29 April 2022

A warm welcome back to the Summer Term! I hope you all had a lovely Easter break. We have all enjoyed seeing the pupils back on site ready for another busy term of work, residentials, shows, sports days, tea concerts and not forgetting the public examinations that are due to start next month. I know that our Year 11 and Year 13 pupils are working incredibly hard and approaching the exam season with exceptional maturity; they should be absolutely proud of this approach, which will serve them very well throughout the examinations.

Over the holidays, work commenced on the new DT suite, which will be ready for September. We are extremely excited about this addition to our already fabulous school facilities and the opportunities it provides pupils, adding another dimension to our broad and exciting curriculum. We have already appointed a new member of staff who will be joining us in September, and she is currently planning an exciting programme of work for our pupils. We look forward to sharing updates as the build progresses.

Before Easter, parents may remember that Mrs Lanyon undertook an extraordinary challenge, when she took on the Marathon des Sables at the end of March. Mrs Lanyon completed the 250km of Sahara Desert sand, jebels, wadis, sandstorms, snakes and camel spiders to be one of the 16,000 finishers of the Marathon des Sables since its inception 36 years ago. Suffering blisters from day one, it was not an easy task, but the messages of encouragement that Mrs Lanyon received from many of you kept her spirits up and she was determined to rise above adversity and get the job done. In response to a few questions; yes, it was hot and no, she didn't build any sandcastles in the dunes (because the sand is too dry, they just kept falling down). Mrs Lanyon raised an impressive £10,000 for ‘Hope for Children’ and I am sure you will join me in congratulating her for her bravery, resilience, determination, and some might say slight madness!

On Wednesday, six teams travelled to Cokethorpe, and three other teams played at Cranford in our first cricket competition of the season. Our Year 3 and 4 pupils demonstrated some exceptional core skills and a robust work rate to match. The Year 5 and 6 mixed teams played on the brand new flicx wickets, displaying powerful running and striking performances. The Year 6 boys enjoyed a highly competitive hardball fixture against a strong Cokethorpe side, who choosing to bat first, made 92 runs in their 20 overs. With outstanding fielding from the whole team, backed up by huge amounts of team encouragement, Cranford batting second made 103 in their allotted overs, seeing an exciting finish to their first game of the season. We look forward to lots more cricket over the term!

Today we have enjoyed celebrating Founders Day, with a special assembly celebrating the day the school first opened its doors for one pupil, six year old Billy Higgs. This annual celebration is designed to give thanks to the history of Cranford, whilst commemorating what it is to be part of such a unique school community. Thank you to all the families who helped us mark this occasion, by bringing in a single flower. Although each flower is truly beautiful on its own, the visual impact when they were bunched together was incredible. In the same way that each pupil at Cranford brings something entirely unique to school, it is all our pupils collectively that make Cranford what it is and somewhere incredibly special to be.

Have a lovely bank holiday weekend!

Dr James Raymond

Headmaster