The Chronicle

Dear Parents

I would like to thank Fr Kevin for coming into school on Monday to administer the Sacrament of Reconciliation to our J4 to J6 Catholic pupils. Reconciliation means ‘to make good and to be at peace again’, which links to the theme in the second week of Advent, where we lit a candle for Peace. At Monday’s assembly, we paused, reflected and prayed for peace worldwide and for any of our own intentions. Thank you to Mrs Forino and Father Kevin for arranging this opportunity for our pupils at this time.

Our Nursery, Reception and Junior 1 pupils enjoyed a fantastic trip to the Warwick Arts Centre on Wednesday, where they saw the theatre production of the `Smeds and the Smoos`. I have heard they loved it and had a wonderful afternoon (and most of the staff did too) my thanks go to all the staff who accompanied the children.  

Lights, camera and action were in full flow towards the latter part of the week, as on Thursday as we saw our youngest performers have their moment on stage, with their Nursery Christmas Noel show. This is a wonderful time for our great-grandparents, grandparents and parents, as it may well have been the first time seeing their little ones on stage. We loved watching all of our Little Crackers superstars. For a lot of these children, we hopefully will be able watch you grow and learn through the years, which will be a real privilege. Thank you to Mrs Whitehurst, Mrs Olden, Mrs Paphitis and the Nursery staff who helped coordinate this show.  

On Thursday afternoon, we held the Reception and Junior 1 Nativity. The children carried out their roles impeccably and treated everyone to another wonderful performance, with the very special message of God’s love for us. Thanks to parents and extended family members who joined us in watching it as well as Liz Griffin, our Chair of Trustees and Richard Harcourt, our Vice-Chair of Trustees, for being able to come and watch this too. We appreciate our Trustees giving us their time.  Thank you to Mrs Paphitis and Mrs Olden, to Mrs O’Carroll-Bailey, Mrs Verma, Mrs Wheatley, Mrs Allen, Mrs Tennant-Bale, Mrs Ambrose, Mrs Kaur, Mrs Bhogal, Mrs Divers, Miss Paynter, Mrs Hardwick and Mrs Green for preparing the pupils.

Today, or super Junior 2’s delivered their Nativity and Christmas performance. It was also truly stunning, with every pupil fully engaged and giving of their very best throughout the show. I wonder at these moments and appreciate the work that is invested from the staff. I am so grateful to all the staff for their efforts, especially Mrs Paphitis and Mrs Olden, Mrs Van Zyl, Mr Duigan, Mrs Malcolm and Miss Farquharson. Thank you to Mrs Bhogal for her work on the light and sound. I also appreciate the wonderful support that we receive from Commodore Warner, one of our Trustees, who joined us at the J2 performance.  

With all this activity going on in school and the invitations to our school community coming in, the school office has sadly received some complaints about parking in and around the streets near the school site. We thank you to those who utilised the school field to park, but we still have had lots of our neighbours who are unhappy. We ask that all families please use the field when it’s designated as the parking area for an event. 

Congratulations to this week’s Stars of the Week: Nursery – Arabella; Rec – Sophia and Ned; J1 – Bandile and Charlotte; J2 – Wilson and Imogen; J3 – Aarav and Ella; J4 – Liana and Chace; J5 – Casper and Beatrice; J6 – Lexi and Felix. Well done to all who received their Da Vinci’s; they are so well-deserved. Huge congratulations go to all the recipients of Crackley Compass stars as well. Congratulations to Venus House for their victory in this week’s House Points Competition.

I heard that our Junior 6 Musical Theatre group were outstanding at this morning’s assembly. Well done to all of the pupils and to Mrs Goode for setting such high standards and for her dedication to the pupils.

We will have a final edition of The Chronicle on Wednesday, albeit a shortened version as we close the term.  This will include the initial feedback from the recent parents’ survey plus any end-of-term announcements.

I hope that you are all able to enjoy a restful weekend.

God bless, 
Rob Duigan 

"Remember, there's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end." - Scott Adams

Just a reminder for all, that we are a nut free school. So when sending in snacks for your child remember they are to be nut free. We have staff and pupils that have severe allergies. 

Whilst on this theme, children who bring in packed lunches are reminded that these need to be well balanced, nutritional and healthy. We have noticed these have a disproportionate amount of sweet treats in. 

Christmas Holiday club will be running on Thursday 19, Friday 20 and Monday 23 December 2024, and then on Thursday 2, Friday 3 and Monday 6 January 2025.

For a programme of events, please click here

Please email holidayclub@crackleyhall.co.uk to make your booking.

We would like to invite parents to join our Parent Workshop 'Online Safety in the Digital Age', run by Mrs Malcolm on Wednesday 15 January 2025 from 5.00pm to 6.00pm. The session will give you an insight into how we approach online safety in our curriculum, how we are adapting our teaching to meet the challenges of digital change and how you can work with your children at home to embrace the digital age safely. 

We will share a link for you to book your place on the workshop in advance of the session.

We will be having our annual Christmas lunch on Tuesday 17 December 2024. 

Please note that there will be no Jacket Potato option on this day. 

You find the Christmas menu here! 

Merry Christmas! 

Friday 7 March 2025

Ms Holmes is delighted to be announcing ‘In Celebration of Books and Jim-Jam Day’ which will take place on Friday 7 March 2025. There will be more information to follow, however, pupils and staff will, of course, be expected to wear their jim-jams on this day and Ms Holmes wondered if anyone may need to ask Santa for some new ones!

Look out for further details as next term unfolds. 

Have a Wonderful Christmas everyone! 

Ms Holmes is on the hunt for any old an unwanted 'costume jewellery' please, especially necklaces with pearls or similar.

Thank you in advance.  

We are introducing a weekly calendar to keep you up to date with what is going on in school. Click on the link below for the calendar for the week beginning Monday 16 December. 

Week Beginning Monday 16 December

Reception and Junior 1 snuggled up by the fire for the miracle of the Nativity this year. They brought the story of the very first Christmas wonderfully to life when they performed their simple nativity play, A King Is Born.

Families and friends watched in awe as the miraculous story of the birth of Jesus, the baby King, unfolded. They met bossy Caesar and his census-takers, the innkeepers, the angels and the shepherds, and joined the kings on their epic journey as they followed the star before coming in wonder and awe to the stable.

After all their hard work rehearsing, learning the songs and memorising their lines, what a spectacle it proved to be. Our youngest children danced and sang their hearts out and we hope you all enjoyed their brilliant performance.

Many thanks to all the staff who supported them all.

Our very youngest children took to the stage on Thursday to perform their adorable Nursery Christmas Show. Wearing their Christmas jumpers, wide eyed and with lovely smiles on their faces, they sang all their songs beautifully.

Their production told the traditional story of the nativity all interspersed with super catchy tunes. Performing on stage to a large audience of excited parents takes more than a little courage, but our Nursery children were all magnificent.

There were lots of magical moments, little lambs hopping, donkey’s clip clopping, stars twinkling, and of course the peaceful and poignant reminder of the humble beginnings of Jesus, the carol Away In A Manger.

A huge well done to nursery - you were all superstars!

In Junior 3 to Junior 6, our reading program, Accelerated Reader, is motivating pupils to read more through engaging quizzes. As pupils increase the volume of their reading, they develop greater reading stamina, word recognition, and language comprehension skills, which impacts upon their attainment and progress across the curriculum.

Please join us in congratulating Ella, Gabriella and Hector who are our first 'Word Millionaires' this school year.

Will you be our next Word Millionaire?

Patrick from Junior 5, has excelled himself yet again by Wining the 'Best Young Handler' class at the Melton and Belvoir Fatstock Show and Sale last Saturday.  

Patrick was commended by the Judges, who commented he was the best handler, and took charge of his stock with ease. Patrick was up against some strong competition but handled it very efficiently. 

Well done Patrick, we are very proud of you! 

As we approach Advent, Junior 5 has been actively collecting donations for the Warwick District Foodbank. Their effort embodies Jesus' teachings to share our blessings with those in need. We invite you to keep the Foodbank and their vital work in your prayers during this Advent season.

Junior 2 performed their uplifting nativity to a packed school hall of parents on Friday 13 December. The Christmas story pieced together through the magic of a special Christmas jigsaw.

At a bustling Christmas market full of the joyful sounds of carol singers and market sellers, five excited children come across a very special stallholder who gives them a tatty old Christmas jigsaw. As the children gradually piece the jigsaw together with the help of a very special angel, the Christmas story comes to life with Mary, Joseph, King Herod, the innkeepers, shepherds, angels and wise men. The traditional story brought to life beautifully in a celebration of dance and song.

It was a fabulous performance from Junior 2, who delivered their lines with panache and sang exuberantly and enthusiastically. A huge well done to them all.

We are thrilled to announce that Felix, in Junior 6, has earned a spot in one of the dance ensembles for Imagine Theatre's production of Beauty And The Beast!

Felix will be performing in eighteen shows over the Christmas and January period.

Last year, he auditioned but only made it to the third round due to the tough competition. However, Felix was determined to improve and try again this year. Saying he is happy is an understatement!

Break a leg, Felix! We hope you enjoy your time in the spotlight.

Thursday was Christmas Jumper Day, one of our most favourite days of the year. It's a special time when we all come together to support Save The Children by wearing our festive jumpers.

The turnout was fantastic! A big well done to everyone who participated - you all looked incredible. 

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!

Congratulations on all our Junior Da Vinci awards for this week.

• Maths - Alice and Charlotte
• Drama - Charlotte  
• English – Henry, Bracken, Margot, Harper, Edward and Otto 

In English lessons this week, Junior 6 read the opening chapter of Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights. They looked at how Pullman succeeds in hooking the reader in from the very first line which quickly introduces the reader to a different universe. The children discussed the purpose and features of a good opening to a story. They analysed a model text of a portal story, where the scene is set in another world. Junior 6 then bravely set out to create their own portal story. The Junior 6 staff are really looking forward to being introduced to the new worlds created by these imaginative young writers and reading about their personal daemons!

Our wonderful Junior 6 have worked very hard this term. We hope they all have a fantastic Christmas and look forward to seeing everyone again in January.

As we are in a time of Advent, Junior 5L have been preparing for Christmas. They have decorated their tree and brought in their gifts for the class Secret Santa. We have been learning all about Advent through assemblies and RE lessons. Pupils have been learning about the foretelling of the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus and they have identified the similarities between these two events. In French, the children have been learning about Christmas Eve (La veille de Noël) as that is when the celebration meal takes place in France. Pupils have sung French Christmas songs for their pen-pals and are looking forward to seeing the recording of their pen-pals singing to them.

Junior 4 have been investigating the properties of non-Newtonian fluids. They compared the properties of water with a non-Newtonian fluid - in this instance a mixture of water and cornflour known as oobleck. Pupils were amazed to see a 200g weight floating on the top of the oobleck after they had watched the same weight splash into a bowl of water. They loved feeling the difference with their hands by gently prodding the oobleck and then grabbing it and squeezing it. In Drama, they have also been working on their concentration with lots of outdoor learning games.  Well done, Junior 4!

The spirit of Christmas is certainly alive in the Junior 3 classrooms with cheeky elves and Christmas craft activities keeping the children very busy. However, staff are also making sure the children continue with their learning, ensuring they are happily working away in class! This week, we have concluded our investigations in Science, experimenting with the magnets to discover how two magnets can attract or repel. Our Maths lessons have been alive with the sounds of our times tables practice – we have been practising 3s and 4s whilst learning our 8s. Please keep learning them Junior 3! Kenya has continued to be our theme in Geography and English lessons. Everyone worked together to produce posters about the Masai tribe followed by factual writing. Well done, Junior 3, you have had the most incredible half-term!

This week has been an amazing week, full of festive joy in Junior 2. Our classes performed their Nativity The Magical Christmas Jigsaw, after weeks of preparation and rehearsals. The teachers were proud, the parents were amazed and the children thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We thought their singing, acting and enthusiasm made the production one to remember. Well done, Junior 2!

After a wonderful Nativity production, Junior 1 have continued to learn about the story of Christmas and spent their English and RE lessons writing out the story of Jesus’ birth in a booklet. This helped them to focus on the true meaning of Christmas and be able to recount the events in the correct order. History saw them learn about Saint Nicholas, who he was, how he became a saint and how his name changed over the years in different countries. Art has become all Christmassy, with cards, decorations, calendars and wreaths beginning to be made, all ready for our last few days in school.

What a week we have had in Reception - it has all been about preparation. From finding out all about Advent and 'getting ready' to celebrate the birth of Jesus, to practising our own version of this wonderful story - as we stood on stage in costume and performed our dress rehearsal to the school. It has also been a busy week of Christmas crafty bits and bobs, as well as our wonderful trip to the Theatre. We all enjoyed the fantastic stage performance of The Smeds And Smoos - although it is fair to say that many enjoyed the trip on the bus just as much! Well done, Reception!

Ms McAloon led a reflective Monday Mission assembly that focused on kindness and peace. The second purple candle of Advent, which symbolises Peace, was lit, as Ms McAloon emphasised the importance of inner peace and encouraged pupils to always ask for help if they are struggling. She highlighted that having peace in one's heart allows us all to flourish. The assembly also featured a discussion about St. Nicholas, the Patron Saint of Sailors, Archers, and Children. Ms McAloon shared part of his life story, noting that he was born in Turkey to parents who taught him to follow Jesus' example of kindness and prayer. After inheriting money when his parents passed away, St. Nicholas chose to share his wealth with those in need. He became a priest and later a bishop, known for his generosity and love.

Ms McAloon engaged the children by asking how they could follow St. Nicholas' example. The responses were thoughtful and varied, including filling their hearts with love; contributing to the Shoe Box Appeal; sharing and caring, and helping those in need of kindness and love.

Saint Nicholas was an inspirational example of kindness and generosity and to conclude the assembly, pupils signed the Our Father.

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

In the final short week of term, Monday 16 December and Tuesday 17 December, PE and Games will go ahead as timetabled. Wednesday 18 December is off timetable, so there will be no PE or Games.

Festive feelings were in abundance on Wednesday at the Stay 'n' Play Christmas Party!

There were seasonal crafts and play areas for little ones to enjoy, as well as some yummy party food and festive cake. There was even a special visit from the big man himself! What better way to finish off the party?

Stay 'n' Play returns in the New Year on Wednesday, 8 January 2025. 

Merry Christmas from all the Team!

This week in Dormice, we've delved into a variety of festive Christmas activities that have brought joy and excitement to the children. We started by decorating a large Christmas tree and a bauble using colorful pieces of tissue paper and crayons, allowing the children to express their creativity.

We also set up a sensory tray filled with tinsel, a small tree, beads, shredded paper, and boxes with wrapping paper. The children had a wonderful time exploring these textures and materials, which added to the festive atmosphere.

In addition to these activities, the Dormice made special food for Santa's hungry reindeer, engaging in a fun and imaginative task. To top it all off, we organised a game of 'hunt the present' in the outdoor area, which was a big hit with the children as they eagerly searched for hidden treasures.

Overall, it has been a week full of festive cheer and creative exploration in the Dormice room! 

The Hedgehogs and Badgers had an exciting mid-week adventure to watch The Smeds and the Smoos at the Warwick Arts Centre. The Tall Stories theatre company delivered a fantastic performance, capturing the children’s imagination and encouraging them to sing and clap along. Our Little Crackers behaved wonderfully throughout the outing, earning compliments from the auditorium staff.

The children also had their moment of fame, singing on stage for our ‘Nursery Noel’ Christmas gift to parents. They shared the Bible story of Jesus' birth through a medley of Christmas Nativity songs and a simple narrative.

Christmas Jumper Day and Christmas lunch added to the festive cheer. The children finished their woodwork snowmen, crafted Christmas angels, made colorful paperchains, and wrote Christmas cards.

We also lit the second candle on the Advent wreath during daily prayers, symbolizing ‘Peace’. After such a fun-packed week, we hope our pupils enjoy a peaceful weekend with their families.

Please find below links to useful information.

Useful Information  

Everyone who is attending Young Voices has already received the details to log onto the Young Voices Music Room, please can the children focus on the following songs this week: 

Please concentrate on the dance moves and get the whole family involved.

• Pop Medley 
• Lets Dance Medley 
• Out Loud - With Actions 

Songs already covered are:

• Try Everything
• Little Blue
• Birdhouse in Your Soul
• Oceania
• Marley Magic

Have fun, listening and learning!

Susan Olden
Director of Music 

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 December Challenge

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

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

• Apprentice Grounds Operative

For further information please refer to the link below 

www.princethorpe.co.uk/join-us