The Cranleigh School Newsletter Issue No 35
Cranleigh School, Cranleigh, Surrey GU6 8QQ Tel: 01483 273666
Michaelmas 2009
Head s Up GOING FOURTH Dear Parents,
With the inception of the Cranleigh School website to complement our annual The Cranleighan magazine, the old-format Cranleigh Matters had run its course. As such, we are launching a new-format Cranleigh Matters, which is intended to provide both a more visual overview of the term and a more behind-the-scenes dip into Cranleigh life, with corresponding features and news about which you would not usually hear. Consecutively, with such an up-to-date website, where news stories (over 70 this term) are uploaded on a weekly basis and sports results are posted on the Sports Desk within 24 hours of each match, it is felt that a long-winded roundup from me each term rather pales in comparison! As such, we have incorporated my letter into Cranleigh Matters, and I would urge you again to refer to the website to catch up on all that has happened this term. Suffice for me to say that it has been a term that has encompassed much of which both pupils and staff can be very proud from the first week, when we returned to our best-ever A-Level results, to this last week of encouraging Mock results, complemented in between by the outstanding array of music, drama, art and sporting achievements that we have witnessed from so many Cranleigh pupils at both school level and higher. The tremendous School Play, Dr Faustus, preceded by the South House plays; the Helen Wareham Music Competitions; our success in external academic competitions; the House Performance; the recent Illumina, and of course the myriad sports matches, events and representative honours gained: they are all there, along with many more, in great detail. Take a look, and you will see that this will be a wellearned Christmas break indeed! I very much hope you enjoy what this Cranleigh Matters has to offer and continue to enjoy everything we communicate through the website and The Cranleighan as well and hope you find that, between them, you feel very much in touch with Cranleigh life. Have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy and Prosperous New Year.
Guy Waller
Each year Cranleigh sees 120 new arrivals into the Fourth Form. What s it like moving up into a Senior School? We take a look at what their first term has held for them, straight from the horses mouths The leap from prep school to senior school is huge. You go from being the top of the heap to the bottom. You go from knowing everything there is to know the shortcuts to your lessons after break , the taps that go from freezing to boiling in two seconds , the locker in the changing rooms that you could only get into by crawling underneath it (?!) to not being able to find the front door of your House, let alone the Dining Hall for food, or the right class for your lessons ( although that was fun in its own way ). You go from a sea of familiar faces to trying to find a friendly face in the sea and, in most cases, from going home at the end of each day to getting used to boarding very strange at first, but now brilliant .
The spectrum of emotions includes nervewracking , worrying , exciting you feel much more independent and, of course, sad at leaving your old friends . Yet we ve survived our first term, and loved every minute of it (well, almost every minute getting up so early is hard work !). There was the adrenaline and pride of the House Performance right at the beginning, with us having to prepare in just three weeks to perform a fully choreographed dance in front of 300 pupils all rooting passionately (and very vocally) for their own House ( scary, but amazing once you did it you wanted to do it again and again ). Not long after, there was the anticipation (or even dread ) of the cross-country, with all our House s eyes on us as our thighs burned, the stitches got worse and our lungs refused to breathe any more and the exhilaration ( after the exhaustion wore off ) of finishing! And in between there was the getting to know our way around,
and, finally, working out a new favourite short cut that means we can get an extra piece of toast in during Break; the getting to know new teachers and getting into work: Design and Art are awesome really fun projects! ; Maths is difficult, but it s great when it finally clicks ; Being able to try out Spanish and German, and then choosing it means you actually get to do a language you really enjoy ; Receiving credits and commendations makes you feel really proud . And then of course there was the real fun of getting into new sports teams, and getting to know new friends, and gradually being able to recognise not only our own year, but the year above and eventually the year above them. And slowly came the realisation that this really does feel like home , and we re now well and truly part of the crowd . We re part of the School, part of the House ( a core part of Cranleigh life ), part of the group of friends we gather with at Gatley s most nights, and part of our dorm, with its great banter , in jokes and friendship and smelly games kits pushed inside the cupboards! It wasn t always easy, but it has been an amazing experience and prep school now feels an absolute lifetime away! Roll on next year, when we can watch the new Fourth Form find their feet, and show them around ; be in the audience rather than on the stage for the House Performance and take some priority on the pool table when we want to use it! Compiled from questionnaires completed by a number of Fourth Formers
Head
For full details of all School and House news, please visit the website at www.cranleigh.org/community