The Courier

Dear Parents and Friends of the School

We come to the end of a busy and productive half term and we can look back on seven weeks of learning in the classrooms and enriching extracurricular events as well. I hope, like me, you are now looking forward to something of a break although I know for many families work will continue. Hopefully at some point you will be able to spend some quality time with your children. 

It has been a fitting way to complete the term with our superhero themed non uniform day today. This was teed up nicely for us on Tuesday with the visit of volunteer Keith from the air ambulance service. He talked about the great work that the children's air ambulance does and the service it provides. Some of the costs involved he mentioned were quite eye watering, including a £3,500 price tag on any given air lift operation. Hopefully the money that we have raised today will prove a useful addition to their income. Many thanks for supporting this with your children.

A glance at the weekly schedule tells me we have also enjoyed more Nigeria day workshops this week in the school, and parent consultation evenings as well. 11 plus results have come through for the Year 6 children and many of them are now preparing hard for their Princethorpe College papers coming up early next half term. We wish them all well and I would also reiterate the importance of taking a break during the next two weeks and getting away from work completely at least for a few days.

Once I have cleared the decks here, I am looking forward to catching up with some running and possibly cycling over the holiday and also a couple of days hill walking in the Yorkshire Dales. Whatever you have planned I look forward to seeing the children all back in school on Monday 6 November and wish you all a pleasant break.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

Just a reminder that our early bird deadline for registrations for September 2024 Reception entry is today Friday 20 October. We strongly advise siblings who are considering registering for 2024 entry, to please do so by this deadline.

For more information and to download a registration form visit: www.crescentschool.co.uk.

If you would like more information about our admissions process please contact our Registrar, Mrs Helen Morley 01788 523851 or email admissions@crescentschool.co.uk.

Photo proofs have been sent home with the children this week. All photographs are to be ordered online at www.pics4schools.com.  

Details can be found on the proof card with your unique security code. The deadline for orders to ensure free delivery to school is Sunday 22 October 2023.  Orders after this date will incur a delivery charge.

Please do contact Mr Lloyd if you have any queries, his details are on the proof card.

Crescent School

After the half term break all children are expected to be in full winter uniform. Parents can use their discretion as to whether blazers or the school coat are more appropriate for the weather at the time.

When it does get really cold we do need all the children to have their coats in school so we can make a decision on outdoor break times. 

Over the half term we would ask you to check:

• Uniform is labelled with the child's name not initials
• Your child is wearing their own named uniform as coats/jumpers/blazers etc sometimes get mixed up
• Dress/skirt length should be on or below the knee
• Children have the correct PE kit for their year 
• Hats, gloves and scarfs are optional but they need to be school provided ones if they do wear them
• Hair should be tied back
• Shoes are black school shoes

Please contact Mrs Tucker if you are mising any items of uniform as she has some items which haven't been labelled and is unable to return to the correct child.

Thank you

Joe Thackway
Headmaster  

The Poppy Appeal items will be arriving in school next week ready for children to purchase from Monday 6 November.

Year 6 will be selling these on the door each morning before school.  

The photo displays the items for sale last year with a suggested donation price - this year's items tbc.

As 6W enter the final phase of preparation for entrance exams, we are sharing work via Teams to provide continued support through the holidays. Please click here for Teams logging in advice.

All instructions and expectations are stated. It is parental choice whether you would like your child to use the work provided and it is not going to be marked. 

We do also believe the children should have a rest over the half-term, as they have been working so hard.

During key weeks where there is exam pressure, we like to remove homework from the children's workload. There are a number of independent school entrance exams after half-term so we are not giving Year 6 homework during the first week back.

For children not taking the exams, they still have plenty to focus their homework time on: reading, Abacus and Times Table rock stars to name a few. 

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.

It was non-uniform day in school today where children and staff wore clothes with a 'Superhero' theme in aid of Children's Air Ambulance. School Council representatives made up games for pupils to take part in before school.  

Winners from the games will be announced next term along with the total raised.

Enjoy the collage of photos.

Ms Clark and Mrs Stapleton

This week children across the school participated in class workshops to learn more about Nigerian culture. Led by some of our parents of Nigerian origin, over two days pupils gained a fascinating insight into this giant of Africa.

On Wednesday, 1Q, 2E and 2W enjoyed a traditional Nigerian story, Queen Moremi Makes A Promise. The story is based on a real-life Yoruba queen, Olori Moremi, who lived over 800 years ago and teaches about the importance of being a good friend, staying resilient and keeping a promise, which sounded an awful lot like some of the key tenets of our own Crescent Promise. Dr Akinremi and Mrs Akinola-Amadi enthusiastically acted out the story bringing the characters vividly to life. The children all really enjoyed the traditional tale.

5F also welcomed visitors, Dr and Dr Oshungbohun, supported by Toni, they told the class about the traditions associated with Yoruba Nigerian weddings; celebrations that always involve lots of people and are colourful, carnival like affairs. 5F got to act out some of the traditions and Ms Forth was mightily impressed with the respectful bows (they could become a requirement for all her classes!)

Then on Thursday 6W, 4C, 3SS, 3LS and the Reception class took part in their workshops. Dr Ladele gave an engaging talk on Nigerian sports heroes and was impressed with how many of the heroes and sports that pupils could name. He also taught Year 6 a tribal war chant and had them all up dancing and singing the uplifting and encouraging Buga.

Dr Chime, Mrs Remi-Omosowon and Mrs Adegite shared the traditional Nigerian folktale How The Tortoise Got His Cracked Shell bringing the story to life using puppets and music. It was a fabulous colourful tale reminding us all that pride comes before a fall and the children were mesmerised, listening intently and really enjoyed the story.

It has been fantastic for the children here at Crescent School to learn more about the culture of their classmates through the assembly earlier this month and this week’s workshops. We very much appreciate our Nigerian families helping us to have a better understanding of what it means to be from Nigeria.

Staff and pupils at Crescent School said a fond farewell to one of their long-serving dinner ladies today. Mrs Jane Slatcher has worked at the school for 27 years and will be sadly missed by all the staff, and especially by the children.

After serving up thousands of school dinners, Mrs Slatcher is moving on. She is staying in catering but will be working less hours alongside former Crescent chef Mr Moore. We gave Mrs Slatcher a special Crescent send off this morning in assembly when she was presented with a book filled full of messages from the children and staff along with a gift voucher to spend on her much loved garden.

Mrs Slatcher said the school had been a huge part of her life since she started back in 1996 and that she would miss the Crescent very much. Over the years she has enjoyed watching the children grow up and seen three headmasters at the school.

Joe Thackway, Headmaster, said, “Mrs Slatcher has been a wonderful and popular member of our school community feeding generations of children who have passed through the dining hall. We will all miss her.”

Farewell Mrs Slatcher and good luck!

A group of superheroines gathered last week to conquer an inflatable 5K course at Stratford-Upon-Avon racecourse to raise money for Myton Hospice.

Mrs Barnett, Mrs Gupta, Mrs Emery, Miss Quirke, Ms Hanson, Mrs Chang, Mrs McCollin and Miss V all climbed and crawled through the obstacles and ran round the racecourse with loads of smiles and laughter for the worthy cause.

If you would like to donate to the fundraiser they started, please visit their JustGiving page for more details on the story at Crescent Crew fundraising for The Myton Hospices.

As part of Maths Week on Tuesday 14 November, Times Table Rock Stars is holding a national competition. You must play any game to score points for your class. The highest classes in the country will win prizes. The more people who play the better. The tournament does not start for a couple of weeks, but get practising or familiarise yourself with TT Rockstars, especially in 1Q if you have not had a go yet. This can be half term fun on a rainy day.

Stay Calm and Rock on

Art Frizzmeister- Deputy Head

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 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 Pre-Prep (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 Tuesday 31 October to Monday 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 has already been sent to parents. If you haven't submitted your consent please click on the link below by Sunday 22 October 2023:

Nasal Flu Consent

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. 

Friday 17 November

At Crescent School and across the entire Princethorpe Foundation one of our key aims is help our pupils develop into Digital Citizens; young adults who can use a wide range of online digital tools creatively, constructively, safely and of course, happily. As part of this, Friday 17 November will see our very first foundation-wide 'Digital Wellbeing Day' celebrated across all three schools.

Over the day pupils will be focusing on how we can really take care of ourselves in the online world, examining and discussing key issues such as screen time, online addiction, social media peer-pressure and many more. We will also be sending home some helpful guides to digital wellbeing, along with some great tips and talking points to keep the discussions going at home!

If you would like any further information on any of this, or would like to get involved yourself as a parent expert, please do get in touch.

Monday 20 to Wednesday 22 November 2023

Please take the time to come to our Scholastic Bookfair on Monday 20 to Wednesday 22 November in the Library from 8.15am to 8.40am and 3.30pm to 5.00pm. Please enter through the Main School Entrance.

Take a look at the document below which gives you some ideas of which books will be available:

Bookfair leaflet

If there are any books you would like to buy but you cannot make it in to school, then please complete this form and return it to your child's form teacher or Mrs Webb:

Order form

Most of the classes will have time to look at the books. They can then tell you which ones they like and you can pay for them in school or online.  You will receive the books when you have let us know which books you want and payment has been made.

Payments can be made without even coming into school but please make sure you return the wish list to us so we can get the books from the bookcases. 

Thank you 

Mrs Webb
Assistant Head

In our Good News Assembly this morning we awarded School Promise certificates to recognise the children’s excellent behaviour as Good Friends, Good Learners or Good Citizens. 

Well done to:

• RP - Clementine and Isabella

• 1Q - Sofia and Sofia

• 2E - Jed and Lara

• 2W - Keevie and Sophie L

• 3LS - Florence and Zoe

• 3SS - Eve and Lily

• 4C - Lilah and Theo Mc

• 5F - Aryaan and Max 

• 6W - Albert and James

Congratulations to Lilah for reading 500,000 words. 

A great achievement.

Congratulations to all our fabulous readers:

Top Quizzers are:

• 3LS Orlaith
• 3SS Catherine
• 4C Mithun
• 5F Edward W
• 6W Sam O

Word Wizards are:

• 3LS Kiki
• 3SS Elin
• 4C Taran
• 5F Aryaan
• 6W Maisie

Mrs Nelson
Teaching Assistant

This half term's Top Quizzers, having successfully quizzed on a whopping 206 books are my very own 3LS.

This half term's Word Wizards, impressively reading just shy of 4.3 million words, are 4C.

Keep on reading!

Mrs Nelson
Teaching Assistant

This half term's tournament resulted in a surrender as only the king remained. James  was victorious in a close final against Shiv, both in 6W. He becomes the recipient of the trophy for this half term.

Well done boys.

Reading certificates have, this week, been awarded to:

• Austin
• Ava
• Iris
• Keevie
• Sofia
• Summer

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:

• Edward M 5F completed 24% of the course
• Jahnavi 3LS completed 24% of the course

Results for Battle 21- 28 September 2023: 3SS, 3LS and 6W against each other - average score per class member:

• 1st 3SS with 35
• 2nd 3LS with 21
• 3rd 6W with 10

Most valuable players in the whole competition:

• 1st Charlie 3SS
• 2nd Elin 3SS
• 3rd Klara 3SS

Well done, 3SS! 🏆

No Battle over half term, but keep practising for those JDVs!

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 of the Week:

Artists

• Grace - 6W
• Leela - 6W
• Roisin - 6W
• Nora - 5F
• Roisin - 5F
• Samuel - 5F
• Ava - 4C
• Nimeeta - 4C
• Thomas - 4C
• Jack - 3SS

In Literacy we used the story, Room on the Broom to explore rhyming words and label objects. We have sequenced instructions and written captions in our work about The Little Red Hen.

‘Protective Behaviours’ has been our focus in Personal, Social and Emotional Development. We have explored that some parts of our body are private and talked about personal hugging rules.

We will be learning about family celebrations such as birthdays, weddings and christenings. We will also be finding out about festivals of light and Christmas of course.

In Maths we will be building greater depth of understanding of numbers to 5 – odds and evens, one more, one less and simple addition.

In phonics we have been practised sounds…

f   l   j   v   w   x   y   z  qu

How to help your child at home…

• Continue to practise dressing/undressing to encourage independence
• Practise saying the days of the week and link to routines
• Practise counting to 20 and beyond
• Practise writing numbers 0-10
• Practise writing first and last names – try to use the cursive letters we’ve learned this half term
• Visit the library – share new and familiar stories

Thank you for your support with handwriting at home. There is already significant improvement in pencil grip, control and letter formation.

It was great to see everybody at the parents' consultation meetings over the last couple of weeks. Thank you for your support so far and for helping the children get off to a great start this year.

This week 1Q have been learning and singing the days of the week in French. Here they are practising their speaking skills with a card activity where they had to guess the correct day of the week in order to win a card.

Congratulations to Carwyn and Mikael who won the most cards.

This week in our Art lesson, we had lots of fun creating pumpkins to make our pumpkin patch. In Maths, we have been busy learning about place value in teen numbers and in writing we have been very creative in thinking of different ways to use a stick. Some ideas include a lollipop stick, a tooth brush, and an umbrella handle.

Class 2W and 2E had fun working together to act out part of the story, Alfie Gets In First by Shirley Hughes. They then carefully drew and coloured parts of the story.

Both Year 2 classes have loved creating their lighthouse models as part of our learning on Grace Darling. Lots of talk took place about the sea rescue, where the SS Forfarshire would have been shipwrecked and what it would be like to live in rooms with round walls. The children are very excited to take their models home and continue to add detail to them.

A fun way to finish off our first history topic this year.  

We have worked so hard his half term and are making super progress. Despite having to squeeze a couple of Maths tests into the last day, we still managed to have some fun. We loved being dressed as every day super heroes and ended the half term with a treat, as voted for by the children. They chose to have half an hour to sit and watch TV together (possibly with a few sweets thrown in).

Wishing you all a very much deserved rest over the half-term holiday. 

Mrs Emery and Mrs Olner

Children in 2W were inspired by their Nigerian story experience on Wednesday. They wrote thank you letters to our presenters outlining how the story made them feel and what their highlights were. Two examples are on the photo gallery.

There was a great sense of team spirit and wonderful sporting values on display in the Girls Year 3 and 4 and Years 5 and 6 Inter-House hockey with all pupils showing fantastic grit, determination and team spirit with lots of JdV's being awarded for practice and effective application of skills in competitive games.

Years 5 and 6 

• Red v Blue - 3-1 Win to Blue House with goals from Sofie, Sophia and Roisin C and Roisin B scoring for Red House with a great drive
• Red v Yellow - 4-1 with a superb hat trick from Shayla and fantastic counter attack from Roisin B
• Blue v Yellow - 4-0 Blue House 

Years 3 and 4 

• 1st Blue 
• 2nd Yellow 
• 3rd Red 

Pitch 1 

• Red v Blue - 1-1 Draw with goals from Amber and Isabella
• Red v Yellow - 1-1 Draw Amber and Lilah 
• Blue v Yellow - 1-0 win Blue House win with a goal from Isabella 

Pitch 2 

• Yellow v Red - 3-0 win Yellow goals from Hermione 
• Blue v Red - 1-0 win 
• Blue v Yellow - 3-3 Draw - with Hermione gaining another hatrick and Blue goals from Uma, Gwen and Orliath

Great work from all Pupils.

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

We are currently re-assessing how we sell 2nd hand uniform, but please continue dropping it off at school. We will be undertaking a trial stall at the Year 5 Bake Sale so it would be great to have lots of items to sell!

Freinds of Crescent

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.