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