The Chronicle

Dear Parents

This week we have seen a turn in the weather and the leaves.  A sure sign that Autumn is upon us and Harvest celebrations are just around the corner.  Mrs Jackson-Mayne has arranged for a local food bank to receive this year’s collection of donated food so I do hope that we are able to provide a good selection for the charity.

Whilst on the subject of charities, I was delighted to be informed that the grand total raised last Friday was £736.77 which the PTA have now donated to Macmillan Cancer Support.  An incredible achievement considering that they were unable to sell cakes or coffee.  Thank you so much for your generosity.  I know that other students including Olivia in J4 and Daiya in J2 held their own cake sales which also generated funds for the Charity.  Well, done everyone!

This week we encountered a surprise visit from the local fire brigade which I am sure the children have told you about.  The children (and staff) were all incredibly calm exiting the school building and very pleased to see the two fire engines arrive on site.    They will return again, in different circumstances, to tell children all about working for the fire service.

I would like to thank Mrs Edkins and the class teachers for ensuring that the school photographs ran smoothly on Wednesday despite the break for the  fire evacuation.  Photographs will be available to order shortly.

Parent Consultation Evenings can now be booked online and will be held during the week commencing 12 October from 4.00pm; they will be conducted via Teams.  To book an appointment, please log on to the My School Portal and select Parent Evenings.  This will allow you to book available appointments, focusing primarily on how your child has settled into school life since their return in September and on their approach and involvement in each school day.  Please note, appointments will be with your child’s class teacher and will last for 10 minutes.  Should you require longer to discuss any relevant matter, please arrange a further, more specific appointment at your earliest convenience.  Junior 6, 5 and 2 appointments will be held on Monday and Tuesday.  Junior 4, 3, 1 and Reception will be on Wednesday and Thursday.  Ms Ellis will be contacting parents separately for her departmental appointments.

At this stage, and as allowed by current government regulations, Holiday Club will be operating from 8.30am - 4.00pm each week day during half term.  If you would like to book a place, please use the link later in this edition.  Bubbles will be in place to ensure we keep children as safe as possible, however, these will not be in year groups – they will be in phases (eg Rec, J1 and J2 together).  If there are insufficient numbers to run the club on a specific day, the school office will advise you at the earliest opportunity.

Congratulations to our stars of the week: George, Fiorella, Hector, Nieve, Diya, Fraser, Beatrice, James, Theo, Olivia, George, Francesca and Alyx.  The RE Book of the week was awarded to Chloe in Junior 4 – well done to her!

I’d like to remind parents that we will not be holding our open day on 8 October, as advertised.

Thank you so much to everyone for helping us with our Covid-19 adjusted logistical arrangements.  Staff and parents are facing the changes with good grace and a sense of teamwork and camaraderie.  The children are certainly benefitting, so thank you!

Please could I ask that parents remain in their cars and stay socially distant and, most importantly, please switch off all car engines when parking on site.  Please also be considerate of our neighbours and switch off any engines when parking/waiting on the local estates.  Thank you, also, for your good humour and co-operation in car-line; I am quite anxious whenever the line reaches the main road between Kenilworth and Coventry, so I will be asking people to move in closer and to keep the line moving at critical times.

Despite the weather, I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

God bless,

Mr Duigan

Monday 19 October - Friday 30 October 2020

The Crackley Hall Holiday Club will take place during both weeks of the October half term holiday. It will commence on Monday 19 October and run until Friday 30 October.

Please follow this link to book a place Holiday Club

Please be advised that Photo Order Forms have gone home with the children today.

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Many thanks to parents, pupils and staff for all their contributions to last Friday's Macmillan Coffee Morning. It was a great morning of fundraising for a very worthy cause. The PTA have now confirmed that together we raised £736.77.

We know that many children took part in their own fundraising and it has been wonderful to hear about their efforts. A special mention must go to Olivia in Junior 4 who supported her Mum and her community in Hunnigham. Together they organised a coffee morning from their local bus shelter.

Olivia's Mum told us, "Olivia was absolutely amazing and did a sterling job. My friend and I hosted a Macmillan Coffee Morning from a disused bus stop in our village and between the three of us we raised £544! We advertised the event locally through our village facebook page and dropped flyers into peoples' letterboxes and the whole community pulled together by baking cakes and simply just turning up. Families came in bubbles and even cyclists and ramblers stopped to support us. Olivia was extremely organised and very well mannered to all our customers. She was an absolute star, we are all extremely proud of her."

Well done Olivia, we are all very impressed by your fundraising and for the care and kindness you showed for others. 

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Wildey's group is Miley 

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Holmes' class is Jacob

Mathlete of the week for Mr Stedeford's group is Elsie

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Hardwick's class is Beatrice

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Burley's group is Olivia

Mathlete of the week for Mrs VanZyl's group is Ted 

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Lammas' group is Alex

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Robert's group is Marley

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Glen-Roots' class is Jess

Well done all!

Please find attached links to useful tips and advice for families using Seesaw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2UgfXZyjDs

https://help.seesaw.me/hc/en-us/categories/115000881123-Families

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xl-pOBO2zSLasXPd52A_wZP7V3Qbm1jG/view

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

This week in Junior 6 we have been looking at rivers in Geography and had fun trying to locate the major rivers of the world using maps.  We then looked at how rivers are used and how this varies around the world and has changed over time.  In Religious Education we have been learning about the Bible and studying more about the Old Testament.  We read the story of the Fall and applied all that we have learned in English when writing our own versions of this.  We had to think hard about the language that would evoke the different atmospheres in this story.  We also considered how hard it is to make the right choice, but how we are all responsible for the choices we make.

Another great week of learning in Junior 5. The J5s have learnt how to use the efficient column method to add and subtract in Maths. In English, the children have been busy researching, drawing, writing and explaining how we achieve day and night. In Science we have been learning about shadows and how they are formed. We all went outside and tracked our shadows and discussed how they changed throughout the day. We learnt how it looks like the sun is moving across the sky, when in fact it is the Earth which is moving. We then studied facts about the moon and how the phases of the moon are created. This resulted in us using Oreo cookies to recreate the various phases of the moon - educational and scrumptious to say the least!

Junior 4 have been learning some very useful lessons about how to care for their teeth in Science this week. The children investigated which drink would be the most likely to give them tooth decay by immersing eggshells in cola, apple juice, orange juice, milk or water. The children learnt all about a fair test by changing only one of the variables. Although many children predicted that either cola or fruit juice would cause the most decay, we were all very excited to observe the eggshells day by day. The final result showed water is definitely the healthiest drink to have. 

Junior 3 have been learning about acrostic poems, using their senses to create exciting phrases to describe fireworks. The children also learned the effectiveness of onomatopoeia and were excellent in identifying various different sounds. Our history topic focussed on Stone Age jewellery and the children enjoyed designing and creating their own Stone Age necklace - but we’re not sure whether they are smelly enough to be cavemen and women quite yet! Well done for yet another excellent week where everyone has maintained a lovely, kind and friendly atmosphere, throughout Junior 3.

Junior 2 have been learning a new class song this week which involved actions and movement. The children were encouraged to play at being ‘teacher’ and to come to the front of the class and re-enact the moves. The song was called 'With my hands on my Head' and goes through all the various parts of the body. Through having the hall for their music lessons, they have been able to make the most of the great space available. The children had great fun learning how to transfer note values into movement. They have also been following with interest the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. Various pieces of classical music have been listened to and the children have been learning about all the various instruments of the orchestra and how they are played. We have already ‘visited’ India and one pupil was able to share with us all his knowledge of how the sitar was played. 

This half-term, Junior 1 have been looking at the properties of materials. We have linked our science to our English lessons by testing the Three Little Pigs’ houses made of straw, sticks and bricks to see which would be the strongest. We then worked independently to join different materials to make our own structures, which was very tricky as we had to make them stand up without toppling over! J1 have also tested the properties of an elastic band and playdoh, as well as finding different materials around school. This week, we have investigated which materials are waterproof by predicting the outcome and then completing our experiment to find the result.

It has been another busy week in Reception. Our maths lessons have seen us investigating 1:1 number correspondence, in addition to exploring the many ways in which we can represent numbers from 1 to 5. Following on from the story ‘Monkey Puzzle’ by Julia Donaldson, we learned and performed a poem called ‘Monkey Babies’. To add flair to the recitation, we designed and made monkey headbands and made up actions to accompany the words. We also fired up our imaginations by working in groups to design our own versions of the International Space Station, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Mrs Green and Mrs Convey thought our ideas were out of this world!

please click on the link below for the weekly mission:

Weekly Mission

Harvest Week begins Monday 5 October 

Pupils are asked to bring in food donations (packets and tins please) to school during this week. These will be given to the class teacher who will put them in a box in the classroom. All donations will be taken to the Kenilworth, Leamington and Warwick Food Banks to help communities in need.

Junior 3 will participate in a Harvest Mass at 2.00pm on Monday 5 October. During this Mass Father Kevin will also bless the stones from any child in Junior 3 who has not added their stone to the prayer garden yet.  Just a little reminder that all stones decorated by Junior 3 pupils which are to be Blessed in Mass and added in the garden must be brought in by Monday 5 October.

Vocations Fortnight Information

Please see the attached sheet with information on Vovations Fortnight.

Vocations Fortnight

Please find information below:

Children's Liturgy

RE Book of the Week is awarded to Chloe (J4W)

Chloe produced an absolutely stunning  image of the Holy Trinity in her RE lesson this week. She pictured God watching over us to make us feel safe when saying In the Name of the Father; the Son as being powerful and warm-hearted and being in this world for us.  The Holy Spirit reminded her of a slow breeze.  Chloe said that her belief in God means everything to her and she loves all the people that he has created.

Olly (J5R) received his man of the match trophy for his new Sunday football team last weekend.

Well Done Olly!!

Hello everyone, and may I just say, a hearty hello to October!  Can you believe we are moving so quickly into Autumn, we have really started to notice the chill in the air and the nights drawing in.  With that in mind, please make sure everyone has a coat every day, as we do like to continue heading outside – and in time we will probably need hats and gloves too!  We don’t need scarves though – too much of a trip hazard! 

Our exciting week has culminated in a fantastic display, put up by Miss Anupa, but which unfortunately no-one can see at the moment… our Autumn tree however, based on the circles painted by Kandinsky, looks wonderful in the main corridor.  All the children worked hard to paint, draw and cut out beautiful concentric circles in autumnal colours and should be very proud of themselves. 

We have also been looking at snails… playdough bodies fitted to ‘conker’ shells started us off, then we worked to strengthen our fingers by squeezing, and then rolling the dough into sausages, before spiralling them up to make the shells. 

This weekend, if you’re out and about, have a look for any signs of Autumn, the leaves changing colour, or the woodlice hiding under logs, and perhaps take a picture or two for us to add to our display – we love to hear lots about your adventures at home. 

Have a great weekend!

Newsletter

Save The Date: Non-School Uniform Day Friday 16 October

Let’s help celebrate the end of this half term with a non-school uniform day.

Children are allowed to wear an outfit of their choice, in exchange for a £1 donation to the school PTA.

Crackley Halls first BIG PTA Online Family Quiz 

Please save the date and Join us on Friday, 13 November, 2020 from 7.00pm - 9.00pm in the comfort of your own home for Crackley Halls first BIG PTA Online Family Quiz – the one thing that won’t be cancelled in 2020!

An Autumn Preloved Book Sale

The PTA are excited to announce this year's first event...An Autumn Preloved Book Sale! 

The Sale will be held on Friday 20 November from 9.00am - 11.30am.

All books £1 (Max three books per child) with 100% proceeds to the PTA that benefits your child. Please be aware no change will be given on the day to minimise risk and handling of money. All volunteers on the day will be wearing appropriate PPE.

We would appreciate donations of excellent quality books (no scribbles or pages missing).  We are looking for books  in the following three categories; KS1, KS2 and Pre-Teen.

Donations will be collected in the school foyer between Monday 2 to Friday 6 November. (Maximum five books donated per child).  Children need to drop off the donations themselves during those dates. The drop off dates are crucial so that a 72 hour quarantine can be observed between the drop off and the date of the sale.

Good examples of books suitable for Pre-Teen are as follows; The Harry Potter series, Watership Down, Alex Rider series and the Hunger games but other suitable books are welcome.

We are looking for further volunteers for this event so if you can spare some time to help out please contact CHPTA@crackleyhall.co.uk

** Autumn Jumper Sale! **

With the days getting colder and the need to wash clothing more regularly due to covid, the PTA uniform shop would like to offer you a chance to grab an extra jumper or two at a discounted price. All pre-loved jumpers are now reduced from £9 to £5, with proceeds going back to the school PTA. Please get in touch with Nikki to order yours at PTAuniform@crackleyhall.co.uk

The Foundation has the following vacancies:

• Princethorpe College - Cover Supervisor
• Crescent School - After School Manager 

Full details and information on how to apply are available on the Foundation website here:

www.princethorpe.co.uk/joinus

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

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.