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.

The main office hours will be from 9:00-11:00 A.M. on Thursday, August 29th. The entire school will be at the high school after that for district professional development.

Last year, we offered a 5th grade family virtual drop in session the night before the 1st day of school. We will be offering it again this year at this link. This is optional for families who may have last minute questions regarding the first day. We are looking forward to seeing our 5th graders on Tuesday with their opportunity to see the school without any other students in it. The bus schedule will be running like normal.

The placards are ready for families to pick up starting this Friday from 8:15 A.M.-2:15 P.M. This is the iDismiss system for cars to be identified to then dismiss their child outside. Families will also be able to pick them up in the office on Tuesday with the same hours.

This year, we will continue a program called Positive T-Shirt Tuesday. It was a hit last year with our school community and we are very happy that our first day of school for 5th grade will be a Positive T-shirt Tuesday. Any t-shirt with positive messaging or graphics is encouraged. This was an initiative that came out of our PBIS Committee.

The middle school is aligning with all other district schools by utilizing an online form to report absences from school. The form is linked here for your convenience. It is also on our website.

The student handbook has been uploaded to our website as well. Here is a link to it. There have been updates to consequences related to suspension. If families or students have any questions regarding the student handbook, please do not hesitate to reach out to a coordinator of student life or the school administration.

This information went out earlier this summer, but just in case anyone missed it, the link to sign up for fall sports is here. We will be starting tryouts on the first day of school. All students must have their paperwork signed and notarized (where applicable) and submitted to the main office. Any student who does not have their paperwork submitted will not be able to try out.

All new/transfer students in grades 5 and 6 should have complete schedules. If your child does not, feel free to email Dr. Masterson at mastersonj@portsmouthschoolsri.org.

New/transfer students in grades 7 and 8 will take a math assessment after the new student orientation on Tuesday, September 3rd at approximately 10:00 A.M. The assessment is scored immediately that day so that schedules can then be built by the end of the school day for your child.

All new/transfer students and their families in grades 6-8 are invited to the new student orientation on Tuesday, September 3rd at 9:00 A.M. The orientation will start in the Little Theater where a brief presentation will take place from the school based leadership team. This will then be followed by a tour of the school. Immediately following the tour, all 7th and 8th grade students will take a math assessment. Parents do not have to stay while their child takes the math assessment, they can return at around 11:00 A.M. to pick their child up.

Grade 6 students may go home immediately following the tour. For all grade 5 students, their first day of school is Tuesday, September 3rd starting at 7:45 A.M. for a full day of school. Buses will be running on their normal schedule.

Please see the link below for the bus routes for the 2024-2025 school year. If you have any questions regarding bus routes, you can contact First Student Portsmouth. Here is the link to their information.

Our first PTO meeting of the school year will take place on Monday September 9th at 6:00 P.M. in the PMS Library. Please join us to meet the new board, see what we have planned for the school year, and to meet your principal, Dr. Masterson. Any questions, please reach out to portsmouthripto@gmail.com