The Courier

Dear Parents

I enjoyed an excellent meeting earlier this week with the Friends of Crescent, looking back at some of our events this year and putting plans in place for the future. We are very fortunate to have such a wonderful group of hard working and well organised parents working behind the scenes to raise money both for charity and projects within school that will benefit all or most of the children here. Earlier this term, Mrs Causer from the FoC joined our School Council meeting to discuss a range of subjects including our plans for future charity fundraising. There are some great opportunities for developing this partnership in the future which will have the significant added benefit of improving the children’s sense of ownership and ensure that the pupil voice is being heard in a range of contexts.

One thing we talked about was the possible purchase of a bike and scooter shelter for the school. This was something that was mentioned by three different respondents in the recent parental questionnaire. Having got the go ahead from the committee I will look into the practicalities of this with Pete Wilkes, who heads up the Estates team here.

This all fits in well with our School Promise theme for the week gone by. We were focusing on being Good Citizens and in particular thinking about showing respect and tolerance for other faiths and cultural traditions. Our assembly on Tuesday focused on the life and achievements of Martin Luther King where we reflected on his great personal courage and the legacy of equality and peaceful protest he left behind. Thank you and well done to Year 6 pupils Sam, Rebecca and Mehul, who read with such clarity and confidence in the assembly.

The freezing temperatures on Wednesday denied us our usual midweek sporting action. This was a hard one to call for our home netball fixture but there were sizeable icy patches on the courts where the sun at this time of year doesn’t quite reach. Inevitably, and rightly, we have to err on the side of caution when making these decisions. We will do all we can to rearrange these matches, given the restrictions of the calendar. Luckily a slight improvement in the weather meant the U9 games on Thursday were able to go ahead as planned.

As you receive this newsletter many of you will be looking round at the open corridors at school and getting yourself up to date with all of the excellent work that the children have been producing in the term so far. I hope that you are as impressed with what they do as I am when they bring me their work to show me in my office.

Have a great weekend everyone.

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. It would be great if you could discuss this with your children at home and support the messages we are emphasising in school.

This week’s promise is in the category of Good Friends. In my assembly next week I will be telling the children about the life of St Kevin of Glendalough and his love of animals. Please feel free to look him up and share his message of gentleness with your children over the weekend:

‘We are gentle and caring’

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

Please note there are no Drama Co-Curricular Clubs running this week as it is the LAMDA Showcase for Parents.  An invite has been sent to those children who are involved in the showcases.

Weekly Calendar - 280119

Crescent School

Congratulations to Chloe, George and Tegan whose artwork was added to the School Art Gallery this week.  Their certificates were awarded in Assembly this morning.

Mrs Byrne
Art Teacher

The following children's work has been selected to be in the Exhibition of Young Artists at Warwick School. 

• Class III - Faris and Liana for their wonderful art in the style of Lowry
• Class V - Ariana and Rania for their colourful 3D Braque style musical instrument
• Class VI - Tilly for her super landscape print

Very well done to all these artistic children who have all been invited to the official opening of the exhibition on Saturday 2 February.

Invites have been given out but please contact Mrs Byrne for any questions.

Some of Crescent's pupils were among 80 young singers from local primary schools that enjoyed a super day of singing when they attended Princethorpe's Choral Fun Day. 

The Year 5 and 6 pupils tackled a variety of choral pieces from popular favourites such as Katie Perry’s Roar, classics such as Abba’s I Have A Dream and The Beatles’ Nowhere Man, traditional works such as Joshua Fought The Battle Of Jericho and The Sally Gardens, to the wonderfully corny hit Everything Is Awesome from the LEGO movie.

As well as rehearsing furiously, the visiting children took part in a musical team scavenger hunt and enjoyed lunch in the Refectory.

The day culminated in an impressive gala performance of their newly learnt pieces in front of an enthusiastic capacity audience of family and friends in the College's newly refurbished Clarkson theatre, followed by afternoon tea for all.

Commenting on the day, Princethorpe's Director of Music, Gil Cowlishaw said, "We were really impressed by the children. They achieved such a lot in just a few hours, learning six songs and then taking to the stage to perform is no mean feat, well done to them all!”

Paul Hay's excellent presentation last week has given children, staff and parents plenty of food for thought regarding all of our online habits and usage.  There are plenty of high quality articles out there which promote family agreement and healthy conversation about how we all balance this part of our lives ongoing.

I will provide links to different aspects every few weeks via The Courier which I hope you will all find useful.

https://www.childnet.com/parents-and-carers/hot-topics/screen-time-boundaries

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

• Jasper for encouraging other children to play new games this week
• Kyla-Mae for always being a good role model in the playground

Well done to you.

Wednesday 6 February 2019 - 4.00pm to 4.30pm

Parents are invited to join us for an information session where the Pre-Prep staff will guide you through how they teach children to read in school: explaining the different strategies, sharing good practice and suggesting some ideas to be used at home

This will be held in the Hall from 4.00pm for 30 minutes on Wednesday 6 February 2019. We can accommodate your children in After School but would appreciate it if this is used if you can find no alternatives as I am sure you can imagine this could have a strain our staffing.  This must be booked in advance to ensure correct staffing ratios.

Please confirm your attendance through the Evolve message sent out.

We look forward to welcoming you.

This week we have a had a flurry of Junior da Vinci students coming through.  Congratulations to the following pupils for achieving mastery, practice and creativity in their subjects:

• Vignesh for English
• Olivia M for Geography
• Liana for English
• Katherine for English
• Charlotte for English
• Alex T for English

What a super achivement by them all.

A big well done goes to Drew for reading 500,000 words so far this week and to Matthew who has become a millionaire.

Keep reading everyone.

• Freddie
• Maximillion
• Patrick 

As well as our physical health, we have been talking to the children about their mental health and, in more child friendly terms, ways to make ourselves feel calm and happy.

The children found a space in the classroom, got comfy and took part in a mindfulness session where they were taught how to relax different parts of their body before being taken on a magical adventure to a secret tree house. They learned that whenever they feel worried, they can just close their eyes and go back to this safe and calm place.

All children took part beautifully and we only had three that were asleep by the end of it! 

Mrs Emery
Class I Teacher

Our learning in RE this half term sees an introduction to the Muslim faith. By combining RE with drama, art and maths, the children are able to build a fuller picture of the topic and broaden their learning.

We have talked about the properties of shape and practised creating and following patterns for maths; understood the origins of Islamic art and developed our creativity and tessellation skills; and learned about the Prophet Mohammed and used drama to re-tell some of his famous stories. Some great learning has taken place.

Class I have been working with tangrams in Art lessons this week, making fabulous patterns and pictures.

Class II have embarked on an incredible journey exploring where rain forests are in the world and we have started by learning about the difference between climate and weather. In pairs children were given a different country and discovered what the climate is like and how it differs to the UK. To demonstrate their understanding, they presented weather forecasts as if they were on the news!

Year 2 children were investigative and practical in meeting the challenge of making the bulb light up in their Science lesson.  Some extended this by adding further equipment to brighten the bulb.  We went on to represent our working circuits with accurate drawings.

How many ways could you sort a pack of cards or a set of dominoes?  The children used colours, suits and numbers but there are many other ways.

By doing this the children are recognising that other people may have a strategy that they may have not thought of. They have to learn to explain their thinking, listen to others and strive to think in a creative way.

What answers would you have come up with?

Ms Lowe
Senior Teacher

Class III have been considering God as Creator in RE this week and to represent the biblical view of creation, the children have begun a new display to show their understanding. It won't be finished for Open Corridors on Friday, but we will have it up for you to see very soon!

After discovering the fate of Daedalus and Icarus, we have embarked on writing our own myths this week. We have included a problem and resolution, designed mythical creatures and decided if special objects will help our heroes succeed.

Mr Thackway was delighted to award Junior da Vincis for creativity as well as mastery to Faris, James, Charlotte, Evie, Liana, Stephanie and Katherine. Mrs Lowe came to see our display and read through some of the ideas and said, 'It was a pleasure to see the excellent myths Year 3 have written. The use of language was phenomenal! I cannot wait to teach them further up the school".

Class IV began making their felts this week using the 'wet process'. They started with wool and teased it to make base layers and decorated it with Kandinsky circles/shapes on the top.  The wet process is where they wet the felt, add soap flakes and bubble wrap it and then squeeze it in order for the wool to bind to become felt!

Class IV have really grown in confidence with their verbal and non-verbal reasoning skills since starting thinking skills lessons in September.

The children are focusing on developing their vocabulary; each lesson they are given a new word to look up in the dictionary, write in a sentence and find a range of synonyms and antonyms for the word. 

We have been exploring how and why believers pray across different religions, and as part of this we have reflected on what we might pray for and for whom. Class IV designed Prayer Flowers which when made, open up slowly on water to display their writing. A fascinating and reflective time for us all!

Do you know your prime numbers from your square numbers? Your digital roots from your square roots? Year 5 have been learning about these and how to use divisibility rules to classify numbers. 

Class VY have been comparing the bounce of different balls in their Science lessons this week.

As part of Class VI's study of local Victorians, we visited St Mark's churchyard on Tuesday. Armed with clip boards and record sheets, the investigative historians looked at the headstones to find people who had died during the Victorian era. They recorded the years and ages of death as well as popular names of the time. The children were shocked to find some very young children's graves which provoked discussion about living conditions and life for Victorians.  

Crescent played in the Foremarke Hall Tournament for the second year last Saturday, going in as defending champions. The standard of hockey was high, with the area’s top club sides playing in the event, alongside the schools, so Crescent knew they needed to be at their best.

In the first match, Crescent played Belper Hockey Club and moved the ball around well. Isaac scored early on and then the team held on for the win. Sutton Coldfield HC and Foremarke Hall A proved to be tougher matches but Crescent held their own and had good chances to score. Sachin made some super saves at the other end in his first match as goalkeeper.

In the end, Crescent narrowly lost out 0-1 and 1-2 respectively. Joshua’s goal in the Foremarke match was a superbly worked team goal. A draw in the last saw Crescent finish in third place overall and they received the bronze medals.

I am pleased to announce that Nick Brosnan will be taking over as the new treasurer of the FoC. Emma, unfortunately due to work commitments, has had to step down from this role and we thank her hugely for the great work she has undertaken over the last two years. Emma will continue as the FoC representative for Year 5. 

Friday 15 February 2019 - 3.45pm to 4.45pm

Please come along and purchase cakes and sweets from Class III. All money raised will go towards crafts, games and toys for their class.

Friday 8 February 2019 - 5.00pm to 6.30pm

The movie for this event will be Hotel Transylvania 3. The movie will cost £5 per child (£3 for all Reception children as they have to be accompanied by a parent or carer) and this will include the movie plus a drink and snacks.

If you would like your child to attend this please put their name down in the book on the FoC table and include your phone number, child's name and year.

The movie will start at 5.00pm so please drop your child off at the front entrance then. The movie will finish around 6.30pm and we will dismiss all the children from the usual side entrance. You can either pay on the evening or place the money inside an envelope clearly marked with your child's name and movie night. You can pay by cash or cheque (payable to Friends of Crescent).

If you would like your child to go into after school before the movie please place their name down on the usual after school sheet and request tea (if you would like them to eat before the movie) and we will ensure that they eat tea prior to the film starting.

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

Crescent Menu -280119.pdf

Crescent School Office

Please see below for useful school contact information:

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

2018/19

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

2019/20

Please see attachments below for information regarding school holiday clubs that are running over the February Half Term. 

The clubs are provided by external providers and not the Crescent School.

 Onside Coaching

The following items are stocked in the School Office and can be added to your account:

• Winter hats
• Scarfs
• Gloves
• Ties
• Swimming hats
• Sports socks
• Hair bands
• Hair scrunchies
• Hair clips
• Sun hats
• Music group badges - Choir, Orchestra, String, Brass and Wind

Please do pop in if you need any of the above items.

Crescent School Office

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. We will also welcome part time and job share applications for this post.

The salary for this role is £28,000 to £35,000 (full-time equivalent) – depending on experience.

This is an excellent opportunity to join the 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 4 February 2019 at 9am, and interviews are likely to be held on Thursday 7 February 2019.

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