The Courier

The Women’s Cycle Tour of Britain passed through Bilton on Thursday 13 June 2019 and Class VF had the wonderful opportunity to go and watch this major sporting event on our own doorstep. 

Flags were made before the children left and the Emergency Service made it extra fun for the children with 'flossing' Police Officers and sounding the Blues and Twos!

The Men's Tour will be going through on 13 September and we hope to take another Class to watch.

Crescent School

On Tuesday 11 June, Year 5 pupils enjoyed an early opportunity to experience life at the Foundation’s senior school when they attended a ‘Taster Day’ at Princethorpe College.  Pupils took part in a number of different classroom lessons; depending on their group, they enjoyed Art, Science, History, English and Psychology or Business Studies.  They also had a tour of the school buildings, lunch in the Refectory and participated in other activities including a pupil panel (a great chance to ask those questions you wouldn’t ask a teacher!)

The Taster Day experience is all about letting the Year 5 children enjoy a day at secondary school, a first chance to become familiar with the bigger school environment, helping to make the forthcoming change a less daunting experience.

Parents are reminded that Crescent School children are not automatically entered for Princethorpe’s Entrance Examinations.  Those wishing to apply for September 2020 entry must complete a registration form by Friday 4 October at the latest and the Entrance Examinations will take place on Saturday 9 November.

I received a complaint this week from a local resident regarding inconsiderate parking by Crescent parents on the streets around the school, particularly in the junctions of Dalkeith Avenue, Magnet Lane and St Mark’s Avenue. People understandably have heightened sensitivities around parking near their properties and, as well as adhering to the guidance of the Highway Code, it should be a question of applying the golden rule of ‘do as you would be done by’.

I know that the vast majority of you do exactly that but in the rush to work or to pick up, please bear this in mind and park safely and considerately around the school.

Next week we are trialling the use of trays for serving our school lunches. This will enable the children to collect their meal and their pudding on one visit to the serving counter. In theory, this will mean we can improve the speed and efficiency of the service. We will not let this take away from the emphasis we place on good manners and family style service. Children will not go on to their puddings until the others at their table have finished and they are given permission by the member of staff on duty.

This is very much a trial at this stage to see what benefits it will bring before we decide whether or not to bring it in for next term.

We were delighted to receive this report from Tony and Sue Melia.

Sam and Rob's trip was very successful and they have ventured extremely far up country this time way into the north of Malawi.  They have returned with a few more projects for schools that we will be looking at for projects in 2019/20.

Just a quick update on the projects that Crescent school funded this year.  We hope it is OK, but we have managed to stretch Crescent school's donation to cover four projects these are:

• Orphan care food project (this will be distributed next month to the feeding stations)
• Mkombezi Girls dormitory solar lights project (this now installed pictures attached)
• Mkombezi Girls dormitory 30 mattress project (now purchased pictures attached)
• Jombo School 10 teachers classroom furniture project (will arrive once school renovated)

Once again our thanks for all you do and Crescent School's support over the years that helped so many children.

As many of you may have seen there is a new aspect to the Active Learn Online Platform. As a school we are having a trial period with Bug Club, this is a reading initiative which we are exploring for Pre-Prep next year.

Please free free to use it. If we decide to invest in the initiative you will all receive information to help you as a family get the most out of Bug Club.

It has been a great year for reading and the children are still enjoying books.

Please can all school reading books for Classes III - VI be back in school by Wednesday 3 July.  Over the summer we like to do an audit, checking that we have a good range across the year groups.  Please check under beds, on shelves and in bags and send them into your form tutor.

Thank you for all your continued support with reading out of school, keep it up over the summer, it can be a good time to visit your local library and bookshops.