Dear Parents

We are now three weeks into the half term and, happy to report, we have enjoyed another calm and settled week here in school. The low-pressure weather system has bought a lot of rain with it which did for our football tournament on Tuesday but luckily the girls managed to get down to Lee Valley for the hockey on Wednesday and enjoyed a great day (although not such a great journey home in the rain). I am hoping at least all this rain means the reservoirs are all filling up again after suffering so badly this summer.

At the end of last week, you received a message in the Courier and in an ISAMs mail, inviting you to join Classlist. Classlist is an app that is increasingly popular in many schools similar to ours and is a really effective communication tool for parents. It will become the single point of contact for all of our Friends of Crescent news and events, enabling you to communicate and book tickets all in one place.  There is also a marketplace option which you can use to sell unwanted items, along with the function to set up individual groups, say for dog walking etc. 

The early take-up figures are very promising, and we do hope that this will become used universally for parent communication. The school have worked with the FoC to set it up, but we don't have oversight of the content once it's going, it is for you to use. You should find it easy to manage your own privacy settings and keep notifications to the level appropriate for you.

We had a really productive FoC meeting earlier in the week and plans are being made for the Christmas bazaar as well as looking ahead to next term’s events. I know the committee are very mindful of the pressure on everyone's pockets at the moment and are doing all they can to make prices affordable for everyone.

Quite a number of children came in alternative leg wear today to support our ‘Odd Socks’ awareness day. The message at the heart of this is clear; ‘it’s okay to be different’. We really support this idea at school and the children have discussed the themes behind it in assemblies and PSHE lessons as well. I keep getting a flash of my own strange socks however during the day which makes me feel rather uneasy, but it's all in a good cause.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

We have decided to put a ban on cards coming into school, from the beginning of next week. This covers all types of cards, including Pokémon and football collections. 

These cards are often very desirable to the children and create distraction and upset if they go missing.  

Thank you for your support with this measure. 

On the playground at lunchtime our Supervisors are able to reward all pupils for following the Crescent School Promise. This comes in the form of a Crescent green pompom. Pupils pop the pompom into their house tub and every week Mrs Weir totals them up. The house with the most scores 20 points for their house, second 15 points and 3rd 10 points.

Every week the Supervisors will be awarding playground certificates for those who keep up good behaviour all week. At the end of every half term, each class is awarded Top Table places in the dining room which awards them treats and privileges for that day. If a pompom makes its way home, bring it back into school for the house tub as soon as possible or it won't be counted!

We are proud of the behaviour of our children and encourage that this includes all times of the day showing respect to our Supervisors and the crucial job they do keeping everyone safe on the playground at lunchtime.

Times Table Rockstars is designed to improve efficiency in tables facts. It has been noticed that scores in the tournament may be being boosted by choosing just 10x table on 'Jamming'. This is not fair play to those who are working hard to improve and is not improving the players' skills, so please do avoid this.

The most useful game is the Garage and the Multiplayer games in my opinion. Pupils that use this strategy may not be allowed to take part in the tournament the following week.

Keep Calm and Rock on!

Art Frizzmeister - TTRS Ambassador 

SOCS have introduced consent and transport options on all their fixture modules so you are able to advise if you are taking your child home after a fixture.  The instructions of how to action this can be viewed here.

An ISAMS will be sent when your child is involved in a fixture.

This will remove the need for Evolve Consent for fixtures; passwords for team sheets and easier to access the fixture information through the calendar.

Weekly Calendar

Weekly Calendar - 21 November 22 

Please note the following re Co-Curricular clubs:

MySchoolPortal

Crescent School

Please click below to view the lunch menu for next week, children are able to have either the Main or Vegetarian option. 

Lunch Menu 21 November 2022

Crescent School

Please click on the link below to view the Music Lesson timetable for next week:

Music Lessons - 21 November 

The password has been emailed to parents. 

Keyboard lessons are also available with Mrs Fisher.  Click here for details.

Crescent School is taking part in Switch Off Fortnight which this year is taking place from Monday 14 to Sunday 27 November. On Tuesday morning the school’s Green Team launched this year’s campaign in assembly.

The children explained the importance of saving energy and why we all need to reduce our carbon footprint. They spoke about the COP27 conference and the commitments countries across the world have made. They challenged the whole school, pupils and staff, to do their bit and will, by taking metre readings, be monitoring just how well we all do.

Years 4, 5 and 6 will also be taking part in the Switch Off Fortnight ‘Design a T-shirt’ competition to help reinforce the Green Team’s message.

So come on Crescent – let’s see just how well you can do!

Miss Natalie from Kidz Love Yoga provided a demonstation of Yoga and Mindfulness for children in school this morning to Years 2 and 3. As you can see from the photos Year 3 had a wonderful time. This club will be running in Lent term and sign up details will be sent out in due course.

Crescent School

Some children love an excuse to write and need a purpose. This link will give opportunities for all ages to find that excuse to express themselves.  Please let me know if children do enter and how they get on.

Writing Competition

Free piano but needs to be collected with own transport.  Mr Knowles can be on hand to help.

It is a John Spencer of London upright piano. It needs tuning and some of the hammers need refelting, but it would work as a beginner piano

Please contact Mrs Barnes if you are interested.

Monday 21 - Wednesday 23 November 2022

Please take the time to come to our Scholastic Bookfair on 21 - 23 November in the Library 8.15am to 8.40am and 3.30pm to 5.00pm. Please enter through the Main School Entrance.

Take a look at the document below which gives you some ideas of which books will be available:

Bookfair Leaflet

If there are any books you would like to buy but you cannot make it in to school, then please complete this form and return it to your child's form teacher or Mrs Webb:

Order Form

Most of the classes will have time to look at the books, they can then tell you which ones they like and you can pay for them in school or online, you will receive the books when you have let us know which books you want and payment has been made.

Payments can be made without even coming into school but please make sure you return the wish list to us so we can get the books from the bookcases. 

Payment

Thank you 

Mrs Webb
Assistant Head

Monday 28 November 2022

The children will be decorating the school for Christmas on Monday 28 November.  They are able to wear a festive accessory with their school uniform such as a Christmas hat, hair accessory or tinsel that day.

Children must have their art aprons in school.

It is a day the children look forward to every year and you will be able to see see their work at our Christmas Open Corridors.

Crescent School

Wednesday 30 November 2022

Children in Blue House can wear one item of blue clothing on St Andrew's Day with their school unform if they wish. 

Crescent School

Wednesday 30 November 2022 - 3.45pm to 4.15pm

Following Christmas Art Day, on Wednesday 30 November, after school, we will have our Open Corridors event where we will share with you all the great work that we have been doing in school.

Please collect your child, Years 5 and 6 will be dismissed through the pupil door, before entering through the front door where you will be welcomed in to look at all the great work in school from 3.45pm. Entry and exit will only be through the front doors. Last entry is at 3.55pm.  

If your child is in a Co-curricular club then they will be expected to attend unless you arrange otherwise. Parking will not be available on the playground due to lessons.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Wednesday 7 December 2022 - 9.20am to 9.50am

Parents and Grandparents are invited to our Reception and Year 1 Classes Nativity performance of Baarmy Bethlehem.

A lot of hard work has gone into the rehearsals so far, learning the songs, memorising lines, sorting out costumes and scenery. What a spectacle it is all going to be.

Refreshments will be available from 8.45am in the Library, staff will be busy setting up the hall, therefore please do not arrive before this time. 

We are able to offer each child two tickets for the performance. 

Please book here:

Baarmy Bethlehem 

Wednesday 7 December - 4.35pm

Funstar would love to invite the families of their Wednesday Street Class group to join them at 4.35pm on Wednesday 7 December to enjoy the work the children having been doing this year. 

Please come to the front door at 4.35pm on 7 December 2022 and you will be shown to the hall to enjoy the fun.

Monday 12 December - 9.15am

Parents of the children in Year 2 are invited to share in a performance of poetry, music and readings to celebrate the Christmas festivities. You are welcome to come into school for light refreshments from 8.45am and the performace will start at 9.15am.

Tickets can be booked here:

 Year 2 Christmas Cracker

Mr Webb, Mrs Emery, Mrs Barnes and Miss Bowdige

Tuesday 13 December 2022 - 6.30pm to 7.45pm

This year we will again hold our Christmas Carol Service at Princethorpe College in the Our Lady of the Angels' Chapel. Please join us for a wonderful evening of carols, readings and re-telling of the Christmas story.

All children in Years 3-6 are required to attend. Please request permission from Mr Thackway (by emailing admin@crescentschool.co.uk) if your child is unable to attend for any reason. 

Two tickets are available per child in Upper School and can be booked here:

Christmas Carol Service 

Friday 16 December 2022

Our Christmas Jumper Day this year will be on Friday 16 December 2022. On that day, children should wear normal school uniform, but instead of their green pullover/cardigan, they can wear a Christmas jumper, if they wish.

We also invite you to make a voluntary contribution of £1 to wear a festive jumper which is in aid of Birmingham's Children Hospital.

Mrs Stapleton

This week Poppy (6W) has achieved her full Junior da Vinci student award in English and Uma (2E) and Grace (5F) have achieved theirs in Mathematics.

Congratulations to you all.

Mrs Symons
Junior da Vinci Lead

Well done to Aria who has received her 500k word badge.

This week's Accelerated Reader Superstars are:

Top Quizzers are:

• 3S  Lilah
• 4C  Zac
• 5F  Harry
• 6W Zahra

Word Wizards are:

• 3S  Gloria
• 4C  Akaal
• 5F  Shiv
• 6W Tegan

Each week we have a Scientist and Artist of the Week who is recognised in assembly with their work displayed in the school corridor.

Well done to this week's Scientist and Artist of the Week:

Scientists

• Lewis (4C)
• Matthew (4C)
• MingYi (4C)
• Nora (4C)
• Shaylan (4C)
• Zac (4C)

Artists

• Amber (3S)
• Evelyn (3S)
• Kiran (3S)
• Nimeeta (3S)
• Alex (6W)
• Grace (6W)
• Mya (6W)

Well done all.

Crescent School

Garage and Gigs are the most important games to show your progress.

Pupils who have reached landmark % on automatic training mode in the Garage and Gigs and therefore are awarded JDVs for Maths Practice:

• Herbie 4C completed 24% of the course
• Charlotte 3S completed 24% of the course

Results for Battle 10-17 Nov 2022. All classes against each other- average score per class member.

• 1st 5F 867
• 2nd 3S 657
• 3rd 4C 111

 Most valuable players in the whole competition:

• 1st Shiv 5F
• 2nd Tomisin 3S
• 3rd Timi 5F

Well done, 5F!

Last week most improved speedsters in the studio are:

3S

• Isabella - Breakthrough Artist!
• Kian - Rock Hero!
• Theo Mc - Rock Hero!
• Tomisin - Rock Legend!

5F 

• Timi- Rock Legend!
• Emily - Headliner!
• Grace - Headliner!
• Oliver - Unsigned Act!

6W

• Yash - Rock Star!
• Olivia - Gigger!
• Tegan - Rock Star!

New 'Battle' 17-24 Nov 2022. All the classes against each other.  Battles add up any points at all as you play!

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

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

• David
• Isla
• Jonny
• Lily
• Locan
• Lota
• Lucas
• Siara

Well done to you all.

This week we have been raising the national profile of Anti-Bullying Week by celebrating the fact that we are all different and reinforcing our School Promise of, 'We respect other, and we are tolerant'. Mr Thackway spoke about the importance of inclusion when it comes to friendships and that we should be kind to each other in our learning and in the playground. Our School Promise focus this week has been, 'We forgive each other and work things out together' which also helps us to realise that when things do go wrong, there's always a way to solve conflict together. In celebration of our differences in our appearances, opinions and beliefs, we have worn odd socks to show our solidarity to such an important issue - we hope you enjoy our gallery of colourful support!

Some of the things we have been learning...

In Literacy we began the half term by using Funnybones in our learning. We explored positional language and the use of speech bubbles. We wrote personal responses to the story, The Owl Who was Afraid of the Dark and used simple adjectives to describe Plop the owl. This week we’ve used Kipper's Birthday to inspire writing party invitations.

In Maths we have been ordering and comparing numbers. We have been learning about 2D and 3D shapes and their properties.

In PSED we have been learning that it’s okay to be different and we should always be kind to others regardless of our differences.                                             

Some of the things the children will be learning in the coming weeks...

As part of our celebrations topic we will be writing birthday cards, letters and shopping lists.

In Maths we will be introducing time. We will be learning the days of the week and months of the year. We will look at numerals on clock faces and be reading o’clock times. We will be partitioning to create number bonds to 5, 10 and beyond.

In phonics we have revised all Phase 2 sounds and introduced Phase 3 digraphs;

ch   sh   th  ng

How to help your child at home…

• Practise recognising and naming shapes of everyday objects around home
• Practise counting, clarify the value of ten in teen numbers
• Reinforce number formation
• Practise sounds that have been introduced in class and identify them in books you share
• Write birthday cards and invitations
• Read stories online via ‘Bug Club.’ Children’s log on details were sent home last week – please let me know if you have any access issues

What’s coming up/notices/information...

Please remember to sign Reading Record books each evening so we know the children are ready for their books to be changed.

If you haven’t already - please send in any celebrations pictures you have of the children so we can all contribute to a class ‘celebrations’ album.

The children only need to wear one coat for school – either their school blazer or black school coat. Please make sure all uniform is named including scarves and gloves.

Show and tell on Friday is a highlight of the week and a wonderful opportunity for children to practice speaking and listening skills. Please ensure that what they bring to school is appropriate for sharing and that the children can talk about it with their peers.

This week in 1Q, we have been reading the book Not A Stick. We have created our own individual uses for a stick and portrayed this in our creative pictures. In Maths this week, we have been looking at teen numbers. We set up a shop to buy and sell items which were priced at teen numbers so we could put our skills into practice, which was lots of fun.

As it is also anti-bullying week this week, we spoke about bullying and how it is okay to be different. We created individual pictures and matched the pieces of the jigsaw together to show that everyone fits in!

Our PSHE lesson this week was in support of Anti-Bullying Week and in preparation for wearing odd socks on Friday. 1S shared a story together called, We Are All Different and then thought about what we could celebrate about being different and the children came up with some amazing observations! 

The children discussed how they felt about bullying behaviour and we reinforced what we should do if we needed an adult to listen and help us and revisited our network of trusted adults. We then spent time designing odd socks and discussing our sock choices ready for today!

In English this week, we have been doing an extended piece of writing. We went on a search for a magic ring and had to write a detailed letter about our journey, explaining to our parents everything we had been up to. The children had the opportunity to write in detail, building a creative piece and putting into practise all the spelling, grammar and punctuation learning we have looked at. The end results showed just how far the children have come already this year. All the children should be very proud of themselves, as am I. 

In preparation for our work on clocks and telling the time, we secured and advanced our understanding of positional language, looking at left, right, clockwise, anti-clockwise, quarter, half and full turn. We worked in small groups to programme a beebot to carry out the above instructions. We then moved to larger scale hands on maths by designing an assault course using our positional language. Lots of fun and some great learning took place.

Class 2W wrote incredible letters this week explaining to their parents why they had suddenly gone off to find a magical ring! With high levels of concentration, they were descriptive in their word choices while also remembering the detail of plausible spelling attempts, accurate punctuation and cursive letter formation.

In Design & Technology lessons, Year 2 have been designing and creating chairs for their own small toys. The pupils enjoyed the challenge of using cardboard and learnt the techniques of weaving and ribbing to make strong and stable structures.

In Make and Do last week we decorated biscuits. We thought about fireworks and the patterns they made when they exploded in the sky.  Then we ate our creations!! (That was the best bit!)

All Stars Arts and Craft Club have been very creative this term. As you can see from the photos the children enjoyed decorating Halloween Bags.

Online bullying or ‘cyber-bullying’ is a term that we are all too aware of these days, as well as the incredibly damaging impact that it can have on its victims. Defined as 'ongoing hurtful behaviour towards someone online', cyber-bullying makes its victims feel upset, unliked, marginalised and unsafe, most worryingly, all in their own houses, bedrooms and safe places.

In the digital world, it has numerous forms – such as hurtful comments on a person’s posts or profile; deliberately leaving them out of group chats; sharing embarrassing images or videos of someone; or spreading gossip about them. Although something that it far more likely to affect pupils of a Secondary school age, it is of course something we take extremely seriously at Crescent, working hard with our pupils to ensure they are equipped with the tools to recognise, report and deal with any such incidences.

Tying in with Anti-Bullying Week, please take a look at this fantastic guide, full of tips to help trusted adults know what to look for and how to respond to it. If you do have any further worries or concerns, about this or any other aspect of Digital Citizenship, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

We had a cold, wet and early morning start on Wednesday when the U11 Girls set off for the ISA National Hockey Tournament down at the Lee Valley Stadium in the Olympic Park in London. 

The girls played tremendously to win their first game in the group stages against Oakfield 1-0. They then came up against a strong Holme Grange side but battled hard for a 3-1 loss. In there final group stage match they worked hard against St Mary's but despite having most of the attacking play, and several attempts on goal that just went wide every time, the match ended in a 0-0 draw. This saw Crescent finish as runners up in the group taking them through to the Plate competition. 

The girls really stepped it up a gear in Plate games, working hard, never giving up and battling to the end in every game. 

Their match against Lewes Old Grammar finished in a 0-0 draw, then they held S.Anslem's to a 1-1 draw. Their final match was against Cundall Manor, which was a really thrilling end to end game which really could have gone either way with lots of chances from both teams, sadly it finished in a 1-0 loss. 

It was a great team effort, the girls displayed wonderful teamwork, sporting etiquette and lots of determination. they should be proud to finish 5th in the Plate and in the top 14 of the 32 schools taking part. 

A great achievement by them all. 

Mrs McCollin and Mrs Dowling 

Friday 2 December 2022

We are looking forward to the Christmas Bazaar on Friday 2 December 2022. The playground will be open for car parking from 3.10pm. 

All children are to be collected at their usual times and normal collection points except Years 5 and 6 who will be dismissed from the pupil door. Please enter via the Main School Entrance where you will be welcomed in to enjoy all of the fun from 3.30pm for Reception and 3.45pm for the rest of the school.

Entry and exit will only be through the Main School Entrance. Please be aware that once your child is handed over to you at dismissal, they are your responsibility.

Unfortunately, children in After School will not be able to attend as they will need a parent or guardian to be with them.  

Please also note the impact on Co-Curricular activities that day.

• Choir has been cancelled
• Art Club for Year 5 has been cancelled
• Secret Agent Club will still be running 
• Didi Rugby will still be running 

Please do let the club leader know if they are not going to attend a club and also their form tutor, so that on the day we know where they need to go.

I am sure it will be a great event and we look forward to seeing you.

All parents should have received the FOC parent survey sent via ISAMs. We would really appreciate your help in responding to this, as it will help influence what we do in the future. It won't take long, I promise!

Parent Survey

Tickets for the Bazaar and Raffle will be available shortly so watch this space! In the meantime we are looking for raffle prizes as this year we are going to donate the proceeds of the raffle at the Christmas Bazaar to Birmingham Children's Hospital - an organisation very close to Crescent's heart.

As such, in addition to the usual donations of wine, chocolates, biscuits and toys etc., we'd love some bigger value items. We've had the following already, but if you have any handy contacts and feel comfortable asking for vouchers or gifts we'd be enormously grateful.

So far we've got:

• Hunt's bookshop voucher
• Cheese on the Green voucher
• Joules bag
• Amazon voucher
• Renatus beauty facial 
• Boden voucher
• Foot Spa

We still need the usual donations, so if you don't have any contacts then don't worry! We'd also be grateful of any small toys and gifts for the tombola:

Tombola, small children’s items such as:

• Pens
• Games
• Lego sets
• Toys
• Craft items
• Sweets etc.
• Cuddly Toys

The cut-off for donations is Tuesday 29 November. Please leave the items at drop off or hand in to the School Office.

Please see below for useful school contact information:

• My School Portal: MSP Login
• SOCS: SOCS Login

Click here to view the term dates for 2022/23 and 2023/24.

Crescent School

The Foundation has the following vacancies:

• Nursery Manager - Litte Crackers
• Teacher of Mathematics (Maternity Cover) - Princethorpe College
• Exam Invigilators - Princethorpe College
• Nursery Assistant - Little Crackers
• Library Assistant - Princethorpe College

Full details and information on how to apply are available on the Foundation website here:

www.princethorpe.co.uk/join-us

Should you know anyone who might be interested in these posts, please do share this information with them.