The Courier

Planning permission has been granted for the Crescent School in Bilton, Rugby to transform a building at the heart of its campus.

Work on the 250m² building, which was previously leased to Pathfinders Nursery, will begin shortly and will be completed before the start of the next academic year.

The building will be known as the Horton Centre, reflecting the school’s origins on Rugby’s Horton Crescent.

Comments Joe Thackway, Headmaster, "Our vision for the Crescent is for it to be a small but perfect preparatory school. Part of our development strategy over the last few years has been to upgrade and update our facilities. This has been constrained by our site and the desire to maintain the outdoor space we have for sport and recreation."

"We now find ourselves in the unique position of being able to significantly enhance our facilities for the benefit of the whole school community. The Horton Centre will house a classroom for our Year 2 children, a flexible space for the Performing Arts and our Before and After School wrap around care will benefit from a new home."

Having negotiated earlier access to the building, work is expected to commence in June and the site will be sectioned off securely and kept separate from the working school areas.

The approved plans now include two new sets of double doors straight out on to the playground which will especially benefit children attending After School providing them with the opportunity for outside play. The new Year 2 classroom will also have its own dedicated outside space, while Years 3 and 4 will gain a dedicated break out space. The finish will be similar to the recent refurbishment of the library and the top of the Green Mile.

The Crescent is a thriving 4 to 11 co-educational independent day school, which forms part of the Princethorpe Foundation. The school has an Open Evening planned for Thursday 27 May, where, by appointment, visitors will be able to tour the school in a socially distanced way and speak to members of staff.

For more information please contact, Helen Morley, Registrar on 01788 523851 or email admissions@crescentschool.co.uk.

In assembly this morning we wished ‘Eid Mubarrak’ to all Muslims around the world who are celebrating this weekend as Ramadan comes to an end. We heard readings from children in Year 6 about the history and traditions of the festival, and in particular the focus on charity and considering the needs of others.

If you have been celebrating this week, everyone at Crescent wishes you a wonderful Eid.

Mr Webb and I have been lucky enough to interview and observe art teachers over the past week as Miss Plenderleith returns to Princethorpe College to teach full time. We were inundated with applications from many impressive candidates who wanted to work at Crescent.

We are pleased to announce that after much deliberation over a final three, Mrs Amanda Thackway has been appointed for the role. Mrs Thackway, wife of Mr Thackway, comes with glowing references, personal artistic talent, and a wealth of experience in both independent and state schools. We felt that she would push forward art in school and the children who were lucky enough to be her class on the day said, 'She taught us all the skills we need to know as we haven't used this technique before.'

Mrs Thackway will join the Crescent staff from September.

We have been asked by Warwickshire Safeguarding Board to make parents aware of the following incident:

Stranger Danger Incident on 7 May 2021 

A student from Rugby School has reported the following:

At 4.30pm on 7 May, a Year 9 boy was walking to a lesson along the Hillmorton Road.

A male driver in a white car, not sure of the make, had his window open and asked the boy whether he would like some sweets and held up the bag. He persisted in asking a couple of times and asked him to get into the car.

The boy went into the nearest building and reported to a member of staff.

This matter has been reported to the police.  

As a result of this the Warwickshire Safeguarding Board have provided the folliwng advice:

As promoted by Warwickshire Safeguarding Board’s Taking Care Scheme please do not teach blanket ‘stranger danger’ messages to children. The reason for this is that sometimes a stranger is the only person who can help us and is a far safer option than not talking to anyone. e.g. a child lost in a shop is far safer to tell a stranger they are lost than to wander off looking for the person they have separated from. We may choose to discuss the likely ‘safest’ strangers in such scenarios such as a mother with a pram or small children or someone who works in the shop.

However, we do need to clarify the stranger issue as plainly there are situations we may want to warn children about for their own safety e.g.

• not to get in a car with anyone (NOT just someone they don’t know) unless their parent/guardian knows who/where/when etc and has given permission

• not leaving school with someone other than who they were expecting unless their parent/guardian knows who/ where/when etc and has given permission and they have checked with a school staff member. Sometimes a password system is used so that children are only released into the care of an adult who can give the correct password – this is usually changed as soon as it has been used once

• not to walk off with anyone (NOT just someone they don’t know) unless their parent/guardian knows who/where/when etc and has given permission

• If someone tries to grab them it is ok to break all the rules of politeness to others e.g. scream, kick, punch, bite…etc. Whatever they need to do to draw attention to themselves and alert others to the fact they are in danger.

Please reinforce these safety messages to the children regularly without giving them the idea that ALL strangers are ‘bad’.

We would reiterate to keep younger siblings closely by your side at drop off and pick up.  

A fabulous sunny day for the Yellow House Play Leader training last Friday enabled students to show off their creative talents and organisational skills at their best. Pupils looked at the qualities and attributes required to be a good leader, analysed their own current strengths and the areas they wanted to develop and improve. 

They worked on improving these skills throughout the day, as pupils had the opportunity to create and run their own games, explaining the aims and rules to their peers. Pupils worked extremely hard and showed fantastic teamwork, co-operation and organisational skills. 

Well done Yellow House. We are looking forward to seeing you put your new skills to good use.  

We will be running a competition organised by the Royal Mail over the next couple of weeks before half term.

In the competition pupils have the chance to design a stamp honouring 'Heroes' from times during the pandemic. As well as have the winning entries made into actual stamps, entrants and schools can win cash prizes.

Teachers will go through the rules of the competition with the children in class but they may bring their designs home for completion.

An overview of the rules plus terms and conditions can be found here; we will be entering the 4–11 year old section. 

All entries must be in school on Tuesday 26 May in order to be posted for the Friday deadline.

Good Luck to everyone.

Our musical treat in assembly this week was provided  by Charlotte in Year 5. Charlotte played a really complicated piece on the trombone called The Acrobat, that she will be playing for her Grade 6 exam.

What an amazing performance and thanks to Mrs Barnes for her excellent accompaniment!

Please would parents ensure that children do not come into school wearing jewellery.

Necklaces and bracelets can easily be broken or lost and are potentially hazardous for children taking part in physical activities or experiments. 

Earrings are not to be worn in school at anytime.

We discourage watches being worn in Pre-Prep but they can be worn in the Upper School to aid learning.  

Thank you for you cooperation with this health and safety matter.