The Chronicle

Dear Parents

In this last week of this before we enjoy the half-term break, I would like to commend all the pupils on their efforts over the term and to thank all the staff for their hard work, care and initiative. I hope that you all have some time with your families and loved ones, to refresh, recoup and enjoy time together.  

We held our online Parents` Evenings on Monday and Wednesday, which, I hope gave parents` a good chance to discuss their child`s progress with their teachers. It is always a pleasure to speak with you about your child, so please do feel that you are able to approach all members staff as we work together to help each child be the best they can be. 

On Thursday, we sent a several teams to Walsall to compete in the ISA Midlands Gala.  Congratulations to all swimmers on their excellent efforts and thanks to the staff who supported and accompanied the teams. Huge congratulations to Charlotte on being selected to represent the Midlands Squad at the national gala.   

Mrs Olden also held an informal music recital yesterday evening, which was a wonderful opportunity for the children to have their moment on stage. They all performed extremely well! We admire them for giving it a go - a huge well done! We hope parents enjoyed it and thank Mrs Olden for organising a lovely concert, as well as extending thanks to our music teachers.   

Today we held our annual House Music Competition – wow, what an afternoon! All singers and musicians amazed us with their outstanding performances in front of their peers. Congratulations to the winners – Jessie for singing and Angelica for her musical performance. Special thanks go to the judge, Mrs Heather Nadin, Mrs Olden and Mr Vaughan who teamed up in organising the event. 

Congratulations to this week’s Stars of the Week: Nursery – Percy; Rec – Evelyn and Tamara; J1 – Aurora and Isher; J2 – Yuvraaj and Marie; J3 – Sherry and Raya; J4 – Ashleigh and Sloane; J5 – Gaby and Hector; J6 – Grace and Eleanor. As always, well done to all our stars of the week! You all deserve being recognised for this effort.   

I am delighted to inform you that Patrick (J5) has raised £220 for his chosen charity. The money raised from selling the pumpkins will be donated to the ovarian cancer charity. Thank you very much to parents and staff members who helped and supported this in any way. This means so much to the family and to the school community. Thank you!  

We will bid farewell to Mr Mick Luis during half term break, as he begins his well-deserved retirement. He is determined to reduce his golf handicap whilst spending precious time with his family. We join together in thanking him for all he has done for Crackley Hall over the past four years and wish him well for the future. I hope to be able to welcome Mr Luis back to school for events such as Remembrance Day in the future. 

After a very exhaustive and rigorous interview process yesterday, I am delighted to inform everyone that we have appointed Mrs Narelle Copland to the role of Assistant Head: Pastoral. Mrs Copland will be starting with us after the February half term. An outstanding classroom practitioner and educational leader, Narelle joins us from Our Lady's Catholic Primary School in Birmingham, where she has held the role of Deputy Head, SENDCo and Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead for the last two years. Previously she taught across the primary age range and held a variety of positions at St Thomas More Catholic Primary School in Coventry, including Key Stage 1 Phase Leader and specialist Dyslexia Teacher.  Narelle feels as if she is coming home as she is a past pupil of St Joseph's School (Crackley Hall’s previous name). We had a very strong field of applicants for the role and Narelle stood out in terms of her wealth of experience, proven leadership skills and an approach to teaching, learning and pastoral care that is fully in tune with Crackley's Catholic ethos and values.
We wholeheartedly congratulate Narelle on her appointment, she will further strengthen Crackley's Senior Leadership Team and I know you will join me in welcoming her to the school in this new capacity in the new year.

Thank you very much for completing the recent parental questionnaire. Your feedback is invaluable and will inform us as we continue to do our best to develop our lovely school. Teamwork makes us so much stronger, so thank you for your input and genuine care. It means a lot to us.  There will be some feedback from the questionnaires which we will share with the parent and staff community next half term. 

I hope that you are all able to enjoy some special time with friends and family over the half term break. 

Thank you for your support over the past few weeks. 

God bless, 
Rob Duigan 

'To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often', - St John Henry Newman.

Just a reminder that our early bird deadline for registrations for September 2025 Reception and Year 3 entry is today Friday 18 October. We advise those already attending Little Crackers in the pre-school year and siblings who are considering registering for 2025 entry, to please do so by this deadline.

For more information visit www.crackleyhall.co.uk.

To complete our registration form please click here.

If you would like more information about our admissions process please contact our Registrar, Mrs Jenny Vaughan on 01926 514410 or email admissions@crackleyhall.co.uk.

October Half Term Holiday club will be running from Monday 21 October to Friday 1 November 2024.

Timings and prices are as follows: 

• Daily rate (9:00am – 5:00pm, including hot lunch): £30.00 per child
• Breakfast club (8:00am – 9:00am, including breakfast): £5.00 per child
• Teatime club (5:00pm – 6:00pm, including hot tea): £5.00 per child

Click here to see and book our jam-packed programme of some of  fun activities, including some exciting trips out of school (additional charges will apply).

This year we are using the Spelling Shed programme as part of the children’s learning from Junior 2 through to Junior 6. The programme helps children to learn spelling rules systematically during both teacher-led lessons in school, and through a range of online games at home. Each game gives four different degrees of support in the form of difficulty modes; Easy, Medium, Hard and Extreme. Higher levels allow a higher score to be achieved, but children can practise as much as they like on lower levels before trying to gain higher ones. The scores achieved give a league position and each class has its own combined league position within a school league as well as the world league.

Your child’s English teacher will continue to send home lists of spelling words to learn each week, and, from next half term, they will also set weekly ‘assignments’ on Spelling Shed to complete at home. English teachers will be able to monitor your child’s progress with these ‘assignments’ via the teacher portal. Spelling tests will continue as a written test each week.

Your child will bring home their login information in their reading diary on Friday 18 October. Please can you support them to access the platform over the half term break, so they are familiar with the set-up and can complete their first games. Logins have all been tested in school, but please contact your child’s English teacher if you experience any difficulties with access. A Parents Log-in Guide is also attached  for your information.

We hope your child will enjoy using the programme and that you will find it a useful addition to our provision.

This year the nativities are taking place as follows:

Reception and Junior 1 Nativity

Thursday 12 December at 2:00pm

Junior 2 Nativity

Friday 13 December at 2:00pm

Please see attached the following letters:

Nativity Information Letter

Reception and Junior 1 Costume Letter

Junior 2 Costume Letter

Crackley Hall are delighted to welcome children's author, Jennifer Killick into school on Tuesday 5 November. 

Jennifer is the author of the Dread Wood books and we are thrilled that she is bringing an assembly for Junior 4 to Junior 6 and workshops (for Junior 5 and Junior 6).

Jennifer's books will be on sale shortly, in the run up to the 5 November, please see here for ordering details.

Look out for that - Jennifer will sign those copies too.

Let's give her a real Crackley welcome!

Due to unforeseen circumstances unfortunately Karate Club will be cancelled on Friday 8 November 2024.

The School Immunisation Team will be attending the school on Wednesday 13 November 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 Crackley Hall.

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

Unique Consent Link as a QR Code

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 3 November 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 see detailed below events for the first week after half term.

Junior 6 pupil, Charlotte, Junior 1 pupils, Rosie and Emma, and 2024 leaver, Sara, have all been recognised in the Independent Schools’ Association’s Midlands Area Art Competition.

The ISA Art Competition takes place annually, inviting participation from all pupils at ISA schools. Ms Holmes selected great examples of the children’s artwork and entered them into the Midlands Area competition.

Charlotte’s painting You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry, which she produced last year while in Junior 5, has been awarded second place in the Key Stage 2 2D class. Rosie received a Highly Commended for her work Artic Fox in the EYFS and Key Stage 1 2D class. Emma was also recognised with a Highly Commended for her piece Self Portrait In A Frame in the EYFS and Key Stage 1 3D Art class. Finally, Sara received a Highly Commended for her Banksy Sustainability Tribute in the Key Stage 2 class.

Schools are allowed to submit one piece of work per class so to have four pupils recognised in the competition is amazing and we congratulate all of the talented artists on their success

A team of 25 swimmers from Crackley Hall School made the journey to Walsall Baths on Tuesday 15 October to compete in the Independent Schools Association’s (ISA) Midlands Junior Swimming Gala.

With 32 schools competing, and over 350 pupils, Juniors 4, 5 and 6 knew it was going to be a very competitive event. The children swam 25m in the pool and the races included both individual events and exciting team relays. For some of the children it was their very first experience of competitive galas but as always Crackley Hall’s pupils encouraged each other, from the start through to the finish of every single race.

Three pupils swam superbly and earned themselves a place on the podium. Across the team, Crackley’s swimmers put in strong performances with a number just missing out on medals.

Individual medals were awarded to:

• Gold – Charlotte P (Year 6 freestyle, qualified for nationals)
• Silver – Oscar W (Year 4 Breaststroke)
• Bronze – Charlotte P (Year 6 butterfly)
• Bronze – William G (Year 4 backstroke)

Team Top 3s (all in large school category)

• 3rd – Year 4 Girls
• 3rd – Year 6 Girls
• 3rd – Year 4 Boys

Overall points:

• 2nd – Crackley Hall's Girls

Crackley Head of Games, Rich Stedeford, said, “As always there was a fabulous atmosphere poolside, with the whole team willing each other on. We had some excellent swims and tight finishes, Crackley has some very determined children. Many congratulations to our medal winners, we are very proud of you.”

Well done to all of Crackley Hall’s swimmers we are very proud of you all.

Junior 5 pupil Patrick has raised an astounding £220 for Cancer Research by selling pumpkins lovingly grown on his farm to pupils and parents.

With the help of his poster, he has promoted his pumpkin sales and sold so many that he had to keep bringing in pumpkins each day for pupils to take home. 

Well done, Patrick!

We have had a fantastic afternoon of House fun to round off the half-term. Children from Years 3 to 6 gathered excitedly in the school hall to cheer on their house-mates as they took on the exciting KS2 annual House Music Competition.

Each house had three acts and joining us for the afternoon to act as our judge for the second year running for the Instrumental and Vocal finals was retired music teacher, Heather Nadin.

The House Captains introduced the acts from their houses:

Mars:

Edward - singing.

Eloise - Guitar

Sloan - singing

Jupiter:

Leo - rapping

Tristan - Piano

Chace - Singing

Venus:

Angelica - Cello

Jessie - Singing

Evie - Singing

Saturn:

Gracie - Singing

Diya - Piano and Singing

After hearing all of the amazing performances and considering carefully, Heather declared the winners to be:-

The results for the Houses:

1st - Mars

2nd - Venus

3rd - Jupiter and Saturn.

Winner of the singing category was Jessie.

Winner of the Instrumental category was Angelica.

Many thanks to all who helped with the afternoon’s fun and especially to Heather, Mr Vaughan who arranged the event, and to Mrs Olden who ran the auditions and arranged the music for the event.

Crackley Hall has bid farewell to caretaker and Crackley Hall supreme Carline Traffic Officer, Michael Luis. Mr Luis has been with the Foundation for over eight years; four years at Princethorpe and the remainder at Crackley Hall. Luis, who spent 34 years as a Regular and Reserve in the RAF, is an avid cyclist, will be semi-retiring and spending more time with his grandchildren, and fitting in a spot of golf too! We wish Luis all the best and thank him for all his hard work at Crackley Hall School.

We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you for the generous donations during this month of harvest for our local foodbank. We were delighted with the response and with the quantity of donations received. The Warwick District Foodbank collected the donations today and our RE Captains and some of our school councillors were on hand to help load donations. Each month we will ask a different class to bring in donations so we can continue to support this important community endeavour throughout the year. Thank you again for your continued support.

Junior 6, Charlotte has just won a local competition to design the 80th Birthday Badge for Leamington based, Dale Street Scout and Guide Group. Her winning design has been turned into a badge to be handed out to all the cubs and leaders and to celebrate her competition win, it was even printed on a cake.

Well done Charlotte, it is lovely to see you putting all your Art and Design skills to good use!

Thursday 5 December

This year's Junior 5 and 6 Advent Service will take place on Thursday 5 December in the School Hall.

Further details will follow after half term.

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 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!

This week Junior 6 have finished writing beautifully presented letters to their French penpals at Ecole Saint Pierre in Nantes. As most children already got to know their penpal in Junior 5, they have not introduced themselves this time, but written about sport, their interests and hobbies. The children have considered the structure of their letter, punctuation, key spellings and content. They also bravely got to grips with accents and cedillas. Some of the Junior 6s have mentioned French sports stars they admire like Léon Marchand and Zaïre Emery. We will soon see whether the French children share interests in anime, Taylor Swift, netball or rugby!

Très bien J6! Vous êtes magnifiques!

Over the last couple of weeks, Junior 5 have been writing letters to their new penpals in France. They have introduced themselves, given details such as age, siblings and pets. The children have also written about their town or village. Soon, the children at Ecole Saint Pierre, in Nantes, will be posting their letters and excitedly opening ours, ready to learn about Warwick Castle, Coventry City stadium, the Warwickshire countryside and roast dinners! The Junior 5s will learn more about what life is like living in an apartment in a big French city (like Nantes), not having to wear a school uniform and playing handball at school before coming home for ‘le goûter’!
 

This week, Junior 4 finished off our Roman topic by taking part in our very own Roman day. We started the day dressed as Roman citizens in togas and tunics and then made our own shields and laurel wreath headdresses ready for marching as a legion against Boudica's Iceni tribe. We made our own part of a whole year group mosaic which will be going on display in the corridor and finished the day by making some Roman Honey biscuits to take home. A busy but fun day for all. We have really enjoyed learning all about the Romans and what they have brought to our country, as well as why they were so impressive as conquerors.

We have finished our first-half term as Junior 3 with a flourish and it has been wonderful to see the progress the children have made in half a term. Our focus story Stone Age Boy has concluded with the children writing their own Stone Age story. There has been lots of work on different grammatical conventions to lead up to them, creating the most incredible stories! In Maths, we have explored the concept of column addition using the available resources as well as our own mental maths, learning to add the columns vertically. Our Science topic has also concluded with us finding out about how muscles contract and expand to be able to move our bones. Everyone was so intrigued to learn that the muscles pull the bones to move joints such as an elbow or a knee. We also discovered there are two types of joints – hinge joints and ball and sockets. Well done, Junior 3; we hope you all have a well-deserved rest over the half-term holiday.

This week, in line with Black History Month, Junior 2 have been finding out about the amazing life of Floella Benjamin. The children were so thoughtful and insightful when we discussed the importance of celebrating Black History Month and couldn't wait to find out about Floella and the Windrush in more detail. They have created some brilliant writing for their fact files, thought of imaginative questions to ask Floella if they could, and had lots of ideas and opinions to share. 

Creating some big listening ears and going for a listening walk was how Junior 1 finished off their topic about the ‘Who am I?’ and the senses. They heard some strange and unusual sounds while walking around the school and had to listen carefully to decipher them. They turned out to be the photocopier, someone making a cup of coffee and hard-work!! Verbs were introduced in English and these helped us to create some poems about Fireworks, in preparation for Bonfire night. Everybody thought of great verbs to use to help explain what fireworks do and two poems were written this week using them to good effect. After our successful trip to St. John’s Museum last week, we used our newly found knowledge to help sort different household items into the old and new versions in our History lesson. Washing machines and tumble dryers were certainly not around in 1888 but after our trip, everyone knew how they did their washing and what hard work it was.

In Reception this week the children have thoroughly enjoyed their PE lessons; in gymnastics they practised combining animal movements with rolls and balances. The 'alligator' turned into a pencil roll and then became a bottom balance! Next the 'frog' turned into a forward roll, before the children finished as a balance on one foot - great work everyone! In RE we learnt about the Wedding at Cana, and the children found out all about how Mary spoke to Jesus to ask for His help. The children have all impressed us with the number of sounds they have learnt this term; their ability to read tricky words and their amazing attitude to writing - they are ready for a well-earned rest now, and we look forward to learning new things again soon.

We are delighted to once again be supporting Operation Christmas Child and their shoebox appeal. This year is even more exciting as some pupils from Crackley Hall will be taking all the donated shoeboxes to the distribution centre in Coventry and seeing the next step on the donation journey.

Please see the link here for instructions on packaging the boxes and content suggestions. May we please have all boxes in school by Wednesday 27 November at the latest.

Thank you.

Ms McAloon led the Monday Mission assembly and spoke about the life of St John Henry Newman, who became a Catholic Priest known for his faith, wisdom, kindness and compassion. The Pope appointed him to be a Cardinal of the Catholic Church in 1879. Ms McAloon explained that a Cardinal is a senior leader of the Church, second only to the Pope, and they wear red as a symbol of their willingness to act with faith, courage and love.

Ms McAloon told the pupils five facts about St John Henry Newman:-

• He cared for the poor Irish families who had fled the famine in Ireland.
• People came from miles around to hear St John Henry Newman speak about God.
• St John Henry Newman wrote beautiful poems, prayers and hymns, which are still used today. For example, passengers onboard the ship Titanic sang one of his hymns as it sunk at sea in 1912. The hymn was called Lead Kindly Light.
• St John Henry Newman loved to learn. He thought it very important that everyone learns about God’s love for all.
• St John Henry Newman believed God has a special mission for us all.

Ms McAloon asked pupils how we can live out this mission in school through our Crackley Compass, and pupils suggested: sharing what we have, treating people with dignity, cherishing and caring for creation, and praying for the world and our sisters and brothers who we share it with. The assembly concluded with the pupils listening to the words of Lead Kindly Light.

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

Weekly Mission

Week Beginning Monday 4 November 2024

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.

Punjabi Club was in full celebration today as it marked Diwali in style. Diwali, one of the most significant Hindu festivals, will be observed on 31 October. The main event, Laxmi Puja, will take place after sunset on this day. The festival spans five days starting with Dhanteras on October 29 and concluding with Bhai Dooj on November 3.

Punjabi Club runs every Friday lunchtime and is led by Mrs Kaur.

In Sewing Club, Junior 3 pupils have been hard at work on an exciting project. They are making Christmas decorations from felt, to hang on their Christmas trees at home. So far, they have made beautiful bells, angelic angels and they are now working on Christmas trees. As well as carefully stitching the felt together, they are attaching decorations such as buttons and bells. The children have enjoyed perfecting their running stitch and their over stitch, as well as learning how to sew on buttons. Their concentration has been impressive, and their decorations are looking amazing. Well done everyone!

In Fencing Club, held in the hall each Tuesday from 3.45pm to 4.45pm for Juniors 4, 5 and 6, pupils are learning about the skills of this fast-paced sport, which requires a combination of power, speed, accuracy, and intelligence, as well as the need for patience and self-discipline.

Information on our Michaelmas Clubs, including pick up location and times, can be found below:

Michaelmas 2024 Clubs Timetable

In Dormice this week we have been practising routines and being more independent, developing our self-help skills. One of these skills is putting on our coats. We place the coat on the floor, stand at the hood, push our arms through, and then flip it over our heads. Some of us have already mastered this, so now we’re working on doing up our own zips.

After that, we hold hands with our friends and head outside to play imaginatively with the bricks, create an obstacle course, or scoot around on the trikes.

We do get tired, so some of us take a little nap after lunch. Then we’re all ready to go again, whether it's playing with bubbles, building, sorting animals, or looking at a book, there’s always something to do.

Badgers and Hedgehogs have been celebrating Autumn’s abundant harvest with a week full of pumpkin partying. This gave us a perfect opportunity to focus upon Maths since it involved: sequencing; capacity; fractions; shape; addition; and subtraction.

We halved a plump orange pumpkin and counted all the seeds hiding in the squishy, slimy pulp. Then we made curved moon slices and chopped them up into cubes. Next, we softened the pumpkin by boiling it in a pan. Then we blended the pumpkin until it was nice and smooth. After that, we measured and mixed a gooey muffin batter before stirring in the velvety pumpkin puree. Finally, we spooned the pumpkin batter into cake cases and popped them into the oven.

We waited patiently whilst the egg timer trickled 15 minutes, until the muffins were ready. Then we shared out the muffins at snack-time and gobbled them up in our very own ‘Harvest Feastival’. They tasted absolutely delicious!

We then used the pumpkin seeds and a dice to add on for more and to take away for less, showing our calculations on a tens frame.

We’ve been perfectly potty about pumpkins all week long!

We also remembered to thank God for providing food for us and the birds and animals to share, during this season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.

Our nursery children always enjoy their music lessons. Every week, they work with specialist teacher, Director of Music, Mrs Olden, in the school hall. They take part in fun, structured music based activities that support their learning. On Thursday morning, they confidently sang Big Red Combine Harvester before accompanying Mrs Olden with a variety of percussion instruments including the djembe drums, maracas, tambourines, finger cymbals, cabasa and the agogo.

Our Little Crackers’ music lessons are one of a number of specialist-led sessions the children benefit from across the week. The tailored activities adding another dimension to the children’s development across the EYFS early learning goals.

The youngsters love making music, and it is amazing to see how it boosts the children’s confidence and gives them a chance to shine as they show us what they can do.

Thank you for continuing to bring your children to the Gables door at 8:30am in the morning. This has greatly improved the start of the nursery day and limits footfall through the main entrance.

We understand there may be times when you need to use the front door. In such cases, please ring the Nursery bell only, not the Reception bell. A member of staff will answer the intercom and come out to your child as soon as possible. There may sometimes be a short delay before a staff member can leave the nursery, so please be patient and wait in the outside foyer.

Christmas Cheer

We are planning lots of goodies for Christmas! The children have worked incredibly hard to bring to life their Father Christmas designs, which will look fabulous on cards, gift tags, baubles and mugs as very special and unique presents for friends and family.

Due to unforseen circumstances the proof cards will now come home after half term - keep an eye out for these!

Save the date!

The Christmas Fair is set to be another child centred and fun filled extravaganza for our Crackley community. Lots of the old favourite stalls such as the bottle and chocolate tombolas and a few new ones too. 

Join us for an enchanting afternoon on Saturday 30 November. Mark your calendars!

October is Black History Month in the UK. This year, we have decided to move away from termly and half termly JDV challenges and are using a monthly theme to suggest activities to challenge and interest pupils.

Each month different activities will be suggested. Pupils do not have to complete all, or any of these activities. They are available to all pupils in all years, so pupils can choose to investigate something that they are interested in.  

Please bring any examples of activities that have been completed to Mrs Cowlishaw to share with the whole school.

Black History Month – October

In the UK, Black History Month is a national celebration that aims to promote and celebrate the contributions Black people have made to society. It’s also an opportunity to promote an understanding of Black history more widely and gives everyone the opportunity to share, celebrate and understand the impact of black heritage and culture.

2024’s theme is 'Reclaiming Narratives'. This is about recognising and correcting the narratives of Black history and culture.

Here are some activities to try:

Art

Investigate the life of famous artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Alma Thomas, can you create your own piece in their style?

The Brilliance of Basquiat

How to create an Alma Thomas collage for kids

Music

Here is an example of a listening calendar for October. Songs from 20 amazing, influential musicians. Which one is your favourite? Did this inspire you to listen to more music by any of these artists?

Sport

Find out about the lives of these famous sports people. What makes them so inspirational? How have they used their fame to change lives of others? Can you find any others that are just as inspirational to add to our list?

• Marcus Rashford
• Lewis Hamilton
• Tessa Sanderson

Historical Figures

These people have all been influential and have made history by doing something amazing. What can you find out about them? Can you find out about other historical figures to celebrate Black History Month?

• Walter Tull
• Mary Seacole
• Samuel Coleridge Taylor
• Diane Abbott
• Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock

Poetry

This week we celebrated National Poetry Day. Benjamin Zephaniah was a pioneer of dub poetry and one of the most influential and outspoken voices in contemporary British literature, and he was from Birmingham.

Here is his poem about Christmas Turkey. Do you like his style? What do you think his poem is about? Can you create two lines of poetry that rhyme, from the Christmas Turkey perspective? Write your own poem in Benjamin Zephaniah’s style.

"Talking Turkeys" Kinetic Text

Recommended reads – have a look at some of these books to expand you reading horizons.

• Race to the Frozen North – Catherine Johnson (The story of Matthew Henson and Captain Peary and the race to the North Pole)
• Respect – Michaela Morgan (Based on the amazing true story of Walter Tull)
• Hidden Figures – Margot Shetterly & Laura Freeman (A picture book of the incredible true story of the four women who helped NASA launch men into space)
• Counting on Katherine – Helaine Becker (A non-fiction book celebrating the life of Katherine Johnson, a mathematician who played a crucial role in the Apollo 11 mission to put a man on the moon)

I hope you enjoy these activities – please let me know how you get on, and bring in some examples of things you have found out!

Mrs Cowlishaw

You will notice that instead of a hard copy calendar, this year we have a new digital calendar. It includes an interactive contents pages and handy live links to emails, websites and phone numbers. All can be easily downloaded onto your device of choice and the calendar is designed to be mobile friendly for ease of reference.

All the schoool's publications can also be found on My School Portal under School Information and will be updated during the year as necessary.

This move to a ‘digital first’ approach for our publications, is part of the Foundation’s drive to be more sustainable, reducing paper use, printing and postage costs and providing a more user-friendly experience.

Michaelmas Calendar Card

School Day Timings

The school day commences at 8:30am promptly, and pupils should arrive at 8:20am for registration, to ensure that that they have plenty of time to get to their first lesson punctually.

Early Birds runs from 7:45am to 8:20am.

Any pupils arriving after 8:30am, must sign in at the School Office.

End of the day collection times and locations are as follows:

Registration

Pupils are electronically registered in the morning and after lunch. Registration closes at 8:30am and all children arriving after this time, will need to register with the School Office on arrival. Lateness is recorded and monitored closely. Persistent lateness and/or absence from school will clearly affect a pupil’s achievement and learning.

End of the day collection times and locations are as follows:

End of the day collection times and locations after Games Lessons (if not taking part in sports clubs) during the Michaelmas Term are as follows:

If you wish your child to have music tuition at school, then please complete the attached form and return it back to the school office. 

Reception are able to undertake Violin lessons only. Pupils in Junior 1 can access the full range of lessons available. 

Expression of Interest Form

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

Menu Week 1

Menu Week 2

Menu Week 3

Menu Week 4

Please ensure that everything your child brings to school is clearly labelled.  This especially includes uniform and sports kit. Excellent personalised labels may be purchased from easy2name.com or ablelabels.co.uk. We ask for support from parents to ensure that their children take full responsibility for looking after their property carefully.

We discourage pupils from bringing valuable items into school.

Lost property will be displayed outside The Gables on a Friday for collecting.  At the end of each half term, any unclaimed items will be donated to charity or the PTA.

Individual Health and Medical Information

Further to the email that was sent out regarding your child's health notes on ISAMS, please do remember to check this for accuracy and update the School Office accordingly.

Diarrhoea and Vomiting 

Children must stay off school for 48 hours after the last instance of diarrhoea or vomiting.

Short-Term Medicines 

In general, most short-term medicines, e.g. antibiotics, cough medicine, seasonal hay fever medication etc should be managed so that it is not necessary for the medicines to come into school.

If this is not possible, the medication should be brought to the School Office by yourself, not your child, in it's original packaging, clearly named with your child’s name and class, and with a completed Administration of Medication Form. 

Long-Term Medicines

If your child suffers with a chronic medical condition and has been prescribed medication to take whilst at school, the medication should be brought to the School Office by yourself, not your child, in it’s original packaging, clearly named with your child’s name and class, and with a completed Administration of Medication Form. 

Further documentation may need to be completed, e.g. Inhaler Consent Form, Care Plan etc. Please discuss this with the School Office.

Administration of Medication Form

Individual Care Plan

Inhaler Consent Form

Asthma Individual HealthCare Plan

Aftercare needs to be booked through My School Portal. You are able to book the whole term in advance, and you are able to cancel this yourself, should you need to.

https://princethorpe.myschoolportal.co.uk/login 

The sessions available are:

Session 1 - 3:30pm to 4:30pm (includes drink and biscuit)

Session 2 - 4:30pm to 6:00pm (includes tea)

Both Sessions - 3:30pm to 6:00pm (includes drink, biscuit and tea)

The costs for Aftercare are £5.00 per hour, or part thereof. You will only be charged for the time that your child spends in Aftercare.

If you require tea, please ensure that you have booked by 12:00pm on the day.

Please ensure that you book Aftercare in good time, as the School Office will be unable to log in to book Aftercare on your behalf.

Should you need to Cancel Aftercare, please see the following Instructions...

Please note that you can’t cancel  Aftercare on the same day as the booking!

• Bookings (Clubs and Activities)
• Drop Down Menu – Upcoming Bookings
• Which will show this…….
• (CH After Care Michaelmas Term)– next date – Time etc.
• View Booking Details  
• Confirm cancellation of booking
• Cancellation type - Please Select from the dropdown menu ….
• 1) All sessions which can be cancelled –
• 2) Only cancel sessions between specific dates
• 3) Cancel specific sessions only
• Select the date you want to cancel
• Confirm

Informing the School of pupil absence

Parents must inform the school via the online absence form on My School Portal or telephone 01926 514444 and leave a voicemail on Option 1, as soon as possible, before 9:00am, if they know that their child will not be in school for either the whole day or any part thereof. For unplanned absence, parents must complete the Absence Form. This can be found on the dashboard or in the My Children section of My School Portal.

If a pupil has a pre-planned appointment, e.g. medical, please inform the school in advance on the Requesting Student Absence: Planned Form, which can be found within the My Children section of My School Portal. This can then be pre-coded on our attendance system. Having alerted the school for any reason of absence it is not necessary to follow up the absence with a written note.

We ask that, where possible, all pupil appointments (e.g. medical or dental) are made out of school hours, to avoid disruption to learning.

Holidays

Parents are strongly discouraged from taking their children out of school and family holidays should always be taken in the school holiday period which is published over a year in advance. Permission for leave of absence for valid reasons such as a family funeral, should be sought in writing and in advance via My School Portal, with as much notice as possible. Pupils with persistent absence may be asked to provide medical evidence.