The Courier

Dear Parents

The end of the summer holidays are here and we are now all looking forward to the return to school on Monday morning. Over the last four days here at school the teachers and staff have been involved in various different training activities preparing us for the return of the children. The school is looking really smart and ready for the term ahead, with the added bonus of important redecorations to the changing areas and corridors to brighten up the experience for everybody.

I hope that you and your children are looking forward to the return, although I know there will be butterflies in some tummies over the weekend as well. This might be particularly true of those children coming to Crescent for the first time next week, and all I would say is that we will look after you, you'll have a great time and don't worry too much about being worried; it's completely normal.

On the first day, please bring your children to the pupil entrance by the field at the normal time, between 8.15am and 8.40am. Children who are new to the school will be met and shown the way to the playground where they can meet up with their new classmates.

For parents who are bringing their children into Reception for the first time, you are welcome to come through the school into the foyer outside the Reception class to say your final goodbyes for the day. We would advise, if possible, not to come into the classroom itself but to use the doorway as the cut-off point. Hopefully there won't be tears, but on the odd occasion when we do get them the children quickly recover and adapt to their new day in school.

One of the few things that the British weather guarantees is sunshine on the return to school in September, normally following a grey and wet August. This looks entirely likely to happen on Monday which will make for a lovely bright start to the term. I do look forward to seeing you and your children and hope that in the meantime you all enjoy a restful weekend.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

Please ensure that you wait with your child(ren) at drop off until the school's opening at 8.15am. It is only at this time that school becomes responsible for all children's safe care. Before this time it is a parental duty.

Please note, however, that all children can be brought by their parents, to the front door, at any time from 7.45am to 8.15am where they will be welcomed and looked after by our Early Bird staff as appropriate for their age. This does not need to be booked in advance but a charge will apply.

All children should be in school by 8.40am which is when the bell rings for the start of the school day.

Also, please let the school office and/or your child's form teacher know if someone else will be collecting your child at the end of the day. We cannot release pupils without this information.

Summer uniform is to be worn for the first half of this term.  

Please note the following dismisal information at the end of the day:

• Reception - will be dismissed through the After School gate next to the car park.  Please wait there and Mrs Noyce will let you though at 3.30pm.

• Classes 1Q, 2E and 2W will be dismissed through the bottom door on the field at 3.45pm

• Classes 3LS, 3SS and 4C will be dismissed through the pupil entrance side door at 3.45pm

• Classes 5F and 6W will be dismissed through the main school entrance at 3.45pm

After School Collection

Please go to the Afterschool gate near the car park and press the buzzer where staff will approve entry and release the gate.  Please ensure this closes after you enter and leave.  

Crescent School

Crescent School, along with the other schools of the Princethorpe Foundation, is a Nut Aware School. Whilst we cannot guarantee that children won’t come into contact with nuts or products with nut traces, we endeavour to reduce this risk as far as we can.

The aim of this strategy is to reduce the risk to those who may suffer an anaphylactic reaction if exposed to nuts to which they are sensitive. There are currently children in school with a known nut allergy. Exposure to nuts for these children could result in serious consequences.

Our 'Nut-Aware’ approach, means that any food items with nuts listed as an ingredient should not be brought into school. This includes the following:

• Packs of nuts
• Peanut butter/Nutella sandwiches
• 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.

In line with many, if not all, primary aged schools, dogs are not allowed on the main school site. If you come to school with a dog please keep it on a lead and avoid coming onto the main site beyond the drop off gate (the one next to the parents’ noticeboard) and the Afterschool gate.

With thanks for your understanding and support on this important health and safety matter.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

MySchoolPortal

Crescent School

Over the summer holidays we received news from Bwengu Projects Malawi on how the money raised by Crescent School was being spent.

Last school year, Year 4 chose to fund raise for the much-needed refurbishment of Namatubi School in Chitipa, in the most northern part of Malawi. The project included eight classrooms used by 857 5 to 14-year-olds. The Year 4 children worked incredibly hard organising lots of events and smashed their fundraising target raising a huge total of £2,011.

Work on the eight classrooms was well underway with the outside walls, drains and steps finished and windows and doors installed. The charity shared these photos of the work taking place. 

As well as repairing the classrooms, the £2,011 raised by the children will also be funding the purchase of benches that will allow 250 children to sit in their classrooms for the very first time.

A really big thank to everyone who supported Year 4’s incredible fundraising efforts this year.

Accelerated Reader has had a bit of a face lift over the summer. We will be sending home the new Home Connect letter next week, so that you as a parent can be informed of your child's quizzing. Please note this is a different URL to previous years, so any links will need to be updated.

We are looking forward to the children in Years 4, 5 and 6 coming in and telling us about the books that they have been reading over the summer. Remember, we like the children to only quiz on one book from the holiday as reading is not a competition or a memory test - the most important thing is that the children have enjoyed reading. 

Year 6 will have also read War Horse over the summer as a set book, this will really benefit their start to their English learning about Historical Fiction.

Year 3 will be shown how to use Accelerated Reader over the next couple of weeks, there is also an information session for parents to learn about the scheme and other platforms on Tuesday 19 September, more details will be sent out soon. 

Accelerated Reading in the IT suite will not commence until Tuesday 5 September.

To help families new to the school, and as a reminder for all, here are some top tips for navigating the school's e-newsletter, The Courier, on your mobile phone.

Each edition of The Courier has a general overview message followed by an index list of the news, events and other information, split into categories, with clickable title links.

• Click the title link of the article or event you are interested in.
• From here you can scroll through all the articles in this category.
• To get back to the top of a category quickly, use the arrow in the bottom right corner of your screen. Click this and you will jump to the top of the page and see the category index.
• Select ‘NEWSLETTER INDEX’, to return you to the main newsletter index listing all the categories and articles.
• To move between different editions of The Courier use the dark green button with three white lines towards the top right of the newsletter. Click on the button and choose which edition of The Courier you would like to read.
• If you are looking for a particular article use the search function using key words to locate it quickly. 

The Courier is one of the school's main communication tools and is always a good first place to look for information and news.

Bookmarking https://courier.crescentschool.co.uk/ will allow you to get to the newsletter quickly.

Dear Parents

For the first week back I have put some information below regarding sport:

Pre-Prep:
All Pre-Prep children to bring their PE kit to school on Monday and this will be left on their pegs and returned at half term to be washed.

Swimming will commence for Pre-Prep w/c 11 September.  

• 1Q and 2E swim on a Monday
• 2W swim on a Tuesday

• Classes 3LS and 4C have PE and kit should be brought into school and either left in school or taken home after.

Tuesday

• Classes 3SS, 5F and 6W have PE and kit should be brought into school either left in school or taken home after.

• Class 3LS will swin on a Tuesday.  Swimming commences w/c 11 September so for next week children will have an exta PE lesson and kit will need to be brought into school

Wednesday

• Classes 3SS and 4C - Swimming commences w/c 11 September so for next week children will have an exta PE lesson and kit will need to be brought into school

• Years 5 and 6 have their games afternoon and games kit should be worn to school

Thursday

• Years 5 and 6 have swimming.  Swimming commences w/c 11 September so for next week children will have an exta PE lesson and kit will need to be brought into school

• Years 3 and 4 have their games afternoon and games kit should be worn to school

Please click here to view the PE/Games schedule for Years 3 – 6, previously circulated to parents.  Dates are subject to change.

Do contact me if you have any queries.

Please see below for useful school contact information:

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

Click here to view the term dates for 2023/24 and 2024/25.

Crescent School

The Foundation has the following vacancies:

Princethorpe College

• Commercial Enterprises Manager
• Alumni Relations and Developmenmt Manager
• Learning Support Assistant
• Estates Weekend Supervisor

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.