The Courier

Dear Parents

It is a clear sign that the school year is gathering pace when first our Year 6 pupils go off to what for most of them is their final entrance exam at Princethorpe College and then I start to hear Christmas tunes drifting through into my office from the first nativity rehearsals in the hall. I have spent a good deal of my time this week over at Princethorpe looking at applications for Year 7 places as part of the admissions panel over there. It is genuinely impressive how each and every application is looked at in some detail and all aspects of the child’s strengths are discussed, not just the academic. I know that lots of independent schools say they look at the whole child before making offers but this isn’t always entirely accurate. I can promise you that at Princethorpe College, it genuinely is. Whilst our Year 6s still have a nervous wait for offers to come through, at least they now know they have gone out there and done their best. There is nothing more they can do and now is the time to settle back down into the comforting routines of school.

Tonight, after our own movie night, I will be at the Princethorpe annual prize-giving event, something many of our current pupils will be aspiring to attend in a few years’ time.

Earlier in the week Mrs Forth and I attended a fascinating professional development training course on improving outcomes for the children in our school. We discussed a lot of key areas and in particular the importance of having clear success criteria for the lessons that we teach and enabling the children to work and learn collaboratively. There is well tested evidence to show that this is significantly the most effective way to learn, when pupils are fully engaged and actively involved in the process with the ability to influence the learning, as opposed to being the passive recipient of the teacher’s wisdom. The importance of teacher feedback, both verbal and written, was also strongly emphasised. These messages fit in well with the whole school aim this year to provide a broad and engaging curriculum and we will be sharing what we gained with the rest of the staff in professional development sessions in due course.

I’d like to wish our footballers good luck in the ESFA tournament at the weekend and thank our sports staff for the extra time they willingly give up to staff and coach our children at these important events.

Whatever you have planned for the weekend, I hope you find the time for some well-earned rest. I think I might need to do exactly that myself!

Best wishes

Joe Thackway

For a two or three week period this year we will be focusing on one of the sayings in the new School Promise. We will talk about this in assembly and in form period.

This week we are back to the category of Good Friends and the idea of forgiveness and working things out. We all know that children don’t always get things right in their friendships and this can end up in upset and worry. Being able to say ‘sorry’ and ‘that’s okay’ can make all the difference.

Please support this message at home with your children

‘We forgive each other and work things out together’

Please click on the link below to view the weekly calendar.  This details all the co-curricular clubs running, fixtures and additional information.

Times Table Challenge has moved to a Wednesday morning from 08.15am - 08.45am.  This is a drop in session for children in Classes II - VI and will take place in the Library.

There is no senior drama club on Thursday and no Jewellery club on Friday.

Weekly Calendar 19 November 2018

Crescent School

Well done to Kyle in Class VI who has been appointed as captain of the rugby team for the year. Kyle’s appointment was announced in our Good News assembly.

A round up of the other sports captains will be in next week's Courier.

Children from Crackley Hall School and Crescent School had a fantastic, full day of uplifting and inspiring singing when they took part in a joint Foundation Junior School choral workshop.  The pupils from both school choirs worked together under the guidance of Directors of Music, Susan Olden and Julie Barnes, to prepare and rehearse a mix of joint and individual choral and solo pieces ready for an afternoon concert for parents.

Mrs Olden and Mrs Barnes both agreed that the joint musical initiative had been another very successful day, remarking that, “Everyone has really enjoyed themselves and we have all learnt from each other.”

The concert opened with an uplifting performance of Why We Sing, the voices of the 60 plus children blending together beautifully, echoing touchingly around Crackley’s school hall.  Both schools individually showcased their choral skills, with Crescent School singing The Harvest of Love and Since You’ve Been Gone and Crackley Hall The Poppy Red and Hold Back The River.   The audience was also treated to incredible, individual solos from Mia Webb on flute, Lily Emery who sang The Dormouse’s Carol, Andrea Zanyi who performed Ring Of Keys and Isabella Osborne who belted out Why Am I Always The Bridesmaid.  During the concert the choirs performed a variety of pieces together; they included Sanctus, Touch The Sky, A Little Can Change Our World, We Are The World and the always popular Viva La Vida.

Julie Barnes, Director of Music at the Crescent School, continued, “The children have clearly enjoyed working together.  Last year’s workshop went well, but this one has been even better.”

Susan Olden, Director of Music at Crackley Hall, added, “We have some real talent in our schools and we very much want to inspire them with their singing.”

The choral workshop is to be followed by a return visit next term when Crackley Hall will travel to Bilton, Rugby for an orchestral workshop with the Crescent School.

The shared workshops are just one of the many performance opportunities that the children have.

Crescent School is very proud of our past and present brass players who played such important roles in local remembrance services last weekend.

We pictured Henry Corbin and Matthew Thomas as the Courier’s lead photo last week.  Between them the boys played the Last Post at four remembrance services over the weekend.

Past pupil and Head Boy, Christopher Gibson also sounded the Last Post at Offchurch in the morning and, as part of a national event, was one of 1,000 buglers across the country, when he sounded the Last Post at 18.55pm at the commemorations at Warwick Castle in the evening.

Please click here to see a video of Christopher playing.

Crescent School

The following children received Certificates of Excellence from the Playground Supervisors in Assembly this morning:

• Phoebe for tidying away playground equipment
• Rania always being helpful tidying away playground equipment

Well done to you.

Milk is now going to be given out to the children (who have signed up for milk) at lunchtime for all the classes except Reception, who will continue to have the milk in their classroom with Mrs Pullen and Mrs Noyce.

While in the lunch hall, the Year 6 Milk Monitors will take it to each child, so they can enjoy it with their lunch. This will help with litter in the playground and reduce lesson disruption. As your child will no longer be getting their milk at break-time, you may wish to send in a drink bottle with water so your child has access to a drink through the morning.

Thank you for your support on this matter.

Win an iPad, £500 worth of books for your school and some tasty smoothies!

The Happy Monkey is trying to write some new smoothie recipes, but he can’t help but monkey around. Rather than fruit, his new recipes include jokebooks, daydreams and cheese!

Could you come up with a sillier recipe? Draw a picture of your smoothie or write your very own recipe – the funnier, the better! If we think your idea is totally bananas you’ll win your own iPad, £500 worth of books for your school and a selection of Happy Monkey smoothies for you and your friends!

This competition is for imaginations only – don’t try to make your ‘silly smoothie’ in real life!

Download the entry form here.

Please send your entries to: 
Happy Monkey Competition 
Scholastic Book Fairs 
Euston House 
24 Eversholt Street 
London 
NW1 1DB

Please include your name, address, school and phone number.

This competition closes on 31 December 2018.

Tuesday 20 November 2018 - 7.00pm to 8.00pm

The Crescent School is holding a dedicated Reception Open Evening on Tuesday 20 November from 7.00pm to 8.00pm.

The evening is aimed at giving parents an insight into the Early Years at Crescent and the firm foundation the school gives children for their future learning. The Crescent's partner on site day nursery, Pathfinders, which has been rated ‘outstanding’ by OFSTED, will also be open on the evening should you wish to visit. 

There is no need to book and light refreshments will be available. All are welcome, so please do help spread the word.

If you can't make the Open Evening but would like to visit the school, please call our Registrar, Mrs Helen Morley, on 01788 523851 and come to see the school on a day to suit you, we welcome visitors on most days.

For more information visit www.crescentschool.co.uk.

Friday 23 November 2018 - The Merchants Inn

Join us for the Old Crescentians inaugural pub meet at the Merchants Inn on Friday 23 November as part of the school’s 70th Anniversary celebrations.

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.

The OCs Commitee will be laying on a delicious buffet, so do let us know by emailing pastpupils@crescentschool.co.uk by Wednesday 21 November, if you are able to attend so we can cater for you.

This is a great chance to get together in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere – all are welcome including partners and friends. 

Monday 26 November to Wednesday 28 November - 3.00pm to 5.00pm

The Book Fair will be in school soon, with hundreds of new children’s books to browse and buy.

When: Monday 26 November - Wednesday 28 November
From: 3.30pm - 5.00pm
Venue: In the Library and corridor area

There are over 200 titles for you and your child to choose from, and with prices starting from only £2.99, there’s sure to be a book for everyone.

If you can’t make it to our Book Fair, try our discounted Gift Vouchers available at www.bookfairs.scholastic.co.uk/parents. They’re a great way to ensure your child doesn’t miss out.

Don’t forget that every book you buy can help to get free books for our school library! 

Tuesday 27 November 2018 - 7.00pm to 8.30pm

Dear Parents

Our children live in the Internet Age. They love to use technology and play the latest games. However, it is not always easy for parents and carers to understand what they are doing and how we can help to do the right things to keep them out of danger.

On Tuesday 27 November, the school will be having a Special Internet Safety Day where the children will learn about going online and how to keep safe. It is important that parents are also involved so they are able to help their children when they are at home.

We would like to invite you to a special talk by Paul Hay who is a specialist in Internet Safety. He will tell you:

• How young people use the Internet
• Show how children use programs such as Moshi Monsters, Minecraft, Roblox, Instagram and
  SnapChat
• Describe how information young people post can be misused by people who are not their friends
• Explain what you, as parents, can do to help keep them safe

Above all it will give you as parents and carers the confidence to help your child get the most benefit and enjoyment from the internet while keeping safe.

Topics will be discussed in language we as parents understand, no technical or computer knowledge is required or expected.

If you would like to book a space on this session please click on the consent button in the Evolve message which was sent out on Friday 12 October.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

Friday 30 November 2018

Children will be decorating the school for Christmas on Friday 30 November 2018.  They are able to wear a festive accessory with their school uniform such as a Christmas hat, hair accessory or tinsel.

It is a day the children look forward to every year and you will be able to see see their work during 'open corridors' in December.

Crescent School

Friday 14 December 2018

Our Christmas Jumper Day this year will be on Friday 14 December. On that day, children should wear normal school uniform, but instead of their green pullover/cardigan, they can wear a Christmas jumper.

Please bring in £1 for our charity of the term, The Air Ambulance.

Mrs Monteith

• Alex Mulhall
• Jasper Evans 

Jay Patil is our next proud owner of a 500,000 word badge.

I am delighted to announce that we have our first Junior da Vinci student of the year.  Huge congratulations to Izzy Slaytor in Class VF, who has achieved a mastery, practice and creativity in English.

A fantastic achievement.

Over the last two weeks we have been looking at celebrations of light.  In English, we wrote some super bonfire night poems using exciting adjectives to describe what we could hear, see, smell, taste and touch.

In RE, the children have been learning about the importance of light in Diwali celebrations. We made and decorated our own diva lamps to help us retell the story of Rama and Sita.

The pictures attached show their creativity.

Children in Class I are beginning their DT project about Vehicles.  They have explored, through play, different toy vehicles and can find similarities and differences.  They have then been able to sketch and label their favourite toy vehicle.

Class II children continued their learning around the properties and uses of materials with a real life investigation into which fabric would make the sturdiest pair of dungarees for a toddler.  We predicted then tested resilience against the playground floor, recorded our results and shared/agreed conclusions.

It has been a varied week for Class III.  We began our new Design Technology project following the design process to create fantastic Christmas hats. Look out for future photos as we plan to arrange a hat parade at the end of term! 

In Maths we have been using our times table knowledge to help us find fractions of a number and of objects.  We divided up chocolate bars to reinforce our learning!

In English we have been continuing stories through planning a drama and today we wrote up our stories of when a baby dragon was found. Very busy, very engaging and fun!

With many of Year 5 out at Crackley Hall for the Choral day, Class VF and VY were amalgamated to enjoy an ICT based maths problem solving lesson. They had to plan their own school fundraising tombola.

Using their knowledge of factors they had to choose the number of winning tickets they required and the total amount to spend on the prizes. We had a profit making scoreboard which was topped by our two new pupils, Holly and Zebedee.

Well done to both.

Year 5 have been learning about life in Ancient Egypt and this week, Class VY were tasked with finding the answer to 'Was it really the slaves who built the Pyramids?' After watching a clip from Prince of Egypt showing slaves building the pyramids, the children had to consider a range of evidence both supporting and contrasting this view. Their skills of enquiry and acceptance of others' opinions was tested as they had to work in pairs to place themselves on a line of certainty in answer to the question. 

This weekend, see if they can explain their reasoning to you.

In Class VF, we have begun to focus on multiplication and division. We started with mental skills that can extend from times and dividing table facts. Pupils combined them with the skill of using decimals and multiples of 10s and 100s too to produce a calculation web. So using 4x6=24, the pupils realise that 0.6x400=240, mentally. 

How many of you have read books by Philip Pullman?

Class VI have been reading Clockwork and Northern lights, looking at the style, the use of language and character development. As part of their work they have been recognising there are different styles of writing; so the children this week have broken Clockwork into chunks and have either created a play-script or a graphic novel page. Both require different skills but attention to the finer details to move the story forward.

Class VI are researching, designing and making wonderful clocks in their DT lessons this week.  You can see their work in the attached photos.

This term a few children from Years 5 and 6 have joined me on a Tuesday morning before school for Philosophy Club. It's a great way to start the day.

I want to get children talking, articulating values and discussing things that matter (and do not matter) through group discussion, individual opinions and games but most importantly, of course, always listening and valuing what others have to say, even if they do not agree.

It is a time where differences are welcomed and explored.  The discussions are varied, sometimes heated but they always bring a smile to our faces.

As a reward for their commitment to extra-curricular sport a group of Year 5 girls were treated to a morning of fun and games at the Ricoh Arena.  The girls were put through their paces by Tamsin Greenway, England Netball Player and Director of Coaching at Wasps, alongside other Wasps and England Netball coaches and strength and conditioning coaches from Warwick University.   The girls were able to take part in a number of different sessions looking at shooting, movement on court, strength, agility and balance as well as being treated to a tour of the players only area, changing rooms, physio treatment rooms and warm up area before a game. 

The day was inspirational for the girls and hopefully a great way to get them ignited and ready for their up and coming netball season after Christmas. 

Thank you to everyone who purchased Christmas cards, mugs, gift tags and coasters from us.  The FoC have raised over £300 which we will be putting towards some new glockenspiels for the music department.

The FoC will again be filming both the Nursery and Reception Nativity and Classes I and II Nativity dress rehearsals.

You are able to purchase a DVD for £13 per DVD. Please fill out the form sent home with your child and return it by Wednesday 5 December with payment either by cash or cheque (cheques should be made payable to Friends of Crescent). Please place in the green FoC Post Box.

Friday 7 December 2018 - 3.45pm to 6.00pm

This year our annual Christmas Bazaar will include a raffle, tombola, teddy stall, numerous games (all for 50p to allow your child to fill up their card with 10 stamps from which they can then choose 3 prizes from the prizes stall), craft activities of crazy sand, Christmas decorations and decorate your own Christmas decorations plus the usual refreshment stall, candy floss, face painting, nail painting and of course a visit from Father Christmas.

If you would like your child to visit Father Christmas please fill in the form sent home with your child today. We will then allocate a time (this will be on a first come first served basis) and will publish the time slots to you in advance of the Christmas Bazaar. 

We also require donations for our raffle stall, tombola stall and teddies for our adopt a Teddy stall. For the raffle stall donations of wine, chocolates, board games, new DVD's, craft kits, gift sets would be fantastic. For the tombola we require small children's items like pens, games, mini lego sets, toys, crafts items, sweets etc.

Please leave your items on the FoC table. Thank you so much for your support we really appreciate it. 

Friday 14 December 2018 - 3.45pm to 4.45pm

Please come along and support us by buying cakes and sweets, all priced at 50p each. All the money raised at these market day events goes towards buying toys, crafts and stationery for privilege time for the Class.

Friday 14 December - 7.30pm

Unfortunately we have had to make the decision to move the Parents' Christmas party due to other events that are taking place on that evening. We have decided to move it to June and rename it a 'Crescent Cocktails and Canapes party' to celebrate the end of the school year. We will be publishing the date for this soon so we are able to get it into your diary now. 

Ms Forth is collecting Walkers Crisps packets for Christmas Art Day on 30 November.  Please can you send into school empty, rinsed packets and if possible the multipack bag.  Any flavour will do.

Many thanks

Crescent School

Please click on the link below to view next week's lunch menu: 

Lunch menu - 19 November

Crescent School Office

Please see below for useful school contact information:

Please find below term dates for this academic year and next:

2018/19

Michaelmas Term
Term starts Monday 03 September 2018
Half Term Saturday 20 October to Sunday 04 November 2018
Term ends Tuesday 18 December 2018

Lent Term
Term starts Monday 7 January 2019
Half Term Saturday 16 February to Sunday 24 February 2019
Term ends Wednesday 10 April 2019

Trinity Term
Term starts Monday 29 April 2019
Half Term Saturday 25 May to Sunday 2 June 2019
Term ends Wednesday 3 July 2019

2019/20

Reporting to the Foundation Estates Manager, we are seeking to appoint an Electrician to maintain and service all electrical engineering plant and equipment on Princethorpe College, Crackley Hall and Crescent School sites. They will carry out technical duties in the college theatre and assist in the supervision of electrical contractors. A flexible and pro-active attitude to duties and additional working hours will be required.

The successful candidate should have an appreciation of the priorities of a school environment and have the ability to appropriately interact with pupils of all ages, especially when providing technical support in the Theatre.

This role is working 40 hours a week, on a 7 days’ contract. The working pattern will include evenings and occasional weekends on a flexible basis, according to the needs of the school, with core hours Monday to Friday.

The salary for this role is £25,000 to £32,000 (full-time equivalent) – depending on experience.

This is an excellent opportunity to join a fast growing foundation that values their staff and offers a rewarding benefits package including discounted places for staff, a pension scheme, child care vouchers and a cycle to work scheme.

Application: To apply for this vacancy applicants must submit a Princethorpe College application form, together with a CV and covering letter detailing suitability for the role.  Applicants must ensure the application form is fully completed, including a detailed career history with specific dates.

Closing date: Monday 26 November 2018 at 9am, and interviews are likely to be held on Friday 30 November 2018.

Further details are available from the School website www.princethorpe.co.uk/employment opportunities

Please click on the link below to read all about what the Reception Class have been learning this week.

Reception Round Up