Admissions Update

A very warm welcome to our Admissions Update e-newsletter, designed to give you an insight into the Crescent and a feel for the richness of school life here. You will also find lots of practical information that will help you through the admissions process.

The first thing that strikes visitors to our school is the special sense of purpose that there is here, combined with a genuinely caring and nurturing atmosphere. Every child here is unique and everyone has their place in our shared community. 

Our wonderful teaching staff are determined to go the extra mile to help children achieve everything they are capable of. This has never been more true than during the challenges of recent years, where we have continued to offer excellent provision both academically and pastorally. Our philosophy applies inside the classroom, on the sports field and in all of our extra-curricular pursuits as well.

We look forward to welcoming you to our wonderful school in the near future.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

The Crescent School in Bilton, Rugby, received the highest possible ratings across all criteria from the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) following an inspection in September 2021. The report, which has just been published, consists of two elements, a focused compliance inspection, encompassing statutory standards, and an educational quality inspection evaluating the achievement of pupils, including their academic and personal development.

Headmaster, Joe Thackway, comments “We are thrilled with the report, it is a real vote of confidence for everything we do here at Crescent School and reflects a huge team effort. Every single member of staff shares the same care and devotion to the education and wellbeing of the wonderful children entrusted to our care and I believe this sentiment shines through every word of the report.”

Mr Thackway continues, “Academic achievement and personal development are two key benchmarks for any successful school and being graded as excellent in both of these broad areas demonstrates the incredible talent, commitment and professionalism of our staff, the outstanding attitude and approach of our pupils and the support of our parents.”

During the inspection, the ISI inspectors observed that, ‘Pupils have excellent and positive attitudes to learning’, that ‘They are highly curious, resilient learners’, and that ‘Pupils’ excellent knowledge, skills and understanding are reflected in their achievements across the curriculum’. The report also says, ‘Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage attain well above national age-related expectations’, ‘Older pupils consistently exceed expectations for their age and abilities’, ‘Pupils are consistently successful in entrance examinations to their first-choice school’, and that ‘Many pupils win scholarships for music, drama, art, sport and academic achievement’.

Pupils’ personal development was also judged as ‘excellent’ with inspectors recognising that ‘behaviour is excellent’, that pupils ‘behave with empathy and care towards one another’ and that ‘the open and embedded culture of kindness underpinned by deep mutual respect ensures successful outcomes for all’.

The ISI Inspectors also noted that, parental feedback ‘praised the school’s preparation of former pupils who had successfully and easily transitioned into their new senior school’.

Mr Thackway concludes, “At Crescent School we are committed to providing our pupils with an outstanding all-round education, instilling in our children life-long learning skills while fostering the qualities of kindness, tolerance and mutual respect. I am very pleased that ISI Inspectors have so comprehensively recognised what we do.”

The ISI is the Government-approved body responsible for the inspection of independent schools and they consider every aspect of the provision. A copy of the full report is available from the Crescent School website here.

Congratulations to all of our Year 6 pupils who have had their secondary school places confirmed. This year’s pupils will be moving on to a wide range of outstanding local independent and state schools including the Foundation senior school, Princethorpe College.

Over 50% of children who took the 11+ assessments gained the qualifying score and six pupils have chosen the local grammar schools, Lawrence Sherriff and Rugby High School, as their future destinations. 14 of the 24-strong class will be moving on to Princethorpe.

We also have pupils going on to a selection of other schools including; Kingsley, Bablake and King Henry's and Rugby Free. We are especially delighted that a number of Year 6 pupils have also been awarded scholarships, including all-rounder, academic, music and sports scholarships.

Sarah Webb, Assistant Head and Year 6 Teacher, said, “Our aim is always to do our best to help our pupils reach the destination secondary school of their choice. Despite the challenges of the last two years the children have enjoyed great success. We are particularly pleased with the range of scholarships offers they have received. It’s an excellent outcome and everyone here is really delighted for them.”

Congratulations to all the children for their achievements – Crescent School is really proud of them.

Crescent School's much anticipated Spring Concert took place on Monday 4 April with the school hall packed with parents eager to be entertained by an afternoon of fine music and song. They were not disappointed!

The school orchestra opened the concert performing two pieces confidently, Can You Feel The Love from The Lion King and Fidgety Feet by Larocca and Shields, the impact of their recent orchestra workshop was clear to see.  Then came the first of the instrumental solos with Katherine on treble recorder, her Largo by Vivaldi was finger perfect. 

Wacky Music were up next with the toe-tapping piece Easter Samba arranged by peripatetic teacher, Di Fisher. Hot on their heels was Alex Barnett who skilfully played Trumpet Tune by Clarke. The audience were impressed by Brass Group’s lively Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious by Rogers and Hammerstein and the Sherman brothers respectively.

Another solo followed with Rory enthusiastically playing Hedwig’s Theme by Williams on cornet. Then Flute Group played the traditional Country Gardens delightfully and Stephanie stayed on stage to perform Dance of the Mirlitons by Tchaikovsky beautifully.

Year 3 enchanted all with their Dotty Waltz by Watts on recorder before Alice and Charlie performed Justin Bieber’s Love Yourself in a super duet on guitar. The talented Faris rounded off the instrumental solos superbly playing Opening Night Jazz by Mier on piano.

The concert concluded with a super performance by the Choir.  Pupils from Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 sang four pieces. They belted out the challenging The Call by Spektor, the uplifting What A Wonderful World by Weiss and Thiele, the lovely Touch The Sky by Mandel and as a finale A Little Can Change Our World by Lawrence.

Our enormous thanks and congratulations go to all Crescent School's accomplished performers who took to the stage in front of their proud parents, and of course to all their teachers and Director of Music, Julie Barnes who have helped them achieve so much. 

Year 6 pupils at Crescent School in Bilton, Rugby were excited to play their part in marking the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee by planting 30 trees in the school grounds on Wednesday 9 March. The planting was part of the Queen’s Green Canopy project that is both celebrating her jubilee and helping to build a greener future.

The trees, that included crab apples, willow, beech, rowan and field maples, were planted in the school’s forest school area as part of the area’s expansion project that will enable more children to benefit from forest school activities. The children have named the new area ‘Jubilee Woods’ in honour of Queen Elizabeth II.

Beckee Humphreys, Forest School Leader at Crescent School said, “We invited the Year 6 children to plant the trees as a way to leave their legacy for the children who will come after them. The trees will provide shade and nature to explore in the years to come. The children really enjoyed planting the trees, commenting on the impact it will have on future generations and on the wildlife in the area.”

Beckee joined the school this year and is excited to be expanding the forest school programme at Crescent School and helping the children explore and connect with nature. Research has found that engaging in regular forest school sessions develops children’s resilience, wellbeing, confidence and physical development.

Headmaster, Joe Thackway, added, “The children were thrilled to be part of this national celebration. Planting trees for the Platinum Jubilee has been a great way for them to engage with Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II’s celebrations, while also learning about the importance of trees to the environment. We shall all enjoy watching the trees grow over the years to come.”

Pre-Prep performed their spring production, Eddie The Penguin Saves The World, to a delighted audience of parents at the end of March.

A lot of hard work had gone into the rehearsals, learning the songs, memorising lines, sorting out costumes, scenery and planning the production, and what a wonderful waddle of penguins it proved to be. Telling the story of Eddie the penguin, the changing world he lives in and his mission to save the planet, it showcased the talents, confidence and stage presence of Crescent School's youngest pupils.

After all the hard work, it was really fabulous to hear the children performing all those terrific songs, and all while learning about protecting the environment.

It was our biggest production yet and we hope everyone enjoyed the show!

Well done Pre-Prep, you were all amazing and really rose to the occasion, and you all looked lovely in your costumes.

Crescent School’s Year 5 and Year 6 pupils took part in a Junior Schools Cross Country Challenge held at Crackley Hall School. They were joined by pupils from Priors Field Primary School and Balsall Common Primary School.

It was a freezing cold and wet day, and the children were all keen to compete and to get warm running the winding course around the school field. They set off with plenty of energy and enthusiasm and demonstrated great determination and perseverance to complete the race.

The Year 5 girls race was the first to get going and it was a closely matched affair. Grace ran well to finish in 3rd place followed over the line by Ellie in 5th. Lara and Bella both finished in the top 10 with Chloe, Poppy and Annalise all running good races. 

The Year 5 boys were next, with pupils giving their all and showing a fabulous work ethic and team spirit. Strong competition from Balsall Common and Priors Field meant that Crescent’s first finisher was Sam in 5th place, Charlie and Fin also ran well.

The Year 6 girls showed grit, determination, and maturity. Fantastic running from Evie and Katherine saw them stick with the leaders to come home in 4th and 5th places respectively. Stephanie finished in 10th with Eva 11th and Sophia and Liana following on.

The final race was the Year 6 boys and Crescent’s runners faced a strong Crackley team. They set a fast pace but Kai, Caspar, Faris and Aryan stayed strong and all ran solid races.

The individual races were followed by relays, with teams of four competitors running a shorter course. Crescent’s Year 6 girls, Harriet, Sophie, Katherine and Evie, ran brilliantly to claim a well-deserved 1st place.

There were fantastic performances by all of Crescent's pupils, of which we are very proud, not only whilst running but also for their support of one another cheering and encouraging all the runners along. Well done to all and we hope you have warmed up now!

Year 5 were very pleased to welcome members of the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service to school for a Junior Fire Safety talk.

The firefighters led an hour’s informative and fun fire safety session that explored the different fire hazards within the home, looking at the ways the children could ensure both they, and their families, remained safe in the event of a fire.

Then the Fire and Rescue Service returned to visit Year 1. In an interactive session, the children considered how the firefighters uniform keeps them safe, then learned the difference between safe and unsafe fires and finally the Stop, Drop and Roll technique that you should use if your clothes catch fire.

So much discussion and learning took place that will hopefully keep the children fire safe for life. Many thanks to Warwickshire Fire and Rescue for all they do to keep us all safe!

A flurry of evacuees arrived in school on Monday 14 February, all set for a morning of activities to bring to life the Second World War.

The children looked every inch the part with their gas mask boxes and name labels.

We were joined virtually by George the WW2 ARP warden. He regaled us with details of life on the home front during the war and was able to show the children the different types of gas masks that were used. He went into detail about the types of bombs used and even had some fragments to show us. We discussed rationing and the children had great fun making their own WW2 carrot cookies which would have been made from the weekly rations. They tasted delicious! 

The children really enjoyed being evacuees but were very glad to be returning to their own homes at the end of the day.

Thank you to all of the parents for their excellent costumes and super support for our WW2 day.

On Wednesday 9 February, Year 6 visited the lake at Princethorpe College to test the boats they had designed in their Design Technology lessons.

The children had been working hard on their projects for several weeks with Science and DT Teacher Mrs Johnson. They had been challenged to design and make a vessel to travel on water. It’s been a super project, that has allowed them to investigate real problems from today’s world.

With the expert help of Mr Knowles, the boats were all launched on the lake for a test run. There was great excitement as most of the boats travelled across the lake. There was only one which made a spectacular nose-dive down into the depths, but when later retrieved its motor was still in operation!

Working in groups, the pupils had created very unique designs, powered in different ways, including wind turbines, motors and solar panels. Two of the boats, the 'CRC' and 'Ebony Dragon' have been selected to be entered into this year's Independent Schools Association’s STEAM Competition.

Mrs Johnson, commented, “I was extremely pleased with the skills, creativity and resilience shown throughout this DT project by Year 6.”

We will all be keeping our fingers crossed, well done everyone and go team Crescent!

Pupils from Years 1 up to Year 6 enjoyed taking part in the RSPB's Big Schools' Bird Watch. The school's new Ornithology club had pre-prepared bird feeders and bird spotter sheets and a special camouflage net had been erected for the children to hide behind down by the Forest School area.

Sciene teacher, Mrs Johnson took the classes outside in turn to carry out the observations. Everyone started by getting to grips with binoculars, learning how to use them safely and focus them. The children then took turns spotting and recording the birds they could see in the unseasonably warm sunshine. Plenty of different birds were seen ranging from robins to rooks and even common gulls. The children were all fascinated and excited, although at times they struggled to stay quiet! Everyone enjoyed taking part and even Mr Thackway popped out when he could to join in.

Mrs Johnson, explained, "The Birdwatch has given the children a wonderful opportunity to get outside, and experience and learn about the wildlife local to them. They recorded genuine scientific data that will contribute to a national citizen science project. It has been a fantastic educational activity.” 

Year 6 enjoyed a trip out in the sunshine to St Mark’s Church in Bilton. The children were studying the Victorians in History, exploring what life was like locally in Victorian times.

They discovered that there was much to be learnt from the gravestones in the churchyard as they gathered information in their survey. They tallied up the names, ages and dates of death, and tried to work out some of the stories behind the details. Interesting observations were made about the size of families, the common surnames, the young age of deaths and the number of children who died.

The churchyard was an oasis of calm, full of wildlife, on a cold winter’s afternoon and the children behaved beautifully. They took all the data they collected back to the classroom to discuss and review.

Reception enjoyed an amazing, interactive, arctic adventure on Friday 21 January, exploring the polar regions, with a little help from the Freshwater Theatre Company. 

The class has been studying the topic ‘Hot and Cold’ working with the text Lost And Found and learning about the polar regions. Workshop facilitator, Debra Meftah, used drama, role play and storytelling to help bring their polar ‘world around them’ studies to life.

The children took a memorable and engaging trip to the Arctic and Antarctic and back, meeting penguins, seals and polar bears along the way. They collected story clues and, with the help of Big Bird, created a delightful polar story together at the end.

Reception teachers, Mrs Emery and Mrs Pullen, said, “The children were captivated, they clearly all enjoyed the session, and it was great reinforcement for their learning in class. They enjoyed the hunt for the story clues and creating their own story. It was an excellent and engaging session.”

Well done to Reception, you were all amazing arctic explorers!

Year 6 pupil, Charlotte, who has attended Crescent School since she started in Reception, was awarded a Merit in her ABRSM Grade 7 trombone exam. 

Charlotte first started learning trombone in Year 2, when she joined the school’s Mini Brass club, an initiative that encourages 6 and 7-year-olds to play a brass instrument. She picked up a tiny trombone and has never looked back.

Charlotte takes lessons at school and regularly performs with the school’s music groups in Spring and Summer Concerts each year. She also plays for the local Bilton Silver Training Band, the Bilton Silver Evolution Band and her prodigious talent has been recognised by the National Children’s Brass Band of Great Britain which she successfully auditioned for last school year. 

Charlotte said, "I was so happy to hear that I had merited my Grade 7. My ambition was to hopefully achieve my Grade 6 by the end of Year 6 so I’m thrilled that I’ve managed to get my Grade 7 in this time. Thank you to Mrs Fisher and Mrs Barnes for all your help and support in helping me to achieve this."

Director of Music, Julie Barnes, explains, "Charlotte is a superb example of the musical talent at Crescent School. Her musical abilities were fostered at an early age by Di Fisher's Mini Brass group and nurtured over the following years in Brass Group and Orchestra. She has worked incredibly hard to reach such an amazingly high standard, the highest grade ever reached by a pupil at Crescent School, and we are so proud of everything she has achieved at such a young age." 

Charlotte is a promising young musician, only just taller than her instrument, and we are all blown away by her latest examination success.

The latest editions of the Minnacle and Pinnacle magazines have just been published. They showcase exceptional work by pupils from across the Foundation and are an inspiring read.

The Minnacle focuses on work from pupils at the Crescent School while the Pinnacle focuses on the work of pupils at Princethorpe College.

Why not sit down and have a read of our latest celebration of their superb work. Click here to read online editions of the magazine: The Minnacle and The Pinnacle.

The Crescent Circular is a wonderful celebration of the school year.  It provides existing and prospective parents with a great insight into the wealth of activities and opportunities available at the school and makes a treasured keepsake.

The 2020/2021 edition is available now and you can find it on the school website here or please email the school at admin@crescentschool.co.uk if you would like to be sent a hard copy of the magazine.