The Chronicle

Dear Parents

Greetings and welcome to the first edition of the Chronicle for this school year. It remains a joy to be able to serve as Headmaster at Crackley Hall and to watch your children grow and discover their talents and abilities. To our returning families, it is wonderful to have you back, and to our new parents and students, a warm welcome to our community. I hope that you are all excited for the upcoming year – though, you will find, it may pass by very quickly.

Earlier today, a touching scene unfolded in our workplace as two of our colleagues grappled with the bittersweet reality of sending their youngest children off to university. I, myself, am preparing for my own child's upcoming graduation ceremony before she begins her MSc. It's a poignant reminder of the fleeting nature of time and how quickly our little ones grow up. As parents, it's essential to cherish every precious moment with our children, even when the days can feel long (or the holidays). It's a constant reminder that the years go by in the blink of an eye.

For the benefit of our new families, the Chronicle is a weekly newsletter that is sent to all parents. It provides reports on events that involve our children and the school during the current or recent weeks. Additionally, the Chronicle is a useful resource for important dates in the calendar and includes links to letters and relevant information. It is recommended that parents take the time to read it over the weekend to reduce the number of emails sent during the week and make the Chronicle the primary source of information.

I would like to emphasis the importance of some housekeeping matters.

• Our Early Birds program starts at 7:45am every morning. Children need to check in with the staff member on duty and be signed in. If your child is in one of our Reception Classes, you can accompany them to the school building (Gables Entrance) from 8:00am. Before that time, they can register with the Early Birds staff member.
  
  
• Upon arrival at school, children make their way to their respective playgrounds. Staff members will assist them to find the correct area. Registration begins from 8:20am and ends at 8:30am. Any late arrivals must please check in at the main office.
  
  
• Parents dropping off their children in the morning are kindly requested to drive around the roundabout with caution and alertness. It is important to keep the traffic moving smoothly to prevent long lines from forming and obstructing the Coventry Road. Please follow the directives of the duty staff.
  
  
• When visiting the school, please do not park in the staff car park area located on the left-hand side as you enter or on the grasscrete area on Fennyland Lane. Instead, park in the limited amount of parking available towards the right-hand side of the car park or in the lower playground off Fennyland Lane. If you need to speak with a teacher or member of the office staff for a few minutes, parking in the lower playground is the best option. On Fridays, the school field is open for parking during Assembly.
  
  
• Carline; If your children are in Key Stage 1 or Key Stage 2, their younger siblings can wait with school staff until the later collection time. At that time, they will join their older siblings for collection. Please only arrive at the collection time for your oldest child. The exact collection times and locations are as follows:
  •  Reception: Lower playground at 3:15pm
  • Junior 1: Main carline collection point (around flagpole) at 3:15pm
  • Junior 2: Main carline collection point (around flagpole) at 3:35pm
  • Junior 3: Lower playground pedestrian gate at 3:40pm
  • Junior 4: Main carline collection point (around flagpole) at 3:45pm
  • Junior 5: Lower playground pedestrian gate at 3:55pm
  • Junior 6: Main carline collection point (around flagpole) at 4:05pm
    
    
• If you're interested in becoming involved in the school life in another capacity, I warmly invite you reach out to the Parent Teacher Association (PTA). The PTA provides a range of volunteer opportunities that you can take advantage of. If you have volunteered with the school before, please be advised that you will need to indicate your interest once again since it has been a while since your last volunteering experience. I would gladly facilitate introductions.
  
  
• An Evolve recently went out regarding medical, health and contact information.  Please ensure that this is completed, and if anything requires updating during the term, that the School Officed are informed.
  
  
• If your child is absent due to illness, please inform the school by either calling the office on 01926 514444 and leaving a voicemail on the absence line, or emailing both the school office receptionist@crackleyhall.co.uk and your child’s form teacher. If your child has a planned absence, eg a medical appointment please inform both the school office receptionist@crackleyhall.co.uk and your child’s form teacher in writing.

I would like to congratulate our Stars of the Week; Milo Reception M, Edward Reception O, Toby J1G, Ryan J1H, Deliah J2B, Katie J2B, Lewis J3V, Michael J3W, Henry J4A, Hugo J4R, All of 5L, Ben J5S, Eloise J6H and Ellie J6V and pupils who received Music Certificates.

Thank you very much to all my staff for their fantastic efforts in helping the pupils settle in this week. I am also grateful to all our parents for their support and understanding as everyone familiarise themselves with new routines and expectations.

A very important few weeks await us as we, hopefully, are able to enjoy the Rugby World Cup. Ireland, France and New Zealand certainly look dangerous (don’t be fooled by the Springboks beating the All Blacks recently), whilst England potentially have a favourable draw with possibly Argentina providing some tough competition for them.

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

God bless

Rob Duigan

‘Not all of us can do great things but we can do small things with great love.’

 - St Teresa of Kolkata (Calcutta)

Please find attached the termly curriculum sheet for your child's year group:

Nursery

Reception

Junior 1

Junior 2

Junior 3

Junior 4

Junior 5

Junior 6

Changes to Extra Curricular Clubs

J5 and J6 Chamber Choir has moved to Thursday Morning, from Wednesday.

J5 Art & DT Club has moved to Friday Afternoon, from Thursday.

Cancellations to Extra Curricular Clubs

There are no club cancellations for this week.

Afterschool Clubs - pick up locations and times

Mondays

J1 Rugby Tots - 3.45pm - Lower Playground

J3 to J6 Move It Shake It - 4.45pm - Gables

J4 STEAM Club - 4.45pm - Front Steps

J5 and J6 Girls Hockey Club - 5.00pm at North Leam School or 5.20pm at Crackley Hall

Tuesdays

J1 and J2 Eco Club - 4.15pm - Front Steps

J3 and J4 Hockey Club - 4.30pm - Lower Playground

J4 to J6 Fencing Club - 4.45pm - Gables

Rec to J6 Bayleaf Cookery - 4.45pm - Front Steps

J3 to J6 STEM Young Engineers - 5.00pm - Science Room Door 

Wednesdays

Rec tp J2 Move It Shake It - 4.15pm - Gables

J5 and J6 Girls Football Club - 4.30pm - Crackley Hall Playing Fields

J5 and J6 Boys Football Club - 4.30pm - Crackley Hall Playing Fields

Thursdays

J3 and J4 Girls Football Club - 4.30pm - Crackley Hall Playing Fields

J3 and J4 Boys Football Club - 4.30pm - Crackley Hall Playing Fields

Fridays

J1 and J2 ATMA Karate - 4.00pm - Gables

J1 to J6 Complete Cricket - 4.30pm - Lower Playground

J5 Art & DT Workshop - 4.45pm - Science Room Door

J3 to J6 ATMA Karate - 5.00pm - Gables

The School Immunisation Team will be attending the school on Wednesday 27 September to carry out the flu vaccinations for all children in Reception through to Junior 6.

Prior to this day, they require the E-Consent link to be completed.  This link is specific to the school only.

Therefore, please click on the below link, and complete the information as requested in the E-Consent.  You will then be able to consent or decline to your child having the flu vaccination.

Unique Consent Link 

Once the form is completed, please ensure that you note the Unique Submission Number before closing the web page down, in case you have a query.

The E-Consent link will close on Sunday 17 September and will not be able to be extended.

Please note that the E-Consent link has been set up and is managed by the NHS Immunisation Team, and that the school does not have access to see who has or has not completed the form.

Therefore, it is imperative that you note your Unique Submission Number as stated above.

The School Immunisation Team will only be referring to the completed consent link, therefore if you do not complete this link, your child will not be able to have the flu vaccination.  Consent in any other format will not be accepted by the Immunisation Team.

If you have any queries regarding the form, please contact either the school office or the School Immunisation Team, details are on the attached information letter.

Crackley Hall Flu Vaccination Information Letter

Please ensure that all clothes, bags, bottles and snack boxes are clearly labelled with your child's name.  This will allow us to return it to your child promptly.

Please see the attached menus for the Michaelmas Term. These rotate on a five weekly basis.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

When dropping off in the morning, if you are using carline, please move round the roundabout before dropping off and do not leave your car unattended. Carline can cause traffic issues on the Kenilworth Road, so please be mindful.

If you are dropping off and wish to walk your child up to the school or are coming into school please use the Lower Playground or the Sports Field. Please remember to park considerately as parking is at a premium.

Please do not park on the Grasscrete Parking area or on the left hand side when you enter the school main carline, as these are both staff parking areas.

Where possible, please avoid parking on the local residential roads, and if you do, please park considerately and legally. 

When collecting in the evening, please adhere to the collection times, as if you arrive too early, this causes traffic congestion. If you are early, we would suggest parking on the Sports Field and walking up to school.

If you are unsure or wish to clarify any points, please call the School Office.

 Please see below the carline locations and collections for the Michaelmas Term:

Please see below collection locations for after games lessons (but not club):

For children who require any medication periodically or on a permanent basis, the Office will require a completed Administration of Medication Form a copy is attached for your convenience. 

Administration of Medication Form

Please ensure that any medication brought into school is in date and labelled with your child's name and form.

Please hand medicaiton into the School Office, please do not give to your child to hand in. 

Further to the Evolve Consent that was sent regarding health. medical and dietary information for all children, please ensure that this is completed promptly, if not already done so.

For your reference the following documents referred to in the Evolve email, are attached below:

Individual Care Plan

Inhaler Consent Form

Asthma Individual Health Care Plan

To help families new to the school, and as a reminder for all, here are some top tips for navigating the school's e-newsletter, The Chronicle, on your mobile phone.

Each edition of The Chronicle has a general overview message followed by an index list of the news, events and other information, split into categories, with clickable title links.

• Click the title link of the article or event you are interested in.
• From here you can scroll through all the articles in this category.
• To get back to the top of a category quickly, use the arrow in the bottom right corner of your screen. Click this and you will jump to the top of the page and see the category index.
• Select ‘NEWSLETTER INDEX’, to return you to the main newsletter index listing all the categories and articles.
• To move between different editions of The Chronicle use the dark button with three white lines towards the top right of the newsletter. Click on the button and choose which edition of The Chronicle you would like to read.
• If you are looking for a particular article use the search function using key words to locate it quickly.

The Chronicle is one of the school's main communication tools and is always a good first place to look for information and news.

Bookmarking https://chronicle.crackleyhall.co.uk/ will allow you to get to the newsletter quickly.

Earrings of any description are a health and safety issue and must not be worn.

We are aware that some children have had their ears pierced during the holidays and are therefore unable to remove their earrings for six weeks. During this time, earrings (plain studs only) can be worn to school but must be covered with tape or a plaster at all times.  After the six weeks has elapsed and the hole has formed, earrings should not be worn to school. 

All previous bookings for Aftercare have dropped off, so parents who require either permanent or occassional Aftercare for the new Term will need to book in their intentions by emailing aftercare@crackleyhall.co.uk or receptionist@crackleyhall.co.uk with as much notice as possible to ensure the children attending, receive tea.

If you have booked an Aftercare session, it would also be helpful to let your child know.

Please also note that permanent bookings are only valid for the term, due to club and activity changes.

Any children who are not collected from carline, for example if parents are stuck in traffic, will be taken to Aftercare at 4.15pm, when carline finishes and charged accordingly.

Aftercare runs from 3.45 pm until 6:00pm, with charges being £5.00 per hour or part thereof.

Childcare vouchers can be used as payment or part payment for Aftercare.

The office closes at 4.30pm, please call Aftercare directly on 07732 036625 if you need the staff after this time.

Please click on the link for the 2023-2024 term dates.

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Congratulations to them all!

Keep an eye out in next week's Chronicle for more information about this term's House Art Competition!

Mrs Holmes is hard at work finalising details of this, and cannot wait to see all your amazing entries.

Junior 2 pupils went over to the Crackley Hall sports field for their PE and Games lessons today and enjoyed their first experience of learning about team sports out on the pitches.

This term, the children will have the opportunity to play Tag Rugby, Football and Hockey, and will work on developing their skills and game tactics. At the end of the term, children will compete in their houses in House competitions playing these sports.

It is unusual for Key Stage 1 children to have the chance to play team sports so this is a fantastic opportunity for these young pupils. Exciting times ahead!

Did you know that we are on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? We use social media to share all that goes on, day in day out, in our super school. We post regularly to keep you up to date with school news and school life, and to share all the wonderful activities and amazing work our fantastic pupils do.

If you engage with social media, why not check out our pages and be sure to follow us so that you never miss a post.

https://www.instagram.com/crackleyhall_littlecrackers/

https://www.facebook.com/crackleyhallandlittlecrackersofficial/

https://twitter.com/CrackleyHallSch/

Many congratulations to Junior 5 pupil, Felix, who performed at the Loft Theatre in Leamington Spa, over the summer holidays, in their Arts Insight Youth Theatre production of Game of Life: Your Future Edition. Felix played a principal part and despite being the youngest performer, took it all in his stride. The show ran for three nights and received great reviews.

Felix spent many hours rehearsing in the run up to the performances and made many friends with his fellow cast members. He absolutely loved the whole experience and is now very keen to audition for more shows.

A huge well done to Felix, what an amazing opportunity for you. We look forward to seeing your performing talents on our Crackley’s stage soon.

Princethorpe has a new Admissions Team gearing up to help families who are interested in entry to the College for September 2024 and beyond.

Catherine Rogers is our new Registrar, having been promoted to the role in July. Catherine will be a familiar face to many families, she has been a longstanding member of the Admissions Team and has a wealth of knowledge and experience of the Princethorpe admissions cycle. Joining her is new Assistant Registrar, Marie Holt, who is no stranger to the Foundation either, having previously worked as a receptionist at Crackley Hall School.

The friendly pair have plenty in common, not least their shared public service backgrounds; Catherine was a midwife in the NHS for 18 years and Marie a Warwickshire police officer for 25 years, with their calm, unflappable natures they are both well equipped to cope with the busy period ahead.

The last few weeks have seen the duo dealing with new Lower Sixth joiners post GCSE Results Day, and the Year 7 Activity Day along with arrangements to ensure a smooth start to term for the next generation of Princethorpians.

Comments Catherine, “We are really looking forward to our first Open Event together, which promises to be an exciting one as we will be welcoming visitors into the brand, new state-of-the-art Science Centre at our Open Afternoon on Sunday 17 September.”

To get in touch with Catherine and Marie, email admissions@princethorpe.co.uk or call 01926 634201/297, they will be happy to help.

Monday 11 September - 6.30pm to 7.30pm

The College's Admissions Team will be holding a Virtual Parents' Q & A session on Monday 11 September from 6.30pm to 7.30pm.

The event will be a live streamed Q & A session with Grove du Toit (Headmaster), Michael Spencer (Deputy Head - Academic) and Catherine Rogers (Registrar).

This is a chance for parents interested in Year 7 entry to the College in September 2024 to ask our Admissions Team questions relating to the admissions process and Entrance Examinations Day in an informal forum before the registration deadline of Friday 29 September.

If you would like to attend please click on this link where you will also be able to submit any questions in advance.

Sunday 17 September 2023 - 2.00pm to 5.00pm

Princethorpe will be holding its annual Open Afternoon on Sunday 17 September from 2.00pm to 5.00pm. All are welcome to visit the College and for younger visitors, there will be many fun subject related activities organised by the departments.

The Headmaster will address visitors during the afternoon and refreshments will be available. 

To book your place please click here.

Princethorpe College's Admissions Update e-newsletter is now live!

The Princethorpe College's Admissions newsletter is designed to give prospective parents and pupils a feel for school life at Princethorpe and key information about the admissions process.

Click here to read.

Thursday 28 September 2023 – 11.00am to 1.00pm

With the opening of Princethorpe’s fantastic new Science Centre this term, the College is delighted to host the whole of Junior 6 to a special Science Themed Taster Morning on Thursday 28 September 2023.

The group will travel over to the College by coach and together with their teachers they will have a tour of the new state-of-the-art building and experience two hands-on Science lessons, along with their peers from fellow Foundation prep school, the Crescent.

They will return back to Crackley Hall in time for a slightly later lunch.

A reminder to Junior 6 parents that the deadline for registering for the Princethorpe Entrance Exams on Saturday 11 November is fast approaching on Friday 29 September. It is now possible to register online, click here for information.

If you have any queries, please feel free to contact the College’s friendly Admissions Team, Catherine Rogers and Marie Holt on 01926 634201/297 respectively or email admissions@princethorpe.co.uk.

In addition, Headmaster, Grove du Toit and Catherine Rogers, the Registrar, will be offering an informal Admissions Drop-In Session for Crackley Junior 6 parents on Friday 15 September, after the Junior 6 Parents’ Information Meeting, should you have any further queries

Thursday 28 September 2023 - 6.30pm to 8.00pm

Crackley Hall School and Little Crackers Nursery in Kenilworth, are hosting a dedicated Nursery and Reception Open Evening on Thursday 28 September from 6.30pm.

This Open Evening is a dedicated evening for prospective families wishing to join Little Crackers Nursery or Reception in September 2024 and beyond. 

This is a perfect opportunity to see the school and talk to key members of staff who will be teaching and supporting your child. 

To book your place please click here. 

If you can't make the Open Evening but would like to look around the school, you can book a personal tour buy contacting our Registrar, Mrs Jenny Vaughan on 01926 514410 or email admissions@crackleyhall.co.uk and come on a day to suit you.

For more information visit www.crackleyhall.co.uk

Junior 6 have started the new term full of vim and vigour, showing us their enthusiasm and passion for learning while still being outstanding role models for the younger children. We were especially impressed by the children’s scientific knowledge and understanding as they thought about classifying curious critters based on their physical features. Keep up the hard work Junior 6, you are all super stars!

Junior 5 have made a fantastic start to the academic year. They have settled in splendidly, becoming more and more used to the different routines. The children have created some wonderful pieces of work over the summer: Aztec artwork, letters from the Americas and posters about planets. In school, they have shown their enthusiasm in all subjects; demonstrating their Bible reading skills, mathematic knowledge, spelling skills, artistic talent and much more. The Junior 5 team will be looking forward to teaching and seeing the pupils grow during the year.

Junior 4 returned this week to experience a super PE lesson led by Mr Vaughan. They enthusiastically competed in their Houses and participated in an array of physical activities, whilst also learning about the muscles they were using, and adapting their skills of balance and coordination. They also learnt what they would do if they were a beach lifeguard. These key skills were an essential preparation for their upcoming swimming lessons, which begin next week.

It has been wonderful to welcome Junior 3 back to school and up into Key Stage 2. All pupils have made such a responsible start to the year, and we are very excited to see what the rest of the year will bring. This week we have done lots of activities that involve collaborating within a group, or with our learning partner, earning ourselves some stars for our Crackley Compass star charts. We were very excited to find out a little about negative numbers as we played an addition and subtraction strategy game together. A very warm welcome to our new pupils, Laura, Kenji and Michael, who we are delighted have joined us on our Junior 3 learning adventure.

Well done on our first week in Junior 2 everybody, we have been super stars! We have been learning our new routines and expectations and we know we are going to have a fabulous year. We have started our Castles topic and we were amazed with what we could remember about William the Conqueror, where he came from, how many years ago and why he introduced castles into Britain? In English we have started to delve into the beautiful book Inside the Villains and we have been focusing on characters and we even created our own. We have been getting our brains going again in Maths and it is so lovely to see how we were able to use reasoning to explain our answers. A big difference this year, is that Junior 2 are venturing over to the sports field for one of their Games lessons. Well done, Junior 2 for being so sensible. 

Junior 1 have had the most amazing start to the school year. This week we have been working on our independence in school and learning how to complete our tasks as a whole class. We have also had our break times in the bigger playgrounds and have been given the chance to choose our own lunch. What a lot of growing up we have done in one week! Our Phonics lessons have begun at pace with a quick recap of our Reception digraphs and lots of reminders about writing our letters correctly. We had to think carefully about where to start each letter and which way round we had to go. This week, Science was so much fun with the children learning about skeletons and then making their own. We were so excited to learn that the smallest bone in our bodies is actually in the ear!

What an amazing first week we have had in Reception! We have been so proud of all of our children as they have started their Crackley Hall journey. They have been busy making new friends, learning new routines and trying lessons for the first time. In phonics, we have learnt 4 digrpahs and then children have happily practised them around the classroom, telling us what sounds they can see, writing them beautifully and ‘robot-talking’ too. We are so excited for this year!

Please click here for this week's newsletter. 

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

Weekly Mission

Please find information below:

Children's Liturgy

A children's liturgy resource for the Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A). In today’s gospel Jesus encourages us to meet together in His name and says He will be with us when we do.

Activity Sheet 

A big warm welcome back from the PTA, we hope everyone has settled back in to the Michaelmas Term. 

You may have already taken advantage of our pre-loved uniform sale on Friday morning or had a cup of tea or coffee at assembly - just a taste of the range of things your PTA does to support and enhance your child's experience at the school.

PTA Coffee Morning

Open to all for a quick chat and a drink, we'll be at The Farthing Gallery in Kenilworth on Wednesday 13h September between 2.00pm and 3.00pm.

PTA Annual General Meeting

You are cordially invited to join our AGM held at the School in the Science Room and online on Thursday 21 September from 4.30om to 6.00pm.  We love to put on great events and provide services to the whole school community and need your input, energy and ideas.  We are actively recruiting for new members to share the fun so if you've been thinking about getting involved please join us to find out more.  

Children's Activity Social

We're holding a relaxed social at the school on Saturday 23 September 2.00pm to 4.00pm. Please save the date and join us for an easy afternoon of catching up and letting the children engage and play with new and old friends. More details coming soon!

Contact us via the office or hello@pta.crackleyhall.co.uk

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

The Princethorpe Foundation

• Commercial Enterprises Manager
• Alumni Relations and Development Manager
• Estates Weekend Supervisor

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

To order uniform please use the electronic form.

This link is in weekly Chronicle for your ease and convenience. 

New Uniform Order