Weekly Bulletin: Monday 4th January 2021

Dear Parents/Carers, 

Welcome back to the new term and Happy New Year! Whilst the start of term will not be exactly as planned, we are looking forward to welcoming all children back to their learning tomorrow, either at home or at school. 

Information for all families: 

• Thank you for completing the online form regarding school places for vulnerable children and children of critical workers. We have 155 children attending school, with one ‘class’ group in school in each year group. Staffing arrangements are as follows (with teachers’ names in bold): 

•  These arrangements (for children’s attendance and staffing) are now in place for the first two weeks of term, ie Tuesday 5^th January – Friday 15^th January. Future school operation from Monday 18^th January will depend on future government guidance.
• We have updated our Covid risk assessment and this is published on our website at https://www.tunbury.kent.sch.uk/Parents/Letters-Forms/
• Forest School sessions, which were due to start this term for our Year 3 children, will now be postponed until the school is fully open.
• We are currently working on adjusting our offer for Catch-up sessions during this period. If your child had been invited to attend early morning Catch-up sessions in school, we will be in touch again later on this week. 

Information for families with children attending school: 

• Entry and exit into school: we are using the same gates and entry/exit procedures as during the Autumn term. However, we are shortening the entry/exit window to 5 minutes per year group, meaning that the new times are: 

• Our school kitchen is open and school meals will be provided in the same way as during the Autumn term. There will be a change to the menu for tomorrow, Tuesday 5^th January, when pizza will be served. Following this, the menu will be the same as last term starting with Week 1. Children can order a school meal with their class teacher at morning registration, as normal.
• Energy Kidz have informed us that they are remaining closed, so there is no breakfast or after-school club for the first two weeks of term.
• Music lessons will also not operate in school during the first two weeks of term.
• Our School Crossing Patrol will not be on duty during this period.
• PE lessons will operate as during the Autumn term, so children need to wear their PE kits to school on their normal PE days, starting tomorrow. As a reminder, normal PE days are:

  Monday: Year 5

  Tuesday: Year R and Year 3

  Wednesday: Year 2 and Year 6

  Thursday: Year 1 and Year 4

The only exception is that for this week only, Year 5 will have PE on Friday 8^th January, as they have missed their normal PE day due to today’s INSET day.

• If you have requested a school place but your child is absent for any reason, please contact the school office as normal to let us know.
• You will still receive emails about home learning for your child’s year group, even if your child is due to attend school. This is so that you have the relevant information to provide home learning in the event of any absence from school. 

Information for families with children learning at home:

• Teachers and teaching assistants are currently working on home learning arrangements for each year group and you will receive a separate email by the end of the day today with the relevant details. This will include information on learning and a link to access the live lessons.
• Children will be allocated to one of the two home learning teaching groups for each year group for their live lessons. If your child’s class teacher is leading home learning, your child will be with their normal class teacher. Live lessons will be led by a pair of Tunbury staff members working together (normally one teacher and one teaching assistant) as shown in staffing arrangements table.
• If your child is learning at home and you are entitled to Free School Meals (Universal Free School Meals in FS/KS1 or benefit related Free School Meals) parents are able to order a packed lunch to be collected from the school kitchen. Please email the school office office@tunbury.kent.sch.uk by 9.30 am daily if you would like to order this. 

Thank you for continuing to support your child’s learning during this period. The school office remains open as normal, so please contact us via phone or email with any further queries and we will do our very best to help. 

Best wishes

Ruth Austin

Headteacher