Welcome to The Courier, Crescent School's electronic newsletter.

This is an abridged version of our weekly newsletter containing information for next week.

All the staff are really looking forward to welcoming the children back into school next Tuesday for the start of the Michaelmas Term. 

Click here to email the Courier.

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Headmaster's Message

Headmaster's Message

Dear Parents

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you back to the first edition of the Courier of the new school year. It will give me even greater pleasure to welcome you and the children back into school on Tuesday for the start of the autumn term. After the trials and tribulations of the last six months it will be wonderful to have once more a school full of children, with learning and friendships going full steam ahead. I have written a long letter to you today with details of the measures we are taking to make the return as safe and happy as possible. This will arrive in your inbox as a separate letter, with the intention that this answers all the questions you have in your minds regarding the return. Please however do get into contact with the school if you need more information.

As a staff, we have spent the last three days of in-service training preparing for the new term. Of course, we have spent a good deal of time talking about the special measures that we have in place to control the risk of infection, but this cannot be allowed to deter us from our broader duties as a school to educate and nurture the children in our care. With this in mind, we have shared sessions on this year’s whole school targets and also the key areas of safeguarding and pupil wellbeing. In the information evening at the end of last term I talked through the targets for the year but I have attached them here as a reminder of the key areas that we will be focusing on in the three terms ahead of us.

It was a highlight of the week to see all of next year’s Reception children coming in for the rescheduled move-up morning. They were beautifully behaved and had a lovely time meeting friends and teachers. More than anything I was struck with a powerful sense of the potential that a new group of children bring into school life. It’s going to be a great year.

In the weeks ahead, I look forward to re-acquainting myself with existing parents and getting to know those of you new to the school. Inevitably, it will be a time of challenge for us all where the keywords will be flexibility, resilience and adaptability. The staff here showed these qualities in abundance last term and I have every confidence we will do so again this term as we strive to provide the best possible service we can in ever changing circumstances. Many thanks indeed to all of you who have stayed with us through this time and continue to show such great loyalty to the school.

I do hope you enjoy the last long weekend of the school holidays with your children and look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday.

Best wishes

Joe Thackway
Headmaster
 

Weekly Information

Weekly Calendar

The weekly calendar can be viewed by clicking on the link below.  It details all the clubs, events, fixtures and additional information for the week. 

Weekly Calendar 1 September 2020

All the co-curricular clubs can be viewed on SOCS, where you can find details of all the dates the clubs are running.  

SOCS Co-Curricular

Crescent School

News

Accelerated Reading For Year 3

I know that you will be keen to start Accelerated Reading, we are also keen to keep making good progress and a love of reading. As soon as we can there will be an assessment to get them started on Accelerated Reading and then they will be guided to specific levels of books, in the meantime they can read a book of their choice and their enjoyment level.

All quizzing is to now be done at home as there will be no Accelerated Reading quiz time before school due to not being able to mix year groups. This will be available 7.00am and 7.00pm everyday even on weekends, the children can then feedback in their English lessons to their teacher and be rewarded as before.

All reading will be monitored closely by Mrs Dowling and Mrs Yates, we know that reading is a foundation to so much learning, children's reading will be listened to in school safely but no volunteer readers will be able to support reading, for the time being. Please support your child's reading at home too, listening to them read regularly.

Please use this link when the children have been taught how to quiz and save it:

Accelerated Reading Year 3

Children will receive their login details which will be given to them in the first few weeks of term and a letter to guide you will be sent out when children are ready to quiz at home. They can read books from our library and classroom but they will be put into quarantine for 3 days before being returned to the shelf for other children to borrow safely. 

You are all invited to an information session about our online platforms on Tuesday 15 September, details will be sent out shortly, this will enable you to understand and help your child in their learning.

Thank you for your support with reading.

Mrs Webb
Assistant Head
 
Mrs Yates
Year 3 Form Tutor

Accelerated Reading For Years 4-6

I know how keen you will all be to get back to Accelerated Reading. We really want to re-establish good routines and continue progress with our reading provision. We also want to make sure this is all done safely for all involved.

All quizzing is to now be done at home as there will be no Accelerated Reading quiz time before school, due to not being able to mix year groups. This will be available 7:00am to 7.00pm everyday even on weekends, children can then feedback in their English lessons to their teacher and be rewarded as before.

All reading will be monitored closely as before by TAs and teachers, we know that reading is a foundation to so much learning, children's reading will be listened to in school safely but no volunteer readers will be able to support reading, for the time being. Please support your child's reading at home too, listening to them read regularly, even the Year 6 children appreciate it.

Please use this link and save it:

Accelerated Reading Years 4-6

Children will receive their login details which will be given to them in the first few days of term. They can continue to read books from our library but they will be put into quarantine for 3 days before being returned to the shelf. 

Any questions please get in touch with your form tutor.

Thank you for your support with reading.

Mrs Webb
Assistant Head

Reading In Pre-Prep

We are all keen to establish good reading routines as we return to school as we value reading highly at Crescent. We are also aware of keeping everyone involved safe, so we wanted to share some protocols we are putting in place:

  • Children will be given a book to read and a reading record in their folder during the first week of term. As you know, parents and staff work together listening to children read at home everyday and in school everyday, communicating through the reading record - this communication is really valuable. 
  • All reading at school will be done at a safe distance, we will use gloves to handle books and write in their reading record book. When a book is returned, completed to school, we will quarantine it for 3 days before we return it to the shelf or share with another child.
  • They will have access to Reading Bugs (an online platform) to supplement their reading, details about this will be shared by form teachers and there is an information session for parents about learning platforms that children have access to on Monday 14 September.  Details of this will be sent out shortly.

Thank you for your support with reading.

Mrs Webb
Assistant Head
 
Mr Webb
Head of Pre-Prep

Co-Curricular Clubs

We are looking forward to the children participating in the co-curricular clubs that they have signed up to, starting next week. Please remind yourselves of the times and days they are running either via the calendar or SOCS

Mrs Webb
Assistant Head

Top Tips For Navigating The Courier

To help families new to the school, and as a reminder for all, we thought we would share some tips for navigating The Courier on your phone.

Each weekly edition of The Courier will have a general overview message followed by an index list of the news and information, split into categories, as clickable title links.

Top Tip - Save the link below into your bookmarks so you can view the Courier in your browser whenever is convenient each week:

The Courier

Here are some more tips for navigating The Courier on your phone:

  • Click the title link of the article or event you are interested in (this will open the newsletter in your browser with the article you have selected)
  • From here you can scroll through all the articles in this category
  • To get back to the top of a category quickly, use the green arrow in the bottom right of your browser. Click this and you will jump to the top of the page, the category index
  • The category index will list all the articles in that category that week
  • Select ‘Newsletter Index’, to return you to the main newsletter index listing all the categories and articles
  • To move between different editions of The Courier use the green button with three white lines at the top of the newsletter. Click this and you can choose which weekly edition of The Courier you would like to browse.
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Events

Crescent School Taster Experience at Princethorpe College – Save The Date

Saturday 19 September -  2.00pm – 4.30pm

All Year 6 parents are requested to ‘Save the Date’ on Saturday 19 September.

You will shortly receive an invitation from the Admissions Team at Princethorpe College for your child to attend a dedicated Crescent School Taster Experience on the afternoon of Saturday 19 September.

The children will remain in their class bubbles over the course of the afternoon, receive a welcome from Mr Hester, the Headmaster and have the chance to experience two taster lessons.

Social distancing and government guidelines will be followed throughout the afternoon and full details will be sent to parents in advance.

Sign up will be via an electronic form, emailed to parents next week..

Entrance Exams for entry to Princethorpe in September 2021 will take place on Saturday 23 January 2021. Candidates need to be registered for the exams by Friday 4 December at the latest. Parents of children with a SEND should register as soon as possible so that a meeting with the SEND Co-ordinator at Princethorpe can be arranged well before the exams take place.

Housekeeping

Lunch Menu Week Commencing 31 August 2020

Please click on the link below to view next week's lunch menu: 

Lunch Menu - 31 August 2020

Crescent School Office

 

 

Term Dates 2020-21

Please find below term dates for 2020/21:

Michaelmas Term
Term starts Tuesday 1 September 2020
Half Term Saturday 17 October to Sunday 1 November 2020
Term ends Tuesday 15 December 2020

Lent Term
Term starts Tuesday 5 January 2021
Half Term Saturday 13 February to Sunday 21 February 2021
Term ends Friday 26 March 2021

Trinity Term
Term starts Monday 19 April 2021
May Bank holiday - Monday 31 May 2021 (no school)
Half Term Saturday 29 May to Sunday 6 June 2021
Term ends Tuesday 6 July 2021

Revised Term Dates For 2021-22

Please find below the term dates for 2021-22:

Michaelmas Term
Term starts Monday 6 September 2021
Half Term Saturday 16 October to Sunday 31 October 2021
Term ends Tuesday 14 December 2021

Lent Term
Term starts Wednesday 5 January 2022
Half Term Saturday 19 February to Sunday 27 February 2022
Term ends Tuesday 5 April 2022

Trinity Term
Term starts Monday 25 April 2022
May Bank Holiday Monday 2 May 2022 (no school)
Half Term Saturday 28 May to Sunday 5 June 2022
Term ends Wednesday 6 July 2022

Useful School Contact Information

Please see below for useful school contact information:

Crescent School Office
01788 521595
admin@crescentschool.co.uk
Postal address: Crescent School, Bawnmore Road, Bilton, Rugby CV22 7QH
 
After School Club
01788 523850
 
Bills, Fees and Online Payment
01926 634273
georginamalin@princethorpe.co.uk
 
Registrar
01788 523851
admissions@crescentschool.co.uk
 
School Shop and Uniform
01926 634272
uniform@princethorpe.co.uk
 
Princethorpe College General Office
01926 634200
post@princethorpe.co.uk
 
Pathfinders Nursery
01788 813666
info@pathfindersnursery.co.uk
 
twitter:    @CrescentSchRug
facebook: @cres.school

Anti-Fraud – Reminder

Cyber-crime – please be extra vigilant

Parents are asked to be vigilant when reading emails relating to the payment of school fees and any other items to the Foundation.

We continue to receive reports regarding spam emails.  The latest scam offers a large discount on fees for the coming academic year if paid immediately.

This is probably trying to take advantage of the fact that some independent schools have offered discounts for this term and that parents may therefore be more open to such a suggestion. You can always protect yourselves by only making payments to us in line with our normal, published methods.

As advised, there has been no change to the bank details of either Princethorpe College, Crackley Hall or Crescent and there is no intention to make any changes in the foreseeable future. Any electronic notification that appears to be from any of the Foundation schools changing these details may be fraudulent.  Our bank details are available on the Parent Bills, the Online Payment Portal and for Princethorpe in the Information Booklet 2019 – 2020 for each school, and only those details should be used.

Please do not hesitate to contact me or my colleagues in the Bursary if you are have any doubts about the correct details or indeed if anything appears suspicious. 

Eddie Tolcher
Foundation Bursar