Headmaster's Welcome
Dear Parents
The second week of term has seen children become more familiar with their new timetable and classes and nurture new friendships; and hopefully our new parents have also settled into the new routine at Crackley Hall. Our first Celebration Assembly was held today I will highlight more about the assembly later. We also saw a return of our external extra-curricular clubs which have traditionally been very successful. I am very grateful to Mr Lamprecht for organising such a variety of activities for the children and I know that there will be even more available after half term. Some clubs, particularly sports, are so popular that we have had to rotate the year group participation. The expectation is that everyone who wants to take part will be able to at some point.
The parent information meetings have continued this week and I hope you have found these sessions informative. I would like to remind you that that the New Parent Information Evening will be held on Monday 16 September at 7.00pm. This is a particularly helpful evening for those of you who joined Crackley Hall either late last academic year (last term) or at the start of this term.
The Student Council met for the first time this week with Mr Stedeford and Mrs Convey, the teachers-in-charge for the year ahead. I know that there are lots of exciting plans for this year and, if your child is involved, you will hopefully be hearing all about it very soon.
Tomorrow (Saturday), our PTA have organised a Silent Disco; the first one to be held at school. The majority of tickets have been sold but I am told that there are around 20 headsets still available. If you would like your child to attend, the event starts at 2.00pm and the entrance fee will be £5.00 which includes a ‘goody bag’. Please arrive early to avoid any disappointment and parents are also asked to stay with their child for the duration of the event. This is one of many events organised by our PTA who work tirelessly throughout the year to raise funds to purchase additional equipment and fund activities for all the children to enjoy. Please could I ask that parents adhere to parking requests and arrangements. Please accept my apologies for not being able to attend as I will be away taking my son to university (we are allocated certain times and need to comply with this). My sincere thanks are extended to the Chair, Mrs Lamb and her team for all their hard work and commitment to our school.
The first assembly of the school year was a busy, yet enjoyable, one and I was delighted to see so many families attending. Together with the drama, music, and other certificates/awards that our pupils earned outside of school over the summer and last week, I was pleased to be able to award our first stars of the week to: Olivia, Francesca, Beatrice, Shuvan, Olivia, Sebastian, Esme, Elena, Amelia, Hattie (to be presented next week), Alyx, all of J5R, Henry and Arun. Our first recipient of the RE book of the week is Esme whilst Thomas, Joseph and Emily are our Gymnasts of the first two weeks of school.
The new Captains and Stewards for this year were announced at the start of assembly and were presented with their badges of office. I am sure that each one of our newly appointed leaders will be looking forward to their assigned roles. They certainly are a very talented and able cohort and I would challenge each one of them to do their very best throughout the year in the interests of responsibility and service first.
Thank you to our Music Captain, Jorja for stepping up to perform at the opening assembly and also to Fintan for also being ready and able to perform at the start of the school year. Both pupils sang beautifully and certainly set the bar very high for the year.
The Office staff and I are still receiving many complaints from residents and drivers delivering to the local community about cars which have been parked inconsiderately (on corners, near roundabouts, on or opposite private driveways). I have asked the teachers to ensure that children are available on time for collection so as to try to keep the car line moving for everyone’s benefit. Please may I count on your support to adhere to the correct timings, not to leave your car during carline and to follow the instructions of the staff on duty. It is most dangerous having any traffic backing up onto the Coventry Road. We encourage some parents to make use of the lower (playground) car park or to use the streets close to school as this helps keep carline less congested. I am sure that you will have noticed Mr Hardwick or I in the mornings if you have used the roundabout to drop off your child at school. We are encouraging and reminding, parents and pupils to access the school safely using the correct route around the car park – we would not want anyone to cross the car park but, rather, to leave it to access the footpath at the closest point.
A week of international sport saw the England football side record two comfortable victories although the defence have a few questions to answer before the next match. The England cricketers are finding life a little tougher against the Australians and need to dig deep this weekend to try to level the series (although the Ashes will still remain in Australia by virtue of the Australians having won the last series). I noticed the England rugby team were spending their time watching surfing contests in Japan as they prepared for the Rugby World Cup which starts in less that two weeks’ time. Can anyone beat the mighty All Blacks?
I hope that you are all able to have a happy and relaxing weekend with your families (and to many of you, I hope that you enjoy the silent disco).
God bless,
Robert Duigan
