The Courier

Dear Parents

As I look out my window this Thursday afternoon, I see pouring rain, which is not quite what was forecast, and I hope will not affect too much the cricket match that is going on over at Bilton Grange. Hopefully it is just a brief wet interlude.

The sun certainly shone on our Pre-Prep sports day on Tuesday afternoon, with a large congregation of parents, uncles, aunties, grandmas and grandads out in force to watch the younger children race, jump, throw and generally have a good old sporting time. It was a narrowly fought contest between the three houses, but the most important thing was the spirit of the competitors and the support they showed for one another. With just the Reception sports day still to come, we are hoping for three out of three in terms of good weather and judging by the forecast we might just be okay.

There is lots of hard work going on here in school as I speak, much of it of it geared towards getting ready for next year and the rest getting things just right for the remaining two weeks. Reports are being written and checked, preparations are being made for the Leavers’ Service and Welcome Evening, as well as staff preparing for the children’s move-up day. I hope you will be keeping a close eye on this week's Courier for all of the dates and details.

On that theme, we work hard to make communication easily accessible and we are currently putting together a parent survey to find out what works for you. We want to know how we can best get the communication when you want it, where you want it, as we move forward towards another school year. I will say a little more about this at the Welcome Evening next week, but please look out in your inboxes for the survey before the end of term.

I have a drive up the motorway planned for Saturday morning this week to collect my daughter’s belongings after her second year of university, only to have to return them a week later as she moves into a new flat. The good news is she will be with us in the meantime, and it will certainly be nice to have her back home for the week. With my son’s GCSE exams now all done, there will be some end of term vibes at home, but not for me just yet.

Have a great weekend.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

Dear Parents

Following my previous message regarding the vacant position of Chair of the Friends of Crescent, I am delighted to announce today that Inez De Koning has kindly volunteered for the role and will take over from September of this year.

Inez has two children in the school, in Year 1 and Year 4, and is keen to get started in the role and get to know the rest of the team. Given that we are so close to the end of term, Inez has very sensibly decided to wait until the new school year starts before calling her first meeting. Please keep an eye out in the school calendar for all of the details for meetings and events planned for next term.

Inez will work alongside our existing committee members, Laura O’Connell and Donna Sheppard, who will continue to serve as Secretary and Treasurer, respectively. Each class also has two nominated representatives. All of the work that the FoC does is entirely voluntary, with the core purpose of providing memorable and fun activities for the children alongside some gentle fund raising for those extra treats in the classrooms and playground.  

My sincere thanks go to all of you, and to Nick Brosnan our outgoing Chair, for your continued support of this important part of school life and I hope you will join with me in wishing congratulations and the very best of luck to Inez in her new role.

Weekly Calendar

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

Calendar 27 June 22

After School

MySchoolPortal

Crescent School

Co-Curricular Clubs have finished for the term with the exception of the following.  These are paid for clubs that have been missed due to residentials/weather and are being made up this week:

Monday 27 June 2022

• Reception - Yoga
• Year 5-6 Archery

Tuesday 28 June 2022

• Pre-Prep Multisports
• Year 4 Gymnastics
• Reception Forest School

Wednesday 29 June 2022

• Year 3-4 Rounders and Cricket 

Thursday 30 June 2022

• Tae Kwon Do

Friday 1 July 2022

• Secret Agent Club

The new programme is being put together with some new additions - this will be released in August on SOCS.

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

Music Lessons 27 June 2022 

Our marvellous Reception children have been exploring the topic of ‘Growing and Changing’ and have studied the lifecycle of butterflies. Everyone enjoyed the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, had fun learning a super butterfly song and created beautiful butterfly life-cycle art.

The children also visited Stratford Butterfly Farm this week, seeing the most amazing butterflies first-hand and learning more about the life cycle stages of the butterfly.

Today everyone got to hold one of our class butterflies carefully in their hands before we released all our lovely butterflies into the flowers at the front of the school.

So much fun and such lovely learning. Well done Reception you are all now brilliant lepidopterists!

Today saw pupils' final meetings with their Learning Mentors for the academic year. Children proved that they have been working to achieve their targets by showing work in their books, sharing how their learning has been this year and how they have been working on their personal targets that they chose back in September. Please do ask them how their review meeting went.

We have been delighted with how this initiative has engaged the children from Year 1 to Year 6, now in its second year. We will be setting new targets come the Michaelmas Term and building on their progress throughout the year. The mentor meetings have proven to be a powerful way for children to realise where they are at in their attainment and how they can improve by taking ownership of their personal 'next steps'.

Ms Forth
Deputy Head

Crescent’s Year 6 were simply magnificent this week when they performed Shakespeare’s tragedy, the Scottish play, Macbeth. In their final end-of-school production they superbly portrayed the dark story of treachery and corruption. Their rendition which included a modern twist just wowed their parents and teachers.

On the big night pupils were nervous but excited to perform having really enjoyed their dress rehearsal in front of the school earlier in the week.

The children had worked incredibly hard with Drama teacher, Kim Thompson, and Director of Music, Julie Barnes, to prepare the special performance and the talented cast rose admirably to the challenge.

It was clear the audience really enjoyed the show, their thunderous applause a testament to yet another super example of the school’s broad provision for the arts.

Headmaster, Joe Thackway said, "Huge congratulations to all the cast for learning their lines so well and delivering them with meaning, expression and great timing, what a multi-talented group of young people they all are."

Many thanks to all the staff and parents who helped with the production and to our wonderful Year 5 Chorus who accompanied the show.

What a fantastic afternoon for our Pre-Prep Sports Day. The children really enjoyed sprinting, jumping and throwing their way through all the fun. Their challenges included running races, egg and spoon, javelin, the bean bag throw, the jump and of course as a finale the shuttle relay race. Each event enabled them to compete to earn points for their house and everyone tried their hardest to do their very best.

Head of Sport, Mrs McCollin, said, “What a great afternoon of sport. Our races and challenges allowed everyone to enjoy having a go in a supportive and encouraging environment. It was wonderful to see the children having so much fun.”

After all the points had been totted up the results were announced. In first place came Red House with 68 points, just behind were the Yellows with 65 points and in third place were Blue House with 56 points.

A huge well done to all the children and thank you to Princethorpe’s Lower Sixth, the KS1 and Sports staff, who organised the event for everyone.

Last Friday, the whole school enjoyed raising funds for our charity of the term, Birmingham Children's Hospital. The games on the field in the morning were great fun, especially the potato throwing and the children enjoyed receiving their winners' prizes this week in assembly on Tuesday, when they also learnt that the correct answer to 'Guess the name of the pig' was 'Oinky'!

William from the charity attended last Friday's assembly and told us all about the great work it does in supporting children and their families. He explained that they have a real focus currently on using VR to help children through difficult treatments; and that a single headset costs £3,500. So we are delighted to say that we have made a great start towards that total by having raised over £700! 

As it was forecast to be the hottest day of the year so far, we had our move-it laps of the field to first thing in morning and we saw leap frogs, cart wheels and plain old running as fast as you can around the track. All were rewarded by a visit from the Ice Cream courtesy of the FoC which was very much appreciated!

Please can all school books be returned to school by Monday 4 July, please check under beds, on bookcases and in bags as it does make a difference to our school stocks.

Thank you, it is a nice idea to use your local book shops and your library if you want a good choice of books to enjoy together over the holidays.

The final day for quizzing will be Monday 4 July, as we need a couple of days to analyse the data to help ensure progression and set up for the next academic year. Children cannot quiz in the holidays but please do not let this deter you from reading as reading for pleasure is very important and one of our English aims.

Please use your local book shops and your library if you want a good choice of books.

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 to 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 to 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 and note uniform requirements as per the table below:

All lessons will return to normal timetable for the afternoon.

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 

Friday 1 July 2022 - 9.00am to 3.30pm

This will be 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.

Crescent School would like to invite the parents and families of Class 6W to join us for the Leavers' Service of the Class of 2022 on Tuesday 6 July between 2.15pm and 3.45pm.

You are welcome to join us for light refreshments on the school field at 2.15pm, followed by a service in the school hall which involves the presentation of Leavers' Books and a book from the school.  Alongside this, Year 6 and Mrs Webb will share memories interspersed with musical interludes from this talented class.

Please indicate how many of your family will be joining us so we can cater accordingly.  There will be up to four tickets available per family:

Year 6 Leavers' Service 

We hope you will be able to join us.

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 

This week has been an exceptional week for becoming a full Junior da Vinci student.

• Eva and Sachin in 6W both become triple JDV students in Mathematics
• Kai in 6W becomes a double JDV student in Mathematics
• Faris and Drew in 6W, Harry in 5F, Matthew, Nora, MingYi, Aryann and Maya in 3W all receive theirs for Mathematics
• Charlotte in 6W, Chloe and Poppy in 5F receive theirs for English
• Everly and Nimeeta in 2W receive theirs for Art
• Faris and Stephanie in 6W and Evelyn in 2W receive theirs for Music
• Edward W in 3Y receives his for Geography
• Sofie, Sam B and Timi in 4M, Yash in 5F and Aryan, Eva, Katherine, Stephanie and Kai all receive theirs for PE
• Max in 1LS and Uma, Joshua and Elliott in 1SS, Zac, Matthew, Edward M and MingYi in 3Y, Albert, Shayla, Shiv and Remi in 4M, Mya, Tegan and Yash in 5F and James, Katherine, Sophie and Drew in 6W all receive theirs for Computing

Well done everyone!

Mrs Symons
Junior da Vinci Lead

This week's reading superstars are:

• Word Millionaire: Edward

• 500,000: Grace

This week's Accelerated Reader Superstars are:

Top Quizzers are:

• 3Y  Edward W
• 4M Hattie
• 5F  Libby
• 6W Stephanie

Word Wizards are:

• 3Y  Patrick 
• 4M Edward G-H
• 5F  Ava
• 6W Sophie

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

• Alfie
• Charlotte
• Hazel
• Jonny
• Lara
• Nishaan
• Rachael
• Seren

Well done to you all.

Congratulations to the following pupils for passing their music exams:

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

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

Grace M 5F completed 24% of the course.

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

• 1st place - Class 2W with 1263 points
• 2nd place - Class 3Y with   231 points
• 3rd place - Class 4M with   92 points

 Most valuable players in the whole competition:

• 1st Alfie 2W
• 2nd Theo Mc 2W
• 3rd Isabella 2W

Last week's most improved speedsters in Studio are: 

Stay Calm and Rock On!!

Class 4M have been learning about the digestive system and the function of the different organs. They had great fun making digestive system models this week to consolidate their learning.  

This week the children are studying measurement in Maths, and they attempted the ‘Soma Cube’ challenge. They created specified 3-D shapes using 2-D representations using connectable cubes and then combined these to create other 3-D shapes.  

They enjoyed using their mathematical reasoning to explore their ideas and improve using trial and error methods. Some pictures are attached here. Well done, 4M! 

Class 5F have been learning about the reproduction of plants. To understand the differences of the male and female parts in plants and the process of pollination they made play dough models. 

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

A fantastic day in the sun at Stafford for the ISA Rounders Tournament. 

The U11 team treated us to some fantastic consistent bowling from Stephanie and Liana and some awesome fielding from Eva who took some great catches out in the deep field. Evie was inside the boundry quickly reacting to any short balls taking a couple of good catches, Katherine, Ellie, Charlotte and Sophia all quickly threw the ball accurately in to 2nd or 4th post and Rosina at backstop.  

When batting our left handed batters kept our opponents on their toes hitting balls in all directions with Charlotte, Chloe and Bella capitalising on this to score full rounders. Eva also managed to make some great connections sending the fielding team running. 

We finished 5 overall out of 11 schools taking part. 

Scores:

• Tettenhall Loss 5 - 6  
• Birchfield -Win 6 - 5 1/2 
• Edenhurst Win 7 1/2- 4
• Dixie - Loss 5 1/2 - 11 1/2
• Kingsley Loss 6 1/2 - 9 

The U9s played a round robin tournament against six other schools on a gloriously sunny summer day at Stafford Grammar school. We started strongly with a win against Birchfield School, followed by two close losses to Stafford Prep and Tettenhall College (the eventual winners). A post lunch lull meant we gave away a few too many half rounders in our 5th match against Old Vicarage. However, the girls picked themselves up for our last match against Crackley and ended the day with a well-deserved draw. 

Crescent scored rounders in almost every match, and they improved as the day went on. Some great catches were taken and nearly all of the team scored at least half a rounder throughout the day. We ended the day with 1 win, 1 draw and 4 losses (some very close). Rounders were scored by both Roisin C and Maggie. Well done all, we had a lovely day.

In reply Warwick’s class and experience really started to show, constant wickets, consistent catching and on-the-stumps bowling making it very difficult for Crescent to score. Despite an excellent last wicket partnership from Caspar and Evie, Crescent only managed to post 200, meaning a loss of 71 runs.

Ellie and Chloe made a good combination, communicating well with Ellie finding the boundary to add on another 13 runs. Charlie and Finlay were next pair up, Charlie connected with the ball fantastically hitting the boundary a number of times and with quick thinking and solid communicating got some quick runs off mis-fielded balls, adding on 32 runs.  The final pair in were Charlotte and Katherine, well timed and level headed batting saw them make some excellent 4s adding on a total of 19 runs.  Taking the total to 77 with 5 wickets taken. 

Warwick stepped into bat and Sam opened the Crescent bowling taking a wicket with his 2nd ball. Charlotte took a catch in the 3rd over and Sam and Finlay closed the bowling taking 2 wickets in the final overs.  Some excellent fielding stopping a number of boundaries however Warwick boys were well rehearsed with their batting and played some excellent shots taking their total to 127 for 4. 

An excellent game of cricket. 

Fantastic bowling and fielding from Ava, reacting quickly and always on the move in the field. Stehanie worked hard in the deep to stop the 4s and Sophia's accuracy to wickets was fabulous.  

Final score Crescent 69  Warwick 89. 

A fabulous performance by all of the girls. After winning the toss they opted to field first with Maisie and Grace opening the bowling leading to a wicket for Grace. Emily and Shayla stepped up next with Emily having a maiden over. Sofie and Hattie stepped up next with Hattie taking another wicket from excellent bowling and the fielders worked hard to stop any boundary balls keeping the scoring low with 26 scored off 6 overs. Consistently good bowling from Alice, Roisin and Leela. Final score off 14 overs being 267 with 3 wickets taken. 

Shayla and Sofie opened the batting with some steady batting to score 1 run. Emily and Roisin started steady scoring 5 off their first over but then 15 in their 2nd. Hattie and Alice added a further 7 and Maisie and Grace 5, Leela and Maisie 12 then Sofie and Shayal headed in to add on 15 runs with Roisin and Emily going in for the final overs needing 2 runs to win.  With 4 runs scored in the first over it was looking good but then a wicket in the final over put the pressure back on but the girls kept their composure to add on another 4 runs with Crescent finishing on 269 with 2 wickets taken to take the win.  

A fantastic display of cricket.  Great work by all. 

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

Lunch Menu - 27 June 2022 

Crescent School

Please see below for useful school contact information:

Please find link below to view the term dates for 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24:

Term Dates 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24

The Foundation has the following vacancies:

• Marketing, Admissions & Communications Assistant - Princethorpe College
• Head of Nursery - Crackley Hall School
• Evening Caretaker - Princethorpe Foundation
• Weekend painter & Decorator - 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.