Old Ford Newsletter

December 19th 2025

Principal’s Message

Have a lovely break everyone. See you back at school on:

TUESDAY 6TH JANUARY!

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

RC – Zidane: Zidane is receiving an excellence award for fantastic behaviour on our trip to the museum. We are so proud of you. Well done!

RI – Umayza: Excellence – you are a absolutely superstar who has made so much progress this year already. Umayza works so hard and I am so proud of you. Well done Umayza, keep up the good work.

1C – Zonaira: I would like to nominate Zonaira for an excellence value award. This week you showed excellent writing. Your ideas were clear, your sentences were beautiful, and you worked with so much care and pride. We are all so proud of you, and you should be super proud of yourself too!

1E – Sayhaan: Sayhaan, you have had the best autumn term in year 1, Since starting 1E you’ve come in everyday with a positive, happy attitude. In class, you always listen, track the speaker and contribute wonderfully to whole class discussions. I also love your enthusiasm for learning, you are a joy to teach. Thank you for being an excellent student. Well done, you should feel proud of yourself.

1I – Lola: Well done! You always try your best and never give up. Your hard work is shining through. Keep it up!

2C – Malaya: All of your teachers have noticed how focused, hard-working and determined you are being in your lessons. We are so proud of you! Keep up the amazing work. Well done, Malaya!

2E – Rumaysa: Rumaysa has impressed me this week with her rapid recall of facts in Computing and Science. This shows me she has been listening very carefully and applying her knowledge. Well done Rumaysa, keep up the amazing work!

2I – Aadam: For being so brave and coming back to school ready to try your best every day. We know it has not been easy after fracturing your arm, and we are so proud of you!

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

3C – Fama: Dear Fama, you are just EXCELLENT! I have been so impressed with how you are coming out of your shell and participating in class discussions. You give your all in every lesson and produce some very considered and thoughtful writing. Well done and keep up the hard work.

5C – Isra: You smashed the reading test! Your hard work has paid off and I am very impressed. Your determination to succeed meant you kept on going – even when the texts were tricky. Well done!

5I – Aalimah: Congratulations Aalimah for your great result on your arithmetic test. The attention and effort you put on your maths lessons to develop your number skills are paying off.
Keep up the good work! Rashida and Claudia.

6C – Amelia: Excellence – you have shown a huge commitment to your learning so far this year! It is always a pleasure to read your work and hear your ideas. You are a model student and it is great to have you involved in wider school activities.

Pines and Needles

We’re excited to share that Old Ford Academy has kindly been donated a beautiful Christmas tree by Pines and Needles.

As part of their gift, they are also offering parents 10% off Christmas trees from their London pop-up stores and online shop.

🎄 Discount Code: SCHOOL10
Follow @pinesandneedles for festive activities at local stores, and visit www.pinesandneedles.com for full details and all store locations across London.

Autumn Term Calendar

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

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

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. 
  • 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.
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!

Hands holding a mobile phone
A blue pen rests next to a name tag for a child on a soft fabric.

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

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

See you soon!

We are now closed for the holidays! We hope you enjoy your break and we look forward to seeing you back at school on  Tuesday 6th January.