The Chronicle

Dear Parents

The heavy snowfall at the weekend resulted in a shorter than planned school week but we managed to fit in an enormous amount in these four days.  On Tuesday our J5 and J4 classes spent the day at Princethorpe preparing for the Advent Service which took place on Wednesday evening.  I am sure those of you who attended on Wednesday enjoyed this marvellous occasion in the stunning Princethorpe Chapel and hopefully were able to stay for the hospitality after the event.  Thank you to all of the staff and students involved; hearing the voices of the children in the Chapel is quite an emotional occasion and I hope you all experience this at some point during your time at Crackley Hall.  I was immensely proud of our children and would like to thank them, Mrs Olden, Mrs Wildey and Miss Kefalas for helping us prepare for Christmas.  I was delighted to be able to speak to a few parents during the evening but apologies if I did not manage to say ‘hello’ to you all personally.  I should like to thank Mr Hester and his wonderful staff for their warm hospitality, both at the rehearsal and on the evening itself.  It was lovely to have the assistance of two of the College prefects as well.

Wednesday was also the day of our Crackley Hall Christmas lunch.  To cook a Christmas lunch for all staff, nursery and school children is a huge undertaking for Mr Sansum and his small, but very capable, team.  The organisation was slick and the food was delicious; the children particularly enjoyed the choices of pudding.  I was pleased to host Fr Kevin, Fr David and Mr Darkes, who all expressed their appreciation.

On Thursday there were a few unusual characters in School, including Tom the chimney sweep who you may glimpse amongst the photographs later in this newsletter.  The J6 classes participated in a Victorian Day and fully immersed themselves in the spirit of the event.  I have received some wonderful feedback from those present, including parents.  Thank you very much to the staff and parents who helped on the day.

I was pleased to see a wide variety of Christmas jumpers today.  In fact, I do not believe there were any two the same which is quite surprising.  Donations for wearing the jumpers have been collected and the money will be sent to Save the Children charity very soon.  Thank you to Mrs George for arranging this.

Thank you and ‘well done’ to our musicians who performed at this morning’s assembly.  The flute group, Thomas, Erin and Alexander were all excellent.  We celebrated many things today including stars of the week, staff and student birthdays, music examination achievements, J6 steward responsibilities and the end of an era for a special member of staff.  Mr James Ferris will be leaving Crackley Hall at the end of this term and he was joined by his young daughter, Maisie, at the front of assembly this morning where we could all say goodbye to him and wish him well on the next stage of his career; it was equally lovey to see his wife, Simone, at assembly as well.  James will be missed as a friendly face around school, an encouraging sports coach and a dynamic teacher.  I hope that James will stay in contact and I am sure that our sports team will be meeting him again soon on the rugby pitch!

I would like to congratulate Yichen Pan on her being selected to be part of the National Children’s Orchestra.  What a fantastic achievement!  She really is a most outstanding musician and, I know, works very hard to supplement her incredible talent.

Although they got off to a great start, the England cricket team seem to be letting Australia back into the third test in Perth.  Hopefully England can bowl Australia out quickly tomorrow and set up a victory that will add to the interest of the series. 

Please do look to support the PTA Winter Ball – we have 50 people signed up already and it promises to be a lovely evening. 

There are only two school days next week but I will be writing a brief Chronicle to end the term. 

I wish you and your family a relaxing weekend.

God Bless

Robert Duigan