The Chronicle

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Congratulations to them all!

Over half term pupils had the opportunity to complete two optional Junior da Vinci challenges. Lots of pupils took part and we were delighted with the response. The completed projects are now on display in the school hall.

Following on from NSPCC Number Day, Mrs Van Zyl challenged pupils to see what they could find out about Fibonacci and to present their discoveries in an attractive way.

Then, Mrs Malcolm challenged pupils to create a piece that could explain to others about how to stay safe and behave appropriately on the internet.

All pupils who took on the challenges will receive a Junior Da Vinci strand; some outstanding pieces will be awarded full Junior Da Vincis.

Well done again to all who took part, look out for more opportunities like this in the coming months!

On Tuesday 7 March, Crackley Hall's musicians visited fellow Foundation junior school, Crescent School, for an orchestral workshop. It was a great opportunity for the young virtuosos to work together, with 12 members of Crackley Hall’s Orchestra joining 12 Crescent instrumentalists for a day designed to develop and stretch their music and performance skills.

Pupils from both schools worked under the guidance of Crescent School’s Director of Music, Julie Barnes, and Crackley Hall’s Director of Music, Susan Olden, to prepare and rehearse pieces ready for an impromptu afternoon performance.

The children relished making music, especially in such a big group. They worked hard to prepare the dramatic Star Wars theme and the moving I Dreamed A Dream from Les Misérables, both pieces testing the players’ technical and music-reading ability.

At the end of the day parents were welcomed into school to watch a short performance. The concert was superb, and as well as featuring the full 24-piece orchestra playing their now near perfect pieces, it also included solo performances from Julia Kozhan and Grace Aston from Crackley Hall and Zahra Nadeem and Hattie Little from Crescent School.

Mrs Barnes and Mrs Olden, commented, “We had a very successful day and the pupils enjoyed collaborating together. They achieved a very high standard of performance, learning challenging music in a short space of time, it was a great opportunity for them all to play with so many other talented musicians. Thank you Crackley Hall for joining us today."

Thursday's arrival of snow was the perfect opporuinty for Junior 1H to enjoy a snow themed Forest School lesson.

Children had great fun making 'snow cakes' in the kitchen, whizzing down the slopes on make-shift sledges and thoroughly enjoyed simply playing in the snow!

Next week we are very excited to have the Scholastic Book Fair visiting our school between Monday 13 and Thursday 16 March. All classes will be given an allocated time in which to visit the fair throughout the week. Parents should now be aware of when their child/children have their slots, so they know on which day to send the book vouchers in with their child. The link to purchase these has already been sent out, please let us know if you have any problems with this. The children at Crackley Hall love coming to browse and choose their books so we are hoping for a very successful week!

Ten children from Junior 3, who are making their First Holy Communion later this year, visited St Austin's Church in Kenilworth on Monday. There they received the Sacrament of Reconciliation by Fr Kevin, an important step in their preparation for their First Holy Communion.  They each lit a candle to remind them that Jesus is their light. At the end of the Reconciliation the children all blew bubbles into the air, in the church grounds, while they prayed for someone special.

For Fair Trade Fortnight, pupils across the school have all been busy baking flapjacks made entirely out of Fair Trade ingredients. They combined maths skills to measure in grams and worked together in pairs to make the delicious snacks to learn more about the different products that you can find with the Fair Trade stamp.

A huge thank you to the PTA for funding the ingredients to help bring learning alive in this way.