The Courier

Dear Parents

We have finally seen the first proper cold snap of the term, with clear skies and heavy frosts more or less throughout the week. As I drive to work each morning there is one section where the road takes a significant dip and as, a geographer, I like to use it as a gauge for a possible temperature inversion. ‘Cold air sinks down the valley sides at night and forms fog and frost pockets’ is a standard I remember well from years of teaching. I registered minus 5.5 degrees centigrade in the dip on Thursday morning, compared to a balmy minus 1 on the higher parts of the road. Exciting stuff.

Equally exciting was the wonderful nativity performance on Wednesday morning from the children in Reception and Year 1. It had been a cold and frosty start, with traffic jams more or less in every direction and many parents arrived stressed and looking at their watches. Over the next magical 30 minutes the children changed the mood in the room with their wonderful performance, with smiles and happiness all around by the end, it was a real triumph.

Next week we look forward to a new format for the Year 2 show, they will be performing songs and poems on a festive theme to parents. With the Upper School Carol Service at Princethorpe College Chapel still to come on Tuesday next week, there is much to look forward to.

Thank you to everyone who completed the parental survey questionnaire, which closed on Tuesday this week. It is very useful to hear your views on all aspects of the school and a survey to everyone is perhaps the fairest way of doing this. I will write a separate communication to all of you in the new year with more details but it was very pleasing to note that close to 100% of parents responded that their child felt happy and safe at the school and also that they felt they would be able to recommend us to friends if they were asked. We are never complacent here, but it is always nice to get good feedback. There are lots of areas for us to improve on, we know that, and we continue to question ourselves as to what we can do better as we move forward.

I will finish this week with a very big thank you to the very many parents who contributed so generously to our Salvation Army appeal over the last few days. Many of us have been moved by the idea of a child somewhere receiving a Christmas gift when they might otherwise not have had any or many to enjoy. The meeting room is full of bags and boxes of gifts that will put smiles on faces this Christmas and your generosity is so much appreciated.

Will I put the Christmas tree up this weekend? Will England win their quarter final match against France? Big questions for the weekend ahead. I won't give any predictions as, like many of my generation, I haven't yet got over the defeat to Poland in 1973, so I never actually think England are going to win. They do actually have a genuine chance, I will say that much.

Enjoy your weekends.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

Tuesday 13 December 2022 - 6.30pm to 7.45pm

Parents should bring their children to the Chapel to be seated by 6.15pm.  Princethorpe have asked if families can refrain from arriving until after 6.00pm to allow their school day to finish safely.

Please follow the signage around to the North car park where you will be able to leave your car and accompany your child through the Sixth Form Centre. All children, staff and the congregation, should be seated at 6.15pm for a prompt start. There will be instrumental and vocal solos taking place as people arrive.  Winter uniform with blazers, jumpers/cardigan and grey tights for girls should be worn.

There will be a rehearsal during the morning on Tuesday where children will be taken over to Princethorpe by coach but will be back at school by lunchtime.  

Any queries do contact me.

It is the school’s policy to remain open during periods of bad weather where reasonably possible. However, there may be occasions where opening the school may not be possible for health and safety reasons, or indeed when travel to school for pupils and staff may be especially dangerous.

If we do decide to close the school due to bad weather overnight, we would inform parents in the following ways:

• The school website will be updated with details of the closure. This is likely to be the first thing we are able to do as it does not require a member of staff to be in school
• All parents will be informed by text message and email
• Home Learning will be put in place for the children as soon as practically possible (this may not be on the first day of closure)

If we need to close the school during the normal day we will follow the same procedure as outlined above. Members of staff will of course stay with any uncollected children in this event until their parents or guardians are able to come and collect. If this does occur, parents should please come to the front of the school and report to reception.

SOCS has been updated with all the Co-Curricular Clubs for next term.  These start week commencing 9 January 2023 and run until 17 March 2023.

There are some slight changes so that a range of children and year groups can enjoy the experiences. 

It is great that so many children are involved.

Dear Parents

Crescent School aims to be a nut-free zone. Whilst we cannot guarantee that children won’t come into contact with nuts or products with nut traces whilst at school, we endeavour to reduce this risk as far as we can.

There are currently five children in school with a known nut allergy. Exposure to nuts for these children could result in serious consequences. I know that you, like me, would do anything reasonably possible to prevent this from happening.

Our 'Nut-Free Zone' means that the following items must not be brought into school:

• Cakes made with nuts and marzipan
• Packs of nuts
• Peanut butter/Nutella sandwiches
• Fruit and cereal bars that contain nuts
• Chocolate bars or sweets that contain nuts
• Sesame seed rolls (children allergic to nuts may also have a severe reaction to sesame)

No nuts are used in any of the food prepared on site at our school. Our suppliers provide us with nut-free products. However, we cannot guarantee freedom from nut traces.

We ask all parents to support us in this policy by making absolutely sure that mid-morning snacks are nut-free and not using nuts in cakes provided for bake sales or fund-raising events.

Weekly Calendar

Weekly Calendar - 12 December 2022  

All Co-Curricular Clubs have finished for the term.

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 12 December 2022 

Crescent School

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

Music Lessons - 12 December 

The password has been emailed to parents. 

Crescent School was delighted to welcome Major Catherine Rand from the Salvation Army into school on Friday 9 December to collect toys and gift donations for the Salvation Army’s Christmas Present Appeal.

Major Catherine spoke to the children, explaining about the work of the Salvation Army and of the annual present appeal, she said, "The Salvation Army has, for many years, helped to give Christmas presents to children who otherwise wouldn't get anything for Christmas. We are contacted by schools, children's workers and social workers who know children in need, and we provide presents and gifts for their families to wrap for them to enjoy on Christmas Day.”

Many thanks to our wonderful Friends of Crescent for co-ordinating the collection, and to all of our Crescent parents and pupils for their donations to the appeal. The gifts were laid out in assembly for all the children to see. Major Catherine was extremely pleased and thanked everyone, saying what a difference they will make to children who have little or nothing to open on Christmas Day.

The Christmas spirit is alive and well in our Crescent community!

For their traditional nativity, Reception and Year 1 performed Baarmy Bethlehem, a story about the ‘party sheep’ who love to ‘Baa Baa Boogie’!

Cheeky, Rascal and Scamp the sheep are real party animals! So, when they see Bethlehem filling up for Caesar’s census, they assume it’s for a big celebration and they do not want to miss out. They escape from the flock and make their way into town, but although they find lots of things they love, like noise and crowds of people, there can’t find any party.

As they continue their search, they come across the angels, the shepherds and the three kings and eventually, in a peaceful, quiet stable they find Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus, the real reason why we celebrate.

After all their hard work rehearsing, learning the songs, and memorising lines, what a spectacle it proved to be. The children all sang and danced baa-utifully, and we hope you all enjoyed the performance.

Crescent School has appointed a Sports Council who will be working with Mrs McCollin to develop the ethos and vision for sport within the school community. The Sports Council will help Mrs McCollin collaborate and reflect on the PE and Games curriculum, developing and building on pupils’ current engagement with and enjoyment of sport in everyday school life.

The sports council is made up of representatives from Years 4, 5 and 6. Children who wanted to be a part of the Sports Council were invited to write a letter to Mrs McCollin explaining the reasons why they should be involved. 

Head of PE and Games, Rachel McCollin explains, “It is my hope that the Sports Council will provide pupils with the opportunity to have a real voice in school sport. Our new councillors had plenty of ideas and I was impressed with their enthusiasm. I am looking forward to working with them to make sure PE and Games inspires and engages all members of our school community.”

Working with Mrs McCollin on the Sports Council from Year 4 are Ming Yi, Edward W, Edward M and Samuel, from Year 5 are Sofie, Timi and Shayla and from Year 6 are Poppy, Saira and Ava. A big thank you to them all.

A few weeks ago, all the children in Years 2 to 6 took part in the fantastic Brebras Computing Challenge, a global competition, with children taking part from over 50 different countries. The challenge gives learners a taste of the key principles behind computational thinking and logic by engaging them in fun problem-solving activities and puzzles.

This week we received the results back, and I am delighted to share with you just how well our pupils did! Over 70% of our pupils scored above the national average (and international average!) score, many of them finishing in the top 10%, a superb achievement I’m sure you will agree! Everyone who competed will receive a certificate, some a Merit or Distinction (top 25%).

Huge congratulations to everyone who took part, but particularly to our top performers in each category:

Kits (Years 2 & 3) – Alice 
Castors (Years 4 & 5) – James 
Juniors (Years 6) – Yash 

A special mention to Alice, who came 55th out of 9,000 competitors from across the country - an amazing achievement.

Winter hats, gloves and scarfs are optional to wear to school, but they do need to be school provided ones if children wear them.  Please order using the form below or pop into the office to collect:

Winter Hat, Scarf and Gloves

Crescent School

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. 

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 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. 

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

Games will be run in the School Hall from 8.15am at 50p a go.

Mrs Stapleton

This week's Accelerated Reader Superstars are:

Top Quizzers are:

• 3S  Taran
• 4C  Edward W
• 5F  Emily
• 6W Zahra

Word Wizards are:

• 3S  Charlotte 
• 4C  Lewis
• 5F  Alex T
• 6W Zahra

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

This week's Scientists and Artists of the Week are:

Scientists

• Henry - 4C
• Sophie - 4C
• Samuel - 4C
• Hattie - 5F
• Oliver - 5F
• Shayla - 5F
• Bella  - 6W
• Harry - 6W

Artists

• Alex B - 4C
• MingYi - 4C
• Anaya - 2E
• Elliott - 2E
• Feranmi - 2E

Well done all.

Crescent School

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

• Alex K
• Ava
• Dare
• Eve
• Freddie,
• Hermione
• Katie
• Reegan

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:

No JDVs earned this week

Results for last week's battle, all classes against each other - average score per class member.

• 1st 3S 471
• 2nd 5F 56
• 3rd 2E 37

Most valuable players in the whole competition:

• 1st Kian 3S
• 2nd Alfie 3S 
• 3rd Shiv 5F

Well done, 3S!

Last week most improved speedsters in the studio are:

3S

• Charlotte- Headliner!
• Gloria - Gigger!

5F 

• Darius - Support Act!

That is the final battle for this term, but don't let that stop you putting the practice in to earn JDVs.

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

Stay Calm and Merry Christmas!!

Pupils in Years 4, 5 and 6 have designed t-shirts as part of the Switch Off Fortnight Campaign. Three entries were selected from each class and submitted into a national competition. We will hear in December if any of them are chosen as the winner. The winner will have their design used made into t-shirts! 

Class 3S would love to share their completely amazing Egyptian projects with you. They are the culmination of many weeks of History homework, and the level of care, attention to detail and quality of them has just been superb.

Congratulations to all of Class 3S, I am sure you will agree that their projects are just wonderful.

Due to the frozen ground on the field making things unsafe, the Year 3 and 4 rugby players had to head into the hall for part of their Games lesson this week. However, they made the most of their time by playing the wonderful game of ‘Shuffle Rugby’.

The key rules include that to move around you must shuffle on your bottoms, you can’t move with the ball, and the rule they struggled the most with…you are not allowed to talk! The game encourages moving in space, teamwork, passing skills, quick passing, the ability to be quiet, and on top of that is a lot of fun!

In Class 4C, the children have brought in their RE projects on Hinduism, which they have been working on for the past few weeks. Over two days, we displayed the projects around the classroom and the children spent time reading each other's work and leaving positive feedback. Some of these projects will be displayed in our classroom for the rest of term. 

Class 5F would like to thank the FoC for organising our cake sale and all of you for buying the treats. Here are a few of the items we chose!

Class 5F are tackling a geometry topic at the moment. Geometry should be a thing of beauty, so that takes plenty of practice with equipment. Mrs Dowling and Ms Forth loved the concentration on the faces as the pupils tried, with eventual success, to draw and name a perfect circle. 

Class 5F have just been superstars, bringing in the most incredible projects relating to their history study of Maya civilisations. The quality and diverse range of the type of projects they have undertaken has shown their enthusiasm and engagement with the subject. Amazing work from everyone. Well done!

In DT, Class 6W have been designing and creating shadow puppets. This week they presented their short Christmas performances to Class 1Q and 1S. The pupils had created some very imaginative and funny characters and their audience thoroughly enjoyed the shows. 

Everyday Year 6 (on a rota) are our elf post workers. They stamp the cards the children bring in and they are posted into our special post box. Next week all the Year 6 elves will sort the cards for each class and child for them to bring home.

Please remember to name each card (with the first and surname) and write the form they are in.  

It was great for the parents to come and see the skills and talents of the Funstar Street Dance co-curricular club.  Dance is a great way to express yourself and leave your worries behind. Please sign up for next term if your child is interested.

In STEM club this week, the children have been putting finishing touches on their eco-friendly school designs. They communicated their ideas by making models and explaining their ideas to the other children in the club. Ideas included building up high to avoid destruction of fields and trees; installing solar panels and wind turbines; creating green spaces for students to connect with nature and having environmentally friendly vegetarian dinner menus. 

Year 2 mini First Aiders received a certificate in assembly for their good work in their co-curricular club. They have been meeting every Monday to learn basic first aid skills and even resuscitation. Year 1 have the opportunity to sign up for this important life skill co-curricular club next term.

Here is the next exciting, action-packed instalment of the Crescent School Podcast! This episode features a fantastic draw-along to follow, a crazy song association game, a great quiz to test your knowledge, an informative book review, some truly terrible jokes and a chance to see just how much our teachers really know!

CS Podcast - Episode 2

We hope you enjoy it!

The 6W Podcasting Team

Huge congratulations to Ellie, Roisin and Maxi who helped the Midlands Team finish in 2nd place overall at the National ISA Swimming Finals 

Ellie finished in 7th place in the Year 6 50m Butterfly, and helped her team finish in 7th place in the 4x50m Medley Relay and in 6th place in the 4z50m Freestyle Relay. 

Roisin finished in 5th place overall in Year 5 50m Breaststroke, with a new personal best of 52.98 seconds, and helped her team finish in 6th place in the 4x50m Freestyle Relay. 

Maxi and his team finished in 4th place in the Year 4 4x50m Freestyle Relay. 

All of the pupils performed fantastically, had a wonderful day at the iconic Olympic venue and represented the school brilliantly. 

We are delighted to announce that the Christmas Bazaar raised £1,260 for Birmingham Children's Hospital and £991.95 for FoC projects. This includes £161 from Sue, the chutney lady, who gave all of her proceeds to our charitable fundraising for Birmingham Children's Hospital.

We will be announcing the school project we'll be funding in the New Year so watch this space! 

Enormous thanks to all of those who helped make the Christmas Bazaar a success. Our volunteers helped in so many ways and we couldn't do it without them. From filling sweet bags in the evenings, to inputting hundreds of names into the raffle spreadsheet. They took holiday from work - and in the case of the teachers extended their working day to help us out! 

Finally thanks to you, the parents, for all the fabulous raffle prizes - and for supporting the event. We hope your ear-drums have recovered! 

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:

• Head of English - Princethorpe College
• Head of History - Princethorpe College
• Teacher of Maths (maternity cover) - Princethorpe College
• Sports Coaches - Hockey, Netball, Football and Cricket - 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.