Welcome to the final edition of The Courier for this academic year. 

We said goodbye to the Class of 2021 today and as part of their celebrations they enjoyed their final Top Table in the hall.  As you can see from the cover photo lots of fun was had.

Watch out for a ‘mini’ Courier on Friday 3 September 2021.

Click here to email The Courier.

Preview

Headmaster's Message

Headmaster's Message

Dear Parents

It is only a mini edition of the Courier today but I hope it is enough to give you a taste of the last two days in school. The children have all been very excited and are raring to go on their summer hols, as you can imagine. Mr Whippy proved a very popular guest on the playground this morning, thanks to the Friends of Crescent for this excellent new idea.

Holidays are likely to be very different this year with so many travel restrictions still in place, but I do hope you are able to get away as a family for at least some of the time, far from the usual strains of working life. I have a week on the west coast of Scotland planned with my family that I am particularly looking forward to. We will bring the mountain bikes and this year my son has persuaded me to buy a kayak (he has paid for half of it, to be fair) that we will experiment with around the bays and inlets near to our cottage.

I warned the children this morning about the dangers of swimming in the sea and when you are out with young children this is always something to be really aware of. Things can go wrong very quickly and more than anything we want to keep the children safe so they are ready to return bright and cheerful for their new classes in September.

One class of course won't be returning to us and that is this year’s Year 6. They have been a great year group and we have loved seeing them embrace the year gone by, making the absolute most of the opportunities that they have had.

We also say goodbye to Mrs Mistry and Mrs Lusty, two of our trusty lunch time supervisors who both move on today to new jobs. Thanks to both of them for all of the care and nurture they have shown for the children during their time here. Finally we say goodbye today to Mrs Jo Byrne, our wonderful Science and DT teacher, who we wish all the very best as she moves into semi-retirement on the sunny South Coast.

Have a great beak everyone.

Best wishes

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

 

Mr Thackway's Leavers Speech

Hello everybody, good afternoon and welcome to this year's leavers assembly.

There is an old well known saying that the human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public. For that reason, I have written my speech out today.

It has been a funny old year in lots of different ways and I'm only glad that we have been able to welcome Year 6 parents to this event, which I know is always an important one for the children and their families as they say their farewells to the primary school that they have come to love so much.

Today is a day to look back on not just the last nine months or 12 months for these children in Year 6, but also, for many of them, going back to their days in Reception and even in nursery. We have calculated that about 11 of them actually started with us in pre-school and this happy band of comrades have formed really strong bonds with each other over their seven year journey here at Crescent. To their enormous credit, this original group have also remained welcoming ambassadors for all of the new children who have joined us along the way. Two of these children, Ayla and Esther, have only been with us for the last term or so and yet they have become very much a part of the group and made to feel welcome in every possible way.

Year 6 is a time when you are top of the tree and you have a special role to play in the school. I remember imagining as a child that whatever you experience now, when you are young, is likely to happen many more times in the future. This only seemed logical.

On that theme, I remember one child at the beginning of the current pandemic saying to me ‘What are lockdowns like Mr Thackway?’ They thought we probably had them quite often, every now and again. They were really surprised when I told them I had no idea and there hadn’t been one before in my lifetime.

The truth is, it's not often that you will spend so long in one place, either in education or in work and come to the position when you are the eldest and most senior people there. So it's really important that Year 6 children have that experience, as it gives them such a boost in confidence and self-belief as they move towards their secondary schools. Believe me, that is self-believe you are going to need as next year you will become the small fry in a big pond once again.

With this in mind, I do remember a conversation with Mrs Webb back in September when we wondered how the children in this year’s class would be able to fulfil that role with all of the restrictions that we had to put in place. As you know, we haven’t been able to allow some of the monitor duties or lunchtime playleaders or buddying up with the new Reception children.

So this has been a real challenge for Year 6 and one you have passed with flying colours. We've all had to find new ways of doing things and you have set a great example to us all, redefining how you can still be leaders in the school even with restrictions in place. You have done this by the example that you have set in the classrooms and the corridors, in the playground and in the common-sense way you have approached all of the trials and tribulations of the year. I know that the other children in the school think the world of you and they all look up to you just as they should look up to the eldest children.

Again, the entrance exams for secondary schools have been different this year their dates have been moved this way and that and the exams themselves have changed. But you haven't let this phase you, you have got on with things sensibly, calmly, responsibly and come back into school on Monday mornings with a smile on your face and a willingness to get down to your work but have a joke and a laugh at the same time.

That is really what has defined you in my mind as a year group and whilst this will always go down as the year of the pandemic, this will in fact raise you up in our minds, it will give you a special status as we remember and reflect on the impact of the Class of 21.

Back in 2017 you were in Year 3 and I was new to the school as the head. I set you a task at that time to rewrite the old school promise and think about what sort of people we wanted ourselves to be.

As you will know, we divided this into three important areas; good learners, good friends and good citizens. I hope as you reflect on your time here you can feel proud of the qualities that you have developed in all of these areas.

Learners? You have made such tremendous progress. When I look at the work that Year 6 routinely produce now, it fills me with pride. They are well prepared for all of the educational demands that will be made of them in Year 7 and beyond.

Good friends? Absolutely. They've been friends to one another, but also friends to the other children in the school, as well as to the adults. They look after each other, care for each other, want the best for each other and they show this everyday of their time here.

For your yearbook, you all had to answer the question: What has my time in Crescent taught me? I thought that might be a good test, so here’s a few answers that I liked:

  • Always be kind and use good manners 
  • Be a responsible and caring person 
  • Anyone can be your friend and then everyone is different.
  • It's like a second home where my friends are there for me
  • I can always rely on my teachers to help me if I have a problem. 
  • Work hard but have lots of fun
  • Grab every chance you can take 
  • Be happy and have nice manners
  • Never give up always try your best 

And one final one, a pearl of wisdom from Isaac that will ring true down the ages for all pupils, both past and present:

Work hard and make sure you can tie your own shoe laces 

The final part of the school promise is to be a good citizen. We have a duty as a school to send you out ready to do the work, able to get along with one another, but also to know you have responsibilities beyond the school gate in the wider world. These range from the very big to the very small, from creating a sustainable future for all, to valuing all people equally, regardless of creed or colour but also to seemingly small things like good manners, kindness and respect for one another.

I believe that you are well set to be good citizens of the 21st century and that everything that you have learned here will sustain you in years to come and make you not only a successful and happy person but also a person with a conscience and a desire to be a force for good in a changing world.

I started this afternoon with a well-known joke and I will finish with a fable, The Story of the Starfish.

When you are young you see the problems in the world and you think; What can I do to help? I am so small and the world is so big. Well I hope this story gives you an answer.

An old man was walking along the seashore at dawn following a terrible storm. He was shocked to see 10s and 10s of thousands of starfish stranded on the beach, as far as the eye could see. The great storm had washed them all ashore and now the burning sun was starting to rise in the sky.

Ahead of him, he noticed a young man who was stooping and picking up the stranded starfish from the beach and throwing them back into the water.

Old man (to the young man): Why are you doing that?

Young man: If I don’t, they’ll be stranded and the heat of the sun will kill them.

Old man: But the beach goes on for miles and there are millions of starfish. What difference does it make?

The young man stooped, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea.

Young man: Well, it makes a difference to that one.

Being a good citizen starts with the small things, because together we can change the world.

So Year 6, be good citizens, and make a difference wherever you can.

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News

Thank You Mr Knowles

A big thank you to Mr Knowles who has worked super hard all throughout the year with the extra cleaning keeping the school safe.  Always done with a smile on his face.

We really appreciate it.

Crescent School

 

FoC Ice Cream Treat For Children

Thank you to the Friends of Crescent who treated the children to an ice cream treat today.  The ice cream van parked up in the playground and served the children.

A lovely end to the school year.

Crescent School

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Isaac Captains Cricket Team To Double Victory!

Isaac was thrilled to captain the Rugby Cricket Club U11 team to victory during the Cup Final against Willoughby this weekend, winning by a massive 107 runs. Leading by example, Isaac with his batting partner scored 52 runs in just 4 overs and took 5 wickets!

Not content to just win the Cup, the team, unbeaten throughout the season, went on to win the U11 League too!

Awesome job Isaac, well done.

Crescent School

Bwengu Fundraising Winners

Charlie's Flag Competition

  • Finlay 4M

Ava's Job Competition

  • Ellie 4M

Poppy's Disney Competition

  • Sophie 5F

Search For Sunshine

  • Aria 1S

Name the Bear - Polar

  • James 3Y

Thank you to all of those who have contributed this year. I will update you with a total next term.

Ms Forth
Deputy Head

Awards

End of Term Awards

Congratulations to the following children who were awarded the following:

Barrett English Prize:

  • Year 5 - Katherine
  • Year 4 - Tegan
  • Year 3 - Alice

Crescent Maths Prize:

  • Year 5 - Aryan
  • Year 4 - Zahra
  • Year 3 - James

Morley-Boys Pre-Prep Cup for Resilience

  • Maya

Clayton Star for Outstanding Behaviour in Reception

  • Evie 

Noyce Trophy for Most Promising Girl Sports Player (Y5)

  • Evie

Phillips Trophy for Most Promising Boy Sports Player (Y5)

  • Rohan

Well done to you all.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster
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Junior da Vinci Students

Our final badges of the year have been awarded to the follwoing for Maths:

  • Alex G
  • Alex T
  • Edward F
  • Shiv
  • Timi

Congratulations to you all.

Mrs Webb
Assistant Head

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Accelerated Reader Achievements

I am so thrilled with the way so many of the children are engaging with their reading, how fabulous to be able to celebrate them week after week. This week we have the following awards:

4,000,000 words:

  • Zahra

1,000,000 words:

  • Bryson
  • Charlie
  • Stephanie
  • Charlotte

500,000 words:

  • Grace M

Amazing achievements all round.

Mrs Webb
Assistant Head
 
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House Trophy Trinity Term

In the Celebration Assembly on Tuesday 6 July, Mr Thackway announced St George's House was the overall winner for the housepoint trophy for Lent term.

Pictured are St Andrew's House Captains, Asha and Joshua, with the trophy. 

Well done to all.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

House Point Winners Trinity Term

In the Celebration Assembly today, Tuesday 6 July, the housepoint winners for each class were awarded with a book token.  Congratulations to the following children:

Class  First Place Second place
1S Isabella Amber
2W Nora Maya
3Y Shayla Timi
4M Ellie Zahra
5F Charlotte Stephanie
6W Isla Joshua

Well done to all.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster
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Promise Badge Awards Trinity Term

We were delighted, in our final celebration assembly of the term, to award our Promise Badges.  

They are very special and are awarded at the end of each term to one child in Pre-Prep (PP) and one child in the Upper School (US) for each of the three promise strands: Good Friends, Good Learners, Good Citizens.

The children listed below have embodied the qualities of the promise this term and can wear their new badges with pride.

Good Friends
Roisin C- PP
George C - US
 
Good Learners
Nora - PP 
Katherine - US
 
Good Citizens
Isabella - PP
Bryson - US
 
Mr Webb
Assistant Head
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School Promise Certificates Trinity Term

In our Good News Assembly this morning we awarded School Promise certificates to recognise the children’s excellent behaviour as Good Friends, Good Learners or Good Citizens. 

Congratulations go to:

Reception
  • Felicity 
  • Henry
  • Isabella
  • Sophia
  • Dudley
Class 1S
  • Aria
  • Nimeeta 

Class 2W

  • Sophia 
  • Shaylan

Class 3Y

  • Maisie
  • Leela

Class 4M

  • Ava
  • Yash
  • Chloe

Class 5F

  • Grace 
  • Eva
  • Rory

Class 6W

  • Esther
  • Isaac
  • Isla

Keep up the good work.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster
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FoC

Crescent Adventure

Friends of Crescent is hugely excited to announce the launch of Crescent Adventure - a new activity trail that will create an exploratory, fun and engaging physical play area within the school grounds.

Crescent Adventure will provide a safe outdoor play area with a wide range of outdoor equipment designed to engage and challenge children physically. It will help to develop children’s confidence in movement and support better peer relationships while developing a lifelong passion for physical activity.

Within school the project is being led by Ms Forth (who outlines the plans in the attached video). Our aim is to install Crescent Adventure in 2022. To make this happen we are looking to raise £17,000 through a range of special fundraising activities. These will run alongside our usual events such as bake sales, movie nights, second-hand uniform and the Christmas Bazaar.

In the meantime if you would like to donate there are two great ways to do so:

1. Making donations through the usual FoC Bank account with the reference CresAdv (Account Name: Friends of Crescent - Sort Code: 30-97-17 - Account Number: 01174774)

2. Doing your online shopping through the Easyfundraising App! The App is a great and easy way to raise money for the school with minimum effort. It includes a huge range of well-known brands including Amazon, Marks & Spencer and John Lewis – all of which are handy for uniform shopping! Find out more at: https://bit.ly/3wgMk7E

3. By donating pre-loved school uniform

We look forward to sharing more about our plans for Crescent Adventure in the coming months and thank you for your support!

Crescent Adventure 

Friends of Crescent 

www.facebook.com/groups/friendsofcrescent
www.instragram.com/friendsofcrescent
e: chair@friendsofcrescent.co.uk

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Preloved Uniform Update

On behalf of the FoC team I'm sending out a huge thank you to everyone who has donated clothes to pre-loved this year.

All of the clothes donated have helped so many parents, a few examples include, children growing so quickly, occasionally misplacing clothes, the magical irreparable rips (without any idea how) and finding out at the end of the week that there is a large stain in the most visible place which requires stain remover, wash and dry (absolutely no chance of sorting it before school starts in the morning), but a spare pre-loved item is the life saver!! Please keep them up!

Every single penny raised goes straight into the FoC fund for the children, which helps us to provide events and resources for all of the children across the school. Without all of your clothing donations we would not be able to raise this important stream of income.  We are pleased to say that so far this term we have raised over £320.

Over the summer holidays we will continue to sell pre-loved clothing. The plan is to post 1-2 times per week depending on the donations. A message will go on the WhatsApp group notifying everyone of the times and days of the posts. The school has kindly agreed to keep the plastic box outside of reception (times are reduced during the holidays) for donations and collections throughout the summer holidays giving everyone a chance to collect before a new term in September.

We will happily accept any of the following Crescent 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. 

Preloved uniform enquiries can be made by emailing me on the link below:

Preloved Uniform

Thank you again and please keep donating!

Vicky Morley
FoC Uniform 
 

 

FoC Committee Contact Details

We'd love to introduce you to the new Friends of Crescent team. Supporting the Committee members we have:

Chair
Nick Brosnan (Dad of Chloe in Year 4) chair@friendsofcrescent.co.uk 
 
Vice-Chair
Lisa Millward (Mum of Charlie in Year 4 and Alfie in Year 1) vicechair@friendsofcrescent.co.uk 
 
Secretary
Laura O’Connell (Mum of Grace in Year 3) secretary@friendsofcrescent.co.uk 
 
Communications
Inez de Koning (Mum of Alex in Year 3 and Lucas in Reception) 
 
Treasurer
Samantha Wood (Mum of Charlotte in Year 1) treasurer@friendsofcrescent.co.uk

We’d love you to follow the FoC Facebook page where we publish all news and information about our events.

Friends of Crescent Facebook Group


Nick Brosnan
Friends Of Crescent - Chair  

www.facebook.com/groups/friendsofcrescent
www.instragram.com/friendsofcrescent
e: chair@friendsofcrescent.co.uk

Housekeeping

Term Dates 2021/22

Please find below 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

Term Dates 2022/23

The Term Dates for 2022/23 have just been published:

2022/23
Michaelmas Term
Term starts Monday 5 September 2022
Half Term Saturday 15 October to Sunday 30 October 2022
Term ends Friday 16 December 2022

Lent Term
Term starts Wednesday 4 January 2023
Half Term Saturday 18 February to Sunday 26 February 2023
Term ends Friday 23 March 2023

Trinity Term
Term starts Monday 17 April 2023
May Bank Holiday Monday 1 May 2023 (no school)
Half Term Saturday 27 May to Sunday 4 June 2023
Term ends Wednesday 5 July 2023

The Princethorpe Foundation Employment Opportunities

The Foundation has the following vacancies:

  • IT Apprentice - Princethorpe College
  • IT Engineer - Princethorpe College
  • Summer Estates Assistant - Princethorpe College
  • Estates Assistant - Lates - Princethorpe College

Full details and information on how to apply are available on the Foundation website here:

www.princethorpe.co.uk/join-us

Should you know anyone who might be interested in these posts, please do share this information with them.