The Chronicle

Dear Parents

I hope that by the time you are reading this some of you will have witnessed the delight of our Choral Group singing in the High Street this evening.  This event marks the beginning of our festive celebrations and will quickly be followed by tomorrow’s Christmas Fayre.  The PTA have been working incredibly hard and are always grateful for your support and donations to these events.  I do hope that you will be able to join us tomorrow to enjoy some of the activities, sample the wonderful food and possibly tick off some items on your Christmas shopping list.  Historically it has always been a very good fund raiser and your support is gratefully appreciated.  Please try and park considerately if you are leaving your car in the residential area tomorrow but the hardstanding on the School field will also be available for parking.

Whilst on the subject of parking, I would like to advise you that lights in the lower car park will not be operational after 5.45pm in the evening unless there is an event taking place.  Therefore I would advise that if you are arriving at school later in the afternoon, please try and park in the main car park or residential area which is lit.

This week we welcomed Sister Philomena Bowers into school for our Monday assembly.  Sister Philomena may be a familiar name to some of you as she was Headmistress of Crackley Hall from 1991 to 2001 and visits school on occasion for events and celebrations.  I am very grateful to Mrs Simmonds for her assistance in arranging for Sister Philomena to visit us.  I truly believe that our links with the past will form and shape us as a school today.  Sister Philomena spoke to us about a Mercy Sisters’ school in Nigeria and the pupils were able to identify with some of the difficulties that the children over there will face on a daily basis and that we are all quite privileged in what we have and in the education that we are able to receive.

I know that many of you attended the Internet Safety Talk on Monday evening with Paul Hay and I hope you found the information useful and informative.  This followed a day of presentations and discussions with children to educate them in the potential risks using the internet.  My thanks to Mr Cottrill for hosting the parents’ evening and if you have any further questions you would like to put to Mr Hay, please let me know.  I would like to reiterate my message that children should not be bringing devices or phones into school but if there is an occasion where you believe it is necessary, please ensure the device is left with the Office where it will be locked in the safe until your child needs it at the end of the school day.

Next week will see the start of the Nativity Plays, beginning with Nursery and Reception on Tuesday.  This will be quickly followed by Key Stage 1 on Wednesday; parking will be available on the field.

Junior 5 and Junior 6 will be spending most of the day at Princethorpe on Thursday next week as they rehearse for our Advent Service which takes place in the Chapel on the evening of 12 December.  For those of you who have not yet attended an event in the Princethorpe chapel, I am sure that you will be impressed by the beautiful venue and exceptional performance from your children.  I do hope to be able to say hello to as many of you as possible at the end of the evening.

Congratulations to our Stars of the Week: Katherine, Mahnoor, Olivia, Rory, Olivia, Grace, Dexter, Dillon, Oliver, Jimmy, Lily, India, Thomas, Wilf and Emily.  All very well deserved, each and every one.  The two worthy recipients of RE book of the week were Adelaide and Amelia; well done to both of you.  Assembly was opened in dramatic fashion with superb signing by Lily, followed later by a fantastic choral performance by one of our excellent drama groups.  Thank you and well done to all our pupils who performed this morning.

I was delighted with our pupils’ many outstanding performances and achievements at Saturday’s Coventry Festival at Bablake School.  Crackley Hall pupils really excelled – well done to everyone who took part and to Mrs Wildey and Mrs Paphitis.

We enjoyed some fantastic sports results again this week – congratulations to all teams.

I was delighted to learn of the performances of Julia and Thomas in the Warwickshire chess championships last weekend.  Well done to them both and, in particular, to Thomas on finishing third in the county and on being selected to represent Warwickshire – quite an achievement!

I know that confirmation of Year 7 places are now being awarded by various schools, including Princethorpe, and if there are parents who have any questions regarding secondary school placements, please do not hesitate to contact me should you wish to discuss anything further.

Unfortunately the Springbok rugby team did not perform well against a very strong Wales team who, alongside Ireland, are playing outstanding rugby – they are real units at the moment.  Additionally, Liverpool were also beaten this week – not a good one for the teams I support.

I will now sign off so that I am able to meet the children outside Loch Fyne ready for their performance at 18:00 – I hope that many of you are able to join in the singing! 

Have a lovely weekend.

God bless,

Robert Duigan

Parents will shortly be receiving an Evolve Consent Form for the Foundation’s new Use of Images Policy. We would be most grateful if you would complete and submit your response to this form by the deadline date of Friday 14 December.  A consent form is required for each child attending the school.

You can find the new Use of Images Policy attached to this article here.

The Foundation makes various uses of images of pupils during their time with us. Where these are necessary for administration and the safety of pupils, such as CCTV and for security ID, the Foundation does not require your consent.

Images are also used for marketing and promotional purposes, to celebrate the achievements of pupils, promote the work of the Foundation and the education it provides. The Foundation does require your consent for these purposes and we hope that parents will feel able to support the Foundation in using pupil images in this way.

Images generally will not have pupil names against them. Names will be used with images when, for instance, celebrating a specific pupil’s, team’s or group’s achievement.

Additional specific consent will be sought for instances when a single pupil is the main focus of a press release or on billboard or bus adverts.

You may withdraw consent at any time in the future by writing to the School Secretary at Crackley Hall. Please be aware that it may not be possible to change printed publications, such as a Foundation magazine or prospectus, or third party publications (for example where we have placed an advert or provided an image to a newspaper).

We have a number of trips and events coming up over the next few weeks. Please see the relevant letters below:  

J3/4 Nutcracker Ballet - 11.12.18

J5 LAMDA Information Letter

J5 LAMDA Consent Form

J6 Victorian History Day

J6 LAMDA Information Letter

J6 LAMDA Consent Form

F1 Sponsorship Presentation

Dear Parents

Now that the evenings are getting darker it would be very helpful if parents could park up to the next car in the row at pick up time and avoid leaving half car gaps.

Also for safety reasons please could we ask parents, if at all posssible, to reverse into spaces when they park to avoid having to reverse out of spaces when children are going to and getting into cars.

Thank you

On Monday 26 November Mr Cottrill and Paul Hay from PCLS Training gave an Internet Safety talk to the parents in the hall. This followed on from a day of talks and workshops that the children took part in at school that day.

If you require any further information about the day please contact Mr Hay directly at paul.hay@pclstraining.com

Parents Evening Information

Question and Answer Information

Wednesday 19 - Friday 21 December 2018 and Thursday 3 - Friday 4 January 2019

The Crackley Hall Holiday Club will again be taking place during the Christmas holiday.

It will commence on Wednesday 19 December and run until Friday 21 December.

It will then reopen on Thursday 3 January and Friday 4 January.

There will be exciting crafts, games and activities taking place at school between the hours of 8.00am and 6.00pm.

Please be aware that places are limited, and are allocated on a first come first served basis.

Please follow the link to book a place https://princethorpecollege.parentseveningsystem.co.uk/

Next Tuesday morning there will be no choral group, instead Chamber Choir will be rehearsing.

Chamber Choir will run next Wednesday morning as normal.

There are spaces available for children to learn violin or viola in the Lent Term, lessons are held on Wednesday and Thursday with places available either day.

If you are interested, please send a lesson request through to Mrs Olden.

Please be aware that Common Lane overbridges will now close for emergency gas work from Monday 3 December to Friday 21 December.

This may have an impact on your journeys to and from school. 

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Junior 5 pupil Isabella Ward, and former Little Crackers pupil, Bode Owen, were both recently recognised in the Independent Schools’ Association’s prestigious National Art Competition.

Isabella's 'Saxon Weaving', which she produced last year in Junior 4, and Bode's 'Masai People and Beads' both received Highly Commended in the Key Stage 2 Textile Art class and EYFS and Key Stage 1 3D Art class respectively.

The National competition followed on from the Regional Midlands competition which took place back in September where Crackley Hall School received the following results:

KS2 Textile Art Individual: 1st Place Isabella Ward - Saxon Weaving

EYFS & KS1 3D Art Individual: 1st Place Bode Owen - Masai People and Beads

KS2 3D Art Individual: 2nd Place India Ferguson - String Panda

EYFS & KS1 Textile Art Individual: Highly Commended Milana Lambeth - Heart Strings 

All of the artists are to be congratulated on their success.

Pictured are Isabella (right) and India (left) and scroll through the gallery to see Milana.

On Saturday 24 November 12 Crackley Hall pupils from the school’s Drama Festival Club competed in the Coventry Festival of Speech and Drama at Bablake School.  It proved a long, but very successful day.

During the morning session Key Stage 2 pupils took part in the Group Verse class.  They performed The Old Wife And The Ghost against extremely competent groups from specialist arts school, Pattisson College.  Their performance delighted the judges and was rewarded with a superb score of 92% (anything over 90% is classed as an outstanding performance).  That result just pipped Pattison at the post, reversing the result from last year.  The Key Stage 2 pupils were awarded the ‘Oscar Trophy’ as a reward for their first place.

Then brave six-year-old Jia Mehta impressed the judge in the Humorous Verse class with her solo rendition of My Mother Does My Homework, scoring a brilliant Highly Commended with 85%.

The evening session started with Elle Weir and Lily Bryson’s super duologue The Three Bears.  Then, against stiff competition from other local schools, Kiran Dhillon and Jasper Nicholls took first place with another outstanding score of 90% for their humorous duologue, Excuses, Excuses. Finally, the Drama Group delighted the adjudicator with a fantastic performance of the hockey scene from Daisy Pulls it Off, scoring an absolutely amazing 95% to take the coveted ‘Blue Trophy’ for first place in the Small Dramatic Scene category against the accomplished Cobweb Theatre Company.

Drama teacher, Nicola Wildey, was ecstatic commenting, “I am so very proud of all the children who have worked so incredibly hard all term to learn their lines.  They have been so dedicated attending numerous rehearsals during break and lunchtimes. Well done to them all, this is an absolutely outstanding result.”

Crackley Hall’s Junior 5 pupil Fintan McGrory has stepped straight from his role as ‘cute Joseph’ in the successful stage production, Nativity The Musical, to the latest edition of the Christmas film franchise.  The movie, Nativity Rocks, was released just last week on Friday 23 November, and stars Fintan as a pupil at the much loved fictional St Bernadette’s Primary School.

Filming took place at various local locations in February and March this year, and included a grand Rock Opera held at Coventry Cathedral and a mock Christmas market set up just outside.  The film, the fourth in the series, follows the fortunes of St Bernadette’s staff and pupils as they try to help Coventry win the title 'Christmas Town of the Year' by auditioning for a coveted place in a spectacular rock musical competition.

Fintan plays a pupil at St Bernadette’s and, in the film, he can be seen making his Christmas wishes and then later on riding a motorcycle at the end of the show.

The film premiered in Coventry on Monday 19 November, when Fintan joined other members of the cast, and the stars of the show Simon Lipkin, Daniel Boys and Craig Revel Horwood, on the red carpet.

Fintan loved making the film even though the filming often went on well in to the night.

With all of his performance commitments you would think Fintan has more than enough on his plate to cope with but that is certainly not the case for this talented young all-rounder who following trials at Edgbaston Cricket Ground has just had the call up to the Warwickshire Cricket U10s winter development squad for 2018-19.

Fintan will now take part in a 12 week winter coaching programme with the rest of the squad where he hopes to develop both his batting and bowling skills.  He will also have the chance to work with a specialist wicket keeping coach, as he particularly enjoys playing behind the stumps, explaining, “You get more involved in the match when you’re the wicker keeper”.

Well done Fintan we are very proud of your success.

The Scholastic Book Fair has been in school all week. The books arrived in their special display cases on Monday afternoon causing much excitement. The brightly coloured jackets and bold titles catching the imagination of all who walked past.

Every class had the chance to visit the fair with their teacher during lesson time. They were able to look at the selection of books on offer and reserve the books they wanted to buy. On offer were books for girls and boys of all ages and reading levels. The fair was also open after school for parents to come along and purchase books. 

The book fair was very popular, there really is nothing like the sight, feel and smell of a new book!

Thank you to everybody who supported the fair, all your sales have provided the school with the opportunity to purchase some lovely new books for our library.

Tuesday 4 December 2018 - 11:00 am to 12:00 pm

The Reception Nativity is fast approaching and the children have been busy rehearsing their lines and songs.

The main performance will take place in the school hall on Tuesday 4 December at 11:00 am, to which you are warmly invited and the performance will last approximately 30 minutes.

All children will be taken back to their classroom at the end of the performance and we would ask that you please remain seated while the children file out of the hall.

Refreshments will be served after the performance. It would be helpful if you would please indicate on the Parent Evening System how many guests will be in your party for catering purposes.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Wednesday 5 December 2018 - 2.00pm to 3.30pm

The children in Junior 1 and 2 will be presenting their Nativity in the school hall at 2:00 pm on Wednesday 5 December. The performance will last approximately 40 minutes, after which refreshments will be served.

Children will remain in school until the end of the school day and can be collected from car line at the usual time. In order to return the children to their classrooms promptly, please remain seated while the children file out of the hall.

Due to space restrictions, we are able to offer a total of four seats per family. If you would like more than 4 seats, please indicate the number of additional seats required on the Parent Event System booking notes. You will then be added to our waiting list and notified if additional spaces become available.

Can you also please indicate in the booking notes how many guests will require refreshments for catering purposes.

Due to space restrictions around the school, please be aware that parking will be available on the school field for the Nativity.

We look forward to seeing you there.

RE Book of the Week has been awarded to Adelaide and Amelia for the beautiful prayers written inside their ‘prayer square’

Thank you for your overwhelming support for the Christmas Tree competition held at St Nicholas Church. The tree is up and ready for your votes! Please visit the church and look at the beautiful and cleverly decorated trees by members of our local community. It is a real treat!

The church is open before and after the switch on and until Sunday. Voting takes place until 4.30pm on Saturday 1 December. Refreshments are also available in the church. Once the event is over, we will bring it back to school and display it near the Gables – with any luck!

Please see the attachment below for information regarding a holiday club running after Christmas.

The club is provided by an external provider and not Crackley Hall School.

Tennis Camp Information

Due to the darker nights we are bringing forward some of the finishing times for our outdoor sports clubs. Timings vary dependent on day and location.  

Monday J5/6 Hockey:

Remains at 5.00pm at Warwick Uni, 5.30pm at school.

Children staying at school will be brought in just before the end and finish with a theory session for the last 20 minutes or so – video playback of international matches, positional play discussions, skill-based discussions and video clips, etc.

Tuesday J3/4 Hockey:

Will remain the same - 5.00pm (as the hall is available)

Wednesday J3/4 Netball and Football:

Now finishes at 4.30pm due to lack of light.

Thursday J5/6 Netball:

Remains the same - 5.00pm pick up from Moorefields, 5.20pm from school.

Thursday J5/6 Football:

Earlier finish of 4.30pm due to lack of light. 

Friday J5/6 Girls Football:

Earlier finish of 4.45pm due to lack of light.

We are sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Due to the Nativities and Christmas Lunch taking place in the school hall over the next couple of weeks, we have had to change the days for Rugby Tots.

Therefore next week it will be on Thursday 6 December and the following week it will be on Tuesday 11 December.  

Please see attached letter for more information (J2 - J5)

Bayleaf Cookery Club

What a blustery, blowy few days!  We have enjoyed spending time outside under the trees in this exciting weather, although our imaginations are obviously still wishing it was summer as lots of children decided it was time to ‘sell ice-creams’!! 

After some discussion, the pretend pop up shops did begin selling hot chocolate with marshmallows, which Miss Lisa thought was much better!  

We have also been finalising and tweaking our fabulous performance of ‘A King is Born’, ready for our Nativity next week, Tuesday morning.  We are looking forward to seeing you, please make sure the children are here by 8.45am at the latest, then we can get changed and ready in good time.  The children also need to be in by 8.45am on Friday morning ready for our trip to the Warwick Arts Centre.  The bus will leave according to a set schedule so we won’t be able to wait I’m afraid… 

Have a wonderful weekend, please don’t forget to come to the Crackley Hall Christmas Fair on Saturday afternoon, it will be lots of fun!

Newsletter

Fingers and toes were transformed into magical festive gifts at our Little Crackers Stay 'n' Play Paint and Glaze session.

Emma from Rugby based Paint and Glaze created some wonderful Christmas gifts with hand and footprints. Over 20 famillies joined us for the session and Crackley Hall pupils came out of Reception and Year 2 to make a decoration with their siblings. Emma even came back for a second session as the activity was so popular!

The visit from Paint and Glaze is part of a programme of visiting activities at the group. To find out more about our upcoming activities, please visit www.littlecrackers.co.uk/stay-n-play

Next week on Wednesday 5 December we look forward to the Christmas Party where there will be crafts, nibbles and a special visit from Sam at Drama Tots who will take the children on a magical Christmas Journey!

Many thanks to all of you who have donated items for the Christmas Fayre this week.

Tomorrow is Crackley Hall's annual PTA Christmas Fayre.

We would love to see you there. We really do appreciate all of your support and remind you that all of the money raised goes straight back into the PTA fund. 

Choral group will be singing from 12.45pm and the Fayre will officially open at 1.00pm. So if your child is in choral group please send them along in good time.

We have lots of our favourite stalls and a few new ones. See the Christmas Fayre Programme in your children’s book bags for further details of all the stalls. 

Please wrap up warm wellies and all.

We are looking forward to starting the Christmas festivities in style and do hope you can all join us.

We are holding a Winter Ball at Woodside Hotel in Kenilworth and we really hope you can join us. We will be selling tickets at the Christmas Fayre. Please see the poster for further details. 

Lost

Harry Turvey (J4JM) has lost his named black waterproof trousers and jacket.

Tom Wilding (J5R) has lost his named sports shorts & rugby shirt.

Amelia Turvey (J2M) has lost her named winter coat.

Jakob Baddon (J2M) has lost his named winter coat.

Kyra Khanna (J3H) has lost her named track-suit.