The Chronicle

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Congratulations to them all!

The Foundation's new advertising campaign, which launches next week across a variety of media, takes a joined-up approach to communicate the values and ethos of a Princethorpe Foundation education to prospective parents and pupils.

The new Foundation for Life campaign has been developed to highlight that our schools provide more than just an education, preparing pupils with the skills, learning and experiences which will put them on the road to happy and fulfilled lives. The concept underscores the unique strength of the Foundation and that there is a Princethorpe Foundation setting for every stage of a child’s educational journey. It also incorporates a gentle play on words.

Using a distinctive new graphic style emphasising the Tower icon, alongside eye-catching photography, the individual school logos and palette of Foundation brand colours, plus a new gold Foundation colour, the campaign is designed to be both visually impactful and incorporate strong messaging. Text panels emphasise that every individual is valued and that our family of schools aim to nurture, inspire and challenge our pupils to achieve great things.

Comments Melanie Butler, Foundation Assistant Head for Marketing, Admissions and Communications, "We have long wanted an overarching Foundation advertising campaign that encapsulates what the Foundation offers as a whole, as well as being adaptable to the personalities and nature of the individual school or nursery settings.

“Foundation Marketing and Communications Executive, Jo Flowers, and I have really enjoyed developing the campaign with the help of Marketing Consultant and OP, Nigel Bromley and our designer, Debbie McLaughlin. We hope the campaign will resonate not only with prospectives in terms of what they are looking for from a school or Foundation for their child, but with the whole Princethorpe community - staff, parents, pupils and Old Princethorpians alike."

Timed to coincide with the launch of Princethorpe’s 2025 admissions cycle, the Marketing Team will be working over the coming weeks to roll the campaign out across digital, outdoor and traditional media for all the Foundation schools. 

Check out the different advert concepts in the gallery!

Forest School teacher, Verity Clark, brought her adorable, six-week-old working Springer Spaniel puppies into school today. Meatloaf, Fig, Alfred, Ruby and Mabel melted everyone’s hearts and under careful supervision the children stroked and petted them. Already weaned off their mum, they are now eating and drinking lots. Mrs Clark will be keeping Rugby, whilst the other puppies will be going to families and working homes. Meeting the children was part of the puppies’ socialisation process and it also provided pupils with an important lesson on how to behave around a puppy. What an extra special Friday treat it was.

On Monday, Junior 6 visited the Confucius Institute at Coventry University to gain some experience of Chinese culture. The children participated in different activities highlighting some traditional Chinese crafts, including calligraphy, opera mask painting and traditional paper cutting.  

In traditional paper cutting, the children carefully folded up paper in particular ways, drew lines, as modelled, and cut out beautiful Chinese 'spring' characters for the Spring Festival, which is a common name for Chinese New Year.  

In opera mask painting, the children learned that different designs and colours in opera indicate different characteristics and feelings; the children then used various colours to paint their own opera masks. 

During the calligraphy session, children learned how to hold a calligraphy brush and use ink to form different characters. One of these characters was 福 (fú) which means good fortune. This sign is one which will be displayed in many households in China. 

It was wonderful to see the children immersing themselves in all the activities. 

What a wonderful World Book Day we had here at Crackley Hall School. All the pupils looked amazing, and their costumes were incredible. During assembly with Mr Cottrill, we talked about the joys of reading books and then in lessons across school there were lots of lovely book themed activities. The children in Junior 2 brought their favourite books into school and also completed a World Book Day Maths mystery game. Junior 3 shared a story from the World Book Day Story Corner called‘Ruby’s Worry. They also put themselves into the ‘paws’ of their class story character, Mowzer, as they wrote a recount of her morning in Mousehole Village. It was a lot of fabulous fun. Don't forget to use your World Book Day vouchers everyone!

Reception had such a wonderful time preparing for their class assembly for Mother’s Day. They created a beautiful portrait of their mummy and chose lots of creative craft materials to make a frame that represented them too. The children did so well at learning and saying their lines and had such lovely ideas as to why their mummy is so super special to them. We hope that everyone enjoyed the assembly and boogied along to the Mother’s Day song!  Please take a look through our Gallery to see lots of photos.

Junior 2 led a Key Stage 1 Mass on Tuesday to celebrate Mary and our Mothers. The Mass was to celebrate the life of Mary, the Mother of God, and mothers everywhere. We thought about the sacrifices Mary made, her joys and her sorrows and her complete faith and trust in God. We thought about our own mothers and the ways in which they believe in us and help us to be all that we can be. During the Mass we asked God to give our own mothers strength and understanding, just like Mary, to enable her to carry out this important role.

To assist in achieving its aim of raising awareness, understanding and learning about different Faiths, the Warwick District Faiths Forum has arranged a Faiths Trail to visit different places of worship on Saturday 20 April 2024.

This is free to attend and everyone is invited, which will enable people to walk, talk and learn about different Faiths.

Please see the attached flyer here for further information.

The British Science Week 2024 poster competition is open now!

The theme this year is ‘Time’, and there are lots of STEM topics pupils can explore! Students could create a poster showing how a certain type of technology has changed over time, or even the advancement of time-telling technology itself. Budding poster makers could also go futuristic and show us how they think the world might look in years to come, or perhaps look at nature – lifecycles, lifespans, evolution and hibernation – nature is full of timely topics.

British Science Week 2024 marks the Week’s 30th anniversary, with the inaugural celebration happening back in 1994. So students could think about scientific innovations since then, or explore 1994 itself – what was life like 30 years ago?

Judges will be looking for:

• Creativity in approach – innovative angle on the content or creative interpretation of the theme – don’t be afraid to think outside the box
• Content – clear, accurate and informative about a STEM topic
• Effective communication – presented and communicated in an engaging way

Members of the British Science Association will shortlist entries, and a panel of judges will select a winner in each category. 

All entries to Mrs Roberts - posters should have a name, age and our school neatly written at the back of them.

Entries to be handed to Mrs Roberts by Monday 25 March.

Now in its sixth year, the Young Artists’ Summer Show is a free, open submission exhibition for students aged 4–19 studying in the UK. Artworks are judged by a panel of artists and arts professionals, with selected artworks displayed online and on-site at the Royal Academy of Arts.

Registration and submission is open until 27 March 2024, please click here find out more and get involved.