Newsletters

23/24 - Summer 2, Week 1

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Dear parents and carers,

Welcome back after what I hope was an enjoyable half-term break, despite the weather.  Time moves very quickly, and I cannot believe we are now in the final half-term of the year.  This is one of my favourite times of the school year as the weather (hopefully) improves, there are many events from productions to sports days for the pupils to enjoy and the dreaded SATS are out of the way.  It is also our last half-term with our current Year Six where much time is spent preparing them for secondary school.  

William Ford C of E Junior School vs St. Margaret's C of E Primary School - the final of the borough league.  

And speaking of Year Six, once again, William Ford's football team have reached the final of the borough league, this time playing against my previous school (and that of many other members of staff) of St. Margaret's in Barking. Unfortunately we did not win despite playing some incredible football and scoring two goals - including a phenomenal free kick worthy of the premier league from midfielder Lucas.  Not only am I so proud of the team for coming second place out of about 44 schools in the borough but the care and compassion they showed to each other, and the level of congratulations they showed to St. Margaret's, whilst managing their own feelings of upset and disappointment, left me beaming from ear to ear as I drove home.  Well done Team William Ford.

Community Month

This half-term also brings the start of our community month, where each class will be involved in some form of social action to support the local community and beyond.  Hopefully from my last newsletter before the holiday you have seen the range of events our pupils will be engaging in from supporting the local church to reading with residents at the local care home.

I pray you all have a wonderful weekend.

 

Mr. David Huntingford

Headteacher

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Welcome back, I hope you have had a restful half-term. 

As we approach the summer holidays, children will start to think about next year. Who will their teacher be? What classroom will they be in? What will they be learning? 

To help with this, your child will come home with a social story for transition over the coming weeks to help with their worries. 

If your child is in year 6, we will be working on secondary school transitions to support them.

We are planning ahead and ready to see what you and your children think of the after-school clubs.

Below is a QR code to scan and complete to give us ideas of what you would like to see on the timetable.

As always, we will endeavour to accommodate everyone.

Please complete and encourage friends and pupils to share their ideas,

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This week, 'Duncan Versus the Googleys' by Kate Milner has been recommended. 

This is a funny and enjoyable book to read. The main character Duncan, spends the summer with his Great Aunt in her retirement community. 

 

Prescilla 5H

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Enterprise Week
All Day
From 04 Jun until 07 Jun
04
June
National Bike Week
All Day
From 03 Jun until 07 Jun
03
June
Community Month
All Day
From 01 Jun until 28 Jun
01
June
Colchester Castle Y4 Trip
All Day
12
June
Junior Citizen
8:30am – 11:30am
12
June
New Year 3 Parent Meeting
2:00pm – 3:00pm
12
June
Second new year 3 parent meeting
4:30pm – 5:30pm
12
June
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07 Jun 2024
Football Final
This week Awsome writes about the final against St Margarets.
Read more
07 Jun 2024
Looking after our school: Gardening Club
William Ford's gardening club ensures the playground is an attractive environment for us all.
Read more
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Year Three

It's been lovely to greet all the children back, ready for our final half-term together. Although it has been a shorter week, we have still managed to pack lots in.

What we have learnt about this week

We started a new shared reading  book 'The Boy Who Grew Dragons' and the children already seem to be enjoying the text, especially the humorous parts. We have also written a description based on Grandad's garden as mentioned in the story.

We have concluded our work on time this week and have practised reading digital time, which the children found challenging. We have also started our new unit focusing on mass.

We have learnt about pollination and have labelled the parts of a flower.

We have studied the parable of The Good Samaritan in R.E. and discussed the importance of being a good neighbour.

What we will learn about next week

We will be learning more about subordinating conjunctions in grammar and continuing with our shared reader.

In maths we will be continuing our work on mass and reading scales. 

In R.E. we will be considering 'what kind of world did Jesus want?' and in history we will be learning about famous Greek philosophers.

Year Four 

Year Four had an exciting start to the new term and have managed to produce work they can be proud of, although the week was shorter than normal.

What we have learnt about this week

The children were excited about starting our new shared reading text, The Explorer. The reason being that it's a story about four children  getting stranded in the Amazon jungle after their plane crashes. As they are well-informed about the Amazon jungle, we are currently covering it in our geography. They find the story relatable and fascinating as they have quite a solid understanding of the logistics and environment the Amazon jungle represents.

In maths, we are currently focusing on the division and multiplication facts of our timetables as we are in preparation for our year four MTC assessments. Please make sure that your child logs in to TT Rockstars on a daily basis as this will support the preparation.

In Science, we have worked collaboratively to create branching databases for animals. We have enjoyed being scientists in our local area.

This week in history, we used primary and secondary evidence to describe what happened to Pompeii on that fateful day in 79AD!

What we will learn about next week

We are looking forward to our visit to Colchester Castle to experience the Roman capital city.

We are looking forward to finding out what happens to our four survivors in our reading text. The Explorer.

Year Five

We have enjoyed welcoming everyone back after half-term as the Year 5 children begin to prepare for Year 6.

What we have learnt about this week

Our new class reader this term is 'The Nowhere Emporium' and this week we have been predicting what the story might be about. Using the beginning of the book, we have written our own descriptive, atmospheric settings.

In maths, we have been adding and subtracting decimals. We have used our new knowledge, along with our previous learning about tenths and hundredths, to solve reasoning and worded problems.

As part of their new science topic, the children dissected and investigated parts of a flowering plant and in history they found out about the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, and considered all the learning that went on there.

What we will learn about next week

Our maths will continue with looking at efficient ways of adding and subtracting decimals with differing numbers of decimal places.

In English, we will delve deeper into our reading and begin to look at the characters before writing our own character descriptions.

In geography, we will be looking at the causes and effects of flooding rivers, 

 

Year Six

It has been lovely to welcome the children back to what will be their final half-term at William Ford School.

What we have learnt about this week

This week in English, the children have analysed the features of a warning story and have begun to plan their own story based on this structure.  In maths, the children were given the task of being a travel agent and using the internet to plan a holiday for a client with set requirements and a fixed budget.  It was clear the children really enjoyed this task.  In history, the children examined the reasons why the Anglo-Saxons decided to settle in this area, whilst in geography the children used Google Earth to explore and understand the context of their local area.

What we will learn about next week

Next week, the children will begin writing their warning stories in English.  In history, the children will move on to exploring significant buildings in the local area and, in geography, the children will use their knowledge of scale to measure distances on maps. In science, the children will continue to explore the circulatory system.

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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

3F

Name:  Fathima 

For: always working hard and trying her best

 

Name: Anderson

For: being helpful in and out of the classroom

 

Name: Chidera

For: being a role model for her peers- always kind and helpful

3M

Name: Freddie

For: answering challenging questions showing that he had retained learning from previous lessons.

Name: Theo

For: always being happy in class and helpful to others.

Name: Ariah

For: a more focused  and calm approach to learning

3N

Name: Azaan

For: hard work in all lessons and for always being ready to work.

Name:  Maxwell

For: Playing with his friends well and organising a game for the whole group.

Name: Ariane-Louise

For: a calm approach to lessons and being ready to work.
 

Working diligently

 

Acting generously

 

Promoting peace

Year Four

4D

Name: Cairon

For: writing a really good setting description of the Amazon rainforest.

 

Name: Kacie

For: always giving up her time to be helpful around the class.

 

Name: Isabella

For: always having a calm approach and working hard in all lessons. 

4IW

Name: Morgan 

For: working hard in english this week and making choices to not become distracted.

Name: Amiyah 

For: always being so kind and helpful and making a fantastic effort in her English descriptive setting. 

Name: Shalom 

For: trying her best not to call out all week. She made a good effort on her English work.

4W

Name: Gregory

For: working diligently and contributing well in science and history.

Name: Ezinne

For: acting generously and making good progress when reading aloud.

Name: Lilly-Jean

For: living at peace and working well in a team.
 

Working diligently

 

Acting generously

 

Promoting peace

Year Five

5A

Name: Philips

For: his brilliant contributions in English this week.

 

Name: Stephanie

For: always being thoughtful and offering her time.

 

Name: Daniella O

For: always being ready to learn.

5H

Name: Ridwan

For: for great effort in P.E.

Name:  Mataa

For: being so helpful within the class this week.

Name:  Orlaith

For:  setting such a great example by settling to her work so quickly in class this week.

5P

Name: Ava

For: trying really hard with maths, even when finding it challenging.

Name: Bobby

For: always sharing his ideas and working well with a partner.

Name: David

For: showing a calm approach to his learning, being more focussed this week.
 

Working diligently

 

Acting generously

 

Promoting peace

Year Six

6B

Name: Jackson

For: great effort in a range of lessons this week.

 

Name: Mikel

For: being a great working partner in a range of lessons this week.

 

Name: Alexander

For: being a great role model in his quiet and calm working manner.

6F

Name: Awesome

For: great effort and working diligently in lessons all week. 

Name: Deborah

For: being helpful and supportive to others.

Name: Ifekitan

For: having a calm and peaceful presence in the classroom.

6I

Name: Lucas

For: good sportsmanship in football final.

Name: Abdul

For: great sportsmanship for helping his fellow team mates in the football final

Name: Reggie

For: a fantastic effort in the football final
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