The Chronicle

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