The Chronicle

Dear Parents

We were very fortunate this week to find a day of dry, almost sunny, weather on which to hold the Key Stage 1 Inter-house Sports Day.  It was a joy to watch the children participate after not being able to hold many team events during this last year.  There are some super photographs of the morning taken by Mrs Stephenson which you will be able to see later in this edition of The Chronicle and I would also like to thank Mrs Vaughan for the superb organisation of the events schedule. 

Unfortunately, it was necessary to postpone today’s Key Stage 2 Inter-house Sports Day due to the poor weather and underfoot condition of the sports field but it will take place next Friday, 28 May when hopefully the weather will be kinder to us.

There have been more inter-school sports fixtures this week when our U10 and U11 netball teams travelled to Crescent and the U8, U9, U10 and U11 football teams played Crescent here, at Crackley Hall.  Players reported on the matches in today’s assembly which I hope you will be able to enjoy at some point during the weekend.

This week’s Stars of the Week were: Corin, Xanthe, Francesca, Angelica, Jude, Fraser, Ted, Kate, Esme, Mya, Holly, Millie and Harry.  Bronze merit awards were ‘presented’ to Mahnoor, Elsie and Sam with one Silver award being received by Matilda.

I was delighted to see a wonderful collection of Junior Da Vinci’s awarded this week including Ashleigh in Reception and Esme, Matilda, Theo, Lucas, Jay, Jia, Georgie, Kate, Elena and Penny in Junior 4.  Their work in drama, science, English and computing has been outstanding and they should be very proud of their certificates and badges.

As in previous weeks, we have been able to enjoy musical performances from students and this week Sienna in Junior 3 entertained us with two pieces played on the piano with her class as an audience.  Well done, Sienna!

Congratulations to Sebastian in Junior 4 on his outstanding achievements on the tennis court, winning all his matches when representing Warwickshire and we wish him the very best for the national tournament.

The PTA are currently busy planning events for the rest of this term and later in this edition there is news on a virtual balloon race.  Please try and support our PTA as all the funds are benefit school and your children.  If you would like to become involved, you can email PTA@crackleyhall.co.uk  Thank you very much to Mrs Lamb and her wonderful committee for all that they do for the school, along with their dedication and enthusiasm.

Next week is the last week before half term and we are planning to run holiday club during half term.  At present, numbers are not sufficient to operate the club each day and therefore I would ask, if you would like to book your child in for any of Tuesday to Thursday of half term, please contact the school office or make a booking via My School Portal as soon as possible so that I can determine whether it is viable to continue with this provision.

I am not sure what the weather will bring this weekend but I hope that you have a restful couple of days with your family and our Junior 5 and 6 children enjoy their taster day at Princethorpe tomorrow.

God bless,

Mr Duigan

As you will know, we take the safety of pupils, staff and visitors very seriously and we have taken various measures to minimise the risk of an accident involving a vehicle. Please take care when driving onto the school site particularly at busy times such as the start and end of the school day.

During busy times we usually have staff managing traffic on site and all drivers are asked to cooperate and to follow instructions.  Our aim is to make it safe and as easy as possible for everyone.  We have updated our risk assessment on the management of traffic on site to ensure the safety of pedestrians and vehicles which you will find here.

Please remember to be mindful of your speed when approaching school, ensure your car is stationary until your child has left the vehicle and switch off engines whilst waiting on the premises for any length of time. 

Please be advised that booking is now live for our half term holiday club.

To make a booking, please visit My School Portal and select 'Clubs and Activities'.

Holiday club will run from Tuesday 1 June to Friday 4 June, from 8.30am until 5.00pm, and costs £30.00 per day. Hot lunch will be included.

An information sheet including a basic list of activities planned, will be sent out shortly.

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Congratulations to them all!

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

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Glen-Root's class is Thomas

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Holmes's class is Grace

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

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Van Zyl's class is Jenson

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

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

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Roberts's group is Jack 

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Lammas's group is Sid

Well done all!

As an IAPS school our pupils have been invited to participate in RocketLearn at no cost (usual cost £20/week). During the half-term week there will be daily activities in Maths, English and Academic Enrichment available. Designed as a light learning programme we hope that children will take advantage of this opportunity and enjoy the activities, there is also the chance to enter National competitions and win certificates and prizes. In order to register your child for a free place, please visit http://bit.ly/RLhalfterm and enter the code CRACKLEY.  Further information about RocketLearn and the programme can be found on the attached pdf. I do hope you are able to take advantage of this, and that your children enjoy the activities.

RocketLearn Information

The College's latest Admissions Update e-newsletter has just been published and can be found here. 

It is full of articles and news to give prospective parents and pupils a feel for College life, information on forthcoming open days and events and helpful advice about the admissions process. It will be of particular interest to those looking at entry to the school in September 2022. 

The newsletter is issued twice a year to coincide with key admissions periods, and the next edition will be published in Autumn 2021, just prior to their Entrance Exams on Saturday 6 November 2021.

For further information on admissions please don't hesitate to contact the admissions team at admissions@princethorpe.co.uk or call 01926 634201/262/297.

Wednesday 26 May 2021 - 5.00pm to 7.30pm

Please share news of our Open Evening for prospective pupils.

Prospective pupils and their parents are warmly invited to Crackley Hall's Open Evening on Wednesday 26 May from 5.00pm.

The evening will consist of a welcome from our Headmaster, Rob Duigan, and a guided tour around the school. Families will also have an opportunity to ask questions to our Senior Leadership Team. 

The evening will be split into two, hour-long sessions, so that we can manage numbers and adhere to government guidelines. A maximum of two family members will be able to attend with the prospective pupil/s.

To book your place, please click here.

For more information on admission to Crackley Hall and Little Crackers please email Jenny Vaughan at admissions@crackleyhall.co.uk or call 01926 514410.

Saturday 29 May – Sunday 30 May 2021

The National Schools’ and Riding Club Two Day Event will be taking place at the end of this month on the magnificent Princethorpe estate. The competition is open to any school or Riding Club riders and is always well-attended.

Show Jumping and Dressage take place on the Saturday with Roads and Tracks, Steeplechase and Cross Country on the Sunday.

With the easing of restrictions, spectators are most welcome to watch the event and we do hope you can come along to cheer on the Princethorpe team and enjoy a wonderful weekend of equestrian sportmanship.

More information can be found in the news and events section of the College website here.

During the J6 Art and DT lessons this term, we have been looking at and discussing famous horse paintings - including horses in the trenches of World War 1 and horses going into other wars. We have looked at and discussed the wellbeing of horses and how to care for them correctly and compassionately. Our focus will now be on Greek war horses. We will begin by sketching horses and looking at the shapes that are needed to convey the image. Next we will move onto making 3D Greek horses using a variety of media. We can’t wait to show you the finished pieces!

In Junior 5 this week, the children have been thinking about how to engage the reader more effectively by concentrating on their story openers. All of the children have worked well and have been able to up-level their work; their teachers are extremely proud! In DT, children have begun their nail-art (and, no, this isn’t painting their nails!) Their hammering could be heard throughout the school, but we know it will be worth it when we can see the finished products. Our netballers and footballers were also exceptional this week, with all teams winning or drawing their games!

Year 4 had a fun-filled 'India Afternoon' this week. The children were all given the opportunity to have our very talented Art Teacher, Mrs Clarke, give them a Mendhi decoration on their hand. Mrs Hill helped the children to demonstrate their artistic talents by creating their own rangoli patterns out of chalk on the playground. The rangoli represents the happiness, positivity and liveliness of a household, and is intended to welcome Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and good luck. We hope our rangoli patterns brought plenty of smiles to those who saw them.

Then Mrs Kaur led a cooking activity which saw the children make their own chapatti bread. Mrs Kaur had also been busy cooking at home and the children were able to taste some of her cooking with the bread. Mrs Burley took the children on a tour of a spice market in Delhi and a Gurdwara.

Year 4 then listened to musicians before becoming very important guests at an Indian wedding. All this was made possible by the VR headsets. All in all, we all enjoyed being immersed in this amazing culture and we all came away knowing a lot more about India. 

‘Time is precious’. Junior 3 have been gallivanting around clocks this week, learning how to tell the time. Children have been practising what each number of an 'analogue' clock means; improving their understanding of ‘quarter past’ and ‘quarter to’. From now on, there really is no excuse for being late to bed! Their artistry has also been used when making Greek pots for our wonderful mythical display, which has the head of a wooden board and blue tac for eyes. All the children have been excellently diligent and are all very excited about their first ever KS2 sports day – a TIMEly break from the classroom. Well done Junior 3!

Who knew that making a sandwich could help us to understand computing vocabulary such as algorithm, input, output and debug? We saw how algorithms can describe everyday activities and can be followed by humans and computers. Giving clear instructions to humans is hard enough, but we learned how we have to be really clear when we input code for computers to follow. Year 2 were able to 'debug' their instructions to make sure they didn't spread the butter on the chopping board, or place the bread on the side of the classroom! 

There was a lot of excitement for Sports Day this week as we headed over to the field to participate in a number of exciting sporting challenges, all in our houses. There was long jump, throwing a light-weight rounders ball, sprint races, shuttle races, bean bags through hoops and hurdling!! Everyone got to have a cookie too as a reward for participating, which helped to make the day even more memorable. Back in the classroom we began to look at the famous British inventor – George Stephenson and are currently creating a mini booklet of his brilliant inventions. Geography took us off to Scotland and we were able to try some Scottish delicacies in the form of oatcakes, Irn Bru and Edinburgh Castle rock, before designing our own tartan for Katie Morag to wear.

Despite the vagaries of the weather this week, Reception have enjoyed learning both indoors and outdoors. Checking on the progress of our cress seeds, we donned our blazers to award ‘Star Grower’ for the seeds which had made the most progress over the past seven days. We also took a look at J2’s plants which are growing very well indeed! In Maths we have been investigating subtraction by using ‘First, Then, and Now’ stories, which are helping us to deepen our understanding. We also enjoyed our Mandarin lesson, practising the pronounciation of the words we have learned so far. It’s been another busy and fun-filled week!       

Junior 4 have been exploring the fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit whilst learning about Pentecost.  We went outside and discussed the nine fruits of Love, Joy, Peace, Gentleness, Kindness, Goodness, Patience, Faithfulness and Self-Control and displayed our fruits onto the branches of a tree.  We then thought of a situation where we could say or do something to show the meaning of each of these fruits.  We all agreed that, like a successful gardener must battle against the weeds to enjoy the fruit, we must also work to rid the weeds in our lives that want to block out the work of the Holy Spirit.

We also investigated the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Whereas fruits are not given, but are developed, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are given and these are Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Piety, Right Judgement, Fortitude and Fear of the Lord. To represent the gifts from the Holy Spirit, pupils made little gift boxes out of net shapes – linking their maths and art with RE.

To conclude the work on Pentecost, the pupils considered how they would use their gifts to help others.

Please find information below:

Childrens Liturgy

Activity Sheet

Please click on the link below for this week's weekly mission;

Weekly Mission

Please find details below:

Tennis

Despite the forecast for rain all day we managed to hold our Key Stage 1 Sports Day this week on Tuesday 18 May. In fact, the conditions were almost perfect as it was a beautiful sunny, spring day. Reception and Key Stage 1 enjoyed a super morning out on the ‘big field’ sprinting, jumping and winding their way through all the sporting fun.

Their challenges included a carousel of different activities with sprinting, endurance running, long jump, throwing, target practice and a speed obstacle course. Each event enabled them to compete to earn points for their house and the event finished with the traditional relay race.

Decked out in House colours and with happy smiles they enthusiastically launched themselves into each activity and clearly all had a super time.

The final results were very close:

1st Jupiter (117 points)

2nd Mars (106 Points)

3rd Saturn (103 points)

4th Venus (101 points)

A huge well done to everyone who took part and thank you to all of the Reception and KS1 staff, who had to step in to run their group events this year, (usually organised by Junior 6 but  sadly not this year due to Covid).

J5

The J5 U10 Netball A and B teams went to Crescent School on Wednesday 19 May.

For their first competitive match, both teams played so well, and impressed all with their great skills and fitness levels.

The A Team, led by Captain, Isabella, won by an incredible 10 v 1, and the player of the match, voted by Crescent, was Olivia Burley. Both Olivia and Lily shot really well, and the whole team played so well together. The B team, led by Elle, also played superbly, and impressively won 12 v 1. Again, this was a great team effort, and both Elle and Willow shot with great skill. Penny was invited to play for the J6 B team and she was awarded player of the match! Amazing! Well done to Willow, who was voted player of the match.

J6

U11A Netball vs Crescent (reported by Rosa Davis and Maria Howe):

On Wednesday 19 May, the U11A Netball Team played Crescent. Although we lost 8-4, it was a very close match, with the difference between the teams being that the Crescent shooters were on fire and missed hardly any shots! The player of the match was Rosa. We were very proud to play and worked together as a team, with everyone trying their best. Thanks to Mrs Vaughan for coaching us and to Miss Draper for her support from the side-line!

U11B Netball vs Crescent (reported by Annalise Milburn and Francesca Voisey):

On Wednesday 19 May, the U11B Netball Team played against the opposing Crescent team and won 8-3. The whole team played excellently and we would like to thank Mrs Vaughan and all of the other members of staff who took us to Crescent and led us to victory.

U11A Football vs Crescent (reported by Maxwell Kiely and Freddie Young):

On Wednesday 19 May, the U11A Football Team played Crescent and we won 4-1 after going down 1-0 in the first half. We played a great last game for Crackley Hall with Max scoring a hat-trick and Freddie adding to make the total four. Everyone played brilliantly. We were proud to be able to represent our school. Fin Williams was voted Man of the Match. Thank you to Mr Vaughan and Mr Kefalas for coaching us.

U11B Football vs Crescent (reported by Jasper Nicholls and Henry Verity):

On Wednesday 19 May, the U11B Football Team played against Crescent and lost 7-0. Despite the score, our team played really well. The Man of the Match was George Fry. It was lovely to play our sister school. For most of us, this has been our first (and probably last) football match in our last year at Crackley Hall. Thank you to Mr Vaughan and Mr Kefalas for giving us this opportunity to play.

Please find more details of an externally provided Netball Camp on the flyer.

Thank you. 

Who isn’t curious about life under the sea?  In Lego Club this week we were practically jumping out of our Lego boxes with excitement about investigating the oceans.  We played out our own daring sea rescue adventures and dived with submarines to explore the depths of the ocean floor.  We saw a giant sea turtle gliding through the crystal-clear water - it was unanimous that Shelley was making her weekly appearance!  Our submarines were built with inspection arms and a pirate treasure chest with hidden gems.  We even made a floating pizza City as a stop-off point for our hungry explorers! We saw sponges, an underwater drone who went in search of a stingray, whilst mini-intrepid adventurers chilled out on the coral covered ocean floor which was just teaming with amazing wildlife.  What a wonderful sea world we made!

Our week has very much been defined by the weather in nursery, from splashing in puddles, to exploring Forest School in the wind and rain, and our days have been defined by being able to head out, and having impromptu music and movement sessions inside!  Whilst the grown-ups are finding the lack of sunshine frustrating, our little ones certainly don’t seem to mind – and continue to demonstrate fantastic optimism in the wearing of sunglasses and summer hats!  I would like to just check with everyone if you able to access this message and the attached newsletter?  Please let me know if you are as there are a couple of important dates I need everyone to know about.  Our Sports Day is on Monday 21 June, and the Pre-School Graduation is on Tuesday 29 June.  We are still waiting to have the final details confirmed, with regards to parents being able to attend, and we will let you know as soon as possible. Have a great weekend everyone!

Newsletter

Miss Emma will be leaving Little Crackers on Thursday 3 June and we are planning to buy a small gift so that she can remember all the children and fun times at Crackley Hall.  If you would like to add to the collection, please using this link which will take you to a PayPay money pool.  This link will close on Tuesday 1 June.

The Big Raffle 2020 helped to raise an amazing £120,000 for PTAs across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Members loved the simplicity and ease with which they could take part, and it was so successful we're running it again. Watch this space.

To help raise funds for PTA funded events, Crackly Hall PTA are hosting their first ever virtual balloon race! Balloons cost £3 each and you can buy as many as you like. You can customise your balloon by entering your nickname, colour and message. 

The balloons will be launched at 12 noon on Monday 28 June. During the race you will be able to go on-line and check the progress of your balloon and watch the leader board. 

The race will end at 12 noon on Friday 2 July.  

The competition is open to everyone so why not challenge your friends and family to a little eco-friendly balloon race competition.  

House points for all who enter and prizes for the top three winners.  

Go to https://www.pta-events.co.uk/crackleyhall/ to enter. 

Watch this space.

The PTA are currently in discussions with school to see how we can ‘safely’  put on some exciting events for the children before the end of Trinity Term, whilst keeping in line with government restrictions. Please keep your eye on the Chronicle for further announcements.

Dust off the dresses, shine those shoes and un-crease those coats.  As always, 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 preloved 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 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!

We are recruiting for a variety of roles currently, as you will see below, so please do share with friends and family by word of mouth.

Further information and application forms on all roles are available on our website - Join Us

• Health and Safety Manager - Princethorpe College
• Summer Estates Manager - Princethorpe College
• Early Years Assitant - Crackley Hall
• IT Infrastructure Engineer - Princethorpe College

Parents, please ensure that all items of 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.