Crook Primary School
Crook Primary School
Before the holidays, the VOC set Crook Primary pupils the challenge of designing and carving a spooky pumpkin. They added that pumpkins carved based on characters from their favourite stories might catch their attention too!
Well, what a response they got to that challenge! We had many, many pumpkins sent to us over the holidays and not just any old pumpkins - amazing pumpkins!
The VOC met today to judge those entries and all around the room as they inspected the different terrifying pumpkins, there were echoes of "this is too hard to judge!" - it really was so hard as the pumpkins were so well thought out and unique!
After careful deliberation, the VOC narrowed it down to 4 winners! The winners will receive a Halloween related book and pack of sweets to add to their trick or treat collections!
And the winners are...
Imogen McManus (Y5)
Jack Moore (Y6)
Agatha Micklethwaite (Y2)
Lewis Johnson (Y2)
A massive well done to everyone who entered - each entry will receive 10 points for their house team :-)
Congratulations to all of our winners this year - you all looked incredible! Thank you to everyone for dressing up and making it an extra special day in Crook Primary School. The Voice of Crook found it so hard to choose their favourite - you were all such worthy winners!
Happy half-term and enjoy celebrating Halloween!
Well done to Jaxon, Cora and Cassian from EYFS.
Well done to Hunter-James, Mason and Archie from KS1.
Well done to Jamie, Joshua and Luna from LKS2.
Well done to Isabella, Skyla and Estelle from UKS2.
Today we got our new bunch of school representatives together for the first meeting of the year. We had some plans to make for the school's Halloween celebration! What a lovely group we have this year, there were so many interesting and well-thought-out ideas and everyone was very respectful of their fellow VOC member's ideas.
We decided to turn our Halloween dress up day into more of a celebration and instead of going around the classes to judge, the VOC will be hosting a little Monster Mash - dance and game event for each phase. There they will announce the winners after watching them dance and play some musical monsters! They will also be setting a home challenge for you all, with information to be posted on Facebook soon!
A new school year calls for a fresh bunch of VOC members and now that we have settled into our new year groups, it was time to hit the ground running! Teachers thought about their previous year group and chose a couple of pupils who they thought would make valuable members of the children's leadership team. We invited all of those candidates along for a little meeting and set them a task to narrow down the list and wow, what a response we got! There were some fabulous ideas for future school events and these candidates had really thought hard about how these events would benefit their peers and our school. It was such a difficult decision, but the results are finally in!
The 2024/25 cohort for the VOC are -
Y1 - Oscar Reed
Y2 - Elsie Hamilton
Y3 - Freddie Breward and Louciena Coleman
Y4 - Grace Piper
Y5 - Ivy Hendry
Y6 - Maisie Clarey and Jack Moore
Congratulations to all of the finalists and see you soon to do some Halloween planning!
There is nothing better than spending time with friends, reading a good book and enjoying a delicious picnic! Put the three together and what do you get - a Booknic! This is exactly what we did at Crook Primary School last Friday afternoon and it was a perfect end to our week.
Crook Primary families and staff spilled out onto the school field for our first ever Summer Booknic. Armed with books and delicious picnic lunches, everyone came together on picnic mats and blankets to enjoy the afternoon together. Despite the blustery conditions, everyone had a wonderful time and it was so special to see so many of our families come together for a reading extravaganza!
It was also lovely to see older siblings reading to their younger family members and choosing new and different stories from our pre-loved book stations.
We all had a wonderful time and hope to do it again next year. Thank you so much for joining us - you made it a success!
As the end of May fell during the holidays, today was our first opportunity to get together for a board meeting and we had lots to discuss!
We began by looking at the entries from our half term 'BEE a friend to the bees' challenge. We had posters, people doing gardening and even one little girl using her own pocket money to buy bee friendly flowers, so it was a tough choice! We chose one winner from early years, one from KS1 and one from KS2. We then discussed what a suitable, bee related prize would be for our winners.
The winners and their prizes will be revealed in the POTM assembly at the end of the month.
Following this, we discussed the VOC's Summer Booknic. We want it to be as fun as possible for children and adults alike, so we brainstormed some ideas for challenges and activities that could make it more exciting. We came up with a quiz that can be completed by children and adults together whilst they enjoy their picnic. We decided to do our own take on an egg and spoon race - a head and book race where parents will get the opportunity to race and finally a 'villain' themed coconut shy!
We really hope that we get some good weather and we will see you there!
The VOC were 'buzzing' with the outcome of World Bee Day on Monday. Everyone looked brilliant in their bee colours and there were some super sweet looking bees around school. The honey for bagels that the VOC planned went down a treat and we think that CPS children have a new found appreciation for bees and their produce! Luckily, we had left over honey that is still being enjoyed with bagels and some children have even requested that it becomes a permanent feature!
Pupils sat so smartly and quietly in the whole school assembly that the VOC led - we were very impressed! In the assembly, the VOC educated the school on some bee facts, why bees are disappearing and what we can do to help. There was even a half term challenge set for pupils to go away and be a friend to the bees! The best bee-buddies will be chosen by the VOC after the holidays and will receive a special prize to BEE-proud of!
Today we met up to discuss the following points on our agenda.
First up, we gathered ideas for a whole school event to mark the start of summer. We really liked the idea of including our parents in the celebrations, so much was discussed about the logistics of that. Many of us chipped in with some wonderful ideas such as a foam party, a huge water fight, an open-air cinema and a family picnic. It was agreed that we would like to host a 'Booknic' - a picnic with books that we could share with our families and friends.
Our 'Booknic' will take place on Friday 28th June, however more information will follow after our next board meeting when we finalise the details.
Next on the agenda, was to discuss which day we would like to celebrate and raise awareness for in the month of May. We all decided that we would like to focus on World Bee Day to raise awareness of how important bees are to us and the world we live in.
The VOC will be holding a special whole school assembly where we will discuss the important role of bees in keeping us and our planet healthy. We have also arranged for a special re-appearance of Crook Factor's dance group 'The Bumble Bees' to help mark the event.
Our whole school assembly will take place on Monday 20th May where you are invited to come to school dressed in black and yellow to help support our cause.
Please keep an eye out for our specially designed promotion posters explaining what you can do to help save our bees!
Lastly, we discussed one of the points raised from our whole school questionnaire where potentially KS2 have access to healthy snacks throughout the day like they do in KS1. We decided that we would like to write a letter to local businesses enquiring whether this might be something they could help us with now and again. We will keep you posted with any new developments.
The Voice of Crook
Today, is the highly anticipated, annual Easter Egg Competition and my goodness CPS pupils have pulled it out of the bag!
The VOC decided to go for a little something different this year and gave year groups themes for their eggs based on current learning.
The use of themes definitely paid off because the eggs are AMAZING! It was so wonderful to see the children's passions and interests based off what they have been focussing on in class.
Some of the most interesting links to learning were Superworm and Room on the Broom from Julia Donaldson books. Alfred Wallace and his sinking ship from science learning in Y2. Rainforests galore in Y3 and traditional tales such as Little Red Riding Hood or Jack and the Beanstalk from Reception.
Year 5 must get a special mention because they absolutely pulled it out of the bag with their Harry Potter eggs and it was so hard to judge them!
Winners to follow!
This year, everyone took their eggs to the next level and it was nearly impossible for the VOC to decide on winners. A special shoutout has to go out to Y5 who absolutely raised the bar!
Nursery AM -
1st - George Gibbon
2nd - Nova Richards
3rd - Laila Trow
Nursery PM -
1st - Talia-Faith Harrison
2nd - Ivy Sanderson
3rd - Albie Howe
Reception -
1st - Emilie Staples
2nd - Bobbie Mae Collins
3rd - Leo Fisk
Year 1 -
1st - Charlotte Kirkbride
2nd - Chloe Crossley
3rd - Lewis Johnson
Year 2 -
1st - Freddie Breward
2nd - Theo Dawson
3rd - Grace Greensmith
Year 3 -
1st - Misha Glaister
2nd - Arthur Hendry
3rd - Anna Buliga
Year 4 -
2nd - Larissa Green
3rd - Noah Best
Year 5 -
1st - Isabella Massam
2nd - Jaxon Walker
3rd - Finlay Craggs
Year 6 -
1st - Noah Ballan
2nd - Jessica Knighton
3rd - Charlie McIntyre