14 February 2025

Dear Parents

It has been a busy end to half-term and although Spring is just around the corner, I am sure many of us are feeling as though winter has been going on forever. Despite the perpetually grey skies, there is always something that makes me smile at Cranford. Our pupils zest for learning and fun permeates throughout the school, and I am grateful to be able to be part of such joy on a daily basis. They are a constant reminder to us all of the importance of one of our five values, happiness and I feel hugely privileged to be able to walk around the school and see the happiness and joy your children bring to everyday life.

ESafety Virtual Parent Event and Year 2 Assembly

This week, the whole Cranford community has been engaging with e-Safety week. Pupils have emersed themselves in thought provoking form time activities around transparency, fact checking, and awareness around online activities. This week is always an excellent time to review with your children their digital habits. We were pleased to see so many parents engaging with the virtual event on Tuesday evening hosted by Mrs Clarance. This panel talk featured Mr Wimpenny-Smith, Senior Lecturer in Initial Teacher Education and Computing at Oxford Brookes University, and fellow parent Stuart Pearce, Portfolio CTO at Hg Capital and lead for the AI product engineering program. The discussion focused on the realities of Artificial Intelligence and how it is likely to impact our children's future. Mrs Clarance will be presenting key points from this discussion at the E-Safety Coffee Morning on Wednesday 26 February. If you plan to attend, please RSVP here. Meanwhile, some of our younger pupils in Year 2, proudly led Junior Assembly this week, with the theme of online Safety. They did some brilliant work, explaining to the rest of the Junior School how to stay safe online and sharing their top four safety tips! They also shared a brilliant acrostic poem on the topic. Well done Year 2!

Senior School Normandy History Trip

As I write this, I am on day 3 of a brilliant few days in Normandy, exploring the story of the Second World War 1944 landings. An early 4am start at school on Wednesday morning didn’t deter the enthusiasm of the group for a busy day of travel and history followed by dinner in Honfleur! We’ve had a fantastic time so far, visiting Pegasus Bridge, the Juno Beach museum, Arromanche and the Mulberry harbour in a whirl wind tour of the Normandy campaign. Not only have we seen some touching moments with reflections on the experiences of both the military and local communities, but the development of the Normandy Area and how they have so respectfully redeveloped the area. Not to be serious all the time, we've also seen some exceptional bowling skills on display from the pupils - it's a shame about the teachers! We are looking forward to seeing the Laser Tag results later tonight! We have two more days of historical visits and activities across Normandy before we return home on Sunday!

Finally, we thought you might like to know that so far this year, our School community has raised over £4,000 for some incredible causes, including Wallingford Food Bank, Cancer Research, Mary’s Meals, Seesaw, UNICEF, Cholsey Volunteers Trust and the RNLI. A heartfelt thanks to pupils and parents for supporting our fundraising efforts. What a fantastic achievement!

Have a restful half-term break.

With best wishes

Dr James Raymond

Head