Time marches onward! Only two weeks to go of our first half-term and there is plenty to celebrate and be proud of. It was great to welcome you in for our Autumn Parents’ Evening meetings - sharing progress and next steps is such a vital part of our relationship with you to get the very best outcomes for you child. Next up, we have our Harvest Festival - on Friday 18th October - from 1.30pm. I warmly invite you to don your wellies and warm coat then come and try your hand at willow weaving in our new outdoor classroom followed by sharing a bowl of something autumnal and breaking bread with our Junior School community in the School Hall. We will end the event with an official introduction to our Farm Project - You will learn all about how sustainability, natural farming techniques, community cohesion and outdoor learning will be promoted throughout our curriculum. You can sign up here

Farmers in our local area are busy harvesting their crops, and pupils in every year group learned about this as they participated in online lessons from the National Farmers Union on Thursday. Reception, Years 1 and 2 now know all about combine harvesters and the different food items which can be produced from wheat. Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 know an array of facts about cross pollination, growing chillies and how technology plays a key role in the harvesting of celery plants! 

This year, we are hoping to fill our tractor’s trailer with food donations, too. If you can spare a dry food item from your cupboard for those in need in our local area, please bring it in and pop it on the Harvest table outside Year 3 and 4 classrooms. These donations will be split between the local food bank in Northwich and Room at The Inn in Warrington - both charities support local people in crisis and those experiencing food poverty.

Mr Morris

Families in the Forest

Reception and their Year 5 buddies did a superb job, representing Cransley School, at our first Bright Beginnings event of the year: Families in the Forest. Potions, Autumn soup and Leaf globes were all part of the fun as we welcomed prospective families for Reception 2025 and beyond!

Mrs Gallanders 

Mezuzahs!

The doorways of Cransley Junior School have been decorated with colourful mezuzahs, a symbol used in the houses of Jewish families. Mezuzahs are placed on a slight angle on the right-hand side of every door frame in the house (except the bathroom door) and have a prayer to God hidden inside, just like our hearts hold a special place for God. 

Year 4 loved this practical learning activity and by placing their mezuzahs around school, children from a range of different classes asked questions to find out about these holy objects.

Mrs Pauline

Colourful creations

Year 4 have been learning about complimentary colours in their Art lessons with Mrs Chester this term. The children have all produced a watercolour painting using a range of cool and warm colours, and they are now learning how to batik to produce colourful pieces on fabric too! All staff have been impressed by how maturely the Year 4 pupils have handled the hot wax - it is a tricky artistic technique and the results of their high levels of focus are astounding!

Mrs Chester

Year 3 Science in Action!

After diving deep into the scientific method, our Y3 scientists have designed their own experiment to explore the impact of light on plant growth. They've carefully considered variables and fair testing to make sure their investigation is accurate. Keep an eye out for updates on their plant experiment and be sure to ask a Year 3 student to perform their catchy scientific rap!

Mrs Lane

Vitamins, Money and Shadows:

What a week it’s been in Year 6. On Monday we had a visit from our lovely Year 8s who led a session for us on vitamins and nutrition, relating it to the diet of a WW2 soldier. On Wednesday, we were incredibly lucky to welcome Mr and Mrs Phelps from Hartford Wealth. They ran a superb workshop looking at money management. We learnt about risk and reward, borrowing and lending, budgeting and compound interest. This was all done through active game play and the children really enjoyed it. Finally, on Thursday, with the help of Mr Harris, we set up and conducted some shadow measuring experiments - conclusions and findings to come next week!

Mr Armstrong

Q&A with Mr Pollock

In recent PSHE lessons, Year 4 created and delivered  thank you cards for the adults who keep us safe and happy at Cransley School. From the cleaning team through to the Chair of Governors, we appear to have made several adults feel happy in return. None more so than our Head Teacher, Mr Pollock, who thanked us in person this week and treated us all to a chocolate biscuit too! Year 4 pupils seized the opportunity to ask Mr Pollock lots of interesting questions during their time in Head’s Study, and they now know which elements of his job he finds most tricky, which football team he supports, and even what his plans are for this weekend!

Mrs Pauline

Thursday 4th October was Teacher Appreciation Day. To celebrate, the Cransley community showed their appreciation on a shared Padlet. Follow the link here to read the glorious comments that brought huge smiles to the teachers this week! 

Also this week, our Junior Safety Officers prepared their October missive to share with the Juniors in assembly on Monday - more from them very soon!

Miss Lloyd

Macmillan Coffee Morning

Parents are warmly invited to come and join our Macmillan Coffee Morning on 14 October. Why not come and join Mr Pollock and myself for a cuppa & a slice too?

The Juniors will be able to enjoy the Bake Sale at 12:30pm (post lunch!) on the 14th and can wear an item of green to show their support of the charity. Send them in with some loose change to support this worthy cause.

Mr Morris

Dates for the Diary:

• 10.10.24 - Year 3 Knutsford Humanities Trip

• 14.10.24 - Macmillan Coffee Morning - 9am

• 18.10.24 - Harvest Festival 1.30pm

• 18.10.24 - School ends for half term break

• 16.10.24 - Whole School Photograph @ 2.15pm

Special Mentions

Reception:

This week’s special mention goes to a Reception child for seeking excellence. This person is working really hard with her phonics and proves each session she can independently complete her phonics booklet. She is a super reader and is working hard learning her common exception words. Keep it up and well done Iriana!

Year 1:

This week’s special mention goes to two children who have been seeking excellence with their writing. Not only have they been busy planning their own finding narratives but they have been writing non stop during their own independent time. They have been writing about mythical creatures, the tale of Rama and Sita and many other tales. Not only this, but they have shown a great work ethic by accomplishing any activity put in front of them to a very high standard! Well done Clark and Amelia!

Year 2:

My special mention this week goes to 2 people who have ventured beyond and far exceeded expectations on Spelling shed. These two played a combined 126 games on there in 1 week! They kept going until they could get all of them right and then did some more on top of that to consolidate their learning. They will certainly both be experts on our different ee sounds. I am certain that this breaks the record for the most games I have ever seen. Keep up that awesome learning attitude, Joshua and Oscar!

Year 3:

My special mention today goes to someone who has really ventured beyond in their learning this week.  They have shown how well they are able to focus during shared reading, thinking of inquisitive questions related to the text and sharing them with their classmates.  In maths, they have looked to extend their own learning with challenge activities and clearly shared their thinking when counting in 50s and ordering 3 digit numbers in ascending order.  What a great week, keep up the hard work Orson B! 

Year 4:

My special mention this week goes to an individual who terrified us all with their tension-filled tale in one of our English lessons earlier this week. This learner seeks excellence across the full curriculum and they have even been selected by both Mrs Storey and their local town to compete in upcoming swimming competitions! We are all very proud of your confident, resilient and kind nature, Etta!

Year 5:

My special mention this week goes to someone who has been highlighted by both myself and Mr Morris for their effort to Seek Excellence in their classwork. Since moving into Year 5, we have seen this child’s confidence and attitude to learning flourish. It has been a pleasure to watch them take such pride in their work and I enjoy watching their huge smile spread across their face when they proudly present me with their learning and say, ‘Look at the amazing work I’ve done, Miss Lloyd!’ I am looking forward to the progress that this child will make as the year continues. Well done, Atticus!

Year 6:

My special mention this week is for someone who has excelled with both the content and the presentation of their work. They have knuckled down; working diligently on their WW2 diary, engaging well in shared reading, and also combining accurate diagrams with focused practical work in Science. On top of this, this person stood out to myself and Mrs Blower during our Money Matters workshop on Wednesday, for their contributions and answers in between game sessions. Well done for a strong week and let’s keep the positive vibe going - Daniel!