The Courier

Dear Parents

It has been great to enjoy a more normal week here in school, following the visit of the inspection team last week. I am unable to give detailed feedback on their final judgements at this stage, but we were delighted with the professional way the inspection was conducted and both the staff and the children worked really hard to show themselves at their very best. We should know the official outcome in about five or six weeks time and of course we will share it with you at that point.

Our assembly this week was based on the life and times of Rosa Parks. Children in both Pre-Prep and the Upper School were fascinated but horrified to hear about the way that she was treated in 1950s America and the routine way that racial prejudice was built into everyday life at that time. Discussions like these are a really important way of raising the awareness of our young people on such important matters, and I know that the assemblies were well received by the children.

This week has also seen the beginning of our first parental consultations of the year. On Monday, we started with our in-person meetings for the parents in Pre-Prep and on Thursday the meetings for Upper School children took place online. These are always useful first contact discussions for both families and teachers, that will hopefully reflect the positive way your child has settled into their new school year. It was great to hear the positive comments of so many Reception parents in particular on Monday and we are all thrilled with how so many new children have fitted in so quickly to Crescent school life.

Next week we have more of these consultation meetings as well as our two harvest services. The Upper School one takes place on Tuesday and with the Pre-Prep taking place the following day. We decided to make the split given the numbers of adults involved and the continued threat of COVID infection. I hope those of you who are able to come along enjoy the services and the chance to see the children performing in a live situation for the first time for a considerable period.

It is a busy week planned next week as we lead up towards the half term break. Our food collection begins on Monday for the Rugby Food Bank and we finish the week in charitable mode with the non-uniform day in aid of the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust. I do hope I am able to catch up with you during this final week of the half term in the meantime I wish you all a relaxing weekend.

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 or over entrances to driveways. We would also advise parents/grandparents/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 

Below is the link for next week's school calendar:  

Weekly Calendar - 11 October 2021

Philosophy Club is not running next week.

Please ensure payments are made for any external co-curricular clubs.

There is still availability on some After School Clubs, please let Mrs Tucker know if your child would like to join any. 

After School provision can be booked through My School Portal:

MySchoolPortal 

Crescent School

The latest edition of The Circular, Crescent School’s review of the year for pupils, parents and staff, has just been published and families should have received a printed hard copy last week.

The magazine includes stories and photos from across the school year, giving a wonderful insight into the life of the school and the learning that takes place, day in day out, here at the Crescent. It is a fabulous memento, and we hope you all enjoy reading it.

An electronic copy of the magazine is also available on the school website hwww.theprincethorpefoundation.co.uk/publications-crescent if you would like to share the Circular with family and friends.

Our School Council challenged our School Chef to find an alternative to the plastic dishes that the puddings are served in.  

So the children were really delighted this week to see puddings now being served in cardboard pots.

It was a fantastic result for the environment and super jam sponge and custard puddings for the children!

What a double whammy - many thanks to the wonderful Mr Moore.

Next week the Mortimer Suite celebrates its 20th birthday. The school extension, constructed back in early 2001, was officially opened later that year on 12 October 2001.

The building works featured in Issue 2 of the Crescent Chronicle, the school magazine at the time, and you can read the report here.

It describes a spacious airy feel, a light and pleasant entrance hall and two new spacious classrooms as well as the opportunity the extension provided for upgrades elsewhere.

Over the years many pupils will have passed through the doors and enjoyed learning their lessons in the Mortimer Suite. It is a wonderful place for all the little ones just starting at Crescent, with a breakout area perfect for small group work.

As part of the summer refurbishment project this year, the Mortimer Suite gained new roof lights, a very appropriate 20th birthday present we think.

Happy Birthday to the Mortimer Suite!

Please would parents ensure that children do not come into school wearing jewellery.

Necklaces and bracelets can easily be broken or lost and are potentially hazardous for children taking part in physical activities or experiments. 

Earings – children are not permitted to wear earings to school due to health and safety.  If a child forgets to remove their earings, we will ask them to remove them and put in an envelope to bring home.

We discourage watches being worn in Pre-Prep but they can be worn in the Upper School to aid learning.  

Thank you for you cooperation with this health and safety matter.

Crescent School pupils and staff showed their best sides off to good effect this week when professional photographer Marcus Perkins travelled up from London to spend the day at school on a photo shoot for our Marketing Team. Marcus is a regular visitor to the Crescent joining us normally once a year to capture lovely images which feature extensively on our prospectus and website.

Marcus' busy schedule saw him focus his lens on pupils from Reception to Year 5 taking part in a range of activities from Phonics, Science and Music lessons, to football on the school field and even the after school Taekwondo club.

Thanks to everyone for their co-operation. We look forward to seeing the fruits of Marcus' labours in the next week or so.

It has been brought to our attention that the 11+ scores are to be released on 18 October, so we need to move our drop-in session. As it is half term Mr Thackway and I are available only via email on the Monday 18 October due to prior commitments, however if you would like to talk either on the phone or via Teams please let us know and we can arrange that for the Monday 25 October.

Even if you do not feel that you wish to have a discussion, please inform us of the position and scores of your child. The local authority does not inform us and we need the results for our records.

Photo proofs have been sent home with children last week. All photographs should be ordered online at www.pics4schools.com.  

All details can be found on the proof card with your unique security code. The deadline for orders to ensure free delivery to school is Friday 15 October 2021.

Please do contact Mr Lloyd if you have any queries, his details are on the proof card.

Crescent School

As we approach Harvest Festival, we do so with a thankful heart for all that we have.

Once again, we shall be supporting the valuable work of the Rugby Foodbank by asking families to donate non-perishable items to help many who are struggling at this time. Rugby Foodbank has kindly sent us a 'wish list' of items they would welcome for the coming weeks and months ahead to boost their stocks over the winter.:

Foodbank - Harvest Festival Shopping List 2021:

• Tinned potatoes
• Tinned meat/pies/hot dogs
• Tinned fish
• Tinned/Packet snack meals
• Packet mashed potato
• Tinned custard
• Tinned fruit
• Coffee
• Pot noodles
• Instant noodles
• Jam
• Spreads
• Washing up liquid
• Toothpaste
• Deodorants
• Men's toiletries

We are asking that all donations be brought in on Monday 11 October, to the pupil entrance, where representatives of the School Council will receive your donations and bring them into school ready for our Harvest Services that week. 

Many thanks in advance for your continued support of this local cause.

Monday 11 October - 6.30pm to 8.30pm

We all value the importance of these meetings to discuss your child's academic progress.  These will be running via Teams meetings.

If you haven't aleady booked your appointment please do so following the link sent out.

Mrs Webb
Assistant Head

Tuesday 12 October and Wednesday 13 October 2021 

This year we are very excited to be holding two Harvest Festivals, one for Pre-Prep on Wednesday 13 October and one for Upper School (Year 3-6) on Tuesday 12 October - this is slightly different to what was in the calendar. Both will start at 9am and you are welcome, after drop off, for light refreshments before the service in the library.

I am afraid we are asking that only one adult per child attends due to safety and space in the hall. We will also request that your wear a mask when in the hall during the service and when not eating or drinking. 

The service will be less than an hour and will be a mixture of songs, readings, music and prayers to celebrate the Harvest.

Please note that all events are subject to change, we risk assess all events and activities in line with Covid risks and numbers. We will communicate with parents as soon as any decisions have been made.

Please book via My School Portal using the links below, you must book in for this:

Harvest Service - Upper School

Harvest Service - Pre-Prep

Thursday 14 October 2021 - 4.00m to 6.00pm

We all value the importance of these meetings to discuss your child's academic progress. They will be held in your child's classroom.

If you haven't aleady booked your appointment please do so following the link sent out.

The playground will be open to park in for both sessions.  Please can you come to the Mortimer Foyer doors down the bottom of the playground.  There you will be met by Mr Thackway and me, who will direct you to the correct place to meet the form tutors. There will also be refreshments available to you. 

We do ask that all parents wear a mask when in public areas of the school, unless eating and drinking and we would appreciate it if children and siblings do not attend, so that we can keep control on numbers and everybody's safety.

On Friday 15 October, the children and staff are invited to join us for our first fundraising event supporting our charity for this term, Brandon Marsh. Brandon Marsh is a nature reserve and is the headquarters of the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, well known for the variety and quality of its pools, reedbeds, grassland and woodland.  

The School Council thought it would be appropriate for us to have a 'wildlife' theme of our non-uniform day. Come to school on Friday wearing any clothing with an animal logo, colour, pattern or theme. You might have a bear onesie, or a tie with foxes on it, or a pair of socks with rabbits on. You might even have a headband with animal ears, or a mask or hat that look like an animal. 

Don't worry if you don't have anything with a wildlife or animal theme - you can still come in casual, non-uniform clothes and contribute £1 to our fundraising. Form teachers will collect the money during registration. Please consider the weather when choosing your home clothes, especially footwear, as the children like to run and play at break times.

The School Council representatives have been busy planning small games/challenges to play that day, as you arrive in the morning, for an additional 50p per play. This will boost our fundraising for our fabulous local nature reserve.

We are very grateful for your support this term.

Mrs Monteith and Mrs Stapleton
Class 4M and 1S Form Teachers

Monday 1 November to Friday 5 November - 8.15am to 8.40am

During the week commencing Monday 1 November parents are invited to come in to school from 8.15am to 8.40am to watch and support their child in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 while they quiz on their reading books.

The quiz platform is not available at home so it is a super opportunity for parents to share the experience.

Half-term is a great time for your child to finish reading a book and that will give you an extra excuse to see your child at work.

We look forward to welcoming you.

Congratulations to Alex T for reading 500,000 words.  

Our first millionaire award goes to Poppy.

Well done both.

This week's Accelerated Reader Superstars are:

Top Quizzers are:

• 3Y   Edward W
• 4M  Grace
• 5F   Zahra
• 6W  Rosina

Word Wizards are:

• 3Y  Patrick
• 4M Shiv
• 5F  Mya
• 6W Abigail

Results for last week's All Class Battle:

• 1st place - Class 5F with 5,567 points
• 2nd place - Class 4M with 5,413 points
• 3rd place - Class 6W with 4,673 points

Most valuable players in the whole competition:

• 1st Bryson 5F
• 2nd Shiv 4M
• 3rd Tomisin 2W

Last week most improved speedsters are:

• 3Y Nora - Wannabe
• 3Y Edward W - Wannabe
• 5F Bryson - Rock Legend
• 6W Liana - Support Act
• 6W Drew - Support Act

See the poster attached to see what your next level and speed needs to be. 

The program creates a bespoke training course for each user, levels have been changed to percentages. Landmarks are 24% (was L100), 48% (was L200), 72% (was L300) and complete 100% (was L420)

Pupils who have reached landmark % on automatic training mode in the Garage and Gigs and therefore are awarded JDVs for Maths Practice:

• Charlotte 6W over 72%
• Rohan 6W over 72%
• Drew 6W over 48%

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

Stay Calm and Rock On!!

Pre-Prep reading certificates have this week been awarded to:

• Elliott
• Everly
• Finn
• Kian

We had an issue with the quality of printing and these will be sent home next week.

Well done to you all.

This week's Good Citizens Playground Conduct certificates have been awarded to Charlie, Sam and Ava.

Thank you all.

Lunchtime Supervisors

Class 1LS have continued their learning about the properties of materials in science. This week, the children have been comparing bendy, stretchy and rigid materials. The children had great fun investigating which socks were made from the stretchiest material. 

This week, Class 1LS have been learning about one and two more than a number. We have used number lines, number squares and lots of other things to help us to find one more and two more than a number. We even had a special visitor who joined us for one and two more bingo!

We have also used IT to help us to practise counting one and two more, and our addition skills.

In art this week, Class 1SS used a selection of bits and bobs, natural and anything else we could find, and created their own pictures. The children had some fascinating stories about what was happening in their pictures and showed great imagination! 

In RE we learned of the fate of Jonah when he didn't listen to God and didn't follow the instructions. After three days sitting in a whale, he realised he'd made the wrong choices and he said sorry to God.

God rewarded him for apologising and turning his behaviour around. 1SS had a long discussion about if Jonah was at Crescent School, how well would he be able to follow the School Promise!

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. It would be great if you could discuss this with your children at home and support the messages we are emphasising in school.

This week we feature Good Learners and a good motto for our Year 6 children as they approach their entrance exams:

‘We work hard and try our best'

You may have read in the news recently about a number of E-Safety concerns surrounding the popular App TikTok. If you are unfamiliar with it, it is a video sharing and lip syncing program that allows its users to create short videos, usually dance or music orientated and post these online. The app became incredibly popular at the start of the first lockdown and can be a nice, creative way for children to express themselves.

It does however come with a number of potentially very serious and damaging pitfalls in terms of E-Safety, most notably in terms of age-inappropriate content, inappropriate lyrics, trolling, its use by online predators and its addictive nature. If you are thinking of allowing your child to have a Tiktok account, or if they are already using it, please read through the E-Safety guide. If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

In a truly fantastic game of fast-paced football, Crescent travelled a whole mile down the road to take on local rivals Bilton Juniors.

The home side came out the stronger of the two, with only some very sharp goalkeeping from Faris keeping the score at 0-0, including an amazing penalty save! This was also backed up superbly by Sachin and James at the back. BJS did eventually break through however, firing in from distance.

Crescent then showed real determination and resilience, quickly equalising after Sam slotted in to Aryan who coolly found the back of the net. This left it 1-1 at half-time. The second half was very end-to-end, the only difference between the sides being the finishing, with BJS scoring two, Crescent unable to beat the keeper.

Final score 3-1 to BJS, special mentions to player-of-the-match Faris, as well as James and Sachin for their excellent defensive work.

U8 Girls

With the weather a significant contrast to last week's sunshine, the Year 3 & 4 girls headed off to Bilton Grange once again to play hockey. This time with the full complement of excited pupils.

After their previous success, the U8 girls were full of confidence and started the match strongly, remembering to stay low when tackling and move position to protect their goal. Once again, the midfield of Sophie, Sophia and Roisin, worked tirelessly trying to attack and were quick to defend when required. Toni worked hard up front trying to work the ball towards the goal and Maya's confidence grew significantly as the match progressed.

Friday 15 October 2021 - 7.30pm

We are delighted to say that the quiz night, hosted by Ms Forth, is going ahead! Numbers are limited and teams are strictly 6 people only.  If any year group is unable to make a full team we can make teams from individuals on the evening. The more the merrier! 

Start time is 7.30pm and tickets are £5 per person. We will also be running a fish and chip collection service, however, feel free to bring your own food, snacks and drinks!

The FOC now has a new online payment system.  For tickets to this event, please click on the link below to book your place. 

Please can you book by the end of this week so we can make sure we have enough interest to run the event:

https://friendsofcrescent.com/product/quiz-night/

Please note when selecting a meal you need to do it one ticket at a time 'add to cart' then select the second meal and ticket - you can then pay for multiple items.

Any problems please contact Lisa Millward on 07865 666044.

Saturday 13 November 2021

The FoC will be hosting a Joules sale at school on Saturday 13 November.  Tickets will go on sale next week to Crescent School parents first, after which they will be released to the general public 24 hours later.  If you are a Joules fan, keep your eyes peeled for an email and a link to 'Ticket Source' and book your 1 hour slot; these are popular events and tickets sell out quickly.

Thank you to everyone who got involved with this event.  It’s been a busy month of activities for the FoC and we really appreciate how everyone has come together to support the fundraising efforts and get involved.  

We have a larger fundraiser running this year called 'Crescent Adventure’, which will provide a safe outdoor play area with a wide range of outdoor equipment designed to engage and challenge children physically on the school site. It will help to develop children’s confidence in movement and support better peer relationships while developing a lifelong passion for physical activity. Most funds raised this year will go towards this project. 

The next FoC meeting is on 1 November after which your class rep will feedback to you. 

So far we have raised £2,481 of our £17,000 total.

Thank you for your continued support! And just in case my contact details are below.

Nick
FoC Chair
chair@friendsofcrescent.co.uk 
https://www.crescentschool.co.uk/foc
07843561879 

Below are the details of the FoC Year Group Representatives. These reps will communicate with you on all our events via email, whatsapp or facebook. 

Please click below to view the lunch menu: 

Lunch Menu - 11 October 2021

Please note children are able to choose either of the two main lunch options.  

Olive Catering

Please see below for useful school contact information:

Please find below term dates for 2021/22 and 2022/23:

The Foundation has the following vacancies:

• Reception Teacher - Crackley Hall School
• Estates Assitant - Casual - Princethorpe College
• Caretaker - Crescent School

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.

Dear Crescent Parents

Over the course of this term, we have had two positive COVID-19 cases here at school. The situation at Princethorpe College is also serious with a number of positive cases being reported since the beginning of term.

Following a visit to Princethorpe College from PHE advisers, we been asked to introduce a ‘test to release’ recommendation for siblings across the three Foundation schools. This is designed to manage the number of Covid cases and hopefully reduce new cases.

Effectively, this means that if someone in a household tests positive, this would require siblings and other relations to take a PCR test and only return to school when they have received a negative PCR result. For example, if a child in Year 7 at Princethorpe tests positive and has a sibling in Crescent Year 4, the Year 4 child would need to take a PCR test and receive a negative result before returning to school. Similarly, a child in Crescent Year 3 were to test positive and had a sibling in Year 8, the Year 8 pupil would need to take the test.

In the meantime, the most important thing I can ask you to do is to is to continue to monitor your children for Covid symptoms. Do not send children into school when they are unwell or exhibit any of the signs of Covid. If they do develop symptoms, please book them a PCR test.

Please be assured that we will do our utmost to keep day to day school life, both in and out of the classroom, as normal as possible for our pupils.