The Courier

Dear Parents

Two weeks into the term, and I am pleased to report that, despite some wet and windy weather, we are nicely into the new year now and the children have all settled very sensibly back into school life.

I mentioned last week that we are currently focusing on the part of our School Promise which looks at respecting others and celebrating differences. On this theme, we have recently had a delivery of lovely new books that address a range of issues around diversity and inclusion that are very much geared to young children. I talked about some of these in my assembly earlier in the week, and the books are currently on display in the breakout space for children to have a look at when they are passing.

In the assembly we focused on a particular book called ‘We All Belong’, which finishes with the very pertinent lines ‘In our school we all belong, together we all get along. Not one of us is out of place, we all belong to the human race’. Well done in particular to the two Year 6 girls who read from the book so confidently and clearly and got a spontaneous round of applause from the rest of the school for their efforts. 

I mentioned the questionable weather of the week gone by, but we did manage to get some sport in, and I particularly enjoyed an afternoon over at Princethorpe College watching the older children take part in the house cross country run. I can't report on the winners and losers, but this will shortly be in the Courier, but it was lovely to see such honest endeavour on a wet and slippery course. Well done to everyone who took part.

From a more personal point of view, it has been something of an emotional week for me as Mandy and I have said goodbye to our eldest son who has gone off to start his training towards becoming a Royal Navy officer. He travelled down to Totnes by train on Monday morning, luckily managing to avoid one of the strike days, and he will be busily engaged in his training for at least the next eight months when we will not get to see much, if anything, of him. Although I have to admit I was sad to see him go, it is also exciting for him to be embarking on a completely new part of his life. It is not something I ever considered but I believe it will be right for him and we wish him all good luck and safe passage.

Please do read the feedback following our recent parental survey a little further on in today’s Courier. Many thanks to all who contributed.

I hope you all enjoy a restful weekend with your families.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

First of all, many thanks to all of you who completed our parental satisfaction survey in the second part of last term. In all, we had 65 completed responses out of a total number of families in the school of 141. This equates to a 46% response rate.

The report asked for responses to specific questions, relating to all aspects of the school’s operations. The questions were based to some extent on those used by the Independent School’s Inspectorate and were similar to the ones many of you answered a year ago as part of our inspection. 

Broadly, it is gratifying to see that the overwhelming majority of families hold the school in high regard, and it is particularly pleasing to see 97% and more of you feeling that your child is happy and feels safe in the school. Another pleasing statistic was the number of people who felt they would be able to recommend us to friends and relatives, which was very close to 100%, with just one ‘don’t know’. We continue to strive to provide the absolute best education we can for the children and continue to welcome parent feedback in all its guises and hope that this survey gave you the opportunity to put forward your views. 

As you look through the statistics, it is worth remembering that the dark blue parts of the bar indicate either ‘not applicable’ or ‘don’t know’, rather than a negative response. For example, when asked about SEN provision, 74% of you sensibly responded ‘don’t know’ as you haven’t had direct contact with that department in the school. 

There were also opportunities for parents to give more general feedback on any of the areas that were covered, in the form of written responses. For example, there were comments, mostly positive, about the school uniform and school dinners. Other areas that received a number of comments were the way behaviour incidents are dealt with and the reporting of pupil progress to parents.

Whilst I don't intend to try to collate those written answers in this letter, they have all been duly noted and taken on board. I will be referring to them in other communications and initiatives that we are considering and look forward to rolling out in the terms ahead. 

There is an old dictum, attributed to Abraham Lincoln I think (probably wrongly), that says, in short, that we can't please all the people all of the time. Whilst we recognise the truth in that, it's not an excuse for complacency or not treating individual comments with the seriousness that they deserve. We do recognise the validity in many of the points that were raised, and they have been most useful in helping us to formulate responses, some of which you will see in the near future and some further ahead.

I hope you find the graphics helpful (click here to view) and we will continue to seek the your views as we move forward, and use this information to inform our planning and development over the terms and years ahead. Thanks once again for all of your constructive input.

LAMDA exams will be held on Thursday 9 and Friday 10 March. Throughout the winter, during their Speech and Drama lessons, all pupils have been working on and preparing poems set by the external examinations board - LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art). 

Pupils that want to participate in these exams will develop the ability to share either one or two poems (depending on their grade) and respond to questions with confidence, while also enhancing their memory and recall skills.  

LAMDA Exams

Entries cannot be accepted after this date.

Weekly Calendar

Please click on the link below to view next week's calendar:

Weekly Calendar - 16 Jan 2023 

Please ensure children have the correct kit for their afterschool clubs. 

MySchoolPortal

Crescent School

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

Lunch Menu - 16 January 2023

Crescent School

Please click on the link below to view the Music Lesson timetable for week commencing 16 January 2023.

Lessons may not be able to be rearranged if children do not bring their instruments to school.

Music Lessons - 16 January 2023

The password has been emailed to parents. 

This school year, Head of Pastoral and Pre Prep, Alan Webb, has worked with the School Council, pupils and staff to refresh the School Promise. The Good Friends, Good Learners and Good Citizens School Promise was unveiled in 2018 and its core values and beliefs are a set of qualities and commitments that remain central to the school’s approach today.

Crescent’s School Promise seeks to foster and develop the qualities of kindness, tolerance and mutual respect in a safe and caring environment where staff and families work together to deliver an inspiring, challenging and varied curriculum. It expresses the school community’s shared values and challenges all our pupils to be Good Friends, Good Learners and Good Citizens. 

In the Michaelmas Term pupils took part in learning activities to engage with the 12 commitments and on the basis of those activities the School Promise has been reviewed. The updated promise has been presented to the school community in assembly with supporting materials shared in the classrooms across school. The School Promise card has also been updated and last week to help bring the commitments to life we unveiled exciting new graphics on the walls around the school. They are a great visual reminder and are sure to enhance the engagement with and ownership of our School Promise.

We had a delivery of lovely new books that address a range of issues around diversity and inclusion. They are currently on display in the breakout space, where lots of children have been stopping by to have a look.

Mr Thackway talked about some of these issues in his assembly this week with the help of some excellent Year 6 readers. The assembly focused on a book called We All Belong, which finishes with the very pertinent lines ‘In our school we all belong, together we all get along. Not one of us is out of place, we all belong to the human race’. A really important message underlined in our School Promise – We respect everyone and we celebrate our differences.

Dear Parents

We have a broad and stimulating range of reading scheme books for all children across Pre-Prep. However, we do periodically suffer from books not being returned to school, which leaves us short.

As such, please could we ask all parents to check carefully at home and return to school any books they find at the earliest opportunity. This can, of course, be done without judgement, by simply sending any books in with your child or leaving them in the unifom box outside the main school entrance.

With thanks as always.

Our new Scholastic Book Club is up and running! To browse the latest books and order online, please click on the link below. For every £1 you spend on this month’s Book Club, our school will earn 20p in Scholastic Rewards.

Book Club

Please place your order online by 1 February 2023.

Tuesday 24 January 2023 - 6.00pm to 7.30pm

We look forward to welcoming parents to the LAMDA Showcase in the Hall on Tuesday 24 January for Years 3 to 6, to watch the children perform their LAMDA poems in preparation for their exams.

A link to book tickets will be sent out next week.

Mrs Webb and Miss Bowdige
Assistant Head and Drama Teacher

Friday 3 February 2023 - 3.45pm to 4.15pm

On Friday 3 February, 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 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. On this day Years 5 and 6 will be dismissed through the pupil door. 

If your child is in a Co-curricular club then they will be expected to attend unless you arrange otherwise. Parking will be available on the playground.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Friday 17 February 2023

We will be holding a non-uniform day on Friday 17 February with all proceeds going to this term's chosen charity, Bwengu Projects. 

Please send a £1 donation with your child to be given to their form teacher.

Thank you.

This week the following children have achieved their full Junior da Vinci awards.

Tegan in 6W gains hers in Computing and Iris, Isla, Sarima and Emily in 1S gain theirs in English.

Well done to you all.

Mrs Symons
Junior da Vinci Lead

This week's reading awards go to:

• 500k words – Edward M (4C)
• Word Millionaire – Aria (3S)
• Double Millionaire – Poppy (6W)

This week's Accelerated Reader Superstars are: 

Top Quizzers are:

• 3S  Lila
• 4C  Nora
• 5F  Edward G-H
• 6W Bryson

Word Wizards are:

• 3S  Aria
• 4C  Edward M
• 5F  Alex T
• 6W Poppy

Mrs Nelson
Teaching Assistant

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

• Alex
• Aydin
• Elin
• Flora
• Harry
• Isla
• Marcie
• Rachael
• Sophia
• Tara

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 Scientists and Artists of the Week:

Scientists

• Maisie (5F)
• Annalise (6W)
• Chloe (6W)
• Zara (6W)

Science Mind Maps

• Max (2W)
• Aria (3S)
• Alex B (4C)
• Edward F (5F)

Artists

Class 5F paintings:

• Darius
• Grace
• Hattie
• Oliver
• Shayla

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:

• Daniel 1Q completed 24%, 48% and 72% of the course
• Alice 5F completed 24%, 48% and 72% of the course

Results for Battle 5-12 January 2023. Y2, Y4, Y6 against each other - average score per class member.

• 1st 4C 39
• 2nd 2E 38
• 3rd 6W 13

Most valuable players in the whole competition:

• 1st Sophie 4C
• 2nd Elliot 2E
• 3rd Max 2W 

Well done, 4C!

Last week most improved speedsters in the studio are:

Battle between Y1, Y3, Y5 - 12-19 January 2023. 

Please do not do jamming and pick easy tables - that does not improve your maths skills and could lead to disqualification from competitions.

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

Stay Calm and Rock on!!

Continuing their History topic on the Ancient Egyptians, on Wednesday morning Year 3 became embalming apprentices as they took on the challenge of mummifying sardines. Wisely they went outside before starting all the gory business. Everyone carefully placed a sardine in their container and then covered the sardine in salt. The children will be observing the sardines daily to watch the preservation process taking place!

Class 4C have started their topic on Bwengu this term by using their literacy and research skills to locate information about Malawi. Some top facts are that Malawi used to be called Nyasaland and one of the main industries is cement - just like Rugby!

Children worked hard on how they laid out their work using all their grammar and punctuation skills.

Class 5F have been investigating chemical reactions that are irreversible. Here are some great investigations using white wine vinegar and bicarbonate of soda!

This term we are dedicating our English studies around a book, Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief. This allows us to explore the book to greater depth and consolidate grammar knowledge in a different way.

The book involves a lot of details about Greek gods, so this was a good place to start. The children worked in pairs to create a fact page about the main gods so that they could refer to it as we meet the gods through the book.

Over recent weeks, children in Year 6 have been working together, collaboratively researching the geography of different European countries.

This all came together in a marketplace style activity earlier this week, where the children taught each other about their new area of expertise and set quiz questions to answer. It was a busy hour of speed-learning for all the children, and I was pleased to announce at the end that Harry and Finlay scored the highest points when children attempted to answer the questions on their mountain range.

Well done to them, and great learning from all involved.  

Youtube is by far the most famous video-sharing social media platform, and one of the most popular websites/apps in the world. It has a vast range of content, from music, to sports, to gaming, to news, to pointless celebrities… and is a great space for creating content as well as just watching it.

It is also a one stop shop for learning how to do pretty much anything, from wiring a plug to making cake pops and is hugely entertaining for literally all interests and all age-ranges. While it is not quite as dangerous as the much maligned TikTok, it does come with a large number of potentially very serious pitfalls for young viewers, including inappropriate content, interacting with strangers and possible scams. Please take a look at the this guide for the best way to allow your child to use Youtube as safely as possible.

If you have any further questions, about this or anything else computing related, please do get in touch!

Due to the weather this week, Year 3 were not able to complete their Cross Country.  This will now take place on Tuesday 17 Janaury in their PE lesson.

Pupils will come to school in their uniform but will need to bring appropriate clothing for being outside with their PE kit, full tracksuit, skins and pair of shoes to run in (football boots or old trainers) and a pair of trainers for on the bus or inside the school hall after the run, as well as a plastic bag or boot bag for the spare shoes to go into.  

If you have any questions about this please do not hesitate to contact myself. 

Good luck everyone!

Years 5 and 6 Inter House Cross Country took place on Tuesday afternoon over at Princethorpe College and it was a very muddy affair (sorry parents!) Pupils and staff were welcomed by Foundation Director of Sport, Lee Cassell and Year 9s Lily and Charlie who acted as hares to guide Crescent’s runners around the course.

The rain held off but conditions were slippy so pupils took it steadily as they set off. The route took them out across the playing fields winding its way around the boundaries. The girls ran first followed by the boys. There was plenty of inter house rivalry but also lots of kindness and encouragement.

Well done to all the runners. 

In the girls' race the results were:

1st - St George's 

2nd - St Andrew's  

3rd - St David's 

Individual positions - 1st Grace Crowfoot, 2nd Ellie Gane, 3rd Bella Davies, 4th Lara Lorrimer-Allen and 5th Roisin Banks. 

In the boys' race:

1st - St David's

2nd - St Andrew's 

3rd - St George's 

Individual positions - 1st Sam Bierton, 2nd Alex Thomas, 3rd Timi Ladel, 4th Albert Isles and 5th Alex Grove. 

Friday 10 February 2023

We look forward to welcoming all children to our school disco on Friday 10 February. The event will be run by a professional events company with support from Friends of Crescent Volunteers.

The Pre-Prep disco (Reception to Y2) will be 3.45pm to 4.45pm.
The Upper School disco (Y3 to Y6) will be 5pm to 6pm.

Please note, all Reception children must be accompanied by a parent/carer for the entire event. 

Children in Year 1 and Year 2 attending the disco will be taken to the hall by their teacher. They will be given time in class to change clothes.

Drink and a small snack included. There will also be additional games and spot prizes.

Parents are to collect children from the Pupil SIDE entrance at 4.45pm. If children are signed up to afterschool they will be escorted there by a teacher.

Please ensure your child is signed up for afterschool if required before or after the event in the normal way. 

The school is a mobile free zone. Parents are respectfully asked to keep their phone out of sight and not used at all times.

Friday 17 February 2023 - 3.30pm to 4.45pm

Please come along and support the FoC by buying cakes and sweets, all priced at 50p each. All the money raised at these market day events goes towards privilege time for Year 3.

Friends of Crescent

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:

Princethorpe College

• Head of English
• Head of History
• Teacher of Mathematics (Maternity Cover)
• Head Librarian

Crackley Hall

• PA to the Head and Office Manager
• Teaching Assistant - KS1
• First Aid Administrator

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.