History of the school
History of Tunbury School
Tunbury Primary School is situated in Walderslade Chatham. It is in the Tonbridge and Malling district of West Kent, being in Aylesford Parish. Prior to the reorganisation of Local Authorities in 1997 and the formation of Medway Authority the school had worked closely with other schools in the Walderslade area of Chatham, being supported from the North Kent Area.
The main school building was built in 1970 to accommodate the children from the new housing built as part of the Walderslade Development. The school opened on September the 8th 1970 with Mrs Betty James as the Head teacher. The school originally opened with 115 pupils on role but this rapidly increased to over 300. The school has a extension in approximately 1976 when two more classrooms and a library were added. Mrs James remained as head teacher until 1987 when she took early retirement. Mrs James was replaced by Mr Gareth Jones who spent four years as Head before leaving at the end of 1991.
In April 1992 Mrs Heather Brown was appointed as head teacher and she oversaw the development of the school into a three form entry primary school with 21 classes, 30 teachers, 18 teaching assistants and nearly 600 pupils.
Several small extensions were built between 1992 and 1998 when the Local Authority funded four class rooms and a small hall as the numbers of parents wanting to send their children to the school had increased.
In 2005 the school opened a magnificent foundation stage extension with three classrooms, an indoor activity room known as the Rainbow Room and a covered outdoor learning classroom. The long serving Key Stage One Leader Mrs Ruth Yates (formally Curran) and the head teacher had planned this area with local architects Lee Evans and all the teachers delight in teaching in the area.
The school has had four Ofsted Inspections in 1995, 1999, 2005 and 2008. On each occasion the school has been graded very good or good. In 2011 an interim inspection stated that the high standard of attainment continued.
Building work never seems to stop and the major kitchen refurbishment was completed in September 2010. The catering contractors now cook over 200 meals every day in a state of the art kitchen. Space released was used to open a special needs area which is called “The Sunshine Room”. Groups of children work with teachers and teaching assistants in this quiet classroom when they need extra support for their learning. It is anticipated that the last old mobile classroom will be removed in 2011 when a Design Technology store is built.
Pupils leave Tunbury School to attend secondary schools both grammar and high schools in Kent and Medway, but mostly in Medway. Several people who attended Tunbury School as children are now parents themselves and their own children attend the school! Two of the teachers were pupils here in the 1990!
The school continues to develop and change. People come and people go but the philosophy of the school continues. We aim to be an inclusive learning community that aims high, promoting an ethos of excellence and enjoyment which encompasses all aspects of life.