The Chronicle

Dear Parents

This week has been such a wonderfully busy 5 days with school buzzing with activity.  We started the week with Mrs Huang having arranged for Junior 6 to visit to Coventry University for a ‘China experience’.  This was an informative and interactive session and pupils were able to put their language skills to the test.  Thank you to Mrs Huang, Mrs Horan and Mrs Vaughan for accompanying the children.

On Tuesday, Junior 5 enjoyed a full day at Princethorpe College sampling the technology, various subjects and classrooms, the impressive grounds and buildings, sports facilities and, not forgetting, the delicious food.   This is an annual event which our Junior 5 children value and is an excellent preparation so that they can look forward to secondary school.  Parents will be able to have a comprehensive tour of the school at the next Princethorpe Open Day, where they will also be able to speak to various members of staff.

Junior 2 were also out and about on Tuesday as they travelled to Birmingham Botanical Gardens.  The weather was spectacular, and they were able to learn about the gardens and explore the exciting outdoor areas too.  Thank you to Mrs Burley, Mrs Glen-Roots, Mrs Bhogal and Mrs Thomas for making this trip possible.

We hosted a magnificent art show on Wednesday afternoon.  All of our pupils produced truly super artwork. This event was planned to perfection by Mrs Holmes in conjunction with Images Art and showcased stunning works of art produced in school by our pupils.  Parents were able to visit the show and each purchase raised funds for school and the Ukrainian Appeal; thank you to all who visited and supported this event.

Our last open event of the year took place yesterday in glorious sunshine.  I was delighted to be able to welcome visitors to school and they were entertained by our choral group, Theo on brass and our student guides.  The positive comments about the behaviour, appearance and friendliness of our children is always so pleasing to hear and a credit to the children and their families. I am very proud of them all.   I would like to thank them all for helping out during the event. Thank you to all our staff who contributed to the success of the evening including our chef, Ms Jean Arler who produced some very impressive pastries for the event.

During assembly this morning I congratulated our Stars of the Week: Zach, Reuven, Ella, Millie, Thomas, Isabel, Harrison, Leo, Phoebe, Ted, Harry, Esme, Matilda, Marley and Sebastian.  Well done to all our stars and to those who receive their Bronze and Da Vinci awards too – your hard work does not go unnoticed!

Today’s assembly was our last assembly of this half term as next week, we will be preparing to travel to St Francis Church in Kenilworth to celebrate First Holy Communion.  Certificates will still be presented to the pupils but not at an assembly.

As I write, most of our Junior 4, 5, and 6 pupils are at the Young Voices Convert at Resorts World, along with very enthusiastic members of staff.  I am sorry that I am unable to attend this year, but I will be thinking of everyone enjoying themselves at this spectacular event.  I hope that all our families attending also enjoy the special occasion.

My grateful thanks are extended to all the families, past and present, the past pupils and staff and the current members of staff who attended the gala ball last weekend. It was a really lovely evening and something that we have all missed very much. So much work and planning went into this, and my thanks are also extended to the catering staff of the Foundation, the office and estates staff at Crackley hall and the Foundation marketing staff. We also thanks Mr and Mrs Thomas for the refreshments and the Princethopre College 6th Form students for taking the lovely photos.  We thank our very generous sponsors as well.  Particular thanks are given to Mrs Jenny Vaughan who co-ordinated the event – she did a marvellous job.

I am hoping that I will be able to see many of you tomorrow as we open the school for the Family Fun Day and Crackley’s Got Talent.  We have not been able to hold this event for two years, so tomorrow will be a marvellous celebration, the biggest we have held since Covid, and I am very much looking forward to seeing everyone enjoying themselves.

Next week is the last week of this half term and I am sure that many of you will be planning holidays or day trips away. For those who would like to use our holiday club provision, there are still places left which should be booked by Tuesday next week so that we can confirm places.  If you would like to book, please email holidayclub@crackleyhall.co.uk with your requirements.  The club is currently open from 8.30am until 5.00pm but it is planned to extend the club until 5.30pm during the summer sessions.

I wish you all a very happy and relaxing weekend with your families.

God bless,

Mr Duigan

Please click on the link for the menu for next week.

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Congratulations to them all!

On Wednesday 18 May Crackley Hall hosted an Art Show with pupils from across the school, from Nursery up to Junior 6, revealing their amazing creative talents to stunned parents, friends and teachers.

The children’s work on display featured over 250 different paintings inspired by artists and stories from around the world.  They included artwork inspired by Kensuke’s Kingdom and Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa, the abstract work of Kaninsky, art that explored the Cornish coastline, Jim Dine inspired pieces linked to the theme of Romance, as well as art based on the work of Georgia O’Keeffe, Claude Monet, paintings inspired by sunsets and collages developed using the techniques employed by Kirsten Peters.

Working on their pieces for the exhibition has given the children the opportunity to study different artists, to appreciate their work, inspirations and colour palettes.  It has linked into topics from across the curriculum including Science, English, Geography and even Maths.

Many parents and children attended the exhibition to view the framed artwork mounted on display boards in the school hall.  All were amazed at the talent on show with many remarking the pictures would grace any wall.

Headmaster, Rob Duigan, commented, “The standard of work on show is outstanding, a huge variety of approaches and styles that has given every child a chance to shine. The use of colour is exceptional and effective, it has been a real pleasure to view them all.”

Our thanks to Mrs Holmes for organising the exhibition, and to all involved in the production of the pictures. The artwork was incredible and was a joy to view.

If you missed the exhibition, a selection of photographs of the paintings will shortly be available on the school website. 

It was wonderful to welcome guests to Crackley Hall’s postponed 75th Anniversary Gala Ball on Saturday 14 May, the last event of the anniversary celebrations to commemorate the founding of a school on the site.

It was a very convivial affair with over 100 guests including current and former parents, current and former staff and past pupils. The sun shone favourably as everyone enjoyed a glass of prosecco and appetising canapes on arrival. The Gables was transformed into a party venue with atmospheric lighting and impressive table decorations, setting the scene perfectly for the live music and dancing as the evening progressed. The partygoers savoured the delicious hot gala buffet. Many gave their compliments to the chef who had been preparing the food since early that morning.

Guest speaker and past pupil, Fleur Sexton, gave a heart-warming speech, sharing fond and amusing memories about her time at the convent school. It was lovely to hear her speak so affectionately of the teachers she remembered, in particular Sister Philomena, who was Headmistress of St Joseph’s at the time and was a special guest at the Ball. Fleur finished with some encouraging words of how her school years had very much shaped the successful businesswoman she is now, and how a Crackley education is the best start you can give to your children.

Crackley Hall singing teacher, Shoshana Stokes, wowed the assembled guests with a tremendous performance of Never Enough from The Greatest Showman, followed by Don’t Rain On My Parade from the musical Funny Girl.

The evening’s entertainment continued with more live music from Revolver, a versatile Midlands-based band, who performed classic rock and pop covers from the 50s to the present day. Guests were quick to get onto the dance floor to show off their moves, while others retired to The Gables terrace to enjoy their drinks in a quieter spot; sharing memories and making the most of our Foundation Sixth Form photographers, who were on hand to take portraits of the guests and their parties.

It truly was a wonderful evening giving past pupils, current and former parents and current and former staff the perfect opportunity to celebrate the school’s success and rich history.

Junior 5 pupils enjoyed a day at Princethorpe College on Tuesday 17 May, when they took part in a special Crackley Hall only taster day. It was an early opportunity for them to experience life at the Foundation’s senior school, and start to become familiar with the bigger school environment, helping to make their imminent move to secondary school a less daunting experience.

Depending on their group, pupils participated in lessons in Maths, English, Science, Games, Music and Drama. They also had a walk around the school buildings and grounds, enjoyed a legendary Princethorpe cookie, spotted old Crackley friends now at Princethorpe, took lunch in the Refectory and participated in other activities including a Q&A with the prefects. At the end of the day they had the chance to familiarise themselves with the CEM tests that will be used on entrance examinations day.

Their parents were invited to Princethorpe too, to meet members of the Senior Leadership Team at the end of the day.

Parents are reminded that Crackley Hall children are not automatically entered for Princethorpe’s Entrance Examinations. Those wishing to apply for September 2023 entry must complete a registration form by Friday 30 September at the latest, with the Entrance Examinations then taking place on Saturday 5 November.

More information is available from the Admissions Office at Princethorpe, they can be contacted on 01926 634201/262/297 or email admissions@princethorpe.co.uk

Holiday club will run from Monday 30 May until Wednesday 1 June 2022.

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

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 via the Holiday Club email address - holidayclub@crackleyhall.co.uk

Thank you.

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

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

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Burley's class is Thomas and William 

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

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Holmes' class is Charlotte

Mathlete of the week for Mr Stedeford's class is Phoebe 

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Robert's class is Evie and Elora

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Wildey group is Esme 

Well done all!

Please follow the link for more information 

Please find more information about the Kenilworth Naturewatch in the flyer.

Please find more details of an Art Competition in the flyer or follow the link.

Ms Holmes is collecting nails (the larger the better), screws, nuts and bolts, drill bits etc for an art project.

If you have any spares and could donate to the Art department, that would be fantastic.

Thank you.

Wednesday 8 June 2022 - 6.30pm to 9.00pm

The College's Summer Open Evening is a great opportunity for prospective families, for Year 7 to 10 and Lower Sixth entry, for September 2023 and beyond, to look around the school and to meet members of staff and pupils. As part of your evening, there will be two opportunities to hear from Ed Hester, Headmaster, at 6.45pm or 7.30pm, allowing families to explore the College before and after. So, families do not miss out, we are encouraging visitors to book their place and time slot.

Click here to book your place.

If you have any questions please contact the Admissions Team on 01926 643201/262/297 or email admissions@princethorpe.co.uk.

Please click on 'View Gallery' to scroll through a few photos from Celebration Assembly this morning.

On Monday this week Junior 6 visited the Confucius Institute at Coventry University to gain some experience of Chinese culture. The children participated in different pursuits, highlighting some traditional Chinese activities. We tried calligraphy, Chinese dance and Tai Qi. During the calligraphy session, children learned how to hold a calligraphy brush and use ink to form different characters.  One of these characters was 中 (zhòng) which means winning a prize or scoring high in exams. 

In Tai Qi, they learned a sequence of moves and had fun with the traditional Chinese fans, some also had the opportunity to try on outfits. In the Dance session the children learned a Chinese dance and played some games incorporating the moves from the dance. It was great to see the children having a good time.

Junior 5 have been studying the topic of music in French this term. The children have learnt the names of different instruments in French and discovered that although we often associate accordion music with France, it is thought the accordion was invented in Berlin. They have enjoyed saying which instruments they play, getting to grips with verb endings, listening to different types of music and giving their opinions on many songs. In fact, there was no holding back with sharing their opinions … French country music was certainly not as popular amongst the children as reggae!  The timing of the Eurovision Song Contest was perfect – as the children listened to several entries and gave their scores. The combination of folk music and rap in the Ukraine entry and the Breton electro-pop from France were highlights. We even dressed up as pop stars!

Pupils in J4 had fun in their History lesson playing the ‘Trading Game’. The class split into Vikings and Anglo Saxons and began using their natural resources to trade. The children soon realised that the Vikings and Anglo Saxons were good traders and sailed as far as Asia to trade.

During their English lessons, Mrs Jackson-Mayne’s class entertained Junior 1 with their fantastic Tall Tales. It was lovely to see the pupils so animated as they read and told their own stories to the excited Year 1 audience

What an exciting week it has been in Junior 3. The highlight was definitely seeing all our masterpieces hanging in the school hall at Wednesday’s Art Exhibition. We had such a wonderful time, from helping to set up, to viewing the final display of work from across the school and finally getting to take our creations home where we will be able to continue to enjoy them for years to come.

Our time telling skills are improving day-by-day, we have now moved onto learning about 2D and 3D shapes, and we had a lot of fun exploring prisms, pyramids and nets. In Science we got dissecting again, this time celery, as we found out how water is transported in a plant and located the xylem tubes – a rather soggy task. We are now all looking forward to the Summer Fair this weekend.

This week Junior 2 enjoyed an amazing trip to the Botanical Gardens in Birmingham. They were treated to a workshop in the rainforest with live animals! We were so proud of their behaviour and how engaged they were in the workshop. Junior 2 have clearly retained a lot of what we have already discussed in class and they definitely wowed the presenter with their knowledge. We couldn't leave without a walk around the stunning gardens themselves, it really is very tranquil and a wonderful place to have a picnic. We will finish this Geography topic next week by thinking about how we can protect the rainforest. 

Junior 1 started the week by exploring the grounds of the school in Science. They were observing what they could see, hear, feel, and smell as they walked around and noticed changes that have happened recently. The biggest change they could see were the signs of spring – blossom on the trees, new plants growing, green leaves appearing on bushes and trees and more minibeasts! In History we linked our topic to DT and made some old-fashioned toys – a penny spinner and a thaumatrope, to show how people in the past could have fun, even if they had little or no money! Some of us thought these toys were better than the ones we buy in the shops! Our highlight of the week was when Fiorella performed on her guitar for us and played Big Blue Bear. We thought she was wonderful and very brave to perform in front of us all.

This week we have been thinking about where we would like to fly to on an aeroplane and what we might see or do there. We have been exploring maps and globes and we took a closer look at Australia. Reception have also been busy making their model vehicles out of recycled bits and bobs. We can’t wait to see them once they are finished. They have put so much time and thought into designing them and what they want them to look like. 

During Monday’s Mission Assembly we talked about the new commandment which Jesus gave to His disciples - to love one another as He had loved them.  The pupils recalled the times when Jesus showed how much He cared and these included the feeding of the five thousand, the Wedding Feast at Cana and when He cured the sick and blind. We were asked how we can show our love for others during the coming week.

In Junior 2 we explained the meaning of the Paschal candle and looked at the five nails and what they contained.  We recalled that the aromatic spices embedded into the nails were used when Jesus’ body was prepared for the tomb and the five nails represented the five wounds of Jesus – three nails that pierced his hands and feet, the spear in His side and the thorns that crowned the head of Jesus.  We then designed our own Paschal candles, remembering to include the important elements.  You can see from the photos what wonderful designs we have created!

Please find information below:

Children's Liturgy

Activity Sheet

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

Weekly Mission

Please follow the link for more information. 

It was showtime in Lego Club this week as we were all ‘in the band’ at The Lego School of Rock in preparation for Young Voices 2022 on Friday evening and Crackley’s Got Talent on Saturday afternoon.  Are you ready for this?  Let’s take it to the street and make a big noise! We made a drum set, a keyboard, two large amps, mini stage lights, spotlights, a guitar stand and different rotating stages, speakers galore which twisted to reveal gigantic screens. We even developed a cell phone to play music as a backdrop for the stars. With mini-Lego figures queuing up for last-minute tickets, we had standing room only for Darth Vader, Batman and Iron Man – with Her Majesty the Queen making a brief appearance on stage before her Platinum Jubilee celebrations and having a bit of a sing song too whilst the crowd were in exuberant mode!  Lego Club – We Rock!

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

Don't forget our Family Fun Day incorporating Crackley’s Got Talent takes place tomorrow, Saturday 21 May. This is the first time since 2019 that the whole school has been able to come together and we hope you all enjoy the day.  

Important information: all parking for the Summer Fayre will be in the field.

Did you know we have a Noticeboard?

Our NEW recently published Newsletter can be found on the PTA Noticeboard at the entrance of the school as well as other events and information. Make sure to  have a look for the latest PTA news!

Please follow the link for the PTA Newsletter. 

Our next non-uniform day is now on Friday 17 June. 

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

If you join this month you will be placed in a draw each month until July! We still have a lot of tickets to sell and really need support from our generous school community.  💯 % of 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 £15 into the CH PTA sort code: 30-94-93 account: 02023477 Lloyds Bank. Good luck! 

FLASH SALE UNIFORM

Please visit the PTA Preloved Uniform Stall at the Family Fun Day on Saturday. There will be a flash sale for Jumpers, Winter Coats and Blazers.

Jumpers will be on sale for 2 for £15; jumpers are normally priced at £10 each.

Blazers will be priced at £23 each, normally £27.50. 

Winter Coats will be priced at £12, normally £17.50. 

These prices are for Saturday only!

We will be able to take card and cash payments. 

Ideal time to buy ready for September!

Reminder: if any J6 children are happy to donate uniform, please do so before the end of the school year (we would be grateful to receive any Winter uniform now that you no longer need).

J4 children - girls will wear skirts in J5, we are very happy to receive all pinafores before school finishes for the year. 

We are especially in need of donations of any good quality sports kit. 

As always we thank you for your donations! The shop can’t run without you and all proceeds are currently going towards the funds to provide facilities on the Sports Field. 

Please pop all washed clothing into the clear box marked ‘PTA Uniform Donations’ in the front porch at the main entrance to school. 

Thank you, 

PTA second hand uniform team

It was lovely to meet some of you at our coffee meeting on Wednesday 11 May!

Our next coffee morning will be on June 13 at the Almanack at 9.00am. 

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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Merryn (J6V) has lost her tracksuit bottoms on the field after athletics club. 

Issey (J6H) has lost her sports fleece

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

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