The Courier

I have mentioned a number of times in these newsletters how impressed I have been with our Year 6 pupils this term.  They are the best ambassadors for the school we could have and a source of great pride to all the staff who have been working with them before and during my short time here.  More than anything, of course, they are a great credit to you as parents.

Most have now received their full set of results and offers, other than the one they will receive in March from their local authority, and I would like to give you a little feedback on how they have done.

Many more of our pupils applied to Princethorpe College this year, with 20 pupils sitting the entrance exam in November.  All of these children were successful in gaining an offer of a place, which is a tremendous achievement in itself.  On top of this, we had 7 children awarded scholarships as academics, all-rounders and artists and musicians.

18 children this year took the local authority 11+.  This is increasingly competitive each year, a process that will only become harder over the next few years.  In this context, we were delighted for the 12 children who scored highly enough to achieve the initial qualifying score, although of course they will all have to wait until March to be sure of their offer of a place.

Other highlights included 4 offers at King Henry’s in Coventry, 3 at Kingsley, 2 at Warwick and one at both Bablake and Bilton Grange and scholarship offers at Warwick, Bilton Grange and King Henry’s.

Many congratulations to all of the Year 6 children.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

Two new Prefects have been apointed. They are chosen for their contribution around the school, their proactive attitude in our school community and their keeping of the school promise.

Well done to:

We were treated to a wonderful musical medley during our festive assembly on Friday 15 December.  The children showed us their talent as they played beautifully.  

There was music from mini-brass, brass group, flute group, recorder group, wacky music on hand chimes and also wacky trumpets. The orchestra also played beautifully together.

Many thanks to all who took part, a special well done to Mrs Barnes, our musical maestro.

A most delicious Christmas lunch was served to all on Friday 15 December.  We had crackers with silly hats, jokes and music playing throughout and were served platefuls of delicious Christmas dinner.  It is a day of extra work for the kitchen staff and we say a big thank you to them for the wonderful meal and also for all the food they have prepared for us throughout the school year.

Debbie Olner
Teaching Assistant

There was plenty of razzle dazzle on stage on Friday 15 December when the Nature Trails Nursery and Crescent Reception children performed their nativity, A Miracle In Town, to a large audience of excited parents, grandparents and friends.

The performance told the traditional nativity story of the journey to Bethlehem, the search for a room at the inn, the birth of the baby Jesus and the visits by the Shepherds and Wise Men.  For the nativity the children were transformed into a multitude of angels, shepherds, innkeepers and animals who, together with Mary, Joseph and the donkey, created a marvellously festive scene. 

Ably supported by narrators, Head Girl, Olivia Sarkies, and Head Boy, Christopher Gibson, the simple story was told beautifully with each child carefully enunciating their individual lines.  Together our most junior children sang delightfully crowd-pleasing tunes such as Little Grey Donkey, Down in the Stable, Such a Perfect Moment and There's a Razzle and a Dazzle.

A lot of hard work had gone into the rehearsals, learning the songs, memorising lines, sourcing costumes, scenery and planning the production and what a spectacle it was.

Reception teacher, Mrs Claire Pullen commented, "The performance went very, very well indeed. We are so proud of all our children, it was wonderful to see how much they had gained in confidence and how much they enjoyed being together on stage, they were amazing!”

Crescent School’s Key Stage 1 Nativity took place on Wednesday 13 December.  It was a modern take on the traditional nativity story.  Strictly Come Dancing inspired, the story of Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem and the birth of the baby Jesus was publicised by the BBC (Bethlehem Broadcasting Corporation) through a special edition of the much loved, well-known dance show.

The audience of delighted parents were welcomed by enthusiastic hosts Evie, Dorrit and Freya and duly introduced to the judges, the comedic Donkey, played by Charlotte, the talented Innkeeper’s wife, aka Stephanie, and the superb Craig Revel Horwood-like Caesar, Rory.

Line dancing locals, funky camels, morris dancing shepherds, tango-ing innkeepers, balletic angels and disco stars, all took to the stage in turn to perform their routines and share their part in the special story.

It was a fabulous performance by all the children who delivered their lines with panache, danced exuberantly and sang enthusiastically.

Headmaster, Joe Thackway thanked all of the parents for coming and congratulated the children commenting, “Children you were absolutely fantastic.”  He thanked the staff involved in putting together the show and then gave a special mention to Rory whose performance as Caesar had been truly inspired and just a little bit scary!

What an absolute joy it was to welcome a huge congregation to the Crescent Carol Service at Rugby Baptist Church on the evening of Monday 18 December.  Every single child from Classes III-VI took part in a delightful magical evening full of carols, music and the Christmas story.

Our thanks go to Mrs Barnes and Mrs Stapleton for putting together this traditionally festive event.

Another successful term for our readers in Years 3-6.  The children have read over 23,400,000 words. These are the results broken down into Houses:

St Andrew: 8,600,000
St George: 8,300,000
St David: 5,237,622

It is important that the children continue to read regularly over the holidays, we recommend that they quiz on one book on their return to school in January.

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

We have our first double da Vinci pupil, Isaac Nelson has achieved a Junior da VInci status in Science to join his maths Junior da Vinci. An outstanding achievement.

Rania Akbik has earnt her Junior da Vinci in English, having achieved a mastery, practice and creativity within this subject. She is our first year 4 Junior da Vinci pupil.

Congraulations to the following pupils for passing their music exams: