8th FEBRUARY 2021
Message from the Headmaster Dear Parents,
Our Chronicle this week is full of incredible achievements, startling creativity and impressive art work. Pupils throughout the school were immersed in the challenges set by the sports department. There were exceptional contributions by every class in the Lower Prep School in the quest to ‘climb Mount Everest’, with five classes managing to reach the summit; there were also some notable outstanding individual performances. Similarly, the Distance Challenge set for the Upper Prep and Senior School saw astonishing distances covered by all classes with the top four covering well over one million metres each! A select few examples of the impressive work created this week include the Reception pupils making wonderful artwork of the voyage of the Titanic, Year 2 making posters after
reading Roald Dahl's first classic novel, James and the Giant Peach, and Year 3 displaying skeletons designed from pasta shells.
The Re-Enactment Challenge set by Mrs Hanson proved extremely popular with many wonderfully entertaining scenes from films, musicals and works of art. Well done to the Senior School pupils involved in the House Music competition throughout the week and good luck to those involved in the new music and sport challenge set by Mr Harris.
I would like to praise the pupils, commend the staff and thank the parents for their incredible efforts this half term as we embraced the challenges of the new term. I wish everyone an enjoyable and well-deserved rest over the half term break. Mr Everitt
The Cranmore Re-Enactment Challenge! Pupils and parents have been very busy participating in our Cranmore re-enactment challenge, choosing scenes from films, musicals and works of art. We hope you appreciate all the creative effort and fun that has been put into these. They have certainly brought a smile to our faces. Thank you to everyone who has been involved, a superb effort! Mrs Hanson, Head of Drama
Effie W, 5TH and Josephine W, 2RF—Marty and Doc in Back to the Future
Thomas L, 6EF— Ghostbusters
Barnaby H, 5SM— Bedroom in Arles, Vincent van Gogh
Sam B, 6EF—Home Alone
The Cranmore Re-Enactment Challenge!
Ollie B, 5CC—Marilyn, Michael Moebius
Max B, 7JH—The Son of Man, Rene Magritte
Mrs Hanson & family— Mary Poppins
The Cranmore Re-Enactment Challenge!
Ollie B, 5CC— Abstract, Fernand Leger
Alex D, 2JC—Banksy
Jack D, 4FH—Banksy
The Cranmore Re-Enactment Challenge!
Jackson B, 5CC—The Karate Kid
Mrs Sanders, Cranmore Art Teacher—Proserpine, Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Max B, 7JH— Going to Work, Lowry
Years 4 and 5 make crepes! On 2nd February, 40 days after Christmas, we celebrate the day cooking les crepes in France. It is called “la chandeleur”, which is a festival of light. Each household has a competition: holding a coin in their hand to wish them good luck, they flip their pancake with their other hand. How many crepes can you flip in 30 seconds? —Mrs Meneghin and Ms Schembri
Recycling in Year 4 Science
In Science, Year 4 have been looking at the Recycling of Materials. These are just some of the posters and leaflets they produced. —Mrs Attree, Science Teacher
Year 7 celebrate Mardi Gras in style! To cheer up year 7 in Form period- wellbeing. In France, the day before Lent we celebrate Mardi Gras: fat Tuesday. It is the time of Carnival—le carnaval.
In pre-Covid times, children dressed up to go to school and had a parade in the street with their school. It is a fun day with lots of party food, dancing, music, colourful costumes and a happy mood. 7NM has celebrated it in style this morning! Mrs Meneghin
Latest Winners of the Cranmore Current Affairs Quiz Emmie H, 5CC, first, with 8,191, 9 out of 10 Daniel DP , 4WL, second, with 7,137, 8 out of 10 And Ben K, 6EF, third, with 6,571, 7 out of 10. Well done to everyone for taking part! Mr Cross
Year 5 Lego models Lego model created by Amelie W and Maya W, Year 5 Mr Heaver
Puzzle Club Colson, Year 1, completed this puzzle below. Mrs Hastings
Music news and a new challenge for half term from Mr Harris! Congratulations to William M (4FH) who passed his Grade 2 piano examination. I am setting Years 4, 5 and 6 a music and sport challenge called the ‘Basketball Challenge’ – they are asked to watch the video of me, as shown below, and then try to recreate the same drum patterns with the ball as seen in the video. All performed to the music of A Final Countdown! This is just for fun and something to occupy your minds over the half term break! https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/7d0016f2-a310-48ac-9629-534abbd27b83 I was so impressed by the number of pupils who entered the adapted House Music Competition this year. There were some super individual performances from all the UP and Senior year groups and many of the children linked their piece to the theme of ‘compassion’. The House Music Competition this term has been won by STOKES! A big thank you to the music staff who promoted the competition during their online lessons. Thank you also to those staff who took part and especially to all the children who put such a great effort in. We have many talented pupils here, many of whom will sing and play with a high degree of skill on several instruments. I selected this particular pupil, Ronan M (7NM), for his substantial contribution to the competition. He performed on his violin, the piano and with his voice. Here is his account:
“Ave Maria—This piece, (first published in 1853), is by Johan Sebastian Bach and Charles Gounod. It is Latin for Hail Mary. The piece is written for violin, (or cello), and piano. It is a prayer and the first few lyrics go like this: Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum, benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui Jesus. Close Every Door To Me—This song is from the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. It was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber for the 1982 original cast. It was in the part of the show where Joseph (the main protagonist) is wrongfully imprisoned and has lost all hope. The Swing—This piece is an ABRSM Grade 1 piece and is written by Chee-Hwa Tan. She is a Malaysian pianist, teacher and composer. She emigrated to the USA in 1984 and is now Head of Piano at the Lamont School of Music, University of Denver, Colorado. The piece is based on a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson which speaks of a child going to a swing.” —Mr Harris, Director of Music
Year 6 collages and composition skills inspired by the work of Jonas Wood Some beautiful collage work from 6EF Year 6 have spent two weeks developing their composition skills; improving understanding of spatial awareness through the media of collage. They have looked at the work of Jonas Wood for inspiration to create an imaginative still life. —Mrs Sanders
Year 5 create analogue weather instruments to measure the weather at home Year 5 are studying weather and climate this term in Geography and the weather has been very co-operative in providing contrasting weather to aid our study. To assist in the monitoring of the weather, Year 5 were set a challenge to build a weather instrument to aid their understanding of how weather changes all the time. This then led into understanding about climate and the factors that affect climate around the world. Ollie C, 5CC, not satisfied with only constructing one instrument, built his own weather station and has compared his findings with his aunt’s weather station at her home in New Zealand. A slide from Ollie’s excellent PowerPoint is shown on the right.
—Mr Doyle-Davidson, Head of Geography
Staying Safe on the Internet This week, the Upper Prep and Seniors have been looking into how to stay safe on the internet as part of the National Internet Safety Day, very apt as we are in the middle of on-line learning. The Upper Prep classes have looked at the dos and don'ts of using the internet, learning and teaching each other lots of important facts such as: Think before you post anything online Do not give out any personal information on line Keeping all devices up to date in regards to software as well as anti virus If people are behaving inappropriately on line whilst you are gaming, block and report them If you do see something upsetting, always tell an adult, either at home or at school Do not click on any links in emails or in chat functions on games Do not accept friend requests from people you do not know In the Seniors, we were looking into Truth and the rise of 'Fake News' on the internet. As more and more of us rely on sourcing information and the news from the internet, we need to know how to tell what is fake and what is real apart. Pupils discussed the importance of questioning everything they see, who wrote it, why, what site is it on, is it reliable? We looked at checking the url of the site as well as cross checking it with other reliable sources. With the continuing rise of social media, pupils also discussed how you tubers, instagramers and tiktokers wield a lot of influence and we always need to think if what they are saying is their personal opinion or are they being paid to promote it.
Lots of very heathy conversations were had in all classes and I hope they continue, during these difficult on line times to stay safe and remember what they have been taught. For further information, these websites, as well as the e-safety pages on the Parent section of the VLE, all have great advice and tips for parents. https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-centre/parents-and-carers https://cranmorevle.fireflycloud.net/e-safety https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/ https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/
Mr Hinds Director of Digital Strategy and Information
Year 5 Hundertwasser-inspired Art A range of imaginative work from Year 5! Continuing with our Hundertwasser story, pupils were encouraged to think ‘What would Hundertwasser do?”
They have come up with a range of inventive and creative ideas to ‘Hundertwasserize’ or repurpose household objects, with a focus on his bright use of colour. We spent a lot of time discussing some outrageous ideas on Teams and pupils enjoyed the opportunity to continually share their work on camera and offer ideas to each other. —Mrs Sanders
Year 5 Art—what would Hundertwasser do? I am so proud of the work Year 5 produced! —Mrs Sanders
Year 3 Skeletons
Year 3 enjoyed making pasta skeletons... Can you guess what they are? —Mrs de Almeida
Year 3 learn about India
Year 3 have been creating their own informative posters about India. Attached are a few from 3CS. —Mrs Sinclair Left to right top row: LukaB , NinoL Middle row: Charlie C, Luke O, Bottom row: Mas H, Toby F
Year 2
Year 2 have read James and the Giant Peach recently and we are now doing a topic linked to the story in English. The children have made story maps of the story before planning and writing our own stories later in the week. Miss Freeman
Year 1 study capacity Year 1 have been working on capacity. They had six containers and had to put them in order from which holds the least to which holds the most. They had great fun! —Mrs Bowen and Mrs Hastings
Reception work based on their Polar Regions topic
Reception children have been inspired to write stories based on the story 'The Runaway Penguin'. They drew story maps to help them retell the story and then to plan their own ideas. They then picked one part of the story to write about and illustrate. We are very proud of their super independent writing. —Mrs Hobdell and Mrs Stefano
Reception have thoroughly enjoyed learning about the Polar Regions this half term. To finish our topic this week, we have created some posters and fact files to display all that we have learnt. We have chosen how we would like to present this information and have written facts, drawn pictures, labelled diagrams and even baked some polar bear cakes. Our teachers were very impressed with all the different ways we presented our information. We have even enjoyed real snow to help us experience what life is like at the North and South Pole! —Mrs Hobdell and Mrs Stefano
Reception learn about the Titanic Reception have really enjoyed learning about the Titanic as part of our Topic. We heard the story of how the 'unsinkable' ship hit an iceberg and sank. We looked at pictures of the Titanic and made our own representations of the ship. We are very proud of our artwork. —Mrs Hobdell and Mrs Stefano
Nursery celebrate Chinese New Year and enjoy snow at Forest School ! The Nursery had a very exciting time at Forest School in the snow. They watched Ellie make a camp fire, learnt about fire safety and toasted marshmallows to make s’mores to accompany their hot chocolate. Kung hei fat choi! Happy Chinese New Year! The children in Nursery and Pre-Nursery have been learning all about Chinese New Year. They have enjoyed role play in the Chinese restaurant, exploring noodles and participating in a dragon dance. —Ms Luke, Head of Nursery
Sport— Class Distance Challenge– the Results!
Sport— Virtual Fixture!
Sport— Lower Prep Staircase Challenge– the Results!
For regular updated sporting action, please follow: instagram.com/cranmoresport twitter.com/cranmoresport
Sport- Lower Prep top stair climbers!
A Message from our Chaplain A reading from the Gospel of Mark Glory to You Oh Lord Some men came, bringing to Him a paralysed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralysed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” The Gospel of the Lord Praise to You Lord Jesus Christ
Lent This week I want you to think and prepare yourself for the season of Lent. Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent and it will be on the 17 February this year.
Lent is a 6 week or 40 day period of time for all of us to reflect on our lives. It is a time for us to draw to close to God through Prayer, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, to fast and to do some act of charity. Think about something you could give up or take up this week.
Loving God, we hear your call to all who thirst for a brighter future: Come to the water. Pour out your Spirit upon us and lead us to walk alongside one another. Let a desire for change well up within us. May we overflow with compassion and love. And as a stream wears away stone, may we reshape our world together to reflect your kingdom of hope for all. Amen
Please find attached Monday’s Assembly by 4SV on Preparing for Lent. https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/73f34f3c-550c-450b-9d83-ab962737198a
Please see the link for this half-term's Wednesday Word Booklet below. Please note, due to extra weeks/pages contained in the Half Term Booklet, we have included a page turn facility on the link below to improve users' experience https://www.paperturn-view.com/uk/wednesday-word/holiday?pid=MTA101634&v=18.9 Mr Jakubowski, School Chaplain