Old Ford Newsletter
May 8th 2026
Principal’s Message
Next week our Year 6 pupils will be sitting their SATS tests.
They have worked hard all year and now it’s time to show what you can do.Good luck everyone – do your best and you’ll smash it!
MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK
Next week is Mental Health Awareness Week.
The theme for this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week (11 to 17 May) is action to support good mental health.
We will be holding a ‘Wear Green’ Day on Friday 15th May where children can dress in green and bring £1.00 to support mental health activities at Old Ford. This money will be used to improve our playground provisions as ‘being physically active’ is one of the NHS’s recommended ways to improve mental health. See below for more:
The NHS recommends five evidence-based actions that a person can take to improve their mental health:
- Connecting with other people
- Being physically active
- Learning new skills
- Giving to others
- Paying attention to the present moment
There are various organisations that provide recommendations on actions people can take to support good mental health, including (this is not an exhaustive list):
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
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
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 Monday 1st June.