The Chronicle

Dear Parents

I’d like to wish everyone a very warm welcome back to a new school year and I am pleased to be able to open school to everyone once again.  It has been an exciting and busy start to the new school year with new faces, new routines and new ideas.  I am grateful for your understanding, good humour and smiles whilst we adapt our procedures to ensure that we can operate as safely and efficiently as possible.

The children are beginning to remember the new routes around school and most are enjoying the revised menus provide by Mr Sansum.  Clubs will re-open next week and Mrs Vaughan has been trying to accommodate as many choices as possible within the restrictions imposed upon schools.  After Care and Early Birds have been operating successfully within the bubble groups allocated and I am grateful that parents seem to be using this facility only when absolutely necessary.  This helps to alleviate some of the logistical burden and worry.

There will be events on the school calendar such as the parent information evenings, LAMDA exams, Mass, school photographs, parent consultation evenings, nativities, etc but these will be taking place in a different format this year.  You will be emailed if an event affects your family but I would advise keeping a close eye on the Chronicle and our website calendar for any updates. 

Our online parent information evenings have already begun and sessions for Junior 5, 4, 2 and 3 will take place next week.  If you have any questions following these meetings, please contact your child’s teacher by email. 

I hope you were able to watch the assembly this morning where I shared our stars of the week, some of the certificates achieved during the summer were recognised and also advised parents and children of just a few of the guidelines we are following.   Our stars this week were: Theoharis, all of Reception, all of J1H, Patrick, Leo, Ding, Sienna, Miley, Matilda, the whole of Junior 5L and 5R, Harry and Jacob.  Congratulations to all of you, to our Da Vinci winners and to our merit certificate winner.

I met (socially distanced outside) with several members of our PTA this week and they are very keen for parents to contact them should they wish to become involved in their team.  The PTA are already planning the Macmillan Coffee morning and will be discussing this and more at the AGM on Wednesday, 23 September.  Please see the PTA’s message later in this edition and I hope that you are able to support them and assist wherever possible – they are a very friendly and welcoming group who provide so much for school and the children.  Our Chair, Lucy Lamb, would be delighted to hear from you.  The PTA will soon be selling second-hand uniform again; so please look out for how to purchase any additional items of uniform.

Unfortunately, we were unable to host our annual prize giving at the end of last term but book prizes were sent to children (Reception to J5) and many of you sent in photographs of them celebrating their awards.  These can be viewed later in this edition.  I have enjoyed looking through all these photographs and seeing the smiling faces.

The pupils have already started earning their house points in readiness for announcement at next week’s celebration assembly.

Please refer to government guidelines with regard to Covid-19 and when to keep your child off school.  We, as a Foundation, adhere strictly to the published guidance.  Please continue to monitor your child’s temperature and please do not send them into school if they are displaying any symptoms.  A big PLEASE is to follow the regulations regarding socialising and social distancing in your personal lives as this has a possible impact on so many other families at school.  We would not like to return to ‘off site learning’ so soon after being back.

It has been wonderful having everyone back again and to welcome new pupil, families and staff to Crackley Hall. I hope that you and your family have settled back into the first week of school and that you enjoy the weekend ahead.

God bless,

Mr Duigan

Please find below the Michaelmas cold menu choices for this term.

Children will select their preferred choice in class with the teacher.

Cold Menu Choice

I would like to express my thanks and gratitude for your kind wishes and generous gift of garden vouchers, which were presented to me at the end of term.  

I was deeply touched by the messages and kind words, and will very much enjoy spending the vouchers. My garden is a real love and any additions to it always have great meaning for me.

I do hope that you have all enjoyed the summer break and are looking forward to the new academic year.

Good luck and enjoy Crackley life!

With very best wishes, Tanya Hill

We are asking for any old pots and pans and cooking utensils e.g. wooden spoons, spatulas and measuring jugs etc. for our mud kitchen.

Because of separate bubbles we now need a pack for each group and would rather recycle where we can.

All items will be quarantined before use, to avoid cross contamination.

There will be a box labelled Forest School Collection Box by the Science Room Door for any donations.

Thank You

Congratulations to all of you who received a book prize at the end of last term. 

We have received some lovely photographs of winners who have purchased a book, with their prize.

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Budding Lego builders and brothers Arthur and Alfred have been busy creating their very own Lego City in the comfort of their own home during the Summer. 

They both made their Lego City by starting with the railway and then building around it. Said Arthur, Crackley's former Lego Club Captain, "It took us about two weeks to make but we had lots of fun rebuilding, modifying and improving things throughout the Summer."

Alfred added, "Our Lego City has a railway, a temple, dragons, a ship, a prison, a castle, motorbike, restaurant and about 50 figures including people and huskies. Our favourite bits are the railway track and castle."

Both boys have truly immersed themselves into Lego and have enjoyed endless hours of imaginative play which has helped these young builders to become inspiring master builders!

The Lego Club is run each Thursday during lunchtime with Mrs Hill for J2 and then J3 after half-term.

On Saturday 19 September from 10.00am to 12.30pm Princethorpe College will be hosting a dedicated Crackley Hall Junior 6 Taster Experience.

The children will remain in their class bubbles over the course of the morning, receive a welcome from Mr Hester, the Headmaster and have the chance to experience two taster lessons.

Social distancing and government guidelines will be followed throughout the morning.

We would encourage all Crackley Hall Junior 6 pupils to join us on this occasion as due to COVID restrictions other opportunities to visit will unfortunately be extremely limited. Please click here to complete the online booking by Friday 11 September. A follow up confirmation email will be sent week commencing 14 September with details of the arrangements for the afternoon.

A Revised Admissions and Entrance Examinations Booklet which outlines the admissions process for September 2021 entry will soon be available. Please note that Entrance Exams have been moved to Saturday 23 January 2021. Candidates need to be registered for the exams by Friday 4 December at the latest. Parents of children with a SEND should register as soon as possible so that a meeting with the SEND Co-ordinator at Princethorpe can be arranged well before the exams take place.

In the meantime, if you have any questions relating to the admissions process please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Contact the Admissions Team on 01926 634201 or email admissions@princethorpe.co.uk.

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

This week we have celebrated our first two Masses with Junior 4 and 6.

Father Kevin was delighted with how the children behaved and joined in, as these were the first two Masses he has led in schools since March.

Thank you to Georgie, Carter and Julia in Junior 4 and Maxwell, Isabel and Millie In Junior 6 for reading. It was lovely to see the pupils thinking about friendship and how we support each other in these very different times.

Junior 2 took part in a short service today, led by Mrs Jackson-Mayne – they discussed ways that they could follow in Jesus’ footsteps by being kind to each other. They drew fish and decorated their prayer corner linked with the story from the Bible, ‘I will make you fishers of men.’  

Next Monday Junior 3  will celebrate  Mass on Monday and  Junior 5 on Wednesday. Reception and Junior 1 will take part in a Welcome Back to School Service led by Mrs JM, in their classrooms.

Crackley Hall are now using resources created by Christian group ‘Ten Ten’. Please see link below:

https://www.tentenresources.co.uk/parent-newsletter/

Welcome back to everyone, and thank you for making this first week back such a success.  

We have been so impressed with the children as they managed everything, from different doors to different toilets.  Our little ones have coped really well, showing fantastic confidence, resilience and enthusiasm for learning. 

Please have a quick look at the Nursery Newsletter. You will find all sorts of important information about Nursery, but if you do have any queries, please don’t hesitate to ask. 

We really appreciate your understanding regarding drop off and pick up routines at the moment and we will continue to monitor these systems as we work hard to keep everyone safe.

I hope you have a relaxing weekend, and make the most of the opportunity to ‘re-group’ after the first week back to normal.

Welcome

We hope that everyone had a lovely summer holiday and all the children have settled back into school life after what has been a very challenging year for us all.

The PTA have hit the ground running, so please note all the forthcoming dates for your diaries:

PTA AGM and Ordinary Meeting

Wednesday 23 September 6.30 – 7.30pm in the School Hall 

We are always looking to welcome new members, so if the PTA is something you would like to be involved with we would be very pleased for you to join us. The committee get together once per half term and would really welcome some new faces, now more than ever.

This event will need to be pre-booked, using this link to record your details so we can allow for numbers and social distancing. Please bring along a pen, paper and of course your face mask. Thank you in advance.

If you would like any further information or to be added to our email list, please contact mfox1401@gmail.com

Macmillan Coffee Morning and Drive Through

Friday 25 September from 8.00am

This year Crackley PTA will support Macmillan with a drive-by collection, enabling parents to drop money into the Macmillan pot at the same time as dropping children at school.

Coffee and tea will still be served, but this year, drinks with be available from the sports field to prevent traffic build up in carline.

Unfortunately, there will be no cake sale this year, however children will be able to purchase pre-packaged cakes, in their classrooms, for snack. Further details to follow from the school office.

You can also donate via this link if you are unable to join us on the day

https://thyg.uk/BUU004324912

Second Hand Uniform

Parents will be pleased to know that the PTA are currently in discussions with school to see how we can re-open the second hand uniform shop to be COVID-19 compliant and safe for parents, further details will follow.  Thank you for your patience.

Cyber-crime – please be extra vigilant

Parents are asked to be vigilant when reading emails relating to the payment of school fees and any other items to the Foundation.

We continue to receive reports regarding spam emails.  The latest scam offers a large discount on fees for the coming academic year if paid immediately.

This is probably trying to take advantage of the fact that some independent schools have offered discounts for this term and that parents may therefore be more open to such a suggestion. You can always protect yourselves by only making payments to us in line with our normal, published methods.

As advised, there has been no change to the bank details of either Princethorpe College, Crackley Hall or Crescent and there is no intention to make any changes in the foreseeable future. Any electronic notification that appears to be from any of the Foundation schools changing these details may be fraudulent.  Our bank details are available on the Parent Bills, the Online Payment Portal and in the Information Booklet for each school, and only those details should be used.

Please do not hesitate to contact me or my colleagues in the Bursary if you are have any doubts about the correct details or indeed if anything appears suspicious. 

Eddie Tolcher
Foundation Bursar