The Courier

Our Crescent family always enjoys our school concerts, with so many wonderful performances by our young musicians. So, although the country may be in lockdown, Director of Music, Julie Barnes, was determined that Crescent’s music lovers weren’t going to miss out on their termly treat.

So thanks to her dedication and with a bit of help from technology, the Crescent School will shortly present 22 talented young musicians in its first ever ‘Socially Distanced Virtual Concert’.

Each of the children has pre-recorded their concert performances at home and sent the video through to Mrs Barnes. The individual clips have been put together into a programme of pieces. They include musicians from Year 2 through to Year 6 and a mix of traditional and contemporary pieces, and we think this concert is going to be inspiring and amazing.

Comments Mrs Barnes “The lockdown was certainly not going to stop us having our concert. They are always such a highlight of the term. The children were all incredible, they really pulled out all the stops and put together in the one video, well we could just be performing in the school hall. Our first ‘virtual’ concert will capture everyone’s imagination.”

Introduced by Mrs Barnes, the concert includes instantly recognisable favourites such as The Pink Panther, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Fly Me To The Moon, Dr Who and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

A link to the concert will be shared with parents next week. Well done to all of the participants, it is going to be wonderful entertainment for us all!!

It has been great to see the examples the children and families have been sending in from our House Eco Challenge this afternoon, what an environmentally creative bunch we have at Crescent school.

Please can all entries be in by Wednesday 28 May 2020 to homelearning@crescentschool.co.uk  stating your child's name and House in the message title.  

Last year, Year 6 pupil, Daniel Ovens Gibbs, read an impressive 6 million words and 65 books. This year 11-year-old Daniel has gone one step better. By the beginning of May, Daniel was at an amazing 7 million words from an astonishing 89 books and he just keeps ploughing on.

Determined not to be outdone Daniel’s younger brother 9-year-old Drew is getting in on the act. So far Year 4 pupil, Drew has clocked up 3 million words from 39 books.

Assistant Head, Sarah Webb, who leads on literacy at the Crescent School, explains, “We have a very positive reading culture here at Crescent, it is cool for boys to read, many of our boys in Year 6 have the reading age of a 16-year-old. There are just so many good books out there for boys to read these days.”

The Crescent’s approach to literacy is supported by Renaissance’s Accelerated Reader system. Children take a quiz after reading each book that tests their understanding. Its approach promotes reading for pleasure whilst ensuring the children read appropriately challenging books. It also totals up the books and words read.

Sarah, continues, “Pupils from Year 3 onwards take part in the reading challenge and can quiz daily on the computers before school. We find the boys respond really well to the competitive nature of the challenge. We like to get parents involved too and hold a week every term when parents can come in and quiz with their children. It is wonderful that the boys are so enthusiastic about their reading. Daniel is our top reader again this year and the first ever to reach seven million words.”

What an awe-inspiring achievement - really remarkable reading boys!

Year 3, Ellie is a simply, sensational reader and at the tender age of 8-years-old has just finished JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series. In the last three months Ellie has devoured the wonderful wizarding stories, that can often be found on the reading lists for children in secondary school.

On Accelerated Reader Ellie has quizzed on all the books achieving an average pass rate of 90% which is way above the target set by her teacher Sam Stapleton. Whizz-ard kid Ellie has read so many words during lockdown that she is now close to becoming a double millionaire.

Reading is so important for children, supporting the development of their language and literacy skills as well as enabling their imaginations and helping to enrich their lives.

Ellie’s reading achievement is absolutely amazing, and we are all super impressed with her wizardry literacy skills.

A reminder for Year 5 Parents.

You will need to register interest in your child taking the 11+ in September by 29 June 2020, please do not worry as this does not commit you in anyway:

https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/grammar-schools-11-test/register-11-test/1

Shortly after half term you will be invited for an extended consultation meeting with Ms Forth and Mrs Webb. This will focus on your child's attainment up to this point and a realistic discussion on entrance tests and secondary school destinations.

The dates for these meetings are the afternoons of Monday 15 and Tuesday 16 June. They follow the Year 5 report that will be published Friday 12 June 2020.

For those dyslexics amongst us who are finding home learning tricky, I thought I would share some useful strategies! 

I hope you find this poster of interest. 

Please find below the links to all the 'virtual' assemblies that have been sent to Pupils during Home Learning.

Crescent School

We receive First News in school every week for the children to peruse. As they are currently unable to deliver printed copies, they are sharing the newspaper as a PDF: 

15 May 2020

I hope you are all enjoying this great newspaper, even as an adult, I enjoy reading it.

Mrs Webb
Assistant Head

The Philosophy man has updated his page, take a look for some interesting riddles and questions to share over half-term:

www.thephilosophyman.com/brainsqueezers

We thought you would all enjoy some book recommendations from your teachers. As a special half term treat this week four teachers share their favourite books.  Have you read any of them? If not why not give them a try.

Mrs Stapleton:
The Faraway Tree Series by Enid Blyton
My childhood was full of Enid Blyton books - especially The Faraway Tree series where I immersed myself in the different lands and adventures at the top. My favourite characters were Saucepan Man and Silky the fairy and I always wished I could have a go on the slide that went down the middle of the trunk! 

Take a look at another competition for you budding writers.  

Ask your child to write a story of up to 300 words, using the theme BIG DREAMS. Submit it by midnight on 28 May. They can interpret the theme however they like: an epic fantasy inspired by a dream, an amazing adventure that takes place in another world, or a true-to-life story set in an imaginary school. 

More details here:

National Book Tokens and Puffin Writing Competition

Children can win a £10 National Book Token for themselves and each of their classmates – and surprise them all when schools reopen! 
 
While children are at home, encourage them to create a National Book Token design for our competition. Whether it's the school crest doodled in ink, a pencil drawing of the entire class, or something completely different, the competition organisers will choose one child's design to put on a National Book Tokens gift card every week for seven weeks. 
 
When schools open up again, the young designer and their classmates will each receive a £10 National Book Token – emblazoned with the winning artwork – to inspire them to choose their next favourite book from their local bookshop.

Please follow this link to enter:

Book Token Competition

Mrs Webb
Assistant Head

This is the fifth year of Birmingham Museum's popular Inspire Art Competition.

With the current lockdown they want to put some positivity back in our lives and, working online, they are still welcoming submissions. They can’t wait to see what you come up with at this time, including all the different art-forms that are possible even while most of us are staying at home.

This year the competition is called What I Can See, it is designed to help us all think about things in our homes, gardens, skies, views, and even in our imaginations and thoughts. So what might this mean to you?

Your art submission could be a poem, still life response, a painting in the garden, portrait, photo, digital drawing or video, a mud sculpture, a pen drawing … there is no right or wrong. What I Can See is a way of sharing and communicating your ideas and energies to others at a time when it is needed the most.

Click here for further details and do let me know if you submit an entry.

TT Rockstars have got in touch with GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS about how fast some of our times tables rockers are getting. After some conversations they have created a new title - "the highest score achieved on ‘Times Tables Rock Stars in one minute!"

Full details how to enter can be found here.