The Courier

Dear Parents,

It was very encouraging to see so many of you here for the Harvest Service on Monday morning. I hope that bringing the event forward to a 9.15am start made it easier for many parents to build it into their busy schedules, and of course I know the children love it when their parents are able to come, although we do understand that this is just not possible for everyone. It was a really good occasion and an opportunity for everyone to think about how fortunate we are to have food so easily accessible and affordable to so many. Historically, and geographically today, this is not the case for many people around the world and it doesn't do any harm at all to remind ourselves of that.

I have been really impressed with the work of our school orchestra this term, never an easy task at this age range, and the choir also performed beautifully, as did our readers. Almost as soon as the service concluded Mrs Forth had the Year 6 children help her load up her car with all of the very generous gifts of groceries and toiletries and they were all delivered to the local foodbank charities before the end of the school day. As a reward, the Year 6s all got to choose one of the posh biscuits we had put out for the post service reception.

I also finally got the opportunity to come out and watch some of our sports teams this week, as the U11 boys and girls travelled over to Crackley for football fixtures. I am delighted to see that opportunities for girls in some of the traditionally male sports are routinely available here and it was pleasing to see all of the children getting involved and performing admirably in school colours. We managed to win three out of the four games and there was a good deal of wholehearted effort and not a little skill on display. I always say that in sport you can't always control who wins or loses but you can control the manner in which you play. On that note, it was great to hear some very positive comments from the opposition coaches on the behaviour and manners of our children for which I think the children, and the staff, should take at least as much credit for, as they can the results.

Have a good weekend.

Joe Thackway

At the end of this month we say goodbye to a much valued member of our admin team, Mrs Dawn Randle. Mrs Randle has been with the school for nine years and is looking to pursue other career opportunities as well as spending some time with a new arrival in her family. As many of you will know, she is a very capable and skilled administrator as well as a highly thought of colleague here, and we thank her for all of the excellent work that she has done for the school over what is nearly the last decade. We wish her all the very best in all of her future endeavours.

Thank you to all those who donated food and toiletries to our harvest collection. We delivered it to Pauline Smout and her team at the Hope4 offices on Monday afternoon, where it will be shared between Hope4 and Rugby Foodbank. Hope4 provide hot meals and services for the homeless or very poorly housed of Rugby.

Rugby Foodbank is being used more and more, every month, by families in Rugby who find themselves in need. Every single donation will be put to good use. Please do not limit your contributions to just this week, collection stations are in all the major supermarkets; people need our help every week. 

Pauline asked that I pass on her gratitude to you all. 

B Forth

Our School Council, for this term, has been decided upon and they are proudly wearing their badges of recognition around school. Each tutor group has voted for two children to represent their class; to listen and take their ideas and comments to the School Council meetings. These meetings will be held each half term supported by Mrs Stapleton (PSHE Coordinator) or Mrs Monteith (SMSC Coordinator) with Mr Thackway's support too.  The council members have been entrusted to be the student voice, to work alongside teachers and staff in making decisions and enabling change throughout our school community. Their photos are now displayed for all to see in the corridor (including Olivia Sarkies who is not in this photograph) so every child is aware of who to go to if they want to share concerns or have ideas for new initiatives to be discussed at the meetings. Don't forget to have a look next time you are in school!

Crescent School was delighted to receive an update this week, from good friends Tony and Sue Melia, on the Bwengu projects the school has been sponsoring. Tony Melia sent Deputy Head, Mrs Bryony Forth a newsletter that included lots of amazing before and after pictures.

“It made my heart skip to read the words painted on the Bumba Junior School Library Wall – A Gift from Crescent School Children Parents Teachers UK,” said Mrs Forth.

The Crescent School has been supporting the work that Tony and Sue do for ten years now, in fact the school was one of their charity’s first supporters. Each year Class IV children study Africa and in particular Malawi and the work that Bwengu Projects does. The children then choose specific Bwengu Projects to support and go on to organise fundraising activities the whole school participates in.

Mrs Forth, continues, “It seems that the Crescent created more than one library to benefit the studies and the joy of reading for pupils this summer. Thanks go to all the children and their families for the continued support of a project which is very close to our hearts.”

The pictures of the restored library in Bumba are fantastic, it is amazing to see the finished results and know that the Crescent School family has made such a difference.

Last week a professional photographer, Marcus Perkins, visited Crescent School to take photographs of the children and school for use in our marketing brochures and on our school website.  They are so lovely that we thought that you would like to see them.   

Click on View Gallery and use the right and left arrows to scroll through some of the photographs.

Harvest Festival at Crescent School is always a special event as the children and staff gather together with the wider school family to celebrate and give thanks. Every year the school hall resonates with music, songs, prayers and readings to reflect on the bounty of the harvest, the traditions of Harvest Festival, along with the importance of community and of helping one another. This year, with an earlier start time, even more parents and family members were able to join in the celebration.

The school relies on the generosity of parents and family members to make this traditional British event one to remember and together, thanks to a wealth of donations, a wonderful display of tinned and packaged foods was created.  These have now been shared between Rugby Foodbank and the Hope4 Centre.  They were received gratefully, Pauline Smout from Hope4 commented, “Please thank the children, parents and staff and let them know that we do really appreciate their thoughtfulness.”

During the festival the 16-strong Crescent orchestra played stirringly leading the gathering in the traditional hymn ‘We plough the fields and scatter’. The children delivered their readings beautifully and sang traditional and modern Harvest songs; Big Red Combine Harvester, sang by Reception and Pre-Prep was a delightful highlight.  New Headmaster, Mr Thackway’s green fingered address gave everyone time to reflect and proved that the children know a lot about seeds and The Parable of the Sower. 

The gathered throng recognised how fortunate they are to reap the rewards of a good harvest and the children appreciate the wonderful choice of all the food they have – although perhaps not, if the choir are anything to go by, the poor Brussel sprout.

Thank you to all of the children, to the staff who helped put the service together and to the parents for their donations.  We hope you enjoyed this first shared service of the school year.

Congratulations to the following pupils who have been appointed school librarians:

Olivia Sarkies, Belle Clements, Amelie Edge and Sophie Causer.

Dear Parents,

We would like to apologise for the recent issues regarding the general uniform email which has led to some orders not being received.

We have fixed the issue now and would kindly ask that if you tried to email the school shop on the uniform@princethorpe.co.uk address that you resend your email and Miss Browne will respond to you to confirm receipt.  Alternatively, you can call the shop direct on 01926 634272.  

School Shop Opening Hours

The School Shop is open during term time with the opening hours as follows:

Monday to Friday 10.30am to 4.30pm

Parents wishing to come to the shop can visit without an appointment from 3.30pm Monday to Friday. 

Due to the location of the shop and our responsibilities for safeguarding the children, appointments must be made if you would like to visit the shop during the school day.

Uniform orders placed by 4.30pm every term time Tuesday will be delivered to Crescent School on a Wednesday for after school collection.  

Kind regards

N Browne

On Friday 13 October we will be holding a non-uniform day in aid of this term's charity, Guide Dogs for the Blind. We are encouraging all children to bring at least £1 each into school to give to Form Teachers, to contribute to our ongoing fundraising to sponsor a puppy.

You can wear casual clothes on that day but should have sensible footwear please.

On your way in, there will be an additional competition to guess the number of biscuits in the jar for 50p a go. This will be added to our charity total for the day and there will be a prize for the winner.

E Monteith & S Stapleton

Thursday 2 November 2017 - 10.30am - 12.30pm

The College is holding an Open Morning on Thursday 2 November from 10.30am to 12.30pm.  Pupil tour guides will be available to show visitors around the school. 

Please do spread the word amongst friends and family, all are very welcome.

For further information please visit www.princethorpe.co.uk

We have our first reader of half a million words this term; congratulations to George Bell in Class IV. I wonder how many he can achieve by the end of the year?

Tuesday 24 October 10.00am - 1.00pm

On Tuesday 24 October Mrs Lowe and Mr Thackway will be available in school to discuss the 11+ results and placings between 10am and 1pm. If you are unable to make that time, Mrs Lowe will be available during the second week of half term via email, if that is more convenient.

Even if you do not wish to discuss it, we ask that you send us your child's score and placing for our own records.

S Lowe

The following children have received Junior da Vinci Awards this week. Congratulations to all.

The following children have been awarded Accelerated Reader Awards this week. Congratulations to all.

Alyssa Barnett, George Bell, Matthew Browne, Ethan Capelett, Sophie Causer, Belle Clements, Henry Kilner, Matt Thomas, Issy Thompson and Anton Tran.

Reading Eggs Certificates have been awarded this week to Alex Thomas, Rory King, Eric Hutchinson, Faris Akbik, Freddie Spicer, Roisin Banks, Alice Diamond and Emily Barnwell.

Congratulations to all.

A Webb

There was a real buzz around the school last Thursday as all of the children in years 3 and 4 were involved in fixtures. Everyone playing to their level, being challenged and rising to that challenge is what sport should be about. The children performed fantastically well across all the teams. The footballers all went to Crackley, as did the netball A and B teams. The netball C team hosted Crackley at Crescent.

The A team footballers played a triangular tournament involving Warwick School as well. They showed great energy and skill across the two matches. Against the hosts, Crescent kept creating chances and hit the post twice as well as the bar. The ball refused to go in. Eventually, George Crowfoot found space to give Crescent the lead. The ill-advised sitting back phase began and Crackley found a way through the sturdy Josh Gorbutt and Marco Rodriguez Hernandez defence. This gave them confidence to go on and get another. Against Warwick, Crowfoot gave Crescent an early lead and the green and whites looked comfortable. When Thomas scored, it looked a certain victory. However, again Crescent were caught out and Warwick grabbed a goal and quickly got an equaliser. Warwick looked set to go all the way and get a winner but, in the dying seconds, George Bell rolled Crowfoot in who steadied himself and placed it past the goalkeeper- 3-2.

The B team won their first match against Crackley comfortably. George Rule kept finding lots of space and made great use of this giving Crescent the lead. James Wright, who defended admirably, went up for a corner and doubled the lead. In the second match against Warwick, Crescent looked comfortable but gave a cheap goal away. Sam Sheffield made some key saves in goal and the green and whites created a whole host of chances but to no avail. 0-1.

The C team went 3-0 down quickly in their match. However, they showed great character to keep going. Euan Nelson held the fort in defence and Isaac Nelson started to pass the ball into space. This allowed Alex Colver and Jay Patil to grab a brace each. Crackley pulled an equaliser back to make it 4-4. Connor Kennedy helped to keep the match as a draw in his first outing in goal.

The A Team netballers made a great start to their season, applying all of the skills and tactics that we have practiced in games sessions and extra-curricular club displaying fantastic mastery in their footwork. They also used impressive passing and communications as well as fantastic maturity in being able to hold their position enabling more space to found on the court creating some fabulous driving opportunities. Once nerves settled the girls were on fire and centre court play between Phoebe Causer, Amelie Frere, Lucy Bentley and Sienna Moran was superb really dominating and attacking the court leading to some impressive shooting from Issy Thompson, Lucy Bentley and Jessica Sarkies. Our defence of Chloe Wensley and Sienna Moran was strong making it difficult for Crackley to get the ball in to their circle in the final third. Fantastic work girls well done. Final score 4-2 to Crescent.

The B team played some fantastic netball, again showing off the work we have been doing on passing and footwork, making strong solid passes and great communication skills. Unfortunately for us Crackley defence was very strong and it made it hard for our girls to get the ball in to our attacking circle. A great team effort was shown by all keeping their heads high, fighting back to win balls.

The C team had a brilliant start, all pupils thoroughly enjoyed the game and grew in confidence with every minute. Maryn Yates captained the team well, controlling the centre court and communicating where well with her team mates enabling the ball to make it way in to the attacking third. Great shooting was displayed from Bella Amblard and Idan Dar making a final score of 4-0 to Crescent.

Well done to everyone involved.

On Tuesday night the U11 girls football team headed to Provost William for their first football fixture of the season. Team selection had been difficult following fantastic commitment and effort in the training sessions and girls were extremely excited for the game.

The girls started a little tentatively, although passing was strong, they couldn't quite connect when having a shot on goal. Nerves quickly settled and confidence soon began to build, showing good communication skills and teamwork along with our ability to hold shape and create space. This resulted in wonderful football and our first goal, with a tremendous strike from Olivia Sarkies who found the corner of the net. We started to read the game well, with fantastic interceptions from Lucy Bentley, and Clara Woolf and Robyn Shaw pressing forward in defence, making it very difficult for the opposition to get through. Team captain Georgia Dowling controlled the game from the centre, brilliantly laying off the ball to Phoebe Causer, Sienna Moran, Sophie Causer and Mia Webb out on the wings, resulting in another two goals before half time.  After half time the girls came out strong showing no signs of slowing down and this energy and drive was soon converted in to more goals from Sienna Moran, Olivia Sarkies and Georgia Dowling.

A fantastic first game girls, well done you should be very proud. Final score 6-0 to Crescent. Player's Player of the Match went to Olivia Sarkies and the Coaches' Player of the Match to Georgia Dowling.

On Wednesday four teams went to Crackley Hall to play football. We took an A and a B team for girls and the boys had an A and a B team too. We all did very well and the A team for the girls' match managed to score in the first half. Olivia scored the winning goal for us. Cara, who played in goal, made great dives to stop the ball which gave Crescent a clean sheet. Clara also was very good at defending as well as Robyn. The girls B team unfortunately lost 3-0 but did extremely well, especially as only two girls on the team had played a football match before. Player of the Match went to Amelie and Isobelle (GK) made some amazing saves. The boys won both games. The A's won 5-1. They went 1-0 down but then started to pass more efficiently to allow Fin (2), Dan (2) and Matthew to score. Dylan played particularly well in defence and Vignesh held his position in CDM. The B's did amazingly and won their match 6-0. Gabriel scored 5 and Chris was delighted to get his first goal as he had a rare go outfield. Jamie and Connor stood out as well. At the end, we had very nice biscuits and drinks. Thank you to Mrs Robinson, Mrs Dowling, Mr Thackway and Mr Phillips. We all had a very fun time.

Georgia Dowling

We are currently looking for Year 5 Boys to come and join our already established team, we have lost a few players over the summer and rather than allow the team to fold we are trying to recruit. It's a really fun team and is great socially as well as physically, all coaches are DBS checked and have child welfare certificates.

Please do get in touch.

Thank you

Kind Regards

Wayne Cooper
Brinklow U10's Coach

The Year V Market Day Bake sale will take place on Friday 13 October. We will be holding the sale from 3.30pm - 4.00pm and then from 4.30pm - 5.00pm so we can cater for the children in after-school clubs. 

Going forward we will be selling Pre-loved uniform at all the cake sales/Christmas and Summer Fete's. We will be putting a plastic container under the FoC table for any donations of unwanted/grown out of clothes. Please could we ask that these are all washed and ready to sell.

Quiz night is all set for Friday 13 October. The prizes have arrived and the cup is ready to be won! Please let your year group representative know if you would like to be part of a team and if you require fish and chips. It's only £5 per person.

The Christmas Parents' night out date has changed to Friday 8 December at Rugby's newest bar/restaurant The Pharmasea. This will be an informal evening of cocktails and tapas. Costs and timings TBC but make sure the new date is in your diary. 

In total we have raised £779 from the Draycote Water sponsored walk. Thank you to everyone who took part and raised money.