9 February 2024
9 February 2024
Dear Parents
We have had a busy and successful half-term and I’m sure that all the children are now looking forward to a lovely break over the next week, hopefully accompanied by some wonderful Spring sunshine!
E-Safety Week
To coincide with Safer Internet Day (6 February), we marked E-Safety week this week for all sections of the school with the aim of raising awareness throughout the school community on how to use the internet more safely. As a school, we focus on the importance of e-Safety regularly through our PSHCE curriculum and in assemblies and Form Time and through our ICT lessons. However, over the course of this week, all our pupils were given age-specific workshops on what e-Safety means and how to keep themselves safe. We also hope that parents enjoyed and found useful the presentation by Kirsten McGarvey on Wednesday evening and we would like to remind you of the follow-up coffee morning in school on Wednesday 21 February from 8:50-9:30am. If you have any specific questions, please email them in advance to aclarance@cranfordschool.co.uk. We look forward to seeing you!
Pre-School and Reception Open Classroom
Our youngest pupils were full of anticipation on Wednesday morning at the prospect of showing parents their classrooms and the work they have been doing recently. The children were so proud to be able to share their learning and they have been working incredibly hard, producing some beautiful pictures, letters and writing to talk about with mums and dads. We hope you enjoyed visiting as much as we know your children enjoyed you coming into school!
Model United Nations
Last weekend, an ambitious group of Year 10, 11 and 12 pupils headed to Oxford University to the beautiful St Anne’s College to take part as one of eight committees in the Model United Nations Conference. This is a brilliant opportunity for our pupils, developing their knowledge of international relations, learning to discuss high profile global issues and exchanging ideas with young people from around the world! It was an intense, fun few days, opening our pupils’ eyes to world issues and developing their public speaking skills. Well done to all who took part.
Sporting Action!
It has been a busy week for teams across the school. Our U13 boys had a brilliant day on Tuesday at the ISA Hockey Tournament. They were all impeccable ambassadors for Cranford, epitomising what it means to be part of a team. Their listening and communication skills were spot on through some highly pressurised matches and they demonstrated great ball control, strategic passing and defence sills throughout. Their commitment and hard work paid dividends, resulting in them finishing top of their group before competing in the Cup Competition. We are delighted to report they finished a very deserving 4th place nationally, out of 20 teams.
On Wednesday, our U11 girls enjoyed an epic local football tournament, featuring nearly 100 children from the area. The team played some brilliant football and the enthusiasm and sportsmanship on display was incredible. Through some tough games, the girls’ determination never waned, and they returned to school triumphantly sporting The Trophy for their efforts.
Meanwhile, as I write, we eagerly anticipate the outcome of our U15 Boys’ who are competing in their stage of the ISA Hockey tournament. Fingers crossed for a good result!
Car Parking Update
We continue to look for ways to improve the flow of traffic through the car park. To this end we will be restricting parking on Willow Court Lane. From Monday 19th February, no parking will be permitted on Willow Court Lane between 7:00am and 5:30pm Monday to Friday. School staff will no longer be parking along the road and double yellow lines will be in place to restrict parking during the school for all other members of the community. We kindly request that families are also respectful of this new parking restriction and do not park on Willow Court Lane. We hope that by restricting parking here and ensuring that Willow Court Lane is open to two-way traffic at all times, this will enable the staff in the car park to more effectively funnel families to the correct drop-off location and keep the car park flowing more quickly. The traffic is often generated as cars or coaches wait to get past the first car park entrance. This new system should allow staff to safely direct traffic and ensure a quick release of any congestion.
We have added additional staffing on Willow Court Lane to ensure that this runs smoothly. Thank you for your understanding as we make this change, which we hope will be a significant improvement for all members of the school and wider community.
We hope you have a lovely half-term break and look forward to the second half of the Spring Term commencing on Monday 19 February!
With best wishes
Dr James Raymond
Head