The Chronicle

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Congratulations to them all!

Junior 4 pupil, Julia, has just taken second place in the Junior Schools category of the Independent Schools Association (ISA) Musical Theatre competition.

Julia was one of some 200 entries from across the country who chose a song from their favourite musical, recorded a performance and sent it off for this year’s virtual competition.
Judged by musical theatre star Christopher Draper, who was very impressed by the standard of entries, Julia clearly dazzled with her performance of If Only I Had A Brain.

Julia, who takes singing lessons in school and also trains with Stagecoach, put a lot of preparation into her entry

Julia is delighted and a little stunned by her second place but very proud of herself as we all are of her, here at Crackley Hall.

Rob Duigan, Headteacher, said, “Huge congratulations to Julia for her incredible achievement in this national competition. We encourage all our children to take part in the performing arts as it helps to build their confidence and it is wonderful to see pupils achieve success.”

Julia’s performance can be viewed here.

Crackley Hall School has thoroughly enjoyed celebrating British Science Week and exploring this year’s theme Innovating For The Future. Junior 5 Teacher and Science Lead, Julia Roberts explains, “It’s been so interesting for the children to learn about famous inventions from the past. Across the school pupils have been fascinated by the variety, range and ingenuity of the scientists and their inventions and have really enjoyed the challenge of thinking up their own.”

Junior 1 learnt about Chester Greenwood, the 15-year-old who invented ear-muffs. They went on to investigate which materials were good at keeping things warm, testing different materials wrapped around containers of hot water. Their temperature measurements showed a towel did the best at keeping the heat in and Junior 1 agreed that if used for ear muffs it would be soft and warm on your ears!

In Junior 2 the children studied John Boyd Dunlop who developed the first practical inflatable tyre and John McAdam, the man behind the Tarmacadam Empire. They also enjoyed watching Wallace and Gromit as inspiration for Heath Robinson style invention ideas and then had great fun creating their own. Charlotte invented a ‘Fur Protector’ which stops you from being allergic to animal fur, and is hoping that she will now be able to have a cat! While Malachi made a fantastic invention that helps look after your dog. Not only does it wash and dry your dog, it will play with it and clean up after it. They had so many creative ideas.

Junior 3 read the story of Rosie Revere Engineer as inspiration for their innovations and found out that after many set-backs, Rosie eventually invents a machine to help her great aunt fly. The children loved it and were inspired to create their own marvellous creations. They also studied fossils and pioneering palaeontologist Mary Anning and many children chose to invent tools and machines that would help fossil hunters, including Sara’s particularly innovative fossil hat.

During the week Junior 4 considered two very famous scientists, Joseph Priestley and Antoine Lavoisier, who were responsible for discovering oxygen. They went on to complete experiments observing how the amount of oxygen affects the length of time a flame will burn. Year 4 made sensible predictions before testing out their thoughts. The children are creating their very own inventions this weekend and we can’t wait to see them all next week.

Junior 5 discussed, planned, drew and then pitched (Dragon’s Den style) their inventions to the class. The audience pretended to be the ‘Dragons’ and lent their (pretend) money, as an investment, there were so many young scientific entrepreneurs.

In their lessons, Junior 6 considered how different inventions have affected our lives and set out to create their own ingenious ideas to change the world for the better. They also studied Stephen Hawking and his theories on Black Holes, developing an understanding of the Event Horizon and what happens if they should cross that! They had great fun discussing what might be on the other side and then went on to create their very own versions of Black Holes.

Mrs Roberts, continued, “The British Science Week topic Innovating For The Future has really inspired us all and I think we may just have some future scientists and inventors within our creative Crackley community!”

Crackley Hall School has taken first place in the latest Independent Schools Association (ISA) Limitless Skills Challenge scoring a huge total of 7,558 points, nearly double the score of the second placed school.

The six-week programme of physical challenges was designed to encourage pupils to stay active during the latest lockdown, harnessing technology in a fun and engaging way to transform time spent on-screen into time being active. The 40 skill challenges were developed by physical education experts and were supported with tutorial videos and feedback from real coaches. Pupils could develop their Skills and then take part in Head to Head Challenges taking on other users moderated by the coaches. The challenges ranged in ability and interest to make them suitable for all ages and levels.

Crackley Hall had four pupils in the top performing 25 and Junior 3 pupils, Isaac and Ted placed 1st and 3rd respectively in the Ages 7 and under category.

Head of Sport, Kat Vaughan explains, “A huge well done Crackley Hall. You really threw yourselves into this challenge and your commitment, determination and sheer enthusiasm has helped us take the top spot. I am very proud of you all.”

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

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Glen-Root's class is Francesca

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Holmes's class is Jacob 

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

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

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Wildey's class is Oliver

Mathletes of the week for Mrs Burley's group are Olivia and Lennon 

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Roberts's group is Alfred

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Lammas's class is Elsie

Well done all! 

Calling all budding artists and inventors!

Please click and read through this information to enter the British Science Week 2021 poster competition on the theme of Innovating For The Future.

https://www.britishscienceweek.org/plan-your-activities/poster-competition/

Scroll through to the last page which gives details for the poster competition:

https://www.britishscienceweek.org/app/uploads/2021/02/BSQ_BSW_PACKS_0221_Primary_v15.pdf

Please send a photo of you holding your poster (make sure we can see it all clearly), or of your poster only, to me at juliaroberts@crackleyhall.co.uk by Friday 23 April, at the latest. Please ensure you send me details of your full name and your age, so that you get entered into the correct category.

Good luck!

Mrs Roberts

The Broadway Arts Festival are running a short story competition – it is the one that Seb Dibb won last year.

You can find the information here:

https://broadwayartsfestival.com/short-story-prize/

It is free to enter and there is no theme.  There is word limit of 2000 words and there is a prize of £50 for the U13 category.

The deadline for entries is 5pm on Wednesday 31 March.  All information on how to enter is on the website.

Please do have a look and encourage the children to enter.  We have some fantastic writers in all parts of the school!

The winning stories will be shared on the Broadway Arts Festival website - you can read Sebastian's winning story there!