The Chronicle

Dear Parents 
 
I hope that everyone enjoyed the half term break. The school started the new half-term with a flourish.  It was such a shame to have to postpone our Key Stage 2 Sports Day this week when the weather got the better of us, we look forward to trying again on Monday 24 June! 
 
The children have been working extremely hard rehearsing for the annual show on Friday 21 June. From the snippets I have heard in passing, we really are in for a treat! I appreciate the work that goes on at home into sourcing costumes and learning lines, as well as the need to stay on top of arrangements as we enter the final run-up to the event. Please do head to the 'Important Information' section of the Chronicle to confirm details of who needs to be where, when and with what!  
  
The U11 cricket team travelled north of Derby (Duffield CC) for the ISA Midlands Kwik Cricket event. The boys performed exceptionally well throughout the day, playing five matches and winning three of them. Everyone improved their own personal performance, and they ended up finishing 3rd in the plate competition (2nd tier) after finishing second in their initial group. 
 
On Thursday, 13 pupils travelled to Leamington Spa Lawn Tennis & Squash Club for the ISA Midlands Tennis competition. The children participated in a number of different seeded competitions, competing against children from across the Midlands region, including schools from Sheffield. As the sun shone, so did the children and there were many outstanding performances from those who had never played a tournament before, to our more experienced players. In all competitions, Crackley Hall earned many medals including a gold for Isaac (in the top seed competition) and Junior 2 pupil, Oscar, who was competing in a Junior 4 event. Sukhmani earned a well fought bronze (also in the 1st seed competition). Other medals included: Theo H – bronze, Mahnoor – silver, Elle B – bronze (1st seed competition).  
  
I was sad to hear of an incident in our lower car park this week that involved a parent making rude hand gestures towards another parent (I am unaware of who this was and would prefer it to remain that way for now). I would like to remind all parents that we lead by example in our behaviour and aim to teach the children in our care how to behave in a courteous and dignified manner. Our terms and conditions do outline the school's expectations in terms of behaviour of everyone in our school community. 
 
It was good to be able to gather the whole school for Celebration Assembly this morning. Well done to all our stars of the week! Nursery - Annie and Ralph; Reception - Joel, Milla and Charlotte; Junior 1 - Toby and Harper; Junior 2 - Ella and Tommy; Junior 3 - Chace and Liana; Junior 4 - Eloise and Tristan; Junior 5 – Jessie, Charlie and Leo; Junior 6 - Sukhmani and Ted. We were treated to a lovely piano performance from Sophie, and fantastic singing performances from Elsie and Blythe. They were all exceptional and were thoroughly appreciated by everyone in the audience. 
 
The PTA colour run is all set and is on the go as I write this newsletter. I do hope that everyone has a fabulous time and that Mr Cottrill is able to avoid being ‘gunged’. Thank you very much to Mrs Gordon, Mrs Turvey and their team of helpers for organising this super event. Thank you, also, to everyone who is taking part or helping on the day. 
 
I wish you all a happy and restful weekend with your families.  
 
God bless, 

Robert Duigan

"A good teacher isn't someone who gives the answers out to their kids, but is understanding of needs and challenges and gives tools to help other people succeed." - Justin Trudeau

There will be no Choral Group on Tuesday 11 June.

The Summer Production is taking place on Friday 21 June, please see below for information regarding the final details, costumes and ticket link.

Please can you let Mrs Wildey know if you have any scary rubber animals similar to the ones in the View Gallery. Thank you.

Final Details Letter

Costume Letter Reception to Junior 5

Costume Letter Junior 6

Tickets Link

To confirm the collection arrangements after the final show of the summer production are as per the final details letter sent out. 

For your reference this is as below:

• Junior 3 at 3:45pm from the cinema door
• Junior 4 at 3:45pm from the cinema door
• Junior 5 at 3:45pm from the main doors
• Junior 6 at 4:00pm from the side door

There will be no aftercare running at school, all children need to be collected as above.

Key Stage 2 Sports Day will now be held all day on Monday 24 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

In light our our sustainability focus, Ms Holmes will be collecting all kinds of bottle tops during the next few terms for a summer project in Trinity 2025.  Please could you collect all your bottle tops and bring them into school as and when you have a bag of them.

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

Please see our SPORT section for fixture information.

Junior 6 pupil, Elora, has read nearly 3 million words this academic year and currently tops the leader board in the school’s annual reading challenge, having devoured an incredible 40 books. It’s an amazing achievement but Elora is not the only book worm at Crackley Hall, as there are a further 12 pupils at the school who have read over a million words this school year.

Crackley Hall’s approach to reading and literacy is supported by Renaissance’s Accelerated Reader system. Children in Junior 3 to Junior 6 take a quiz after reading each book that tests their understanding. The approach promotes reading for pleasure whilst ensuring the children read appropriately challenging books. It totals up the books and words read, and we find the competitive element has a positive impact on children’s motivation to read.

Studies show that reading for pleasure makes a big difference to children’s educational performance. Crackley Hall’s structured approach to reading facilitates children’s progress and helps develop reading abilities well beyond national age expectations.

Junior 6 teacher, Sorcha Horan, who leads on literacy at the Crackley Hall School, explains, “There are so many good books out there for children to read and we have a very positive reading culture in school. Pupils from Junior 3 onwards take part in the reading challenge and quiz regularly on the computers at school. We find our pupils engage really well in our reading challenge and its awe-inspiring to see we have so many reading millionaires.”

Just look at the amazing word counts of our millionaire readers:

Junior 5:
Jude W 1,016,459
Ain L 1,415,452
Ella W 2,170,208

Junior 6:
Sara A 1,158,109
Austin R 1,096,310
Beatrice P 1,257,448
Ria M 1,476,246
Sophia F 1,328,018
Josie-Jean S 1,412,845
Elsie W-P 1,512,159
Alexa B 1,416,437
Fergus C 1,798,608
Elora H 2,952,947

Following on from the Midlands region ISA Athletics event back before the half term we have now had our National Finals qualifiers confirmed.

Huge congratulations go to Sienna L (J6) who qualifies for the 150m sprint, Leo C (J6) who qualifies for the 600m, Casper B (J4) who qualifies for the Throw and to Grace A, Amalie S, Jessie J and Scarlett (J5) who qualify for the Girls Relay.

The ISA National Track and Field Championships take place later this term, on Monday 17 June, at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham. 

Crackley Hall's athletes will be competing for the Midlands team and we wish them all the very best of luck.

Wednesday 5 June, was World Environment Day and to mark the occasion, Crackley Hall School welcomed Ruth Payne from Warwickshire County Council's Waste Management Team to talk to pupils. In an assembly with the whole school, Ruth talked about how reducing plastic waste is good for nature while saving money too. She explained how garden waste is turned into compost and put onto farmers' fields. Domestic waste is channelled into making electricity or recycled and turned back into glass and cardboard. She spoke about the new Sherbourne Recycling Centre in Coventry, which opened last year, and uses robots and artificial intelligence technology to sort rubbish. She challenged everyone to reduce the amount of waste they create and to reuse and recycle.

Ruth then spoke separately to the Gardening and Environmental Stewards in Junior 6 and the Years 5 and 6 Student Councillors about how we as a school could improve our waste management.

Please see here for Warwickshire's Schools Waste and Recycling Newsletter.

Many thanks to Ruth for visiting school to talk to us on Wednesday.

Crackley Hall Dads will be facing The Croft School Dads in two exciting charity football matches and they would love your support.

These thrilling games, organised by Adam Ward and Ian Houghton, are being held at Kenilworth School, Glasshouse Lane, Kenilworth CV8 2AL on the Saturday 8 June (2.00pm kick off) and the Home Guard Club, Main Street, Tiddington, Stratford-upon-Avon CV37 7AY on Sunday 23rd June (10.30am kick off).

The teams are raising funds for OSCAR’s Paediatric Brain Tumour Charity. OSCAR's exists to support and care for children facing brain tumours and their families, to raise awareness of children’s brain tumours and to fund new research to drive down diagnosis time, increase survival rate and improve children’s quality of life during and after treatment.

Show your support by cheering for your team and making a donation to our JustGiving page. Your contributions will help fight children's cancer and support vital research. Don't miss this chance to make a difference while enjoying a great community event. Donate now and be part of the cause!

justgiving.com

Over the half term holidays, Junior 4 pupil, Angelica performed with the English Symphony Youth Orchestra in a concert at Worcester Cathedral. Angelica, who is a talented celloist, was one of 130 young musicians who took part in the Elgar for Everyone Family Concert that took place on Wednesday 29 May.

To prepare for the performance, Angelica had attended a two-day ESO Youth Orchestra workshop at Bromsgrove School where she worked in the Beginners group, as she is working towards Grade 3, with musicians many much older than herself. Together the young musicians rehearsed and then played Festival March to the Trumpet Tune, Jupiter and The Firebird Finale.

Both the course and the concert were marvellous opportunities for Angelica that will have helped develop her instrumental skills. In fact, Angelica enjoyed herself so much that she hoping to take part in further ESO courses in the summer.

What an amazing experience for Angelica!

Super huge congratulations to Junior 6, Darcey, who competed in the National Schools And Riding Clubs Two Day Event at Princethorpe College at the start of half term. Darcey and her pony, Court Chester, rode in the 70cm class for the Princethorpe Montargis team. Princethorpe’s event is the only school’s two-day-event competition and welcomes school teams from across the country. Darcey took on dressage and show jumping on Saturday and then roads and tracks and cross country on Sunday. She was amazing, finishing in 8th position individually, and we are all very proud of her. Well done Darcey!

By the time you’re reading this we’re hoping that everyone will have had a gloriously good time at the PTA's third ever Colour run! 

Many of our children and indeed some of us will have charged through tyres, leapt over noodle rainbows and played dodge ball round the track culminating in a technicolour finish. At least one brave ‘lucky’ teacher will have been gunged to the bittersweet delight of the children. 

The PTA hopes the children will take away plenty of special memories and look forward to sharing a gallery of snaps next week. Thank you very much to everyone who contributed with time or materials to make it happen!

Monday 15 July to Friday 23 August, 8.00am to 5.00pm

We are thrilled to team up with Team Super Sports to offer an action-packed summer experience for children aged 5 to 16 years. From Monday 15 July to Friday 23 August, our Holiday Camps will run from 8.00am to 5.00pm.

Children aged 7 to 16 can choose from a variety of sports, including rugby, cricket, football, gymnastics, netball, hockey, and tennis to create their own personalised sports camp! For our younger campers (ages 5 to 7), along with sport we’ve got arts, crafts, and dance activities to keep them engaged and having a blast!

Why Team Super Sports? They’re experts in sport and multi-activity holiday camps, providing top-level coaching for all abilities.

Click here to visit the Team Super Sports website to secure your child’s spot.

Camps are priced at £37 per day, with an extra 10% discount for early bird bookings before Sunday 9 June. Sibling discounts and flexible booking options available!

Crackley Hall’s Holiday Club will continue to run as normal, information will be shared soon!

Sunday 15 September 2024 - 2.00pm to 5.00pm

Princethorpe will be holding its annual Open Afternoon on Sunday 15 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. 

Click here to book your place.

Entrance Examinations registration deadline is Friday 27 September 2024. Click here to complete a registration form.

We love to celebrate our pupils' talents, so every week in Celebration Assembly, we hear of the children's 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!

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Congratulations to them all!

Excitement has been building in Junior 6 this week as they diligently prepare for the highly anticipated KS1 Sports Day next Wednesday. Demonstrating remarkable leadership skills, the children have been working collaboratively in groups to plan a range of activities for the younger pupils to compete in. We then spent a fantastic morning on the field setting up and testing these events. This will be such a great opportunity for Junior 6 to strengthen their ability to inspire and motivate others. Well done, Junior 6; your passion and hard work have really impressed us.

Junior 5S have been studying the artist, Raoul Dufy and finding out about his Regatta pictures. The pupils have now taken the idea of linking the artist’s work with meaningful Bible quotes. We liked the link between the sea, ships and boats and the teaching of Jesus and His disciples. Children have thought about creating movement and wind-blown sails to signify the continuous work of Jesus, moving with the times and staying to a true course.

As we embark on our final Science topic of the year, 'The Big Build,' Junior 4 has been immersed in the fascinating world of bridges and their structures. With a keen eye for detail, they have diligently studied the various types of bridges, gaining a deep understanding of their intricate designs. They then went on to design and make their very own bridges, which will be tested for their strength around the class. We have been so impressed with both the designs and the effort that has been put in to create them. As well as super Scientists, there are definitely some budding Engineers within our Junior 4 cohort. Well done, Junior 4 - your efforts are very impressive!

Junior 3 have been time travelling in Maths and learning all about the telling the time this week. Our class clocks have been an invaluable and fun resource for the children to use to show how an analogue clock works. The children have been using them to show o’clock, half-past, quarter past, quarter to and 5-minute intervals. Being able to practically move the hands of the clock has really helped the children understand the concept of calculating time passed, and time in the future. Well done, Junior 3!

The Junior 2 children have been reading a story called Silly Billy. Billy's a bit of a worrier. He worries about so many things, like hats and rain and clouds and giant birds, that it keeps him awake at night. One night Billy stays at his grandma’s and tells her about being worried. She has the ideal solution – a set of worry dolls who will do Billy's worrying for him while he sleeps. The children will be making worry dolls using wooden pegs and wool so keep an eye out for them, they could help with any worries you have. In English, we are thinking of our own character to write a story about. Well done, Junior 2 on another very busy and productive week.

We start the last half-term of Junior 1 with the funny rhyming book of Oi Frog! as we thoroughly enjoy hearing about where animals should sit according to the object that rhymes with the type of animal they are. This led to our own rhyming poems using the same format and some hilarious results! Time was our topic in Maths where we learnt all about o’clock and half past the hour, as well as comparing times and reading a calendar. Being a weather forecaster was our task in Geography. Everyone had the chance to select what the weather was going to be like for a day and give us a weather forecast using a map of the UK and weather symbols. The history of Crayola crayons was delved into in History, and some amazing facts were learnt, such as they are over 120 years old and the first set only had eight colours!!

Maths this week was all about patterns in Reception, in particular using our visual skills to spot patterns when constructing and copying scenes. The children worked in pairs to discuss the positioning of various animals and structures, to create identical pictures - it was fabulous listening to the detailed conversations taking place.

We have also been getting ready for our Space Centre trip next week. We read the story: Snail in Space and this prompted some lovely writing from everyone as we created story maps, wrote the story in our own words, and then 'went to space' as we made a list of various planets, satellites and stars that we thought we might see. It is amazing to see how far everyone has come with their writing since September - we clearly have our own galaxy of stars!

Mr Duigan welcomed the school back after half-term and congratulated the First Holy Communion pupils on recently receiving this special Sacrament. These included Isabel, William, Lewis, Liana, and Sloane and Vaughan in their absence. Mr Duigan linked this to the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, which is celebrated each year on the second Thursday after Pentecost. Thursday was chosen as it was the day when the Last Supper was celebrated. Mr Duigan explained the Latin meaning of Corpus Christi, which means the body of Christ. He further spoke about how Holy Communion is a special gift that helps us to know that God is always with us and it is a way for us to become closer to God. Other ways of becoming closer to God is receiving the Seven Sacraments - which include Baptism, Reconciliation, First Holy Communion, Confirmation, Marriage, Holy Orders and Annointing the Sick. Mr Duigan explained how these are all ceremonies which are gifts from God.

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

Weekly Mission

Please find information below:

Children's Liturgy

Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)
Jesus challenges us to see everyone around us as our brother or sister. How can we love others in our global family?

Activity Sheet 

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.

To coincide with World Environment Day and the subsequent school Assembly on this topic, in Lego Club this week we dived into the world of sustainability, by designing our very own recycling trucks as we learnt all about eco-friendly living. We made a recycling centre complete with containers - just like the ones we use in our homes - and had fun reducing the amount of waste by recycling and reusing. We composed a very important message - 'We Need to Change' and talked about how we can do this. We even thought of a joke about recycling - but it has already bin used!! Remember, you can even recycle old Lego bricks by selling, donating or giving them to family or friends. Rehome, repurpose or recycle every Lego brick to keep them in play for longer from generation to generation.

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 have started exploring their own ‘imaginary worlds’. Each week they will have opportunities to develop skills, enjoy role play, create models, make crafts, and play in the outdoor area allowing all the children to have fun with their own ideas.

Badgers and Hedgehogs have spent ‘Superhero Week' saving the universe from every passing villain!

They chose superhero names for themselves; made masks to conceal their true identity; thought of adjectives to describe what makes a good superhero; and recorded their favourite superhero characters when we compiled a comparative bar chart during Maths. They have sung along with gusto to our hero-themed action songs and let their imaginations run riot during our action movies outside, where they planned simple conflict/resolution storylines, scaffolded by sequential prompts such as ‘first, next, then, after, and finally’. They also enjoyed playing ‘Guess the Superhero’ by taking turns to mime a particular character using iconic action cues.

We could certainly have done with a superhero to guard our vegetable patch over half term! To our collective dismay, the local fauna and insect-life seem to have taken advantage of the quieter period, to tuck into a veritable feast of plant and flowers, which has sadly depleted our produce. Never mind - we can hardly blame them because everything did look extremely tasty!

During Forest School, the children were introduced to their third woodworking tool, as they learned to hammer nails safely, which hones hand-to-eye coordination and encourages them to experiment with how much force to apply. They experimented to test out whether it was easier to hammer in a large nail or a smaller nail. I was delighted with how many children automatically adopted the ‘stable tools stance’ on one knee, without any prompt from me – they had retained and applied this from our previous bow saw safety talks.

RE sessions have been all about Weddings. The curiosity cube was filled with photographs of key elements of wedding celebrations and staff kindly brought in their own wedding portrait photos – it made the children smile to see us all as young married couples! We held our own mini wedding ceremonies using two big golden rings and promised to love and to take good care of each other. The children absolutely loved acting out this important celebration.

We would like to remind Nursery parents of two important dates coming up:

• Thursday 13 June - Nursery Sports Morning - 9.30am to 10.00am
• Wednesday 26 June - Nursery Graduation (Badgers only) - 2.00pm to 2.30pm

More details will follow shorly via email, so for now please save the dates in your diaries.

Our Stay 'n' Players were treated to a multi-sensory French session this week, where things kept disappearing!

First, they hid animal puppets to practise ‘bonjour’ and ‘au revoir’. They had fun at the lake with three little ducklings who got lost, but appeared again in time for the parachute game. They listened to a story about a fish who lost his Mum and met several sea creatures on the way to find her again. Finally, they all enjoyed popping bubbles …1,2,3 ploc!

A Bientôt les petits!

200 Club - an easy way to support the PTA 

Looking for an easy way to support the PTA? Sign up to our 200 Club! Only £5 per half termly draw and each entry has a chance to win £200 at the end of the year as an added bonus. Every little helps and we thank you for your support. Please click on the link to buy a ticket.

Link: 200 Club

PTA Pre-loved Uniform

Many thanks for all the donations that have been sent in this year - without these we literally could not operate! Please continue to use the containers in the foyer to drop off any donations rather than dropping into the office staff. We are especially grateful to receive good quality sports items - particularly tracksuit bottoms!

Please email us at: uniform@pta.crackleyhall.co.uk stating your child’s name and class and we will get all orders sent home for you.

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. 

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):

Please ensure that all items of school uniform, equipment 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.

There is a large amount of non uniform items in lost property, as well as the usual uniform items.  Unclaimed uniform items will be donated to the PTA at the end of the term.

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

• Sports Coach Hockey
• Minibus Driver

Crescent School

• 1:1 Learning Support Assistant

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