Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week was marked in school with a number of assemblies and activities. The children have learned about various aspects of mental health, including the importance of getting a good night’s sleep, eating sensibly, connecting with others and exercising. Well done to our School Council reps who helped to run the hot chocolate sales over morning break. These proved very popular and helped to raise funds for the Place2Be children’s mental health charity.
Tuesday’s Wellbeing Walk and Talk gave the Upper Prep children an opportunity to stretch their legs and chat to one another over lunchtime. Lower Prep were very active during their Boogie Dance session. It looked as though Miss Gallop was having just as much fun as the children! Everyone has contributed to our incredible Well-BEE-ing installation which is on display by our main office. A massive thank you to Mr McGhee and Mr Overton for all of their efforts, along with Mrs Tindale and Mrs Carpenter in coordinating this week’s programme of events.
Today, approximately 110 boys took part in our Offer Holder Afternoon. Internal and external candidates looking at places in our Senior School participated in a variety of teambuilding activities and worked to build a greater sense of community. My thanks to those involved with hosting this wonderful experience for the boys.
Participating in sport at any level is a great way to boost mental health. Following our dominant success in the Murray Cup, I wish the best of luck to all of our teams involved in this weekend’s Dunckley Shield.
Mr Heaver
Celebrating Children’s Mental Health Week: A Whole School Well-Bee-ing Initiative
During this year’s Children’s Mental Health Week, our entire school community – from Nursery to Year 11, including staff, came together in a creative and meaningful way to highlight the importance of mental wellbeing.
As part of the initiative, every pupil and member of staff were encouraged to take part in a collaborative activity, colouring in a bee to represent themselves, symbolise unity, resilience, and positive mental health. Every bee, no matter how small, plays a vital part in the hive. It is a reminder that everyone has something valuable to offer. The bee was chosen as a representation of teamwork, perseverance, and the importance of looking after one another; values that resonate deeply within our school values.
This initiative not only encouraged creativity but also provided an opportunity for reflection, mindfulness, and discussions about mental health in a supportive environment. By engaging in this shared activity, we aimed to reinforce the message that mental well-being is something we should nurture together, just as bees thrive as a collective.
The completed bee hive will be displayed within the school, creating a powerful visual reminder that we are all part of a supportive and caring community. We are incredibly proud of the enthusiasm and engagement shown by our pupils and staff, and we hope this initiative sparks further conversations about mental health
Celebrating Children’s Mental Health Week: A Whole School Well-Bee-ing Initiative
A huge thank you to our fantastic Design and Technology department for their hard work in bringing the bee installation to life. Their creativity and dedication have transformed our collective effort into a stunning display that truly captures the spirit of Children’s Mental Health Week. Thank you to everyone who took part – we genuinely bee-lieve that small actions like these can make a big difference!
At the heart of the installation stands a beautiful wooden flower centrepiece, a symbol of our school’s values. Each leaf is etched with one of our core values – Intellect, Character, Compassion and of course Community –while at its centre, hidden in plain sight, is the word Faith. As a Catholic school, this subtle yet powerful detail holds deep meaning, a quiet reminder of the foundation that unites the Cranmore community.
Mr McGhee and Mrs Tindale
Well done to all our school council members in the Lower and Upper Prep who gave up their break time to help serve hot chocolate. Everyone enjoyed their
hot chocolate (with plenty of whipped cream!).
School Council Hot Chocolate Sale
Science Stars – Year 6 Science Ambassadors
In our assembly on Friday we were delighted to announce the award of a new Ambassador role amongst our Year 6 pupils, our Science Stars.
Congratulations to the pupils below on setting excellent examples for their peers in Science lessons, fostering enthusiasm for learning in all areas of the Science curriculum and, in many cases, demonstrating problemsolving skills and a love for engineering whilst attending Science Club.
Congratulations boys! Thank you for continuing to promote Science at Cranmore!
Tristan G
Elliot W
James H
Arthur J
Ben Du T
Cameron H-A
Arthur W
James G
Henry B
Adam di P
William C
Dr Verny-White, Head of Upper Prep Science
Year 6 Maths Mentors
Our Year 6 Maths Mentors have been doing a great job championing the subject and supporting other mathematicians.
Year 5 pupils have been reinforcing their French learning by playing games at French Club. This week we played Lotto!
French Club News
Year 2 News
Year 2 enjoyed our assembly all about "Know Yourself Grow Yourself! " to launch our special Children's Mental Health Week! We continued learning more about ourselves in our classes. We talked about the apple tree to which the whole of the Lower Prep has worked together to create.
2JC focussed on the branches representing their hopes and dreams and 2NS focussed on the leaves representing all the people that are special and important to them. The rest of the Lower Prep focussed on the roots, grass, trunk, apples and clouds. We look forward to seeing the tree grow as we grow!
Year 1 pupils had a fantastic time cooking popcorn over an open fire, digging, exploring the mud kitchen, and searching for wiggly worms.
Despite the chilly weather, warm popcorn and hot chocolate kept us cosy and cheerful!
Mrs Carpenter and Mrs Stefano
Forest School Fun in Year 1
Mrs Bowen
Year 2 Forest School
Year 2 loved working as a team this week at Forest School. They were asked to make three teams and choose a job to do to help Ellie with looking after our wonderful Forest School. They chose:
• Raking leaves
• Weeding in the polytunnel
• Moving bark chippings to certain areas of Forest School using the spades and wheel barrows
This Week’s House Cup Winners
Congratulations to Radford House in the Lower Prep and Bowen House in the Upper Prep for gaining the highest number of merits this week!
This week our topic book has been ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt.’ The children enjoyed a big art session depicting the story – it was great to see them working as a team to produce their artwork. For Children’s Mental Health Week, the children had ‘snack and a chat,’ enjoying a lovely hot chocolate and talking about their feelings. In the Maths session the children used the peg boards to design their own patterns to consolidate their learning. The children enjoyed painting something of their own choice whilst listening to some relaxing classical music.
Ms Luke, Director of Nursery
The Murray Cup Win!
Last Saturday, The Murray Cup took place on The Henderson Fields. The Cup is an annual rugby event between Cranmore and Rokeby which has been running for 9 years. Teams compete for points across age groups U9s to U13s to decide the overall winners. Throughout the morning, there were some very close matches and excellent rugby on display. After all 8 matches were completed, the overall score was 8 - 0 to Cranmore. Well done to every player involved.
Also this week, the U9s had some great matches against RGS Prep and Milbourne Lodge, plus our U11s had a clean sweep against Danes Hill.
This Saturday is the continuation of the Dunckley Shield. We wish the U11 and U10 teams the very best of luck for these rugby matches.
Dunckley Shield
This is an annual rugby competition between Cranmore and Donhead school that has been taking place for over 25 years. Both schools have won the prestigious shield a similar number of times. Matches take place between the two schools across year groups 4 to 6, with a points system to determine the overall winners.
A Message from our Chaplaincy Team
This Week
The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, when we remember Mary and Joseph bringing the newborn Jesus to the Temple, bring to a close the season of Christmastide.
We remember the great words of the prophet Simeon. He had spent a whole lifetime faithfully in the Temple, waiting for the day when the Messiah would be revealed. Finally, in his old age, he set eyes on Jesus and exclaimed, in the prayer that we now know as the Nunc Dimittis, that his eyes had now seen the salvation of the world, the light to enlighten all peoples.
Artists had often reflected this moment with a clear depiction of light emanating from the Christ Child, reflected in the face of Simeon. The example here by Gelder shows Simeon’s thankful, grace-filled face now radiant with that light.
The artist Holman Hunt extends this idea with his famous ‘The Light of the World’ - an image that many will have seen in St Paul’s Cathedral. It shows Christ, now an adult, bringing that light, the light of joy, hope, peace and love to us. It depicts a moment when Christ knocks on the door of our hearts. Of course, the deliberate omission is a door handle. God’s invitation is always there. There is nothing that we can do to ever stop that invitation being offered. But it will only be fully revealed if we respond by opening the door.
Will you open that door?
Mon 14th - Thurs 17th April
The course is suitable for players from Grade 1 up to Grade 6 and is open to children from Year 4 to Year 9.
The programme will include:
String Orchestra
Swing/Jazz Band
Full Orchestra Rehearsals
Sectional Rehearsals
General Musicianship
Recreational Time
Further details can be obtained from: Mrs Caroline Yalden, Director of Music (c.yalden@st-teresas.com)
Main Locally Sourced Oven Baked Pork Sausages with Onion Gravy
Vegetarian
Sides
Additional
Vegan Sausages with Onion Gravy
Spaghetti Bolognaise
Quorn Mince Bolognaise
Chargrilled Chicken Breast with Stuffing and Gravy Pepperoni Pizza
Leek and Potato
Bake with Crunchy a Top
Mashed Potatoes
Panache of Mixed Vegetables
Jacket Potato & Baked Beans
Freshly Baked Bread
Salad bar
Garlic Bread
Green Beans
Pasta with Tomato & Basil Sauce
Freshly Baked Bread
Salad bar
Herb Roasted New Potatoes
Cauliflower Cheese
Jacket Potato & Baked Beans
Freshly Baked Bread
Salad bar
Margherita Pizza
Freshly Battered
Fish or Fish
Cake with Ketchup and Tartare Sauce
Homemade Bean Burger
Potato Wedges
Corn on the Cob Cesar Salad
Pasta with Tomato & Basil Sauce
Freshly Baked Bread
Salad bar
Chunky Chips
Garden Peas
Jacket Potato & Baked Beans
Freshly Baked
Bread
Salad bar
Dessert
Rice Pudding with Fruit toppings
Chocolate Rice
Crispy Square
Apple and Pear
Crumble with Custard
Items in Italic - Sourced from F Conisbee’s, our local butcher
