Issue 36 | Spring 2025
Showcasing exceptional work by pupils at Crackley Hall School and Little Crackers Nursery
Welcome
Issue 36 of the Minnacle.
Read on for inspiring examples of work from Crackley Hall School. Our cover this issue is painted by Theo in Junior 6 and is inspired by the artists, Reggie Laurent. We loved the colourful abstract art, filled with bright colours and detailed designs. Special thanks to Junior da Vinci Lead, Eva Cowlishaw, for collecting and sending through all the great work for this lovely mini mag and continued help and support in producing this publication for the Princethorpe Foundation.
Julia Lindsay
Theo, j6
Anneliese in Little Crackers Nursery, accurately used Maths shape activities and independently created some fabulous 2D shapes on the
Niko got his Practice da Vinci for his fantastic attitude to writing.
He practises writing short sentences every day and now has the confidence and ability to write sentences on his own, remembering finger spaces and forming letters correctly, so others can read what he has written. This piece of writing lists what he wears to stay warm in winter.
Kit has really impressed us with his reading this term. He really enjoys books and has learnt all the sounds taught so far, as well as noticing and using lots of other sounds we haven’t even looked at yet! He knows that the sounds in tricky words cannot be blended together and has learnt all of ours - demonstrating quick recall in class games and when he is reading. Kit is growing in confidence all the time and reads with both expression and enthusiasm. He receives a Practice da Vinci for his hard work.
After learning about our five different senses in Science, Charlotte took it upon herself to create her own unique, interactive ‘Senses board’ to help others learn and remember what each sense does. She put little mirrors on for sight so you can look at yourself with your eyes, sprayed some perfume for us to smell with our noses, added jingly bells that make a noise for us to hear with our ears, stuck on some gold textured strips that we can feel with our hands and pictures of tasty food that we might like to try and taste with our tongues. It was a wonderfully creative way to show what each sense is responsible for, and she was given a Creative Junior da Vinci for her hard work and effort.
Charlotte,J1
Junior 3 have been working hard on descriptive writing in English this term by using ambitious adjectives and similes and starting sentences in a variety of ways.
Jovan, Matteo, Basile, George and Wilf all demonstrated creativity and mastery in this area of learning this term.
At the beginning of this half term, Junior 2 discovered some dragon eggs in the school grounds and have been using them as inspiration for their English lessons. Harper wrote a fabulous story about discovering a dragon that had been trapped by a Dragon Hunter in a mythical land. She used her wonderful imagination to create a story with a detailed plot, as well as writing accurately using a wide range of punctuation. She was awarded a full Junior da Vinci for her wonderful writing.
Sewing Club
Under the guidance of Mrs Duigan and Ms McAloon, the J3 Sewing Club made their own felt Christmas decorations.
Elliott, Raya, Daya, Saffie, May, Bella and Ella each made an angel, Christmas tree, stocking and bell that really dinged! They were all very proud of their work and enjoyed seeing their decorations hanging on their Christmas trees at home.
Lillyrose has impressed this term with her considered writing in RE.
She has written her own psalm based upon Psalm 27. Her heartfelt and mature response earned her a Practice and Creativity Junior da Vinci.
Gaby has written a letter to her French penpal using adjectives and correct accents throughout.
She received a Practice Junior da Vinci for this super effort.
Alfie has written a super letter describing a volcanic eruption inspired by our visit earlier in the term from author, Jennifer Killick. He was awarded a full Junior da Vinci for this fabulous writing.
Alfie , J5
hC a r lie, J6
Charlie has worked hard on his RE this term and has written and performed his own poem about stopping the wars around the world for the class. He was awarded a full Junior da Vinci for his wonderful effort.
Creativity
Practice
In Geography, Junior 6 have been learning about how landscape is formed through mountain ranges and rivers. In a link with Buddhism, Anthony created a beautiful image using structured patterns with combinations of dots, lines and simple curves. A full Junior da Vinci was awarded for this outstanding piece.
In Mathematics across the school a concrete – pictorial –abstract approach is used to embed knowledge and new concepts so that pupils can master the Mathematics needed in each year group.
The use of manipulatives in Maths lessons help pupils to think and work practically, which in turn allows them to really see the mathematics working. Here are some examples of the different techniques used in different year groups.
Nursery
In Nursery a group of children used the hammock to launch a couple of woolly hats into the air, counting in unison (amidst lots of joyful giggles), every successful catch.
Reception
Reception have been identifying and sorting shapes; focusing on circles and triangles - but recapping on previous knowledge where we had to decide our own sorting criteria.
2
Junior
J2 used online rekenreks and other interactive tools to aid with number bonds, grouping and ordering numbers as well as using the dienes blocks to partition numbers in different ways.
Junior 1
J1 have been using shapes to create repeating patterns. They needed to ensure that the same shape in the same colour was used in the right place to ensure that the pattern repeated. They have also used different manipulatives to create part-whole models of different numbers.
Junior 3
J3 used Numicon and cubes to build numbers ready for work on division
4
Junior
J4 used place value blocks to master column subtraction. By making the numbers with the blocks, they could easily see exchangesthethat needed to take place before tackling the written method.
5
Junior
J5 used a problemsolving approach to times tables, working in small groups they used their times tables knowledge to complete a jigsaw of a multiplication grid.