The Courier

Dear Parents

I do hope you all enjoyed your half term breaks. The children have returned fully refreshed and ready for their learning. Hopefully the two-week sojourn will have allowed them to recharge their batteries sufficiently to make the absolute most of the remainder of this term.

Of course, it is an important term as we head toward the winter and our usual Christmas festivities, including all of the normal plays, parties and concerts that this involves. Like us, you will have fingers firmly crossed that these can go ahead, and we are able to stay on top of COVID outbreaks in the meantime. Of course, we won't hesitate to make changes to arrangements if circumstances demand it.

Earlier today I shared with you the recently published ISI inspection report for our school. It covers all aspects of school life and is based on a rigorous framework that has been refined and adapted over many years that stands any comparison with OFSTED’s reporting of schools in the maintained sector.

As you can imagine, an enormous amount of hard work goes into preparing the school to be ‘inspection ready’ at any given time. It is a really important way for us to check that the education that we are providing is inspiring, progressive, relevant, and, of course, safe and accessible to all. This is truly a team effort. Every single member of staff here shares the same care and devotion to the education and wellbeing of the wonderful children entrusted to our care and I believe this sentiment shines through every word of the report.

The findings of the inspection are a cause for enormous pride both for me personally and for everyone here at the school. The educational quality section of the report is divided into sections on personal development and academic achievement, the two key benchmarks for any successful school. To be graded as excellent in both of these broad areas is a source of great satisfaction to us as professionals and I hope also of great reassurance to you as parents.

I do hope you can find the time to read the report in full.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

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

Weekly Calendar - 8 November 2021

• Reception Construction Club, Outdoor Learning and Yoga have switched to group 2
• No Senior Drama Club due to Theatre Trip

Co-Curricular sport

As you will no doubt have noticed, it is suddenly dark just after 4:30. To keep the children safe, we are going to finish outside sport co-curricular at 16:30 for the rest of this term, you are welcome to collect the children then or they will be looked after by the staff until 16:45 as normal.

Please check SOCS for all dates.

After School provision can be booked through My School Portal:

MySchoolPortal 

Crescent School

We celebrated Diwali this week in our whole school assembly. We learnt about the Hindu story of Rama and Sita and also the Sikh story of Guru Hargobind and how he saved the 52 princes. The children were all fascinated by the stories and enjoyed sharing and finding out about this important festival.

Happy Diwali to all of our Crescent families who have been celebrating this week.

• Aria
• Sofie
• Alex M
• Bella 

It has been lovely to welcome parents back into school this week for our regular Quiz With Your Child sessions. It is always a super opportunity for us to explain the benefits of the Accelerated Reader scheme and for Parents to engage with their child as they complete their end of book quiz.

The Crescent’s approach to literacy is supported by Renaissance’s Accelerated Reader system. Children in Years 3 to 6 take a quiz after reading each book that tests their understanding. Its approach promotes reading for pleasure whilst ensuring the children read appropriately challenging books. It also totals up the books and words read, and we find the competitive element has a positive impact on the children’s motivation to read.

If you weren’t able to join us this week then do watch out for the next session which will be advertised in the Courier in due course.

Today pupils had their first 'Learning Mentor Meetings' for this school year and they were very successful. Introduced last year, as part of last year's whole school target: 'To embed self-regulation to achieve high performance', the initiative supported and engaged the children in taking responsibility for their own learning. 

In this initial first meeting, pupils each met with a member of staff to discuss their work. They helped the children reflect on their books, feedback and comments and their last report targets, and encouraged them to choose and agree the academic targets they want to work on in school this year. At the end of the meeting, they recorded the targets on a postcard, to help remind pupils and to allow them to share their targets with you.

All pupils from Year 1 up to Year 6 took part and the staff did not tell pupils what targets to choose. The children were all excited by the opportunity and we hope it will once again motivate their learning as they strive to achieve their own set goals. We look forward to reviewing the targets with them over the coming year.

Thank you to everyone for participating so enthusiastically and to our Year 6s for their sterling organisation of the day.

Mr Thackway presented the LAMDA Certificates in his assembly this morning.  Well done again to all the children who took their LAMDA exams and achieved amazing results.

Crescent School

Every morning this week we have been collecting money for the 2021 poppy appeal. Year 6 children have been on duty, being good citizens, and selling the poppies to the rest of the school. The slap bands proved to be particularly popular and have now sold out. We are unable to obtain anymore as there’s quite a lot of demand for them across the town!  However, we have had some additional items delivered today and the Year 6s will continue to sell the poppies and poppy products next week.

Many thanks to everyone for their generous donations to this really important charity.

This weekend many of our Year 6 children are taking the Princethorpe College Entrance Exam. We know they are ready to show their best and are mor than readyf or the challenge. We have been working hard to build their confidence and self-belief that they all can do it, whilst consolidating all that they have learnt through their time at Crescent. 

We all wish them all good luck.

Books are always great to buy for Christmas. We are not holding a book fair this year, but we would really appreciate your support by buying from the Scholastic Book Club. The books can be delivered to school and we will let you know they have arrived so that you can collect them.

Our new Scholastic Book Club is up and running. Please click on the link below to browse the latest books and order online. For every £1 you spend on this month’s Book Club, our school will earn 20p in Scholastic Rewards.

https://schools.scholastic.co.uk/the-crescent/digital-book-club 

Please place your order online by 1 December 2021.

Mrs Webb
Assistant Head

In preparation for this year’s Christmas Art Day Class 1SS would love Egg Box Donations

If you have any of these items, please donate in the box outside the front door before Monday 29 November.

The following items are stocked in the School Office and can be added to your account:

• Winter hats
• Scarves
• Gloves
• Ties
• Swimming hats
• Sports socks
• Hair bands
• Hair scrunchies
• Hair clips
• Sun hats
• Music group badges - Choir, Orchestra, String, Brass and Wind

Please do contact admin@crescentschool.co.uk in if you need any of the above items.

Crescent School Office

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 is a new venue and an opportunity 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 welcome to join you, but we would appreciate just one adult and mask wearing is preferable in the building.

Friday 12 November - 5.00pm

All Old Crescentians, including former pupils and staff, are invited to join us for a short tour of the newly refurbished Horton Centre on Friday 12 November at 5.00pm.

What was once the Reception classroom and then an independent Nursey has now been returned to the school, linked to the main school building, and received a fantastic full makeover.

On the evening visitors will be able to see the new facilities for Music and Drama as well as what is now the Year 2 classroom and to see the other improvements and updates that have taken place in recent years at the school.

Light refreshments will be available, and we look to catching up with you all.

To register for the event please visit: https://connect.princethorpe.co.uk/event/old-crescentians-tour-of-the-horton-centre

Monday 6 December 2021 - 9.00am to 12.00pm

The revised date for the Flu vaccinations will take place in school, for all years, on Monday 6 December 2021.  

The immunisation team have been able to download the consent forms you recently completed so no further action is necessary.  

Crescent School

Congratulations to Alex T for reading 1,000,000 words.  

Well done.

This week's Accelerated Reader Superstars are:

Top Quizzers are:

• 3Y   Edward M
• 4M  Maisie
• 5F   Lara
• 6W  Caspar

Word Wizards are:

• 3Y  Patrick
• 4M Sam O
• 5F  Charlie
• 6W Harriet

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

• Hermione
• Katie
• Nimeeta
• Taran

Well done to you all.

Results for Half Term's all class battle:

• 1st place - Class 3Y with 9,196 points
• 2nd place - Class 5F with 6,639 points
• 3rd place - Class 6W with 1,874 points

Most valuable players in the whole competition:

• 1st Bryson 5F
• 2nd Lewis 3Y
• 3rd Shaylan 3Y

Last week most improved speedsters are:

• 3Y Barnaby - Wannabe
• 3Y Edward M - Busker

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

• 4M Alex T - 48%

See the poster attached to see what your next level and speed needs to be. New Class battle 4 November - 11 November 2021.

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

Stay Calm and Rock On!!

Reception have been busy this week exploring the festival Diwali. As part of their topic on ‘Festivals Of Light’, the children created these divine Diva Lamps and how brilliantly they shone in our classrooms, reminding us all of the power of light over darkness. Well done Reception; what fantastic work!

Reception say Happy Diwali to everyone in the wider Crescent community, we hope you enjoy your celebrations.

Taran presented how his family celebrate Divali to his Class 2W classmates this week.  They loved seeing his divas and floor Rangoli patterns.  We hope your family enjoyed all of the celebrations Taran.

Following on from their science topic about light, Year 3 have designed and created card mock-ups of pairs of fun sunglasses. Their challenge included making templates of their own designs, joining frames and temples, inserting lenses and finishing.

Who would have thought that investigations also happen in English?

We are studying poetry on a theme which is related to Black Lives Matter. Within studying and reflecting on the poems one investigation was to see what we could fit in to match the rhyme, rhythm, syllables and sense of the poem; another challenge was a poem which was written with the words merging into each other and the children had to work out the words. 

It is always good to hear that the children don't want it to be the end of the lesson!

In our Geography lessons this week for Year 5 and Year 6, we have been learning about the COP26 conference that is taking place this week in Glasgow. The children have been thinking about the challenges of climate change and global warming and as part of the lessons were put into teams to come up with solutions to some of the most pressing problems facing us today.

The children showed great enthusiasm as well as empathy for the subject, one which is is very likely to dominate the news in the coming years and into their adulthood.

In two weeks' time we will be hearing from our Green Team club, who will be talking to us about 'switch off fortnight', a subject that will fit in very well to this week's learning.

Yash is a keen badminton player and has been training hard since Covid restrictions were lifted.

He was selected to represent Warwickshire Schools' Badminton Association in U12 Inter County Doubles Tournament at Leicester before half term. It was the first time he represented the County, along with his badminton partner, and he was very proud to be chosen. He enjoyed the tournament which consisted of multiple games and is looking forward to many more. 

Well done Yash.

Crescent School

Sophie, Matthew, Maximillion and Lewis represented Rugby and East Warwickshire Hockey Club at an U8 hockey tournament on Sunday in Northampton. They all did brilliantly, playing on through the stormy weather. Rugby played Rugby in the final, with Rugby winning!!

Well done 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’

Next week, all pupils in Years 1 to 6 will be taking part in the fantastic Brebras Computing Challenge! This global competition, with children taking part from over 50 different countries, is a great way to give learners of all age groups a taste of the principles behind computational thinking and logic by engaging them in fun problem - solving activities and puzzles. I have attached an example puzzle in the photos.

This week in school we have had a practice go, looking at a few different challenges from previous years, and next week we will be having a go at the challenge for real! If you would like any further information about this, or would like to have a go at any of the challenges yourself, please visit Welcome - UK Bebras and check out the challenges section.

Huge congratulations to all our swimmers who represented us so well at the ISA Midlands Regional Swimming Championships yesterday.

Crescent School did really well finishing in third place overall. A full write up will be shared in the next edition of the Courier.

Saturday 13 November 2021

A Joules Seconds Sale is being held at Crescent School.  Tickets are now on sale to the general public. Please use the link below to book a one 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 will be available.

Friends of Crescent

Friday 19 November 2021 - 4pm

The movie will be Dogtanian And The Three Muskehounds, a universal certificated movie. Runtime is 1 hour 24 minutes and the movie will be paused halfway through for a 10 minute toilet break. 

Reception Children will be released by their teacher at the usual time and will be invited to join the movie via the main entrance. Older age groups and after school club children will be taken to the hall by their teacher. Please note, all Reception children must be accompanied by a parent/carer for the entire film.

Parents of children in Years 1 to 6 to collect children from the pupil entrance at 5:30pm.

The cost is £3 for Reception children (as a parent will be in attendance) and £5 for all other years. A snack and drink will be provided.

If you would like your child to attend please click on the link below:

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

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.

Thank you to all of the parents who have donated uniform to pre loved over the last 12 months. We have helped so many parents with topping up their uniform, having spares and replacing lost items. We have also raised a wonderful £670 which will be used towards events hosted by the FoC for the children.

The Preloved clothing is ongoing, and promotes a wonderful recycling nature when uniform is used again and again.

All items of Crescent logo uniform are welcomed apart from grey trousers, grey shorts and white school shirts.

Please can all parents have a look at home and dig deep to see if they have any unused uniform lying around that could be donated. All of the clothes can be left in the box at reception with a label saying 'Vicky Morley' or 'pre-loved donation'.

Thank you again and please keep donating!

Thank you to everyone who came to the quiz. Ms Forth did a fantastic job as host and we raised £370 for the Crescent Adventure.

Rest assured your children’s education is in safe hands as the teachers' table won!

Can you help?

We are getting ready for the Christmas Bazaar coming up later this term. This will include lots of fun games and activities for the children and we are now asking for donations for the raffle and tombola. Below are some suggestions of what we can use for the hampers for the raffle and small gifts ideas for the children’s tombola.

Raffle:
Wine
Chocolates
Board games
New DVDs
Craft kits

Tombola, small children’s items such as:
Pens
Games
Mini Lego sets
Toys
Craft items
Sweets etc

Any donations will be gratefully received and please could we ask that you drop these items at the FOC table between 15 - 19 November.

Further details of the Christmas Bazaar will be sent in the coming weeks.

Thank you from the FoC.

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. 

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 Brosnan
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 - 8 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:

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.  

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.