6 March 2020

It was wonderful to see the spectacular array of costumes on display yesterday as we welcomed the Artful Dodger, Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland and many more fabulous characters to school for World Book Day.

We are very proud of the reading culture that exists across the school here at Cranford House and I love talking to pupils about the books that inspire and excite them. The power of a book to transport us to another time and place, to inform, entertain, move, challenge and engage us is a real joy and developing life-long readers remains one of our central goals. We have lots of fantastic photos from the day on our Flickr album and my congratulations go to our Senior Book Group who raised a splendid £176 today for Book Aid International, the World Book Day charity.

Despite the inclement conditions, we have still had plenty of sporting endeavours to celebrate, including Netball wins against Rye St Anthony and St Andrews and some great Cross Country performances. At the weekend, Junior runners braved a bright but cold morning’s racing at the Oxfordshire Primary County Championships, and a mid-week meet at the Oratory saw even the wettest, windiest and muddiest conditions leaving our courageous runners undaunted! Very well done to everyone who has represented the school this week and good luck to our teams heading to the Year 4 tournament at The Manor and to the Oxfordshire County Netball Tournament tomorrow.

Finally, we were pleased to welcome the Independent Schools Inspectorate yesterday as part of our planning and preparation for the changes we are making to the school. We are all very proud of the school so it is always a privilege to share our outstanding community with visitors. As ever, it gives me real pleasure to report that our pupils were superb ambassadors for Cranford House.

With best wishes
Dr James Raymond