Newsletters

25/26 - Summer 1, Week 4

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Dear parents and carers,

We hope everyone enjoyed the long bank holiday weekend and the beautiful weather that came with it. As ever, even a four-day week at William Ford manages to be full of fun, joy and learning.

Collective Worship: Your Kingdom Come

We continued our series on the Lord's Prayer this week, returning to the line your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We explored again what it means to pray for the world around us to reflect the kindness, fairness and peace that we believe it is meant to have, and what that looks like in the small, everyday choices our children make. It is a line worth sitting with.

A Note on Parental Conduct

Parents will have received a letter from me earlier this week setting out our expectations around conduct on the school site and at the gate. I want to reiterate that this concerns a minority of parents, but I have heard from staff and from other parents that the impact on our wider community has been real and significant. It is also worth saying plainly: when members of staff are treated badly and become unwell as a result, it is children who feel the consequences through disruption to their learning and their relationships at school. Our staff go above and beyond every single day for your children, and they deserve to be treated with the same respect and kindness they show in return. We hope this can now be the end of the matter, and we are grateful to the overwhelming majority of you who make William Ford the warm and welcoming community it is.

The Week Ahead and Year 6 SATs

There is plenty to look forward to next week, with lots of exciting things in the pipeline that we will share as they unfold. But first and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with our Year 6 pupils, who will be sitting their SATs exams. I will be honest, as those of you who know me well will expect: I am not a fan of these tests. I do not believe that a series of exams sat at the age of ten or eleven captures what a child truly is or what they are capable of. They do not measure the child who can move a room with their singing, or produce artwork that stops you in your tracks, or speak two or three languages, or show a level of empathy and compassion that most adults would struggle to match. They do not measure the child who commands a microphone on the school radio, or who lifts a teammate when things get hard, or who simply makes everyone around them feel included and valued. Every one of our pupils is, as the Psalms remind us, fearfully and wonderfully made, with a unique combination of gifts that no single test could ever hope to capture. That said, these exams are a legal requirement and our children have worked incredibly hard to prepare, many putting in extra time at home or attending booster sessions before and after school. The staff who have supported them, academically and pastorally, deserve enormous credit too. We are immensely proud of all of them, and we hold every Year 6 child in our thoughts and prayers as they head into next week.

Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me. Psalm 25:4-5a

I pray you all have a wonderful weekend.

 

Mr. David Huntingford

Headteacher

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Psalms 139:14 (TPT) - I thank you, God, for making me so | YouVersion

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Please do not allow your child to bring in their own fidget or squishy toys, unless this has been agreed with your child’s class teacher or SENCO. These are causing lots of issues in the playground with children and distracting them from their work in class. If you would like to discuss your child using a toy, please speak to their class teacher first or call the office to speak with myself. 

 

We are pleased to invite all Year 6 pupils to attend our free of charge SATs Breakfast Club, running each morning from Monday 11th May 2026 to Thursday 14th May 2026.

Breakfast Club will begin at 8:00am each day and will provide a relaxed and welcoming environment for pupils before their tests. A range of breakfast options will be available, including cereal and toast.

This time will offer a calm start to the day, allowing children to settle in, see their friends and speak with teachers, who will be on hand to support them and help ease any nerves ahead of the tests.

All Year 6 pupils are very welcome to attend, and we strongly encourage them to take advantage of this opportunity.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the school office.

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Year Three

Philip

Year Four

Tiana

Year Five

Oliver

Year Six

Chikamso

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Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone by J.K. Rowling 

This book is about a child who is a magical wizard. He attends wizard school to learn how to use his powers. I could not put this book down. It was exciting to read and I couldn’t wait for the next challenges to be overcome.  

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Y6SATS MOn- Thursday
9:00am – 9:30am
from 11 May until 14 May
11
May
END OF SATS PARTY - YEAR 6
1:00pm – 3:00pm
14
May
Y6 Cinema Trip - Time TBC
9:00am – 9:30am
15
May
Primary steps Workshop Y3 class 1
9:30am – 10:45am
15
May
Primary steps Workshop Y3 class 2
11:00am – 12:15pm
15
May
Primary steps Workshop Y3 class 3
1:15pm – 2:30pm
15
May
Y6 Eastbrook End Trip
All Day
18
May
Football school trip
All Day
from 20 May until 21 May
20
May
Y6 Eastbrook End Country Park trip
All Day
20
May
Primary steps Workshop Y3 class 1
9:30am – 10:45am
22
May
Primary steps Workshop Y3 class 2
11:00am – 12:15pm
22
May
Primary steps Workshop Y3 class 3
1:15pm – 2:30pm
22
May
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08 May 2026
Football School's Week
The Year Three's enjoying their inter-year group tournament to celebrate Football School's Week.
Read more
01 May 2026
Eastbrookend Tea Rooms and Park Trip
Maryam in 4N tells us about the Lighthouse trip to the cafe in the park
Read more
30 Apr 2026
Chris Adiolé shares his career in law
"Do better": Solicitor Chris Adiolé inspires William Ford pupils to be the best version of themselves.
Read more
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Year Three

We hope you had a lovely bank holiday weekend!  Despite only being a four-day week, year 3 have packed lots of learning in. 

What we have learnt about this week 

In English, the pupils have written in the first person as Roz to include her experiences on the island and feelings and emotions. They have also watched a clip of the film to write a description of the events in their own words. 

The pupils have continued working on fractions in maths, with some groups adding and subtracting and others learning how to order and compare. 

In RE, the pupils have learned and discussed ‘sayings’ from Buddha.  

In geography, the pupils learned about the different stages of coastal erosion by ordering images and using technical vocabulary to explain what happens. 

 

In Science, the pupils have explored forces through magnets by looking at attract and repel and learning about the North and South poles. 

 

In computing, pupils have been making their own books trailers and have now added sound as well as images. 

What we will learn about next week 

In English, pupils will practise using inverted commas for direct speech which they will then develop to write their own conversations between two characters in The Wild Robot book. 

In maths, the pupils will be finding fractions of a set along with reasoning about fractions. 

In RE, the pupils will be looking at two of Buddha’s stories and choosing one of them to write about the meaning. 

The pupils will use their planning and research to construct their castles in DT.  

 

Next week, the pupils will do history where they will learn about significant philosophers. 

 

In science, they will be exploring magnetic materials and creating their own magnetic puzzles.  

Year Four 

Year 4 have had a busy week this week!  

What we have learnt about this week 

In English the children have finished writing and editing their non-chronological report. They have also been looking at apostrophes for singular possession.  

During maths the children have been working hard and continued their work on decimals. They have looked at how to divide a 1- and 2-digit number by 10.  

The children have had a very exciting Science lesson this week where they have looked at the different types of teeth, we have as humans and the functions of them.  

During RE the children explored the meaning of promises and commitments and how these are important to marriage. They then designed their own promise tree.  

For History the children have continued their work on Romans and have compared what the Roman army was like compared to the Iron Age worriers.  

What we will learn about next week 

Next week in English the children are going to be re-enacting a chapter from our book ‘The Explore’ where they will be taking on the role of a character and acting out their feelings, emotions with the use of speech to create a conversation.  

For maths the children will be continuing their work on decimals and exploring how to divide a 1- and 2-digit number by 100.  

During geography, the children will be exploring at who lives in the rainforests and how they survive.  

In RE the children will continue to look at marriage and explore the roles and responsibilities within families and why these are important.  

For Science the children will be looking at the layers of teeth where they will create their own tooth to label.  

Some children will also be taking part in our second gardening session.  

Have a lovely weekend. Year 4 Team.

Year Five

This week, Year 5 have enjoyed a range of exciting learning opportunities across the curriculum. In English, the children explored songs from The Lion King and created their own verses for Hakuna Matata, while also revising relative clauses in grammar. In Maths, we began our new unit on shape, focusing on angles and degrees. The children also showed great creativity in Science by designing healthy drinks for children, planned mixed media artwork in Art, learnt about the key parts of a mosque in RE, and compared early Islamic civilisation with the Anglo-Saxons in History. 

What we will learn about next week 

Next week, the children will continue their exciting learning across the curriculum. In English, they will begin planning and writing their own sequel to The Lion King musical. In Maths, the children will calculate angles around a point and on a straight line, find missing lengths and angles in shapes, identify regular and irregular polygons, and explore the features of different shapes. 

In Science, the children will make their healthy drinks and create their bottles using their own designs. In Art, they will complete their mixed media artwork. In Geography, the children will learn about the different time zones in North America. In RE, they will explore why Hajj is important to Muslims. In PE, the children will continue developing their tennis skills and techniques. 

 

Year Six

This week in Year 6, we have been continuing to practice and prepare for the SATs week next week. The children have all worked incredibly hard and have made amazing progress. All of the staff across the whole school are incredibly proud of their hard work and keep it up.  

We have also undertaken a practical Science investigation where we are investigation how mould grows in different environments. The children planned their investigation and change how damp their environment was. We will be checking to see how long it takes for the mould to grow. 

What we will learn about next week 

Next week we will be doing our SATs papers. The children have worked so hard and we are incredibly proud of them. Once we have done all of the tests, the children will be having a party on the Thursday. Please bring a snack for the party for the children to have. We will also be going to the cinema on Friday to celebrate the end of the week.  

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Each week, staff select two 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!

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