The Chronicle

As we approach Advent and move towards the end of term, I am writing to let you know formally that Liz Griffin, our wonderful Chair of Trustees, will be retiring at the end of the year. I am delighted to announce that John Fisher, currently Chair of the Finance Committee and a former Princethorpe parent who has been a trustee for four years, will be taking over from Liz as Chair of Trustees.

Liz has been a member of our Governing Body for nine years and our Chair for the past seven. She has been a constant presence and has been selfless in her support of all our schools; attending and enjoying innumerable events to ensure she has first-hand knowledge and appreciation of the amazing work by our pupils and staff.

The majority of the important work our trustees do is often unseen by most of our community, but the fruits of their labours is clear.

During Liz’s tenure we have:

• developed and started to implement our comprehensive strategic plan to ensure the Foundation's continued success and sustainability;

• strengthened the governance framework to ensure effective leadership across the Foundation's schools;
  
  
• maintained and enhanced the educational standards and ethos of the Foundation;
  
  
• undertaken significant improvements and developments in the Foundation's facilities and infrastructure.

Liz Griffin's leadership has been marked by her warm and collaborative approach, working closely with her fellow trustees and the executive team, and at all times embodying our “Spirit of Family”.

I want to thank Liz on behalf of all the Foundation community for everything she has done and on a personal note for all the help and support she has given me over the years. 

Ed Hester
Foundation Principal

Dear Parents

What a lovely festive landscape greeted us earlier this week, with the flurry of snow on Tuesday. My journey to work was a picturesque scene indeed and the pupils were able to enjoy some playtime in the snow too. Coming back to reality, with the weather turning colder and frostier, please allow the time for journeys to school.  
 
Please could I remind everyone to adhere closely to our carline timings. These are planned to keep this end of the day as seamless, with as little frustration as possible. We have recently received some complaints about traffic queueing back and some reports of standards of driving which do not reflect our kind and patient school community. We appreciate that when the weather is bad and the evenings are darker earlier, and we always try to maintain good relationships with our neighbours. Please could everyone do their best to adhere to timings (there will be exceptions, of course) and continue to show consideration to fellow parents and neighbours. A calm carline also helps staff to keep it a safe handover time.  
 
Crescent School’s chamber choir joined us on Tuesday, for our annual joint partnership of a Choral Day. New friendships were formed, old acquaintances renewed, and much joy was had in the wonderful singing on the day. The amalgamation of voices came together beautifully at the end of the day with a concert for parents of both schools. I was delighted to be able to welcome our Foundation Principal, Mr Ed Hester, who was able to make the time to watch the show with us. He was most impressed and extended his thanks and congratulations to all involved. Thank you to Mrs Olden, staff at Crescent school and the parents and families who came to watch the fantastic concert. Well done to all our Chamber Choir members! 
 
Our U10 hockey girls played extremely well to win both the A and B team matches against Hallfield School on Monday. The U11 boys' rugby teams played well against The Croft on Wednesday and are certainly showing some signs of improvement in all areas. Well played to them. 
 
The school hosted music examinations this week, including those of several of our own pupils. I wish them all the best as they wait for their results and am sure that they will all have done very well. 
 
We have LAMDA exams in school next week and we wish the pupils taking these exams the all the best. The ISA national swimming gala takes place at the Olympic swimming baths next Friday and we wish Charlotte (J6) the best of luck as she represents Crackley Hall as part of the Midlands swimming squad. 
 
Our choral group is singing at the switching on of the Kenilworth High Street lights on Friday evening (starting at 17:30). This is always a wonderful occasion, and the school community turns out together to support our singers. All families are most welcome. There are places to buy food and liquid refreshments and a number of street stalls for the children. It is always good to try to arrive at about 17:00 for a most enjoyable evening.  
 
Next Friday is our non-uniform day in aid of the Christmas Fayre. Pupils are asked to please support our Fayre by bringing in either some chocolates or a bottle of some beverage. These offerings are handed to the convenors of the chocolate and bottle tombola stalls. Please do come to school next Saturday afternoon to support our annual Christmas Fayre. This is a magical event, with so much for pupils and families to enjoy. Thank you so much to the wonderful team, led by Mrs Aimee Clark, for all their work in preparation. 
 
Thank you to the parents, grandparents and staff members who attended the PTA AGM on Wednesday evening. We extend our thanks to the outgoing Chair, Maria Gordon and Treasurer, Philip Johnson, for all their hard work and support over the past couple of years. I am delighted that Maria will be staying on to help the new committee once she has completed her handover. I would like to congratulate the incoming committee and thank them for their willingness to support the school in this way. Our new Chairs will be Sara Higginbotham and Sandrine Farrow. 
 
Congratulations to this week’s Stars of the Week: Nursery – Milen and Alfie; Rec – Lyla and Michael; J1 – Darcey and Henry; J2 – Bracken and Sebastian; J3 – Reuven and Daya; J4 – Harriet and Jai; J5 – Elle and Harry; J6 – Shuvan and Evie. Well done to all who received their Da Vinci’s and to the J5 and J6 pupils who did so well in the recent Primary Maths Challenge. 
 
Well done to Ethan for his wonderful performance on the piano and to the marvellous Chamber Choir for their outstanding singing to round off the assembly in such style. 
 
Although it looks like being a rather wet weekend, I do hope that you are able to enjoy a restful time. There is some more good sport to watch! 
 
God bless, 
Rob Duigan 

"First keep peace with yourself, then you can also bring peace to others." - Thomas a Kempis

Please note that Sports Clubs that take place outside, will now finish at 4:15pm due to the fading light, pick up will still be from the normal place.

We are holding our annual Post Examination Activity and Enrichment Week during the week beginning 25 November 2024.  During this week, we have arranged a variety of different activities that will allow children to break from the more formal academic focus, while alllowing for the development of different interests and skills; some timetabled lessons will continue as usual.

For further details of the activites, and anything required, please check here.

We know that the children are very much looking forward to this week and we hope that they enjoy the different activities planned. In addition to this, each day, we will be giving the children clear instructions on what they need to remember for the next.

There will be a small charge of no more than £8 for the cost of the Costa Take-Away ordered, which will be added to your next school bill. Please do consent to the Evolve that will be sent out regarding this.

As we have now passed the Half Term break, all children should be wearing their winter uniform to school:

Winter dress with long sleeve white shirt and tie, jumper, blazer, coat, black socks or tights and black school shoes (Reception to Junior 4).

Winter skirt with long sleeve white shirt and tie, jumper, blazer, coat, black socks or tights and black school shoes (Junior 5 and 6).

Black trousers with long sleeve white shirt and tie, jumper, blazer, coat, black socks and black school shoes.

Children should be wearing their school coat, not any other coats.

Fleece hats, scarves and gloves are available for sale in the school office.

Children should be smartly dressed at school, clean and tidy with shirts tucked in.

Long hair (past shoulder length) should be tied back and out of the face. Hair accessories should be burgundy or black and we do have stock of burgundy hair accessories for sale in the school office.

Make up and nail varnish must not be worn.

Earrings and jewellery must not be worn.

If you need to purchase any items of uniform please see below for the Princethorpe Uniform Shop and Crackley Hall PTA contact details:

Foundation Uniform Shop

The Foundation Uniform Shop is open from 3:30pm to 4:30pm, Monday to Wednesday during term time, and by appointment only during the school holidays.

Please call directly on 01926 634272 to make an appointment or alternatively email uniform@princethorpe.co.uk.

Online Uniform Ordering Form

Please see the new electronic uniform ordering system.

This link will be in the weekly Chronicle for your ease and convenience. 

New Uniform Order

PTA Uniform Shop

Please email uniform@pta.crackleyhall.co.uk to order.

Ms Holmes would like to send a 'polite reminder' to return any books borrowed from the school library before the start of the Autumn Term. There are lots missing - please could we ask that children check at home.

Very many thanks.

We are delighted to once again be supporting Operation Christmas Child and their shoebox appeal. 

Please see the webpage below 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, and to all who have contributed so far. 

How to Pack a Shoebox

This year the nativities are taking place as follows:

Nursery

Thursday 12 December - 9.30am to 10.30am

Reception and Junior 1 Nativity

Thursday 12 December - 2:00pm

Junior 2 Nativity

Friday 13 December - 2:00pm

Please see attached the following information letters:

Nativity Information Letter

Reception and Junior 1 Costume Letter

Junior 2 Costume Letter

Please see detailed below events for the week beginning 25 November 

On Tuesday 19 November, Juniors 5 and 6 welcomed pupils from Years 4, 5 and 6 from Crescent School for a fantastic, full day of uplifting and inspiring music. The children from both schools worked together under the guidance of Directors of Music, Susan Olden and Julie Barnes, to prepare and rehearse a mix of choral and solo pieces for an afternoon concert. 

It was a very successful day, with everyone enjoying singing together and both teachers agreed that over the course of the day the children’s confidence really grew.

In the afternoon, the pupils put on a concert for their parents. As well as the shared works the concert included a number of individual school pieces and pupil solos. The audience were most impressed with the children’s enthusiastic performance.

Susan Olden, Director of Music, said “Both schools have such a strong musical tradition, and the children really rise to the occasion, it is always good to work together.”

The Prep Schools Music Workshops are just one of the many performance opportunities that pupils at both the schools take part in.

To watch a clip of the children singing Lewis Capaldi's Someone You Loved please click here.

The Crackley Hall Junior Da Vinci programme encourages all pupils to be inspired to be the best that they can be. The Junior Da Vinci programme embraces three adapted principles - Creativity, Practice and Mastery - that the children demonstrate in their learning.

This year we are ensuring that all pupils in the school have opportunities to achieve Junior Da Vinci awards. The Da Vinci leaflet gives more information about this programme. 

We have moved 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. Bring any examples of activities that have been completed to Mrs Cowlishaw to share with the whole school.

This is the November challenge. 

Look out for news of the children achieving Junior Da Vinci's in the Awards section of the Chronicle over the year.

Friday 29 November - 5.30pm

Choral Group will be singing at the Kenilworth High Street Christmas Lights Switch On, on Friday 29 November at 5:30pm.

This is wonderful event to start the festive season and you are welcome to come and support Choral Group.

For those children in Choral Group who have signed up to sing at the Christmas Lights switch on, there is an extra rehearsal on Friday 29 November at 8.00am.

It isn’t compulsory but it would be greatly appreciated if your child could attend.

Thursday 5 December - 5.30pm to 7.00pm

On Thursday 5 December, all children in Junior 5 and 6 will perform in the Advent Service at Crackley Hall starting at 5:30pm and finishing no later than 7:00pm.

We ask that all children arrive back at school between 5:00 and 5:20pm.  Please accompany your child to the Gables entrance, ensuring that they are signed in with a member of staff.

Children must be smartly dressed in their winter uniform. Children should wear black socks or tights. All children will require their blazers and ties, but not jumpers, hats or caps.

Please park on the school field before making your way to the Gables entrance, where refreshments for parents will be served from 5:00pm.

After the performance the children will be escorted back to the Junior 1 classrooms to collect any belongings.

Please then collect the children as follows, ensuring that you sign them out with a member of staff before taking them.

Junior 5 - Gables Fire Exit Door

Junior 6 - Gables Main Doors

There will be two seats allocated per family in Junior 5 and 6, and if you require more seats, please email receptionist@crackleyhall.co.uk to be added to the waiting list, and these will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

Should you require Aftercare for this evening, please book the normal chargeable Aftercare through My School Portal, as usual, before Monday 2 December. Please ensure that you book for both sessions, as this will ensure that your child is given tea.

Staff will then collect the Junior 5 and 6 children from Aftercare at 5:00pm.  Please be aware that you will need to collect any siblings from Aftercare prior to the start of the Advent Service.

Our Stars of the Week this week are: 

Congratulations to them all!

Congratulations to the following pupils who were awarded Junior da Vinci Awards in assembly this week.

For Maths:
Raya, Basile, Elliott, George and Saffie

For Art:
Evie and Charlotte

For RE:
Casper, Aaryan, Josh, Harrison, Felix, Lexi, Gwen, Evie, Amelie, Rory, Diya and Jai

For Music:
Angelica and Jessie

For English:
Jovan, Francesca and Alfie

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 young scientists in Junior 6 carried out some exciting investigations this week! They set out to prove, or to disprove, the theory that as you exercise your breathing rate increases, but your heart rate stays the same. The children worked in groups to plan their investigation, collect results and explain their findings. They discussed variables and how to provide informed explanations. Junior 6 measured their heart rates immediately after exercise and at certain time intervals beyond that. They counted the number of times they could feel the pulse in 15 seconds and multiplied it by 4 to get the number of beats per minute. Teamworking skills were required as they took on different roles in their groups, such as timekeeper, runner and recorder. The children also thought about how best to record the information. Afterwards they reflected on their investigations and discussed how they could improve the accuracy. Wonderful work, Junior 6! 
 

This week in Junior 5, the children have been busy continuing their learning about forces. They were tasked with investigating air resistance, with the aim of discovering if the size of a parachute affects the time it takes to fall to the ground. Our budding scientists learnt the importance of variables, improving their investigation skills. Importantly, they all had fun dropping their parachutes from a height, watching their little blue tac men fall to the ground. The question we all had in our minds -  is (air) resistance futile? You’ll have to ask the children for the answer and don’t ask pesky Borgs!

Junior 4 have had a fantastic week. We have been planning an alternative ending for our class book, Escape from Pompeii as well as continuing our work on learning the timestables up to 12 x 12. We have also been conducting experiments about the three states of matter and discovering how the location and temperature of water affects the rate of evaporation. In Geography, we learnt about the stages of a volcano eruption, the life cycle of a volcano and even made our own volcanoes in the forest school area.

Junior 3 are becoming masters at using manipulatives to solve mathematical problems in a concrete way. By using place value counters, base 10 and cubes, the children in Junior 3 are increasing their understanding of mathematics, before they then use pictoral and abstract methods of recording. Seesaw has been an excellent tool to enable the children to photograph and video their concrete understanding with ease. The children really do enjoy exploring, solving and recording maths in such a wide variety of ways.

What an exciting week it has been in Junior 2. On Monday, we received an email from Dr. Agon, a fellow dragonologist, who informed us of a rare and amazing occurrence. A dragon has been spotted flying in the skies above Crackley Hall! Dr. Agon went on to explain that it is very likely that the dragon is hiding in the woods behind our school. He asked us if we would kindly help him by going out into our forest school area and looking for clues that a dragon may have been there. He also reassured us that it was very unlikely that we would come across the dragon itself, as dragons are nocturnal creatures, and also rather shy. We quickly compiled a list of possible clues that we thought might indicate the presence of a dragon; footprints, burned foliage, scratch marks and possibly even dragon poo! Sure enough, on venturing bravely out, we quickly discovered lots of clues and recorded these on our digital journal. We will be completing a full report for Dr. Agon and awaiting further instructions. Meanwhile, the dragon egg that we discovered and are caring for, is coming along nicely. Due to the freezing, snowy weather, we have moved it closer to the radiator and we think we have detected signs of a small crack in the shell.

Junior 1 have been enjoying writing letters to Jack and the Beanstalk's mother in English; it appears that Jack went missing and the children were asked for their help. In return the children received a golden coin as a thank you for helping to solve this problem. All our children have been so keen to show their expressive vocabulary and understanding of communication. The anticipation of sending the letter off was most exhilarating as was the wait for a reply. In History they have discovered that having a bath in the Victorian times was not as luxurious as it is nowadays. After collecting the water from the outside pump, you had to heat it on the fire before you could start taking turns to have a lukewarm bath. Everyone agreed that a nice hot bubble bath is much more preferable!

In Understanding the World this week we continued our learning about the seasons. The snow couldn't have come at a better time, as the children did an investigation with two hot water bottles to find out how animals stay warm in winter. They wrapped one up in fur and covered it in leaves, and left the other hot water bottle uncovered. They pretended these were bears hibernating for the winter in a cave. After checking on them during the afternoon, they learnt that the fur covered hot water stayed warm, but the uncovered bottle quickly cooled down. The children agreed that fur keeps animals warm in the cold by trapping in the heat and the layers of leaves stopped the heat from escaping. The children then went on to think how they stay warm in the cold, and looked at the clothing they wear and what it is made of. An extra bit of homework this weekend is for the children to practise putting on their own gloves, as this proved very tricky for most this week!

Mrs Horan led an inspiring assembly exploring the meaning of Community, drawing thoughtful responses from children who recognised it as a gathering of people and groups of individuals working together for the common good. The assembly highlighted several key ways to support our community:

• Active listening
• Prayer
• Working together for peace
• Showing respect

Mrs Horan connected these concepts to Jesus's universal mission, emphasising how each of us is called to share God's love. She referenced Pope Francis's message about extending this love globally, reinforcing it with John Chapter 13, verses 34-35, which teaches us to 'love one another'. This love is reached through acts of kindness, sharing and demonstrating care for others.

The assembly took on a global perspective when discussing Mission Together - an initiative helping children worldwide who live in poverty. Mrs Horan suggested that support can come through prayer; thoughtful consideration of others' needs and active engagement in helping those less fortunate. She concluded by challenging the school community to consider their mission for the week ahead, encouraging the children to think both locally and globally about their role in building a better world through love, prayer and action.

Weekly and daily Masses are held at St. Francis RC Church, Warwick Road, and St Augustine RC Church, Beehive Hill, Kenilworth. Mass in ordinary times are generally held at the following times. 

St Francis 
Sunday 10.30am 
Monday 9.30am
Tuesday 12 midday
Wednesday 
Thursday 7.30pm
Friday  7.30pm
Saturday 10.00am and 5.30pm

St Augustine
Sunday 8.30am
Wednesday 10.00am

Sacrament of Reconciliation
Saturday 10.30am to 11.00am and 4.45pm to 5.15pm.

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

Weekly Mission

The U8A & B hockey teams travelled to Rugby last Thursday to play against Crescent School. The A team won both their matches demonstrating many skills that they had been learning in PE/Games this term. Their best goal on the day was created by passing and movement from every player on the pitch! Well done!

The B team lost both their matches. However, they were unlucky not to score. Our players never gave up despite being overwhelmed by strong Crescent teams.

Week Beginning Monday 25 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.

To celebrate the unexpected snowfall this week, the children have been busy creating enchanting 'winter wonderland' pictures. They dipped conkers in vibrant paint and rolled them across sheets of black paper, adding a magical touch with plenty of glitter to complete their masterpieces. The result is a stunning display of creativity and winter magic!

The Dormice have also been exploring primary colours. They enjoyed an engaging activity where they sorted colourful counters into the corresponding cups. This hands-on exercise not only helped them learn about primary colours but also improved their sorting and matching skills. It's wonderful to see them having fun while learning!

Lastly, some of the children expressed their enthusiasm for cooking by preparing a delightful dinner for Miss Emma and the dolls. They took great care in planning and 'cooking' their pretend meals, showcasing their creativity and imagination. It was a heartwarming activity that allowed them to practice their social and fine motor skills while having a lot of fun. Badgers and Hedgehogs have truly embraced the Winter Wonderland this week. For many children, it was their first encounter with ice and snow, so we seized the chance to integrate our learning with the seasonal weather.

Bundled up in warm winter coats, we ventured out into the flurry of snowfall and blanket of snow, greeted by squeals of excitement and joy. The children caught snowflakes on their tongues, crafted snowballs to line up tiny snowmen along the fence posts, giggled with delight during a snowball fight with the staff, and explored the sheet-ice that had formed over the large puddle on the sandpit cover.

Indoors, as part of our continuous provision, they counted chocolate chips on cookies and built corresponding ice cube towers; filled cylinders of various volumes with snowball pompoms; drew around circles of different diameters to create a massive snowball fight; chalked snowmen; painted snowstorms; and explored a large tray of frozen sparkles, watching as the ice blocks slowly melted to reveal hidden treasures. During circle time, they mimed various snowy activities and suggested fantastic topical vocabulary during phonics.

Our big science experiment for the week focused on investigating different methods to thaw ice blocks. The children brainstormed numerous creative ideas, which we recorded on a large chart. We ultimately decided to dress the ice blocks in winter wear to 'warm them up': a hat, a fleecy jacket, a glove, and a blanket were checked at regular intervals throughout the day to monitor how long it took for the ice blocks to melt.

We have had such wintry fun, thanks to the snowfall, which provided a delightful opportunity for us all to share!

Saturday 30 November 2024 - 12:00pm to 3:00pm

PTA Christmas Fair 

Join us for a heart warming afternoon filled with laughter, festive delights and a celebration of our school community. Get ready to enjoy a wonderful time with your family at our Christmas Fair! From Santa’s Grotto to face painting, we’ve got it all covered.

Introducing Elfridges The Magical Gift Shop at The Crackley Hall Christams Fair! 

The Fair is only a week away and there are few things for your diaries we would be very grateful for your assistance with:

Friday 29 November will be a non uniform day. In exchange for non-uniform, please send your child with either chocolate or a bottle (depending on year group) for our very popular chocolate and bottle tombola.

Soft Toys: We are happy to rehome teddies and other cuddly friends for our teddy tombola. Please place these in a bag and leave in the reception foyer for PTA collection.

Finally, if there are any bakers out there, we would very much welcome any home made (nut free) cakes/cookies/mince pies. Your home-made goods will be gladly received on Friday 29 November non-uniform day prior to the fair.

Parent Stall volunteering - we are delighted to say that we have a fabulous band of merry parent helpers running the class stalls and the children are very excited in anticipation of our Christmas event built around them. Thank you so much for your support to make it a lovely afternoon for everyone.

If you have any raffle tickets, please don't forget to return them to the school office, together with the money in a sealed envelope, and good luck!

Your PTA

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

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

• Trustee 

For further information please refer to the link below 

 www.princethorpe.co.uk/join-us