29 September 2023 | Cranford School

Dear Parents

It seems incredible that we have reached the end of September! The term is racing along, and it has been an exciting week across the school. In Senior School, show rehearsals for our Autumn term production have started with bang! This is always an important milestone in the school year and our fantastic cast and crew have enjoyed a busy first week of rehearsing the opening number, learning the songs, planning lighting and costumes. We can't wait to see this production come to life and look forward to seeing you all there!

Elsewhere in Senior School, Year 13 have been busy completing their UCAS applications. The Sixth Form centre is a hive of activity and discussion as personal statements are drafted and redrafted; reflections developed on their super-curricular reading and work experience and hopes and aspirations for the future are shared. The Sixth form team are really enjoying their one-to-one conversations with Y13 about their university choices and we will look forward to sharing more about their university journey over the course of the term. Outside of all things UCAS, I know Year 13 have been enjoying their first weeks of enrichment activities, ranging from golf, to the Sixth form band, fitness and crotchet- its been a busy September in Sixth Form!

Year 7 Welcome Evening
It was a treat to welcome all of our Year 7 parents into school last night to reflect together with their tutors and Head of Year, Mrs Sear, on a successful first month in Senior school. We have all been incredibly impressed by their enthusiastic start to life in Senior school and I am looking forward to sharing their Senior School adventures together!

Junior French
I was chatting to Monsieur Delvenne earlier in the week about all the wonderful things happening in French lessons across the Junior School; we are very fortunate to have such a vibrant languages team! In Year 2 the pupils have been busy drawing self-portraits and guessing who was in each picture using the correct pronoun 'Lui c'est...' or 'Elle, c'est..; and learning to introduce themselves....'Moi, c'est....' whilst up in Year 7 the pupils have learning how to describe their feelings using a range of adjectives and adverbs!

Junior Music
It has also been an exciting week in Junior Music with Junior Orchestra getting off to a great start playing their new piece 'When the Saints go Marching in'. Miss Culver was highly impressed with the children's growing ensemble skills as they tackled complicated off beat passages.

In class Music lessons, Year 5 have continued their work on Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries', learning to play the dotted rhythm melody on the Xylophone. Year 1 have been looking at Grieg's 'In the Hall of the Mountain King' and this week composed their own melodies to describe Peer Gynt creeping around in the troll's castle and then practised repeating the melodies getting louder and quicker. Body Percussion continues to be a hit with Year 3 and they have finished off learning Anna Meredith's 'Connect it' classroom version this week, putting their rhythmic skills to the test. Reception also had a wonderful music lesson on Monday in which they had a go on a violin, I am sure they are all looking forward to next week when they will have a go on another bowed string instrument - I wonder if they will guess what it could be!

Sport
The PE department have had an exciting week, as the Senior School Hockey and Football tour to the Netherlands enjoyed its pre-departure launch meeting with parents. I know the pupils are all looking forward to an invigorating week of training, fixtures and travel! Our sports teams have been busy competing in Hockey and Football with fixtures taking place across Oxfordshire and Berkshire. Across the week our teams have played with great team spirit and determination and I am sure you will join me in congratulating them on a busy week of sport, with results as follows:

U18 Hockey vs Crossfield- W 5-0
U15 Hockey vs Bradfield - L 3-1
U13A and B Football beat Brockhurst 1-0 and 2-0 respectively
Under 12 A and C Hockey played Marlston House winning 5-0 and 2-0
U11 Football – As won 3-1, Bs lost 5-0 and Cs won 5-0
U10A Hockey won 10-0 vs Sherfield
U10 and U11 Hockey tournament at Chandlings. U10s lost 2 games and won one and U11 won 2 games and drew one.
U11A Hockey won 14-0 and U11B won 10-0 against Sherfield

Harvest Collection
Many thanks to everyone across the school for your wonderful support of our Harvest collection - the generosity and enthusiasm of pupils across the school for supporting this collection for the Wallingford Food Bank was hugely appreciated.

Next Week
I am looking forward to welcoming families into school next week for our Year 6 and Year 3 Parent Coffee mornings on Monday and Tuesday. I hope to see lots of you there! We also have our Sixth Form Options Evening and Y10/11 Parent Tutor meetings taking place on Wednesday night next week - it promises to be an enjoyable and important evening as we talk about GCSEs, A-levels and the future!

With best wishes for the weekend

Dr James Raymond
Headmaster