Cranford Annual Review 2013

Cranford Review 2013

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Cranford Community College

Cranford Community College

Cranford Community College

Cranford Community College

Outstanding Behaviour

Outstanding

Teaching & Learning

Outstanding

Outstanding

Ofsted 2012/2013

Ofsted 2012/2013

Ofsted 2012/2013

Ofsted 2012/2013

Progress

Leadership

Editorial

by Kevin Prunty (Executive Headteacher)

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elcome to the Cranford Review of the last academic year (2012/2013), the year in which Ofsted visited and recognised Cranford to be consistently ‘Outstanding’ in all aspects of the new ‘raised bar’ framework for inspecting schools. Her Majesty’s Inspector judged the school as outstanding over time in Teaching, Achievement, Behaviour, Leadership & Management and all other aspects of the Ofsted framework.

I, and the Academy Trust Board, are delighted to further congratulate our ‘Class of 2013’ students on their outstanding performance in GCSE and A level exams this summer which has meant that examination results at Cranford Community College in 2013 broke more records to be the best results that the school has ever had, further extending the high achievement and rapid progress that the pupils and the school make relentlessly year on year.

These outcomes are a real credit to the hard work of students who with the support of parents, families and teachers made this happen. Our students have set a new standard and challenge for other students in lower years to surpass. The class of 2013 has established a new record at GCSE with more than 72% achieving 5+ A*-C including English and mathematics. More Year 11 students achieved the highest grades with a third of all passes being at the highest grades. We are delighted that such a high proportion of our Year 11 students (and indeed year 12) have decided that Cranford is the right school for them to complete their schooling.

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we are delighted with the university offers being awarded to the students this year in response to their high grades and achievements. The quality of offers being made by universities to Cranford students is also very impressive and recognises the strong track record of pupil performance year on year.

Cranford’s three year performance trend also looks incredibly strong which only confirms that Ofsted’s ‘Outstanding’ judgements on the school during last academic year were typical of standards and achievement and hold true over time.

And, as you will no doubt be able to tell from this digest, Cranford combines high academic standards with a great ethos and is a happy place to be, proven perhaps by our outstanding levels of pupil attendance across the school, excellent pupil retention rates and the very high popularity of the main school and its sixth form.

When Cranford became an academy the curriculum was adapted and additional funding from being an academy and from the pupil premium was targeted to support new initiatives aimed at nurturing High Achievers and those with untapped potential and talent. The range of opportunities now being planned for the High Achievers Centre in 2013/14 is truly amazing ranging from ‘Space Camp’ to ‘Stand-up Mathematics’, from ‘Particle Physics Journeys’ to ‘Medical School’ and from ‘Cancer Research’ to ‘Journalism College’ to name but a few.

Our students and teachers have again bucked and outperformed the national trends and the results this year have elevated almost all of our departments into ‘high performing department’ status and recognition. This is also an accolade to the increasingly personalised curriculum that is meeting the needs of more and more pupils and rewarding them, and the school, with higher grades and greater life chances.

It’s always amazing to reflect upon the enormous range of curricular and extra-curricular events, activities, trips and enrichment opportunities that have helped to develop and realise the potential and the differing talents that exist within our student and staff population. I can hardly believe that we achieved all of this (and so much more) within just one academic year. Thanks are due to the dedicated staff that make these things happen and to pupils, parents and ‘friends of Cranford’ who participate so enthusiastically.

We are also very proud and celebrating the amazing results of Year 13 A-level students. It is very impressive to see a further rise in the A* and A grades at A level which now make up nearly a third of all grades and

When you have read this digest of the last year you will understand why I remain so proud of the school, its students, and its community – this is what an ‘outstanding’ school should be like.

Becoming Head Girl was definitely quite the challenge, as I was up against amazing candidates, with different attributes. It was a process that involved writing an application , creating a manifesto, and the hardest for me was the interview stage.

I have spent nearly 7 years at Cranford and I couldn’t think of a better way to end my final year in a place I would call my second home. I’m really excited to begin in September and complete my manifesto as well as helping the school move in the right direction.

I hope along the way I become a great role model and by the end of it look back and be proud of the changes and accomplishments myself and our leadership team made alongside students and teachers.

Sara khan (Head Girl)

Written proposal, leadership task, manifesto and finally the interview, through this process I have been elected to be the new Head Boy. Becoming Head Boy has been a personal achievement, as it will enable me to fulfil my aspiration to bring change for the better for Cranford Community College. Throughout my school life I’ve enjoyed taking an active role in representing our school at various events. As Head Boy I wish to continue contributing to the school, with the motivation to encourage others to work with one and another, allowing us to form a cohesive community. Through my leadership, I hope to inspire the younger pupils to participate in various extracurricular activities, enabling them to develop as individuals and find their talents. I will be working alongside three outstanding students who will also help to make all the changes and events in school a success; Head Girl Sara Khan and Deputy Heads, Hardeep Rai and Nikita Sharma.

Sharyar Raja (Head Boy)

Becoming Deputy Head Girl involved a process of many stages. The first being a letter of application to Mr Prunty the Executive Headteacher, secondly writing up my manifesto and ideas for changes to the school and thirdly having an interview with the school panel. I am very pleased to say I got through each stage and ended up becoming Deputy Head Girl not an easy procedure. However now as Deputy Head Girl, I know it takes hard work and drive to ensure the school is pushed to its full capability and to make sure the students achieve the best they can. During my time being Deputy Head Girl I am going to do my best to give both the students and teachers a voice, and ensure every individual flourishes into lovely young adults.

Nikita Sharma (Deputy Head Girl)

When I found out that the position for Head Boy was open for application I immediately applied. Initially we had to write a letter detailing our credentials and why we wanted to take on this role. I found this part easy, but it was the interview stage I was worried about.

After a nervous wait I entered a conference room filled with students from each year group who relentlessly asked question after question. I managed to hold my nerve and I answered all questions to the best of my ability. The winners were announced in assembly. The final stage was a meeting with Mr Prunty to discuss plans for the coming year. I am happy and proud to be Deputy Head Boy. Hardeep Rai (Deputy Head Boy) 1

BBC Bike Track

This

was a joint project between Berkeley Primary School, Beavers Community School and Cranford Community College. The project brought together ten students from each primary school and ten year 10 students from Cranford Community College to work on a project which would develop a range of life skills. The project chosen was to build a BMX / bike track at Cranford Community College. The project enlisted the help of Rob Reed, a professional BMX rider ranked 3rd in the UK to work with the students on developing their ideas while also building confidence through bike skills.

In groups the students worked on designing and building the track which is located to the south of the playing fields at Cranford. After lots of hard work from the students and help from Cranford’s Youth Club and three police community support officers the track was officially opened in June 2013 with parents invited to have a go on riding the track. The 160 metre track has lots of bumps, curves and jumps and offers sufficient challenge for both children and adults. Since the opening there have been several hundred people riding the track and all agree it is a great addition to the already excellent facilities at Cranford Community College.

In the future the track will be used by local primary school and the community. In September 2013 we will be starting a parent / child bike club where parents can come with their child and ride safely. If you are interested in joining the parent / child bike club or just to find out more about what is happening at the track then please check out our page on the school web site.

Alan Fraser (Assistant Headteacher)

Dear Sir/Madam, I would like to thank you for an amazing day yesterday for the BMX opening.

I would also like to thank you for the support that you have shown to my son (Adam Nunez from Berkeley Primary School). It has been an amazing experience for him, and has given him so much confidence. Adam has really enjoyed the BMX track. I would also like thank the kids from Cranford Community College for their support with Adam too. They have been fantastic.

Kindest regards Tracy Parsons (Adam Nunez’s Mum) 2

Dialu-alukan Untuk Cranford

Cranford welcomed future English teachers from Malaysia As part of our on-going commitment to international links, in March 2013, Cranford welcomed 6 students who are studying at Canterbury Christ Church University in their 3rd year, of their Bachelor of Education programme to teach English as a second language (TESL). The 6 students were introduced to Cranford with their main focus on how students with English as an additional language are catered for, as well as spending time in the unique Literacy and Numeracy College within the school site, which accelerates students’ literacy and numeracy skills through personalised teaching and learning.

Their programme allowed them to see the school at work, with visits to many classes, including the W Factor session on Wednesday afternoon, which was hailed by Ofsted inspectors as exemplary. In pairs, the students took an assembly for each year group introducing a particular aspect of Malaysian culture, which was very well received by all the students.

One of the students commented: “It was a great pleasure to have the opportunity to meet you and the entire staff of your school who are all very supportive, helpful, welcoming and friendly. The experience indeed has exposed us to a lot of new ideas and new perspectives, which hopefully we can apply it in Malaysia when we start teaching very soon”.

北京的海淀区 Beijing’s Haidian District In partnership with Hounslow Manor School (now Kingsley Academy), Cranford greeted a group of 25 teachers from Haidian District in Beijing. Haidian is a large suburban district in the Chinese capital with a population of some 3.2 million, an increase of 45% since 2000; the area is undergoing rapid expansion and provides a very interesting example of the amazing growth in cities in China. The delegation were all experienced teachers, mostly from secondary schools, with a diverse range of subject from Chinese and maths to English, sciences, history and geography.

Their aim was to see how outstanding schools in the UK operate and they enjoyed presentations on the Ofsted framework, training and professional development, and were totally impressed with both the creativity shown in the W Factor session they saw and the experience they had in lessons. The group focussed on how teachers are trained with a particular reference to encouraging the students to be creative, Coincidentally, the group were here as the Ofsted judgement of outstanding was published and were full of praise and admiration for the school’s fantastic outcome.

크랜 포드 커뮤니티 대학에 오신 것을 환영합니다 Cranford hosts Korean Educationalists -May and July 2013The word is spreading….an email in early May from James at Genesis Global heralded the first of two visits by senior educationalists from Korea to Cranford. The Koreans were in the UK on a fact-finding visit and wanted to see how an outstanding secondary school in the UK functions on a day-to-day basis. The presentation gave the school profile, which is very different from those found in schools in Korea, but that is where the differences ended. Both the Cranford staff involved and the Koreans spoke the common language of learning opportunities and improving the life chances of those in our care.

Velkommen til Cranford

Teachers from Hareid in Norway love their visit to Cranford -March 2013Hailing from beautiful Hareid on the scenic west coast of Norway, with its stunning mountain and fjords, some 16 teachers from a school with a total population of 180 students came in March 2013 to visit Cranford to learn more about the English school system. The contrasts between Cranford and Hareid were obvious but equally so were the common values of the teachers and Cranford staff, teaching methods and strategies, and the passion for teaching. They were particularly interested in how students learn here and how our two schools might be able to work together in the future on sharing each other’s language and culture. Cranford is uniquely placed to reflect not only local culture but with its multi-ethnic background many other cultures from around the world.

The leader of the Norwegian delegation said they had an amazing visit to Cranford and the school in Hareid is hoping to start a new course on internationalism in the autumn. At Cranford, we are looking forward to closer working links with our Norwegian colleagues.

Philip Dobison (Assistant Head of School) 3

Let’s Celebrate

UK

Activities Week July 2013

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onday July 15th – Thursday 18th July 2013 we held our second Activities week and this year we decided to celebrate British Culture.

Four activity projects, Discovery, Enterprise, Culture and Sport ran throughout the week with each year group having the opportunity to take up the challenge in each activity.

The Discovery Project, created by Maths, Science and ADT challenged the students to build a model Trebuchet based on an historical design. Students competed to see which model worked the best, measuring the distance the ball travelled. The second part of the challenge was to build a larger version on the field and again compete to see which one worked the best. The atmosphere became very excited with the staff joining the competitive element all wanting to be the best.

The Culture Project included languages, dance, music, history and art. Students learnt aspects of British History; from the Vikings, making helmets and the Normans, building model castles. They were shown a series of images linked to the British Isles, and students created their own representation of what that means using paints, pencils and pastels.They learnt Morris dancing and Scottish Céilidh dancing including the history behind the dance and they were set a ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ style project to make up their own national Anthem or poem or song.

The Enterprise Project required the students to work in teams for the Cranford Tour Company and create a tour of London tour guide brochure.

The project required students to work competitively and use a range of Business and IT skills in developing this brochure.

A variety of sports were on offer throughout the week and in spite of the exceptionally hot weather the students took up the competitive sporting challenges on offer.

Year 12 students followed a similar programme of activities including sport but with some different tasks for Discovery, Enterprise and Culture. Their Enterprise regeneration project required them to consider two local sites for development and their Culture project required them to market their regeneration project through a Media Campaign. For the Discovery Project they created a presentation on “What Makes Britain”.

It was a fantastic week with lots of fun for everyone learning new things through practical experience.

by Jessica Joyce (Activities week organiser)

“I like being outdoors. I enjoyed using the Trebuchets to see how far the ball went”.

Peter Franks

“I learnt a lot in movie make. I like this because it can help me in future in ICT”.

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Osman Ahmed Shabel

“I think activities week was perfect”.

Suman Kumar

“The dance looked funny and interesting and singing the National Anthem was fun”.

Abdullah Read

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Factor has been running on a Wednesday afternoon for two years and it still continues to grow with over 52 different activities on offer, providing staff and students with a great opportunity to learn new skills and experience some amazing enrichment activities. In addition we now have a significant number of outside agencies working alongside our staff providing some exciting new experiences for our students. We have great plans to extend this further for 2013-2014.

All the World Theatre Project

“The day we performed was an excellent experience and one I have never done before and It will be one of my best memories”.

Klodjano Klydie Koxha (year 8)

“We had a lifetime experience by doing proper drama with professional people. I really enjoyed it because it was fun and I liked it because I got a chance to perform in two things in school and in the theatre”.

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uring summer 2013, students worked with members of Bounce Theatre to devise a piece of drama inspired by the Festival theme ‘All the World’. Students explored themes as broad as evolution, technological advances and inspirational figures. They discussed about the world in our local community, the value of multi-culturalism and friendship.

This culminated in a piece of physical theatre which began with Newton and the apple, merged into Apple technology and the images of the global inspirations that we can now see at the press of a button.

The students used Mo Farah as a figure to celebrate local inspirations such as our grandparents, family, female role models and friends.

Mohammed Qureshi (year 8)

The piece was performed twice representing the school at the Paul Robeson Theatre as part of Bounce Theatre’s ‘Home-grown and Handmade in Hounslow’. This celebration, involved over 500 people from 15 different schools.

“2013, we performed at the Paul Robeson Theatre at the Treaty Centre in Hounslow.

This was the second experience for me at the theatre but was my first experience to perform there. After the performance I lost my fear of performing and talking in crowds”.

The students worked with the company director Louise Pendry who said ‘I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the students, their originality and creativity led us to make a really beautiful piece of work. My colleagues at the theatre were all impressed with how professionally they conducted themselves.’

By Kumail Abbas (year 8)

“Louise Pendry made all of this happen as she helped us put all of our pieces of drama together. She gave us confidence to perform in front of 200 people at the Paul Robeson Theatre and at school. I actually haven’t done anything on a proper stage before.

I’ve only preformed in my primary school”.

Lucy Cook. (year7) 6

Unique Boutique Jewellery Making

Photography

Charity Work In WFactor we had the intensely inspiring opportunity to become young philanthropists which means that we help those less fortunate than ourselves. Philanthropy is all about raising awareness. We have decided to raise money for the charity NSPCC, specifically for their Childline.

We formed a charity named “I.R.I.S” which stands for “I realise I see”. We did something original by starting up our own charity and deciding to make soaps to sell at the Cranford festival and we sent monie raised to the NSPCC. We have chosen to work with a children’s charity because we ourselves understand and empathise with children. I particularly enjoyed the aspect of the project where we had to physically make the soap, not only was it fun but it was also eye-opening to see all our hard work pay off when we wrapped the soap.

By Sara Yousuf Saiyed (year 8)

“This term I have been doing the Tailor Made activity for WFactor for the Festival parade. I made a skirt and a top which was blue and black. I also added a strip of blue beads to make it stand out.

“I really enjoyed the Unique Boutique this year, loved making my fab earrings.

By far the best WFactor ever”.

“This term Unique Boutigque has been really good and enjoyable, however I would like it if we could design necklaces and also use silver and golden beads in our designs”.

Megha Dahdrai (year 7)

Jaya Saini (year 7)

I enjoyed this experience because I was able to make my own costume and I was able to design it and use a sewing machine.

Overall I enjoyed it a lot and if I was able to I would make it all again”.

Sabah Shaikh (year 7)

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uring the period of January to July Cranford students who joined the WFactor “Unique Boutique” made a range of jewellery both for themselves and for charity. The idea was for students to “up cycle” unwanted items that were broken or unused to keep a steady supply of beads coming in. The beads we used ranged from wooden, to glass, to plastic to crystal. The girls learned how to create bracelets, earrings and necklaces using nylon and elastic. They really showed their flair for design and created beautiful items that they were really proud of. The culmination of their efforts for charity were seen by all who came to the festival and visited our jewellery stall. Everyone who saw their wonderful creations were very impressed by their diligence.

Lesley Freeman (English Department)

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Great

Ormond Street Hospital, NSPCC, Young Heroes, The Merlin Charity, Children in Need, Comic Relief/Red Nose Day and more, have continued to be supported by students at Cranford Community College during this academic year. Cakes sales, car washing, football tournaments, gunging the teacher and “guess the sweets in a jar”, are just some of the many ways the students raised money in support of Charities.

Abrar Al-Habtari, year 11 decided to organise a fashion show in April 2013 and invited a representative from the Merlin organisation to join us and explain the work they do internationally. This event raised nearly £300 alone, a great effort on her behalf.The WFactor IRIS Charity group focussed their campaign in WFactor on creating soaps to sell to raise money for the NSPCC. They ran a stall at the Cranford Festival and are continuing to raise money even now. In total the students have raised a wonderful £2243.91.

In a time of economic struggle it is so inspiring to see how the students continue to think of others who need their help and they give as much as they can when they can. Well done Cranford.

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Step-Up Day and Modern World Languages

On

9th July 2013 the Department of Modern World Languages decided to combine art and P.E. with languages. All year 7 and 8 German, French and Panjabi students were involved in the art activities and all year 7 and 8 Spanish and Urdu students were involved in the P.E. activities.

The Y

oung Heroes programme launched through Wfactor in 2012 continues to provide opportunities for Cranford students to show how they can support their local community and gain invaluable skills for life.

The organisation strives to identify and solve problems within a community. Where better to start than our own school Conservation Area. City Year Young Heroes for the Spring/Summer term led by Joel Tyrell-Pinnock, Kadra Nur, Saida Abukar, Nasra Barri, Rafiqa Hersi and the team decided to focus their attention on raising funds in support of our School Conservation Area which they called “Plants 4 Bee’s”, a fundraising project to help expand and advertise the importance of our Conservation area in encouraging wild life. The population of Bees in Europe is rapidly decreasing, putting other species in their food chain at a high risk of extinction. Through their campaign to raise awareness they hope to encourage others to join them in their plan. They have researched various aspects affecting this plight and considered what they needed to purchase in order to help regain the balance. The team began their challenge by washing staff cars and raised £31 towards their goal. They bought bird houses and are now looking to purchase more new plants.They also plan to adopt animals from an animal sanctuary or a home for abandoned animals. Although this is just the start, The City Young Heroes project is just one more example of how students at Cranford Community College enjoy taking on a challenge.

In art the students had to write up a description of themselves in German, French or Panjabi on an A3 sheet. The sheets were then given to another student who had to draw that person or make a collage. The students produced wonderful work and the class voted for the best 3 pictures.

In P.E. the students were put into 2 teams and they played 5 different games in which their Spanish and Urdu listening skill were tested and challenged. They played traditional Spanish games and also had some problem solving activities. The winning team was not decided on their fitness but on their team work and communication skills.

The day was thoroughly enjoyable and motivational for students and staff and it was amazing to see all the MWL students perform and demonstrate their language knowledge in a different subject and setting.

Angela Roeder (Head of Department Modern World Languages)

German Christmas Market Trip to South Bank in London

On

17th December 2012 we took students from year 7 and year 8 to the German Christmas Market on the South Bank.

We left school at 1pm went by coach to London’s South Bank. As soon as we arrived the students walked around the market at their own pace in small groups to buy food and Christmas presents. It was wonderful to see the students practise the language that they had learnt in the classroom and it boosted their confidence to be able to understand and buy things from real Germans. The market was beautifully decorated and lit and it had typical stalls with German people selling food or crafts. It was a very positive and exciting day for everyone involved and we are looking forward to the next Christmas market in 2013, as this market is a great opportunity for our students to experience traditional German food and handcrafted gifts for Christmas.

Angela Roeder (Head of Department Modern World Languages) 9

The

Expedition for the Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award expedition was very challenging yet enjoyable. On the way to the South Coast, was quite nervous about the day. I told Aliyah and Rees “Something is going to go wrong. I have a feeling it will.”

They replied “Don’t worry.

It’ll be fine.” We walked with Mr Dean and our assessor to a bridge and waited as the other groups were dismissed to begin their journey. I took a step forward and tripped and my bad feeling was enhanced as it was before we even started walking. After a few hours, everyone’s spirits remained high until one dreaded acknowledgement: we were lost.

Not only that, Rees ended up falling into a pond with a very important item, our map. This day was not going well! With a few injuries, we all felt we needed a break and decided that we needed to get back on track. We turned to our compass and our wet map which started to rip and managed to get back on course. It took several hours to get back on our route. We were glad that it was not dark yet and made a pact to get to the campsite before sunset. It was very difficult but we managed to persevere through all the extra walking we did and we eventually got to the campsite before sunset. We were ecstatic that we got through it. Some things did go wrong but by working as a team we got through it.

By Day 2, we were all feeling stiff and tired. We decided that we would take 2 maps just in case to avoid getting lost. We planned when we would take our breaks and we were very self sufficient when it came to food. This experience was much shorter than the previous day, for which many of us were grateful.

We continued to follow our route and ended up finding Foxhole Campsite after a tiring walk on the stone pathway. The sun was shining, making it even more difficult to walk across it. By the time we reached a junction, I noticed that we were extremely close to the campsite. We travelled uphill and noticed 3 tents in an area that was fenced off. These were Mr Dean’s, Mr Biggs’, and Miss Sullivan’s tents so we went into the area. We were delighted in being the first group there after the day we had previously. The group that left first arrived at the campsite about 30 minutes after us with the other group arriving soon after them. As evening came, there was an intense card game between some of the guys which made everyone burst into fits of laughter.

Day 3 was the most fun for all of us on the whole expedition. We journeyed along the Seven Sisters cliff and battled the monstrous wind that blew us side to side.

We met up with the other groups and decided that we should all walk together as we were very near to the edge of Beachy Head. Mr Dean wanted to walk with us to make sure that we were safe and not falling off a cliff (I’m glad he did) I was running out of energy and if an enormous gust of wind had arrived, I would have fallen.

I was slightly glad that the wind was there as it helped me to keep going through the journey of which we were near to completing. Travelling downhill was heaps of fun.

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A Challenging Expedition I ended up running downhill (not by choice – thanks again wind) and became the’ leader of the pack’ for a short while, which was unexpected as I’m always towards the back of the group. We stopped for lunch at Birling Gap and met Mr Biggs with the minibus. Soon after, we continued up the hill and got to Belle Tout Lighthouse where we met Paul and Harmeet who came running behind us. They walked with us until we reached Beachy Head Countryside Centre. We each got on the minibus and everyone let out a sigh of relief as we completed this challenging expedition but we were each better off for doing it.

I and the rest of the Silver DofE students at Cranford would like to thank Mr Dean, Mr Biggs, Ms Sullivan, Paul and Harmeet for helping to organise our Silver Expedition and for taking time out of their schedules to come with us. Without them, this fantastic opportunity would not be possible. None of us would be doing it without Mr. Dean’s excellent organisational skills and the amount of preparation and commitment he has put in for us to get this Silver D of E award.

Kishan Shah (year 11 - D of E student)

This

year was the second year we have run the Bronze D of E award at Cranford.

The year 10 students were very enthusiastic and we ended up with a group of 19 going forward to the final expedition in June 2013. The students had worked extremely hard all year to complete the required training and ensure that they were prepared for the 2 day expedition in the North Downs.

Thanks to Ms Ledlie, Ms Hibbins, Mr Singh, Ms Cousins and Mr Parris for running the final expedition so well and giving the students such a fantastic experience. As with last year ’s bronze expedition, it rained fairly hard overnight leaving the tents wet through but all the staff and students were nice and dry inside them. The students were fantastic all weekend and deserved to pass the award. Their navigation skills certainly improved between the practice weekend and their assessment weekend. All that needs to be done now is for them all to complete their D of E in order for them to receive their awards in the spring. Well done and we look forward to seeing some of you next year for the Silver Award.

Simon Dean (D of E Leader / Assistant Head of School)

Our Visit to Hampton Court

On

T h u r s d a y, 11 t h J u l y 2 0 1 3 , a summery London day, a lucky group of students explored the historical Hampton Court Palace situated in the heart of Richmond Borough.

Throughout the term we have been learning about fascinating and famous places in London and we were fortunate to get to tour one of these in great detail.

We arrived at the Palace in the school minibus, driven by Mr Singh who made us laugh throughout the short journey.

We almost thought we had gone back in time when we were greeted by a posh lady dressed in costume of the time. We wondered if she could even have been the ghost of Henry VIII’s second wife! But fortunately she was just an actress.

One of the most fantastic sights was the beautiful, ancient chapel where we got to see the crown, but to our disappointment we could not take photographs of this incredible room.

The boiling hot sun did not ruin our day. We felt excited, overjoyed, happy, amazed, joyful and grateful to have been given the experience to go.

Thank you.

Weronika Pizyzycka, Asfandyar Jehangir, Ritik Anupkemar, Suleyman Ayobi, Tejwiet Singh, Hassain Saeed, Deeqa Abdi, Karan Prasad, Norbert Pruski Umol, Khair nur, Weronika Pizyzycka (year 7)

Adelina Nicil Hantig, Nasro Mohammed, Tawos Abdullah (year 8) and Nagaad Abdi (year 9) 11

we all have a voice. some never discover it. we all have stories to tell. some never tell them.

First story has helped all these young writers to discover their writing voice, and in so doing has helped them discover themselves. michael morpurgo, author of war Horse

how writing – real writing, not the artificial exercises produced for tests and examinations – can liberate and strengthen young people’s sense of themselves as almost nothing else can.

Philip Pullman, author of His dark materials

85748-071-2 Published by First story www.firststory.org.uk Cover design by adam Cohen IsBn: 978-0-85748-071-2

First story is an inspiring initiative. Having attended a school with a lot of talented kids who didn’t always have the opportunity to express that talent, ISBN 978-0-85748-071-2 I know what it would have meant to us to have real-life writers dropping by and taking our stories seriously. and what an opportunity for writers, too, to meet some of the most creative and enthusiastic young people in this country! It’s a joyful project that deserves as much support as we can give it.

Zadie smith, author of white Teeth and On Beauty we all have a voice. some never discover it. we all have stories to tell. some never tell them.

9 780857 480712

First story has helped all these young writers to discover their writing voice, and in so doing has helped them discover themselves. michael morpurgo, author of war Horse

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Runaway wednesday an anthology by the First story Group at Cranford Community College

The only problem with First story is that they’re not everywhere – yet. every young person deserves the benefit of working with them. dave eggers, author of a Heartbreaking work of staggering Genius and founder of 826 national First story is a very exciting idea. Having been a teacher myself, I know

story Group at Cranford Community College

y College

can give it.

Zadie smith, author of white Teeth and On Beauty

edited and introduced by Ross Raisin

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The only problem with First story is that they’re not everywhere – yet. every young person deserves the benefit of working with them. dave eggers, author of a Heartbreaking work of staggering Genius and founder of 826 national

edited and introduced by Ross Raisin Published by First story www.firststory.org.uk

ISBN 978-0-85748-071-2

Cover design by adam Cohen IsBn: 978-0-85748-071-2

9 780857 480712

“When I was asked to work and help out with First Story, I simply couldn’t refuse. I jumped at the chance to be able to be a part of this fantastic initiative that not only encourages the creativity of young minds, but it also acts as an outlet for their wise and witty use of the written word. It has been a brilliant opportunity to observe just how passionate young people are about reading and writing, and how they have so much to say and share”.

Sahrish Shaikh “Masaru Ibuka said that, “Creativity comes from looking for the unexpected and stepping outside your own experience.” In my involvement with First Story I have come to admire and be completely awe struck by our students’ ability to step outside of themselves and create something truly wonderful.

It has been a true pleasure to take part in First Story Katie Hibbins

The Trouble With Time

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Runaway wednesday

On

an anthology by the First story Group at Cranford Community College

Thursday 20th June 2013 we held our annual First Story Open House event where students from 8 by-12 read extracts from m and T years w TH F Raisin sa su edited introduced Ross their anthology entitled “Runaway Wednesdays”. This is the second year that Writer in Residence, Ross Rasin has worked with Cranford students alongside two members of staff, Katie Hibbins and Sahrish Shaikh.

As inintroduced previous edited and

by Ross Raisin years, the quality of the writing produced by the students is outstanding with a huge range of themes and storylines; from horror and fantasy to love and death, the inspiration behind their ideas has clearly arisen from the amazing writing workshops led Ross.

The First Story initiative has become an essential part of our school enrichment programme. Cranford has always played a huge part in supporting this charity from its pilot year over five years ago to today and we look forward to working with a new Writer in Residence in 2013-2014.

When I was 2, my dad bought me a tea set. He watched me bring him a cup of ‘soup’ from down the hallway and drank it up every time while complimenting his little chef for such delicious soup. Only after seven rounds of soup and a need to visit the boys’ room did it occur to him that the only place I could access water was the toilet.

At the age of 3 I realised I could win any argument by claiming it was ‘opposite day’.

Then at age 4, the scientist in me began to bloom as I realised I could make baby shampoo change colour by mixing it with blue bubble bath and hair dye.

At 5, I could count five hundred stars in the night sky even when the fireflies tried to trick me into thinking they were shooting stars.

Age 6, I asked Mr Wolf what the time was.

At age 7, I started using a pen but could never find its eraser...

When I was 8 my parents brought home a new tv in a big brown box. That box became my hideout for the rest of the week . Then rubbish collection day came.

At age 9, I swallowed an apple seed and couldn’t sleep that night for thinking that an apple tree would grow inside me.

When I was 10, I wanted to become a doctor and fix people. Then I met a real doctor.

When I was 11, I learned that evil existed in the world when all my pencils broke.

Age 12, I would wait behind a door to scare someone, but they always either took too long or knocked the door into me.

When I was 13, decisions were thrown at me. What did I want to become? A lawyer? Engineer? Pilot?

At 14, my auto-tuned voice when singing into the fan inspired me to want to become a pop star, so I would sing my heart out in the shower.

Age 15, I learned to be bored.

Age 16, exams kicked in and I mastered the art of being a hermit and isolating my presence from the rest of civilisation.

Now that I’m 17, life decisions are made in the shower. The littlest things make me happy. Boredom is a rare feeling and my simple pleasures of life are sugar-coated cornflakes and Horrid Henry on a Saturday morning.

Fatima Mahmood 12

The Good News He was now in a place he remembered.

It was a big field with fully blooming flowers, fresh green grass. He remembered when this was: a quarter of a century ago. Back when he was much younger and, dare he say, more handsome. It was clearly early summer, the sun was shining but it didn’t feel as hot as it should have.

The strum of an acoustic guitar filled the surroundings and the soft and beautiful voice of a young woman accompanied the guitar, intertwining their melodies into one. These two people clearly loved one another. Was it clear from the harmony that their voices created or was it clear from the way they held each other and smiled? It felt like just yesterday to him. Just yesterday when he and this woman made plans on marrying, bought their house, had their first child… it all seemed like it had only just happened.

Jay Gohil

The Ego You are the little voice inside me that tells me I can do better; when I get a B when I was expecting an A, you tell me I’m a failure.

You capture my thoughts, don’t let go and turn them all against me; when I look in the mirror and think I look good, you make me disagree.

I feel you fidgeting in the back of my mind, craving for attention; complaining of all the things supposedly wrong in my life and bring me to frustration.

You blind me from the present moment, your worst enemy; you tell me who you are, not who I am, you attack me with a false identity.

You keep me locked away in my own little world and refuse to let me go; you are the unconsciousness in me, you are the ego.

Manisha Bangar

Some Sort of Twisted Pleasure

Deteriorate

I was the lone survivor of my town. The demons roam what’s left of the world we once knew. In this planet that was once full of humans, there are now only a few hundred of us gathered in one small town. I remember the demons that killed everyone else. I remember the demon that killed my father, my sister and my little brother. My sister and I were on our way home when we heard screams from our neighbourhood. When we ran to our street, we saw her.

I stood there in utter silence and felt the shock of her words.

How could I reply when she didn’t know the truth? This beautiful, wondrous seductress glared at me and slowly began to weep endlessly. I could hear her heart being ripped open, all because my love for her was not enough. I was a creature of demonic war and frivolity. With no soul, how could anyone love me? How could I love again?

Kishan Shah

Amy Ale

Through My Eyes It all started when he tried to prove to his friends that he was more than a nerdy kid. The smallest of things changed into the biggest of problems for Dan. He had snuck out of his bedroom window even though his parents had told him to go to bed ages ago. He wasn’t actually sure what he was going to do, but then he came across a warehouse that had a light on. He walked into the warehouse. Thinking back to it, Dan wished he had listened to his parents.

Rimsha Amjad

Lesson Learned and Never Forgotten I used to believe that...

Flowers made you happy, even through struggle.

That memories stay with you forever, even when you’re helpless.

That love never dies, even when you’re hopeless.

But then, she happened.

Gayatri Dogra

If Only Run, just run. The thought echoed through my mind. As my feet thundered down the worn cobblestone pavement, my heart hammered deafeningly against my chest. I heard the ear-piercing screech of tyres as the car skidded to a halt and I forced my aching muscles forward, urging my legs to move, to run into the alleyway – I was desperate, so desperate to lose them. If they caught me again, who knows what would happen to me this time?

Aliyah Butt

Silence Silence was all she could hear, silence except the repetitive sound of the windscreen wipers and the heavy thuds of the rain drops. It was soothing, and made her relax and unwind after the long hard day. She could almost feel the softness of her bed; could picture her head resting on her pillow and the warm, cosy duvet surrounding her, sending her to blissful sleep.

Fizza Amjad 13

Cranford Hosts the first Borough Spelling Bee Competition

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tudents earned their stripes at Hounslow’s first ever boroughwide Spelling Bee hosted by Cranford Community College on Thursday 20th June 2013. Teams of 11 and 12-year-olds from seven secondary schools across the borough were each asked to spell 12 fiendishly difficult words in the competition, Cranford’s Spelling Bee team held their heads high as they proved to be stiff competition for the trophy. But it was the trio of walking dictionaries from Kingsley Academy, Noor Qurashi, Kamal Wadwa and Deryn Jones, who held their nerve in the heat of the battle. They were crowned champions by Feltham & Heston MP Seema Malhotra.

Cranford Community College librarian Mahavir Ladva, who organised the competition, said he was hugely impressed by the pupils’ spelling ability.

“There were a lot of words they spelled correctly which I think would have had many adults stumped,” Well done to our year 7 team, Majid Anjum, Hudaifa Mohamed, Kinza Butt & Ali Sarwar who managed to come top in the first round and third place in the final round . A big thank you to all the staff who took time to help make this event such a success.

Mahavir Ladva (LRC Assistant Manager)

The

Spelling Bee was really fun.

I enjoyed it because we played lots of fun games. We had revision sessions after school on Tuesdays. As well as teaching you words you don’t know, it teaches you how to spell and also boosts your confidence when spelling the words in front of schools. Mr Ladva, Mss Steele and some other students from year 8 and the 6th form helped us during our revision sessions.

On the day of the Spelling Bee, we had to spell 3 different words. We could choose what category from: easy, medium, and hard. We would then spell the word. A word from easy would be 1 point; medium would be 2 points and hard would be 3 points. After that, the 4 schools with the highest amount of points would go onto Round 2. Each school would have 2 people go up to spell the words. You could talk to your partner about how is going to spell the word. If you got a word wrong your school would be out of the competition.

The Spelling Bee was extremely enjoyable. It was a great experience.

Kinza Butt (year 7)

The Speed Read

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Friday 13th March 2013 I accompanied Mr Ladva to the Paul Robeson Theatre where we were competing against other students to persuade them to read our favourite book. At the end of the event the student’s book that was the most favoured won. I chose to promote the book ‘The last Taboo’ by Bali Rai. When we arrived at the Treaty Centre we were given information about: what to do, who would go first, how long we had and how you could win.

Everyone had a minute to give details about their book and then the bell went and you had to change and say it all over again. Then everyone voted anonymously on what interested them about the book and the votes were counted and the winner revealed.

For some unknown reason I didn’t win. I do not understand how they could resist my charm and talent although I got a few votes for definite. To summarise it was a fun day and I had a good experience and would recommend this trip to book lovers.

Tupeka Sacdeva (year 9) 14

On

Thursday 25th April 2013 we set off to see the Harry Potter Studios. Having waited a long time for this trip I set off with my friend feeling as excited as ever.

As we arrived, my heart did a back flip. We had to get in our groups for registration. After we were all out of the minibus, we waited in the queue to get inside. On one side there was the cupboard under the stairs which Harry lived in according to the movie. The doors opened revealing a dark room filled with all the covers of the Harry Potter movies from across the world. Then we saw other things that were in or to the movie. After about an hour we became ravenous and decided to have lunch. We ate our lunch while admiring some of the artefacts that were there.

Later we went into the other set where we saw small models of the things that were on set. Amazed we walked through the hall and then finally we saw the thing that linked everything together it was the Hogwarts Castle. It was beautiful. Last but certainly not least was the gift shop where they sold everything from clothes to chocolate frogs. When our tour ended I was very sad because another perfect day came to an end. If you want a perfect place to spend the day the studio is the place for you.

Want a place to make you flip?

Then go on this wonderful trip.

Aiman Ibrahim (year 7)

Beavers Community Primary School visit Some of the LRC student assistants had the chance of going to Beavers Community Primary School and redecorating the school library. This was an amazing opportunity for all the students that went because we had a chance to interact with various teachers and students. We went to Beavers because the school had won a competition for which the prize was a visit from the famous author Jacqueline Wilson.

We transformed their whole library; changed their display boards, added bunting to the ceilings, took the shelves down – put all the books in order – and put the shelves back up, converted a simple brick wall into a beautiful display with various authors’ names on it. We even changed the setting of the book shelves, put up inspirational quotes for the little children to learn from and added more colour to the room.

Book Buzz

To make it more exciting for the kids, we put up a huge picture of a teddy bear saying “Welcome to the library”.

It would have made the library more fun and enjoyable for the children; persuade them to come to the library more often and learn new things. It was an amazing day for all of the LRC Assistants and we would love to have more trips like this.

On Thursdays during the summer term 2013, Sameer Verma, Yasir Uddin, Mathushan Santhakumar, Karan Kumar, Aiman Ibrahim and I went to the LRC to take part in a competition called The Book Buzz, which is about promoting our favourite books to other schools by creating a performance or presentation. This year we talked about the book “Kidnapped in the Caribbean” by Lauren St John.

We chose this book because it was interesting and full of mysteries. For the presentation, we did a play showing the most important parts in the beginning which we performed at the Paul Robeson Theatre in Hounslow on July 5th 2013 . The books are part of the Laura Marlin Mysteries series and we have the chance to perform this at the Cranford Festival too.

Ishita Sharda (year 9)

Caitlin Poon (year 7) 15

This piece of A2 English coursework is a creative re-writing of the final Harry Potter book and a commentary explaining her linguistic choices. This piece was awarded full marks and is a great example of the creativity and freedom students have with English coursework at A’Level to write their own texts and focus on novels they enjoy.

Fran Green (English Department)

Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Harry Potter world, which is trademarked by J. K. Rowling”.

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rails of grimy dust appeared on the shattered grounds of Hogwarts as Albus Dumbledore headed towards the centre of the Great Hall.

With a dense sigh, wrinkled eyes that shed tears and a dry mouth that yearned to scream, Dumbledore began to speak as the crackled echoes hallowed the empty hall.

‘The rising tides of chaos and calamity have finally fallen as today we stand ‘midst the barren field of arms, feet and corpse. At this hour, we watched the wizarding world take cannons into a society where amity and trust was abandoned. We watched Voldemort bring ammunition into our peaceful and once united community and we witnessed the terror that snatched the lives of many. But; for what? For why? For who? All for his greed to colonise the wizarding world and empower sheer evil.

Today, many fought courageously with the only aim of vanquishing Voldemort who wanted to establish his monarchy. When the patronus said the ministry has fallen, they are coming; little did we know that terror at its extremity would invade our lives. Little did we know that uproar in the name of war would pillage the morals we uphold as we were forced to slay vile lives to sustain peace. All fought. All fought to diminish Voldemort and his prejudice outlook on muggle borns and purebloods.

On house-elf slavery and misuse of magic. On what is right and what isn’t. But today we all stand with our hands tainted with both mud and blood proving our ultimate unification.

But now, the shadow has been cast out as rays of hope cling to our wounded body parts. Hope; that will guide the wizarding world to unity rather than inequality. Voldemort’s thirst to purify our society led us astray as he fought a quest for power rather than love. Our magical society is fortunate to be the home of centaurs, house-elves, wizards, goblins, squibs and other magical creatures that all have different features but common hopes. We may not look the same, but we want the same.

We need to defeat discrimination by preventing dictators of dark magic like Voldemort who promoted abhorrent and revolting ideologies on what the ‘norms’ of society are. We cannot accept something that breeds division and conflict. We saw the grief struck faces of our loved ones’ eyes as they glistened with courage, refusing to succumb to the defiance of Voldemort. They departed us as heroes. But the anger is real and powerful and to condemn it would take time. We must allow time to heal the racial injustice that occurred today. We must allow time to heal our internal wounds.

But now is not the hour to mourn. Now is not the hour to cry in despair.

Now is the hour to wake up. To wake up and capture the odour of resolution. To see that the dark times are over. We must rise to and yearn the new life we have strived to achieve and abolish the act of inequality’ The silence sliced through what was left of the Great Hall as the wizarding world gazed at Dumbledore’s words of wisdom.

Saujanya Natarajan (year 12) 16

The

Harry Potter saga deals with contemporary themes such as segregation and dominance, which is predominantly evident through the magical creatures that reside within its society. With large groups of ardent followers for the saga, fan-fiction is at its greatest popularity after the recent conclusion of the series. Fan-fiction is a term for stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work. Similarly, the creative piece is published on a dynamic source such as the World Wide Web which is a usual medium for the publication of fan fiction. The primary focus of this piece is to highlight the underlying themes that are not so apparent in the novel in combination with the war that occurs towards the concluding sector of the saga. The piece is embedded with narrative that has intertextual references to the film that is reflected in the utterance ‘the ministry has fallen, they are coming’ which proves relevance as it enables its audience to make the connection between the fanfiction piece and the world of Harry Potter.

In conjunction with the narrative, a political speech is delivered by Dumbledore which addresses the different magical groups and the villanious acts of Voldemort by concluding with advocating resolutions to the wizarding world on how the war should be apprehended as a symbol of perseverance. The piece adheres to the canonical fictional universe allowing its audience who are fans of the saga and fan-fiction in general, to develop their own creations from this piece and comprehend the content of it. The graphological features of a fan-fiction work have been sustained and integrated throughout the piece as the disclaimer note preceding the extract establishes the conventional appearances of one. The review box that is positioned at the bottom of the extract reiterates the text-type’s graphology as it invites the audience to respond to the views shared in the creative piece constructing an active audience rather than a passive one.

The extract commences with a etymological field of war which is evident though the adjectives ‘grimy’, ‘shattered’, ‘ammunition’, ‘cannons’ and the verb ‘echoes’; all assembling the war torn scene in which Dumbledore

addresses the wizarding world and reiterates the isolation that is present wherein the ‘echoes’ symbolises the prominence of the speech. An extended metaphor has been used in the initial utterance ‘the rising tides of chaos and calamity’ which is intended to amplify the magnitude of the pandemonium that the war has generated as the comparison with the ocean ‘tides’ reveals their ferocious nature. In order to further magnify the ambience in which the speech is delivered, I have incorporated the synecdoche ‘midst the barren field’ which is indicative of the ‘barren field’ representing the entire magical society rather than just the war that occurred in Hogwarts as the reference to separate body parts through the concrete nouns ‘arms, feet and corpse’ generates grotesque and deformed imagery.

Through analysing many political speeches, specifically the one on inequality and collective sacrifice delivered by Obama in 2009, the need for short declarative utterances elevates the importance of the message delivered. I have drawn similar presentation of logics from his speech to amplify the tone of togetherness that Dumbledore strives to convey in his words of compassion. Equally, in my speech the short declarative ‘All fought’ performs as a turning wheel to the complex sentences uttered my Dumbledore as it spawns a halt to the speech, which will dramatize the point conveyed regarding the sacrifice of many lives during the war.

Likewise, to imitate Dumbledore’s speech patterns and lexical choices, I have transformed few derogative terms such as ‘mudbloods’ to ‘muggle-borns’ which capitalizes the appeal of ethos and logos as he addresses his audience with a positive outlook; evident through the abstract noun ‘hope’ which encapsulates the resurrection of a new wizarding world that has abolished segregation and has furthered itself from the ‘empowering of sheer evil’ and dark magic. The idea of tenacity is further enhanced through the imperative triptych utterances ‘now is not the hour to mourn. Now is not the hour to cry in despair. Now is the hour to wake up’ which provides to be the epitome of resolution for the magical creatures who have suffered enough through the inhumane war, seeking nothing but resolve. To mark the vile image of Voldemort and his aims such as ‘establishing his monarchy’ by promoting dark magic, I have incorporated the statement ‘ he quested for power rather than love’. The antithesis of the abstract nouns ‘power’ and ‘love’ candidly distinguishes between Voldemort’s stringent dictatorship where he treasured power over relationships and ‘love’ which he was deprived off, in comparison to the ‘pure’ sector who cherished love over power.

The seven stages of persuasive speech in the art of rhetoric outlines the way in which political speeches becomes an embodiment for communicating between the speaker and its audience where stages such as identification and clarification have been established in the beginning parts of the speech. The phase of intensification is predominantly evident in the syntactically patterned utterance ‘We may not look the same, but we want the same’ wherein the inclusive pronoun ‘we’ is an assertion of universal identity.

Here, unity is fostered extensively as the ‘common hopes’ and the ‘different features’ of magical creatures collates

to form a society where equality and unison is promoted.

This is further enhanced as Dumbledore states ‘we must allow time to heal the racial injustice…heal our internal wounds’ as the intensifying verb ‘heal’ in conjunction with the modal auxiliaries ‘must’ and ‘should’ offers recapitulation to the audience. In order to deliver the aim of destroying segregation and inequality, I have used the metonym ‘we cannot accept something that breeds division and conflict’ whereby the verb ‘breed’ exemplifies the concept that negative ideologies only prosper and branch out to negativity as it ‘breeds’ of nothing but itself, hence Dumbledore is conveying that this should be terminated for the well-being of the magical society. The term ‘breeds’ also refers to the colonialism that Voldemort aimed to achieve as this directly evokes the tone that is conveyed in Task 1. Moreover, the term ‘breeds’ has been constructed to display the filthiness of the act of inequality as this particular lexical field has connotations of science where contextually it would be inferred to describe a disease or infection; further heightening his resolves.

Furthermore, to capture the essence of the magical society in the Harry Potter saga, I have included the authoritative dynamic verbs ‘abolish’ and ‘vanquishing’ to drive the narrative of the speech as the use of the archaic terminology parallels with the philological field that is used in The Tempest. This conjures the relevance in themes as the verbs focus on imperialism and dominance which embodies Voldemort’s aims to ‘establish his monarchy’ in the wizarding world. To portray the demarcation line between the evil and the pure, I have used the metaphor ‘We saw the grief struck faces of our loved ones’ eyes as they glistened with courage, refusing to succumb to the defiance of Voldemort’ in conjunction with the short utterance ‘ they departed us as heroes’. Here, the active verb ‘glistened’ symbolises the innocent as courageous individuals who refused to ‘succumb’ to the injustices that Voldemort conducted, portraying them as ‘heroes’, which magnifies the truth of them not being victims of Voldemort. Whereby the verbs ‘abolish’ and ‘vanquishing’ serves a stark contrast between the demarcation line of the pure and evil. This ultimately reiterates the positive outlook and tone of the speech and acknowledges the new beginning of the wizarding world.

There are numerous reasons why the Harry Potter saga is deprived off a place in the literary canon, perhaps the possible reason being the fictional element of a storyline set in a magical universe. However, great literary works have a similar enchanted universe such as The Tempest or ‘The Midsummer Night’s Dream’; but are those part of the literary canon simply because Shakespeare devised them? Or is it due to the archaic use of English Language that portrays it as a work of classic? Shakespeare’s works still play a significant role in understanding the English Language and will continue to do so as the legacy provides cultural significance 21st century audience. Then why not Harry Potter which has proved to be a massive success in revolutionising modern literature.

Saujanya Natarajan (year 12) 17

A year of Cranford’s Budding Mathematicians This has been a great year for Cranford’s budding Mathematicians. Our students have entered a number of prestigious mathematics competitions and have had massive success.

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have been a number of events at Cranford Community College with our partner schools to promote an understanding and appreciation of mathematics.

Our top year 11 students attended a ‘How to get an A*’ conference in January. This was excellent preparation for the GCSE exams in March and June this year.

Talented Mathematicians in years 12 and 13 attended the Maths Inspiration Lectures in Central London where they learnt all about the beauty of Mathematics. A select group of year 10 high achievers also attended a Key Stage 4 enrichment day in London where they learnt about how mathematics related to real life and how they can take the subject further.

We also held a puzzle day for Berkeley Primary School and some of our year 7 students which was received with great enthusiasm.

During Activities Week we ran the Discovery Project together with the Science Department. This involved maths, engineering and modelling by making prototypes, and finally testing models of historic weapons which were used in Medieval Britain.

Finally, congratulations to Year 11 students who achieved excellent results in the March 2013 exams. Particular congratulations go to Aliyah Butt, Amandeep Gill, Rohit Keshwala and Shabaz Khan, who all achieved A*s. We hope for even more wonderful results from students in years 11, 12 and 13 in the summer exams 2013.

Buryali Zramalval (Maths Department)

In November 2012 a number of Year 12s and 13s entered the Senior Maths Challenge. Akash Mair in Year 12 won a Bronze award and also scored highest in the school. The students who won awards in the Maths Challenge were: Year 12 Akash Mair Bronze Alham Ahmad Bronze Ashvinder Kundi Bronze

Year 13 Shaheer Khan Bronze Sonela Selgjekaj Bronze Afia Khan Bronze

In February 2013 it was Years 9, 10 and 11s’ turn to face the UKMT Maths Challenge. Year 9 in particular excelled in this event with 5 Silver awards and 11 Bronze awards. Muhammad Sarwar achieved a Silver award and also scored the highest in the school. Years 10 and 11 also did very well with year 10 achieving 7 Bronze awards and year 11 achieving 6 Bronze awards.

The students receiving awards for the Intermediate Maths Challenge were: Year 9 Muhammad Sarwar Silver Harjit Singh Silver Unza Ahsan Silver Aarina Babra Silver Gavir Virk Silver Kapilan Marutharajah Bronze Suleiman Saleh Bronze Curran Rana Bronze Ziah Charles Bronze Ravundeep Rai Bronze Sachin Ranadev Bronze Faheem Uddin Bronze Abdur Raoui Bronze Carlos Donnelly Bronze Rimsha Amjad Bronze Hamir Butt Bronze 18

Year 10 Rafiq Karwani Bronze Jay Raval Bronze Amy Ale Bronze Harkirat Brar Bronze Yusuf Ali Bronze Hodon Jama Bronze Thivyanga Ramanathan Bronze Year 11 Aliyah Butt Bronze Gursharan Seera Bronze Junaid Shah Bronze Amarpal Kharay Bronze Nimraht Gill Bronze Tejveer Sagoo Bronze

“We thought the team maths challenge was an excellent opportunity to experience elements of maths that are not in the curriculum. It was fun to solve challenging problems as part of a competition and everyone enjoyed the day”.

Aadil Awan(year 8)

The Junior Team Maths Challenge continued the trend of success. Cranford’s top young Mathematicians in teams from years 8 and 9 worked together to solve a number of challenging problems. It was won by Aadil Awan, Anjitha Anil Kumar, Kiruthihan Thiagalingam, and Carmen Gaur from year 8 and in year 9 by Ryan Sambhi, Fraidoon Jami, Hasan Almosoy, and Suhur Mohamed. The year 8 team went on to be our first ever team in the local Team Maths Challenge.

When it came to the individual Junior Maths Challenge we made a day of it and included an exciting cross curricular activity involving aspects of science and engineering. Our students from years 7 and 8 enjoyed a morning of discovery inventing, constructing and testing an instrument to time exactly 45 seconds before finishing the day with the Maths Challenge.

One group even managed to get within a fraction of a second of this time.

The junior mathematics challenge winners were: Year 8 Mohamed Gulaid Gold Certificate Miherban Rai Silver Arun Sharma Silver Anjitha Anilkumar Silver Ritek Kapoor Silver Hamza Mohamed Silver Israr Obaidy Silver Aadil Awan Silver Zala Amiki Silver Shahir Nejrabi Bronze Baljinde Padda Bronze Ali Hussen Bronze Eshan Gupta Bronze Ahmed Fadhluddin Bronze Sadie Blake Bronze Lucy Tirahan Bronze Oussama Zemry Bronze Warsan Hashi Bronze Amritpal Badesha Bronze Muhamed Hassan Bronze Carmen Gaur Bronze Ruby Thompson Bronze Navjot Gill Bronze Year 7 Zahrah Vora Bronze Hudaifa Mohamed Bronze Kabir Poddar Bronze Aaronjit Bhullar Bronze Tori Grace Skeet Bronze 19

Cranford Festival 2013

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aturday 4th July 2013 saw the third major Cranford Festival held at Cranford Community College. For the first time this festival was a joint venture, working in partnership with a number of our feeder Primary schools who are part of the Cranford Group of Schools; Berkeley Primary School, Cranford Primary School, Westbrook and Beavers Primary School.

As in previous years, the festival had a theme and this year we wanted to celebrate the wonderful cultural diversity of our community; “All the World in our Community�. In addition, we decided to celebrate the Aztec culture through the parade.

Work began in January 2013 with a team of Cranford staff led by Kevin Biggs, Senior teacher with responsibility for High Achievers and primary school links, working alongside staff and children from the primary schools, to create huge Aztec Heads for the parade and performance pieces in dance, music and drama for the main performance stage. The Creative and Media Faculty began work auditioning student and staff performers and recruiting community acts for the day whilst the ADT department worked with key stage 3 students on designing bunting and banners to dress the float for the parade.

There was considerable excitement in the weeks leading up to the festival. Cranford students undertook a range of projects during WFactor including making costumes, additional Aztec heads and jewellery making, various crafts, dozens and dozens of cupcakes and even an entrepreneurial project making soaps in support of the NSPCC.

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When the day came everyone was really excited and true to form, the day was a huge success with over 2000 people from across Cranford and our local community joining us to take part in the festivities. The parade launched the day in real style; very colourful and very noisy, starting from Berkeley Primary School led by bagpiper Alistair Adams from Pride of Murray dressed in full Highland Dress followed by an amazingly dressed float, supplied by Heston Mini Skips, and staff and students dancing and playing dhol drums. Traffic stopped, neighbours hung out of their windows and cheered and people came out of shops and their homes onto the street to wave to the passing parade.

Head teacher Kevin Prunty formally opened the Festival to cheers and applause. He welcomed everyone saying how proud he was to be part of this community and to be able to welcome everyone to Cranford. PC Danny McIntosh, teacher Irfan Wain and year 11 student Olusegun (Segun) Babatunde entertained the crowds, introduced the acts and performed various sets to keep it all going. The main stage was very much the focal point but surrounded by stalls and amazing activities for all the family including; boxing and Tai Kwan Do demonstrations, BMX track challenges, numerous stalls and amazing fairground rides. The local Fire Brigade and Community Police joined us to share the fun as did local businesses. There was plenty of delicious food to be had with various cultural and BBQ foods on sale plus a great tea room with cakes and cold refreshments on such a hot day.

The HYPE youth club team worked hard selling popcorn and candyfloss to raise money for the youth club as did Ms Tank and year 10 students selling sweets to raise money for their forthcoming PROM. The day ended with a great performance by Johnny Kalsi and members of the Dhol Foundation and as the final guests left and the clearing away began we all felt enormously proud of yet another amazing day at a Cranford Festival.

Jessica Joyce (Festival organiser)

“The parade was great fun. The atmosphere was amazing, I felt alive and felt like I could do anything because the different cultures inspired me to run for my goal and never give up.

When I and my best friend (Gerda) first arrived at Berkeley Primary School, we were nervous and excited at the same time because everyone was walking around with smiles on their faces and they were all already ready. So we raced to the main building and we changed into our matching costumes that we had designed and made, took a final look in the mirrors and then

strolled back outside with our vibrant and eye catching clothes.

We were really enthusiastic about the parade and we wanted to make sure we remembered the day. So we took some pictures and soon we were lined up, all ready to start the parade.

Gerda and I had massive smiles on our faces. We picked up some mini union jacks and a pair of mini vuvuzelas and we started to move.

I was fascinated by the float. It truly looked beautiful and enchanting, everyone seemed to be having a good time and people were coming out of their houses to take pictures

and videos of the perfect event happing before them. We blew our vuvuzelas and made sure we got loads of attention because we wanted everyone to see all the great effort we put into this. I especially liked the different flags that were hanging off the float because it implied how we are a multicultural school and we are all one.

Overall I had a colossal amount of fun and I would definitely like to live it again. The experience was beautiful and breath-taking. I absolutely loved it�.

Unza Ahsan (year 9)

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A taste of the programme 2012-2013

C

ranford Community College are running a range of opportunities for students in year 5 that give them a taste of what’s to come in secondary school.

Our aim is to make closer links with each curriculum area and to make the transition from year 6 to 7 smoother, enabling students to progress with ease and achieve to the best of their ability.

Our Design and Technology Department has recently run a successful link project with Beavers Primary School’s year 5 pupils. This project was collaboratively designed specifically to stretch the pupils through more time focused on the key stage 3 model of curriculum delivery using, key words, concepts and practices that are secondary centric but seamlessly integrate and bridge the gap from primary topics.

The delivery is through an initial design brief link to a current topic, started by year 5 pupils at their school with an introduction of

the brief, the aims of what is needed and breaking the tasks into separate elements, beginning with research followed by designing onto paper then making working prototypes, in this case aeroplanes. These models were then brought to Cranford to test using compressed air as the propulsion. This gives the students valuable feedback from all the different designs tested which is then discussed before re-designing and incorporating a secondary workshop practical element.

Pupils are divided into teams and work together guided by secondary DT teachers and students for the making stage.

They are encouraged to combine the best of their designs with the use of new materials, tools and techniques. The final session held at Cranford Community College culminated in teams testing their new designs and competing for certificates in the categories of best design, best engineering, best teamwork and best distance.

This collaborative project was a great success and helped the Primary Staff and year 5 pupils gain a deeper insight into the main stages of the design process and delivery at key stage 3 which they are able to take back to their school to use the techniques and concepts to enrich their own DT projects.

Marcus Foat (ADT Department)

MACC,

22

The Sutton Scholars’ Programme

The

Sutton Scholars’ programme was created to engage the top 5% of students across London in interdisciplinary learning at a university level. Six of Cranford’s brightest year 7 students were selected amongst thousands of students across London to take part in this one year programme where they will be attending lectures and workshops on moral philosophy, astro physics, neuro science, art history and anthropology. The scholars’ programme is designed to inspire and encourage our students to realise they are capable of attending one of the top universities in the world.

I’m very much looking forward to taking part in the scholarship programme and was so proud of our students on our first official visit to University College London (UCL).

Katie Hibbins (High Achievers teacher)

The Living Rainforest

On

Thursday 27th June 2013, Cranford Community College was represented by our finalists Suhur Mohamed, year 9 and Hamza Mohamed, year 8, at the annual International Essay Competition hosted by The Living Rainforest in Berkshire.

Competitors from around the world arrived to debate international sustainability issues and to discover the Grand Prize Winner of the 2013 competition. This year’s contest was fierce with a total of 891 entries. Cranford achieved two honourable recognitions. Suraiya Baig and Carmen Gaur, year 9, in addition to our two finalists. This was a great accolade for the school to have attained in our first year of entry. Hamza Mohamed however managed to reach greater heights by being awarded a merit resulting in a top 5 finish internationally.

This is a superb achievement and both pupils who attended the day represented Cranford Community College and the United Kingdom to the highest standard showing great insight into current world issues and showcasing their debating talents. Congratulations to them all.

Matt Southern - Myers and Katie Hibbins (High Achievers teachers)

Me and Climate Change

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In

March 2013 the Year 12 Drama A’ Level group put on three outstanding productions for their year 12 exam. “Look Back in Anger”, an iconic British play by John Osborne, tells the story of the complex and intertwined lives of the three central characters, Jimmy and Alison Porter and Cliff Lewis, living together in a small flat in northern England in the fifties. Their lives are changed forever when Alison’s actress friend Helena comes to stay. This play, when first performed, changed the face of British theatre. It was the first play to ever deal with real life “domestic” drama and the human struggle in Fifties Britain. This production, directed by Barry Bray , Head of Creative and Media Faculty, captured the mood of the era and the real sense of loss through stunning performances by Ashwini Mandalia as Alison, Jay Gohil as Cliff , Harpreet Maden as Helena and George Streather as the “angry young man”. Jimmy Porter.

By contrast, the production of “Kvetch” by Stephen Berkoff, a humorous and bittersweet comedy about other people’s suffering and anxiety used double casting and fast pace dialogue to make the audience laugh out loud at the characters and their all too familiar worries and fears. “Kvetch “(which literally means to complain) is a non- naturalistic play about Frank, (Karan Veerd), and his unappreciated wife Donna’s (Anjnee Makwana) loveless marriage and how they deal with the various anxieties in their lives and the situations and characters who contribute to those anxieties; Hal, Frank’s Business partner, George, Donna’s lover and Donna’s aged mother who has no social graces and causes complete embarrassment for the family. The talented ensemble cast of seven tackled the huge demands of this very stylized play with real skill. Directed by their Drama teacher Deepak Bahra, the group were justifiably thrilled with the audience’s very positive response. The success of this performance was wholly due to every cast member, including Inderpreet Bhupall, Summar Hunjan, Harveer Jutla, Sathma Nugera and Priya Gill working as a team.

The third and probably most thought provoking production directed by drama teacher Tracey Chapman, was the play “Extremities” by William Mastrosimone. Set in a room, a young woman, Marjorie, is attacked in her home by a would-be rapist, Raul, and manages to turn the tables on him, tying him up in her fireplace. Her house mates come home to discover the attacker bound with cords, belts and other household items. The play deals with various issues including the central issue of how society views the crime of rape.

The intensity of the plot twists and turns. Each character argues as to whether they should dispose of Raul or not and weigh up the consequences if they were to go through with it. The character of Raul, played menacingly well by River Journet held the audience attention throughout as he begged and pleaded for his life and freedom. The role of Marjorie and her two house mates, Terry and Patricia were shared by Alice Thompson, Mandeep Brar, and Gurminder Mann, who equally captured the audience attention by keeping them guessing as to which way the decision, would go.

The final twist at the end made the outcome of the play all too shocking.

There is no doubt that the quality and standard of theatre produced by this year group is equal to work of many professional companies and has set the standard for groups to come.

Barry Bray (Head of Creative and Media faculty) 24

Horizons Project The Horizons Project is a free project, run by The Film and Video Workshop and Tribal Education, aimed at helping our potentially NEET year 10 and year 11 students stay engaged and excited with the learning process by adding to the school’s own programme to prevent them becoming NEET during, or on leaving, school. The project was run over a year in two parts; the animation project followed by 1:1 support, advice and guidance from the advisors every half term.

The students gave very positive feedback from the animation course and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The level of concentration they demonstrated was a credit to them and they fully engaged themselves with the project. The finished films were extremely honest and what they achieved in the time scale was very impressive indeed. Two students who took part in the project said of their experience; “I thought it was a fantastic opportunity and helped me think about things overall and I think that it was brilliant”.

“The thing that I liked about the programme was that I got advice on what career options I could choose and how to achieve my goals. Another reason why I liked the programme was because it gave me advice on how to get better grades and it worked”.

Seeing these young people so focused and committed to this project made me very proud, especially when hosting the awards ceremony in May 2013 to present them with their well- deserved certificates and vouchers.

Charlotte Meek (Curriculum Development Coordinator)

World Challenge 2014

World Challenge is an adventure. Fifteen year 9 and 10 students along with Ms Hibbins, their World Challenge leader, will be going to Morocco in summer 2014 to work in a local community and teach children in a local school to improve their life chances. The idea is that we will work together doing projects and running sponsorship events to raise all of our money to get there… £24,000 to be exact. Such an adventure will give our students life skills which go beyond those skills gained in the classroom and that are recognised worldwide by all Universities.

We have already begun our sponsorship programme by creating and selling cakes at the Cranford Festival and Mr Prunty has agreed to support us in promoting a range of fund raising opportunities over the next year.

Katie Hibbins (World Challenge leader) 25

Teacher Intervention Days 2012/2013

has seen an explosion of exciting educational opportunities during the eight Targeted Intervention (TI) Days; from Innovations Day in November 2012 to Step Up Day in July 2013. they have provided students with stimulating activities. The aim of TI days is to provide a variety of diverse sessions for our students including; identifying students in need of additional support within subjects to allow them to reach their full potential; developing additional learning opportunities to enrich curriculum learning and to enable access to off-site learning.

The eight TI days have been scheduled throughout the school year to maximise learning at key times and a spread of days.

Subjects have used the time to offer individual students a bespoke learning experience that enhances their normal timetable working as individuals, small groups, and whole year groups as required.

Targeted Intervention activities this year have included: Subject Based Support • UK Mathematics Trust Team Challenge • Skills development in areas such as Fine Art and textiles • Focus on getting A/A* in subjects • Filming Skills Personal Development • Relationship education • Team building • Raising Achievement discussions with tutors • Careers advice and guidance Visiting Sessions • Visits from examiners • Gothic tales writing workshop • Motivational speakers • Hounslow Community FoodBox Competition Off Site Visits • Cambridge University Music Project • London Aquarium and Ecology International Schools Essay Competition • UCAS fair • Kingswood Residential ICT Trip • Duke of Edinburgh Expedition • National History Museum • Accenture Global Management Consultancy The school is using this time in increasingly imaginative ways to ensure students have the best possible education.

Students have had opportunities of working with outside organisations such as Cambridge University Orchestra and ecology experts from the London Aquarium. This programme has developed students skills beyond the traditional lesson programme and has proved to be an invaluable initiative.

WATERMANS PROJECT

D

uring the second half of the Summer Term 2013, a group of year 8 and year 9 students have been involved in a WFactor project entitled “Re-Union”. “Re-Union” is a joint project between London Borough of Hounslow, Watermans Theatre, a group of performance poets and film-makers from Hiatus. and Cranford Community College. The aim of the project was for 33 young people aged 12 -13 to be able to voice their opinions about what it is like to be a young person growing up in Hounslow and some of the challenges they face. The project used the medium of creative writing and film making to allow the young people to express their feelings.

Students chose the themes they wished to develop which ranged from stereotyping to conflict and groups created poems and films which were performed to an invited audience at the Watermans Theatre on the 15th July. The Re-Union project built on the work Cranford Community College did with the London Borough of Hounslow on the Step Up project which was aimed at 16 -18 year olds. Both projects aim to develop a stronger community and will be used to develop further projects across Hounslow which promote community cohesion.

Rob Ind (Senior Teacher-Pastoral) and Alan Fraser (Assistant Headteacher)

• “If I see someone judging someone else I would say… look at yourself first before judging anyone”

• “Stick up for people who are being stereotyped” • “You should be who you are and be confident” • “Don’t judge someone by just looking at them and their appearance”

Kevin Biggs, Maria Bramhall, Rita Berndt (Raising Attainment and Realistic Aspirations team) 26

• “Ask before you assume”

Twilight Master Chef’s Show Culinary Skills

S

tudents from the Twilight school show their culinary skills by creating a delicious lunch for themselves and their staff. Delicious Nachos, milkshakes and fresh fruit salad and cream create a mouth-watering feast, as good as at any restaurant.

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Year 11 students showcase their work at the V&A and Somerset House

T

hree talented students from Cranford Community College showcased their creative designs in major art exhibitions at both the V&A Museum and Somerset House.

Imran Noorabdul, Jade Cook and Mariam Saleh each committed to the National Art & Design Saturday Club (NA&DSC) by attending regular workshops at the University of West London. The work they produced culminated in the Summer Show at the impressive central London venue of Somerset House. As well as attending 30 weeks of inspiring classes in areas ranging from drawing and sculpture to printmaking and stop-frame animation, Club members visited London’s best museums and galleries. Students exhibited their own work at the V&A museum and were also given the opportunity to attend an inspirational Master class with one of the UK’s foremost designers. The Master class was run by the design duo who make up the design group APFEL (A Practice For Everyday Life).

The final exhibition took place at Somerset House between Tuesday 28 May and Wednesday 5 June 2013. The Exhibition was hosted by Sir John and Lady Sorrell and sponsored by Department of Education, the Arts Council England and the Tate Gallery to name just a few. The exhibition was opened by Sir John Sorrell and Edward Vaizey the UK Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries.

Linda Newcombe lecturer at the university commended students on their ability to adapt and said they had become more confident in themselves.

‘Some of the less confident club members are beginning to find a new force within their work and personality as they find less restrictive parameters’.

Linda also commended staff at Cranford Community College ‘I wanted to say how impressive it has been to see you attend so many of our Saturday Club events. You are so very dedicated to your students and have gone over and above the call of duty to help them to feel at ease. Your presence with us has been especially noted by the University and the Sorrell Foundation. Your actions have been highly praised, and other clubs wish to have teachers like you in their schools. It is so important that your work, enthusiasm and effort are recognised, particularly when you give up freely so much of your own personal time to support your students and therefore the Sorrell Foundation and the University of West London.’

This has been an exceptional experience for our students as they were able to exhibit work at the V&A and Somerset House which is something most emerging artists only dream about. I believe that the Sorrell Foundation has helped our students to access opportunities that would have not been available to them otherwise. The opportunities that have arisen through the National Saturday Art Club have been invaluable. The practice has raised the confidence of our students and has added to our SMSC value. This has been an experience that our students will always remember and has also helped them to gain excellent life skills. I am very proud that our students have committed to it and given up their spare time- it was definitely worth it.

Pirmjeet Mehay (Second in Charge Art, Design & Technology Department)

Royal Academy visit

D

uring our TI day on Tuesday 9th July 2013 a group of 14 A Level Art and Technology students went on a trip to the Royal Academy Summer 2013 exhibition in london. Attending the Summer Exhibition was a fantastic opportunity to not only gain inspiration but admire the surrounding artwork for its intrinsic wonders. The exhibition presented refreshing artwork (mainly contemporary) consisting of, architecture models, fine arts and tapestry. The general theme of the exhibition was an abstract daze bursting with colours, textures and structures. The majority of the artwork was also up for sale, as young artists who may look into ‘art dealing’ as a future career option, found this experience gratifying as we were able to pick up the methods of indicating price ranges for various pieces of art. All in all it was a rewarding day filled with beaming sunshine and innovative artwork. Everyone delighted with the trip and we all returned home before dark feeling refreshed for our A2 year ahead. We look forward to more successful visits to galleries and exhibitions in the future.

We would also like to thank Ms Qureshi and Ms Jaura for all their hard work in taking us on lots of trips this year!

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Jad Greisaty (year 12)

A Midsummers Night Dream Exhibition 2013

The

sun shone brightly and the fairies made an appearance in the Enchanted Forest during the Art and Design Technology Exhibition. The Exhibition was held in the Conservation area on July 11th 2013 as a celebration of the work undertaken by exam students from year 11, 12 and 13. The theme of this year’s exhibition was clearly linked to the creative work produced by ADT students, inspired by ideas related to nature.

Among the work featured impressive A level textiles work by Kirandeep Johal, Neeha Kapoor and Amanjit Kaur. Year 11 ceramic work was more explorative and tactile and the quality of final 2D pieces displayed the continued skill and commitment of students across the years. The year 11 Product Design work has developed year on year with the playful children’s toy project and this year was no exception. The year 12 lighting project showed creativity and functionality with direct links to the industry. Use of media exploration this year has clearly been fundamental in the process of work.

Students, parents and staff attended the exhibition and commented on the quality of work that had been produced. The setting clearly made it an event to remember as many commented on how well the pieces intermingled with the natural surroundings.

The fairies guided visitors around the exhibition and made it feel special. There was a celebration of work with the awarding of certificates to students who were very proud of their achievements.

Ruby Qureshi (Head of Art Design and Technology & Pirmjeet Mehay Second in Charge Art Design and Technology)

“I am really proud of the work that the students have produced, there was a strong sense of work evolving this year. Staff and students have worked exceptionally hard to help students to achieve their potential”.

“It is all very impressive, I can see that my child has learnt a lot of skills and is now a more confident person because of the course”.

“You always support my child and he thinks a lot of the teachers, it shows in the work he has done”.

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Cranford Physical Education Students Racing to Success

The

Year 7 and 8 Borough Athletics took place on Wednesday 26th June 2013.

We started with an immediate win, as year 7 student Aleksandra Nastyn took 1st place in the first race; 75m hurdles. This was quickly followed by another success- Steven Keen in year 7 was 2nd in his Hurdles race. This was matched by Ella Welch also taking 2nd place in her Year 8 hurdles final and Year 7 Davinder Gill coming first in his high jump competition.

Davinder continued his successful morning by achieving 3rd place in the 800m, and Armela Dukhaj maintained the year 7 successes by winning the javelin competition. It was already a good day for Cranford Community College, with only a few events completed.

Abbie McFerran in year 7 came 1st in her 100m heat, securing herself a place in the finals at the end of the day, Yassin Okaoko replicated this in his heat. Year 8 were not to be overshadowed, and Kulbir and Tawos both came 3rd in their heats, unfortunately Tawos losing his place in the finals due to disqualification. However, he quickly made up for his mistake, coming 1st in the javelin competition. Finals began, and Abdul in year 7 managed a respectable 2nd in his 300m race, year 8’s Bruno managing 4th in a fast 200m race. The girls kept up their successful streak, with Abbie and Harkiran both coming 3rd in the 100m and 200m finals respectively.

Year 9 and 10 students represented Cranford Community College’s Physical Education Department at the Borough Athletics on Wednesday 3rd July 2013 and were superb.

There were school records broken and winning positions left right and centre throughout the day. Cranford’s students started on a high when Ryan year 9 won the high jump clearing 1.55 meters. This gave the Athletics Squad a high to continue on their winning path. Kevin, year 10, raced a fantastic bend for the 400m and came flying down the home straight to overtake 2 other students and finish 2nd. We moved onto the heats for the 100 metres with hopes high for Shonagh year 9 and Maria (year 10). Both finished their races in fantastic times and in 1st place to qualify for the finals, in the finals Shonagh came 1st in an amazing 13.9 seconds and Maria finished 2nd in 14.0 seconds. The cheers from Cranford students were naturally loud. Next came the hurdles where Connor year 10 stormed through to finish 3rd. When Nia year 9 stood up to represent us for the first time he looked confident and did it show in the race! He flew through the 200m to finish 1st in the heat and looked confident for the final. He finished the 200 m final in 25.2 seconds in 1st place. By the end of the day Cranford were looking confident for the relay races and pumped up to put us back on the map for sports in Hounslow. The year 9 girls started slowly but built up speed around the track to finish 2nd. The year 9 boys stormed the race and dominated it throughout; they finished in 1st place in 50.4 seconds.

There are so many more results to see, if you are interested in the times and the students who represented us look on the boards in the Physical Education Department and follow us on Twitter for up to date results for all matches and events.

The PE Department 30

N

ational Schools Sports Week ran from Monday 24th to Friday 28th June 2013. This year the Physical Education department wanted to deliver as many different sporting opportunities as possible in one week. We were lucky enough to have some of our own dedicated staff take time out and deliver sessions alongside coaches from the RFU, Indian Gymkhana, Select Academy and Coerver Coaching. To add some extra competition every day after school year group athletics inter-forms were organised.

Great Britain Long Jump Champion and Sky Sports Ambassador JJ Jegede visits Cranford

T

ogether with Sky Sports “Living For Sports” campaign Cranford Community College are working with 28 key stage 4 students to enable them to build upon key areas in sport to achieve their very best during their school years and beyond. The Physical Education Department decided to work with students to develop their leadership skills and their self-esteem, communication, organisation and presentation skills. The students meet once per week and work on either practical tasks or theory based activities to help them plan and review their work.

“I really enjoyed and liked the week because it was different”. George Stanford (year 8) “It was a great experience and I hope I get to do this again”. Coerver coaching - Mubashir Hashi (year 8 ) “It was really fun and I learnt new skills like a left hook”. Boxing - Mustafa Mohamed (year 7) “It was really good because I learnt new dance moves and we had a big dance off at the end”. Zumba - Cristiana Oliviera (year 7)

The Sky Sports “Living for Sports” campaign gave Cranford Community College access to a mentor who came into the school on Friday 24th May 2013, GB Long Jump Champion and Sky Sports Ambassador JJ Jegede. During this visit JJ Jegede launched the Cranford Sports Leadership Programme aiming to inspire current students in key stage 4 to develop sporting interests and increase enthusiasm for sport across the school. Our aim is to increase enjoyment in physical activity and help students understand the importance of a healthy active life style which can be achieved in more ways than just playing sport. With JJ’s guidance and support we want pupils across the whole school, that use sport as a vital tool in their life, to develop important character traits, physically, mentally, and socially. It is well known that being involved in sport not only allows you to be healthier but improves the ability to perform more effectively in the classroom.

“The cricket was really good and we learnt new skills and it was nice to have a professional coach”. Cricket - Aadil Awan (year 8)

We are discovering that sports leaders are able to connect with their peers. JJ used his experiences, as an athlete to inspire the sports leaders and teach them practical activities which they can take forward. This will hopefully lead to dramatically increasing the participation rates in sport across the school.

“The coaches made it fun and exciting with really good games and at the same time learnt so many things about rugby”. Rugby Charlie Green and Juhi Kumra (year 7)

The students involved in this initiative have already begun working with Cranford feeder primary schools on Wednesday afternoons helping to run mini sports events for key stage 2. The feedback received, not only from the staff but from the pupils and the leaders themselves, was phenomenal. Staff at the primary schools were amazed at how relaxed and organised the Cranford sports leaders were and how well the pupils took to having older students run and lead their events.

“I really enjoyed it because it was completely different to what we normally do in PE and I learnt lots of different cool tricks”. Circus Aaron Hook (year 7)

Anita Fiddes (PE department) 31

Year 10

Sports Leadership

“I write to congratulate the Sports Leaders from Cranford Community College who worked with me at the Hounslow Primary Schools Tennis Festival at Dukes Meadows Tennis Centre, Chiswick last Wednesday.

500 children from 48 Hounslow primary schools gathered at Dukes Meadows to participate in a tennis t o u r n a m e n t t h a t c o v e re d 6 0 8 individual matches during the day.

The children, helpers and invited guests also took part in a Guinness World Record (GWR) attempt during the morning. The logistics of the day were extremely complex and its success relied upon great team work from staff and Leaders alike.

This

summer a group of 30 students, including myself were chosen to become sports leaders. This means that every week on a Wednesday afternoon, we go off to primary schools or big tournaments for sports like tennis and either umpire or teach various sports. As sports leaders we get coached on what we need to do in order to get the job done right. Our coach is Pete Lamas and working with him is a privilege.

In the beginning, when we first found out what our role was and what being a sports leader is, it sounded boring and uninteresting. However my opinions changed as time went on. We got into the physical aspects of it and we all grew to really enjoy it. When we first went to teach the children at Springwell Junior, it was the most nerve-wracking and confusing thing ever. In the beginning we all were so disorganised and had no clue to what was going on half the time.

Despite this, as the weeks went on, we’ve managed to become better at what we do. We’re organised, spot on for timing and the children feel comfortable & enjoy themselves.

I’ve developed a range of skills including; teaching, communicating with different age groups I don’t normally talk too. I’m able to talk to a big group of people, audibly and with confidence.

So far we’ve gone to primary schools and taught children from the age group of 5-11 year olds. We are soon going off to a tennis festival where we will be umpiring all the competitions, and on that same day we will be entering a Guinness World Record event.

The experience so far has been amazing.

I’ve been able to meet people like JJ Jegede, Great Britain’s long jump athlete and London’s very own personal trainer.

I’ve taught children sports and encouraged them to be active. I know the amount of exercise people, especially children are doing is not enough. As a sports leader it is our duty to make people aware of how important a healthy lifestyle is.

Overall, being a sports leader has helped me experience things that I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do, for example things, such as teaching, coaching and being in charge of big events that go on around the country.

32

Keziah David (year 10)

The Sports Leaders from Cranford Community College had a number of important duties to perform including meeting & greeting schools and guests, distributing water & racquets to all participants, monitoring the number of people entering / leaving the centre (GWR requirement), monitoring the actual World Record attempt and importantly umpiring the tennis matches.

They set about their tasks in a professional, mature and responsible manner and demonstrated initiative and common sense when faced with any difficult situations throughout the day. They undertook their duties with interest and enthusiasm and asserted themselves when difficult decisions had to be made whilst umpiring during the tennis tournament.

The Sports Leaders interaction with the young people was one of the highlights of the day and I have received many positive comments from schools praising their overall commitment and efforts to make the event such a great success. They were great ambassadors for Cranford Community College.

I would be grateful if you could pass on my thanks and congratulations to the Leaders and David Box from Sport Impact and the hundreds of children who had a memorable and amazing day”.

Regards, Pete Lammas (Event Co-ordinator - Sport Impact)

Cranford’s Potential Rio Olympian 2016

M

y name is Shonagh WoodburnHall, and I am 14 years old and I have taken up the sport of weightlifting. I have been doing this sport for about two years and I am a British Champion and British Schools Champion. I am currently on my way to getting through to national team.

I first started lifting when I was 11 years old. I got into the sport because I use to play rugby so I was very strong and gradually moved into weightlifting. I also won a best lifter trophy when I was 12 years old. Since I have been lifting, it has changed me discipline wise and mentally but I have had to sacrifice a lot to achieve this, such as going out with my friends. I would miss out on a lot of fun things, but this is what I choose to do if I want to succeed. My aim as well as my dream is to compete in Rio 2016 and to do this, I have to make the sacrifices.

I currently train in Greenford which is just about an hour and a half away from where I live and I also train in Feltham which is not too far. I train 4 – 5 times a week as well as doing extra training at home. I am also a coach with one of my team members. We coach together at the gym in Feltham on Mondays.

I am very happy with all the results I have had in weightlifting and hope to carry on to reach Rio 2016.

Shonagh Woodburn-Hall (year 9)

On

the 18th June 2013, myself and I went with boys from year 7, 8, 9 and 10 went to Lords International Stadium to watch a professional cricket game with Mr. Rattu and Mr. Wain. When we arrived we met the Middlesex mascot. We saw the players practising including Australian Captain Michael Clarke. We then went to our seats to watch the game. We all had great fun sharing jokes and supporting both teams on a lovely summer’s day. We also had a tour of Lords Cricket Museum and got to see the famous Ashes Urn! It was a memorable trip to Lords.’

Vignesh Kannan (year 8) 33

Year 11

Record of Achievement and PROM 2013

After

much anticipation the night had arrived. Year 11 students had been waiting excitedly for their Record of Achievement and Prom which was held on Thursday 4th July 2013. The evening started with the Record of Achievement event, a celebration of five years at Cranford to invited guests, staff and parents. Students arrived; girls looking glam and boys looking handsome in their suits, all looking so grown up. The support by parents was over whelming and the Concert Hall was bursting at the seams. Kevin Prunty, Executive Headteacher began the evening with another award winning speech and then straight onto the entertainment, performed by Rebecca Green and Abinav Bhattachan singing “Everything has changed”. This was followed by the formal part of the evening, the presentation of the ROA Folders. The students were fantastic, cheering each other on and I know their parents were full of pride and happiness to see their child on the stage receiving recognition for their time at Cranford Community College.

After the presentations, and a dance performance by the girls, the speeches followed by myself and Ms O’Grady and finally an outstanding video which really sums up the fantastic staff here at Cranford and their affection for the year group.

With ROA completed, there was a mad dash with changing outfits and then over to the Riverside Venue for the Prom.

OMG! The girls looked spectacular in their prom dresses and the boys looked so great in their suits. The night was then literally danced away with every student on the dance floor grooving on down to the sounds of Paragon. There was even a dance off between the girls/boys and am I am pretty sure the girls won that one.

The teacher dance off between myself and Mr Singh was definitely won by me.

Our very own Prom King Pavan Sharma and Queen Raela Tomas were crowned and tutor group awards were presented to students by tutors.

Class of 2013 you did me proud you all united as one that evening and are all charming, intelligent and beautiful young people.

Yasmeen Ashfaq (year 11 - Year Manager)

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Hats Off On Wednesday 22nd May 2013 we said farewell to our year 13 students with a wonderful formal presentation event followed by an evening of dancing and fun. Parents, staff, students and members of the Academy Board Trust all came together to enjoy this evening of reflection; for many, seven years and for some, two years of amazing education at Cranford .

The evening as always was a celebration including two lovely performances by the Bhangra dance group and a solo piece by Saujanya Natarajan. It gave an opportunity for the students to thank staff for all their hard work but it was also an opportunity for the Head of Year, Ms Patel to talk about her year group and her hopes for them for the future. But for one person, Ms Knights, this was an

to

Year 13 -2013evening or real emotion having been the year manager for so many for seven years. She spoke of her love for them and how much she would miss them and in true Ms Knight’s style, she made it very clear what her expectations are of all of them for the future.

During the evening, Mr Prunty, Executive Headteacher presented every student with an achievement scroll in recognition of their graduating to the next stage of their life and spoke of his pride in being able to share this special evening with year 13 and his hopes for them in the future.

We wish Year 13 2013 well in whatever they do in the future and hope they will ensure they join Cranford’s Alumni and keep us informed about their progress.

Jessica Joyce (Event Organiser)

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Hounslow Borough RE Conference 2013 Year 12 students attended a Borough RE conference held at Lampton High School. The theme of the Conference was; Is God needed in the 21st Century?

It is argued that society has evolved and become more rational. We learnt many unusual facts such as; how Heavy Metal and Jedi Knights are considered as established belief systems. We also had the opportunity to mingle with students from other schools during the workshops, one of them revolving around the concept of whether God is needed in today’s economy. The time spent was enlightening and aided us to improve our critical thinking for our RE A ‘Level.

Najma Hassan (year 12)

6th Form RE Conference 2013 I found the sixth form RE Conference held at Cranford Community College in June a fun and new way to learn about the different views and opinions about events both past and current. What I personally found most memorable were the workshops setup and organised by students where my views were consistently being challenged, which helped me to understand views I had not previously considered. We were also given the opportunity to question teachers about particular belief systems ranging from the major world religions to Atheism and Agnosticism and it was of great interest to hear how the teachers responded to questions about terrorism, whether religion is something simply created as a means of social control and why they believed what they believed.

Akash Mair (year 12)

A Level Religious Studies theatre trip to “Les Miserables” The Sixth Form Philosophy and Ethics theatre trip to watch Les Misérables was definitely a memorable one. The play questions absolute morality and conflicting laws with its theme of fighting against oppression. This was hugely helpful for both year 12 and 13 students in our study of Ethical Theories.

It also proved to be a valuable history lesson for us, as it is set during the French Revolution which provided us with key contextual knowledge of Merold Westphal’s essay who refers to the Age of Enlightenment and considers why many Deists at the time proposed a new morality-based religion as the backdrop of religious warfare and conflict in Europe, similar to the French Revolution. The evening was also culturally enriching as for many of us it was our first theatre experience and we were privileged to see the much talked about production. The performance itself had us in awe and was commended with a standing ovation from us all as it was visually impressive and the execution by the actors was stunning. The whole experience was an extremely enjoyable and insightful one and we thank Miss Yousaf for putting it together.

Kamaljit Puwar (year 13)

Step Up Youth Conferences Attending all three Step Up Youth Conferences, two at Cranford Community College and one held at Lampton school, has given me and others to have an insight into the world today; there were workshops ranging from what are the alternatives to violent radicalisation linked to how we can affect British Foreign Policy to the Qur’an and feminism. We were asked to consider how we can change the society we live in for the better, as well as reflecting on some beneficial religious teachings which remind us to turn back to morality and justice. Listening to a variety of speakers ranging from members of the US embassy to news reporters, I now have a broader understanding of the society and world we live in. In meeting and interacting with others I was able to consider views that I had not previously considered as well as consolidating my own ideas. These Step Up Youth Conferences have been enlightening and a pleasure to take part in, something I would definitely advise someone to attend as it was informative and interesting.

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Susan Adam (year 12)

The

Year 12

Higher Education and Careers Day

Year 12 Higher Education and Careers day took place on Friday 28th June 2013. Students attended a number of different workshops and received advice from experts about student life and finance, how to write your personal statement, and choosing your course. In addition there were specialist sessions on applying to Oxbridge and other top universities, and information about foundation degrees and volunteering.

For those thinking about not going to university there were workshops covering employability and interview skills, CV writing and apprenticeships, and a speed networking event where students were able to chat to a wide range of local employers to find out about their work. For the more adventurous students there were also talks on taking a gap year and studying overseas.

Cath Goold (Careers Coordinator)

“I received a lot of useful information from this workshop and helped me understand how I will need to budget my money when I go to university”.

“It was helpful because it taught me about how confident you have to be at interviews and what sort of attitude you have to have at an interview”.

“Very useful, gained a clear insight on what to include in a personal statement”.

“This workshop was really helpful because I never knew about the different things I could choose to do during a gap year that will help other people as well as myself”.

“I got a better and realistic insight to what student life at university will be like, and how I will have to manage things”.

Year 12

Monopoly Challenge 2013 Our Amazing Day Out

On

Monday 15th July 2013, year 12 students set off on the Monopoly Challenge for their DREAM Rewards Day. Ms Suri briefed the year group and set out the rules. Some initial scepticism about how they were going to get around London and be back by 3.00pm, let alone find all the clues and collect all the photos seemed to dampen their enthusiasm but with the chance of winning a free Nandos meal, it soon changed their views and they embarked on the challenge ahead with energy and determination. One by one, the tutor groups set off (according to the number of DREAM points they had accumulated during the year) to prove they are the best and win the prize.

Everyone said they had an amazing day out as the photos suggest. Unfortunately not all the tasks were achieved but everyone made a brave attempt to get round the board and get back to school without being penalised.

The points were awarded and the winning tutor group 12Z with their tutor Ms Lodge will enjoy the prize of dinner at Nandos in the very near future.

Kuljit Suri (Head of Year 12) 37

Talented year 8 artist Shabnam Zadran shares her wonderful art work

A Dream Day T

hursday 18th July 2013 saw another successful DREAM points rewards day with a record 10 different activities arranged. Exciting new trips to London Dungeons, Madame Tussauds and LaserQuest joined old favourites Thorpe Park and Brighton and much fun was had by all (even in 32 degree temperatures!)

Students who achieved most DREAM points over the year got first choice and the vast majority spent the day off site, with Coral Reef waterpark particularly popular given the weather. Everyone got a reward though and the students who stayed at school participated in Robot Races and flew around the new BMX track under the instruction of champion biker Rob Reed.

Special mentions to Ms Hibbins for her fully clothed swimming in Brighton and to all the Heads of Year for all their hard work in organising such a fantastic day.

We can’t wait until next year.

Rob Ind (Senior Teacher Pastoral)

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Aviation without Borders A

viation without borders is a charity that usually works with disabled children for a day, but this year, 20 students from my year group (year 8) were given a unique opportunity of a ‘flight’ day trip to White Waltham Airport. We received an amazing and educational talk on flying by Stan the pilot and; we all enjoyed a 30 minute flight in a light aircraft followed by light lunch.

Aviation without Borders is a local charity. I had the most exciting experience that I have ever had on a plane. I was concerned at first that maybe we were not going to be able to fly because of poor weather and that I would have been missing my lessons for a small talk about flying, but the weather was great so we managed to fly in the plane and when you got to a certain altitude you felt as if you had left your stomach behind.

Wednesday 19th June 2013, was one of the most magnificent days ever. On the coach I took plenty of pictures of myself and the view, because I wanted to have plenty to remember and to show to my family and friends. We were astonished by the amount of planes, which only had 4 seats all in one place.

There were only two planes which stood out in my eyes; one was an antique green plane with a gold and red stripe on the side with a yellow star. The second plane was a glistening, metallic blue plane that was doing acrobatics in the air, such as: the loop to loop, the canon ball, nose-dive and many more tricks that I have no idea of how to describe. I asked; “Are we going to be doing those as well?” luckily the answer was “No”.

Once we got off the coach we were introduced to the activities and given specific instructions about where we could go and how far we could go, so that no-one was injured or accidents. We waited for 2-3 hours for our turn to fly on the plane.

During that time Stan spoke to us about the different parts of the plane i.e. wings, tail, lights, flaps etc. He even gave us a demonstration and told us “If you are driving a car at 30mph and you stick your arm out the window as high and as straight as you can and tuck your thumb in, you can feel the force of the wind lifting your arm up and that is how the flaps work on the planes. Don’t try this at home you might break an arm.” After the talk we had our go on the plane it was really amazing and fun. The view from up in the clouds was dreamy and I even saw a school playing football, which was awesome. When me and Louise got back to earth we had lunch and we were thanked for coming and then Stan gave us some certificates.

I really had fun and wish I could go there again, because it was an unforgettable experience and I loved every second of it. I loved flying in the air and thanks to this educational visit and all the information we were given I believe that I might have a future in aviation and if I don’t turn out to have my dream job then I hope to be someone important in aviation. I took the most amazing pictures and videos and my family and friends were so proud of me. In conclusion, I believe that the Aviation without Borders Smiling Wing Day is one of the best charities I have ever heard of and I hope they carry on the great work and get as many donations as they need to never stop doing what they do best.

Jessica Atouguia (year 8)

“Overall, the day was a great experience. It opened my eyes just how difficult the job of a pilot is and the amount of responsibility they have. This experience has made me want a career as a pilot and has given me an idea of what it’d be like”.

Sharan Khroad (year 8)

“Aviation without Borders was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. It was a once in a life time opportunity to be able to take a flight in a small aircraft and even get to control it myself with no fees. The day was buzzing and all the pilots were incredibly friendly and patient with every one’s questions.

We learnt a lot about the air-craft’s features and how they impact on the flight. The day was marvellous and I would love to do it again”.

Suraiya Baig (year 8) “After waiting patiently it was finally my turn. I and Ramash were walking towards the aircraft. My heart was beating like a drum, I didn’t know what to expect. Also I was a little bit nervous. Then I finally I got in the aircraft, which was very small, but good for 4 people.

I had to wear a headset, because of the loud noise. The aircraft started moving around the field. As the pilot told us we are going up, I had butterflies in my stomach. We were up in the air, and the view was absolutely gorgeous. It was so breath-taking, that I thought I was dreaming.

After I came back down, I was upset that it was finished, but thankful for this great experience.

It was unbelievably amazing. It was one of the best days in my entire life. Without Mrs Kolahatkar this would not have happened”.

Zala Amir (year 8)

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T

hrough Wednesday afternoon’s Wfactor, the Conservation Area Regeneration project led by Ms Prunty and Mr Harris is already showing signs of progress. Students from across the school are taking up their spades and wheel barrows to help dig, clear and replant in the hope it will encourage new wildlife to take up residence. This area will continue to provide a great resource for various learning opportunities for the whole school community to enjoy.

Jack Petchey Awards 2013

It

is always such a wonderful evening at the Paul Robeson Theatre to see Cranford Community College students recognised for their outstanding achievements. Tuesday 25th June 2013 was no exception. Kevin Prunty Headteacher and I were enormously proud listening to the amazing list of why our students had been nominated and seeing their smiling faces as they received their award.

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Cranford’s Conservation Area sees new

life

The Adult Award this year went to Julie Prunty who runs reprographics and the school shop but in reality does so much more. She has been recognised by her colleagues for being so supportive and for always offering to help everybody.

All the prize winners received money to invest in something for the school Congratulations to: Chelsea Ann Cook, Isabella Bruno ,Sameer Monir, Kyle Powell, Khalid Butt and Tupeka Sacdev.

Simon Dean (Assistant Headteacher)

The Jamie’s Farm Experience

Two

trips to ‘Jamie’s Farm’ have run this year introducing 23 students from year 7 year 10 to the pleasures (and perils) of life in the country by promoting family, fun and therapy and experiencing the true lifestyle of living and working on a farm.

Through hands-on experience the students learnt to understand the various demands and challenges involved in looking after and caring for livestock.

These trips have been hugely enjoyable for staff and students alike, who have all fully engaged in the spirit of the week long adventures and tried all manner of new things from tractor driving and herding cattle, to delivering this year ’s springtime lambs.

The school would like to thank all the students and staff involved, as well as the lovely folk at Jamie’s Farm for the amazing adventures they have had and all the new friends made along the way… including those with four legs..

Rob Ind (Senior Teacher Pastoral) 41

On

Friday 19th July 2013, a sizzling hot summer’s day, the school applauded and cheered the hugely talented staff and student performers at the End of Year Assembly, in celebration of an amazing year. There is no doubt 2012-2013 will be the year to remember when Cranford Community College received the recognition it deserves by OFSTED under the new frame work, as an OUTSTANDING school.

The varied and dynamic entertainment included an amazing bhangra performance by the sixth form and staff, the Rock Choir singing “Valerie” and the year 9 girls’ dance group.

This was followed by the year 9 &12 band with a surprise guest performance by our very own DJ Rapper Mr Collins and finally, the staff band playing “How to Save a Life”. The entertainment was interspersed by some presentations and awards and the introduction to our new Student Leadership Quartet.

Roger Owen, Chair of the Academy Trust Board said that he was extremely proud to be associated with the school and thanked the amazing staff and Executive Headteacher Kevin Prunty for all their hard work. He praised the students for their achievements and as another amazing academic year draws to a close, he wished everyone well for the summer holidays.