The Chronicle

Dear Parents

I trust that this week's Chronicle finds you well and looking forward to the weekend ahead.

Our main event this week was our Open Day which took place on Tuesday.  I was incredibly proud to be able to open the doors to Crackley Hall and invite guests to look around our school, observe lessons, meet our pupils and ask questions about opportunities available to all pupils.  It was a busy and very successful day, made even more enjoyable by the positive comments received about the warm feeling they felt in school and how wonderful your children are.  Our Junior 5 tour guides were exemplary and took great care to include many details into each tour – they were a credit to home and school.  My thanks to all our staff but, in particular, Mrs Jenny Vaughan, Mr Sansum, Mr Hardwick and the Marketing team for their support for this event.

To add to the success of our Open Day, I am thrilled to be able to let you know that Crackley Hall School has been shortlisted for ‘Prep School of the Year’ in the Independent School of the Year Awards; but more about this exciting news later.

J3 enjoyed their visit to Compton Verney on Wednesday and luckily the weather was kind to them.  The group immersed themselves in the outdoor activities and learned so much about local history too.  My thanks to Mrs van Zyl for co-ordinating this visit and the Junior 3 team of Ms Holmes, Mrs Duigan, Mrs Bhogal and Mrs Carne for accompanying the classes.

The School Photography Company were busy all day yesterday ensuring that all children looked as happy and smart as possible for their class and individual photographs.  We will let you know as soon as these are available to view online.  There may be an opportunity for an additional date for ‘mop up’ photographs later this term so that the few children who were absent can have their individual and sibling photographs taken.

The time is almost upon us for parent consultation evenings and these will take place on 16 and 18 October.  Please see the link sent to you via ISAMs which will take you directly to the booking system.  The objective of this round of parent evenings, for most year groups, is for parents to discuss how their child is settling into their new class.  However, as our J6 students are preparing for their entrance examinations, their meetings will be focussed upon their mathematics and English work.  Therefore, I would ask that parents of J6 children make appointments with the staff that teach English and Maths to their child.  Should you wish to discuss matters of a specific pastoral nature with a J6 form teacher, please arrange this directly with your child’s form teacher on a suitable date.

During assembly this morning we enjoyed performances by our fantastic orchestra and the Lavender Group singers, who had performed at the Spa Centre in Leamington on Sunday evening.  Both performances were absolutely brilliant and showcased the huge array of talent at Crackley Hall.  I was a very proud Headmaster on Sunday evening when I was fortunate enough to see so many pupils performing on stage – they were all brilliant!  Well done to them and their teacher, Mrs Goode.  I am also grateful to Mrs Olden for the super work she does with, inter alia, our wonderful school orchestra.

Congratulations to our Stars of the week and all other recipients of awards at this morning’s celebration assembly.  I appreciate all the hard work invested by all our children each day and it is a privilege to celebrate and acknowledge this whenever possible.

I was delighted with our fantastic sporting results this week.  All teams gave of their best and are improving game on game.  It was wonderful to see our U8 A and B rugby teams beating both Warwick A and B and Bablake A and B – keep it up!

Lastly, I would like to say a special ‘thank you’ to Lucy Lamb and her super PTA committee, all parents, children and staff for supporting the Macmillan Coffee Morning (£1159 raised) and the Barn Dance at Wethere Manor.  I also appreciate Mr Cottrill deputising for me at the Barn Dance.  However, I did not expect him to have a go on the ‘rodeo bull’.  That was his choice alone.

I wish you all a very happy and relaxing weekend.

God bless,

Robert Duigan