The Chronicle

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Crackley Hall’s PE and Games Teacher, Kat Vaughan, is to claim international honours after being selected for the England Masters World Cup hockey squad.

Kat will represent England at the Home Nations tournament in June and the European Championships, in Rotterdam, in early July.

Kat, who plays in midfield and defence, and captains Blossomfield Hockey Club’s Ladies second team, came through a rigorous selection process that involved four full day trials before sealing her place in the squad.

Kat’s hockey career started when she was at school and over the years, she has played club, County and Regional hockey.  She has worked as a PE and Games teacher at Crackley Hall School since 2010. 

Kat said, “It has been my dream for as long as I can remember to play for my country and to finally be able to say that I do makes me really proud.  I’m grateful to everyone who has helped me get here and delighted to be able to provide such a positive role model for our pupils.”

She continued, “Of course I have now realised that this is where the hard work starts – fitness, strength and conditioning training have to be built into my daily schedule to ensure that I am match fit (tournament fitness is much harder than standard match fitness) and injury free. It is very exciting, if a little daunting!”

Kat has also been taking part in England Hockey’s Master National Cup.  On Sunday 24 March, against extremely tough opposition, her team Sutton Coldfield secured a 4-1 victory and a place in the Tier 1 Masters Finals that will be held on Saturday 27 April at the Olympic Lee Valley Stadium just before the Great Britain versus USA match.

Mrs Vaughan’s selection is a huge achievement and we are absolutely delighted to hear her news.

Mrs Vaughan is not the only member of the Crackley Hall team celebrating national hockey selection news.  Old Princethorpian, Richard Hill, who works for Crackley’s After School team whilst studying at Coventry University, has also just had his place confirmed in the England University Hockey team.  His first match will be against Scotland on Thursday 18 April.

We wish them both every success in their forthcoming games.

Two of Crackley's finest Max and Elle, from Junior 4 and Junior 3 respectively, put their best foot forward last Saturday and tackled a very tough ISA National Cross Country course.

Always a hotly-contested competition, this year’s event took place at Rugby School and attracted 604 runners from independent schools. 

Sporting participation is a corner stone of our curriculum so it is with great pride that the Chronicle can report that Max broke through the top ten to finish sixth overall completing the 1500m course in a time of 5.57.67, whilst Elle finished with a sprint to grab a very creditable 14th place overall in a time of 6.40.33 again over a course of 1500m. 

Well done to Max and Elle you ran sure footedly on what was a fast course and we are delighted with your results.

On Tuesday 2 April, Junior 3 and Junior 4 performed a simple but dramatic musical that portrayed the intrigue and mixed emotions of the Easter story.  In front of family and friends, they told of Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem, Judas’ betrayal, the Last Supper, his arrest, crucifixion and of how he rose again.

The children carried the narrative of the story with great passion and it was lovely to hear the energetic signing of the chorus. It was a brilliant, moving performance, Junior 3 and Junior 4 portrayed the important story so well.

Well done to all the children and a huge thank you to all the staff involved in putting the performance together.

Today the whole school community came together to celebrate Mass.

We are thankful to Father Kevin for leading us and for providing our children with such a valuable and insightful service.

Our thanks are also extended to the pupils of J3H for assisting him and to our choir led by Mrs Olden for their beautiful singing.