This academic year we will be focusing on:

Improving school punctuality and attendance

Launching a school food initiative

Striving towards being a more sustainable organisation

Improving our academic outcomes for pupils at statutory checkpoints

Happy New Year Gainsborough!

We hope you have had a peaceful holiday and we welcome everyone back to school with open arms. We ended 2025 on such a high that we will have a hard job to top that this half term. However, the Spring term is different. There are less awareness days, less cultural celebrations and more of a focus on teaching and learning in classes. The children have made great progress over the Autumn term, we have assessed them against their current years objectives and set targets to enable them to make the most progress possible.

During this term we will ask for your input in creating a school food strategy. This is a unique and innovative approach for a school and we feel an obligation to do this due to the amount of children eating 3 meals a day with us, our commitment to growing our own food and the commitment to the cooking within the DT curriculum we have made. We want staff, children and families to feed into (excuse the pun) the vision and ambition of the strategy. Please look out for communication asking for your feedback on the food strategy in the coming weeks.

TastEd at Gainsborough!

All members of our preschool team and teaching team took part in a launch from TastEd. TastEd is a charity dedicated to supporting children to learn to make brave food choices and improve their diets. The sessions explore foods through, touch, sight, smell, sound and taste. We will launch Gainsborough’s TastEd sessions on Friday 13th at school, then share some learning with families in our parents in class session on Friday 13th February.

INSET day January 2026

All staff teams attended a range of continuous professional development sessions on Monday 5th January. This was a shared Federation Inset day, whereby teams from all of our 7 Federation schools came together in groups to share good practice and new learning. The sessions attended were:

Reading with Christopher Such, Key stage 2 staff

RWI training, Key stage 1 staff

Sharing successes in the Early Years, Early Years and Preschool teams

Ways to support children with SEND, Nest and support staff

ProVeg, kitchen teams

We were incredibly fortunate to access such high quality training across the school, the feedback from staff was really positive.  This has inspired our staff to make changes to their teaching and the curriculum and strive for excellence in the above areas.

TT Rockstars Christmas Battle

Children in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 were challenged to a TT Rockstars battle against Ms Lydon this week. Ms Lydon performed incredibly well against the children, she achieved over 170 points while the children only managed 63. They did not have the stamina to bet her! However as Ms Lydon has been battling for over 3 weeks it was decided she could hand the battle back over to another member of staff. Ms Lydon has chosen for the children to battle Mr Alexander this week. Will any of the children be able to beat Mr Alexnnder in this battle?

Reader of the Week

Each week we celebrate an amazing achievement from each class. Children are celebrated in assembly, receive a gold certificate and their name in the newsletter. Please celebrate their learning at home too!

Nursery Ducks

Everyone in Ducks class was awarded a Gold award for settling in really well this week and making new friends. Well done Ducks!

Nursery Geese

Lian was awarded a Gainsborough Gold award this week for sharing her ideas on the carpet. Well done Lian!

Nursery Swans

Lorenzo was awarded a Gainsborough Gold award this week for returning to school with a great attitude and trying his best in all lessos. Well done Lorenzo!

Reception Magpies

Kaia was awarded a Gainsborough Gold award this week for showing great maturity and being a great friend to new children in the class. Well done Kaia!

Year 1 Doves

Timur was awarded a Gainsborough Gold award this week for excellent work in phonics. Well done Timur!

Year 2 Wrens

George D was awarded a Gainsborough Gold award this week for sharing his fantastic knowledge about the Great Fire of London in history lessons this week. Well done George!

Year 3 Owls

Elias was awarded a Gainsborough Gold award this week for using fantastic adjectives in writing and being an excellent role model for the class. Well done Elias!

Year 4 Hummingbirds

Za’Kai was awarded a Gainsborough Gold award this week for being a star this week, working really hard and showing respect to his friends and teachers . Well done Za’Kai!

Year 5 Herons

Michael was awarded a Gainsborough Gold award this week for having an incredible attitude to learning and putting 100% into everything he does. Well done Michael!

Year 6  Skylarks

Marty was awarded a Gainsborough Gold award this week demonstrating an excellent attitude to learning in all lessons. Well done Marty!

Welcome to Hannah Stones, our new Education Mental Health Practitoner

We are please to announce we have been allocated a new Education Mental Health Practitioner. Hannah will be at Gainsborough on Friday afternoons to complete work with children relating to resilience, confidence and belonging. This role is children facing and supported by the NHS. Any group work will need to be discussed with parents as per their policy and procedures. We hope to offer these groups to lots of children in years 4, 5 and 6. We hope to work together with Hannah to strengthen children’s resilience.

Hackney on Ice

We are very proud to announce a new partnership with an organisation called Hackney on Ice. Hackney on Ice are a charity dedicated to giving children a chance to experience Ice Hockey. Over the coming year years 3, 4, 5, 6 will have the chance to trial floor ball in PE lessons, a precursor to ice hockey played in a hall. We will also have the chance to skate at Lea Valley, and for some children to progress further to experience ice hockey matches and training. We are the pilot school for this project and we hope to show this is a great opportunity for Hackney children, living so close to such an incredible resources, the chance to trial a new sport.

Food Strategy

You may have noticed we are obsessed with food at Gainsborough! Over the last 3 years we have acquired funding, obtained planning permissions, built kitchens, erected poly tunnels, planned food growing projects, employed chef educators, written a cooking curriculum, celebrated food through our community events, learnt how to teach children to love food and finally we are ready to put this all into an strategy document. Watch this space, we need your input.

Year 1 Jobs Geography unit, can you help be interviewed about your job?

We are looking for family members who work in Hackney Wick, and the surrounding area, who could come and talk to Year 1 about their jobs. The children look at jobs in the local area as part of their geography learning. Alternatively, if year 1 could visit a place of work in the local area that would also be really helpful. If you can support us for an hour with this term half term please speak to senior leader on the gate or email admin@gainsborough.hackney.sch.uk

PE kit Reminder

We would like to remind families on PE days your child is invited to wear their PE kit to school. This saves time and supports children to access longer, more effective PE lessons. Please ensure your child is in school PE kits and not other clothes. The school PE kit is a white t shirt, blue/ black leggings or jogging bottoms, black trainers and their school jumper or cardigan. The school PE kit is not other tracksuits and brightly coloured trainers. We will speak to children and families over the coming weeks about ensuring children come in uniform each day, particularly on PE days.

Reception 2026 Applications – closes 15th January!

Reception applications are for children aged 3 and 4 (born between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022) who will start reception class at primary school in September 2026. All parents should apply by 15 January 2026, even if your child is already in the nursery class. Please see Hackney’s admissions information page for who, when and how to apply. https://education.hackney.gov.uk/content/primary-before-you-apply?guidebook=188

Gainsborough will be offering tours and visits throughout the Autumn term. Families will be able to visit Gainsborough for a full site tour on Friday’s from 9-10am or from 5-6pm. To book a tour please email admin@gainsborough.hackney.sch.uk