The Chronicle

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

On Wednesday 8 May pupils from Crackley Hall School competed in the Nuneaton Festival of Speech and Drama at the Abbey Theatre, Nuneaton.

Crackley Hall’s Key Stage 2 Choral Speaking Club entered the Juniors section against stiff competition from other schools including performing arts specialists and previous winners Pattissons College and Milverton House.  Despite trepidation at taking on schools with such a tradition in the Performing Arts, Crackley’s Choral Speaking group wowed the audience and the judges with their outstanding performances of The Old Wife and the Ghost and Matilda.  The Group were awarded first place and ‘Distinction’ with the judge commenting on their excellent clarity of diction, facial expressions, volume, energy and witty and charming artistic expressions in the poems they performed.

Drama teacher, Nicola Wildey commented, “Mrs Paphitis and I were truly humbled by the group’s superb team effort, commitment and talent.  To come first is such an achievement; it is an outstanding result. The children have made us, their parents and the whole school very proud.”

Both Junior 2 classes also took part in the Infants section. J2H performed Wet Play and My Grannies while J2M performed Skipping Steps and Hide and Seek. Both classes scored 84/100, were ’Commended’ and finished in joint third place.  Mrs Wildey, was delighted continuing, “It was their first time performing in a competition and they were so mature and took the stage and the bright lights all in their stride.  It was a great result and shows real promise for the future.  Well done Junior 2s.”

Crackley Hall School took a team of eight boys to the ISA National U11 5-a-side Football Finals at St George’s Park (the Football Association's national training centre) in Burton upon Trent on Friday 3 May.

Playing in the finals were teams from 28 schools from across the country.  In the morning, the teams played five pool games to qualify for the Cup, Plate or Bowl competitions in the afternoon.

Crackley started confidently playing steadily and controlling their games. In the first, against Claires Court, they went 1-0 up and dominated throughout but lost 2-1 right at the very end.  The team then played King Alfred and drew 1-1, after again going 1-0 up and dominating play for much of the game.   Against Gatehouse Crackley drew 0-0 and then finally the team had their first win against Parsons Green 3-0.  At this point in what was a very tough and close pool one further win would have seen Crackley top the group, but against Highclare the boys were unlucky and lost 1-0 to finish fifth overall in the pool.

Crackley’s boys turned their attention to the Bowl competition and the afternoon’s games.  In another series of close matches they played St James (drew 1-1), Scarisbrick Hall (won 1-0), Old Vicarage (won 1-0) and finally St Michael’s (drew 1-1).  This qualified the boys for the 3rd/4th place play off, narrowly missing out on the Bowl final on goal difference alone. In the final match of the day, they beat Eaton Square 2-1 to finish 3rd overall in the Bowl competition (out of 10 teams).

Teaching Assistant, Rich Stedeford, commented, “The boys were great and got better with every match. The results were so close that on another day, they may have had a lot more success.  They were very unlucky as they weren’t outplayed by anyone.”

Playing in the team for Crackley Hall were Ollie Camargo-Jones, Bobby Chapman, Zak Gerrad, Connor Horan, Sam James, Fintan McGrory, Seb Owen and Archie Robinson.

Those that listen carefully as they cross the threshold of J1GR will be rewarded with a cheerful chirp from a flock of feathered friends, as they warm themselves in the school's incubator, kindly donated from our ever resourceful PTA.

This planned event coordinates several aspects of the curriculum with the school's science teaching. Our newest guests, rare breeds one and all, were carefully chosen by Mr Steve (School Caretaker) and we are pleased to let you know they are settled and growing well. Sadly, for our J1 cohort today will be their last day with us as they will soon be living out their days in rural Warwicksire. 

For some a May Day bank holiday is spent in front of the TV set or meandering along the local high street - not so for Crackley's finest, as a quick call to action by Mrs Wasley (Mum to Soreen in J5) saw the burgundy, black and white of J5 and J6 line up at the start line of the 'May Day Race' at Abbeyfields.  

Crackley has a fine tradition of exceeding all expectations in this event, so it was with no suprise that we at the Chronicle can announce a fine 2nd place overall for our eager runners. Of particular interest is the excellent personal achievements of Crackley pupils; these include Sam Grindal (J5R) 4th overall, Alex Vaughan (J5R) 6th overall and Hannah Wildey (J6V) 2nd girl.

Crackley Hall’s Junior 4 pupils enjoyed a half-day music technology workshop hosted by Princethorpe College on Thursday 9 May.  The workshop was run by Director of Music, Gil Cowlishaw, ably assisted by Music Teacher, Alison Wakeley, and took place in the College’s dedicated Music Technology suite. The children were introduced to computer music production concepts such as sequencing and arrangement and then encouraged to experiment.  Using the technology software Band Lab, the children enjoyed creating music in a completely new way. Starting with drum machine patterns and loops and adding texture through the addition of bass, keyboard and even vocal lines the children each created their own unique piece.

After a short break and a Princethorpe cookie, the children moved on to explore the concept of harmony.  This time using online song writing software Hookpad, the children built a pattern of major and minor chords and overlaid their own melodies.  Finally, the children listened to their music in a variety of music styles including rock, pop, jazz and even reggae.

The Year 4s clearly enjoyed the workshop and exploring music in a new way and everyone was able to save their Band Lab creations on a memory stick to take home to share with their families.

Mr Cowlishaw, commented, “We had lots of fun in our music technology taster, the children were all fantastic to work with and created some amazing pieces.  The online software we used can be found at www.hooktheory.com if anyone wants to carry on creating.”