The Chronicle

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Friday 7 June was an important day for nine Crackley Hall pupils as they celebrated their first Holy Communion Mass. Mikey Bell, Issey Cleary, Merryn Cleary, Leo Fella, Finlay Hackett, Dillon Horan, Joseph Hughes, Milana Lambeth and Joseph McCoy gathered together excitedly with friends, family and the whole Crackley Hall school community at St Francis of Assisi Church in Kenilworth.

The children have been preparing for this special day since the beginning of the year, meeting regularly to learn about their faith so that they understand what they are committing to. In March they took the Sacrament of First Reconciliation and then in May they celebrated the Passover Meal. 

Father Kevin Hooper began by commending Crackley Hall’s long and strong association with the parish.  He then led a joyful and celebratory Eucharist beautifully supported by the Altar Servers and Chamber Choir.  He spoke about the nourishing love of God that would sustain the young communicants throughout their lives. The communicants received the sacrament with the utmost sincerity and reverence and were a credit to their families and the school. 

Following celebratory prayers, reflections and concluding hymns the nine recipients shyly posed for proud parents and friends in front of the altar.

Special thanks were given to Mrs Jackson-Mayne and Mrs Simmonds who have supported the children in their journey this year and to Mrs Olden and the Chamber Choir.  It was a wonderful occasion bringing together pupils, teachers, family and friends from across the Princethorpe Foundation.  The school was delighted to welcome Ed Hester, Princethorpe Headmaster, and Trustees Mrs Griffin and Mrs McNamara to the service along with Mr McCullough and some of the Sixth Form prefects.

After the service parents, family and guests were invited to share in the special buffet lunch laid on for the communicants in the adjacent church hall where the traditional First Holy Communion cake was of course the centrepiece with each of the children’s names iced on the top in Crackley Hall School colours.

A very special day for all concerned.

On Wednesday 5 June children from Junior 2 visited the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry to watch the marvellous and magical Honk.  A heart-warming adaption of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling, the musical tells the story of Ugly, a plucky little bird who gets picked on by the other farmyard animals because he’s different.

The much-loved story was brought vividly and noisily to life.  Pushed out of the flock, Ugly embarks on a series of adventures across the marsh, meeting an array of characters who teach him that it takes all sorts to make a world!

The children very much enjoyed the performance with its catchy songs, interactive scenes, puppetry and illusions.

Director of Music, Susan Olden, who led the trip, said, “We all thoroughly enjoyed the show. The music and songs from this modern musical were excellent, it was a great performance that cleverly presented an underlying message of acceptance.”

Grandparents and parishioners were welcomed into school for a special afternoon tea on Wednesday 5 June.  Organised by Crackley Hall’s Minnie Vinnies, the junior arm of the charity St Vincent de Paul Society, the Crackley Cream Tea is an annual community event aimed at the older generation.

The School Hall reverberated with friendly chatter and the clink of china as teapots and plates piled high with scones, strawberries, jam and cream were carefully served to the guests. 

Alongside their tea, the parishioners and grandparents enjoyed a programme of entertainment as pupils from across the school took turns to perform. The entertainment included the School Orchestra, Choral Group, Chamber Choir and the Choral Speaking Group as well as a number of individual solo performances.  All the children performed with confidence and panache much to the delight of the gathered guests, but the highlight of the afternoon had to be the Choral Group’s evil chuckles as they belted out the pirate song ‘Give Us What You’ve Got’.

After the entertainment, there was just time for the Minnie Vinnies to chat to their guests as they finished their tea.

Mr Duncan Cottrill, Deputy Head, popped in to welcome everyone to the school and to thank Mrs Dolores Simmonds for helping the Mini Vinnies organise the community event.

Mrs Simmonds, Mini Vinnies Co-ordinator, said, “We had a lovely afternoon, the St Vincent de Paul ethos is to make a difference to people’s lives and our Mini Vinnies’ Crackley Cream Tea for our local community was clearly thoroughly enjoyed by all.”

Just before half term Junior 6 enjoyed a spectacular six days away in Normandy. Their packed itinerary included a range of cultural, historical and leisure sights and activities, as well as the opportunity to put into practise some of their French language skills.  A total of 51 pupils and six staff travelled from Kenilworth to Normandy by coach and ferry and stayed in a picturesque gîte in Clinchamps-sur-Orne near Caen.

During their week away pupils had the chance to visit the Vieux-la-Romaine Roman museum and archaeological excavation site, they also learnt how to make bread, toured the town’s beautiful Basilica where, in the Crypt, they were able to attend Mass. As D-Day has featured in their History studies their visit to the bunkers near Arromanches, with its 360˚ cinema experience and a walk across the sand on the landing beaches was always going to be a poignant experience.

Alongside all the educational elements there was of course plenty of time to play and everyone had a fabulous day out at a local theme park, ‘Festy Land’, and enjoyed an evening BBQ. The children also visited Bayeux to take in the famous Bayeux Tapestry and the town’s Cathedral, along with some essential last minute souvenir shopping. On the same day the group also visited the nearby War Cemetery where the children were momentarily silenced by its sheer scale.

Thankfully, the weather was kind throughout the stay and volleyball and ice creams filled any spare time the group had. All in all the trip was a resounding success and has provided many magical memories for our Junior 6 to take away with them as they come towards the end of their time at Crackley Hall.

Thanks go to all those involved in organising the trip and to the accompanying members of staff Mr Duigan, Mrs Horan, Mrs Vaughan, Mrs Paphitis, Mr Kefalas, Mr Stedeford and Mrs Williams.

Crackley Hall’s Aryan Mehta helped Warwickshire to victory in the County Cup Championships, when he won the Junior Championships in August last year. Since then Aryan has been working hard to retain his County rating as one of the highest ranked U10s.  His commitment has earned him a coveted Green 1* rating, an award only given to those players that have beaten highly ranked players at least 20 times.

Aryan has also recently won the regional Junior AEGON semi-finals beating local teams from across Warwickshire and is now preparing for the final on Saturday 22 June at the Edgbaston Priory Club.

Aryan works hard on his game training regularly every week and, in the competitive sport of tennis, has been delighted to be selected for the county Junior team since he was 7-years-old. Asked to reveal the secret of his success Aryan explains, “I am very focused, you have to have a strong mind to succeed in tennis.  Often in crucial matches, you can be one set down and facing match point and it is at these times you need to be mentally and physically strong to overcome your opponent.  I say to myself ‘never give up’ and from there I have gone to win the match and then the tournament.”   It is clear Aryan has a steely determination.

Aryan confesses that he would love to be a professional tennis player.  We applaud his ambition and think that he has every chance of making it to Wimbledon one day.

Good luck in your upcoming final Aryan, we are all very proud of you.

In light of the upcoming changes to Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) by the Department of Education, Public Health have updated their programme and the resources we use in school. For this reason, our school held an information and insight evening for parents, where we welcomed Johnny Hunt, a leading practitioner, to host a seminar and question and answer session on the soon to be launched 'All About Me' programme.

The new programme whilst based on the same ethos and evidence of previous programmes, now incorporates much of the thinking and evidence accumulated through recent best practise. There will be much stronger links and reinforcement of the Key Messages from Warwickshire's Protective Behaviours - Taking Care Programme and the NSPCC rules.

Please do look out for details of the website especially designed to support parents and carers. Here you will find further information about the programme, including details of every lesson delivered, samples of resources, as well as a section of FAQ. 

A carousel of fun activities greeted the children who attended Holiday Club during the May half-term holiday. Miss Osborn and staff, surprised and delighted the children in equal measure with a varied programme of carefully selected activities; baking made way for arts and crafts; bingo became mindfulness yoga and outdoor activities and trips to the park morphed into football games for all.   

It goes without saying that the children were handed back exhausted each and every night. So there you have it; there's no better place to catch up with friends and have fun during the holidays, proving our 'second best place to home' saying to be very true.

We are pleased to announce that for the first time ever, holiday club will be running for the whole of the summer holidays. You can book either a morning (8.00am - 1.00pm) or afternoon (1.00pm - 6.00pm) session at a cost of £20.00 per child, or a whole day (8.00am - 6.00pm) at a cost of £30.00 per child. Hot lunches can be booked seperately or a packed lunch can be brought if preferred. 

Further details regarding what activities to expect each week will be sent home when available.

Please note that organising staff to run holiday club is a big job and we therefore ask that if you know you would like to use holiday club during the summer, that you book up as early as possible. We understand that changes do sometimes happen, and we will always try to accomodate you. However we are bound to strict adult to child ratios and staff availability during the summer is limited.

Booking is available at: https://princethorpecollege.parentseveningsystem.co.uk/