​Welcome back

Dear School 21 families,

It has been wonderful to see our community come together over the past term. October was full of many more memorable moments, from Culture Day, where children shared traditions, sang, and performed, to our Harvest Festival, supporting families in need. Thank you to all the families who joined the Year 7 Open Evening and our Food Sharing event, celebrating dishes from around the world. These events were a reminder of the warmth, diversity and strength of our school community.

I was also pleased to visit Stratford Library to talk about our Saturday Marketplace project, a new community hub for local families. Please support us by voting online at Newham CoCreate or at your local library any day throughout November.

Looking ahead, we are delighted to invite families to the Sixth Form Open Evening on Thursday 6th November and Reception Open Evening on Tuesday 11th November, 4:00–5:30 pm. If you cannot make these dates then alternative visits can be booked here: Book a Visit.

Secondary and sixth form students, only, leave at 2:30pm, tomorrow (Thursday 6th Nov)

Parents of primary students who rely on older siblings in the school to take them home, can ask their class teacher for their child to be collected at 2.30pm by the sibling.

Just a kind reminder: school will be closed to all pupils on Friday 28th November for an INSET day. We are back to school, as normal, on Monday 1st December.

Thank you for your continued support. I look forward to sharing the term’s events and achievements with you all.

Don’t forget we are now on Instagram and Facebook so make sure you give our pages a follow to stay up to date with all things School 21!

Moray Dickson

School 21 Head

Don’t Miss Out!

• ​​Festival of Light Concerts – Tickets available on Arbor (£3.50).
• Sixth Form Open Evening – 6th November – Years 7–13; secondary & sixth form finish at 2:30 pm, primary pupils finish at 3:15 pm.
• Reception Open Evening – 11th November – Families invited, 4:00–5:30 pm.
• Poetry Slam – 20th November – 4:00–6:00 pm. Join us for an evening celebrating the voices, opinions, and creativity of our Year 9 students.
• Bertha Earth Nature Connect Day – 25th November – Year 7A, 8:30 am–3:30 pm.
• Whole School Attendance – 91.89%, proudly above the national average of 77.1%! Special congratulations to Scarlet Class, 6 Sapphire, 7A, 8A and 11B for the highest attendance in October
• INSET Day – 28th November – School closed to all pupils for staff training.

​Vote for Our Community Marketplace!

School 21 is shortlisted for a £20,000 grant to create a monthly Saturday Community Marketplace at the school. Vote online here: Newham CoCreate or http://bit.ly/PPSWH. Alternatively, you can vote for us at your local library – Only 3 weeks left!.

Calendar of Events

​Poetry Slam – 20th November, 4:00–6:00 pm, C Courtyard

Join us for an evening celebrating the voices, opinions, and creativity of our Year 9 students. There will be live performances, an exhibition of poems, and snacks for attendees. All are welcome to come and enjoy the talent and expression of our students through slam poetry.

​School Achievements & Awards

Whole School Attendance: 91.89% – well above the national average (77.1%).

Congratulations to Scarlet Class, 6 Sapphire, 7A, 8A and 11B for achieving the highest attendance, each with over 97%!

​Meet Our Catering Team

We’re delighted to introduce our catering team, led by Chef Freddie O’Connor.

At School 21, we believe in the importance of healthy eating, and our team creates meals that are colourful, nutritious, tasty, and inspired by the many cultures within our school community.

Chef Freddie, alongside our teaching staff, also runs regular workshops to help the children learn about healthy eating habits. In our most recent project, in collaboration with Notora, last year, the children even made their very own hummus!

You can take a look at our two-week menu to see what’s planned for the coming weeks here: school21.org.uk/school-lunches

‹

›

Music Department News!

Festival of Light 2025

​Latest news on Sister Act

Cast announced for Sister Act!

A huge well done to students in Y7-13 for successfully auditioning for this year’s cast. We now have students in each role and rehearsals run 3.30-5pm on Thursdays.

​Primary and secondary music clubs

​Clubs & Wraparound Care

We want to do our best to support parents and families and so are pleased to offer childcare before and after school.

Breakfast club

Breakfast club is free for all students every day of the week. Children sign in at the main reception. Times are below.

​

After school care, run by Premier Education

For more information, please contact: [email protected]

After school clubs (Primary)

​Lunchtime Clubs (primary and secondary)

As well as continued improvements to our outdoor spaces, we are pleased to offer a range of fitness sessions for both primary and secondary pupils during lunchtime. These sessions are led by dedicated staff and provide a fun and active way for students to stay fit. The timetable is below, please encourage your child to ask their form tutors for further information.

​​Learning at home – Primary

If you have any issues accessing it, please contact your child’s class teacher for login support.

‹

›

​​Learning at home – Secondary

Secondary students receive their homework via Satchel One. Each week, they will see tasks for Maths, English, Science, Geography, History, Spanish, and Computing. Art homework is set separately by the class teacher.

Uniform

Wear uniforms with pride; donate pre-loved uniforms to the school office.
Label everything: uniform, water bottles, rain coats.

For reference here is a link to our uniform requirements https://school21.org.uk/uniform

Allergies & Healthy Habits

Allergies: We are a nut-free school. Any snacks brought into school should be healthy and not contain nuts.

Healthy breakfast at home: We encourage families to provide children with a healthy breakfast, such as wholegrain cereal, fruit, yoghurt, or eggs. A balanced breakfast helps children to have energy, stay focused, and be ready to learn.

Absence Reporting

Call 020 8262 2121 or email [email protected] before 8:30am if your child is unwell.

​Opportunities to Get Involved – We Need Your Help

Football Donations:

Size 4–7 astro turf boots needed – bring to school office or email [email protected]

Vote for School 21

Vote for Our Community Marketplace!

School 21 is shortlisted for a £20,000 grant to create a monthly Saturday Community Marketplace at the school. Vote online here: Newham CoCreate or http://bit.ly/PPSWH. Alternatively, you can vote for us at your local library – Only 3 weeks left!.

How to Vote?

1. Sign up – create a login account on the voting website.
2. Choose your favourites – you must pick at least 5 projects, not just School 21’s.
3. Submit – click ‘Vote’ for each option, then press ‘Submit’ to register your vote.
4. Deadline: votes close on 30th November 2025.

Remember: your vote won’t count unless you select at least 5 projects.

​Our learning and achieving in action!

Cultural Events

Harvest assembly

We celebrated Harvest time in our Primary assembly on Tuesday 7th October. We sang Cauliflowers Fluffy, Applepickers' Reel and Siko – a harvest song from Guinea. Many children brought packets and tins of food to share with those who needed it. Our donations went to the food bank, run by the Salvation Army.

​Primary culture day

We were excited to sing Umoja during our cultural day assembly on 17th October. The whole school will be singing this uplifting song for the Festival of Light this year.

‹

›

​Year 8 – Black History Month Assembly: Year 8 students led a fantastic Black History Month assembly, celebrating inspirational figures from both the past and present. The assembly began with a vibrant performance of West African drumming by Ms Taylor’s music class and concluded with a powerful poem written and performed by Aymaan Ahmed.

‹

›

Year 1 -Saffron Class: Saffron class celebrating our different cultures!

​Year 3 Culture Day Dance: Brilliant Bodies in Year 3! This half term, Year 3 have been learning all about healthy bodies in their science unit. We even made up our own dance routines on Culture Day!

‹

›

​Sixth Form Cultural Day: Sixth Form Celebrates Cultural Day. It was a vibrant celebration of identity, community and diversity. The Sixth Form transformed into a global fair, with students proudly running stalls representing over 10 countries from England to Turkey, Ghana to Poland. Each stall offered a taste of culture through food, music, games and traditions, while students collected stickers in their “World Traveller Passports.” The afternoon was filled with laughter, learning and connection, ending with a lively raffle and music that brought everyone together. The event was a true reflection of School 21’s values of Humanity and Community, reminding us how powerful it is to celebrate where we come from and what unites us.

‹

›

​Healthy Eating & Life Skills

Year 2 Healthy Picnic: Year 2 have been busy preparing for their healthy picnic. They have baked healthy soda bread and vegetable scones and they have mixed healthy sandwich fillings.

‹

›

​Young Chefs Academy:

​A huge congratulations to Ilyas, Reid, and Zuveriya for successfully completing the Young Chefs Academy Saturday School at Capital City College. Over five consecutive Saturdays, the students attended sessions led by professional chefs in a fully equipped kitchen, developing their culinary skills and confidence. On the final day of the course, they showcased what they had learned by preparing and serving a delicious three-course graduation lunch for invited guests. This experience is a wonderful example of the real-world learning opportunities our students enjoy—bridging classroom learning with hands-on professional experience.

‹

›

​Year 4 Science Museum Visit: Year 4 visited the Science Museum for the Power Up workshop. As part of the visit, they created and coded their own games in Scratch. They also applied their science learning by designing a buzzer game using electrical circuits. A big thank you to all the parents who volunteered and supported us on the roads and beyond!

​Sports & Clubs

Girls’ Football: Football continues to dominate the interest of our girls in secondary. With a committed group of Year 7 and Year 8 girls attending after school and at lunchtime at our ‘girls only club’. Higher up the years, Culture Day proved a perfect opportunity for our own mini ‘World Cup’ during Year 10 core PE. With some fabulous finishes from Isabella-Rose, Iqra, Khadijah and Ugne, not forgetting some great saves from ‘Safe Hands’ Money. The final score was 5-3 and all of the girls were a credit to us. All secondary girls are welcome at our clubs on Tuesday after school or Wednesday lunchtime.

‹

›

​Student Achievements

Celebrating Student Success at the Jack Petchey Awards

On Wednesday 8th October, the achievements of several of our Secondary School students were recognised at the prestigious Jack Petchey Awards celebration, held at the O2.

Each award winner was nominated by a teacher or peer in recognition of their outstanding contributions, commitment, and achievements. At School 21, we are proud to nominate six students each academic year for this honour. Each winner receives £300 to spend on a project or resource that benefits the school community, along with a certificate, a badge, and a commemorative medal presented at the awards ceremony.

We are incredibly proud of our award winners and the positive impact they have made. Congratulations to all of them for their well-deserved recognition. We look forward to celebrating the achievements of a new group of students in the coming year!

This year’s Jack Petchey Award winners:

* Michael Trumble

* Kayja Zisels Lopes Machado Ramos Maravala

* Esther Lukun

* Ava Ha

* Rayyan Ali

* Ruwaidah Ahmed

​Year 7 Start to Secondary School: Our Year 7 students have made a truly wonderful start to secondary school this term. Their punctuality, attendance, effort, and engagement have been outstanding, and we couldn’t be prouder of how quickly they’ve settled into the School 21 secondary school life. Many Year 7s volunteered at our recent Year 7 Open Evening, impressing visiting parents and families with their politeness, enthusiasm, and pride in our school. They were excellent ambassadors for our community. On the last day of the half-term, we came together as a whole year group to celebrate the strong-start our Year 7's made. Values and Oracy awards were given and students had the opportunity to show off their cultural wear to their peers. We’re already looking forward to next term, when the first group of Year 7 students will head off on an exciting trip to Jamie’s Farm – an amazing opportunity to learn, grow, and make lasting memories together.

‹

›

​Primary Playground

‹

›

​Extended Learning Opportunities

Each Monday between now and December 15th, Discover Centre offers free sessions to School 21 pupils on Monday, after school.

​Utility Warehouse is offering families a free quote to help save on household bills, and if anyone switches, up to £150 will go to School 21, no pressure, no obligation, and many people save £600–£2000 a year.

Click the link to get your free quote and see how much you could save: https://uw.co.uk/uw-connector/presentation

​For anyone interested, there is a local Christmas activity available through North Pole Elf School. It’s a paid 5-week experience where children receive letters, stories, and crafts from the North Pole.

More information can be found at northpoleelfschool.com

NEXT WEEK!

​Join our team!

Exam Invigilator Vacancy: More information available here: https://school21.org.uk/be-careers/exam-invigilator/

Don’t forget we are a Healthy Schools Bronze Award winner: This recognises our commitment to healthy eating, physical activity, and wellbeing.