The Courier

When we read in the news or hear politicians talk of schools not providing a good enough education in lockdown and the huge numbers of children needing to 'catch up' to repair the damage, as a teacher or parent it does make your heart sink. 

Our Crescent pupils were engaged in their home learning tasks and live lessons exceptionally well right from the beginning. To demonstrate to the Crescent community how efficiently we continued to provide a high standard of curriculum over the past 12 months, Class 6W completed their final GL Assessments just before the Easter Holidays. These assessments happen every year at this time, and we are happy to report that in all the core subjects of English, Mathematics and Science every single pupil scored at either the 'expected' standard for a Year 6 child or indeed 'exceeded' that expectation.

We are thrilled with their achievements as are they. These scores are shared with the children's secondary school destinations as part of transition. They really do demonstrate how well the class has performed through the disruption of two lockdowns and the resilience they showed through all the changes to the 11+ and entrance exams. 

Class 6W parents will receive a record of their scores in their final reports this term.

The Princethorpe Foundation are piloting EasyA Maths Mentoring with Year 5 pupils. This is a system that pupils can use to contact an older pupil mentor online when they are stuck or have a question regarding their Maths homework.

We are looking to start this by Thursday 6 May and look forward to hearing how the children find this pilot.

The whole school enjoyed a beautiful musical start to the day today, with Eva from Year 5 playing ‘March Hares’ on the piano. Eva played faultlessly and with great appreciation for the spring theme.

All children in school are taught how to keep themselves safe in the sun. This is monitored in school especially if children spend significant amounts of time outdoors in play or outdoor learning.

Of course all school staff and parents have a safeguarding duty of care for children. As such please could we ask that, throughout this term all children have in school daily plenty of water, a school sunhat and sun cream. 

Please note that staff are not permitted to apply sun cream to children or to share sun cream and so the ideal solution is for children to come to school with once-a-day sun cream already applied.

With many thanks for your continued support in this protection.

The School Council met for the first time this term and got straight down to business! This term the school are raising money for the BWENGU project in Malawi, but we need to decide on a local charity for the upcoming Advent Term. The children discussed options, brainstormed ideas, and came up with some interesting suggestions - we will keep you posted.

In addition to this, the children talked about the food served in school, including what they really like and some possible new suggestions for the future. We are looking forward to inviting our Chef Manager, Stephen Moore, to our next Council meeting to talk to him,

So, there is plenty to keep our Council members busy for the next few weeks and we will let you know how things progress.

Please ensure that you wait with your child(ren) at drop off until the school's opening at 8.15am.  It is only at this time that school becomes responsible for all children's safe care. Before this time it is a parental duty.

Please note, however, that all children can be brought to the front door at any time from 7.45am - 8.15am where they will be welcomed and looked after by our Early Bird staff as appropriate for their age. This does not need to be booked in advance.

Also please let the school office and/or your child's form teacher know if someone else will be collecting your child at the end of the day. We cannot release pupils without this information.

Many thanks

Last Friday 23 April, Princethorpe College hosted its Spring Concert, thanks once again to the wonders of technology. Masterminded by their fantastic Director of Music, Gil Cowlishaw, it was another virtual recital for the school community to enjoy. It included a second Foundation-wide musical collaboration after last summer’s super performance of The Climb.

In a rousing finale the, 90-strong, Foundation Virtual Music Group performed You Will Be Found from the musical Dear Evan Hansen. This latest ‘Big Sing’ brought together the talents of our community playing and singing from the safety of their own homes. Its message of hope was both inspiring and uplifting for us all and serves as a reminder to anyone who feels lost or uncertain that, as the song says - you are not alone.

We say a huge thank you to Gil and the wonderful Princethorpe Foundation vocalists and musicians for providing such wonderful entertainment for a Friday night.

If you haven’t seen the performance you can watch the finale here: https://vimeo.com/540681358

Dear Parents

We have received a small number of complaints and concerns regarding parking since the start of term.  Please be considerate when parking around school. 

In particular, we have been made aware of a number of problems near the junction in Dalkeith Avenue/Magnet Lane. 

The safety of the children is of paramount concern and it is also important that we are seen as 'good neighbours'! I would urge everyone to drive and park with this in mind on all occasions around the school site.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster