The Courier

Dear Parents

It was good to see so many of you at our recent parents’ consultation meetings on Wednesday evening. There was lots of in depth conversations on progress and next steps and hopefully plenty of satisfied parents at the end of the evening. The second phase of these is scheduled for next Thursday and I look forward to seeing the rest of you then.

We have been looking at ways to make these evenings more parent friendly as we plan ahead for next year. With the increase in numbers at the school it is increasingly difficult to accommodate all of the parents on any one evening. Wednesday’s session involved Reception to Year 4 and whilst we were able to keep to timings for the most part, there was inevitably a bit of slippage as we neared the end of the evening.

Many thanks to parents for their patience and understanding with this. With this in mind, we are planning to limit the number of year groups covered at each evening to three from next September.  We are also looking at the option of running the consultations for Pre-Prep in the children’s classrooms. This will of course mean more late evenings for staff but crucially it will mean we can focus on the important business of sharing information and building the home-school partnership that so many academic studies will tell us is the key to success in education. There is more to do to iron out the finer details but I hope that going forward we can make these evenings calm and productive for all concerned.

I based my assembly earlier in the week on a similar theme, talking to the children about how to remain calm even when day to day frustrations threaten to get the better of us. I blew up a balloon as an analogy, inflating it more and more as little things went wrong during my imaginary day. The children came up with some lovely ideas about how to remain calm and in control, such as counting to 10, repeating a personal mantra, trying to empathise with the other person or asking a friend for help or advice. I have come across a few drivers on my route into school who would benefit from the children’s ideas, I must say.

On Thursday I was over at Princethorpe to hear a fascinating presentation from Ed Hester and his team on future plans for the College. I know a number of Crescent parents were there and were most impressed with what they heard. Each year for the last three years Princethorpe has been comfortably the most popular secondary school destination for our pupils and looking at the current campus and plans for future improvements, it is easy to see why. They have an open afternoon coming up on Sunday 24 March and you might want to go and have a look round if you haven’t done so already.

Best Wishes

Joe Thackway

For a two or three week period this year we will be focusing on one of the sayings in the 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.

From now until the end of term we will be looking at a very important idea from the Good Citizens section of the Promise:

‘We are honest and tell the truth’

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

The following clubs are not running next week:

• Choir 
• Violin Club

Time Tables Challenge will be held on Thursday morning.

Weekly Calendar - 180319

Crescent School

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

• Max for good behviour in the playground
• Shayla for always demonstrating good behaviour in the playground

There was excitement across the year groups today as the children look forward to watching, and maybe even getting involved, in some of the fun Red Nose Day events this weekend.

We had all sorts of Red Noses and badges in school today and the children wanted to show them to you!

Mrs Stapleton

It is the time of year when Class IV co-ordinate fundraising in aid of Bwengu Projects Malawi. They have decided on several events this term. There will be 'Guess' games on the pupil entrance from Monday 18 March:

• Guess the name of the Teddy
• Guess the Celebrity (x2)
• Guess the sweets in the jar 

Also a Spot the Ball competition where you place your number football on the poster

There will be a Penny Path out in the Playground on Wednesday 27 March all day. There will be a Treasure Hunt on Thursday 28 March (£1 to buy a game card). Class IV will also be sponsored for a 40 minute silence on 20 March!

Finally we need all your donations for Mystery Pick-a-Book. Please donate a book you no longer want, wrap it up in attractive paper and label or write on it the age range it is suitable for. You can start bringing them as soon as you want to Class IV or Ms Forth and you can wrap as many separate books as you want. Then on Wednesday 3 April there will be a stall where you pay 50p and pick-a-book to keep. You don't know what you are going to get. 

Class IV are raising money towards six months of orphans' food and solar panels for a girls' school. Please help them reach their target.

Thank you

Please don't forget to return your general medical/code of conduct form by Wednesday 21 March 2019.

Thank you.

Summer uniform is to be worn after the Easter break.  Below you can find the requirements:

Girls 

• Grey blazer 
• Green and white striped dress
• Green school cardigan
• White knee-high socks
• Straw boater with green band or green school sun hat

Boys 

• Grey blazer 
• White short-sleeved shirt with collar and tie
• Green school pullover
• Grey short trousers or long grey trousers
• Grey knee length socks
• Green school sun hat

Uniform can be ordered from the school shop (details below) or you can pop into the school office to collect a form.

Crescent School

Tuesday 26 March 2019 - 4.00pm - 5.00pm

On 26 March 2019 we welcome Mark Groome to school for two information sessions on the important area of promoting childhood happiness and well-being. The first will be in the main hall from 4.00pm and is aimed at parents from all year groups in the school. Later in the evening there is an information evening for Year 4 and 5 parents on the transition process into Year 7 and Mark will be talking on the theme of managing exam stress.

Mark is an engaging speaker with a 'parent friendly’ approach that I am sure you will enjoy his presentations. Full details of both events have been sent to all parents in a separate ISAMS message so please do check your inboxes for this and respond to the school office as required.

Tuesday 26 March 2019 - 7.00pm - 8.30pm

The focus of the evening is to go through with parents the potentially daunting process of finding the right school for your son or daughter when they leave us at the end of Year 6.  You will be told about how and when to apply for maintained and independent secondary schools, the type of standardised scoring that the maintained schools use and there will be advice from members of staff on preparing your child for the exams they will be sitting. The evening will clarify the timeline involved in this and explain a bit more about how we can help you navigate the process without too much anxiety. 

This year we are also delighted to welcome along Mark Groome, who will talk about the important area of managing stress for children, and parents, though the minefield of entrance exams, interviews and school applications. 

This meeting will be held in the School Hall.  Parking will be available on the Playground from 6.45pm.

Thursday 4 April 2019 - 2.15pm - 3.15pm

We will be presenting our annual Spring Concert on Thursday 4 April. It will feature all the extra-curricular music groups as well as some soloists and will start at 2.15pm.

All are welcome to come and hear the results of this term’s music practice and effort!

Friday 29 March 2019 - 2.00pm - 4.00pm

The House Swimming Gala is on Friday 29 March from 2.00pm - 4.00pm at Rugby School.  All children in Years 3-6 will be involved and will need their swimming costumes, two towels and their PE t-shirt. Unfortunately, we will not be able to accommodate spectators at this event. However, there is a short presentation after at 3.45pm which parents can attend.

Please pick your child up from Rugby School at 4.00pm or email Crescent School Office in advance if your child needs to go into after school and we will arrange for them to get back to School.  Siblings are able to be picked up from school earlier to assist with collection from Rugby school, again, please let the school office know.

Saturday 30 March - 9.30am to 12.00pm

Join us for our Spring Open Morning, a wonderful opportunity to look around the school and meet staff and pupils.

As part of the Open Morning there will be a very special performance by Reception to Year 2 pupils, along with children from Pathfinders Nursery, of Hats Off - An All-Weather Musical. A fun and educational musical that takes the audience on a tour through the changing seasons of the year as Apple the pony tries to find a hat suitable for the weather.

It promises to be fantastic entertainment for visitors of all ages, and will really showcase the talents, confidence and stage presence of the school's youngest pupils. The show commences at 10.00am and we would urge visitors to arrive early to get a good seat!

After the half-hour performance there will be a short presentation about the Crescent and our ambitions for the school as part of the Princethorpe Foundation, and the chance to meet  Headmaster, Joe Thackway. There will also be short Q&A sessions with Alan Webb, Assistant Head - Head of Pre-Prep and Headmaster Joe Thackway about the Crescent's offering for Reception to Year 2 and Year 3 to Year 6. 

Elsewhere on site there will be plenty to see and do, including guided tours by the older pupils, sporting displays, instrumental performances, plus the opportunity to visit classrooms and chat informally to current parents and staff from Pathfinders, the Crescent and Princethorpe College. Light refreshments will be available. There is no need to book.

For more information about the Open Morning please call Registrar, Mrs Helen Morley on 01788 523851 or email admissions@crescentschool.co.uk.

Friday 5 April 2019 - 2.45pm - 3.45pm

All are welcome to attend our Easter service in the School Hall on Friday 5 April.  This will be led by Classes 5Y and 5F and the Choir.

Vignesh has hit a million words of reading, a super achievement. 

Well done.

This week we say a big 'Junior da Vinci' congratulations to:

• Caspar in maths
• Isla in R.E. 
• Jessica in geography

Well-done all of you.

Ms Lowe
Senior Teacher

• Olivia C
• Ollie
• Damilola
• Emily
• Matthew
• Ottilie
• Patrick

In Geography this week we talked about when and why we might need map reading skills. We learned about why we have symbols on maps, discussed how to use a key and practised matching real life pictures to map symbols. We then had a chance to explore some local ordnance survey maps, finding different towns, rivers and landmarks using our newly acquired knowledge of symbols and keys. 

At the start of our work on telling the time, it was important  to understand the passage of time and how long seconds, minutes and hours actually are.

The children took part in a carousel of activities, seeing how many of each task they could do in a minute. They covered maths problems, number of pages read, star jumps, throw and catch a ball and throw a beanbag into a hoop. It was noisy, competitive fun and really helped understand time as something that passes rather than purely movement of hands on a clock. 

We've opened the boxes that arrived with our new toys and games and had great fun trying them out - thanks again for our Cake sale donations!

We have come to the part of our Fantastic Mr Fox story where Badger challenges Mr Fox on the moral decisions he has made in stealing food. The children took on the role of Mr Fox and wrote a heartfelt speech on his reasons why he has had to do what he has done.  We enjoyed watching some of them present their speeches - in character, of course!

This week as part of our maths objectives around telling the time, we have also started to understand duration. Class III enjoyed timing each other in simple activities such as building a tower of cubes and counting to 100 as fast as they could!

Mrs Stapleton
Class III Form Tutor

It's been an emotional history lesson for me with Class IV this week. We have been learning about the impact of WW2 on children and have been empathising with evacuees.

The children have begun writing letters in the role of an evacuee, to their loved ones who remained at home. I can't wait to read the completed pieces after next week's lesson and anticipate having to mark them with a box of tissues close by!

I hope to share some of these with you in next week's Courier.

Class VF have been hearing first hand from Mrs Noyce what it is like to work in the NHS. Mrs Noyce has a previous career as a Neonatal Sister at Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham. She told the children how the NHS was a place she would describe as 'family', full of 'hope' and 'miraculous'. 

Our Year 5s visited The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park last Friday. It was very exciting to go to the home of modern computing and see how computers have evolved over time.

There was a link with history as the children learned about the work done during World War II at Bletchley Park. It was amazing to see how the people who were there solved some incredibly hard problems.

As well as this, it was great to see these old computers come to life and the children could not believe how long they took to do simple calculations and how much technology has shrunk nowadays. On top of the history, the children honed their skills. They were able to use some BBC computers to do programming and played some old computer games. I felt a sense of nostalgia! Also, they took part in the ‘Turing Test’ to see if they could make a computer seem like it was human. The children behaved impeccably well and were very engaged and enthusiastic.

We are learning about reference texts for the next few weeks. This week the children worked collaboratively to create a class 'wiki' page. If you didn't know wiki means quick, so they had about 30 minutes to find information from a range of books to add to their page; each class chose topic areas to add to.  Our work will develop skills in accuracy of information, working collaboratively and proposing changes to vocabulary and grammar to enhance meaning and clarity. 

Maths has taken a shapely turn this week where children have looked at the properties of polygons to decide on the category of shapes they belong to. We have particularly focused on parallel and perpendicular lines and quadrilaterals. Children have identified them and then tried to draw accurately on grid and isometric dotty paper. It takes a lot of concentration!

Foundation hockey players were out in force at the recent County Championships.

Crescent School’s Year 6, Fin, together with Princethorpe College’s Year 7 pupils, Matthew and Rory and Crackley Hall’s Junior 6, Joe, were all part of Rugby and East Warwickshire’s successful U12 Boys hockey team that won the Warwickshire Hockey County Championships on Sunday 3 March.

The U12 Boys team won all their knockout matches, only conceding one goal.  They then went on to beat Atherstone Adders in the semi-finals 5-0 before finally beating Stratford 1-0 in a closely matched final. Their win takes them through to the Midlands Championships later in the year.

The U12 Girls team also enjoyed a successful day. Their team included Crescent School’s Year 6 Cara, alongside Princethorpe's Year 7 pupils Jemima, Georgia and Rosie.  

In the first round, the girls played four matches and with three wins and a draw they finished top of the pool.  They went on to win their semi-final comfortably 2-0 but then lost out in the final 2-0 against Sutton Coalfield.  However, their second place finish qualifies them for the next round, so they will also be competing at the Midlands Championships.

Then on Sunday March 10, Crescent pupils played their part in Rugby and East Warwickshire’s U10 teams’ success. 

Marco, Archie, George, Matthew, Noah, Sam and Joshua were all part of the winning U10 Boys hockey team that were crowned Warwickshire Hockey County Championships.  Their team were unbeaten all day, with four wins in the group stage, a dominant 5-0 win against Hampton in the semi-final and a super 2-0 win against Sutton in the final.

The U10 Girls team also qualified for the Regional Final.  Their team included Sienna, Amy, Amelie, Harriett and Eve.  In the pool stage they secured three good wins, they then took on Leamington in the semi-final and won 1-0 before finally losing out to Stratford 0-2.  Their runners-up finish qualifies the girls for the next round so they also progress through to the Regionals.

Congratulations to you all, we were delighted to hear of your success.

The FoC will again be filming the Hats Off Open Day Production dress rehearsal.

You are able to purchase a DVD for £13 per DVD. Please fill out the form sent home with your child last week (or it can be downloaded here) and return it by Friday 22 March 2019 with payment either by cash or cheque.  Cheques should be made payable to Friends of Crescent.

Please place in the green FoC Post Box by the Pupil entrance.

Just to make everyone aware that we have second hand uniform that can be purchased from the FoC. Blazers and Black coats are only £5 and all other branded uniform is only £1 per item. We are looking to do an inventory of all the uniform we currently have at school which your Year Group representative will have access to and will send around to you all via your facebook and whatsapp groups. You will then be able to check this before you order new uniform to see if we have the size you require. If you wish to purchase something please speak to Mr Thackway on the door in the morning when you drop off and he, or his Year 6 helper, will be able to get this item for you.

If you also have any good quality uniform that no longer fits your child please donate this to the FoC by leaving it on the FoC table. Please ensure it is washed and ready to sell.

We are looking for any good quality second hand dressing up clothes for Happy Playtimes. If you have any you are happy to give to the school please leave them on the FoC table. 

Monday 13 May 2019 - 3.45pm - 4.45pm

Please come along and join us at our next meeting if you're available. We will be discussing Father's Day craft, Disco, Reception Market Day as well as the Summer Fete which this year will be held on Friday 21 June. 

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

Friday 22 March 2019 - 3.45pm - 4.45pm

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

Friday 5 April 2019 - 3.45pm - 4.45pm

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

As this date is also the Spring Concert, there will be a small selction to purchase in the hall after the concert, however, the main bake sale will be held on the Sports Field.

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

Lunch Menu - 180319

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

• Learning Support Assistant
• Teacher of Politics and History
• Teacher of Modern Foreign Language
• Teacher of Mathematics
• Teacher of PE and Girls' Games
• Graduate Sports Coach

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

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