The Chronicle

Dear Parents

We have sped through to the end of this half term and what a difference to this time last year.  We are now, slowly and cautiously returning to some form of normality with more events planned for next half term such as day trips, First Holy Communion, our annual school production, Masses and prize givings.  All of these events will be carefully planned and risk assessed, against conditions at the time, before we can invite large groups of parents into school.  They will typically be for year groups at a time.  Assemblies, being for the benefit of the whole school, will continue online for the time being and children for all parents to enjoy at a convenient time. 

On Wednesday we held our first open evening since the initial COVID lockdown where we able to invite prospective parents into school for limited, pre-booked appointments.  It was an opportunity for staff and pupils to showcase Crackley Hall to our visitors, albeit in a very controlled and socially-distanced manner.  There were some wonderfully positive comments received and I am very grateful to the children who acted as super ambassadors (although you weren’t able to be tour guides just yet), staff who worked the extended day, Mr Sansum for providing extra catering and Mrs Jenny Vaughan and the Marketing Team for organising this event. 

Thankfully, we were able to hold the Key Stage 2 Inter-house Sports Day today after a washout last week.  It was a huge success, enjoyed by all the pupils.  The fact that they were in year groups, and not houses, did not detract from the enthusiasm, camaraderie and competition.  Thank you, again, to Mrs Vaughan for the organisation and overall running of the event and to the Estates Team for preparing the school field.  Mrs Stephenson will be arranging for photographs from both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 sports day to be available on a Flickr account for parents to access after half term. 

During assembly this week I announced our Stars of the Week as: Monty, Josh, Aaryan, Alfie, Charlie, Sienna, Isla, Matilda, Oliver, George, Freddie and Daya.  Silver Awards were ‘presented’ to Hugo, Sloane, Jai, Chace, Ashleigh, Fiorella, Rory and Cameron all in Reception. 

There was another impressive haul of Da Vinci certificates this week:

Helayna, Noah, Anabel, Maxwell, Millie, Jasper, Isabel and Thomas in Junior 6; Oliver in Junior 5; Julia, Esme, Matilda, Lucas, Amalia, Blyth, Arthur, Sienna, Sukhmani, Molly, Jenson, Darcey, Ivy, Elsie and Alfred in Junior 4.  Well done to everyone; you’ve all worked incredibly hard this term and I am so pleased to read of your achievements.   Sid and Leonardo reported on last week’s football match and George performed confidently and well on the drums to end this week's assembly - well done boys.

During half term there will be various maintenance tasks undertaken at school including re-decorating the dining hall ready for children to return to using the facility on 7 June.  Class and year-group bubbles will still be observed and the revised queuing and serving procedure will be explained to children, in classes, when we return after half term.

The bubbles at aftercare and holiday club will cross different year groups but the intention is that they remain consistent, eg Rec, J1, J2 together.  We will also maintain our current drop-off and collection arrangements.  We will be considering spectators at sports events – we will update you on this prior to the next set of fixtures.

Our holiday club will be open from Tuesday to Friday next week and there are still some places available each day.  Should you wish to enquire about places, please contact Ms Osborn directly by emailing victoriaosborn@crackleyhall.co.uk  The school office will be open from 9am until 4pm each day if you need to speak with a member of the office team.

Thank you to all the staff and to all parents for their hard work and support over the half term – all to the benefit our fantastic young pupils.  I sincerely hope that you and your families enjoy a relaxing half term.  Please travel safely if going away.

God bless,

Mr Duigan

Upper KS2 Production - Thursday 24 June & Friday 25 June 2021

Dear Parents

It is with great pleasure that we are able to announce that the Junior 5 and Junior 6 pupils will be involved in the Summer Production. This year, due to Covid, we are unable to perform at the Leamington Spa Centre and will stage an Upper Key Stage 2 performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at School.

The Junior 6 pupils, as always, will be taking on the roles of the principle characters and will be assisted by the Junior 5 pupils forming the chorus. Due to bubble restrictions the Junior 5 pupils will be unable to share the stage with Junior 6 and will therefore be lining the side of the hall to stay within the guidelines of government safety precautions.

There will be three showings of the play with limited audience spaces for Junior 6 parents only. The show will be recorded and all parents and the wider school community will be able to purchase a download of the recording.

The dates and times for the show are as follow:
Thursday 24 June 4:30 – 5:45pm
Friday 25 June 4:30 – 5:45pm and 6:30 – 7:45pm

We ask that all children attend the event, but if you have a previous engagement that you are unable to rearrange, please do let me know.

An afternoon tea (a hot dog and a cookie) will be provided for all the Junior 5 and Junior 6 children after school, before the first show on both days, and a small snack (fruit, a chocolate bar and a drink) before the second show on the Friday (An Evolve consent email has been sent to you to complete).

We ask that Junior 5 pupils wear their school shoes, black trousers or leggings and a brightly coloured, plain t-shirt with no logo or writing. These items need to be in school in a named carrier bag by Wednesday 9 June and kept in the classroom. Junior 6 children will receive a separate costume letter.

Family members of Junior 6 pupils who are attending the play, are asked not to arrive before 4:10pm for the early performance, to allow our carline to finish and for the lower car park to clear. Please do not arrive before 6:10pm for the later performance on the Friday, in order to allow parents to leave the lower car park.

A booking link for tickets will be sent out closer to the date.

Please note times below for collecting your child after the performance has finished.

Thursday 24 June:
Junior 5 carline at 5:45pm – 6:00pm
Junior 6 carline at 6:00pm – 6:15pm

Friday 25 June:
Junior 5 carline at 7:45pm – 8:00pm
Junior 6 carline at 8:00pm – 8:15pm

We would ask if you are collecting children from both Junior 5 and Junior 6, that you arrive at the Junior 6 carline time. Please be considerate to our neighbours at collection and when leaving the performance.

Kind regards

Nicola Wildey
Drama Teacher

Programme Design Competition

All children in the school are invited and encouraged to design a programme for the Upper KS2 Summer production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dream Coat.

For licensing reasons, we are not permitted to use the graffiti or clothes hanger design.

Children are encouraged to be creative and produce a colourful design, handing it into the office by Wednesday 9 June at the latest. The Performing Arts team along with Mr Duigan will then select a winner and their design will be used on the programme.

We look forward to seeing what the children come up with.

Good luck!

It has been agreed, that after half term, any children which attend Aftercare will be provided with a snack and a drink.

Please find attached a brief overview of proposed activities. All of which are weather dependent. Fingers crossed for sunshine!

There are still spaces on all days. So if your child would like to come and join the fun, please call the school office on 01926 514444 to book a place.

Activity Sheet

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. 

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Congratulations to them all!

We are delighted to be able to welcome the Scholastic Book Fair back into school during the week beginning the Monday 14 June.  We know that Reading for Pleasure is transformative for pupils' academic success and personal wellbeing and are therefore so excited that we will be able to have this opportunity once again.  

There will be a number of additional safety measures in place this year including the cases being deep cleaned before their arrival at school, the children browsing the fair in their bubbles and cashless options available for purchasing the books.  

There will be over 200 books for the children to browse, from award winners and new releases to classic favourites and bestsellers so it promises to be a truly exciting week for our Crackley book worms!

More details to follow after half term.

A request for help!

We are looking to source props for our summer show of Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat. If anyone has any of the following, please could you bring it into school for the attention of Mrs Wildey or email her on nicolawildey@crackleyhall.co.uk for further clarification:

Chains – short (about 1 metre in length) black/silver metal or plastic

Rope – for leading a camel

Plastic breads

Clothes rail

Deckchair

Hessian sacks

Miley from J4B is hosting a Bake Sale in aid of Stand Up To Cancer next Monday (Bank Holiday) in Balsall Common.

Please see the poster for more information.

Well done Miley!

Last Saturday 22 May, Junior 5 had the opportunity to take part in a Taster Experience at Princethorpe College. Our youngsters enjoyed a special fun-filled session designed to give them a real insight into life at secondary school. 

As well as experiencing exciting sample lessons the children got to explore the school campus and start to feel at home at the school. There was plenty of impressive and creative work and of course, at break time everyone was treated to a legendary Princethorpe cookie. Parents joined the children at the end of the session for a school tour.

The Junior 5 Taster Experience was a great way for the children to get a feel for Princethorpe as they start to think about where they will go to secondary school.

There will be further opportunities for pupils and parents to visit the Foundation's secondary school in September and parents are reminded that the registration deadline for entry into Year 7 in 2022 is Friday 1 October. More information is available here: www.theprincethorpefoundation.co.uk/admissions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

RocketLearn Video

Please follow the link below for a digital copy of Families Warwickshire Magazine.

Magazine

During Mandarin this term, children have learnt to say what siblings they have, or haven’t, as well as how to introduce themselves, including different greetings, their name, age and zodiac animal sign.  Next, they mastered how to ask questions to find information out about other people, ready to work on and perform a role play conversation in pairs or as a group. The children have really enjoyed learning about the different zodiac animals and finding out which animal relates to the year of their birth; they have even practised certain actions to help them remember!

Junior 5 have had a fabulous week of learning and enjoying sport. In Art, the J5’s have been finishing off their string art. They’ve created some wonderful constructions and have shown both skill and patience in their approach. In PE, the J5 Rounders ‘A’ Team played away against Bilton Grange. They lost their first game 11 v 3, but fought hard and played skilfully to win their second match 10 v 7. The girls played wonderfully as a team and Olivia captained the team well. In the team were; Isabella, Grace, Olivia (Captain), Elsie G, Amelia, Jasmine, Issey, Penny, Lily and Elle. The Players of the Matches, awarded by the opposition were Olivia, Elle, Amelia and Jasmine.

During this half-term Year 4 have been looking at Indian patterns, (like paisley) associated with Mendhi (henna) hands decoration, traditional Indian art and the modern artist, Nabakishore Chanda.  They used their knowledge of Indian patterns to create a traditional decorated elephant using scratchwork. Inspired by Nabakishore’s work, they based their designs on the cubism topic which they have already studied, layering this with their scratch technique, together with their pattern work, to create their final piece.

During History lessons, pupils in J4W have used secondary sources to research the types of clothes the Vikings wore. They used this research to decorate their own paper figure to show what was worn by either Thralls (slaves) or Yarls and Karls  ( the rich and poor). Several of the pupils were awarded Creative Da Vinci’s for their efforts.

We hope you all have a fabulous half-term enjoying the sunshine!

Junior 3 have been very industrious this week, putting their journalistic skills to the test by interviewing witnesses to. ‘The Devastating Demise of Icarus’. We have since been busy drafting and publishing our own newspaper reports, which we are hoping will be ‘hot off the press’ early next half term.

In Maths we have been navigating our way around some tricky time concepts, days, weeks, months and even leap years. We are all now much more proficient in reading a calendar and have put this skill to great use calculating how much summer holiday we are going to have. Now all we need is some sunshine to go with it! 

With Samuel Pepys, Sir Christopher Wren and Katy Morag all featured in Junior 2 this week, we have been busy learning about the different characters and roles in 17th Century England, and the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, where pupils have plotted maps and created their own beautiful little island homes.

Maths has seen a ‘Capacity and Volume’ topic, finished off with a practical session in the art room, where water was carefully measured and poured - hardly any on the floors and desks! The children challenged each other to measure accurately in litres and millilitres using a variety of containers.

We have taken possession of a Venus Fly Trap which is causing much hilarity and careful monitoring in the classroom as part of our plants topic. We are also keeping a close eye on our Fruit and Vegetable planters, which are growing beautifully despite the lack of sunshine.

Happy half term everyone!

What a wonderfully busy and fulfilling half term we have had! The children are all growing up so fast, both in height and maturity and they are well on their way to being ready for Junior 2. It was interesting to find out what makes each one of us unique during our PSHE lessons this week and the children loved finding out how they are the same or different. We especially had lots of fun when we shared what made each one of us laugh!

This week, we have been focusing on consolidating the skills we have learnt in our English and phonics lessons by revising all of our digraphs and common exception words, as well as practising our ‘magic e’ words. In Maths, we have started to learn how to tell the time, which has resulted in a new interest in the classroom clock. The children have all been so keen to look at what time we stop for lunch, start new lessons or go home and it has been wonderful to see their enthusiasm and excitement for a new mathematical concept.

We have also begun a new topic in Science, which we will continue after half term. Our new theme of ‘Plants and Growth’ began with us cutting open different fruit to examine the seeds inside. The lesson then ended with the children planting their own sunflower seed to take home to nurture over half term. We are hoping everyone remembers to put their pot in a sunny place and water it regularly, so that all of those tiny seeds emerge from the soil as green shoots.

We hope everyone in Junior 1 has a fantastic half term break and we look forward to seeing you again for your final half term in Junior 1.

What a productive week we have had in Reception. We started off by exploring spatial reasoning using tangram shapes in our maths lessons. Extending our maths vocabulary further, we discovered that two right-angled triangles not only make a parallelogram but a larger triangle too! Great fun was also had as we challenged ourselves to recreate a variety of shape pictures.

Happily, our cress seeds have grown steadily and we will be bringing them home today ready to eat over half term (Mrs Convey has recommended egg and cress sandwiches!). With warmer weather next week, we can’t wait to have a great half-term holiday!

As we are approaching the time when pupils in Junior 3, 4 and 5 will be making their First Holy Communion, pupils in Junior 3 listened to the story of the Feeding of the 5000 and through discussion, reflected on the links between the Last Supper, Mass, the sharing of five loaves and two fishes and the Eucharist. Pupils passed round one slice of bread and were amazed that they each managed to have two or more pieces, even though the portion was only small. They realised that in order for everyone to have enough, they had to think of the person after them and put someone else first. They also recognised that God can do so much, with so little. Pupils spoke about the fact that even though there is enough food in the world, some go hungry. The miracle in the story from the New Testament is the sharing, and the child is the one who makes the difference.

Junior 4 have been learning about the Holy Trinity of God through imagery and explanation this week.  The pupils designed their own image of the Trinity and many designs were depicted, including a flower with one stem and three petals; one candle with the wax, flame and wick; three planets surrounding one earth, one hat with three points; one large heart with three smaller hearts wrapped inside, and even a Da Vinci badge which has Mastery, Creative and Practice circles within one badge!

Full Da Vinci RE badges were awarded to Matilda, Lucas, Esme and Amalia this week for their continued deep understanding of this subject.

Please find information below:

Childrens Liturgy

Activity Sheet

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

Weekly Mission

What a great day of sport out on the school fields. So much determination on show in both the track and field events. Well done to everyone for taking part so enthusiastically and showing such fabulous house spirit.

Click View Gallery to see a few photos from the day - more will follow after half term.

Wednesday 26 May 

Under 10A and 11A rounders vs Bilton Grange

Match Report 

U8 Football vs Crescent - 20 May

Our A Team luckily came from 2-1 down to get a draw.

In the B match, they did really well against Cresent A, even though they conceded 5 goals in the first half, but showed a lot of heart. In the 2nd half when we progressively brought our stronger A players back on, they missed some goals but played a good match overall.

Please find details below:

Tennis

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

Thank you. 

Olly (J5R) received player of the match 2 weeks running, one for his Saturday team after scoring a hat-trick. The other for his Sunday team, again scoring a goal, but for his amazing defending.

Well done Olly!

Leo (J2H) was part of the football team that won the Central Warwickshire U7 cup.

They won by 6-0 in the final.

Well done Leo!

We explored the universe with awe and wonder in Lego Club this week and the next generation of astronauts, space rockets and vehicles were definitely taking shape. Emerging onto the huge craters of the moon’s rugged landscape, we encountered a multi-stage rocket with a launch control room and rotating satellite dish. We had opening doors and raising platforms galore.  From the ground crew technicians, to the intrepid scientist and lab mechanics, we were set for our space mission with Molly the Seal pup in charge!  Even the iconic starship from Star Wars made an appearance and joined the team whilst battling with Darth Vader, who we decided should have a jetpack to rebuild itself into a…pet centre day care for turtles!  One small step for man and one giant leap for making anything possible with Lego.

Sadly this week most of us have had to say goodbye to Miss Emma.  She has been with us at Little Crackers for a long time and we are really going to miss her, as I am sure many of the children higher up in school will too.  She has had a big impact on the lives of our little ones and we wish her all the best as she moves on to her next adventure.  She is staying to play with some of you during half term, but will not be with us after the break.  We do hope she comes back to say hello, and look forward to hearing all about the fun she is having in her new career.  I hope everyone enjoys the Bank Holiday weekend, and the holiday if you are away.  I look forward to seeing you all again after half term, and for those of you who come in all year round, make sure you give Miss Emma lots of hugs!

Newsletter

What a super morning we all had at Stay ‘n’ Play’s Forest School. It was lovely to welcome all the little ones to Crackley Hall, kitted out in their bright wellies and raincoats. The session took place on Wednesday 26 May in the school’s own wood and was led by Mrs Clark, Forest School Practitioner. The children had a choice of activities such as hammered leaf and flower printing and making magic potions as well as the opportunity for plenty of fantastic free play, in the woods, in the mud kitchen, on the hammocks and the rope swings. And best of all the rain held off all morning and we even saw a ray of sunshine. We hope everyone enjoyed all the fun.

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. 

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 they are running it again. Watch this space.

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 Foundation
• Teaching Assistant - Princethorpe College
• IT Infrastructure Engineer - Princethorpe College