Old Ford Newsletter
June 12th 2026
Principal’s Message
The football world cup has kicked off and we have started our own football themed events at school.
Each class has ‘adopted’ one of the competing nations and will be following their progress through the tournament. Come on New Zealand!!!!!
END OF YEAR PARENT CONFERENCES
As we did last year, we will be holding individual parent/teacher meetings in July once our final assessments are completed later in June. These are optional, and if you want to meet with your child’s teacher to discuss progress, please speak to them directly to arrange a time.
Lunchtime Theme Days
Our lunchtime theme days have been really popular and now we are asking the pupils what they would like to do on Wednesday lunchtimes. The school council will pick the best suggestion from the pupils.
Attendance
We all know how important regular attendance is. If children aren’t in school, they will miss out on important learning.
I know sometimes children are genuinely to ill to come to school, but if they only have a minor cold or cough it is find to send them in. There’s some good advice here from the NHS if you’re ever not sure.
From this week, we will be sending out weekly messages via MCAS with your child’s attendance percentage for the year to date. 90% may sound like high attendance, but over the course of a whole school year, it’s equal to FOUR WEEKS of missed school!
Dates for your Diary
Year 3 will take place in the morning, Year 4 in the afternoon.
Year 5 will take place in the morning, Year 6 in the afternoon.
How can I be more punctual?
Be prepared
Go to bed at a reasonable time
Give yourself more time in the morning
Be aware of the time
Fire Safety
Members of the Fire Brigade have been in our school recently, talking to pupils in Year 2 – Year 5 about fire safety, and what to do in the event of a fire. Use the links below to download the documents.
Community Resources for Families
- The government has launched their Best Start in Life supporting the Plan for Change target of 75% of children being school-ready by 2028. Visit the Best Start in Life website and sign up for personalised weekly emails.
- Have you ever considered volunteering? The Early Help service allows parents to come together, learn new skills and prepare for work.
- The new expanded funded early education entitlements are available now – discover more about the 2-year-old childcare extension.
Online safety
We are still getting reports of pupils on social media apps such as Snapchat.
As you know, an important part of our curriculum is teaching pupils about esafety. We know that a lot of our pupils spend a lot of their time online, either through online gaming or on social media apps. This can sometimes lead to contact with inappropriate people
and/or exposure to inappropriate language. We strongly recommend that you monitor your children’s usage of the internet and that you are aware of what they are doing online.
Most social media apps have an age limit of 13+. If you are allowing your children to access these apps you are putting them at risk!
Start and end of the day
Please remember that there are no staff on duty in the playgrounds before and after school so parents/carers should supervise their own children. Children should not be playing with balls or on the climbing frames.
To keep children safe please do not park on the double yellow or zig-zag lines when you are collecting or dropping off. Tower Hamlets parking enforcement officers are conducting regular patrols in the area.
When collecting your child at the end of the day please wait until all pupils are in their lines before speaking to the teacher and collecting your child. We need to make sure that all of our pupils go home with the right adult!
Bow Foodbank
Did you know Bow Foodbank now operates out of Bow Community Hall?
Tuesday 10am – 12pm
Tower Hamlets residents only
Tuesday 12.30pm – 4pm
Click and Collect, order by 1pm Sunday.
Wednesday 2pm – 7pm
Open to all
Thursday 10am – 1pm
Tower Hamlets only
Friday collection 8am – 12pm
Order by 9pm Wednesday
Bow Foodbank is open to all, there’s no need for a referral or voucher. Visit them at:
Bow Community Hall
1, William Place,
E3 5ED
