18 September 2020

Walking around the school site in the sunshine this morning, it has been a real joy to stop and chat to pupils about their week in school. It is a real privilege to hear their perspectives on the first days of the new school year. This is always one of most exciting and enjoyable times of the academic year, as we enjoy the late summer sunshine and look forward together to the opportunities ahead of us this school year!

There has been so much wonderful learning going on this week around school this week. Year 1 have been having fun with phonics, deciphering alien words from real words whilst Year 4 have been making Egyptian death masks as part of their history topic!

Year 7 have made the most of the sunshine in PE with an exciting two week block of Cricket, enjoying working on their bowling and batting technique in our new nets. As anyone who know me will attest, Cricket season is always a highlight and I await the arrival of our inter-form Cricket competition with anticipation next week!

The music department have had a particularly exciting week enjoying the first remote music lessons with the peripatetic teachers which has proved extremely successful. It has been wonderful to see and hear the department coming alive with the sound of singing and playing!

Senior School pupils have enjoyed a taste of a variety of musical styles, from John Cage to Bob Marley through to Louis Armstrong and the more classical composers Year 11 have been learning about such as Aaron Copland, Benjamin Britten and John Taverner. We must congratulate Year 10 on a superb start to their Music GCSE course and we are also thrilled to be accompanying our Year 12 students as they embark on their Music A level.

Our Junior Music pupils have been no less busy. Reception have been getting to grips with percussion instruments and Year 1 have been working on musical storytelling! One of my favourite pieces of music is Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Year 4 have really enjoyed learning about and understanding the reason Prokofiev chose each instrument to represent the various characters!

As existing parents will know, music features very strongly on the Cranford curriculum and we have some extremely accomplished musicians in both Junior and Senior School. In addition to curriculum music, there is an abundance of musical extra-curricular activities for pupils to get involved in. I have personally missed the opportunities to show-case the musical talent of our pupils, due to the restrictions imposed by Covid, so am delighted to be able to share a very special musical interlude with you all to welcome in the weekend. Please don't miss this unique performance by some of our senior pupils. I think you will agree it is truly magical!

Another highlight of my week at school has been interviewing pupils for positions of responsibility. Over the course of the last few days I have enjoyed meeting with students across Year 11 and Sixth Form who have applied for the role of Head of School or Senior Prefect. As ever, I was struck both by their eloquence in articulately expressing their thoughts and by the strong set of values that underpinned their views on school life! The interview process was a wonderful reflection of the everyday leadership we have already seen this term from students across Y11 and Y12 in acting as role models for the school in a time of change!

Each candidate expressed their strengths and vision for the school with great conviction, which made the decision process incredibly tough. We are however delighted to introduce the Head of School Team. In Sixth Form, Katie will be supported by Frankie and Daisy, with Lily as Senior Prefect. In Year 11, Charlotte will be supported by Natalya and Milly, with Meg as Senior Prefect. We have also assigned other roles to our talented team of Sixth Form students and Year 11 pupils and congratulate them all on their achievements. We are confident they are going to be wonderful ambassadors for the whole school community.

We look forward to sharing news about our Junior School pupil leadership team next week!

Have a lovely weekend.

Best wishes

James Raymond

Headmaster