The Courier

Dear Parents

With only one week to go now until half term we seem to have turned a corner from a weather point of view although with the winds of the last couple of days we have had quite a lot of small twigs coming down off the trees around the site to keep us on our toes. We have also had the ground staff over preparing the beds and borders for the spring and the front of school is already looking much refreshed. We have plans to put up a storage shed for the grounds team on site which will make it easier for them to store and access their tools which will make life easier for them to stay on top of the grounds work going forward.

It has been a great week for the school on the sports field. I mentioned in the last Courier about the logistical difficulties of getting our teams out to various fixtures, tournaments and galas during the week but I am delighted to report that all worked out well and we have enjoyed considerable success. You will be able to read more details in the sports section of today’s newsletter but I would like to say an enormous well done to everybody involved. I was able to get over to Rugby School to watch the under 11 hockey team qualify for the national IAPS finals for the third year in succession. Considering that the team was made up of mostly Year 5 boys this represents a tremendous achievement, as well as boding well for the future. After a career teaching team sports in a range of schools I know just how difficult it is, even with a good crop of players, to achieve this kind of success, and to do it year in year in a small school like ours makes it even more remarkable.

Another highlight this week was the session put on by the pre-prep staff to share our strategies for promoting and nurturing reading with our younger children. I know this was very well received by those parents who attended. The home-school partnership is absolutely key to success in education across the board and this is particularly true in the primary age range. Many thanks to all of the parents who came along to support this important initiative.  

This weekend I will be off with my family to visit my eldest son who is at university in Nottingham and celebrate his birthday with him. On Sunday we will be back on the touchline watching our youngest playing football for his local league team. Whatever you have planned for the weekend I hope you are able to spend some quality time with your own wonderful children.

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 our Promise Assembly the children learnt about the life of St Kevin of Glendalough and his love of animals. The story of St Kevin and the blackbird was a lovely example of the qualities of gentleness that we are promoting.

‘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 the following clubs are not running next week:

• Philosophy
• FROG
• Senior Drama  

Weekly Calendar 110219

Crescent School

Thank you to all of you that made it to this information session. From the feedback we received, we know you found it worthwhile so we plan to repeat it next year. What I found most satisfying, as Head of English, is the time and dedication that the staff and yourselves put in to create life long readers and lovers of books. As I said on Wednesday, all the hard work that is done in Pre-Prep creates the strong foundations from which the reading continues to grow in the upper school and that is why we have so many children exceeding expectation in their reading.

All the paperwork that was shared last night will be sent home to those of you unable to make the session by the end of next week.

Congratulations goes to the following children, who have been chosen this week by their classmates to be on the School Council.  They received their School Council badges in assembly on Friday: 

• Class I - Shayla and Alex 
• Class II - Ava and Alex 
• Class III - Stephanie and Rohan
• Class IV - Amelia and Ollie
• Class VF - Sienna and George
• Class VY - Amelie and Archie

A certificate was given to each member of the outgoing council to thank them for their hard work.

Well done to all.

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

• Bella for keeping our playground tidy this week
• Caitlyn for becoming more active with other children in the playground

Well done to you.

During our Online Safety Day, a few weeks ago, children, staff and parents were made aware that educating our online behaviours and understanding potential pitfalls together can be significantly safer over time than strict prevention.  However, while our children are still so young it is vital that, alongside this, we as adults do all we can to protect them from age inappropriate online material.  As such, I today attach useful guidelines as to how we can effectively apply parental controls across devices.

https://www.childnet.com/resources/parental-controls

On Friday 1 February, the parents and friends of Classes III and IV were treated to a wonderful hour's entertainment of poetry performances. From the 'Big Fat Budgie' to 'This Tooth' the children relished performing to an audience, who were all impressed by the children's ability and confidence. 

The showcase was a super opportunity for the children to execute their much practised and perfected poems, ahead of their examinations. 

We would like to thank Miss Thompson for all her efforts in preparing the children so well and for affording them the benefit of her talent and experience.

Crescent School

Just a quick reminder there will now be no Philosophy Club until after half-term, as per the original letter.

We have had a great half-term so far and the children make me smile with their fantastic ideas.

This fantastic competition is open again for 2019, it is a super opportunity for children to showcase their writing talents. 

Any child over age 5 can enter a story of up to 500 words before the deadline of Friday 8 March 2019.  Your child can write a story at home or even use a story written in school.

Please let me know if your child enters the competition, it is an additional opportunity for me to praise them for extra effort.

For further information on how to enter please follow the link:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00rfvk1

Good luck everybody.

Work is well underway on an exciting, new Foundation website which is due to launch this spring.

The new site has been carefully designed as five websites in one to perfectly showcase the Foundation and its four schools - Princethorpe College, Crescent School, Crackley Hall School and Little Crackers Nursery.

Melanie Butler, Assistant Head – Marketing, Admissions and Communications, comments, “This has been a major project, which we hope will be well received by the Foundation community and prospective families. It will look better, work faster and be easier to use than our current sites. We can’t wait to share it with everybody!”

The project has been carried out in partnership with website company, e4education.

Keep an eye on the Foundation social media platforms for previews of the site and news of the launch date.

The Foundation is holding a special memorial service to celebrate the life of Mary O'Farrell, the Foundation's much loved former Chair of Trustees, on Friday 29 March 2019 at 6.00pm in the Princethorpe College Chapel.

Mary joined the Foundation’s Governing Body in 2000 and held the role of Chair of Trustees for eight years until 2016, continuing to serve as trustee until her death. A former primary Headteacher with many years’ experience, Mary played an integral part in the Foundation's growing success, overseeing the merger with Abbotsford in 2010 and with the Crescent in 2016.

Comments Ed Hester, Head of the Foundation "Mary very sadly died in September last year and is sorely missed by us all. She was a remarkable woman in so many ways and with her passing the Foundation lost a true and valued friend. She was an exceptional Chair of Trustees, known for her wise counsel, collaborative approach and sense of humour, all of which she brought to bear in her role. She had an implicit understanding of education, teaching and learning, and this combined with her unique personal touch with fellow trustees, staff and children, had an immeasurable impact on the Foundation over the years.

He continues, "We hope this Memorial Service, which we have organised with her husband John, will give the many people whose lives she touched a chance to come together and celebrate her wonderful life."

The service will be followed by refreshments in the Sixth Form Centre. All are most welcome.

If you would like to attend the Memorial Service please click here to RSVP by Friday 15 March.

Thursday 14 March 2019 - 7.30pm

Foundation parents, staff, past pupils and friends are all cordially invited to attend Princethorpe - A Vision For The Future, a presentation by Ed Hester, Head of the Foundation in the College's Clarkson theatre.

The presentation will outline the Foundation's vision for the next five to ten years, and provide more detailed information on the College's new Science Building and campus improvements, including an interactive walk through of the Science facility.  Mr Hester will also feedback highlights from the College's parental questionnaire, unveil the Foundation's new website and outline plans for a new, improved Foundation parent portal.

Refreshments will be served after the presentation in the Sixth Form Centre.

The event is aimed at adults, although pupils are welcome to attend if accompanied by an adult.

Please click on this link to let us know if you would like to attend by Monday 4 March 2019.

Thursday 7 February - Saturday 9 February 
Clarkson Theatre, Princethorpe College

It's funny how love can grow!

Princethorpe College is gearing up for this year’s musical theatre production, Little Shop of Horrors.

Skid Row florist’s clerk Seymour Krelborn is too shy to declare his love for his co-worker Audrey – until a mysterious exotic plant brings him unexpected fame and fortune. There’s just one problem: the plant has ambitions of its own, and it thrives on only one food – human blood.

Awesome props, a tender love story and a fabulous sixties-style score all combine to make this deliciously campy sci-fi spoof a “monster” hit. 

There are still tickets available for tonight's performance (Friday 8 February - 7.00pm), the Saturday matinee is now fully booked, and just a few tickets remain for the Saturday evening performance (Saturday 9 February – 7.00pm). Tickets will be allocated on a first come, first served basis to those who have not pre-booked and the cost will be added to next term's bill. All performances take place in the Clarkson theatre.

Gil Cowlishaw
Director of Music

Friday 15 February 2019

We will be holding a non-uniform day on Friday 15 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 teacher in registration.

Thank you

Mrs Monteith & Mrs Stapleton
Class VI and III Form Teachers

Monday 25 February to Friday 1 March - 8.15am to 8.40am

During week commencing Monday 25 February parents are invited to come in to school from 8.15am to 8.40am to watch and support their child(ren) in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 while they quiz on their reading books.

The quiz platform is not available at home so it is a super opportunity for parents to share the experience.

Half-term is a great time for your child to complete reading a book and give you an extra excuse to see your child at work.

We look forward to welcoming you.

We have had a good mixture of subjects where pupils have achieved Junior da Vinci student awards:

• Maisie for English
• Alyssa for Science
• Chloe for English and RE
• Sam for Maths 
• Holly for RE

Congratulations everybody!

Ms Lowe
Senior Teacher

• Alex B
• Akaal
• Bella 
• Matthew 
• Patrick
• Shaylan

With the weather making outdoor games tricky, Class 1 took the opportunity to build their fitness and agility in indoor circuit training. We developed our speed and accuracy over hurdles, learned the correct take off technique and two footed landing in long jump, built speed and agility over the ladders,  enhanced our dribbling skills with a football and practised our accurate throwing and catching. We ended with a competitive obstacle race that was huge fun for all. 

Class II have been continuing with their geography project on the Rainforest.  They have used websites to research which animals live in the different layers of the forest and why the animals chose to live in that habitat.  We are looking forward to introducing a creative project that the children will produce ready for Open Morning, so watch this space!

Every now and again, Class III like the team challenge of Synonym Circus where we have to think about words we could replace the given word with. It gets very competitive and very exciting!

Today we have been investigating different fractions and what better than using a bar of chocolate to help us with our understanding!  Alongside our whiteboard work, folding strips of items and verbalising our methods, we certainly enjoyed our kinaesthetic learning!

Following on from Katherine’s part in our assembly, we completed some cross curricular activities so we could celebrate with her. From a maths investigation of ‘Who stole the Dragon Head’, to spiralling dragons and dragon fortune tellers, Class III enjoyed learning more about this tradition.

This week we have been learning about the properties of 2D shapes. We began by identifying acute, right and obtuse angles, and then practised drawing parallel and perpendicular lines.

Later in the week the children discovered the properties of regular and irregular shapes and enjoyed investigating in small groups.

Class 5F have been inspired in PSHE by the lyrics of 'When I grow up...' from the musical Matilda. As part of our Dreams & Goals topic they had to imagine all the things they would be allowed to do that they could not as a child.

A few highlights were:

• 'When I grow up I'll be tall enough to reach the shelf where the treat box is.'
• 'When I grow up I will leave my greens in the bin!' 
• 'When I grow up I'll be smart enough to answer all the questions I want to ask.' 

We hope adulthood does not disappoint!

The rest of our ideas are on our dream tree in Class 5F/Music Room.

Craft Club have been learning some weaving skills. The children chose to make either a turtle or a butterfly, have alook at the gallery, which do you like most?

I have been hugely impressed by and proud of the attitude of the children towards their sport this year. This was seen, in no small part, by the U11 Boys Hockey team who travelled to Rugby School for the IAPS competition.

They had one goal in mind and that was to get to the National Finals as the team had done in the past two years. I played this down as I do not believe that goals should be results driven they should instead be performance driven.

On Wednesday morning, though, there was a quiet, steely determination in the eyes of the boys. This translated into their play and saw them sail through the group stage with 100% record and without conceding a goal! A rare achievement.

Highlights from a scoring perspective were George’s reverse stick lob off the keeper and a well-worked shot corner routine culminating in Fin finishing. Defensively, the boys looked much stronger with Archie continuing to display calm assurance and James coming back into the side with an ability to smell danger. Josh was excellent in goal, particularly in the later stages when the outfielders were getting tired and gaps appeared. None more so than in the semi final against St. Andrew’s where the sides were evenly matched. It could have gone either way but ended 0-0 and went to golden goal extra time. Halfway through, a long ball by Fin found George who took it to the right of the keeper and fired in the bottom corner. It was all the more impressive as George had been hit in the head and the groin by the ball previously and still kept going. That golden goal meant that Crescent reached the final and was guaranteed a place in the National Finals.

Interestingly, the boys’ reaction was to drop to the floor - emotionally drained by what they had achieved. The final did not go as well for Crescent but the National Finals was the big prize and an opportunity to improve even more before then. It was great to see Noah, Tom and Matthew grow in confidence as the tournament went on and influence the games more and more from the wide areas.

And all but one of the players are a year young!

Crescent travelled to King Henry VIII School for this competition and pleasingly performed to their best. Times and national positions will be released later but the stand out performances were:

• The Year 6 boys medley relay team who kept pulling further and further away from the others with each swimmer,
• Mia and Marco in the butterfly,
• Sienna who stormed away in the breaststroke, 
• Jamie who posted a good time in the 50 metre freestyle.

A special mention to Mia who made sure that everyone was in the correct place at the correct time for their races.

On Wednesday 6 February, 23 students from Years 4,5 and 6 travelled to Bedstone College in Shropshire to take part in the Midlands ISA cross country event.  

The course was interesting and challenging involving undulating fields, hills, streams, woodland, pathways and plenty of sheep poo! 

On arrival we were able to walk some of the course to check out the different terrain and get our bearings.  U9 Girls and Boys had a 1500m course and the U11's took on a 1800m course that involved crossing two streams.  

The event was very popular and well attended with over 100 pupils involved in each race, the event was also being used as a selection for the National Finals with the first 10 runners from each race being selected to represent the Midlands at the National Finals that will be held at Rugby School. 

All Crescent's runners raced exceptionally well, managing the tricky conditions fantastically, showing real grit and determination, however a special congratulations goes to Eve Ferguson who came 5th in her race and has been selected for the Midlands team.  

Well done to all students who represented the school fabulously showing off the Crescent School Promise well, cheering each other on and supporting their team mates.  

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.

This will be held in the School Hall, please enter via the main school entrance.

Monday 4 March 2019 3.45pm - 4.45pm

Please come along and join us at our next meeting if you're available. We will be discussing Mother's Day craft, Draycote Water walk, Year II and Year I market days as well as the school disco.

Please sign your child(ren) into after school for free if you wish to attend.

This year your child, if you wish, could decorate a ceramic tea light holder for Mothers Day. More details on this will follow shortly.

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

Lunch Menu - 110219

Crescent School Office

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.

Bikeability

Early Years Cycle Training

Harris Sport Centre

Kit Academy

Onside Coaching

Wasps Rugby Camp

Please find a link below to the current vacancies available across the Foundation:

• Head of Physics – Princethorpe College
• Examinations and Assessment Administrator – Princethorpe College

Full details of the roles and how to apply are available via the following link https://www.princethorpe.co.uk/employment-opportunities

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

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