MMS GUIDANCE HOMEPAGE

Say Hello!

There are two school counselors at the middle school, serving Grades 5 & 6 and Grades 7 & 8. School counselors are responsible for registering and orienting new students, planning and implementing transition programs, facilitating parent conferences during the entire school year, and organizing standardized testing sessions in the fall. In addition, school counselors schedule all students and work with teachers to help create successful learning situations for all children. During X-blocks, counselors are available for academic progress checks and organizational assistance, as well as facilitating a variety of groups for students, ranging from social skills to relaxed, small group luncheons. Counselors are also available during the day for conflict resolution, friendship issues, individual crisis intervention, and counseling regarding divorce, loss, or coping with adolescent growth.

As experienced counselors, our goals are to help all students use their middle school years as a significant personal learning time. We enjoy working with students, parents, and teachers, as well as community resources in order to accomplish these goals.

  

MMS Code of Conduct

STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT

MANSFIELD MIDDLE SCHOOL CODE OF CONDUCT

All members of the Mansfield Middle School Community treat each other they way they like to be treated. All members are responsible for their actions and reactions, respect each other's personal space and property, and conduct themselves with honesty, trustworthiness, and integrity. (Passed by MMS Student Council, June 1999)

 

Special Programs

~ Character Education ~

The Character Concepts program at Mansfield Middle School was recently published in the Promising Practices document published by the State of Connecticut Department of Education. We are proud of this character program that begins in Grade 5. The goals of the program included the development of self-esteem, pride, citizenship and strengthening of positive character traits among Mansfield Middle School students. The program supports students' self-advocacy and decision-making principles and models that students begin in the Good Decisions Program.. Character Concepts also establishes the characteristics that underlie success, which are developed in all school prevention programs and in the Grade 5 - 8 Advisor-Advisee program. 

 

~ The Ambassadors' Club ~

The Ambassadors' Club is a group of students who make a commitment to helping anyone who is new to MMS feel welcome here. Students meet weekly and invite new students, as well. The purpose of these meetings is to help students become better acquainted with one another and to explore common interests. An Ambassador Extraordinaire is a student who is specially trained to personally assist new students during their first weeks here at MMS. Karen Despres, Grade 5 & 6 School Counselor, and Kristina Kyriacou, Grade 7&8 School Counselor, facilitate these meetings.  Guests are sometimes invited to join our meetings for special projects.  

 

Upcoming Events:

 

                        Bridge to Compassion

Food drive for the Covenant Soup Kitchen

                                November 13th – 16th

We will be collecting monetary donations and non-perishable food items in the front lobby each morning. Please be generous!!

 

                           Windham Tech Applications Due!

 Please be sure to get your Windham Tech application to Miss Kyriacou by December 7, 2007

 

Homework

Teacher expectations for homework time commitment can be found in the Parent/Student Handbook. Counselors are available to families to help troubleshoot homework issues, which may include time management issues, home-school communication, and organization. Students can stay after school for homework help Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays (when there is not a staff meeting) and Thursdays.  Call the school at 429-9341 for each teacher’s Homework Hotlines. Or, visit www.school.aol.com

 

Absences - Regular student attendance in school is essential to the educational process. Our state legislature strongly reaffirmed this principle by passing Public Law 91-303. With the passage of this legislation, school systems are now required to be much more aggressive in monitoring attendance and reporting students who are truant to an appropriate state agency. To help us carefully monitor attendance, we ask that you do the following:

    • If you know in advance that your child will be absent from school, please send a note or call the school and let us know.
    • On days when your child is sick and will not be coming to school, please call the school office between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. and advise us that your child will be absent that day. The absence line number for Mansfield Middle School is 429-5004 x 175. Calling the absence line eliminates the need for a note after an absence.

In unusual circumstances, a family may wish to remove a child from school for the purpose of educational travel:

    1. A written request, to be approved by the Principal, must be submitted no later than three weeks before the intended trip is to occur. The Principal will determine if the absences are excused or unexcused.
    2. It is the child's responsibility to make arrangements to get and complete as much regular school work as possible.
    3. At the teacher's discretion, such assignments may be modified to accommodate the trip setting, but should not be construed as a total replacement for classroom learning.

For more information please refer to the Mansfield Middle School calendar, Pages 7 to 9 or the Student/Parent Handbook.

 

 

 

Middle School Tips & Tools (for parents and students)

Click here for tons of homework help links!

Small Steps Toward Big Success

    • Be positive - Expect your child to do well. Focus on future goals, not past failures. Talk about what it will take to succeed. Praise them, and celebrate progress!
    • Make rules - Help your child to learn good habits - studying daily, when and where to do homework, limits on TV time, phone calls and outside activities.
    • Give responsibilities - Being independent helps self-esteem to grow - it shows children that they can succeed. Let them make their own lunches, manage a bank account, care for a pet.
    • Make time - Make family meals a habit. Spend at least a few minutes a day discussing school, friends, and interests. You don't have to schedule this time. Talk at the supper table, in the car, while on a walk.

 

       How to contact us:

Karen Despres, 5th & 6th Grade School Counselor- 429-9341, ext. 110 or despreskl@mansfieldct.org

Kristina Kyriacou, 7th & 8th Grade School Counselor - 429-9341, ext. 340 or kyriacoukm@mansfieldct.org

Visit our homepage at http://www.mmsnet.org.