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ACTIVITIES
COMBINED CADET FORCE
MAJOR DAN REED, CONTINGENT COMMANDER
At times during the COVID lockdown it seemed that the CCF was ‘the only show in town’, with most other activities and sports cancelled or restricted the CCF managed to carry on training to some extent. The contingent continues to grow from strength to strength with 136 cadets on parade, one of the largest contingents since it became voluntary and making it one of the largest co-curricular activities the school has to offer.
The year started well with all 136 on parade for the first session, the new recruits were given a lesson on basic drill by the Senior cadets and fitted out for their uniform by the Quartermaster and his team.
As the term progressed we were able to get out on school grounds and conduct a lot of the training in the fresh air to ensure that COVID was kept at bay. Our first major event was the drum head remembrance service on East field. As we could not conduct the remembrance parade in the village or conduct a service in the chapel this was a very poignant occasion with Reverend Lewis leading the service and honoured guest reading.
At the end of the Michaelmas term the new recruits earned the right to wear the cap badge of the The Princess of Wales’ Royal Regiment (PWRR) by ‘Passing off the square’ a well known military occasion that tests new recruits to ensure they have learnt the basic drill movements necessary to perform basic duties.
When we returned from ‘Lockdown 2’ we were still able to carry out some training but it was a little more restricted, over 60 cadets signed up to the paint-balling day (a change from our usual Field Day) and we had over 40 on Summer camp. Thank you to the Loveday team for allowing us to stay in the boarding house for the first week of the summer holidays as the camp was non-residential for the first time in its history. All who attended really enjoyed the activities on camp which ranged from an adventurous training day through stalking, survival, house clearance drills and an escape room.
ECO-GROUP
MR PHIL LEAMON, HEAD OF SUSTAINABILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
Despite the disruptions of Covid-19 in the first half of the year in particular, the second year of the Cranleigh Environmental Action Group (CEAG) saw the group go from strength to strength and build on the fantastic achievements of the year before.
We continued to influence the catering at Cranleigh with the continuation of Meat Free Monday and the sending of all food waste to the Dunsfold Biodigester. Huge thanks must go to Harrisons and the catering team for sticking with these initiatives through the difficulties of post-Covid-19 reopening and also for removing disposable plastic from the inevitable packaging that restrictions demanded, by using card and Vegware throughout.
Another huge development this year was the establishment of the Surrey Environmental Actions Schools (SEAS), lead by Mr Leamon, as Cranleigh started to look beyond itself for environmental initiatives and made connections with other Surrey schools. During the isolation of this period, we held incredibly positive and engaging Zoom meetings with pupils from St Catherine’s, Frensham Heights, Gordon’s School, Howard of Effingham and RGS Guildford. Students took it in turns to chair meetings and worked on shared projects such as lobbying MPs, producing newsletters, competitions and a shared assembly. In turn, SEAS became a constituent member of the UK Schools Sustainability Network (UKSSN) — a network of schools like ours — and our members were able to meet and engage with students from across the entire UK on sustainability issues and get involved in amazing initiatives. All this was a hugely transformative and rewarding experience and I am pleased to say that both SEAS and UKSSN are going from strength to strength in 2021 too, including a hugely exciting trip to COP26 in Glasgow.
Despite the pressure of two sets of exams, our amazing Upper Sixth committee, led by Oyinade Adegbite managed to put on the most ambitious CEAG event so far — Eco Week. Eco Week ran between the 10th and the 16th May 2021, and featured a jam-packed week of events across the School, engaging everyone with ideas of sustainability and the environment. On Monday the entire School watched and discussed 2040, an inspiring film about real life solutions to the climate crisis; on Tuesday, Rev. Lewis gave a passionate eco-chapel talk which included him stabbing a painting he had just made of the earth with a knife — almost certainly a first for chapel! The athlete and eco-campaigner Fiona Walker gave a wonderful talk about sustainable sanitary-wear to the girls’ houses and, all through the week, there were nature and mindfulness walks, power down events and ecoteaching sessions. Pupils also loved planting their own chilli seeds and I still get pupils coming up and telling me how their plants are doing! The highlight of this busy week, though, was undoubtedly the second annual Second-Hand Clothes Sale and resulting mufti-day. Up to 85% of the 206,456 tonnes of clothes
we throw away in the UK alone every year are sent to landfill or burned and Cranleighans loved playing a small part in dealing with this by getting involved in this fun and worthwhile event. This was the first real ‘open’ event since lockdown and we’d like to thank Mr Boddington for putting his faith in the team for making it work properly. The Sixth Form Eco Leaders did an amazing job running the event and a massive thank you must also go out to all the pupils who engaged so positively and sensibly with the additional restrictions. Overall, we made well over £1000 for various eco charities, including Surrey Wildlife Trust, the Horsham Based Born Free Foundation and, recently, we used some of the money left over to help get a young Nigerian Environmental Campaigner over to fulfill his invitation to represent his country at COP 26.
As COP 26 fast approaches, knowledge of, and engagement with, achieving a sustainable lifestyle where we all exist as responsible citizens before insatiable consumers, has never been more important or urgent for the future of our children; the CEAG would like to thank everyone who has made even a single, sustained positive action to make their life more sustainable, both within the Cranleigh community and beyond. The problems facing the world in terms of climate change are incredibly complex and can seem overwhelming but if everyone does their bit, no matter how insignificant it may seem, this will make the difference our world needs and our governments need to see.
OUTDOOR EDUCATION
DR SIMON YOUNG, HEAD OF OUTDOOR EDUCATION
Well – that was an odd year from an Outdoor Ed point of view. Obviously, all trips, expeditions and visits were off limits for much of the time and many hard decisions had to be made about what was safe or permissible. Nonetheless, we managed to carry on based at School within our bubbles and, as summer arrived, we were eventually able to get out-and-about a little more.
A curtailed Fourth Form Outdoor Ed Programme was able to take place on Tuesday afternoons towards the end of the Lent term and over the summer. Everyone was able to have a go at various navigation exercises, orienteering, climbing, archery, natural history, bush-craft, kayaking, team building and tents.
A new innovation was the Fourth Form Adventure with the last week of the Summer term seeing 145 pupils out and about, trying new activities and getting their post-exam cobwebs blown away. We were fortunate enough to be able to aoffer a huge range of exciting activities entirely “in house”, run by our own team of qualified instructors. A misty walk over Beachy Head and the Seven Sisters, kayaking at Loxwood, abseiling, orienteering, woodland art, survival skills, CCF and birdwatching were all on the extensive menu.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme was able to progress much as usual thanks to the “DofE with a Difference” modifications which allowed activities to carry on in a slightly different format. One bonus of lockdown was the more creative homebased activities we saw being logged and many pupils were able to gain an interim Certificate of Achievement for completing all sections of the award, save the expedition. Early on we made the decision that the expedition section was such a central and enriching part of the award that we would wait until “normal” trips were possible again, rather than organising pastiche ventures in the School grounds, utilising treadmills and rowing machines or doing local walks returning home each night. This meant effectively skipping a whole expedition season and it was the end of the Summer term before we were able to take the Bronzes out into the local Surrey Hills for their successful two-day mission. The Upper Sixth Golds, who had completed their training the previous year did a combined Practice and Assessed Expedition over six days in the Brecon Beacons National Park. The additional two days and associated miles certainly made for a tough time, though the weather was fortunately on their side. As I write, the Silvers are about to set out for the New Forest, again for a combined Practice and Assessed trip, and the Lower Sixth Golds are planning their visit to South Wales for the very end of the summer holidays.
By way of contrast, climbing on our bouldering wall has never been so busy, with year group bubbles enjoying time down at the OEC in both activity and sport slots. The House Bouldering Competition was won by Loveday / Rhodes, with the top score going to Will Squire. Unfortunately, we were not able to travel to any external competitions.
Kayaking has been limited to paddling onsite, using the School pool and a rather verdant Gatley’s Pond, much to the indignation of the resident geese. Archery has continued to be participated in enthusiastically.
Looking ahead, we are aiming to organise an expedition to the Scottish Highlands for Summer 2022 which should be open to all years. We also aim to get the Tom Avery Lectures up and running again when I kick things off with an account of climbing all of Britain’s 3000’ mountains.
Fingers crossed for a less restrictive and more adventurous year.
