Dear Parents and Friends of the School

For once the sun didn't shine on the September return to school, in what is normally the unwritten weather law of the land. However, the children have lit up the building throughout the week with their enthusiasm and good humour. It is always such a pleasure to see them return fresh and ready for a new school year. I remember very well the stress and strain of getting young children ready for school, looking for lost socks, packing the right items and so on, so really well done to all of the parents for getting through the first week so well. 
 
Given all of the reports in the media about parents taking children out for school holidays, it is also lovely to note that every single one of our children, without exception, was in school on the first day and have therefore enjoyed four excellent days of schoolwork, not to mention getting to know new teachers and peers and settling down to new routines. 
 
The first week in Reception class is always a particularly exciting one, and once again there has been a smooth start to the year here. Some nerves, and the odd tear, are not out of place during the first few days, but I am delighted to report that within a very short time of parents leaving, the children have all settled down to their new class with Mrs Collie. Mrs Collie deserves a special mention for standing in so expertly in the absence of Mrs Pullen. If possible, we encourage parents to say their farewells at the gate from next Monday, and there will be plenty of friendly Year 6 children around to help out.  
 
On the theme of farewells, this weekend is special one for the Thackway family as our youngest son Hugh is about to begin his first term at Edinburgh University, studying art. A bit like some of the children this week, Hugh has definitely been experiencing some last-minute nerves. Assuming these don’t get the better of him, we will battle through the M6 traffic on Friday evening and see him into his new halls of residence on Saturday morning. He is located right in the heart of the Old Town, cobbled streets and all, so not a bad place to start your uni life. Lucky him. 
 
Have a great weekend everyone.

When parking around the school site to drop off and collect your children please be mindful of the needs of other road users and in particular the safety of pedestrians.

Please avoid parking at or near to road junctions. We would also advise parents/grandparents/other relatives against parking opposite the school zig zag lines. This creates a blockage for oncoming vehicles at busy times and results in cars backing up to the junction of Magnet Road.

St Mark's Church in Bilton have confirmed that parents can use their car park for drop off and collection from school.  It is a large car park and there is a short cut from Church Walk which brings you out onto Bawnmore Court beside the school.

A short walk and a breath of fresh air is excellent at helping children get ready for their morning's learning. 

Co-Curricular Clubs start on Monday 9 September. SOCS has been updated with all the lists from external providers and it is important you check which clubs your child is booked in for.  I would recommend syncing your calendar with SOCS.

Please note the following:

If you wish to remove a child from a club due to this protocol then please let Mrs Tucker know and she will update our records.

Thank you for understanding.

Please would parents ensure that children do not come into school wearing jewellery.

Necklaces and bracelets can easily be broken or lost and are potentially hazardous for children taking part in physical activities or experiments. 

Earrings are not to be worn in school at anytime.

We discourage watches being worn in Pre-Prep but they can be worn in the Upper School to aid learning. Watches should have no capacity to communicate, play games or take pictures. 

Thank you for you cooperation with this health and safety matter.

Please can all Reception children have a Puddle Suit and Wellies for our Forest School sessions. These should be named and sent in with your child on Monday 9 September.  

Thank you for your support with this.

Dear Parents

Just a little reminder about the pens we expect the children in Upper School to have from this September. Each child will have different preferences, so we are recommending a range of pens for the children to have in school from Year 4. In Year 3 they are awarded a pen licence which comes with its own pen (Berol handwriting pen).

The options we expect to see in school are:

• Parker or Lamy Fountain pen

• Berol Handwriting pen

• Staedtler Handwriting pen

• Uniball Micro Air Rollerball pen

• Uniball Eye Rollerball pen

These are all to be used with blue ink only. Please do not buy pens that have an erasable rubber- making mistakes is very much part of their learning.

Each child is an individual and certain pens will suit your child more than others. We have been specific as we feel this will be of help to you and beneficial to the children and their work. They should not be using biros at all in any of their schoolwork and fine liners are only allowed for additional presentation of work.

Thank you for your support with this. We look forward to seeing all the new pens (named of course) this term.

Best wishes

During key weeks where there is exam pressure, we like to remove homework from the children's workload. Next weekend it is the 11+ so no homework will be set this week. For children not taking the 11+, these children still have plenty to focus their homework time on: reading, Abacus and Times Table Rock Stars to name a few. 

As we continue to celebrate the diversity of our school we are planning to arrange another World Culture Day plus workshops during the week of Monday 30 September to Friday 6 October 2024.

This is an open invite to all our families who may like to share their rich heritage from another nationality, religion or culture, whether it is for half an hour, an hour or half a day! So, if you would like to come in and share a traditional story, deliver a cultural workshop on food, music, or art for example, or to share information on celebrations that your families take part in, please contact me at samstapleton@crescentschool.co.uk with preferred days, times and year groups you'd like to support.

We have previously been enriched by the sharing of experiences, celebrations and culture of our parents and would welcome you all to enhance the rich tapestry within our community.

Thank you

Mrs Stapleton
Head of Wellbeing and Mental Health Lead, Head of RE and PSHE

World Duchenne Day is on Saturday and as a school community we would like to raise awareness of this rare disease which affects 100 boys born each year in the UK. This is very close to our heart here at Crescent School.

The theme of year's WDAD is 'raise your voice for Duchenne' which emphasises the importance of amplifying voices to advocate for the rights, inclusion and well-being of people living with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and other dystrophinopathies.

The aim of WDAD is that in raising awareness, we can create  a society that provides equal opportunities for all. 

Echoing this, here at Crescent we invite everyone, irrespective of their personal connection to Duchenne, to join us in creating a more inclusive world where people living with disabilities are empowered to thrive.

If you would like to learn more please visit https://www.worldduchenneday.org/

Weekly Calendar 9 September 2024

MySchoolPortal

Crescent School

Please see below to view next week's Music Lesson timetable:

Music lessons - 9 September 2024 

The music lesson timetable will be published in the Courier every Friday. Please note the following:

• The timetable changes every week. Lessons are rotated as we try to avoid children missing the same lesson each week, though sometimes this is unavoidable if there are trips, matches and events to work around. If a teacher teaches on more than one day, your child's lesson could be on any of those days. Lessons in bold type are in fixed slots and therefore do not rotate, though, again, on occasions we may have to swap them around to avoid clashes with events.

• The music staff will always try to reschedule lessons missed because of a school event, however lessons missed because of illness cannot be made up.

• If you know your child is not going to be in school for their lesson for any reason, please do let me know as early as possible and I will try to work around it, though this cannot be guaranteed. 

• Lessons before school and during lunchtime are prioritised to Year 6 pupils in the Michaelmas term. After Christmas, Year 6 lessons will move to being during class time, and the out-of-class-time lessons will be allocated to Year 5 pupils.

• Half a term's (ie 5 lessons) notice is required to stop having lessons, or payment of half a term's fees in lieu of notice.

Please send all enquiries about music lessons to me juliebarnes@crescentschool.co.uk rather than the individual music teachers.

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 - 9 September 2024

Crescent School

Last school year, Year 4 chose to fundraise for the much-needed refurbishment of Nachimphu Early Learning Centre in Chitipa, in the most northern part of Malawi. Year 4 worked incredibly hard organising lots of events and smashed their fundraising target raising a huge total of £2,036.

The work on their nominated projects has now been completed and this week we received this super photo of the dedication painted on the external wall.

A really big thank to everyone who supported Year 4’s incredible fundraising efforts. Year 4 you should be very proud of yourselves!

It’s great to have the children back in school and settling into their new routines. We always like to start the new year with a new class photo, so in between lessons on Wednesday we took the children outside and asked them to show us their beautiful big smiles.

It’s been a fantastic first few days of fabulous new lessons, catching up with or making new friends, sitting down for lunch together, and just generally enjoying school life.

Welcome back everyone!

Scientists in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6, you are invited to take part in a Crescent school poster competition. In one of your Science lessons this week you will have learnt about keeping yourself and others safe in the Science room. You are invited to create a safety poster - all of the information is on Seesaw. The winning posters will be used in the Science room for the next academic year.

Please bring your posters to me or send to me on Seesaw or by email: jacquijohnson@crescentschool.co.uk by next Friday 13 September 2024.

Did you know that we are on Facebook, X and Instagram? We use social media to share all that goes on, day in day out, in our super school. We post regularly to keep you up to date with school news and school life, and to share all the wonderful activities and amazing work our fantastic pupils do.

If you engage with social media, why not check out our pages and be sure to follow us so that you never miss a post.

https://www.instagram.com/crescentschoolrugby/

https://www.facebook.com/cres.school

https://X.com/CrescentSchRug

Wednesday 11 September - 6.30pm to 7.30pm

The College's Admissions Team will be holding a Virtual Parents' Q & A session on Wednesday 11 September from 6.30pm to 7.30pm.

The event will be a live streamed Q & A session with Grove du Toit (Headmaster), Michael Spencer (Deputy Head - Academic) and Catherine Rogers (Registrar).

This is a chance for parents interested in Year 7 entry to the College in September 2025 to ask our Admissions Team questions relating to the admissions process and Entrance Examinations Day in an informal forum before the registration deadline of Friday 27 September.

If you would like to attend please click on this link where you will also be able to submit any questions in advance.

Sunday 15 September - 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. 

To book your place please click here.

NEW Pathway to Princethorpe - Admissions Podcast

Discover the ins and outs of applying to Princethorpe College in this new informative podcast series. From choosing the right school to preparing for the entrance exams, this podcast aims to help parents navigate the admissions process step by step. This is perfect for parents whose children are looking to join Princethorpe in Year 7 to Year 10. Join Catherine Rogers, Registrar and Georgia Newborough, Assistant Registrar, as they explore Princethorpe, share expert tips, and demystify the journey into independent secondary school.

Each episode is released every Friday on Spotify YouTube and Amazon Music, please click the links below and subscribe so you do not miss an episode.

Spotify

YouTube

Amazon Music 

Wednesday 18 September 2024 - 7.00pm

We are very much looking forward to sharing with you the online learning resources that are accessible to you at home to work on, alongside your child, to support their learning further.

This will be run as a Teams meeting on Wednesday 18 September at 7.00pm. The link will be sent through to you prior to the event.

If you have any questions please submit them through the meeting chat and we will endeavour to deal with them then or they can be sent to your child's Form Tutor.

If you are unable to make the time of the meeting, we will be recording the session and we will send it along with any resources to all parents in Years 3 to 6.

Within this meeting we will be looking at Spellzone, Abacus, Accelerated Reading and Times Tables Rock Stars.

Thursday 19 September 2024 - 9.00am to 12.00pm

Nasal Flu vaccinations will take place in school on the above date. This is a change to the date published in the termly calendar.

A link to consent has already been sent to parents. If you haven't submitted your consent please click on the link below by Tuesday 10 September 2024:

Nasal Flu Vaccinations 

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 this week.

• Emily 3LS has completed 24% of the course
• Sarima 3LS has completed 48% of the course
• Mithun 5F has completed 100% of the course
• Harry 6W has completed 48% of the course
• Nora 6W has completed 48%, 72% and then 100% of the course

Most improved speedsters in the studio are:

• 6W
  Harry - Rock Star!
  Akaal - Rock Legend!

• 5F
  Mithun - Rock Legend!

• 4C
  Catherine Rock Star!

• 4W
  Jian - Garage Rocker!

• 3SS
  Locan- Breakthrough Artist!

• 3LS
  Sarima - Headliner!

• 2E 
  Carwyn - Support Act!

Battle between all Years 1-6 from 5 - 12 September.

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 competiton! 

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

In class we have been trying hard to establish comfortable pencil grips and practised reading and writing our names.

We have been singing number rhymes and practised counting to 10.

In Maths we will be looking for, and creating our own repeating patterns. We will practise number formation focussing on numerals 1-5.

We will be starting our first topic, ‘Me and Family’ and talking about our favourite things.

In Phonics we will be introducing single sounds initially focussing on;

s     a     t     p     i     n

c      k      e      h      r     m     d

How to help your child at home...

• Practise single letters and their sounds. Play games that encourage the children to identify the initial sounds of objects e.g. eye-spy
• Share stories, encourage the children to identify sounds in print
• Encourage mark making/writing and practise holding a pencil correctly and comfortably
• Practise counting to 20
• Match numerals (1-5) to amounts
• Encourage the children to dress independently
• Practise packing school bags with daily equipment – reading folders, snack bags
   

What’s coming up/ notices/ information...

• Please remember to send in a puddle suit and wellies for Forest School. Also please send spare underwear in their bags so we are prepared for any accidents
• Timetables have been sent home – please ask if you have any queries
• On Fridays we have ‘Show and Tell.’ The children are invited to bring in something from home that they are willing to share and talk about

Mrs Collie
Reception Class Teacher 

Class 1Q enjoyed listening to a story in English written by a French author. The Happy Lion (Le lion heureux) by Louise Fatio. The children all listened beautifully. We also discussed watching the Paralympics in Paris.

Mrs Day
MFL Teacher

In Year 1 Maths this week, we have been busy studying numbers 1-20. We had lots of fun on a ‘number hunt’ around the classroom. We then consolidated our counting skills by counting objects in our workbooks.

Miss Quirke
Class 1Q Form Teacher

Mrs Emery
Class 2E Form Teacher

Monday 16 September 2024 - 4.00pm to 5.00pm

Please come along and join us for this meeting where we will be discussing events for the term. This will take place in Room 1.

Children can be booked into After School, free of charge, if you attend this meeting.  Please advise Mrs Tucker via email.

Friday 20 September 2024 - 3.30pm to 4.45pm

Please come along and support the FoC by buying cakes and sweets, all priced at £1 each. All the money raised at these market day events goes towards privilege time for Class 5F.

Hello to all, hope you've had a good summer, and welcome to all new parents.

Friends of Crescent (FoC) is a big part of school life, with our key aims being Memory making, Charity and Community.  

As new Chair and committee we're looking forward to a great year of events - the famous quiz, the riotous disco, fun and games at bingo, the Christmas bazaar and the summer fete, not forgetting the mountains of cakes across the year! Watch this space for details of when/where/how as we go along.

Whilst we have a dedicated and passionate small committee, events do take a lot to plan and make happen, and we'd love to have lots of parents involved across the year.  All skills gratefully received - from creative to crowd control, baking to wrapping, if you can lend even an hour to help prep, set up, or be part of running an event that would be amazing. It's fun and the smiles on the children's faces make it all worthwhile!

Enjoy your weekend and read about the first events of the year - obviously involving lots of cakes ..!

Click here to view the term dates for 2024/25.

Click here to view 2025/26.

Crescent School

Please see below for useful school contact information:

Please click on the link below which provides information regarding areas of the curriculum where you may be able to help your child at home.

• Class 1Q Michaelmas 2024

• Class 2E Michaelmas 2024

• Class 3LS Michaelmas 2024

• Class 3SS Michaelmas 2024

• Class 4C Michaelmas 2024

• Class 4W Michaelmas 2024

• Class 5F Michaelmas 2024

• Class 6W Michaelmas 2024