The Chronicle

Dear Parents

I am so pleased that our Junior 4 and Junior 5 year groups were able to, once again, participate in a residential visit.  Since the outbreak of COVID, so many visits and experiences have been postponed but, this week, we’ve had both year groups out of school and enjoying the beautiful weather in the great outdoors.

Junior 5 set off for their adventure in Shropshire, arriving at the PGL centre at Wednesday lunchtime and Junior 4 arrived at Kingswood, also on Wednesday afternoon.  Both year groups have been able to experience so many different activities and staff have updated me on how much the children have enjoyed the visits and how well they have represented Crackley Hall School.  I have seen some photographs of the visits but look forward to hearing more about their time away next week.  I am sure all the children will have lots to report to you and I hope they have created memories with their friends which will last a lifetime.  Thank you to all the staff who have helped make this visit happen and to those staff who have accompanied the children this week.

On Saturday last week, Crackley Hall School opened its doors to former pupils and staff to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the school.  It was exceptionally well attended, and it was my privilege to be able to host this event and learn more about the history of the school from those who experienced it first-hand.  You will be able read more about the anniversary later in this edition.  My thanks to Mrs Jenny Vaughan, Mrs Simmonds, Mrs Horan, Mrs Paphitis, Mrs Olden, my senior leadership team and the Foundation marketing and catering teams and some current staff and children who helped on the day to make this occasion so memorable.

Junior 2 have been studying the Fire of London and left school after assembly this morning to visit Aston Hall where they learnt so much from the Fire of London exhibition.  Thank you to Mrs Glen-Roots, Mrs Burley, Mrs Verma, Mrs Thomas and Mrs Bhogal for making this visit possible.

Although we have had fewer children in school this week due to visits, we were able to have sport fixtures, including hockey and netball fixtures and the ISA rugby sevens and tag rugby, which took place at Princethorpe today.  Many congratulations to the 7’s team for winning the ISA Midlands competition and the tag team for coming third overall.  An excellent result – well done to the pupils and the coaches.  Sports teams were also involved in sports teams photographs on Monday.  As it was such a beautiful day, the photographs were taken outside and I look forward to seeing the results very soon.

Thank you to Mrs Glen-Roots who hosted the shorter version of the assembly this morning while I attended meetings away from school.   Stars of the week were presented to Ryan, Jessica, Fiorella, Will, Sophia, Lexi-Jean, Amelia, Dexter and Olly.  Well done to each one of you!    Assembly next week will be for Reception, Junior 1 and 2; please could parents park on the sports fields if attending assembly.

As we near the end of this term, the Easter break soon will soon be upon us and the holiday club will be operating each weekday, if there is sufficient need.  The booking facility is open and can be found on My School Portal.  School will not be open on Bank Holidays and if you have any queries about holiday club, please direct your message to holidayclub@crackleyhall.co.uk The booking form will close on Thursday next week so that we may confirm staffing requirements.

Next week will be the last full week of this term and we will be hosting an inter-school cross country event on our school fields.  This promises to be a wonderful event and I sincerely hope that the weather will hold so that all children, and our guests, can enjoy the course in sunshine.  All of Junior 5 have been rehearsing their Easter Performance and parents have been invited to watch their final show on Wednesday afternoon, please refer to the school communication regarding arrangements for reserving your seats.

I should like to wish everyone a happy and restful weekend.

God bless,

Mr Duigan

Holiday club will run from Wednesday 6 until Friday 22 April 2022. It will be closed Friday 15, and Monday 18 for the Easter weekend.

It will be open from 8.30am to 5.00pm each day, and will cost £30 per child. Hot lunch will be included.

Holiday club will only operate on the days where there are sufficient numbers to open, therefore it is important for you to book early as we may not be able to accommodate last minute bookings, due to staff ratios. If you have booked a day and the numbers attending are not high enough, you will be contacted to either cancel or rearrange the day booked.

Please book through the Parent Portal and send any queries to holidayclub@crackleyhall.co.uk

Thank you.

Want to become a fluency superstar?

Introducing a new maths app which we are starting to use in school to build greater mental number confidence and fluency. 1-Minute Maths offers children engaging and easily accessible practice in key number skills and is fully aligned to our maths scheme.

As well as using the app in school, it may be beneficial for you to download it onto a device at home. At the moment, it is designed primarily for school years Reception through to Year 3, but additional multiplication and division materials will be coming soon, making it suitable for all.

The link below gives further details, including how to install it:

whiterosemaths.com/latest-news/introducing-our-brand-new-app-1-minute-maths 

We hope you will take a look!

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Congratulations to them all!

Former pupils of St Joseph’s Convent School were welcomed back to St Joseph’s Park in Kenilworth on Saturday 19 March, some two years later than originally planned, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the founding of a school on the site.

Now known as Crackley Hall School, the current Headmaster, Rob Duigan, and staff and pupils from Years 5 and 6 were on hand to help celebrate the anniversary.

The Open House was well-attended with pupils and teachers from across the generations including former Headmistresses Sr Philomena Bowers and Lesley Cox, and teachers Maureen Hazelwood, Rachel Taylor and Brigitte Wood, whom old pupils were delighted to see. While many of the visitors were local, a number travelled from afar including Mary Taylor, née Darby, who had made the journey from Spain to attend.

On their arrival the guests were treated to a performance by Crackley Hall’s talented Chamber Choir in the new school hall. They sang a series of specially prepared pieces to an appreciative audience and provided a magnificent start to the morning. The visitors were able to admire the beautiful stained-glass window and ceiling boss relocated from the original school Chapel. Then, Mr Duigan welcomed them formally speaking of the long history of the school and its ethos that remains to today, nurtured by the latest generation of staff and pupils. Father Kevin Hooper then led the gathered guests in a celebratory St Joseph’s Day Mass to give thanks for the anniversary.

With the formalities over and the sun shining, visitors headed outside to the top lawn where a group photograph was taken. They were then invited to explore the site. Crackley Hall’s young pupils were on hand to guide the guests and throughout the school the classrooms were filled with displays, and there were whole school photos and honours boards displayed on the corridor walls to the delight of visitors. There was also a display of memorabilia from the Foundation’s archives and many were delighted to see old school magazines and other treasures from the past. Refreshments were laid on in the dining hall offering a perfect opportunity to sit and reminisce.

Feedback on the day has been extremely positive with visitors commenting:

“It was lovely to see the old haunts and also the new buildings. The schoolchildren were so polite and confident and delightfully enthusiastic when we went on our tour - a credit to the school. All the staff we met were so welcoming and any initial nerves I might have had about ‘going back to school’ were immediately dispelled.“

“Two young ladies and one young gentleman showed me round your warm and busy school and pointed out their favourite classrooms and best artwork.  I enjoyed my tour very much, and it was heartening to hear my guides enthusiasm and supportive comments. Thank you too, to you and Mr Duigan for taking the time to host and organise the event. 75 years is a splendid milestone.”

Our sincere thanks go to all the current staff, pupils and parents who contributed to the celebrations and also to all the past pupils and teachers who attended and made the event such a great success. We do hope they enjoyed their walk down memory lane and look forward to welcoming them in 2025 when the school will celebrate its 80th Anniversary!

After all the fun of British Science Week don't forget to design an amazing poster.

More information about this year's competition can be found here: 

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

All entries need to be clearly labelled on the back and given to Mrs Roberts by next Friday 1 April at the latest.

Good luck!

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

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Glen-Root's class are Aaryan and Joshua.

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Burley's class is George

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Van Zyl's class is Evie

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Holmes' class is Theo

Well done all!

Thursday 19 May 2022 - 5.00pm to 7.30pm

Please share news of our Open Evening for prospective pupils.

Prospective pupils and their parents are warmly invited to Crackley Hall and Little Cracker's Open Evening on Thursday 19 May from 5.00pm.

Come and find out more about what a Crackley education can do for your child. This is a great opportunity for prospective families to get a feel for the school and to meet, Mr Duigan, Headmaster and speak to key members of staff.

To book your place, please click here.

For more information on admission to Crackley Hall and Little Crackers please email Jenny Vaughan at admissions@crackleyhall.co.uk or call 01926 514410.

This week saw the beginning of the Junior 6 Summer Show auditions. The children were given audition packs and have been rehearsing in lessons and at home to prepare for the parts they wish to audition for. The children in J6H have been busy learning lines and lyrics to Aladdin, whilst J6V students have been eager to prepare for The Lion King.

Tuesday saw some fantastic auditions which showcased many talents from a wide variety of children. The staff and children thoroughly enjoyed the first round of auditions and the pupils were clapping and cheering each other on and could be heard throughout the corridors, as they supported each other with immense kindness. We look forward to the final round of auditions next week!

After a hearty breakfast, the children in Junior 5 were ready to face their first activity of the day - the much-anticipated one - kayaking on Lake Darwin! The sun shone as the children listened attentively to the instructors, who explained how to sit correctly in their kayak, and how they should hold and use the paddle effectively to move forwards, backwards, left and right.  Now it was time for action! Each kayak was pushed onto the lake. The children took to kayaking ‘like ducks to water’ and were soon enjoying a variety of games on the calm, clear water. The morning culminated in excitement and courage as a number of the children, under supervision, leapt into the lake to become even wetter than they had been before, if that’s possible!  Needless to say, a tremendous morning was had by all. 

Junior 4 have been making a difference this week at Kingswood, taking huge strides in so many areas of the Crackley Compass. The children have buzzed like Beezley, completing obstacle courses. Collaboratively they crawled, like Archimedes the Ant, through a challenging night-line. With Fin the Dolphin in mind, so much kindness has been on display and they have been so caring towards each other. Responsibly, they have grown in maturity, taking pride in keeping their shared dorms as tidy as possible (most of the time!) It really has been wonderful to see them building memories, that will last a lifetime. Junior 4 are awesome! 

Junior 3 have been enjoying a mini-Shakespeare experience this week, to mark National Shakespeare Week. Our resident book fiend, Mrs Steeples, has been exploring the life of the local ‘bard’ with the pupils, who have loved listening to abridged versions of Romeo and Juliet and The Scottish Play, as Macbeth is known! What a treat and who knew the bard was born and died on the same date? We have also had a delicious time investigating the three different types of rock formation. We made sedimentary sandwiches, metamorphic mini cakes and even ate an igneous egg! It was a fun and tasty way to remember how rocks are formed and the properties of each type. We also loved taking part in the World Maths Day competition and were very proud to come 20th in the country for our year group. Our energy and enthusiasm are so high, you would hardly believe that we are at the end of another term.

Junior 2 have had a fabulous week delving into a book called Vlad And The Great Fire of London. Vlad and his friend, Boxton the rat, love eating and biting their way around London. But one night in Pudding Lane they are caught up in a fire that threatens to destroy them, along with most of the City of London. We have used the book to investigate verbs, alternative verbs, adverbs and adjectives. In Maths, the children are becoming quite proficient at finding halves, thirds and quarters of amounts and we are sure that they could cut a cake into equal amounts for you to share. We all took part in a competition on Mathletics to celebrate World Maths Day and we had great fun imagining children from all over the world taking part at the same time. In Science, we discussed our favourite snacks and what alternative healthy snacks we could have. Tuesday saw us all make a fruit kebab and we thoroughly enjoyed eating this healthy snack. We also visited Aston Hall on Friday, but we shall tell you more about that next week.

Following on from using scales to weigh objects and compare weights in Maths last week, Junior 1 have been looking at capacity and the volume of containers. This involved using water to help find out how big some containers were and how some containers have the same capacity but look very different to each other. We finished looking at the book Where The Wild Things Are in English, writing out the story and then a special letter to Max asking him all the questions we wanted answers to. As it is Mothering Sunday this week we, of course, made some lovely Mother’s Day cards to show our mums how special we think they are and how much we appreciate them.

In Reception this week, we have been thinking about what we love about our mothers and have made Mothering Sunday cards to say thank you for everything they do for us. We have been comparing numbers to 10 and exploring the different ways of making 10 in Maths. We have discovered from our cress investigation, which we started last week, that plants need water and light to grow and stay healthy. We have also watched our caterpillars turn themselves into chrysalides this week, and now we wait patiently for their transformation into butterflies.

As we prepare to celebrate Mother’s Day on the fourth week of Lent, Junior 2 have been busy decorating cakes with sweetness for their wonderful mums to enjoy. We thought about the ways we could become more responsible at home to help our parents and we thanked God for our wonderful mums and the endless love and care which they give to us. 

Today (Friday) Pope Francis will dedicate Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  Friday has been especially chosen as it is the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord. His Holiness has asked all Bishops throughout the world to join him from their Cathedrals in this important time of prayer and in turn, Archbishop Bernard has asked the clergy and religious communities to join in this too. The Act of Consecration is taking place at about 5.30pm (UK time) as part of a Celebration of Penance (starting at 4.00pm). As a school family, we can join our prayers with those of the Consecration by praying the Angelus on Friday. If you can, please pray at twelve; it will be a great act of witness to offer our prayers across the Diocese at the same time.  

The full text of the Act of Consecration is available here - Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary - Catholic Bishops' Conference (cbcew.org.uk)

Please find information below:

Children's Liturgy

Activity Sheet

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

Weekly Mission

On Thursday, 17 March, Crackley Hall took part in the ISA Midlands U9 Netball tournament.

Crackley Hall’s squad of seven girls played brilliantly, adapting well to the new ‘Bee Netball’ format, where players are required to go through rotations of position, despite being put out of their comfort zone on occasions. (Particularly when our smallest girl ended up being positioned against an opposition’s tallest boy!)

The sixteen schools competing were split into two pools. Crackley’s girls won six out of their seven group matches, narrowly losing to Stafford Prep to finish second in their pool. That meant they progressed to the semi-finals where they faced Old Vicarage School. That was a really tight game with the score 1-1 at full-time, and 2-2 after extra time, so the girls faced Golden Goal. Crackley came out the victors with a super goal within the first 30 seconds from a cool and collected Amy.

In the final Crackley faced the only team who had beaten them all day, Stafford Prep. Following a really close contest, Crackley just lost out by 4 goals to 3.

Director of Sport, Mrs Vaughan, commented, "All the girls were outstanding in every area: conduct, competitiveness, fair play, team work and support for each other. They were a credit to the school and a pleasure to spend the day. Thanks to Mrs Duigan for accompanying us and cheering the girls on from the sidelines!

Playing for Crackley Hall were: Elsie Ascroft (Vice-Capt), Alexa Bickerton, Amy Carroll, Isabelle Cleland, Elora Hughes, Phoebe Ward (Capt) and Darcey Wilcox-Smith.

Please see flyer for more information.

Please follow the link for more information. 

If anyone was lucky enough to attend the Brickish Weekend a couple of weeks ago, you were very fortunate as the tickets sold out within days. Now in its eleventh year, the weekend saw the whole building filled with huge Lego creations, rare kits, planes and trains, as well as Lego shops, games and play areas.  Visitors were invited to help build a giant Lego mosaic.  Watch this space for tickets next year!!!  A small selection of photos from the Space Centre are in the View Gallery.

Please click on the link for this week's newsletter.

We are putting together a school cookbook ....by the children, for the children, and we need your help with recipes and pictures preferably of your child cooking or eating your delicious food. We are creating this to celebrate this special year of the Queen and her Jubilee. Once published, it will be available to buy. 

Our summer fair will take place on Saturday 21 May and we are hoping the book will be ready to purchase then. The vision is to create a cookbook with a step by step guide to prepare and cook your creations along with a list of ingredients and a photograph. As parents and keen cooks ourselves, we are aiming to produce a sturdy, bound and wipeable cookbook. By submitting a photograph to us you will be consenting to this image appearing in the cookbook and sold by the Crackley Hall PTA. If you prefer not to have a photograph of your child(ren) in the book then you may submit an image of the finished product or none at all and we can use a stock image.

As with all PTA events, we need your support to make this work and we ask that you submit your recipe before Monday 25 April. It would be very special if we could include any recipes that are special to your child, family, culture and heritage. 100% of the funds raised will be directed to improving facilities on the sports fields.

To help entice you there will also be some great prizes:

• Best main dish
• Best pudding
• Best snack/party food
• Best looking dish
• Best picture of our mini chefs

Please send submissions and pictures to: crackleycookbook@gmail.com. Please include your Child's name, age and current class. 

Please follow the link for the PTA Newsletter. 

Please see flyer for more details of the next two non uniform days.

Please see more deatils of the Easter Egg Hunt in the flyer.

Reusable Crackley Hall School mugs are now available to purchase through the PTA!

We have ordered a limited supply to start with. They are £10 each and once payment is confirmed in the bank, they will be sent home with your child.

Thank you and enjoy.

Link to order

All families of pupils at our school are members of the PTA. The PTA runs regular fundraising and social events for the whole school community. Our fundraising efforts have enhanced the education and experience of all the children at the school and will continue to do so with your support. We would like to know a little bit about you and the events and activities that interest you. The PTA Committee would appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to complete this questionnaire:

Main Survey

Volunteer Sign-Up

The PTA would like to collect outgrown Christmas Jumpers. We aim to offer them in November for a cheaper and environmentally friendly alternative than buying new!

Christmas jumpers can be dropped off at the front porch where the PTA uniform box is.

Thank you 

The 200 club has reopened as our next draw will take place at the end of March! If you join this month you will be placed in a draw each month until July! We were so excited to give our February winners their prize of £50 (Grandma of a Y4 child), £75 (Y2 Parent) and £100 (Uncle of a Y5 child)! We still have a lot of tickets to sell and really need support from our generous school community.  100% of the money raised will go to the school fields and changing rooms so children will not be walking back and forth to school wet and cold. Any support is so appreciated and we want to give back to you! Please show your support where you can. All family members (aunts, cousins, uncles, grandparents, etc) are eligible to join.                       

To enter: Please email your details (name, email and phone number) to kategreevy@yahoo.co.uk. Please submit one form for each person's entry. Please pay £25 into the CH PTA sort code: 30-94-93 account: 02023477 Lloyds Bank. Good luck! 

Crackley Hall PTA - Kenilworth needs your help!

Sign up to easyfundraising & raise FREE donations every time you shop online with over 6,000 retailers. John Lewis, Argos, Uswitch, eBay and many more are waiting to give a free donation.

Plus once you’ve signed up and raised £5 in donations, easyfundraising will give us an extra £5 bonus donation!

Sign up to support us here – https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/invite/5UA5P2/

This takes place on Fridays between 8:30-10:00am (before and during the Celebration Assembly) and outside the hall entrance. 

It is important to know we can only accommodate one year group at a time, so please continue to use the uniform@pta.crackleyhall.co.uk email to submit your requests if you haven’t been invited to the assembly for your child’s year group. 

We are able to take cards, cash or cheque. 

We are also always looking for donations of items your child has outgrown, please drop these in the box labelled ‘PTA uniform’, located on the front porch of the school. We are in dire need of any sports track bottoms at the moment. 

As always we thank you for your support and couldn’t run the second hand shop without your generous donations. 

We would love you to join us for Coffee Mornings on Wednesday 11 May and Monday 13 June.

An opportunity to meet new faces and get to know the school better, but also see what events have been planned for the year ahead.

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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Felix (J3V) - Lost PE trousers (named) and skins 7-8 (not named)(lost since photographs on Monday)

Elora (J4S) - Lost school coat (named)

We regularly recruit for a variety of roles, please do share news of the vacancies with interested friends and family.

Further information and application forms on all roles are available on the Foundation's website - www.princethorpe.co.uk/join-us

• Nursery Manager - Little Crackers, Crackley Hall School 
• Compliance Manager - The Princethorpe Foundation 
• Lunchtime Supervisor - Crescent School 
• SENDCo - Crescent School