The Courier

On Wednesday 4 July pupils at the Crescent School welcomed an exciting four-legged visitor to their assembly.  Accompanied by her puppy walker, 17-weeks old Guide Dog puppy, Crescent, named after the school, was beautifully behaved.

Earlier in the year the school had presented the Guide Dogs for the Blind with a cheque for £1,685 after running a number of different fund raising events.  Their donation allowed the children to sponsor a puppy and to choose its name.

Crescent (or Cressie for short) was born shortly afterwards and has now begun her puppy training.  Her puppy walker, Becky Macintosh, brought Crescent into school earlier than is normal to make sure all of the children involved in the fundraising had a chance to see her before the end of term.

Crescent and Becky were accompanied by Guide Dog representative Heather Gelder and her new trainee guide dog Zeke.  Heather explained to the children the sorts of training that Crescent will undergo whilst she is with her puppy walker, starting with basic training such as learning to walk on a lead and eventually activities and experiences such as getting used to travelling on a bus or train.  After 14 months Crescent’s progress will be assessed and if she is suitable she will move on to formal Guide Dog training.

All of the children really enjoyed meeting Crescent and Zeke who both behaved very well in assembly even when the children were singing.

The school's Parents Association, Friends of Crescent, who organised all of the fundraising activities were also present and Zara Corbin, Chair of the FoC, thanked the children for all their fundraising efforts.

There was just time for a few quick photos before it was back to class for the children and Crescent could tick off another successful new experience on her way to becoming a fully trained guide dog.

Arguably one of the best defenders in the Superleague, Wasps Netballer Samantha May visited the Crescent School on Tuesday 3 July to run a special coaching session for Crescent’s Year 3-6 girls.

Back in March the girls had visited the Ricoh Arena to watch Wasps defeat the Celtic Dragons in a Superleague match. They had been mesmerised by the speed of the match-play and then after the match the girls had really enjoyed going court-side to meet the players. Head of Girls Games, Mrs Rachel McCollin had organised this follow up training session to capitalise on the girls’ fascination with the professional Superleague sport and as a reward for their commitment and dedication to netball over the year.

Australian Samantha, who plays in Goal Defence/Wing Defence, began the intensive coaching session with a warm up game of cat-and-mouse that encouraged the girls to be quick on their feet. She then moved on to a series of netball drills that tested the girls’ physical skills as well as their ability to think tactically. They practised attacking, stealing the ball and passing fluidly and accurately. She encouraged them to stay focused and look for quick clear shots and, in the baking summer sunshine, the 32 girls, who all have a keen interest in the sport, learnt about the importance of timing and good communication.

Mrs McCollin said, “We are very grateful to Samantha for coming to visit us, the girls have really enjoyed the training session and will have gained valuable experience from their time with a professional player. Wasps play in the Superleague Final this weekend and we will all be cheering them on.”

Crescent School's Summer Concert took place on Thursday 5 July.  It was well attended with the school hall packed with parents and family members eager to enjoy the end of term celebration of fine music and song.

As always the school orchestra opened the concert performing two pieces confidently.  The audience very much enjoyed ‘Cotton Mill Blues’ and ‘Fidgety Feet’ both by Terry Kenny.  Then came the first many instrumental solos with Sophie Causer’s rendition of ‘Easy Tiger’ by Pamela Wedgwood played beautifully on trumpet.

Brass Group were up next with two lively toe-tapping pieces 'The Muppet Show' and 'Five Hundred Miles', both arranged by peripatetic teacher, Di Fisher and hot on their heels were Mini Brass who this time captivated us all with ‘Twinkle Twinkle March’ also arranged by Di Fisher.

Next in the programme came Clara Woolf on cornet with a fabulous hum-a-long performance of the 'Theme from the Pink Panther’ by Henry Mancini and Samuel Lau on violin who skilfully played ‘Romantic Piece’ by Dvorak.

The concert continued with the Flute Group who delightedly played two pieces by M Orriss ‘A Muster of Peacocks’ and ‘A Parliament of Owls’ and Olivia Sarkies who stayed on stage to perform a flute solo of ‘Birk’s Works’ by Dizzy Gillespie.  Everyone then enjoyed Recorder Group’s haunting performance of the traditional ‘Skye Boat Song’ and Gabriel White’s skilful playing of ‘The Climb’ by Miley Cyrus.

The audience were impressed by Classes III and IV who next took to the stage to give a super space inspired performance of three pieces by Mary Green and Julie Stanley, ‘The Planets’, ‘Poor Little Pluto' and ‘Gravity’.

Christopher Gibson was next with a recorder solo of ‘Fish and Chips’ by Alan Bullard and then we had the wonderful Wacky Music with their amazing and colourful instruments, especially the boomwhackers, who noisily played 'Wacky Saints', much to the enjoyment of the audience.

The concert continued with Oliver Bell skilfully playing his trumpet solo, 'Prelude' by Charpentier.

Class VI beautifully and appropriately sang ‘Gonna Fly Now’ by Alfred.  They were followed by Robyn Shaw and Ella Knight whose super performance of Anderson and Ulvaeus’ moving ‘Slipping through my Fingers’ had us all on the brink of tears.

The concert concluded with a rousing performance by the Choir. Pupils sang four pieces all by Mark and Helen Johnson, ‘Taking my Time’, ‘The Losing Things Song’, ‘Hip Hip Hooray’ and ‘Leavers’ Song’.

It was another outstanding afternoon of music and song.  Our enormous thanks and congratulations go to all Crescent School's accomplished performers who took to the stage in front of their proud parents, and of course to all their teachers and Director of Music, Julie Barnes who have helped them achieve so much.

It is with great pleasure that I am able to inform you about the development of the roles and responsibilities for the children in Class VI. As you know, it is the year when the class have a responsible presence around the school and have various duties.

From September, we will still have Head Boy and Head Girl. The children who are interested in these positions will need to apply to Mr Thackway for this role in the first week of term, stating what qualities they have for this position.

There will be Team Captains appointed in each of the main sports rather than Sport Prefects. This will allow more children to have the opportunity to help lead their team alongside Mr Phillips and Mrs McCollin. These positions will be decided by the sports staff and announced during the year.

Each House is going to have extra duties and responsibilities to perform. They will work as a team, co-ordinated by their House Captain and House Teacher. Children who would like to be considered as a House Captain will need to apply to their House Teacher in the first week of term; they will prepare a brief speech to explain to their House why they should be chosen for the role. The House will then vote for their chosen Captain. This vote will be considered alongside the view of the staff.

The table below shows the responsibilities each House will have through the year, changing team each term. The House Captain will play an important part in organising the rotas for these responsibilities.

Another new initiative that will be introduced by Mrs McCollin is for each House team to be trained to be Play Leaders. Mrs McCollin will work with each House Team for one day, developing the skills needed to be a good Play Leader. She will monitor their activity and reward them accordingly. The House Team will help organise and work with younger children in the playground.

We believe all of these developments will give the children more responsibility, increased maturity and develop a range of skills that will serve them well as they move on to their Senior School.

On Tuesday 3 July, we were delighted to listen to Eden Iles from Class III playing a beautiful piece of music, Ballerina, during our whole school hymn practice.

Eden has been playing the harp for two years and has grown in confidence as she practises and continues her lessons out of school.

Mrs Barnes informed us that she is the first harpist that we have had at Crescent School and we look forward to future performances. 

Well done Eden!

On Tuesday afternoon we invited parents into school for our second Open Book Afternoon.  Parents always enjoy the school’s Open Corridor sessions when they have the chance to look at the displays but the Open Book Afternoon offers the chance to get a much deeper insight into their children’s learning.

We were delighted that so many of you were able to join us, with more than double the number of attendees than last year.  Feedback has again been good and the children were clearly delighted to show off their super work.

Thank you for your continuing support.

Ahead of England's Quarter-Final excitement, Mr Thackway held a special one-off World Cup Sticker swap club during morning break on Tuesday 3 July. 

Children gathered in the Library to trade their Panini stickers and Match Attacks with Mr Thackway and everyone did very well with their swaps. Lots of very fair deals were completed and Mr Thackway now only needs 86 for the set! 

A special shout out goes to Sam Bierton who proved to be Mr Thackway's best swap partner. Well done all!