Will this be coated in snow this week?
Winter’s icy grasp is looming ever nearer - from a little tickle of frost this week, to the Met Office warning of snow heading our way next week. I am increasingly grateful for my Cransley ‘dry-robe’ and although my once trusted Doc Martens have given up the ghost, my new wellies will suffice for traversing the estate. Now, more than ever, I implore you to make sure your little one has their coat with them, so we can continue to make the most of the outdoors.
Our collection of donations of outdoor clothing continues this week. If you have any old wellies or waterproof kit that no longer fits, please send it in so we can squeeze more use out of it as children work on small projects in the Community Farm.
Young Voices
Alfie - loving life at Young Voices 2023
Quite possibly one of the most exciting experience for our Key Stage 2 children in the academic year is getting closer. No, not the Christmas production - Young Voices. For the uninitiated, let me explain. Young Voices is a concert, held this year in the new Co-Op Live Arena in Manchester, where over 8,000 children join together as a choir to perform. They are supported by a tremendous live band and a dazzling array of performers - last year M-People’s Heather Small was one of the highlights. The children (and staff) spend the day in the arena rehearsing, then the audience of families and friends filter in and the show begins. For our Year 3-6 children, this is a brilliant opportunity to Venture Beyond. The day is long; the arena can feel quite overwhelming, but the rush of pride and sense of achievement that comes with being part of such a large choir is unbeatable. This experience is optional, but I really can’t overstate the value! Parents can buy their tickets for the show on ParentPay and all further information can be found by contacting Mrs Pauline.
Mr Morris
Cransley School Band
The Junior School had their first Celebration Assembly back in the Gym this Friday now that Mock GCSEs have finished (well done to all involved!). To kick things off with a bang, this week’s Assembly featured a live performance from the one and only Cransley School Band! The talented musicians performed ‘Count On Me’ by Bruno Mars with great confidence, and loved being cheered on by all of their friends. Later that day, several other children requested to join the band too, a true example of our pupils venturing beyond and inspiring others!
Miss Parry
The Cransley Juniors Band performers in action
Life in Year 2
Year 2 have been learning about living things and their habitats in science. As part of this, we investigated microhabitats. We considered the conditions (What it is like) and the inhabitants (who lives there?). Our magnifying glasses helped us make mini beasts look like enormous monsters!
Year 2 have also been consolidating their maths knowledge this week by playing a variety of fun games. From place value to addition and subtraction, Year 2 have practised their skills and pushed themselves to find solutions to things that they found tricky.
Miss Coulthard
This week we wish Leon a very Happy Birthday!
Red Riding Hood’s Reception
Reception, kicked off our traditional tales topic with Little Red Riding Hood. We used the text to engage with role play and performed an outstanding puppet show. Building our role play area was an important part of the week, we created Grandma’s House as our main setting to perform Little Red. Watch this evolve over the next coming weeks, when it turns into the brick house from the Three Little Pigs and finally a gingerbread house just in time for Christmas.
Mrs Gallanders
Christmas Traditions and Celebrations
In Year 6, our RE work this half term involves looking at how our traditions and celebrations around Christmas link to the person of Jesus and the importance of his birth. In class, we discussed all the ways we celebrate in the festive season, and all of our own unique family traditions. We were then visited by Father Paul Standish, the parish priest at St. John Vianney parish in Northwich. He shared his personal view of how he and his parishioners prepare for and celebrate Christmas, then we sought to spot similarities and make links. Finally, we took on the tricky challenge of rating the importance of a range of Christmas themes. We discovered that for us as a class, ‘Family’ is the most valuable aspect of the season.
Mr Armstrong
Fr Paul Standish & Year 6
Dates for the Diary:
22.11.24 - Nasal Flu Vaccinations
23.11.24 - Year 7 Experience Day
4.12.24 - Year 5 Trip to Quarry Bank Mill
6.12.24 - School Closed for Training
17.12.24 - Junior School Christmas Performance - 10am & 2pm
18.12.24 - Junior School Christmas Jumper Day & Christmas Disco
19.12.24 - School Closes for Christmas Holidays at midday
Special Mentions
Reception: This week’s special mention goes to someone who has been a mathmagician! They have been practising writing their numbers to 50 both at home and at school. In class they have been counting accurately and can use this super knowledge to add 1 more and find out 1 less. Excellent number skills - Dougie!
Year 1: This week’s special mention goes two children who have been seeking extra challenge in their maths learning. Not only have they been working hard to complete all activities in their lesson they have also been seeking extra challenge at home or solving extra problems in the playground. Well done to Amelia and Luca!
Year 2: My special mention this week goes to someone who has impressed me with her with her effort and attitude to learning. This person is always keen to share her super ideas in English. Her habitat building instructions are some of her best work. She also tries her best in maths, impressing both me and Mrs Weightman with her drive to keep going even when it gets tricky. She even gives it her all in phonics every day! Please continue this hard work. Hannahel!
Year 3: I am really proud this week to give the special mention to someone who has ventured beyond with their learning whether it be answering inference questions in reading, thinking up similes in writing or persevering with more challenging subtraction in maths. This person has also been seeking excellence with behaviour and an amazing positive attitude, helping friends during partner work, making excellent decisions during learning and taking it in their stride with an out of the ordinary routine this week. This person is always so happy for others when they receive this mention so please help us celebrate our Y3 star of the week, Harper!
Year 4: I have seen some wonderful examples of children seeking excellence in year 4 this week. From refining their handwriting size to creating colourful posters about how volcanoes are formed, it’s great to see our learners challenging themselves to achieve such high standards! A huge well done to two wonderful individuals for all of their hard work, William and Amelia.
Year 5: This week, my special mention goes to someone who has been Seeking Excellence in his learning. The week began with our Sporty Sponsored run. Year 5 aimed to cover the distance to Media City UK where Children in Need is filmed. 29km was our aim but collectively, we ran a total of 78km - incredible! This child made a huge contribution to that with a mighty 11 laps of the field. Inside the classroom, he has made a focused effort on his presentation across the curriculum as well as confidently contributing to a group shared write with some excellent ideas. Keep applying this effort because I can see how proud it makes you of your own achievements. Well done, Thomas!
Year 6: As the misty cold begins to lurk outside, and winter approaches, Year 6 have been on fire in the classroom. This week’s yummy diet of long division and descriptive writing using figurative language has been devoured whole by the children, like ravenous wolves feasting on a well earned meal. My special mention goes to someone who has pushed themselves in both these areas of learning, venturing beyond and persevering even when they found it a bit tricky at first. Therefore, for doing extra work on long division at home, and for her use of oral rehearsal to support her well considered vocabulary choices, my nod this week goes to Nelly!