The Courier

Dear Parents

We have enjoyed a busy week of work, sport and music at school with plenty of parent involvement, which is lovely to see returning after a long absence.

We have had our curriculum workshops this week with parents from Year 3, 5 and 6 attending, as well as Open Corridors and two performances of Eddie the Penguin from our Pre-Prep children. This, along with another bank of sports fixtures, both home and away, and our swimming gala on Monday, has made for a thoroughly excitingly week for the children on very many fronts.

The swimming gala perhaps deserves special mention as it encapsulated so much of what is special about our school. The children all happily took part, cheering on their teammates in a friendly but sporting way without any unhappiness or over-competitiveness. Very few actually asked me who had won at the end (I was the scorer), they were just happy to have taken part and enjoyed the day.

We are all enjoying the lovely sunny spring weather, which we celebrated in our assembly on Tuesday by thinking about the new life appearing all around us. With Spring Concerts and the Easter Service still to come, there is much to look forward to in the weeks ahead. Speaking of which, good luck to those children taking their music exams next week as well.

I hope you all enjoy a sunny weekend with your children and perhaps find an opportunity to go out into the countryside and look out for some of those signs of the changing seasons all around.

Best wishes

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

Below is the link for next week's school calendar.   Most Clubs have now finished for the term, please check the calender to see what clubs are running.

Weekly Calendar - 28 March 2022

Do check the calendar and SOCS for any updates and read the additional information under fixtures, it gives details of what children need to bring with them.

MySchoolPortal

Crescent School

Pre-Prep performed their spring production, Eddie The Penguin Saves The World, to a delighted audience of parents this week.

A lot of hard work had gone into the rehearsals, learning the songs, memorising lines, sorting out costumes, scenery and planning the production, and what a wonderful waddle of penguins it proved to be. Telling the story of Eddie the penguin, the changing world he lives in and his mission to save the planet, it showcased the talents, confidence and stage presence of Crescent School's youngest pupils.

After all the hard work, it was really fabulous to hear the children performing all those terrific songs, and all while learning about protecting the environment.

It was our biggest production yet and we hope you enjoyed the show!

Well done Pre-Prep, you were all amazing and really rose to the occasion, and you all looked lovely in your costumes.

Good luck to Evie, Grace C and Sam B who are competing at the Primary School Cross Country National Finals in Market Harborough this Saturday.

It is great to see all the children involved in so much co-curricular.

Next week is the final week for Lent Term co-curricular activities unless there are catch up sessions which you will have been informed about.

Trinity Term sign up options have been sent to parents with many new choices and the hope of some sunshine to enjoy time outside.  The sign up wondow closes on Sunday 27 March 2022.

In our staff INSET at the end of term I am looking at creating a long-term plan for co-curricular, so I can plan a range of activities for all year groups. 

I would like to remind parents that Crescent School, along with the other schools of the Princethorpe Foundation, aims to be a nut-free zone. Whilst we cannot guarantee that children won’t come into contact with nuts or products with nut traces whilst at school we endeavour to reduce this risk as far as we can.

The aim of this strategy is to reduce the risk to those children and adults who may suffer an anaphylactic reaction if exposed to nuts to which they are sensitive. The school aims to protect children who have allergies to nuts yet also help them, as they grow up, to take responsibility as to what foods they can eat and to be aware of where they may be put at risk.

Our 'Nut-Free Zone' means that the following items should not be brought into school:

• Packs of nuts
• Peanut butter/Nutella sandwiches(we have had a small number of these brought in recently)
• Fruit and cereal bars that contain nuts
• Chocolate bars or sweets that contain nuts
• Sesame seed rolls (children allergic to nuts may also have a severe reaction to sesame)
• Cakes made with nuts and marzipan

No nuts are used in any of the food prepared on site at our school.  Our suppliers provide us with nut-free products. However, we cannot guarantee freedom from nut traces.

It is worth noting that there are currently children in school with a known nut allergy.  Exposure to nuts for these children could result in serious consequences. I know that you, like me, would do anything reasonably possible to prevent this from happening.

We ask all parents to support us in this policy by providing nut-free mid-morning snacks and not using nuts in cakes provided for bake sales or fund-raising events.

Summer uniform is to be worn after the Easter break.  Below you can find the requirements:

Girls 

• Grey blazer 
• Green and white striped dress
• Green school cardigan
• White knee-high socks
• Green school sun hat/cap

Boys 

• Grey blazer 
• White short-sleeved shirt with collar and tie
• Green school pullover
• Grey short trousers or long grey trousers
• Grey knee length socks
• Green school sun hat/cap

Please order Summer Dresses and sun hats via the uniform form below by Friday 18 March 2022:

Order Form

Crescent School

Our new Scholastic Book Club is up and running! 

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

Any last minute orders should be placed today Friday 25 March 2022.

Mrs Webb
Assistant Head

Please arrive just five minutes before your workshop at the front door and you will be collected by a member of staff and escorted to the School Hall. Pupils will come and join the adults for the start of the session.

Cold refreshments will be available during the workshops and all materials will be provided. Adults just need to bring their thinking caps!

You will be free to leave when the session is complete. If your session is at the end of the day, you can take your child with you at that time.

We look forward to welcoming you and sharing our work on growth mindset.

Mrs Barnes
Director of Music

Thursday 31 March 2022 - 3.30pm to 4.00pm

Dear Year 3 and 4 Parents

We will be providing a Whitemoor Lakes 'drop-in' session next Thursday 31 March between 3.30pm and 4.00pm. The purpose of this is to address any queries, questions or concerns you might have about the upcoming trip, which takes place shortly after we return from the Easter holidays. 

Please note that we will not be providing information about groupings for sleeping, or groupings for activities at this time; the children will be given this information when we arrive at Whitemoor Lakes. 

We will gather together common questions after the session and send out some information to everyone with anything relevant that we think you would find useful. 

We will be in Room 3 (Year 4 classroom) from 3.30pm, so please come to the front door and you will be escorted down to the room.

Thursday 31 March 2022 - 4.30pm

We are extremely excited to be able to welcome back our past pupils for football/netball matches against the current Year 6 children.

Past Pupils: please arrive no earlier than 16:30. The entry point is through the side car park gate where you will be welcomed for refreshments in The Horton Centre. A changing area will be made available should you need it.  Current school PE kit to be worn.

Class 6W: For those who are staying in school you will be able to change into your games kit after last lesson. Once you have changed Mrs Robinson will supervise you in The Horton Centre.

All parents and siblings of a senior school age plan:

• Arrive at 1630 for refreshments in The Horton Centre
• 1645: tour of the school for past pupils and parents, while 6W get ready for the matches
• 1700: matches

Monday 4 April 2022 - 2.30pm to 3.30pm

We will be presenting our annual Spring Concert on Monday 4 April. It will feature Upper School children only, including the extra-curricular music groups and some soloists, and will start at 2.30pm.

Parents of Upper School children performing in this concert are able to book two tickets per child. The concert will be filmed for those who are unable to attend.

We look forward to you hearing the results of this term’s music hard work and effort!

Tuesday 10 May - 5.00pm to 7.00pm

Please share news of our Open Evening for prospective pupils.

Prospective pupils and their parents are warmly invited to Crescent School's Open Evening on Tuesday 10 May 2022 - 5.00pm to 7.00pm.

Come and find out why Crescent School has been judged Excellent in all areas by the ISI at our Open Evening on Tuesday 10 Mary 2022. This is a great opportunity for prospective families to get a feel for the school and to meet, Mr Thackway, Headmaster.

To book your place please click here. 

For more information or to talk to our Admissions Team, please contact our Registrar Mrs Helen Morley on 01788 523851 or by email admissions@crescentschool.co.uk.

Please note: 

We have had very high levels of interest in places for Reception and our Year 3 class for September 2022 entry at the Early Bird Application deadline stage. As a result, we have already allocated all of the available places in these year groups for September 2022. We are now operating waiting groups in these year groups for families who are still interested in a place, should a suitable one become available.

We are currently operating waiting groups in most other years apart from our current Reception and Year 1 classes (Year 1 and 2 for September 2022 entry) where we do have some places available as these year groups each have two classes.

We are already taking registrations for places in Reception and Year 3 starting in September 2023. It would be helpful for us to know as soon as possible if current Crescent families have a child who will be of Reception age in September 2023 and if you are likely to be interested in a place for them.

To find out more please click here.

Tuesday 5 April 2022

Our Easter Service will be held in the School Hall on Tuesday 5 April, including a telling of the Easter story by the Choir and Class 5F.  Prayers will be led by members of F.R.O.G.

Parents of children involved in the service are able to book two tickets to attend. We do hope you will join us for the most important festival in the Christian year.

Please enter via the front entrance from 2.15pm where refreshments will be served prior to the service. We will start promptly at 2.30pm and finish by 3.30pm so children can be collected at normal dismissal time.

There will be a retiring collection in aid of Bwengu Projects Malawi.

This week Katherine, Dorrit, Eva and Grace in 6W have been made Junior da Vinci students in English. Sachin in 6W is now a double Junior da Vinci student in English too.

Congratulations to you all.

Mrs Symons
Junior da Vinci Lead

This week's Accelerated Reader Superstars are:

Top Quizzers are:

• 3Y   Roisin
• 4M  Grace
• 5F   Esme
• 6W  Liana

Word Wizards are:

• 3Y  Lewis
• 4M Alex G
• 5F  Erin and Mya
• 6W Grace

It is almost time to find out which class will be awarded our coveted ‘Class Word Wizard’ and ‘Most Books Read’ Trophies ….It’s incredibly close so keep up the quizzing everyone!!

Garage and Gigs are the most important games to show your progress.

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

• Aryaan 3Y over 48%
• Akaal 3Y over 24%

Results for last week's class battle - well done 6W:

• 1st place - Class 6W with 8,528 points
• 2nd place - Class 3Y with 4,383 points
• 3rd place - Class 4M with 2,041 points

 Most valuable players in the whole competition:

• 1st Liana 6W
• 2nd Eva 6W
• 3rd Sophie 3Y

Last week's most improved speedsters in Studio are:

• 3Y - Sophie - Rockstar!
• 3Y - Barnaby - Breakthrough Artist!
• 4M - James - Rock Legend!
• 4M - Leela - Breakthrough Artist!
• 6W - Liana - Headliner!

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

Stay Calm and Rock On!!

Please click on the link below to read all about what the Reception classes have been learning this week. 

Reception Round Up - 25 Mar 2022 

It was another beautiful day for Forest School this morning and 1LS made the most of the weather. We had a slackline up for today's session and the children did an amazing job of balancing on it. They soon found out that it was easier to balance with their socks, rather than wellies, so we embraced the sunshine and the dry floor and balanced without them.

Two of the children created their own slackline using a long stick and two logs on the ground. They did well to get across this obstacle unaided. Some of the children used a rope and a stick to create a swing and took it in turns to swing back and forth under the large tree.

Muddy puddles were made again today and some children enjoyed getting their hands wet and muddy by making mud pies to share with all of their friends. We look forward to next week's session.

Class 1SS enjoyed handling Snazzy the snail as part of their topic of animals. 

Last Friday, 3Y and 4M travelled to the Leicester Curve Theatre to see Billionaire Boy. The show was great fun and really entertaining, from the actors, to the songs, to the brilliant set.

The children were spellbound, the time flew by, and we all agreed that the book was truly brought to life for us. The children were fantastic ambassadors for Crescent School while we were out, and they all wrote a theatre review over the weekend about what they had thought of the show.

A big 'thank you' to Mrs Dowling, Mrs Collie and Miss V for accompanying us.

Class 4M have been looking at the human impact upon local habitats and eco-systems. On Thursday, they planned and carried out habitat and litter surveys in a local park. The pupils collected information on different micro-habitats and the type of litter collected. They will use this to create posters to persuade people to protect and grow bio-diverse local habitats. 

This week in Afterschool we loved the sunshine! We have spent a lot of time outside on the playground and the field, finding flowers, making daisy chains, playing football, dressing up, having picnics – with pretend food as well a real picnic tea!

As it gets warmer in the spring and summer, we will continue to spend a lot of time outside in the sun.  

This term in Pen Pals, we have written letters to our friends in  Krotoszyn and learned a little bit about Polish culture. This week we decorated Easter eggs and made Pisanki. This is a Polish tradition to decorate eggs for Easter. Have a look at our lovely creations! 

For a two or three week period this year we will be focusing on one of the sayings in the 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.

From now until the end of term we will be looking at a very important idea from the Good Citizens section of the Promise:

‘We are honest and tell the truth’

Mr Webb
Assistant Head

On Thursday 17 March the U9 Girls netball team travelled to Stafford Prep School for the ISA Midlands tournament.  The weather was reasonable, fresh and sunny! We played seven different schools and all of the girls did a brilliant job.  

In our first game we played Twycross House in a tightly contested game, we passed the ball well but could not manage to score any goals. The second game was against Mylnhurst, we had most of the play and were pushing the ball in to our attacking third well but just could not get past tall defenders to score a goal. Our third game was against Tettenhall College, who were a well drilled team, who we managed to defend well and limit their chances. In our fourth match things really started to come together for us and we gelled as a team, moving in to space, passing accurately and we scored two fantastic goals one from Hattie and the other from Alice. In our games against Old Vic and Castle House we came across some very athletic, agile and tall boys who changed the dynamics of the game greatly and we needed to adapt the way we played. Our final game was against St Dominics and we played fantastically showing great determination and drive to win 2-0 with great goals from Alice. 

We did our own cheer leading song and dance to egg on us and it went like this... "you can shoot, you can shoot, 2 4 6 8 who do we appreciate .. not the king not the queen .. just the Crescent netball team". 

We had such a lovely day and played our very best, we finished in 6th place and we were all very proud. 

By Leela (4M)

Results 

• Twycross House - 2-0 Loss 
• Mlynhurst - 0-0 draw
• Tettenhall College - 2-0 Loss 
• Highclare - 2-0 Win 
• Old Vicarage - 2-0 Loss 
• Castle House 4-0 Loss 
• St Dominics 2-0 Win. 

Playing Stinger netball all girls had the opportunity to play in every position and build their understanding of the roles and responsibilities as well as how to score and officiate. The team worked really well together and were a pleasure to be with showing fantastic team spirit and Crescent School values. 

Mrs McCollin and Mrs Nelson

The Year 5 and 6 Girls took on Bablake King Henry's netball teams at home on Wednesday 23 March. The weather was glorious, we had lots of parental support and the girls put on a fabulous display of top quality fast paced netball.  

12-3 Loss - Player of the game: Katherine 

7-2 Loss - Player of the game: Liana 

On Monday 21 March Year 4, 5 and 6 had great fun at the first Crescent Swimming Gala in three years.  

In a mixture of speed races and fun events all pupils participated with great spirit cheering each other on from the side-lines. House captains did a great job of organising swimmers for their event and ensuring they were over to Mrs Webb and Ms Forth in plenty of time for the start of their race. 

A huge congratulations to all pupils involved with a special mention to Stephanie and Sam M who both beat long standing school records, Stepanie for 25m frontcrawl in a new time of 15.00 seconds taking a record that has stood since 1995 and Sam in 25m backcrawl a record that has stood since 2013.  

Final results 

• 1st Place - St George 
• 2nd Place - St Andrews 
• 3rd Place - St Davids 

Thank you to all of the staff who helped to make the event such a great success. 

Wednesday 6 April 2022

Another Joules Sale is being held at Crescent School. Tickets are now on sale to the general public. Please use the link below to book your 1 hour shopping session on Wednesday 6 April 2022.

TicketSource (or scan the QR code in the poster).

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

Men's, women's, children's and home merchandise are available at rock bottom prices. Racks are constantly replenished throughout the day. Ticket sales all go to Crescent Adventure. 

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

Mask wearing preferred.

Friends of Crescent

Our next Bag2school collection is on Thursday 28 April. Weather permitting, the playground will be open to drive your vehicle in and unload any clothing bags from 4.00pm to 5.00pm (3.00pm to 4.00pm on the front lawn) on Wednesday 27 April, the day before the collection.  Bags can be dropped on the morning of the 28 April from 7.30am.

The Easter holidays are a great time to have a good sort out!

We accept the following ‘good quality’ items for RE-USE*:

• Men’s, Ladies’ and Children’s clothing
• Paired shoes (tied together or elastic band around)
• Handbags
• Hats
• Bags
• Scarves and ties
• Jewellery
• Lingerie
• Socks
• Belts
• Soft toys
• Household linen
• Household curtains
• Household towels
• Household bedding (bed sheets, pillow cases and duvet covers)

* We reserve the right to refuse any unsuitable items

• Duvets and blankets
• Pillows and cushions
• Carpets, rugs and mats (including bath, shower and toilet mats)
• Soiled, painted, ripped or wet clothing
• School uniforms with and without logo
• Corporate clothing and workwear
• Textile off cuts, yarns or threaded material

Friends of Crescent

Below are the details of the FoC Year Group Representatives and group links. 

Please click below to view the lunch menu: 

Lunch Menu - 28 March 2022

Children are able to have either the Main or Vegetarian option.

Olive Catering Services Limited

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:

• Compliance Manager - The Princethorpe Foundation
• Lunchtime Supervisor - Crescent School
• SENDCo - Crescent School
• Nursery Manager - Little Crackers

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.

Parents are reminded that childcare vouchers and tax-free childcare can be used for costs for a child under their compulsory school age. Once a child reaches compulsory school age – on 31 December, 31 March or 31 August following their fifth birthday (whichever comes first) - these payments can only be used for before and after school care.

Eddie Tolcher
Foundation Bursar

Parents wishing to access their on-line billing account should visit: https://parent.princethorpe.co.uk/api/homepage/.

At the top of your screen you will see a menu that allows you to see your invoices and your statement.

To view your invoices please click 'School Fee Invoices'. This will provide you with a list of all invoices raised for all your children within the Foundation. 

To open an individual invoice, select the pdf icon from the download column and click to open. A box will appear on your screen, please click the box to view your invoice.

To view your statement please hover your curser over 'School Fee Invoices'.  A drop-down box will appear 'Statement of Account'. Please click on this. 

This screen will enable you to see the date, account code and current balance. A list of the transactions made during any given month will appear (any brought forward balance from previous terms will appear under this section).  To change the month you wish to view please click on the 'v' to the right hand side of the box containing month and year.

Eddie Tolcher
Foundation Bursar

It has been fantastic to see current and past pupils enjoying plenty of success in their Rugby & East Warwickshire Hockey Club (REWHC) matches.

After success in the Warwickshire County Tournament, Evie and Katherine from Year 6, and Amy, Hattie and Emme who are now in Year 7 at Princethorpe, helped their U12 Girls team have a super day at the Midlands Tournament. They played six games and only lost one and just missed qualifying in the top half of the draw by a single goal with all teams in the group finishing on five points.  It could not have been closer. They were disappointed, but they should be very proud of their performance against a universally strong calibre of sides.

Also, Old Crescentian, Isaac Nelson, who is now at Princethorpe, helped REWHC U12 Boys to a super win at the Warwickshire County Tournament and was then part of the the team that placed an amzing third in the Midlands Tournament, after losing out against a strong Repton side in the semi-finals.

Then the REWHC Boys U10s team won the Warwickshire County Tournament! They saw off Old Silhillians in the final 1-0 and now go on to play at the Midlands Tournament in April. Congratulations to Matthew, Charlie, Sam, Alex and Maximillion who all played brilliantly.

Finally, Ellie, Chloe, Ava, Bella and Sofie played for REWHC U10 Girls at their Warwickshire County Tournament. The girls’ team won two group games, drew the third and narrowly lost to Leamington. That was enough to take them to the semi-finals against Sutton. In a nail-biting game that went to extra time, Ellie scored a great strike, a golden goal, to put Rugby through to the final. 

There they faced Leamington again, and in the final Rugby pulled out all the stops and worked so hard. There was some great defensive work from Chloe, excellent goal keeping from Ava and attacking play from Bella and Sofie but in the end the game was a nil-all draw. So both teams now go through to the Midlands tournament as joint winners.

Well done to everyone we were delighted to hear of your success and a special mention to U10 Girls squad member Esme who has been training all year with the team but was unable to play in the County Tournament due to injury!

This all bodes well for Crescent! You know how we love our hockey.

Many thanks to the parents and staff for sharing this exciting news.

Annalise, Roisin and Finn celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with their Irish Dancing School last Saturday night. All three took part in an Irish Dancing display. 

Great photo Cappers!

In the beautiful spring sunshine after school Evelyn and Iris took a family walk around the garden, in search of all the different types of daffodils that the previous owners of our garden (many years ago) had planted - we found them under trees, in the hedges, surrounded by brambles, and in the grass, but not many in the flowerbeds - those cheeky flowers! 

We found so many different varieties and not all as yellow as you usually see - we found 'fried eggs', stripey ones, frilly ones, pointy ones, mini ones, even white daffodils, and wanted to share our beautiful flower photos for our friends to see!

Thank you to Evelyn and Iris' Mum for sending this in.

Crescent School