The Chronicle

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Congratulations to them all!

Crackley Hall School has received its first ever review by the prestigious Good Schools Guide. The Guide, which selects schools to be included on merit alone, is famous for its unbiased and candid reviews of state and private schools, and is trusted by families worldwide. Crackley Hall is now one of just 1,300 schools currently reviewed by the Guide, out of over 30,000 schools in the UK.

An editor from the Guide visited the school in June, interviewed the Headmaster, Rob Duigan, toured the site with pupils, observed lessons and spoke to teachers and parents.

The 2,500-word review, which now appears on the Good Schools Guide’s website and will be included in the next hard copy edition, includes a pen portrait of the Headmaster, plus insights into teaching and learning, sport and the performing arts, co-curricular activities, pastoral care and leavers’ destinations.

Commenting on the school’s approach to teaching and learning, the Guide says:

"Pupils and parents praise their ‘lovely’ teachers for ‘listening’, ‘really fun lessons’, and ‘taking every opportunity to find what they are good at and encouraging them’'.

“Parents say teachers manage work levels so that at any one time, ‘there may be three different levels taught in the same classroom, giving individual attention, focusing on each end of the spectrum’ without, as one noted, ‘losing sight of the middle of the road’. Children who need stretching are given extension work within classroom, in small tutor groups and access a regional gifted and talented programme.”

The very comprehensive review concludes with a Last Word, which sums up the Guide’s findings:

In his address to pupils the headmaster tells them, ‘You are valued, try your best at all times, stay involved, be kind to others and the world. Smile!’ That pretty much sums what we saw at Crackley Hall.

To read the full review click here.  

Comments Rob Duigan, Headmaster, “It was a pleasure to welcome the Good Schools Guide to Crackley Hall.  They spent a typically busy day with us and we feel they have captured the warmth and energy of our whole school community.  We are delighted that they have recognised the all-round excellence of our first-class school, and especially our collective enthusiasm for all aspects of learning and the individual care and attention each and every one of our pupils receives.”

He continued, “As Covid restrictions ease, we are looking forward to welcoming prospective families to the school, so they can find out for themselves what a Crackley education could do for their child.”

Crackley Hall is hosting open events in October and November for September 2022 entry, to find out more visit https://www.crackleyhall.co.uk/visit-crackley or email admissions@crackleyhall.co.uk.

Junior 6 excitedly, and a little nervously, gathered together in the school hall this morning to hear Headmaster, Mr Duigan, reveal the 2021-2022 Student Roles Of Office.

In a special assembly, recorded for parents, the new Captains and Stewards were presented with their badges of office.

Mr Duigan spoke about the importance of the responsibilities and encouraged pupils to rise to the challenge of their new roles.

Crackley Hall School looks forward to working with Junior 6 and has no doubt they will be excellent leaders and role models for the younger pupils at the school.

Congratulations to them all.

Head Girl - Lily Bryson
Head Boy - Aaron Anderson
Deputy Head Girl - Olivia Burley
Deputy Head Boy - George Wilcox
RE Captain - Agnes Crinion
Girls' Games Captain - Elle Weir
Vice - Girls' Games Captain - Issey Cleary
Boys' Games Captain - George Moreton
Vice - Boys' Games Captain - Dexter Robinson
Music Captain - Holly Lloyd-Evans
Performing Arts Captain - Elsie Roots
Library Captain - Stephanie Perkins
House Captain - Jupiter - Dillon Horan
Vice - House Captain - Jupiter - Jasmine Staveley
House Captain - Mars - Harry Gibson
Vice - House Captain - Mars - Oliver Moore
House Captain - Saturn - Summer Fletcher
Vice - House Captain - Saturn - Jack Phillips-Gore
House Captain - Venus - Grace Johnson
Vice - House Captain - Venus - Penelope O'Neill
Student Councillor - Merryn Cleary
Student Councillor - Alfred Cowell
Student Councillor - Alexander Ainsworth
Student Councillor - Elsie Glover
Student Councillor - Harry Faulconbridge

Last term, Mrs Burley’s English group studied persuasive writing using the BBC’s Blue Peter Climate Heroes initiative to help them develop their English skills.

The children began by writing Climate Hero pledges on the three themes of Power, Plastic and Plants and then put together a short video to inspire their fellow pupils to follow suit.

Mrs Burley was delighted with their work commenting, “My class really embraced this unit of writing and were passionate about keeping to their pledges. It was wonderful to see them using their target causal connectives, adverbials and varied sentences openers in their work.”

The Blue Peter team were also impressed with the children's climate pledges, as just before the Trinity term ended Crackley Hall received a very special delivery of Blue Peter Green Badges and Certificates. It was super recognition for all their hard work.

You can read the children’s pledge below:

Power - switch off all lights when I leave classrooms or the room I am in at home. I will swap half an hour of screen time to play outdoors.

Plastic - swap disposable plastic bottles for reusable bottles and switch from plastic food wrap to a lunchbox or reusable sandwich wrap.

Plants - plant pollinator friendly plants and look after them- planting marigolds, chives, or sunflower seeds can encourage bees and butterflies to thrive. Try to choose a few vegetarian options at school.

It was a fantastic and inspiring project, a huge well done to them all!

Awarded their badge were Charlie, Arisha, Chloe, Penny, Lawson and Isabella O (now in J5L) and Amelia, Evie, Esme, Carter, Jack, Olivia, Seb and Kit (now in J5W).

We are delighted with part two of the playground makeover project that opened to pupils in school this week. The brand new school astro turf was completed in time for the start of the new Michaelmas term and as you can see in the photos is just amazing. It is a superb sports facility that staff and pupils are making great use.

Special thanks to Crackley Hall's PTA for their hard work and dedication over the past few years in raising the funds to pay for it. We look forward to lots of sports matches, clubs and lessons enjoying this wonderful facility.

Super huge congratulations to Junior 6 pupil Jack who completed a sponsored reading challenge over the summer holidays for environmental and wildlife charities. Jack raised an amazing £1,010, more than double his original fundraising target, and was totally overwhelmed by the generosity and support he received.

Jack set himself the challenge to read 10 books over the summer, each at least 250 pages long. They included such delights as David Walliams’ Code Name Bananas, Ben Miller’s The Day I Fell Into A Fairy Tale and Cressida Cowell’s The Wizards Of Once.

Jack explains, “My aim was to read one book a week and I was hoping to raise the funds to plant 500m² of woodland with sapling trees – helping the environment, local wildlife and with global warming too! Any additional funds I raised would be used to adopt a jaguar as their habitat is under threat mainly because of the rainforest being lost every day.”

Jack showed great commitment to his challenge, updating his Just Giving page after he finished each book with a short book review and also individually thanking the people who supported him along the way. His final fundraising total was incredible.

Jack’s fantastic fundraising is a great example of how we can all make a difference. Well done Jack, Crackley Hall School is very proud of you.

You can find out more about Jack’s reading challenge here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/jack-p-g

Children in our Holiday Club took part in lots of fabulous activities this summer including a super creative activity making a culinary display.

The children watched in amazement when Holiday Club chef, ?name, showed them how to create beautiful edible arrangements from fruit and vegetables. Everyone then had a turn at creating their own simple but decorative place setting.

Didn't they all look wonderful?

With just eight weeks to go, the countdown to Princethorpe's Entrance Exams for admission in September 2022 is well underway. This year the exams for Year 7 to 10 entry will take place on Saturday 6 November from 9.30am to 3.30pm.

The deadline for registrations is Friday 1 October. Junior 6 parents wishing their children to sit the Princethorpe entrance exam must complete a registration form and submit it with the accompanying registration fee by this date.

More information on the admissions process can be found in Princethorpe's Admissions Update newsletter here or on the Foundation website here.

A copy of the registration form can be found here.

If you have any queries relating to admissions please speak to the Registrars at Princethorpe College, either by email at admissions@princethorpe.co.uk or by calling 01926 634201/262/291.

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