The Courier

Dear Parents

We all enjoyed a beautiful Carol Service at the Rugby Baptist Church on Monday evening.  The dense fog and freezing temperatures gave the town a real Dickensian feel and all of the congregation went away with a warm, tingly Christmas feeling to set them up for their holidays. I was really proud of all the children who performed and behaved in a way that I am sure gave you as much pleasure as it did to all of the staff here.

I have copied below my Christmas message for any of you who were unable to attend.

This is an abbreviated version of the Courier after a two-day week in school but will give you a taste of just some of the many achievements and successes of the children over the last half term.  

I would also like to wish each and every one of the Courier readers a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

 

 

Mr Thackway's Christmas Message:

Who can think of some symbols of Christmas?  Put it this way, if you look at the pictures on your Christmas cards they are usually illustrated with wintry scenes and adorned with snowmen, robins, holly, reindeer, baubles, Santa and gifts and possibly the odd angel or scene form the stable in Bethlehem.

Now do you know what I think is the real symbol of Christmas at the Crescent this year? A lamb. (At this point I introduced my son's cuddly lamb, affectionately known as "Little Sheepy Thing").  When you think of a lamb you probably think of spring so it might seem odd for a Christmas service but I think this little lamb is what our Crescent Christmas is all about.

We started our Christmas assemblies this term on the theme of giving. I asked the children the old and rather thorny question; is it better to give or to receive?  Are you looking forward to getting lots of shiny and expensive gifts, your PS4s or your new iPads, or are you excited because you are planning a special gift for someone in your family, maybe a special picture for Grandma or a knitted egg cosy for mum.  Of course, like good Crescent pupils they all agreed it was the real meaning of Christmas to give rather than to get; at least they said they did!

On this theme we have been collecting donations of goodies for the Rugby foodbank and we have managed to accumulate a real horde.  We really ought to thank our very own Good Samaritan Mrs Olner for organising this.  Mrs Olner, you set an example for us all to follow.

People often talk about the "real" meaning of Christmas and for me it's there in the story of the shepherds. In those days there were still wild animals, like lions and bears and snakes, in the hills and fields around towns like Bethlehem and being a shepherd, armed probably with no more than a stick and a pile of rocks, was the job of the poor and disadvantaged.  When they heard of the birth of a new baby they asked themselves; what can we give, poor as we are?  Unlike the kings who came from the east, they had no gold or expensive perfumes to offer.

Instead, they brought what they could and they offered him a lamb. We cannot underestimate the value of a young lamb to these people, it was their livelihood and their one and only source of what little wealth they had.  A female lamb could grow to have two lambs every year for years of come.  In their gift was a real sacrifice and it showed their genuine love and devotion.

Now of course the world we live in is a very different one but children I hope that the gifts that you are giving this Christmas are given with real thought and love.  You might think this sounds silly but I will promise you that if you can give something to someone in your family that you have made or worked hard on, or something that shows your love and appreciation for all that they have done for you over the year, this will mean more to them than all of the extravagant riches offered by Amazon Prime, John Lewis or Marks and Spencers put together.