Middle School Matters

The Mission of Portsmouth Middle School is to create a strong and safe learning environment: promote social, emotional and physical well-being and to provide opportunities for each student, to the best of their ability, to meet high academic standards, develop responsibility, and achieve the positive social values and behaviors to become productive citizens.

Today was the PMS annual Arts for Life day. Students engaged with music and performance arts projects throughout the day. We want to thank our music and art teachers for putting together a cvery comprehensive program for our students. We also want to appreciate our volunteer instructors for sharing their talent and treasures with our students. We then closed the day with a short concert from a Navy Band called RI Sound!

The Portsmouth Middle School invites families and community members to join them in the Good Night Lights program at Hasbro Children’s Hospital on Thursday, April 25, 2024 for the unveiling of PMS student artwork.

JOIN THE PORTSMOUTH MIDDLE SCHOOL FACULTY, STAFF AND THE PORTSMOUTH POLICE DEPT

When: Thursday, April 25, 2024

Parking Location: Wasserman Women's Cancer Center lot

1 Blackstone Street (668 Eddy Street)

Providence, RI

Hasbro Children’s Hospital Signal Start Time: 8:30 p.m.

Hasbro Children’s Hospital Signal End Time: 8:45 p.m.

GNL is a voluntary community initiative that involves people, organizations and businesses flashing lights towards and for the hospital every night at 8:30 in a show of caring support for the young patients. The display includes patient-activated reflective tape art known as “Good Night Light-ups.” GNL creator Steve Brosnihan helped to guide this activity. The Portsmouth Middle School creations will decorate the roof of the Davol Building, adding interactive fun to the hospital nightscape.

Please consider joining us for this unforgettable experience!

We are celebrating “Purple Up!” Day this Friday, April 26th. Purple Up! Day is a day to honor our military children. On this day, people are encouraged to wear purple as a visible way to show support and thank military children for their strength and sacrifices. Military children often face unique challenges due to frequent moves, deployments of family members, and other aspects of military life. “Purple Up!” Day is a way to recognize and appreciate these young individuals and the resilience they demonstrate

This Friday is Arbor Day. In connection with the local tree commission and elected officials, we will have a tree planting ceremony at 10:00 A.M. This year, we are dedicating the tree to the sacrifices from our Military Connected Families. All Military Connected Families are invited to attend with their child the tree dedication and planting. We just ask that you RSVP for this event by filling out this form so that we know to pull your child from class at that time so that you can all share in the moment. Please contact Dr. Masterson with any questions.

When students arrive at 7:45, they are meeting our core value of "Be Ready to Learn". Thank you for helping your child be a responsible Portsmouth Patriot!

Please see the letter linked here from the PTO regarding donations requests for the annual Faculty/Staff Appreciation Week.

VBYG is now available to all students here at PMS. Immunizations will be offered at PMS on May 16th.

Parents must complete the online registration if interested and send it back to Mrs. Joncas. This provides the

opportunity to catch up on required vaccines.

What is Vaccinate Before You Graduate?
Vaccinate Before You Graduate (VBYG) is an immunization program in partnership with the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) that makes twelve (12) important vaccinations available to all Rhode Island middle and high school students at no out-of-pocket cost. These vaccines are given during the school day at clinics throughout the year. VBYG can bring your teen up-to-date on their shots and protect them from serious diseases.

Are your student’s vaccinations up-to-date?
Your teen is required to have certain immunizations to attend school. If immunizations are missing, the district can exclude your student from school. In addition, your son or daughter may need vaccinations against many of these diseases in order to get a job or attend a college. If you had to pay for all these vaccinations, it could cost as much as $1200 out of pocket!

Click here for RIDOH’s most up-to-date list of immunization school requirements

What vaccinations are offered through this program?

• Hepatitis A

• Hepatitis B

• Chickenpox (Varicella)

• COVID-19 – RECENTLY ADDED… Questions about the vaccine? Visit COVID-19 Information | RI COVID-19 Information Portal

• Human Papillomavirus – HPV (males & females)

• Influenza (Injectable)

• FluMist

• MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella)

• Meningococcal Serogroup B Vaccine (MenB)

• Meningococcal ACWY Vaccines (Meningitis) – MenACWY and MPSV4

• Polio

• Td (Tetanus and diphtheria)

• Tdap (Tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis/whooping cough)

For more information, parents can read the Vaccine Information Statement (VIS) available for each vaccine by clicking on the vaccine.

When is the next VBYG clinic at my teen’s school?
Click here for VBYG Calendar

No clinic date listed for your school? No problem!
Completing an online consent form will prompt your school to schedule a clinic.

Are there fees or insurance requirements?
No, there is no out-of-pocket charge for any student for any vaccine. Students are not required to have health insurance. The insurance of those students who have insurance, however, will be collected to offset the cost of vaccine administration.

No insurance? All children in Rhode Island are eligible for health insurance.
For more information, visit these sites for more information:

https://eohhs.ri.gov/consumer/families-children/health-care-programs

https://ripin.org/

How can I enroll myself or my teen in the program?
Click here to complete an online registration form

In accordance with RIGL 23-4, 6-1 students age 16 or older may consent to routine, emergency, medical or surgical care. A minor parent may consent to treatment of their child.

Portsmouth High School's Green Club is committed to promoting environmental conservation through the teaching of students with multiple events and projects within the school system and beyond. As part of this goal, the club is hosting a community-wide tree-planting event to offset the school's annual energy consumption. Our goal is to give out 350 saplings to the residents of Portsmouth and surrounding towns, which would offset the amount of carbon our school emitted from electricity and gas last year. Our event will be held on May 4th, 2024. Residents can support our mission by ordering saplings for $5 or donating to make saplings free for others. Residents can choose from Eastern Rebund, Red Maple, and Yellow Poplar saplings. All of these saplings will thrive in our New England climate. We look forward to making our community more sustainable! Please check out our website.

We would like to celebrate that our average daily attendance is 94%. If we learned one thing from the pandemic, it is how much our students learn better from being present in school. We have taken the last few weeks to highlight some reminders in our newsletter and this week we are resharing the school committee policies regarding attendance. As a reminder, anytime a student is absent unexcused for 5/10/15 days, a letter is auto generated and sent home. Families whose children reach 10 days of unexcused absence will receive a call from their school counselor to check in and see if there are any resources that families may need. Fifteen days of unexcused absences may trigger truancy proceedings. Linked is the attendance policy. Student Attendance and Truancy Policy

Patriot Pillars is built on a framework of creating a positive social culture for our students.

Our goal at PMS is to build a positive learning environment where all students feel safe and connected because we know this is how children learn best. As a staff we are focusing on making connections with our students.

Patriot Pillars is a system of reinforcing expected and positive behaviors, aligning student expectations to our school core values: Be Safe, Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Ready to Learn.

Ask your child if they have earned any "CHECK YOUR TECH" special edition Patriot Pillars this week!

Ticket sales for the dodgeball tournament started today and will happen til Thursday at lunchtime. Tickets are five dollars for spectators.

Save and send in your Clement’s receipts in your child’s folder and sent to the main office. The PTO receives 1% of sales. There is no date too old. All Clements receipts will be taken as long as it shows Clements logo and pre-tax sales total.

If you would like to volunteer in school or help on a field trip, please use this form going forward to become VIS approved.

Dear PMS Parents/Guardians.

Per the PMS by-laws we are required to solicit nominations for the upcoming school year for all board positions. If you are interested in any of the board positions, please fill out the linked form and submit by April 3, 2024. Voting will be done at the May 1, 2024 meeting. Thank you. If you would like more information about the board's charter, please click here.

The Portsmouth Special Education Local Advisory Committee is hosting our annual LAC Awards on May 16, 2024. Please consider nominating someone from our school community who has helped your child to succeed this year. Typical nominees are teachers and support professionals, bus staff, RBTs and Paraprofessionals, coaches, students, and administrators. The deadline for nominations is May 1, 2024.

This poster contest was introduced to students the week before vacation. Today is the last day to submit.

Please check out this flier for information regarding a tennis opportunity in the community.

Please see the link here to the PHS yard sale opportunity.

Please see the linked flier for a summer program taking place in the community.

URI Nursing Students teaching Grade 5 (Mrs. Hole's Class) a lesson in mindfulness and deep breathing as part of their Community health clinical rotation.

Please click the link here for the monthly newsletter from the RI Student Assistance group.

Please click the link here for information regarding SpringFest at PHS.