Weekly Bulletin: Friday 1st July 2022
Headteacher’s message to parents/carers
Dear Parents/Carers
Please join us tomorrow for our TSA Summer Fair! This is tomorrow, Saturday 2nd July, at school between 1.30 and 4.30pm. We will have fairground rides, glitter tattoos, refreshments, a magic show, inflatable castle, raffle prizes and many stalls. Thank you to our hardworking TSA for organising the event for us. The weather forecast looks good, so please come along as a family to have some fun and support the Tunbury school community.
Looking ahead to September, we are now able to share details of our class-to-class transitions, which are in the parents-letters and forms section. Here in school, we have told children today about which class they are going up to and who their new teachers and TAs will be. This begins the process of transition for children, so that they feel confident about the move to a new year group in September. Over the next two weeks, teachers and TAs will be meeting for handover and transition for every class, so that the new class teachers are aware of individual needs within each class. Sharing class-to-class transitions with you as soon as possible is in line with our normal approach of open and transparent home/school communication – we have had positive feedback on this in the past and hope that this is something that you value.
Our whole-school transition day is on Thursday 14th July, where all of our classes will move up for the day and spend the day in their new classrooms. Teachers who are new to Tunbury will also be in school on this day, so that everyone has the opportunity to spend the day with their new teacher. Our new Reception children are also visiting for a morning or afternoon session, while our current Year 6 children will enjoy year-group activities on the field or in the hall on this day.
At the end of transition day on Thursday 14th July, we will have an Open Classroom session from 3.30-4.00. After collecting your children as usual, you will be invited back into school from 3.30 to visit your child’s new classroom and meet their new teachers and TAs. This won’t be the time for any lengthy conversations with staff and it won’t replace the September ‘Meet the Teacher’ presentations which we offer for each year group, but we hope that it will be a useful opportunity for you and your children.
Have a lovely weekend everyone. We look forward to seeing you on Saturday for the Summer Fair and then on Monday for Sports Day. For Sports Day, please take a look at the information below so that you know what to expect on the day. Fingers crossed for good weather!
Best wishes
Ruth Austin
Headteacher
Our Learning: Year 5
This term, we have been reading The Explorer, which is an exciting text all about a group of children who all find themselves lost in the Amazon Rainforest after their plane crashes. We have written a balanced argument, providing reasons for and against why the children should stay and wait for help. We also then used this to have a big class debate in which we had the opportunity to voice our thoughts and reach a conclusion at the end. We have also linked this text to our Rainforest topic. We have been learning all about the layers of a rainforest and where in the world they are located.
As part of our jubilee celebrations at the beginning of term, we created a display to depict an event from the 2nd decade of the Queen’s reign. We all drew self-portraits (as this is also what we had been studying in our art lessons) and these became the crowd that she broke protocol to walk over to and greet on one of her royal tours.
This week has been STEAM week, where the theme has been ‘What’s out there – STEAM in nature’. For the Art in STEAM, we were all challenged to make a natural design inspired by the work of James Brunt. Here are our master pieces…
We’ve had a really exciting time in Science recently with our ‘Living Things and their Habitats’ topic. At the moment, we are learning about the lifecycles of insects and birds, before we find out about mammals later on in the term. Our first visitors to Year 5 were the caterpillars, which we observed eagerly as they went through several stages of metamorphosis.
It has been fascinating to watch them finally emerge as beautiful tortoiseshell butterflies.
Our second visitors were tiny ladybird larvae, which moulted numerous times before finally transforming into dark ladybirds. We were surprised at how long it took them to turn into the red and black ladybirds that we’re all so familiar with. This week, our final visitors arrived in an incubator. We have been avidly listening to their cheeping and fascinated as they tapped their way through their shells to finally break free. Looking a little bedraggled initially, the heat from the incubator soon fluffed up their feathers before they were ready to be put in the much more spacious brooder box. We are looking forward to releasing the ladybirds and butterflies into ‘The Glade’ in the next few days and having the opportunity to hold the chicks before they go back to the farm to continue their life. This has certainly been ‘hands-on’ Science at its very best!
Steam Week
This week has been STEAM Week when we focus on Science, Technology Engineering, Art and Maths. Our focus this year is how these subjects can help us understand and engage with the world around us.
The learning from this topic has covered many different areas. Year R have been looking at maths problems involving flowers while Year 1 received a talk from a local representative about litter and then using their knowledge of materials to look at recycling. Year 2 children have looked at how scientists collect and use data to learn about animals with a mini- beast safari in school and virtual safari in the Etsoha National Park. Year 3 and 4 have been looking at how acid rain is created and even making their own to test the impact on different materials. Year 5 have been continuing to look at life cycles and with some new additions to the school and Year 6 have had fun looking at art created through their understanding of light and shadows! 
Each class has also created a natural mandala in this year with some children following the inspiration of Mrs Austin’s assembly on James Brunt and his natural art work.
While other classes were inspired by Mr Taylor’s assembly on Leonardo Fibonacci and the golden spiral. 
Sports Day
Sports day is on Monday. This year is the first time for our Family Picnic on Sports Day, which is offered in order to make it an enjoyable, welcoming and successful day for the whole school community together. However, as everything is new, please bear with us if things take a little longer than expected – we’ll be doing our very best to make everything run smoothly! Here are some general points to know for Sports Day.
- Children should wear their PE kits to school on Monday and wear them all day, so please ensure that they do have a t-shirt in their house team colour as part of their PE kit. Children will be bringing PE kits home today so that they can come to school dressed in their kit on Monday morning.
- If the weather is poor and we need to postpone Sports Day, we will contact you as soon as possible to let you know. Our reserve Sports Day is Friday 8th July.
- For adults and family members (not Tunbury children) who are spending the whole day with us on Sports Day, we will have two portaloos on the lower carpark, which you can use throughout the day. Tunbury children will use their normal school toilets as usual. Unfortunately, we’re unable to allow visitors to use our school toilets alongside children or staff – we apologise for the inconvenience this may cause.
- At Sports Day, you are welcome to take photos/videos of your own children, but please remember that these are for you only and not to be shared online or on social media, as we do not have permission for any wider sharing.
- We’ll share a program with you on Monday showing the zones on the field for each year group. Please remain outside the roped/coned areas where children’s activities are taking place. Also, please save your hugs/congratulations/snacks/drinks for your own children until the family picnic, rather than attempting to interact with them during the Sports Day activities themselves. Thank you.
- Entry to Sports Day will be via the Playground Gate. The Playground Gate will be open from 9.35-10.00 (for entry to KS2 Sports Day), then from 11.30-11.45 (entry to the family picnic), 12.30-1.00 (exit from the family picnic and entry to KS1 Sports Day). If you wish to arrive or leave school at other times throughout the day, please enter/exit via the front gate as our office staff will be able to let you in. At the end of the day, both school gates will be open as usual.
Please see details and timings below:
|
9.35-10.00 |
Playground gate open for entry |
|
9.45-11.30 |
KS2 Sports Day (for all children in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6) This will be ‘round-robin’ Sports Day events, with children from each year group all participating simultaneously in different zones of the field. Following this, there will be races on our track, before our KS2 Sports Day cup is awarded to the winning team. |
|
11.30-11.45 |
Playground gate open for entry/exit |
|
11.45-12.30 |
Family Picnic on the field for all children and families - please join us! Families will be able to sit together on the field – please bring your picnic blankets and food (no BBQs or alcohol). You can bring picnic food as a whole family or send children in with their own packed lunches to eat with you.
School meals on this day will be ‘Picnic Bags’ only. However, please note that it is now too late to order picnic bags. Unfortunately, the kitchen will not be able to take any late orders. If this has not been already pre-ordered children will need to bring a picnic lunch from home on this day.
For Reception and Key Stage 1 children, you will collect children from classroom doors at the start of the family picnic, as you do at hometime.
Key Stage 2 children will come out onto the field in their classes and be dismissed to you individually.
Children who do not have family members present will be supervised by school staff during lunchtime, also on the field.
At the end of the family picnic, a bell will be rung and all Tunbury children will return to their classes. |
|
12.30-1.00 |
Playground gate open for entry/exit |
|
1.00-2.15 |
FS/KS1 Sports Day (for all children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2) This operates in the same way as for KS2: ‘round-robin’ Sports Day events, with children from each year group all participating simultaneously in a different zone of the field. Following this, there will be races on our track before our KS1 Sports Day cup is awarded to the winning team. |
|
2.30 |
Optional early collection for all children, using normal home time arrangements. This should be at around 2.30, but will happen 15 minutes after the end of FS/KS1 Sports Day. |
|
3.10/3.15 |
Normal home time arrangements for remaining children. After school clubs (Korfball and Poetry) will not run on Sports Day. |
SENCo message for Year 5 parents/carers
If you would like your child to take either the Kent or Medway Test and you have applied and believe that your child will need special access arrangements, please email the school office as soon as you have applied and initiated your special access request.
Medway Test
The deadline for special access to the Medway Test is: 4pm on Tuesday 5th July 2022. Special access requests for Medway have to be hand signed by the child’s parent/carer before they can be scanned by school and emailed to Medway. All forms will need to have been signed by parents/carers by 1pm on Monday 4th July. I will not be in school on Tuesday 5th July.
Kent Test
The deadline for special access to the Kent Test is: 4pm on Tuesday 12th July 2022. All requests will need to have been made by parents or carers by 1pm on Tuesday 12th July.
Notices
Parent survey: Please complete our parent/carer survey to help us celebrate our achievements, as well as identifying priorities for next academic year. The survey should take about 10 minutes to complete. It is open now at www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Tunburyparents2022 So far, we have received 36 responses – please help us exceed last year’s total of 216 responses.
EYFS TA: We are looking for a new EYFS Teaching Assistant to join us in September. Please take a look at our advert at EYFS Teaching Assistant Teaching/Child Support at Tunbury Primary School, Walderslade (kent-teach.com)
After school clubs: Korfball and Poetry after school clubs on Monday 4th July will not be running due to Sports Day. Please note: there will be no after school clubs on the last week of term – week starting 18th July.
Team Points: Team Points totals are as follows. Congratulations to Holmes team for keeping their lead.
|
Rowling |
Attenborough |
Holmes |
Hawking |
|
3424 |
3473 |
3525 |
3445 |
Road Crossing Patrol: As mentioned in our previous Weekly Bulletins, we are writing to remind you of the vacancy for a School Crossing Patrol (SCP) to work on Tunbury Avenue. To date, zero applications have been received for this position. We really hope to fill this position soon, to help keep our families safe on their journeys to and from school. Please see the advert in the parents-letters and forms section for further details. If you or anyone you know may be interested in this position, please contact the school office.
Covid: We have seen a return of Covid cases in school this week, with several members of staff being unwell. Please remain vigilant for Covid symptoms in your family members and stay away from school if you or your child are unwell or have a high temperature.
Free bus travel for young people and families this summer holiday: Reconnect has teamed up with Kent’s bus operators who have kindly agreed to support children, young people and families this summer holiday with free bus travel. There are two bus passes available for use from 23rd July 2022 to 31st August 2022 inclusive:
- Young Person’s Bus Pass – for all pupils in years 6 to 13
Children in Year 6 will receive a printed pass before the end of term. A digital version of the Young Person’s Bus pass will also be available, which can be found and downloaded here - https://www.kelsi.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/136945/Reconnect-Young-Persons-Bus-Pass.pdf. To use the digital pass, young people will need to download this onto their phone or take a screenshot.
• Family Bus Pass – for all families with children in Kent – Please see the flyer in the parents-letters and forms section for more information.
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.
Saturday 2nd July – TSA Summer Fair
Monday 4th July – Sports Day (with Reserve Day Friday 8th July)
Tuesday 5th July – Graduoke Year 6
Thursday 7th July – 2.20 – 2.50 pm: New Entrants transition meeting (children to visit their class and parents invited to a phonics meeting in the hall)
Monday 11th July – Year 6 Afternoon Tea: 2 pm (invitations to follow)
Thursday 14th July – Whole school transition day – children visit their new classes and Open Classroom session for parents/carers from 3.30-4.00 NEW
Friday 15th July 2022 - African mask workshop Year 2 NEW
Friday 15th July – TSA ‘Dare to be different’ day
Friday 15th July – TSA Family Picnic
Monday 18th July 3.30-4.30pm - SEND Forum with Kent SEND parental support kentiask
Tuesday 19th July – Year 6 production 2 pm and 6.30 pm
Thursday 21st July – Year 6 Leavers Assembly: 2 pm
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.
Friday 1st July – Owls Class Assembly
Friday 8th July – Azure Class Assembly
Friday 15th July – Ruby Class Assembly
