The Courier

Dear Parents

Tuesday evening‘s Carol Service at Princethorpe College was a wonderful way to end the term. Many thanks to everyone who attended. Your support for events like these means so much to the children and is much appreciated by staff as well.

It was our first time holding the service at the College and it made for a beautiful setting on a cold and foggy winter’s night. First and foremost, very well done to all the children for their immaculate behaviour, we all felt really proud of them as I am sure you did yourselves. Particular thanks go to the readers, choir and orchestra who all sounded wonderful in the chapel, where the acoustics give such a lovely mellow quality to the sound.

The children finished school yesterday with some fun in school and our final good news assembly of the term where we celebrated the many achievements of the children. For the staff here, Thursday sees one more day at work with our INSET planned and after that a well-deserved break. Christmas can be one of the busiest holidays in the year with lots of friends and family to catch up with so do try and put some time aside for yourselves if you possibly can.

So, finally for 2019, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and I look forward to seeing everyone back here for the start of Lent Term 2020 on Monday 6 January.

Best wishes

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

Weekly Calendar - 6 January 2020

The following clubs are not running week commencing 6 January 2020:

• Monday - Hotshots
• Thursday - Pre-Prep DanceSing
• Friday - Breakfast Yoga

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

SOCS Co-Curricular

Crescent School

The annual school carol service took place on Tuesday 17 December, in the glorious setting of Our Lady of the Angels Chapel at Princethorpe College.

Parents, grandparents and friends were warmly welcomed to a wonderful evening of carols, readings and the re-telling of the Christmas story.

The traditional festive service did not disappoint, the orchestra played superbly and the voices of the choir sang out with much loved music that brought families together to celebrate the beginning of the Christmas period.

It was a lovely celebration and a perfect end to the Michaelmas term.

Princethorpe College’s plans for a new Science Centre have taken a major step forward with planning permission granted, the launch of a fundraising campaign and the unveiling of further campus wide benefits.

The state-of-the-art £8 million Science Centre, which will allow the College to redevelop and cluster several other departments, was granted planning permission in May this year.  The College has now revealed further plans for a new suite of Art studios, additional space for Maths and Technology, increased dining capacity and sporting facilities.

Comments, Headmaster, Ed Hester, “Princethorpe is situated at the heart of the UK’s automotive industry, where science and engineering meet art and design. We know that our pupils need the finest facilities to give them the best opportunities for their future and widening the scope of our Science Campaign to encompass all STEAM subjects enables us to provide these.”

The Science Centre is now entering the detailed ‘developed design’ stage with local RIBA members, AT Architects of Leamington, who designed The Limes 14-classroom wing in 2014. A cost plan will follow early in the new year, then a period of value engineering and technical design before a bill of quantities is prepared in the summer.

Mr Hester continues, “This is a large, complex and exciting project. The next six months will be critical as we prepare thoroughly for the tendering process in autumn 2020. If all goes to plan we should be appointing a main contractor this time next year, with construction starting early in 2021 and completion in summer 2022.”

A fundraising campaign has been launched to work hand in hand with the delivery of the project. The Science Plus Campaign outlines a menu of giving including engraved pavers and bricks, sponsorship of elements on a giant periodic table and personal and corporate naming opportunities.

Our Director of Development comments, “We’re determined to make sure that this project is funded and built as soon as possible. We hope that the many Friends of Princethorpe will be moved to support this project, as they have previous initiatives in the College’s history. Their support is vital in making our vision for Science Plus a reality.”

Those interested in supporting the Science Plus Campaign are invited to email makingadifference@princethorpe.co.uk or call 01926 634265 for a Science Campaign Plus brochure.

Pictured here alongside Mr Hester and Mr Lee are Head of Science, Emma Cooper, and some of the pupils who will reap the benefits of the new facilities at the College.

STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics.

Cyber-crime – please be vigilant

Parents are asked to be vigilant when reading emails relating to the payment of school fees and any other items to the Foundation.

We continue to receive reports regarding spam emails being sent to parents of independent schools asking them to pay future fees to a ‘new’ school bank account.

Please be advised there has been no change to the bank details of either Princethorpe College, Crackley Hall or Crescent and there is no intention to make any changes in the foreseeable future. Any electronic notification that appears to be from any of the Foundation schools changing these details may be fraudulent.

Our bank details are available on the Parent Bills, the Online Payment Portal and for Princethorpe in the Princethorpe College Information Booklet 2019 – 2020, and only those details should be used.

Parents are asked to be vigilant in respect of any communications purporting to be from the Foundation requesting money that does not match our normal procedures.

Please note:

• invoices are only available through the on-line parent fee portal;
• our bank account details will NOT change during the academic year 2019-20;
• if you receive an email purporting to amend our bank details, do not make any payment and please contact us by telephone immediately to clarify;
• we do not email details of unsolicited discounts for payment of funds.

Please do not hesitate to contact me or my colleagues in the Bursary if you are have any doubts about the correct details or indeed if anything appears suspicious.

Please contact the Bursary if you have concerns about any communication you receive and in particular if you receive any request for payment of funds outside our normal routines.

Please note we do not accept payment in cash for the fee bill.

Eddie Tolcher
Foundation Bursar

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 Citizens. 

'We respect everyone and we are tolerant'

It is great to see a steady flow of Junior da Vinci students being awarded their badges.

Well done to Damilola for becoming a Junior da Vinci student in Maths, to Sienna also in Maths and to Milly in PSHE.

Mrs Webb
Assistant Head

In our Good News Assembly this afternoon we awarded School Promise certificates to recognise the children’s excellent behaviour as Good Friends, Good Learners or Good Citizens. 

Congratulations go to:

• Akaal
• Amy
• Asha
• Emme
• Eva
• George B
• Harry M
• Harry R
• Joseph
• Liana
• Leela
• Maya
• Milly
• Oliver
• Poppy
• Theo M
• Zebedee

In the Celebration Assembly on Tuesday 18 December, the housepoint winners for each class were awarded with a book token for first and second place. 

Congratulations to the following children:

St George's House was the overall winner for the housepoint trophy.

Well done to all.

We were delighted, in our final celebration assembly of the term, to award our brand new Promise Badges for the very first time.

These are very special and will be awarded at the end of each term to one child in the Lower School and one child in the Upper School for each of the three promise strands: Good Friends, Good Learners, Good Citizens.

The children listed below have embodied the qualities of their promise strand this term and can wear their new badges with pride.

Congratulations to:

• Albert
• Amber
• Aria
• Everly
• Seren
• Theo

Last Friday Classes 5F, 6W and 6Y all set off on an adventure to Warner Brothers studio. The Harry Potter books are read by many of the children, they are also studied in Year 6 and I was hoping to inspire others to try them.

Orla wrote about our trip for homework and I think she sums it all up very well.

The Year 6 classes have both been busy sorting the Christmas cards that have been posted in our Christmas Postbox. These cards were then delivered to each form and to the staff so they could be opened and enjoyed over the Christmas holidays.

Thank you to everyone for supporting our charity postbox.

A most delicious Christmas lunch was served to all on Wednesday 18 December.  We had crackers with silly hats, jokes and music playing throughout and were served platefuls of delicious Christmas dinner.  It is a day of extra work for the kitchen staff and we say a big thank you to them for the wonderful meal and also for all the food they have prepared for us throughout the year.

Children were treated to a lovely surprise when a flash mob (Archie, Joshua, Tom and Keshav) showed off their dance moves.  Mrs Barnes and Tomisin then joined in which had a knock on effect and everyone was up on their feet!

A reception pupil said it was the best day ever!

Crescent School

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

Crescent Menu - 6 January 2020

Crescent School Office

Please see below for useful school contact information:

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

2019/20

Welcome to our Christmas edition of Courier kids. We hope you enjoy reading it. We have enjoyed being in Courier Kids and hope the next team of reporters do too!

Wishing you all a a very merry Christmas.

Charlotte, Dorritt, Eve, Tumi and Keshav.

After Years 5 and 6 visited Harry Potter Studios here are my top ten things:

1. Hogwarts Express
2. Diagon Alley
3. Mini Hogwarts Castle
4. Triwizard Cup
5. Our passport with 7 stamps to collect
6. The special effects
7. The Forbidden Forest
8. How it was the actors' home
9. Seeing all the plans
10. The dragon in Gringotts bank

Ingredients

• 125g softened butter
• 1 egg
• 125g caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 250g plain flour

Method

1. Heat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5.
2. Mix the butter and sugar.
3. Then beat in the egg and vanilla.
4. Next, stir in the flour and mix to make a soft dough.
5. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently. Now, put the dough on a plate, cover it and leave to cool for at least 2 hrs.
6. After that, roll out the dough and use a cookie cutter or water glass to stamp out circles.
7. Put the biscuits on two lined baking trays and bake for 10-14 mins until the edges turn lightly golden in colour.
8. Then leave to cool.
9. Decorate the biscuits so that they look like snowmen faces.
10. Enjoy sharing your biscuits with your friends and family. 

Courier Kids Team

Can you match the name to the photo? Please print off this sheet and hand it to me or email amandayates@crescentschool.co.uk with your answers.

I’ll share the answers with the children when we return after the holiday.

I wonder if anyone will guess all of them correctly!

What you will need:

• A green sharpie
• 3 lolly sticks
• Any coloured pipe cleaners
• Any coloured star
• Some string or wool
• And you will need pva glue

First you get your lolly sticks and colour them in with a green sharpie. Then you glue them together just like in the picture.

Now you get your pipe cleaner and stick it to one of the corners then zig zag it to the other corner it will show you in the picture.

Then you stick the star on the top of your Christmas tree.

Finally, you get your string or wool and you glue it to the top of your tree next to the star and then you can hang it to your Christmas tree.           

Courier Kids Team

Courier Kids Team

The children at Crescent School have been nominating members of staff who they feel have stood out as being especially super this half term.

This half term’s super member of staff is…

• Mrs Webb

One of the nomations was…

Please see my comic of Greek Life below:

Comic Greek