Old Ford Newsletter

November 14th 2025

It is the second week of our attendance project.

It has been great seeing all the pupils excited about coming to school every day. Our attendance has been the best it has been for a while, which is excellent considering the darker days and all the winter bugs flying around at the moment!

Academy Council
This week I met with our Academy Councillors and other parents/carers. Bill Holledge, the Paradigm Trust CEO, and David Willis, the Chairman of the Paradigm Board of Directors, also attended. As always, we had a really good discussion about the school. If you couldn’t make it, the minutes from the meeting are here.

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

Set of ugly Christmas sweater illustration
Social chat bubbles with different language words in speech bubble shape, concept illustration for international communication and translation. EPS10 vector.

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.

Key Stage 1 Fire Plan

Key Stage 2 Fire Plan

Charge Safe

Free Home Fire Safety Visit

This week's Cake with Kevin Value Award Winners! EYFS and KS1

RC – Regina: Regina is receiving a Community award for being such a kind friend. When one of the children had no one to play with, she asked them to play with her and held their hand.

RE – Akram: Akram has been awarded the value of excellence as he is always doing the right thing. Akram continues to show eagerness and enthusiasm to answer questions on the carpet and has shown great effort being made with his work. Well done!

RI – Zakariya: Integrity – You have been making he right chooses in school and have been kind to your friends. Zakariya tries really hard and always joins in. Well done Zakariya, keep up the hard work.

1C – Alia: I would like to award Alia a community value award for always being so helpful in class. Last week, she started setting up books, without being asked. She truly enjoys helping others and does so with kindness and care.

1E – Zayan: The Year 1 teachers and I have noticed that you’ve been working really hard in 1E to do the right thing. You’ve been making a lot of effort to sit nicely on the carpet and listen to what is being taught. I am also impressed with how you have contributed to shared reading and extended writing lessons by responding with excellent answers to questions. You are a joy to teach Zayan, keep it up!

1I – Zayan: You have made very good progress in phonics. We are very proud of you! Well done, keep it up!

2C – Yunus: Excellence – Yunus, you have been working so hard on your writing and it shows! It has filled me with happiness to read your brilliant work during our Extended Writing lessons. Keep up the amazing work. Well done!

2E -Zakariya: You have been super focused this week, quick to follow instructions and showing ‘star’ sitting in lessons. Well done Zakariya!

2I – Liyana: You come into school with the most delightful attitude for learning everyday! You always try your best no matter how challenging the work is. Well done Liyana!

This week's Cake with Kevin Value Award Winners! KS2

3C – Shukri: Shukri, you are just EXCELLENT! You have really come out of your shell and make valuable contributions to class discussions. You always try really hard in every subject and are producing some great work. Keep up the good work!

3E – Paige: Excellence: For a marked improvement in her reading plus scores. Paige has been doing very well in her reading plus and is achieving combos now! Well done.

3I – Osman: Excellence – Osman has persevered in learning his login details and can now independently log onto his Chromebook. Well done Osman for not giving up!

4C – Sumayyah: Sumayyah always shows brilliant behaviour, beautiful manners and is always eager to help others. She makes 4C a lovely place to be. Our class is beyond proud to have her!

4E – Maisha: I was really impressed with your descriptive writing this week. You thought hard about your sentence starters and descriptive words. Keep it up.

5C – Iyaz: Your behaviour during lessons has improved greatly and that reflects on your learning outcomes. Well done!

5I – Hamzah: Congratulations Hamzah for making a great effort to develop your number and reasoning skills. Your behaviour during maths lessons has improved greatly, and that reflects on your learning outcomes. Keep up the good work! Rashida and Claudia.

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.
  • There are Young V&A Autumn activities for all ages, including sensory sessions!
  • Young Community Languages- for ages 6-18. These free sessions help children learn their heritage language or an additional community language.
  • Have you ever considered volunteering? The Early Help service allows parents to come together, learn new skills and prepare for work. 
  • Public Health is investing in our resident community projects, the final voting day for Devons Road and Bromley By Bow Centre is on 22nd November, find out more details here.
  • The new expanded funded early education entitlements are available now – discover more about the 2-year-old childcare extension.
  • The Disability Services Advocacy Team are holding online sessions to raise awareness of the different Disability Services benefits and grants – PIP, DLA, IIDB and AtW.

Clubs

We still have spaces in some of the clubs below. Please call into the office if you’re interested.

CLUB

DAY

Year Group

Art

Mon, Wed, Thurs, Fri

All

Korean Club

Mon

All

Football

Mon

Y3, 4, 5, 6

Homework

Mon

Y2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Football

Mon

Y1, 2, 3

Ukulele

Tues

Y3, 4, 5, 6

Dodgeball

Tues

Y5, 6

Homework

Tues

Y2, 3, 4, 5

Jewellery

Tues

Y1, 2, 3, 4

Archery

Wed

Y3, 4, 5, 6

Dodgeball

Wed

Y1, 2, 3

Multisports

Thurs

Y1, 2, 3

Captivating melody of music notes and signs on abstract dark background musical banner concept.

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!

Read more about e-safety for you and your child.

Academy Council

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 13th January at 9.15am.

 

See the minutes from previous meetings here
art toys Labubu key chain labubu macaron collection from Pop Mart blind box collectable cute toy ้hanging on ivory backpack bag with background of white table, Popmart popular item doll

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!

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Autumn Term Calendar

Flu vaccinations
Mon 1st Dec
Winter Fair after school
Thu 11th Dec
Last day of autumn term
Fri 19th Dec

Unauthorised Absences in Term Time

We follow government guidance on term time holidays and we do not authorise pupil holidays during term time. We encourage parents/carers to take their holidays during one of the scheduled holiday breaks.

You can be fined or face legal action for taking your child on holiday during term time.

Read the government guidance here
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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