The Chronicle

Dear Parents

My message to you this week will be brief due to our early closure today to allow for the afternoon performance of ‘Mary Poppins and Matilda’.  By the time that you read this week’s Chronicle, the children will have enjoyed an early break and a picnic lunch before leaving school and making their way to the Spa Centre.  I do hope you have been able to book tickets for the performance and I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible tomorrow either at the 3.30pm or 6.00pm performance.  The children and staff have worked incredibly hard rehearsing their roles and, although it involves a lot of time and energy, I hope that you enjoy the performances.  I am grateful to all the staff who have worked so hard and also to the Princethorpe College prefects for supporting us on the night.  Thank you, parents, as well for your support.

The rearranged Key Stage 1 Sports Day took place on Tuesday and we were fortunate enough to enjoy a spell of dry weather which enabled the children to participate in their races.  Thank you to Mrs Vaughan for organising the schedule and for all the staff who assisted on the day. The Junior 6 helpers were excellent and we enjoyed super support from the children’s families.  My thanks are also extended to Mrs Lamb and her PTA team for serving refreshments on the day.   I look forward to another fine day for the Key Stage 2 Sports Day next Friday.

There have been two other national or regional sporting events this week.  On Wednesday the ISA National Athletics took place at Alexander Stadium and our seven Crackley Hall pupils, representing the Midlands, brought home some very good results in the cricket throw, 600m, high jump, relay and 60m races.  Wilf came second in the cricket ball throw.  On Thursday, Mrs Vaughan and Miss Jones took the U11 and U9 rounders teams to compete in the Midlands tournament in Staffordshire and I’m delighted to report that they returned with gold (U9) and silver (U11) medals.  Well done to all who took part.  Thank you to our parents for the support.

Nursery and Stay n’ Play children took part in the annual teddy bears’ picnic on Wednesday.  This is always a very enjoyable event for the youngest children at Crackley Hall School and it was my pleasure to be invited to participate, if only for a short while.  Photographs of the picnic are featured later in this edition.

I was delighted to welcome Sister Philomena and Father Kevin to our Blessing of the Stones service yesterday.  This was an opportunity for our new children, including the Reception class to decorate a small stone and place in the prayer garden.  These stones will remain at Crackley Hall and be a lasting reminder of each child’s time and legacy here.  Sister Philomena also stayed for our assembly where I was proud to present her with a cheque for £2,838.73.  The children heard how the money, raised at the Skipathon event earlier this year, will be helping children in Nigeria.  Sister Philomena will continue to update me on how the money will be used and I will in turn let you know.

Our Stars of the Were Lexi-Jean, Aaron, Rory, Beatrice, Julia, Joseph, Alex, Max, Anabel, Cadie, Martha, Ben, Amelie, William and the RE Book of the Week was awarded to Carolina in J3.  Well done to all those who received an award, including the pupils who reached their bronze, silver and gold merit awards.

Huge congratulations to Aryan on his victories in the tennis tournaments.  His hard work, aligned with talent, is certainly paying off.  How exciting for him to see and meet various stars of the world game.  Further details of Aryan’s exploits and achievements will follow in next week’s Chronicle.

There is another busy week, starting on Monday.  I would like to remind you that there will be summer sports teams photographs taking place on Monday together with our Junior 6 leavers photographs; there are also a few winter sports photographs which are still to be taken.  Our parents’ evening for new Reception pupils will be held on Tuesday evening from 6:00pm to 7:00pm and our ‘Moving Up Day’ will be held on Wednesday next week where we look forward to welcoming some new children in school for this exciting morning.  The Key Stage 2 sports day will be held on Friday, along with music exams (we are aiming to schedule the various events around the music exam timetable).  The first round of music exams are on Tuesday next week.

England are still going strong in the Cricket World Cup but the same cannot be said for South Africa.  It looks as though England, India, Australia and New Zealand will be contesting the semi-finals.  Quite clearly, they are the top four sides at the moment.

I wish you all a restful weekend.

God bless,

Robert Duigan

Please find attached PDF copies of the Michaelmas Term lunch choices. 

Please return your completed forms to school by Wednesday 26 June.

Thank you

Letter

Menu week 1

Menu week 2

Menu week 3

Just to remind you that Junior 6 Leavers and Sports Team Photographs are due to be taken next Monday 24 June 2019.

If your child has been in any Sports Team this school year, can you please ensure they have the correct kit with them for each photograph, as follows:

Girls Summer Kit - white polo shirt, black skort, white socks and trainers

Boys Summer Kit - cricket shirt, black shorts, white socks and trainers

Girls and Boys Winter Kit - rugby shirts, black shorts/skorts, maroon socks and trainers.

Thank you

Could parents who wish to order uniforms for J2 children that are due to 'move up' in September please fill in the uniform order form as soon as possible and hand it into the school office.

Thank you 

Please find attached the termly curriculum sheet for your child's year group:

Reception

Junior 1

Junior 2

Junior 3

Junior 4

Junior 5

Junior 6

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Over the summer holidays Little Crackers Nursery is set to have an exciting makeover to give it a new more natural look and feel, both inside and out.

A new indoor/outdoor garden room, is being created adjoining the larger nursery room which will allow the children continuous access to an outdoor play area, whatever the weather. The space will benefit from an all-weather surface, a decked area and a sunken sand pit, covered by a glazed roof with retractable folding doors.

Improvements are also being made to the front nursery playground and, from this summer, the nursery children will also enjoy regular visits to the newly opened woodland at the back of the main school, where den building, bug hunting and adventures will be on the learning menu. These changes mean that the children will now be able to enjoy outdoor learning experiences in not one, not two, but three very different settings.

Moving inside, plans are underway to replace all the furniture in the larger preschool room with a range of high quality wooden furniture. The new furniture has been specifically designed from a child’s perspective with low counters, curved edges, nooks and crannies to encourage the children to experiment, create, explore and learn. It also offers versatility and flexibility so that nursery staff can change the learning space to reflect the changing interests and needs of the children.

To facilitate the improvements, the nursery children who are with us over the summer will move into the Reception classroom for a short period whilst the work is undertaken.

Comments Susan Glen-Roots, Assistant Head – Early Years and Key Stage 1, “This is an exciting project which will really transform our children’s experiences in nursery.  A more natural environment inside will create a sense of calm whilst stimulating interest and providing the children with a blank canvas in which to learn and develop. This, coupled with more opportunities to take their learning outdoors and explore the wonders of the natural world will reap fantastic rewards in terms of self-confidence, imagination and physical development.”

For September the different nursery rooms will also adopt new animal names to reflect the woodland theme, with the Terrific Twos becoming Dormice, the Thrilling Threes changing to Hedgehogs and the Fabulous Fours transforming into Badgers.

A special event to celebrate the changes will take place on Wednesday 18 September, when nursery families, the Stay ‘n’ Players and prospective families will be invited to see and enjoy all the improvements. Invitations will be sent out towards the end of the summer holidays, but please save the date!

On Thursday 20 June Sister Philomena Bowers, head of the Sisters of Mercy order and former Headmistress of St Joseph’s Convent School, as Crackley Hall used to be known, returned to the school to collect a cheque for £2,838.73.  The money had been raised back in February when every pupil took it in turn to hop, skip or jump backwards and forwards across the school hall in a charity skipathon, organised by Crackley’s Mini Vinnies. The underlying purpose of the Mini Vinnies, the junior arm of the St Vincent de Paul organisation, is to make a difference to underprivileged people’s lives.

The cheque was presented to Sister Philomena by Senior Minnie Vinnie and Junior 6 pupil Andrea Zanyi, in assembly in front of the whole school. The money raised will be used by the Sister Mary Aloysius College of Mercy in Nigeria to help fund urgent building works and to repair the school minibus enabling more children in Nigeria to benefit from an education.

Mini Vinnies’ Co-ordinator, Mrs Dolores Simmonds explains, “This year the children skipped to support the Sister Mary Aloysius College of Mercy in Nigeria.  It is a school funded completely by donations and named in thanks after a Sister of Mercy.  The Minnie Vinnies chose the charity because our school has links with the Sisters of Mercy as Sister Philomena was Headmistress from 1981 to 1991 when the school was a convent.”

Mrs Simmonds continued, “Well done to all the skippers who took part and a big thank you to those who generously donated to the skipathon. Sister Philomena was delighted to receive the cheque.”

After all the rain, the morning of Tuesday 18 June dawned dry and warm, perfect conditions for Crackley Hall’s eagerly-anticipated 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.

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

The final results were very close:

1st Jupiter (168 points)

2nd Saturn (163 Points)

3rd Mars (151 points)

4th Venus (135 points)

It was lovely to see so many parents out on the field cheering their youngsters on. A huge well done to everyone who took part.

Day two of the Leamington Spa Competitive Festival of Speech and Drama took place on Saturday 15 June. Crackley Hall had another busy day with entries across the classes.

The event again took place at Dale Street Methodist Church and the children performed in front of an unfamiliar audience with commendable confidence and skill.

Drama teacher, Nicola Wildey, commented, “Crackley had a second very successful day. The competition is to such a very high standard, but this year the children have absolutely smashed it.  They all did brilliantly.”

This week’s highlights included:

Isabella came 2nd in Under 11s Prose Speaking

Francesca came 2nd in Under 13s Prose Speaking

Aaron came 2nd in Under 9s Verse Speaking (out of 14 children)

Sebastian came 2nd in Under 11s Verse Speaking (out of 18 children)

Neve and Kiki came joint 3rd in Under 11s Verse Speaking (out of 18 other children)

Mrs Wildey continued, “These results mean that this year we have received 5 x 1st prizes, 6 x 2nds and 3 x 3rds, well done Crackley Hall, what an amazing performance.  I am very proud of you all.”

In true theatrical tradition everyone at Crackley would like to remind our performers and staff to 'break a leg', which as some might know will ensure they don't experience bad luck. 

Having seen the rehearsals we are certain that pupils are well schooled in their roles, so we'd like to remind them all to relax, remain calm and enjoy their moment in the spotlight as they definitely deserve it.

Parents and pupils are reminded to look up the Chronicle next week as there'll be a comprehensive feature piece including a vast amount of photographs from the performance. 

We are pleased to announce that for the first time ever, holiday club will be running for the whole of the summer holidays. You can book either a morning (8.00am - 1.00pm) or afternoon (1.00pm - 6.00pm) session at a cost of £20.00 per child, or a whole day (8.00am - 6.00pm) at a cost of £30.00 per child. Hot lunches can be booked seperately or a packed lunch can be brought if preferred. 

Further details regarding what activities to expect each week will be sent home when available.

Please note that organising staff to run holiday club is a big job and we therefore ask that if you know you would like to use holiday club during the summer, that you book up as early as possible. We understand that changes do sometimes happen, and we will always try to accomodate you. However we are bound to strict adult to child ratios and staff availability during the summer is limited.

Booking is available at: https://princethorpecollege.parentseveningsystem.co.uk/ 

The school shop will be open until 4.30pm on Wednesday 3 July 2019. 

If you are looking for additional or replacement items of uniform ready for September, please can you order in plenty of time to allow delivery to school prior to this date.

From Monday 8 July until Monday 2 September, the school shop will be open for new starters and will be by appointment only.

Mrs Holmes has asked if children can please bring in any old balls of wool that are no longer wanted and any old jewellery that is not needed.

Thank you 

Trinity Term Calendar

Please click on 'View Gallery' to scroll through a few photos from this week's events.

RE Book of the Week has been awarded to Carolina (J3V).

Our extended thanks go to Father Kevin for presiding over the blessing of pupils' stones in the St Joseph’s Prayer Garden. He was ably assisted by Mrs Jackson-Mayne. Children in the Reception class, or who are new to the school this year, were invited to decorate a small stone and first thing on Thursday morning they gathered to take part in the Blessing of the Stones service. 

Each stone symbolises how a child helps to make the school what it is and that they become the foundation of our ethos – to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and celebrate his message.

Intended as a place for prayer and reflection, this special location within Crackley's confines continues to offer a peaceful place for students and staff in what is a very busy time of year.

Under the cross is a box that contains stones laid by the children of the school, each stone is individual, it represents a member of the Crackley Hall community and provides a lasting legacy of the children’s time at Crackley Hall School.

It was lovely that Sr Philomena and Mrs Simmonds could join Mr Duigan as his guests at the service.

Just to confirm that the KS2 Sports Day will take place next Friday 28 June, from 10.30-3.30 pm.
 
Mrs Vaughan would like all children to arrive at school in their PE kit and wear a plain coloured T shirt that represents their house colours.  Matching coloured socks and hair accessories are also permitted.

To remind you of the house colours:

Saturn - yellow

Venus - green

Mars - red

Jupiter - blue

Parking will be available on the field and our PTA have kindly offered to provide refreshments for this occasion.  

Mrs Vaughan will be sending more details next week with a timetable to try to ensure that no-one misses Sports Day due to music exams.

U9 Boys Cricket 'A' v Bilton Grange 230 - 248

Player of the Match - Freddie Young (Capt.)

Our Stay 'n' Play toddlers had a fantastic, fun filled session when they joined us for our annual finale the Teddy Bears' Picnic. In a busy morning they enjoyed plenty of teddy bear craft, sticking and gluing cut-outs of teddy bears and created some colourful masterpieces.

Play Leaders Gail and Mary had put on an excellent indoor picnic feast which the children really enjoyed sharing with their adults and their teddies.

It was lovely to see so many familiar faces together.

Little Crackers Stay ‘n’ Play will be back after our Summer break on Wednesday 11 September in our regular time slot of 10.00am to 11.30am. Our first visiting activity will be Drama Tots on 25 September.

We look forward to seeing you all then.

Apologies to all our Dad’s… last week I completely forgot to wish you all a Happy Father’s Day, I do hope you were all properly spoilt and enjoyed your special Sunday. 

We have been extremely relieved this week to get outside and have made the most of a little bit of dry weather.  The pre-school helped me clear out the shed on Monday and it sparked some fantastic conversations about the ‘monsters and beasts’ we found, as well as a slug race too!  It is easy to forget the simple joy of chasing slugs, worms and woodlice! 

We also took our phonics learning outside, and some of us used the letter stones to build and blend simple words, checking each other as we said the sounds out loud. 

I have made a request for ‘loose parts’ in our newsletter, (e.g. buttons and corks, NOT a new hip!!) please have a look at the list of bits and bobs we are interested in finding, and maybe over the summer, as you have a good clear out (!) you might find something we could use. 

Have a great weekend and don’t forget, pre-school are celebrating their graduation next Tuesday afternoon.

Newsletter

Wednesday 26 June at 7.30pm

We are always looking to welcome new members. So if the PTA is something that you fancy getting involved with, we would be very pleased to have you on board.

Hopefully if the weather holds up, we are looking to hold the meeting outside The Gables on the benches. 

Look forward to seeing you there! 

Sumhar (J1GR) and Rhomun (J3V) have lost 2 x named school jumpers 28" and 32"

Reeve (J4JM) has lost his backpack

Thea (J3H) has lost her sports kit

Theo (Rec) has lost his school tie

Isabelle (J1G) bronze award badge and silver award badge

Solon (J4W) has lost his PE bag – number 333

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Parents, please ensure that all school uniform and sports kits are named.

Could you please regularly check all uniform and sports kits at home – if any of it is not yours, please return it to the School Office as soon as possible.

Interested in working for the Princethorpe Foundation?  We currently have the following vacancies:

• After School Manager - Crescent School
• Gardener/Groundsman
• Teaching Assistant - Crackley Hall School

Full details of the roles and how to apply for them are available on the Foundation's website:

https://www.theprincethorpefoundation.co.uk/join-us