The Courier

Dear Parents

We look forward to an almost unique weekend and the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday. Despite being very old myself, this will be the first coronation I have witnessed in my lifetime and of course it will be the first for very many of us. My mum is an exception, and she does remember crowding round a neighbour’s brand new 12-inch TV screen to watch as a teenager back in 1953. Perhaps our Crescent children will be recalling this event themselves in 70 years’ time.

We have tried to recognise this special occasion in school in the right way in the week gone by, whilst respecting that not everybody sees things in exactly the same way when it comes to national events.

We enjoyed an afternoon of traditional English fete style activities on the field today as well as a parade of the fun crown competition entries. In assembly in the morning, we watched together a short video showing some background to the coronation and a little bit about the life of Charles. I expect, like you, I will be dipping in and out of the coverage on Saturday and we all hope the occasion goes well for everyone involved.

I was able to get out and about during the week in school and spent some time over at the Year 3 residential camp in Whitemoor Lakes. Of course, the children were tremendously excited and whilst not accustomed to spending time away from home, they behaved really well, and I was just pleased to see the natural enthusiasm of everyone involved.

I also spent a lovely afternoon on the same day over at Crackley Hall umpiring a cricket game for the mixed ability team, which was most enjoyable. Cricket is not an easy sport to play, certainly in the bowling department, and it felt like a comfortable and happy environment to develop your game without the scrutiny of too many critical observers. In fact, the range of matches that afternoon, from our excellent A team down, showed very well our inclusive approach to sport and it was pleasing to note the friendly and considerate behaviour all of the children involved.

However you choose to spend your elongated weekend, I hope you enjoy it with your families and I look forward to seeing the children for assembly next Tuesday to reflect on the events of the weekend. 

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

We started the week with a Sun Safety assembly, where the children were reminded why the sun is our friend, but also why we need to treat it with respect. We learned all about the six Sun S’s:

Slip, Slop, Slap and Seek, Slide, Slurp!

We thanked our new UV Monitor, Olivia in 6W for all her hard work with the UV Index board in the Horton Centre and we revealed our exciting competition.

The children have been invited to design a sun safety poster incorporating the six Sun S’s. These can be designed on the computer or by hand. The closing date is Friday 26 May and the two winners, one from upper school and one from lower school, will be announced and prizes awarded, after the half term break. All entries will be displayed around the school.

It is always good to see that Year 6 are becoming more independent in readiness for their senior schools. Please can you let Mrs Tucker and me know what days your child is getting to or from school independently and if they will have a phone with them, which we will then look after in the office until the end of the day.  

Thank you

Crescent School is taking part in the Big Battery Hunt. A national competition for schools to collect and recycle batteries.  

Pupils will be given a small box (one per family) to place your old batteries in and bring them into school (some classes will receive the boxes this week and some next week). There are four types of batteries we can recycle - AAA / AA / C / D. Please follow the safety guidelines (in this document) when handling batteries. 

We will be keeping a count of all batteries collected and recycled and will submit our final number to the competition by Friday 16 June 2023. Crescent can win great prizes if we top the national leader board with the highest number of batteries recycled by one school. 

In addition, there will be an opportunity for a pupil to be entered into an additional competition - Battery Recycling Pioneer for the Month of May.

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 8 May 2022

Crescent School

Below is a link to view the Trinty Term Calendar.  

Click on the link below to view the Music Lesson timetable next week:

Music Lessons - 8 May 

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

The Crescent School has enjoyed a special day of celebrations to mark the coronation of King Charles III. Staff and children came to school in red, white and blue and the day began with a special assembly with Mr Thackway talking about the new king.

At lunchtime the children munched their way through a special Friday ‘fish and chips’ picnic out on the field, rounded off with a special celebratory cake.

Although the weather tried its hardest to rain off the afternoon’s activities, staff quickly relocated all their traditional games inside and the fun carried on. Pupils played skittles, beat the goalie, decorated flags and biscuits, played boules and darts, and guessed the name of the teddy, the older pupils mixing with the younger, encouraging and helping everyone to join in all the fun. The sun came out just in time for everyone to enjoy their ice creams and the afternoon was finished off with a wonderful parade of celebratory crowns and a magnificent rendition of God Save The King.

We hope everyone enjoys their weekend of celebrations.

Year 6 pupils at the Crescent School took part in a special DT Challenge this week when they channelled their inner Mary Berry and went all out to win the school’s Coronation Bake Off. Their task was to design, bake and decorate a Victoria Sponge cake to mark His Majesties King Charles III’s coronation.

Pupils worked in teams and began by carefully designing their cakes. Mrs Johnson then provided all the ingredients, and, on Thursday, Year 6 got busy baking. Friday morning was all about the decoration and the youngsters spent period 2 excitedly creating their stunning designs, we had crowns and bunting and all sorts of creations!

Judging all the cakes were Mr Adkins, Mrs Dowling and Mrs Stephenson, who happily took on the hard work of tasting them all. In addition to the texture and taste of the sponge they considered, the creativity of the decoration and how the fillings complimented the cake.

After much deliberation the results were: in first place Ellie, Grace M and Zahra, in second place Charlie, Harry and Sam and in joint third place Chloe, Mya and Bella and Ava, Alex and Grace C. A really big well done to everyone though, as it was a very close decision.

Mrs Johnson, said, “Our bakers were just incredible, the effort and creativity put into making their cakes has been amazing. Well done everyone.”

Please see attached presentation from Tom Jackson, Olive Catering Manager showing some of the lovely food our new manger Dawn has produced.

Olive Catering

Tuesday 9 May - 5.00pm to 7.00pm

Please share news of our Open Evening for prospective pupils.

Prospective pupils and their parents are warmly invited to Crescent School's Open Evening on Tuesday 9 May 2023 - 5.00pm to 7.00pm.

Come and find out why Crescent School has been judged Excellent in all areas by the Independent Schools Inspectorate. It's a great opportunity for prospective families to get a feel for the school and to meet, Mr Thackway, Headmaster.

We are already taking registrations for places in Reception and Year 3 starting in September 2024. 

To book your place please click here. 

For more information or to talk to our Admissions Team, please contact our Registrar Mrs Helen Morley on 01788 523851 or by email admissions@crescentschool.co.uk.

Availability for September 2023: 

We have had very high levels of interest in places for Reception and our Year 3 class for September 2023 entry. As a result, we have already allocated all of the available places in these year groups for September 2023. We are now operating waiting groups for families who are still interested in a place, should a suitable one become available.

We are currently operating waiting groups in most other years apart from our current Reception and Year 1 classes (Year 1 and 2 for September 2023 entry).

To find out more please click here.

Friday 12 May 2023 - 3.45pm to 4.15pm

On Friday 12 May, 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 12 May 2023 - 09.00am to 12.00pm

Class and group photos, including music groups, will be taken on Friday 12 May. Please ensure children are wearing their summer uniform, have sports kit in school and any musical instruments.

Crescent School

Wednesday 17 May 2023 - 9.00am to 10.00am

The celebration breakfast for 6W is on Wednesday 17 May. We will be eating around 9am, so the children in 6W will only require a light breakfast at home (and no snack required) so they can fully enjoy all the treats that Mrs Milioplulis will be laying out for us.

Wednesday 24 May 2023 - 9.15am to 9.45am or Thursday 25 May 2023 - 2.45pm to 3.15pm

This is an opportunity to share your child's learning journey through Reception. 

One parent is able to attend either of the sessions below.  Entry will be via the afterschool entrance by the side of school where parents normally collect Reception children.

Friday 26 May 2023

We will be holding a non-uniform day on Friday 26 May with all proceeds going to this term's chosen charity, Pawprints Dog Rescue. 

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

Thank you.

Wednesday 7 June - 6.30pm to 8.30pm

Princethorpe College's annual Summer Open Evening will take place on Wednesday 7 June from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. This is a perfect opportunity for prospective families looking for a place in September 2024 and beyond to visit the school, for children to take part in departmental activities and for parents to meet and chat to members of staff and pupils.

The Headmaster will also address visitors during the evening. Light refreshments will be available.

Please click here to book your place. 

These children have achieved their full Junior da Vinci awards.

• Tegan in 6W, Leela and Shayla in 5F in Art
• Chloe and Saira in 6W for Geography. James in 5F and Uma in 2E in English and Poppy in 6W for Latin
• Timi in 5F becomes a double student in Mathematics. Well done to you all

Well done to you all!

Mrs Symons
JdV Lead

The Accelerated Reading award this week goes to: 

• Millionaire – Edward G-H (5F)

Top Word Wizards and Quizzers this week are:

Top Quizzers are:

• 3S Mithun
• 4C MingYi
• 5F Oliver
• 6W Esme

Word Wizards are:

• 3S Aria 
• 4C Aryaan
• 5F Timi
• 6W Zahra

Mrs Nelson
Teaching Assistant

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

• Anaya
• Charlotte D
• David
• Evie
• Finn
• Florence
• James
• Juliette

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 this week:

• David (2E) has completed 24% of the course

Results for Battle 27 April - 4 May 2023. 1Q, 1E, 2W, 2E against each other- average score per class member:

• 1st 2W - 74
• 2nd 1Q - 34
• 3rd 2E - 13

Most valuable players in the whole competition:

• 1st Hannah 1Q
• 2nd Eve 2W
• 3rd Alice 2W

Well done, 2W! 🏆

No most improved speedsters this week.

Battle between 6W, 5F, 4C and 3S from 4 - 11 May 2023. 

TT Rock stars will block 2x,5x,10x,11x on jamming if you are efficient at them, so you cannot pick easy ones just to score more points in the completion! 

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

Stay Calm and Rock on!!

Well done to this week's Artists and Scientists of the Week:

Artists

• Max (2W)
• Penelope (2W)
• Matthew (4C)
• MingYi (4C)
• Shayla (5F)
• Sofie (5F)

• 4C - Brandon Marsh Trip

Crescent School

This week in Forest School the children helped to start building our fire circle, moving benches and fetching sitting logs so now we have a lovely place to be together and a safe place for any tool work. An activity that was enjoyed across the year groups was how to get the swing out of the tree (that Mrs Dowling had accidently got stuck – oops). The children showed fabulous ingenuity, excellent problem-solving skills and amazing resilience when their attempts were unsuccessful! In fact, some children enjoyed it so much they wanted to throw the swing back up again! Some children had a go at whittling, making pegs to secure our hearth in weeks to come, some searched for fungi, some built and decorated a huge hedgehog home, some decorated special wands, some used a magnifying glass to inspect parts of a slug and some made a water slide for leaves. All (including me) had a big smile after getting to spend some time outside in nature.

Class 3S had a truly amazing time at Whitemoor Lakes this week. They tried climbing, archery, completed a challenge course and learned some great circus skills. They also learned the importance of teamwork, tolerance and understanding and supporting and caring for each other. They are also full of super campfire songs! Thanks too to all the great staff who accompanied them.

There are lots of photos, so Mr Adkins has kindly agreed to put them together in a Vimeo which will be sent out to the Class 3S parents in due course.

In Music classes 3S and 4C have been learning to play accompaniments to the song Loki the Joker. Using chime bars and percussion they took turns to play the melody and rhythmic patterns. This required hand co-ordination and a sense of rhythm, as well as superb listening skills.

Class 4C had a day full of sun and fun last Tuesday at Brandon Marsh Nature Reserve. The children enjoyed hunting for minibeasts and identifying them, using quadrants to observe how the ground in the forest and the meadow habitats differ and pond dipping. It was an informative and action-packed day.  

Earlier this week, Year 4 immersed themselves into the world of Mr Stink by role playing what might happen if he found himself in an enclosed, crowded space. We had cafe customers rushing out in a panic, travellers leaping from ferries and ice creams melted by the stench of his breath! The children turned their role play ideas into punctuated direct speech, building up the skills needed to write a short story later this half term. 

Year 5 have been researching Spanish cities and regions and they have produced some excellent display work as a homework task. Popular choices have been Madrid, Barcelona and Pamplona. This week the pupils are continuing to learn how to talk about their free time activities in Spanish.

Class 5F are starting to realise that all mathematical skills that they have learnt at school connect so they can perform more complicated mathematics. We have been multiplying fractions by whole numbers this week. Skills you need to be successful with to achieve this are:

• reading and writing numbers
• writing the calculation correctly
• using = sign for every conversion
• understanding what a proper fraction is
• understanding what an improper fraction is
• converting improper fractions to mixed numbers
• understanding whole numbers and remainders
• identifying a fraction that can be simplified
• identifying factors
• knowing multiplication facts
• knowing division facts
• correct layout and use of notation

And there was plenty of success. With the way maths is taught in 2023 at Crescent, which is so different to 'when I was at school', we forget that the build up of skills is integral to consolidating understanding, rather than just showing a method by rote that is forgotten or cannot be corrected without starting again!

I think this is the quietest club with the most concentration that I have ever run. The children had access to a variety of pens and papers and were learning some key skills. Some children were already experts and were offering great advice to the others.

As part of our English this term, Year 6 are aware of themselves and the impact they can have on each other, their own mindset but also the world around them. They are using a variety of English skills to teach others about Climate Change, what it means and focusing on an aspect of change that can be made. The starting point to this is planning and research.

Year 1 and 2 were treated to a very interactive assembly on Thursday by our co-curricular providers Funstar Education. They had the children doing some great Street Dance moves. There are some spaces in the co-curricular club on a Wednesday for any children in Years 1-4, should they wish to join.

Mr Adkins, Mrs McCollin & Mrs Dowling

Mr Adkins, Mr Thackway & Mrs Dowling

Friday 26 May 2023 - 3.30pm to 5.00pm

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 Class 1Q.

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 following items are stocked in the School Office and can be added to your account:

• Winter hats
• Scarves
• Gloves
• Ties
• Swimming hats
• Sports socks
• Hair bands
• Hair scrunchies
• Hair clips
• Sun hats
• Music group badges - Choir, Orchestra, String, Brass and Wind

Please do contact admin@crescentschool.co.uk in if you need any of the above items.

Crescent School Office

The Foundation has the following vacancies:

Princethorpe College

• Registrar
• Teacher of Spanish
• Rugby Coach
• Graduate Sports Coach

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.