The Courier

Dear Parents

The poppy collection at school has gone very well this year, with lots of money being raised for a charity that we hold close to our hearts. Our Remembrance Day service was held on the school playground with all of the children present and listening to prayers and reflections from children in Year 2 and 6. We had a very poignant, note perfect rendition of the Last Post and a beautifully observed two minutes of silence. Well done to everybody who took part in the ceremony.

In school we have also been thinking about the COP 26 conference that has been taking place in Glasgow over the last two weeks. We enjoyed an excellent assembly from Mrs Stapleton on Tuesday that was very accessible for all ages and helped us to think about what we can do in our own lives to reduce our carbon footprint. We have had mini-COP conferences in Year 5 and 6 as well to reinforce the enormous importance of these issues.

In trustees' meetings over recent weeks, we have been developing strategies for how we can work towards carbon neutrality across the schools of the Foundation in the future, as many of you will be doing in your own businesses. There is much to do in this area.

Another event I will give special mention to is the Learning Mentor meetings last Friday. All of the children from Year 1 to 6 have now met their mentor for the year ahead and sat down with them to agree targets for progress. Self-regulation is such an important part of learning, and this is a great way to develop that in the children as well as building their growth mindset and the belief that they can achieve anything they set their hearts and minds on.

Well done to our Year 6 children who took their Princethorpe College exams on Saturday. For many of them, this will be the last exam of the term and I do hope they can all now settle into enjoying their final year in school without the worry of examinations. Many also took the 11 plus paper back in September, and other children have sat exams for other independent tools in the local area. I look forward to sharing all the details of their achievements with you later in the year.

I hope you all enjoy the weekend with your children.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

Below is the link for next week's school calendar:  

Weekly Calendar - 15 November 2021 

Reception Construction Club, Outdoor Learning and Yoga have now switched to Group 2.

Please check SOCS for all dates.

After School provision can be booked through My School Portal:

MySchoolPortal 

Crescent School

The Crescent School in Bilton, Rugby, has received the highest possible ratings across all criteria from the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) following an inspection in September 2021. The report, which has just been published, consists of two elements, a focused compliance inspection, encompassing statutory standards, and an educational quality inspection evaluating the achievement of pupils, including their academic and personal development.

Headmaster, Joe Thackway, comments “We are thrilled with the report, it is a real vote of confidence for everything we do here at Crescent School and reflects a huge team effort. Every single member of staff shares the same care and devotion to the education and wellbeing of the wonderful children entrusted to our care and I believe this sentiment shines through every word of the report.”

Mr Thackway continues, “Academic achievement and personal development are two key benchmarks for any successful school and being graded as excellent in both of these broad areas demonstrates the incredible talent, commitment and professionalism of our staff, the outstanding attitude and approach of our pupils and the support of our parents.”

During the inspection, the ISI inspectors observed that, ‘Pupils have excellent and positive attitudes to learning’, that ‘They are highly curious, resilient learners’, and that ‘Pupils’ excellent knowledge, skills and understanding are reflected in their achievements across the curriculum’. The report also says, ‘Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage attain well above national age-related expectations’, ‘Older pupils consistently exceed expectations for their age and abilities’, ‘Pupils are consistently successful in entrance examinations to their first-choice school’, and that ‘Many pupils win scholarships for music, drama, art, sport and academic achievement’.

Pupils’ personal development was also judged as ‘excellent’ with inspectors recognising that ‘behaviour is excellent’, that pupils ‘behave with empathy and care towards one another’ and that ‘the open and embedded culture of kindness underpinned by deep mutual respect ensures successful outcomes for all’.

The ISI Inspectors also noted that, parental feedback ‘praised the school’s preparation of former pupils who had successfully and easily transitioned into their new senior school’.

Mr Thackway concludes, “At Crescent School we are committed to providing our pupils with an outstanding all-round education, instilling in our children life-long learning skills while fostering the qualities of kindness, tolerance and mutual respect. I am very pleased that ISI Inspectors have so comprehensively recognised what we do.”

The ISI is the Government-approved body responsible for the inspection of independent schools and they consider every aspect of the provision. A copy of the full report is available from the Crescent School website here.

Crescent School gathered in the playground on Thursday 11 November to mark Remembrance Day.

Prayers were read by Evelyn, Tomisin, Evie, Rohan, Mr Thackway and Ms Forth. Head Girl Evie played the Last Post beautifully to signal the start of the one minute silence.  We were very proud of the children who observed the silence impeccably.

A short video from the service has been circulated to parents.

Crescent School will always remember.

Introducing Crescent School Reception 2021!

Our Reception children have had a fantastic first half term. They have settled down well into their new school life, have been making friends, playing outside, sitting down for lunch together, hanging up their blazers on the right peg and, of course, enjoying plenty of fabulous lessons.

To mark their successful start we took class photos this week and they were super efficient and getting their blazers on and lining up.

What an exciting adventure they have ahead of them over the next few years. We will so enjoy helping them to learn and flourish.

They are the perfect addition to our wonderful school community.

We collected an amazing 327.7kg for the Rugby Foodbank which beat our total of 200kg in 2019 and 298kg in 2018. 

All your donations go directly to those suffering food poverty in Rugby. Last year Rugby Foodbank supplied three day emergency food packs to over 5,000 people in the Rugby area. They are always grateful for our ongoing generosity.

Crescent School

We will be holding our first ever House Christmas Tree decorating competition this year.  Each House will be allocated a tree in either the Library, Horton Centre or Pre-Prep glass link and the children will decorate the trees on Christmas Art Day.

If you have any Christmas decorations or lights which you no longer use we would love to have them for our competition.  Please leave them in the box outside the front door.

Many thanks

Crescent School

Additional donations have been requested:

If you have any of these items, please donate in the box outside the front door before Monday 29 November.

Monday 6 December 2021 - 9.00am to 12.00pm

The revised date for the Flu vaccinations that will take place in school, for all years, is Monday 6 December 2021.  

The immunisation team have been able to download the consent forms you recently completed so no further action is necessary.  

Crescent School

Wednesday 1 December 2021 - 3.45pm to 4.15pm

All parents are welcome to join us in school on Wednesday 1 December for Open Corridors, running from 3.45pm to 4.15pm. Please arrive no later than 3.55pm. 

This is a lovely opportunity for your child to show you the work they have produced that is being displayed in their classrooms and along the corridor.  You will also be able to see the Christmas Day Artwork.

We look forward to welcoming you.

Congratulations to Hattie for reading 500,000 words.  

Well done.

This week's Accelerated Reader Superstars are:

Top Quizzers are:

• 3Y   Lewis
• 4M  Hattie
• 5F   Tegan
• 6W  Sophie

Word Wizards are:

• 3Y  Maximillion
• 4M Alice
• 5F  Sam
• 6W Stephanie

Which Class topped the reading polls this week?

• 1st place  - 4M - 590,000 words read
• 2nd place - 5F - 266,000 words read
• 3rd place - 3Y - 261,000 words read
• 4th place - 6W - 256,000 words read

Pre-Prep reading certificates have this week been awarded to:

• Alice
• Alfie
• Isabella J
• Lucas

Well done to you all.

Results for last week's all class battle - well done 5F:

• 1st place - Class 5F with 5,913 points
• 2nd place - Class 3Y with 5,169 points
• 3rd place - Class 4M with 1,291 points

Most valuable players in the whole competition:

• 1st Bryson 5F
• 2nd Lewis 3Y
• 3rd Maximillion 3Y

Last week most improved speedsters are:

• 4M James - Rock Legend
• 5F Bryson - Rock Legend
• 5F Saira - Gigger

See the poster attached to see what your next level and speed needs to be. New Class battle 11 November - 18 November 2021.

Please note only the children should play on their account or it influences the level appropriate to them.

Stay Calm and Rock On!!

Please click on the link below to read all about what the Reception classes have been learning this week.  Photos are attached to this article to scroll through.

Reception Round Up - 12 November 2021 

This week 1LS have been finding out about old toys, as part of their History learning. They used the iPads to find out about old dolls, cars, rocking horses and Jack in the Boxes. They were absolutely excellent at listening and learning how to use the search functions, and found lots of information about them all. Mrs Symons shared some of the toys she played with too. They are VERY old!

In Design and Technology, Class 2W have been learning how to make stable structures. They designed and created toy cardboard chairs and then evaluated their designs to see how they could strengthen them. Here are a few of their creative designs.

In History this week, the children have been learning about why we wear poppies on Remembrance Day. They have been looking at some war poetry and learning a little about the First World War. They responded to what they had learnt by creating an image of reflection in their books, and some examples are here. Well done, 2W. 

Years 1 and 2 created their own displays to help them reflect on the importance of Remembrance Day.

From paper poppies, handprint poppies and even stained-glass poppies, the children loved working collaboratively in producing such meaningful and striking displays.

Class 4M received a letter form Wallace and Gromit this week, and there was a problem! Someone had stolen all their plans for their new ideas for machines from their basement and they needed our help. 4M set to work, creating some fantastic contraptions to help with the household chores. Their designs were innovative and colourful, and several of the children were awarded Junior da Vincis. They wrote an explanation text to go along with these gadgets, and this brought our topic to a close. 

We have since embarked on Image poetry, where we have been studying similes and metaphors in poems. 

Well done, 4M!

For a two or three week period this year we will be focusing on one of the sayings in the new School Promise. We will talk about this in assembly and in form period.

This week we are back to the category of Good Friends and the idea of forgiveness and working things out. We all know that children don’t always get things right in their friendships and this can end up in upset and worry. Being able to say ‘sorry’ and ‘that’s okay’ can make all the difference.

Please support this message at home with your children.

‘We forgive each other and work things out together’

Depending on the age of your child and their online habits, you may already be very familiar with the game ‘Roblox’. For those of you who aren’t, it is an online gaming platform that offers the user the chance to create and play a whole range of different games, many of which are designed by other such users. It can be an incredibly fun game, a super introduction to designing computer games and also a nice way for children to dip their toes into the world of online gaming… but it does need some careful setting up and monitoring to keep it safe and secure!

Roblox is a game with a bit of a bad reputation for various reasons, although the makers have done a lot recently to try to put this right. The main problem is that a lot of it can involve chatting online to other players, which obviously instantly starts alarm bells ringing. It does however have some pretty decent privacy and parental controls settings that help to alleviate this fear. Despite being completely free to play it can also be a little pushy with additional online purchases and without the correct filters does have some questionable content in some of the games.

I would recommend firstly making sure that the age restrictions are set to below 12 years of age, as this automatically filters a lot of the chat. At first, I would also recommend enabling Account Restrictions, as this stops all chat functions (or limits to friends only if you choose that option) and limits the in-games they can play to ones that have been carefully approved by the creators. You can then use a Parent-PIN to lock the account so your child can’t make any changes without permission. There are then a number of ways of checking exactly what they have been on by essentially looking at their history, which cannot be deleted. Sorry if that all sounds a little complicated, it does take a little while to get the settings the way you want them, but it is all explained best on their website here:

Roblox Settings

There is also a very handy concise guide attached just here. If you have any questions about Roblox, or any other E-Safety concerns, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!

It was fantastic to head off to our first ISA event in nearly two years, when we took 18 students to the Midlands ISA Swimming Gala, on Thursday 4 November. 20 schools competed with over 300 students swimming. The excitement, anticipation and nerves on the bus on the way to Walsall were palpable and quite overwhelming.

After a short warm up, explanation and demonstration of the starting procedures the Year 4 breaststrokers were the first up. Leela made her way to poolside as our first Crescent competitor, in her first ever gala, and took to the water in the first race of the day.  Due to the number of competitors the children swam in heats and final overall positions were calculated on their heat times.

Leela made a great start swimming smoothly to finish in 3rd place in her heat and 5th overall in the Year 4 girls Breaststroke.  Next up was Sam B, who had a confident start to finish 3rd in his heat and 8th place overall.  It was then on to the Year 5 swimmers with Grace C and Charlie swimming fantastically to finish in 6th and 8th place respectively overall.  Sophie and Rohan stepped up for the Year 6 breaststroke race with Sophie diving in to make a fantastic start pulling away from her opponents quickly to finish her heat in 1st place and taking the Bronze medal by finishing in 3rd place overall.  Rohan put in a strong swim to finish 3rd in his heat and 10th overall.

The next event was the backstroke with Roisin taking to the water for the Year 4 girls. A powerful start saw her take the lead ploughing her way through the water confidently to win the heat and claiming a Silver medal by finishing in 2nd place overall, she missed out on Gold by just 0.05 seconds. Next up was Alex for the Year 4 boys gliding through the water to finish in 6th place overall. The Year 5 races followed with Grace finishing in 7th place and Sam in 4th overall  Katherine stepped up for Year 6 girls and powered through the water winning her heat and finishing in 3rd place for a Bronze medal overall. Casper made his length look effortless finishing in 4th place overall.

We then moved on to the Year 6 butterfly races with our swimming captains Stephanie and Caspar taking part. Stephanie had a great start with an elegant dive before fluidly and gracefully making her way through the water in a tightly contested heat to touch in 1st place, earning herself a Silver medal for her 2nd place overall.  It was then Casper's turn, he also had an impressive start, from a racing dive, and he put in a commanding performance to win a Bronze medal in 3rd place overall.

After a short lunch break it was time for our freestyle races with Maisie stepping up for the Year 4 girls with an energetic performance to finish 2nd in her heat and 10th overall.  Timi took to the water for the boys with a capable performance, despite his goggle malfunction, to finish in 10th place overall.  It was then Chloe and Alex’s turn for the Year 5s with Chloe finishing 11th overall and Alex in 12th overall.  Stephanie put up a dominant performance to comfortably win her heat but her time was just pipped at the post so she finished with a Silver medal for 2nd place overall.  Faris dived in for the Year 6 boys swimming strongly to take 9th place overall.

The final event of the day was a 25m freestyle qualifying race to ascertain the fastest swimmers for the Midlands relay team, this was open to those who had not competed in the individual freestyle race. Sophie, Casper and Katherine took part for Year 6, Sam for Year 5 and Roisin for the Year 4.

It was a fantastic day and all the students were a pleasure to be with, showing maturity, compassion and commitment, actively encouraging, motivating and supporting each other throughout the day, with every student being the best version of themselves. I was incredibly proud of the team whose magnificent efforts helped Crescent School finish in 3rd place overall, a super achievement for the school. Every swimmer was incredible, and we were extremely impressed by them all.  A special congratulations go to Stephanie who has qualified for the National Finals that will be held at the London Aquatics Centre on Sunday 28 November.   

Mrs McCollin, Mrs Ashton and Mrs Calder

Saturday 13 November 2021

A Joules Seconds Sale is being held at Crescent School.  Tickets are now on sale to the general public. Please use the link below to book a one hour shopping session on 13 November 2021.

Please be aware that all attending will need their own ticket, including children.

Men's, women's, children's, home and Christmas items will be in abundance all day. Racks are constantly replenished throughout the day. Expect to pay half price and much less than retail prices.  Ticket sales all go to Crescent Adventure. 

Tickets can be purchase through from TicketSource or clicking on the QR code in the poster.

Plenty of parking will be available on the playground plus refreshments will be available.

Friends of Crescent

Friday 19 November 2021 - 4.00pm

The movie will be Dogtanian And The Three Muskehounds, a universal certificated movie. Runtime is 1 hour 24 minutes and the movie will be paused halfway through for a 10 minute toilet break. 

Reception Children will be released by their teacher at the usual time and will be invited to join the movie via the main entrance. Older age groups and after school club children will be taken to the hall by their teacher. Please note, all Reception children must be accompanied by a parent/carer for the entire film.

Parents of children in Years 1 to 6 to collect children from the pupil entrance at 5:30pm.

The cost is £3 for Reception children (as a parent will be in attendance) and £5 for all other years. A snack and drink will be provided.

If you would like your child to attend please click on the link below:

https://friendsofcrescent.com/product/movie-night/

Friends of Crescent 

Friday 3 December 2021 - 3.45pm to 6.00pm

Our annual Christmas Bazaar will be held on Friday 3 December in the School Hall and surrounding classrooms. 

Reception will be able to attend from 3.20pm as it does get busy in the hall and surrounding classrooms, to give the younger children the opportunity to come and have a go on the games and stalls before the rest of the school arrive. 

More details on this will follow later in the term.

Please support Friends of Crescent by raising free donations when you shop online through #easyfundraising.

In the lead up to Christmas, it's the best time to support us and help to raise money towards Crescent Adventure! It's simple and only takes a few minutes to join. Plus, for a limited time only, once you've raised your first £15 - easyfundraising will match it!

Sign up now:  

Easy Fundraising

FoC Team

We have a larger fundraiser running this year called 'Crescent Adventure’, which will provide a safe outdoor play area with a wide range of outdoor equipment designed to engage and challenge children physically on the school site. It will help to develop children’s confidence in movement and support better peer relationships while developing a lifelong passion for physical activity. Most funds raised this year will go towards this project. 

So far we have raised £3,085 of our £17,000 total.

Thank you for your continued support! And just in case my contact details are below.

Nick Brosnan
FoC Chair
chair@friendsofcrescent.co.uk
https://www.crescentschool.co.uk/foc
07843561879 

Below are the details of the FoC Year Group Representatives. These reps will communicate with you on all our events via email, whatsapp or facebook. 

Please click below to view the lunch menu: 

Lunch Menu - 15 November 2021 

Please note children are able to choose either of the two main lunch options.  

Olive Catering

Please see below for useful school contact information:

Please find below term dates for 2021/22 and 2022/23:

The following items are stocked in the School Office and can be added to your account:

• Winter hats
• Scarves
• Gloves
• Ties
• Swimming hats
• Sports socks
• Hair bands
• Hair scrunchies
• Hair clips
• Sun hats
• Music group badges - Choir, Orchestra, String, Brass and Wind

Please do contact admin@crescentschool.co.uk in if you need any of the above items.

Crescent School Office

Dear Crescent Parents

Over the course of this term, we have had four positive COVID-19 cases here at school. The situation at Princethorpe College is also serious with a number of positive cases being reported since the beginning of term.

Following a visit to Princethorpe College from PHE advisers, we been asked to introduce a ‘test to release’ recommendation for siblings across the three Foundation schools. This is designed to manage the number of Covid cases and hopefully reduce new cases.

Effectively, this means that if someone in a household tests positive, this would require siblings and other relations to take a PCR test and only return to school when they have received a negative PCR result. For example, if a child in Year 7 at Princethorpe tests positive and has a sibling in Crescent Year 4, the Year 4 child would need to take a PCR test and receive a negative result before returning to school. Similarly, a child in Crescent Year 3 were to test positive and had a sibling in Year 8, the Year 8 pupil would need to take the test.

In the meantime, the most important thing I can ask you to do is to is to continue to monitor your children for Covid symptoms. Do not send children into school when they are unwell or exhibit any of the signs of Covid. If they do develop symptoms, please book them a PCR test.

Please be assured that we will do our utmost to keep day to day school life, both in and out of the classroom, as normal as possible for our pupils.

One of our measures for controlling the coronavirus spread is keeping classrooms and corridors well ventilated with windows open where possible.  As a result, the children might well find the school colder than they are used to, particularly as we head into winter. For that reason, we would encourage all children to have additional layers available in school. 

School fleeces, hoodies and tracksuit tops are ideal for the job whilst also looking smart.