The Chronicle

Dear Parents

This week seems to have passed all too quickly and Advent will be upon us very soon.  This marks the beginning of a very busy period in school celebrating this special time of the year.  I have already heard the children preparing for the nativities and I know that parents are in for a real treat on performance days.

On Monday, Junior 6 were accompanied by Messrs and Mesdames Horan, Vaughan, Paphitis, Cottrill and Lamprecht as they made their way to Costa Coffee in Kenilworth to enjoy a coffee morning as part of their activity week.  They all enjoyed the brief excursion, fresh air and a chance to have a drink and cake with their friends.   Junior 6 will return to their usual timetable next week.  I would like to extend my thanks to the Junior 6 team for all their efforts co-ordinating the events ensuring that everyone had an enjoyable time experiencing team building, learning new skills and being rewarded for their hard study.

LAMDA examiners have been in school yesterday and today, hearing Junior 3 and Junior 4 pupils perform their selected pieces.  I hope that all the children gained confidence from this experience and look forward to their results in due course.

Yesterday evening we opened our doors to visitors attending the Little Crackers and Reception open evening.  This successful event showcased the recently updated nursery facilities and our two Reception classes.  My thanks to Mrs Vaughan, Mrs Butler, Mrs Hancock, our Little Crackers and Reception class staff and Mr Sansum for their input into making this event a success.

Tomorrow Mr Lamprecht was due to return to his previous school, St John’s Beaumont, and take the U11A rugby team with him.  Unfortunately, the weather has intervened and the match has been cancelled due to waterlogged pitches.  They will however, be going to watch the Rugby match at the Madejski Stadium in Reading.  I’d like to thank Mr Lamprecht for the many hours spent arranging this fixture.

For those of you who were unable to attend assembly this morning, I was delighted to announce that the final total raised during our Super Hero Day was £200.  This will be donated to Warwickshire Air Ambulance later today.  I was also very pleased to hear Mrs Olden announce that a new piano will be arriving at school shortly.  This is largely due to a generous donation by our wonderful PTA led by the ever-caring Chair, Mrs Lamb.  The piano will be delivered next week and many children will be able to benefit from this addition for years to come.

Congratulations to our Stars of the Week: Charlie, Thomas, Jessie, Isla, Blythe, Sebastian, Isabella, Alfred, George, Theo, Martha and Davi.  Rhomun is also congratulated for his RE Book of the Week.  Well done to all the pupils who received their bronze merit award this week.  The J1 recorder group performed extremely well at assembly this week, as did Francesca, who has a beautiful singing voice.

As you will have read in a communication earlier this week, it has been decided to take a different approach to lunchtime arrangements in the new term.  This will be trialled and feedback sought before contemplating a permanent change but it is hoped to give children more choice when selecting their lunch.  Holroyd Howe will continue to provide a range of well-balanced meals and cater for those children who have special dietary requirements.  Thank you for the feedback that we have already received from some parents.  The school is considering all opinions with the reassurance that we view this as a sensitive and subjective topic.  It is hoped to reach a position that is practical from a logistical point of view, whilst providing all pupils with the required nourishment and sustenance.

Our Choral Group are singing at the switching on of the Kenilworth High Street lights next Friday evening at 18:00.  Please do join us for a lovely evening of carol singing.  The following day sees our Winter Wonderland at school from 13:00 to 16:00.  We would love all our families to join us on what promises to be a super day.

I would like to wish everyone a very happy and restful weekend.

God bless

Mr Duigan 

Holiday Club will again be available during the Christmas break.

It will be available from 8.00am until 6.00pm on Thursday 19 and Friday 20 December 2019 and, if there is sufficient demand, on Thursday 2 and Friday 3 January 2020 at a cost of £30.00 for a full day.

Half days (8.00am-1.00pm and 1.00pm-6.00pm) can be booked at £20.00 per session. Hot lunches are also available.

As ever there will be plenty to do and lots of fun to be had, with arts and crafts, baking, team/party games, outdoor time and movies.

Places are limited as we are bound to strict adult to child ratios, therefore we ask that you please book early to avoid disappointment. 

Should you wish to book a place at short notice, please contact the school office on 01926 514444 to check availability. Cancellations can only be made by the school office, therefore please discuss any changes with a member of staff.

To book places follow the link and complete the form here. 

The School Office

Friday 29 November 2019 - 6.00pm

As in previous years, our Choral Group children have been invited to attend the Christmas Lights Switch On in Kenilworth on Friday 29 November.

They will be singing outside The Abbey Fields (formerly Loch Fyne) on the Old High Street at 6pm, so will need to be dropped off between 5.45pm and 5.50pm.

All children and parents are encouraged to support this local event and to support our Choral Group in their performance.

This event is always a lovely way to kick-start the Christmas festivities.

Please be advised that there will be no J3/J4 Netball next Thursday 28 November due to the football festival taking place.

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Junior 6 have spent the last two weeks enjoying some well deserved down time after recently sitting their senior school entrance exams. 

Desks were cleared of pencil pots, exercise books and revision notes, and normal lessons exchanged for board games, sports activites and forest school.

Last week they enjoyed a 'Bake Off' style cake decorating competition - with all manner of shapes, swirls, hundreds and thousands and silver balls.

This week started with them walking down to Costa Coffee in Kenilworth, where they enjoyed treats such as hot chocolate and brownies. And also included a 'Movies and Munchies' day, complete with pizza and popcorn.

Hopefully a great time was had by all. Well done Junior 6, you've earned it!

As we begin to prepare for the Christmas season, I am pleased to tell you that our kitchen staff will be cooking a Christmas lunch for us all on Wednesday 11 December. This is always a jolly occasion and does bring out everybody's Christmas spirit!

As well as the traditional Christmas lunch, there will also be a vegetarian option and a delicious seasonal dessert.

If you child does not normally eat a hot dinner on this day, we will contact you separately.

The School Office

As part of Christmas Jumper Day, the Student Council have created an extra (optional competition) that involves designing a Christmas jumper for Mr Duigan.

The £1 entry fee will be donated to Save the Children.

All entries must be created on an A4 piece of paper (with or without the template) and should be handed to your form tutor by Friday 6 December.

There will be a small prize for the winner, which will be judged by Mr Cottrill (as voted by Student Council), on Christmas Jumper Day. 

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/it-t-t-16479-christmas-jumper-design-cut-and-stick-activity-sheet-italian-english

Crackley’s Performing Arts Captain, Kiki Dhillon will be playing the role of Tommy, Dick Whittington’s cat in Stratford-Upon-Avon’s festive panto.

She joined the rest of the cast in full costume on Thursday evening to help the Mayor of Stratford switch on the Christmas Lights in the town.  Who doesn’t love a traditional panto at this time of year?

Tickets are available from www.stratfordplay.co.uk and if you want to catch Kiki she’s performing on 21st, 23rd, 26th, 28th and 30th December.

The Scholastic Book Fair will arrive in school next week and books will be available for viewing and ordering on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday after school. They will also be available at the School Fair on Saturday 30 November.

As in previous years, vouchers can be purchased online which provides a cost effective way of buying books by giving you 20% extra to spend. Vouchers are available in a various dominations starting from £5 and can be purchased by visiting the Scholastic Books website.

In addition, this year, you will be able to make phone payments for your order using a secure payment line (033 305 2963) and quoting the School ID number (108826). You will then be given a transaction code together with the amount paid, further details will be available at the fair next week. We will be arranging for children to visit the fair during the school day so that they can look at the selection of books available to purchase. Crackley Hall will receive points from the sale of books and these will be used to purchase resources for the children. We hope to see you at the fair next week.

https://shop.scholastic.co.uk

As usual we are taking part in the Christmas Tree Festival held each year at St Nicholas School, this is a lovely community event and is one of the ways that our school prepares for Christmas during Advent.

This year the decoration will be linked to the book, 'Have You Filled A Bucket Today?' (please google) Pupils have been given a cup and pipe cleaner and asked to decorate their cup with ideas of ways they can be kind to others. They can add a face, stick or draw on the cup, pop things inside. There are a few pictures on the internet which will give you ideas.

Decorations need to be back by Wednesday 27 November.

Thank you for your support in advance.

Warwick Arts Centre – Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas - Nursery 2, Reception and Junior 1 Trip - Thursday 28 November 2019

We are still in need of a couple of parent helpers and also have a few spare tickets available if any parent from Nursery 2, Reception or Junior 1 wishes to accompany their child on this trip. 

If any parents from other classes within the school are able to volunteer to help or wish to go along this would be greatly appreciated. 

These tickets will be available at a reduced cost to cover the ticket price only of £13 but includes a seat on the coach, leaving Crackley Hall at 12.45pm and being back at school in time for the end of the school day.

Please contact Mrs Glen Roots, Mrs Bird or the School Office if you are interested. They will be issued on a first-come first-served basis.

The date for this years Christmas Jumper Day for Save the Children is Friday 13 December.

If children would like to participate, they should come to school in their usual uniform with a Christmas jumper in place of their school jumper.

All children wearing a Christmas jumper are asked to bring in a £1.00 donation for Save the Children.

https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/christmas-jumper-day

Mathlete of the week for J1H is Josh 

Mathlete of the week for J2H is Aaron

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Lammas's group is George

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Roberts' group is Alyx

Last weeks Mathlete of the week for Mrs Lammas's group was Thomas and for Mrs Roberts' group was Freddie.

Well done!

On Thursday 21 November Crackley Hall School and Little Crackers Nursery held a dedicated Nursery and Reception Open Evening. It was an opportunity for families to visit the school, listen to a presentation, view children’s work and talk to members of the Nursery, Reception and Early Years Team.

Crackley Hall and Little Crackers staff were delighted to welcome families and help them get a feel for what makes Crackley feel like 'the next best place to home'.

Parents are reminded that the deadline for Early Bird applications for places in the Reception class next year is Monday 25 November 2019. Offers to Early Bird applicants will be posted first class on Monday 16 December, with an acceptance deadline of Monday 6 January 2020.

For those who missed this week’s Open Evening there is one further opportunity to visit the school, before the final deadline for Reception applications closes, as the school will be holding an Open Day on Thursday 23 January from 10.00am to 3.00pm.

Sunday 1 December 2019 - 2.00pm to 4.00pm

The countdown to Christmas will begin in earnest at Princethorpe College on Sunday 1 December when their wonderful Parent Teacher Association will be holding their annual Christmas Fair from 2.00pm to 4.30pm.

On offer is a festive feast of stalls, games, activities, music, refreshments and a special visit from Santa. They aren't promising snow but there will be lots of Christmas cheer!

If you are not shopped out after our own Winter Wonderland then this is a lovely opportunity to visit the College, please do spread the word amongst family and friends, as all are welcome.

Entrance is just £2 per car. They looking forward to seeing you there.

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 Rhomun (J4JM).

Please find details attached about the Christmas and New Year Tennis Club sessions.

Tennis Club Information

On Saturday 16 November, Crackley Hall's U9 Boys travelled to Foremarke Hall in Derbyshire to take part in their annual football festival. It was a great opportunity for the children to gain experience in a non-competitive festival environment.

The team played five matches in total, they began steadily with a 0-0 draw against the hosts Foremarke Hall followed by a 3-1 victory versus Hallfield, an even more convincing 5-1 triumph against Shrewsbury House.  They ended the morning with a 2-0 loss to West House and a well fought 1-1 draw against Old Vicarage.

As a festival it is all about the taking part so no overall positions are published. However, all eight boys played and behaved brilliantly and really represented their school well. It was a great morning of football.

A special mention to Lawson who stepped up from Junior 3, to help his team mates.

We are pleased to announce that Max (J5L) is our gymnast of the week. 

Little hands and feet were transformed into magical festive gifts at our Little Crackers Stay 'n' Play Paint and Glaze session this week.

Emma from Rugby based Paint and Glaze created some wonderful Christmas gifts with hand and footprints. Over 20 families joined us for the session and we even had some Crackley Hall pupils join their younger siblings to make their decorations.

The visit from Paint and Glaze is part of a programme of visiting activities at the group. To find out more about our upcoming activities, please visit www.littlecrackers.co.uk/stay-n-play

The next themed activity will be on Wednesday 4 December for the Christmas Party where there will be crafts, nibbles and a special visit a very important person!

This week has seen the nativity preparations step up a gear as we tried out our voices in the hall – they all sounded fabulous. 

Can I also send a big thank you to everyone for all the lovely costumes we have – everyone is going to look wonderful. 

I am really proud of everyone at the moment, especially those Badgers who go out of their way to help the little Dormice, we are noticing stars amongst us everyday. 

Please take note of the upcoming events, especially the Christmas Fair next week, I’m looking forward to painting faces, as well as all the other lovely things our fabulous PTA have planned.

Wishing you all a happy weekend, from the Nursery Staff.

Newsletter

Donations from the non-uniform day were used to buy items from CAFOD. 

Items purchased were:

• Free World Gifts Notebook 
• Gift of play
• Teach someone to read 
• School starter pack 

Thank you for your support.

We lost quite a few of our regular bakers this year when their children moved on to secondary school.  So we have rather a depleted list!

So if any of you fantastic bakers can manage to rustle up a whole cake/minces pies/something to sell on our cake stall at our Winter Wonderland Fayre (Saturday 30 November) - we would really appreciate it  - as always.

Also, if anybody is feeling particularly crafty and would like to donate any unwanted gifts or handmade gifts such as candle holders, photo frames, decorative jars or homemade jams, marmalades or chutney’s this would also be very much appreciated and something you could maybe involve your children in creating!

Please let Emma know what and how many you can make emma.mauxion@gmail.com; boxes will be provided for cakes.

There will be a box out in the main entrance for donations in the run up to the Fayre

Please bring your donations into school on Wednesday 27 November. 

There will be a non-uniform day on Friday 29 November for all the children. In return we are asking for specific donations for the Christmas Fayre:

Little Crackers, Reception and J1 children: we kindly request that each child donates a box of chocolates for the hugely popular chocolate tombola stall.

J2, J3 and J4 children: we ask each child to donate a glass jar filled with Christmas-related treats for the ‘Goodies in a Jar’ tombola stall. Suggested fillings include:  Christmas chocolates, stationery items, small toys, craft items, etc.  (unisex where possible please)

J5 and J6 children: we would love every child to donate a bottle for the bottle tombola stall, such as a bottle of wine or spirits.

Donations can be left at either the main school entrance or the Gables entrance.

In addition we are also holding a teddy tombola and this year we are also adding a fabulous fancy dress stall which we are sure will be a HUGE success with all the children, so have a look and see if you have any unwanted teddies and fancy dress costumes at home in good condition that you can donate. There will be a box out shortly in the main entrance for donations in the run up to the Fayre.

We are still short of a few helpers on the day too, so if you can spare a couple of hours to help on the day then please let a member of the PTA know or email mfox1401@gmail.com

We really do appreciate all your help and all of the money raised goes straight back into the PTA fund.

Saturday 30 November - 1.00pm to 4.00pm

Planning is well underway for what we hope will be another fantastic PTA event. This year's Winter Wonderland will take place on Saturday 30 November 

As always these events are a success because our wonderful school community come together and once again we are asking for your help.

As well as lots of help on the day we are looking for help with the planning and setup of some of the stalls. Any aspiring chefs (or chefs), caterers or just parents who love to cook and can come up with some exciting and new suggestions around the food tents?

Home crafts is always very popular, so if you have any home craft skills in your back pocket please do let us know, the children and parents love buying Christmas gifts and goodies on this stall

We have set up a WhatsApp group for those of you who would like to get more involved, please let mfox1401@gmail.com  know if you would like to be added to this?

All help is welcome, both in the build-up to the event with planning and on the day so please do let us know if you are able to offer your support in any way?

Please see below our current vacancies:

• Director of Sport (Foundation)
• Teacher of Latin
• Decorator - part-time
• Estates Assistant - casual\zero-hours contract

Full details and how to apply are available here: 

Should you know anyone who might be interested in these posts, please do share this information with them.

Lost

James (J3Z) has lost his named hat

Alyx (J5L) has lost her track top

Joseph (J3S) has lost his named jumper

Merryn (J4JM) has lost her named hat

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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 it does not belong to your child, please return it to the School Office as soon as possible.