The Chronicle

Dear Parents

Welcome to the last Chronicle of this term.  I hope you will agree, whilst children haven’t physically been in school for the full duration of the Lent term, we have all achieved so much over the past few months.  With Easter just around the corner, and the promise of relaxing of some lockdown measures, there is much to look forward to and to be grateful for.  I would implore everyone to adhere strictly to any government guidance over the holidays so that we, collectively, do our best to avoid a return to some form of lockdown or various, restrictive, tiers.  It is so important to keep our focus on the bigger picture.

This week Junior 6, in between lessons, have enjoyed many different activities ranging from a bake off, sports games, Costa take outs and organ dissections in science lessons.  The fun will continue next week when the Junior 6s will enjoy an Italian-themed day.  Please take a look later in this week’s Chronicle to see some of the pupils’ marvellous cake creations.

On Thursday we held a pre-loved book sale in school which had been planned for the Michaelmas term.  I would like to thank all the parents for supporting this event and the PTA for collating, storing and arranging the books and being patient while we tried to negotiate the best COVID-safe way to hold the sale.  I am told that the current total raised is £417.50 which is an amazing achievement.

In this morning’s assembly I announced our Stars of the Week as: Teddy, Rory, Oscar, Thomas, Charlie, Tommy, all of Junior 3V, Isabella, Grace, Grace, Kian, Jacob and Max.   There were lots of children presented with their Bronze awards today in Reception, Junior 3, Junior 4, Junior 5 and Junior 6.  Congratulations to you all on your achievements and well-earned rewards.  Following the assembly, Freddie in Junior 6, confidently performed ‘Oh What a Beautiful Morning’.  It certainly cheered up what was a slightly grey start to the day. Well done, Freddie- it was excellent!

You may recall that during lockdown Mrs Vaughan co-ordinated a sports initiative with ISA Sport where pupils could become involved in Limitless Skills.  I have already reported on the wonderful news that Crackley Hall were placed first and, I am excited to say, we have now received the trophies.  As per my added piece in assembly this morning, I will be presenting these to the children on Monday and look forward to sharing the photographs with you in the Chronicle after Easter.

Term will end on Tuesday next week with a non-uniform day which will raise funds for the PTA.  I will be able to give you more exciting news next term but we will hopefully be able to unveil new playground resources that the PTA have generously funded.  The work will commence during the Easter break and I am looking forward to these long-awaited changes that the children will be able to enjoy.

Holiday club bookings are still able to be made but please do so quickly as spaces are now limited.  If you are having difficulty booking, please contact the school office in the first instance.  Bookings will close on Monday.  The office will be open throughout the Easter break but operating the reduced hours of 9.00am until 4.00pm.

Thank you all, very much, for all you’ve done for your children and the school over the past term.  We all look forward to returning to relative normality as soon as possible.  I wish you and your family a restful weekend and don’t forget to amend your clocks on Saturday evening.

God bless,

Mr Duigan

The Crackley Hall Holiday Club will take place on the following dates during the Easter holidays:

Wednesday 31 March to Thursday 1 April

Tuesday 6 April to Friday 9 April

Monday 12 April to Friday 16 April

You can book a place for your child by visiting My School Portal and selecting ‘Clubs and Activities’.

This system will be open until 29 March after which date you will need to contact the School Office to enquire about availability. We have lots of activities planned for this Easter break and hopefully the weather will be kind to us so that the children can enjoy playing outside too.

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Congratulations to them all!

As part of their Activity Week, Junior 6 have enjoyed enriching their Science learning with a little dissection. In their classes they examined hearts and eyes and whilst there was some initial revulsion that was rapidly replaced with fascination as the children got hand on exploring the ventricles and valves. It was really interesting for them to see the organs in real life after studying them in their lessons during the recent lockdown and through the dissection they were able to link their theoretical studies to the reality of how the organs work. It was a great reinforcement for their learning. They were all so engaged, well done Junior 6.

Yesterday, Thursday 25 March, Crackley Hall School’s PTA hosted their super Spring Book Sale. Postponed from the November lockdown, a large selection of wonderful pre-loved books, both fiction and non-fiction, had been waiting patiently to find new homes. Divided into age categories and put out on display for the children to peruse there was plenty of excitement as in turn the classes came down in their bubbles to choose.

The book sale was very popular with our Crackley crew, as there is simply nothing they enjoy better than exploring a new book. The brightly coloured jackets and bold titles caught the imagination of them all and our eager readers couldn’t wait to take their new books home.

Thank you so much to the PTA for organising this wonderful event and to all the parents who donated books. Reading is such an important skill for our children and it was fantastic to see them getting so excited about books.

Tickets are now on sale for Princethorpe College’s fabulous virtual production of the 1970s rock opera hit, Jesus Christ Superstar.

It promises to be a highly entertaining show, featuring a number of classic rock musical numbers including Gethsemane, I Don’t Know How To Love Him, Everything’s Alright and of course the powerful anthem Superstar. Watch out for some familiar faces too, as some of Crackley's ex-pupils are taking part in the show!

The virtual production will be streamed over the Easter period from Thursday 1 to Thursday 8 April 2021. Tickets cost £15 per family and you are able to stream the show as often as you like during that week. Due to the strict copyright laws, it will then be taken down never to be seen again.

Tickets are available through the booking system here: bit.ly/JCSbkgs please select any date and time.

Please purchase your tickets by 9.00am on Monday 29 March. The streaming links will be sent out on Wednesday 31 March.

Mrs Holmes has asked if children can please bring in any old costume jewellery that is not needed.

Thank you 

Please find more information about a local upcycling competition on the flyer.

The competition is aimed at J5/6 children.

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

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

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

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

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Van Zyl's class is Joshua and Molly 

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

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

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

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

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

This week Junior 6 have been enjoying a week of curriculum enrichment activities.  They held their annual 'bake off', where cakes are decorated in a fabulous style, ranging from Covid bugs to unicorns and chip butties.  The creativity was a sight to behold, and they all looked delicious!

On Wednesday the children chose the movie 'Holes' to watch and brought a selection of movie snacks to enjoy.  Under normal circumstances we would also have walked to Costa in Kenilworth, but this year Costa came to us and we enjoyed hot chocolate, smoothies and cakes as well!  Another delicious day! 

We have taken part in sports activities on the field and designed and made masks ready for next week.  All in all, it's been a great week!

We had an exciting time making cookies in Science this week. Part of our Science topic is to understand the effect of heat on a mixture. The J5s observed that the cookie mixture started off gloopy and sticky and after heating in the oven, it became soft but not sticky, and when cooled the mixture became brittle. The cookies were delicious!

In English, our J5s used a range of ambitious vocabulary and an array of figurative language to describe a magical planet that they imagined they had landed on. In Maths, we finished off our fractions topic; ready to move onto decimals and percentages.  Another great week for J5!

Junior 4 have been learning about Hans Zimmer, a German film score composer and record producer, whose works are notable for integrating electronic music sounds with traditional orchestral arrangements.  His film scores have included Gladiator, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lion King and Dunkirk, to name but a few. 

Capturing the sense and scale of drama, J4 have been looking at the majesty and beauty of our home – the Earth – as if seen from space.  In groups, they used their imaginations and drew what they thought our Earth would look like, each talking about their creation in turn. This culminated in pupils using  instruments to compose music to accompany their imagery of Earth from space.  What an enchanting experience we all had!

Earlier this week, Junior 3 lifted off on their space ships on a mission, as scientists, to discover a new planet. Determinedly, they tried their best to use fronted adverbials, imagining and describing crazy worlds made of broccoli, marshmallow and darker worlds full of jagged rocks and mysterious lakes. With their scientist’s cap still on, the children also learned about the formation of soil, discovering what happens in each process.

In Maths, the children worked carefully to calculate fractions, deepening their understanding of mathematical terms such as ‘unit and non-unit fractions’. We are all delighted with everyone’s effort and enthusiasm towards their learning. Well done Junior 3!

In Science, we have been using our observational skills this week, as we look closely at a variety of flora and fauna in our local environment. In pairs, we recorded what we observed and then described the leaves and some plants. After our investigation, we listed and drew all the trees and shrubs into their right categories. In addition, we also looked at plant leaves, such as pineapple, spinach, strawberries and red chard.  The children have enjoyed the Plants topic and we look forward to our home grown cress and egg sandwiches next week.

In History we have been imagining what life would be like living as a young person in a mediaeval castle. Thinking about the different jobs available and whether or not we would be a suitable applicant. The pupils found that life would be very tough and scary living within the walls of a castle.

Junior 1 have continued to work extremely hard this week in all areas of the curriculum. Our Science lessons have been great fun as we continue with our animal theme. This week, we learnt all about amphibians, before writing a list to explain what their features are. We also labelled the different parts of a frog and even got to make our own origami frogs by folding the paper very carefully. The most fun was had when we tried to make them jump all over the classroom!

In Maths, we have been practising how to add and subtract to 20 and beyond, by combining and partitioning numbers to ten first. We learnt that we could then add tens to solve number problems with larger numbers.

Finally, we have filled our time with lots of Easter activities, so please look out for some ‘egg-citing’ things coming home!

This week, Reception have enjoyed following and re-enacting the events of Holy Week. We learnt that Jesus’ joyful entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday - when he was hailed as a king - soon turned into the sad events of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Reflecting on this, we discussed how Jesus must have felt at the Last Supper, as we shared bread and ‘wine’ (blackcurrant squash!) just as Jesus did with his disciples.

Linking to Holy week and Easter traditions, we enjoyed tasting hot cross buns and making our own out of clay, remembering to make the cross for the top. We have also been busy consolidating and revising this term’s Maths topics, in addition to singing sea shanties in Music and making Easter cards too!  Phew!

Next week pupils will be given a collection box for the Good Shepherd Appeal.  One box will be given to the eldest child. 

This is our annual collection for Father Hudson’s Care and all money collected goes towards helping people in the areas of Coventry, Warwickshire and Birmingham.

Calling all budding artists out there! The Diocesan Vocations Team have launched a competition to create an inspirational piece of art linked to our Saint Joseph.

Please see the poster and visit the website to find out more information. It would be lovely if our school  Crackley Hall, formerly St Joseph’s could send off the most entries or even win a prize.

https://www.vocations.org.uk/vocation-stories

In their RE lessons J4 have been exploring the different events during Holy Week. In groups they have practised different mimes and readings to help with the Easter Service. The theme this year is ‘Renewal’ making a fresh start, a real choice to change your life and your actions for the better so that we enhance the life of others.  The Easter Service will be shown throughout the school next Monday. In addition to preparing for the Easter Service,  Junior 4 focused on the Judas' betrayal of Jesus. They worked in groups to make freeze frames to show the consequences of his betrayal.

Pupils in J3 have been focusing on the ‘Last Supper’ this week in their RE lessons. They have taken part in scripted drama or role play showing the Last Supper. It was super to see the pupils fully involved – confidently taking on the Bible characters demonstrating their knowledge.

Please find information below:

Childrens Liturgy Palm Sunday

Activity Sheet Palm Sunday

Children's Liturgy - Easter Sunday

Activity Sheet - Easter Sunday

Children's Liturgy - 2nd Sunday Easter

Activity Sheet - 2nd Sunday Easter

Children's Liturgy - 3rd Sunday Easter

Activity Sheet - 3rd Sunday Easter

Please click on the link below for this week's weekly mission;

Weekly Mission

Please find a link to the Lent calendar below:

Calendar

This week in Lego Club Arthur shared his home Lego model of a bridge stretching from one side of his room to the other.  Inspired by having too many Lego figures from a Lego City model, he decided to put these people to good use and make a bridge for them all to walk across.  Said a delighted Arthur, “It fell down five times so we looked carefully as to why it kept falling and how it could be made stronger.  We decided that the middle support was too weak and we worked on making this more robust.”

With an Easter theme in abundance, Lego Club made an Easter cross, the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed on the night of His betrayal, an Easter Bunny with electric ears and a perfect Easter day waking up early to see how many Easter bunnies there are!

This week we have been getting creative in our preparations for Easter.  The children were able to access the creative area when they wanted to take part in a variety of activities from making cards, to decorating bunnies and designing Easter egg suncatchers. 

They also enjoyed exploring the full range of activities in their own ways, from combining the large building blocks with the cars to design their own ramps and tracks, to finding fish in the water or flowers in the playdough as we explored our sound of the week: f.

Everyone should have had their delightful ‘Useful Bag’ now, with the Little Crackers logo on the front – as you may have seen on the school Facebook page, please send us pictures of where you find it useful – as we begin to move out of lockdown I wonder whose bag will travel the furthest! 

Have a great weekend everyone, lets hope we see the sunshine!

Newsletter

Our lovely Little Crackers are bringing home their Easter artwork and crafts, and a special handmade Easter card, in our brand new Little Crackers jute bags. In with the card and craft is also a letter with news of our nursery plans for next term and a tasty little Easter treat.

The woven reusable bag with its colourful Little Crackers logo is just perfect for collating and carrying around all you need. Whether you are off on a picnic, a visit to the soft play or a day out with your little ones, we hope it will prove useful at keeping essentials to hand.

We are delighted with the lovely bright design of the bags and hope that current and new nursery parents will like them too.

We would love to see them out and about, so please do share photos of your bag with you on your trips and visits this Easter and we will share them on our Facebook page.

A very Happy Easter to all our families and their little chicks!

The PTA would like to express their sincere gratitude for ALL the generous donations, which enabled the book sale to go ahead on Thursday during school. We believe all the children enjoyed the event and enjoyed spending their 'hard earned' pocket money on their chosen books ! We raised a phenomenal amount, a staggering £417.50. All the money raised from the sale will be spent on extras for your children throughout the year at school to help the children’s school life become even more special!

Thank you once again!

On a side note, we are looking to do another sale for KS2 later on in the year, so we would appreciate donations of excellent quality books (no scribbles or pages missing).  We are looking for books in the following categories: Chapter books and Pre-Teen ONLY.

Donations can be deposited in the school foyer after Easter in the 'donations box'.

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 also welcome.

Mrs Kiteley won the raffle at the last big PTA event which was a donation to a charity. She chose Myton Hospice and this has now been paid.

Tuesday 30 March

Let’s help celebrate the end of this half term with a non-school uniform day.

Children are allowed to wear an outfit of their choice, in exchange for a £1 donation to the school PTA.

Dust off the dresses, shine those shoes and un-crease those coats.  As always, thank you, to our wonderful second hand uniform team, Nikki, Linda and Katie, for being ever patient and serving our wonderful school community with much needed preloved uniform.

Please feel to contact them on ptauniform@crackleyhall.co.uk to arrange an appointment, or to simply check stock availability.

To offer this service, we rely on wonderful donations from you. So if you have any good quality uniform your child has outgrown, please use the collection box in the school front entrance.  It will then be quarantined for 72 hours before offering for sale.

All money raised from the PTA Uniform shop is spent on extras for your children throughout the year at school and helps the children’s day become even more special!

We are recruiting for various roles currently, as you will see below, so please do share with friends and family by word of mouth.

Further information and application forms are available on our website   https://www.theprincethorpefoundation.co.uk/join-us

• IT Infrastructure and Network Manager
• IT Engineer

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.

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Lost Property

Kate (J4B) has lost her named sports fleece

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