15 November 2019

Even for a school where we pride ourselves on never having a dull moment, the past week has delivered highlights galore!

Saturday’s Junior Discovery Day proved a superb event, with our Explorers theme seeing the school invaded by Vikings (complete with long boat) and playing host to endless exciting activities, including a hot air balloon, a caving simulator, a search and rescue team and two camels (one more convincing than the other!) This annual event is not just a superb way to engage and inspire our pupils but also a great chance to welcome the local community into school. As well as families from all over Oxfordshire visiting us on Saturday, pupils from local primary schools joining us across Explorers Week, making this just one of the ways that we seek to collaborate with local schools. The Independent School Council is very clear that partnerships like these are mutually beneficial and we are rightly proud of the impact this work can have and our part in it.

The week also brought a further important milestone in the school calendar as our Year 9 families joined us for their first discussions about their GCSE options. The enthusiasm of this year group for their studies and their excitement about the pathways ahead of them was really infectious, as was that of our teachers as they outlined the great range of choices ahead. I look forward to supporting them through the decision process and to seeing what they all end up choosing!

In addition, we welcomed existing and external pupils to our Year 7 Assessment and Scholarship day yesterday. With over 110 applicants, Cranford House has never been in such strong demand. This is a wonderful endorsement of everything we are striving to achieve day to day in school. I hope you feel as proud as I do to be part of the community surrounding our fantastic school.

With best wishes

Dr J Raymond