Weekly Bulletin: Friday 16th June 2023

Headteacher’s message to parents/carers

Dear Parents/Carers,

This week, we are ready to share our plans for transition for September 2023.  To begin this process, here are our class-to-class transitions and staffing structure for September (see letters and forms section of the website).  Please take a look to see who your child’s new class teacher will be and which class they will be in.  We’re pleased to be able to share this information with you now, much earlier than many other schools would do.

We are sharing this information now to provide a longer period of transition, helping all of our children to feel calm and settled with their new class teachers.  This process has already begun with the first of our ‘story time’ visits, where new class teachers visit next year’s class in their current classroom to meet them and read them a story.  This has happened today for all children in the current Years R-4, with the exception of the classes being taught by a teacher who is ‘new to Tunbury’ and Indigo and Turquoise classes.  Indigo and Turquoise classes will have their story time on Monday and ‘new to Tunbury’ teachers will be here on our whole-school transition day, Thursday 6^th July.

Our new staff joining us in September are Megan Covey, Charlotte Jones, Kayleigh Jardine and Wayne Mitchell.  Mrs Covey is our new Deputy Headteacher, who will be working alongside Mr Taylor in our Senior Leadership Team, Miss Jones and Miss Jardine are both new class teachers and Mr Mitchell is our new Phase Leader for Years 5-6, who will also teach a Year 6 class.  You will get to know all of our new staff in the coming year; I know that they are looking forward to joining our school community and becoming part of Team Tunbury.

Looking further ahead, on Transition Day (Thursday 6^th July), all children will move up to their new classroom to spend the day with their new class teacher.  At the end of the day, we’ll hold open classrooms session for the new Years 1-6, 3.15 to 3.45pm, where children can show their parents their new classrooms and chat briefly with new staff.  Remember that we’ve also moved our ‘Meet the Teacher’ sessions from September to July, so that you’ll have all the information you need before the summer holidays.  The dates for ‘Meet the Teacher’ sessions are in the diary dates section.

This transition program is carefully planned, so we hope that it will support all children and staff in forming new relationships and being ready for the new school year.  If you have any specific concerns about transition, please do speak with your child’s current class teacher.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Best wishes

Ruth Austin

Headteacher 

Our Learning: Year 2

In Year 2 we have been enjoying our topic, On Safari, where we will be comparing the UK to Africa. We have used atlases and maps to identify where Africa is.  Did you know that Africa is a continent with 54 countries?  We are looking forward to a visit from The Education Group who are going to teach us some African music using drums and we will be making African masks.

In English, we are reading ‘Anna Hibiscus’. This is our first chapter book that we are reading to get us ready for learning in Year 3. We are using the book to learn about Anna who lives in Africa and has never seen snow before! She lives with all of her extended family so she is very busy! So far we have written a description of Anna and where she lives and written a prediction about what we think will happen on her holiday.

In Maths we have been consolidating our learning from the year, applying what we know to answer a range of problems. 

In Science, we are learning about habitats. We have used the school grounds to create a local habitat map. We found lots of interesting plants and animals living in our local area. We will be thinking about what makes a habitat suitable for the animals that live in it.

Last term we completed our end of year assessments, in which the children worked really hard and gave all of the work 100% effort. We enjoyed the biscuits provided by the canteen staff too! Well done everyone and thank you parents for your support with this.

 Notices 

Inter-school cricket tournament at Wouldham Primary School: We had a fantastic time at Wouldham yesterday for the cricket tournament. The group of 10 children from Year 5 and 6 represented themselves and the school brilliantly. They all showed great teamwork and sportsmanship. We took extra players and there was no complaining over who sat out. The children also organised themselves to ensure everybody had a turn to bat and bowl. We played two matches - against Burham and Wouldham. In the first match Tunbury batted first and scored a huge 79 runs. We managed to keep Burham to just 35 runs when fielding. Then in the second match against Wouldham, it was much closer! We scored 38 runs which Wouldham equalled when they batted - a tense finish! 

We would like to say a huge thank you to parents for transporting their children to and from the venue and congratulations to the team for a fantastic effort and for representing the school so well. Thank you to Miss Hawkes and Mr Kent for coaching the team.

Sports Day:  Here is an overview of our plan for Sports Day on Friday 30^th June:

Children will bring their PE kit home before Sports Day.  On Sports Day, children should come to school wearing their PE kit, including their PE t-shirt in their House Team colour.  They will wear their PE kit all day and do not need to bring their school uniform as well.  On the day, please ensure your child has sun cream on and has a hat.

Please note that on Sports Day, the kitchen will only be serving picnic bags, which must be ordered in advance (by Friday 23^rd June). As a result of this change of menu, the fish finger Friday lunch will be served on Wednesday 28^th June, replacing the usual roast lunch.

TSA Summer Fair 24th June 1pm-4pm: We are looking forward to next weekend and can’t wait for you to join the TSA at the summer fair for a fun filled afternoon. Raffle tickets have been handed out to classes, first prize £100, other prizes include laser tag vouchers donated by Combat Laser Games Sidcup. Please return any unused raffle tickets. TSA are looking for raffle donations and bottle donations for the win a bottle game. Green boxes will be put by both school gates to put donations and raffle tickets in. 

Absence: Please may we remind parents to contact the school on the first day of any absence for your child.  This is a safeguarding requirement, so that all parties know that your child is safe and their whereabouts are known.

Safer Parking Project: We are working on this project with our KCC Community Warden and our launch date has now been confirmed as 5^th July.  A letter explaining the project is in the letters and forms section of our website and we look forward to sharing further details before launch day. 

Class Photos: On Monday 26^th June, Tempest Photographers will be in school to take class photos. If you do not want your child to be included in the class photo, please will you contact the school office to let us know. 

Dog Owners Reminder:  Please may we remind dog owners that dogs are not permitted on the school premises at any time. Thank you in advance for your understanding in this matter.  

Weekly Class Attendance: This is a weekly feature on our bulletin to highlight and celebrate good levels of attendance. Ruby Class takes the top spot for a second week running for KS2 and Yellow for KS1. Well done!      

Team Points: Our Team Point totals are as follows. Holmes team are in the lead – well done! 

Dates for your Diary 

Term dates for 2022/23: www.tunbury.kent.sch.uk/Term-Dates-22-23/

Term dates for 2023/24: www.tunbury.kent.sch.uk/Parents/Term-Dates-23-24/

Tuesday 20^th June - New Entrants meetings in-school 3.30-4.30pm, or online 5.00-5.30pm

Wednesday 21^st June – Year 2 Open Afternoon, Making Fruit Kebabs – classrooms 2pm

Saturday 24^th June – TSA Summer Fair 1pm – 4pm

Monday 26^th June – class photos NEW

Thursday 29^th June – Year 3 Open Afternoon, Science investigations – Main hall or field 2pm

Friday 30^th June – Sports Day – timings

KS2 Sports Day 9.50-11.30

                Family Picnic 11.45-12.30

                FS/KS1 Sports Day 1.00-2.30

                Optional Early collection 2.45

Thursday 6^th July – Whole-school transition day, with Open Classroom sessions for new Y1-6, 3.15-3.45 NEW 

Friday 7^th July – Reserve Sports Day

Monday 10^th July – Year 5 Open Afternoon, Art in the style of Henri Rousseau – classrooms 2pm

Tuesday 11^th July - Meet the Teacher 9:00am Year 2

Tuesday 11^th July - Meet the Teacher 2:30pm Year 6

Wednesday 12^th July - Meet the Teacher 9:00am Year 1

Wednesday 12^th July – Year R Open Afternoon, Cooks and Books – Main hall 2pm

Wednesday 12^th July – Year 4 Open Afternoon, Survival Shelters – Classrooms 2pm
 
Thursday 13^th July - Meet the Teacher 9:00am Year 3 NEW

Thursday 13^th July – Year 6 Open Afternoon, Afternoon Tea – Main hall 2 pm

Friday 14^th July - Meet the Teacher 9:00am Year 4

Monday 17^th July - Meet the Teacher 9:00am Year 5

Wednesday 19^th July – Year 6 Production 2pm and 6:30pm 

Thursday 20^th July – IRock performance for parents – 9 am NEW

Friday 21^st July – Last day of term/academic year for pupils 

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 approximately 2.45 pm.  The assembly will begin at 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. 

Friday 16th June               Hedgehogs Assembly