The Courier

Dear Parents

I hope this newsletter finds you well. We are now just past the halfway mark in the current lockdown and I hope you and your families are coping well with the demands this puts on you socially and from a work point of view. There is no doubt about it, the weeks in school are quieter than normal with the lack of trips, fixtures and visitors and all of our meetings taking place online. In the meantime, we keep working hard and the children are happy and making progress with their work

We ran a well-attended virtual open evening for prospective parents earlier in the week. Plans for next year's Reception class are well advanced and numbers are looking very positive. We do not intend to split the class, as we did with this year’s intake, although with the numbers that have registered this would technically be possible. It's great to know that the school is attracting new parents, even in the current circumstances. A number of prospective parents have mentioned that they are friends with current families and have received positive feedback that has encouraged them to make Crescent their target. Many thanks to all of you who have spread the good word about the school.

We recently sent out a questionnaire to parents on the benefits or otherwise of running parent consultations via the Teams platform. It was pleasing to see that many parents were appreciative of the facility, as the graphs (see photo gallery) demonstrate. Whilst a good many families were happy with the Teams meetings, I am mindful that there is still a number who don't find them entirely satisfactory. In truth, I expect that for our next set of parents’ meetings in the new year we will have little choice but to carry on with Teams. With this in mind, we will be trialling a different method of appointment making that will enable parents to meet with specialists as well as form teachers. Following these meetings, it will be interesting to see if a similar survey gives us the same results.

I hope you are able to enjoy a restful weekend with your wonderful children and take advantage of the little bit of sunshine that has been forecast. I am planning a walk with my two boys in the neighbouring countryside as we attempt to plot and photograph the route of our local river, which follows a convoluted route in around the fields near our house.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

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/grandparnts/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.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster 

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 -23 November 2020 

Please note the following:

• Christmas Art Day - children can wear a festive accessory with their school unifrom

• Class 2W Indoor Exercise on Wednesday is not running this week

• Class 1S Forest School - please can wellies be sent into school

• Classes 3Y and 4M Ball Skills - trainers are needed for ball skills

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

We are still meeting together as a school regularly using Teams. At the start of each week there is a School Promise assembly, where we consider our Promise of the week, with a story or fun activity to illustrate the point. This week’s theme was forgiving each other. We heard the story of the boy who sat on a wasp to show the wasp how cross he was for stinging him – even though that made the pain even worse!

Today was our weekly Good News assembly where we share all the good things that have been happening around the school in the week gone by.

At the end of the assembly today we experimented with the new ‘spotlight’ feature on Teams, enabling us to go around the classes and wave and say hello.

The Year 6s voted it the best assembly of term so far!

Crescent’s talented young musicians have showcased their wonderful skills in a superb second virtual concert.

The children are all preparing for music examinations at the end of the November so the concert was a great opportunity for them to polish and perfect their examination pieces. The special performance features 24 musicians from Year 3 up to Year 6, on nine different instruments, including singing, at levels from the Prep Test up to Grade 5.

Music is such an important part of life at the school, so although the country is back in lockdown, Director of Music, Julie Barnes, was determined that Crescent’s musicians weren’t going to miss out on the opportunity to perform their examination pieces to everyone.

Each of the children pre-recorded their performance either at home or in school and sent the video through to Mrs Barnes. The individual clips were then put together into a programme of traditional and contemporary pieces, the range of which is inspiring for us all.

Comments Mrs Barnes “The pandemic was not going to stop our pupils from performing! The children were all incredible, they really rose to the occasion and played their very best. I am very proud of all of our talented young musicians.”

A link to the concert has been shared with parents. A huge well done to all of the participants, it is wonderful entertainment that is just perfect for a Friday lockdown evening at home!

Please ensure you let the school office and/or your child's form teacher know if someone else will be collecting your child at the end of the day. Without this information we cannot release pupils.

Many thanks

Our Virtual Reception Open Evening took place on Tuesday and gave prospective parents an insight into the Early Years at the Crescent and the firm foundation we give our children for their future learning.

Those that missed the open evening can still contact our friendly Registrar, Helen Morley, who will be happy to send links to recordings of the evening’s presentation and virtual tour, just email admissions@crescentschool.co.uk or call 01788 523851.

We are extending our Reception Early Bird registration deadline from Monday 23 November to Wednesday 9 December, in the hope that families who have yet to visit the school will be able to do so once the lockdown is lifted.

More information on admissions is also available at www.crescentschool.co.uk/admissions-crescent

If appropriate, please do share this information with interested family and friends.

Friday 27 November 2020

Children will be decorating the school for Christmas on Friday 27 November 2020.  They are able to wear a festive accessory with their school uniform such as a Christmas hat, hair accessory or tinsel.

It is a day the children look forward to every year and you will be able to see see their work in the virtual 'open corridors' video which will be circulated to parents in December.

Crescent School

Monday 30 November 2020 - 9.30am to 5.15pm

Music Exams will be held on Monday 30 November 2020 between 9.30am and 5.15pm. The timetable has been circulated to the parents of children involved.

Good luck to all the children. 

Mrs Barnes
Director of Music

Friday 4 December 2020

We will be holding a socially distanced celebration, where we can light the lights on the Christmas tree with some carols, cookies and hot chocolate.

Crescent School

Friday 4 December 2020

In the school calendar we had scheduled to have Open Corridors on Friday 4 December 2020, due to current restrictions, this will not be possible. We know how important it is for parents to be involved in their child's learning and the children love to share their work and their school so we are creating a virtual open corridor to enjoy from the comfort of your own home.

This link will be shared via an ISAMS message on Friday 4 December.

We are determined not to miss the joy of our Carol Service this year, which is usually held in the final days of term, so we have planned a virtual experience that will involve each class (this is an extra treat as it usually an upper school treat).

We will be sharing it with you on Monday 14 December so you can enjoy the experience as a family over the Christmas holidays.  More details will follow nearer the time.

Mrs Webb
Assistant Head

Wednesday 16 December and Thursday 17 December 2020 (times to be confirmed)

As you are aware Grammar School scores are scheduled to be released mid-December.  However, School may have finished for the term by then.

Mr Thackway and I will be available at some point on the days of Wednesday 16 and Thursday 17 December to talk to parents about the results that they have received.

We will make bookings times available nearer the time.

This week we would like to congratulate these children for becoming JdV students in English:

• Aryan 
• George
• Zac

Mrs Webb
Assistant Head

Poppy has read 500,000 words and Zahra is a word millionaire, well done to them.

Pre-Prep reading certificates have, this week, been presented to:

• Albert
• Fred
• Max T
• Nimeeta

Well done to you all.

This week Playground Conduct Awards are presented to:

• Amber B for being kind and interacting well with her friends and resolving friendship issues without others being upset

• Michael for being polite and gaining confidence to join in with his friends on the playground

Lunchtime Supervisors

Pupils who have reached Level 420 on automatic training mode in the Garage and Gigs are awarded a JdV for Maths Practice:

• Isaac - 6W

Weekly battle 12 - 19 November:

• Boys scored 37,425 points
• Girls scored  12,633 points

Well done, Boys' Team, again!

Most Valuable players contributing the most points to their teams are:

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 must tackle the single player game in the 'Studio', multi-player does not count for these. These also earn more coins than the multiplayer games too. 

Plenty of action so last week's most improved speedsters in each class are:

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

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

Stay Calm and Keep Rocking!

Out of 3,887 schools (primary and secondary) Crescent school came 2494th! So, no prizes this time.

In our school the class results were:

• 1st - 3Y
• 2nd - 4M
• 3rd - 6W
• 4th - 5F
• 5th- 2W
• 6th - 1S
  

Thank you if you contributed any points at all. 

The Nasal Flu Vaccination consent form was sent to parents last week.  This year the form need to be completed electronically by Monday 30 November 2020.

Please complete this form even if you do not wish your child to have the vaccination.

Crescent School

Please click on the link below to read all about what the Reception Classes have been learning this week.  Please scroll through the gallery of photos attached to this article.

Reception Round Up - 20 November 2020 

This week in Reception we were all working on our computer programming skills!

We learnt from last week’s visit from a jam sandwich-making robot that when we program computers or robots we need to be very precise, very clear and go step-by-step, so this week we used that knowledge to guide our Bee-bot robots around different mazes. We then started putting all of these commands together to create basic algorithms!

Class 1S have been learning about this colourful celebration in their RE lessons and enjoyed making rocking diva lamps and chalk rangoli patterns.

We loved the story and Mr Thackway's assembly too!

Evelyn in Class 1S did a nature walk in her garden with her sister at the weekend in the (glimmer of) autumn sunshine and found something she was fascinated by - ladybirds sheltering on a medlar fruit.

The girls were so excited as there were several ladybird families across several fruit on the tree, Mum managed to get a close up photo to share with us all.

What an amazing photo Evelyn!

Crescent School

If your child or you are interested in their speeds and scores on TT Rock Stars, all you have to do is click on the Rock Star name in the top right corner. This will give you an option to look at the stats of the Rock Star and where they are in speed compared to the other Rock Stars in their class or indeed the whole school.

It will also show their 'Heat Map' on that date. A Heat Map shows which individual times and dividing table facts they can do and at what speed of response. The red areas are the weaker ones and the greener, the stronger; there is a key to guide you.

Charlotte in Class 1S has been inspired by her book, Fantastically Great Women Who Made History.

She was eloquent in explaining to her classmates, about her favourite examples from the book and showed great maturity in her understanding of how difficult it must have been for these women to stand up for what they believe and make a difference. 

This fits nicely with our whole school aim of raising the importance of diversity and fighting for equality, alongside our PSHE focus of this half term of 'Celebrating Difference'.  Thank you, Charlotte for sharing such important stories from history which has helped shape the way we live today!

Thanks to Mrs Hosegood and Evelyn in Class 1S, our children have been introduced to this simple but effective initiative by the world leading Lego company. The aim is to be able to provide Lego to sets to children less fortunate and provide some Christmas cheer this year.

So...Year 1 have stepped up to the challenge (along with the Hosegood family) in building Lego Christmas decorations and taking photos of them.

Photos of the decorations (without children in them) will be posted online using the #BuildtoGive tag.  We have over 20 decorations to post which is fantastic and I am very proud of the way, each child wanted to be creative and to help others.  Year 1 children will know they have made another child smile this Christmas.

If you, as families, would also like to join in with this initiative and make a difference then check out the link below, watch the short video - and get building!

https://www.lego.com/en-us/build-to-give

Class 6W has been designing and making their clocks this week.  There has been a lot going on! Paint, foam, corruflute, card, paper and much more have been chosen and used to change their super designs into high quality working clocks.

Class 3Y Music Fun club composed music for Remembrance. They chose the subject 'Poppies' and worked out their own ideas to form a piece which began with marching drums and cornet, followed by sounds of war and ending with peaceful sounds and Maisie playing the beginning of The Last Post. They achieved all this in one half-hour session!

Well done to them all.

For a two or three week period this year we will be focusing on one of the sayings in the new School Promise. We will talk about this in assembly and in form period.

This week we are back to the category of Good Friends and the idea of forgiveness and working things out. We all know that children don’t always get things right in their friendships and this can end up in upset and worry. Being able to say ‘sorry’ and ‘that’s okay’ can make all the difference.

Please support this message at home with your children.

‘We forgive each other and work things out together’

After five wonderful years for me as Chair of the FoC and for Amy Sarkies as Secretary, the time has come, with both our children nearly leaving the school, to resign our positions on the committee. We both feel that now would be a great time for a new team to come together to take the Friends of Crescent forward. 

To provide continuity Nick Brosnan will remain on the committee and will be looking for individuals to put themselves forward as either Chair, Secretary or in any other capacity to work alongside him.

So if you would like to get involved or would like further information please email Nick at treasurer@friendsofcrescent.co.uk by Friday 27 November 2020.

We have pulled together lists of what’s involved so even if you’re limited on time and can’t necessarily attend the meetings there will be ways to get involved. 

Both Amy and I will continue in our positions until Christmas and will be on hand to help work with the new team as they transition forward. 

So, please contact Nick if you feel you can help with this amazing committee.

Kind regards

More sponsorship money has been rolling in this week and our fantastic total now stands at £1,963!

Please could any remaining sponsorship money be paid directly into the FoC account ASAP. The bank details are as follows:

This week as part of the Brass Band England and Crowdfunder National Campaign, #SaveOurBrassBands, Bilton Silver (Rugby) launched their crowdfunding campaign. The band, that many Crescent children are part of, is aiming to raise initially £6k to cover the costs of a fresh air ventilation system that would make the Bandroom COVID secure and enable groups to get back playing together. 

Supporters can donate in 3 ways:

• a straight donation,
• a specified donation in return for a chosen 'reward'
• by adding their own fundraising effort onto the page

Please take a look at the crowdfunding page at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/biltonsilver for further details.

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

Lunch Menu 23 November 2020 

Children are able to have either of the main options.

Crescent School Office

Please find below term dates for 2020/21 and 2021/22:

Please see below for useful school contact information:

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 in the Information Booklet 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

In line with other local schools and Warwickshire County Council’s message below, please wear face coverings on school grounds (if you are able) when dropping off and collecting children. 

Please remember there is plenty of space around school to socially distance.

Many thanks for you for your co-operation.

Public Health England have produced a letter for schools to distribute to parents which explains when a person requires a coronavirus test and what the symptoms of coronavirus are. They have asked us to share and circulate this letter amongst parents at the school.

The intention of the letter is to help prevent children being taken out of school unnecessarily and answer some of the questions parents may have around testing.

You can view the letter here.

Children or adults with symptoms must not enter school. Parents must check for symptoms each day before bringing their child into school.

The main symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are:

• a high temperature – please, if you have not already done so, source a thermometer to check temperatures at home
• a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or three or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
• a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you've noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

Any children or adult who develops symptoms will need to leave the building as soon as possible and be tested for Covid-19.

Details on testing can be obtained at www gov uk/get-coronavirus-test or call the Test and Trace Helpdesk on 119.

Hand held thermometers will be used to check the temperature of any individual feeling unwell. Children who develop symptoms during the school day will be taken to the Meeting Room and their parents called to come and collect the child, as well as any siblings of the child.

Other members of the household should self-isolate for 14 days from when the symptomatic person first had symptoms, or until a negative test result is returned.

In the event of a positive test result the full protocols of test and trace will be followed www.gov.uk/guidance/nhs-test-and-trace-how-it-works#

Children returning from restricted areas outside UK must self-isolate as advised by the government guidance before returning to school.