Newsletters

Summer 1 - Week 6

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Dear parents and carers,

Eleven engaging experiences for all pupils

We have come to the end of what seems like one of the longest summer one half-terms that I can remember.  But, looking back, so much has happened and is to be celebrated!  We have had an 'excellent' inspection, SATS, residential trip to France, trips to the theatre for Year Five, trip to Colchester Castle for Year Four, Trip to Thriftwood Outdoor adventure for Year Six, Brilliant Club graduation at Royal Holloway University and some of our pupils have visited the local care home.  This is in addition to football matches and cooking in the curriculum.  All of this relates to our 11 engaging experiences that we have promised to offer to all pupils.  You can read more about this here: 

https://www.williamfordschool.co.uk/page/?title=Cultural+Capital&pid=100  

Community month

Linked to the above, and following on from the success of last year, June will be our 'Community Month' where all classes will be choosing some form of social action to support our local community.  In the bible, the book of James reminds us that: '

If someone says he has faith, but does nothing, his faith is worth nothing. Can faith like that save him? 15 A brother or sister in Christ might need clothes or might need food. 16 And you say to him, “God be with you! I hope you stay warm and get plenty to eat.” You say this, but you do not give that person the things he needs. Unless you help him, your words are worth nothing.'

As a physical example of our Christian ethos, we want to be active in all the communities to which we belong.  Many children support our school community through volunteering with our pupil voice groups or helping in and around school.  We serve our national communities through our various charity projects and we also help internationally through our four sponsor children in Colombia.  Community month is not only a time to celebrate and build on all of this work but to also support our local community.  Across the newsletters in June, you will hear about the various activities that different year groups, classes and other groups of pupils have undertaken.  Do let us know if you would like to support!

Collective worship

Having mentioned pupils supporting within our school community, I was delighted to see that class 6P had planned and presented Tuesday's collective worship - continuing our series of people of faith with a thoughtful and dramatised retelling of Rosa Parks.  Again, performing is an experience we want to offer to all pupils, and it was wonderful to see them placing their efforts into supporting the school's Christian ethos.  Well done 6P!

Congratulations to Miss Trubshaw

Miss. Linda Trubshaw

On behalf of all pupils, staff and governors at William Ford, I am delighted to congratulate Miss Trubshaw who is getting married over half-term!  Her new name will be Mrs. Freeland but she will not formally use this name until after the summer.  I am sure the whole school community would like to join me in congratulating the future Mrs. Freeland and assuring her of our prayers and best wishes for the future.

Mental Health workshop

I am absolutely delighted that on Thursday, we invited in the Lily-Jo Project who ran presentations for the whole school on anxiety and anger.  As a leadership, we have recognised a significant increase in the number of children mental health concerns across the school.  Believe me we are not ignoring this and currently in negotiations with a national charity to have a qualified clinical counsellor located on site for two days a week (beginning October). This is still to be confirmed.  We are also looking at what we can do across the curriculum to support pupil mental health.

Decisions such as removing homework, spelling tests and my refusal to follow what some schools do including Saturday Schools and school holiday classes all links to our desire to support pupil mental health and to ensure they are rested.  But what can families do?  One of the biggest drivers we find of mental health is their online activity.  At this point I need to remind all families that the Headteacher has the right to search any pupil mobile phone or device that is in school when we have reasonable grounds to suspect it "contains files or data which relate to an offence, or which may cause harm to another person. This includes, but is not limited to, indecent images of children, pornography, abusive messages, images or videos, or evidence relating to suspected criminal behaviour."

But what are the concerns?  Let me list from real life cases here at William Ford:

  • Pupils concerned about body image (boys and girls) because of images they have seen online - most likely airbrushed.
  • Pupils sending images of themselves to strangers posing as children
  • Online bullying that was not disclosed to anybody happening over Snapchat, Tiktok and WhatsApp
  • Confrontations arranged online via social media
  • Children accessing pornography and then sharing what they have seen and heard with other pupils in class.
  • Sexual talk between pupils who are feeling lonely and isolated and want to feel better about themselves.

In all cases, parents have been left shocked and even devastated when this has come to light.  But it could all so easily be prevented.  Parents, please check your child's phone carefully and take it away before they go to bed.  I imagine you pay the bill for it hence it is your property. If they refuse then stop paying (but also question what is it they do not want you to see).  At the ages of 7-11 years they do not need 'privacy.' Some children are getting themselves into very serious situations and adversely affecting their mental health.  As we at William Ford look to support your child's mental health, including spending tens of thousands of pounds, please also support us with this simple request.  

Happy half term

So, it is the end of a very long but enjoyable and productive half-term.  I hope you all enjoy some rest and are looking forward to our final half-term of the academic year which no doubt will be full of challenges, experiences, learning and fun!

I pray you all have a wonderful weekend and half-term break.

 

Mr. David Huntingford

Headteacher

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James 2:14-17

14 My brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does nothing, his faith is worth nothing. Can faith like that save him? 15 A brother or sister in Christ might need clothes or might need food. 16 And you say to him, “God be with you! I hope you stay warm and get plenty to eat.” You say this, but you do not give that person the things he needs. Unless you help him, your words are worth nothing. 17 It is the same with faith. If faith does nothing, then that faith is dead, because it is alone.

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We have a busy few months until we reach the end of term, I will be hosting a SEN Coffee Morning on 15th June for all William Ford parents and also parents of year two pupils joining us in September 2023. Come along and meet the pastoral team, information will be sent out in our next newsletter.

Over the next week please encourage your children to practice their timetables and continue reading daily. Enjoy your half term.

 A community engagement company called Urban Symbiotics, have been commissioned by Barking and Dagenham’s council developer Be First to understand life in Dagenham Village and inform future conversations about the area. They believe that engaging with schools, parents and students in the local area is of major importance when trying to understand future needs.

 Urban Symbiotics would be like to invite you to a coffee morning on Thursday 8th June at 9am-10am where you can share your views on what's good, what's bad, and what you think would make Dagenham Village a better place to live.

 If you can’t make it on this occasion Urban Symbiotics would still love to hear from you. You can email your ideas and thoughts to hello@urbansymbiotics.com

 

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Year Three

Liyanah 3M

Year Four

Avana 4D

Year Five

Isaiah 5N

Year Six

Nader 6P

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This week's book recommendation is 'Plant Omar - Accidental Trouble Magnet' by Zanib Mian. This book is very interesting and also very funny. Omar has an amazing imagination and when his family move to another city, his imagination grows even more! We read this book as our class read and all loved it!

By Shalom 3P

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Care home visit -
10:30am – 11:30am
07
June
Coffee Morning - Community event
9:00am – 10:00am
08
June
Inspire festival at Dagenham Park time TBC
All Day
14
June
SEND Coffee Morning
9:00am – 10:00am
15
June
Primary Music Festival
9:30am – 1:00pm
15
June
Mayor of London Young People & Communities Conference
2:00pm – 4:00pm
16
June
British Values Day
All Day
19
June
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26 May 2023
Reward for House Point Heroes!
This week we here from our House Point Heroes about their reward trip!
Read more
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Year Three

Year Three have worked hard again this week. They have been completing an unaided writing task in the form of a diary. In this writing they have been imagining they are the main character of the book 'Here Comes Hercules' and have been writing from his point of view. Maths has seen the children continuing with their work on time, this week thinking about am and pm. 

In history, the children have been thinking of the significance of Ancient Greek philosophers and whether they are still relevant today. Geography saw the children thinking about erosion at the coast. They were fascinated to find out how arches and stacks are formed.

We hope that you all have a lovely half-term, and we look forward to seeing the pupils on their return.

Year 4 

This week in Year Four, the children have planned, written and edited their half termly writing assessment by writing a persuasive leaflet about Colchester Castle. All the children worked hard on this task, and we are pleased with the progress so many of the children have made. In maths this week, the children have continued their work on decimals. They have also been practising using the government’s multiplication check website in preparation for their official multiplication check which will happen after half term. In R.E. this week, the children have discussed the parable of The Lost Son and made links between it and the story of The Fall. In art, Year Four have begun examining the artist Pablo Picasso and his style of art called Cubism. The children really enjoyed examining his work and then creating their own sculpture of a face in the Cubist tradition. The Year Four team wish you all and enjoyable and relaxing half term.

Year Five

Year Five’s spellings this week consisted of some of the words from the National Curriculum word list for Year 5 and Year 6. The children learned to use these words in context to understanding their meanings. In maths this week, the children moved on from reading and plotting coordinates on a grid to solving problems involving knowledge and understanding of coordinates. By knowing the coordinates of a  vertex, the children could  count up, down or across on the grid to work out the missing coordinates of the other vertices. We then moved on to problem-solving with no gridlines, where we needed to use the given coordinates to work out any missing coordinates and where counting squares was  not an option.  After having completed our reading of Shakespeare’s comical  play, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, the children planned and wrote their own synopsis of the play using concise information including the main events and conflicts. Their detailed writing helped to visualise this magical  story. In History this week, Year Five continued their study on ancient Baghdad and the ‘Golden age of Islam’. We learned about the similarities and differences between life in medieval Europe and Baghdad c.AD900. When comparing, the children enjoyed learning about the great developments and advancements in ancient Baghdad for the time such as the building of the first hospitals.  There will be more to discover and learn about ancient Baghdad which we will have the opportunity to do when we return from the half-term break. From all of us in Year 5, we wish the children a safe and restful holiday.

Year Six

This week in English, year 6 have enjoyed writing their own suspense stories overcoming a range of different fears; heights, darkness and spiders. In maths, the children have learnt about annual wage and how much we all have to pay in tax, when earning over a certain amount. They also worked out hourly wages for a range of jobs. In PE, half the year group worked hard to improve their swimming skills, they did amazingly and you would all be very proud. In PSHE, the children continued with preparations for their transition to secondary school. All of year 6 have enjoyed practising for their end of year production on July the 13th July; learning a range of fun songs and auditioning for an array of parts.  

 

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Each week, staff select three children from each class who have shown effort and commitment to upholding an aspect of our school vision, shown at the bottom of the page. Congratulations to this week’s ‘stars of the week’ for their tremendous endeavours!

 

Working diligently

 

Acting generously

 

Promoting peace

Year Three

3M

Name: Liyanah

For: remaining focussed during her English assessment and for answering questions thoughtfully in discussions.

 

Name: Mia

For: being kind and considerate to her classmates.

 

Name: Daimon

For: being calm and quiet and ready to learn. 

3N

Name: Nathan

For: contributing more in class discussions and for working hard to complete tasks.

Name: Shiven

For: being kind and helpful to adults and to his peers.

Name: Muhammad 

For: always being calm and ready to learn.

3P

Name: Abdullah

For: working diligently in all areas of the curriculum.

Name: Patricia

For: acting generously towards her peers and being helpful around the classroom.

Name: Joseph

For: working peacefully and calmly in all lessons.
 

Working diligently

 

Acting generously

 

Promoting peace

Year Four

4B

Name: Onirban

For: excellent effort in his English work based on Colchester Castle.

 

Name: Mataa

For: her kind and generous nature to everyone around her.

 

Name: Milda

For: representing her school well with her good behaviour at Colchester Castle.

4D

Name: Ayaan

For: working well in his group doing the activities at Colchester Castle

Name:Royal Praise

For: Showing kindness and being helpful during our school trip

Name: Jackie

For: being calm and following instructions carefully on our school trip

4W

Name: Ladyta

For: Working diligently this week and remaining focused in all lessons.

Name: Chizaram

For: acting generously and being helpful around the classroom.

Name: Charlie

For: Living at peace and having a positive impact in the classroom.
 

Working diligently

 

Acting generously

 

Promoting peace

Year Five

5A

Name: Okigbo

For: representing the school brilliantly at a sporting event.

 

Name: Kebron

For: being polite to all members of staff.

 

Name: Clara

For: always putting smiles on people's faces.

5H

Name: Sophie

For: super synopsis writing about 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' in English this week.

Name: Sara

For: generously sharing her knowledge with the class in R.E.

Name: Yamen

For: helping to promote peace in our classroom through his good behaviour.

5N

Name: Muhammad

For: his real enthusiasm for learning.

Name: Natasha

For: her self-motivation and self-confidence.

Name: Sara

For: always following classroom rules and completing tasks to the best of her ability.
 

Working diligently

 

Acting generously

 

Promoting peace

Year Six

6I

Name: Toni

For: Exceptional writing in English this week.

 

Name: Tasnima

For: Being kind and helping others, you are always positive.

 

Name: Chrystal

For: Trying her best in all activities this week and persevering during her swimming lesson.

6P

Name: Mahim

For: writing a great short story in English.

Name: Rebeca

For: helping others to improve their writing in English.

Name: Demi

For: always being a calm and peaceful number of the class.

6T

Name: Ebun

For: working diligently and reflecting on her learning this week. 

Name: Kevin

For: always being polite and helpful.

Name: Tobe

For: being focused and living at peace. 
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