Newsletters

Headteacher's News - 24.01.2025

{item_alt_tag}

Headteacher's News

All the most recent news from Edith

 

Friday 24th January 2025

Dear parents and carers of children at Stepney Park Primary School.

I hope you have all had a good start to the new year and also hope that 2025 will be a great year for you and your families.

The children have started the year really well; we can see that the good rest they had over the holidays has benefitted them all.

 

Visit from the MP

We have been doing a lot of thinking about democracy lately. Our school council recently visited the Houses of Parliament and came back buzzing with excitement. We even welcomed local MP Rushanara Ali to our school today. She attended a Year 5 and 6 assembly, talked about the job she does as a minister for housing and homelessness and about how she made her career decisions that led her to becoming an MP. She also answered questions the children asked her  about being a member of parliament and told them that if there was one law she could change, it would be to end child poverty. Afterwards, some children told me they had found it inspirational and very interesting.

 

Potential housing development in our playground

Tower Hamlets council has recently approached our school and has requested a land swap. Their proposal is to take ownership of a section of the back of our school playground (the rear section of the playground adjoining Smithy Street) and give us a piece of land of equivalent size back (the land that was recently cleared when the garages were removed adjacent to the alleyway). They wish to build an apartment block for social housing on the section of land to be swapped with school. Whilst the school understands that housing needs in our local area are particularly high, we are understandably concerned about the impact this will have on our school and our community.

Although the plans have not yet been fully formed, our concerns are significant:

  • We are worried about the potential height of the building as it may be much higher than the buildings surrounding it.

  • We are worried about the fact that there may be balconies and windows overlooking our playground, which will be a safeguarding hazard.

  • The noise and pollution of a building site adjacent to our playground will cause a lot of nuisance and may interrupt learning.

  • The traffic and congestion in Smithy Street will significantly increase.

We are awaiting further details on the design and the timing of the planning application and consultation, which I will share with you once I am able to do so. In the meantime, I have expressed our concerns with support from our Governing Body to the council and to the Department of Education, and I am awaiting their response.  There may come a time when I need the support of you, our parents, to help us voice our concerns, so I will keep you informed.

 

2025-2026 holiday dates:

I would like to remind parents of next year's holiday dates. Please do not book any family holidays during term time:

NHS Pharmacy First Service:

You may not yet be aware that the NHS Pharmacy First Service enables children and adults to get convenient access to healthcare advice and treatment where appropriate. This is for seven common conditions without having to wait for a GP appointment.

 Accessing the service may mean that you can help your child feel better and get back to school quicker, as well as supporting you to also get better if you are unwell with one of the conditions covered under the service.

There is no need to make an appointment; you can pop into your local Boots pharmacy with your child and ask for help with this service.

Support for the following conditions can be accessed under the service, free of charge (unless NHS prescription charges apply):

I hope this will help.

 

Thank you for reading this newsletter and have a great weekend!

Kind regards,

Edith Philipsen

Headteacher- Stepney Park Primary School