The Courier

Dear Parents

One thing we have all learned during the recent lockdown period is that although it is often not impossible to do many of the things that we normally do, it is always considerably more complicated. A very good example is yesterday evening’s welcome session. We felt it was important to carry on with the evening as it is such a useful way of sharing information and engaging with parents ahead of the new academic year. Many schools run these during the first few weeks of term, but I believe it works much better to have them in the final week or so of the preceding year. Hopefully it gives everyone an idea of what lies ahead and we can all go into the new academic year focused on our goals and with a shared vision.

Doing this through Teams meetings and events did provide some challenges. I know that there is a delay in sharing the recordings of the from teachers meetings, but we have a solution in place and they will be with you very soon. A number of parents submitted questions in advance of the meeting and I hope I was able to deal with them either during my talk or in the Q&A session at the end. If questions do remain please feel free to contact me, or the right person here in school, and we will do our very best to answer them.

The two classes who came into school for their sessions this week have had a wonderful time. It has been lovely to see so many smiling faces and happy children. It does bring home the impact of so many weeks out of school and the release and relief that it provides when we can finally start getting back to normal. We have two more classes due to come in next week and I do hope they have a similar experience. As I mentioned in the session yesterday, we will be looking closely at how we integrate the children back into school next term, always mindful of the potential effects the lockdown may have had on them socially, as well as academically.

Next week is also the final few days in school for our current Year 6. I will be saying this a number of times over the next few days, but they have been a wonderful year group and we will miss them very much. However, we have worked hard to put together what we hope will be a fitting send off in the best traditions of the school. This will culminate in the leavers’ service on the final day. All of the children and families can look forward to a video of this event very soon following the end of term, hopefully within a matter of a few days. On a similar theme, we will also be running our usual end of term assembly on Friday morning where we recognise the achievements of children outside of Year 6.  This will go out to the children with their Seesaw lessons on Friday morning.

The changeable weather forecast for the weekend might come as a welcome relief to many people following the soaring temperatures of recent days. It might even give me a break from having to water the vegetables. Whatever you have planned for the weekend, I hope you enjoy some quality time with your children.

For a two or three week period this year we will be focusing on one of the sayings in the School Promise. We will talk about this in assembly and in form period. It would be great if you could discuss this with your children at home and support the messages we are emphasising in school.

From now until the end of term we will be looking at a very important idea from the Good Citizens section of the Promise:

"We keep our school tidy and take pride in our clothes and our uniform."

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

At the end of next week we say goodbye to a much-loved colleague, as Mr Phillips comes to the end of his time here at Crescent School. I wanted to use this opportunity to pay my own personal tribute to everything that Matt has contributed to Crescent during my three years here, as well as for the best part of a decade before I arrived.

When you teach games on the prep school circuit you become familiar with a certain type of sports teacher. Perhaps not win-at-all-costs, but teachers with an instinct to employ tactics that win matches without developing individual skills or encouraging self-expression. These are often teachers with competitive sports background themselves who like to see their teams as an extension of their own sporting prowess. Well, Mr Phillips has shown us, and them, that there is another way to do things. Mr Phillips always puts the children first. The tactical discussions and half-time talks involve the children themselves feeding back how they feel and what could be done better. Not for Mr Phillips the Churchillian rant or the upbraiding of individuals for missed opportunities. Of course, the magical trick is to combine this child-friendly approach with match-play competitiveness and, in an ideal world, some success in tournaments. That of course is exactly what Mr Phillips has achieved in bucket-loads

I know that he will be sorely missed by children, teachers and parents alike, not just on the games field and in the sports hall, but in the IT suite and in the staff room as well. Mr Phillips goes on to explore other opportunities in the developing world of information technology and he goes with Crescent’s very best wishes and blessing.

Matt, we hope you feel able to come and visit us in the future and share with us your new adventure and in the meantime we thank you for everything you have done for the school and for the children.

Year 6 pupils had the chance to partake in the age-old ritual of signing their school shirts on Thursday albeit at a suitable social distance. We laid the PE shirts out in the sun on the playground and the children and staff rotated round taking turns to sign the individual shirts. You can count on Crescent to come up with a creative solution to a challenge!

The Crescent School has announced that specialist Early Years teacher, Lisa Emery, will join existing Reception class teacher Claire Pullen in teaching the Reception year. Mrs Emery will lead a second Reception class at the school, introduced in response to local demand for this September 2020. Each class will also have a dedicated Teaching Assistant and subject specialists leading lessons in MFL, PE and Music. Together the Early Years teaching team will deliver a tailored child-centred approach that provides an excellent start for youngsters at the very beginning of their education journey.

Comments, Headmaster, Joe Thackway, “Having two classes of up to 20 pupils each will enable more pupils to benefit from our experienced Early Years team and excellent staff to pupil ratio. I know this will provide our new Reception children with a welcome boost to their learning after the disruption we have all experienced this year.”

There are a small number of places still available for children due to start in Reception this September and interested parents are encouraged to contact Mrs Helen Morley, the Registrar, on 01788 523851 or email admissions@crescentschool.co.uk to register their interest and progress their application.

Part of the Princethorpe Foundation, the Crescent is a co-educational independent day school for around 160 children aged 4 to 11 years. Traditionally one form entry, class sizes range from up to 20 pupils for Reception to Year 2 to up to 24 for Years 3 to 6. The school has excellent success rates in both the 11+ and independent school entrance examinations.

I can't believe it is our final week. How did this happen?

I just want to keep you up to date and remind you of some key points during the week.  We have some different things planned for them, there will be some lessons available on Seesaw everyday but there will be some missing due to rehearsals, assembly or in school activities happening.

Thank you to all Year 6 parents for their support with home-learning and being back in school. It has been a pleasure.

Homelearners:

• 10am Monday 29 June - Year 6 home-learners to come to the car park gate and record their memory - in school uniform, parents can wait and go.

• 2.25pm Friday 3 July - come to car park gate for Leavers assembly - in school uniform, children to be collected at 3.45pm from Library door if 6W or pupil door if 6Y.

Year 6 children in school:

• Monday 29 June  bring in a sturdy bag into pack their belongings into later in the week.

• School uniform is required on Monday 29 June and Friday 3 July - this can be summer or winter (they can wear their leaver's T-shirt over it during the morning if they wish).

• Please send your child into school in clothes that will not be harmed by getting wet on Thursday 2 July.

We are always trying our best to encourage children to read, hoping to create a life-long love. There are so many distractions in life so I am always looking for ways to motivate children. I have discovered a summer reading challenge and a reading club that some of you may wish to do.  Take a look, have a go and I look forward to hearing how it went.

Scholastic Kids Club

Love books? Love fun and games? Love freebies? Then you'll love our online Scholastic Kids' Club. It's a place where you can read about books, get your hands on lots of games and activities, see what's hot and grab FREE stuff in our giveaways and competitions

Summer Reading Challenge

Parents and children can sign up to our easy-to-use website and create their own profile at sillysquad.org.uk from 5 June onwards.

• They set their own challenge to read any amount of books during the Challenge, with children being encouraged to read anything that makes them happy – whether it be comics, joke books, poetry, fiction or non-fiction; in digital or print format; from e-book lending through the public library service or from what they already have at home.

• Each time they finish a book, they add it to their profile and write a review. They are rewarded with activities and incentives along the way, such as online badges, games and videos. 

• Families are encouraged to join in and ‘Get Silly’ with downloadable activities, games, quizzes and more. With new content to enjoy each week, the fun will continue throughout the summer to keep families engaged. 

• They receive a downloadable certificate once they’ve completed their challenge!

Well done to Harriett in Year 6 who took part in the 10km Centurion Run over the half term. We have so many budding athletes at Crescent to be proud of!

Crescent School

Should you require any new uniform items for your son or daughter in readiness for September we are now offering virtual Uniform Shop appointments via Zoom over the summer. Please complete the form for current parents on the Uniform Shop tab on the top menu of My School Portal https://princethorpe.myschoolportal.co.uk/section/270 and the Uniform team will be in touch to arrange a suitable appointment with you.

As normal, items can be added to your pupil account or payment can be made by credit/debit card at the end of the appointment. We will then give you a collection date and time.

Attached is the uniform list for your information, green text items are to be purchased from the school shop. Please note the following:

• Class 2W will require white trainers for PE   
• Class 3Y will require various items for sport/PE including the tracksuit and standard ties
• Girls moving into Class 5F can now wear skirts for winter uniform
• Gumshields and shin pads are mandatory for PE/Sport in Years 3-6 and we recommend base layers

Nicola Browne
Foundation Shop Manager

Top tips to support your child move positively to secondary school!

Moving from primary school to secondary school is an exciting time of life; new teachers, new subjects, making new friends - however for some children this can also be quite a daunting prospect.  The following information offers practical advice and emotional support to help take the stress out of taking the next big step! 

Learning Support - Secondary School Move

We receive First News in school every week for the children to peruse. As they are currently unable to deliver printed copies, they are sharing the newspaper as a PDF: 

First News

I hope you are all enjoying this great newspaper, even as an adult, I enjoy reading it.

Mrs Webb
Assistant Head

Accelerated Reading will not continue through the summer holidays. The final time for quizzing is before 11am on Friday 3 July. This will allow me time to set up the new classes and be ready for September.

This does not mean we stop reading!  Please  keep reading, have a look at the reading challenge and book club that I have included in the Courier, read unquizzable books but keep reading!

Please note a slight change to the published calendar. Due to the various adjustments made because of current circumstances and Trinity term being extended to 3 July, 'End of Year' Reports for Reception to Year 4 will be published on My School Portal on Tuesday 30 June 2020. Previously issued Year 5 reports will also be available on MSP from that date too. 

Thank you for your understanding.

Normally we would be busy making plans for our extensive co-curricular timetable ready for you to sign up for the Michaelmas Term.  However, as I am sure you can fully appreciate this is hard to plan at this time.  We would love to offer some co-curricular next term, it may well be limited to in house staff and during the day. As soon as we are able to make plans we will let you know, although this may well be during the summer holidays.

We really value our co-curricular provision and want it to return to full strength as soon as possible.

Thank you for your understanding with this.

Please find below the links to all the 'virtual' assemblies that have been sent to Pupils during Home Learning.

Friday 3 July 2020 - 2.30pm

We have some exciting news about this year’s Leavers’ Service!

We have agreed to team up with Chugg Productions to produce a special Leavers’ Souvenir Video that will be sent out free of charge to all Year 6 children and families. The video will include a ‘Crescent Memory’ from each of our leavers, a professionally recorded video of the Leavers’ Service, a picture slideshow of the children’s time in school and a musical performance as well. We are very grateful to the Friends of Crescent, who have agreed to fund the costs of this unique memento for the children at such an unusual time.

The Leavers’ Service itself will take place on the school playground, weather permitting. This location will allow for appropriate distancing and enable all the children who are able to attend to be present. All children will be invited to attend in person, although we will not be able to accommodate parents due to the current restrictions. Prizes will be awarded, speeches made and Leavers’ gifts presented. In the event of wet weather, the service will be filmed from the school library with prizes awarded in classrooms with filming in place.

Please see below a copy of the letter which went out via ISAMS this afternoon:

Dear Year 5 Parents

As you will no doubt be aware, the local authority 11+ exam are scheduled to take place this year on the weekend of 12 and 13 September 2020.

With this in mind, we would like to invite this year’s Year Five children in for three Pre-Season Brain Training Sessions on 25, 26 and 27 August. These will run from 9.00am until 12.45pm each day.

The children will spend each morning with their familiar Crescent teachers, including Mrs Forth, Mrs Webb and me, 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 later in the year (these have been moved to January 23), 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 completing the form link.

Best wishes

Well done to the following pupils who have been awarded certificates this week:

• 5 Million
  Harry B

• 2 Million
  Caspar
  Katherine
  Rania

• 1 Million
  Poppy 

It great to see so many of you accessing reading from home.  We work out these totals over each week working from Monday to Monday, so there is still time for next week.

Word Wizards of the week:

• Caspar
• Hany
• Harry B
• Poppy
• Matthew T

• Amber B
• Harry B
• Katherine
• Matthew T
• Yash

The following children have been awarded (virtually) certificates for Accelerated Reader this week:

Well done to you all.

Weekly battle 18 June - 25 June results:

Boys are the winners with Bryson in 3S and Fifi in 6W for contributing the most points to their teams. 

In the Class 3S and 6W battle:

Each class can have the speediest TT Rock Star and that gets you up the status board on the poster. To get on this board you have to tackle the single-player games - Garage, Studio & Soundcheck, multi-player games do not count for these. The single-player games also earn more coins than the multi-player games too.

I can see plenty of 1E and 2W playing  multiplayer games- but you need to play the singles to get a status.

In the last weeks, most improved speedsters in each class are:

• 3S - Charlie Rockstar and Esme - Headliner!

   

• 4M - Dorrit D - Wannabe!

   

• 5F - Jack M - Breakthrough Artist!

   

• 6W - Chloe W Rock Star!

I have also set up a 'Battle' for Thursday 25 June - 2 July 'Girls Vs Boys' for the whole school. 

There is also Class 4M v 5F battle too.

Battles add up any points at all as you play! I will let you know who wins next Courier.

Stay Calm and Keep Rocking!

Dear Parents

In school we very often talk to the children, of all ages, about recognising and managing feelings.  Part of this is that feelings are rarely isolated and can regularly become a mixture of lots of them all jumbled together.  Over the last three months we have all experienced this alongside significant ups and downs as we strive to make sense of what has been happening in the world.

For two days in school this week, this seems to have been particularly magnified as we have welcomed back first Year 2 and then Year 3.  With regards to feelings it's kind of difficult to unpick!

There was nerves and uncertainty, there was happiness, there was joy like I haven't seen in a long time, there was sadness that this school year is coming to an end.  The overriding feeling was one of togetherness - parents, staff and children united in the pleasure of being together once again at Crescent.  Year 4 and 5 will have the same mixtures next week - above all it will bring them happiness.

With all best wishes for a good weekend everyone

Good Citizen is of course a significant strand of the Crescent school promise so please keep sending to me, by email (awebb@crescentschool.co.uk), any examples of your children going above and beyond in this aspect during this lockdown period, so that we can include them in a section celebrating this in the Courier each Friday.

Patrick from Class 1E has been very much enjoying the recent animal related science projects and has been fascinated by their environments and the different variations within a particular species. 

He expressed some concern recently over the state of the natural world, and seems to feel a deep sense of personal responsibility in doing whatever possible to look after the planet and all species that need protecting. In his words he 'wants to save nature'. To make a start on this he proposed a sponsored silence where proceeds would go towards some nominated charities. 

As tricky as it was, this past Sunday 21 June 2020 Patrick completed his challenge and raise a total of £110. This was split between the Jane Goodall Institute UK and the (YPTE) Young People's Trust for the Environment

What an amazing achievement Patrick, we are all very proud of you!

As the School Year is drawing to an end, we will happily accept any of the following pre-loved uniform:

• School Blazers
• School Coats
• School Cardigans and Jumpers
• School Dresses (winter and summer) and Skirts
• School T-Shirts/Polo Shirts/PE Shorts/Skorts
• School Boaters
• School Bags
• School Tracksuits

Please do not include anything not on the list above e.g trousers, shirts etc. 

Uniform should be put into carrier bags and left by the box outside the main school entrance by Friday 3 July 2020.  It will then be removed and kept in quarantine ready to be used next term when safe to do so.

Below are the details of the FoC Year Group Representatives. These reps will communicate with you on all our events via email, WhatsApp or Facebook. 

Please find below a link to the current vacancies available across the Foundation:

• Administrator/Receptionist (Maternity Cover)
• Learning Support Teacher - Part Time

Full details of the roles and how to apply are available via the following link https://www.princethorpe.co.uk/employment-opportunities

Please find below the term dates for 2021-22:

Michaelmas Term
Term starts Wednesday 1 September 2021
Half Term Saturday 16 October to Sunday 31 October 2021
Term ends Tuesday 14 December 2021

Please see below for useful school contact information:

Please find below term dates for this academic year and next:

2019/20

This week in maths we have been learning about different measures. We have measured and compared lengths of caterpillars and explored height. We have revisited weight and learned that sometimes big things aren’t always heavier than small things.

As an alternative to our cancelled trip to Stratford Butterfly Farm, Reception Class had a butterfly themed day of home learning.

All sorts of wonderful work was created – butterfly cakes and biscuits, beautiful wings, even face painting! The children watched an animated version of our focus story, ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ and made a food diary of all the things he ate.

In science, Class 1E have been learning about nocturnal animals and we thought it would be nice to make one of our own.

The children studied lots of images of hedgehogs and then we modelled with clay – focusing on using pinching techniques to create the hedgehog spines. The children had a lovely relaxing afternoon sitting on the field in the shade painting their hedgehogs and then while they dried, we went on a hunt to create nests.

A great discussion took place about habitats and we decided that gathering sticks, moss and grass would be good materials to build a nest for their hedgehog.     

Class 1E have been working super hard on maths and English in the mornings at school and enjoying some specialist subject lessons in the afternoons.

This week we particularly enjoyed learning chalking techniques in art. We have looked at rainy and sunny weather in the last two weeks so it was natural to create rainbows this week. Some lovely discussions took place about art not being prescriptive and it is never right or wrong which allowed lots of experimenting with using chalk at different angles to create different effects.

The children were very proud to create their own art gallery.

Maya has made her own cuddly toy, she found all the things she needed to sew it at home and she has done a wonderful job.  Great sewing skills Maya.

Class 2W returned to school on Monday and Tuesday and had a wonderful time.  They embraced the social distancing like super stars and enjoyed seeing their friends and teachers.  On a lovely sunny Tuesday afternoon they had their ice lolly treat from the FoC on the field with some dancing to their favourite music...then it was time to say goodbye!

It has been great to have them back in school, its back to remote learning for them for now and we look forward to seeing them all again in September.

Crescent School

It was the turn of Class 3S to come back to school on Thursday and Friday and it was super to see them. They had a fantastic, frothy, fun filled day working in their bubbles.

In fact, they had so much fun making bubbles, chasing bubbles, creating bubble shaped calligrams and sharing their descriptive writing about bubbles! They were also very grateful to the FOC for the tasty ice pops they provided for after lunch - it was a much-welcomed refreshment on a simmeringly-hot day!

Crescent School

Class 3S have thoroughly enjoyed investigating different biomes around the world this term. Seesaw has allowed them to use media that suits them. Our gallery is full of QR codes for you to see their work.

As part of their persuasive writing topic, Class 4M have been researching three questions this week:

• Why are rainforests important?
• Why are they disappearing?
• What can we do to save them?

Their task was to create a persuasive poster highlighting the important issues surrounding rainforests and persuading the reader about what we can do.

I hope you will agree, the children have worked very hard on these and they are both informative and eye catching. Here are some of them.

In art, Class 5F have been looking at and drawing zoo animals this half term. This week they have been designing enclosures for them, thinking carefully about what types of foods, shelter and entertainment the animals may need.

Community week has been a great success. Year 6 have been learning about signs and symbols, life-saving, water safety, money matters and looking after their pets to name a few activities.

Within their English lessons we have been working on transition: the losses and gains as they move forward to their senior school. These are relevant and important things for the Year 6 children to learn and help them in the future.

In Key School this week we have been doing lots of fun activities about various countries.

We have been looking at Australia, Africa, India, producing pictures, maps and fact files. We had a wonderful Polish themed day and Miss V provided some tasty polish treats!!

Thank you Miss V.