Friday 21st July 2023

Dear parents and carers of Stepney Park Primary School.

We have finally come to the end of our third ‘Stepney Park Primary School’ year, and what a year it has been! A great thanks to our wonderful staff, who have made it a fantastic year for all of us.

Here are a few of my highlights:

• The great strides our children have made with their learning and progress post Covid; on average, they are not far off where they would have been if it hadn’t been for the repeated lockdowns. We also had some great statutory assessments this year.  I already shared our KS2 SATS results, but did you know that our Yr 1 phonics pass rate at 85.7% was 2% above last year’s result and a whopping 11% above last year’s national average?  In addition, 57% of our children achieved a perfect score of 25 out of 25 in their Yr 4 Multiplication Tests. Last year this was 51%, whilst only around 21% achieved a perfect score nationally. Our KS1 SATS results are much improved; in Writing we are now just above last year’s national average. 

• Our very first, great Ofsted report, which recognised the high quality education on offer at our school.

• Our much developed ‘Reading Culture’. We want our kids to love books, and increasingly they do!

• Our improving school attendance, which has been achieved thanks to the tireless efforts of our attendance team working with our parents.

• ‘Pass it on’ week - this proved to be a great hit with hundreds of uniform tops donated and passed on. This was great for the environment and also great economic support for parents in the current cost of living crisis. (We will carry on with this initiative next year).

• Our lovely Eid celebrations.

• The fantastic support from our Pastoral Care team- our vulnerable children could not be in better hands. 

• Careers month: our children learned about careers and were inspired by what they may achieve themselves one day.

• Our Yr 5 and Yr 6 overnight residentials and the Year 3 late stay The children were taken out of their comfort zones and learned to be independent and resilient.

• The tea parties that we organised for children who had collected all 6 of the behaviour postcards - children who attended absolutely loved them.

• This week’s Summer Fair - it was well attended and much enjoyed by children, parents and staff!

• Our Sports Days. The weather did not spoil our fun!

• Our Special Days and the Coronation Day - they will all stay in our memories in times to come.

• Our competitions: the Chess League, the lunchtime Sports League, the Spelling Bee, the Poetry Slam and of course our famous Talent Show.

• Our performances: The EYFS Nativity, the Yr 3 plays, the Year 6 plays, the musical concerts.

• Our Yr 6 Art exhibition, showcasing what talented artists we have in our school.

• Our wonderful Year 6 children. They are ready to move onto secondary school. They have been an amazing group of children, and have been a joy to work with and are a credit to their parents. We wish them good luck and success for the next leg of their life’s journey and are looking forward to hearing all about it when they come and visit us. 

Lastly: Thank you to all of you, our parents and carers! Your continued support is an enormous help to all of us at school. Working in a good and supportive partnership with you is making our school a positive and great place to work and will help us to make it an even better place for children to be educated next year!

We look forward to welcoming you back on Tuesday 5th September.

Have a great summer holiday, 

Edith Philipsen

Headteacher- Stepney Park Primary School

A great day for our final, whole-school assembly.