The Courier

It is with great sadness that we inform you that we have heard that Chris Vickers (Headteacher 2000-2002) passed away last week. She had been ill for some time.

Chris had taught maths and science both in this country and in the USA. She was Head of Science at Westland’s High School before it became part of Bilton High, and Head of Physics at Newbold Grange High School, which later became Avon Valley School.

In the mid-1980s Chris took up a post teaching maths and science at Crescent School, and was involved in the move from Horton Crescent to our present site. Headmaster Ian Wren appointed her as Deputy Head and when he retired in 2000 she took on the role of acting Headteacher, staying on an extra year until Huw Marshall was appointed in 2002.

After retiring from Crescent she became Chair of Governors, and Chair of Performance and Standards Committee at Bilton Infant School, having lived opposite the school for nearly 40 years. She had a Master’s Degree in Education Management and also worked as a School Inspector. Chris’ daughter, Laura, also taught Art at the Crescent School for a few years. Chris will be remembered as an excellent teacher, Deputy and Head, who was firm but fair and kind too.

Sports Day was blisteringly hot, but the Crescent’s pupils are made of strong stuff and not even a dust devil, a strong whirlwind column of air, whipping across the field could put them of their stride.  Race after race, event after event our outstanding young athletes, leapt, threw and ran, surpassing many previous achievements to make this year’s Sports Day another super, smashing, record breaking success.

Our combined Prep and Pre-Prep Sports Day took place on Monday 25 June.  The school travelled the short distance to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Track in Rugby, to make use of their fantastic athletics facilities.

The Pre-Prep children enjoyed all the usual traditional sports day races including sprints, egg and spoon, skipping and the ever popular obstacle race. Then after a break to refuel, they finished their competition with the relay shuttle race.

The Prep children took part in sprints, a middle distance 800m race, the Long Jump and High Jump, a Throwing Challenge and the Relay Race.  All of the events were hotly contested and plenty of new school records were set. They included:

• Year 4 Long Jump - George Bell - 3.56m - Red House
• Year 4 Throw - Josh Gorbutt - 32.9m - Red House
• Year 5/6 High Jump - Matthew Browne - 1.24m - Red House
• Year 5/6 Long Jump - Oliver Bell - 4m - Red House
• Year 5/6 Throwing - Gabriel White - 41.6m - Yellow House

At the Crescent, Sports Day isn’t just about the competition, it is all about the participation. Every child ran in a sprint and every child took part in an individual event and, most importantly, every child had fun.  As is always the case the children’s behaviour was impeccable, they offered support and encouragement to each other and congratulated and commiserated with good heart.

At the end of the afternoon Mr Thackway announced the House results and presented the trophies.  

• Years 1 and 2 Overall - Blue House
• Years 3 and 4 Overall - Yellow House
• Years 5 and 6 Overall - Red House

A big thank you to all of the staff involved, and also to the Princethorpe Prefects who came over to help out.

It was a fabulous, fun-filled, super, sporty, sunny afternoon!

On Tuesday 26 June, Crescent Reception children joined together with their Pathfinder friends for our EYFS Sports Day.

On an extremely hot day, parents were treated to children all involved, all active and all enjoying a series of events. These included javelin throwing, sprints, obstacle races and relays.

This all took place in a competitive but supportive environment with the winners being congratulated by all the children and the nurturing of a hopefully lifelong love of sport.

I am bowing to popular demand and offering a one-off World Cup Sticker swap club in Class VI at morning break on Tuesday 3 July. Anyone with swaps of their Panini stickers or Match Attacks is welcome to come along to trade them.

The real reason for this is that it gives me a chance to get rid of some swaps of my own and boost my son’s collection!

Best wishes

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

29 September 2018

As many of you know, 2018 is a big year for Crescent School. Not only will we celebrate our 70th birthday and mark the 30th anniversary since we moved to our Bawnmore Road home, it is also the year that we have launched our past pupils’ association - Old Crescentians!

To mark our Platinum Anniversary and celebrate our rich history, Crescent School is holding a series of events over the Michaelmas Term. These events will provide the opportunity for Old Crescentians (pupils, parents, staff and governors) to meet with each other, members of our current community including our new Headmaster, Joe Thackway, and to see the school today.

Our first event will be an Open House on Saturday 29 September, where we will open our doors from 2.00pm to 4.00pm and welcome the Crescent community past and present back into school to celebrate our double anniversary.

Following the afternoon’s festivities, we are holding a wonderful Dinner Dance at Princethorpe College. The perfect chance to reminisce over a delicious 3-course meal, with live music and dancing. The dress code for the evening will be black tie and equivalent for ladies.

Tickets will cost £40 per head and each person can apply for two tickets. We are keen to ensure that all members of the Crescent community have an equal chance of attending so tickets will be allocated on a lottery basis.

We would be delighted to receive your application for tickets via an online form between 10.00am Saturday 30 June and 6.00pm on Saturday 14 July. Please visit: http://bit.ly/CS_DDTickets18 to enter the lottery for tickets.

A ticket lottery will then be drawn and applicants will be notified wc Monday 16 July 2018 as to whether they have been successful or not. Notification will be made by email.

If successful, you will be requested to make full payment for the tickets by Friday 3 August 2018, this can be done by cheque or BACS payment and details will be provided. In the event of over subscription we will operate a waiting list.

Do put the date in your diary and encourage any Old Crescentians you know to get back in touch with the school and to come and join in the celebrations!

Other events we have lined up for the Michaelmas term include:

OCs Inaugural Pub Meet – The Merchants Inn – Friday 23 November from 6.30pm

A pub famed for its collection of real-ale and love of rugby, The Merchants Inn is nestled on Little Church Street in the heart of Rugby town centre. A great chance to get together in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere – all are welcome including partners/friends.

Crescent Platinum Anniversary Carol Service – The Temple Speech Rooms, Rugby School – Monday 17 December, 6.30pm

Going back to our roots, we are delighted to be holding a special Platinum Anniversary Carol Service at Rugby School in the Temple Speech Rooms close to our original Horton Crescent home. The perfect way to round off the Michaelmas term, join us for a mince pie or two and some wonderful performances by current Crescent pupils.

More information will follow about these events in the coming months.

We have created a Facebook Group, Old Crescentians, which can be found here: www.facebook.com/groups/oldcrescentians to help connect past pupils. If there are any past pupils who do not have Facebook, they can email pastpupils@crescentschool.co.uk or contact the main office on 01788 521595.

We hope you will join us for what will be a wonderful celebration of 70 years.

Next term we are celebrating the Platinum Anniversary of the opening of the Crescent School. To mark the occasion we have a number of events planned.

It is important that the children are aware of the history of our school and are a part of our celebrations. So we are planning an 'off timetable' day in the second week of term where we will look at and experience social history over the past 70 years. On this day we are asking all children and staff to dress in the fashion associated with any of the decades from 1940 to the modern day. Hopefully by informing you now, you can have fun over the school holidays creating your child's outfit.

It will be lovely to see the children coming to school dressed from any of these distinctive decades.