Cranbrook Education Campus News

23rd February 2024

Cranbrook Education Campus News 23rd February 2024

Primary Update - 23rd May 2025

Dear CEC Families
Weekly Update 23/05/2025

Class Structure Updates for Academic Year 2025/26

As we look ahead to the 2025/26 academic year, we are making some thoughtful updates to class structures across the school to ensure we continue to provide the best possible academic and pastoral support for every child.

In Reception and Year 2, there will be a reshuffle of pupils within the existing year group classes. This will allow us to create balanced, learning-focused environments where pupils are well-supported both socially and academically. Teacher input, friendship groups and positive learning partnerships will all be considered carefully in this process.

Year 1 and Year 3 classes will remain the same, although there may be some individual changes proposed, where needed, to best support specific academic or pastoral needs.

In Key Stage 2, our current Year 4 and 5 pupils will move into five mixed Year 5/6 classes. In the mornings, they will be grouped by year group into three Year 5 and three Year 6 classes for English and Maths. This additional group will be taught by an additional experienced CEC teacher, allowing for smaller group sizes, more targeted teaching and increased individual support. Afternoons will be spent in their mixed classes, following a shared, rolling foundation curriculum designed to ensure full coverage across both year groups.

Mixed-age groupings in Upper Key Stage 2, bring a number of benefits, including promoting equality across all classes, ensuring every child has access to high-quality teaching and learning. It also creates opportunities for new friendships to form and encourages positive peer relationships. Mixed-age groupings support peer learning and leadership, helping children to grow both academically and socially.

One CEC Awards Evening – 12th June

The nominations are in!

Pupils and staff who have been shortlisted for a One CEC Award will shortly receive an individual email invitation.


This special event celebrates those who have gone above and beyond in demonstrating the PERKS of being #Crantastic. If your child wasn’t nominated this year, encourage them to aim high—there’s always next year to earn a nomination by living our values every day.

Max from our Year 11 cohort will be running a safety helmet campaign next term. If you have any unused helmets at home that you wish to donate, please drop them into the main reception. At the end of the school year, anyone needing a helmet will be able to collect one.

‘Ready for Anything’ Lockdown Drill – Wednesday 4th June

4th June afternoon,

As part of our ongoing commitment to keeping our school community safe, we will be conducting a ‘Ready for Anything’ (lockdown) drill on the afternoon of Wednesday 4th June.

  • The lockdown alarm—a long, continuous sound—will sound for one minute. This is a distinct signal, separate from the fire alarm.

  • During the drill, pupils and staff will remain in their classrooms with doors locked. Any pupils out of class (e.g. in corridors or bathrooms) will be supported by senior leaders to move to a safe location.

  • At the end of the drill, senior staff will visit classrooms to confirm the all-clear.

Please take a moment to talk to your child about the purpose of this drill and what to expect. Thank you for your continued support in helping us maintain a safe and calm learning environment.

Football Medals.

Ted, Alfie, Henry, Jake and Peggy from Year 4 Rockbeare Rockets and Josh and Alfie from Y5 Cranbrook Spitfires did a cracking job this weekend earning themselves medals for their dedication and hard work. We are so proud of you all! Keep up the great work 💪🏻

Exeter Starlites Update

Some of our amazing girls in year 3,4 and 5 competed this weekend. Showing dedication and determination to their hobbies whilst also having a great time with their friends. We are super proud of all of our wonderful children involved and love the commitment they show!

Cranbrook Town FC

Some of our amazing year 5 and year 6 boys, from Cranbrook Town FC, had a great opportunity recently and were able to attend Exeter City on Saturday, 26th April to watch their last home game of the season!

The kids all had a great time and enjoyed watching Exeter beat Huddersfield 3-1 in an action packed last home game of the season!

Local building works

We are writing to inform you that essential improvement works will be taking place on Basin 2C that's adjacent to Crannaford Lane and the works will take part in the Cranbrook Country Park area. These works are part of our ongoing efforts to enhance the local environment and infrastructure for the benefit of the community.


The project is expected to take place on Monday, 9th June 2025 and take approximately 18 weeks to complete, with an anticipated end date in mid-October 2025, subject to weather and site conditions.


During this period, the footpaths running through the park and surrounding Basin 2C will be closed to ensure the safety of the public and the construction teams. This may affect the usual routes taken by pupils and parents walking to and from school and you will need to use alternative routes during this period. Below is an idea of an alternative route as well as the Site works boundary plan.


We understand that this may cause some inconvenience and appreciate your patience and cooperation while these important improvements are carried out. Our goal is to complete the works as efficiently and safely as possible, with minimal disruption to the community.



Thank you for your understanding.

The Big Brush Club

We are excited to let you know that our Pre-School and Reception classes will be taking part in the Big Brush Club, a supervised toothbrushing programme aimed at promoting good oral health habits among young children.

As part of this initiative, we kindly ask that you complete the online questionnaire linked below. This will help the programme organisers gather important baseline information and support us in implementing the programme effectively.

In addition, there is a survey link included within the Big Brush Club letter that we would also like you to complete. Your feedback will help shape how the programme is delivered and evaluated.

👉 Please click the link below to access the questionnaire and more information:
https://forms.office.com/e/1U4Sb09Y4S

Thank you for supporting this important initiative. Encouraging strong oral hygiene routines early in life can make a big difference to your child’s long-term health.

Year Group Updates

Preschool Update

We have reached the end of the first half of the Summer term and what a busy term it has been. This week the children have been learning about how to keep our teeth healthy by brushing them twice a day and playing a game matching good and bad foods with a healthy mouth or an unhealthy mouth. The children have loved watching the Hey Duggee episode ‘The Toothbrushing Badge’ to help them develop their teeth cleaning skills! In maths the children have been practising using positional language ‘forwards’ and ‘backwards’ when programming Beebots (little battery powered robots which look like bees!). During the activity the Beebots were placed on a paper map of the woods and the children had to program them to get to Grandma’s cottage before the Big Bad Wolf did! The children have loved using positional language in context whilst simultaneously telling their own versions of the Little Red Riding Hood story. The children have also been working on their fine motor skills by threading painted penne pasta onto pieces of string as well as rolling playdough into sausages and snipping them into pieces with scissors.

We now begin to look ahead to the final half term of the year and for a lot of the children what will be their final half term in Preschool before beginning ‘Big School’. We will be having a party in the playground to mark the end of a wonderful year to which all of the children and parents/carers will be invited to, more details to follow after the half term! We will also be having a big push on becoming independent when taking off and putting away their own jumpers into their bags, leaving toys at home and writing their names in preparation for Reception. We wish you all a restful half term break and we look forward to seeing you when school reopens on Tuesday 3rd June.

Reception Update

What a wonderful last week it has been in Reception! In our continuous provision, the children have had a fantastic time creating their own Formula 1 flags, designing medals and playing a fun game of tricky word match. In Maths, they’ve explored the concept of odd and even numbers, strengthening their number skills. During Drawing Club, the children watched an episode of Wacky Racers, then used their creativity to design their own evil drivers, cool cars, and unique characters. In themed learning, we’ve focused on keeping healthy and the children had a blast making their very own delicious, cool smoothies. It’s been a week full of creativity, learning and fun! We hope you all have a lovely, sunny half term!

Year One

Year 1 have had a lovely final week of term. In English, we have been writing and our own mixed up fairy tales after being inspired by The Big Bad Wolf who messed up Fairyland! In Maths, we have been exploring halves and quarters in both shape and number, very challenging learning but we have persevered brilliantly! In History, we continued our ‘Sporty Stars’ we learned all about Ellie Simmonds and about how the Paralympics began. We have also been completing some phonics quizzes in preparation for the Phonics Screening Check in June. We have worked incredibly hard this half term and the whole Year 1 team could not be more proud. Have a #Crantastic May half term!

Year Three Update

We can’t quite believe it, but Summer Term 1 has already come to an end—how time flies! It’s been a busy and exciting week in Year 3 as we’ve been putting the finishing touches on our preparations for our class assembly. The children have worked incredibly hard and we’re so proud of their efforts. Thank you for supporting them to learn their lines and coming to watch them.

In English, we’ve been captivated by the book How to Invent, which has taken us on a journey through the timelines of amazing inventions like the Rubik’s Cube and the Xbox. We’ve also enjoyed learning about the brilliant minds behind these creations.

In Maths, our focus has been on 2D and 3D shapes. The children have been exploring their properties and using mathematical language to describe them with increasing confidence.

We’ve been lucky to enjoy some lovely sunshine over the past few weeks, and we hope it continues into the half-term break. We look forward to welcoming everyone back for the final term of Year 3 on Tuesday 3rd June.

Have a restful and sunny half-term!

Year Four & Five Update

In Year 4 we have been introduced to Geometry this week learning more about angles including properties of acute, obtuse and right angles. We have been looking at how to understand the difference whilst using existing measurements to predict the size of missing measurements within a shape.


In Year 5 we have consolidated our learning including measurement for shapes whilst looking more at how perpendicular and parallel lines work. When we return after half term we shall be bringing this learning into identification or regular and irregular before moving on to 3D shapes. We hope you all have a wonderful half term, a restful break and come back Proud, Ready and Engaged for our final half term of the year!

Year Six Update

What a fantastic and busy week it’s been in Year 6!

There’s been a real sense of excitement in the air as we begin the rehearsal process for our Year 6 production. The children are eager to get started and are already showing great enthusiasm as they begin learning their lines. We’re all looking forward to seeing the show come to life over the coming weeks!

In History, we’ve launched our new topic: Twentieth Century Conflict. This week, we’ve explored which countries were in alliance during this time, the key events that led up to World War I, and the important role played by Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The class have shown real curiosity and thoughtful questioning as they dive into this complex and fascinating period of history.

In Maths, we’ve been focusing on missing angles and solving related problems. It’s been great to see the children applying their reasoning skills with such confidence and care. Our new writing topic is also under way and children have shown amazing engagement in creating an interview with their person of interest.

A big congratulations to our Year 6 football team, who came third place in their tournament on Monday! Their teamwork, determination and positive attitude made us all very proud. Well done, team!

Keep up the amazing work, Year 6

Community Notice Board

🎨🌈 Cranbrook Country Park Colour Run 2025 – Save the Date!

Get ready for the most colourful day of the year! The Cranbrook Country Park Colour Run returns on Saturday 5th July, hosted by Cranbrook Running Club in partnership with local schools and community groups.

👟 Whether you run, jog or stroll, this family-friendly event is all about fun, fitness, and coming together as a community.

📍 Where: Cranbrook Country Park
📅 When: Saturday 5th July 2025
🎟 Tickets:

💙 Discounted Tickets
For families eligible for Free School Meals or Pupil Premium:


Let’s make this year’s run the biggest and brightest yet—see you at the start line! 🏁

Secondary Transition

The Mental Health in School's team are running a parent workshop on Transitions to secondary school. It is free and for any parents that want to join.

📣Calling all businesses and education providers 📣

CEC are very excited to announce the date of our annual careers fair taking place on Thursday 23rd October 2025. We would love for you to join year 6 to year 11 in career conversations around transferable skills and routes to employment in your sector.

If you would like to have a stand at our fair please contact careers@cranbrook.education and we can discuss further details.

Dates for the Diary

Please take a moment to review the Key Dates and mark your calendars accordingly. This will help you stay informed and ensure you’re up-to-date with all the key activities such as Trips and PTA Events.

If you have any questions or need further details please email reception@cranbrook.education

SAVE THE DATE

Monday 2nd June is a Non Pupil day for Primary pupils.


Primary pupils will finish on Friday 18th July at 12pm - midday!

Please note that details of our Privacy Policy can be found here

Krisha Gandhi
Head of Primary