Weekly Bulletin:Friday 13th February 2026
Headteacher’s message to parents/carers
Dear Parents/Carers,
Wow! What a busy week. We have had so many highlights, I’ll need to be brief about each one……
Thank you to our Online Safety Ambassadors, who introduced this year’s Safer Internet Day on Tuesday, which this year was all about AI. Please take a look at Top Tips for parents and carers - UK Safer Internet Centre
Thank you everyone who joined us for our parents’ evening sessions on Tuesday and Thursday. Lots of proud parents, and rightly so!
Thank you to the tiger who came to tea with our Year 1 children and families on Wednesday afternoon. You were not too scary!
Thank you to our Year 2 staff and volunteers who accompanied our Year 2 children on their pirate-themed trip to Chatham dockyard yesterday. One happy pirate told me “I had the best day of my life!”
Thank you to our Year 5 team for organising today’s Poles Apart themed day. Which ingredients would you put into an energy bar to take on a polar expedition? (Also, one extra question, inspired by Indigo class: Where do penguins live?)
Thank you to our Year 6 Team Captains for choosing and organising today’s Team Point reward for the winning house team (turning the hall into a cinema). Congratulations Hawking team for winning a very close race!
And finally, thank you to everyone in Team Tunbury for contributing to our children’s successes this term. Half way through the academic year now, I wonder how much further we can go?
Finally, just a reminder that Monday 23rd February is an INSET day, so we look forward to seeing children back in school on Tuesday 24th. Have a lovely half term break everyone.
Best wishes
Ruth Austin
Headteacher
Notices
We were delighted to celebrate NSPCC Number Day on Friday 6th February. The children took part in fun, meaningful maths activities throughout the day, and we’re thrilled to share that we have raised a fantastic £285 so far through our Just Giving page. Your generous donations will help to fund vital NSPCC services such as Childline and the Speak out, Stay safe schools programme, supporting children today and protecting them for the future. We’d like to say a big thank you on behalf of the NSPCC to everyone who has donated.
If you haven’t donated yet and would like to, you can help us hit our £350 target via our school’s Just Giving page using this link Tunbury Primary School is fundraising for NSPCC All donations, however small, make a big difference when we all join together to keep children safe. If you are a UK taxpayer, please consider adding Gift Aid at no extra cost to you.
Thank you to all the children for taking part—and thank you for your continued support.
World Book Day: We are excited to let you know that we will be celebrating World Book Day on Thursday 5th March 2026. This year, we are inviting all children to come to school dressed in costume inspired by a word. The word can be anything your child loves or finds interesting – for example, happy, stormy, sparkle, brave, or gigantic. Costumes can be as simple or as creative as you like, and there is absolutely no expectation to buy anything new. The aim of the day is to celebrate language, imagination, and a love of reading, while keeping the focus on creativity rather than expense. We would love children to be able to explain their chosen word and how their costume represents it. Please ensure that costumes are suitable for a normal school day and allow children to move comfortably and safely. Thank you for your continued support. We are really looking forward to seeing the children’s fantastic ideas and celebrating World Book Day together.
Travelling Book Fair – The book fair will be in school from Thursday 5th March until Tuesday 10th March. The children will have the opportunity to visit the book fair in their classes on Thursday 5th March before it officially opens for purchasing books after school. Children will also receive their World Book Day £1 voucher. This can be used at the book fair to receive a £1 discount on any book.
Paying for books at the fair has changed slightly this year. All payments will need to be made online. Payments can be made by scanning the QR code on the Payment Guide which will be displayed at the fair or at travellingbooks.co.uk/pay and searching for the school using our postcode ME5 9HY. You will need to bring your bank card with you if your card details are not already saved to your mobile phone.
Year 6 SATs Meeting for Parents: Mrs Davies and the Year 6 teachers will be holding an information meeting for parents of Year 6 children due to take their KS2 SATs tests in May. This meeting will take place on Thursday 12th March at 3.30pm and parents will be able to attend this meeting online or in person. The link for online attendance will be sent out nearer the time.
School Crossing Patrol wanted:
We are looking for a School Crossing Patrol to ensure the safety of children, and other pedestrians, crossing Tunbury Avenue. Uniform and training will be provided by KCC. The latest advert has been released and is on the KCC Jobs portal for viewing and online applications.
https://recruitmenthub.solutions/members/modules/job/detail.php?record=14244
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 February break families with children eligible for free school meals will receive a £10 voucher per child.
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/.
Strive February Half Term Club: Our Strive PE & Sport Multi-Activity Camp is returning to Tunbury Primary this February half term break for one day only! Children will enjoy a fun-filled and active day, including games, sports, and themed activities - all led by qualified staff.
Strive Booking Link
Medway Culture Club:
Weekly Class Attendance: This is a weekly feature on our bulletin to highlight and celebrate good levels of attendance. Our KS1 class winners are Lavender class, with 98.81% attendance. Brilliant work from Lavender class! Our KS2 winners this week are Indigo class, with a fantastic 99.14%. Keep up the amazing work everyone!
|
Class |
Weekly Attendance Percentage |
|
Indigo |
☆99.14%☆ |
|
Lavender |
☆98.81%☆ |
|
Sapphire |
98.00% |
|
Yellow |
97.92% |
|
Amber |
97.69% |
|
Emerald |
97.50% |
|
Red |
96.675 |
|
Azure |
96.63% |
|
Violet |
96.37% |
|
Ruby |
96.00% |
|
Crimson |
95.98% |
|
Bears |
95.19% |
|
Owls |
93.75% |
|
Magenta |
92.86% |
|
Scarlet |
92.26% |
|
Turquoise |
91.67% |
|
Blue |
90.83% |
|
Lilac |
90.63% |
|
Pink |
90.22% |
Tunbury Primary School Facebook: This week we have posted about our visit from author Helen Peters, our school crossing patrol advert and a special shout out to one of our Year 6 pupils. Please take a look at Tunbury Primary School | Chatham | Facebookand follow us to keep up to date with all things Team Tunbury.
Team Points: Hawking team emerged victorious, after a strong finish from Rowling team to catch up on Holmes. The race was as close as the skeleton or luge! Well done everyone.
|
Rowling |
Attenborough |
Holmes |
Hawking |
|
5696 |
4915 |
5703 |
5867 |
Dates for your Diary
Term dates for 2025/26: www.tunbury.kent.sch.uk/Parents/Term-Dates-25-26/
Term 3
Friday 13th February – Last Day of Term 2
Thursday 19th February - Strive February Half Term Club
Term 4
Monday 23rd February - INSET Day - School Closed for pupils
Tuesday 24th February – First Day of Term 4
Tuesday 24th, Wednesday 25th, Thursday 26th February – West End in School, Drama Workshops:
The Ugly Duckling NEW
Monday 2nd – Friday 6th March - Book Week
Monday 2nd March - Reception Open Afternoon
Tuesday 3rd March - Y1/2 Open Afternoon
Wednesday 4th March - Y3/4 Open Afternoon
Thursday 5th – Tuesday 10th March – Travelling Book Fair in School NEW
Thursday 5th March - World Book Day
Friday 6th March - Y5/6 Open Afternoon
Tuesday 10th, Wednesday 11th, Thursday 12th March – Gifts for Her Present Room (TSA)
Thursday 12th March – Y1 Visit to Kent Life – Rich Victorian Day
Thursday 12th March – Y6 SATs Meeting for parents NEW
Friday 13th March - Science Day
Thursday 26th March – School Disco (TSA)
Thursday 2nd April - Last Day of Term 4
Term 5
Monday 20th April – First day of Term 5
Tuesday 21st April – NHS Vision Screening Year R
Tuesday 28th April – Swimming lessons start, Year 4, Scarlet Class
Monday 4th May - BANK HOLIDAY, School Closed
Monday 11th – Thursday 14th May - KS2 (Y6) SATs Week
Friday 15th May – Colour Run (TSA)
Thursday 21st May – Tunbury’s Got Talent (TSA)
Friday 22nd May – Last Day of Term 5
Term 6
Monday 1st June - INSET DAY – School Closed for pupils
Tuesday 2nd June – First Day of Term 6
Tuesday 2nd – Friday 5th June - STEAM Week
Tuesday 16th, Wednesday 17th, Thursday 18th June – Gifts for Him Present Room (TSA)
Friday 26th June - Sports Day
Friday 3rd July - Reserve Sports Day
Friday 10th July - End of Year Reports sent home
Saturday 11th July - TSA GlasTunbury
Friday 17th July – Dare to be Different Day (TSA)
Friday 17th July – Year 6 Prom
Tuesday 21st July - July end of term/ academic year
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 at just before 2.50pm. 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 13th February – Scarlet Class Assembly
Friday 27th February – Violet Class Assembly
Friday 13th March - Lavender Class Assembly
Friday 20th March - Azure Class Assembly
Friday 27th March - Red Class Assembly
Friday 24th April - Ruby Class Assembly
Friday 1st May – Sapphire Class Assembly
Friday 8th May - Blue Class Assembly
Friday 22nd May - Yellow Class Assembly
Friday 12th June – Magenta Class Assembly
Friday 19th June – Bears Class Assembly
Friday 3rd July – Owls Class Assembly
