Issue 39 | Autumn 2026
Showcasing exceptional work by pupils at Crackley Hall School and Little Crackers Nursery
NURSERY & PRE-SCHOOL
Reception
Welcome
…to Issue 39 of the Minnacle I am delighted to take on the role of editor for The Minnacle, as it offers me the unique opportunity to review and bring together the fantastic work submitted by our pupils. Each edition highlights the impressive breadth of learning across the curriculum, and I am continually inspired by the practice, mastery, creativity, and dedication demonstrated in every piece. The Junior da Vinci programme provides an excellent platform for pupils to share their talents in a wide variety of ways, and the high standards achieved are a true reflection of their hard work and commitment. This edition of celebrates the outstanding work taking place both in and beyond the classroom, showcasing the many successes of our pupils and the vibrant learning culture within our school.
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Eva Cowlishaw Junior da Vinci Lead
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Francesca created this superb picture based on inspiration drawn from the Austrian artist, Friedensreich Hundertwasser 1928-2000. Hundertwasser was the Junior 6 focus for our Spring Art Show, which raised £1,000 for Birmingham Children’s’ Hospital Art Therapy Charity. Francesca used a range of felt tips, gel pens and metallic pens to create this fabulous and memorable piece.
Hedgehog Vaani is our ‘Royal Reader’.
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She is only three years of age, but she has been joining in phonic sessions with the Pre-school Badger cohort and has already built up a broad visual vocabulary. She can explain what the words mean too, so there’s no catching her out with a tricky word challenge. Vaani was brave enough to sit on the reading throne to read a story to the rest of Nursery, all by herself. What a wonderful treat for us all!
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As part of our Under the Sea topic, our children designed their own scenes first in pencil before they started their collage creations.
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Elvis has been working hard to develop his writing stamina in Reception and is making fantastic progress.
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He independently created his own under-thesea story, first planning his ideas carefully and rehearsing them orally before writing. This preparation enabled him to produce a fabulous, well-structured piece of writing on his own. He is using capital letters, full stops, and finger spaces correctly, showing a growing understanding of basic writing conventions. Elvis is also beginning to develop his imagination, bringing creativity and detail into his storytelling.
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Edward wrote this beautiful colour poem after discussing favourite colours in class.
In RE, Layla demonstrates remarkable empathy and insight.
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She understands that the Bible serves as the Christian guide to God and applies its teachings to her own life with great care. Layla consistently connects her consideration for others back to her faith, explaining her reasoning with maturity. Furthermore, she shows a strong moral compass, discerning when to say “yes” to God and how to make principled choices when responding to others.
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We used our senses to describe them before adding some excellent adjectives.
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Eva produced a beautiful and imaginative piece of writing entitled The Plastic Beach. Inspired by our class text The Tin Forest, she used a range of vocabulary to bring her ideas to life, creating a rich and engaging description for the reader.
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As part of her Geography work, Emma wrote a fantastic piece about the Amazon Rainforest.
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Her writing was filled with interesting facts and thoughtful reflections, highlighting the importance of protecting and caring for this precious global resource for future generations.
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They used a range of effective sentence starters, included fronted adverbials, and organised their ideas clearly into paragraphs.
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Imogen and Pearl worked hard to create this piece of writing inspired by the story of Theseus and the Minotaur.
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They followed the same structure and repetitive pattern used in the Genesis Creation story to shape each day of their writing. Teddy created this lovely prayer focusing on God’s creation. He illustrated it beautifully too.
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During RE, pupils in J3W wrote their own prayers inspired by Psalm 8, focusing on something in Creation that matters to them.
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He has shown excellent understanding of the tricky concepts of improper fractions and mixed numbers, confidently converting between them and accurately adding and subtracting them.
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Wilf wrote this ea tivit imaginative letter from the perspective of one of Beowulf’s brave warriors.
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Toby is a maths superstar who consistently challenges himself in every lesson, working hard to ensure he fully masters each topic.
Drawing on our class study of the legend, he carefully adopted the voice of a loyal companion, describing their journey and battle with Grendel. His writing showed a clear understanding of the story and brought the character to life for the reader.
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Junior 5
Lillyrose has loved exploring the Tudor Dynasty with all its factions, deceit and double-crossing!
Lillyrose wrote a heart-stopping story of the ‘Night the Soldiers Came’, telling a tale of fear and secrecy in a Catholic family heading out to a secret Mass. Lillyrose built up her tale of loss and terror at the hands of the soldiers.
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We have been finding out about the Reformation, the time when Catholics were in serious trouble in the 16th century for defying King Henry VIII’s new church, The Church of England.
D o tt i e During RE, after learning about King David and how he wrote Psalms dedicated to God, the children were tasked with responding to a letter from a girl who was finding it tricky settling in at a new school. She told us she had no friends and felt like she didn’t belong. She asked for help and how Psalm 23 could help her. This is Dottie’s empathetic and compassionate response.
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She thoughtfully used empathy to capture the emotions children may have experienced as they left their homes, uncertain of where they were going or when they would see their families again.
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After studying the evacuation of children during the Second World War, Emily wrote this stunning piece in History.
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Despite only taking up shot put this year, J6, Alfie, fired his way to national success, earning a Gold medal at the ISA National Field and Track Athletics Championships.
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Having qualified by winning the Midlands event, Alfie took on the winners from six other regions around the country, and out-threw them by 2 metres. His victory means he is the best shot putter in the country for his age group!
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Beatrice and Himmy performed exceptionally ra ctice well in the Primary Maths Challenge Bonus Round, achieving Bronze and Silver awards respectively.
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This year we have had some outstanding LAMDA results, Chace in J5 and Hugo in J6 both achieved an amazing score of 94%.
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