The Courier

Dear Parents

I hope you had an enjoyable half term break and that you weren't caught up in any of the horrible travel delays that we all read about in the news. I enjoyed a nice quiet week at home apart from a three-day trip up to Edinburgh for a wedding and bit of sightseeing. It is always nice to get away and surprising just how quickly it fades into the distance as soon as you are back in work.

We had a wonderful Upper School Sports Day earlier in the week over at Princethorpe College. The children behaved themselves impeccably, supported each other, sympathised with losers and celebrated winners, just as we would hope they would. There were lots of parents there as well enjoying the occasion, many of you attending for the first time in three years. It is the turn of Year 1 and 2 for their Sports Day here at school on 21 June, with Reception on 27 June, and let's hope for similar weather for both of those when they come round.

With lots of other sports and musical events coming up in the near future, please keep a close eye on the Courier and your calendars to make sure you don't miss anything.

One important day to flag up is the Welcome Evening on Thursday 30 June, to which all parents whose children will be attending the school in September 2022 are warmly invited. In preparation for this, I have sent out a letter today that will arrive separately in your inbox, detailing some staffing changes for next year that I am sure will be of interest to you.

I hope you will have a relaxing weekend.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

Weekly Calendar

Please click on the link below for next week's calendar. 

Calendar 13 June 22

Orchestra is cancelled this week due to the Music Exams.

MySchoolPortal

Crescent School

Please click on the link below to view the Music Lesson timetable, parents of children having lessons will be emailed the password:

Music Lesson 13 June 2022 

Crescent School’s Key Stage 2 Sports Day took place on Tuesday 7 June on Princethorpe College’s beautiful playing fields. Despite the dire forecasts the weather held, and the sun shone brightly on us all. Sports Day is always an exciting affair for the school and race after race, event after event our young athletes didn’t disappoint, as they leapt, threw and sprinted to make this year’s Sports Day a record-breaking success.

Years 3 and 4 and Years 5 and 6 competed separately in sprints, a middle distance 600m run, the Long Jump, High Jump, a Throwing Challenge and the House Relay Race. All the events were hotly contested and as always there were some smashing new school records.

They included:

• Years 3 and 4 Boys 600m - Sam Bierton - 2.21.51 minutes
• Years 5 and 6 Girls 600m - Evie Bierton - 2.14.68 minutes
• Years 5 and 6 Boys 600m - Aryan Satsangi - 2.15.93 minutes
• Years 5 and 6 Girls Long Jump - Eva Birkinshaw - 3.52 metres

At Crescent, Sports Day isn’t just about the competition, it is all about the participation. On the day every child took part and, most importantly, every child had fun. As is always the case the children’s behaviour was impeccable, they offered support and encouragement to each other and congratulated and commiserated with good heart.

At the end of a very busy morning, Mr Thackway was delighted to announce the House results and to present the trophies.

• Years 3 and 4 Overall - St Andrew’s House
• Years 5 and 6 Overall - St George's House
• Key Stage 2 Overall – St David’s House

A big thank you to all of the staff involved in organising and running the event, both from the Crescent and from the Princethorpe Foundation.

We hope you all enjoy the photos.

The Crescent School has enjoyed a special day of celebrations for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The off-timetable event saw the whole school take part in a raft of educational, fun activities in honour of the Queen’s 70-year reign.

Staff and children came to school in red, white and blue and the day began with a special assembly reflecting on the special role of the Queen and her 70 years of bringing people together. It included a jubilant rendition of Our Queen, the Platinum Jubilee song for schools.

During the day, every year group learned about the history of the Queen and the amazing British institution of the Royals. The jubilee theme weaved its way through the children’s lessons. There were jubilee maths mysteries, royal biographies, orb and sceptre art, celebration cards, fingerprint flags, royal programming challenges, Spanish paper chains, jubilee royal stamps, royal music, crown biscuits, tube soldiers, spoon queens, crowns and even scones baked for the Queen’s high tea.

At lunchtime, pupils enjoyed a special ‘fish and chips’ Friday picnic on the fields in glorious sunshine, rounded off with a special celebratory cake.

History lead, Mrs Yates, commented, “All involved have had a memorable day. It was wonderful to see the whole community coming together to mark the Platinum Jubilee and to see the children enjoying learning about the Queen’s reign.”

Every child was also presented with a commemorative badge and Platinum Jubilee coin (part funded by the Friends of Crescent) to take home.

We offer our congratulations to Her Majesty and say well done to everyone for participating so enthusiastically today.

Just a quick reminder that children who would like to be considered as a House Captain will need to apply to their relevant House Teacher with a brief letter to say why they are interested in the role by the 17 June 2022:

• Mrs Pullen for St Andrew
• Mrs Forth for St George
• Mrs Johnson for St David

The children have been given a job description and they can give a brief talk to their House on 20 June explaining why they will be a good captain. We are intending for the House Captains to be announced before 27 June 2022.

Attached in this photo is a list of the secondary school Open Evenings taking place this year.  

Today, Friday 10 June, you will be able to access your child's Report on 'My School Portal'. 

Staff have spent much time gathering evidence and writing these reports to keep you informed of your child's progress, achievements and wellbeing in school.

We do hope you enjoy reading them and sharing comments.

Monday 13 June - 5.00pm to 7.15pm or Tuesday 14 June 1.00pm to 5.00pm

This is a chance to review your son or daughter's attainment up to this point and have a realistic discussion regarding plans for secondary school destinations and the process you now need to enter. These are for Year 5 parents with Ms Forth as Form Tutor supported by Mrs Webb as Head of Year 6 Transition.

The 15 minute meetings will be run on Teams and you will have been sent a link when you booked the appointment.

We look forward to meeting with you next week. 

Ms Forth
Deputy Head/5F Form Tutor

Monday 13 June - 2.30pm to 3.15pm

All the musicians in the Upper School - and there are many of them - have been working hard preparing for our Summer Concert.

Choir, Orchestra, Brass Group, Flute Group, Wacky Music, 3Y Recorders and soloists will perform for your delectation and delight. Doors open at 2.15pm with refreshments in the Library.

Do come and support all the hard work that has been going on this term. Book your tickets here:

Upper School Summer Concert

Tuesday 14 June - 9.15am to 10.00am

Pre-Prep are starring in their very own Summer Concert on Tuesday 14 June. All classes in the PrePrep, Mini Brass and some soloists will be very excited to show you what they have been learning in Music. 

Refreshments will be served in the Library from 8.45am.  Book your tickets here:

Pre-Prep Summer Concert

On Friday 17 June, a member of the fundraising team from Birmingham Children's Hospital will be visiting to deliver an assembly. Children will be involved in the 'Move It' initiative to raise funds for the hospital.

This is a non-uniform day for the whole school and children should come to school dressed in sportswear of their choice and will take part in a range of 'move it' activities during the afternoon. This will include as a class, running 90 laps of the field to recognise the 90,000 poorly children who are helped by the hospital each year.

Please bring a £1 donation for wearing your sports kit and a number of games will be available on the gate for 50p per game. 

Tuesday 21 June 2022 - 2.00pm to 3.30pm

We are all very much looking forward to our Sports Day for Years 1 and 2 on Tuesday 21 June. This is being held within the school day so normal drop off and collection times from school apply.

Please note that all pupils are to wear PE kit to school, blazers are not required but tracksuit tops or hoodies are to be worn. Please ensure that your child(ren) comes to school with the following:

• sun cream
• a school sunhat (these can be purchased from the school office)
• a refillable drinks bottle of water (snacks will be provided)

Sports days are always very much anticipated by the children and really enjoyable for all involved.

Parents are invited to come and support, please book your tickets via the link below:

Year 1 and 2 Sports Day

Wednesday 22 June 2022 - 9.00am to 12.30pm

As part of our Growing and Changing topic we will be visiting Stratford Butterfly Farm and seeing first hand the wonderful life cycle stages of the butterfly.

Summer uniform with blazers and Crescent sun hats to be worn (sun cream to be applied before school).  Please send in a pocket sized drink and snack. No spending money is required.

Children will have lunch upon return to school.

Thursday 23 June 2022 - 7.00pm to 8.30pm

Year 6 children are very proud to be presenting the Scottish play Macbeth. They have been working very hard on this production with Miss Thompson and Mrs Barnes all term and it will be a wonderful way to round off their time at Crescent School.

Year 6 parents are welcome to book four tickets to see this production and we invite families to join us for light refreshments beforehand. 

Year 5 children have been invited to accompany the choral part of this production, there will be one ticket available for each child's family if you wish to watch it.

Tickets can be booked below:

Macbeth Tickets 

Further details concerning timings will be shared in the coming weeks.

Mrs Webb, Miss Thompson, Mrs Barnes

Monday 27 June 2022 - 2.15pm to 3.15pm

We are all very much looking forward to our Sports Day for Reception on Friday 27 June. This is being held within the school day so normal drop off and collection times from school apply.

Please note that all pupils are to wear PE kit to school, blazers are not required but tracksuit tops or hoodies are to be worn. Please ensure that your child(ren) comes to school with the following:

• sun cream 
• a school sunhat (these can be purchased from the school office)
• a refillable drinks bottle of water (snacks will be provided)

Sports days are always very much anticipated by the children and really enjoyable for all involved.

Parents are invited to come and support, please book your tickets via the link below: 

Reception Sports Day

Monday 27 June - Friday 1 July 2022

Dear 6W Parents

I am sorry to say that we are approaching the final weeks of your child’s time at Crescent School. This is a time to reflect on how far they have come, celebrate all their achievements and look forward to the next stage of their education.

As part of 6W looking forward and preparing them for the next step, I have prepared a Community Week, a time to learn some life skills, a time to be a good citizen, time to contribute to the lives of others and to make lasting memories.

This week will be running 27 June - 1 July. Please take a look at our plan outlining the activities and any requirements (this is subject to change). All trips are risk assessed and we do our best to ensure the happiness and safety of your children.

At this point I must say thank you to the kind person who donated money so we can take the class out on a treat - they chose laser tag.

We will let you know about the details for the Leavers Service in the coming weeks, but please save the date in your diaries.

Wednesday 29 June 2022

All classes will be spending the morning with their new teachers and will have opportunities to share their hopes and fears for the year ahead and do some bonding activities with their new form teacher.

The children just need to come to school as normal that day, new Year 3 and 4 (present Years 2 and 3) will need clothes for outdoor learning that day; new Year 6 and 7 (present Year 5 and 6) will need to come in their sports kit for afternoon games lessons.

This is also the day when our Year 6 children who are moving to Princethorpe College will have their induction day. I know that Princethorpe have a number of exciting things planned to help them feel at home there. Our present Year 6 children who are not going to Princethorpe that day are expected in school and will be our honorary Year 7s for the day.

Thursday 30 June 2022 - 7.00pm to 8.30pm

We are looking forward to seeing many Parents at our Welcome Evening on Thursday 30 June at 7.00pm.

You will have opportunity to meet new staff, hear from Mr Thackway about the highlights of the year gone by and our plans for 2022-23. You will also meet your child's new form teacher who will run through with you a series of key points and information to prepare you for the start of the Michaelmas term. Light refreshments will be available. This evening is for parents only.

Please can you indicate if you are able to attend via the link below:

Welcome Evening Tickets

Crescent School

Thursday 30 June - 3.15pm to 3.45pm

Our ‘Open Book’ afternoon is on Thursday 30 June for Years 1-5.  This is a chance for you to share all of your child’s books with them at their desk and see what they have enjoyed this year in the classrooms. The front door will be open at 3.00pm and you will be told which classroom your child will be in at that time of the day. Due to space we can only accommodate one adult per child.

Please note this is not a Parent Teacher consultation, but a lovely opportunity for you and your child to share their work.

You will be able to take many, but not all of the books home afterwards. If you have more than one child, please split the time between the classrooms, taking the first child with you to the next! 

I do hope you can join us, please let us know by Tuesday 28 June via the link below.

Open Book Afternoon Tickets 

Dear Year 5 Parents

As you will no doubt be aware, the local authority 11+ exams for entry into Year 7 in 2023 are scheduled to take place in September 2022, most likely on the weekend of 10 and 11 September. Registration for the exam is now open with the deadline for applications on 30 June 2022.

You can register for the exam online by following the link below:

https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/grammar-schools-11-test/register-11-test/1

With this in mind, we would like to invite this year’s Year 5 children in for two days of Pre-Season Brain Training Sessions on Wednesday 31 August and Thursday 1 September 2022. These will run from 9.00am until 12.45pm each day.

The children will spend each morning with their familiar Crescent teachers, including Ms Forth, Mrs Webb and Mr Adkins, getting them back into gear and ready for their exams. Each day there will be taught sessions focusing on the four strands of the 11+; verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, Maths and English comprehension. Needless to say, these skills will also be useful for their Princethorpe exams on 5 November, as well as any other independent school exams they may be entered for.

Children will be expected to arrive in school smartly dressed with a mid-morning snack. They do not need to wear school uniform.

These sessions will be in addition to the revision packs that we send home at the end of the Summer Term. I am pleased to say that there will be no charge for attendance.

Please indicate if you would like to sign up by following this link by Friday 1 July 2022.

Brain Training

Best wishes 

Friday 1 July 2022 - 9.00am to 3.30pm

A full day outing to the zoo to see all of the animals in their enclosures that includes a Wildlife Heroes workshop for Year 1 and Habitats and Adaptations workshop for Year 2

Summer uniform with blazers and Crescent sun hats to be worn (sun cream to be applied before school). Please send in a pocket sized drink and snacks. No spending money is required.

Children will have a school supplied packed lunch.

The following children have achieved full Junior da Vinci student status this week.

• Zahra, Annalise, Chloe and Ellie in 5F for Mathematics
• Samuel in 3Y also receives his in Mathematics
• Alfie and Amber in 2W receive theirs for Art

Congratulations to you all on your hard work.

Mrs Symons
Junior da Vinci Lead

This week's reading superstars are:

• Word Millionaire: Rosina

• Double Millionaire: Yash 

This week's Accelerated Reader Superstars are:

Top Quizzers are:

• 3Y  Lewis
• 4M Grace
• 5F  Esme
• 6W Rosina

Word Wizards are:

• 3Y  Nora
• 4M Alex G
• 5F  Ellie
• 6W Dorrit

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.

The following children have shown pride in the presentation of all of their learning tasks and have been awarded a Pen Licence and their first handwriting pen:

• Akaal
• Sophia

Well done!

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:

• Edward G-H 4M 24% completed
• Alfie 2W 24% completed
• Theo Mc 2W 24% completed
• Tomisin 2W 48% completed

Results for last week's battle - well done 2W:

• 1st place - Class 2W with 1,465 points
• 2nd place - Class 3Y with    320 points
• 3rd place - Class 4M with    146 points

 Most valuable players in the whole competition:

• 1st James 4M
• 2nd Tegan 5F
• 3rd Isabella 2W

Last week's most improved speedsters in Studio are: 

Stay Calm and Rock On!!

This week we have been using uniform non-standard units to measure the weight of objects in our classroom. The children also learnt how to complete block graphs in presenting their data accurately.

A good week of thinking, estimating, and investigating!

We are learning about Queen and her reign during our history lessons this term. Years 3 - 5 have been able to use their historical skills when considering newspapers from previous jubilees. There was much discussion about the similarities between the events across the last 20 years. It's fair to say all the children were able to appreciate much that has changed but also, much that has remained the same. 

Now we have arrived back from our time away, it is time to reflect on how far the children have come; that is not only in distance from Devon and also time (five night's away) but in most importantly through personal achievements:

Staying away from home, holding crabs, walking over five miles some days, sharing rooms, trying new foods, making packups, learning to skim stones, building dens, making new friends within the class...and these are just a few of their achievements.

We did have tears and of course plenty of emotional support but more than anything we had laughs. They all made me proud with their resilience, their support for each other and their grit. They will have hopefully shared with you their special memories that will stay with them forever.

Part of our routine in Slapton is for the children to keep their rooms tidy, they are inspected daily on this and given a score. The children like to do well and often amaze their parents on how well they do with clothes away, towels hung up, beds made and no rubbish lurking under the beds. Our winners this year were Charlotte, Chloe and Evie, it was a tightly fought competition so my congratulations go to all the children.

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 keep our school tidy and take pride in our clothes and our uniform."

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

Mr Adkins & Mrs Dowling

Please click below to view the lunch menu for next week, children are able to have either the Main or Vegetarian option. 

Lunch Menu 13 June 2022 

Crescent School

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:

• Learning Support Assistant - Crackley Hall School
• Library Assistant - Princethorpe College
• Estates Assistant - Princethorpe College
• Evening Caretaker - The Princethorpe Foundation
• Nursery Practitioner - Little Crackers at Crackley Hall School
• Weekend Painter And Decorator - The Princethorpe Foundation

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.

Bryson has been selected again for Team GB 2022. He was selected to represent England in the Streetdance European championships next month in the U12 category in hip hop and also in electric boogie.

He is very proud of his achievement, however, he has made the decision not to travel to compete in the championships. He is hoping to compete in the World Championships later this year.

Akaal's team the U8 Rugby Borough Tigers played in the Hillmorton FC tournament on Saturday. They finished top of their table, undefeated, which led them to their final and they won.

Well done Akaal.