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 months, 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

In response to high demand for Reception school places in the local area, the Crescent School is adding a second Reception class for September 2021.

Applications for places in Reception started early and the school was quickly oversubscribed. The school normally limits places in the Reception class to just 20 children each year but with applications already well over that number, the school has decided to offer a second Reception class. Parents who are considering the school are encouraged to register their interest as soon as possible to ensure they secure a place in next year’s cohort.

Comments, Headmaster, Joe Thackway, “We are seeing an enormous amount of new house building in Bilton and the surrounding area and hope that this extra provision will be well received.

“Having two classes of up to 20 pupils each will enable more pupils to benefit from our experienced Early Years team and specialist child-centred tailored approach."

Prospective parents who would be interested in a Reception place for their child in September 2021 are urged to contact Mrs Helen Morley, the Registrar, on 01788 523851 or email admissions@crescentschool.co.uk to register their interest as soon as possible.

Part of the Princethorpe Foundation, the Crescent is a co-educational independent day school for around 160 children aged 4 to 11 years. Traditionally one form entry, class sizes range from up to 20 pupils for Reception to Year 2 to up to 24 for Years 3 to 6.

The owners of Pathfinders Day Nursery, which occupies a stand-alone building on the Crescent School site, announced on Monday 8 February their decision to close the nursery with effect from Friday 2 April 2021. The business has been under sustained pressure during the pandemic and owners, Steve and Alison Dyke, who have leased the site since 2015, had reluctantly concluded that they needed to close the nursery and are winding it down over the next few weeks.

In the light of the fact that the Dykes have decided to terminate their lease on the nursery premises, the senior team and trustees of the Crescent School, have examined the options open to them and decided that the building currently occupied by Pathfinders would be best returned for use by the school, which has grown in pupil numbers since joining the Princethorpe Foundation in 2016.

Comments Joe Thackway, Headmaster, “We are saddened that the nursery has been so badly impacted by the challenges of the past year and understand the difficulties the closure will have caused families and the nursery staff. We have excellent relationships with many outstanding local nurseries and fortunately have been able to assist families with finding alternative nursery provision.”

“By accepting the building back, we will have the opportunity to develop our campus further, particularly in terms of accommodation for Music, the Performing Arts and our Before and After School Wrap-Around Care.”

The building will be handed back to the Foundation at the end of June which will allow the school time to prepare properly for the start of the new academic year in September. Further information about the plans for the former nursery building will be revealed in due course.

The Crescent School film features our School Promise and is a celebration of our ethos and values.

The film cleverly combines live action with animated Crescent Promise characters to uniquely bring the different elements of the promise to life. The film aims to communicate how the Crescent School Promise fosters and develops the qualities of kindness and tolerance in a safe and caring environment where staff and families work together to deliver an inspiring, challenging and varied education. ​

Comments, Headmaster, Joe Thackway, “The Crescent School Promise expresses our community’s shared values, it is a simple set of guidelines, developed and shared by all pupils and staff, that helps our pupils become Good Friends, Good Learners and Good Citizens."​

We think it gives a wonderful insight into the school so why not sit back and enjoy the film.

Click here to view the film.

The Crescent’s approach to literacy is supported by Renaissance’s Accelerated Reader system. Children take a quiz after reading each book that tests their understanding. Its approach promotes reading for pleasure whilst ensuring the children read appropriately challenging books. It also totals up the books and words read.

Assistant Head, Sarah Webb, who leads on literacy at the Crescent School, explains, “We have a very positive reading culture here at Crescent, it is cool for both boys and girls to read, many of our pupils in Year 6 have the reading age of a 16-year-old. There are just so many good books out there to read these days.”

Last year, Year 6 pupil, Daniel Ovens Gibbs, read an impressive nine million words and pupils across the school read an absolutely amazing 3,000 books and 89 million words.

Sarah, continues, “Pupils from Year 3 onwards take part in the reading challenge and can quiz daily on the computers before school. We find the children respond really well to the competitive nature of the challenge. We like to get parents involved too and hold a week every term when parents can come in and quiz with their children. It is wonderful that our pupils are so enthusiastic about their reading.”

Reading is so important for children, supporting the development of their language and literacy skills as well as enabling their imaginations and helping to enrich their lives. Our lovely class libraries allow the children plenty of choice of material, we have class readers for all classes through the year and our English lessons are always based around books.

Pupils reading achievements are celebrated weekly. So far this school year there are 30 pupils who are word millionaires and two pupils who have already topped the two million mark. The race is already on to see if anyone catch match Daniel’s incredible achievement.

Two talented young musicians from the Crescent School are celebrating after successfully auditioning for the National Children’s Brass Band of Great Britain.

Alyssa Barnett plays the cornet while Charlotte Corbin the trombone, both have been taking lessons at school since they were seven-years-old and are stalwarts of the school orchestra and brass group. Both also play for the local Bilton Silver Training Band.

The girls auditioned for the prestigious National Children’s Brass Band of Great Britain last October. With the restrictions of the pandemic, they had to pre-record their audition pieces but play their scales and take the sight-reading test on a Zoom call. It was a nerve-wracking experience so they were especially delighted when they received the exciting news that they had been selected.

Crescent School’s Director of Music, Julie Barnes, said “This is a huge achievement for Alyssa and Charlotte and we are delighted and very proud of them. Both girls have worked very hard in preparation for this and thoroughly deserve their places in the band.”

As part of National Children’s Brass Band, the girls will attend an intensive residential course in the summer holidays where they will get to play with the very best brass players in the country.

Over the course of the Michaelmas Term, Crescent’s pupils took part in a number of virtual sports competitions organised by the Warwickshire Think Active team. They included football, athletics and agility challenges as part of the Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire (CSW) School Games.

Crescent’s Year 6 pupils won the Rugby and District football competition and were entered into the next round to represent Rugby in the final of the CSW School Games. In the competition they had to carry out a number of different challenges including a dribbling relay, a number of passes in a minute, target shooting and even an exhilarating hot feet timed task.  Crescent’s students put on a fantastic performance and in the final placed 2nd overall in the County, a really super achievement.

Crescent’s younger pupils did nearly as well placing third in the district Year 3/4 Pentathlon Challenge. Their event included shuttle runs, standing long jumps, vertical jumps, speed bounces and a chest push. A very well done to them too.

It was great to see them all representing their school and participating so enthusiastically in these virtual sports competitions.

A huge well done to all the children that took part in the Headmaster’s drawing competition. We have really enjoyed seeing all the paintings and drawings coming in.

The pictures featured all sorts of different birds, from Kingfishers to Buzzards to Blue Tits. The children’s attention to detail was remarkable with great observational skills and creativity on show. It was wonderful to see so many of them having a go, believing in themselves and doing their best. They have been an inspiration for us all.

It was a difficult decision choosing the winners but after considering all the entries carefully, the prize for the best bird pictures went to:

Pre-Prep - Nora 
Years 3&4 - Zahra 
Years 5&6 - Hattie 

Congratulations to Nora, Zahra and Hattie and also to everyone who took part in the competition, your pictures really impressed us all.

You can see all the children’s amazing artwork introduced by Mr Thackway in a short video here: https://vimeo.com/505626608/c8df546a40

The Circular, is the Crescent School’s review of the previous school year. The magazine includes stories and photos from across the school and gives a wonderful insight into the life of the school and the learning that takes place, day in day out, at the Crescent.

It is an inspiring read and we hope you all enjoy leafing through its pages. 

An electronic copy of the magazine is available here but if you would like to receive a hard copy of The Circular then please just email admissions@crescentschool.co.uk. 

Crescent's Art teacher, Miss Plenderleith has been delighted with the children’s responses to their virtual Art lessons over the latest lockdown. 

Year 6 have been exploring ‘distance’ in landscape paintings and for home learning Josh produced a beautiful painting demonstrating fantastic skills. 

Then Year 5 have enjoyed investigating Patterns in Nature and creating their own Land Art sculptures inspired by the work of Andy Goldsworthy.

While Year 4 considered traditional African Masks and practised their observational skills to create wonderful drawings.

Year 3 created artwork based on where they live and, inspired by the work of Paul Klee, they turned their own homes into colourful works of art.

Such awesome artwork from them all!

Crescent’s talented young musicians have showcased their wonderful skills in a superb second Virtual Concert.

The children were all preparing for music examinations at the end of the November so the concert was a great opportunity for them to polish and perfect their examination pieces. The special performance featured 24 musicians from Year 3 up to Year 6, on nine different instruments, including singing, at levels from the Prep Test up to Grade 5.

Music is such an important part of life at the school, so although the country was back in lockdown, Director of Music, Julie Barnes, was determined that Crescent’s musicians weren’t going to miss out on the opportunity to perform their examination pieces to everyone.

Each of the children pre-recorded their performance either at home or in school and sent the video through to Mrs Barnes. The individual clips were then put together into a programme of traditional and contemporary pieces, the range of which was inspiring for us all.

Comments Mrs Barnes “The pandemic was not going to stop our pupils from performing! The children were all incredible, they really rose to the occasion and played their very best.  I am very proud of all of our talented young musicians.”

A huge well done to all of the participants, it was wonderful entertainment just perfect for a lockdown evening at home!

Design Technology is a popular subject at the Crescent School much loved by the children who enjoying getting hands on with their learning.

During the latest lockdown pupils in the Upper School have been exploring a wide variety of topics. Year 4 pupils have studied cars, Year 5 houses and Year 6 bridges. Pupils researched their topic then planned their own designs, drawing and labelling detailed diagrams. Over two lessons they then set out to construct their design and then finally evaluated and tested them.

Lower down the school the children have been designing schools for the future. Pupils had many wonderful and creative ideas including hovering chairs and desks, rainbow classrooms and even a rollercoaster in the playground!

Subject specialist, Design Technology teacher, Jo Byrne has been amazed and thrilled by the results and the time and effort the children have spent working on their designs and projects at home.

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

They are a testament to the dedication of pupils and staff continuing with their studies in the face of the ongoing pandemic restrictions. Including Oxbridge and Arkwright success, stunning sketchbooks and musical collaborations, Maths and Physics awards and creative writing challenges, the magazines showcase flair and ingenuity across a wide range of subjects and year groups.

The Pinnacle focuses on the work of pupils at the Foundation's senior school, Princethorpe College, while the Minnacle includes equally impressive work by the Foundation junior schools, Crackley Hall and Crescent School. 

Why not enjoy our celebration of their studies in The Pinnacle and The Minnacle.