16 October 2020

At the end of an exceptionally busy half-term, I wanted to begin this newsletter by thanking the whole school community for making our first half-term of the academic year such a successful and positive experience. Each pupil and staff member has had to acclimatise to a number of changes in school as a result of the adaptations we have made due to Covid-19. The resilience of our pupils and staff has been truly wonderful to see and I am grateful to be part of such a happy, vibrant school community. I should also add thanks to you as parents, for all the messages of support we have received over the last six weeks.

I imagine pupils across all sections of the school will be ready for a well-deserved rest over the half-term break after an industrious week of teaching and learning. Suitably timed to coincide with the opposition of Mars, Year 1 have been busy designing aliens made of soft clay. The aliens I saw definitely looked as though they had come from outer-space, each possessing its own super-power! Meanwhile, Year 4 have been learning about the preservation of the body in Ancient Egypt and have made some fabulously elaborate Death Masks. I have it on good authority that they also enjoyed learning about all the rituals associated with the afterlife in Ancient Egypt and am sure they will delight in telling parents the gruesome facts.

On Wednesday, we ran our Sixth Form Taster and Assessment Day for our Year 11 pupils. This is a very important day for our Year 11 pupils as they begin to consider their options post GCSE. They participated in A-level taster lessons in subjects they may select to study in Sixth Form and also had a Question and Answer session from our current Sixth Form students. Having spoken to Year 11, I know they greatly appreciated this experience and were excited to learn about the independence and increased responsibility Sixth Form study at Cranford affords. They were equally excited to explore the Sixth Form Common room and enjoyed a pizza take-away for lunch!

With best wishes

Dr James Raymond