The Courier

Dear Parents

The staff here have been hard at work this week getting ready to welcome the children back to school on Monday morning. We enjoyed a fascinating training session on our whole school target of improving outcomes for children through smart feedback, as well as English curriculum training for our much-valued teaching assistants and safeguarding update training for all staff. We have been delighted to welcome our new modern foreign language teacher Mme Tatton, and we wish her all the best for her lessons when she meets the children for the first time next week.

Lots has happened on the school site, including a brand-new IT suite and a completely refurbished Year Five and Six corridor area. We have also had work done on the Reception and Year One classrooms and I’m delighted to say that things have gone smoothly across all of these projects and the school is looking spic and span and ready for the new term.

We have had the Year Six children in today for their pre-season brain training session and it’s good to see them looking refreshed and all geared up for the new term. They of course have their entrance exams coming up in the next weeks and months and we wish them all the best as they get ready. As we reminded them today, this has been a marathon and is not a sprint. They have done the hard yards and now it is a question of putting the finishing touches to their preparations. There is no need to panic and no one expects them to do more than their best and we know they will do that, as they always do.

You should by now have received your new school calendars and I hope this is enabling you to plan the term ahead. We also have a session for parents in the diary on Friday next week with Andy Compton, our Digital Director, where he will provide guidance on the use of the new school portal. When this is launched it will serve to bring the different modes of communication that we use together in one place and thereby make life easier for us all. In the meantime of course we are always open to feedback and want to get communication with you as slick and as quick as it can be as I fully appreciate how important this is in running a busy household with young children.

I am sure I will get the chance to catch up with you all personally over the next few days in school and I look forward to hearing from you and the children about all of your exciting adventures over the summer. My son Hugh and I have been in some serious pre-season training in the run-up to the return to school making sure we get in a session of tennis, swimming, running or cycling each day so we are fit and ready to go. Having children is a great way to keep you young! I hope you all have a great last holiday weekend with your own children and I look forward to seeing you all on Monday morning.

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.

This week’s promise is an excellent one to start the year with and is in the category of Good Friends:

‘We are kind to each other’

Please click on the link below to view the weekly calendar of clubs, events, fixtures and additional information for the week. 

Weekly Calendar 2 September 2019 

Please note for next week there are no music clubs/lessons running and Cookery.  However swimming starts again immediately so please don't forget to send in your child's swimming kit.

All the co-curricular clubs can be viewed on SOCS Co-curricular:

SOCS Co-Curricular

Crescent School

Over the last few months we have been working to transform the way we communicate with parents and manage important information about our students.  This has involved the implementation of a new, secure, web based communication and parental information system, My School Portal, which we are delighted to announce has now been launched.

Through My School Portal parents and guardians now have secure, 24-hour access to personalised data for their children via one user name and password.

From one intuitive, simple to use dashboard, parents can access communications, reports, attendance, timetables and sports fixtures from their phone, tablet or desktop device. Importantly, moving all personal data to a restricted user-only portal ensures that only the right people see the right information.

The portal can be accessed on any device at https://princethorpe.myschoolportal.co.uk, and current parents will have received an email on Tuesday 27 August detailing how to access the portal and guidance on making the most of its numerous features.  If you have yet to access the portal, please click here  for full instructions. Here you can access a selection of short videos which explain how each feature of the Portal works.

We are very excited about this new investment and the prospect of enhancing engagement with parents and keeping them even better informed about their children's progress, as well as developments within the school.

To help families new to the school, and as a reminder for all, we thought we would share some tips for navigating The Courier on your phone.

Each weekly edition of The Courier will have a general overview message followed by an index list of the news and information, split into categories, as clickable title links.

Here are some top tips for navigating The Courier on your phone:

• Click the title link of the article or event you are interested in (this will open the newsletter in your browser with the article you have selected)
• From here you can scroll through all the articles in this category
• To get back to the top of a category quickly, use the green arrow in the bottom right of your browser. Click this and you will jump to the top of the page, the category index
• The category index will list all the articles in that category that week
• Select ‘Newsletter Index’, to return you to the main newsletter index listing all the categories and articles
• To move between different editions of The Courier use the green button with three white lines at the top of the newsletter. Click this and you can choose which weekly edition of The Courier you would like to browse.

Calling all budding reporters!! 

I am running a ‘Courier Kids’ club for the children in Class 4M, 5F, 6W and 6Y. The club will work to produce a children’s section for the Courier. This will be similar to a children’s newsletter or school newspaper. 

If your child would like to join the club then they need to apply to me in writing outlining their ideas for what they would like to see in the ‘Courier Kids’ section of the Crescent Courier. The deadline for applications is Monday 2 September at midday. My email for any applications is amandayates@crescentschool.co.uk.  

I will then select two children from each class to create a team of eight. This team will remain in place for the whole term until Christmas. A new team will then be asked to apply ready for January. This will allow as many pupils as possible to participate in the club. 

The team will be notified by the end of the day on Monday 2 September and the club will begin on Tuesday 3 September starting  promptly at 8.15pm.

This is going to be a fun and interesting club which I hope your children will be keen to join!

I am aware of how fast the 11+ is approaching and wanted to let you know that I am happy to sign this sheet for you, please  drop in your photo validation sheet to the office and I will get it signed during the day for you to collect.

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

Crescent Menu - 2 September 2019 

Crescent School Office

Please see below for useful school contact information:

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

2019/20