Weekly Bulletin: Friday 17th March 2023
Headteacher’s message to parents/carers
Dear Parents/Carers,
At Tunbury, we want children to have engaging and memorable learning experiences, so that lessons are brought to life and learning is fun! This happens every day within our classrooms - for example, Year 4 have been carrying out Science experiments to find out what happens when a solid is heated (using chocolate, of course). Year 5 have been solving a mysterious crime, in which Mrs Cole’s cake was eaten by an as yet unidentified person. You can read more about this in the Our Learning section below. (I can promise you that every Tunbury lesson is not food-related – these are just two examples!)
As you already know, our curriculum is enquiry based. This means that children will use new knowledge to explore new ideas by thinking about the answers to some tricky questions. In Year R, children learn through exploration and discovery in their own learning, asking and answering questions every day. Their current topic is ‘Time Machine’, so they are asking questions like ‘How have I grown?’, ‘What can I do now?’ and ‘How do I overcome challenges?’ In Years 1-6, children’s learning builds throughout each term to answer one ‘big question’ to deepen their thinking. This term’s questions are:
Year 1: How was a Victorian childhood different?
Year 2: How is a castle different to other buildings?
Year 3: What remains of the Ancient Mayans?
Year 4: How destructive can the weather be?
Year 5: What clues can be left behind at a crime scene?
Year 6: How did World War 2 affect our local area?
Please try asking your child the question for their year group….. you’ll be amazed by what they have already learned this term!
As well as making our in-school lessons fun, this year we are also going on lots of school trips. These are wonderful opportunities for children to extend their learning and experience something new. This week, our Year 1 children went on their very first school trip to find out more about Victorian life. They all had a fabulous time and returned to Tunbury full of new ideas and knowledge. (Please take a look at the section below to find out more about it.) Thank you to our Year 1 parents and staff for making this trip possible. Good work on the Victorian outfits too!
For those year groups who haven’t yet been informed about their class trip, these will take place in the Summer term and we will share the details as soon as we can.
Have a lovely weekend everyone. Happy Mother’s Day for Sunday – enjoy your day, you deserve it! J
Best wishes
Ruth Austin
Headteacher
Year 1 visit
Year 1 visited Kent Life on Wednesday and became fully immersed in the Victorian era on their first school trip at Tunbury. They were all dressed as Victorians and took part in lots of workshops to help them consolidate and demonstrate their learning of the Victorians.
The children met Florence Nightingale and learnt how to apply bandages to each other. They helped Ethel Turnip, the scullery maid with cleaning and the laundry. At the school room, the children experienced a lesson with the school master. He got them to recite the alphabet and count in groups of two. The children discovered what it was like to write on a chalkboard with chalk and had to sit separately girls on the right and boys on the left.
The children also learnt how Victorians had to buy their food in separate shops such as the butchers, bakers and greengrocers. Finally, they created a rag rug using a tool called a bodger and stipes of fabric.
A wonderful day was had by all and we were all very proud of the children and how well they represented Team Tunbury.
Our Learning Year 5
Recently in Year 5, the staff had some devastating news after Parents’ evening. We were really looking forward to a piece of chocolate cake after we had seen our last parents. Unfortunately someone stole the cake before we even had a sniff. Since then, the children have been working really hard to work out who the culprit was. They have made observations of the scene and taken some crime scene photos.
We have used chromatography to work out which pen was used to write the note left behind by the thief. Analysis of the handwriting has also been used to find out who may have written the letter. By the end of the term we hope to have solved the crime and have received an apology from the culprit.
In English, we are coming to the end of writing a flashback for our Stormbreaker text. We have generated our own details of Ian Rider’s first mission, which led him to become a secret agent. We had to work hard to make our storyline relevant to what has been going on now. We are looking forward to sharing our finished ‘back stories’ by the end of the week.
In Maths this week we have been developing our understanding of percentage, investigating what it means and how it can be represented. This has begun to draw together this unit’s previous learning of fractions and decimals and how they are related to each other
Notices
Science Day: Today is Science Day at Tunbury, as part of British Science Week. Want to test your Science knowledge? Have a go (maybe parents v children?) at our Science Quiz, but be warned that children may remember the answers, as we did this in assembly this morning! You can access the quiz on the Science page of our website at Tunbury Primary School - Science
The theme of Science Day is Connections and our Tunbury challenge is to send a secret message through the school, with each year group passing this on through different communication devices, using our Science knowledge. We’ll be gathering on the playground this afternoon to see how far our message can get…. wish us luck!
School Crossing Patrol: We have 10 days to find a SCP (Lollipop Man or Lady, otherwise known as School Crossing Patrol) before KCC stop recruiting. Is there anyone who knows anyone who might be interested? Tunbury Avenue is busy and the SCP helps to keep our children and families safe. Any applicants can be fast-tracked as soon as they apply. Remember that KCC would consider job-share or part-time applications for this role, for example to work just mornings, just afternoons or certain days of the week. https://recruitmenthub.solutions/members/modules/job/detail.php?record=7403
School Office Receptionist: We are recruiting for a new Receptionist to work in our main school office to cover Mrs Foreman’s maternity leave. Please share this information with anyone you know who may be interested in this role:
Receptionist / Administrative Support - Maternity Cover Administration at Tunbury Primary School, Walderslade (kent-teach.com)
£50 energy voucher for families receiving Free School Meals: KCC have just issued a £50 Post Office cash-out voucher to families eligible for benefits related free school meals, to be spent on supporting households with their energy costs. Families already receive vouchers to support food costs during holidays, at £10 per week, per child. At Easter, KCC will fund two weeks’ vouchers for the Easter holiday, so for a family with two children this would be £40 in total.
Are you eligible for Free School Meals? If so, we can ensure that you receive all the support you are entitled to: including KCC vouchers (for energy and food), free places on our school trips and of course, free school meals every day (although children can still have packed lunches if you prefer). Please check by visiting:
https://www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/schools/free-school-meals#tab-1.
To apply please visit https://www.cloudforedu.org.uk/ofsm/kent/.
Anti-bullying: Tunbury is united against bullying. Recently we asked our School Council to summarise our Anti-bullying policy into just one page. The School Council Anti-Bullying Poster Council Poster is now in every classroom – here it is for your reference. You can also view this at Tunbury Primary School - Letters & Forms
Lost property: Our new lost property area is outside Magenta classroom, near the quiet area. All named items will be returned to pupils but any UNNAMED items will be put in the lost property boxes. If you have lost something please look in the boxes after school. Also on Fridays and Mondays, after school, there will be a table on the top playground with the items from these boxes for parents to come and look at. Any items left will be disposed of.
Easter holiday activities: Information on holiday activities within Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council for Easter 2023 is now available. The scheme which is aimed at young people ages 4-16 years features a range of activities, workshops and clubs which are offered by local providers to help keep children stimulated and active during the holidays. The activities are promoted by the Borough Council and many are supported by a 50% discount for families who are on low incomes and hold a TMBC Leisure Pass.
Further details can be found via the following link: www.tmbc.gov.uk/holidayactivities
Weekly Class Attendance: This is a new weekly feature on our bulletin, to highlight and celebrate good levels of attendance. Well done to Indigo Class from KS2 for having a perfect attendance week, amazing work! Also a big well done to Yellow Class for being our KS1 attendance stars this week.
|
Class |
Weekly Attendance Percentage |
|
Indigo |
☆100%☆ |
|
Amber |
99.31% |
|
Yellow |
☆98.22%☆ |
|
Blue |
97.69% |
|
Scarlet |
97.39% |
|
Magenta |
97.39% |
|
Owls |
96.46% |
|
Ruby |
96.3% |
|
Turquoise |
96.1% |
|
Hedgehogs |
96% |
|
Emerald |
96% |
|
Azure |
95.51% |
|
Bears |
95.45% |
|
Crimson |
94.81% |
|
Lilac |
94.48% |
|
Lavender |
94.44% |
|
Orange |
93.6% |
|
Pink |
91.85% |
|
Red |
90.74% |
|
Violet |
89.52% |
|
Sapphire |
89.26% |
Team Points: Today’s scores are as follows. Attenborough team have retained their lead – congratulations!
|
Rowling |
Attenborough |
Holmes |
Hawking |
|
3535 |
4160 |
3865 |
3980 |
Dates for your Diary
Term dates for 2022/23: https://www.tunbury.kent.sch.uk/Term-Dates-22-23/
Monday 20th March – Francophonie Day
Wednesday 22nd March - Poor Victorian day: Year 1 NEW
Thursday 23rd March – Year 2 visit to Rochester Guildhall Museum and Upnor Castle
Thursday 30th March - IRock / Mrs Hyde’s students’ performance to parents (8:50am start)
Friday 31st March – TSA non-uniform day NEW
Friday 31st March – Year 6 WW2 day NEW
Friday 31st March – Last day of term 4 for pupils
Monday 17th April – First day of term 5 for pupils
Monday 1st May - Bank Holiday – School Closed
May – Year 2 (KS1) SATs
Monday 8th May – Bank Holiday in honour of the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III
Tuesday 9th – Friday 12th May – Year 6 (KS2) SATs
Friday 19th May – Y5 Visit to Maidstone Museum
Monday 22nd– Friday 26th May – Outdoor learning week
Friday 26th May – Last day of term 5 for pupils
Monday 5th June - INSET Day – School Closed for pupils
Tuesday 6th June – First day of term 6 for pupils
Tuesday 6th- Friday 9th June – STEAM week
w/c Tuesday 6th June – Year 4 Multiplication Times Tables check
w/c Monday 12th June – Year 1 Phonics check
Friday 30th June – Sports Day
Friday 7th July – Reserve Sports Day
Friday 21st 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 17th March Crimson Class Assembly
Friday 24th March Turquoise Class Assembly
Friday 31st March Ruby Class Assembly
Friday 28th April Sapphire Class Assembly
Friday 5th May Pink Class Assembly
Friday 12th May Red Class Assembly
Friday 19th May Bears Assembly
Friday 26th May Owls Assembly
Friday 16th June Hedgehogs Assembly
