Cranleigh: four ways to attend, evening activities and Saturday sport

The results are strong; the inspection gives the better question

The school’s dated 2026 releases report 71% of GCSE grades at 9–7 and 85% of A-level grades at A*–B. The A-level release also describes subject groups and destinations. These are encouraging cohort outcomes, not a forecast for one pupil: the releases do not provide complete cohort, subject-entry, prior-attainment or value-added denominators.

The 2026 GCSE release is newer than the 2025 percentage still displayed on the Senior landing page. Use the dated release and ask for a full subject table. At Sixth form, confirm which BTECs actually run, which A levels share blocks and how pupils change a subject after the first weeks.

The November 2025 ISI inspection found all five standards areas met and safeguarding effective. It praised the broad curriculum, tracking, support and unusually rich co-curricular programme. Its sole recommended next step was more consistent guidance and feedback so pupils understand how to improve.

That is a useful visit question. A strong headline result does not answer whether feedback is equally precise in the child’s likely subjects.

A June 2026 ISI material-change visit considered the school’s request to increase registered capacity from 1,050 to 1,250, expand day and early-years numbers, replace boarding houses and add day-pupil study areas. Inspectors recommended approval; that does not prove every project is complete. Ask what will be open, occupied or under construction in September 2027.

Full boarding still includes scheduled house closures

The current boarding page says weekly boarders normally leave after Saturday sport and return Sunday evening or Monday morning. Full boarders join a compulsory weekend programme of activities, trips, sport and house time. Day Plus gives one night but is not weekly boarding under another name.

Full boarding also does not mean the house stays open every day of term. The entry-year calendar already lists September and November exeats and October long leave in Autumn 2027, when houses close. A child needs an approved place to go, transport and an adult available at every closure. International families should cost a suitable guardian and holiday travel separately.

Ask how many pupils in the prospective house stay from Saturday night through Sunday, and request the first-term weekend calendar. Your child’s experience will depend partly on who stays with them.

Year 9 pupils may not use mobile phones during the day or evening. Years 10–11 have no daytime use and managed access in the evening; Sixth-form pupils are expected to work within wider boundaries. This can be a welcome reset, but it changes how a new boarder contacts home.

A day place still asks the family to buy into a long afternoon

A 17:45 Day finish makes activities and house life easier to join than at a school where everyone leaves after lessons. Day Plus extends that to 20:45 and includes supper and one night. The trade-off is obvious only after plotting wake-up, morning travel, homework, evening return and the next day’s start.

Saturday sport can remain part of the commitment even when a child sleeps at home. “Optional” at the catalogue level may still be expected once a pupil joins a team, production or ensemble.

The most useful trial is an ordinary weekday, not only an open morning. Watch the movement between academic lessons, lunch, house, practice and collection. Ask current Day families what they miss when they leave at 17:45 and current Day Plus families how often the included night is genuinely useful.

The bus network helps, but late returns decide whether it works

The school publishes routes through Shere, Shalford, Chilworth, Busbridge, Hascombe, Dunsfold, Chiddingfold, Godalming and Haslemere, with Cobham and Billingshurst via Horsham added from September 2026. Year 9 boarders also have a midweek Guildford Station service, while weekly boarders have Sunday or Monday return options from London and Cobham.

The open transport page does not publish all prices, capacity history or a complete set of late and Saturday returns. Check the live Vectare timetable for the exact stop and age rule. Then confirm what happens after a delayed fixture, rehearsal, detention, medical appointment or missed connection.

A morning bus alone cannot prove the school is commutable. Test the route at 17:45 for Day and 20:45 for Day Plus, and repeat it for Saturday. If the family must drive one direction most days, include that reality in the fee and sibling-care decision.

What support would your child receive each week?

Inspectors saw individual support plans, in-class adaptation, specific interventions, EAL assessment and specialist teaching. They also described a medical centre, pastoral leaders and boarding staff communicating about pupils. This is stronger evidence than a generic promise of care.

It still does not tell a family how many specialist sessions a child receives, which occur during lessons, whether an intervention is charged, who writes and reviews a plan, or how support continues after the academic day. The inspection’s 418 pupils identified with SEND is a dated school-reported figure, not a diagnosis rate or proof that every need can be met.

Send the current report before assessment and request a written weekly example. For boarding, add medication storage, nighttime escalation and contact with home.

The school’s policy library links SEND, boarding, safeguarding, behaviour, complaints and guardianship documents. Check their review dates. The June 2026 admissions policy itself names September 2026 as its next review.

Day Plus costs far more because it changes the family day

These are the school’s 2026–27 VAT-inclusive annual Senior fees. They are a planning baseline, not the still-unpublished 2027–28 invoice.

Year 7–8 sits on the Prep scale: £30,480 day or £36,795 boarding for 2026–27. The move to Senior Year 9 therefore raises the current annual baseline by £4,335 for Day or £23,745 for boarding. Model that step before accepting an 11+ place, then add future fee increases rather than assuming the present gap stays fixed.

Senior pupils are also charged £65 per term for their first six terms toward life membership of the Old Cranleighan Society. Personal equipment, trips, tours, shop purchases, some activities, music and other individual services may be extra.

The current terms require advance payment and make changes between Day, Day Plus and boarding subject to school approval and notice. The £2,000 deposit is not the family’s maximum withdrawal exposure. Read the official terms and conditions before acceptance and ask which notice period controls a later pattern change.

Year 7 and Year 9 are different commitments

The school’s current Senior admissions page makes Year 9 the main Senior entry. Year 7 is not early entry to that division: it places a child in Cranleigh Prep for Years 7 and 8, normally followed by progression across the campus at 13. Year 10 can open when space exists, while Lower Sixth is a separate external route.

Registration costs £240. The public journey then describes a visit, assessment day, report, tests and an interview with the Admissions Director, followed by a £2,000 acceptance deposit. It says decisions usually arrive within a few weeks, but does not provide a complete 2027 ordinary-entry calendar.

An older PDF headed “13+ 2027 entry” lists review days in January 2025. Those dates belonged to an earlier pre-test stage; they are not dates for a family newly applying in autumn 2026. Ask Admissions to send the live route and calendar in writing before arranging tests or travel.

Prepare for a rounded day, not a mystery pass mark

At 11+, the current Prep process says a Year 6 child sits the ISEB Common Pre-Test at their own school in October or November, then visits for an assessment day and interview. Elsewhere on the same page, Cranleigh also names written academic papers. Confirm whether those papers are an additional 2027 step or generic wording for another age.

At 13+, the Senior page says the main pre-test is usually CAT4 in Year 6; later candidates may take CAT4 in Years 7 or 8. Elsewhere it also refers to ISEB or CAT4. The individual invitation should therefore control.

Neither test benefits from treating vocabulary, number work, spatial reasoning and reading as four separate lives. Give the child short mixed sessions, practice moving on from an awkward item and keep enough energy for an adult conversation. A simple explanation of a current interest is more useful interview preparation than a polished speech written by a parent.

Cranleigh does not publish component weightings, a pass mark, interview scoring, route-level applicant totals or the number of day and boarding offers. Do not turn “main entry” into calculated odds.

Progression from Prep to Senior is assumed automatic in the latest linked policy provided pupils show positive behaviour and commitment to learning. Families should still ask what formal review occurs in Years 7–8, what notice they receive if concerns arise and whether a confirmed boarding pattern carries into Year 9.