Cranmore Chronicle 5th March 2021

1st MARCH 2021

Message from the Headmaster Dear Parents,

We are incredibly excited to welcome everyone back to Cranmore on Monday. Staff have been busy preparing the classrooms, the sports hall, auditorium and playgrounds. Our facilities team have done a tremendous job in getting the grounds and outdoor areas ready for the pupils to be able to enjoy games, play sport and once again benefit from the wonderful facilities on site. It has been a real team effort.

This week, pupils have thoroughly enjoyed Book Week and relished the opportunity to speak with author, adventurer and cameraman, Matt Dickinson, about climate change and future Everest expeditions. They also were captivated by the hilariously funny online assembly from David Walliams. Pupils had an opportunity to dress up as their favourite character from a book, take part in the Guess Who’s Reading and the Masked Reader competitions.

Children in the Lower Prep were kept active by participating in the walk, run or cycle daily challenge. The individual distance challenge and a virtual fitness fixture with KCS Wimbledon gave the Upper Prep and Senior pupils the sense of some competitive sport to look forward to in the coming weeks.

Next week will see the start of the Great Cranmore Bake Off which was suggested by our School Council to fundraise for the Catholic Children’s Society. I am extremely excited to see how creative the Cranmore pupils can be in the kitchen, I’m sure there are some delicious treats in store.

Parents, I want to apologise in advance for the mess and mayhem in the kitchen; it is all for a good cause!

I really look forward to seeing everyone back at Cranmore on Monday.

Have a restful weekend.

Mr Everitt

Book Week– part one– Tuesday and Wednesday BOOK WEEK TUESDAY On Tuesday of Book Week, Years 4, 5 and 6 enjoyed a hugely entertaining online talk from David Walliams who read from some of his latest books and answered children’s questions.

Our picture right shows Caleb, from Year 4, waiting eagerly with all his David Walliams books, for the assembly to begin.

Pupil feedback was enthusiastic: “I thought the talk was really funny” - Eloise.

“Who knew that an Encyclopaedia of Monsters existed?” - Alexandra.

“He was brilliant at describing how his sister used to get him into trouble” - Jackson.

“I’m inspired to read more” - Theo.

BOOK WEEK WEDNESDAY Years 6, 7 and 8 were treated to a fascinating, high-energy assembly led by the author, adventurer and cameraman, Matt Dickinson, who confessed that his love of risk-taking had been inspired by adventurous reading as a young person. He spoke about many things but particularly about his ascent of Everest and encouraged his listeners to consider the issues of climate change and the future of Everest expeditions.

Mrs Hopkins, Head of English

To the right are two preview photos of stunning costumes worn on Book Week Thursday– more fabulous Thursday Book Day costume photos to follow in next week’s Chronicle!

The Great Cranmore Bake Off!

I am very excited to tell you all about a forthcoming whole-school fundraising event... The Great Cranmore Bake Off! This suggestion came from our School Council and we are inviting all pupils and staff in our Cranmore community to take part.

We would like everyone to get out their mixing bowls and create an Easter themed show-stopping bake. This could be a cake, cupcakes, traybake or biscuits - anything goes.

We are asking all entrants to donate £2 to the Catholic Children's Society https://www.cathchild.org.uk/. Here is a link to the Just Giving page https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tgcbo Mrs Spooner, Senior School Teacher and School Council Co-ordinator

A Quiz and Famous Scientists Presentations by Year 5 Try your luck in our Famous Scientists Quiz! WHO AM I?

1. He was fond of an apple, but he had a bit of a temper.

2. This scientist studied at Oxford and when he was quite young at Oxford he developed an illness. He then became a professor at Oxford. He studied black holes and died on 14 March 2018.

Who is he?

3. My scientist is a woman, who was born in 1962. Studied at the university of Hull and almost stopped pursuing science when she was studying for her PhD. She created the AstraZeneca vaccine.

4. She discovered CRISPR gene editing with Emmanuelle Charpentier and they both won the Nobel Chemistry prize. She was born on February 19, 1964 in Washington D.C. She currently works as a professor in the university of California.

5. This scientist was born on a farm in Scotland, so he was used to muck! He accidentally discovered mould juice which saved many hundreds of soldiers in WW11.

6. When this scientist died his brain was weighed and found to be lighter than average.

7. My scientist was born in England 1847 and his father was a phonetician. In 1876 this scientist made an invention that changed the world. It helped people get in touch.

8. Born January 27 1834, Tobolsk, Siberia, Russian Empire— died January 20. He is well known in chemistry.

9. This scientist helped prove the earth revolved around the sun and had a space craft named after him. He advanced the telescope , he made the first pendulum clock and had Jupiter's moons named after him.

10. She was a palaeontologist who enjoyed walks on the beach.

Her discoveries are still on display at the Natural History Museum.

Poster about Galileo, above, by Rico T, 5TH

Cows, Black Holes and Mould – Year 5 Famous Scientists Presentations Last week members of Year 5 enjoyed outstanding presentations by their peers on a diverse range of famous scientists. Whilst learning about Dr Jane Goodall, pupils learnt that Jane was fascinated by books as a child and dreamt of travelling to work with animals. This passion lead her to discover that chimpanzees, like man, use tools in their daily lives – something not previously known by primatologists.

Edward Jenner used Cowpox as a method to inoculate against Smallpox; pupils considered what had driven him to vaccinate his own baby son, in the pursuit of scientific advancement. Most considered love, as well as a confident understanding in the science had motivated him.

In their own work Year 5 pupils have reflected on the legacy of their chosen scientist and we have heard how Penicillin not only saved thousands of lives in World War II, but continues to treat serious bacterial infections today.

We have been introduced to Sylvia Earle, the oceanographer who has made conservation and wildlife-protection her life’s mission and Florence Nightingale, who used statistics to show that military deaths in the Crimean war were preventable and the result of infection.

Several pupils investigated Marie Curie’s contribution to science - her research ultimately killed her, but the substances she discovered have treated countless numbers of cancer patients since.

Einstein said “I have no special talent, I am only passionately curious”.

If you are too, please try our Famous Scientist Quiz above!

Dr Verny White, Science Teacher

Python programming , the Fibonacci Sequence , Stop Frame Movies and coding The Senior pupils have been continuing their journey into Python programming. Year 8 pupils have just completed a code enabling them to work out the famed Fibonacci Sequence to any term they want while Year 7 pupils have been formulating a programme to help them with their times tables, (not that they need help with that).

Year 6 have just shown their Stop Frame Movies this week, a culmination of 4 weeks’ work and the results on the whole were tremendous. The pupils have been very creative and we have had Lego movies, Minecraft adventures, wars, evil fruit, lions in jungles, ghosts and car chases galore. The pupils made all their own sets, figures and shot the movie frame by frame.

Some of the movies even had over one thousand frames! After filming, the pupils then added special effects, opening and closing credits, sound effects and some speech bubbles.

Year 5 and Year 4 pupils have been continuing to code robots to fulfil specific tasks, from cleaning up coral reefs to solving a maze using both bumper and distance sensors to find their way out.

Mr Hinds, Director of Digital Strategy and Innovation

91 performances—and more music success!

House Music Congratulations to all the pupils in the UP and SS who participated in the Virtual House Music Competition this year. Including the two staff, Mr Jakubowski (guitar) and Mr Lamport (drums).

There were an incredible 91 performances across the five days of the competition. The competition was won by Stokes.

Examination success Congratulations also this week to William R, 6MC who passed his Grade 2 flute exam with Merit.

Mr Harris, Director of Music

In Drama– a day in the life of Drake’s crew!

In drama monologues in Year 6 we are exploring Sir Francis Drake’s circumnavigation of the world in 1577 and the pupils were asked to write an account as a member of Drake’s crew. I was delighted by the work the year 6 pupils produced and here is one example of the excellent creative writing produced:

“BOOM!! Dark grey clouds loomed over the Pelican, which was lying on the Pacific Ocean, and thunder crackled through the atmosphere. The ship was rocking hard, and you could hear the groans of the crew members with sea sickness, and the stolen treasures crashing around the treasure rooms. Looking out of my window I saw the raging sea foaming. A few days ago, we had left Spain with all our valuables, gold, jewellery and more, and set course for England, our hometown. I decided to walk down the aisle towards the deck, to watch the rain spatter on the dirty wood floor and the lightning, light up the air over the horizon. I looked at the bulging sacks of gold slump across the deck, which everyone was sure the queen would be happy about, but they were still nervous. I thought about the glory I would get, the power I would hold. But there was still something left; I must survive the journey first. Most people claimed the ship would tip over, but I stood hopeful. The probability we would survive though, was extremely low, I would just have to wait and see. “ by Matthew P in 6RC. Mrs Hanson, Head of Drama

Year 1 learn about London in 1666

Year 1 created stunning paintings of Pudding Lane and the Great Fire of London 1666, two of which are shown -above and to the right!

Mrs Hastings

Year 1 also wrote and illustrated leaflets about London in 1666– shown below- they are fantastic!

Mrs Bowen

Excellent progress in Reception Maths Reception have been working really hard with their Maths all term and we are so proud of the progress they have made.

Maths in the Early Years is very practical and this week we have been enjoying measuring capacity and making number posters.

We are so impressed with all the different ways that the children discovered to represent numbers 9 and 10. They definitely had lots of fun exploring capacity with water, sand, flour and even macaroni!

Mrs Hobdell and Mrs Stefano

Reception explore capacity and number

The originality of Reception ideas was wonderful and shows a good understanding of how to represent numbers. We were also impressed with how many different ways they found to compare and measure capacity.

Mrs Hobdell and Mrs Stefano

Answers to our Famous Scientists Quiz on page 4!

1. Isaac Newton 2. Stephen Hawking 3. Professor Sarah Gilbert 4. Jennifer Doudna

Well done for taking part everyone!

5. Alexander Fleming

Dr Verny White

6. Albert Einstein 7. Alexander Graham Bell 8. Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev 9. Galileo Galilei 10. Mary Anning

Science Teacher

Nursery celebrate St David’s Day and learn about the seasons The children in Nursery listened to the story behind St David’s Day and had the opportunity to dress up in a traditional Welsh costume.

In French this week the children enjoyed learning all about our four seasons and finished the session with some lovely artwork.

We have been practising number formation to ten using Q-tips and paint, painting daffodils and creating a garden on the interactive whiteboard.

At Forest School we were so lucky to have the weather on our side. The children made bread and baked it on the fire before enjoying it for their snack in the sunshine.

The children have also been enjoying the Nursery garden, balancing and climbing.

Ms Luke, Head of Nursery

Sport - getting ready for pupils returning to school!

For regular updates on sporting action, please follow: instagram.com/cranmoresport twitter.com/cranmoresport

Sport– Miss Moore’s Lower Prep Daily Mile Challenge!

A Message from our Chaplain

s anA reading from the Gospel of Mark After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with Him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.

Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)

Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to Him!” The Gospel of the Lord Praise to You Lord Jesus Christ

Lent This week we continue thinking about Jesus' Transfiguration.

In Lent we are called to think about our life in a deep and serious way. Through the story of the Transfiguration, let us come to realise that we are all called to grow in holiness.

Last week, during a walk I went on, I was struck by the thought that Lent is also a time of recovery, a time when we can begin to rearrange ourselves, take out what is not good and put in things that are.

May God bless you all this week.

Mr Jakubowski’s Prayer for Lent Heavenly Father, Creator of all things, we pray for Your great mercy, that You will guide us towards You, for we cannot find our way without You. Guide us to do what You require of us, for we cannot do it alone. Make our minds strong to serve You as You would wish.

Strengthen us against the temptations of Satan, knowing that Your Son was tempted in the desert, and remove from us all that is evil, shielding us against our enemies.

Teach us so that we may love You before all things with a pure heart and mind. For You are our Father, our help, and our hope.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen

Please see the link for this week's Wednesday Word below. https://www.paperturn-view.com/uk/wednesday-word/enthusiasm?pid=MTA101634&v=19.10

Here is the link to our Lenten Liturgy: https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/cb425f0c-a856-48d7-9574-7d5674c2f38e

Mr Jakubowski, School Chaplain