The Chronicle

Dear Parents

It has been my great pleasure to welcome all our pupils and their families back to school at the start of a new academic year.  I hope that you and your family have settled back into the new routine and are looking forward to relaxing this weekend.  I am sure that the children have returned home each evening with stories of the new friendships made and details about the lessons they have experienced.  It has been wonderful to see the older children taking delight in helping the new, and younger, children around school.

It may take a while for the daily routines to become habit, especially for our new families but, if in doubt, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s class teacher or the school office.  I am delighted that I have managed to see many of you this week as you either bring your children to school or collect them at the end of the day.  Whilst I might not always be available, I will continue to arrange for members of staff to be present to meet you at both drop off and collection.  However, can I please remind all parents that as the school is in the centre of a residential area, we must be mindful of our neighbours.  When parking, can you please ensure that you do not block driveways, drop kerbs or park too near to a junction.  Carline operates well as long as staff have the pupils ready on time and also if parents arrive at the correct time as children are only released at specific times.  Any confusion at arrival times can cause significant problems on the approach roads and delay your departure from school.  Details of the timings can be found later in the Chronicle.

This week has seen the start of swimming lessons, school led clubs and parent information evenings.  I do hope that these information evenings have proved useful to you and have given you an insight into the year ahead.  This morning we welcomed Father Kevin to school for the first Mass of the year and I am very grateful to him for celebrating Mass with the whole school community.  We remember at this time Mrs Mary O’Farrell, our previous Chair of Governors and good friend of Crackley Hall, and Mrs Marlene Head, a former colleague, who sadly passed away just about a year ago. 

Due to Mass taking place, we did not celebrate Stars of the Week or any other awards but the usual Celebration Assembly will start again next Friday and you are most welcome to attend and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee, served by willing and friendly members of our fabulous PTA.

External school clubs will start again next week and the parents’ information evenings will continue.  As the term progresses, the pace will increase and the school diary will become busier.  I therefore recommend that you keep a close eye on any updates in the Chronicle and website to ensure that you are kept fully informed of any changes.  The school office will, of course, contact you should there be any last-minute changes that you may not have had the opportunity to read.

Please be aware of the PTA dates, being the Networking Evening, the AGM and the Headmaster’s Quiz.  I would also like to highlight the New Parents’ Evening where you will have the opportunity to meet the various members of staff, gather further information on the school day and school life in general and meet fellow new parents and members of the PTA.

The cricket is not going to script if you’re an England supporter and Steve Smith is proving to be a real thorn in England’s side.  I am sure there will be some good sport over the weekend, amongst the good rest and family time that you have planned.

The last word is with our Junior 6’s in mind.  Our thoughts are with many of our Junior 6 pupils as they sit the grammar school entrance examinations.  May they all do their very best.

Have a restful and happy weekend.

God bless,

Robert Duigan

At the end of the school day, Reception and J1 children are collected from The Gables entrance at 3.30pm (please collect older siblings from the normal car line according to their time slot). Please park in the lower car park located off Fennyland Lane, which will usually be open from 3.00pm, and then walk up to the entrance.

For the collection of the children from Junior 2 to Junior 6 after school, we use a system of six carlines, whereby parents pull up in their cars around the roundabout in the car park and wait for their child to come out of school. Several members of staff oversee the dismissal of children at the end of the school day, and one will remain on duty until 4.10pm. If you are not here to collect your child by this time, they will be taken to After Care. The times for “car line” are as follows:

3.35pm - 1st car line – J2 with no older siblings in J3-J6)

3.45pm - 2nd car line - All other J2 children (with their siblings in J3-J6)

3.50pm - 3rd car line - Junior 3 (with their older siblings in J4-J6)

4.00pm - 4th car line – Junior 4 (with their older siblings in J5-J6)

4.05pm – 5th car line - Junior 5 (with their older siblings in J6)

4.10pm – 6th carline – Junior 6 only

We request that Nursery parents park off site if collecting their children between 3.30pm and 4.00pm to enable us to keep the car line moving smoothly.

Please adhere to these times as it helps keep car line flowing smoothly and prevents undue congestion in the neighbouring roads.

Please note it is essential that you inform us if your children are being picked up by someone who does not normally collect them, as this avoids confusion for the staff and ensures the safety of the children. If we have not received this notification, the person collecting your child will be asked to wait whilst we contact you to confirm the arrangement.

If you need to come into school at all at the end of the school day, please park in the lower car park, located off Fennyland Lane, which will usually be open between 3.00pm and 6.00pm (after school clubs permitting).

If your child is attending an after school club, please note that you will need to come into school and wait for them in the foyer at the finish time.  During better weather all children attending after school sports club should be collected from the back door (car line door); we will notify you via the Chronicle when this come into effect. Any children who have not been collected 5 minutes after any club has finished will be sent to After Care.

Dear Parents

The Termly Curriculum Documents will be available early next week, and will be included in next week’s Chronicle.

The School Office

Combed hair, pressed uniforms and polished shoes whizzed around the playground on Monday morning as Crackley's 2019/20 cohort came to school for the first time. Old friends were reacquainted, sharing stories of how they had spent their summer, and new friends were made as our students enjoyed getting to know one another. As well as our two Reception classes, there are a number of new children in other year groups who we hope have already made friends and feel at home here at Crackley Hall.

It has been delightful to see so many enthusiastic, smiling, happy faces around school during the week. We trust this year will be a successful one, filled with lots of learning and friendships that will last a lifetime. We wish everyone every success for the year and ask you all to believe in yourselves always. May your hard work make all your dreams come true.

With a little over nine weeks to go, the countdown to Princethorpe's Entrance Exams for admission in September 2020 has begun. This year the exams for Year 7 to 10 entry will take place on Saturday 9 November from 9.30am to 3.30pm.

The College's friendly Admissions Team has been kept busy over the summer accepting registrations from prospective parents.  The deadline for registrations is ideally Friday 4 October, to enable the seeking of references from junior schools. Junior 6 parents wishing their children to sit the Princethorpe entrance exam must complete a registration form and submit it with the accompanying registration fee by this date.

There are still opportunities for prospective pupils and their parents to visit the College before the Entrance Exams, including the College's Open Morning on Thursday 26 September from 10.30am to 12.30pm, when pupil tour guides will be available to show visitors around the school.

Comments Melanie Butler, Assistant Head, Marketing, Admissions and Communications, "Parents and pupils still have time to register and one final opportunity to visit the College before the entrance exams.  We post the results out at the end of November, making for an exam-free Christmas holiday, which has got to be good news."

More information on the admissions process can be found in Princethorpe's Admissions Update newsletter here or on the Foundation website here.

If you have any queries relating to admissions please feel free to email the Registrars at admissions@princethorpe.co.uk or call them on 01926 634201.

Launching My School Portal: Keeping parents informed 24/7

Over the last few months we have been working to transform the way we communicate with parents and manage important information about our students.  This has involved the implementation of a new, secure, web based communication and parental information system, My School Portal, which we are delighted to announce has now been launched.

Through My School Portal parents and guardians now have secure, 24-hour access to personalised data for their children via one user name and password.

From one intuitive, simple to use dashboard, parents can access communications, reports, attendance, timetables and sports fixtures from their phone, tablet or desktop device. Importantly, moving all personal data to a restricted user-only portal ensures that only the right people see the right information.

The portal can be accessed on any device at https://princethorpe.myschoolportal.co.uk, and current parents will have received an email this week detailing how to access the portal and guidance on making the most of its numerous features. Here you can access a selection of short videos which explain how each feature of the Portal works.

We are very excited about this new investment and the prospect of enhancing engagement with parents and keeping them even better informed about their children's progress, as well as developments within the school.

As an update for both our new and current parents, the Chronicle is our weekly parent newsletter.  It includes news and important information. When you receive the Chronicle email in your inbox, it will display a general overview message, welcome from Mr Duigan and an index list of the news and information as clickable title links.

Here are some top tips for navigating the Chronicle on your phone:

• From your email inbox, click the title link of the article or event you are interested in (this will open the newsletter in your browser with the article you have selected)
• From here you can scroll through all the articles in this category
• To get back to the top of a category quickly, there is a red arrow in the bottom right of your browser. Click this and you will jump to the category index
• The category index will list all available articles and if you select ‘Newsletter Index’, this will return you to the main newsletter index with all categories and articles
• To move between different editions of the Chronicle there is a red button with three white lines at the top of the newsletter. Click this and you can choose which edition of the Chronicle you would like to browse.

 If you have any questions, please contact chronicle@crackleyhall.co.uk. 

Tuesday 1 October - 10.00am to 3.00pm

Please do spread the word that Crackley Hall and Little Crackers Nursery are opening their doors for an Open Day on Tuesday 1 October from 10.00am to 3.00pm.

This is an opportunity to look around the school and to meet staff and pupils on a normal working day. All are welcome, no need to book.

There are some places available across the school and we are recruiting for places in Reception 2020. Please speak to our Admissions Secretary, Mrs Jenny Vaughan for availability.

If you can’t make the Open Day but would like to look around the school, please call our Admissions Secretary, Mrs Jenny Vaughan on 01926 514410 or email admissions@crackleyhall.co.uk and come on a day to suit you. We welcome visitors on most days.

For more information visit http://www.crackleyhall.co.uk/

Calendar

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

Thank you to all those who led our beautiful Mass today to celebrate the beginning of a new term.

It was fantastic to hear all the pupils singing the rousing chorus of ‘He's got the whole world in his hands’.  Jimmy and Lucas read the welcome and introduction and Isabella and Harry read the first reading from the book of Genesis reminding us of ways we can make the right choices and follow in the Christ’s footsteps.

Please see the attached letters for more information on individual clubs: 

Bayleaf

Cricket

Ballet

Karate

Chess

Yoga

Move it Shake it 

Rugby Tots

Tennis

Mini Brass

Can we please remind you that if choosing a club led by an external provider, you must sign up both on SOCs and with the provider themselves.

Our friendly baby and toddler group returns to Little Crackers Nursery after the summer break on Wednesday 11 September.

We meet at 10.00am to 11.30am on Wednesdays in term-time, mostly within the Nursery, although we have a fabulous programme of visiting activities when we make the most of our school hall. 

Please see the attached flyer for details and dates of our visiting activities this term.

Our Monday group continues to meet in term-time from 10.00am to 11.15am at St Francis Church hall in Kenilworth. The first session will be on Monday 9 September.

We love to see familiar faces and new friends at both groups and hope that you can join us. Children are welcome from 0-4 years old.

Welcome back to everyone who has been away for the holidays, it is fantastic to be all together again. 

Our all year round children had the opportunity to try out the new nursery furniture, find out what works best and play with the new arrangements, and thanks to their experiences we are now set up and running for the new year. 

We have all new furniture in the big room, and have changed the configuration to make the most of the space, whilst allowing the children to lead their own learning through the various areas. 

We have the construction carpet flowing nicely into the maths area, the drama station and role play kitchen area is set to fire everyone’s imagination before leading the children towards the creative area, with the independent access trolley filled with things to stick, glue and cut! 

At the end of the room is our cosy corner, filled with books and cushions for quiet times and then… we can move into the all new garden room! 

This is a wonderful addition to the nursery and we are just beginning to explore the natural resources, where the outside is welcomed in through the open windows and glass ceiling. 

We are so excited for the coming year and look forward to sharing our adventures with you.

Newsletter

Welcome

We hope that everyone had a lovely summer holiday and all the children have settled back into school life. The PTA have hit the ground running again this year with lots going on, so please note all the upcoming dates for your diaries.

Silent Disco

Saturday 14 September 2pm - 4pm – Tickets £5 per Child

This welcome back to school event is a great opportunity to meet old and new parents whilst the children have fun! Included in the ticket price are headsets for use during the disco and a goodie bag to take home. Please purchase tickets by Wednesday 11 September using the link below:

ALL CHILDREN MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY AN ADULT

www.pta-events.co.uk/crackleyhall/

First Internal Networking Session at Crackley Hall School

Thursday 19 September 2019 from 7pm

This event is designed to be relaxed and informal, you can come along and make new business contacts and learn more about each other.

Please note this a non-fundraising event and we welcome people from the business and non-business sectors to this event.

Also, in addition to the this event we are very privileged to have Dr Tracy Rea who previously worked as Performance Director of Scottish Gymnastics and then transitioned to Lloyd’s Banking Group as Head of Business Operations, with a recent move to the Construction industry. This is a culmination of her PhD in Talent Transfer - trying to prove the hypothesis that you can take your portfolio of work across industries. However through this time Tracy has utilised the Chimp Management model as a framework to successfully engage with all of her teams and stakeholders, and this is what she will be sharing with us this evening.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/networking-evening-at-crackley-hall-school-tickets-64756237650

PTA AGM and Ordinary Meeting

Wednesday 25 September from 7:30pm

We are always looking to welcome new members, so if the PTA is something you would like to be involved with we would be very pleased to have you join us. The committee get together once per half term and would really welcome some new faces.

If you would like any further information or to be added to our email list, please contact mfox1401@gmail.com

Macmillan Coffee Morning and Drive Through

Friday 27 September from 8.00am

After such an amazing morning last year we will again be taking part in the Macmillan World's Biggest Coffee Morning this year. There will be a drive through tea and coffee service at morning drop off for those of you on to go, or if you have a bit more time there will be tea and pastries on the patio area outside the school hall.

The children will also get an opportunity to buy cakes at break time. We will be asking for small cake/biscuit donations from certain classes nearer the time.

Date For Your Diary - Headmaster’s Quiz 

Friday 11  October - 7.30pm

This year we are breaking with tradition and holding our popular quiz night in October instead of later in the year. We will be selling tickets online this year and they will be available shortly - details to follow. You can enter as part of a team or as a couple or individual and we can assign you a team.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Break The Rule Day

Friday 18 October

This is a rare opportunity for your children to break a maximum of 3 school rules at a small cost of 50p per rule broken.

List of rules that can be broken will be clearly listed nearer the time.

Crackley Winter Wonderland - Save The Date

Saturday 30  November - 1.00pm - 4.00pm

Is it too early to be thinking about Christmas yet? Some might say yes but please save the date as it will come round quickly!

Please email mfox1401@gmail.com if you might be able to help. Thank you for your support. 

Second Hand Uniform & Friday Coffee Morning

Our second hand uniform shop will be open every Friday during term time from 8am until 8.40am, in the gables. Any items to donate, please do bring them along.

Nikki, Linda and Becca that run the second hand uniform shop do a sterling job all year and the PTA just wanted to say a huge thank you for all there help.

The PTA also offer tea/coffee from 8am in the dining room before assembly so do pop down and say hello (with your reusable cups). It is a great way to connect with other parents at school.

Mrs Clark is looking for the following items: 

• any outgrown ski suits/waterproofs/warm boots for my spare box
• mud kitchen items-pans, spoons etc
• ropes/laces
• cut logs
• euro (half size) pallets
• gardening tools

Thank you

Sebastian (J2) has lost his named blazer

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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.