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Dear Parents

Sporting success across a multitude of pitches!
Where do we start? It has been a phenomenal week of sporting triumphs for Cranford teams in hockey, rugby, football and netball! Firstly, a huge congratulations to our U16 Girls’ hockey team who were crowned County Cup Champions earlier in the week. They fought hard against lots of other local schools, including St Helen and St Katharine, St Edwards, Oxford High and Cokethorpe, showing incredible teamwork and determination and will be heading off to the regional tournament next year. What a truly impressive result – we are very proud of you all! U12 Boys were awarded the plate in the ISA football, winning their final match in a nail-biting penalty shoot-out. Well done to the goalkeeper, who didn’t concede one shot! Yesterday the Year 11 boys beat Luckley House in a tense rugby match. We loved the passion and commitment shown by these boys and look forward to more of the same over the season! Other results include a win for the U18 Girls’ Hockey v St Joseph and an impressive 3rd out of 15 for the U13 Girls’ Hockey in a Pangbourne tournament. Well done to everyone who took part in a fixture this week.

Sixth Form Taster
We are very proud of our Sixth Form, its teaching, the results and the university destinations of our departing Sixth Form cohort. We were therefore excited to give Year 11 another taste of Sixth Form study and life on Wednesday in the Sixth Form Taster Day. Hot on the heels of the Sixth Form Options Evening last week, the purpose of the Taster Day is to students a preview of what to expect in their Sixth Form experience, including the courses offered, teaching styles, and extra-curricular information. At the end of the day, Year 11 enjoyed a closing session to reflect on their experiences. They also completed a feedback form, where they had the chance to ask questions. We were impressed by the thoughtfulness of their questions, the answers to which have been shared with them today but please also feel free to take a look at their questions here. We look forward to working with this incredible cohort as they progress through the remainder of the academic year and are excited to share their Sixth Form journey with them.

Year 7 Taster!
In our final Senior Experience Day relating to Year 7 admission 2025, 6H and external pupils were put through their paces in a series of exciting lessons. They were welcomed to their day in Senior School by Mr Kelly (Head of Year 7), who explained day ahead and gave them a glimpse of his exceptional operatic skills, demonstrating the fun they could expect in the Performing Arts session! They obtained skills in hockey, saved the earth from an exploding volcano and became world-leading scientists, all in the course of a day. We can’t wait to see what they do when they arrive in Senior School next year!

Pre-School Super Sleuths!
Pre-School have been hard at work this week trying to unpick the mystery of the missing ‘Elmo’ the Elephant! They have been searching school for clues and using their best detective questioning skills to solve the mystery and reunite Elmo to the classroom. Continuing their theme of ‘people who help us’, they were exploring what to do if you get lost like Elmo. Fortunately, today the police have called Olivia in the office to explain Elmo has been safely found at Wallingford Police Station. Pre-School happily informed us at lunch time of this, before tucking into Chef Paul’s pizza and chips – well it’s hard work after all!

Save the date - Junior Discovery Morning - ‘Great Inventions’
Please save the 9 November in your diaries, as we welcome all our Junior and Pre-School families to our annual Discovery Day extravaganza. This year, our theme is ‘Great Inventions’, and as usual we look forward to transforming the school site into a morning of brilliant activities and wonders, that the whole family will enjoy. Further details to follow.

Have a wonderful weekend.

With best wishes

Headmaster Signature


Dr James Raymond
Head