Dear parents and carers,
Apologies, due to a system error, our weekly newsletter was deleted just before publication. We have tried to recall as much as possible, but there will be some gaps this week.
Community month
Welcome back to the final half-term of this academic year. I trust you all had an enjoyable and relaxing half-term break and are ready for the many exciting events and opportunities we have planned for this half-term! Already community month has made a fantastic start with Year Four pupils visiting a local care home where they played games with the residents and Year Five undertaking litter picking at Beam Country Park. Beam Park rangers actually sent us a lovely message:
Just wanted to say thank you to your staff and pupils today, who were all a great help. Thank you very much for volunteering in your community and helping to keep our parks and open spaces clean and beautiful, where wildlife can thrive.
Ford Road safety
Similar to myself, I know a lot of parents have concerns about the behaviour of a minority of motorists on Ford Road. In the past we have attempted to use bollards to restrict access to the school site during arrival and departure times but this has resulted in some very dangerous manoeuvres being attempted and local residents being blocked from accessing their homes. In addition, such a measure places strain on staff who have to raise and lower the bollards plus we have had incidences where the emergency services and staff have needed to access or leave the site but been prevented. The leadership of William Ford Junior and Village Infants have agreed to try something new. Instead of using the bollards in the afternoons, we are going to have the main vehicle gate closed 2/3rds of the way. This will ensure pedestrians can still enter, but vehicles will be blocked. In an emergency, the gates will be able to open which also allows staff to be able to carefully access the site if they have been delayed (e.g. traffic) on their way to work. It may take a couple of days for this to be arranged but it should be fully functional by the middle of next week.
Please do not use this as an opportunity to drive further up the drive as you will find turning to be almost impossible and very dangerous. Both schools are working to have 'School Streets' installed across Ford Road which would prevent ALL vehicle access on Ford Road between 8-9:30am and between 3-4pm except for local residents and staff. Those who breach this rule would automatically get a £60 fine from TfL/ Barking and Dagenham, so please get used to parking further away from the school now.
Until such a system is installed, we hope this new measure will improve safety for everyone. Both schools will be monitoring this carefully.
Safe device/mobile phone use
We continue to be distressed at our pupils' use of smartphones. Only this week we have had further incidences where parents have been left shocked and surprised at what their children have been accessing and sending. But did you know both Apple and Android (Samsung) phones have a feature where you can control and limit your child's phone/ipad from your own device? Both allow you to manage the following:
- How much time they spend on their device each day
- The hours to and from they can access their device (e.g. you can block them from using it after 7pm)
- Limit how much game time they have e.g. one hour a day then gaming apps will be blocked
- Limit how many minutes a day they can access Youtube (and block explicit content including swearing)
- Limit which apps they are allowed to use including blocking social media such as Snapchat and TikTok
- Control what they can access online
- Limit which apps they instal
- Limit who they can contact
- Access their physical location (also useful if a phone goes missing)
- Prevent them from purchasing online.
For Apple phones, this is a built-in feature called 'Screen Time.' There is a guide available here.
For Android/Samsung, a piece of software needs to be installed called Google Family Link. More information can be found here.
Please do not assume that everything is fine with your child's access. Several parents have been left very upset this year over their child's phone use. We understand why several families provide their children with phones and we hope the use of such apps will support you in keeping them safe - especially those who are about to go to secondary school.
I pray you all have a wonderful weekend.
Mr. David Huntingford
Headteacher