Weekly Bulletin:Friday 10th January 2025
Headteacher’s message to parents/carers
Dear Parents/Carers,
Happy New Year and welcome back to the new term. It’s been a very cold start, but lovely to have children back in school for 2025. I always look forward to seeing our children continue to thrive throughout the year. Helping children grow in confidence and capability is one of the joys of working in a primary school – how far will your child go by the end of 2025?
To help you support your children on their own learning journeys, we regularly share information with you. Today, we’re sharing the data information report from the end of Term 2, as well as Topic Newsletters for Term 3. We hope that this information is useful for you, as part of our home/school partnership.
Remember that everything you do as a parent/carer to show interest/support for your child’s education is like a special magical boost, that only you can give! Whether you help your child with their number bonds or times tables, support key messages from class teachers or regularly hear your children read, thank you. We really do appreciate your support (and more importantly, so does your child). If you have any questions about your child’s learning, please do contact their class teacher in the first instance, either now at the start of term, or at our next Parent Consultations which are scheduled for February this year.
Finally, an important reminder for any families with children starting school in September 2025: the deadline for applications for a Reception place is next week, Wednesday 15th January. Further details are in the notices section below.
Have a lovely weekend everyone.
Best wishes
Ruth Austin
Headteacher
Notices
School meals: Please note the menu choices for ordering school meals has changed to the following options: main meal, vegetarian main meal, allergy free main meal, jacket potato or wrap/baguette.
Also, we have improved systems in school to show who has ordered and paid for a school meal in Key Stage 2 (ie Years 3, 4, 5 and 6). In these year groups, children are given a red wristband in class each morning to show that they have booked a school meal. They then hand their wristband in at the hatch in the dining hall when they collect their meal. This change was needed because there had previously been significant numbers of children in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 taking a school meal without this having been booked or paid for. (Children in Years R, 1 and 2 are all entitled to Universal Free School Meals, so do not need to pay, but do need to book their meal.)
Please continue to order your child’s meals in advance via the School Gateway app, which you can install from www.schoolgateway.com/apple (Apple) or www.schoolgateway.com/android (Android). If you are unsure of how to do this, please see How do I book/cancel a meal/pre-order using Meal Manager? – Parent Support
The most up to date full menu is detailed on our school website www.tunbury.kent.sch.uk/Parents/School-Meals/
Admissions for children starting school in September 2025: Have you missed our Autumn tours and meetings? Don’t worry, you there is still time for a last-minute visit. Please contact us at school to arrange this or if you have any questions. Remember that the deadline for applications is Wednesday 15th January.
Tunbury welcomes children from both Kent and Medway addresses. All applications for school places should be made via your ‘home’ local authority.
- Kent residents apply at www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/schools/school-places
- Medway residents apply at www.medway.gov.uk/info/200137/schoolsprimary_school_place
For Medway residents, you just need to select ‘advanced search’ during the application process to find Tunbury in the list of schools. We have published guidelines to help with this process, which you’ll find at www.tunbury.kent.sch.uk/New-Entrants/
Parent Data Information Reports: Data information reports containing details about your child’s autumn term assessments will be sent out via email today, Friday 10th January. Emails will be sent to the email addresses we hold for you. If you do not receive your report, please contact the school office so that we can update our email addresses and send you your child’s data information report.
Term 3 Topic Newsletters: what will my child be learning this term? These newsletters will be emailed home today and are also available on the Year Groups pages of the school website at Tunbury Primary School - Year groups .
Attendance: As a reminder, we wanted to highlight a change to how we refer for penalty notices. Penalty Notice Fines will be issued for Term-Time leave of five or more consecutive days. Inset training days are school days and can be included in the five or more consecutive days, where there was intent to be absent for term-time leave. At Tunbury, this has been applied from Monday 6th January and will apply to all future Inset days, including Monday 24th February and Monday 2nd June.
SEN Meetings: Please see below details of Space 2 Talk support group meetings for parents & carers of children with additional needs. They meet at the Pavilion Café, Rocfort Road Snodland, ME6 5NT, 10:00 – 11:30. The next session is on Monday 13th January, 10:00 – 11:30. These sessions are a great way for parents to make connections and get advice. They most frequently support with areas related to autism, ADHD, PDA and anxiety, but they are not a disability specific charity. No formal diagnosis is required to attend.
Further details of their Space 2 Talks can be found on their website, including other venues.
Weekly Class Attendance: This is a weekly feature on our bulletin to highlight and celebrate good levels of attendance. An amazing start to the term with both Bears and Orange scoring 100% attendance this week! Our KS2 joint winners are Magenta and Indigo with an almost perfect percentage. Keep it up!
|
Class |
Weekly Attendance Percentage |
|
Bears |
☆100%☆ |
|
Orange |
☆100%☆ |
|
Magenta |
☆99.52%☆ |
|
Indigo |
☆99.52%☆ |
|
Owls |
99.51% |
|
Yellow |
99.32% |
|
Scarlet |
98.41% |
|
Sapphire |
97.88% |
|
Blue |
97.62% |
|
Azure |
97.28% |
|
Lilac |
97.04% |
|
Red |
96.64% |
|
Crimson |
96.43% |
|
Emerald |
95.71% |
|
Amber |
95.6% |
|
Ruby |
95.07% |
|
Violet |
95.07% |
|
Pink |
94.71% |
|
Turquoise |
93.81% |
|
Lavender |
90.66% |
Team Points: Our first total for the new term will be in next week’s bulletin.
Dates for your Diary
Term dates for 2024/25: www.tunbury.kent.sch.uk/Parents/Term-Dates-24-25/
Term 3
Tuesday 21st January – Young Voices at the O2 (Young Voices Singing Club)
Tuesday 4th February – Year 6 visit to Kent Life – WW11 Day
Friday 7th February – NSPCC Number Day
Friday 7th February – TSA Family Bingo Night
Tuesday 11th February - Parent Consultation evening – 3.30-6.30pm
Tuesday 11th February - Safer Internet Day
Thursday 13th February - Parent Consultation evening – 3.30-6.30pm
Friday 14th February – Last day of term for pupils
Term 4
Monday 24th February – School closed for pupils– INSET Day
Monday 3rd to 7th March - Book Week
Thursday 6th March – World Book Day
Friday 21st March – Red Nose Day NEW
Tuesday 25th & Wednesday 26th March – TSA Gifts for Her
Thursday 3rd April – TSA Easter Disco
Friday 4th April – Last day of term for pupils
Term 5
Tuesday 22nd April – Start of Term 5 for pupils
Monday 5th May – BANK HOLIDAY – School Closed
Monday 12th-Thursday 15th May – KS2 SATS Week - Year 6
22nd May – TSA Tunbury's Got Talent
Friday 23rd May – Outdoor Learning Day
Friday 23rd May – Last day of term for pupils
Term 6
Monday 2nd June – School closed for pupils– INSET Day
Tuesday 3rd June – Start of Term 6 for pupils
Tuesday 3rd -6th June – STEAM Week
Monday 9th June-13th June – Multiplication Times Tables Check Year 4
Monday 9th June-13th June – Phonics Screening – Year 1
Tuesday 10th & Wednesday 11th June – TSA Gifts for Him
Friday 27th June – Sports Day
Thursday 3rd July – TSA Summer Disco
Saturday 12th July – TSA GlasTUNBURY Summer Festival
Friday 18th July – TSA “Dare to be different day”
Friday 18th July – Year 6 prom
Tuesday 22nd July – Last day of term
Class assemblies
Class assemblies will be held in the school hall on Friday afternoons. Parents/carers and family members from each class are warmly invited to join us in school for these events, as our children love to share their learning with you. Please come to the front of the school and wait outside the hall entrance doors. You will be invited in just after 2.45pm. The assembly will begin at 2.50pm and last for about 10 minutes, finishing in time for you to collect your children at the end of the school day, as normal.
Friday 17th January Magenta Class Assembly
Friday 24th January Violet Class Assembly
Friday 31st January Emerald Class Assembly
Friday 7th February Turquoise Class Assembly
Friday 14th February Crimson Class Assembly
Friday 28th February Lavender Class Assembly
Friday 14th March Indigo Class Assembly
Friday 21st March Ruby Class Assembly
Friday 28th March Azure Class Assembly
Friday 25th April Pink Class Assembly
Friday 2nd May Red Class Assembly
Friday 9th May Yellow Class Assembly
Friday 23rd May Blue Class Assembly
Friday 13th June Sapphire Class Assembly
Friday 20th June Owls Class Assembly
Friday 4th July Bears Class Assembly
