The Courier

Following the announcement of the general election on Thursday 4 July, I write to give you some updates and further information.

Parents who attended our recent Online Forum will know our strategic plans for the future and the approach we have been taking in order to meet the possible political and economic challenges ahead, whilst maintaining the standards of the education we provide. If you were unable to attend, we would urge you to watch the recording, see below.

Announcement of Tuition Fees for 2024-25 
We appreciate that this is an unsettling time and have decided therefore to move our Governing Body meeting forward so that we can announce the tuition fees for September 2024 to parents on Thursday 6 June. This will hopefully give parents some greater certainty.

There is of course, for all independent schools, the possibility that VAT could be added to fees at some stage over the next year or beyond. Were that the case, please be assured that we would do all we can to make sure that the full impact of VAT is not passed on to our parents.

For parents considering our Fees in Advance scheme, the announcement of the fees for September gives more time to consider the options. Click here for details of the scheme. Parents who want to enter the scheme can do so immediately.

We had many good questions from parents at the Online Forum and will continue to add any further questions we receive. The Q & A along with the recording can be accessed by logging on to My School Portal here. If you do have any queries which have not been answered, please submit them using the link here.

We will continue to watch developments closely and will update you as soon as we are able, in the meantime, I send my best wishes to you and your families and hope you can enjoy some time together over the Half Term.

E D Hester

Dear Parents and Friends of the School

Well, there’s no denying that the announcement from Rishi Sunak on Wednesday evening caught us all by surprise. It has been a topic on many people’s lips over the last few days and no doubt will continue to be so in the run up to the election, which occurs just after the children have broken up at the end of this term. You will also be receiving a communication on this from Ed Hester, Foundation Principal, into your inboxes this evening.

Whilst we may have views about some of the policies that are being put forward in this election, we will as a school of course be remaining entirely neutral in terms of the parties themselves. As always, I expect we will use it as an opportunity to educate the children on the democratic process and the importance of fairness and balance.

Grove du Toit, Headmaster at Princethorpe College, has asked me to pass on an invitation to Princethorpe’s Open Evening on Wednesday 5 June, this will be of interest to Year 5 and Year 4 families, though all are of course welcome. The Crescent team will also be on hand, so do come and say hello.

If you attended the recent Parents’ Information Session after the Year 5 Taster Day, you will have heard me say that it does not matter which school your child attends. The number one consideration must be their happiness. You as parents are best suited to make that decision and to know where you child will find their passions and have their love of learning nurtured. My best advice is to get to know each school you are considering. Make sure you visit and ask questions. With this in mind, you have a fantastic opportunity to put us to the test during our Open Evening. Even if you have attended before, seeing us on a glorious summer evening (fingers crossed for good weather) does show the very best we have to offer. There will be colleagues and pupils on hand to answer questions about subjects, sport, admissions, SEND, scholarships, trips, performing arts, and anything else you may be wondering about. I will address parents in the Chapel and will be happy to discuss any questions or queries you may have. Refreshments, including the famous Princethorpe cookies, will also be on offer - it really is a lovely, relaxed evening where you can wander the campus and children can take part in so many different activities.

If you would like to take me up on my invitation, please click here to book by Monday 3 June. An open invitation to meet with me is also always available - we can combine this with an individual tour by our Sixth Formers during a working day to ensure you experience our Spirit of Family first hand. With best wishes, Grove du Toit

Back here in little old Crescent, it has been another great week with so much going on and plenty for the children to engage in and enjoy. The Year 6s have had a fantastic five days going wild in the country down in Devon in amongst the showers, and back here we have had trips to the local Gurdwara as well as the ISA athletics yesterday, not to mention today’s penguin-themed fundraising for the World Wildlife Fund.

The Year 3 drama performance on Tuesday was an absolute triumph. I know I always say that, but it genuinely was, and there was a number of people in the audience with tears in their eyes as they listened to the stories of the hardship and resilience of the wartime period. The children rose to the occasion and I know that parents will have been immensely proud of them, as were we.

Whatever lies on the more distant horizon, in the meantime we have May half term break to enjoy. I hope you have something nice planned, and the good old weather holds up for us as well.

With my best wishes.

Photo proofs have been sent home with children to order online at www.pics4schools.com by Monday 10 June 2024 to ensure free delivery to school.  

All details can be found on the proof card with your unique security code and the photographer's number should you have any queries. 

If you are missing a group card please do ask other parents for the code.

Crescent School

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Crescent School

The school took a team of 18 athletes from Years 4 and 5 to Saffron Lane Stadium in Leicester on Thursday 23 May to compete against schools from across the Midlands in the Regional ISA Athletics.

The children put in fantastic performances and were proud to achieve personal bests with five Crescent School pupils finishing in first place and qualifying for the National Championships. (We are waiting to hear if we have any other qualifiers!)

Head of Games, Rachel McCollin praised the outstanding attitude adopted by the Crescent team who as always behaved impeccably despite the mixed weather conditions.

“We had an absolutely fabulous day,” commented Mrs McCollin, “I was very pleased with our results, there were many excellent individual performances. The children well and truly rose to the challenge of our ‘little school big ambitions’ motto!”

Gold Medal: 

• Maxi E - Year 5 Long Jump 
• Ava L - Year 4 Long Jump 
• Sam, Zac, Maxi, Alex - Year 5 Boys Relay

Silver Medal:

• Akaal R - Year 5 Boys 70m 
• Theo Mc, Kian, Tomisin, Thomas - Year 4 Boys Relay  

Bronze Medal:

• Alex B - Year 5 Boys 150m 
• Lilah W - Year 4 Girls Rounders Ball Throw 
• Tomisin - Year 4 Boys Long Jump 
• Roisin C - Year 5 Girls Long Jump 

Other great results:  

• Kian G - final of Year 4 Boys 60m - 5th 
• Amber M - Year 4 Girls 600m - 4th 
• Thomas - Year 4 Boys 600m - 6th 
• Zac J - Year 5 Boys Cricketball Throw - 4th 

The ISA National Track and Field Championships take place later this term on Monday 17 June, at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham.

Year 4 visited Princethorpe College on Tuesday to take part in an Eco-Explorers Workshop. Led by Princethorpe's Science and Games staff, pupils enjoyed adventurous and interactive sessions that made use of the College’s extensive Outdoor Education facilities.

Working in groups, the children rotated round three activities, pond-dipping, mini-beasts and orienteering. Using their Science skills, everyone had fun exploring the natural world, observing and identifying the creatures that live on the Princethorpe estate. The pond-dipping took place in the Outdoor Classroom situated up in Switzerland and Year 4 were particularly excited to observe the many tadpoles. While in their search for mini-beasts, pupils made use of the bug hotels up on the Mile Walk, spotting centipedes, beetles and worms galore. The orienteering had Year 4 developing their map-reading and navigational skills while running around the main Sports Fields. Mid-morning there was time for a short break and an obligatory Princethorpe cookie, which was followed by a quick introduction to beekeeping.

The session was hands on, engaging and great fun. The children loved working outside, and the topics and activities linked to their learning back in school. On the way home, Year 4 all agreed that the Eco-Explorers Workshop had been brilliant!

On Tuesday morning, Year 3 brought World War 2 vividly to life when they performed Julia Donaldson’s children’s play, Bombs and Blackberries. Parents were treated to a heartfelt and at time humorous retelling of a story of evacuees, their adventures in the countryside and the escapades of their families. The children have all worked hard to learn their lines and songs, and they delivered a fabulous performance. It was a super way to explore history; a huge well done to them all.

Our Year 1s enjoyed a Mini Brass taster session on Wednesday this week. It’s always a popular activity and the children had great fun finding out all about brass instruments and playing the hose-a-phones.

Mrs Fisher has been running Mini Brass Club for Year 2s for a few years now and it is a great introduction to future musical opportunities in the school. Many of our talented brass players first picked up their instruments in Mini Brass.

Details of how to sign up for Mini Brass will be sent home to parents.

Princethorpe College is delighted to be partnering with Team Super Sports to offer Holiday Camps to children aged 5 to 16 years for six weeks this July and August.

The initiative is part of the Foundation’s new Commercial Enterprise activity aimed at generating additional sources of income and is in response to feedback and demand from parents.

The Summer Holiday Camps will run from 8.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday from 15 July to 23 August and are open to all. They will offer a wide variety of sporting activities, taking advantage of the College’s extensive grounds and sporting facilities. Youngsters aged 7 to 16 can take their pick of rugby, cricket, football, gymnastics, netball, hockey and tennis and create their very own sports camp. In addition to sports, dance and games there will also be optional arts and crafts activities for younger children aged 5 to 7.

Comments, Gemma Cullinane, Princethorpe Commercial Enterprise Manager, “Team Super Sports are an experienced provider of sport and multi-activity holiday camps with a fantastic reputation for top-level coaching for children of all abilities. We are very excited to be joining forces with them for the first of many holiday camps to come.

Dan Super, Founder of Team Super Sports, added, “Princethorpe’s beautiful campus is the perfect setting for a holiday camp. We are expecting it to be a very popular choice for many families in the local area.”

For more information and to book your child’s place simply visit the Team Super Sports website here. The camps are priced at £37 a day. Bookings before the early bird deadline of Sunday 9 June attract an extra 10% discount and there are further discounts available for siblings and four and five-day bookings. Childcare vouchers are also accepted.

Team Super Sports will be on hand at the College’s Open Evening on Wednesday 5 June and at Induction Day on Wednesday 26 June to answer any questions families may have or you can contact them at info@teamsupersports.co.uk or call 01675 448494.

Crackley Hall’s Holiday Club will continue to run as normal.

Monday 3 June to Friday 7 June 2024

Parents are invited to come into school from 8.15am to 8.40am to watch and support their child in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 while they quiz on their reading books.

The quiz platform is not available at home so this is a super opportunity for parents to share the experience.

Half-term is a great time for your child to finish reading a book and that will give you an extra excuse to see your child at work.

We look forward to welcoming you.

Tuesday 4 June 2024 - 10.00am - 12.30pm

We are all very much looking forward to our Sports Day for Years 3-6 on Tuesday 4 June at Princethorpe College. This is being held within the school day so normal drop off and collection times from school apply.

Please note that all pupils are to wear PE kit to school, blazers are not required but full tracksuits are to be worn. Please ensure that your child(ren) come to school with the following:

• sun cream, applied before school 
• a school sunhat (these can be purchased from the school office)
• a refillable drinks bottle of water (snacks will be provided)

Sports days are always very much anticipated by the children and really enjoyable for all involved.

Booking has now closed, thank you for those of you who booked.  Please bring a chair or a blanket to sit on.

Wednesday 5 June - 6.30pm to 8.30pm

Princethorpe College invites prospective families to the College's annual Summer Open Evening which will take place on Wednesday 5 June from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. This is a perfect opportunity for families looking for a secondary school place in September 2025 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, Grove du Toit, will also address visitors during the evening. Light refreshments will be available.

Please click here to book your place. 

Dear Parents,

We are all looking forward to celebrating the life of our great school friend Barnaby Williams in a special concert dedicated to him on Friday 7 June at 2.30pm.

It will be a fun event, run mostly by his schoolmates and directed by the teaching team, comprising of a combination of jokes, sketches and music, just some of Barnaby's favourite things. The choir, orchestra, rock band and flute group will all be performing, with plenty of surprises and hopefully some laughs along the way.

If you would like to come along, please complete the form below by Sunday 2 June 2024.

There will be a retiring collection for the Birmingham Children's Hospital following the performance.

Barnaby Williams Concert Celebration

Saturday 8 June 2024 - 9.30am - 12.00pm

We are all looking forward to a chance to celebrate Barnaby Williams’ amazing young life in our inaugural Barnaby Bear Football Tournament on Saturday 8 June.

There will be two mini-tournaments, one for the U9s and one for the U11s, with little trophies on offer for the winning teams and a sporty version of Barnaby Bear to be won by the overall winners. The children will take part in House teams, and there may be more than one team per House.

Wednesday 12 June 2024 - 2.15pm to 3.30pm

We are all very much looking forward to our Sports Day for Years 1 and 2 on Wednesday 12 June.

Please ensure that your child(ren) come to school with the following:

• sun cream, applied before school and put in their bag
• a Crescent school sunhat (these can be purchased from the school office)
• a refillable drinks bottle of water

Sports days are always very much anticipated by the children and really enjoyable for all involved.

Parents are invited to come and support, please book your tickets via the link below by Sunday 2 June:

Year 1 and 2 Sports Day 

We are aware of the upcoming device and online challenges for children and parents during the transition into Year 7 and beyond.  As such we're offering a workshop event for parents to join their Year 6 child in school from 5-6pm on Thursday 13 June.

This will feature likely tricky scenarios which children and parents alike will be future navigating and will promote the opportunity to develop healthy problem solving conversations.  Please complete the event booking link below to indicate your attendance with your child:

Year 6 Parent and Child Online Safety Workshop

Friday 14 June 2024 - 09.00am to 12.00pm

Our Whole School photo will be taken in school on Friday 14 June. Children are to wear summer uniform with blazers please.

Reception children will be having their 'taster swimming session' on Wednesday 19 June. The taster session is to show children the school swimming process, with going on the bus, getting to the swimming pool, navigating the swimming pool and meeting the Rugby School swimming teachers. 

Children will all be put into buoyancy aids to begin with as swimming teachers begin their assessment process for safety at this session. It is a fun taster session and their swimming level assessment will take place in September. 

Please ensure swimming kit is brought in on the morning of their swim, children can wear their own swimming costumes/swim caps for this taster but they will need to have Crescent school swimming kit for September. This can be ordered via the uniform order form.

Wednesday 26 June 2024 - 2.45pm to 3.30pm

We are all very much looking forward to our Sports Day for Reception on Wednesday 26 June.

Please ensure that your child(ren) come to school with the following:

• sun cream, applied before school and put in their bag
• a Crescent school sunhat (these can be purchased from the school office)
• a refillable drinks bottle of water

Sports days are always very much anticipated by the children and really enjoyable for all involved.  Please book your tickets by Sunday 2 June:

Reception Class Sports Day

Dear Year 5 Parents

As you will no doubt be aware, the local authority 11+ exams for entry into Year 7 in 2025 are scheduled to take place in September 2024, most likely on the second weekend of the month. Registration for the exam has already opened on the Warwickshire.gov website.

With this in mind, we would like to invite this year’s Year 5 children in for two days of Pre-Season Brain Training Sessions on Thursday 29 August and Friday 30 August 2024. These will run from 9.00am until 12.45pm each day.

The children will spend each morning with their familiar Crescent teachers, including Ms Forth, Mrs Webb, Ms Clark and Mr Adkins, getting them back into gear and ready for their exams. Each day there will be taught sessions focusing on the four strands of the 11+; verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, Maths and English comprehension. Needless to say, these skills will also be useful for their Princethorpe exams on Saturday 9 November, as well as any other independent school exams they may be entered for.

Children will be expected to arrive in school smartly dressed with a mid-morning snack. They do not need to wear school uniform.

These sessions will be in addition to the revision packs that we send home at the end of the Summer Term. I am pleased to say that there will be no charge for attendance.

Please indicate if you would like to sign up by following this link by Friday 3 May 2024.

Brain Training 2024

Best wishes 

In our Assembly this morning we awarded School Promise certificates to recognise the children’s excellent behaviour as Good Friends, Good Learners or Good Citizens. 

Well done to:

• RP - Emilia and Noah

• 1Q - Evie and Emily

• 2E - Tilly and Daniel

• 2W - Olivia-Rose and Hazel

• 3LS - Sophia and Rachael

• 3SS - Alice and Henry

• 4C - Theo and Kiran

• 5F - Alex and Samuel

Another busy week for Junior da Vinci awards.

• Sophia, Edward W, Patrick, Roisin, Zac, Maya and Nora in 5F are awarded theirs in Science & DT
• Edward M, Patrick and Alex W in 5F gain theirs in Computing
• Finn, Elin, Felicity, Joshua, Jahnavi, Alice and Catherine gain theirs in Speech & Drama
• Isla in 2W achieves hers in MFL

Congratulations to you all on you amazing hard work.

Mrs Symons
JdV Lead

Congratulations to Matthew who becomes a quadruple millionaire! 

An amazing achievement.

This week's Word Wizards and Top Quizzers are:

Word Wizards, achieving the highest word count from successfully quizzing this week, are:

• 3LS  Zoe
• 3SS  Max
• 4C    Isabella
• 5F    Alex

Top Quizzers who have quizzed on the most books successfully or made a noticeable improvement in quizzing scores this week are:

• 3LS  Rachael
• 3SS  Oliver
• 4C   Amber
• 5F    Sophia

Mrs Nelson
Teaching Assistant

Reading certificates have, this week, been awarded to:

• Alex
• Anika
• Carwyn
• Iris
• Locan
• Noah
• Ola
• Vihaan

Well done to you all.

Thank you to Ruby, Sofia, Carwyn, Harriet and Emma from 1Q for your good conduct, good manners and respect for others during lunchtimes.

The lunchtime supervisors decided that you are this half term's recipients of Top Table invitations.

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

• Henry 5F completed 100% of the training course
• Alex W 5F completed 48% of the training course
• Maya 5F completed 72% of the training course
• Harry 5F completed 24% of the training course
• Sam 5F completed 24% of the training course
• Penelope 3SS completed 100% of the training course
• Taran 4C completed 24% of the training course

Most improved speedsters in the studio are:

4C
Isabella- Rock Legend!
Evelyn - Rockstar!

3LS
Uma - Support Act!
Elliot - Wannabe!
Zoe - Gigger!

2E
Tara - Rock Star!

1Q
Florence - Breakthrough Artist!
Alex - Unsigned Act!

Results For Battle 16 - 23 May between Years 1-5 are - average score per class member:

• 1st 1Q 296
• 2nd 5F 269
• 3rd 4C 192

Most valuable players in the whole competition:

• 1st Roisin 5F
• 2nd Tara - 2E
• 3rd Sophie C 2W

Well done, 1Q! 🏆

This fortnight's battle is between all classes 23 May - 6 June .

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

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

Year 2 pupils have been studying habitats. These children have shown a super knowledge of a micro habitat in an Oak tree.  

• Charlotte 2E

• Sophie 2W

• Iris 2W

• Keevie 2W

• Sarima 2W

• Isla 2W

• Marcie 2W

This week's Artist of the Week are:

• Oliver 6W - Lovely choice of materials to create a creative Big Mac

• Harry 6W - Imaginative Big Mac full of colour and texture

• Niamh and Hannah 2E - Excellent mix of colours to create a seaside collage

• Maxi 5F - Beautifully painted study of a flower head

• Herbie 5F - Lovely lily painting full of beautiful colour mixes

• Zac 5F - Sensitive use of watercolour

• Roisin 5F - Beautiful use of watercolour

• Maya 5F - Creative use of colour and pattern

Well done to you all.

This week has been all about mass and comparing the weights of objects. Different sized weights were passed around so we had first hand knowledge of what a gram weighs, 10g, 100, and 1kg. We then had fun making potato friends and estimating whether our potato weighed more or less than 100g. We enjoyed this investigation and the children all wanted to take their veggie-pal home! 

Mrs Stapleton
Class 3SS Form Teacher

Class 3LS have been learning the rooms in the house in Spanish. They can sing the Language Angels song beautifully and they have also learnt how to use negative structures correctly in order to say the rooms that their house does and doesn’t have. Here they are practising their vocabulary with a card game.

Mrs Day
MFL Teacher

3LS and 3SS have been painting pictures of different wildlife we find in Britain. They have been looking carefully at the shape, colour, and texture of the animals and have used watercolour to create these wonderful pictures.

Mrs Thackway
Head of Art

Class 4C have published some fantastic story openers, inspired by Mr Stink by David Walliams. They were challenged to create their own characters – one based on Mr Stink and one on themselves. In their story openers, the two characters meet for the first time and there are hints that there is more to both characters than first appear. The aim is to gain the readers’ interest and encourage them to want to read more!

Ms Clark
Class 4C English Teacher

Class 5F enjoyed their visit from Jay Silva and Zainab Remiomosowon of Stephen George & Partners LLP.  The architects taught the pupils about different materials used in buildings and the carbon ratings. This was a brilliant start to the Class 5F Design & Technology project which is to design and create a model of a futuristic building. 

Year 6 welcomed local police officers into school last Friday 17 May for an informative and interactive session. Amongst other topics, pupils explored what constitutes anti-social behaviour with lots of suggestions of how to make better choices.

Despite some ending up getting handcuffed, we can assure parents that pupils engaged with the officers really well, learned lots and asked plenty of super sensible questions.

Class 6W were set the task of 'The Traffic Jam Puzzle' where all people on the left must end up on the right without overtaking anyone on their team! It took a VERY long time to work out the solution and after several 'start agains', they worked out the puzzle could be done in 15 moves.

Mrs Webb
Class 6W Form Teacher

What a wonderful week Year 6 have had down in Devon on their Slapton Ley Residential. They have all achieved so much and made so many wonderful memories that will stay with them for a lifetime. Their week has involved rock pooling, woodland survival, river studies, mammoth coastal hikes, team games, ice cream, lots of glorious sunshine and even a thunderstorm.

They have made us all proud with their resilience, their support for each other and their grit. Here are just a few photos from their week away!

This week, STEM club members were challenged to design an app that would help people to either eat less meat, reuse and recycle more or use less plastic. The children had to consider their audience and how to make their apps engaging and  helpful – they came up with some interesting ideas!

Friday 7 June 2024 - 3.30pm to 4.45pm

Our final bake sale of the School year is Reception Bake Sale is on Friday 7 June. As always this will start from 3.30pm and will have a range of yummy cakes and snacks selling at £1 each.

All profits will go to Reception Class to spend on entertainment for Privilege Time.

Tuesday 18 June 2024 - 4.00pm

The FoC AGM is on Tuesday 18 June and all are welcome to attend. This will be held in school and you are able to book free After School care, please let Mrs Tucker know.

Uniform can be ordered here:

Uniform Order Form

Please note the following items are stocked in the School Office and can be added to your account.  Do pop in to collect any items.

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

Crescent School Office

Click here to view the term dates for 2023/24, 2024/25

Click here to view 2025/26.

Crescent School

Please see below for useful school contact information:

We regularly recruit for a variety of roles, please do share news of the vacancies with interested friends and family. Current vacancies include:

The Princethorpe Foundation

• Events Co-ordinator

Crescent School

• 1:1 Learning Support Assistant

Princethorpe College

• Minibus Driver

Crackley Hall

• Class Teacher (maternity cover)

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.