Weekly Bulletin:Friday 27th February 2026
Headteacher’s message to parents/carers
Dear Parents/Carers,
Welcome back to the start of Term 4.
This has been our first week with our new catering provider, Peacock Catering. Our kitchen team look super-smart in their new blue uniforms and the new menu has been a hit with our children. Yesterday’s home-made pizza looked delicious, with big portions too! The systems for ordering school meals has not changed – details are on our website at www.tunbury.kent.sch.uk/Parents/School-Meals/ and in the notices section, so please do give our new school meals a try.
Beyond the dinner hall, Mrs Davies and I have been outside this week to see how our lunchtimes are running for children. There are lots of lovely things going on, including our new mud kitchen open for business, Year 6 children looking after their Reception buddies (with other mixed-aged play too) and excellent behaviour from all of our children, big and small. Later on this year, we’re looking forward to sharing our OPAL lunchtimes with parents/carers in a special Open Afternoon event. More details to follow nearer the time.
Next week, it’s book week! We’re looking forward to dressing as a word for World Book Day on Thursday 5th March. Also, we have our Spring Open Afternoons, all of which will be celebrating books and reading with you. Please join us if you can, Reception on Monday, Y1/2 on Tuesday, Y3/4 on Wednesday and Y5/6 on Friday, all from 2.00-3.00.
Children might have told you that we actually started book week early this year, with our West End Theatre workshops this week. Every class has participated in a West End theatre workshop based on the story of The Ugly Duckling. In the workshop, children developed their acting skills to re-tell the story, with brilliant role-play participation and enjoyment for everyone from Reception to Year 6. Thank you to our fabulous TSA for funding this workshop for every Tunbury child to attend. What an amazing opportunity!
Finally, I just wanted to share our congratulations to our Year 1 teacher formerly known as Miss Landa-Arrese, who got married over half term. We’re all trying to get used to the new name…. Congratulations, Mrs Nelson!
Have a lovely weekend everyone.
Best wishes
Ruth Austin
Headteacher
Notices
World Book Day on Thursday 5th March: dress as 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.
To give our celebrations an extra impact we’re inviting you to send us a photo of your child/children dressed up for the day, along with the word they represent, to us via email (social.media@tunbury.kent.sch.uk) so that we can share these photos on our Facebook page. Please take and send your photos before children come into school (we know that this is probably when they are looking at their best!) and we will share them as soon as we can, on the day, on our Facebook page. (Please note if you have sent in your child’s photo you are also authorising permission to publish this on our Facebook page).
Travelling Book Fair – The book fair will be in school from Thursday 5th to Tuesday 10th March. The children will have the opportunity to visit the book fair in their classes on Thursday 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.
World Book Day Lunch:
School Lunches: The procedure for ordering and paying for school lunches has not changed with our new provider, Peacock catering. Parents can order and pay for school lunches using the School Gateway app, which you can install from www.schoolgateway.com/apple (Apple) or www.schoolgateway.com/android (Android)
Reminder: all children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 can receive a school lunch every day, without having to pay, under Universal Infant Free School Meals.
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.
TSA, Gifts for Her, Present Room:
Vehicles on the school site: Please be advised that parents/carers are not permitted to drive their vehicles on to the school site, other than in an emergency situation. If you need to drop/collect your child or visit the school office at any time of the day, please park outside the school and enter the school via the front pedestrian gate.
Weekly Class Attendance: This is a weekly feature on our bulletin to highlight and celebrate good levels of attendance. This week we have three classes who have managed to get 100% attendance. Well done to our KS2 winners Sapphire, Emerald and Scarlet class for their fantastic work. Our KS1 winners are Pink class with a brilliant 98.46%. Keep up the great work everyone!
|
Class |
Weekly Attendance Percentage |
|
Sapphire |
☆100%☆ |
|
Emerald |
☆100%☆ |
|
Scarlet |
☆100%☆ |
|
Magenta |
98.81% |
|
Pink |
☆98.48%☆ |
|
Violet |
98.39% |
|
Red |
98.33% |
|
Azure |
97.44% |
|
Yellow |
97.22% |
|
Crimson |
97.02% |
|
Lavender |
96.83% |
|
Amber |
96.79% |
|
Bears |
96.79% |
|
Ruby |
96.67% |
|
Owls |
95.68% |
|
Lilac |
95.65% |
|
Turquoise |
95.40% |
|
Blue |
95.00% |
|
Indigo |
90.8% |
Tunbury Primary School Facebook: Please take a look at Tunbury Primary School | Chatham | Facebookand follow us to keep up to date with all things Team Tunbury.
Team Points: Children are already earning Team Points, but our first total of the new term will be in next week’s bulletin.
New term, new learning: To find out information about what your child will be learning this term, as well as home learning and other relevant notices from their class teachers, please read our Term 4 Topic Newsletters. These will be emailed home today and will also be available on our website at Tunbury Primary School - Year groups
Dates for your Diary
Term dates for 2025/26: www.tunbury.kent.sch.uk/Parents/Term-Dates-25-26/
Term dates for 2026/27: www.tunbury.kent.sch.uk/Parents/Term-Dates-26-27/ NEW
Term 4
Monday 2nd – Friday 6th March - Book Week
Monday 2nd March - Reception Open Afternoon 2.00-3.00
Tuesday 3rd March - Y1/2 Open Afternoon 2.00-3.00
Wednesday 4th March - Y3/4 Open Afternoon 2.00-3.00
Thursday 5th – Tuesday 10th March – Travelling Book Fair in School
Thursday 5th March - World Book Day
Friday 6th March - Y5/6 Open Afternoon 2.00-3.00
Tuesday 11th, Wednesday 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
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 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
