Headmaster's Welcome
Dear Parents
Our week began with Miss Hanlon delivering a series of workshops for the children to celebrate World Dance Day. I do hope the children enjoyed this, particularly those for whom it was something new! It's always good to put ourselves out of our comfort zone and try a new activity, even if we decide that we were right and it's not for us!
Our Junior 5 children spent a fantastic day at Princethorpe this week enjoying their Taster Day. I would like to thank everyone both at Princethorpe and here at Crackley for their work in facilitating this and arranging such a range of activities for them. I understand they were able to enjoy lessons in Science, Spanish, Music, Drama, RE, English and Computer Science. They have also had a walk around the school buildings, enjoyed a legendary Princethorpe cookie, spotted old Crackley friends now at Princethorpe, had lunch in the Refectory and participated in other activities including a Q&A with the prefects. At the end of the day they had the chance to familiarise themselves with the CEM tests used on entrance examinations day.
The Under 11 girls' football team spent a fabulous day at the Independent Schools Football Association tournament on Wednesday. The competition was of a very high standard and our U11 girls acquitted themselves admirably. The team won, drew and lost matches but, in every match, the competition was fierce, and the result depended on a small factor in each game. Very well done to a talented team and their coach, Mr Stedeford.
A group of Key Stage 2 children went off to compete at the Nuneaton Festival of Speech and Drama on Wednesday and returned triumphant, achieving firsts, second and third places against local Performing Arts and Theatre schools. They also had a wonderful day, supported by parents and staff.
Junior 3 had a wonderful experiential history day today, sampling many aspects of Ancient Greek life. They took part in a Greek dancing workshop, kindly led by Mrs Paphitis, made Tzatziki and their own Olympic medals before enjoying a Greek Feast and Mini-Olympics in the afternoon. Well done to everyone for taking part so enthusiastically and for your fabulous costumes. Thank you to Mrs Van Zyl and the Junior 3 team for organising such a lovely day.
Well done to all of our sports teams on their performances this week. This includes cricket, athletics and football. Mr Vaughan has asked me to make particular mention of our Junior 4 girls cricket team. Their match against Crescent yesterday gave them the opportunity to show off some particularly strong bowling and fielding skills - we look forward to watching these girls develop over coming months and years. Thank you to all our coaches for your dedication and our parents who attended, for your support.
We look forward to Fr Kevin joining the school community on Monday as he leads an assembly on Our Lady, to mark the start of May. Fr Kevin will also celebrate Ascension Day Mass on Thursday next week.
Well done to our Stars of the Week: Nursery – Tobie and Ottilie; Reception – Milo, Joshua and Isher; J1 – Imogen and Wilson; J2 – Jessica and May; J3 – Lewis and Fiorella; J4 – Una and Niamh; J5 – Swaran and Grace; J6 – Hollie and Sienna F. Your awards are all very well deserved. Congratulations to the many pupils who received Crackley Compass certificates and stars and also to those who earned their various Da Vinci certificates. Your hard work is acknowledged and appreciated.
We were treated to some excellent musical performances at this morning’s assembly! Very well done to Beatrice, who was outstanding on her cello and to Niamh and Una, who both sang so beautifully – absolutely wonderful!
It is with sadness and gratitude that we say farewell to Mrs Devine, our school receptionist, as she embarks on a new career back in the ‘business world’. She has been such a help to pupils, parents, staff and visitors, through her naturally kind and caring nature and her ability to always look for a solution. The world needs more Mrs Devines!
I'm sure that everyone is looking forward to an extra lie-in this weekend, so let's hope the sun shines! I hope that you enjoy a restful and happy weekend with your families.
God bless,
Robert Duigan
