 2 penalty notices relating to this child/children in the rolling 3 year period since the first penalty notice was issued, then you will NOT receive a third penalty notice. Surrey County Council will have no option but to consider a prosecution, per parent/carer per child, in the Magistrates Court under s444 Education Act 1996.

Please note: Surrey County Council is not responsible for authorising pupil absence and therefore cannot withdraw any Penalty Notice requests without the written permission of the Headteacher.

                                    Year 2 Mapping Creativity!

Year 2 thoroughly enjoyed their Art and design unit "Map It Out", where they explored how maps can be used as inspiration for creative artwork. The children learnt about abstract art and investigated how artists use lines, shapes and colour to represent places in imaginative ways. As part of the unit, they designed and created their own abstract stained-glass window maps, carefully selecting colours and patterns to represent different features and routes. The finished pieces were vibrant, unique and demonstrated the children's creativity, attention to detail and growing understanding of how art can be used to communicate ideas in a range of exciting ways.