The Courier

Dear Parents

It has been a wet and windy start to the half term but nevertheless we have really enjoyed welcoming the children back from their two-week half term break. Quite a few of you seem to have got away to exotic locations and all the children are back refreshed and ready for the learning ahead. This half term culminates with our Christmas celebrations, with carol services, bazaars and nativities to look forward to. I do hope I am able to catch up with you at one or more of these events.

We managed to fit quite a bit of sport in despite the showers, and the house competitions in hockey and football started off on Wednesday to great enthusiasm from all the children. These competitions have mixed boys and girls teams which is really pleasing to see and works very well. You will read about the winners and losers in our sports roundup, but of course the real winner is the esprit de corps that taking part in these events builds. We also got over to the ISA swimming gala at Walsall that we attend each year and enjoyed the opportunity to showcase the swimming skills of our children who do so well in this sport.

Year 6 deserve a special mention this week as many of them are heading to Princethorpe College on Saturday for their entrance exams. They have worked hard and prepared well, and I hope they go in feeling confident and excited about the challenge ahead. We spend a lot of time speaking with them about managing their nerves and expectations, but of course there will still be anxiety on the day. They go with our very best wishes and we look forward to hearing about their achievements in due course.

I have prepared a small bonfire at the back of my garden for Saturday evening, as despite my children being quite a bit older nowadays, they still enjoy bonfire night celebrations. That is of course if we are able to get the thing started with all of the wet weather that we have had. The School Promise this week is to keep safe and be responsible and I will be bearing that very much in mind myself, if we do go ahead as planned.

Whatever you were doing this weekend, I hope you have an enjoyable and peaceful time with your families.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

Thank you to all of you who completed the Survey, we had over 80 responses.  We do value your input in order to help shape the information we communicate.

We have made changes to the order of articles in the Courier and introduced an Important Information seciton to highlight key information. Activities outside of school will now feature in a monthly round up during Assembly on a Friday so we celebrate them properly with the children. Commencing next week we will take a new approach to the popular Around The Classes section with Pre-Prep and Upper School featuring on alternative weeks. Each class will have an article in their respective week's edition.

We are looking forward to the Christmas Bazaar on Friday 2 December however this will have a slight impact on co-curricular activities that day.

Choir: cancelled

Art Club for Year 5: cancelled

Secret Agent Club: will still be running if your child wishes to attend, please collect your child in the normal manner from the pupil gate.

Didi Rugby: will still be running if your child wishes to attend, please collect your child in the normal manner from the pupil gate.

We understand you may choose for your children not to attend; however as the club will be runing you will not be able to get a refund. Please do let the club leader know if they are not going and also their form tutor, so that on the day we know where they need to go.

Weekly Calendar

Weekly Calendar - 7 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 7 November 2022

Crescent School

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

Music Lessons - 7 November 

The password has been emailed to parents. 

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

Please click here to view the Michaelmas Term Calendar.

Crescent School Calendar - Michaelmas Term 2022

Crescent School

• Gene
• Uma
• Mithun
• Evelyn
• Bella

The latest edition of The Circular, Crescent School’s review of the year for pupils, parents and staff, has just been published and families received a printed hard copy just before half term.

The magazine includes stories and photos from across the school year, giving a wonderful insight into the life of the school and the learning that takes place, day in day out, here at the Crescent. It is a fabulous memento, and we hope you all enjoy reading it.

An electronic copy of the magazine is also available on the school website https://www.theprincethorpefoundation.co.uk/publications-crescent if you would like to share The Circular with family and friends.

In October, the Government published Key Stage 1 data statistics for 2022 for the first time since pre-pandemic in 2019. The statistics are based on teacher assessments, as also used here at the Crescent School, and they reflect pupils’ end of Year 2 attainment.

Assistant Head and Head of Pre Prep, Alan Webb, explains, “Over the past three years our teachers have worked hard to provide a high standard of teaching and learning that engaged and supported pupils as we navigated the course of the pandemic. The national statistics show just how much of an impact the lockdowns had on children’s learning, at what is such an important formative stage, but here at Crescent our assessments show pupils bucked that trend and continued to progress and achieve.”

Nationally Year 2 pupils meeting the expected standard in Reading was 67% in 2022 (down from 75% in 2019). At Crescent this was 100% (equal to 2019).

Nationally Year 2 pupils meeting the expected standard in Writing was 58% (down from 69% in 2019). At Crescent this was 95% (up from 85% in 2019).

Nationally Year 2 pupils meeting the expected standard in Maths was 68% (down from 76% in 2019). At Crescent this was 100% (up from 85% in 2019).

Mr Webb, continues, “This is another excellent endorsement of the Crescent’s approach and reassuring for parents who at this very difficult time put their trust in our teachers.”

This weekend many of our Year 6 children are taking the Princethorpe College Entrance Exam. We know they will show their best and are more than ready for the challenge. We have been working hard to build their confidence and self-belief that they all can do it, whilst consolidating all that they have learnt through their time at Crescent. 

We all wish them all good luck.

Thank you to all who came to quiz with their child this week. It is a lovely way to share in a school experience. If you could not make it this week, then we run them regularly after every half-term.

We received an email from Rugby Food Bank today thanking us the school for the Harvest Festival donations:

The weighed in food donation added up to a very impressive 225.5 kg of food. Many thanks to all who have donated so much to keep the food bank well stocked for this autumn and winter. I have attached a Thank You certificate.

Many thanks and blessings

Wednesday 9 November 2022 - 9.00am to 12.00pm

Flu vaccinations will take place in school on the above date.

Crescent School

Wednesday 9 November 2022 - 7.00pm

All Year 5 parents are invited to an information session about the residential trip to Frank Chapman. This will be an opportunity for you to find out what happens there, note the key dates and ask any questions. 

This is a Teams meeting at 7.00pm and the link will be sent on the 9 November. For those unable to attend, the PowerPoint will be shared with parents.

Thursday 17 November 2022 at 7.00pm on TEAMS

Are you interested in learning about the Junior da Vinci award system at the Crescent? It is implemented across school to allow all children to be recognised for being the best that they can be in all areas of the curriculum and beyond. The Da Vinci scheme runs across the Princethorpe Foundation and we will be extremely lucky to welcome Helen Pascoe-Williams from Princethorpe College, who will outline how the da Vinci scheme originated and the philosophy behind it, as well as learning how the da Vinci scheme works specifically for Crescent learners

Please join Helen Pascoe-Williams and myself on Thursday 17 November at 7.00pm on TEAMS. This has been changed from an in-person event, as published in the calendar.

Monday 21 - Wednesday 23 November 2022

The Scholastic Bookfair returns in November and is a great opportunity to buy Christmas presents while also sharing the experience of buying books with your child. It will be running before and after school and there will be opportunities for you to also buy online at your own convenience.The great news is that we receive 60% commission on all that is purchased and this really helps us to supplement the books in our class libraries thoughout the school.

Further details will be shared in the coming weeks.

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 - 3.45pm to 4.15pm

Christmas Art Day is on Monday, then on Wednesday 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, and enter 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 are all very excited about this.

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.

Please bring in £1 to wear a festive jumper which is in aid of Birmingham's Children Hospital.

Mrs Stapleton

Well done to Alex T who is a word millionaire.

This week's Accelerated Reader Superstars are:

Top Quizzers are:

• 3S  Lilah
• 4C  Herebie
• 5F  Timi
• 6W Zara

Word Wizards are:

• 3S  Esme
• 4C  Patrick
• 5F  Hattie
• 6W Harry 

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:

• Henry 4C completed 24% of the course
• Isabella 3S completed 24% and 48% of the course
• Theo Mc 3S completed 48% of the course
• Sophie 100% of the course

Results for Battle 14 Oct -3 Nov 2022. All classes against each other- average score per class member.

• 1st 3S 1,745
• 2nd 5F   834
• 3rd 4C   156

Most valuable players in the whole competition:

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

Well done, 3S!

Most improved speedsters in the studio are:

3S

• Charlotte- Breakthrough Artist!
• Kian - Rock Hero!
• Alfie - Rock Hero!
• Gloria - Wannabe!
• Nimeeta - Wannabe!

• Henry - Rock Star!
• Akaal - Support Act!

• Hattie - Wannabe!

• Chloe - Rock Star!

New 'Battle' 3 -10 Nov 2022, All the classes against each other.

Stay Calm and Rock on!!

Thank you to all those who entered this competition.We had 39 entries from Red House, 29 entries from Yellow House, 19 entries from Blue House. Five points are awarded for each entry with further points awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd in Pre Prep and Upper sShool. All points go towards the House Cup.

Judges were the Heads of Houses and their House teacher, and the results are as follows:

PrePrep (R-2)

• 1st Place - Ava 1Q - Yellow- 150 points
• 2nd Place - Oliver 2W -Red - 100 points
• 3rd Place - Freddie 1S - Red - 50 points

Upper School (3-6)

• 1st Place - Tegan 6W - Red - 150 points
• 2nd Place - Sophie 4C - Yellow - 100 points
• 3rd Place - Ava S 6W - Blue - 50 points

Well done and thank you to everyone who took part.  The winning entries are the cover photos of this article.  A Vimeo of all the entries can be viewed here:

House Pumpkin Competition

Mrs Pullen, Mrs Johnson & Ms Forth

We have been learning about the role of the Shofar in Judaism. The shofar is a horn that is blown to signify the start of Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) and the end of Yom Kippur (the Sacred Day of Forgiveness). The children have thought about forgiveness and learned to say sorry in Hebrew, ‘slicha’. They then enjoyed making and blowing their own shofar.  

Next week, all pupils in Years 2 to 6 will be taking part in the fantastic Brebras Computing Challenge! This global competition, with children taking part from over 50 different countries, is a great way to give learners of all age groups a taste of the principles behind computational thinking and logic by engaging them in fun problem-solving activities and puzzles. I have attached an example puzzle as a photo on this article.

This week in school we have had a practice go, looking at a few different challenges from previous years, and next week will be having a go at the challenge for real!

If you would like any further information about this, or would like to have a go at any of the challenges yourself, please visit Welcome - UK Bebras and check out the challenges section.

The new team of Year 6 Podcasters have just finished their very first episode, and it’s a good one! 

Year 6 Podcast

The CS Podcasting Team

Crescent had an amazing time at yesterday’s Independent Schools’ Association’s (ISA) Midlands Junior Swimming Gala bringing home a super haul of medals. The event took place at Walsall Baths with 27 schools taking part.

The children swam 25m in the pool and the races included both individual events and team relays. Crescent's pupils showed great confidence, teamwork and skill and were incredibly well-behaved. Pupils encouraged and supported each other, from the start through to the finish of every single race.

Head of PE and Games, Rachel McCollin, said, “This was the best gala I have ever attended, the children were super, so supportive of each other and the medals just kept coming in. It looks like Crescent has finished third overall which is an incredible feat when you realise that many of the schools competing have their own pools.”

Crescent pupils claimed two individual golds, four individual silvers and three individual bronzes. The full results will be confirmed next week.

A huge well done to all the children who took part.

Friday 11 November 2022 - 7.30pm

The revised date for the Crescent Quiz, hosted by Ms Forth, is Friday 11 November from 7.30pm to 10.00pm.

Maximum of six in a team which can either be class/year groups or mixed.  

BYO snacks, drinks and condiments. We will also be doing a hot food collection from Fish Plus in Bilton which will arrive at half time.  

Order your tickets and food at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/Foc/t-lnnqazl

Tuesday 15 November 2022 - 4.00pm to 5.00pm

Please come along and join us for this meeting where we will be discussing events for the term. This will take place in Room 1.

Children can be booked into After School, free of charge, if you attend this meeting.  Please advise Mrs Tucker via email.

Friday 2 December 2022 - 3.30pm to 5.30pm

Our annual Christmas Bazaar will be held on Friday 2 December in the School Hall and surrounding classrooms. 

Further information will be provided soon.

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
• After Care Assistant - Crackley Hall
• Teacher of Mathematics (Maternity Cover) - Princethorpe College
• Exam Invigilators - Princethorpe College
• Head of Finance - The Princethorpe Foundation

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.