23 November 2019

I started the week by heading to London for a day of meeting with independent school heads that included an address by Professor Robert Winston.

He spoke eloquently about the importance of 'scientific literacy' and of embedding Science in a creative and cross-curricular manner to draw out the underlying links between Physics, Chemistry and Biology.

His speech resonated strongly with our school belief in the value of building cross-curricular links and in the development of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) across the curriculum. Just this week, opportunities to explore the practical application of Science beyond the curriculum have seen our Year 7s creating text books on Space, black holes and Galileo for Key Stage 2 pupils, whilst Junior Science Club have been constructing some very inventive floating structures and weight-bearing towers.

Creativity was also much in evidence this week at both performances of our Years 9-11 show, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. This was a wonderful production, which was ambitious in its complexity of script and storytelling and displaying a fine appreciation of the nuances of physical theatre which bring a performance to life. My thanks to the many families who joined us to applaud the cast and crew over the last two nights. The pupils have spent a great deal of time and energy in preparing the show and I am very proud of their achievements.

Congratulations are also due to our Senior XI First team who celebrated the end of the Hockey season with a definitive 11-0 win against St Joseph’s yesterday. This marked both a superb week of sporting victories, with our Year 8 A and C teams also beating Pangbourne and our 7As beating Headington, but also the last time our Year 11 players will represent the school. Very well done, everyone.

Finally, excitement is building across school for tomorrow’s Christmas Fair. A huge thank you to the PTA and the army of volunteers that I know is needed to make this event happen. The Fair marks the official start of Christmas at Cranford House and I look forward to seeing many of you there tomorrow afternoon.