I wish to begin my first contribution to Five Alive by saying a huge and immensely well deserved ‘Well done’ to all the pupils and staff at Cropthorne for producing such a successful and enjoyable performance of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ at the end of the last term. I was lucky enough to attend one of the showings and was hugely impressed with performance. I left Number 8 feeling even more excited to begin working with such a talented group of children & staff. I am also fully aware of just how much hard work, commitment and creativity goes on behind the scenes of such a brilliant production from all the children, staff and helpers to achieve such an amazing feat! I am sure I am not alone in wishing an enormous thank you to all at Cropthorne for putting on such a great show.

Personally, I am absolutely delighted to be here at Cropthorne with Charlton C of E First School and feel privileged to become part of the school community. I have received a wonderfully warm welcome from everyone and it is with great excitement that I look ahead to a fantastic Summer Term which includes a whole range of activities from Athletics, to Bellboating, to the Relay for Life as well as a residential visit for our Year 4&5 children and also experiencing a whole variety of firsts for myself, such as the Cropthorne Walkabout. Our school will be open as in previous years for this Walkabout, with our PTFA providing tea & coffee on Sunday from 12.00 and on Monday from 11.30 until 4.30 with a variety of stalls;  BBQ serving bacon and sausage baps, Adult and Child Tombola, Name the Panda, Face Painting and Craft stalls including “Made by Einir”, Carice Prints, Toe to Top silver jewellery, Phoenix Cards, Usborne Books and Sam Morris Cow Art. There will also be a swing band playing in the afternoon. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for great weather!

It is with great enthusiasm that I look forward meeting and working with our school community to continue the Cropthorne journey together and providing the very best experiences for the children at our wonderful school. 

Rob Bothma
Headteacher