The Chronicle

Dear Parents 
 
The week after half-term break has flown by and it was certainly a lot colder than last week. It was incredibly busy, but very successful and meaningful in many ways, particularly with it being One World Week. Everyone learnt about Fair Trade at Monday’s assembly and the roles of farmers around the world in producing local produce whilst receiving a fair wage to support their families. All our classes visited a place of worship, including Gurdwaras, Mosques, Temples, Synagogues or Churches. Reports back from the pupils showed that they were inspired and interested in what they had discovered and learnt. It is so important that we all learn to integrate harmoniously and supportively as a human family. All pupils enjoyed being part of the sessions with the graffiti artists, who helped them design artwork in support of earth care and our precious world. My thanks are extended to the PTA for funding the cost of the artists’ visit. Thank you very much to Mrs Jackson-Mayne for her tremendous inspiration, initiative and organisation of the week. 
 
We hosted an U11 Girls’ Football tournament on the school fields today which drew many participants and supporters from a number of other schools. A very well-organised tournament proved a huge success and might be a fixture on our calendar for the future. Thank you very much to Mr Stedeford for this initiative and organisation. Our footballing girls certainly enjoyed a wonderful day. 
 
Our pupils and staff also dressed up for World Book Day today and the school was full of fantastic outfits.  Thank you to Mrs Horan and Mrs Steeples for their interest and efforts in promoting reading at all levels. 
 
A definite highlight of the past week was our U11A Girls’ Netball team qualifying for the national tournament next Friday. The girls and their coach, Mrs Vaughan, have all worked hard for a while now and managed to score an incredible 66 goals on the day. They finished second in the ISA Midlands Region and will be looking to build on this outstanding achievement at the nationals. More about the team next week, whilst we wish them the very best. 
 
Having commented on each pupil’s report, I feel that I have a very clear view of the efforts, achievements and attitudes of our super pupils. I was pleased to see that, overwhelmingly, the children are making very good progress and that they will almost always look to treat others kindly. Parents will be able to discuss their child’s progress with teachers next week. I appreciate the understanding of parents and also the planning of Ms McAloon in arranging an additional evening to accommodate necessary Junior 5 and Junior 6 parent meetings on 21 March. 
 
Thank you to parents for completing the recent survey. We have been provided with so much useful data, much of which confirmed our thoughts on the areas that require development. We were also pleased to see the affirmation in areas that are currently proving successful. I shall be compiling a synopsis and report on the survey which will be shared with staff and parents in due course. 
 
The school is hosting an Open Morning tomorrow and I’d like to thank all the staff for giving of their time, and especially the parents and pupils who have volunteered to help. Pupils are required to attend in full school uniform, with those only playing sport needing to arrive in their sports kit (a further confirmation message has been sent to attendees late this afternoon). Those playing music must please remember their instrument and those who were asked to join forest school should bring their outdoor clothes to pull on over their uniform. 
 
Today we say farewell to James Sparks and Tayla Carter-Whyte who have served as gap students and teaching assistants for a few months. We will soon be welcoming Mrs Georgia Jeffrey, our new Teaching Assistant, to Crackley Hall. Ms Hannah Barlow will be joining the School as an Office Administrator and Playground Assistant from next week. 
 
I would like to wish everyone a peaceful and restful weekend. 
 
God bless,

Rob Duigan 

With only a few weeks left of the Lent Term, we thought it would be useful to inform you of the changes to the uniform to certain year groups and their retrospective uniform. 

After the Easter holidays, all children are to return in their Summer Uniform. 

• Girls are to wear maroon and white striped dress, white knee high or ankle socks. Junior 6 are to wear skirts and blouses, maroon school hat.
• Boys should wear school black shorts, white short sleeved shirt, black ankle socks, school tie, maroon cap. 

If you are unsure and need advice please contact the school office or email the uniform shop at Princethorpe on uniform@princethorpe.co.uk

Parents' Evening is taking place in school on Wednesday 8 and Thursday 9 March. We would like to remind you of the following important information you may find useful. 

• Please enter and leave school through the Gables entrance, as the appointments are taking place in the school hall. We would ask that you arrive 10 minutes prior to your first appointment, so that meetings can begin promptly.

• Refreshments are available in the foyer, and a selection of your child’s workbooks will be available to view prior to your appointment.

• Parking is available on the school field or the lower playground. Please note that the field will be locked at 5.30pm, so please use the lower playground if you will be here past this time.

• We will be running a short term aftercare while you are attending your appointments, but there will be no food available during this time. Please drop your child at the science room door shortly before your appointment and collect from the same place. You must ensure your child is signed in and out with a member of staff before leaving them.

• The bookings will remain open until Monday 6 March, if you have not already booked your appointments, please do so this weekend.

We can confirm that Holiday Club over the Easter break will be open.

Mrs Orsborn is confirming the programme and activities, once this has been finalised it will be shared. 

We would like to share the dates with you at this time to help with planning.

Week 1: Monday 27 - Friday 31 March

Week 2: Monday 3 - Thursday 6 April

Week 3: Tuesday 11 - Friday 14 April.

If you would like to book and confirm your place please email holidayclub@crackleyhall.co.uk

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Congratulations to them all!

Today, Junior 6 and Junior 5 girls from Crackley Hall’s Football Club took part in a girls’ football festival, organised and hosted by the school. The tournament involved 13 teams from 11 schools with nearly a hundred girls who were all delighted to put on their boots and head out to the fields to show off their footballing prowess.

As well as playing 12 mini matches, the teams also had the chance to take part in two training sessions courtesy of local football team Kenilworth Wardens and Elite Skills Arena who were delighted to come along and coach the girls.

Many thanks to Foundation Senior School, Princethorpe College, whose PE BTEC Sport and Academy players also supported the event, refereeing games and coaching the girls. 

A huge well done to all who took part, it was super to see everyone getting fully involved and giving it their all. Crackley Hall School was delighted to help champion girls football in schools.

We have had a wonderful day celebrating World Book Day at Crackley Hall today. The children looked amazing and had made such an effort with their costumes. Lots of book themed activities took place and a fun day was had by all. Scroll though the gallery to enjoy photos from the classes.

This week the children have been celebrating OUR WORLD – the focus this year has been Respect and Fair Trade.

Elena Fernandez, the campaign officer for Fair Trade began the week, launching Fair Trade Fortnight, with her assembly asking the pupils to think about products which are marked with the  Fair Trade logo. With questions and examples, she helped to raise awareness about the importance of a fair wage for job. Pupils were shocked to learn that some people are only paid the equivalent of £1 a day. Next week some of the children will explore this topic in more detail by making Flapjacks using Fair Trade ingredients.

On Wednesday, Graffiti Artists Dave and Matt visited the school to lead workshops on how they use their talents to convey key messages. Pupils created banners on One World and Fair Trade, adding powerful vocabulary to the Graffiti Pieces, which will be displayed around the school. In the workshops pupils learned how graffiti art fits in with ‘hip hop culture’ and had the opportunity to create their own graffiti masterpieces. A huge thank you to the PTA for funding this wonderful day!

Each class has visited a different place of Worship this week, as pupils have been learning more about Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam and Sikhism. The children have enjoyed learning about different faiths and cultures. We have had such lovely feedback from all the visits. It has been very rewarding to see the pupils engaged and listening respectfully. They have been amazing ambassadors for our school!

This week Amalia from Junior 6 has introduced a new initiative to Crackley Hall. As the Library Captain, Amalia thought it would be a good idea to have a book-swap facility here at school. She designed the bookcase herself and her grandfather very kindly made it for us. The end result is stunning and it will be a fabulous addition to Crackley Hall School. Mr Duigan presented Amalia with a full Da Vinci in assembly as a reward for her efforts. Well done, Amalia!

The latest issue of The Minnacle has just been published, showcasing our pupils' excellent work. The Minnacle celebrates our pupils at their best and the Spring 2023 edition includes plenty of examples of their outstanding efforts. From magnificent model making in Junior 1, through delightful designs in Junior 3, super scene setting in Junior 4 to exciting design and engineering projects in Year 6 and much, much more.

The next copy of The Pinnacle is available now too, with equally impressive work by pupils at the Foundation's senior school, Princethorpe College. It's wonderful to see and celebrate their talents!

Printed copies have been sent home with pupils for you to enjoy, or you can read a copy of The Minnacle on our school website here.

We offer a very warm welcome to Mrs Davis-Harris who joined us just before half term. Mrs Davis-Harris takes over from Mrs Taylor leading the School Office team.

Mrs Davis-Harris has settled into her new role quickly, her friendly, cheerful approach and strong organisational skills helping her to get up and running quickly, as no two days at Crackley Hall are ever the same!

Georgie in Junior 6 had the prestigious opportunity to be a flag waver at Coventry City football last Saturday. As a promising young footballer, Georgie plays for Coventry City girls and was also given the opportunity to train on the pitch at half time, as part of a Women In Football feature.

We are very proud of Georgie who was also involved in Crackley Hall`s Girls' Football Festival, where 11 local schools joined us for a day of friendly games and football specific training and skills.

We would like to help the Leamington and Warwick Food Banks to support people in our local community. Each month we ask a different year group to bring in donations for the Food Bank, these will be distributed to people within Warwickshire.

During the week beginning 6 March,  we invite parents with pupils in Junior 4 to send in tins or packets of food or hygiene products so that these can be donated to people in need in our local community. Please give your donations to the class teacher who will put them in a box in the classroom. On Friday 10 March the donations will be taken to the Kenilworth, Leamington and Warwick Food Banks to help communities in need.

If you have any questions or indeed any suggestions in ways we could help our local community, please contact Mrs Jackson-Mayne at sjacksonmayne@crackleyhall.co.uk

Thank you for your support.

We will be holding a Scholastic Book Fair in school from Monday 13 to Friday 17 March.

A link has been sent to all parents to allow you to purchase vouchers online for your children to use during at the fair that week. More details will follow nearer the time.

Tuesday 14 March 2023 10.30am to 12.30pm

The College's Open Morning will give prospective families a chance to visit the school on a normal working day, with Year 8 and 9 pupils acting as tour guides. The Leadership and Admissions Teams will be available to answer any questions visitors might have. Light refreshments will be available.

All are welcome, please book your place by clicking here.

Entrance Examinations Day for September 2024 entry will take place on Saturday 11 November 2023 from 9.30am to 3.30pm. The deadline for registrations, scholarship and bursary applications is Friday 29 September 2023.

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

As the Princethorpe Admissions Cycle for 2024 entry begins, the whole of Junior 5 are warmly invited to a taste of senior school life at Princethorpe College on Thursday 27 April 2023. The dedicated taster day will begin at 9.30am with the children transported to the College by minibus from Crackley Hall. Pupils will experience a variety of classroom sessions, a tour of the school and a question and answers session with current pupils. Break and lunch will be provided and there is no charge for the day.

At the end of the afternoon, parents are invited to a Parents’ Information Session. The session will commence at 4.30pm, finish at approximately 5.15pm and light refreshments will be served. Grove du Toit, Princethorpe’s new Headmaster, along with other key members of staff, will be on hand to talk to you about the College, its ethos and vision and to outline the admissions process. Children will also have the opportunity to trial the online CEM test, one of the exams that prospective pupils complete during the Entrance Examinations Day, which will take place on Saturday 11 November 2023 from 9.30am to 3.30pm.

Please click here to access the online booking form for the Year 5 Taster Day. Please complete and submit the form by 5.00pm on Monday 6 March to secure a place for your child.

If you have any further queries please feel free to contact the College’s friendly Admissions Team on 01926 634201/297 or email admissions@princethorpe.co.uk.

Scroll through the gallery to see photos from our Celebration Assembly this morning.

This week in Science, Junior 6 have been finishing their topic on the life and work of famous naturalist Charles Darwin. As a final activity the children were tasked with being naturalists themselves and predicted what humans might look like in the not-so-distant future. We had all sorts of fantastic ideas such as long fingers for using our phones, gills for breathing underwater and even tails! It’s so brilliant to see such out of the box creative thinking. Great work Junior 6!

Junior 5W were treated to a whistle stop tour of the Far East this week by none other than their own classmate, Ted! After returning from six months travelling with his family he returned to Crackley and showed us all the different countries he had travelled to on a very well-thumbed map. We saw some authentic batik, woodcarving and heard all about the different transportation the family took between each step of their journey. Then a slideshow and video presentation took our breath away with the sights and sounds of countries on the other side of the world. We were particularly interested in the water-parks, wake-boarding and a huge Pokemon shop! Thank you, Ted. We have learnt so much from you.

Over half-term Grace and Charlotte P were so inspired by our geography topic of natural disasters that they created their own erupting volcano. It does look quite spectular! This week, in Science, Junior 4 have been investigating the effects of various solutions on our teeth. We have used eggs (shells) to resemble the enamel on our teeth, and we have sat these eggs in various solutions. We have made predictions on which liquids will be good, and which won’t, and we are going to observe the effects on these on the egg shells, over the next few weeks. In addition, we were all wowed by the Graffiti artists who visited us on Tuesday, and were inspired to produce our own cool, graffiti artwork! Plus, we have thoroughly enjoyed learning about Buddhism this week, which culminated in an exciting visit to a Birmingham Buddhist Temple. A great and varied week of learning!

Junior 3 have had a wonderful start back after half-term, learning all about the Jewish faith during our annual One World Week. Tuesday saw us heading off into the centre of Birmingham to visit Singers Hill Synagogue, one of the UK's few cathedral-style Synagogues, which was built in the Victorian era. It is a truly breath-taking building and Geoffrey, our guide, imparted so much interesting information to us. We were completely in awe. 

Back in school, we have enjoyed a range of activities linked to Judaism: finishing the story of the Prince of Egypt, making menorah candle holders, discussing Passover and the Seder plate and even coming up with our own 10 Commandments. Ask us about Judaism and we will be able to tell you loads. 

This week has been hectic week. Monday, we welcomed Warwickshire cricket for a taster session. On Tuesday, we visited the Greek Orthodox church, where children learned about St. Luke and Lazarus. Wednesday, we had a visit from Graffiti Artists. The children got creative, producing artwork based on their names and had an informative lesson on facts concerning the artists. We have finished off the week celebrating World Book Day. The children looked fantastic, and we had characters from many different genres of books.

Junior 1 have had the most amazing week as we returned from our half-term break. We are really enjoying our new maths topic of measurement and we have had lots of fun comparing the length of different objects before measuring them with cubes. One World Week has given us the opportunity to learn more about Christianity, visiting St. Mary’s church in Warwick. While they were there, they spotted the beautifully carved pulpit, the golden lectern, the long, wooden pews and some amazing stained-glass windows. We also learnt that stained glass windows tell a story. A highlight of the week was our graffiti art experience where we all had the opportunity to add to the school art piece, as well as making our own. We finished the week with an interactive geography lesson where we learnt more about Scotland and tasted some Scottish treats, including Irn Bru and shortbread. We are absolutely delighted to be back at school!

As part of One World Week Reception went to visit St Augustine’s Church. We listened to Father Kevin tell us about the Church and how it is used in the community by Christians. The children had the chance to ask lots of questions and have a look around the church. For many children this was their first time inside St Augustine’s. They were particularly fascinated with the bells and the statues of Jesus. In class we read the story of My World, Your World by Melanie Walsh. This started a discussion of how we are different and how we are the same as people all over the World.

Please click here for this week's nursery newsletter.

Please click on the link below for this week's Weekly Mission:

Weekly Mission

Please find information below:

Children's Liturgy

Something very special happened to Jesus on a mountain.  His face and clothes shone like the sun. Our love for one another can also shine out like the sun.

Activity Sheet

The U11 Netball squad travelled to Malvern St James to play in the ISA Midland Netball Tournament on Wednesday 1 March. It was a big event with teams from across the Midlands region taking part.

The girls enjoyed a jam-packed day full of exciting netball with matches 10 minutes each way of fast paced tournament play. The teams were split initially into pools and Crackley’s girls played well, working together slickly as a team. They won all their pool matches, 13-0 vs Malvern St James, 17-0 vs Stafford Prep and 17-0 vs Edenhurst Prep. They finished top of their Group and qualified for the playoffs.

In the knockout rounds, Crackley first faced RGS Dodderhill and had to work hard in a much tighter game, they secured another win 8-3 and headed in to the semi-final against St Edward’s Cheltenham. Our resilient girls played brilliantly to win that match 8-5 and qualified for the final.

That proved to be a very close match as both teams dug deep and played their hardest. All stood equal at 3-3 minutes from the end but at the final whistle, Tettenhall College just pipped us winning 6-3. The girls came away with the Silver Medal. 

Playing for Crackley Hall were: Esme Card, Emily Divers, Leani Du Toit, Nell Kiteley, Jia Mehta, Georgie Rea (Vice Captain), Georgie Skrypchuk (Captain), Penny Thomas and Lexi Ward. All the girls represented their school well and played amazingly as a team. We are so proud of them all and wish them well when they compete in the Nationals later in March.

With the school celebrating World Book Day and dressing up as favourite book characters, we thought we would introduce a little bit of Lego fun into World Book Day too. We found that the bricks were actually a great way to talk about our favourite books and the scenes within them. Want to know more? Well, we all love The Famous Five and with Timmy the dog a firm favourite with readers, we created a scene whereby he took centre stage – literally – at the O2, sorry the K9, Arena and became a singing dog raising the woof singing Hound Dog! With Sven, the reindeer from Frozen and Toto from The Wizard of Oz both feeling a little left out, they quickly joined forces to become the Pet Shop Toys! Hopefully they weren’t barking up the wrong tree!

Check out the flyers for details of upcoming PTA events.

• Pub night is next week! The PTA warmly invite you to join us for a casual and friendly pub night on Friday 10 March. It starts at 7pm at The Butcher's Bistro in the heart of old Kenilworth, one of the newest venues in the town and a warm welcome is guaranteed.  A range of drinks is offered as well as charcuterie boards and tapas to order. We appreciate many parents find it difficult to attend daytime events and we'd love to see mums, dads and grandparents connecting in a relaxed setting.
  
  
• Our next Coffee Afternoon takes place on Tuesday 7 March from 2pm at the Farthing Gallery and Tea Room.
  
  
• Our second Colour Run is due to take place on Friday 19 May 2023. This event will take place on the school field from 4pm to 7pm, it will be a fun obstacle colour run for all of the family. We will have a DJ, ice cream, face painting and more! We look forward to seeing you there.

• Pre-loved Uniform Sale. Friday 17 March is your opportunity to buy quality pre-loved uniform that benefits everyone - supports the planet as well as your school. The uniform shop will be open at The Gables 8.20-9.00am and 3.15 to 4.15pm.

Please follow us on social media to keep updated with our events!

Did you know you can find us on Facebook? Search Crackley Hall PTA to keep up with our events and what we are doing to help enhance your child's experience at Crackley Hall.

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

Princethorpe College

• Teacher of PE and Girls' Games (maternity cover)
• AV and Theatre Technician

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