The Courier

We are pleased to announce that both of this year’s nativity performances will be professionally filmed by Chugg Productions.  Many of you will be familiar with their work as they produced the excellent leaving DVD for the Marshalls last term.

Their film crew will be coming to the dress rehearsals and filming the productions. This will enable them to edit the final film to a high standard. The final DVD will come packaged in a Crescent branded case with the artwork from the programme printed on the front.

For safeguarding reasons, there will be no filming from private recording devices allowed on the day of the performance.

The final DVD will be available to order on the day through the FoC for £10.  On arrival at the performance, you will find a flyer on your chair giving you full details of how to order and there will be a sign-up sheet by the FoC noticeboard for those who are unable to attend, but would still like a copy.  It should make great Christmas viewing for friends and relatives over the holiday period.

I look forward to welcoming you all on Monday (for Nursery and Reception) and Wednesday (for Year 1 and Year 2) next week.

The Crescent School teaches lifelong learning skills that help children navigate their future careers. The school recognises that the ongoing pursuit of knowledge for personal or professional reasons ensures self-sustainability in children’s post school lives out in the working world. Naturally that philosophy extends to the staff here at the school too so we are delighted to congratulate Mrs Forth and Mrs Lowe who have both recently completed qualifications.

Deputy Head, Mrs Bryony Forth has been awarded the NPQH (National Professional Qualification for Headship).  A pre-requisite for a future head teacher, the qualification develops senior leadership knowledge and skills, including modules such as excellence in teaching as well as strategic, organisational and business skills.  Mrs Forth commented, “At the core of this qualification is the ethos – how will it benefit the school? – that challenge ran through all of the modules I studied. I found the course fascinating and in the future I would like to be a headteacher.” Crescent is already seeing the benefit of Mrs Forth’s studies as her Happier Lunchtimes initiative was just one of the projects she completed as part of her course. 

Mrs Sarah Lowe, Senior Teacher, has also just completed the AMDIS (The Association for Admissions, Marketing and Development in Independent Schools) Level 2 Diploma in Schools Marketing.  Her course has developed her analytical and creative skills. She commented, “It has taken me 18 months to complete the course, but it has been really interesting and made me think out of the box.  The marketing skills I have learnt are very transferable and I find I am using them at school in a variety of different ways. One of the projects I completed was based around the Junior da Vinci initiative.”    

Headteacher, Joe Thackway, commented, “The staff here are passionate about learning so I was not at all surprised to hear that Mrs Forth and Mrs Lowe have been practising what they preach.  I am delighted that they have successfully completed their qualifications and congratulate them both.  Their new skills are already delivering tangible benefits to the Crescent.”

Earlier this month George and Oliver Bell took part in the UK Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge.  George competed in the 8-10 year old Castors category together with 7,500 other children. He was one of only nine children to gain full marks.

Oliver joined 41,000 children in the Junior category for 10-12 year olds.  His mark was one of the top 60 results and he has been invited to compete in the second stage of the challenge which will be held next term at the University of Oxford.

The skills being developed at Crescent School certainly helped them during the challenge. The computational tasks they faced were based on problems that Computer Scientists often meet, they didn't require prior knowledge just logical thinking.

Crescent School will shortly be acknowledged next to Oliver's name on the '2017 Hall of Fame' page of the Bebras website (http://www.bebras.uk/hall-of-fame.html).

We are extremely proud to have our name associated with their success and extend our sincere congratulations. 

Thank you to all who contributed to this year's Poppy Appeal.  With your help we raised £321.18.

The Christmas Post Box is now open and will remain located in the pupil entrance until 19 December. 

Class VI Christmas helpers welcome all Christmas Cards here, where they are stamped and posted every morning from 8.15am - 8.40am.  Please ensure that all cards have the full name and class otherwise they may not reach their correct destination.

Lessons will not be disturbed by the giving out of Christmas Cards and all the children will receive a lovely bundle from the Class VI Christmas elves on the final day of term.

All we ask is a 1p donation for each card that goes to this term's charity.

Monday 11 December 9.30am

Parents, grandparents and friends are invited to our Nursery and Reception Nativity performance.

A lot of hard work has gone into the rehearsals so far, learning the songs, memorising lines, sorting out costumes, scenery and planning the production, and what a spectacle it is all going to be.

The final dress rehearsal took place this week in front of a proper audience, as all of the older school children came to watch the run through.

It's going to be a razzle dazzle of a show!

Wednesday 13 December 9.30am

Parents, grandparents and friends are invited to watch Classes I & II's 'Strictly' inspired Nativity performance of Lights, Camel, Action.

The children have been rehearsing hard, learning the songs, memorising lines, sorting out costumes and the production is going to be fab-u-lous!

Thank you to everyone who supported our Bookfair this year. It was lovely to feel the buzz and interest in books.

The Bookfair took over £1100!!  We receive commission on everything that you bought and this money will now be spent on books that all the children can share in the school library.  We are particularly looking at non-fiction that is accessible on the Accelerated Reading system.

Thank you for your support.

Wednesday 17 January - 10.00am to 3.00pm

We will be opening our doors to prospective parents for an Open Day on Wednesday 17 January from 10.00am to 3.00pm.

This is an opportunity to look around the school and to meet staff and pupils on a normal working day. All prospective parents are welcome, no need to book, so please do spread the word amongst family and friends.

Those who cannot make the Open Day but would like to visit the school, should call our Registrar, Mrs Helen Morley, on 01788 523851 and come on a day to suit them, we welcome visitors on most days.

For more information visit www.crescentschool.co.uk.

We are proud to announce that we have three more Junior da Vinci pupils:

• Christopher Gibson for English
• Isaac Nelson for Maths
• Rania Akbik for English

The following children have received Junior da Vinci Awards this week:

There are many creative and committed pupils at Crescent School and awarding da Vinci stickers is one of the ways we acknowledge their skills and contribution.  Our Junior da Vinci programme recognises children’s Creativity, Mastery and Practice, skills we believe are important for a successful pupil to grow and develop, and we do not award the stickers lightly.

Class VI have just completed a project with DT teacher, Mrs Byrne.  The children developed and built clocks which are all now on display in the DT classroom.

Mrs Byrne, comments, “The creativity of their work was exceptional, the originality of their ideas, their thought processes as they developed the clocks and the finished products.  I could not differentiate between the class so, in agreement with Mrs Lowe and Mr Thackway, have decided to award all of the children a Creativity da Vinci sticker.”

Congratulations to Class VI, you are fabulous role models for your fellow pupils.

The following children have been awarded Accelerated Reader Awards this week:

On Christmas Art Day the children produced some fabulous work and the classrooms are now feeling festive.  The main corridor has a wonderful set of pantomine themed displays and plenty of parents enjoyed them at the school's termly Open Corridors event.  If you missed out then please use the View Gallery button to see photographs of them.

Due to the fading light at this time of the year, for safety reasons the following after school clubs have been cancelled:

I really hope as you're reading this that you enjoyed the Christmas Bazaar today.

A big thank you to everyone who planned, helped out, packed out and away today. I will update everyone with the total next week but without all the help and support that I have received it would never be possible.

On Friday 15 December Year IV will be braving the cold outside to sell cakes and sweets at their market day.  All cakes & bags of sweets will be 50p as usual!

Please come along and support us. 

Next week I will provide an update on next term's activities plus the key dates for 2018.  Please look out for these.

In light of the weather forecast for the region over the weekend, we wanted to remind parents of the school’s Bad Weather procedure.

The general overarching principle is that the school will be open, unless otherwise notified.

As heavy snowfall is predicted on Sunday, we will monitor the situation over the course of the day and provide an update on the school website late on Sunday afternoon.

Parents will be notified of any decision to close the school in the following ways:

• iSAMS: parents will receive a message on their mobile phone. This is the easiest and most direct method to inform parents of any changes to the normal routine.
• Information will be put on the school website.
• If possible the school’s answerphone message will be updated to reflect the situation.

Assuming we are open, please make sure your children are well wrapped up on Monday!  If we do have snow, and it isn’t too slushy, we are hoping to take the children out to play. To do this, they will also need their wellies and gloves so please send these in with your children on Monday if you can.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

Dear Parents

I would like to make a couple of polite reminders to all parents to help us with the safe running of the school.

Early Arrivals
Please ensure that children who arrive early to school remain accompanied by their parents or guardians until the door opens at 8.15am.  If you need to drop your child off before this time, please take advantage of the Early Birds service.

Winter Coats
With the weather turning colder and wetter, can I please encourage you all to send your child to school wearing the Crescent School coat.  It is helpful when making decisions on wet (or cold) play for the staff here to know the children all have the warm winter layer to protect them.

Dogs on Site
In line with many, if not all, primary aged schools, dogs are not allowed on the main school site.  If you come to school with a dog please keep it on a lead and avoid coming onto the main site beyond the drop off gate (the one next to the parents’ noticeboard).

With thanks for your understanding and support on these important health and safety matters.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

• Breakfast cereals
• Soup
• Pasta
• Rice
• Pasta sauce
• Tinned beans
• Tinned meat
• Tinned vegetables
• Tinned fruit
• Tea and Coffee
• Long life fruit juice
• Long life milk
• Biscuits
• Snacks