Skip to content ↓
Tudor Primary School

Tudor Primary School

The children have spoken... find out what they think of THEIR school...

Newsletter 8

Thursday 9th January 2025

Dear Parents/Carers of Tudor Primary School,

All at Tudor Primary wish a ‘Happy New Year’ to everyone in our school community. Whilst we can look back on the autumn term with pride, we know that the new spring term (and 2025 as a year!) will bring lots of fun, enjoyment and PROGRESS for the children of #TeamTudor. We can look forward to some significant upgrades to the main school building this year- works will include installation of a new boiler and heating system. This project alone will take approximately half a year to complete. I have been a headteacher long enough now to realise that the job is not simply about teaching and learning, but ensuring that everything is planned, organised and delivered to meet the varied needs of 500 children and staff on a large site that needs constant attention! It must always be our aspirations for the children that drive us and our Tudor thematic curriculum is a key part of our approach. We are confident that our children TRULY enjoy how learning activities are presented as they become deeply immersed in their theme each term. This is evidenced by an ability to use their new learning across the curriculum.

The themes for the spring term 2025 are:

EYFS- Magic

Year 1 and Year 2- Wings, Wheels and Waves (focus on transport)

Year 3 and Year 4- Up Pompeii (focus on Roman history)

Year 5 and Year 6- Spaceship Earth (focus on space)

Do keep an eye on our website year group/ class blogs so you can find out more about life at Tudor. As well as more detailed information about the curriculum content, there are regular updates (and photos) about what is going on in your child’s classroom. Look at what year 5 were getting up to in the last week of term- EVERY DAY COUNTS!

The children of Tudor have SPOKEN!

In December, the school completed a comprehensive review and analysis of the views of the children at Tudor. As previous newsletters have highlighted, pupil voice remains a central part of our self-moderation- the children do not hold back from sharing what they think. In addition to children in early years and year 1 talking about their experiences of school, EVERY child from year 2 to year 6 was able to grade their personal view on key areas of our school. It was graded from 1 (best) to 4 (least effective) so the lower number is, the more successful Tudor is. Whilst we are able to analyse results for different groups (including a range of social factors) the overall results are shown here:

https://www.tudor.herts.sch.uk/_site/data/files/images/auto_upload/page/111/9FFEF683F91F63D5E869A68298592699.png

As well as responding to questions, the children could also freely record about the things they MOST like about coming to school. The following word cloud displays the responses to ‘What I like most about Tudor Primary’. The bigger the word, the more children recorded that response!

I am pleased that a LOT of evidence informs us that our children are very successful, it DELIGHTS me to see that they are incredibly happy in school too

Inclusion at Tudor Primary- a message from Miss Reading- our Leader for Inclusion:

Supporting Links are offering a range of Parenting Support Groups and courses during the spring term, each group runs over 6 weekly sessions and is offered FREE of charge to parents. Groups include: Talking Additional Needs,  Talking Families, Talking Dads and Talking Anxiety in the Family.  To find out more information and to book a place, please use the following link: https://www.supportinglinks.co.uk/whatson.html. Every half term I organise a 'Tudor Coffee Morning', if there is a particular topic you would like to discuss or find out more information about, during one of these sessions, please do let me know.

Spring term clubs

Applications for after school clubs were shared with parents in a separate letter earlier this week. Please ensure that you reply by Tuesday 14th January. An outline of our after-school club opportunities is shown on the below- these are in addition to our super school breakfast and after school provision which ensures that we offer care from 7.45am until 6pm EVERY day.  

Mid-year parent meetings are not far off!

The sharing with parents of mid-year reports is on Monday 10th February and Thursday 13th February. Do note the change to a Monday for the first parent evening- this is due to Miss Williams and the school choir performing at Wembley Arena on Tuesday 11th February as part of Young Voices. In our next newsletter there will be information on booking those vital parent partnership meetings.

Burger Day and the Spring School Census- To support with numbers for the spring school census (and helping with school funding!) the kitchen team are offering a fun burger menu on Thursday 16th January.

We hope that lots of children choose a school meal on this day, or any day. After all, we have a super kitchen team at Tudor!

Important Dates:

Class Assemblies: 

3T on Thurs 23rd Jan

2Q on Thurs 6th Feb

2R on Thurs 13th Feb.

Parent Consultations: 

Monday 10th and Thursday 13th February

Nursery Applications for 2025-2026- our youngest Tudorites

There continues to be huge interest in places at Tudor Primary and it is clear that new families have to live very close to the school to be allocated a place. The closing date for nursery applications is Friday 21st March. Tours are also available if you would like to come and visit. For more information, follow: https://www.tudor.herts.sch.uk/page/?title=Pupil+Admissions&pid=116

A KEY metric of school success…

Due to my determination to raise aspiration and increase a commitment to education from some parents when I first arrived at Tudor, attendance of children has been a key focus for school improvement. If children are not ‘able’ to attend regularly, it will undoubtedly affect their opportunities for the future. We should, therefore, be absolutely thrilled with the current attendance data for the school. As the screenshots on below highlight, our 6.6% rate of persistent absentees is now way below the national average with only 5% of schools better. Only 12% of schools have higher overall attendance too. (We’re at 96.1% but we still are aiming for 97% though!)

From building enhanced partnerships, to high quality morning provision and standards of communication and care, we must all remain committed to what all children need and deserve- a rewarding and fulfilling experience of school.  

Well done EVERYONE- Let’s enjoy a tremendous Tudor 2025…

Mr Weightman

#TeamTudor