The Chronicle

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

We’re delighted to announce that our new look websites for Crackley Hall School and Little Crackers Nursery have been officially launched!

Developed in conjunction with website company e4education, the sites have a lighter, brighter look and feel and includes features such as a News and Stories wall with social media feeds, an interactive direction map and a live subscribable calendar.

Current parents, pupils and staff can easily access school systems via the Portals tab in the top right hand corner of each of the school sites.

The Admissions pages give prospective parents all the information they need at their fingertips, including forthcoming open event dates and deadlines for applications.

We hope that visitors will enjoy browsing the new site and finding out more about the rich and varied life of the School.

To visit the new websites go to www.crackleyhall.co.uk or www.littlecrackers.co.uk

To go straight to the portals page use the link www.crackleyhall.co.uk/parents-area-crackley

We were delighted to welcome so many friends, former staff and past pupils of Crackley Hall and St Joseph’s to our St Joseph’s Feast Day events on Tuesday 19 March 2019.

Our St Joseph’s Day Mass, celebrated by Fr Kevin Hooper, was preceded by a very special service of commemoration in honour of two very important ladies in the history of the school, Mrs Mary O’Farrell, former Chair of Trustees and teacher, Mrs Marlene Head, who both sadly passed away in September 2018.

The touching outside service, which was attended by close family and friends of Mary and Marlene, fondly remembered the pair and recognised their huge commitment to the school over many years.  Prayers expressed the school’s gratitude to them both, for their kindness, laughter and devotion and asked for comfort and strength for their families.

The Chamber Choir sang The Lord’s My Shepherd, before Mr John O’Farrell and Mr Tom Head were both invited to unveil benches in memory of their dear wives.

The party moved inside for the Mass involving the whole school community. Rob Duigan, Headmaster, and Fr Kevin, welcomed the congregation, including former headteachers, Sr Philomena Bowers and Jane Le Poidevin, to the celebration of the Feast Day of St Joseph, the patron saint of the school. Both once again thanked God for the loving support and guidance Mary and Marlene had given to so many pupils, staff and parents over the years.

The beautiful Mass was a fitting tribute to both ladies, with stirring hymns and music from the Chamber Choir and Choral Group, thoughtful prayers and readings, communion and a sermon from Fr Kevin about St Joseph, husband of the Virgin Mary, and his role as model father, skilled craftsman and pious believer who receives grace at the moment of death.

Mr Duigan drew the Mass to a conclusion with best wishes to the families and friends of Mary and Marlene, thanks to Fr Kevin, the altar servers, offertory bearers, readers and singers who had all performed their roles so beautifully and to Mrs Jackson-Mayne, Mrs Simmonds and Mrs Olden who worked with them.

The Feast Day was rounded off with well-deserved cupcake treats for all the children and a delicious afternoon tea for our visitors in the school hall.

On Wednesday 20 March, Crackley Hall took an U11 and an U10 team to play in a small schools U11 Netball Tournament hosted by Warwick Prep.  The competition was split into two with Crackley’s U11s playing in the A team tournament whilst Crackley’s U10s took part in the B team event.

In the first round the U11s played five group games, they got off to a flying start defeating Kitebrook 7-0.  The second match against Kingsley was a far closer affair, but the girls held their own and the game finished in a 0-0 draw.  Having settled into their game the girls began to build momentum playing a strong attacking game to win their remaining three group matches, defeating Stamford 6-0, Bablake 3-2 and Carrdus 3-1.

They topped the table and went through to the semi-final against Sibford.  That proved a very closely matched game and despite making every effort it finished in a 2-2 draw; in extra time the girls just ran out of time and were disappointed to narrowly lose on the whistle 4-5.

In the play-offs they faced Kingsley again where another strong performance saw them claim third place overall with a solid 2-1 win.

The U10 team played up a year taking on U11B teams.  Their competition started with a round robin event.  The girls made a steady start with a 0-0 draw against the hosts Warwick Prep.  They then had a fantastic run of wins defeating Stamford 5-0, Bablake 7-0, Bluecoat 3-1, Eversfield 5-0 and Kingsley 4-0.  In their final match they were held to a 1-1 draw by Fairfield.

They finished top of the table jointly with Fairfield, but with the better goal difference were awarded the trophy and gold medal.

PE Teacher, Kat Vaughan, was delighted, commenting, “Well done to all of the girls for a great team effort, they played brilliantly.  Plenty of energy, commitment and organisation and  excellent game play.  What a great afternoon of netball.”

Playing in the U11 team were: Martha Harris, Caitlin Horan, Francesca Kelly, Annamaria Kordas, Madeline Lambeth, Amisha Modi, Isabella Osborne, Hannah Wildey (Capt), and in the U10 team: Constanza Alvarez Lujan, Amy Farquharson, Ajunee Gill, Daisymay Mcmurdo, Rosie Moreton, Martha Summers (Capt), Nancy Volpe and Isabella Ward. 

Some days life between the rugby posts can one of struggle, hard work and at times little reward. Those in the know will tell you that these are the days that test the character, and if willing provide the motivation and foundation of future winning teams. 

Needless to say, our brave U9 Boys Rugby team experienced one of 'those' days. We began with narrow losses to Heathfield Knoll and St Peter's, 8-4 and 4-1 respectively. Happily, we regrouped and now motivated by Mr Vaughan's team talk beat Stafford Prep by 5-2 and drew with Dixie Grammar 6-6.

The boys' last game of the group phase was pitted against the eventual winners Akeley Wood, who had previously beaten Stafford Prep 11-1. Crackley showed its fighting spirit but, given it was to be 'one of those days' again ended up narrowly losing by just three points at 5-2. To finish, a final flurry of rugby ensued against Highclare. The resulting scoreline of 6-3 against doesn't provide ample testerment to the collaborative spirit of our boys. Yet, their 11th placed position, which was oh so close to the top ten, shows the potential that they will surely harvest in the future.  

Please see below for information on an orienteering event taking place on Abbey Fields on Saturday 30 March:

Charity Event

Pupils in Junior 4 are taking part in a ‘Walk of Faith’ on Tuesday 26 March, within their RE lesson. This will be a wonderful opportunity for pupils at Crackley Hall to form a link with pupils from St Augustine’s School.

We will be walking to the Common where the pupils will take part in a group activity to help them explore the themes of cooperation, spiritual and emotional wellbeing and the awe and wonder of the world we live in. Please could pupils bring trainers to change into as the Common may be a little muddy.

Parents are welcome to join us for the afternoon, we will be leaving school at 1.45pm and returning at 3.15pm.