The Courier

Dear Parents and Friends of the School

The last two days have been the two hardest days of my career as a teacher. It is hard enough to hear and accept the news just for myself. Like many staff here, I have built a special bond with Barnaby over the years he has been with us. To have to share the news of his passing with so many of his friends and peers who knew and cared for Barnaby, makes it even harder to bear.

I would like to thank all of you who spoke to your children on Thursday evening. I felt it was the right thing for the children to hear the message from their own parents, in the love and comfort of their own home. You will know better than anybody how to manage this with your children and hopefully the guidance that we provided gave you some helpful starting points. 

I have to say, the children today have been really sensible and calm in school. We had an assembly this morning based on a story book called Always and Forever. This is a lovely one to share with your children and deals with the process of grieving in an easy-to-understand way. There are links from the Child Bereavement website, that I signposted for you yesterday, to other similar resources that you might find useful.

I hope that the half term week will be a good time to begin to come to terms with what has happened. On our return, to some extent, it will be business as usual, but we will continue to protect and care for the children and offer them the support they need. As time moves on, I know many of us will want to remember and celebrate Barnaby’s life in different ways, and we will make sure that the children’s and the family’s voices are heard loud and clear. We will of course be back in touch when any details are agreed on.

In the meantime, thanks again for everyone’s support, both with your messages and kind gestures. They are really appreciated by me and all of the staff.

I can only finish by sharing my most sincere condolences with Barnaby’s mum and dad, and all of his loving family, on behalf of the entire Crescent community. They have been an amazing support to Barnaby throughout, and I know your thoughts, like mine, will be with them over the coming weeks.

With all of my very best wishes for a peaceful half term break.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

This term the focus during our swimming lessons will be on water safety. We will be following the Swim England Water Safety and Water Skills awards and the Rookie Lifeguard award. Water safety skills are vital life and survival skills, especially if you live near or holiday by water such as canals, ponds, rivers, quarries, lakes and harbours. All Swim England Water Safety badges can only be awarded to swimmers when performed without nose clips and goggles. 
 
There are three Water Safety Awards teaching water danger awareness, self-rescue techniques and vital survival skills in clothes, without swimming goggles or nose clips. The Water Safety Awards have been developed in partnership with Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and Royal Lifesaving Society UK (RLSS UK). 

• Years 3 and 4 will need to have shorts and t shirt for their lessons next term
• Years 5 and 6 will now need long sleeve top and long bottoms 

All pupils in Years 3-6 will be playing cricket in their Games lessons in the Trinity Term and we are hoping to have some cricket fixtures. For those who would like to wear the kit we offer a cricket shirt, trousers and sleeveless slipover which can be ordered here. The cricket kit is not compulsory.

Cricket will also be played in Co-Curricular Team Sports for Years 5 and 6 after February Half Term.  Again it is not compulsory to wear the cricket kit. The cover photos shows the Year 5 boys in the cricket kit.

Summer Dresses can also be ordered here. These will be worn after Easter with Blazers and white socks. As children grown quite quickly, please check the length as dresses should be on or below the knee.

Please place all orders by Friday 23 February for delivery to school. 

Please be aware that Mid-Year Reports for all children in Class 5F will be published on My School Portal today Friday 9 February around 4pm.

Staff have spent much time gathering evidence and writing these reports to keep you informed of your child's progress, achievements and wellbeing in school. We do hope you enjoy reading them and sharing comments and targets with your child. 

A change to our reporting system allows you to access which Junior da Vinci awards your child has received, why and from whom. To do this a 'Rewards' tab will appear on your screen for each 'My child' tab and build up over the year. JDV totals are reset every year on 1 September. The attached screenshot illustrates this.

MySchoolPortal

Crescent School

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.

Thursday 22 February 2024

Join fellow Girl Guides, Brownies, Rainbows and Girl Scouts from over 150 countries in celebrating World Thinking Day 2024 on Thursday 22 February 2024.

This year's theme is Our World, Our Thriving Future: The Environment and Global Poverty.

To celebrate this day, any children who attend Girl Guides, Brownies, Rainbows and Girl Scouts are able to wear their uniform to school on this day.

We look forward to seeing the children in their uniforms.

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.

Monday 4 March - 4.00pm to 6.30pm
Thursday 5 March – 6.00pm to 8.00pm

We all value the importance of these meetings to share and discuss your child's academic progress.  

The booking system is now live for you to book your Year 6 Parent Consultation Evening appointments with form teachers and specialist teachers.

Year 5 also have the opportunity to book appointments with specialist teachers. I won’t be available for Year 5 appointments as I am a specialist teacher for Year 6 and will be seeing those families on that evening. However, Year 5 will receive their full midyear report at half term and there will be an extended consultation in the Trinity Term with me and Mrs Webb.  

Please book your appointments below:

https://princethorpe.schoolcloud.co.uk/

We look forward to meeting with you.

Ms Forth
Deputy Head - Academic

In our 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 - Lottie and Sanvika

• 1Q - Emma and Erica

• 2E - Alexandria and Juliette

• 2W - Teddy and Zachary

• 3LS - Elliott, Kiki and Nellie

• 3SS - Ben and Jack

• 4C - Ava and Gloria

• 5F - Edward M, Maya and Patrick

• 6W - Maggie and Remi

The following children have worked so hard that they have been awarded their full Junior da Vinci status this week.

• Aydin in 1Q achieves his in English, as does Nora in 5F and Grace in 6W
• Matthew, Edward M and Alex in 5F gain theirs in Music
• Uma in 3LS is awarded hers in History

Congratulations to you all.

Mrs Symons
JdV Lead

Theo in 4C has read 500,000 words.

Well done.

This week's Word Wizards and Top Quizzers are:

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

• 3LS  Kiki
• 3SS  Eve
• 4C    Aria
• 5F    Toni
• 6W   Timi

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

• 3LS  Feranmi
• 3SS  Lily
• 4C   Harry
• 5F    Herbie
• 6W   Grace

Mrs Nelson
Teaching Assistant

Max and Eve from 3SS have read an amazing 100,000 words.

Well done to both of you.

Results for Battle between 2E, 2W, 3LS, 3SS 1 - 8 February, all classes against each other - average score per class member:

• 1st 3SS 40
• 2nd 3LS 28
• 3rd 2E 24

Most valuable players in the whole competition:

• 1st Eve 3SS
• 2nd Oore 2E
• 3rd Henry 3SS

 Well done, 3SS! 🏆

Battle between all players over half term, 8-22 February. 

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.

Friday 1 March 2024 - 3.30pm to 4.45pm

Class 2W Bake Sale is on Friday 1 March. 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 Class 2W to spend on entertainment for Privilege Time.

Friday 15 March 2024 - 3.30pm to 4.45pm

Class 2E Bake Sale is on Friday 15 March. 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 Class 2E to spend on entertainment for Privilege Time.

Please see below for useful school contact information:

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

Crescent School