The Courier

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.