The Chronicle

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

On Wednesday 16 May Crackley Hall opened its doors for its very first Art Exhibition.  Pupils from across the school, from Nursery up to Junior 6 revealed their amazing creative talents to stunned parents, friends and teachers.

Back in February pupils explored other faiths in the school’s fascinating ‘One World Week’.  The topic proved so inspirational that Crackley’s Art Co-ordinator, Mrs Van Zyl chose it as the central theme for the schools inaugural Art Exhibition.

The children’s work on display featured 268 different paintings inspired by art styles and techniques from around the world.  They included artwork inspired by the Maasai of Eastern Africa, designs based on the reverse-applique handwork of the Kuna of South America, paintings inspired by British botanical artists, experimental vibrant Amate bark paintings, stylised animal Tinga-Tinga pieces, paintings that reflected traditional Indian culture, designs inspired by Aboriginal art and art that explored the Far East.

Working on their pieces for the exhibition has given the children the opportunity to study different artists, to appreciate their work, inspirations and colour palettes.  It has linked into topics from across the curriculum including Science and Geography.

Many parents and children attended the exhibition to view the framed art work mounted on display boards in the school hall.  All were amazed at the talent on show with many remarking the pictures would grace any wall.

Head of Art, Paul Hubball, and Art Teacher, Susan Harris, from the Foundation’s senior school Princethorpe College were invited over to view the exhibition.  They will be awarding Certificates of Merit to the paintings that particularly impressed them.

Mrs Harris commented, “The standard of work on show is outstanding, a huge variety of approaches and styles that has given every child a chance to shine.  The use of colour is exceptional and effective it has been a real pleasure to view them.”

Our thanks to Mrs Van Zyl for organising the exhibition, the standard was incredible and it was a joy to view.  Well done to everyone!

If you missed the exhibition, a selection of photographs of the paintings will shortly be available on the school website.

If you would still like to buy the framed original and order prints of your child’s work then please see the letter of invitation for more details.

This year the PTA Family Fun Day took place on Saturday 12 May, the weather was perfect, glorious sunshine, and everyone enjoyed a fabulous, feel good, fun filled family event.

All the essential elements of a British summer fair were spread out across the school grounds.  Every class had responsibility for a stall and it was lovely to see the children helping out and to witness all their amazing ideas.   They included - nail and face painting, a popcorn stand, the human fruit machine, a coconut shy, chocolate and bottle tombolas, pull a string, slam dunk basketball, football shootout, a bouncy castle and some new stalls which proved to be just as popular as the old faithfuls - paper airplane toss, the ladder game, topple the teacher, marble mayhem, gladiator duels and even sumo wrestling.  There was also a ‘Young Drivers’ experience that gave children their first opportunity to have a go at driving, parking and manoeuvring around traffic cones.

For the fourth year running the Fun Day hosted ‘Crackley’s Got Talent’.  Record numbers of children had signed up this year and everyone was given their chance in the limelight.  Their acts included lots of singing, dancing, juggling, comedy and sport!  Of course there was also lots of audience participation and support.

For the first time this year visitors had the choice of a hog roast alongside the ever popular BBQ and amazing salads. It proved a huge hit and absolutely no one went home hungry.

Although the final figures are still to come in it looks like the PTA have raised £4,200, a really fantastic total.  The money will be put to good use buying equipment for the children at school and funding school events.

Crackley always puts on a good event but the Fun Day could not have happened without the great teamwork and efforts of all the people who worked behind the scenes in the build-up and on the day.  Our thanks go to all those members of the PTA and other volunteers who donate their time, help run a stall, provided food and supported in so many other ways.

It’s been very egg-citing for Junior 1. The egg incubator (kindly provided by Crackley’s PTA) has been in full warming mode, the eggs provided by, Caretaker, Mr Rawson have been tended carefully and twenty-one days after their arrival the chicks began to hatch. Great excitement rippled across the school and many children found a reason to visit the Junior 1 classroom to see the new arrivals.

This year amongst the 21 eggs there were a number of different rare breeds including a cuckoo hen.

Hatching chicks has become a regular part of Junior 1’s curriculum. It is a lovely cross curricular topic that can be linked into many different parts of the curriculum - Science, English and even Geography and RE!

The younger children always really enjoy the topic.  Junior 1 teacher, Mrs George, commented, “There’s always a great sense of anticipation and excitement attached to this learning project and the children produce fabulous work,” and added, “We are very grateful to Mr Steve for bringing us the eggs into school and the PTA who donated the incubator several years back.”

Once hatched the chicks are placed in a brooder and then after several further days in school they are returned to a carefree life on Farmer Steve’s property. Happily, any children that might have missed the egg-citement should now pop along during break times to J1G, as 12 duck eggs have been placed in the incubator and will be ready to hatch after 28 days. It goes without saying that our 'eagle eyed' students will no doubt notice any differences between the chicks and eggs, so watch this space! 

They came, they saw and...carried away the cup. Junior 4 pupils Sebastian Lloyd-Evans, Henry Fox and Alfie Blenkinsop were part of the victorious Old Leamingtonian 'Scorpion' and 'Wasps' sides that dominated play on both Saturday and Sunday by securing victory every time they took the field of play.

National Tournaments rarely get more prestigious than the Tigers Challenge, so the Crackley Games Department are keen to transfer the boys' club winning ways to ISA titles when the opportunity presents.  

For some, Bank Holidays are for relaxation, a good book and perhaps a sip of something cold on a warm day. Not so for Team Crackley, as our keen runners will always muster to represent the school when the region's honours are at stake.

So it is with some delight that we at the Chronicle can report an excellent showing from the massed Crackley ranks at the Abbey Fields event. Within the Family Fun race, Oliver Camargo-Jones (J4H) and Soren Wasley (J4J) placed 5th and 6th respectively. Whilst in the fiercely contested Schools Challenge Race Kaena Wasley (J6L) placed third in the girls' race and Oliver Farquharson (J6H) also placed third in the boys' race. Well done one and all, Crackley’s athletic prowess is safe in your hands.

Mr Duigan was delighted to report that Crackley's Chess prowess now transends the key stages and genders. No doubt his previous call to action for girls to take to the chequerd board definately stirred 'girl power' as Julia Kozan (J1W) swept the pieces and players to one side as she secured Silver overall in the Under 7 Category of the recent Mega Finals.

Julia is now preparing for the Giga final and we at the Chronicle have our fingers crossed that she might go one better. Huge congratulations also to Eden Oshri and Noah Cowlishaw who made it through to the Giga Final as well.

Pictured alongside Julia are two children who have come to denote Crackley's chess prowess. Both Theo Cowlishaw (J1W) and Andrew Gordon also qualified for the same Mega Final as Julia, only this time our chess duo were narrowly edged out of qualification to the upcoming Giga Final.

Aryan Mehta from J4J transferred his winning ways on his home court to victory on the road as he swept aside all-comers at the prestigious Buckinghamshire Summer Open.

After tasting victory in all his group matches he steadied his nerves and prepared for a tough tournament final - only to win in some style. Well done Aryan, we at the Chronicle are looking forward to news of your exploits from your upcoming Manchester Open. 

1st: Mars (254 points)

2nd: Venus (246 points)

3rd: Jupiter (228 points)

4th: Saturn (163 points)