Weekly Bulletin:Friday 13th December 2024
Headteacher’s message to parents/carers
Dear Parents/Carers,
Everyone in Team Tunbury is looking totally tinselly today (try saying that quickly!) and we’re also looking forward to our Christmas lunch too. If you would like to support Save the Children through today’s Christmas Jumper day, we are suggesting a £2 donation per child, online at Tunbury Primary School - Christmas Jumper Day - Friday 13th December is raising money for Save The Children! At the time of writing this bulletin, we have raised £225 so far. Thank you for your support.
Earlier this week, we visited Walderslade Baptist Church for our Christmas services with Reverend Roe. Children really love visiting the church for Christmas because it feels so special and adds extra meaning to our understanding of Christmas. Reverend Roe lit the advent candles for us (with 2 candles lit, for the 2 Sundays in Advent so far) and children read bible readings of the Christmas story.
Also this week, and one of my favourite moments of the whole school year, we had Reception’s Nativity performance. It was wonderful to see our youngest children take part as stars, angels, sheep, camels, kings and of course Mary and Joseph, while singing their Christmas songs. As usual, children have come so far since their first school days in September and we are very proud of them all.
Have a lovely weekend everyone.
Best wishes
Ruth Austin
Headteacher
Our Learning: Year 5
Our week in Year 5 began with a truly out of this world experience- Space Day! We had the opportunity to write space poems, design and make our own Lunar Rovers as well as visiting The Astronomy Roadshow Planetarium to learn more about our solar system. As teachers, we were incredibly impressed by our children’s wonderfully creative costumes; their enthusiasm for our space topic this term has been a constant source of joy.
In English, we have been planning our newspaper report on the clandestine space launch that kicked off the epic tale of Cosmic, our text from this term. We are working hard to master tricky grammar concepts, like the passive voice, to make sure that we are ready to write convincing, intriguing reports next week.
In maths, we have been mastering short division (“bus stop method”) and it has been positive to see our children making good use of their times tables knowledge to tackle tremendously challenging calculations.
Last Friday, Year 5 were devastated to discover that our classrooms did not win in our Tunbury Christmas classroom decorating competition. Nevertheless, we wanted to share with you some of our finest festive efforts as we look forward to carols on the playground next Friday! 'Tis the season to be jolly…
Notices
After School Clubs: Please be advised that this series of after school clubs have now finished – there will be no after school clubs next week, the last week of term. We will send details of our new After School Clubs for Term 3 and 4 after the Christmas break.
Admissions for children starting school in September 2025: Tunbury welcomes children from both Kent and Medway addresses. All applications for school places should be made via your ‘home’ local authority. Online applications are now open. The deadline for applications is Wednesday 15th January.
- 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/
Our final tours of this term are next Monday (16th December) – please email us to book. However, if you have missed our Autumn term tours or would like to visit us again in January (before the deadline on Wednesday 15th January) just let us know and we will arrange an extra tour for you.
Free School Meals and Pupil Premium: Currently, the local authority is providing Household Support Funding for families with children eligible for free school meals. For the Christmas holiday break families with children eligible for free school meals will receive a £60 voucher per child. This consists of a one-off payment of £40 plus £10 a week for the two week holiday.
Could you apply for free school meals for your child? Did you know that the school receives extra funding called pupil premium for all children eligible for free school meals? We use pupil premium funding to improve the overall quality of education that we can offer in school, as well as providing additional resources and support. A benefit of Pupil Premium funding is that this can be used to pay for the cost of your child’s school trips, so you won’t be asked for parental contributions for these events.
To check if you are eligible for Free School Meals, please visit www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/schools/free-school-meals#tab-1. To apply, please visit www.cloudforedu.org.uk/ofsm/kent/.
Online Safety: We’re sharing Online Safety information, using resources from the National College’s #WakeUpWednesday program. This week’s guide is on Safety over the festive season.
Please see the letters and forms section.
Medway Food Bank and Harvest Donations: We have received an email of thanks from Medway Food Bank regarding your generous harvest donations last term. Your donations enable the food bank to continue to help those in need in our community, particularly going into the winter and Christmas period.
Severe weather planning: Thinking ahead to winter, we always try to remain open in periods of snow or severe weather, if it is safe to do so. Just a reminder that parents/carers would be informed via email of any school closure, so please ensure that we do have your correct email addresses. As well as this, we use the Kent Closures website (www.kentclosures.co.uk), where you can also register to receive free email alerts. Emails/alerts are sent as soon as possible after a decision has been made, although exact timings cannot be guaranteed as this depends on site conditions and the completion of an early morning risk assessment by the Headteacher and Site Manager.
Weekly Class Attendance: This is a weekly feature on our bulletin to highlight and celebrate good levels of attendance. A big well done to Blue Class for achieving 100% attendance this week! Sapphire Class are our KS2 winners. Just one week left until half term, keep up the good work!
|
Class |
Weekly Attendance Percentage |
|
Blue |
☆100%☆ |
|
Bears |
99.62% |
|
Yellow |
99.47% |
|
Sapphire |
☆98.77%☆ |
|
Indigo |
98.52% |
|
Orange |
98.22% |
|
Pink |
97.94% |
|
Emerald |
97.04% |
|
Magenta |
96.77% |
|
Lavender |
95.88% |
|
Ruby |
95.79% |
|
Crimson |
95.24% |
|
Lilac |
94.64% |
|
Amber |
94.44% |
|
Scarlet |
94.25% |
|
Violet |
92.72% |
|
Turquoise |
91.85% |
|
Owls |
90.42% |
|
Azure |
89.9% |
|
Red |
89.54% |
Team Points: Here are today’s Team Points totals, which were announced by our Year 6 Team Captains in today’s assembly. With one week to go and Golden Team Points still to be awarded, can Holmes keep their lead to become Term 2 winners?
|
Rowling |
Attenborough |
Holmes |
Hawking |
|
3680 |
3858 |
4223 |
3750 |
Dates for your Diary
Term dates for 2024/25: www.tunbury.kent.sch.uk/Parents/Term-Dates-24-25/
Term 2
Friday 13th December - Christmas Jumper Day and Lunch
Monday 16th December, 9.00, 9.45 and 10.30 – New Entrants tours
Tuesday 17th December - Year 2 Nativity – 2 pm
Wednesday 18th December – Year 1 Nativity – 2 pm
Thursday 19th December – Year 3&4 Carols on the playground – 2.50 pm
Friday 20th December – Year 5&6 Carols on the playground – 2.50 pm
Friday 20th December – Last day of term for pupils
Term 3
Monday 6th January – School closed for pupils– INSET Day
Tuesday 7th January – Start of Term 3 for pupils
Tuesday 21st January – Young Voices at the O2 (Young Voices Singing Club)
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
