Summer 2025: A final thought...

Thank you for your lovely messages and gifts, emails, cards and conversations about your thoughts and experiences over recent weeks, and for your gratitude and appreciation for our School.  I send you mine in return.

You may read this little message from me and resonate with it tenderly, or you may dismiss it coldly as my own one-sided private therapy session and sneer about my imminent breakdown on WhatsApp: do with it what you wish.  However, I ask you take a brief moment to stop, cease, be still and see yourselves and those around you.

I have watched and felt, today in particular, how the emotional, physical and cognitive intensity of the last weeks of term can be overwhelming for many of our children, and I am going to assert with some assurance that us adults are the same - whether we be parents or school staff or, of course, both.

We feel deeply when relationships between us and children and families end after periods of growth and development in our care - time in which we have poured our hearts, minds and souls.

We feel deeply when long-standing, much-loved colleagues end their service to the School

…when we have organised and enjoyed and experienced the major social events and occasions which add such a special sparkle to the end of the term, yet demand so much of so few;

…when we suddenly see yet another year pass, and realise the ongoing, incessant passage of time;

…or simply, when we are exhausted, having given our all.

Maybe it is the thought of the long summer break. 

Maybe the longing for a forthcoming holiday, but the pure stress of getting it started.

Maybe we suddenly have our own children - who we love dearly - but who we fear we’ll fail to occupy / entertain / keep well / appreciate / like / have like us [delete as appropriate].

However you are feeling - and however I am feeling, once I work it out - I wish you a sound, gentle, positive and generally uneventful period of rest and recovery.

Time to feel the sun, sense some silence and hold a hand.

Thank you for the year.

Yours, as ever

Richard

Headteacher

PS Please ignore the message above if you are off to Oasis in a champagne supernova, and couldn’t care less. You gotta roll with it, right?

Warm welcomes

Recent weeks have been happily dominated by recruiting processes - with both new colleagues and new pupils being considered for admission. This is such an exciting part of my job: to source, see and select new talent and bring in new opportunities, interests and ideas. I hope you will all find time to offer them a warm welcome in the new academic year.

School Staff

Welcome to Cransley.

If you haven’t already, please read the previous Journal entry acknowledging those colleagues who are leaving us this term - some after decades of service; some after only a few but meaningful and enjoyable years.

Mrs West’s teaching allocation will be taken up by the familiar and hugely talented Mrs Louise Chester, who, up until now, has focussed on teaching Textiles with great success, given the outcomes of recent ISA Art Festivals and the astonishing fabric display and mannequins from our GCSE pupils adoring the Hall.  (I have my eye on one piece in particular, but it is uncertain whether there is enough fabric to cover my ever growing torso.)

Mrs Caroline Kenny, a very capable and eager teacher of French and Spanish at Didsbury High School, and a teacher of English to those for whom English is a new language, will take up the teaching of languages left by Mrs Gilmour and Mrs Wagstaff as they retire.  Much travelled and very experienced, Mrs Kenny will take a part-time role alongside Ms Wilde in September, as we promote the valuable uptake of languages at GCSE.

[By the way, Mrs Gilmour has offered to host Spanish adult evening classes in the new academic year, therefore anyone seeking more linguistic confidence in the local language before their 10 day, all-inclusive to Torremolinos should get in touch now.]

Dr Boomer leaves us for new climes teaching all sciences at Weaverham in September, with her lessons of Biology and Geography being led by other colleagues next year.  A huge advocate of International Science week and campaigner for the uptake of Natural Science as a new GCSE, Dr Boomer will no doubt be thrilled that the DFE has confirmed plans to move ahead with the plan, and we will keep a close eye on the opportunity to introduce it here at Cransley.

Mrs Tanya Baylis will be joining our Junior School, fresh from maternity leave and a relocation, having taught for several years in Richmond upon Thames across the Primary age range.  Mrs Baylis brings a strong pedagogical expertise and range of additional extracurricular interests to the School for the benefit of all the Junior pupils.

Mr Hinton who has long-served Cransley in a variety of roles, has finally got his hands on the Utility belt of Estate management and is proving wonderfully capable and vigilant, supporting the safety of pupils and staff alike, and facilitating so many activities taking place in this vibrant setting.  Mr Hinton will be working alongside Mr Gresty, under the supervision and guidance of Operations Manager, Mrs Holt.

We have, this week, selected Mrs Nicola Underhill as the new School Secretary, replacing Mrs Matthews over the summer.  Mrs Underhill has had many years of secretarial experience notably at a local independent prep school, and joins Cransley with a great deal of knowledge of families, a deep fondness for children of all ages, of ISI inspections and compliance requirements and of the general complex operation and management of school.  I have no doubt that you will all quickly get to know her voice and her writing style, and her seemingly unwavering and unflappable patience, as your inevitable first point of contact at the School.

We also welcome a dynamic and capable learning support assistant, Miss Kate Charlesworth, to support pupils across the school, having previously enjoyed time as a full time Mum and then Support Assistant and Key worker at a local nursery (kids, not plants).  

Pupils

We are scheduled to start the next academic year with the same pupil roll as we have currently - around 255, with a continued push to fill places through the Autumn term, targeting 260 by Christmas; even 270 by the need of the year.  The warmth and welcome of our pupils and families is marvellous to see in action, and I thank all those who have reached out to uncertain families to assure them of the choice ahead.

Satisfyingly this year, we will begin with a full Reception EYFS class, for the first time in the School’s history, meeting another of our four-year-plan targets.

So that the date is saved in your diaries, and so we can use your delightful children to be tour guides and ambassadors, please note that the Autumn Open Day will take place on the 20th September 2025, 10pm to 1pm. 

Remember: tell only those friends and families that you like.

Have a lovely weekend.

Richard Pollock

Headteacher

Fond farewells to familiar faces

I like my colleagues across the School very much. It would be rather awful to work with people I didn’t like.

Each is a true expert in their own field, and, whether they be teaching, pastoral, administrative and operational, all are integral to the care and individual needs of our pupils.

It is hence sad to say goodbye to any colleague who chooses to stop working in our School, but, invariably, they do for the right reasons. I am pleased that many will not entirely leave.

We therefore say a fond farewell at the end of the year to some whose service to the School and its pupils has extended over decades* and some who have integrated themselves so easily into the operation of the School, that one is surprised to find that they have only been here for a short while.

*The hairstyles may have changed, but their hearts and minds, each committed to the successes of our children, have not!

Mrs West in 1996

Mrs Jill West has taught fine art at Cransley for 40 years. Her gentle creativity and care-filled crafting of the finest and most delicate of skills has enabled children to create extraordinary images filled with self-expression, form and visualisation. I often stand in awe of our pupils’ work, and it is one of my greatest pleasures to stop and stand to see the artwork on display and understand the journey taken to reach that final piece, usually outlined in exquisite sketchbooks. Her legacy will live on the walls and mantlepieces of all of our homes as parents.

Mrs West will continue to see our Year 10s through to their GCSEs and support Mrs Chester as she takes over the teaching duties for both Textiles and Fine Art next year.

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Mrs Gilmour in 2000

Mrs Ros Gilmour was described by a colleague recently as one of the funniest people you could ever meet, and I cannot agree more. There is arguably no finer complement, and she is adored by all. Professionally Mrs G has taught languages for over 25 years, resulting in most Cransley linguists communicating abroad with curiously Celtic accents, and more recently coordinating the provision for pupils with particular needs for whom she was a champion.

Mrs Gilmour will continue to work in the administration and delivery of our GCSEs as an Access Arrangements coordinator and exam invigilator.

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Mrs Wagstaff in 2006

Mrs Jane Wagstaff has taught French and Spanish for 20 years and is fondly thought of by staff and pupils alike. She has tirelessly and successfuly promoted the learning of languages at Cransley at a time when the subject is fading in many schools. As an experienced teacher and caring form tutor and friend to many colleagues, she will be much missed.

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Dr Paula Boomer has been teaching Biology and Geography over the last three years and will be moving to Weaverham High School to teach all of the Science subjects. A keen advocate of all matters scientific, and promoter of International Science Week, Dr Boomer has been a brilliant part of our small but mighty science department, and will be much missed for her innvation and passion for the subject.

You may have noticed that Mr Lee Colclough has not been around the Estate for a couple of months, and certainly his warm character, incredible knowledge of many things and willingness it share it with anyone, has been much missed. We wish him every success in his new position, working closer to home.

We have had the wonderful privilege of working alongside the brilliant Mrs Charlotte Lane teaching Year 3 for this year only - she will be returning back to Switzerland, as planned, and we wish her and her family every fortune with the relocation ahead. I wouldn’t hesistate in employing Mrs Lane permanently, if I were to have the chance.

And finally, after only three years, Mrs Kathy Matthews, our School Secretary will be taking the opportunity to travel the world extensively with her family, with some eviable trips ahead. I have been instructed by her to point out that she is NOT retiring. Kathy has been the first point of call for so many of you each day, doing so with symapthy and efficiency, and has been integral in introducing new systems as well as maintaining those administrative duties within our well-run office. I know there is a reciprocated fondness between her, staff, parents and pupils alike.

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As fond as we are of our colleagues, and as brilliant they are in their roles, such departures bring opportunities to recruit or develop new talent, and we have done just that. This will be the subject of a future Journal entry, once all safer recruitment procedures have been completed. Suffice to say, I am delighted with the range and talents of candidates making applications.

Cransley School clearly is a very attractive place to work, and I am keen to maintain that at all costs.

Richard Pollock

Headteacher