The Chronicle

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

On Saturday Mrs Wildey, Miss Rod, children and parents gathered nervously at Dale Street Methodist Church in Leamington Spa to take part in the Leamington Spa Competitive Festival of Speech and Drama. We had a cracking day where every child performed superbly with excellent results.

Cadie Hardwick came 1st in the Under 9s Verse and Prose section and Megan Shipton came 2nd in the Under 11s.  In the Humorous Poetry section Francesca Kelly, Jorja Parris and Martha Summers were placed in the much coveted 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions out of 20 candidates! Jorja also came 3rd out of 14 candidates in the Under 9s Verse section. Alice Minshull completed the day with her winning prose piece ‘Miss Trunchball from Matilda’.

Well done, Crackley!

The National Finals of the Jaguar Primary Schools Challenge took place at the British Motor Museum on Wednesday 20 June. Over the last year thousands of primary school children from across the UK have taken part in the STEM challenge and Crackley Hall’s team ‘Speed Stingers’ had made it all the way through to the final.

The team, Junior 4’s Jimmy Loftus, Soren Wasley, Zach Rose and Cadie Hardwick, had been fiendishly busy preparing for the big day.

The challenge requires teams to research, design, manufacture, test, promote and race the fastest car possible using standard chassis and engine housing nets with a car body made only from card.  It is a technical brief but one that has proven to really engage potential future engineers.

The final followed a similar format to the regional rounds and the children had a challenging but fantastic day.  They had to race their car, talk about the engineering, discuss and explain their ‘Pit’ display and portfolio and give a verbal presentation to four judges.

The cars were raced down a special 20-metre-long track propelled using compressed air gas canisters and they travelled the distance in a matter of seconds. Crackley’s car finished seventh when including reaction times, but was third overall out of the 36 teams competing at the event – a super result.

In addition, the children had to complete an additional challenge to create a racing car powered by an electric motor, and this took up most of their spare time.

Team Manager, Mrs Cat Hardwick commented, “Although Crackley’s Speed Stingers didn’t win any of the awards on the day, they represented our school superbly, with dignity and grace, and showed everyone that they were confident, knowledgeable and enthusiastic.  We are immensely proud of them all and have thoroughly enjoyed watching them grow and develop over the past few months.  I really hope we have one or two engineers in the making, taking their first steps along the road to becoming a real Engineer!”

Our thanks go to Mrs Hardwick and Mrs Spillane who have worked with the team over the last few months.

Incredible India was the topic for this week’s Geography lessons, organised by Crackley Hall Head of Geography and Year 6 teacher, Mrs Sarah Lammas. The J4s had a fascinating afternoon exploring this amazing country in an ‘Indian Experience’ workshop hosted by parents Mrs Mehta (mum to Jia and Aryan), Mrs Dhillon (mum to Kiran) and Mrs Gill (mum to Ajunee). They hosted our adventurous Junior 4 geographers in an amazing hands-on tour of the culture, food and history of this exciting country.

Beginning with some eye popping facts, Mrs Dhillon guided pupils around the geography of a land home to 1.3 billion people. She informed them of its 22 languages, its 29 states, its national emblem, the Bengal Tiger, its weather and famous buildings. Our junior explorers had plenty of interesting questions for our ‘expert’ mums, who were delighted to share their knowledge and love of the country.  The food table proved especially popular, as the bowls of exotic spices: cumin, coriander and fennel conjured up the familiar smells of Indian cuisine. Furthermore, the sugary jalebi dessert provided a perfectly sweet counterpoint to the aforementioned delights.  

Mrs Lammas, with her usual infectious passion for her subject, summed up her motivation for the event and the childrens' learning, “Immersion makes for memorable learning; it adds experience through one's senses, creating life long learning."

This successful event engaged everyone’s curiosity, the children picked up lots of interesting facts and information to take back into the classroom.  A huge thank you to Mrs Gill, Mrs Dhillon and Mrs Mehta for giving so generously of their time and knowledge, it’s really appreciated!

Wednesday 20 June was Crackley Hall’s Reception and Key Stage One Sports Day.  Set up on the main field with an activity station carousel structure, and aided and organised by Junior 6, Crackley’s sports stars of the future jumped, sprinted and threw their way through a jam-packed morning of sporting fun.  Proudly wearing their House colours and with big enormous smiles, the children enthusiastically launched themselves into each activity and clearly all had a super time.

Reception had their own designated area and had soon mastered the challenges of running, throwing and hurdling.  Whilst over on the Key Stage One pitch the children powered their way through athletics events such as the sprint, long jump, throw and hurdles, as well as enjoying traditional sports day favourites such as bean bag hoopla, bunny hops and the always exhausting scarecrow tig.

Conditions were a little windy at times but perfectly tailored to prevent overheating and it was lovely to see so many parents out on the field cheering their youngsters on.

The morning finished with the timed relay challenge and the House teams vied to score as many runs as possible.

Mr Duigan spoke to thank all those involved in organising the day before Mrs Vaughan announced the final results: 1st Jupiter (148 points), 2nd Saturn (140 points), 3rd Mars (128 points) and 4th Venus (116 points).

A very close finish, well done to everyone who took part.

Crackley Hall’s U11 Rounders Team travelled to Stafford Prep on Thursday 21 June to play in the Independent Schools Association (ISA) Midlands Rounders Championship. 

Playing with fire in their eyes in lovely sunny but challengingly, blustery conditions against 16 teams from across the region the girls stormed through their initial round robin pool.  Their hard work in training came seamlessly together and the girls were unstoppable easily winning all three matches.  Crackley vs Stafford Prep B – 9 ½ - 2, Crackley vs Tettenhall – 8 - 5 and Crackley vs Heathfield Knoll – 8 - 6

The girls were playing confidently making amazing catches, sensationally stumping out and batting better than they ever have before.

Crackley won their pool and went through to the second round play-off to decide the tournament’s final positions.

This was a much tougher group and the matches were closer, the girls played superbly and were unlucky to lose their first two games but in their last match they overcame their final opponent to finish third overall.  Crackley vs Stafford Prep A – 5 - 7, Crackley vs Malvern St James – 6 - 10 and Crackley vs Old Vicarage – 8 ½ - 8

Describing the day, PE Teacher, Mrs Kat Vaughan commented, “What you want from a competition like this is for the team to realise their potential and that’s what our girls did today. They dipped a bit in the second pool but everything they have learnt over the last few weeks in training came together really well.”

Playing in the team were: Emily Hennegan, Abi Gillard, Eva Plevin (Captain), Alice Minshull, Honor-Mae Minshull, Kaena Wasley, Sofia Mehta, Evie Berger and Megan Shipton.

The players of the tournament were: Emily Hennegan for her superb bowling and super control within the fielding area and Evie Berger for hitting the ball further than we ever knew she could!

Well done to all the girls for playing better than you ever have before.

The good folks of the Student Council have teamed up with Crackley's Gardening Stewards to bring about a most marvellous addition to the School's campus. Measuring almost three metres in length and weighing in at many kilograms Crackley's new kitchen garden, ably fashioned by Olivia Lamb's Grandad (J1G), has been born.

Packed full with rich compost the team has enjoyed getting their hands dirty and planting tomatoes, lettuce and herbs that have all been provided for, along with the timber for the planter itself, by our ever generous PTA.

Parents wishing to take note or gain some gardening tips are advised to take stock of this wonderful vista outside the entrance to the Gables.

1st: Jupiter (212 points)

2nd: Mars (208 points)

3rd: Saturn (204 points)

4th: Venus (158 points)