The Chronicle

Dear parents

We have enjoyed a wonderful whirlwind of a week!  The theme of ‘vocations’ being intertwined with our start to the half term has certainly enthused the pupils and resurrected many hidden talents and gifts (staff and pupils included).  It’s so important that our children dream, that they have hope and that they aspire.  It’s even better if they feel called to make a positive difference to humanity – and this can be done in (almost) every walk of life.  We need young people who care – and are able and willing enough to make a positive difference.  We can all be successful if we find our calling in life.  Thank you very much to Mrs Jackson-Mayne for organising Vocations Week; and thank you to all our guests and visitors who helped make it even more meaningful.

We welcome Mrs Jayne Geran to Crackley Hall as Assistant Head: Academic and Junior 5 Form Tutor and hope that she enjoys much happiness and fulfilment as part of our school family.  Thank you very much to our wonderful Mrs Wildey for all her work in Junior 5 this year.  I know that she will continue to be just as much an asset as part of our Junior 3 team.  We also welcome to the school Emily in Junior 5 and Thomas in Junior 4 and we hope that they and their families will be happy at Crackley Hall.

Thank you to Father Kevin for celebrating Mass on All Saints Day this week and to Mrs Jackson-Mayne and Mrs Olden for preparing the children for Mass.  Let us remember to pray for our loved ones, and others we might know, who have passed from this world and who might need our prayers.

Thank you, also, to Mrs Lammas for arranging the ‘Betty Bus’ to come into school to talk to our older pupils about growing up, specifically our bodily and emotional changes.  This can be a difficult topic to broach with 10 or 11 year olds and it is good to know that we can deal with this part of the PSHECE curriculum with the help of experts.

Our Celebration Asssembly this morning started with a video clip of pupils and staff speaking about ‘what they want(ed) to be'.  I am delighted to see that there were some people who did manage to follow their dream into their careers.  For those who didn’t, at least they were able to dress up and pretend for a day today.  It was great to see so many people dreaming about so many different careers.  The Junior 1 classes were brilliant this morning – I really enjoyed their recorder playing and look forward to much more music from this talented group.  Mollie played the piano beautifully – and what an appropriate tune for her to have played!  Well done to her as well.  Congratulations to all the recipients of prizes and awards.  I am delighted to see how involved and busy our pupils are, as well as being so successful.

Congratulations to our super U10 and U11 netball teams on their excellent performances against Eversfield this week.  Keep up the hard work and the results will continue to follow.

Our Junior 6 pupils remain hard at work and right in the middle of their various entrance examinations.  Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers as they continue in their preparations and as they write the examinations.  I have already received some wonderful news of outstanding results by our pupils in the examinations that have already been written.

I look forward to representing Crackley Hall at the Princethorpe College prize giving this evening and hope to see many of our past pupils either performing on the night or going up to receive awards.

Have a restful weekend with your families.

God bless,

Robert Duigan

All children have been sent home with the letters below to choose their meals for the Lent Term.  Please return these by Monday 27 November.

Lunch Menu Choices Letter for Lent Term

Week 1 Menu

Week 2 Menu

Week 3 Menu

Parents are advised that you will see forensic tape around the perimeter fencing of the top car park next Monday morning. This will not affect access to the car park, so 'drop-offs' will proceed as normal.

We would kindly ask you to keep this information and details of the Forensic Day secret from your charges, as we hope to stage an event that is as real (within perameters) as it can be for our children. Thank you.

On Wednesday 8 November both the playground and car park will be closed during the afternoon. 

This is due to the fact that netball club involving 40 children will take place at Crackley Hall.

Please note that the car park will re-open at 5.00 pm for parents wishing to collect after clubs and fixtures.

While the Junior 3s took their LAMDA examinations this week, we are now looking to prepare out Junior 4, 5 and 6 children for theirs next term.

The children will be choosing their first pieces to learn from memory over the next few weeks.

Please read the LAMDA letter for your child’s year group and hand the reply slips back in before Friday 24th November. 

Many thanks for your support with LAMDA, it is a huge strength of the school and equips the children with invaluable life-long communication skills.

Junior 4 LAMDA Examinations

Junior 5 LAMDA Examinations

Junior 6 LAMDA Examinations

Please find below letters about the Christmas Nativities and costumes needed for them.

Christmas Nativity Letter - Reception

Christmas Nativity Costumes - Reception

Christmas Nativity Letter - Year 1 & 2

Christmas Nativity Costumes - Year 1 & 2

We have a number of trips coming up over the next few weeks. Please see the relevant letters below. This information is also available in the Trips and Important Dates section. 

J6 Victorian Day 23.11.17 

J2 Great Fire of London Trip 30.01.18

One World Week: J3 trip to Singers Hill Synagogue 15.02.18

One World Week: J4 trip to Buddhist Peace Pagoda 13.02.18

One World Week: J5 trip to Birmingham Mosque 13.02.18

One World Week: J6 trip to Gurdwara Sahib 12.02.18

We have a number of trips coming up over the next few weeks. Please see the relevant letters below:

Yr 5/6 Chamber Choir Choral Workshop 14.11.17

Please note the change of date, the workshop is to be held on 14.11.17

J6 Victorian Day 14.12.17

Please note the change of date for this visit, happily it will now have a Christmas theme.

J2 Great Fire of London Trip 30.01.18

J5 Alton Castle trip 14.03.18 - 16.03.18 and Equipment List and Medical Form

Our Stars of the Week this week are:

Our first week back has been a busy one. The first Vocations Week at Crackley Hall School, culminating in all the pupils dressing up as what they want to do when they are older, has been very successful.

The week began with Mrs Jackson-Mayne explaining that the term Vocations involved being passionate about something and using your gifts from God to make a difference to someone’s life. Pupils have listened to presentations from the Police, the Fire Service and the Clergy to find out how and what led them to take on the roles they are doing and the skills they are using to be of service to others. Volunteers who work for four different charities – Zoe’s Place, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Operation Christmas Child and for a Blind School in Uganda also led assemblies or group sessions to explain how they got involved with the charity work and the rewards of being involved in helping to support others.

Kathleen Jackson, Mrs Jackson-Mayne’s mum explained how her life had taken on a new meaning when she met a priest who was asking for donations and equipment for blind children in a school in Uganda.

Helen Wilkes from Samaritan’s Purse, who decided to get more involved with sending shoeboxes filled with presents around the world, told the pupils that one of her special memories of handing out the boxes to the children in Zambia, was hearing them beat on their boxes ‘like a drum’, then wait for the countdown to open them and then she watched as they each took out the first object and held it high in the air, swinging it around, capturing the real joy of receiving a gift.

Parents and members of the parish also volunteered to give their time to help pupils understand different career paths and how obstacles can be overcome if you are persistent and open to ideas. Thank you to Mrs Dhillon who spoke to Junior 6 pupils about stereotypes in the work place and to Jan Mockrzyski who told the children about leaving Poland and arriving in England and not knowing a word of English.

On Wednesday, Father Kevin celebrated All Saints Mass which embodied the theme of Vocations and making sacrifices to help others. Junior 4JM led the Mass, the words from the final hymn ‘This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine’ resonated appropriately around the hall and set the tone for the rest of the week.

RE Coordinator, Mrs Jackson-Mayne summed up the week ‘I wanted the children to see that there are so many different ways to use their talents to make a difference in the world, I have been inspired by all the people who have spoken this week and I hope the children have too!’

Junior 4H pupil Fintan McGrory has swapped our school's stage to tread the boards of the Birmingham Rep Theatre and beyond as 'Cute Joseph' in the smash hit theatre adeptation of Debbie Issitts film Nativity.

After months of auditions and rehearsals the show premiered at the Birmingham Rep Theatre on Friday 20 October to rave reviews, where our Fintan resplendent in St. Bernadette's uniform surely did spread the 'Sparkle and shine'.

During the production Fintan can be seen singing and dancing his way through classes at St. Bernadette's School and taking a whistle-stop trip to Hollywood. The grand finale culminates with the school taking to the stage for a magical (and quirky!) Nativity production at Coventry Cathedral with Fintan performing as a member of the school's 'boy band'. 

The show runs at the Birmingham Rep Theatre until Sunday 12 November and then embarks on a national tour of Southend, Sheffield, Manchester and Plymouth before taking to the stage in the West End at the Apollo Theatre, London.

The production's final destination will see the cast and crew heading for the Grand Theatre and Opera House in Leeds to run throughout the Christmas and New Year period. 

Although appearing in the production has meant hours of late night rehearsals and performances Fintan is loving his amazing 'on stage' experience. Well done Fintan!

Walk, trot and canter; three things that sound so simple, but in practice take real dedication and skill to master for both rider and pony. These skills provided the marking criteria that set Rosie Moreton (J4H) and her pony 'Toby' above the stiff competition at the recent Exford Show. 

Rosie can be seen pictured triumphantly holding her winners cup and rosette. So what's next for this can do, Crackley winner? Well Rosie is swopping four hooves for two wheels as she'll be taking on all-comers and a tough local triathalon. Good luck Rosie, we hope your winning ways continue.

Thinking about upcoming autumnal events and extending our links with the local community, PCSO Sarah-Louise Lithgow was invited into Junior 1 to talk about how we might keep ourselves and those around us safe.

With particular emphasis on Bonfire Night, PCSO Lithgow led a question and answer style presentation on the 'dos and don'ts' surrounding our personal safey during these events. J1 Teacher Mrs. George explained, "The session's watch words were to; 'keep each other safe' and 'tell your parents!'"

We at the Chronicle were particulary impressed with the important safety advice the children had remembered, where even a simple sparkler held in an ungloved hand, could prove very dangerous indeed.  

Crackley Hall had a special visitor on the first day back this week, in the guise of 'Betty Bus'!

The Betty Bus initiative is an immersive session for 8-12 year olds across the UK which encourages open and honest conversations about the physical and emotional changes they might face at this age.

Our J6 class were the first group of Crackley Hall children to be hosted by the Betty Bus visitors with our J6 girls venturing on to the bright yellow bus to be guided through the topic in a relaxing, comfortable and fun environment.

Meanwhile, our J6 boys had the opportunity to take part in a separate session on puberty, focusing on their understanding and attitude towards this perfectly natural developmental change. Mrs Lammas, J6H Class Teacher said: “The Betty Bus is an amazing opportunity for our pupils to talk freely about natural changes in a safe and supportive environment. The workshops encouraged both our girls and boys to discuss openly what can sometimes be a challenging topic to address."

With high praise from such a trusted source we believe the arrival of the Betty Bus may become a permanent feature in the new curriculum-linked period education programme.

Mrs Van-Zyl, inspirational class teacher and Art Coordinator, was delighted to take the floor during today's Whole School Assembly to announce an unprecedented role call of success within the Midlands ISA Art competition.

Many more students submitted pieces for consideration this year, an event that gave Mrs Van-Zyl and her team the difficult and tricky task of selection and submission. Happily, such expertise all-round was rewarded, as the following students achieved success in these categories:

1st Place, KS2 Painting - Charlie Ferguson (J6, 2016-17)

1st Place, KS2 Collaborative Piece -  J4V (2016-17)

2nd Place, KS2 - Megan Shipton (J5, 2016-17)

Highly Commended, KS2 Painted Portrait - Rocco George (J5, 2016-17)

Mrs Van-Zyl also took time out to offer a special mention to Caitlin Horan , Dylan Williams and Oliver Hutton (previously J4 and J5 respectively) for their exceptional artwork that sadly had not featured in the role call of honour. Now, we as a school will await news of possible further success given the 1st place pieces will go on to represent the Midlands region within the upcoming ISA National Art Competition.

Lastly, parents are advised that all pieces submitted for the regional competition (that have not been shortlisted for the Nationals) should be collected from her next Monday lunchtime from within the Art Room.  

Just before half-term, Mr Duigan announced details of this year's combined Crackley Hall and national Catholic Independent Schools' Conference (CISC) Christmas Card Competition. 

We've had some great entries so far and are looking forward to receiving lots more. To update, the entry date has moved forwards and every entry will now need to be in school by Monday 6 November for judging.  

An esteemed panel led by Headmaster Mr Duigan and Art Co-ordinator Mrs Van-Zyl will be perusing them prior to making their selection for the winning design for our own School Christmas card and entry into the CISC Christmas Card competition.    

As a reminder, every pupil is invited to take part by interpreting the theme of 'God is with us' in paint, pencil, photograph, mixed media and/or textiles. Please note that all entries should be on A4 paper/card and have the name and class of the pupil on the back.

Further details and winning entries from previous years are available to view on the CISC website by clicking on this link.

A letter from Mrs Van Zyl explaining how to enter is available here.

Best of luck, one and all.  

This year our annual launch of Operation Christmas Child began with an emotional presentation from Helen Wilkes who explained to the children the joy of delivering over 24,000 boxes from the  Coventry and Warwickshire area. Over the last few years Crackley Hall has donated hundreds of boxes to many countries around the globe and made Christmas special for a huge amount of children.

Thank you to all those parents and children who have supported this excellent cause over  the years.

Please see a letter here explaining more about the process. 

Please could the boxes be in  school for Monday 20 November.

U10 'A' Netball vs Eversfield Preparatory School 3 - 8 (loss)

Player of the Match - Hannah Wildey

U11 'A' Netball vs Eversfield Preparatory School 9 - 5 (win)

Player of the Match - Honor-Mae Minshull

Match Report by Eva Plevin: Honor-Mae and Sofia scored some amazing goals as Abi and Chen Chen made some excellent interceptions. Everyone played really well.

U11 'B' Netball vs Eversfield Preparatory School 0 - 1 (loss)

Player of the Match - Hattie Underhill

U10 'A' Rugby vs Eversfield Preparatory School 60 - 0 (win)

Player of the Match - Oliver Farquharson

All clubs are due to run next week apart from the following:

J5 and J6 Hockey Club is cancelled next Monday evening as staff will be attending fixtures.

J4 Hockey Club is cancelled next Tuesday evening as staff will be attending matches.

J3 and J4 Netball club on Thursday after school is cancelled due to fixtures.

All our Stay 'n' Players should ring their diaries and tell their friends as on Wednesday 8 November Autumn Crafts will be taking over our lovely school hall from 10.00am. There'll be many autumn-themed crafts for you to take delight in and the decorating of scrummie gingerbread people to take home too! At just £2 per family (including refreshments) this surely is a certainty for the coming months. 

Please note the next visiting activity is Paint and Glaze on Wednesday 29 November and our Christmas Party, with Father Christmas in attendance, is on Wednesday 6 December.

For more information, please visit: www.littlecrackers.co.uk/stay-n-play

This week we have really enjoyed our visitors, we met PCSO Sarah-Louise who told us all about the job of a police officer, and Firefighter Sam who told us all about her job too. She very kindly bought her uniform in to show us, and dressed Mrs Bird up for everyone to see! We loved the shiny helmet, especially when Sam showed us how the special visor worked… we couldn’t see Mrs Bird’s face at all, even though she could see us! After these visits everyone was really excited, so we turned our role play area into an incident station, with police and fire dressing up outfits, a desk and telephones for recording incidents and arrests, and a jail for the really bad people! 

As the weather has taken an autumnal turn please could I remind everyone to send in gloves, warm coats and hats for when we take our learning outside. We will continue to explore the outside area during the coming months as much as we can, so need to be ‘cold weather prepared’!! Wellies would also be welcome! We have ‘upgraded’ our outside mud kitchen, and as the children love playing there please remember that warm clothes should also be easy to wash! 

The date for the Nursery Nativity this year is 5 December, and it will take place in the morning. I know many of you may need to take time off, but please come along if you can, other family members are also welcome.

For further details of the 'fun and goings-on' with Nursery please click on the attached link.

Saturday 2 December, 1.00pm-4.00pm.

Planning is underway for this pivotal event in the Crackley Hall calendar. Requests for help and more details will follow shortly, so please keep an eye on the Chronicle.

This year the PTA are able to accommodate a few external stalls. All interested parties should contact the PTA using this email link. Thank you.

'The clocks have changed, there's a nip in the air,

So Crackley Parents, it's time to prepare,

For winter playtime and fun in the cold,

We have plenty of coats, which remain unsold.

Along with hats, gloves and scarves, we've got it all,

With sizes that range from large to small.

Come on Friday morning and select your childs size,

Have a coffee with friends and socialise!'

So there you have it, a most personable and welcome invite is extended to you dear friend every Friday morning between the hours of 8.00am and 8.40am in the school Dining Room.

The PTA have extended the deadline for submitting recipes to Friday 10 November, so there's still time to get details of your tasty dish in. The Chronicle has been told that the recipes already in are lovely and that the children have really enjoyed doing them. That said, our Crackley Cook Book requires many. It really only takes a few minutes, so please do consider contributing as it would be shame not to produce such a marvellous item. Sadly, the PTA will not be able to extend the deadline further if we want the book to be printed in time for Christmas.

You can log onto a specially designed site and send us your recipe online by using this link. Just follow the onscreen instructions – it’s really quick and simple to use. Please use the following access code: f26994ed17

We look forward to receiving your recipes and thanks again for your support.

Locker key on floral lanyard.

Sienna Lenton (Reception) has lost her named winter coat.

Andrew Parizzi (J1G) has lost his named school cap.  

Georgina Pollock (J5V) has lost her thin Fitbit style tracker.