The Chronicle

Dear Parents

I hope that you are well and looking forward to the half term break, with the extended bank holiday to commemorate Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee.

The main area of focus for many in the school of this week has been First Holy Communion.  This year we were able to return to inviting pupils from Junior 2 to Junior 6 to support Ben, Amelia and Joseph receive their First Holy Communion.  This is such an important part in their spiritual journey and I am pleased that we have been able to share it with staff and children on a wider scale once again.  My sincere thanks to Mrs Jackson-Mayne, Father Kevin, Mrs Simmonds, Mrs Olden, the pupils’ form teachers, the catering, the estates and the office staff who have worked to ensure that the day was enjoyed by all.

I am pleased that we have been able to complete just about all the assessments over the past week, or two. We do have to conduct formal assessments on those pupils who may have been absent for any of the tests.  Thank you to all staff, especially Mrs Cowlishaw, for overseeing the testing schedule.

We did not hold our traditional celebration assembly this morning, but I was able to present certificates to our stars of the week: Edward, Haris, Henry, William, Hardaya, Himmy, Grace, Evelyn, Rory, Amy, Jack, Nell, Dillon and Willow.  Congratulations everyone!  It was lovely to be able to have their parents with us as well. Thank you to our House Captains and Emily for their input.

Our sports teams have been busy again this week with our Under 9 cricketers participating thin Hallfields’s Kwik Cricket Tournament on Tuesday and our athletes travelling to Solihull to take part in the ISA Midlands Junior Athletics. We have a record number of pupils through to the national athletics finals later this term – 11 in total!  Congratulations to them and to their coaches, Mr and Mrs Vaughan.  Thank you very much to Mrs Vaughan for organising such a successful ISA Midlands athletics meeting.

Holiday club will be operating next week, Monday to Wednesday, and there are still some places available.  If you have not booked a space and would like your child to attend, please email holidayclub@crackleyhall.co.uk before arriving at school.  A member of staff will respond to your request and confirm if a place is available.

Mrs Kemp, our Interim Nursery Manager, will be leaving Little Crackers today.  We are grateful for the input Mrs Kemp has made during her short time with us and we wish her well with her next project and her future career.  Mrs O’Carroll-Bailey (Miss Lisa) will be assuming the role of Acting Nursery Manager whilst Mrs Bird (Miss Clare) has her period of convalescence.  Mrs O’Carroll-Bailey will be supported by Mrs Whitehurst, Miss Francis and the Nursery team over the next few weeks.  Please direct any Nursery correspondence to Miss Lisa in the first instance.  Any admissions enquiries should be directed to Mrs Jenny Vaughan.

When we return to school on 6 June, we will be welcoming a film crew into school for the week when they will capture the journey of a child through their schooling at Crackley Hall.  The film crew will be moving around school and filming a variety of scenes in different year groups and you may be asked for your child to bring their full uniform in on a specific day.  Please keep a look out for emails from the School Office regarding any notices to this effect as we would like to ensure as many children as possible are able to take part. 

Thank you for all your support of the school over the half term. I felt that the PTA Family Fun Day was a real return to what we are about as a school community and would like to thank all the PTA members for their tremendous efforts.  I would like to particularly mention our chair, Dr Card and the main organiser, Mrs Clarke.

I look forward to seeing you all again after the half term break and wish you a pleasant weekend.

God bless,

Mr Duigan

We must request that parents providing snacks and packed lunches for their child do not send in nut products as we have children in the school with severe nut allergies.

Thank you 

Please follow the links below for more information:

Reception - J5

J6

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Congratulations to them all!

Friday 27 May was an important day for three Crackley Hall pupils as they celebrated their first Holy Communion Mass. Junior 3s Amelia Mccullough and Joseph Beaman-Henderson and Junior 4 Ben Bruce, gathered together excitedly with friends, family and representatives from the Crackley Hall School community at St Francis of Assisi Church in Kenilworth.

The children have been preparing for this special day for a while, learning about their faith so that they understand what they are committing to. In March they took the Sacrament of First Reconciliation.

In the joyful and celebratory Eucharist, Father Kevin Hooper spoke about the nourishing love of God that would sustain the young communicants throughout their lives. The communicants then received the sacrament with the utmost sincerity and reverence. The children were a credit to their families and the school. Following celebratory prayers, reflections and concluding hymns the recipients were presented with certificates and posed for proud parents and friends in front of the altar.

Special thanks were given to Mrs Jackson-Mayne and Mrs Simmonds for their support of the children and to Mrs Olden and the Chamber Choir for providing the music and singing.

After the Eucharist the children were presented with gifts, balloons and individual First Holy Communion cakes to mark the occasion. It was a very special day for all concerned.

An unprecedented 12 Crackley Hall athletes have qualified to take part in this year’s ISA’s National Track and Field Championships reflecting the breadth of sporting excellence nurtured through class and extra-curricular sporting opportunities at the school.

Crackley Hall took a team of 33 Junior 4, 5 and 6 pupils to Tudor Grange Athletics Track in Solihull on Thursday 26 May to compete against schools in the Midlands Regional ISA Athletics Qualifier.

Many of the children put in amazing performances and the school was delighted that a record number of athletes were placed in both track and field events. The team placings are still to be confirmed but we wanted to share news of the children’s success.

Director of Sport, Mrs Kat Vaughan praised the outstanding attitude adopted by the Crackley team. “It was a long and exciting day,” commented Mrs Vaughan. “The children were outstanding; it was fantastic to see them back on the track in such large groups. The atmosphere was amazing. The Crackley children really stepped up with team spirit second to none, with every child supporting their peers, regardless of event or year group. The general feeling of celebrating success was brilliant, the children (and staff) were absolutely buzzing. It was our most successful outing ever and I am very proud that so many children have qualified for the National Championships.”

Crackley’s highlights included, for the boys: Isaac Fox qualifying in the U10 600m, Leonardo Pavli qualifying in the U12 150m Sprint, George Moreton qualifying in the U12 600m, Dexter Robinson qualifying in the U12 High Jump and Olly Moore qualifying in the U12 Cricket Ball Throw. Then for the girls: Sienna Lenton qualified for the U10 Long Jump, Emily Divers qualified for the U11 70m Sprint and the U11 150m Sprint, Julia Kozhan qualified for the U11 Rounders Ball Throw, Issey Cleary qualified for the 80m Sprint and the Long Jump and Elle Weir qualified for the 600m.

On the day, nearly every Crackley relay team qualified for the finals and the Year 6 Boys, Sid Penn, Leonardo Pavli, Dexter Robinson and George Knott won the Year 6 Boys Relay and qualified for the Nationals.

Mrs Vaughan, added, "Thank you to all the staff who helped at the event – Mr Vaughan for running about six miles during the day, managing the track events, Mrs Burley for managing the team and Matt and Katie Duigan for stepping in to help with various different jobs throughout the day."

The ISA National Track and Field Championships take place on Monday 13 June. We wish all who have qualified the very best of luck.

Thank you to all our children and parents who made the Art Show last Wednesday such a huge success. Almost all our work was sold with proceeds going towards the much-needed Ukraine Fund. We raised almost £400 which is fantastic.

Ms Holmes, who organised the event and co-ordinated the work said, “I was absolutely thrilled with the response from parents. Lots of families ordered extra paintings and the feedback was brilliant. I am so proud of the pupils and the art team. It is a boost for the Ukraine Fund and helps show the children how our efforts can help and support those in real need.”

This year the PTA’s Family Fun Day took place on Saturday 21 May, the weather was wonderful, glorious sunshine, and everyone enjoyed a fabulous, feel good, fun filled family event.

All the essentials of a British summer school fair were spread out across the grounds. The children enjoyed activities, from face painting to go-karting and nail art to football. Then there was the always popular tombola, a special visit from West Midlands Fire Service and the much-appreciated ice cream van!

Now a regular feature, the Family Fun Day hosted ‘Crackley’s Got Talent’. The children that took part were fantastic and all enjoyed their moment of fame. Their acts included lots of singing, dancing and comedy and, of course, there was also lots of audience participation and support.

Crackley Hall always puts on a good event, but the Fun Day could not have happened without the great teamwork and efforts of all the people who worked behind the scenes in the build-up and on the day. Our thanks go to all those members of the PTA and other volunteers who donated their time, helped run a stall, provided food and supported the event in so many other ways.

We can most definitely say it was a fantastic day enjoyed by all!

On Friday 20 May, pupils from Juniors 4, 5 and 6 joined thousands of other local school children to sing their hearts out at the annual Young Voices concert at the Resorts World Arena in Birmingham.

Following a rehearsal under the inspirational conductorship of David Lawrence, the children were delighted to perform, to amaze their audience and to have the time of their lives.

Also on stage this year were Beatboxers, vocal percussionists who demonstrated the art of mimicking drum machines, Roachford, who sang the emotional song Living Years, and the talented saxophone player YolanDa Brown. Dance troupe Urban Strides had the whole arena on their feet as they performed We're Only Human to highlight the mental wellbeing of young people.

For everyone involved it was an unforgettable event, a fabulous spectacle, a celebration of all sorts of music, an experience that will stay with them for a lifetime.

Mrs Moore has advised us that the students did extremely well, particularly Ashley-May (J1H) and Eloise (J2B) who achieved honours and Sloane (J1H) who achieved an Honours Star. This meant that she was awarded a special certificate. Honours Star is for those students who have exceeded the expectations of the criteria. The younger students achieved commended, which considering that they were in unfamiliar surroundings is very good.

Well done to all the children who achieved an award - certificates will be given out after half term in the Reception, J1 and J2 assembly.

The children have been rehearsing hard for this year's Suumer Production where the children will be performing scenes from Aladdin and The Lion King.

All the children in the school are invited and encouraged to design a programme drawing inspiration for the two shows for the Summer Production of Faraway Places.

The following information must be on the design:

Crackley Hall Presents Faraway Places
Leamington Spa Centre
Friday 24th June

Children are encouraged to be creative and produce a colourful design. All designs should be handed into the office by Friday 10 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!

Please click on the link for more information from Mrs Cowlishaw on the whole school half term Junior da Vinci challenge to write a biography (all about someone’s life) for a historical figure from your local area. 

We can't wait to see your entries!

Holiday club will run from Monday 30 May until Wednesday 1 June 2022.

It will be open from 8.30am to 5.00pm each day, and will cost £30 per child. Hot lunch will be provided.

Holiday club will only operate on the days where there are sufficient numbers to open, therefore it is important for you to book early as we may not be able to accommodate last minute bookings, due to staff ratios. If you have booked a day and the numbers attending are not high enough, you will be contacted to either cancel or rearrange the day booked.

Please book via the Holiday Club email address - holidayclub@crackleyhall.co.uk

Thank you.

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

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Glen-Root's class is Aaryan and Savannah

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Burley's class is Elle and Himmy 

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

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Holmes' class is Lexi-Jean 

Mathlete of the week for Mr Stedeford's class is Adreena 

Mathlete of the week for Mrs Wildey group is Oliver 

Well done all!

Please find more information about the Kenilworth Naturewatch in the flyer.

Please follow the link for more information 

Wednesday 8 June 2022 - 6.30pm to 9.00pm

The College's Summer Open Evening is a great opportunity for prospective families, for Year 7 to 10 and Lower Sixth entry, for September 2023 and beyond, to look around the school and to meet members of staff and pupils. As part of your evening, there will be two opportunities to hear from Ed Hester, Headmaster, at 6.45pm or 7.30pm, allowing families to explore the College before and after. So, families do not miss out, we are encouraging visitors to book their place and time slot.

Click here to book your place.

If you have any questions please contact the Admissions Team on 01926 643201/262/297 or email admissions@princethorpe.co.uk.

Please click on 'View Gallery' to scroll through a few photos from Celebration Assembly this morning.

Junior 6 have been enjoying the opportunity to play summer sports, with the weather holding enough for our fixtures to take place. The playing fields look amazing with the cricket, rounders and athletics track marked out to perfection. It is lovely to see the children looking so smart in their whites ready for cricket fixtures, with their commitment to fielding being demonstrated by the green knees on their trousers! The children have also been fighting for a coveted place on the ISA Athletics team over the last couple of weeks and the successful competitors represented Crackley Hall in Solihull on Thursday. For once, we were praying for a not-to-sunny day so that the children could compete at their best. As always, they did us proud!

Our Science topic this half-term has been Growing Up and Growing Old. Our pupils have thought about how we, as humans, change as we grow older and what life might be like for people living at each stage. We asked them to create a human timeline – they had to think about major changes at each stage. It was quite funny to see how young people imagine old age to be like. We also posed the question, ‘If we became immortal right now, what would be the advantages and the disadvantages?’ The main response was we would become bored!

Junior 4 have demonstrated their ‘green fingers’ this week, as they ventured outside to plant their sunflowers, which have been growing on the classroom windowsill for the past few weeks. We’re all hoping for some good sunshine and will have to remember to water them every day, even in half term! In amongst the many end of term assessments, the children have also been learning how to use money, playing a game that involved calculating and giving the correct amount of change. We were also delighted to share in Ben’s celebration of his First Holy Communion; it was wonderful to be able to share in this experience with him. Happy Half Term, Everyone! 

Junior 3 have had their heads down this week, working beautifully on our end of year assessments, so what better than to spend a Maths lesson outside, as part of Forest School, learning how to tell the age of a tree….not by counting rings, but by using our measuring skills – height and circumference, and division. We had great fun outside spotting Birch, Sycamore, Cherry, Oak, and Beech trees which adorn the school grounds and finding out when they were planted. In Art, we have been learning how to make a coil pot….trickier than it looks! However, we were delighted with the first batch. We are so happy for our friends, Amelia and Joseph, who have taken their First Holy Communion today. May God Bless them and their families, they have made us all so proud.

Junior 2 have finished the half term in a flurry of activity, it really has been a busy week! Our Maths lessons have focused on the topic of time. We began the week by reviewing o’clock, half past, quarter to and quarter past – phew! Time then turned to looking at each five minutes on the clock and we learnt how to tell the time by looking at all the numbers. This has proved to be very tricky - keep practising at home Junior 2! Our English lessons have focused on grammar, particularly connectives, and the children have been trying to add words such as ‘because’ to give an explanation. We also learnt about the Queen’s Jubilee which gave the children a real insight into why it is such an important time in history. Everyone is really looking forward to their celebrations over half term.

A busy week in Junior 1 saw them writing their own fact files on ladybirds and spiders, using all the skills they have learnt during the past few weeks. Mrs Glen-Roots was very impressed with their writing skills. They also looked at the value of coins and notes in Maths, added up amounts, found change and did a bit of shopping! In History they looked at how teddy bears have changed over the years and discovered that not all teddy bears in the past were very safe or soft to cuddle. In Science they found out more about what makes a fish a fish, which linked in with the fish topic they have just finished in Art. DT was the most exciting lesson of the week as they made monsters that moved using a pneumatic mechanism!

This week Reception have been learning a story all about Fred the Fish. They learnt the entire narrative off by heart with actions, retelling the tale all by themselves! They have also been getting much better at adding, using ‘First, Then and Next’. Reception, you are all superstars!

Today, pupils from Junior 2 to Junior 6 celebrated the Holy Communion Mass at St Francis Church. We congratulate Joseph, Amelia, in Junior 3 and Ben in Junior 4 on this special day and give thanks to their parents and family in supporting them on their spiritual journey. It was lovely to see the church so full again and hear the fantastic Junior 6 readers: Lily, Aaron, George, Faye and Agnes. Special mention to our Altar Servers: Dillon, Sebastian, Joseph and George who looked extremely smart on the altar and did a wonderful job. The congregation joined in the responsorial psalm sung beautifully by Mairen and Julia, who made their First Holy Communion last year. All the children in the school received a cookie to thank them for their support to the three Holy Communicants who have received the Blessed Sacrament today.

During Monday’s Weekly Mission assembly, the pupils heard all about Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s early life to coincide with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. With Mr Cottrell leading the Assembly, we learnt all about the Queen’s role as Head of State, as Head of the Armed Forces and Head of the Church of England, as well as representing the nation, presenting awards and conducting Royal visits. We all agreed that the Queen definitely has all the attributes of the school’s Crackley Compass. We ended by saying a special prayer for our Queen.

In Junior 2 we learnt all about Pentecost as we understood how Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit was fulfilled and we made a poster to display our interpretation of this. We also role-played the story and presented this to the class. Some of the pupils also wanted to create a Peace poster and with the First Holy Communion fresh in our minds, we also made some cards to congratulate the First Holy Communion children.

To help your child learn about their faith in a positive and enjoyable manner, please look out for the Children's Liturgy and the Weekly Missions in the Spiritual section of the Chronicle for this coming Sunday - the seventh Sunday of Easter - where we can think about what unites our global family instead of what divides us, and the following Sunday - Pentecost - where Jesus reminds the disciples that if they love Him, they will keep His commandment of love.  He promises to send the Holy Spirit to help them.

Please find information below:

Children's Liturgy - 30 May

Activity Sheet - 30 May 

Children's Liturgy - 5 June

Activity Sheet - 5 June

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

Weekly Mission - 30 May

Weekly Mission - 6 June

The Junior 4 boys attended the Hallfield Prep Kwik Cricket tournament on Tuesday 24 May, giving them the opportunity to compete against a variety of schools from around the Midlands. All of the boys improved as the day went on, working on their line and length when bowling, and their shot selection when batting. The highlight of the day was Vaughan’s huge six, which was flicked beautifully over mid-wicket and was identified as the ‘shot of the day’. Well done to all of the boys, for competing with a wonderful attitude.

Please follow the link for more information. 

Lego Club love Minions and we had sky-high playtime this week when we acquired a Minion-pilot-in-training just in time for those venturing away for their half-term getaway. Excitedly, we gathered a planeload of accessories with suitcases, bananas, hotdogs, and peanut bags, to name but a few things. With no restrictions on Minion baggage allowance and with Minions making up their own rules on what they could bring, we did have a spot of trouble at the check-in desk with Minions possessing all sorts of things in their hand luggage. Tactically, we decided to launch some Minion Kung Fu manoeuvres to keep the peace. With the pilot-in-training slowly becoming quite petrified, he spoke in Minionese to the cabin crew for them to keep a close ‘one eye’ on Kevin, Stuart, and Bob, and we were soon banana-skinning our way on a journey to remember! Happy half-term Lego fans and remember...Minions and bananas stick together!

Please click on the link for this week's newsletter.

This takes place on Fridays between 8:30-8.45am (before the Celebration Assembly) and outside the hall entrance. 

Please continue to use the Uniform@pta.crackleyhall.co.uk email to submit your requests if you haven’t been invited to the assembly for your child’s year group. 

We are able to take cards, cash or cheque. 

We are also always looking for donations of items your child has outgrown, please drop these in the box labelled ‘PTA uniform’, located on the front porch of the school. We are in dire need of any sports track bottoms at the moment. 

As always we thank you for your support and couldn’t run the second hand shop without your generous donations. 

We would also like to say a huge THANK YOU to our PTA members in charge of the second hand uniform shop who work so hark for us all!

Did you know we have a Noticeboard?

Our NEW recently published Newsletter can be found on the PTA Noticeboard at the entrance of the school as well as other events and information. Make sure to  have a look for the latest PTA news!

Please follow the link for the PTA Newsletter. 

Friday June 17th: non-school uniform day, Family Picnic and Colour Run

(white t-shirt with brightly coloured socks, trousers or accessories)

Reusable Crackley Hall School mugs are now available to purchase through the PTA! We ordered a limited supply to start with. They are £10 each and once payment is confirmed in the bank, they will be sent home with your child. Thank you and enjoy.

Link to order

The PTA would like to offer period costumes and Christmas jumpers to the families when needed throughout the year.

We aim to offer a cheaper and environmantally friendly alternative than buying new!

As each year will experience a period day, we are starting to build our collection of costumes/jumpers for the period days throughout the year that Crackley Hall hosts.

Therefore we are looking for the following donations please:

Christmas jumpers

Nativity clothing

Victorian Day clothing

Tudor Day clothing

Roman Day clothing

Stone Age clothing

As always, we really appreciate your help to make this resale successful for the families at Crackley Hall. All clean clothing can be dropped off at the front porch where the PTA uniform box is.

All families of pupils at our school are members of the PTA. The PTA runs regular fundraising and social events for the whole school community. Our fundraising efforts have enhanced the education and experience of all the children at the school and will continue to do so with your support. We would like to know a little bit about you and the events and activities that interest you. The PTA Committee would appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to complete this questionnaire:

Main Survey

Volunteer Sign-Up

If you join this month you will be placed in a draw each month until July! We still have a lot of tickets to sell and really need support from our generous school community. 100% of money raised will go to the school fields and changing rooms so children will not be walking back and forth to school wet and cold. Any support is so appreciated and we want to give back to you! All family members (aunts, cousins, uncles, grandparents, etc) are eligible to join.     

To enter: Please email your details (name, email and phone number) to kategreevy@yahoo.co.uk. Please submit one form for each person's entry. Please pay £10 into the CH PTA sort code: 30-94-93 account: 02023477 Lloyds Bank. Good luck! 

It was lovely to meet some of you at our coffee meeting on Wednesday 11 May!

Our next coffee morning will be on June 13 at the Almanack at 9.00am. 

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.

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Merryn (J6V) has lost her tracksuit bottoms on the field after athletics club. 

Issey (J6H) has lost her sports fleece

We regularly recruit for a variety of roles, please do share news of the vacancies with interested friends and family.

Further information and application forms on all roles are available on the Foundation's website - www.princethorpe.co.uk/join-us

• Estates Assistant (zero hours) - Princethorpe Foundation
• Teacher of Computer Science - Princethorpe College 
• Library Assistant - Princethorpe College 
• Nursery Practitioner - Little Crackers
• Learning Support Assistant - Crackley Hall
• Evening Caretaker - Princethorpe Foundation
• Weekend Painter and Decorator - Princethorpe Foundation