The Chronicle

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Congratulations to them all!

Crackley Hall’s Key Stage 2 Evening of Performing Arts took place this week on Tuesday 7 February.  As always, it showcased the breadth and depth of pupils’ musical and dramatic talents with the audience treated to enthusiastic individual and group performances.

The Musical Theatre Group opened proceedings with a spectacular performance of What Is This Feeling and The Wizard Of Oz Medley. Then followed some 18 performances all sparkling with crisp clear deliveries, fine-tuned fingers and well-rehearsed polish. Too many to mention all individually, a wonderful testament to the wide range of the repertoire.

There were entertaining ensemble numbers from the guitar, violin, cello, drum and choral speaking groups and a delightful performance by Junior 3 recorders.

Throughout the concert, pupils recited LAMDA pieces, many causing a chuckle particularly Sukhmani’s Homework Oh Homework and Diya’s My Mother Does My Homework, that were both delivered with such expression.

Two amazing instrumental solos, Kate’s Vivaldi Concerto on violin and Isabella’s Trumpet Concerto were much enjoyed and applauded warmly.

The evening finished, as it had begun, with the stage packed with performers as the Chamber Choir and Choral Group delivered glorious performances of favourites such as Heal The World, Sing A Song Of Sixpence and The Rhythm Of Life.

Headmaster Mr Duigan expressed his delight announcing, ‘There is no better way to spend an evening than to come and watch Crackley’s children perform. They never cease to amaze me. Thank you to them all it has been a truly memorable occasion.”

Huge thanks also to all of the staff involved in preparing the children and supporting the production and to Mrs Olden, Mrs Wildey and Mrs Paphitis who have shown us yet again what talent, energy and zest for the performing arts there is at Crackley Hall.

Crackley Hall’s KS1 Performing Arts Afternoon took place on Wednesday 8 February. The concert featured music, poetry and song, and parents, family and friends gathered excitedly in the hall to enjoy the celebration of the talent of our younger pupils.

The Musical Theatre Group opened proceedings with a lovely, lively rendition of Thumbelina, before Music Captain, Isabella, showcased the standard of performance that our older children go on to achieve, delivering an accomplished performance of Whirlwind on her trumpet.

Then Junior 1 came on stage and sang The Wreck Of The Amphitrite enthusiastically, and stayed on stage to play a lively Sleepless Night on recorder.

Up next were the Brass Ensemble playing Hot Cross Buns, then the Violin Ensemble who cleverly fingered Kangaroo before Sloane spoke slowly and clearly as she carefully enunciated her poem Sound’s Good. 

Junior 1G then performed their poem My Teacher’s Going Crazy, followed by Junior 1H performing Red Riding Hood. Cleo delivered a super violin solo of Polly’s Polka and Ashley was just as good playing Old Macdonald on the flute. Jai was word perfect as he recited his poem Clouds.

Then it was the turn of Junior 2 who delivered a fantastic performance of Hats and stayed on stage to play the traditional rhyme London’s Burning on recorder, before finally bringing the afternoon to a close with a super rendition of their poem On Top Of Spaghetti.

Our enormous thanks and congratulations go to all our accomplished performers who took to the stage in front of their proud parents, and of course to their teachers who have worked so hard to help them achieve so much.

Crackley Hall brother and sister, Teo in Junior 3 and Sienna F in Junior 5, have been busy raising money for the DEC Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal. After being inspired by watching an edition of BBC Newsround, where a news report focused on the earthquake and the work of the rescue teams, Sienna felt compelled to help as much as she could. As they were having some building work done at home, Sienna and Teo thought that if they had a clear out of their old toys, they could raise money for the Earthquake Appeal. Said Sienna, "I'm so glad we both did this, as it is our little way of helping such a big cause."  Selling books and toys online, they managed to raise £144.53.  

Amazing work Teo and Sienna, you have shown us all how we can make a difference in our world. 

This week it has been Children’s Mental Health week. This year’s theme is ‘Let’s Connect’. Let’s Connect is about making meaningful connections for all, during Children’s Mental Health Week and beyond. People thrive in communities, and this connection is vital for our wellbeing. When we have healthy connections – to family, friends and others – this can support our mental health and our sense of wellbeing. When our need for rewarding social connections is not met, we can sometimes feel isolated and lonely, which can have a negative impact on our mental health.

For Children’s Mental Health Week 2023, we’re encouraging pupils to connect with others in healthy, rewarding and meaningful ways. The children had a special assembly to start the week and then took part in some fun, engaging lessons with their teachers to think about their connections.

In Reception, the children read the story The Invisible String by Patrice Karst, they then talked about who they were connected to, family, friends and pets. They drew a picture of themselves in the middle of the paper surrounded with those they feel connected to. They also decorated a jigsaw piece with something they like, and we joined this together to show how we connect as a class.

Junior 1 all had to find someone in the class who likes dogs, enjoys reading, likes swimming, has a brother and likes drawing. This gave them the chance to talk to each other and find out a little more about others in the class. They all also loved the chance to show off their colouring skills by decorating the front of the sheet in a bright and colourful way, which helped to cheer us all up!

This term we have launched ‘Wellbeing Wednesday’ as part of our focus in RSHE and PSHE on mental health. Pupils were invited to take part in a logo competition to design a logo for Wellbeing Wednesday and we are delighted to congratulate Junior 6 pupil, Lexi, whose design has been chosen as the winner.

Her snazzy logo will now be made into a keyring which will be given to everyone to remind us all about the five steps we can all take to improve our mental health – ‘Connect with friends’, ‘Be active’, ‘Be kind’, ‘Be grateful’ and ‘Eat healthily’.

The latest edition of the Crackley Review has just been published and was sent out to families this week.

Our yearbook records and reflects the last academic year giving a super insight into life in school and the wonderful learning that goes on day in day out here at Crackley Hall School and Little Crackers Nursery.

It makes a wonderful memento for children and parents, and we hope you have all enjoyed looking through the stories and photos.

Thank you to all who have contributed their time and talents to help us put together this Review and who do so much to make this school such a vibrant, supportive and engaging place of learning.

You can find an electronic copy of the Crackley Review on our school website here which you are welcome to download to share with family and friends.

Former Crackley Hall pupil, Toby Lee has been in touch to share the exciting news that he has reached the final five nominees for the 'UK Young Blues Artist Of The Year' in the 2023 UK Blues Awards.

Voting is open for the awards until Sunday 19 February, and it would be wonderful if our Foundation community could support Toby. You can vote for him here: https://www.ukblues.org/ We wish him the very best of luck!

Toby attended Crackley Hall School from 2014 to 2016 and then Princethorpe College until 2017. Dubbed a future superstar of the blues by Joe Bonamassa, Toby boasts an impressive musical CV.

In 2016 he was cast as Zack Mooneyham in the West End production of School of Rock the Musical for which he subsequently won an Olivier Award for 'Outstanding Achievement in Music'.

He has appeared on many TV shows around the world including TFI Friday twice, Little Big Shots USA, Spain and the UK, Comic Relief, Michael McIntyre, The X Factor, Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, Blue Peter and Tonight at the London Palladium where he performed with McFly.

Toby has shared the stage with a host of stars including Buddy Guy, Billy Gibbons, Peter Frampton, Slash, Lukas Nelson, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and has appeared alongside his hero, Joe Bonamassa at the Royal Albert Hall.

Toby is off on tour soon. He is playing locally in Leamington in March, but the tickets for the gig have sadly already sold out. He is also playing at the UK Blues Awards in London in April.

You can find out more here: www.toby-lee.com

Last week, children across Key Stage 2 at Crackley Hall and Crescent put their touch-typing skills to the test in our first annual Foundation touch-typing competition.

The children had been honing their skills in their Computing lessons over the past few weeks and took part in the timed challenge, and the results are in!

The winners of their year group received their certificate in assembly today, as well as our overall Crackley winner and runners up. Notably, Elle Ward, Ding Fan and Theo Cowlishaw were among the winners across the Foundation.

Well done to all who took part!

As every year in school, we develop our understanding and knowledge about staying safe online, your challenge is to create a piece that could explain to others about how to stay safe and behave appropriately on the internet.

What could I do? 

1.    Make a poster for a display in school.

2.    Write a story that teaches young children about the potential dangers of the Internet.

3.    Create a video news report about being safe online.

4.    Make up a song, rap or a poem based on our internet safety theme.

5.    Create a PowerPoint explaining your top tips.

6.    A creative idea of your own.

Remember to…

Think about the audience of your piece.

J3-J6: Include the SMART rules for being online (Safe, Meeting, Accepting, Reliable, Tell).

Name your work.

Be as creative as you can!

Please bring your work, or send a digital copy to your class teacher by Friday 3 March (at the latest).

Mrs Malcolm and Mrs Cowlishaw look forward to seeing your amazing ideas!