The Courier

Dear Parents

We certainly haven't taken our foot off the pedal as we come towards the end of the half term. It has been a really busy week here at school with some very pleasing highlights along the way to raise the spirits.

On Tuesday and Wednesday it was wonderful to see so many parents and helpers coming into the hall to watch the Harvest services. The children loved seeing their special adults in school, just as they did last Friday for the Open Corridor event. I know how much parents want to get involved with school life, quite rightly so, and this is very well reflected in the overwhelming response that we had to the Rugby Food Bank appeal this year. Many thanks indeed to everybody for their generous contributions which will be going onto the shelves at the food bank almost as we speak.

Our non-uniform day today meant for a colourful final last day of the half term. More or less everyone managed to find something animal themed in their wardrobes and I am pleased to say my puffin tie came in handy for the occasion. The children raised plenty of money for a really good cause and I always think it is very important to nurture young people’s interests in the wildlife and natural habitats around them. We aim to support one local charity every academic year and supporting the work of Warwickshire Wildlife Fund is the choice of our school council for the term and a jolly good choice as well.

I hope to see many of you this evening for the Parents’ Quiz which promises to be a well contested event and another good fundraiser for the Friends of Crescent. I know the new committee have plans to raise money for our new Activity Trail and this should make a healthy contribution whilst providing for some social relaxation at the end of a hard working half term.

I have plans to climb some mountains in Scotland next week, but I am currently keeping a close eye on the weather reports to see just how wet I might get. Either way, I will make sure I get some quality time out and about in the countryside and I hope you are able to do the same with your families.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

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

Weekly Calendar - 1 November 2021

• Archery has now finished for the term
• Reception Yoga - this is the final week for group 1
• Reception Construction Club and Outdoor Learning switches to group 2

Please check SOCS for all dates

After School provision can be booked through My School Portal:

MySchoolPortal 

Crescent School

Image Musical Theatre visited the Crescent School today, Friday 15 October, to stage a production of The Reluctant Dragon for the whole school.  As always, the children got to join in with the super story-telling session and clearly all enjoyed the show.

Image Musical Theatre is a company that perform participatory theatre to primary school audiences.  They believe that bringing a story to life engages children and helps encourage them to read.

The actors, began by selecting ten children to take part in the show.  They then worked with the audience teaching them a series of songs, hand actions and responses to accompany the tale.

After a short break to allow the players to get into their costumes the production started.  It was an excellent performance full of comedy and wit and the children sat focused and fully engaged.  The theatre company cleverly brought the classic tale to life and the children really enjoyed singing all the songs.  Well done to Crescent’s budding actors, Marcie, Finn, Evelyn, Annalise, Toni, Sam O, Katherine, Rory, Sachin and Akaal, who took to the stage eagerly and delivered their lines with aplomb.

It was another great morning of engaging learning and fantastic fun.

It was non-uniform day in school today where children and staff wore clothes with a 'wildlife' theme. School Council representatives made up games for pupils to take part in before school.  Here is a list of the games and the winners so far...

• Champion Carrot Flinging - Tomisin (Pre-prep) and Aryan (Y6) 
• Around The School Quiz - To be announce when marked
• Spot The Sparrow -  To be announce when marked 
• How Many Leaves In The Jar? - Alex T (Y4)
• Name The Fox - Nora (Y3)
• Name The Wolf - Poppy (Y5)

We have been overwhelmed with the generosity today as we raise funds for the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, and we will follow up after half term with the remaining winners and the total raised so far for this term's charity. 

We are very grateful for your continued support.

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

On Tuesday 12 October, local Rugby resident Sue Melia, from Bwengu Projects Malawi, visited the Crescent School to receive a cheque for £1,185. The cheque was presented by Year 5 pupils Sam McCormick and Esme Barlow, in the school’s Harvest Festival service.

The Crescent School has been supporting the work of Bwengu Projects for fourteen years now. In fact, the school was one of the charity’s first supporters back in 2007 when they donated books for use in school libraries, one of the charity’s earliest projects. Each year the Year 4 children at the Crescent School study Africa and in particular Malawi and the work the charity, Bwengu Projects, does. Studying the challenges the people in Malawi face helps the children to appreciate the similarities and differences in our societies.

At the end of their topic the children choose specific Bwengu Projects to support and go on to organise fundraising activities that the whole school participates in. This year the now Year 5s raised money in a number of enterprising ways including a sponsored silence, organising games and competitions and a non-uniform day.

For 2021 the children chose two projects to support with a target of £500 to raise, to repair three broken rooves on a school in Nachipangapanga and to provide a month of orphans’ food.

Bryony Forth, Deputy Head, commented, “Supporting the Bwengu Project is always a highlight of my teaching year, something which I personally am very proud to be part of. The children enjoy studying Bwengu and comparing 'A Village Less Economically Developed than Rugby'. Over the years, we must have raised nearly £11,000 and helped pay for renovating schools, building a Women's Development Centre, sewing machines, a teacher's salary and nearly 60,000 meals for orphans.

“The children worked incredibly hard this year, especially as COVID restricted what we could do. They smashed their fundraising target, so as well as fixing the rooves, there is enough money to fund six months of orphan food and to fix the rotten roof and truss of Isyalikila Junior School.”

Sue Melia was overwhelmed, and commented, “This is really wonderful, our aims are very simple, our projects in Malawi support education. We are very grateful to Crescent School.”

Harvest Festival at Crescent School is always a special event as the children and staff gather together with the wider school family to celebrate and give thanks. Every year the school hall resonates with music, songs, prayers and readings to reflect on the bounty of the harvest, the traditions of Harvest Festival, along with the importance of community and of helping one another. This year, the school hosted two services, for the Upper School and for Pre-Prep, to allow parents to join in the celebration.

The school relies on the generosity of parents and family members to make this traditional British event one to remember and together, thanks to a wealth of donations, a wonderful display of tinned and packaged foods was created.  These will be taken to Rugby Foodbank and are sure to be gratefully received.

In the Upper School service the Crescent orchestra played stirringly leading the gathering in the traditional hymn ‘We plough the fields and scatter’. The children delivered their readings beautifully and sang traditional and modern Harvest songs.

Thank you to all of the children, to the staff who helped put the service together and to the parents for their donations of goods and of cash totalling £271.40 for this worthy cause. We hope you enjoyed this first shared service of the school year.

Last Monday 11 October Crescent School took part in the Princethorpe College’s Year 5 Maths Challenge.  The event was run by Douglas Buchanan of DCBEAGLE Challenges, who specialises in organising exciting and innovative maths activities for primary school aged children.

Crescent took two teams of two to compete alongside 18 pairs of enthusiastic and very talented mathematicians from nine local schools, the pupils took part in a series of puzzles against the clock.  In five eight-minute rounds the children tackled Tangram Triangles, Broken Calculators, Domino Jigsaws, Card Order and Curly’s Cycling Circuits, before finishing with a bonus round of five final mathematics questions.

Ably supported and marked by a team of Princethorpe’s Year 10 pupils, the competition stretched and challenged the children with mathematical activities that required both reasoning skills and mathematical knowledge.

The event was huge fun for all who took part and everyone who participated received a certificate and a special Princethorpe cookie.

Crescent School’s best placed team Crescent 1, Tegan and Zahra, finished in 5th place overall with Crescent 2, Ellie and Mya, finishing 14th.

Mrs Calder and Miss Wrzesniacka, who accompanied the children, said, “The children had a great time and really enjoyed putting their maths skills to the test. Well done to them all, they made Crescent School proud.”

There was a great atmosphere around school last Friday when we held Open Corridors for the first time in over 18 months. The children were so excited and proud to be showing their parents their school and work. When talking to parents there was a feeling of gratitude, pride and emotion now they were able to share in their children's life in school a little more.

The next Open Corridors will be held on Wednesday 1 December, we look forward to welcoming you then.

After the half term break all children are expected to be in full winter uniform.  Parents can use their discretion as to whether blazers or the school coat are more appropriate for the weather at the time.

When it does get really cold we do need all the children to have their coats in school so we can make a decision on outdoor break times. 

The School Shop is closed over half term.  Uniform items can be ordered via the link below and will be delivered to school during the first week back.

Uniform Order Form

Thank you for your cooperation with these guidelines.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster  

The Poppy Appeal items will be arriving in School on Monday 1 November ready for children to purchase.  Year 6 will be selling these on the door each  morning before school.  

The photo displays the items for sale last year - this years items tbc.

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.

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 24 October 2021.

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

Crescent School

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.

Wednesday 3 November 2021 - 7.00pm 

All Year 3 and 4 parents are invited to an information session about the residential trip to Whitemoor Lakes which will take place from Tuesday 3 May to Wednesday 4 May 2022.  

The session will be held via TEAMS on Wednesday 3 November 2021 at 7.00pm and it should last no more than 30 minutes.  This will be an opportunity for you to find out more, note the key dates and ask any questions. 

A link will be sent to you on the day for you to join.

Wednesday 10 November 2021 - 4.00pm

All Year 5 parents are invited to an information session about the residential trip to the Frank Chapman Centre. This will be an opportunity for you to find out what happens there, note the key dates and ask any questions. 

This will be held in the Class 5F form room at 4.00pm on Wednesday 10 November 2021. Your child is also welcome to attend and it should last no more than 30 minutes. 

Monday 29 November 2021

Children will be decorating the school for Christmas on Monday 29 November 2021.  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 on Christmas Open corridors in December.

Crescent School

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:

• RP - Oore
• RP - Lara
• RE - Sarima
• RE - Olivia-Rose
• 1SS - David
• 1SS - Joshua
• 1LS - Felicity
• 1LS - Max
• 2W - Harry
• 2W - Nimeeta
• 3Y - Roisin 
• 3Y - Max
• 4M - Grace
• 4M - Shayla
• 5F - Harry
• 5F - Sam
• 6W - Harriet
• 6W - Sachin

Keep up the good work.

Results for last week's All Class Battle:

• 1st place - Class 5F with 5,482 points
• 2nd place - Class 3Y with 4,006 points
• 3rd place - Class 4M with 2,926 points

Most valuable players in the whole competition:

• 1st Bryson 5F
• 2nd Shiv 4M
• 3rd Liana 6W

Last week most improved speedsters are:

• 3Y Nora - Wannabe
• 3Y Zac - Wannabe
• 5F Bryson - Rock Legend
• 5F Mya - Unsigned Act
• 5F Libby - Gigger
• 5F Saira - Busker

See the poster attached to see what your next level and speed needs to be. New Class battle for over half term 14 October - 4 November.

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

Stay Calm and Rock On!!

Thank you to Sophie, Isabel, Max, Uma, Nimeeta, Maya, Sofie, Sam and Caspar for their good conduct, good manners and respect for others during lunchtimes.

The lunchtime supervisors decided that you are this half term's recipients of Top Table invitations.

Congratulations to Alex G for reading 1,000,000 words.  I wonder how many more he will read over half term!

Well done.

This week's Accelerated Reader Superstars are:

Top Quizzers are:

• 3Y   Zac
• 4M  Alex G
• 5F   Poppy
• 6W  Freya

Word Wizards are:

• 3Y  Sophia
• 4M Leela
• 5F  Zahra
• 6W Charlotte

It is always an exciting time for the children when they gain their pen licence, enabling them to make the move from writing in pencil to pen.

For this rite of passage, the children have to show that they can write neatly and consistently in cursive, joined handwriting in all of their work, not just handwriting tasks.

MingYi has shown pride in the presentation of all of her learning tasks and has been awarded a Pen Licence and her first handwriting pen.

Well done!

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

• Evie
• Kiran
• Nellie
• Theo 

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

Well done to you all.

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

Reception Round Up - 15 October 2021 

This week the children have been writing about the harvest, as part of our harvest celebrations. They have written poems and thought about all the different things they are thankful for.

They have also looked closely at some fruit and vegetables, and thought of some amazing adjectives (describing words) to describe them. They thought of words like crunchy, rigid and flexible.

Great word choices 1LS.

Another week and another phase 5 phonic to work on - this week we have been looking at the alternative spelling for the long vowel /a/ with the split diagraph,' a_e' and then working out words which have this grapheme, alongside the 'ai' and 'ay' spelling in our story this week.

Even our magic balloons showed up some of our 'a_e ' words from this week too!

Class 1SS were inspired by the lovely acrostic that Year 2 shared in our harvest service, that they have been writing their own this week. Our objective has been to write in a cursive style and make our writing smaller and consistent. The have made great progress, and although some help was given with spellings, their ideas and phrasing came from themselves.

Lovely work, Year 1!

A key objective in Year 3 English is using powerful verbs. We have been thinking about all the different verbs we do in school. We have a very impressive selection; some children came up with over 30 different verbs - some of our favourites are shown here. 

Over the past three weeks, 3Y have learnt to recognise, name and describe, using full sentences in French, the planets in our Solar System. Yesterday we spent our entire lesson making models to showcase our knowledge. The results are 'magnifiques'!

Children in Year 5 have been developing their life drawing skills. They worked on a still life and focused on how their line making technique could be adapted to show variations in shade and texture.

Alfie and Charlie's Grandparents had a huge wasp nest in their loft which they had removed and kindly brought it to school so the children could look at it. 

As you can see from the photos, Year 5 had much fun disecting and exploring the nest in their Science lesson.

I have also attached some photos about paper wasps.

It's that time of year again where I am spell bound by the creative talents of our children and their families.

Year 5 have been studying Egyptians this term and have created some beautiful examples of their own research and exploration of the topic.

From pyramids to papyrus, hieroglyphics to mummification; all aspects of life in this fascinating ancient time have been represented in a wide range of media.

The children loved having time to share the work with their classmates, who were very generous with praise, which was thoroughly deserved. 

In Science, over this half-term, the children have been busy carrying out many exciting science investigations. Here are a few highlights:

• Class 1SS – Investigating the best waterproof material for Simon the Sloth to use in the rainforest
• Class 3 finding out how light travels
• Class 4 investigating ice 'hands' in a freezing and melting experiment
• Class 5 testing the most comfortable handles on plastic bags, using clay indents, for a local shopkeeper

As part of Mr Thackway's Learning Walks he visited Reception RP last week where he was supporting a group in the creative area who were making shakers to support our work about the senses!

Crescent School

Kian has been scouted by and now plays for Birmingham City Academy Football Club and last week they had their first match against Arsenal Academy Football Club where Kian scored a goal!

Well done Kian.

Crescent School

Children were treated to a playground classic of 'What's the time Mr Wolf' with Ms Forth at lunchtime this week.  

As you can see from the photos much fun was had by all.

Crescent School

Over the course of the school year we will, in turn, focus on one of the elements of the School Promise. We will talk about it in assembly and in form period. It would be great if you could discuss it with your children at home and support the messages we are emphasising in school.

This week we continue with the category of Good Citizens.

‘We try to keep safe and be responsible’

Coding is now a really important and weighty part of the Primary Computing Curriculum, and the main reason for this is that it promotes a wide range of vital and transferrable life skills, such as logic, problem solving and self-regulation. Luckily it is also really hands-on and fun! A great way to get to know a little more about this and exactly what your children are learning could be to create a Scratch project at home with them. If you haven’t heard of Scratch before, it is a free block-based programming website developed by the MIT and aimed specifically at children https://scratch.mit.edu/. It allows you create a wide range of computer games, quizzes or animations, with the user writing all of the coding themselves!

The website is really straightforward to navigate, has a great parents' information section and is 100% safe for children of any age to navigate on their own, although ability-wise is more appropriate for Key Stage 2 if using independently. You can either explore the millions of games and quizzes that have been created by other users (all carefully vetted and checked) or create your own projects, which is the real fun bit! Now if your children have used it before, they may just be able to take the lead, but if not there are a lot of activity guides and simple tutorials that are easy to follow https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/editor/?tutorial=all.

If you’re looking for somewhere to start, why not have a go at making a Shark Attack game, following the attached guide here. Although it can look a little daunting at first, it’s easy to get the hang of the basic functions and commands. Also it is brilliant for promoting the idea of ‘debugging’; trying things out first, and if they don’t work trying to figure out why!

If you need any help at all or have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Also if you have created some amazing Scratch projects with your children, I’d love it if you could share them with us!

Over the past couple of weeks, a very dedicated team of budding Year 6 journalists and producers have been working diligently to put together the first episode of our new school podcast. They have worked incredibly hard creating, recording and editing all of the content on their own, so please click on the link below to give it a listen!

https://vimeo.com/631199358/118b01a0ba

Friday 15 October 2021 - 7.30pm

We are so pleased that the quiz will be able to go ahead.  Tonight, there will be seven teams competing to become 2021 FoC Quiz Champions!  

Can Year 3 hold the title for the third time, or will any outsiders take the trophy?  

Our resident quizmaster Ms Forth will be hosting the event, testing your general knowledge.  For those of you who have ordered fish and chips, the order has been placed and expect delivery early doors. Also, feel free to bring your own food, snacks and drinks!

Any problems please contact Lisa Millward on 07865 666044.

Monday 1 November 2021 - 4.00pm to 5.00pm

This meeting will be held in school. Please come along and join us if you're available. We will be discussing the events for this academic year.

Facemasks will need to be worn.

If you need childcare please sign your child into after school.

Friday 5 November 2021 - 3.45pm to 4.45pm

Please come along and support the FoC by buying cakes and sweets, all priced at 50p each. All the money raised at these market day events goes towards Crescent Adventure and privilege time for Year 5.

Saturday 13 November 2021

The Joules Sale is being held at Crescent School.  Tickets are now on sale to the general public. Please use the link below to book 1 hour shopping session on 13 November 2021.

Please be aware that all attending will need their own ticket, including children.

Men's, women's, children's, home and Christmas items will be in abundance all day. Racks are constantly replenished throughout the day. Expect to pay half price and much less than retail prices.  Ticket sales all go to Crescent Adventure. 

Tickets can be purchase through from TicketSource or clicking on the QR code in the poster.

Plenty of parking will be available on the playground plus refreshments.

Friends of Crescent

Movie night for all years groups will take place on Friday 19 November at 4pm.  Please save the date, more details to follow after half term.

Friends of Crescent 

Friday 3 December 2021 - 3.45pm to 6.00pm

Our annual Christmas Bazaar will be held on Friday 3 December in the School Hall and surrounding classrooms. 

Reception will be able to attend from 3.20pm as it does get busy in the hall and surrounding classrooms, to give the younger children the opportunity to come and have a go on the games and stalls before the rest of the school arrive. 

More details on this will follow later in the term.

It’s been a busy half term of activities for the FoC and we really appreciate how everyone has come together to support the fundraising efforts.  Your involvement has helped raise money for both charity and for our large in-school project, The Crescent Adventure.

Our first event, the cake sale for Macmillan, was a fantastic opportunity to get together again and to meet some new parents to the school, whilst raising money for a cause which is close to many of our hearts.  After being unable to hold events in school for some time, it was lovely how many of you not only provided the cakes, but came along to support the sale.  Thank you.  

There are lots of things coming up next half term for us all to get involved in, please check for announcements here in The Courier, and if you haven't already, please feel free to join our Facebook group:

Friends of Crescent Facebook

Hi, I’m Laura O’Connell - Mummy to Grace in Year 4. I enjoyed being part of the FoC last year, and I am delighted to support the committee by continuing the role of Secretary.

We joined Crescent in September 2020, and I am really impressed with how many people are involved with FoC. Last year was a challenging year for FoC, but we worked as a team to plan some fabulous events.

I have been made to feel very welcome, and would encourage anyone interested in being involved to get in touch with Nick our Chair.

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 £3,085 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 - 1 November 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:

• Teaching Assistant - Crackley Hall School
• Estates Assistant - 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 four 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.

One of our measures for controlling the coronavirus spread is keeping classrooms and corridors well ventilated with windows open where possible.  As a result, the children might well find the school colder than they are used to, particularly as we head into autumn.  For that reason, we would encourage all children to have additional layers available in school. 

School fleeces,hoodies and tracksuit tops are ideal for the job whilst also looking smart.