The Courier

Dear Parents and Friends of the School

The summer term has continued on its merry way this week with lots of key events going ahead and being enjoyed by children and parents alike.

Earlier today you will have received some important information regarding next year’s forms and subject leaders. Hopefully, this timing will give your children a bit of time to prepare mentally for next year, and the same for you as parents. The eagle-eyed will have spotted there is no form teacher role for Mr Webb next year, and this is all part of a cunning plan to bolster and strengthen our pastoral care provision in the school. Ms Bowdige has also taken on a Year 4 form teacher role, bringing with her a wealth of experience in this age range.

There will be plenty more detail to come at the Welcome Evening on Thursday 27 June on these and other exciting plans we have for the year ahead. I hope to see you then.

Pre-Prep sports day earlier in the week was a triumph. A really well organised event, with lots of parents attending and some gentle sunshine to encourage the children in their endeavours and exploits. It was great to be able to compliment the children on their sportsmanship and good behaviour, just as we had done for the Upper School sports day a week or so ago. With just the Reception event still to come, we are making great progress.

We enjoyed hosting some student ambassadors from Princethorpe College this week when they came over to help out with our foreign language teaching and history lessons. This is a great link up that sits well alongside the workshops the children have attended over at Princethorpe in the past. It is a great way to build relationships, and gives the children a different angle on their learning experiences.

Finally, I’d like to make a mention for the Barnaby Concert and Football Tournament that took place last weekend, both well attended and with a great community atmosphere. A number of families then went on to take part in the Wolf Run on Sunday to complete a memorable weekend.

If you are recovering this weekend, or simply enjoying some time with the family, I hope you have a good one.

Thursday 27 June 2024 - 7.00pm to 8.20pm

Dear Parents

As we come to the end of the academic year you will have noted in the calendar that this year’s Welcome Evening is planned for Thursday 27 June from 7.00pm to 8.20pm.  All parents of children who are attending the school next year are warmly invited to this important information evening and opportunity to meet staff and fellow parents.

The evening will last for around an hour and 20 minutes and will be divided into two sections. In one of these, you will spend some time in the hall with me, hearing some general messages about our exciting plans for the year ahead. In the other part of the evening, you will meet your child’s form teacher in their new classroom and hear in more detail about day-to-day provision and arrangements.

To help things run smoothly, we have arranged the evening to run as follows:

We will be filming my headteacher’s talk, and this will be available for viewing after the event. This means that if you have a child in both sections of the school, you have the option of attending both of the teacher talks and watching the talk at another time.

The school playground will be open for parking from 6.45pm and there will be plenty of signage around to point you in the right direction.

Please confirm attendance via the link below, before Monday 24 June:
 
Welcome Evening

I look forward to seeing you on the evening.

For safeguarding reasons, please could we respectfully request that all children, especially younger ones, are supervised closely by parents at the FOC fete next Friday.

With thanks for your understanding of this.

There are no clubs running after school next Friday 21 June, due to the Summer Fete.

All clubs will finishing for the term on Friday 28 June. Please do keep checking SOCS as some clubs are not running right until end of term.

Please ensure you have booked your child into Afterschool next week if you require care.

St Mark's Church is closed for maintenance on Thursday 20 June 2024 and will be out of use all day. Please ensure you park elsewhere, being mindful of our neighbours.

Crescent School

We have had the combination of lots of rain and a little bit of sun - perfect for plants to grow. Just a reminder that the deadline for sending in your photographs for our house 'Growing Together' competition is Friday 28 June.

All entries receive house points which go towards, what is often, a closely fought battle for the end of year House Cup.

Happy growing!

Mrs Emery

Music lessons - 17 June 2024 

MySchoolPortal

Crescent School

Crescent School is delighted to announce our Head Pupils for the 2024/25 school year. Our congratulations go to Samuel and Roisin who have been selected to take on these important roles.

As the most senior pupil positions in the school, Samuel and Roisin will be the leaders of our pupil community and will be a key link between the children and staff.

Headmaster, Joe Thackway, said, “It was a difficult decision to make from the many excellent applications. I offer my congratulations to Samuel and Roisin and I look forward to working with them next school year.”

Further responsibilities, including the House and Team Captains, will be confirmed in due course. All of our Year 6 pupils play an ambassadorial role within the school. Working in three house teams, they undertake a wide range of duties and represent Crescent School superbly at public events. Most importantly they act as role models for the wider school community, particularly for the youngest children in our Reception class.

We were thrilled to welcome BBC CWR to school this afternoon, after being chosen for their Star School feature.

They interviewed Headmaster, Mr Thackway, four Year 5 pupils, Max T, Toni O, Maya T and Patrick B, and School Caretaker, Mr Knowles, to find out more about life here at Crescent School.

The children were all amazing, confidently answering the questions, sharing their views on the news and even taking the reporter on a tour of the school.

Make sure you tune in to hear their interviews all next week, every morning, normally abut 8.25am, on the CWR Breakfast Show!

On Saturday 8 June, we hosted our inaugural Barnaby Bear House Football Tournament to celebrate Barnaby’s amazing life and it was a wonderful event.

Pupils enthusiastically took part in two mini-tournaments, one for the U9s and one for the U11s. There were trophies on offer for the winning teams and a sporty version of Barnaby Bear as a prize for the overall House winners. Caretaker, Mr Knowles, also organised a special 'Beat The Goalie' competition that the children really enjoyed. This year, the Blues, St Andrew’s House, were the overall House winners, congratulations to them all.

Barnaby loved his football and was a dedicated Leicester City fan and we are sure he would approve of the school holding a football tournament in his memory.

It turned out to be a weekend of commemorations too, as over 100 pupils then went on to take part in a Wolf Run Challenge on the Sunday. A huge well done to them all.

Many thanks to Anna Lorimer for framing our 75th Anniversary artwork so beautifully. We can’t wait to hang this picture in school for everyone to enjoy.

As part of our 75th anniversary celebrations, Mrs Thackway asked her Year 3 Art Club to produce some drawings of our Bawnmore Road school site and then cleverly montaged them together. The finished picture was so good that we wanted to display it for all to see.

We asked Anna Lorimer if she could help us frame it, and she very generously offered to do it for free. We think the finished picture looks amazing. It is held by Ruby and Sofia here.

Today saw pupils' final meetings with their Learning Mentors for the academic year. Children proved that they have been working to achieve their targets by showing work from their books and discussed how they felt their learning has gone this year. Please do ask them how their review meeting went.

We have been delighted with how this initiative has engaged the children from Year 1 to Year 6. The mentor meetings have proven to be a powerful way for children to realise where they are at in their attainment and how they can progress their learning by taking ownership of their personal 'next steps'.

What a fantastic afternoon we had with our Pre-Prep Sports Day. The children really enjoyed sprinting, jumping and throwing their way through all the fun. Their challenges started with sprint races, the Wimbledon dash and egg and spoon, then it was time for the field events, the howler, the bean bag throw, the speed jump and standing jump and of course as a finale the shuttle relay race. Each event enabled them to compete to earn points for their house and everyone tried their hardest to do their very best.

Head of Sport, Mrs McCollin, said, “Our races and challenges allowed everyone to enjoy having a go in a supportive and encouraging environment. It was wonderful to see the children having so much fun.”

After all the points had been totted up, the results were announced. In first place came St George’s House with 64 points, just behind were St Andrew’s on 59 points and in third place were St David’s.

Well done to all the children, who all received a certificate, and a huge thank you to our Year 6 pupils, the KS1 and Sports staff for organising the event.

First thing this morning we gathered out on the playground for a whole school photograph. Of course, the organisation of such a mass event requires military precision and a prayer for fair weather. Friday 14 June dawned windy and with the threat of rain, but the gathering of some 200 souls, as pupils and staff assembled, was going ahead whatever the weather and it all went smoothly and sensibly. Another chapter in Crescent’s long history was successfully recorded. Information on how to purchase the photograph will be shared with parents shortly.

In the second of two Foundation workshops, Year 5 welcomed Lower Sixth students from Princethorpe College on Tuesday 11 June for a discussion on all things Tudor. The Sixth Formers led a workshop focused on the portraiture of Elizabeth I and the power of imagery during the Tudor period. Year 5 were fascinated and had lots of their own ideas to contribute to the discussions, and it was a wonderfully engaging way to deepen their understanding of this key historical period.

Mrs Symons said, “The workshop was fantastic. The Sixth Formers were so well prepared and engaged our children beautifully. They should be so proud of themselves. They really were great ambassadors for Princethorpe.”

Year 5 welcomed pupils from Princethorpe College to their lessons on Monday 10 June for an interactive MFL workshop. Mrs Day had organised for the Year 10 Language Ambassadors, supported by Lower Sixth prefects and their MFL teachers to visit Cresent School to inspire and engage pupils in their learning. Working in four groups the Year 10 pupils delivered four exciting French and Spanish activities on the topics of dates, sports, food and the weather.

Year 5 were excited to work with the Year 10s and really enjoyed the structured, interactive sessions that built on and practised the vocabulary they have been learning in their specialist MFL lessons with Mrs Day. There were plenty of smiles all round as the youngsters enthusiastically engaged with the Language Ambassadors, answering their questions and playing matching games.

It was a fantastic learning experience for them all. A huge thank you to the Princethorpe pupils and their staff for visiting us.

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 16 June:

Reception Class Sports Day

Thursday 27 June - 3.00pm to 3.30pm

Our ‘Open Book’ afternoon is on Thursday 27 June for Years 1 to 5.  This is a chance for you to share all of your child’s books with them at their desk and see what they have enjoyed this year in the classrooms. The front door will be open at 3.00pm and you will be told which classroom your child will be in at that time of the day. Due to space we can only accommodate one adult per child. You can of course have a different adult booked with another sibling or split your time between children taking the other children with you.

Please note this is not a Parent Teacher consultation, but a lovely opportunity for you and your child to share their work. You will be able to take many, but not all, of the books home afterwards.

I do hope you can join us, please book your ticket(s), below by Tuesday 25 June via the link below:

Open Book Afternoon

Dear Year 6 Parents

It is my pleasure to invite you to our version of A Midsummer Night’s dream on Tuesday 25 June at 6.30pm.

A Shakespeare play where nothing is quite as it seems. Mistaken identity, a play within a play and love stories galore - Year 6 have been working very hard, learning lines and songs and developing their characters for a show which promises to be the best one yet!

I hope you can come and join us to see the Athenians surrounded by magic, and Bottom and his motley crew performing Pyramus and Thisbe for your enjoyment.

Please book your tickets below:

A Midsummer Night's Dream

The playground will be open for parking from 6.00pm and please enter the school via the front entrance where refreshments will be served.

Kind regards

Wednesday 26 June 2024

All classes will be spending the morning with their new teachers and will have opportunities to share their hopes and fears for the year ahead and do some bonding activities with their new form teacher.

Pupils just need to come to school as normal that day and note uniform requirements as per the table below:

All lessons will return to normal timetable for the afternoon.

This is also the day when our Year 6 children who are moving to Princethorpe College and Kingsley School will have their induction day. I know that Princethorpe have a number of exciting things planned to help them feel at home there.

Our present Year 6 children who have not got their induction day that day are expected in school and will be our honorary Year 7's for the morning.

Monday 1 July 2024 - 2.30pm to 3.30pm

All the musicians in the Upper School - and there are many of them - have been working hard preparing for our Summer Concert.

Choir, Orchestra, Brass Group, Flute Group, Wacky Music, Rock Band and soloists will perform for your delectation and delight. Doors open at 2.15pm with refreshments in the Library.

Parents of children in years 3 – 6 are able to book two tickets per family.  Please book by Wednesday 26 June.

Summer Concert - Upper School

Tuesday 2 July 2024 – 9.00am – 9.45am

Pre-Prep are starring in their very own Summer Concert on Tuesday 2 July. All classes in the Pre-Prep and Mini Brass will be very excited to show you what they have been learning in Music. 

Refreshments will be served in the Library from 8.45am.  Parents of children in Pre-Prep are able to book three tickets per family, please book by Wednesday 26 June:

Summer Concert - Pre-Prep 

Wednesday 3 July 2024 - 2.00pm to 3.45pm

Crescent School would like to invite the parents and families of Class 6W to join us for the Leavers' Service of the Class of 2024 on Wednesday 3 July between 2.00pm and 3.45pm.

You are welcome to join us for light refreshments on the school field at 2.00pm, followed by a service in the school hall which involves the presentation of Leavers' Books and a book from the school. Alongside this, Year 6 and myself will share memories interspersed with musical interludes from this talented class.

Please indicate how many of your family will be joining us so we can cater accordingly. There will be up to four tickets available per family:

6W Leavers Service 

We hope you will be able to join us.

Monday 15 July to Friday 23 August, 8.00am to 5.00pm

We are thrilled to team up with Team Super Sports to offer an action-packed summer experience for children aged 5 to 16 years. From Monday 15 July to Friday 23 August, our Holiday Camps will run from 8.00am to 5.00pm.

Children aged 7 to 16 can choose from a variety of sports, including rugby, cricket, football, gymnastics, netball, hockey, and tennis to create their own personalised sports camp! For our younger campers (ages 5 to 7), along with sport we’ve got arts, crafts, and dance activities to keep them engaged and having a blast!

Why Team Super Sports? They’re experts in sport and multi-activity holiday camps, providing top-level coaching for all abilities.

Click here to visit the Team Super Sports website to secure your child’s spot.

Camps are priced at £37 per day or £150 per week. Sibling discounts and flexible booking options available!

Sunday 15 September 2024 - 2.00pm to 5.00pm

Princethorpe will be holding its annual Open Afternoon on Sunday 15 September from 2.00pm to 5.00pm. All are welcome to visit the College and for younger visitors, there will be many fun subject related activities organised by the departments.

The Headmaster will address visitors during the afternoon and refreshments will be available. 

Click here to book your place.

Entrance Examinations registration deadline is Friday 27 September 2024. Click here to complete a registration form.

Children have been working so hard this week to achieve full Junior da Vinci student status before the end of this academic year.

• Leela, Shayla and James in 6W have earned theirs in Latin
• James has also earned his in Maths as has Maisie in 6W
• In 5F Matthew, MingYi, Aryaan and Nora have earned student status in Maths
• In 3SS Max has achieved his in Speech and Drama
• in 2E Hannah and Nishaan have earned theirs in Art

Well done to you all on your hard work and commitment to your learning.

Mrs Symons
JdV Lead

Lots of astounding Reading Superstars awards this week...

• 500k words - Kiki (3LS) and Henry (3SS)

• Word Millionaire - Evelyn (4C) and Theo McB (4C) 

• Double Millionaire - Alex G (6W) 

• Triple Millionaire - Lilah (4C)

• Quadruple Millionaire - Alice (3SS) and Aria (4C)

Congratulations!

This week's Word Wizards and Top Quizzers are:

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

• 3LS  Jahnavi
• 3SS  Eve
• 4C    Aria
• 5F    Edward M
• 6W   Alex G

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

• 3LS  Anaya
• 3SS  Penelope
• 4C   Everly
• 5F    Herbie
• 6W  Edward G-H

Mrs Nelson
Teaching Assistant

It is always an exciting time for the children when they gain their pen licence, enabling them to make the move from writing in pencil to pen. For this rite of passage, the children have to show that they can write neatly and consistently in cursive, joined handwriting in all of their work, not just handwriting tasks.

Elin, Klara and Penny have shown pride in their presentation of all of their learning tasks and have been awarded a Pen Licence and their first handwriting pen.

Well done!

Reading certificates have, this week, been awarded to:

• Gene
• Henry
• Juliette
• Keevie
• Kiaan
• Max
• Oore
• Oscar

Well done to you all.

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.

• Sophia 3LS has completed 24% of the course.

Results For Battle 6-13 June between: Y1-5 are: average score per class member.

• 1st 1Q 74
• 2nd 2E 45
• 3rd 3LS 18

Most valuable players in the whole competition

• 1st  Daniel 2E
• 2nd =Florence 1Q
  2nd =Sahiba 1Q

Well done, 1Q! 🏆

Most improved speedsters in the studio are:

3LS

• Sophia - Gigger!
• Elliott - Garage Rocker!
• Zoe - Support Act!
• David - Support Act!

3SS

• Henry - Gigger!

Battle between all Y1-4 from 13-20 June 2024. 

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.

This week's Artists of the Week are:

• Alex 2E - A fun and colourful swimmer

• Nishaan 2E - A clear and carefully painted sea picture

• Hannah 2E - Lovely expressive picture

• Matthew 5F - Beautifully presented design ideas

• Sam 5F - Lovely flower inspired designs

• Leela 6W - Excellent observation and use of tone

• Maggie 6W - Excellent mix of colours and textures

• Shayla 6W - Creative use of materials and shapes

• Edward F 6W - Super mix of materials and colours

• Hermione 3LS - Fantastic colour choice for the fox

• Dare 3LS - Dramatic colour choice

Well done to you all.

Class 3LS have been working hard in Maths as they revisit key concepts to make sure that they can use them securely. This week they have practised expanded column addition and the compact method too. Some children even got to take a turn at being the teacher! Great work everyone!

Mrs Symons
Class 3LS Form Teacher

Class 3SS led a whole school assembly, as they wanted to share important information and advice about looking after hedgehogs in our neighbourhoods. They also shared their investigations around the school grounds where they looked for evidence of hedgehog activity and identified potential hazards they might face. We are looking forward to adding a hedgehog house into our Forest School which will provide the perfect habitat for future prickly visitors!

Class 3SS have been awarded certificates from the British Hedgehog Preservation Society for being such 'Good Citizens'.

Class 3SS have been busy looking for and sketching suitable places within the school grounds to locate their own sculptures. They thought the garden at the main entrance and Forest School would be great places to have different sculptures.

Mrs Thackway
Head of Art

This week, a group of pupils studying languages at Princethorpe College came to work with the Year 5 children. They did a carousel of French and Spanish activities on a variety of topics. The Princethorpe College pupils had planned all the activities and Year 5 had lots of fun meeting them whilst learning lots of new words in French and in Spanish.

Mrs Day
MFL Teacher

Writing a good anecdote is a skill. It is about making a short story interesting; it needs to hook the reader and create a reaction. Class 6W based their ancedotes on their trip to Slapton and we had many laughs remembering the many experiences we had there. They also had to decide whether they were an anecdote to be listened to or to be read, and this determined their final presentation.

Mrs Webb
Class 6W English Teacher

Class 6W released their inner designer in Maths using geometry and orientation skills to create tessellations with shape and colour. This is a mathematical skill that some find very tricky as the spatial awareness can be a challenge. Some used ready made templates and some created their own templates from scratch.

Year 6 have been working hard this term to prove that they are not just passive users of the internet and technology around them, but active digital producers, using their skills to make the internet a better, happier place for everyone. They demonstrated this superbly by researching, planning, creating and publishing their very own unique and highly bespoke websites on a topic of their choice. Please take a look at their websites here, or check out the display outside the ICT Suite to find their scannable QR codes!

In Nature Craft the children have been trying out some whittling and Nordic weaving. They have been very pleased with their creations.

If you want to give the weaving a go it's great fun - here are the instructions!

Members of STEM club were challenged to build paper plane launchers using elastic bands and cardboard or Lego. They tested their initial designs and then made improvements where needed. 

Get ready for your Summer Read! The Green Team and Library Club are offering an opportunity for pupils to swap a book for another book. Children can bring in a book (it must be primary age appropriate) and register it with Mrs Calder. Then on Friday 28 June, during lunchtime, pupils can come to the Science room and choose a second hand book, and have a little treat!

Taking place on Friday 21 June the summer fete is fast approaching! As always entry is free but if your child wishes to participate in the games on the stalls they will need a stamp card. Once they have collected six stamps they can get a prize from the prize stall. Stamp cards will be distributed by the teachers on the day of the fete. 

This year we are also honoured to be hosting 'beat the Goalie' in aid of Barnaby Williams. Costing £1 for 3 attempts (payable at the stall) all funds raised will go to the Williams' chosen charity - The Birmingham Children's Hospital. 

Once again we are looking for teddies to re-home on the teddy stall. Funds raised from this stall will go towards school's chosen charity for the summer term - the World Wildlife Fund. 

We'd love your raffle, tombola and teddy donations so please start dropping them in from now. 

Tickets are available now on Classlist:

Summer Fete Tickets

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 and 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:

Princethorpe College

• Sports Coach - Hockey
• Sports Coach - Rugby
• Minibus Driver

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.