Headmaster's Welcome
Dear Parents
We have been delighted to welcome Lileth Evans to the front office this week. Lileth joins us from Warwick Prep School where her role was very similar to the Receptionist role that she is filling here with us. This has helped to ensure that Lileth's first few days have proved almost seamless! Lileth has joined us at the busiest time of the year, and she is coping remarkably well! Please do say hello when you are next in school.
The rehearsals for the annual production have all come to a climax this week and the performances will be spectacular, I'm sure. The staff and children always work together in quite an extraordinary way to pull all the many aspects together and the level they achieve is always quite incredible. At the time of writing I am very much looking forward to seeing the fruits of so much labour and would like to sincerely thank every single member of the staff team for their contribution. Particular thanks must go, of course, to Mrs Wildey, Mrs Olden and Mrs Paphitis who have worked tirelessly to ensure that the children fulfil their potential. In addition, I know that too many others to mention have contributed, especially Mrs Hardwick, Mrs Holmes, Miss Broadbent and Mrs Clark. Thank you all!
Mr and Mrs Vaughan are thanked for spending the day on Monday at the ISA Athletics with 7 of our children who competed in the national finals. Casper competed well in the U9 cricket ball throw, coming 7th in a very strong field. Leo ran his 600m well against a very strong, fast field, finishing 13th; Sienna could have qualified for a number of events, but on this occasion, the 150m field had some specialist sprinters who pipped her to the post, coming 7th in the U11 girls 150m. Jessie, Amalie, Grace and Scarlet just missed a medal in the U10 girls relay – having worked so hard on their change-overs. Whilst we were not lucky enough to bring any medals home this time, we are immensely proud of all our athletes for reaching the national finals.
It is always wonderful to see the young children enjoying the teddy bear's picnic, and we were pleased that the sun actually shone on Wednesday! Thank you to all the staff who prepared for the picnic.
Our last full week of the academic year is as packed as always with our Key Stage 2 Sports Day, an ISA cricket competition and Music exams all scheduled. Moving Up Day will be on Wednesday, with all the children meeting their teachers for next year and we look forward to welcoming some new pupils into the different years throughout the school.
I am delighted that Mr Cottrill has been appointed to his first Headship (please refer to my letter of yesterday) and it is a wonderful reason for the whole school community to celebrate his achievement and our school’s role in his career. We have an incredibly strong teaching and whole staff team at Crackley Hall and the Trustees decided that we are in a position to appoint his successor from within. We also congratulate Ms McAloon on her appointment to Deputy Head. Mrs Glen-Roots, currently one of our Assistant Heads, will take on the important role of pastoral lead and I would like to extend my thanks and congratulations to her as well.
We will formally thank Mr Cottrill at an upcoming assembly, and also extend our thanks to the other members of staff who are leaving, at our Leavers’ Assembly on the last day of term. The staff and school community are putting together a collection for Mr Cottrill, to add to the school’s contribution, to give him something special from all of us. Please do call in at the office as soon as possible if you wish to contribute to the leaving collections we have in the office - the deadline for this is the end of the day on Wednesday 26 June please, to allow us to go shopping!
I wish you all a very happy and relaxing weekend with your families and hope that your football and cricket teams perform as you would like. Although I am not attending the match, I also have the added interest of following the Springboks as they play Wales at Twickenham this weekend.
God bless,
Robert Duigan
