The Chronicle

Many thanks to all of you who attended the Foundation Parents’ Online Forum on Monday 13 May. We had over 260 families join us, which was really encouraging. We know that many of you may have been unable to attend for logistical reasons and so have made a recording of the forum available to you via the Parent Portal. 
 
The evening focused on some potential political and economic changes in the future, and I am grateful for the positive feedback we have had from parents. There were a number of specific questions submitted on the evening, which we were able to answer, however time constraints meant we were not able to answer them all during the live event, so we have also put the full questions and answers on the Parent Portal. 

Click here to login to the Portal and access the recording and Q and A.
 
If you have any further related questions or queries, please do send them through by using this link and if you want further information on the Fees in Advance Scheme, please see the information on our website here. 
 
With all best wishes.

E D Hester

Dear Parents 
 
This week seems to have flown by! I have been most impressed with the level of interest and activity in the classrooms and around school. There is so much on the go at the moment. Besides the hard work and efforts in the classroom, we have pupils preparing for First Holy Communion, for the summer production, taking LAMDA exams and playing sports fixtures. Added to that has been the extra business in preparation for tomorrow’s Summer Fayre. 
 
The Junior 3’s enjoyed a most fulfilling and fun-filled day on Tuesday as the whole year group joined the First Holy Communicants in a retreat day of reflection. Thank you to Mrs Forino for arranging this. 
 
We hosted the ISA Midlands 6-a-side hardball cricket competition on Wednesday. We were blessed with lovely weather and there was a good turnout of very strong teams. Crackley won their group and advanced to the final where they played Derby Grammar School. Derby scored 84/1 in their innings, with Crackley Hall doing extremely well to get to 60/0 in their allotted 5 overs. We did extremely well to earn the silver medals. Archie was chosen as player of the tournament and is to be congratulated, along with Vaughan, Eleanor, Ben, Isaac and Soren. I would like to thank all the staff who helped to run the day, including Mrs Edkins and Mrs Townsend, Mr Luis and Mr Hunt, along with our games staff and the sports staff and sixth-formers from Princethorpe College. 
 
Well done to J1H for selling the most tickets per pupil and, thereby, being rewarded with a class party at school next Friday, courtesy of the PTA.  I hope to see many pupils, families and staff at tomorrow’s summer fayre. The PTA team, under the guidance of convenor, Sara Higginbotham, have been so busy in recent weeks, culminating in the school being a hive of activity in and around the hall today. The parents and grandparents are hard at work as I write this piece and I should like to record my sincere thanks to them all for their wonderful efforts and generosity of time. Please do come over for a burger or a sausage, where I will be bbq’ing, with three experts advising and leading the way. 
 
Congratulations to this week's Stars of the Week who are: Nursery – Niko and Michael; Reception – Rosie and Henry; J1 – Sebastian and Ryan; J2 – Grace and Basile; J3 – William and Xanthe; J4 – Sara and Joshua; J5 – Evie and Charlotte; J6 – Harry and Isla. Well done to all the pupils who received their bronze or silver awards this week. I thought that Evie and Teo were both excellent when they sang at assembly this morning. Well done and thank you to both of them. 
 
I hope that the lovely weather holds for tomorrow and that you are able to join in the ‘fun of the fayre’. To those who are not able to join us, I also hope that you are able to spend a happy and restful weekend with families and loved ones. 
 
God bless, 

Robert Duigan

"The fact that you worry about being a good teacher, means that you already are one." - Jodi Picoult.
 

Key Stage 2 Sports Day will be held all day, on Tuesday 4 June on the Sports Field.

Key Stage 1 Sports Day will be held in the morning, on Wednesday 12 June on the Sports Field.

Children should wear their summer sports kit, but are welcome to wear a t-shirt in the colour of their house, together with matching coloured accessories, eg caps, hair ribbons/bands, socks, sweat bands etc.

Mars - Red

Venus - Green

Saturn - Yellow

Jupiter - Blue

Please see detailed below events for week begininng Monday 20 May 2024. 

Please see our SPORT section for fixture information.

Princethorpe College is delighted to be partnering with Team Super Sports to offer Holiday Camps to children aged 5 to 16 years for six weeks this July and August.

The initiative is part of the Foundation’s new Commercial Enterprise activity aimed at generating additional sources of income and is in response to feedback and demand from parents.

The Summer Holiday Camps will run from 8.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday from 15 July to 23 August and are open to all. They will offer a wide variety of sporting activities, taking advantage of the College’s extensive grounds and sporting facilities. Youngsters aged 7 to 16 can take their pick of rugby, cricket, football, gymnastics, netball, hockey and tennis and create their very own sports camp. In addition to sports, dance and games there will also be optional arts and crafts activities for younger children aged 5 to 7.

Comments, Gemma Cullinane, Princethorpe Commercial Enterprise Manager, “Team Super Sports are an experienced provider of sport and multi-activity holiday camps with a fantastic reputation for top-level coaching for children of all abilities. We are very excited to be joining forces with them for the first of many holiday camps to come.

Dan Super, Founder of Team Super Sports, added, “Princethorpe’s beautiful campus is the perfect setting for a holiday camp. We are expecting it to be a very popular choice for many families in the local area.”

For more information and to book your child’s place simply visit the Team Super Sports website here. The camps are priced at £37 a day. Bookings before the early bird deadline of Sunday 9 June attract an extra 10% discount and there are further discounts available for siblings and four and five-day bookings. Childcare vouchers are also accepted.

Team Super Sports will be on hand at the College’s Open Evening on Wednesday 5 June and at Induction Day on Wednesday 26 June to answer any questions families may have or you can contact them at info@teamsupersports.co.uk or call 01675 448494.

Crackley Hall’s Holiday Club will continue to run as normal.

On Sunday 12 May, a team of six gymnasts from Year 5 and 6 travelled to Adcote School in Shropshire to compete for the first time in the ISA National Gymnastics Championships.

Elora, Sienna, Adreena, Isla, Jessica and Grace had all worked incredibly hard to prepare for the competition, which involved over 130 gymnasts from 10 different independent schools from across the country. 

In the competition the girls had to perform a set vault, a voluntary vault, a set floor routine and a voluntary floor routine set to music. All the girls tried exceptionally hard and performed really well. Crackley Hall finished in 8th position overall in the U11 Girls team competition with Elora finishing in 19th place in the individual competition.  

Well done, girls! You made Crackley very proud!

Crackley Hall welcomed Emily from OneLife Music to school today to lead pupils from Year 3, and those taking their First Holy Communion, in a Retreat Day.

The Retreat provided pupils with the opportunity to explore their faith through music, prayer and specially designed games and activities all while having lots fun. The children had a great time working together, exploring this wonderful sacrament and what it is going to mean to them or their friends as they continue on their faith journey.

Many thanks to Emily, everyone had such a wonderful day.

Yesterday after school, Crackley Hall took part in Princethorpe’s Primary Schools’ U10 Football Tournament. Organised by Princethorpe's young sports leaders, eight teams played a round robin of 5-aside, 12 minute, one-way matches. Crackley played each team in turn, demonstrating fantastic team-work, discipline and resilience in a very fast-paced competition with little time for rest between quick-fire games. It was a fabulous afternoon of football; many thanks to all the parents who turned up to support.

Last Friday, we welcomed Paralympic Swimmer Tully Kearney to school to work with the children. During her visit Tully spoke about her passion for giving all kids with severe disabilities equal access to sport and in particular for giving those who cannot walk the opportunity to experience the freedom of running.

Tully has provided further information on her fundraising for frame running here Now I Can Run.

You can donate to the charity here.

She has also provided a link to a video she produced for UK Sport to showcase frame running here.

Please do have a look and consider supporting her.

Tuesday 28 May to Friday 31 May

We have lots going on at Little Crackers Nursery over May Half Term. Our year-round children have a dinotastic week of activities to look forward to. Our mini palaeontologists will be going on dinosaur hunts, making fossils, listening to, talking about and acting out dinosaur stories, creating dinosaur craft and generally engaging with and enjoying all the dinosaur fun. We think it is going to be t-rexcellent!

Wednesday 5 June - 6.30pm to 8.30pm

Princethorpe College invites prospective families to the College's annual Summer Open Evening which will take place on Wednesday 5 June from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. This is a perfect opportunity for families looking for a secondary school place in September 2025 and beyond to visit the school, for children to take part in departmental activities and for parents to meet and chat to members of staff and pupils.

The Headmaster, Grove du Toit, will also address visitors during the evening. Light refreshments will be available.

Please click here to book your place. 

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Congratulations to them all!

We love to celebrate our pupils' talents, so every week in Celebration Assembly, we hear of the childrens' successes and achievements and we watch performances by some of our pupils.  Here are some photos from this morning.

A huge well done to all!

This week in Art, Junior 6 have begun to create some fantastic artwork using oil pastels in celebration of the season of Pentecost. Inspired by the phrase ‘Wind Beneath my Wings’, the children brainstormed some ideas about what form they believed the Holy Spirit might take. After settling on a design, the children created their art using oil pastels. We were amazed by how bold and bright the images were and how they were full of fire and movement. Well done children, you worked carefully and meticulously to create some fantastic pieces of work!

Junior 5 have been busy this week, and in amongst all of the school events, they have all been working hard to practise exam techniques and the kind of tasks that they might be asked to complete. They have all demonstrated an excellent attitude towards their learning and, as a result, they are improving their confidence in these situations.

It hasn’t been all hard work in the classroom though, as it has been lovely to see the children get ready for sports day, building healthy rivalries and preparing for a day of exciting competition. Keep it going Junior 5, we think you are all amazing!

Having made their bespoke tea and described it vividly, as part of our English lessons, Junior 4 have now been learning how to use persuasive devices to advertise their tantalising product. Slogans, rhetorical questions, and an array of figurative language have all been used and transcribed onto their attractive 3D tea boxes. Well done, Junior 4 - you are all budding entrepreneurs!

Junior 3 have become budding journalists this week by learning all about news reports and how to write one. The children enthusiastically talked about their previous knowledge of news reports and then, in their talking partners, discussed where they would see one, their purpose and what they might include. For their independent task, the children then matched the features of a news report to an exciting example of a report about Icarus, linking to their history learning about Ancient Greece. Features learnt included: headlines, bylines, use of the past tense, emotive language, facts, quotations, photographs and captions. What an exciting new writing genre this was!

It’s been another busy week in Junior 2. During Maths we have been learning all about different ways to tell the time to the nearest half an hour, quarter past and quarter to and, of course, o’ clock. Whilst it was tricky at first, we managed to learn a very useful skill and will keep practising to accurately tell the time. In addition to our end of year tests, we have still been writing creative alternative endings to the Tin Forest story. We loved how the children incorporated their learning in Geography into their English work. Science this week has been great fun too, as we have been learning all about how plants grow and what they need to become healthy and strong.

Minibeast fact files have been our focus in English this week, with some amazing results. After learning how to set out a fact file and use headings and sub-headings, we wrote one for worms, snails and honeybees; learning lots of new information along the way - such as the longest recorded worm was as long as an Olympic swimming pool!

Science had us outside observing nature, linking in nicely with our English work. We spotted worms and snails, but no bees this time.

Over in Maths we looked carefully at the coins and notes that we use when shopping and discovered how to make different amounts using only the coins that are in circulation.

We went back in time to the 1950s, 60s and 70s to discover what sorts of toys were popular back then in our history lesson. There was a lot of excitement when they realised that Star Wars toys were very popular in the 1970s.

As we continue our topic on going places, both Reception classes have been journeying in different ways - from diving deep into the ocean in a submarine, to exploring tribes in Africa. Ms Holmes encouraged some of the children to make some fantastic pencil and pastel drawings of tribesmen in art, focussing on the figure and form, as well as using warm sunny colours to reflect the environment; whilst in our writing we reflected on the story Billy's Bucket. Looking inside the bucket, Billy spotted creatures under the sea - from sharks to whales, and we wrote our own story about what we might see if we chose a bucket to look into.

Mrs Glen-Roots led the Monday Mission assembly and explained the meaning of the gospels, which is a record of Jesus' life and teaching in the first four books of the New Testament. Within the Gospel of John, it is recorded that just after the Last Supper, Jesus was asking God to protect His friends - the disciples. This led to the question of how we can live in unity with Jesus and God. We can do this by trusting, focussing and praying to Jesus to help us remain in His love. In return, Jesus will pray for us and He will ask God to protect us and to make us holy so we can be close to God forever.  Mrs Glen-Roots revealed that Jesus' love never runs out and that His love is like a sandtimer which you can keep turning over again and again.

Mrs Glen-Roots then demonstrated how God's love can grow. Pupils and staff who had shown love and care to Mrs Glen-Roots during the morning were called upon, as Mrs Glen-Roots tore a piece of paper off a rectangle in each corner, to give to each of them. The school then counted how each corner of the rectangle had grown from four to eight. This showed each of us that the more we show love, the more there is to give.

Mrs Glen-Roots finished the assembly by asking us to think about the messages in John Chapter 17: 11-19; of how we can all share God's love with others, and how we can try to live like Jesus... and to also remember the rectangle!

Junior 2 have been learning all about Pentecost this week in RE and how Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to the disciples 50 days after Easter. We talked about how the disciples felt when they heard and felt the mysterious wind and the flickering flames. We also talked about how the Holy Spirit changed the disciples, and the seven gifts which He gave to the disciples, before each of us made a dove to represent the Holy Spirit.

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

Weekly Mission

Please find information below:

Children's Liturgy

Pentecost (Year B)
The disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and this gave them the courage to go out and tell everyone about Jesus.

Activity Sheet 

The St Francis Church Music Group is looking for new members, to play with them at the 10.30am Sunday mass. They play twice a month (on the first and third Sundays) meeting at 9.45am for a practice before mass. All instruments welcome - we would suggest a minimum standard of Grade 2. It is a great opportunity to build confidence playing with a group.

If you would like to find out more please contact Lisa Macdougall on musicgroup@kenilworthcatholic.org.uk or telephone 07740 796836.

Crackley Hall hosted its annual ISA Midlands U11 Hardball Cricket Festival on Wednesday welcoming, teams from across the Midlands. In addition to the main competition, all the teams participated in a range of fielding, catching, batting and bowling clinics. The quality of play on display was excellent, with clear evidence of each school improving not only their cricketing skills, but also their tactical awareness in the 6-a-side format.

We are especially proud of our Crackley team, who all performed well to finish second overall, only losing by a few runs to Derby Grammar in the final. Well done to Vaughan, Ben, Soren, Eleanor, Isaac and Archie, who was also awarded Cricketer of the Tournament by the umpires!

Special thanks to all the Crackley Hall and Princethorpe staff for their support of the event.

Please remember to check team sheets and find further fixture information on www.crackleyhallsport.co.uk or on SOCS.

Please can we remind all parents that whilst sports fixture information, once published, usually remains the same, parents should check www.crackleyhallsport.co.uk or SOCS on the day of the fixture for the most up to date information.

What does a Stegosaurus, a Tyrannosaurus rex and a Triceratops all have in common?  They are all the latest mighty members of Lego Club, of course! This week our imaginations ran wild as we brought the thrills of the prehistoric age back to life and invented some new species too. The topic of dinosaurs has long captured the imaginations of all of us and, with this in mind, we imagined if the dinosaurs still roamed the earth today, how could we live alongside them?  Some of us said we would try to make friends and maybe teach them how to swim, perhaps with Lego quadrupeds armbands – what a great idea! We also discussed why we don’t see animals this size today. Would we feel safe if dinosaurs were still alive and which species of animal are they related to? Very interesting questions and discussions which inspired us even more to discover the thrills of our prehistoric giants.  Here’s a question to think about - What do you call a dinosaur with a Lego body? A Lego-saurus! See you at the Summer Fayre's Lego Competition on Saturday everyone!

As you are aware, the children will be involved in performing A Hint of Snow White for our summer production, which is a modern twist on the classic story.

All children in the school are invited and encouraged to design a programme for the two shows drawing inspiration from the classic Snow White tale.

The following information needs to be on the design:

Crackley Hall Presents A Hint of Snow White

Friday 21 June 2024

The design needs to be on an A4 piece of paper with no glitter or reflective stickers as these do not photocopy well.

Designs need to be handed into the office no later than Wednesday 5 June. Mr Duigan and the Performing Arts department will select a winner and some runners up.

Each entry will earn 3hps for their house, with the runner ups earning 5hps and the winner earning 10 hps.

We look forward to seeing what the children come up with.

Good luck!

To celebrate World Chocolate Day on 7 July, your challenge is to design a new chocolate!

Please see here for the poster to see all the details, and to get inspired!

1st place - 25 house points

2nd place - 20 house points

3rd place - 15 house points

All entries will receive 5 house points

Junior da Vinci awards may also be given out!

Closing date is Monday 10 June 2024.  Please hand your entries in to Mrs Hardwick or Mrs Cowlishaw.

The Dormice children continue to investigate and explore ‘the farm’. We have explored, manipulated and played with different materials, making farm models. The children used indoor and outdoor spaces to pretend playing the role of a Farmer, using equipment to carry out all the farm jobs!

Inside, Badgers and Hedgehogs have been relaxing in the Little Crackers role play café, taking turns to be the server and the customer, and speaking ever-so-politely in their best ‘out and about voices’. They have been trying to keep a good tripod pencil grip whilst jotting down orders.

The children have had great fun honing their pouring skills, filling all sorts of different capacity containers and practising: full, nearly full, half full, nearly empty and empty. Judging when the water is about to breach the edge of the container and overflow requires a sharp eye and a steady hand! They have thoroughly enjoyed working with their own individual trays at this useful life skill. Later during the week, the children estimated how many cups they could fill pouring from different sized jugs, before testing out their guesses.

Outside, the children have held hilarious Speedy Server races, competing in pairs, tea towel draped over an arm, to transport a tray with a cup balanced on it, from the serving counter to the customer’s table. The races became more challenging through the week, as the waiters and waitresses had to transport cups which were nearly full to the brim; then to pour the drinks first before setting off at pace; and the final test was to negotiate obstacles on route.

During our Forest School session, the children were introduced to the second of our woodworking tools. The task was to drill a hole through their sawn wood slice. They learned to use a battery powered drill (with hands-on assistance) since they are not yet strong enough to use the hand drills for this task. Needless to say, this learning opportunity was received with great excitement and I was impressed with how sensibly and safely all the children responded to the ‘tool talk’.

Our pre-schoolers enjoyed their yoga session outside this week, making the most of the sunshine. Miss Sarah took the children through some basic yoga moves and breathing exercises, helping them to learn control and concentration in a calm and non-competitive way.

Please click here to view the weekly timetable for Nursery specialist activties.

Our Stay ‘n’ Players had great fun on Wednesday in their Forest Fun session. The sun came out in time for the youngsters to explore the trees and water tray and have fun on the rope swings and slide. Forest School Practitioner, Mrs Clark ran the session in Crackley Hall’s wood, which is situated behind the school.

Our next special activity is on Wednesday 5 June when Stay ‘n’ Play will be treated to a multi-sensory French session. All mums and tots are most welcome to join us every Wednesday morning from 10.30am to 11.45am. For more information contact Mrs Jenny Vaughan on 01926 514410 or email staynplay@littlecrackers.co.uk.

Due to club and activity changes, permanent Aftercare bookings are only valid for the current term. 

If you require either permanent or occasional Aftercare for the Trinity Term, please make a new booking by emailing:

aftercare@crackleyhall.co.uk or receptionist@crackleyhall.co.uk

If you need to make a same-day Aftercare booking - please ensure you contact the school office no later than 1:00 pm that day. Any requests made after 1:00 pm will only be authorised at the Headmaster's discretion.

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

Any children not collected from the carline, for example, if parents are stuck in traffic, will be taken to Aftercare at 4:15 pm, when carline finishes and charged accordingly.

Aftercare runs from 3:15 pm until 6:00 pm, with charges being £5.00 per hour or part thereof.

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

The school office closes at 5:00 pm, please call Aftercare directly on 07543 164 779 for collection. 

Please see the attached menus for the Trinity Term. These rotate on a four weekly basis.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Crackley Hall School Office
01926 514 444
Email: post@crackleyhall.co.uk
Postal address: St Joseph's Park, Kenilworth, Warwickshire, CV8 2FT
SATNAV: Use CV8 2FT

Office Manager/Headmaster’s Personal Assistant – Anna Bond
01926 514 444
Email: receptionist@crackleyhall.co.uk

Little Crackers Nursery; Nursery Manager - Emma Birch
01926 514 456 - Email: post@littlecrackers.co.uk

After Care - David Johnson, Aftercare Manager
Collection contact no; 07543 164 779
Email: aftercare@crackleyhall.co.uk

Bills, Fees and Online Payment
01926 634 273
Email: georginamalin@princethorpe.co.uk

Registrar - Jenny Vaughan
01926 514 410
Email: admissions@crackleyhall.co.uk 
 
Princethorpe College General Office
01926 634 200
Email: post@princethorpe.co.uk
 
website: www.crackleyhall.co.uk
X: @CrackleyHallSch  
facebook: @crackleyhallandlittlecrackersofficial
instagram:@crackleyhall_littlecrackers

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

Please ensure that all items of school uniform, equiptment and sports kit are named.

Could you please regularly check all uniform and sports kits at home and if it does not belong to your child, please return the items to the School Office as soon as possible.

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.

We would ask that if you use the Lower Playground at morning drop off, that you leave the school site promptly, as parking is at a premium, and it has been causing traffic congestion.

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 clubs):

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

• Events Co-ordinator

Princethorpe College

• Minibus Driver

Crackley Hall

• Class Teacher (maternity cover)
• Teaching Assistant

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