The Courier

Dear Parents 

It has been an action packed return to school this week with a wide range of exciting activities for the children to enjoy. We have had our first ever Year 6 Community Week which has involved the children in a wide range of activities including first aid training, a trip to SafeSide in Birmingham, helping clear the St. Mark’s church yard and spending time working with the younger children in the school. The aim of the week is to build for the children a sense of their place in the local community as well as responsibility for their own and others’ safety and well-being. This is an exciting addition to our calendar and many thanks to Mrs. Webb for all of her work setting it up.

You will also read in this week’s newsletter about the Year 5 trip to Jaguar Land Rover which was by all accounts an inspiring experience for all of them. With our annual block fixture of cricket over at Bedford School and the ISA Athletics Championships as well, it has certainly been a busy week.

We have also had a visit from the local authority to moderate assessment and progress in our Reception class. This was an opportunity for Mrs Pullen to show off all of the great things that she and the children have achieved this year. We got some excellent feedback from the moderator which I know was richly deserved by our Reception teaching team.

Sports Day Update:

The weather got the better of us today with the cancellation of the Year 6 Draycote walk but hopefully we will have better luck with Sports Day on Monday. There are some showers forecast and we have to be mindful of the risk of injury on a slippery grass surface but we will do everything we can to keep the event on.

I will keep a close eye on the weather forecasts during the weekend and if we do have to postpone the event I will send out an email to all parents late on Sunday afternoon or first thing on Monday, depending on how clear the forecasts are.

We do have a reserve date in place for Monday 17 June. 

Wishing you all a restful weekend. 

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.

We continue to consider the promise in the category of Good Learners that focuses on the theme of listening. This is such a key attribute for learning. A pupil who really listens actively, takes on advice and feedback and takes action on what they have heard, this learner profile makes such a difference in the classroom.

‘We listen and don’t interrupt’

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

Please click on the link below to view the weekly calendar.  The calendar details all the co-curricular clubs for Trinity term:

Weekly Calendar - 100619 

Please note Breakfast Yoga is not running next week and the session will ran on Monday 1 July 2019.

Any Changes to clubs are also reflected on SOCS Co-Curricular and this will be displayed in your child's calendar.

SOCS Co-Curricular

Crescent School

As many of you may have seen there is a new aspect to the Acitive Learn Online Platform. As a school we are having a trial period with Bug Club, this is a reading initiative which we are exploring for Pre-Prep next year.

Please free free to use it. If we decide to invest in the initiative you will all receive information to help you as a family get the most out of Bug Club.

Two teams of Year 5 children took part in an all day challenge designed for mixed Year 5/6 teams. 40 schools took part from all over the region, answering challenging conundrums as a team, tackling a very difficult crossword made only of numbers and choosing and using the correct maths to solve tricky problems, as pairs, in a shuttle run; the pupils enjoyed this best.

Bearing in mind ours was probably the youngest team there, the girls' team of Jessica, Milly, Chloe and Sienna scored 188 points and the boys team, Sam, Daniel, James and George scored 201 points and received a certificate for best teamwork. This placed us middle of the final board.

On a very warm day, the pupils thrived on the challenge of the day showing determination and resilience. I was proud of them all.

Once again last week there was significant news about children gaming being exposed to unsafe adults.  Our advice continues to be centred on open, agreed, communicative family online use, as this teaches children how to be safe rather than just fixating on certain games such as Roblox. 

Please, additionally, find a link to useful information below on the risk of online grooming.

We wish to say a huge thank you to all the staff, parents and pupils who have expressed their good wishes for our recent marriage through kind wishes, cards and presents.

We really appreciate your kind words and support at this special time for us. We had an amazing day with our family and friends and we were even lucky enough to get married outside.

I would like to remind parents that Crescent School, along with the other schools of the Princethorpe Foundation, aims to be a nut-free zone. Whilst we cannot guarantee that children won’t come into contact with nuts or products with nut traces whilst at school we endeavour to reduce this risk as far as we can.

The aim of this strategy is to reduce the risk to those children and adults who may suffer an anaphylactic reaction if exposed to nuts to which they are sensitive. The school aims to protect children who have allergies to nuts yet also help them, as they grow up, to take responsibility as to what foods they can eat and to be aware of where they may be put at risk.

Our 'Nut-Free Zone' means that the following items should not be brought into school:

• Packs of nuts
• Peanut butter sandwiches
• Fruit and cereal bars that contain nuts
• Chocolate bars or sweets that contain nuts
• Sesame seed rolls (children allergic to nuts may also have a severe reaction to sesame)
• Cakes made with nuts

No nuts are used in any of the food prepared on site at our school.  Our suppliers provide us with nut-free products. However, we cannot guarantee freedom from nut traces.

It is worth noting that there are currently children in school with a known nut allergy.  Exposure to nuts for these children could result in serious consequences. I know that you, like me, would do anything reasonably possible to prevent this from happening.

We ask all parents to support us in this policy by providing nut-free mid-morning snacks and not using nuts in cakes provided for bake sales or fund raising events.

Monday 10 June 2019 - 10.00am - 1.00pm

We are all very much looking forward to our Sports Day for Years 1-6 on Monday 10 June. Thi is being held within the school day so normal drop off and collection times from school apply.

Please note that all pupils are to wear PE kit to School, blazers are not required but tracksuit top or hoodie are to be worn. Please ensure that your child(ren) comes to school with the following:

• Suncream, applied before school
• a school sunhat (these can be purchased from the school office)
• a refillable drinks bottle of water (snacks will be provided)

Sports days are always very much anticipated by the children and really enjoyable for all involved. Spectators play a huge part in this and we hope to see many of you cheering on the children.

Thursday 27 June from 3.00pm

Our ‘Open Book’ afternoon is on Thursday 27 June for Years 1-6.  This is a chance for you to share all of your child’s books with them at their desk and see what they have enjoyed this year in the classrooms. The front door will be open at 3.00pm and you will be told which classroom your child will be in at that time of the day. Due to space we can only accommodate one adult per child.

Please note this is not a Parent Teacher consultation, but a lovely opportunity for you and your child to share their work.

You will be able to take many, but not all of the books home afterwards. If you have more than one child, split the time between the classrooms, taking the first child with you to the next! 

I do hope you can join us, please let us know by Tuesday 25 June via the message that was sent out earlier today.

We have had a lovely start to our final half-term with many new Junior da Vinci students:

• Euan in English
• Fifi in Science
• Hattie in Art and Design
• Joseph in English
• Marco in English
• Mya in Maths
• Phoebe in Maths

Congratulations to you all!

There has been so much reading happening in the Upper school, we have lots to celebrate:

• Faris has read 500,000 words
• Rohan, Percy, Keshav and Freya have all read a million words
• Drew is a double millionaire

A fantastic achievement by everyone.

Congratulations!

• Akaal
• Alex B
• Barnaby
• Maya 
• Matthew
• Oliver
• Shaylan   

Well done to Leela and Tegan who received certificates of Excellence from the Playground Supervisors in Assembly this morning for being kind and caring to others.

The Playground Supervisors

In computing, Class I have been learning about photography. We have discussed lighting, focus and zoom. The children were tasked with taking photos from different distances and analysing what elements of the photo they thought they had captured well and what could be improved.

Lots of fun and great progress throughout the session.

Over half term, Class III have sent me photos of them enjoying their reading - in some wonderfully imaginative places!

Please click here to view the photos.

It is lovely to support children as they live by faith outside of school. Stephanie sent me these photos of her Holy Communion celebrations and she has shared her experiences with the class.

On Tuesday 4 June Classes VF and VY had a wonderful day at Jaguar Landrover in Solihull.

Class VY started with an amazing tour around the plant where they observed and learned about how robots and humans work as a team to create Range Rovers on a production line.

Class VF started by programming robots on a CAD-CAM programme and then worked in groups of four to compete, as a team, to make as many Lego cars as they could.

After lunch, the classes swapped over the activities. Milly, Daniel, Chloe and Fifi were the winners of the Lego challenge in Class VF in the time of 3:45, and James, Jessica, Amelie and Josh won the challenge in VY in an outstanding time of 2:57.

This week has been Community Week for Class VI.  A week off timetable with lots of different activities that look beyond the school gates to help develop life skills that will support the children as they move on from the school.

As part of the week, 13 children visited St Mark’s Church in Bilton for a spot of community volunteering.  Accompanied by Mrs Webb and Mrs Nelson the children split into three groups.  At the church they helped weed the flowerbeds and clear pinecones.  They also constructed mini bug hotels, to support and encourage insect life within the churchyard and then took part in a lichen identification exercise.

It was a great to get outside and also to do some good.  Well done everyone for working so hard.

Class VI had an informative morning on Wednesday 5 June when, courtesy of St Johns Ambulance, they learned some essential and important life skills.  Let’s hope they never have to help anyone in an emergency who is choking, unconscious or seriously hurt, but at least they all now know the basics of First Aid, how they can help and what they should do.

Together the children explored how to assess and manage risks, how to make informed choices when helping others and developed the confidence and skills to help in a first aid emergency.

The children participated in training that involved a variety of practical and engaging activities allowing Class VI to perfect their first aid skills.  As you can see, the children were very keen to demonstrate their learning and very much enjoyed trying out the techniques on each other!

Our junior first aiders now know what to do if someone is unresponsive and unconscious, how to deal with a burn, an asthma attack, how to put on bandages and even how to help someone who is choking.

A big thank you to Steve Rawlinson and the St Johns Ambulance, for running such an instructive first aid session.

Class VI visited the Safeside Learning Centre in Birmingham, run by the West Midland Fire Service. The children learnt about road and fire safety, and also learnt some sensible ideas on how to keep safe as they approach the start of secondary school and become more independent.

Safeside is a full sized street scene that includes a working pedestrian crossing, double decker bus, building society branch, shop, car, canal, court room, police station and house.  It provides a practical, life-like way to learn important skills.

Topics included the safest place to sit on a bus or coach, choosing a safe route home, how to use a cash-point card and knowing the laws if you try to buy alcohol or cigarettes for an adult.

Everyone also learnt how to keep themselves just that little bit safer near canals, rivers and train tracks just in time for the long summer holiday.

An absolutely fabulous day was had by all at the Midlands ISA Athletics events at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham yesterday.  Pupils behaved exceptionally well, supporting each other and ensuring all were ready and prepared for their events in plenty of time.  

There were some fantastic performances, lots of personal bests and two students, Olivia M and George B, have now been selected to represent the Midlands ISA Team in the National Finals on 19 June.  Olivia for 80m sprint and George for 600m and Long Jump.

See next week's Courier for a more detailed report. 

Well done to all involved. 

Thank you to everyone for supporting the Reception market day. This event raised £150 for the Reception class to use on purchasing toys, games and crafts for Privilege Time.

Monday 10 June 2019 - 3.45pm to 4.45pm

Please come along and join us if you're available. We will be discussing the Summer Fete and the events for September.

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

Friday 21 June 2019 - 3.20pm to 5.00pm

This year’s summer Fete, weather permitting, we have donkey rides, inflatables, games for the children to play (all for 50p to allow your child to fill up their card with 10 stamps from which they can then chose 3 prizes from the prizes stall), refreshments, face and nail painting, tombola stall, candy floss, teddy stall and of course the raffle.

Your raffle tickets will be coming home with your children this weekend so please search their bags for these. Please return all raffle ticket money and the ticket stubs by Wednesday 19 June to the green FoC box. 

We also require donations for our raffle stall and teddies for our Adopt a Teddy stall. For the raffle donations of wine, chocolates, board games, new DVD's, craft kits would be fantastic. 

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

Please donate any suitable children's prizes for our Summer Fete, including toys, accessories, sweeties or games. All contributions gratefully received.

A collection box will be placed at the pupil entrance from the beginning of next week.

Thank you

Friday 28 June 2019

This will be held from 8.00pm at the Distillery bar in Rugby in a private room upstairs. We have our own bar and music system.

Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased from your FoC representative. The tickets will cost £15 and this will include canapés and a drink on arrival. 

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

Crescent Menu - 10 June 2019

Crescent School Office

Please see below for useful school contact information:

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

2018/19

Trinity Term
Term ends Wednesday 3 July 2019

2019/20

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

• Summer Estate Assistants
• Marketing and Communications Co-Ordinator
• Reprographics Assistant
• Traffic Coordinator

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