The Courier

The Michealmas 2018 pocket calendar will be sent to you over the school summer holidays.

For information please find a pdf of the calendar attached here.

On Wednesday 4 July pupils at the Crescent School welcomed an exciting four-legged visitor to their assembly.  Accompanied by her puppy walker, 17-weeks old Guide Dog puppy, Crescent, named after the school, was beautifully behaved.

Earlier in the year the school had presented the Guide Dogs for the Blind with a cheque for £1,685 after running a number of different fund raising events.  Their donation allowed the children to sponsor a puppy and to choose its name.

Crescent (or Cressie for short) was born shortly afterwards and has now begun her puppy training.  Her puppy walker, Becky Macintosh, brought Crescent into school earlier than is normal to make sure all of the children involved in the fundraising had a chance to see her before the end of term.

Crescent and Becky were accompanied by Guide Dog representative Heather Gelder and her new trainee guide dog Zeke.  Heather explained to the children the sorts of training that Crescent will undergo whilst she is with her puppy walker, starting with basic training such as learning to walk on a lead and eventually activities and experiences such as getting used to travelling on a bus or train.  After 14 months Crescent’s progress will be assessed and if she is suitable she will move on to formal Guide Dog training.

All of the children really enjoyed meeting Crescent and Zeke who both behaved very well in assembly even when the children were singing.

The school's Parents Association, Friends of Crescent, who organised all of the fundraising activities were also present and Zara Corbin, Chair of the FoC, thanked the children for all their fundraising efforts.

There was just time for a few quick photos before it was back to class for the children and Crescent could tick off another successful new experience on her way to becoming a fully trained guide dog.

Arguably one of the best defenders in the Superleague, Wasps Netballer Samantha May visited the Crescent School on Tuesday 3 July to run a special coaching session for Crescent’s Year 3-6 girls.

Back in March the girls had visited the Ricoh Arena to watch Wasps defeat the Celtic Dragons in a Superleague match. They had been mesmerised by the speed of the match-play and then after the match the girls had really enjoyed going court-side to meet the players. Head of Girls Games, Mrs Rachel McCollin had organised this follow up training session to capitalise on the girls’ fascination with the professional Superleague sport and as a reward for their commitment and dedication to netball over the year.

Australian Samantha, who plays in Goal Defence/Wing Defence, began the intensive coaching session with a warm up game of cat-and-mouse that encouraged the girls to be quick on their feet. She then moved on to a series of netball drills that tested the girls’ physical skills as well as their ability to think tactically. They practised attacking, stealing the ball and passing fluidly and accurately. She encouraged them to stay focused and look for quick clear shots and, in the baking summer sunshine, the 32 girls, who all have a keen interest in the sport, learnt about the importance of timing and good communication.

Mrs McCollin said, “We are very grateful to Samantha for coming to visit us, the girls have really enjoyed the training session and will have gained valuable experience from their time with a professional player. Wasps play in the Superleague Final this weekend and we will all be cheering them on.”

Crescent School's Summer Concert took place on Thursday 5 July.  It was well attended with the school hall packed with parents and family members eager to enjoy the end of term celebration of fine music and song.

As always the school orchestra opened the concert performing two pieces confidently.  The audience very much enjoyed ‘Cotton Mill Blues’ and ‘Fidgety Feet’ both by Terry Kenny.  Then came the first many instrumental solos with Sophie Causer’s rendition of ‘Easy Tiger’ by Pamela Wedgwood played beautifully on trumpet.

Brass Group were up next with two lively toe-tapping pieces 'The Muppet Show' and 'Five Hundred Miles', both arranged by peripatetic teacher, Di Fisher and hot on their heels were Mini Brass who this time captivated us all with ‘Twinkle Twinkle March’ also arranged by Di Fisher.

Next in the programme came Clara Woolf on cornet with a fabulous hum-a-long performance of the 'Theme from the Pink Panther’ by Henry Mancini and Samuel Lau on violin who skilfully played ‘Romantic Piece’ by Dvorak.

The concert continued with the Flute Group who delightedly played two pieces by M Orriss ‘A Muster of Peacocks’ and ‘A Parliament of Owls’ and Olivia Sarkies who stayed on stage to perform a flute solo of ‘Birk’s Works’ by Dizzy Gillespie.  Everyone then enjoyed Recorder Group’s haunting performance of the traditional ‘Skye Boat Song’ and Gabriel White’s skilful playing of ‘The Climb’ by Miley Cyrus.

The audience were impressed by Classes III and IV who next took to the stage to give a super space inspired performance of three pieces by Mary Green and Julie Stanley, ‘The Planets’, ‘Poor Little Pluto' and ‘Gravity’.

Christopher Gibson was next with a recorder solo of ‘Fish and Chips’ by Alan Bullard and then we had the wonderful Wacky Music with their amazing and colourful instruments, especially the boomwhackers, who noisily played 'Wacky Saints', much to the enjoyment of the audience.

The concert continued with Oliver Bell skilfully playing his trumpet solo, 'Prelude' by Charpentier.

Class VI beautifully and appropriately sang ‘Gonna Fly Now’ by Alfred.  They were followed by Robyn Shaw and Ella Knight whose super performance of Anderson and Ulvaeus’ moving ‘Slipping through my Fingers’ had us all on the brink of tears.

The concert concluded with a rousing performance by the Choir. Pupils sang four pieces all by Mark and Helen Johnson, ‘Taking my Time’, ‘The Losing Things Song’, ‘Hip Hip Hooray’ and ‘Leavers’ Song’.

It was another outstanding afternoon of music and song.  Our enormous thanks and congratulations go to all Crescent School's accomplished performers who took to the stage in front of their proud parents, and of course to all their teachers and Director of Music, Julie Barnes who have helped them achieve so much.

It is with great pleasure that I am able to inform you about the development of the roles and responsibilities for the children in Class VI. As you know, it is the year when the class have a responsible presence around the school and have various duties.

From September, we will still have Head Boy and Head Girl. The children who are interested in these positions will need to apply to Mr Thackway for this role in the first week of term, stating what qualities they have for this position.

There will be Team Captains appointed in each of the main sports rather than Sport Prefects. This will allow more children to have the opportunity to help lead their team alongside Mr Phillips and Mrs McCollin. These positions will be decided by the sports staff and announced during the year.

Each House is going to have extra duties and responsibilities to perform. They will work as a team, co-ordinated by their House Captain and House Teacher. Children who would like to be considered as a House Captain will need to apply to their House Teacher in the first week of term; they will prepare a brief speech to explain to their House why they should be chosen for the role. The House will then vote for their chosen Captain. This vote will be considered alongside the view of the staff.

The table below shows the responsibilities each House will have through the year, changing team each term. The House Captain will play an important part in organising the rotas for these responsibilities.

Another new initiative that will be introduced by Mrs McCollin is for each House team to be trained to be Play Leaders. Mrs McCollin will work with each House Team for one day, developing the skills needed to be a good Play Leader. She will monitor their activity and reward them accordingly. The House Team will help organise and work with younger children in the playground.

We believe all of these developments will give the children more responsibility, increased maturity and develop a range of skills that will serve them well as they move on to their Senior School.

On Tuesday 3 July, we were delighted to listen to Eden Iles from Class III playing a beautiful piece of music, Ballerina, during our whole school hymn practice.

Eden has been playing the harp for two years and has grown in confidence as she practises and continues her lessons out of school.

Mrs Barnes informed us that she is the first harpist that we have had at Crescent School and we look forward to future performances. 

Well done Eden!

On Tuesday afternoon we invited parents into school for our second Open Book Afternoon.  Parents always enjoy the school’s Open Corridor sessions when they have the chance to look at the displays but the Open Book Afternoon offers the chance to get a much deeper insight into their children’s learning.

We were delighted that so many of you were able to join us, with more than double the number of attendees than last year.  Feedback has again been good and the children were clearly delighted to show off their super work.

Thank you for your continuing support.

Ahead of England's Quarter-Final excitement, Mr Thackway held a special one-off World Cup Sticker swap club during morning break on Tuesday 3 July. 

Children gathered in the Library to trade their Panini stickers and Match Attacks with Mr Thackway and everyone did very well with their swaps. Lots of very fair deals were completed and Mr Thackway now only needs 86 for the set! 

A special shout out goes to Sam Bierton who proved to be Mr Thackway's best swap partner. Well done all! 

Friday 14 September 2018

Next term we are celebrating the Platinum Anniversary of the opening of the Crescent School. To mark the occasion we have a number of events planned.

It is important that the children are aware of the history of our school and are a part of our celebrations. So we are planning an 'off timetable' day in the second week of term on Friday 14 September where we will look at and experience social history over the past 70 years. On this day we are asking all children and staff to dress in the fashion associated with any of the decades from 1940 to the modern day. Hopefully by informing you now, you can have fun over the school holidays creating your child's outfit.

It will be lovely to see the children coming to school dressed from any of these distinctive decades.

Thursday 27 September from 10.30am to 12.30pm

Princethorpe College is holding an Open Morning on Thursday 27 September from 10.30am to 12.30pm. This is a chance to look around the school on a normal working day, prior to Entrance Examinations Day on Saturday 10 November 2018.  Year 8 and 9 pupils will act as tour guides and light refreshments will be available.

Those wishing to register for Entrance Examinations should do so by the deadline of Friday 5 October to facilitate the gathering of references from junior schools. Registration forms are available from the Registrar, Mrs Vanessa Rooney on 01926 634201 or email admissions@princethorpe.co.uk.

Entrance Examinations for Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 will take place on Saturday 10 November 2018 from 9.30am to 3.30pm. More information is available on our website, click here.

29 September 2018

As many of you know, 2018 is a big year for Crescent School. Not only will we celebrate our 70th birthday and mark the 30th anniversary since we moved to our Bawnmore Road home, it is also the year that we have launched our past pupils’ association - Old Crescentians!

To mark our Platinum Anniversary and celebrate our rich history, Crescent School is holding a series of events over the Michaelmas Term. These events will provide the opportunity for Old Crescentians (pupils, parents, staff and governors) to meet with each other, members of our current community including our new Headmaster, Joe Thackway, and to see the school today.

Our first event will be an Open House on Saturday 29 September, where we will open our doors from 2.00pm to 4.00pm and welcome the Crescent community past and present back into school to celebrate our double anniversary.

Following the afternoon’s festivities, we are holding a wonderful Dinner Dance at Princethorpe College. The perfect chance to reminisce over a delicious 3-course meal, with live music and dancing. The dress code for the evening will be black tie and equivalent for ladies.

Tickets will cost £40 per head and each person can apply for two tickets. We are keen to ensure that all members of the Crescent community have an equal chance of attending so tickets will be allocated on a lottery basis.

We would be delighted to receive your application for tickets via an online form between 10.00am Saturday 30 June and 6.00pm on Saturday 14 July. Please visit: http://bit.ly/CS_DDTickets18 to enter the lottery for tickets.

A ticket lottery will then be drawn and applicants will be notified wc Monday 16 July 2018 as to whether they have been successful or not. Notification will be made by email.

If successful, you will be requested to make full payment for the tickets by Friday 3 August 2018, this can be done by cheque or BACS payment and details will be provided. In the event of over subscription we will operate a waiting list.

Do put the date in your diary and encourage any Old Crescentians you know to get back in touch with the school and to come and join in the celebrations!

Other events we have lined up for the Michaelmas term include:

OCs Inaugural Pub Meet – The Merchants Inn – Friday 23 November from 6.30pm

A pub famed for its collection of real-ale and love of rugby, The Merchants Inn is nestled on Little Church Street in the heart of Rugby town centre. A great chance to get together in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere – all are welcome including partners/friends.

Crescent Platinum Anniversary Carol Service – The Temple Speech Rooms, Rugby School – Monday 17 December, 6.30pm

Going back to our roots, we are delighted to be holding a special Platinum Anniversary Carol Service at Rugby School in the Temple Speech Rooms close to our original Horton Crescent home. The perfect way to round off the Michaelmas term, join us for a mince pie or two and some wonderful performances by current Crescent pupils.

More information will follow about these events in the coming months.

We have created a Facebook Group, Old Crescentians, which can be found here: www.facebook.com/groups/oldcrescentians to help connect past pupils. If there are any past pupils who do not have Facebook, they can email pastpupils@crescentschool.co.uk or contact the main office on 01788 521595.

We hope you will join us for what will be a wonderful celebration of 70 years.

Friday 5 October 2018 - 10.00am to 3.00pm

The Crescent School is opening its doors for an Open Day on Friday 5 October from 10.00am to 3.00pm.

This is an opportunity to look around the school and to meet staff and pupils on a normal working day. All are welcome, no need to book.

We have a small number of places available in Class II, III and V and are accepting registrations for admission to Reception in September 2019.

If you can't make the Open Day but would like to visit the school, please call our Registrar, Mrs Helen Morley on 01788 521595 or email admissions@crescentschool.co.uk and come on a day to suit you, we welcome visitors on most days.

For more information visit http://www.crescentschool.co.uk/

Congratulations this week goes to the following children who have achieved their first Junior da Vinci student status:

• Amelia Yates in Maths
• Henry Corbin in Maths
• Issy Thompson in Art and Design  
• Jessica Sarkies in RE
• Sam Watson in English
• Shayla Panchal in English
• William Howcroft also in English

Congratulations also goes to the following children for achieving an additional Junior da Vinci Student status:

• Anton Tran in English
• Chloe Wensley in Geography
• Isaac Nelson in English
• Matthew Browne in PE and games
• Olivia Monk in History

Brilliant achievements all round.

• Alyssa Barnett
• Daniel Ovens Gibbs
• Idan Darr 

• Emily Barnwell
• Roisin Banks

Crescent took 36 children to compete in the Rugby Town Athletics Championships at The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Track on a lovely day on Friday 29 June.

The day started well with Olivia Monk taking gold in the sprint, fresh on the back of competing in the ISA National Finals. The baking sun made it a challenging day, with the 800 metres a particularly gruelling race. Oliver Bell won his heat by a large distance and got silver on his time. Amelie Edge ran bravely from the front and clung on at the end to take gold.

It was the field events where Crescent excelled, though. Oliver Bell and George Bell both showed their development by jumping well over 3 metres (Oliver almost reaching 4 metres!). It was no surprise that they both took gold.

The high jumpers were also amazing. Amelie Edge made it double gold, building on her strong previous performances, and Phoebe Causer turned last year’s silver into gold. Matthew Browne - the new record holder for the school - got silver and James Wright picked up bronze.

In the throws, Josh Gorbutt made it bronze for the second year in a row and Georgia Dowling received the silver. It was a shame that the field event finals and relay had to be cut. Gabriel White had made the final in the throw and Amelie Frere in the long jump. Lucy Bentley was unlucky to miss out on a medal following her very mature run in the 600 metres.

The children have worked hard on improving their athletic skills and all of them competed well in their events. Being a small school, we often rely on our attitude to practice in order to compete with larger schools. It is extra hard to do this in athletics due to natural athleticism counting for so much.

We are so proud of how everyone has improved. 

#littleschoolbigambitions

Another busy FoC year comes to an end, capped off with meeting our guide dog puppy Cressie in assembly on Wednesday 4 July at only 17 weeks old. She was so well behaved and it was so nice to hear that her training is going well.

Looking forward to September we have the following dates already in the calendar:

• FoC meeting - Monday 10 September
• Class VI market day - Friday 21 September
• Class V market day - Friday 12 October
• Parents' Quiz night - Friday 12 October
• FoC meeting - Monday 12 November
• Movie night - Friday 16 November
• Christmas Bazaar - Friday 7 December
• Parents' Christmas Party - Friday 14 December
• Class IV market day - Friday 14 December

Thank you to all the amazing Parents and Grandparents who help make these events so successfully.

See you all in September - have a lovely Summer.

Zara Corbin
FoC Chair

Details regarding the co-curricular clubs for next term will be sent out during the summer holidays.  We will be moving to a new online management system called SOCS which will make life easier for finding all the information in one place including sports fixtures.

Instructions for how to use SOCS and your log in details will be included with the mailing. 

Crescent School

Please see attachements below for information on out of school holiday clubs that are running over the Summer holidays.  The clubs are provided by external providers and not the Crescent School.

British Athletics Star Track

Encore Music Workshop

Fun Summer Camp

JKM Swim School

KA Kits Academy

Musicmania Summer

Netball Coaching

Rugby Cricket Coaching Company Summer Cricket Course

Rugby Cricket Club Camp 22 - 24 August

Rugby Cricket Club Camp 28 - 30 August

Wasps Netball Camp

Willoughby Cricket Club Camp