13 September 2024

Dear Parents

We have enjoyed watching all our pupils embracing the rhythm of school life in our first full week of the Autumn Term. Our Reception children have made a fantastic start! They have been busy exploring the wonderful learning environment in the Reception classroom and are equally busy making friends and working hard, enjoying PE, Music and French lessons this week! Year 7 have had an impressive start to Senior School, adapting to moving classrooms for lessons and responding well to the broad curriculum. There are so many ‘firsts’ to celebrate and we would like to congratulate all our pupils for a hugely positive start to the new academic year!

Fixtures

Our pre-season training has paid dividends in our first week of competitive fixtures in Hockey and Football and it has been brilliant seeing the level of performance from all our teams that competed this week. Yesterday, in an exciting start to the season, our U18 Boys’ had their first game against Sherfield; the determination and teamwork on display was exceptional and we are excited to watch what happens over the course of this term for this squad! Our U16 Girls’ played the first round of the English Schools’ Football Association against King Alfred’s, working incredibly hard despite being put through their paces. On Wednesday, U11 and U13 teams played Elstree in Hockey and Football. The camaraderie and enjoyment from all our competing squads was evident and we are really excited to be able to offer such a breadth of fixtures for all our pupils to enjoy.

Equestrian Team

Some parents will be aware that we run an ever growing, competitive school Equestrian Team. There are various competitions during the year that the school enters, primarily organised either by the National Schools’ Equestrian Association (NSEA), or the Schools’ Equestrian Games (SEG), and we have a few training sessions over the academic year. If you are interested in finding out more information, please contact Mrs Clare Viggers (cviggers@cranfordschool.co.uk).

High School Musical auditions

We were delighted to have such huge interest in auditions for our Senior production of High School Musical, which will be performed later in the term in November. Many pupils joined the audition process, expressing interest in main parts, the chorus, and the backstage crew. There were some very accomplished performances, demonstrating expertly executed characterisation and some brilliant vocals too. We are really looking forward to watching this musical evolve over the next few months.

Finally, thank you to all the parents who have attended the coffee mornings over the course of this week and to Junior Parents who came to the Welcome Evening on Tuesday; we hope you found the evening useful. It is always lovely to be able to welcome parents into school and especially after the long summer break! We look forward to seeing you all again soon. Do take a moment to view this week’s photos!

Have a lovely weekend!

With best wishes
Dr James Raymond
Headmaster