Although we welcome both boarding and day pupils our school is full boarding in spirit; day pupils are fully included in house life and contribute much to its vitality. Pupils of all year groups are bonded by their inherent love of joining in; no-one at Cranleigh likes to stand still and that includes staff as well as pupils.
Fourth formers and others new to house life often comment on the friendliness between pupils and especially between year groups. Leavers will always testify to the lasting friendships they made at Cranleigh. Our alumni association is equally faithful and we are always delighted to see Old Cranleighans return to School.
What makes Cranleigh really special is the caring and friendly community, everyone knows everyone here.
Ethos
The primary focus of Cranleigh’s boarding ethos is to provide opportunities to pupils that would be unavailable to them at home. We do not, for example, agree with the view that boys and girls should move away from their parents to teach them ‘independence’. On the contrary, we recognise the sacrifice a family makes when a son or daughter is away from home, and we hugely value the regular input parents make during term time. A parent’s decision to allow a son or daughter to spend so much time away can really be justified only by the fulfilment of their lives at school.
The significant majority of Cranleighans are extremely busy during the first six days of the week. In September 2020 the option of a Monday morning return was offered as an alternative to a Sunday evening return and Chapel was consequentially moved from Sunday evenings to alternate Friday evenings. In the interim, our parents are very much part of the education of their sons and daughters. We keep in regular touch with reports, and the house staff get to know the parents very well indeed over their five years at the School.