Weekly Bulletin: Friday 11th March 2022
Headteacher’s message to parents/carers
Dear Parents/Carers,
Following on from last week’s Book Week, we’re still thinking about reading.
We know that reading is one of the most important skills that children learn, as well as one of the best indicators of future educational success. Children who read well achieve better at primary and secondary education. We want every Tunbury pupil to be a successful reader who enjoys reading for pleasure. Reading is fun, builds children’s vocabulary, develops their imagination and takes them to amazing places!
This week, Tunbury staff have been telling children which books we enjoyed reading when we were at primary school. Mrs Smith and I both shared some of our favourite books in assemblies on Monday and Tuesday, and class teachers also talked about their childhood favourites. Perhaps you could also share your favourite books with your own children? Do you have a book you read 100 times as a child, or a book where you can still remember the first or last page many years later? Was there a special book which made you cry or laugh? Please share these messages with your own children, so that they understand a little more about the power and longevity of reading. Thank you.
Children have a wide range of books to read in school, but we want to make sure that they have a choice of books to read at home too. To help with this, we’re pleased to have two library developments to share with you in today’s bulletin. Please see the notices section for further details on the opening of the new Tunbury School Library, as well as our partnership with Walderslade Village Library. Let’s use our libraries to get our children reading!
Have a lovely weekend everyone.
Best wishes
Ruth Austin
Headteacher
Our Learning: Year 4
Our topic is titled ‘Survivors’ this term.
We have been focusing on a non-fiction text called ‘Survivors’ by David Long and Kerry Hyndman. We started the topic learning all about Tami Oldham and her wild adventure whilst sailing the Pacific Ocean. We used the information we learnt to write our own biographies on Tami, we had to consider the structure of our writing to ensure her life events were in chronological order. Our second week of term was World Book Week, therefore we focused on our whole school text ‘The Last Wolf’ written by Mini Grey. We began the week by reading the text before role playing an alternative ending to the story. We then wrote our own alternative endings which we have turned into a class book, so we can read and enjoy each other’s stories. In addition, we had World Book Day where the children came to school dressed as a book character, we were really impressed with the effort children made on this day. Our World Book Day consisted of writing stories, creating wanted posters and creating a piece of artwork linking to deforestation as this was the key message from our book. This week we have looked at the story of Juliane Koepcke a teenager who fell from the sky and survived. We have been researching survival skills and we will be writing a survival leaflet to help Koepcke, whilst she is stuck in the Amazon Rainforest. Over the next few weeks, we will be reading some more survival stories and creating our own survival tool. Following this, we will write an explanation text and create an advert for our tool.
In science this term, we have been focusing on classification, so far we have discussed the five different animal groups and classified animals based on their features. We then used this information to create flow charts to guide our peers to identify different animals. This week we went on a wildlife walk to identify and classify different leaves within our school environment. Over the next few weeks, we will be discussing animal habitats and consider how each animal is suited to their habitat.
We have been learning about survival techniques and we have been developing our geographical skills and fieldwork. We began our topic by exploring compass points and giving directions using the eight points. After this, we looked at OS maps and identified the key features. Once the children had a good understanding of using maps, they created their based on a familiar area. This required children to consider the key parts within a map. Over the next few weeks, we will be spending some time discussing and using co-ordinates within maps as well as creating a map for our own imaginary island.
In maths this term, we have been exploring fractions. As part of our learning we have been finding equivalent fractions through the use of fraction walls. We have identified the numerator and denominator and found common equivalent fractions by multiplying the numerator and the denominator by the same number. We have also converted between improper fractions and mixed numbers using bar models to represent the whole number. More recently, we have learnt how to add and subtract fractions with the same denominator and have begun to extend this to include subtracting a fraction from a whole number. Over the next few weeks, we will be finding fractions of quantities before moving on to our new topic – decimals. We have continued to practice times tables daily in class and apply our new learning to problem solving.
In French, we have recapped the numbers 1-10 and we are starting to learn numbers 11-20. Once we have learnt these, we are going to be constructing sentences using the numbers to describe objects and items we use daily. We will then develop these sentences by adding the colours we have also learnt to construct strong French sentences.
In RE, we have been studying Jesus and his life. We discovered why Christians call Good Friday ‘good’ and discussed the story of Easter. We explored why Jesus was deemed a good teacher and how he inspired the people around him.
In computing, we have had fun coding instructions to make an object- such as a bumblebee, tortoise or Pac-man, move around our computer screen. We learnt about how to move them forward the correct amount of spaces and the degrees of the angles we need to turn to make squares/rectangles. In the next couple of weeks, we are going to be looking at how to create more complex shapes such as flowers and stars by programming in the information.
Notices
Tunbury School Library: We are excited to announce that our library is officially open! We launched our library during World Book Week and many classes have already had a chance to experience choosing and borrowing a book. Our library contains a wealth of fiction and non-fiction texts suitable for all our budding readers at Tunbury, with areas to enjoy reading and space to research and collaborate ideas. Each child is able to borrow 3 books for up to 3 weeks and they are welcome to take their chosen books home to share with you. Books can then be returned to the library where our fantastic Year 6 Librarians will be scanning them back in, ready for someone else to borrow. The children have already been very enthusiastic to use the library and we hope this fantastic resource will continue to support our aim to encourage reading for pleasure across our school!
Walderslade Village Library: We have been in contact with Walderslade Village Library and this term we will start our weekly visits as a school. Every child who returned their form has now received their own personal library card. These can be used at any time so please feel free to go with your child and enjoy the wonderful array of books they have to offer! As a class, your child will be given the opportunity to visit the library to read, share and loan books on a weekly basis for the term. This is a wonderful opportunity for us at Tunbury Primary School to get lost in some amazing books!
Team Points: This week’s points totals are as follows. Congratulations Hawking team – you have retained your lead!
|
Rowling |
Attenborough |
Holmes |
Hawking |
|
1985 |
1796 |
2003 |
2070 |
Victorian Days Year 1: Year 1 will be having Victorian themed days over the next couple of weeks. For both of these days children are encouraged to dress up. On the poor Victorian day on Tuesday 15th March children could wear ripped, stained clothes and have dirty faces. On the rich Victorian day on Monday 21st March children could wear smart attire like waistcoats and dresses. Staff will also be dressing up on these days. An email detailing further information was sent to parents in Year 1 this week. If you have any queries, please ask your child’s class teacher.
Parking: We have had some concerns this week about irresponsible parking around the school site, with parents/carers parking on double yellow lines, in the bus stops or at the crossing point. We do not currently have a School Crossing Patrol to help our children cross the road outside school, so we need to be particularly careful about parking at this time. Please be considerate of other road users in your parking choices: it’s essential that we all do this to keep our children safe. Thank you.
Vision Screening and National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP): School health will be in school on Tuesday 15th March and Wednesday 16th March 2022 to deliver vision screening and NCMP.
Vision and NCMP – all Children in Year R
NCMP only – all children in Year 6
Covid-19: We have seen a return to high case numbers in two classes this week (Crimson class in Year 6 and Scarlet class in Year 4), along with other cases in children and staff throughout the school. Although contact tracing has ceased and we no longer send out NHS ‘warn and inform letters’, we all need to remain vigilant for Covid symptoms.
Reminder: please follow the current national guidance on Covid and check this if you or your children experience Covid symptoms or a positive case. Further details are at: When to stay at home if you have coronavirus (COVID-19) and what to do - NHS (www.nhs.uk) Thank you for your support.
Dates for your Diary
Term dates for 2021/22: https://www.tunbury.kent.sch.uk/Parents/Term-Dates-21-22/
Term dates for 2022/23: https://www.tunbury.kent.sch.uk/Term-Dates-22-23/
Please note: although we have planned events for the full academic year, it is possible that future Covid disruption or other factors may result in changes.
Tuesday 15th / Wednesday 16th March - Vision and NCMP Screening – Year R and Year 6
Tuesday 15th – Poor Victorian Day – Year 1 NEW
Friday 18th March – Science Day
Monday 21st March – Rich Victorian Day – Year 1 NEW
Tuesday 22nd March – CSI Day – Year 5
Wednesday 23rd / Thursday 24th March – TSA Mother’s Day present room
Thursday 31st March – Ancient Greek Workshop – Year 6
Friday 1st April – Last day of term 4
Friday 1st April – TSA Non-Uniform Day
Friday 1st April – TSA Easter Egg Hunt
Tuesday 19th April – First day of Term 5
Monday 2nd May – Bank Holiday – School Closed
Friday 6th May – TSA Race Night
Monday 9th – Friday 13th May – SATs Week – Year 6
Monday 16th – Friday 27th May – SATs Weeks – Year 2
Friday 27th May – Last day of term 5
Monday 6th June - INSET day (School closed for pupils)
Tuesday 7th June – First day of term 6 for pupils
Monday 13th June – School Health Questionnaire – Year 6
Tuesday 14th / Wednesday 15th June – TSA Father’s Day present room
Thursday 23rd June – National Writing Day
Monday 27th – Friday 1st July – STEAM Week
Saturday 2nd July – TSA Summer Fair
Monday 4th July – Sports Day (with Reserve Day Friday 8th July)
Friday 15th July – TSA ‘Dare to be different’ day
Friday 15th July – TSA Family Picnic
Thursday 21st July – Last day of term 6
Class assemblies
We have now resumed our program of class assemblies.
Class assemblies are scheduled to take place in-person, in the school hall, on Friday afternoons. Please come to the front of the school and wait outside the hall entrance doors. You will be invited in at approximately 2.45/2.50 pm. The assembly will begin at around 2.50 pm and last for about 10 minutes, finishing in time for you to collect your children at the end of the school day, as normal.
Please see the re-arranged dates for the five classes who have had assemblies postponed due to Covid disruption. Please note: assemblies for Scarlet, Crimson and Orange classes are on Monday afternoons.
Friday 18th March - Amber Class Assembly
Friday 25th March – Lavender Class Assembly
Monday 28th March – Scarlet Class Assembly - NEW
Friday 1st April – Violet Class Assembly
Monday 25th April – Crimson Class Assembly
Friday 29th April – Yellow Class Assembly
Friday 6th May – Lilac Class Assembly
Friday 13th May – Indigo Class Assembly
Friday 20th May – Sapphire Class Assembly
Friday 27th May – Pink Class Assembly
Friday 10th June – Bears Class Assembly
Friday 17th June – Red Class Assembly
Monday 20th June – Orange Class Assembly
Friday 24th June – Hedgehogs Class Assembly
Friday 1st July – Owls Class Assembly
Friday 8th July – Azure Class Assembly
Friday 15th July – Ruby Class Assembly
