Morningside Newsletter
06.02.26
✨ This Week at Morningside ✨ It has been another busy and positive week at Morningside, with lots to celebrate and plenty coming up as we head towards the end of the half term. In this newsletter you’ll find key dates for next week, updates...
✨ This Week at Morningside ✨
It has been another busy and positive week at Morningside, with lots to celebrate and plenty coming up as we head towards the end of the half term. In this newsletter you’ll find key dates for next week, updates from our School Council, an invitation to support our OPAL Build Morning, news from the Hackney Schools Chess League, and an update from our kitchen team following their recent training. We were also proud to welcome colleagues from across the Primary Advantage schools to look at children’s writing, and it was a wonderful opportunity to showcase the high quality work our pupils are producing every day.
We would like to gently remind everyone that our road is a School Street. This means that no cars should be driving down it between 8:30–9:30am and 3:00–4:00pm, unless you have a permitted exemption. These arrangements are in place to keep our children and families safe and to make the start and end of the school day calmer and safer for everyone. Thank you for helping us to support this.
As always, thank you for your continued support and for being such an important part of our school community.
Thank you, as always, for your continued support.
Rachel and Jo
What’s on in the week beginning 9th February 2026:
Wednesday 11th February Workshop Smart Phone Free Childhood 8:45am
Wednesday 11th February Workshop Mastering Number workshop for Year 2 families 2:15pm
Wednesday 11th February PTA Tuck Shop 3:30pm
Thursday 12th February Workshop Mastering Number workshop for Year 2 families 2:15pm
Friday 13th February Shine Bright, Wear Bright! – see below
Friday 13th February Family Friday Crafting Special 8:45am
Friday 13th February End of Spring 1 Half Term – 3:30pm (clubs as usual)
School Council News
The School Council have been working incredibly hard this term and continue to be a strong voice for all pupils across the school. They have been busy raising money for the charity Shelter, showing real commitment to helping others. Their next fundraising opportunity will be a collection at the Easter Bonnet Parade, and they are already looking forward to supporting this together as a school community.
They have also led successful class council meetings, gathering pupils’ views on important aspects of school life such as school dinners and the playground. Council members have confidently shared this feedback with key members of staff, including Joshua, our Finance Manager, particularly around ideas for improving school lunches. They were delighted to see that some of their suggestions have already appeared on the new menus.
This term, the School Council will be focusing on homework. They are keen to hear the thoughts of the whole school community and will soon be sharing a questionnaire so that children and families can share their views. Please do look out for it and take the opportunity to have your say.
Family Friday – Shine Bright, Wear Bright! 
This Friday we are delighted to invite all families from Nursery to Year 6 to join us for a special Family Friday, as part of Children’s Mental Health Week.
Usually Family Friday is for our younger children, but for this special occasion we are opening it up to the whole school community, giving families time to come together and enjoy calm, creative activities alongside their children.
Children and families will be able to:
- Make calm cards to take home
- Play with playdough
- Enjoy games such as Dobble
- Explore sensory bottles
The focus of the morning is connection, creativity and wellbeing — there is no pressure to complete everything, and families are welcome to dip in and out.
It is also Shine Bright, Wear Bright Day, so children are invited to wear bright colours to help us celebrate children’s mental health in a joyful and positive way.
To mark the day, we will have music and bubbles on the school gate at drop-off. If your child may find this overwhelming, please feel free to enter via the school office instead, where staff will be happy to support.
We look forward to welcoming you for a calm, colourful and community-focused Family Friday.
OPAL Build Morning – Can You Help?
As part of our OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning) programme, we’re continuing to develop our outdoor play spaces so that children have richer, more creative and more adventurous play opportunities every day.
We’re inviting families to join us for an OPAL Build Morning on Wednesday 4th March, 9:00–12:00, where we’ll be working together to build, create and improve play areas across the school grounds. There will be a range of jobs on the day, and no experience is needed — just a willingness to get involved.
We’re also looking for donations of OPAL materials, including:
- pallets
- tyres
- bags of gravel
- trucks and diggers
- guttering and pipes
- chalk paint and outdoor paint
- cable reels
- prams and buggies
- small boats and other interesting loose parts
You might be surprised what works for play — if you’re getting rid of a bath, a caravan or even a boat, let us know.
If you’re able to volunteer your time, donate materials, or simply want to find out more, please sign up using the link below:
https://forms.gle/SykAGmLA9PXcZEP18
Thank you, as always, for your support in helping us create brilliant play experiences for all our children.
Hackney Schools Chess League
Last week, we were delighted to tell about Thomas’ success in the chess tournament held at Morningside. You read more about the tournament and the Hackney Chess league here.
News from the School Kitchen
School kitchen staff from Primary Advantage Schools took part in ProVeg Training – learning the skills to cook healthy climate friendly foods in schools. Awa and the team had such a great day.
Attendance Classes of The Week
This week, we want to celebrate 5S who have 97.2% attendance. A HUGE congratulations and keep up the excellent work; it has a great impact on learning and progress. You can help your child’s class win the weekly fruit platter by making sure they are at school everyday.
Whole School attendance this week: 93.4%
Our school target is 97% attendance this year.
Class attendance this week
| RM | 95.8% | RS | 94.8% |
| 1M | 95.2% | 1S | 93.5% |
| 2M | 83.6% | 2S | 92.9% |
| 3M | 87% | 3S | 93% |
| 4M | 95.5% | 4S | 92.4% |
| 5M | 94.8% | 5S | 97.2% |
| 6M | 93.1% | 6S | 90.8% |