The Courier

I'd like to say a sincere thank you to all the parents who have already taken the time to read and feedback to me on the Foundation Strategic Plan which was emailed to all Foundation parents last Friday.

There has been a range of comments and questions, and useful feedback.

There is still time for you to share any comments, ideas or questions you might have about the plan with me. The deadline for this is Monday 29 January. As mentioned I will personally read all the comments and my intention is to feedback generally to parents later in the term. I will also be contacting people directly if appropriate so please do complete your contact details if you would like a personal reply.

To access the Foundation Strategic Plan please click here.

To go to the online form to share your comments or queries please click here.

Many thanks in advance for your time and for all the support that you give to our schools.

Ed Hester

Dear Parents and Friends of the School

With three weeks gone of the spring term, it is already really noticeable to see how the days are lengthening, which is particularly helpful for afternoon fixtures and clubs. We have also had our first full moon of the year, so 2024 is properly up and running.

This week in school there has been quite a bit focus on the Big Garden Birdwatch that takes place this weekend. We started with a whole school quiz on bird identification in our assembly on Tuesday, where three of the pupils were able to beat all of the teachers. Well done to Hattie, Zac and Lewis; good knowledge. During Science lessons this week, Mrs Johnson has been working with the children preparing them for the weekend, making models, setting quizzes, getting out into the Forest School and constructing birdfeeders made of junk and up-cycled materials.

If you are able to get out this weekend with your children, it would be great to see some photos of them taking part. Please send them in to admin@crescentschool.co.uk and we will make them into a fun montage to show in our Good News assembly next week.

On the environmental theme, I dropped in on the meeting of the children’s Green Team earlier in the week, and it was great to see all of the initiatives they are putting together as part of our Eco-School accreditation. One very nice event on the horizon is a day’s workshop installing water butts to collect rainwater and building an eco-friendly, miniature water-harvesting roof. The children in the team will share all of this with the whole school in assemblies and you’ll be able to see some nice pictures and details on social media, I am sure.

A special well done to our cross-country teams who made the long trek out to Bedstone College on Wednesday. The behaviour was really good, the teams competed well, and there were some lovely personal successes to celebrate as well. You can read the full story in Mr Adkins’ report further on in the Courier. 

Finally, I would like to flag up the parents’ workshop ran by Mr Webb and Mrs Stapleton on Monday, which was really thought provoking and positive. It was great to see a healthy turnout for this and if you missed it and would like another chance to attend, there will be a re-run of the same event next Thursday at 5pm in the school hall. I do recommend it.

In the meantime, I wish you all a restful weekend.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

There have been recent localised outbreaks of measles centred around the West Midlands, so as a precaution we would like to share the latest advice with you.

Measles is an infection that spreads very easily and can cause serious symptoms in some people. It spreads very easily among those who are unvaccinated, especially in nurseries and schools.

Measles usually starts with cold-like symptoms, followed by a rash a few days later. Some people may also get small spots in their mouth. You can find out more on the NHS website:

Measles - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Having the MMR vaccine is the best protection against measles. There’s no specific medical treatment for measles, so it is important to get vaccinated as it is the best protection against becoming seriously unwell.

MMR is offered to all children as part of the National Immunisation schedule. The MMR vaccine gives long lasting protection with just two doses of the vaccine. The first dose is given at the age of 12 months and the second dose is given at around 3 years and 4 months, before starting school.

The best way to prevent contracting measles, for both children and adults, is to get both doses of the MMR vaccine. It is never too late to have these vaccinations.

If your child hasn’t received two doses of the MMR, please consider contacting your GP surgery and booking an appointment.

As always, if your child is unwell, please keep them off school to minimise the spread of infection within the community. As a Foundation, we will follow any advice or guidance from the Department of Health

Paula Greig
Princethorpe College Senior Matron

Pupils have been enjoying lots of different activities linked to the Big Garden Birdwatch in school this week. All pupils have been given a survey sheet to take home and you can choose whether to participate as a family in the Big Garden Birdwatch (26 to 28 January). The website explains how to observe and record your results. 

https://www.rspb.org.uk

Please can pupils bring their completed survey (named) back into school and the Green Team will log the data onto the RSPB website. If you do complete a survey your name will go into a small prize draw competition.

Please do send photos of your bird watching into school by Thursday 1 February to admin@crescentschool.co.uk.

Have fun!  

Many thanks to those parents who came along to 'The Changing World of Raising Children' presentation on Monday where Mrs Stapleton and myself talked about the work of Paul Dix in being consistent in the language and approach we use with children both at home and at school. 

We have further opportunity for parents to attend - if you were unable to make it on Monday, please do join us next Thursday 1 February from 5pm until around 5.45pm, tickets can be booked through the event page:

Changing World of Raising Children 

Mr Webb and Mrs Stapleton

Please note, in case you need to book time off work, that the Easter Service is in the morning this year at 9.15am.

Class 5F and Choir will lead the celebration of the Easter Story.

MySchoolPortal

Crescent School

All 60 Crescent pupils who took the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art (LAMDA) examinations in December have passed with the overwhelming majority achieving a distinction.

At Crescent School, children from Years 3-6 study for the examinations in their Drama lessons as part of the school’s curriculum. After excellent results last year, Drama teacher, Lizzie Bowdige, challenged Years 3 and 4 by entering them for Introductory level, Stages 2 and 3 respectively, one step up from the examinations sat by the year groups last year.

In their examinations, the pupils were judged on interpretation, technique and knowledge. They had to consider their diction, expression and movement and be able to discuss the mood and meaning of the poems they performed. The results were received at the end of last week and they were outstanding.

Lizzie Bowdige, comments, “I am delighted with the results. Congratulations to all the children. What’s great about the LAMDA exams is that they equip the children with communication skills which will serve them throughout life. They also promote an appreciation of literature and poetry and help unlock imagination and creative thinking. I am very proud of all the pupils."

Year 2 enjoyed an amazing, interactive, drama workshop on Tuesday 23 January, thanks to the Freshwater Theatre Company. The classes have been studying the ‘Great Fire of London’ learning about the key events and people involved. Workshop facilitator, Dawn Horne, used drama, role play and storytelling to help bring their history studies to life.

Washerwoman, Mary, took the children on a memorable and engaging trip back to the bakery on Pudding Lane, the source of the Great Fire. They discovered what life was like in Pudding Lane, how the fire started and events subsequently unfolded, how Samuel Pepys recorded the fire in his diary and how the people of London eventually put the fire out.

Year 2 teachers, Mrs Emery and Mr Webb, said, “The children were captivated, they clearly all enjoyed the session, and it was great reinforcement for their learning in class. It was a great way to consolidate our topic.”

Well done Year 2, you were all fantastic Great Fire of London explorers!

Olive Catering hosted a Burger Pop Up today which the children and staff very much enjoyed. On the menu was a choice of chicken, beef or bean and lentil burgers with a super range of side dishes for everyone to enjoy.

Just look at this tasty line up that had the children queing up excitedly:

• Chicken Burger, brioche bun, iceberg lettuce and bacon mayo
• Beef burger, brioche bun, cheese, bacon and big mac sauce
• Crispy bean and lentil burger, cucumber slaw and lemon mayo
• Sides of BBQ Boston beans, Leicester mac cheese and crispy fries.

And to top it all off, their favourite Oreo Cheesecake was the perfect finish to the Friday feast.

It feels like childhood in the UK has changed significantly over recent years, making parenting and teaching more complex and challenging than ever before.

Here at school, we have invested significant time and training with all of our staff to develop consistent language and adult-led behaviours, which supports and values all children. Much of this has been based on the latest thinking in this important area, and in particular the work of author Paul Dix. Paul has now written similarly on the subject of parenting and so we thought there may be some value in pulling this all together with you as parents, to enable us to develop our shared thoughts and consistencies as educators and guardians, to the benefit of the children.

Therefore we are offering a presentation, for parents only, on the changing world of raising children on Thursday 1 February from 5.00pm to 5.45pm. Please book via the  link below.

Thursday 2 February 2024

Friday 2 February 2024 - 3.45pm to 4.15pm

On Friday 2 February, after school, we will have our Open Corridors event where we will share with you all the great work that we have been doing in school.

Please collect your child before entering through the front door where you will be welcomed in to look at all the great work in school from 3.45pm. Entry and exit will only be through the front doors. Last entry is at 3.55pm. On this day, Years 5 and 6 will be dismissed through the pupil door. 

If your child is in a Co-Curricular club then they will be expected to attend unless you arrange otherwise. They are unable to attend both.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Friday 9 February 2024

We will be holding a non-uniform day on Friday 9 February with all proceeds going to this term's chosen charity, Bwengu Projects. 

Please send a £1 donation with your child to be given to their form teacher.

Thank you.

Monday 19 February to Friday 23 February 2024

During the week commencing Monday 19 February 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.

Friday 23 February 2024 - 6:45pm to 10:00pm

Join us for a night of good food, great company, and valuable insights into the future of farming.

Hear from two speakers:

• Jennie Wheildon: Unlock New Funding Opportunities and Plan for the Next Generation in Farming.
• John Price (OP 2014): My Journey into Farming and prospects for the future of farming.

Don't miss this opportunity to connect with fellow farmers, enjoy delicious food and drinks, and gain valuable knowledge for the future of your farm.

Secure your spot here by Friday 16 February 2024.

It has been a great week for JDV awards.

• Edward and Samuel in 5F gain theirs in both English and Maths this week and Shayla in 6W receives hers for both MFL and Science and DT. Great to receive two full awards in one week!
• Emily in 2W receives hers in English as does Matthew in 5F
• Alexander W and MingYi in 5F receive theirs in Geography
• Aria in 4C receives hers in MFL
• Alex B in 5F and Hattie, James and Harry in 6W receive theirs in Science and DT
• Maggie in 6W receives hers in Art
• Harry in 1Q receives his in Maths.

Congratulations to you all on your hard work!

Mrs Symons
JdV Lead

Alex T in 6W has read an impressive two million words.

Well done.

This weeks Word Wizards and Top Quizzers are:

Word Wizards, achieving the highest word count from successfully quizzing this week, are:

• 3LS  Sophia
• 3SS  Catherine
• 4C    Aria
• 5F    Matthew
• 6W   Shayla

Top Quizzers who have quizzed on the most books successfully or made a noticeable improvement in quizzing scores this week are:

• 3LS  Zoe
• 3SS  Alice
• 4C   Everly
• 5F    Samuel
• 6W   Shiv

Great work all.

Mrs Nelson
Teaching Assistant

The Year 3, 100k Word Superstar this week is Klara in 3SS.

Well done.

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 their presentation of all of their learning tasks and have been awarded a Pen Licence and their first handwriting pen.

Eve and Lilly in 3SS. 

Well done!

• Kiki 3SS has completed 48% of the training course
• Zoe 3LS has completed 24% of the training course

Results for Battle 18-25 January: 4C, 3LS, 3SS against each other - average score per class member.

• 1st 4C 145
• 2nd 3SS 81
• 3rd 3LS 49

Most valuable players in the whole competition:

• 1st Theo Mc 4C
• 2nd Alfie 4C
• 3rd Charlie 3SS

Well done, 4C! 🏆

Most improved speedsters in the studio are:

• 5F
• Akaal - Headliner!

Battle between 2W, 2E, 5F, 6W- 25 Jan - 1 Feb 2024. 

TT Rock stars will block 2x, 5x, 10x and 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.

Reading certificates have, this week, been awarded to:

• Iris (2E)
• Summer (2E)
• Isabel (2W)
• Isla (2W)
• Florence (1Q)
• Ruby (1Q)
• Parker (RP)
• Sanvika (RP)

Well done to you all.

This week's 'Artists Of The Week' are:

• Klara 3SS - A dramatic tonal sketch

• Eve 3SS - Excellent use of line and tone

• Ria 3SS - Brilliant use of contrast to add dramatic mood to the portrait

• Alice 3SS - Strong bold use of tones and contrast

• Jonelle 2E - Beautifully observed animal sketches

• Nishaan 2E - Fantastic observation of the lion model at different angles

• Matthew 5F - Excellent sequencing and carefully observed

• Samuel 5F - Beautifully sketched and well observed

• Maya 5F - Excellent observation and lovely use of colour

• Alex W 5F - Carefully observed piece of narrative art

Mrs Thackway
Head of Art 

Class 3LS have been learning the vocabulary for clothes in French. Here are some photos of their work and the tasks they have been doing. They also enjoyed watching a music video produced by teenagers about clothes in French.

Year 3 continued their work on computer animation today by having a first go at making StopMotion animations. They will be making longer projects shortly, but just to give you a taster, here are Catherine and Henry's amazing animations from today's ICT lesson!

Catherine's Animation

Henry's Animation

We are loving our exciting text of Fantastic Mr Fox and this week we have been role playing different characters to help us understand their personalities better. This has then helped us write letters and speeches in role with persuasion and expression.

Year 4 have been learning the vocabulary for clothes in their French lessons. They enjoyed watching a video clip with a clothes song performed by French teenagers and they did lots of speaking practice with various flashcard games. By the end of the lesson they were able to remember all the key vocabulary.

Class 5F have applied mathematical thinking to chronological timelines this week. They had to decide the order of events, but the trickier part was if a number of years were in BC, not AD, so the larger number the year the longer ago it was!

As a way to encourage children to read a variety of genres, children can now play book bingo. The idea is to read a line, column or diagonal on their card. They still quiz on the books or talk to us about it, if it not quizzable. This has been embraced by a number of children in Year 5 and 6, who have already achieved a line. They are also enjoying the rewards of house points as well.

Class 6W are using their mastery skills to create educational videos for other children to learn about modal verbs. Many of them used iMovie, edited and then uploaded to Seesaw.

Year 3 STEM club are working on an exciting project, bringing together science, technology, engineering and maths to build a bug hotel for our school. So far, the children have carried out research, chosen the best location in school and Mr Knowles has been to visit, to talk us through the building process. We hope that the bug hotel, along with some rewilding, will help to increase biodiversity on our school grounds. Next week, we’ll start building!

Craft Club were still thinking of the festive season when they chose to make their very own gonks from wool. As you can see they all have their individual style and look fantastic. 

The Green Team are a committed team of Crescent pupils ranging from Year 2 to 6 who truly believe in changing their behaviours to protect and sustain our planet. The team have many exciting plans for the rest of this academic year, in particular they are focussing on three key areas: bio-diversity, waste and water. 

To link to our school community and wider, the Green Team will use the Courier to provide useful tips on how to become more sustainable and to update on their new projects. The team brainstormed a name for this electronic information area and a unanimous decision was made ... 'Go Green... Stay Green'.  

Go Green... Stay Green  

Did you know that recycled paper is an excellent alternative material for paper production and reduces the demand for new pulp, conserves energy, saves water and reduces waste. Do you buy recycled paper for home use? 

This week's focus is on the upcoming paperless day in school. 

We only have one world and we need to help conserve it. We know that there are big problems with deforestation and the impact that has on our climate. It is not just Britain, it is all of the world where we need to look after our trees! 

Friday 2 February 2024 will be our first ever 'paperless' day, with the aim for all lessons to reduce the paper usage in school. On this day we will be asking that NO paper or other paper alternatives are used to write on. This also means that any resources for the Friday are not prepared/printed before or after - we really want to reduce our paper usage. There are lots of alternatives choices for the day, such as drama-based activities, Seesaw tasks, chalking and drawing on existing surfaces, treasure hunts, arts and DT using recycled materials, mini whiteboard quizzes to name a few.  

We wanted to inform you about this day and ask for any feedback/questions in advance. Please do let us know what you think.  

We need trees to live and we want trees to live!

The Green Team

Occurring through messaging apps, on social media and in online games, group chats are among the most popular ways that young people engage with their peers online. Involving, by definition, three or more individuals, these groups allow users to send messages, images and videos to everyone in one place. While they are fantastic for helping friends, people with shared interests or members of a club to communicate and coordinate activities, they can also leave young people feeling excluded and bullied – as well as providing opportunities for inappropriate content to be shared and viewed.

Like with all useful things in the online world, the last thing we want to do is ban them altogether, causing children to miss out and feel isolated from their friends. With a little bit of advice, particularly about elements such as considering others' feelings, and the occasional light monitoring, they can be the amazing social tool they were designed to be. Please have a look at the this guide for lots of great tips, and if you have any further questions, please do get in touch!

Crescent once again proved that they are a small school with seriously big ambitions with some fantastic individual performances at the ISA Regional Cross Country Championships. The entire team ran their hearts out, giving their all in the tricky, muddy, uneven and often crowded conditions at Bedstone.

For the U9 Girls, Amber finished an incredible 2nd place out of over 150 runners, with Evelyn in 26th and Lilah close behind in 28th.

For the U9 Boys, Kian finished 4th out of over 150, Thomas in a fantastic 8th and Tomisin just missing out on a top ten finish in 11th place.

In the U11 Girls, Roisin C finished an impressive 32nd out of nearly 200 runners, with Sofie M in 65th.

For the U11 Boys, Maxi was our fastest finisher in 42nd.

An enormous well done to all of our athletes, but most notably for Amber, Kian and Thomas who have all qualified to race again at the ISA Nationals!

Mr Adkins, Mrs Dowling and Mrs Calder

Friday 9 February 2024 - 3.30pm to 4.45pm

The Year 3 Bake Sale is on Friday 9 February. 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 3 to spend on entertainment for Privilege Time.

The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that the Disco date has changed on Classlist and Facebook from 8 March to 26 April. This was due to a number of children being away for the ISA Football Finals in addition to their parents - many of whom are key FOC helpers and we wouldn't be able to run the event without them! Hopefully the new date is convenient for all. 

Coming up:

• 9 February - Year 3 Bake Sale
• 1 March - Year 2 (2W) - Bake Sale 
• 15 March - Year 2 (2E) - Bake Sale
• 26 April - Disco (Bouncing Bobs is back!)

Preloved Uniform
Please continue to drop off your Preloved Uniform! We are planning a date for a Preloved Sale and will be communicating it shortly.  

The only thing to watch out for is to make sure the item you want to buy isn’t already in your basket and if you leave the shop’s website, make sure you go back to it via the Easyfundraising app. Other than that, it’s so easy and it quickly raises money for the FOC without you having to do anything! Please give it a go and if you have any problems let me know.

To sign up please follow the link below and feel free to pass it on to friends and family...the more supporters the better!

https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/friendsofcrescent

Please see below for useful school contact information:

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

Crescent School

The Foundation has the following vacancies:

Princethorpe College

• Sixth Form Administrator
• Digital Transformation Leader
• IT Engineer
• Payroll Officer
• Minibus Driver

Crescent School

• School Registrar and Marketing Secretary

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.