Dear Parents and families
Before I lose myself in the contents of the journal, please remember the Cransley Community Fireworks Night tomorrow beginning at 6pm. Buy tickets, bring card and cash, wear strong shoes… and those of you blessed with a number of cars in the garage, choose the one that isn’t going to get stuck in the field. My thanks in advance to the refreshed and rebranded Cransley Community for their efforts. This year look like it will be better than any other.
Those of you who expect a quiet, gentle fireworks display will be disappointed. Please be prepared with ear defenders. Fireworks are loud and the display team we hire always try to out-do themselves with each new event. The display should begin around 7.15pm depending on arrival of guests.
And a final warning please: you are responsible for the actions and whereabouts of your children. My team and the Community volunteers have dedicated jobs, and none of them are ‘Child control’. If in doubt, put them in the tennis courts and throw food in regularly. They will be quite happy.
ISI Inspection
I was delighted to have the call from ISI Head Office on the last week before a mid term break, so as to enjoy the inspection of the school before the long holiday, when my colleagues could rest and recuperate.
We were ready and well-prepared, with excellent, established and compliant practice, and the process was therefore straight-forward, pleasingly intense and very positive. (I am forbidden to share any more details until the report is published next week. ISI inspection reports are, these days, remarkably bland pieces of script, intentionally designed to avoid qualitative language and the provision of marketing fodder. If you want proof of this, please read the ISI report for Eton College amongst others and compare it with ours next week.). My thanks to those who gave feedback through the parent survey. I am only permitted to view the high level statistical data from parents, pupils and staff - all of which was very pleasing indeed, and not the comments. So if you gave a particular message with the hope I would see and act upon it, I couldn’t and can’t. You will have to send it again to me directly.
The Cransley Canopy
The wonderfully hectic term also saw the presentation of our magnificent new tentipi, 'The Cransley Canopy', which has now taken pride and place on our Junior playground (and which stood heroically firm against last week’s gales) and celebrated its opening with a delightful autumnal afternoon hosted with great flair by Chef and our industrious administrative team, with music, food and refreshments. It is deeply satisfying to conceive an idea and see it eventually in reality. If you have not had the chance to see the Canopy (or if you were there and want to know that your hair looked great) we have published some aerial footage (courtesy of Beehive Tipis) below and on the school website and Annie Boyne’s lovely photography awaits your gaze on this time-limited private link.
These Canopy events will be regularly planned throughout the year, and we are keenly looking to purchase a mobile catering unit to help with our service of refreshments… Coffee before work maybe? Seasonal mulled wine before Christmas?
Harvest
If that wasn’t enough, the Junior School Harvest Festival, held on the final day before half term after a busy inspection week, was an absolute triumph—quite possibly our finest yet. The Canopy was a perfect place to host a cosy gathering of Junior parents, who assembled after hours of heroic farm labour preparing our farm for the winter months, for well-deserved seasonal refreshments.
[To our Junior parents, I must at this point offer my most heartfelt and humbled apologies for a dreadful spectacle of executive soup-stepping! In a moment of blissfully-unearned appetite and complete ignorance, I sauntered forward straight to the servers for pumpkin soup before a queue had even been allowed to form, entirely oblivious to the noble brigade of hard-working, weary parents volunteers patiently waiting, like orphans in a Victorian workhouse, staring hungrily at the steaming cauldron. I shall be forever humbled by the stony glare of one certain Year 1 mother (you know who you are!) that pierced my very soul as I quietly wiped luminous pumpkin soup from my whiskers!]
I hope everyone looks back with great joy at the snapshots of ruddy cheeks, innocent toil, and wonderful community spirit that made the day so very special.
ISA Awards 2026
On a note of great pride, our Junior School colleagues, alongside the indefatigable Mr. Morris, have earned a nomination for ‘Junior School of the Year 2026’ by the Independent Schools Association for their remarkable outdoor initiatives across our grounds and commitment to true experiential learning. The Awards Night is on the 18th November down at the ISA Autumn Leaders’ Conference in Kenilworth. I see that we are up against two other finalists: The Grange Junior School and Norfolk House School, London, to whom I send my congratulations. It goes to show the high quality of Independent education near Northwich.
Estate work
The brief pause of half term afforded us the perfect moment to fortify the Belmont Estate against the British winter. We have applied fresh paint to the 'green buildings' near the Juniors, smoothed our car park surface, completed more internal work in the Hall, installed more playground equipment, and are nearly completion of the splendid new ‘Disco lavs’ near the Gymnasium (long story). You may not see much of the work we are doing, but it is vital work to maintain such a sensitive Estate such as ours.
The Season Ahead
Please mark your diaries for our upcoming festivities! All events are regularly updated on our live calendar below (click 'Month' in the top right corner and choose ‘Schedule’ for an easier view.):