The Chronicle

Dear Parents

I hope that you are all well and ready to enjoy what is forecast to be a fine weekend.

The new routines at school have become second nature to most now and I would like the thank staff, children and parents for their support and understanding.  I am most grateful to parents and staff for assisting in making carline run smoothly, especially the parents who have, with such good grace, adhered to my request to move to the lower playground when the traffic starts getting close to encroaching on the Coventry Road.

I will continue to remind everyone within the school community of the importance of following the anti-Covid procedures which are in place for the well-being of all.  This week alone has seen some schools return to online learning and this is something that I very much hope to avoid.  I therefore would ask that we are mindful of our actions, especially now that we have had updated regulations from our government that, from Monday, no more than 6 people from two households may mix, indoors or outdoors.  We really should do our best to help beat this virus together so that lives are spared and the economy can pick up as soon as possible.

The PTA have also been affected by the Covid safety procedures and will not be able to hold the AGM, Ordinary Meeting or Macmillan Coffee morning as originally planned.  Please see the message from the PTA Officers later in this edition for a full update.

Thank you for your feedback regarding the school lunches.  The variety provided by Mr Sansum and his team has been well received and the cold lunches have been reviewed with effect from next week to reflect the wish for some plainer sandwich fillings for the younger children.  Parents have been asked to complete an online order form for next week’s cold lunches by Sunday 13 September which will help the catering team enormously.

Events in our calendar are slowly being added as and when we are able to.  We will be announcing and presenting our Head Boy, Head Girl, Deputies, House Captains and Steward awards next week which we will record for parents to view.  We will endeavour to make this occasion as memorable as possible for all the children even if we are not able to invite you in to share in this event.

LAMDA exams will be taking place next week and the examiners have been fully briefed on our Visitors policy whilst also following their own risk assessments when visiting venues. 

Junior 6 have been invited to Princethorpe on the morning of Saturday 19 to take part in a dedicated Crackley Hall taster experience.  If you have yet to respond by completing a link published last week, please contact the admissions team on 01926 634201 or email admissions@princethorpe.co.uk  The morning will provide an opportunity to experience to taster lessons and Mr Hester looks forward to welcoming as many children and parents as possible.

I hope that you were able to watch Celebration Assembly this morning where I was able to congratulate all our Stars of the Week: Oscar, Xanthe, Charlie, Jess, Harrison, Sara, Sebastian, Jia, Olivia, Hattie, Harry, Yung and Joseph.  Jupiter have led the house points this week and totalled 87 points, Saturn were not far behind with 86, with Venus on 76 and Mars on 72.  Congratulations to all our pupils and staff who celebrated birthdays this week.

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

God bless,

Mr Duigan

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

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

Reception and Nursery

J1 - J6

We are trialling a new method of selection for cold lunches for Years 2, 4 and 6.

Please can you click on the link below and select the cold lunches for the week ahead for your child.

Cold Menu Choices  

Medical Issues

If your child has any medical issues or severe allergies please ensure we have full details. If you have a care plan in place, we require a written copy. 

Medicines

Any medicines brought into school must be handed in at the office. They must also be clearly labelled with the child’s name, and dosage instructions, accompanied by an authorisation form that you can find here: Authorisation Form. We need a new authorisation slip for each new batch of medicine. Medicine to be returned home must be collected from the office by an adult and cannot be handed to a child.

Your child should look after their own asthma inhaler, though a spare can be kept in the office.

Please find attached the termly curriculum sheet for your child's year group:

Reception

Junior 1

Junior 2

Junior 3

Junior 4

Junior 5

Junior 6

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Maxwell put his best foot forward....to run and walk the equivalent of five marathons during the month of July a distance of 131 miles!! 

He ran to support the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham Charity, as friends and family have suffered with cancer recently and he wanted to raise money for all the amazing care they received whilst having treatment. 

Maxwell said that the doctors and nurses are superheros and he would like to do his bit to help.

He raised £1,225 during his challenge.

Well Done Maxwell!

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

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.

Thank you to Father Kevin for once again celebrating Mass with two classes, on Monday and Wednesday.

It was lovely to see the children dancing and signing to ‘My Lighthouse’ and joining in with the different readings.

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

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

Move It Shake It club runs on a Monday (J4) and Wednesday (J3) afternoon after school from 3.45pm to 4.45pm.

Please see the flyer pictured for contact details.

What a brilliant week! We have been able to make the most of Music, Forest School and PE this week – and it has been a lot of fun. 

Thank you so much to the Pre-School (Badger) parents who sent in kit and wellies for Forest School on Thursday.  I was so impressed with our independent group, they took their time, but all were able to get themselves into their waterproofs and wellies ready for the outdoor fun.  We met Mrs Clark who will lead the sessions, and she taught us some of the important rules, e.g. no picking, no licking!  The children understood that this was an important way to keep safe outside, and then had lots of fun climbing the trees, following the shiny snail trails and exploring the outdoor classroom.  Mrs Clark is currently preparing the larger woods for our safe return next week.  She is making sure each group has its own kit, and would appreciate donations of wooden spoons, bowls and pans that you may be throwing out as she extends the mud kitchen provision. 

Music with Mrs Olden continues to be very popular, only now we are spending this session outside.  At the moment we are playing some fantastic musical rhythm and beat games; listening, copying and joining in. 

Thank you for your continued support and understanding as we settle into the new routine morning and evening, so far, so good!

Newsletter 

Please note all the forthcoming dates for your diaries:

PTA AGM and Ordinary Meeting

We have been notified, that due to changes to the recent government guidelines, we will no longer be able to hold the PTA AGM at school. We will, however, be able to hold a virtual meeting on Wednesday 23rd September, 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm via Zoom.

If you would like to join please email mfox1401@gmail.com and the link will be shared with you on the day, we really look forward to catching up with both current, and, hopefully lots of new members at the meeting

Macmillan Coffee Morning and Drive Through

For the past few years we have been proud to support the Macmillan Coffee Morning and, with your help, have raised several thousand pounds for this worthy cause.  This year it will have to be slightly different but we still hope to be able to make a significant donation to the charity.

As we are unable to accept homemade cakes and biscuits, we are asking for children to bring individually wrapped shop bought cakes (or other pre-packaged snack)  that can be sold for a donation at breaktime within their year group bubble.  These will be sold on Friday 25 September and therefore we would ask that each child brings their item into school on Tuesday 22 September so it can be left for 72 hours before being handled by anyone else.

On the day of the Coffee Morning, there will be an opportunity to donate cash when dropping off or you have the option to visit the school field where we will be selling coffee and tea.  Children may bring money into school on Friday to purchase one of the treats which they will be able to eat at breaktime.  If you would rather your child did not consume the treat at school due to allergies, please let their class teacher know.  Please do not send any items containing nuts.

We hope that we can count on your support for this event.

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

https://thyg.uk/BUU004324912

Second Hand Uniform

Thank you, thank you to our wonderful second hand uniform team, Nikki, Linda and Katie, for being ever patient and serving our wonderful school community with much needed pre loved uniform. Please feel to contact them on ptauniform@crackleyhall.co.uk to arrange an appointment, or to simply check stock availability.

To offer this service, we rely on the wonderful donations from you. So if you have any good quality uniform your child has outgrown, please use the collection box in the school front entrance.  It will then be quarantined for 72 hours before offering for sale.

All money raised from the PTA Uniform shop is spent on extras for your children throughout the year at school and helps the children’s day become even more special.

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