The Courier

Dear Parents

We all enjoyed a wonderful dress rehearsal of the Nursery and Reception’s Nativity performance in the hall on Thursday. It gives all the staff so much pleasure to see how the Reception children have settled into their new school and gained the confidence to speak, act, sing and dance in front of a hall full of children and adults. In the singalong section at the end, not only were all of the older children joining in with the actions they had just learnt, so were many of the staff. I’ll be singing that last chorus in my head for days. We look forward to both nativity performances to parents planned for next week. If yesterday‘s rehearsal was anything to go by, you are in for a real treat.

Many of you have already been in this week to see the Christmas art corridors. Given that our theme was recycling, I was amazed by the variety and quality of all the work that the children and teachers produced. The old saying that necessity is the mother of invention has clearly got something in it. Well done to everyone involved.

As we prepare this week’s Courier, preparations are fully in flow for this evening's Christmas bazaar. Hopefully I will get to see you all on the hoopla stall. Thanks to everyone for your generous support of the fundraising efforts of the Friends of Crescent, and special thanks to the committee members and Zara Corbin for all of the amazing work that they do behind the scenes.

I have struggled through the week with a cough and a cold so I will be glad of the chance of some rest over the weekend. I hope you all manage to do the same, at least at some point. We are currently shopping for two or three Christmas presents each weekend so that will need to be fitted in somewhere as well. As for the tree, that can wait one more week.

Parents are discouraged from taking pupils out of school during term-time because of the impact it has on their learning. Should this be unavoidable, permission should always be sought in advance from myself.  I am able to pre-authorise absences on certain grounds such as religious observances and special family occasions.

Please ensure you submit any absence requests in good time, through either My School Portal or via the office email admin@crescentschool.co.uk.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

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

Weekly Calendar - 9 December 2019 

There is no Year 5 and 6 swimming this week. 

Please note:

• Tuesday - No after school Girls Hockey Club (Y5&6)
• Tuesday Boys after school hockey club (Y5&6) will be at school and will finish at 1645
• Thursday - Senior Drama Club will start when children return from Harry Potter World

All the co-curricular clubs can be viewed on SOCS Co-curricular, where you can find details of all the dates the clubs are running.  

SOCS Co-Curricular

Crescent School

A team of eight swimmers represented the Princethorpe Foundation at the National Independent Schools Association’s Swimming Championships at the London Aquatics Centre, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, last Saturday 30 November. The pupils had all qualified to swim for the Midlands team in the national competition in local regional heats and they faced tough competition, the best swimmers from independent schools across the country.

Foundation Director of Sport, Neil McCollin, commented, “Our swimmers have traditionally done well in the ISA Swimming Championships and they have had another very successful outing this year. Together they brought home a magnificent haul of 16 medals. It was great to see so many Foundation pupils competing and we are delighted with their performances.”

Both Foundation junior schools had swimmers competing at the national event. For Crescent School, Stephanie Bolton swam in the Midlands Freestyle Relay team earning herself a gold medal and then claimed a bronze in the Year 4 individual 50m Freestyle when she finished in third place in a time of 41.42 seconds. Year 6 pupil, Sienna Moran placed second for a silver medal in the individual 50m Breaststroke in 45.17 seconds and just missed a second medal after the Midlands team finished fourth in the 4x50m Medley Relay.

For Crackley Hall School Junior 4, Isabella Cleary took an individual gold medal after a super swim in the 50m Breaststroke in a time of 51.83 seconds. She then earned herself a second gold when, alongside Stephanie, she helped the Midlands team finish first in the 4x50m Freestyle Relay in a time of 2.49.98. Junior 6, Sam Grindal also took a gold medal after swimming freestyle in the Year 6 4x50 Medley Relay in a combined team time of 2.32.42.

For the College Year 7, André Onyekwe, swam superbly in the 50m Backstroke finishing in a time of 35.74 seconds and claiming a well-deserved gold medal. Year 7, Harrison Guest, did almost as well, finishing in second place in 42.44 in the 50m Breaststroke for a silver medal. Both boys swam for the Midlands team in the 4x50m Medley Relay finishing in second place in 2.34.66 taking a silver medal, and then swam in the 4x50m Freestyle Relay helping the team to finish in first place in a team time of 2.12.63 and earning themselves a gold medal.

Year 8, Ethan Capelett swan for the Midlands in the 4x50m Freestyle Relay helping the team to finish in second place in a time of 2.06.99 for a silver medal. He also swam backstroke in the 4x50m Medley Relay helping the team take third place in a time of 2.24.94 and earning himself a bronze medal.

Year 10, Jess Mackenzie was, as always, on fine form, she took a silver medal in the Years 9/10 100m Freestyle in a time of 1.03.93 and then swam for the Midlands team in the 4x50m Freestyle Relay helping the team to a second-place finish and a second silver medal in a time of 1.59.30 seconds. Jess just missed a third medal when she swam backstroke in the 4x50m Medley Relay when the team finished in fourth place in a time of 2.17.53.

It was a very busy day for all and an amazing haul of 16 medals across the Foundation. Overall the Midlands team finished in second place nationally. A super, huge well done to all of our swimmers.

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 we consider the category of Good Learners. The idea behind this week’s promise is resilience and perseverance. This is such a key element of being a good learner. The desire and determination to master new skills can take children such a long way in education.

‘‘We never give up and always try again"

Mr Webb
Assistant Head

School messages are sent out via ISAMs and are usually sent out on a Friday.

If you are expecting a message and do not receive it please check your junk/spam folder as they can sometimes end up in there.  If you move them into your inbox this will direct messages there in the future.

Messages can also be found on the home screen when you log into My School Portal (see image).

Thank you.

Crescent School

There are only three days left to order from our latest Scholastic Book Club as orders close on the 9 December 2019.  Go to http://schools.scholastic.co.uk/the-crescent to browse the latest books and place your order.

Every £1 you spend on this month’s Book Club will earn 25p for our school in Scholastic Rewards.

So far we have raised £1,245 from the Book Fair - this is an amazing amount.

The Crescent School Christmas Post Box is open for the festive season.

Year 6 are manning the Post Box by the pupil door every morning from 8.15am-8.40am. We encourage all children to post their Christmas cards in the Post Box to save disruption of lessons.

The Christmas cards are then sorted by the Year 6 elves and delivered on the final day of term.

All cards must have the full name of the recipient and their class and we ask for a small donation to our school charity Shine A Light.

Mrs Webb
Assistant Head

Thank you to all who contributed to this year's Harvest Festival appeal for Rugby foodbank.  Crescent School donated 200kg of food.

What an amazing amount!

Crescent School

Last weekend our longest serving teacher assistant Miss Alice Wren took to the stage as 'Trainee Nurse Kitty' in the Braunston Players Christmas Extravaganza A Sound At Christmas at Braunston Village Hall.  All proceeds raised went towards the Air Ambulance charity!      

Well done Miss Wren - we are very proud of you!

Monday 9 December 2019 - 9.30am to 10.05am

Parents, grandparents and friends are invited to our Nursery and Reception Nativity performance of Everyone Loves a Baby.

A lot of hard work has gone into the rehearsals so far, learning the songs, memorising lines, sorting out costumes, scenery and planning the production, and what a spectacle it is all going to be.

Before the performance the staff and children will be busy getting things ready in the hall and I would ask parents to please wait in the Library where there will be tea, coffee and some light refreshments served. 

A link has been sent out to via My School Portal to confirm your attendance or click on  the link below:

https://princethorpe.myschoolportal.co.uk/event/159903

Crescent School 

Thursday 12 December 2019 -  9.35am to 10.05am

Parents, grandparents and friends are invited to watch Classes 1E and 2W's Nativity performance of The Bethlehem Star.

The children have been rehearsing hard, learning the songs, memorising lines, sorting out costumes and the production is going to be fantastic.

Before the performance the staff and children will be busy getting things ready in the hall and I would ask parents to please wait in the Library where there will be tea, coffee and some light refreshments served. 

A link has been sent out to via My School Portal to confirm your attendanceor via the linke below:

https://princethorpe.myschoolportal.co.uk/event/159907

Crescent School

Monday 16 December 2019

Our Christmas Jumper Day this year will be on Monday 16 December 2019. On that day, children should wear normal school uniform, but instead of their green pullover/cardigan, they can wear a Christmas jumper.

Please bring in £1 for our charity of the term, Shine a Light.

Mrs Monteith

Tuesday 17 December 2019 - 6.30pm to 7.30pm

Please join us for a wonderful evening of carols, readings and re-telling of the Christmas story.

This year we will be holding our Christmas Carol Service at Princethorpe College in the Our Lady of the Angels' Chapel.

All children in Years 3-6 are involved and required to attend. Please request permission from Mr Thackway if your child is unable to attend for any reason. All children to wear winter uniform including blazers and grey tights for girls. 

It would be lovely for all friends and family from the Crescent community to join us.  Parents and children from Reception, Years 1 and 2 are very welcome to attend, however, please be mindful that the service may be a little late for some of our younger children.

Children who need to change into a costume should arrive no earlier than 6.00pm. Everyone else, including the congregation, should be seated at 6.15pm for a prompt start. There will be instrumental and vocal solos taking place as people arrive.

There will be a retiring collection in aid of our termly charity, Shine a Light. Following the service, parents are invited to join us for some seasonal refreshments in the College 6th Form Centre.

A link to book tickets can be found below:

https://princethorpe.myschoolportal.co.uk/event/174086

Kind regards

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

Alice and Alyssa are Junior da Vinci students in English, a great achievement.

Well done to them both.

Mrs Webb
Assistant Head

Matthew is our latest millionaire reader, he is often seen in class finding it hard to drag himself away from the pages of a good read.

Well done.

Reading certificates have, this week, been awarded to:

• Amber
• Barnaby
• Kian
• Matthew
• Sam B
• Shayla

Well done to you all.

Well done to James and Edward who received Playground Conduct Awards, chosen by the Lunchtime Supervisors, in assembly this morning. 

Lunchtime Supervisors

Over a number of weeks, Reception children have been studing the Very Hungry Caterpillar.  They  have learned to name the main elements of the story, from the caterpillar to the butterfly via the cocoon, and the food it eats, all in French. The children made their own miniature version of the book, drawing the pictures and sequencing the pages.

We've had our first rehearsal with our costumes on, and we are nearly ready to show all our audiences our Nativity production.  We are very much looking forward to performing next week.

Class 6W have used their collaboration skills to work out solutions to tricky mathematical conundrums on Abacus.

As you can see, there was plenty of concentrating faces and euphoria when a puzzle was finally solved!

Friday 13 December 2019 - 3.45pm to 4.45pm

Please come along and support the FoC by buying cakes and sweets, all priced at 50p each. All the money raised at these market day events goes towards buying toys, crafts and stationery for privilege time for Year 4.

You can also purchase pre-loved uniform.

As you're reading this the Christmas Bazaar should be coming to an end for another year. We will publish the total made in next week's Courier and on our facebook page as soon as we've counted it all up. 

A massive thank you to everyone for coming along to join us and to all my wonderful parents, grandparents and teachers who make these events all possible. A lot of hard work goes into these events and it wouldn't be possible without everyone's hard work and dedication.

The FoC will again be filming both the Nursery and Reception Nativity and Classes 1E and 2W Nativity dress rehearsals.

You will be able to purchase a DVD for £13 per DVD, please order via the link below:

Nursery and Reception:

https://bit.ly/2QST0ar

Class 1E and 2W:

https://bit.ly/2QSJLqL

Below are the details of the FoC Year Group Representatives. These reps will communicate with you on all our events via email, whatsapp or facebook. 

Cheques for the FoC should be made payable to Friends of Crescent. 

However, from January 2020 we will no longer be accepting cheques as a form of payment. 

We have purchased a card payment system and will from the start of January 2020 be accepting bank transfers or cash only.

Many thanks

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

Lunch Menu - 9 December 2019

Crescent School Office

Please note that the School Shop, at Princethorpe College, will close from 4.30pm on Wednesday 18 December 2019 and re-open at the beginning of the Lent term on Monday 6 January 2020.

Shop opening hours during term time are Monday to Friday are 3.30pm until 4.30pm for parents to drop in.

Remember you can email orders for uniform to nicolabrowne@princethorpe.co.uk or call direct on 01926 634272, orders will be delivered to school on either a Tuesday or a Friday for collection.

Items can be paid for in cash, by cheque, card or added to the school bill.

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

Please see below for useful school contact information:

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

2019/20

Calling all budding reporters!!

After Christmas I will be recruiting a new group of Courier Kids reporters. This will be open to Classes 4M, 5F, 6W and 6Y. The club meets each week to produce a children’s section for the Courier.

If your child would like to join this 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 Crescent Courier and why they would be a good reporter. The children can apply to me before the end of this year, the deadline for applications is Wednesday 18 December at midday. My email for any applications to be sent to is amandayates@crescentschool.co.uk or the children can hand it to me in school. 

I will then be selecting two children from each class to create a team of eight. This team will remain in place for the whole term until Easter. 

The team will be notified by the end of the day on Thursday 19 December and the club will begin on Tuesday 7 January starting  promptly at 8.15am.

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