Tuesday 28th November 2023

Dear parents and carers of Stepney Park Primary School.

I hope you are all well. 

Residentials and their benefits 

Please check our website for the amazing photos we took during the Yr 5 residential- the children had a fantastic time.  A very big thank you to all staff who gave up their own family time in order to be with the children; it was much appreciated by all!  Thank you also to our parents who trusted us to look after their children - it’s not always easy to ‘let them go’ and we appreciate their confidence in us.  

We will have a Yr 4 overnight stay and a Year 3 ‘late evening’ stay later this year. These brilliant experiences really help our children become independent and resilient. 

Welcome to our new parent governor

I am very pleased to welcome our newly elected parent governor. Votes were counted and verified by our Data Protection Officer and as a result, Mr Johurul Islam was elected and appointed to the Governing Body last week. He will be the link governor for parental engagement and will be working with senior staff to set the strategic direction in this area for our school. We thank him for his time and commitment.

Kids eat for £1,00 and £1,00 winter warmer for over 60s 

I would like to draw your attention to two wonderful initiatives that are being run by Asda called 'kids eat for £1' and '£1 winter warmer' for over 60s.

The 'kids eat for £1' is essentially a hot or cold meal with snacks for children under 16 to eat and the '£1 winter warmer' is for anyone 60 or over to enjoy soup and unlimited tea or coffee for £1 in Asda cafes. These initiatives are great because they don't require any additional spending in the supermarket. They are available every day and Asda has confirmed that the 'kids' initiative will continue until the end of the year, the ‘over 60’ initiative will run until February 2024. Please check the links  below for more information.

Information regarding 'kids eat for £1': link here

Information regarding '£1 winter warmer': link here

Missed Vaccinations

We have been asked to share the following information: 

As we reach the middle of flu season, the school aged immunisation provider Vaccination UK will be holding community clinics for any children who may have missed their flu, polio and/or MMR vaccinations.  Two of the clinics will be held at the East London Mosque where  porcine-gelatine free flu vaccinations will be provided.  If you have any questions regarding the clinics or about the schools-based vaccination programme, please contact towerhamlets@v-uk.co.uk.  You can walk in and get an a vaccine on Tuesday 5th December between 3pm and 6pm or book an appointment at appointment@v-uk.co.uk or call on 0207 613 8370

Dangers of Vaping

As you may know, vaping is becoming more and more popular amongst school aged children, sometimes as young as 11 and 12 years old.  In the UK, vapes (e-cigarettes) are regulated as consumer products that can only be legally sold to anyone over the age of 18. The government encourages adult smokers to switch to vapes as they are substantially less harmful than smoking. 

However, vapes should not be used by people under the age of 18 (children) and there are  a range of additional things in place to prevent or discourage children from using them: 

• Giving free samples of vapes to children is not allowed

• Restricting packaging images and descriptions, so that vapes are not appealing to children

• Commissioning a review on vape flavourings. Some flavourings are directly promoted to children as they are more likely to appeal to them, for example candy, dessert and fruit flavours.

This is because vapes are not risk free. There is well established concern about the harms from vaping, specifically associated with younger people. Vaping can damage lungs and even lead to hospital admission.

There is also emerging evidence that children have been sold vapes laced with drugs, including in our area. Snapchat/ Tik Tok seem to be playing a major role in promoting vaping to children, please keep a close eye on your child when they are online and talk to them about the dangers of vaping too.

Thank you for reading this letter.

Kind regards.

Edith Philipsen

Headteacher- Stepney Park Primary School