The Chronicle

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Children from Crackley Hall's Junior 5 and 6 had a fantastic day full of uplifting singing on Tuesday 14 November when they welcomed their fellow Foundation Junior School, Crescent School's, Classes V and VI pupils for a joint choral workshop. The pupils from both school choirs worked together under the guidance of Directors of Music, Susan Olden and Julie Barnes, to prepare and rehearse a mix of joint and individual choral and solo pieces ready for an afternoon concert to parents.

Mrs Olden and Mrs Barnes both agreed that the first joint musical initiative had been a very successful day, remarking that, “Everyone has enjoyed themselves and we have all learnt so much from each other.”

The concert started with super spine-tingling performances of I’m Still Singing, Agnus Dei and The Call, the voices of the 50 plus children blending harmoniously together to fill Crackley’s new school hall. This was followed by the two schools individually showcasing their choral skills, with Crescent School singing two pieces from their recent Harvest Festival, Thank You For Almost Everything and Everybody Praise Him, and Crackley Hall’s Chamber Choir performing For The Beauty Of The Earth and Hava Nashira. The audience were also treated to three incredible individual solos from Samuel Lau on violin, Emily Hennegan performing Naughty from Matilda and ChenChen Pan playing one of her Grade 7 pieces on piano. The finale was a catchy, feet stomping joint rendition of the popular classic Rhythm of Life.

Julie Barnes, Director of Music at the Crescent School, commented, “The children gelled straight away and clearly enjoyed working together. I was pleased with how their confidence grew throughout the day. We have some real talent in our schools and very much want to encourage them with their singing.”

Susan Olden, Director of Music at Crackley Hall, added “The children’s performance today was one any professional choir would be happy with.”

The choral workshop is to be followed by a return visit next term when Crackley Hall will travel to Bilton, Rugby for an orchestral workshop with the Crescent School.

Here’s to lots more working and learning together!

On Thursday 9 November Crackley Hall School travelled to Cannock Hockey Club to take part in the ISA U11 Mixed Hockey Tournament. One of 14 schools, Crackley Hall took a team that comprised Ollie Farquharson (Captain), Eva Plevin (Vice Captain), Dylan Williams, Joe McCullough, Seb Owen, Toby Lucas, Honor-Mae Minshull, Abi Gillard and Harriet Boyd.

The competition started with a first round of two groups of seven schools and teams playing six 15 minute matches of 7-a-side.

Crackley started steadily with a 1-1 draw against the eventual tournament winners Old Vicarage, their confidence grew and the goals came flowing in with a 3-0 win against Chase Grammar, followed by a 3-0 win against Arnold Lodge before being held to a 3-3 draw by Burton Hathow. The Crackley team’s only loss of the tournament came next against Lucton, with an unlucky 1-2 score line following a long break between games. Then it was back to the goal bonanza with the team winning their next two games 5-0 against St Winefrides and 4-0 against Highclare. Despite playing excellent hockey and numerous good goals Crackley finished an unlucky third overall in the pool so did not progress to the semi-finals."

PE Teacher, Kat Vaughan commented, “This was a great competition for the children, they played well, got into good attacking positions and scored plenty of goals. There was genuinely nothing in it and the team was terrifically unlucky not to progress to the semi-finals

A vote for players’ player and coach’s player were both held. Ollie Farquharson won both plaudits for his outstanding work-rate, commitment and leadership on the pitch.

A special mention to our goal scorers: Joe McCullough who scored an outstanding 14 goals, gaining top goal scorer of the tournament and Ollie Farquharson who found the goal in the last two games, stealing six goals to complete Crackley Hall’s impressive haul of 20 goals (the most scored by any team in the tournament).

Crackley Hall is delighted that all Junior 3 pupils achieved top marks for their LAMDA examinations. 

Mrs Wildey, Crackley's inspirational Drama Coordinator was pleased to report to the Chronicle that nearly 60% reached a distinction! This is no mean feat, given they had to perform a poem learnt from memory to the examiner and then be judged in their conversational skills about a familiar book.

Communication skills are the key to achieving excellent LAMDA results and the children clearly demonstrated exceptional vocal abilities; including excellent diction, clarity, vocal, facial and bodily expression.

Congratulations to them all.

As part of Anti-bullying Week Mr Cottrill led an engaging and informative assembly on recognising differences and the types and effects of bullying. The assembly supported the national theme for Anti-bullying Week which this year was 'All Different, All Equal'.

During the week, children have been having lessons exploring the theme of anti-bullying and have been learning strategies on how to deal with situations where they don’t feel safe. Indeed, Sarah-Louise Lithgow, PCSO, individually led our Junior 4 pupils through examples of difference and how our children might recognise and seek support when they might feel they need help.

Certainly, 'Odd Socks Day' was fun! It definitely was an opportunity for children to express themselves and appreciate individuality and uniqueness. Thanks Mr. Cottrill for putting your best sock forward and leading us all so well from the front.

After many weeks of preparation during their Tuesday lunchtimes, four Junior 6 and three Junior 5 pupils, all members of the Maths Club, finally faced the Mathematical Association's Primary Maths Challenge on Tuesday 14 November. Their goal, a coveted place in the Challenge's Bonus Round to be held in February 2018.

Last year 63,000 pupils from Primary schools across the country competed in the Challenge but less than 2000 of that number qualified for the next round. Our pupils all gave their best on the day and we will have to wait some weeks to find out if any of our pupils have achieved the target mark to progress in the competition. Mrs Spillane, who co-ordinates the Maths Club, was hopeful that Crackley Hall might be celebrating some success in the second year of the school's participation in this fantastic competition. 

Our Crackley team consisted of Dari Kotlarsky, Erin King, Yichen Pan, Annika Saravanan, Edward Hunter, Alistair Darnell and Dylan Williams. Whatever the outcome, we know that we have some very talented mathematicians at our school. The children will be presented with certificates in a forthcoming assembly and we will keep every finger crossed for news of any of them getting through to the next stage.

The Scholastic Book Fair comes to Crackley Hall once again this year and thanks to our wonderful PTA we are excited to announce that a local author will visit classes and perform live readings.

The book fair will be held on Monday 27 November and stay until the Christmas Fayre on Saturday 2 December. Although children may purchase books at certain times during the school day, parents are invited to accompany their child after school between 3.30pm and 4.30pm when you will be able to purchase books and other stationery items. There is also an opportunity for children to enter a competition in school where they can win a £5 voucher to spend at the fair.

Funds raised at this event enable the school to order books that can be used from Nursery through to J6 and it is hoped that this year we will break all previous records. As an alternative to children bringing cash into school, parents are able to purchase Scholastic Book Fair vouchers online using the following link or by typing the following into your web browser.

https://shop.scholastic.co.uk/search/search?log=t&search%5Bquery%5D=gift+voucher

The vouchers entitle the purchaser to 20% extra free.

In addition to the Book Fair, Samuel Langley-Swain will visit school on Monday 27 November to read his book, Santa’s Wish, to children in Nursery up to J4. Children in J5 and J6 will have the opportunity to spend time with Samuel and discuss being an author. Samuel will also be bringing copies of his lovely book to sell on Monday and should you wish to pre-order a signed copy, please return the attached reply slip together with £5.00 by Friday 24 November. This payment will be separate to the Scholastic Book Fair.

Mars - 330 House Points

Jupiter - 345 House Points

Venus - 297 House Points

Saturn - 355 House Points

Job Vacancy - Estates Assistants - Part-time, Various Shifts Available

Ideally starting in January 2018, we are recruiting Estates Assistants to work as part of the Estates team, providing support services to all of the Foundation schools - Princethorpe College, Crescent School in Rugby and Crackley Hall School in Kenilworth.

The duties will primarily involve maintenance work internally and externally, security, traffic management, porterage and some cleaning. Applicants with some carpentry, plumbing or decorating skills would be most welcome. This is a ‘hands-on’ role facilitating the proper functioning of the schools to ensure a safe and satisfactory working, learning and recreational environment.

The successful applicant will need to be able to provide a high quality service to staff, pupils and visitors and be enthusiastic as well as honest, trustworthy and reliable, able to lift and to work on his/her own as well as part of a team.

Working hours: We have a variety of part-time shifts available, from as little as two hours and up to eight hours, in the afternoons and evenings or on Saturday and Sundays.  We would be happy to consider applications for working evenings and weekends only or with other shifts on a rota basis.

This is an excellent opportunity to join a fast growing foundation that values its staff and offers a rewarding benefits package including discounted places for staff, a pension scheme, child care vouchers and a cycle to work scheme.

To discuss the post in more detail please contact Michael Small, Foundation Estates Manager - 01926 634267 or Pete Wilkes, Estates Manager – 01926 634200.

Application: To apply for this vacancy applicants must submit a Princethorpe College application form, together with a CV and covering letter detailing your personal qualities, experience and how you meet the person specification for the role. Applicants must ensure the application form is fully completed, including a detailed career history with specific dates.

Closing date: Monday 4 December 2017 at 9.00am and interviews are likely to be held on Thursday 7 December 2017, at Princethorpe.

Further details and an application form are available from the School website.

www.crackleyhall.co.uk/employment-opportunities

Job Vacancy – Senior IT Infrastructure Engineer

Ideally starting in January 2018, we have an exciting role within the IT Infrastructure Team for an experienced IT professional as a Senior IT Infrastructure Engineer (Windows Server, Active Directory, SCCM, Hyper-V, AV & Backup Solutions, Cloud, Office 365 and Azure). Working as part of a team you will be responsible for the design, development, testing, implementation, documentation and high-level support of a variety of network and server infrastructure products and solutions internally.

The successful candidate will also be expected to help design tailored solutions to meet the needs of internal projects including sourcing and introducing new products and services where required.

This is a Foundation wide role, based at Princethorpe College with duties at The Crescent and Crackley Hall Schools.

This is an excellent opportunity to join a fast growing Foundation that values its staff and offers a rewarding benefits package including discounted places for staff, a pension scheme, child care vouchers and a cycle to work scheme.

Application: To apply for this vacancy applicants must submit a Princethorpe College application form, together with a CV and covering letter detailing your personal qualities, experience and how you meet the person specification for the role. Applicants must ensure the application form is fully completed, including a detailed career history with specific dates.

Closing date: Monday 27 November 2017 at 9.00am, and interviews are likely to be held on Thursday 30 November at Princethorpe.

Further details and an application form are available from the School website.

www.crackleyhall.co.uk/employment-opportunities