Merry Christmas And Thank You From The PTA
Crackley Hall PTA started the Michaelmas Term unaware of what it would bring and whether we'd even be able to hold any events, but with support and guidance from School, we were able to provide a number of fun activities for the children.
During the first few weeks of term the children created their Christmas card designs! Many families placed orders for Christmas cards, tags, mugs, tea towels and bags. We thank you for your support and hope that you, and your recipients, love the designs.
Unfortunately, this year the PTA were unable to do a Macmillian cake sale, but that didn't stop us collecting for this worthy charity. With all of your wonderful donations we managed to collect a staggering £736.77 - Thank you!
November saw our first virtual quiz. Hosted by Mr Duigan and kindly coordinated by the Card family, participants were asked to dress in their house colours with a theme of the movies. We had some wonderful costumes on display and lots of house points were awarded. A staggering 56 families participated in the quiz and lots of fun was had. The event was warmly received and another quiz will be scheduled for later in the academic year.
A few amendments have been made to the PTA email addresses, please make a note of these, as the old ones will no longer been in use.
CHPTA@crackleyhall.co.uk will become ch@pta.crackleyhall.co.uk
PTAFundraising@crackleyhall.co.uk will become fundraising@pta.crackleyhall.co.uk
PTACommunications@crackleyhall.co.uk will become communications@pta.crackleyhall.co.uk
PTAevents@crackleyhall.co.uk will become events@pta.crackleyhall.co.uk
The second hand uniform shop, or pre-loved, as we like to call it, have worked tirelessly, sorting, washing and quarantining the uniform ensuring safety and social distancing at all times.
On behalf of the PTA, I would like to express our sincere thanks, to Nikki, Linda and Kate for all their hard work and dedication to ensure all our children have been fitted out with correctly sized uniform this term.
Please note, there will also be a slight change to the PTA uniform email address, please take note of this for future reference.
PTAUniform@crackleyhall.co.uk will become uniform@pta.crackleyhall.co.uk
A pre-loved book sale was also scheduled for November but as bookshops were closed due to a national lockdown, the PTA, along with School, decided to postpone this event. Dates are currently under review and we hope to run this event early next term.
Perhaps the most important event held by the PTA this term was our 'Crackley's Enchanted Christmas'. Back in September we discussed the likelihood of hosting our annual Christmas Fayre, and whilst this is usually one of the big fundraising opportunities for the PTA, we took an early decision to do something different this year. The PTA managed to secure both corporate and individual sponsorship to enable a number of events to take place without any cost to individual families. We made the decision to 'provide something wonderful for the children', to end what has been a difficult year for many people.
The fun started with Crackley's first ever Christmas Light Trail. Eighteen families lit up their homes and hid a letter amongst their light display. The children were all sent home with a map and asked to find all eighteen letters, solve the anagram and return their form to school. All entries were placed in a hat and Ted (J3V) was randomly selected as the winner by Mr Duigan. All entrants were also asked to identify their favourite light display - the winning house was the Grandparents of Penny and Rory Thomas located on Highland Road.
Last Friday, the children arrived at school in their Christmas Jumpers, welcomed at car-line by a cheeky Elf. The morning would hold more drama, with the arrival at Crackley Hall, of Father Christmas on his sleigh with two real-life reindeers. In their class bubbles, the children were welcomed to the outdoor classroom by a Christmas Fairy and naughty Elf. They met the reindeer handlers, who spoke about all aspects of reindeer diet, habitat and health. The children then met Father Christmas for an informal chat. Lots of children also sang him a festive song, before receiving two gifts to take home - a packet of reindeer food for Christmas Eve and a keepsake, reindeer bell for the Christmas tree.
This week to continue the festive spirit the PTA, along with school, have coordinated a number of Christmas activities, including a showing of the Belgrade Theatre's, Jack and the Beanstalk pantomime. On Tuesday, the children were invited to wear non-school uniform. Many classes watched the Polar Express movie and in keeping with the film's theme, were invited to wear their pyjamas to school ... what a memorable thing to do! To ensure the last day of term was merry, the school catering team provided a fun take-away style lunch.
Finally, the PTA would like to thank Mr Duigan and Ms Lorraine Dyer for their support and encouragement, without which, none of these activities would be possible. We hope the Christmas activities in school have provided the perfect start to a magical festive period, and wish you and your family, a very merry Christmas and a wonderful new year.
