10 March 2017

This week has been a celebration of our wonderfully talented performers throughout the school with our Junior School Poetry Festival and the Senior School Dance Show.

The theme of ‘Colour’ for our Senior School Dance show seems very apt as we head towards Spring. Over three nights, our senior pupils put on a tremendous show featuring some fabulous, expressive and creative dances including ballet, contemporary, tap and modern. It was certainly a visual feast and an explosion of colour as our soloists and group performers demonstrated their skills on stage. I was very impressed by the energy of all the performers and I am sure you will join me in congratulating them, the pupils who worked so hard behind the scenes and all the staff involved who helped make this event such a great success.

In Junior School, we hosted our Poetry and Drama festival yesterday. I was delighted to see so many of our young pupils perform so articulately and with such self-confidence and poise. Their expressive, self-assured performances were the result of a great deal of hard work by all of the pupils and they should all be very proud of their achievements. 

Cranford House School prides itself on providing opportunities for pupils to perform as these events really help develop confident, resilient young people. Delivering a message, poem or dance to an audience gives children practice in stepping out of their comfort zone, allows them to make mistakes and work towards improving through feedback and collaboration. Rehearsing for these events also harnesses skills in perseverance and focus in addition to team work. All these attributes are highly valuable in enabling children to apply them to other areas of life, both in and out of the classroom. I am regularly amazed by the standard of performances achieved by our pupils and hope that the parents that came to watch the Dance Show and the KS1 and KS2 Poetry Festival will agree.  

Earlier in the week, it was lovely to see so many parents at the Year 8 Parents’ Evening. It was a busy and positive event and good to discuss the excellent progress the pupils have made over the course of this academic year. On Tuesday, we welcomed existing and new parents to our ‘Moving up to Reception’ evening and hope that this event provided parents with some useful information about what to expect and how to help your child prepare for the exciting journey that is starting school in September 2017.

Finally, we are delighted to be welcoming the Independent Schools Inspectorate into school next Thursday. We have invited them into school to help and guide us towards the successful completion of the regulatory aspects of our coeducational and Sixth Form developments. This is an addition to a recent and very positive visit from Oxfordshire Children's Safeguarding Board who conducted a thorough review of our outstanding safeguarding provisions in school. 

I hope you enjoy a restful weekend. 

Kind regards

Dr James Raymond Headmaster