6 January 2023

Dear Parents

Happy New Year and welcome back! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas break. It has been a fun and enjoyable start to term, and I know I can speak on behalf of everyone at school in saying how much we have enjoyed catching up with pupils, sharing recollections of lots of wonderful family events and festive celebrations over the holidays.

Staff INSET

On Tuesday we enjoyed a busy Staff INSET, where we took the opportunity to review our aspirations for the year at school. As I am sure you are aware, the starting point for life at Cranford is our wish for every pupil to be happy in school; happy pupils make great progress. At Cranford this is underpinned by a set of school values that permeate every aspect of school life (Generosity of Spirit, Motivation, Challenge, Confidence and Happiness) and an emphasis on excellent pastoral care where every pupil is known, recognised, challenged and celebrated as an individual.

During INSET, we revisited the culture of excellence that we seek to embed across the school with high expectations for every pupil (and for ourselves as teachers). We considered our commitment to high aspirations for every learner, providing a sharp focus on each individual, embedding stretch and challenge, encouraging independence, resilience and determination. This commitment is reflected in the consistently strong academic success the school has enjoyed over the last 8 years, with an average value add of +1.3 from 2014-2022. This means that pupils at Cranford are consistently achieving well over a grade higher than they would at a similar school across a period equivalent to their whole time in Junior School or Senior School. This is similarly reflected in our position as the leading Co-Educational day school in the Henley area. Across a three-year average, 61.8% of results achieved by Cranford students at GCSE have been Grades 9-7. It is important to compare this with the three-year average of other local schools such as Shiplake College (28.3%); Pangbourne College (40.6%); The Oratory School (42.5%) to gather a true perspective of the sustained academic success of our pupils.

The key to this success has been the sharp focus on pupil happiness, on high expectations, on adding value for every pupil (targeting +1.3 for every pupil at school), in providing excellent pastoral care and a broad extra-curricular provision, not to mention excellent relationships and communication with parents.

As a staff team we always come back to our core belief in the power of happiness and importance of school values in underpinning everything we seek to achieve alongside our wonderful pupils. This is only a small snapshot of a vibrant, constructive and enjoyable INSET day. We have lots of exciting plans for the year ahead of us and much to share with families in the days and weeks ahead!

Assembly this week

As ever, the start of a new term offers an exciting blank canvas for pupils and in assembly this week we have enjoyed sharing our aspirations for the term ahead of us and discussing the values that bind us together as a community at Cranford. There is so much to look forward to over the weeks ahead of us and this morning in Key Stage 3 assembly we talked about the importance of generosity of spirit, friendship and kindness and what it means to be a member of our community here at Cranford. I am very proud of our pupils and the wonderful sense of fun, friendship and curiosity that they cultivate every day in school and I know that this term will be no different.

Year 11 and Year 13 Mocks

Our Year 11 and 13 pupils have made an impressive start to their mock exams, demonstrating maturity, strong support for their friends and determination. They have worked incredibly hard over Christmas and are in a strong place to succeed. We know it can be a stressful period, but all the pupils are using this as an opportunity to support each other and prepare for the Summer. We are confident that their efforts will pay off. Keep up the good work Year 11 and 13 and make sure you have some downtime this weekend! I am sure you will all join me in wishing them every success over the next week. At least the traditional English January weather is perfect for mock exams and plenty of revision!

Trips and Events

Looking ahead, the Spring Term is awash with trips supporting the curriculum and also those supporting the extra-curricular activities of school in our ‘Cranford Pathway’. Year 10 and 12 pupils enjoyed watching ‘Othello’ at the National Theatre on Wednesday evening, in a bleak retelling of Shakespeare’s epic tragedy. Kicking off one of the many musical delights this term, is the Rock and Pop Concert on the 24 January, closely followed by the Year 7 & 8 Informal Concert and the Year 9 Informal Concert. Full details can be found in the relevant year group notices below; we look forward to seeing you there!

PTA AGM

Finally, please make a note of the PTA AGM next Thursday 12 January from 6:00pm. All parents are more than welcome to attend. It is a brilliant way of getting to know parents in other year groups and your support in any capacity is very much appreciated.

Have a good weekend!

Dr James Raymond

Headmaster