The Chronicle

Dear Parents

I returned from South Africa this morning and whilst my visit was very emotional and I am still feeling ‘short of sleep’, I am pleased to be back and it was wonderful to see the pupils’ smiling faces again.  I would like to thank so many staff and parents for your kind messages, flowers, cards, prayers and thoughts which have helped provide comfort at this difficult time.

Although it is my first day back to school, I have kept in contact throughout my absence and was delighted to hear of some superb sporting efforts this week and a wonderful result for performing arts.

On Wednesday, Mr and Mrs Vaughan and Mr Lamprecht accompanied athletes to the ISA Cross Country at Bedstone College.  The results were outstanding with 9 Crackley Hall pupils through to the National Competition.  The Under 9 Boys received 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place which are the best results that I have known.  On Thursday, Mrs Vaughan and Mrs Horan travelled to the Lee Valley Stadium with the boys to participate in the ISA National U11 Boys Hockey.  This was another wonderful result with the boys finishing the day being placed 5th nationally.  Congratulations to everyone that took part in the events, I am very proud of you all.

Mrs Olden has informed me that Crackley Hall achieved another national accolade within the ISA.  The Performing Arts Musical Theatre competition was held recently and Bella in Junior 6 was awarded 2nd place in the Key Stage Two category for her piece ‘Home’.  Congratulations to Bella on her performance and hard work which helped to ensure an outstanding performance.

Key Stage 1 children took to the stage this week and performed for their families on Wednesday afternoon.  I was really sorry to have missed this event.  Thank you to Mrs Olden, Mrs Wildey, Mrs Paphitis and our peripatetic music teachers for helping to organise the event.  I look forward to watching the Key Stage 2 performances next week.

This morning Junior 1 visited the Transport Museum in Coventry and I am looking forward to hearing all about this in more detail next week.  Thank you to Mrs Hardwick and Mr Kefalas for accompanying the children today.

Congratulations to all our Stars of the Week including: Edie, Sophia, Angelica, Evelyn, Elsie, Elizabeth, Lucas, Mitchell, Leo, Aaron, Max, Theo, Louie and Amy.  Willow received RE book of the week and Julia was awarded a Junior da Vinci certificate for her work in Maths.  Well done everyone, keep up your magnificent efforts.  Although I was not able to attend assembly, I know that Freddie gave a marvellous singing performance this morning.  The ever-growing confidence and talents of our pupils is to be applauded.  Guided by our staff and nurtured by you, there is no limit to what they can achieve.

I am grateful to all the staff at Crackley Hall who have kept in touch during my absence and also ensured that school runs ‘business as usual’.  Next week is the last week of this half term and I am sure that you will be looking forward to the break.  Holiday club will be running throughout the half term but online booking will close on Friday next week.  Parent consultation evenings will take place the week we return and appointments can be booked from 6.00pm this evening using your My School Portal app.

I’d like to express my gratitude to Mr Hester for his support of me being away from school and to Mr Cottrill, Mrs Dyer and everyone at school for carrying a little extra work in my absence.  I hope that you and your families have a relaxing weekend.

God bless

Mr Duigan 

Due to the Parents Consultation evenings the following clubs will be cancelled:

Wednesday 26 February

Gymnastics

Thursday 27 February

Tennis

J5/J6 Yoga

Crackley Hall Half Term Holiday Club will be available from 8.00 am until 6.00 pm Monday 17 February to Friday 21 February, at a cost of £30.00 for a full day. Half days (8am-1pm and 1pm-6pm) can be booked at £20.00 per session. Lunch is available at a cost of £3.40 per day.

Holiday Club

Please can parents provide a photocopy of their child's valid passport to the school office as soon as possible.

If your child's passport will have less than 6 months left to run in May 2020, under new regulations you must apply for a new one.

Thank you 

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Junior 3 and Junior 4 pupils enjoyed a super trip out to the RSC last week when they took part in a very special primary school workshop. Organised by their Education team the lucky children worked alongside RSC actors, the production's Assistant Director and RSC Education Associate Practitioners as they explored the language, staging and creative process of The Boy In The Dress.

In the afternoon the children watched a matinee performance of the show, an uplifting, energetic and hugely entertaining hit.

It was a wonderful experience for them all. A huge thank you to the RSC for sharing the secrets of the theatre with us.

Crackley Hall’s KS1 Performing Arts Afternoon took place on Wednesday 5 February. The concert featured music, poetry and song and parents, family and friends gathered excitedly in the hall at the end of the school day to enjoy the celebration of the talent of our youngest pupils.

Junior 6s, Henry Fox and Jorja Parris compered and began by warmly welcoming everyone. The Junior 2 Violin Ensemble opened proceedings with a lovely rendition of Party Piece, they were followed on stage by Mrs Stoke’s group who sang Perfect Nanny delightfully. Elsie Ascroft performed a super drum solo of Another One Bites The Dust which was followed by Thomas Reddish’s careful rendition of On The Beach.

Next Junior 1 came on stage and delivered an enthusiastic performance of Dinner Ladies and stayed to play a lively Reel on their Recorders. Then Beatrice Parizzi cleverly fingered the catchy Nick Nack Paddy Wack on the piano before Blythe Camilleri-Willis spoke slowly and clearly as he carefully enunciated his poem Lion.

Mrs Goode’s singing group delivered a fabulous performance of Truly Scrumptious accompanied by the very talented Jorja Parris. Then Phoebe Ward was word perfect as she recited with her poem New Day.

The concert finished with Junior 2's rendition of the Rhythm Of Life before the Junior 2 recorders brought the afternoon to a close with a lively performance of Dublin Dan.

Our enormous thanks and congratulations go to all our accomplished performers who took to the stage in front of their proud parents, and of course to their teachers who have worked so hard to help them achieve so much.

There was plenty of excitement for Junior 1 today when they visited Coventry Transport Museum to find out more about all manner of man-made 'propelled vehicles', for their cross-curricular studies in History, Science and English.

The children participated in an informative seminar and practical activities on the history of bicycles. They tested out riding wooden and rubber wheeled scooters over a bumpy surface to establish why the materials used for wheels changed over time. They constructed bicycle frames to test which shape was the strongest, and wore goggles to carry out further science investigations. They heard of Coventry's important role in the design, development and manufacture of cycles, beginning with the Boneshaker of the 1820s, moving on to the Penny Farthing and the tricycle of the 1880s and the safety bicycle of 1888. At the museum supercars, buses, bikes and electric vehicles were all eagerly explored.

Upon returning back to school the children will be writing up their own recounts and starting to design and create their own moving vehicles.

Well done Junior 1, we are very proud of you.

We are delighted that there has been such a fantastic response to this event. We are now operating a waiting list should any tickets become available, please email oldprincethorpians@princethorpe.co.uk if you would like to be added to the list. 

For those that have already purchased tickets, please can we remind you that the payment deadline is next Monday 10 February.

We will be emailing guests a drinks pre-order form and a parking permit request form on Friday 14 February, tickets and final arrangements for the evening will be posted out during the first week of March.

We are looking forward to what promises to be a very enjoyable and memorable evening.

This week in Lego Club, brothers Arthur in J2 and Alfred in J4, who have been busy building Lego at home, decided to bring their creations into school to show their design to other enthusiastic Lego builders.  Using scrap Lego, the duo built a police station and prison in three weeks with no instructions whatsoever - just their fired up imagination!  Their design included frozen prisoners, lasers, lava to detect enemies and a police dog called Bubble! 

Pupils were in awe of their design and they can’t wait to see the next stage of their model – a police museum!

 Said Lego Club leader Mrs Clare Hill, "Using Lego bricks offers a full spectrum of benefits to the budding mind.

"These boys found a box of random pieces of Lego which ignited their imagination to develop their creativity together.  With so many electronic and battery powered gadgets available on the market, it can be hard to find play value which is quite as engaging, stimulating and that promotes intellectual development more than good old Lego. I was highly impressed with their creation!"

Mathlete of the week for J1H is Shuvan and Jessie

Mathlete of the week for J4W are Dexter and Alfred

Mathlete of the week for J3V is Lawson

Well done all!

Please click on 'View Gallery' to scroll through a few photos from this week's events.

As we prepare for Easter, during Lent, we are asked to reflect on ways that we can actively support our neighbours, locally and globally.

Next week pupils will bring home Father Hudson’s collection boxes, by filling up the collection boxes with loose change, we will help those less fortunate than us. Please could these be returned to school by Monday 16 March.

Father Hudson was a remarkable man and an exceptional priest who was well ahead of his time in respecting the dignity of children, desiring to give them the best start in life that was possible in their circumstances.

Many people familiar with Father Hudson’s will be aware of the network of homes, especially in Coleshill, that he developed with the support of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, its parishes and schools, and the sisters of the Selly Park Convent over a period of 30 years. Father Hudson’s provides Family Support in 36 schools in the Archdiocese. Through intensive and tailored mentoring of over 400 children and their families every year, they improve the outcomes for children living in adversity.

RE Book of the Week has been awarded to Willow (J4JM).

All our welcome to join us for our Ash Wednesday Mass which will be led by Junior 3V in the Gables during One World Week at 11am on Wednesday 26 February.

Crackley Hall had its best ever year at the Regional ISA Midlands Cross Country at Bedstone College on Wednesday 5 February with nine pupils finishing in the top 10 for their race and qualifying for the Nationals.

The course was exciting and challenging involving undulating fields, hills, streams, woodland, gravel and even mole hills! The U10 Girls and Boys had a 1500m course while the U11s took on a 1800m course that crossed two streams. 

Well done to all of the competitiors - a full write up of the results will be included in next week's Chronicle. 

Please find information attached that may be of interest on a Tennis Camp running in the February half term. Please note that this holiday course is not run by the school and you will need to deal directly with the organsiers.

Flyer

Please find below information that may be of interest on a Netball course running in the February half term.   Please note that this holiday course is not run by the school and you will need to deal directly with the organsiers.

Netball Coaching Course

Netball Course Timetable

This has been a lovely week in nursery and it was especially fantastic to see a little bit of sunshine!  This was at its best on Thursday morning when the Badgers braved the cold and went for an adventure in the woods. Miss Nicola found some interesting bows made from sticks and string, and some of us began measuring sticks to make arrows for big bows and little bows. 

Our inside adventures saw us counting stones and exploring the Numicon shapes as we compared big and small numbers while some of us have been making caterpillar paintings using pegs and pom-poms to make our own tools.  Look out for our new corridor display if you get a minute, the children have been demonstrating just how many things they learn whilst painting a picture. 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Newsletter

On Wednesday 5 February, Little Crackers Stay 'n' Players were treated to some football fun with Go4Goals. Jason led the youngsters through an engaging warm up using mini hurdles and hoops, before introducing some basic ball skills. The session finished with a nail biting penalty shootout!

The visit from Go4Goals is part of a programme of visiting activities at our friendly Stay 'n' Play toddler group. To find out more about our upcoming activities, please visit www.littlecrackers.co.uk/stay-n-play

Our next themed activity will be our in-house Easter Crafts sessions on Wednesday 18 March.

To mark the end of a busy half term the PTA and teachers are organising celebratory school disco!

Friday 14 February will be a non-uniform day and children are asked to bring in a £1 to cover the cost of the disco and a small treat. There will be different discos for the different year groups but all will be in normal school time so children can attend clubs after school or be picked up in car line as normal.

The PTA hope the children enjoy this end of half term treat. 

We are mindful that there will be a number of parents and pupils who will be concerned about the situation regarding the Coronavirus.

The health and wellbeing of our community is of paramount importance to the Foundation and we are closely monitoring the situation and are following advice from Public Health England (PHE) and the Department for Education.

We have received the following advice from the Department for Education which we have been asked to share with staff, parents and pupils.

The government is closely monitoring the spread of the Coronavirus and is taking action at home and abroad.

The overall risk of Coronavirus to the UK remains moderate. Latest information and advice can also be found at:

•          https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

However, we understand that people may be concerned where there are children, students or staff returning from or visiting China.

Public Health England and the Foreign Office have issued advice for anyone travelling to the area.

This can be found at:

•          https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/china

•          https://www.gov.uk/government/news/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-and-avian-flu-advice-for-travel-to-china

Advice for parents/guardians

You should not be unduly worried about the possibility of your children catching the Coronavirus. There is no reason why your children should not continue to attend their early years, school or further education setting as normal.

We recognise that some families or children may be planning to travel to China during the forthcoming half term period. If so, please refer to the FCO’s latest travel advice via the link above.

What action you can take

A UK wide campaign has been launched to provide clear advice on how to slow the spread of Coronavirus.

Please help to support the campaign which promotes basic hygiene practices, such as regularly washing hands and always sneezing into a tissue, to stem the spread of viruses.

We will continue to keep you informed if the situation and official advice changes. Should you wish to discuss any of the above, please do not hesitate to contact school.

Please find a link below to the current vacancies available across the Foundation:

• Head of Digital Learning and Teacher of Boys' Games – Crescent School

Full details of the roles and how to apply are available via the following link  https://www.princethorpe.co.uk/employment-opportunities

Should you know anyone who might be interested in these posts, please do share this information with them.

Lost

Willow (J4JM) has lost her school hat

Olivia (J3Z) has lost her Smiggle lanyard

Isabella (J4JM) has lost her sports fleece

Found

Pair of red glasses

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Parents, please ensure that all school uniform and sports kits are named.

Could you please regularly check all uniform and sports kits at home – if it does not belong to your child, please return it to the School Office as soon as possible.