25 September 2020

We ended this week by celebrating harvest. This annual event on the school calendar felt all the more profound this year, as we reflected as a school community on the meaning of harvest. This was particularly pertinent considering the extraordinary events of the last sixth months and the impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on each and every one of us. I have felt truly lucky to be part of a community that has reacted so positively, rallying around to support each other and so clearly demonstrating several of our school values, including resilience and generosity of spirit.

Thank you to all the families who so kindly donated to our Harvest appeal in support of the Wallingford Food Bank.

We have been incredibly impressed by a fabulous week of sport demonstrated by Cranford pupils, both in and out of school. Mr Deasy, Assistant Head (Director of Sport), led a tense and competitive Year 7 and Year 8 inter-form cricket competition. As a mildly obsessed cricket family, it was wonderful to witness some brilliant cricketing prowess from Year 7, with 7S winning two of their opening matches. Year 8 demonstrated some superb, accurate, fast bowling and some impressive batting skills. Well done to all involved.

It has been lovely seeing pupils make the most of the good weather over the course of the week and using our wonderful outside space for learning . Year 4 thoroughly enjoyed their Science topic, learning all about the digestive system. Our creative Year 4 teaching team gruesomely brought this topic to life by getting pupils to create their own digestive system, using tights, bread and a well-known fizzy drink! It was definitely a very messy lesson and one I don't think the pupils will forget in a hurry!

Finally this week, I am delighted to introduce our new Heads of Junior School. We warmly welcome Darlene and Tom as our new Junior Heads of School, ably supported by our Junior Prefects, Hannah, Ella and Lola. We know they will be wonderful representatives of the Junior School and excellent role models for our youngest pupils.

Please see a snapshot of our week in pictures:

Have a lovely weekend!

Best wishes,

Dr James Raymond
Headmaster