Latest News
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
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Multi-Academy Trust
Tue 22 Sep 201519th October 2015 Dear Parents/Carers
This year, we are continuing to work towards forming a Multi-Academy Trust with 6 other schools in the area. The intention is for the MAT to contain 7 schools by the end of this academic year:
Ashton under Hill First School
Church Lench CE First School
Cropthorne with Charlton CE First School
Eckington CE First School
St Andrew’s CE First School
St Egwin’s Middle School
Prince Henry’s High School
With the beginning of a new academic year, and therefore new parents/carers becoming part of our community, I thought it might be helpful to cover the reasoning behind the decision to form a MAT and some of the benefits it will bring to us and the children here as well as in the wider MAT.
Schools in the Evesham area, Worcestershire and nationally are all having to exist in an ever-changing educational system and are continuing to face increasing educational and financial challenges, coupled with the decline of Local Authorities. The schools within the Prince Henry’s pyramid are in the fortunate situation of all being rated Outstanding or Good by Ofsted and despite the difficulties faced, continue to provide top quality education to the children in our care. The desire to preserve the pyramid in its current form and retain the relationships between the schools has driven the creation of the MAT from the beginning. The additional freedom and flexibility granted by Academy status whilst preserving strong local governance and the individual ethos and values of Cropthorne with Charlton School are also key factors.
With these reasons in mind, the Governors of Cropthorne with Charlton School held a consultation with staff and parents last year which informed their decision to apply to convert to Academy and join the MAT. The work to enable conversion will complete this year with the establishment of The Prince Henry’s Multi-Academy Trust of which Cropthorne with Charlton School will be part.
In terms of the process of applying for schools and the route children take through various schools to the end of their school education very little will change but working even more closely together will enable the educational experience of children in the MAT schools to be enhanced.
I believe that Academy conversion is in the best interest of the long term future of our school, offering the best opportunity to our pupils to progress and achieve.
Yours sincerely
Sally Martin Head Teacher
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Five Alive November 2015
Tue 22 Sep 2015On Wednesday 30th September Chameleons class (Year 4 and 5 ) visited Skill Zone in Gloucester, a fully interactive learning environment to teach children how to recognise a range of dangerous situations – from road safety to fire safety , so they can stay safe. We have all written about the different areas of safety that were covered in the morning.
Fire safety – “In Skill Zone there was a fire area. My group leader told us about what we should do if there was a fire in a room. She told us never to open the door because the fire would spread but if you don’t know that there is a fire touch the door with the back of your hand. After that she showed us a room that had a fire in it three years ago.”
Adrian K
Train safety – “There was a train at the level crossing section, we saw some scary videos of silly people dashing and driving across train tracks when a train was coming, it frightened us. When we came out of the train we walked to the train track. Our leader took us to watch a pretend train coming down a track and when it had passed and the lights stopped we went through some white gates at a medium pace.”
Ellie C
Staying safe on a bus – “We learnt about being safe when travelling on a bus. You must tell the driver if someone is being mean to you. Also hold on to the stair railings so that you don’t fall. Do not get off at the wrong stop. Finally do not sit near the back because a bad person could trap you.”
Francesca A.
House safety – “In the kitchen at Skill Zone there were dangerous things like a slippery floor, knives in the toaster and hot cups of tea but what I thought was really dangerous was raw chicken left on the side. After the kitchen we went into the lounge. On the floor there were little pieces of lego that your baby brother could choke on. Candles on the tables were also a danger.”
William H
Road safety – “At skill zone there was a road and car safety section that our group went to first. It was quite a fun zone and I loved the bit where we all touched a vibrating spot to help us cross the road, it tickled! We watched a video of a car a few times and then had to guess where the car was going to stop. We would have all been run over as it was a long way. Then we went into a blue car and had a safety talk.”
Tayler M.
Reminder: School Open Morning, Friday 20th November, 10.00 – 12.00. All welcome, come and see our lovely school in action.
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Five Alive September 2015
Thu 17 Sep 2015September 7th and the first morning of a new school year. Standing on the playground under a cloudless blue sky, watching the children skipping into school after seven weeks holiday was a truly uplifting moment. As one little girl commented; “I love this first day Mrs Martin, everything just feels so new!”
On Wednesday we welcomed our lovely Graham Pharo to lead his first assembly of the year. Our current value is ‘Respect’ and Graham chose to focus on the plight of refugees and his own experiences of visiting troubled lands. It was extremely thought-provoking and prompted some interesting classroom debate particularly with our older pupils who regularly watch Newsround in class and could identify issues raised. Children decided that they would like to raise money to help afflicted families and this will be our fund-raising focus this year.
On the same subject, Heidi came in on Friday to collect a cheque for £1691.94 in aid of The Moldovan project. She brought with her a short film clip from the families we have helped thanking us for our efforts. The children at school have become very attached to their Moldovan friends and are keen to send stockings again this year. Contact the school if you would like to add to our collection.
The 2014 curriculum requires primary children to have a chronological understanding of British history. To help children understand this in a fun way we have invited our school photographer in to compile a calendar with children and staff dressed as people from prehistoric through to modern times depending on their birthdays (Born in May? You must be a Tudor!)
A future date for your diaries – Friday November 20th 10.00 – 12.am, Open Morning at school. You read about the things we get up to; now come and see the school in action!
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A Warm welcome to the Autumn Term
Thu 17 Sep 2015Dear Parents,
Welcome back after the long summer break. It was lovely to see the children skip into school last week looking smart and enthusiastic. Long may it continue!
As always there is a very busy term ahead. The 2014 curriculum requires primary school children to have an understanding of the chronology of English history. As well as studying this in classrooms we thought it would be lovely to compile another school calendar depicting different periods of time. He is coming on Wednesday 7th October and we would like you to supply a suitable outfit. What that is depends on your child’s birthday month:
January Stone Age (prehistoric)
February Romans
March Vikings
April Crusades (knights and maidens)
May Tudors
June Stuarts (Civil War – Roundheads and Cavaliers)
July Georgian
August Victorian
September 1920’s
October 1940’s
November 1960’s
December Present day
Have fun!
As the term progresses our thoughts turn to a multi-cultural study centring on India and we are organising different visits/ visitors to school (see attached list of dates). This is always a very colourful, interesting study which ticks off much of the geography, arts and RE curriculum. If you have any interesting artefacts, photos or stories you would like to share, let us know!
As you know we at Cropthorne are committed to providing an enhanced curriculum for your children but in the present economic climate we are dependent on your voluntary contributions of £25 a term. In addition in future we will be asking for the cost of theatre and other major trips out. We do ask for your support with this. Without it we will have to drastically re-think our policy.
I look forward to another exciting action-packed year at Cropthorne and to watching your lovely children continue to blossom and mature. As always, my door is open if there is anything you would like to discuss.
Yours Sincerely
Sally Martin
