text: Tunbury Primary School - Weekly Bulletin: Friday 18th December 2020
  Weekly Bulletin: Friday 18th December 2020
  The Autumn term is always a long journey, with plenty of excitement, learning and happy memories, and despite everything, this year has been no exception. Together, we have come such a long way since those first days back at school in September, when children returned to a 'new normal' after up to 6 months away. We are really proud of how well children have adapted, showing a positive attitude, determination, resilience and enthusiasm for learning. Great job Team Tunbury!
  This week in school, children have enjoyed plenty of Christmas themed learning, as well as some Christmas fun, ending with this afternoon's Christmas parties. Our TSA kindly provided children with an online pantomime (for KS2) or puppet show (for Reception and KS1). They even managed to find us a couple of special visitors today…. Rudolf and Santa!
  We understand that as Covid cases rise locally, this is a worrying time for our families. This week has seen our highest number of classes self-isolating (3 of our 21 classes) as well as our lowest levels of in-school attendance. We are doing everything we can to minimise risks and keep our children, staff and families as safe as possible.
  On behalf of everyone at Tunbury, I would like to wish all of our school community a very Happy Christmas. I hope that you all enjoy a restful, safe and relaxing Christmas break. Please take care of yourselves and your families. We look forward to welcoming you all back to school for 2021, which hopefully will be totally unlike 2020!
  Reception have had a fun, food filled term! We've explored pumpkins and made soup, and this week, turned our hand to mince pies as part of our Christmas preparations. The big news this week was the outrageous discovery that the gingerbread men had escaped the classrooms after being iced so carefully by the children. Reception made plans, nets and traps to reclaim their treats. Will we ever catch them?
  In Maths, we've been learning numbers to 5, one more and one less - and are ready to have a go at bigger numbers in the New Year! We have now completed Phase 2 Phonics and are developing brilliant reading skills through decoding words, as well as observing pictures carefully. The children have enjoyed learning about the Christmas story through role play, and are excited to share their class nativity performances with their families today. We wish you and your families a wonderful break together and look forward to seeing you in the New Year.
  Covid-19: If you need to inform us of a positive Covid test result, please do so straight away using our office email address, office@tunbury.kent.sch.uk . In your message, please include the date of symptoms starting, the date of the test and your phone number. Thank you.
  Emails to the office will be monitored once per day during the first 6 days of the Christmas holidays. In the event of a positive test result for a pupil or staff member who has been in school during the two days prior to the onset of their symptoms, we will assist with contact tracing. For positive cases occurring later in the school holiday period, contact tracing will be provided by NHS Track and Trace, so there is no need to inform us at school.
  Looking ahead to January, you can also email office@tunbury.kent.sch.uk with notification of positive cases or self-isolation affecting your child's return to school. However, please be aware that emails will not be read until our INSET day on Monday 4th January. Children return to school for the start of the new term on Tuesday 5th January.
  Staffing: Today was our last day working with Miss Jones, before she moves on to a new challenge as a SEN teacher. We're also saying thank you and goodbye to our School Business Manager, Mrs Finch. Thank you Miss Jones and Mrs Finch for being part of Team Tunbury – we wish you both all the very best for the future!
  In other staffing news, we welcomed Miss Frampton to Tunbury this week as our new teacher for Magenta class. This is because Miss Gordon is beginning her maternity leave, with her new baby due in January.
  We have had a few updates to our staffing this term, mainly due to maternity leave, and an updated staffing grid is in the Parents/Letters and Forms section of this website for your information.
  Thank you: All Tunbury staff members would like to say a huge thank you for your kindness in sharing cards and gifts with us this Christmas. We really appreciate your support.
  Team Points: In a dramatic end to Term 2, Attenborough managed to overtake Holmes in the final week! Well done Attenborough! Children in Attenborough received extra break time today as a reward.
  TSA - Tunbury '50 Years' Tea Towels: For any children absent from school this week who have not received their tea towel order, the TSA have arranged a collection point for parents. This will be in the Catkin Close Car Park on Saturday 19th December between 9am and 11am. If you are not able to collect it at this time, they will be sent back to school in January.
  A huge thank you to Sarah Mingozzi and the TSA team for all of their hard work with the ordering and distribution of the Tunbury tea towels.
  Forest School: Tunbury are looking for more volunteers to help with our Forest School programme starting next term. We would like to hear from you if you would like to volunteer your time on a Monday, Wednesday or Thursday for the whole day or half day to help our children with their Forest School learning. You will need to wrap up warm and be prepared to get involved in the fun! If you would like to take part, please email the office with your name, days/times you are available and if you wish to work with a particular year group or all year groups. We look forward to hearing from you!
  iRock lessons: Spaces are available for the next sessions of iRock lessons which take place in our school hall on Friday mornings. Please see the letter in the Parents - Letters and Forms section of this website..