The Courier

Dear Parents and Friends of the School

We have seen a change in the weather in recent days with the arrival of more autumnal conditions. Whilst the warm sunny days are always welcome, it is reassuring when the climate has a more normal feel to it, particularly in these worrying days of climate change.

On the theme of sustainability, Jacqui Johnson, our wonderful science teacher, has been leading our school Green Team towards the new eco-award that I mentioned in the recent welcome evening. The team have been working on their questionnaire, finding out what we do and don't do and will use this to build an action plan, which they will share with you and the children as it progresses. We have already looked at what we can do in lunchtime provision and for parents’ events, doing away with non-recyclable vessels for serving drinks and refreshments.

This week has seen the start of our parent consultation meetings for the year. I attend most if not all of these and it's always nice to meet up with many of you as you come along to hear about the progress of your sons and daughters. These went very smoothly this week and I look forward to meeting more of you for the second evening for each year group next week.

I like to recognise particular achievements occasionally in my newsletter and it's often in the sporting or musical arena. This week however I'll give a special mention to our maths challenge teams who went over to Princethorpe College earlier in the week and performed admirably against lots and lots of local schools. Our top finishing team came second overall, but we had others trying really hard and finishing well inside the top 15 out of 52 competing teams. Well done to the children who took part and it's great when maths can be made into such a fun and interesting competition.

This might be famous last words, but I think I have a relatively quiet weekend planned, which are my favourite ones. I might even get to watch a bit of the Rugby World Cup, which promises to provide an exciting weekend of games.  Whatever you are up to, I hope you also have relaxing time with your families.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

This week we were delighted to welcome Ruby Small to join our Reception teaching team. Ruby is training to be an early years specialist at Warwickshire College and will be working with us for two days a week until the Christmas break. She hopes to be able to continue after this, depending on the other demands of her studies. Ruby will be an invaluable asset for hearing readers, working with groups and supporting the learning. 

Class 5F will be given a book to read over half-term. The book is called Goth Girl And The Ghost Of A Mouse by Chris Riddell, we have not yet started it in class but I would like it to be read over half-term.

Please feel free to share this book as a family, listen to it on an audiobook or discuss it with your child if they are reading it independently. It will need to be completed a week after we return to school as we will be doing some work on it on our return. 

Mrs Webb
Class 5F English Teacher

We are purchasing our fundraising Christmas cards from Xmas4schools. Your child should bring home an order card tonight, that has the ordering details on one side and the actual space where the design must be on the other.

Please fill in details and keep to the class name as RP, 1Q, 2E, 2W, 3LS, 3SS, 4C, 5F or 6W. Also, there is a price guide as to what products you will be able to buy when the design is complete. 

The design guidelines are: 

• Do not go too near the edge as the printer will cut it off - you must be 1cm away all around
• Do use felt tip, ink, pencil crayons, gel pens - brighter the better- pale does not show up
• Do use collage if you want - but well stuck down
• Do use glitter glue if you want
• Do not use sprinkle glitter- it falls off!
• Do not use large areas of metallic finishes - it will not look shiny
• Do cover up as much of the white space as you can
• Do make any text big as the process will reduce the size of the design

The design card with details, must be returned as soon as possible. The deadline is Wednesday 18 October 2023. We cannot accept or send any late orders.

FoC will receive a donation for every product ordered, so do get designing! Please note that this is not the Crescent School Christmas card competition, but items just for yourselves.

Please click on the photos in the gallery which provide information.

Season's Greetings!

MySchoolPortal

Crescent School

Below is a link to view the Michaelmas Term Calendar.  You should have received a hard copy of this through the post in the summer holidays.

Very well done to Leela in Year 6 and Alice in Year 2, whose artwork has received awards at the recent ISA art competition. Leela’s beautiful still life was highly recommended by the judges. Alice’s wax resist swimmer was awarded a first prize and will go through to the national finals later in the year.

Really well done girls and good luck to Alice in the next stage of the competition.

On Monday 9 October, Crescent School took part in Princethorpe College’s Year 5 Maths Challenge. The event was run by Douglas Buchanan of DCBEAGLE Challenges, who specialises in organising exciting and innovative maths activities for primary school aged children.

Crescent took three teams of two to compete alongside 52 pairs of enthusiastic and very talented mathematicians from 25 local schools, the pupils took part in a series of puzzles against the clock. In five eight-minute rounds the children tackled Tangram Triangles, Broken Calculators, Domino Jigsaws, Make 24, Card Order and Curly’s Cycling Circuits.

Ably supported and marked by a team of Princethorpe’s Year 10 pupils, the competition stretched and challenged the children with mathematical activities that required both reasoning skills and mathematical knowledge.

The event was huge fun for all who took part and everyone who participated received a certificate and a special Princethorpe cookie.

Crescent School’s teams were amazing finishing 2nd, 6th and 16th scoring 125 points, 107 points and 88 points respectively.

Mrs Dowling, who accompanied the children, said, “The children had a great time and really enjoyed putting their maths skills to the test. Well done to them all, there were some very talented mathematicians taking part and they made Crescent School proud.”

The festive season is drawing near, and what better way to spread the holiday cheer than showcasing your students' creativity? We're excited to announce our Christmas Banner Competition, open to all students from EYFS to KS2. This is a fantastic opportunity for our young artists to let their imaginations loose and design our email banner. So, grab your colours and craft supplies, and let the magic begin!

Further details can be found here:

ISA Christmas Banner Competition 2023

ISA Christmas Banner Competition 2023 - Template

Please give Mrs Thackway your entries by Friday 17 November 2023.

Crescent School

Winter hats, gloves and scarfs are optional to wear to school, but they do need to be school provided ones if children wear them. A new green fleece scarf has replaced the white and green striped one, however the striped one can still be worn.

Please order using the form below (section 5) or pop into the office to collect:

Uniform Order Form

Crescent School

We are looking forward to meeting with parents from Years 3, 4 and 5 over the next couple of weeks. This is your opportunity to meet with your child's form tutor about how they are settling in. All meetings are being held in form rooms apart from 3SS, who will be in room 2.

No specialist teachers will be available apart from Mrs Webb in Year 5 (for English).  

You are welcome to park in the playground for your meeting (from 3.45pm), then please come to the Main School entrance (front of school), where you will be welcomed with refreshments.

Tuesday 17 October 2023 3.00pm to 5.00pm

My understanding is that the scores from the 11+ should be arriving on or about this day. Any Year 6 parents who wish to discuss their child's 11+ results and implications are welcome to see Mr Thackway and me between 3.00pm and 5.00pm on Tuesday 17 October - please just drop in via the main school entrance. 

Even if you do not feel that you wish to have a discussion, please inform us of the position and scores of your child. The local authority does not inform us and we need the results for our records.

We are looking forward to meeting with parents from Reception, Year 1 and 2 over the next couple of weeks. You are welcome to park in the playground (from 3.45pm) for your meeting, then please make your way to the following areas:

• Years 1 and 2 - Mortimer Foyer doors at the bottom of the playground  
• Reception - Horton Centre doors from the playground

All the consultations are held in your child's form room and refreshments will be available. The meetings are with the form tutor only.  

If your child is in After School, please collect in the normal manner. 

Friday 20 October 2023

This term, we are raising money for the Children's Air Ambulance with a fundraising non-unform day and games on the gate on Friday 20 October.  

The optional theme for non-unform day is 'Superheroes and everyday heroes' (as decided by our school council) and we will also be running a 'Design your own hero' art competition over the next few weeks, with a deadline of the 18 October. Entries should be handed to Ms Clark with a £1 donation. 

Suggested donation of £1 for non-unform day and please send in 50p's for games on the gate.

Thank you.

Monday 6 November to Friday 10 November 2023

During the week commencing Monday 6 November parents are invited to come into school from 8.15am to 8.40am to watch and support their child in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 while they quiz on their reading books.

The quiz platform is not available at home so this is a super opportunity for parents to share the experience.

Half-term is a great time for your child to finish reading a book and that will give you an extra excuse to see your child at work.

We look forward to welcoming you.

This year we would like to see pictures of your pumpkin that you might decorate or carve for Halloween. Every entry will receive 5 points for their house. There will also be 150 points for the individual winner in PrePrep (R-2) and Upper School (3-6), 100 points for second place and 50 points for 3rd. There is a chance that one house could win all six sets of points! 

Please can pupils and staff send pictures of their creations, with their name, class and house to their staff house captains to the emails below anytime from 31 October - 6 November and the winners will be announced on Friday 10 November in Assembly. Please do not bring in the actual pumpkin and it is NOT COMPULSORY to enter.

Good luck

• Blue House - Ms Clark emmaclark@crescentschool.co.uk
• Red House - Mrs Emery lisaemery@crescentschool.co.uk
• Yellow House - Mrs McCollin - rachelmccollin@crescentschool.co.uk

Tuesday 7 November 2023 - 9.00am to 12.00pm

Nasal Flu vaccinations will take place in school on the above date. This is a change to the date published in the termly calendar.

A link to consent to the vaccine will be sent to parents next week.

Crescent School

Tuesday 7 November 2023 - 4.00pm

Year 4 parents are invited to an information session about the residential trip to Ilam Hall. This will be an opportunity for you to find out what happens there, note the key dates and ask any questions. 

This event will take place in the Year 4 classroom at 4.00pm and for those unable to attend, an informative PowerPoint will be circulated afterwards to all Year 4 parents.

Wednesday 8 November 2023 - 4.00pm

All Year 3 parents are invited to an information session about the residential trip to Whitemoor Lakes. This will be an opportunity for you to find out what happens there, note the key dates and ask any questions. 

We shall meet in Mrs Stapleton's classroom so please collect your child from the pupil entrance, unless they are in a co-curricular club, and follow the signage to the lower dismissal door. For those unable to attend, the PowerPoint will be shared with parents.

Tuesday 14 November 2023 - 4.00pm

All Year 5 parents are invited to an information session about the residential trip to the Frank Chapman Centre. This will be an opportunity for you to find out what happens there, note the key dates and ask any initial questions. 

This will be held in the Class 5F form room at 4.00pm on Tuesday 14 November 2023. Your child is also welcome to attend, and it should last no more than 30 minutes. 

Our first Accelerated Reading Millionaire award goes to Aria in 4C.

Well done Aria, an amazing achievement.

Congratulations to all our fabulous readers:

Top Quizzers are:

• 3LS Anaya
• 3SS Henry
• 4C Ella
• 5F Zac
• 6W Harry

Word Wizards are:

• 3LS Kiki
• 3SS Oliver 
• 4C Ava
• 5F Lewis
• 6W Darius

Mrs Nelson
Teaching Assistant

Reading certificates have, this week, been awarded to:

• Gene
• Hazel
• Lota
• Nishaan
• Sahiba
• Siara

Well done to you all.

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 and therefore are awarded JDVs for Maths Practice this week.

• Ria 3SS has completed 24% of the course

Results for Battle 5 -12 October 2023: 1Q, 2W, 2E against each other - average score per class member.

• 1st 2E
• 2nd 2W
• 3rd 1Q

Most valuable players in the whole competition:

• 1st Daniel 2E
• 2nd Hannah 2E
• 3rd Sarima 2W

Well done, 2E! 🏆

Improved speedsters in the studio are:

3SS

• Felicity - Headliner!

Battle between 3SS, 3LS, 6W - 12-19 October 2023. 

TT Rock stars will block 2x,5x,10x,11x on jamming if you are efficient at them, so you cannot pick easy ones just to score more points in the competition! 

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

Stay Calm and Rock on!!

Well done to this week's Artists and Scientists of the Week:

Artists

• Shayla - 6W
• Alex G - 6W
• Ben - 3SS
• Evie - 3SS
• Flora - 3SS
• Jonny - 3SS
• Iris - 2W
• Sophie L - 2W

Scientists

• Maisie, Shiv, Leela
• Sam O, Harry, Edward F
• Grace, Shayla, Alice
• Maggie, Alex G, Edward G-H

Crescent School

Our regular wellbeing drop-in session, ChitChat Tuesday encouraged the children to consider their own mental health for World Mental Health Day. We had connection activities, mindfulness colouring and space to reflect and just 'be'. Those who came shared openly about how they were feeling and shared ways to promote positive wellbeing.

It was a greta way to mark World Mental Health Day.

Whilst growing in confidence in telling the time to the nearest five minutes this week, we came across Roman numerals and the children were curious about how they were structured. So, we discussed what the letters represented, learned how to read and write Roman numerals and then made our own clocks to help us recognise the representations in our textbooks.

Class 3SS have been learning new skills in using a dictionary to find definitions of new words as well as discovering what word class they belong to. Alongside that we challenged our alphabet knowledge in ordering a sequence of words. They children engaged well with learning this life skill.

Every Thursday, I work with Year 3 in their English lesson. I often work with small groups and it is such a privilege to see them progress over the weeks.

This week, Mrs Symons was teaching about conjunctions, my group paired sentences together and used the relevant conjunctions. They did so well that they wrote their own too.

This week, the children have been focusing on how to tell the time on analogue and digital clocks, and converting the times between each. To start with, they learned all about Roman numerals and how the system works. They each made there own clock using Roman numerals. It was lots of fun.

Year 3 have been reinforcing the vocabulary that they have learnt this half-term by singing songs and doing multiple choice quizzes. Here they are using the mini iPads to test themselves on Quizizz.

Class 4C are studying earthquakes in Geography this term. Having studied the cause and effect of earthquakes, they have moved on to how people in places such as Japan and California cope with living with the possibility of daily earthquakes. The real campaign in California is 'Drop, Cover, Hold on!'  The children tried the earthquake drill in class. Luckily it was a very small rumble - about 3.1 on the magnitude scale! 

"The Rock" Says to Drop, Cover, and Hold On - YouTube

Last week 4C visited Rugby Art Gallery & Museum and enjoyed a Roman day. In the morning the children learned about finds at Tripontium in Rugby, daily life in the Roman times, including what they wore, how you could tell someone’s status by what they wear and what they ate. In the afternoon, the children designed their own Roman sandals, and modelled them on the catwalk, and created their own mosaic tiles using beads and clay. They did a great job and learned lots!

This term in Geography, Year 5 have been learning all about coasts and the different types of erosion. The children enjoyed acting out the five stages of coastal erosion; crack, cave, arch, stack and stump. They have drawn some excellent diagrams in their books to show these processes and we have been developing our diagram drawing skills along the way. 

Class 5F have been testing the hardness of different solids today. They had to test each solid and rank them in order of hardness.  Who knew the pupils could have so much fun with butter!

Class 6W enjoyed experimenting with different sketching marks to help add expression and movement to their portraits. They also explored ways of using tone to add contrast to their drawings.

Class 6W spent several weeks learning to play Metal Merchant by Christopher Norton. Firstly, they listened to the music and studied the performance, noting how the piece’s structure worked. They then chose which instrument to play, from a choice of their own instrument, chime bars or drums. They rehearsed each part and then put the piece together.

Listen out for Sam B’s cornet improvisation in the middle.

Metal Merchant - Year 6

Class 6W have started to explore their new topic of light. They have constructed pinhole cameras and found the image was inverted which provided evidence that light travels in straight lines.

Year 6 have been using their comprehension skills and working as a team to find information. They then had to share this information to the class. There was great collaboration, sharing of ideas alongside comprehension skills.

Class 3SS craft clubbers have started getting spooky. We had great fun creating scary (or not so scary) peg bats to surprise our friends and families. Will a bat appear in your house tonight?

Nature Craft Club were getting creative with conkers this week. They had a choice of materials including a brand new box of acrylic paint pens (which obviously caused the most excitement). They made owls and hedgehogs and scary faces. 

In Art Club this week, Year 6 had fun creating these oversized cat and dog eyes. They plan to put them together with other collage materials to make some incredible, imaginary creatures.

At Crescent we work hard to ensure that all of our pupils feel as safe, secure and confident as possible when dipping their toes into the online world that we live in, and obviously as parents you too want to take a keen interest and active role in their digital journeys too. This can however be a very daunting prospect, having to identify and pre-empt potential risks, establishing a culture of online safety at home, and most crucially striking an important balance between promoting the positive use of the internet while simultaneously keeping your children safe from harm.

For this reason, National Online Safety have created their Annual Award in Online Safety for Parents & Carers, a completely free course designed to provide parents with the knowledge and skills needed to feel confident and empowered in keeping children safe online. Developed by educational safeguarding experts, and presented by the lovely Myleene Klass, it’s a great place to start if you would like further support as well as useful hints and tips.

Just click on the relevant links below, create a free account and navigate through the different modules:

Annual Award in Online Safety for Parents & Carers of Children aged 3-7 | National Online Safety

Annual Award in Online Safety for Parents & Carers of Children aged 7-11 | National Online Safety

Annual Award in Online Safety for Parents & Carers of Children aged 11-14 | National Online Safety

If you have any further questions or require more specific online safety advice, please just ask!

Year 6 Blue House pupils are up and running with Play Leader activities at lunch time, with Leela and Hattie the first to run a session with Reception and Year 2 pupils. Pupils were asked to work collaboratively and creatively using the different pieces of sports equipment to make different animal faces. Great fun was had by all, can you guess the animal?!  

Mrs McCollin
Head of PE and Games

Against a very strong Dixie side Crescent U11s once again showed both their resilience and maturity in play, coming from behind three times to snatch a fantastic 3-3 draw.

A frantic end-to-end 1st half saw Dixie go into the break 2-1 up, brilliant goal-keeping from Zac and a superb team goal set up by Akaal and finished by Ed G-H keeping Crescent in the game. Despite some great stops by Maxi and excellent defending from Albert, Alex T and Aryaan, the home side were unlucky to go 3-1 down with only a couple of minutes to play, but rather than letting their heads drop showed a real sense determination, spurred into life by the deficit.

Firstly, Sam slotted through an excellent ball to allow Ed G-H to round the keeper and grab a second, before in the final play of the game Timi hammered home a truly superb equaliser from a tight angle.

Player of the match was Sam B for his energy and industry throughout.

Mr Adkins and Mrs Dowling

The Year 5 and 6 girls have been working hard on their hockey skills during Games afternoons, ahead of their next fixtures against King Henry's after half term. 

Following feedback from previous games the students have looked at how to create space and channels to pass the ball through, timing of their tackling and finishing off in the D. We have had some great sessions and are looking forward to seeing them put it in to practice next week in their Inter-House matches. 

Friday 10 November 2023 - 3.30pm to 4.45pm

First event after Half Term is the Year 5 bake sale on Friday 10 November. As always this will start from 3.30pm and will have a range of yummy cakes and snacks selling at £1 each. All profits will go to Year 5 to spend on entertainment for Privilege Time

Friday 17 November 2023 - 7.30pm

Quiz tickets are now on sale. This is a fun, relaxed event, brilliantly hosted by Ms Forth. It is six to a team (max!) and tickets cost £5.50 per person.

This year we have the exciting addition of a licensed bar (kindly hosted by Mr and Mrs Webb). We will also be selling hot and cold snacks.

Tickets are available from Classlist: https://app.classlist.com/events/#/events/view/1047330747

Wednesday 29 November 2023 - 7.00pm

Following our parent survey last year there was a real appetite for a Christmas Craft Evening, so this year we are delighted to invite parents, grandparents (and their friends!) to start the festive season by making a willow wreath. 

The event takes place on Wednesday 29 November at 7.00pm. Tickets cost £35 per person and include the making of the wreath, a glass of mulled wine and a festive snack. We are limited to 50 tickets so snap them up soon 

https://app.classlist.com/events/#/events/view/1040101010

Please see below for useful school contact information:

Uniform can be ordered here:

Uniform Order Form

Please note the following items are stocked in the School Office and can be added to your account. Do pop in to collect any items.

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

School Uniform Shop 
Tel: 01926 634272
Email: uniform@princethorpe.co.uk

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

Crescent School

The Foundation has the following vacancies:

Princethorpe Foundation

• Alumni Relations and Development Officer
• Archivist

Princethorpe College

• Minibus Driver
• Cleaner
• Part Time Estates Assistant
• Casual Estates Assistant

Crackley Hall School

• Nursery Practitioner

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.