The Chronicle

Dear Parents

What a half term!  I am so pleased that we have been able to remain open to all year groups this half term.  As you will have heard on the news since September, there have been many areas and schools that have been seriously affected.  We are watching news and updates regularly and, although it would appear that more restrictions are being put in place across the country, I sincerely hope that we will remain open to all.  We have planned for a possible nationwide lockdown and will update all families over the half-term, if this is announced by the government.  At this stage, we will provide all families with our ‘lockdown teaching timetable’, how to access the assigned work and/or live lessons and any other expectations and ways to support our pupils.

I hope that you were all able to meet online with your child’s class teacher this week.  If you were unable to meet for whatever reason, or would like a further discussion with your child’s class teacher, please contact them directly.

Junior 4 would usually have been at their residential outing at Kingswood this week.  However, they have still been able to enjoy the great outdoors and spent a morning in our Forest School yesterday.  Thank you to Mrs Clark, Mrs Burley, Mrs Wildey for arranging this event and special thanks to Mr Sansum for providing the children with hot chocolate and marshmallows.

As you may have noticed, the Chronicle now contains sections where class news is shared.  This provides families with a weekly update on the various activities that have taken place in their child’s class.    The Chronicle is also very useful communication tool as you will find reminders, events and news updates that may affect your family.  Please take a moment to look through this week’s edition to see what has happened in school this week.

We will be saying farewell to Dr Foladi today as he leaves Crackley Hall.  Dr Foladi has enjoyed working with the children both in After Care and his yoga classes and we wish him well with his university studies and life in Hertfordshire.  Mrs Blyth shared lovely news with us last week.  Baby Noah was born last Thursday and I am pleased to report that mother, father and baby are all doing exceptionally well. 

During assembly this morning I congratulated our stars of the week which included: Henry, Jai, Rory, Alfie, Lena,   Rory, Patrick,  Isabella, Penny, George, Kyra, George and  Annalise.   Well done to you all. 

Whatever you are doing at half term, I do hope that you are able to enjoy some family time and enjoy some autumnal sunshine.  Holiday Club will be operating from 8.30am until 4.00pm throughout the half term.  Although bookings have now closed, please ‘phone or email school to enquire about spaces if you still require a place as the staff may be able to accommodate you.  Please do not send your child to holiday club with any electronic devices as pupils will not be allowed to use these in school.  There will be activities planned for each day and children should be sent with a change of clothes and appropriate footwear so that they may enjoy playing outside each day, weather permitting.  Please see examples of some of the activities later on in The Chronicle.  The school site will be closed at 4.00pm each day and if there are any changes due to lock down measures, we will contact parents who have booked a place.

I hope that you all are able to have a restful break and I look forward to seeing the children again in November.

God bless

Mr Duigan

Please find Nativity Information below for Reception and J2:

Reception

J1

J2

The holiday club is running from Monday 19 October to Friday 30 October 2020 (8.30am-4pm).

There are still places available so please call the school office (01926-514444) if you would like to book a space for your child.  Lunch is also available

Electronic devices are not allowed at holiday club, please bring outdoor clothes.

Please see daily activities below:

Week 1

Monday - Sports, dance and acting (predominately outside weather permitting)
Tuesday - Hand puppets
Wednesday - Autumn arts and crafts
Thursday - Biscuit decorating
Friday - Forest School activities

Week 2

Monday - Halloween crafts
Tuesday - Halloween sweet treats
Wednesday - Scavenger hunt and leafy hedgehogs
Thursday - Apple crafts
Friday - Pumpkin art

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Congratulations to them all!

Some of you may already know that Mrs Blyth gave birth last week.  Baby Noah has already had met a few staff from Crackley Hall and we hope that we will be kept up to date on his progress while Mrs Blyth enjoys her maternity leave.

If you would like to contribute to a baby gift, there is an online collection via PayPools : Baby Noah

We will be sad to say goodbye to Dr Foladi who has been part of the After Care team for the last three years.   The children in After Care have already said goodbye to Dr Foladi and we know that they will certainly miss him.   Dr Foladi is moving to Hertfordshire to be with his fiance and to focus on his university work.  

We wish Mrs Bylth and Dr Foladi the very best for the future.

The first week back after half term sees us celebrating Vocations. The theme we are exploring this year is how can we use our unique talents to complete Acts of Service for others. Please watch out for the '20 Acts of Kindness' sheet your child will bring home after half term.

Pupils will also help to improve the school environment by joining in with a ‘mass planting of daffodil bulbs’.

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Holmes' class is Charlie

Mathlete of the week for Mr Stedeford's group is Finley

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Hardwick's class is Rory

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Burley's group is Charlie

Mathlete of the week for Mrs VanZyl's group is Molly

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Lammas' group is Leonardo 

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Robert's group is Hattie

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Glen-Roots' class is Alexander 

Well done all!

We were very impressed to hear that Lexi (J4B) achieved her Grade 8 ice skating certificate on Monday night - a super huge well done Lexi!

The Flu Immunisation Team will be visiting the School on Monday 7 December to carry out Flu Vaccinations for all children from Reception to Junior 6. Unfortunately, we have no control over the date of this as it is set by the Immunisation Team on a rolling monthly timetable every year.

The immunisation (given to the children in the form of a nasal spray) will be carried out in class bubbles, in the school hall, with the area decontaminated between each year groups.

Further details will be sent to you approximately 2 weeks before the immunisation date and this will contain a link to an e-consent form which should be returned directly to the Immunisation Team.

Ms Holmes invites entries from children at Crackley Hall School from Nursery through to Junior 6

The theme this year is ‘Joy to the World’

Please see information attached - CISC Christmas Card Design Competition

Please follow the link below for more information:

Competition

Please find the link below for a digital copy of Families Warwickshire Magazine.

Magazine

Junior 6 have been studying Shakespeare’s, ‘The Tempest’ in Music and Drama over the last few weeks and we have had great fun learning about the story. From creating storms using items found outside, to acting out ‘the sinking ship,’ the children have been using their creative minds to embody the sounds and scenes of the storm. We have heard some lovely Italian accents, seen wonderful facial and vocal expression and enjoyed interesting raps created and performed by the children.

The pupils are really enjoying the lessons and look forward each week to the next chapter of the play.

Another super week of learning in Junior 5. All the pupils have been excited to learn about the stars and constellations and many are now using 'Stellarium' on their home devices. We have been sending photos and videos of our exciting observations, with Venus being the most popular!

The 'Aztec' topic has also been a real hit with this year group and they have produced some fabulous Art work and Head-dresses, which they really enjoyed creating! In Music lessons, we have been busy both in writing and performing our very own Raps. This activity facilitated great team work and who knows, we may have some budding future rappers in the making? This teamwork continued in PE, where the children played a great game called 'Caterpillar Cricket', which certainly enhanced fitness levels.

Who needs Kingswood when you’ve got Crackley Hall’s Forest School in our very own woods? The Junior 4 children had a cracking time enjoying the great outdoors on Thursday morning. The children built dens and fairy tree houses, ‘cheffed’ in the mud-kitchen and displayed their amazing creativity making clay people out of natural materials. It was wonderful to see the children bringing their history learning outside with them leading their own Viking and Roman confrontations and even Boudicca’s battle-cry was heard echoing through the woods! Outdoor living is never complete without hot chocolate and marshmallows which the children then sat down to enjoy, chuckling away to Michael Rosen’s poetry which Mrs Wildey took great pleasure in sharing with them. It was unanimously agreed that 'this was the best day ever!'

As part of an initiative called 'Postcards of Kindness', the Year 4 Kindness club have made postcards to send to a local Care Home. We are really hoping that these postcards make lots of people smile.

This week in Junior 3, we have been using place value counters to add and subtract with exchange. Everyone worked in pairs, discussing the method with each other, undertaking it practically and then displaying it in its written form. After learning about the various features of a calligram, we voyaged down to the computing suite to create and publish our very own. We had lots of fun using language features such as adjectives, adverbs, alliteration and similes, putting them all into the shape of our chosen animal! We have had such a fun first half-term in Junior 3 and cannot wait to get back after our well-earned break.

Junior 2 have been globetrotters this half term in Geography.

Our journey has taken us to all seven continents of the world where we have explored all the facts, including famous landmarks. In addition, we have also used our fact-finding skills to further research physical and human features. It has been very interesting to learn all the differences and similarities these continents have.

We have learned that a continent is a massive area of land that is separated from others by water or other natural features.

Did you know that the seven continents together cover one third of the world?  What an amazing fact!

What an incredibly busy week it has been in Junior 1 for our last week of half term! The children have embraced the story of Little Red Riding Hood with enormous enthusiasm and the two J1 classrooms have been buzzing with lots of energetic little writers. We have dressed up to retell the traditional tale, drawn a story map and written our own alternative endings. Some of the children decided on a very gruesome ending for the poor wolf, whilst others included new characters to make their story more interesting. The children also looked carefully at woodland pictures and listened to woodland sounds to imagine what it would be like to actually be walking through the wood. Finally, they used their different senses to create atmosphere when describing the story setting.

Junior 1 headed out Thursday morning with their clipboards ready and eyes alert, to complete a traffic survey as part of their Geography topic on the local area. Class Teacher and Assistant Head (Early Years and KS1), Mrs Glen-Roots, explained that the children were counting how many cars, vans, lorries, buses, bikes and motorbikes came past in a 10 minute period. Their keen eyes and eager faces show just how much they enjoyed spotting all the traffic that came past. The children enthusiastically filled in their tally charts before heading back inside to evaluate their findings.

As we move further into autumn, Reception have continued their exploration of the season and all that it brings. We started the week by reading ‘The Scarecrow’s Wedding’ which tells the story of Betty O’Barley and Harry O’Hay and their wonderful wedding on the farm. This led us on to investigating straw, scarecrows and weddings! The children thoroughly enjoyed creating life-size collages of Betty and Harry, in addition to designing wedding cakes and wedding dresses too. In Maths, we enjoyed lots of practical activities which helped us understand how to compare and sort objects – we even compared and sorted ourselves into hoops.

What a busy week we have had; we are certainly ready for a fantastic half-term break!

Please click on the link below for the weekly mission:

Weekly Mission

Please find information below:

Children's Liturgy

RE book of the week is awarded to Charlie (J4B) for his superb retelling of the story of Abraham and Sara.

J4W were exploring the story to help them understand the power of Trust.

Charlie wrote a descriptive and accurate piece in a short time and presented his work beautifully.

Well done.

Please find information for Kenilworth's Tennis And Squash Club's half term Tennis Camp below:

Tennis Camp Information 

I can’t believe it is Half Term already, and after all the changes, alterations, new routines and rules we have not only survived the first few weeks, but enjoyed ourselves too!  In our PE lesson today we demonstrated some brilliant listening and attention skills as the children showed off all the skills they have learned during the last few weeks, running and jumping races, throwing bean bags, matching colours, counting equipment and taking turns. 

To finish off we had some exciting parachute games and Mrs Thomas threw the beach balls on and we made them fligh high!  Then we took it in turns to race underneath, swap places and hide!  For those of you going on Half Term, have a great couple of weeks together, and if you’re coming into Nursery, we look forward to seeing you.  Stay safe everyone!

Newsletter

This week the spotlight is on outdoor learning here at Little Crackers Nursery….

With the Autumn leaves falling all around us, we have loved being outside in the fresh crisp air and using the big tools to dig for wonderful wriggly worms. We created a super sailing ship from our brilliant building blocks and all enjoyed making a washing line collection of leaves, twigs and feathers. It’s all great fun and develops our fine and gross motor skills too!

We can’t wait to get cracking in our coats and wellies, playing and learning in our outdoor environment here at Little Crackers Nursery!

We are delighted to tell you that all the children have designed a Christmas card in school and should by now have brought home their sample Christmas cards together with an order form for cards, gift tags, mugs, tea towels and bags. This is a great opportunity to purchase reasonably priced cards and other items displaying individual artwork produced by your child, whilst also raising money for the PTA.

In order to minimise handling of order forms and payment, this year the PTA have produced an online payment system. Using the link below, you are able to select the product and quantity you wish to order. Please note that the earlier the orders are placed, the higher the donation to school.

Online Payment Link

Should you be unable to use the online payment system, then please return your order form with the payment enclosed, to the school office. Cheques should be made payable to Crackley Hall PTA. The designs are beautiful this year and the children should be proud of their efforts.  Hopefully, your families and friends will enjoy them as much as they did last year.

The PTA are excited to announce the Autumn Preloved Book Sale!

The Sale will be held on Friday 20 November from 9.00am to 11.30am.

All books will be £1 (Max 3 books per child) with 100% proceeds to the PTA that benefits your child. Please be aware no change will be given on the day to minimise the risks of handling money.  All volunteers on the day (there will be a maximum of 6) will be wearing appropriate PPE.

We would appreciate donations of excellent quality books (no scribbles or pages missing). We are looking for books in the following three categories: KS1, KS2 and Pre-Teen.

Donations will be collected in the school foyer between Monday 2 November and Friday 6 November with a maximum of 5 books donated per child. Children will need to drop the donations themselves during those dates. The drop off dates are crucial so that a 72-hour quarantine can be observed between the drop off and the date of the sale.

Good examples of books suitable for Pre-Teen are as follows: The Harry Potter series, Watership Down, Alex Rider series and the Hunger Games but other suitable books are welcome.

New Event News!

This year the PTA need to be super creative with Christmas events and we are very excited to tell you about a brand new event for Crackley Hall!

Crackley’s Christmas Light Trail

This will be a treasure trail of Christmas light displays provided by Crackley Hall’s parents and teachers.

At each display there will be a letter which you will need to write down. Once you have completed the trail you will have all the letters for a Christmassy anagram which you will need to work out!

Crackley families can drive around the magical trail hunting for the letters at their leisure over the week commencing Monday 7 December 2020.

There will be a prize for the winner as well as a prize for the most popular light display, as voted by all the participants!

In order to make this possible, we need lots of volunteers to provide a Christmas light display to be included on the trail map. Your displays can be as simple or as flamboyant as you like. We would just like as many households as possible to be included so we can create a really fabulous trail!

If you live within a 4-5ish mile radius from school and you can volunteer your Christmas light display to be included please email:

Jo Ward at PTAevents@crackleyhall.co.uk

The deadline to be included in the map is Saturday 31 October 2020.

We can’t wait to hear from you!

Join us on Friday 13 November from 7.00pm to 9.00pm from the comfort of your own home for Crackley Hall's first BIG PTA Online Family Quiz – the one thing that won’t be cancelled in 2020!

We encourage all Crackley Hall families and staff to come together for a fabulous night of entertainment! All ages are welcome to join in this evening, which will test everyone's knowledge, alongside entertainment from staff members, a Crackley Hall specific quiz round and that opportunity to win spectacular prizes!

Tickets are priced at £5 per family to join (£1 of which will go towards a raffle at the end of the quiz). Don’t miss the chance for your children to see Mr. Duigan himself as the ultimate quiz master! If that's not enough to tempt you, each family will be playing for your child’s house and a chance to increase their house points!

For those of you wanting to go all out with this event, there is also an optional themed 'A Night at the Movies' fancy dress option with prizes for the best dressed family. Let’s see how creative our Crackley Hall families and staff can be!

Please click here to sign up as tickets are limited

https://www.pta-events.co.uk/crackleyhall/#.X4A93WhKiUk  the deadline is Thursday 5 November 2020.  We promise this will be a night to remember and one your family will really enjoy!

Lost Property

Charlie (J4B) has lost his tracksuit top

Helayna (J6V) has lost her winter coat (named)

Olly (J5R) has lost his fleece, it is named and size 11-12

Amelia (J4W) has lost her winter coat

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Parents, please ensure that all items of 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.