Summer Discovery is a collection of art, books, articles, podcasts, debates, poetry and lectures, that have been collated for students to enjoy during the last week of term and throughout the summer holidays. Each item has been chosen as it is culturally enriching, academically challenging or significant in today’s society. Indeed, there are also a series of activities that are linked to the items that will challenge and inspire. All the texts have links to extended or complete versions which are all mobile phone and tablet compatible and are completely free. The items come from many different fields, for example, there is reading about the power of sport, a debate on climate change and a lecture on the magic of maths, to name a few. We hope that students enjoy the reading, watching, and listening and we would love to see your attempts at one of the activities.
Full uniform is required for September. Advice has been refreshed and now says that uniforms do not need to be cleaned any more frequently or with a different method than usual.
Essential equipment
The water fountains for obvious reasons need to remain switched off and there are very strict classroom protocols relating to the sharing and use of resources so it is important that your son/daughter bring into school each day:
Filled water bottle
Equipment – pencil case and calculator
Disposable tissues
A silent reading book (required from the first day of term and every day for Years 7 – 9)
Personal hand sanitisers are not required but are permissible – there is plenty of provision of sinks and additional hand washing facilities but your son or daughter may prefer the convenience and ease of their own sanitiser.
Food
Each year group will eat separately in specific zoned areas of the school. All year groups have access to our catering provision via different outlets and all food is prepared and sold under safe Covid conditions. Quality of our catering remains a highlight for students!
Purchasing of food is done via the student contactless card. Money can be uploaded on line (please click here). Again, for obvious reason we can no longer accept cash sent into school.
Visiting the school site
As a preventative measure I continue to minimise anyone visiting the school site and this regretfully extends to parents. It feels awful not to be welcoming in this way and so my apologies for asking that you only attend the school site by appointment and only if necessary.
We are looking forward to welcoming students back to school in September.
On the first day back, students will be met at the front of school by members of Senior Leadership Team (SLT), Heads of Years and tutors and escorted into school through their assigned entry points.
To minimise the mixing of students whilst on site we have changed the pattern of the school day to stagger arrivals, departures, and movement around the site and have constrained break times to minimise the risk. There are new start and finish times and entry points to the school which are:
Key Stage 3
8.25am arrive, lessons begin at 8.30am – 2.40pm*
Year 7 Enter and depart the school via the Black Corridor
Year 8 Enter and depart the school via the Tower Entrance
Year 9 Enter and depart the school via the Green Gates
Key Stage 4 / Sixth Form
8.55am arrive, lessons begin at 9am – 2.50pm*
Year 10** Enter and depart the school via the Tower Entrance
Year 11** Enter and depart the school via the Green Gates
Sixth Form** Enter and depart the school via the Black Corridor
The school bus will operate as normal and will depart the school at 3pm. Students in KS4 who travel by the bus will report to the library for silent reading until lesson 1 and students in KS3 will report to the library for silent reading at the end of lesson 5 until it is time for the bus to depart.
**KS4 and Post 16 have a shorter day but still receive the five hour lessons (Year 10 and Year 11) and eight hours per A-Level (Post 16). Tutor time will be delivered in a new way and later in the academic year we will use the 3pm slot to offer bespoke tutoring to students who require this in preparation for their public examinations.
***Driving on the school site. From September Parents/Carers are asked not to drive directly onto the school site. Instead please drop your son or daughter in a neighbouring road where it is safe to do so.
It is with regret that we are unable to share our virtual Presentation Evening tonight due to technical issues with our external messaging provider, which is out of our control.
We will be sharing a recording of this evening with all parents/carers tomorrow.
Summer of Discovery is a collection of art, books, articles, podcasts, debates, poetry and lectures, that have been collated for students to enjoy during the last week of term and throughout the summer holidays. Each item has been chosen as it is culturally enriching, academically challenging or significant in today’s society. Indeed, there are also a series of activities that are linked to the items that will challenge and inspire. All the texts have links to extended or complete versions which are all mobile phone and tablet compatible and are completely free. The items come from many different fields, for example, there is reading about the power of sport, a debate on climate change and a lecture on the magic of maths, to name a few. We hope that students enjoy the reading, watching, and listening and we would love to see your attempts at one of the activities, if you do wish to share it with us, please send it to whitakerh@crispins.co.uk.
Has a life in lockdown made you feel like channelling your inner song-writer?! Perhaps you already love writing songs, or maybe you’ve never written a song before in your life because you simply don’t know where to start? No matter where you fit, we want to hear from you!
Your song for the Great St. Crispin’s Song-writing Challenge can be in any style, and about any topic. You can ask friends to help by playing instruments or even singing the song for you, but you must have written it yourself. Lyrics will also be accepted in the form of Spoken Word or Rap if you would like to have a go at this! You can choose to write a song on your own or with up to 3 friends as a collaboration.
SHARING YOUR WORK: Send your completed entries to wolstencroftn@crispins.co.uk before the deadline of Friday, 11th September. You’ll need to submit your work in any audio form. The easiest way might be to use your phone to record as an mp3. All songs must be submitted with lyrics written up.
Below you’ll find information about each of the 3 entry levels – you can choose whichever one you feel suits you best, but there are some pointers to help make sure you pick the one that’s right for you.
For now, though, it’s time to dig deep and get writing! Good luck!!
Never written a song before? Perhaps you’re learning to play an instrument or starting out with Garageband? Want to focus mainly on the lyrics and melody? Then this one’s for you:
JAMES BAY LEVEL (ideal for years 7-8): Write a tune & lyrics to fit with the premade piano loop you’ll find here.
Feeling a bit more confident? Used to working with chords on a guitar or piano?
Beginning to write some original material? Then this one’s for you:
BILLIE EILISH LEVEL (ideal for years 9-10): Write a song using the following 5 chords ONLY. You don’t have to use them all, and you CAN add extensions (eg 7th chords). Get creative with the order of chords and change things up when entering new parts of the song!
C major (CEG)
E minor (EGB)
F major (FAC)
G major (GBD)
A minor (ACE)
Looking for more of a challenge? Want complete freedom to write what you want? Feeling ready for the Pyramid Stage?! Then this one’s for you.
ED SHEERAN LEVEL (ideal for years 11-13): Create a song by using this picture as an image stimulus! Think about what the picture says to YOU; how it makes you feel, and what you think the story is behind it.
PRIZES!
There will be one winner from each category. Songs will be judged on originality, interest
(eg, in rhythm and melody) and depth of lyrics.
Winning songs will receive either:
A pre-recorded performance in the ‘Virtual Autumn Gala’, or
A private song-writing lesson with singer/songwriter Alice Lee.
About Alice Lee:
When Alice was at St. Crispin’s, she was always busy writing songs and performing in the school productions and concerts. After leaving school, Alice went to the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford to study Song-writing and Performance. From there, she moved to London to pursue her career; performing as a solo artist and writing songs for herself and others to sing. Alice started teaching voice at St Crispin’s in 2018 – she also runs a Pop Choir in school. Her debut single, ‘Still Thinking of Me?’ has been streamed on Spotify more than 3,000 times already, since its release last month. She co-wrote it with two other people, proving that even professionals don’t have to write alone! Alice has worked really hard on her music since she started and was brave enough to share her work with others…imagine what you could do if you adopted the same attitude!!
Summer of Discovery Booklet for Years 7 and 8 – please click here
