Cranford Annual Review 2014

Cranford Review 2013

2014

W

Editorial

elcome to the Cranford Review covering the academic year 2013/2014, a year in which the impressive range of successes of the school was recognised by so many organisations nationally and

by Ministers. The school has received plaudits for its sustained high standards and for its vibrant curriculum. This recognition also brings a wealth of further opportunities for the school, its students and the community as well as generating additional funding for Cranford Community College in order to continue to lead the way in education and to share its excellent work nationally and internationally.

There is so much that makes me proud of this school, its staff and students. Early in 2013/14, Cranford Community College became one of only 26 elite secondary schools (out over more than 900) that had performed highly enough to join the MAYOR OF LONDON’S ‘GOLD CLUB’, it was also a year in which Cranford was again judged OUTSTANDING IN ALL AREAS by the ‘CHALLENGE PARTNERS’ inspection team, a year in which the school was designated as a NATIONAL TEACHING SCHOOL and a year in which the school became a ‘LEADING EDGE’ school, As Executive Headteacher, I was honoured to be appointed as a NATIONAL LEADER OF EDUCATION in recognition of the long-term success of Cranford Community College and the other schools it has helped to improve (most recently Berkeley Primary School was judged by Ofsted to be ‘Outstanding’ in all areas in late summer 2014).

Cranford Community College also won two of the top national awards from the SPECIALIST SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES TRUST and received another letter (to add to its collection) from the Minister for being in the top 100 schools nationally for its GCSE achievements.

I, and the Academy Trust, are delighted to further congratulate our ‘Class of 2014’ students on their outstanding performance in GCSE which, like for like, are on par with the previous year’s record breaking results and celebrate the students that achieved such superb A level exams this summer and have now gone on to university.

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 continue to set new standards and challenges for other students in lower years to surpass.

Cranford Community College is an academic school with a strong sense of community and an ethos in which the enjoyment of learning is palpable. It is a place that students and staff love. Staff and students at Cranford achieve more because they are happy, challenged and together.

Cranford Community College is continuing to develop an 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. We expect to be able to further develop the curriculum during the coming year, through innovation and improvements.

Whilst the curriculum and examinations have become more traditional and academic, the school remains committed to ensuring students have access to a broad and stimulating set of opportunities that represent an excellent all round education that is second to none. Even a quick flick through this booklet will be sufficient to demonstrate the quality and quantity of opportunity for our students.

Cranford’s three-year performance trend remains incredibly strong which only confirms that Ofsted’s ‘Outstanding’ judgements on the school 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. It 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 but even by looking at the smiles on faces and how hard the students and staff work.

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.

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.

Kevin Prunty (Executive Headteacher, Director and National Leader of Education)

Introducing the Student Leadership

Quartet 2014-2015

Seven students in year 12 applied for the position of Head Boy and Head Girl.

During July 2014, candidates wrote a letter of application, completed a leadership task, produced a manifesto and were then interviewed by a student panel. After successfully completing all these tasks I am very pleased to announce the new student Leadership Quartet for 2014-2015.

Rita Berndt (Assistant Head of School)

“I believe I have the qualities required to be a good Head Girl because I care deeply about the students here at Cranford. I know many students here and I want the best for each and every one of them. As Head Girl, I will invest time into getting to know their needs and making sure that their time at Cranford is as memorable and enjoyable as mine is”.

Bethany Johnson (Head Girl 2014-2015)

“The role of the Head Boy is one of great importance and it would provide me with an opportunity to act as an ambassador for Cranford Community College. To me, the role involves representing the students and helping to make positive changes to the school by fostering relationships between staff and students. I applied for this post because I want to effectively contribute to Cranford’s growth. I aspire to study politics, philosophy and economics at University and I am considering the Diplomatic Services as a potential career option. I believe the position of Head Boy would help to build on my strengths, such as being a leader, effectively working in a team and playing the role of an ambassador for my peers”.

Surya Varatharajan (Head Boy 2014-2015)

“My fundamental goal as Deputy Head Boy is to act as a role model for the rest of the school and actively encourage students to voice their opinions and participate in decisions and ideas that would benefit the school and all those involved. As Deputy Head Boy of Cranford Community College I will work to maintain it the status of an ‘outstanding’ school, which I am very proud to be a part of”.

“As Deputy Head Girl I recognise the importance and demanding nature of t h i s r o l e , h o w e v e r, this excites me as I enjoy a challenge which can be seen through my past experiences that I have had within the Academy”

Ravi Mandalia (Deputy Head Boy 2014-2015)

Abrar Al-Habtari (Deputy Head Girl 2014-2015) 1

First Story 2013-2014 “Fishing for Words”

This

year, I was lucky enough to participate in the First Story writing group once again.

The annual festival began this year’s First Story group in which we were immersed in workshops by Anthony Cartwright and talks by famous authors such as Malorie Blackman. We were also graced by another performance

by Anthony Anaxagorou as well as Caroline Bird which were (of course) the highlight of the day. Throughout the year, we had sessions every Wednesday afternoon with our writer in residence: Ross Raisin. This year, the cohort of year 12 students aimed specifically at more mature, sophisticated and polished writing. This widened our choices of genres, allowing us to step out of our comfort zones and write stories that we wouldn’t typically write.

With guidance and inspiration from Ross, Ms Hibbins and Ms Shaikh, we were able to think more critically and analytically about our own pieces of writing. It is very exciting to arrive at the writing sessions with nothing and you never know what you’re going to come away with. It might be a story that sets off somebody else’s train of thought or it could be a lyric or it could be an exceptional idea that allows you to broaden your horizons.

It’s incredible how the creative process of writing and publishing a story works as it all just falls into place.

True brilliance comes from stories and poems that are very meticulously planned and take a lot of thought and that is what some of the year 12 pupils achieved this year.

Our completed anthology aptly named ‘Fishing For Words’ is one of my achievements I am most proud of. At the First Story Open House, each pupil was awarded with the chance to read their piece aloud to a number of people including William Fiennes himself who co-founded the First Story charity. Being involved with First Story is truly an enjoyable experience as it truly made our year a special one. I and the other year 12 students would like to thank our mentors and guides Ross Raisin, Ms Hibbins and Ms Shaikh for giving us that courage to write our innermost thoughts down on paper and for all their hard work organising First Story this year.

Kishan Shah (year 12)

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Such a Buzz with Spelling Bee

My

name is Ravleen Thakker and I was one of the students chosen for the Spelling Bee competition.

Cranford students, including me, worked really hard to attend the Spelling Bee. We practised with our librarians, Mr Ladva, Ms Gawali and Mr Calica, to spell hard words and find their definitions.

(They weren’t easy at all.) Every Tuesday and Thursday, after school, we would go to the library and practise spelling the words.

We spelt them out loud and had spelling tests. We also played a lot of games. We had to make the longest word, we could think of, out of newspaper. We also had to memorise spellings and layouts of words and copy them on the paper, without touching the paper.

It was all about teamwork and communication. These things were to boost our confidence, practise with fun and to increase our knowledge of learning with sight, hearing and reading/writing. It was a good time.

During the practice sessions, we didn’t realise that the event was so close but when we did, we practised even harder. There were many rules to follow but one main one was to never backtrack and to say the word, then spell it, then say the word again. And that was what we did at the event. The event was held at Kingsley Academy. There were 3 rounds. The first round was for all schools who were participating. Every person, from each school, was given 3 words, which they could choose out of easy, medium and hard. Our school was so good that we chose 3 hard words. After that round, we had a break for refreshments. The judges counted the scores and we were told that we were through to the next round. In the next round, only 3 people from the school were allowed to spell. We chose our 3 best people and guess what? We beat the other schools in that round too. So all was left was the last round. In this round, only 2 people could go through. So Faisa, and I went through. The words in this round were extra, super hard but we were so good that we beat the other school in that round too. So that means… WE WON. It was an amazing feeling to be up there being one of those people winning. It was great.

When the trophy came into our hands, I was delighted. That shiny, gleaming thing was with us and no one else.

We deserved it and that was the main part. When we took it back to school, everyone was really happy for us and proud of us. That’s really it...well there was a lot more but you should’ve been there to see it for yourself.

Ravleen Kaur Thakker (year 7)

In

March 2014 a group of year 9 students went on a trip to the Paul Robeson Theatre. It was a fantastic experience as we managed to do a book review face to face, similar to speed dating. However we were selling our favourite books. Schools across Hounslow attended, with a special attendee named Tony Dallas.

Tony Dallas is an inspirational writer for teenagers and children, so it was a special time meeting him. The day itself was fun as we managed to find out what other students of our age, liked to read. Then we voted for the book we most likely would read and the best presenter.

I thought that my book Bakuman Vol.1 would win, but I thought wrong. Mustafa had also chosen to promote a manga book, although no one really voted for that.

Overall the winner was from multiple schools, Cranford Community College, Brentford School for Girls and Kingsley Academy all had promoted “The Fault In Our Stars” by John Green which won the 1st place.

Abdulhakim Yussuf (year 9)

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The

Heathrow Community Trust awarded a grant to DJ Workshops CIC to work with local schools through the Heathrow Communities for Youth fund in the Heathrow area for one year. Cranford Community College was lucky enough to be included in this programme which took place on a Wednesday afternoon throughout the summer term in WFactor.

Students from year 9 were selected by the Head of Music and their Head of Year to take part . The project is for young people to learn how to Dj over a term and gain the Bronze Arts Award. The students learnt all aspects of DJ Mixing to include counting beats, beat matching, mixing different styles of music and making a Mix CD at the end of the course. The students commented on how much they had enjoyed using all the equipment that was supplied for the workshops.

As well as the main decks there were workstations which meant that students could practise and listen to music all at the same time. All the students produced a folder of written work detailing what they had learnt and photos of them “dj-ing” as evidence. They also reviewed a film of MC-ing, researched a musical artist and taught others the skills of what they learnt. The students worked individually and in groups for the arts award assignments. All the students who took part completed the course and successfully passed their Bronze Arts Award.

Julie Sacre who was the lead tutor for the workshops funded by The Heathrow Community Trust is looking forward to coming back next term and working with more students from the school.

Jessica Joyce (WFactor organiser)

Year 10 - “Eager Beavers” Work Experience 2014

Our

eager beavers from the Business and Enterprise group ventured out into the world of work in March 2014. After a few weeks of preparation with Ms Patel where they researched their employers, found out what their roles would be and completed the dreaded ordeal of the interview – away they went. Placements were in a variety of settings including High Street shops, Hounslow Urban Farm, an estate agents and a restaurant. Nagaad Maxamed Abdi, Hussain Khan, Toofan Barakzai and Calvin Kaganda experienced what it is like in the retail business and found out that it is hard work standing up all day. Mohamed Osman Ayub worked in a pharmacy and was responsible for delivering prescriptions to GP surgeries. Stacey Kitney was able to put into practice the hairdressing skills she is learning at college.

Manvir Randhawa worked with his uncle selling houses while Pardeep Singh donned some overalls and fixed cars. Yasmina Zaman and Lewis Loveridge worked in school helping caretakers while Paras Poudel learned some cooking (and no doubt tasting) skills and Dean Quelch was kept very busy looking after the animals.

Everyone had a successful week and showed responsibility and maturity in their work.

Something they can build on and develop further in year 11.

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Cath Goold (Work Experience Coordinator)

ILL-Abilities

The

“ILL-Abilities” concept was created in the summer of 2007

by Montreal based dancer/speaker, Lazylegz.

When founded, ILL-Abilities was only an “allstar” team of differently-abled dancers with the goal to compete in the BBOY competition circuit as a real crew and the intention to show the world that anything is possible. After performing together, the crew quickly realized their potential to inspire audience members with dance and positive attitudes. Now, the CHECHO LAZYLEGZ KUJO TOMMY REDO GUNS goal for the crew is to spread positive thinking by sharing their stories with Motivational Entertainment programs and Theatrical Dance performances worldwide.

When I saw them I was very excited to meet them and get to know them. ILL Abilities gave us a taste of what they can do and they stunned us with their dancing and it was excellent. They told us how they started dancing and what their disabilities are. The story that has most inspired me was Checho’s. He was born (in Chile) and the doctors said he was a monster and shouldn’t be alive but his Mum raised him up like a normal child. He couldn’t walk so he used his hands to walk. On the streets people told him about break dancing and said he would he a great break dancer and so Checho tried and now he goes around the world performing for other people showing that even having a really severe disability you can still achieve your goals.

Amretjeet Singh (year 8)

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NOfA

A Music Concert in Sunshine… An Afternoon Delight

On

Wednesday 2nd July 2014, the school NOfA ensemble celebrated its incredible first year with a packed out concert in the Memorial Garden at Cranford. The sun was shining as students from year 7-9 showcased their work in bands, and joined together with students from Feltham Community College and our exchange visitors from China to play arrangements of Benjamin Britten’s A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra and the gospel track Shackles.

The National Orchestra for All (NOfA) is an organisation that aims to provide any enthusiastic student, regardless of ability, with opportunities to participate in ensemble music making. This year they have launched the Conductors for Change (CFC) project which supports schools in expanding these opportunities and performing music together.

Students spoke at the event about the impact this opportunity has had on them both musically and personally, helping them develop confidence and team working skills.

Earlier in the term, students had met with other young musicians from across the country to rehearse and perform at the Southbank Centre in London at an event organised by NOfA. As well as putting together performances of the pieces we performed in July, students contributed to a group composition based on the Britten piece. This provided us with an opportunity to put a Cranford stamp on the event. After rehearsing for hours in the heat, and demonstrating their commitment to music, students performed to a raptured audience of teachers, parents, and members of the public in the Clore Ballroom on the ground floor of the Southbank Centre.

When it came to the final concert here at Cranford, students once again produced exceptional music, with Marianna Hay, the founder of NOfA, praising their “poise and professionalism”, and how much they had developed since the opening concert in December 2013. All the students were focussed and hardworking throughout the rehearsal time and did themselves proud in performance.

The school’s NOfA ensemble will continue to rehearse in WFactor next year and are looking forward to another year of brilliant trips, activities and concerts.

Leah Mirsky (Music Department)

GCSE Music Showcase hits the right notes On Monday 7th July 2014, our year 10 GCSE musicians gathered once again to show off their performance skills to an audience of parents, students and staff, but this time were joined for the first time by our new cohort of year 9 students, about to embark on their GCSE music journey.

Students have been working hard on preparing solo performances for Unit 1 of their GCSE and there was an impressive range of talent on show, from performances which had been sequenced on the computers to a band of five year 9 students performing Pharrell’s Happy, as well as a range of exceptional singers, guitarist and drummers. The performances were of a very high standard and the audience were thrilled. Well done to everyone involved.

The students are continuing to develop their skills and there will be another performance from this talented group of students taking place in the Autumn Term 2014.

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Leah Mirsky (Music Department)

“NOfA, National Orchestra for All programme inspires young musicians to show their potential. This programme helps us to develop our music skills and our communication skills. I decided to join NOfA, because I enjoy playing the piano and this would be a great opportunity for me to show my abilities. My favourite experience in NOfA, is when we work as a whole big group or an orchestra, because we all get to play our instrument and we all enjoy it”.

Lay Soni (year 9)

“Overall I can certainly say that NOfA has helped me throughout the year in things such as building up my confidence and bringing up my music levels. I think NOfA is an amazing organisation that encourages young people to show their talents and entertain people”.

Christiana Eftenoiu (year 8)

“One of our favourite things we have been able to do as a result of NOfA is putting on concerts in school. We enjoyed this as it was interesting to see how many different layers of music can come together to make a final piece. On the buildup to this concert we have felt both excitement and nerves, however every anticipation before a performance has made a great memory”.

“Being in NOfA has made me a better person” Jaiman Bhalsod (year 8)

Lucy Tirahan (year 9)

“On Friday 6th June 2014, as part of NOfA Orchestra we performed in the Southbank Centre in Central London. I really enjoyed it because I got a chance to perform on a live stage.

We performed with other schools and played a variety of different music structures. This was a great experience which I will always remember”.

Leah Kamboh (year 7)

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Tate Modern Gallery, Southbank, London

On

22nd November 2013 the Modern World Languages Department arranged a trip to the Tate Modern Gallery in London, Southbank as part of our High Achievers Programme for year 8 and 9 students, who study German, Spanish, French, Urdu and Panjabi. We travelled in the morning by bus and tube and arrived at the Tate at 10am. The students were fascinated by the weird and wonderful artistic creations on display and competed in a treasure hunt to discover the art of their target language culture. The students rounded off the day by producing a presentation about their favourite work of art in the target language.

Angela Roeder (Head of World Languages Department)

Winter Wonderland, Hyde Park

On

16th December 2013 the German Department arranged a trip for year 7 and 8 students to visit the German Christmas Market in Hyde Park, which is part of Winter Wonderland, London.

We left by coach after lunch and returned in the early evening. It was a great opportunity for the students to experience traditional German food and hand-crafted gifts for Christmas. The market was beautifully lit and had typical chalets with German people selling food or crafts. The students were all given a quiz about traditional German foods and gifts and this provided a great opportunity to speak with some real German people. The year 7 and 8 students had a fantastic time and took away some memorable experiences.

Angela Roeder (Head of World Languages Department)

SPELLING BEE It’s gratuliere! félicitations! and felicidades!

T

hat’s congratulations three ways (German, French and Spanish) to Faisa Ali and Abdiaziiz Sahal, year 7, who reached the finals of an international Spelling Bee competition.

They are pictured here proudly holding their medals and trophy in front of a board saying ‘well done’ and ‘congratulations’ in Spanish, and went on to compete in the Spanish language final of the trilingual Routes into Languages Spelling Bee.

They fought off competition from more than 61,000 year 7 pupils across the country to reach the showdown, taking place at Anglia Ruskin University, in Cambridge. They will have just over 60 seconds to try and spell the most words in their chosen tongue and seal glory at the contest, sponsored by the European Commission and Vocab Express.

Both pupils have only been learning Spanish for a year and are part of the High Achiever programme for advanced students at Cranford.

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Dadri-Ann Williams (Modern World Languages Department)

The Drama Department...

2013-2014

has been an exciting y e a r f o r C r a n f o r d ’s budding young actors and for the Drama Department as a whole with lots of new ventures and opportunities being offered to students across the three key stages. This year we have been focussing upon performance opportunities which has provided us with some amazing finished pieces In February 2014 the Drama Department delivered a cross arts project on the TI day with year 7 and 8. The students devised a piece of music and drama around the children’s story “Not Now Bernard” which tells the story of Bernard whose parents are so busy doing their own thing, that the monster can eat Bernard’s dinner, break his toys, and even eat Bernard, without being noticed.

Students spent the day working in small groups and then came together for the performances.

Getting the Show on the Road !

Our year 12 AS students have had a busy year with the performances of “Metamorphosis” and “East is East” by exploring texts in more depth. We then concluded the AS level with an evening of Ibsen’s plays ‘A Doll’s House’, set on a council estate and a more traditional adaptation of ‘Ghosts’. Both productions were well received by the audience and the examiner.

Year 13 students completed their final practical projects and devised some thought-provoking and hard hitting performances around the themes of reality, breaking down the barriers between actor and audience and blurring the boundaries. “The Glam Magazine” looked at the idea of how what we see in the media is not reality but how we are always striving for perfection. “Sophie” dealt with the effect of death on a family and obsession and the third project, “Juggles Do The Troubles”, pursued the idea that ‘reality TV’ portrays an image of reality which is not realistic at all. All three projects captured the audience imagination and provoked considerable debate afterwards. A very talented year group and some stunning work.

Seema Sethi (Head of Drama)

“I really enjoyed this experience of creating and using my imagination.

I particularly liked the last part when the music was added to our drama, because it felt like a ‘real’ performance”.

Armela Dukarj (year 8)

bounce

THEATRE

pandora’s box Devised by Bounce Theatre with young people from Hounslow 9th & 10th July 2014 Paul Robeson Theatre

The

year 9 and 10 GCSE Drama students worked with professional actors from the Bounce Theatre Company to devise their own interactive theatre performance of Pandora’s Box. The storyline evolved during weeks of rehearsal in WFactor. Pandora wins an iPad and as all the apps are left open by Zeus, the Greek God, Pandora experiences all evils of the world. Our students devised scenes around the themes society’s obsession to have the perfect body and how social media can influence us both negatively and positively.

The students performed at the Paul Robeson theatre on two nights.

Some real talent was exhibited on the night and Cranford students were equally as impressive as the professional actors.

pandora’s b 9

On

DREAM Rewards Day Thursday 17th July 2014 another Cranford DREAM Rewards Day went off with a bang (or a zap if you went to Laserquest).

Alongside all the old favourite trips to Thorpe Park and Coral Reef, there were also new adventures including penguins and giraffes at the Cotswold Wildlife Park and scaling the simulated mountains of White Spider Climbing Centre.

Over 750 students went off site for their trip with the only activity in school being the Local Derby football coaching day (Brentford and QPR drew, winning one match each). Special mention should go out to the Brighton trip that had a fantastic day only to get caught in the traffic on the way home – not much fun in 30 degree heat but they remained happy and positive throughout.

Students and staff on the London Dungeon experience also had an eventful day and ended up winning the DREAM photo competition with their enthusiastic celebrations in front of the London Eye. Well done everyone and a special thank you to Ms Bhajwa and Ms Gladysz for their tireless work in making this happen. We can’t wait until next year’s fun Rewards Day. Rob Ind (Assistant Headteacher Pastoral)

“I learnt how to ice skate without falling”.

“LaserQuest was amazing and the movie was good”.

Hanid Grover (year 9)

Lina Imam (year8)

“Animal Magic – It was good seeing all the animals and being with older people”.

Malika Ali (year 9)

“London dungeon – it was fun and interesting and scary”.

“Local Derby – learnt new techniques and had fun”.

Weronika Przyzycka (year 8)

Jay Sihota (year 8)

“It was the most exhilarating, shocking and suspenseful moment of my entire school year”.

Rimsha Amjad

Lucky for some

On

Friday 13th June 2014, Cranford Community College awarded its 500,000th DREAM point to a year 10 student, Rimsha Amjad. DREAM points have been running at Cranford since September 2010 and are based on an idea borrowed from New York. Assistant Head of School Mr Dean said: “It is amazing to think we have given out half a million DREAM points in just a few years – it shows you how fantastic the students here are and how positive the teachers are. I’m delighted for Rimsha”.

Standing for Discipline, Respect, Enthusiasm, Achievement and Maturity (DREAM), Rimsha has shown all of these over the past four years and was a worthy winner, having amassed over 1000 DREAM points herself in that time. Ms Tank was teaching Rimsha and her year 10 classmates English at the time and the class were surprised by Mr Prunty holding a giant cheque to celebrate Rimsha’s achievement. She was also given £50 of shopping vouchers. Ms Tank reassured the rest of the class by telling them: “Well… you’ll just have to win the one millionth!” We all look forward to that moment.

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Rob Ind (Assistant Headteacher Pastoral)

SPORTS - Brentford Football Club In the Community Football Coaching for Girls

Girls

were invited to play against numerous other teams across 3 boroughs at the Npower Girls football tournament run by Brentford Football in the Community. The students were excited but nervous as they were going against schools whose teams had played games for their borough. All the girls played well and scored some brilliant goals but only come third in their league missing qualification to the next round by a point.

The girls have attended training and played matches against other schools since the tournament and have a passion and thirst for football that we hope to see continue throughout their school years.

“I thought that having Brentford coaches come into our P.E. lessons to coach us was very beneficial and fun for everyone.

I thought that they helped us with lots of things such as passing, shooting, having accuracy in our shots and they also helped us practise loads of different skills.

I think that having the opportunity of being able to train with these people was pretty amazing as not everyone was given it, however I enjoyed it”.

Anita Fiddes (Second in PE Department)

Navjot Gill (year 9)

Middlesex County Cricket Club Hub School “After school every Tuesday a group of students; Aadil Awan, Sahib Kumar, Kabir Panesar, Soham Bhatt and Nikhil Rai, along with Steve from Middlesex Cricket Club, coach the year 7 and 8 cricket teams . We teach them a wide variety of skills, from batting to fielding. We run drills and then a small match, with the rules depending on what skill was learnt during the session. We have learnt a lot on how to coach and we have had experience of how to create a session plan and run the sessions on our own without the help of Steve. This is a good opportunity for us to learn the key skills of coaching, which can help us in the future”.

Aadil Awan (year 9)

Queens Park Rangers Football Club Coaching “This term we have had the opportunity to work with a group of young players from Queens Park Rangers Football Club who came in to coach us during football lessons. This has been great fun, as it means we have worked in smaller groups than normally with different QPR players each week. It has been great to get an insight into what it is like to train as a professional player and how they have balanced school with their training”.

Alham Raniyah (year 9)

Game, Set and Match - Trip to ATP Finals “The trip to the O2 to watch the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) tennis quarterfinals, for doubles and singles was AMAZING. When the players entered the court, the spotlight hit them and music played. The atmosphere was awesome. The biggest surprise of the day was finding out that I would be watching Rafael Nadal play, as he is one of my favourite tennis players.

It was one of the best experiences I’ve had and I will never forget it, I watched, Rafael Nadal who is one of the best tennis players in the world, play tennis in a world final”.

Jade Sidhu (year 9)

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In

the summer term 2014, I attended the annual Jack Petchey Awards Evening held at the Paul Robeson Theatre in Hounslow, where friends and family celebrated our students’ achievements in style. Nominations for this award are made by Cranford students and staff in recognition of a specific outstanding achievement, personal challenge or the contribution a student makes to our school community. Each award winner receives a certificate, medal and monetary prize to spend on something to aid learning at Cranford. This year’s worthy recipients for 2013-2014 were no exception.

Simon Dean (Assistant Head of School)

September 2013: Olusegun Babatunde (year 12) Segun has taken a genuine leadership role within the school supporting the whole initiative of making the school an engaging and entertaining place to be from 8am. With one other student, he helped to organise and manage the Cranford Street Festival and now has taken responsibility for continuing to coordinate an entertainment programme for staff and students. He has shown himself to be responsible, reliable and committed, arriving early every day and compèring as well as setting up and putting away all the equipment.

Additionally, what has been really impressive is the positive attitude Segun always maintains and the care and support he has offered to those involved, bolstering the confidence of younger performers and ensuring that their efforts are genuinely appreciated. Through his hard work the school has been a happier place to be over the last month which we hope will also have a direct impact on punctuality and consequently student attainment.

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focussed and maintains a polite and dignified aura.

Gayatri is more than willing to help her peers and she has helped them to achieve their best. Gayatri also worked as a volunteer for the British Heart Foundation.

She helped out as a TA and in the reception at the school.

November 2013: Roshini Lal (year 11) Roshini is an outstanding member of the year group, school and wider community. Not only is she a high achiever, gaining top grades across the board, but she is always ready to help others achieve too. Recently we have seen her take an active role in extracurricular activities such as attending creative writing works shops for First Story. As a result of this, Roshini is part of a team that will be working with our feeder primary school to help engage KS2 students with creative writing and thus improve their literacy. Roshini is a mature, confident and diligent student who strives for the best who deserves to be awarded with this prestigious award.

May 2014: Gayatri Dogra (year 13)

January 2014: Ashvinder Kundi (year 13)

Gayatri is truly the most improved student in year 13. Her focus, ability and willingness to learn have increased greatly as has her conceptual grasp of the ideas covered in psychology. She is extremely

I would like to nominate Ashvinder as he always goes above and beyond his duties as a student at school and has not been recognised for this. He not only works hard but will also take part in all school events, is the

first to help and offer advice to his peers and younger students. Ashvinder is one of those students who will always be there when needed. He is a natural leader and supports his friends as well as staff. He can be relied upon 100% and in return he never expects anything.

His calm personality and aura enables one to value the profession because if all our students were like him it would be bliss.

February 2014: Lay Soni (year 9) Lay is a very helpful and enthusiastic student who always helps others.

He doesn’t give up easily and tells others not to lose their faith. He is good at speaking in public and solving problems. He is a good learner, not just in school but he also helps out in the community.

Lay has been nominated by students and the Middlesex Cricket Board.

March 2014: Harmanpreet Singh (year 9) Harmanpreet has been nominated by fellow students because he has always contributed to form and other school activities. He was selected as our sports rep and he is a FROG champion. He has made outstanding contributions to the year group and can be relied upon.

He has 100% attendance since the start of year 7 which shows his dedication to the school and his studies.

His tutor says: Harman is a lovely, well-mannered and helpful student. He can be relied upon by members of staff and his peers. He is always willing to lend me a helping hand whenever necessary, always volunteering to represent the form for inter-form competitions etc, and sets a very positive example to the rest of his peers.

He is always one of the first people to volunteer to look after new starters and take them under his wing.

He is a respectful, polite and charismatic young man who shows great potential to become very successful.

He is an asset to the form and a joy to teach.

April 2014: Amretjeet Singh (year 8) Amretjeet has a condition called Hereditary Multiple Exotosis which is a lifelong condition where he has abnormal bone growths. He has

regularly has to endure painful surgery since starting at Cranford and is due a further operation in February 2014. He is such a cheerful character who always just accepts his disability and the limitations that it imposes upon him. He has been unable to do PE since starting at Cranford and this has been difficult for him as he is such a lively person and all he wants to do is play football. Ms Tutt plays table tennis with him when the doctor allows it. He has to be escorted around the school with a TA all day yet he always takes what life throws at him with good grace and a ‘no point complaining about it’ attitude. He really is quite an inspirational young man.

October 2013: Imran Noorabdul (year 12) Imran has taken a genuine leadership role within the school supporting the whole initiative of making the school an engaging and entertaining place to be from 8am. With one other student, he helped to organise and manage the Cranford Street Festival and now has taken responsibility for continuing to coordinate an entertainment programme for staff and students. He has shown himself to be responsible, reliable and committed, arriving early every day and compeering as well as setting up and putting away all the equipment.

Additionally, what has been really impressive is the positive attitude Imran always maintains and the care and support he has offered to those involved, bolstering the confidence of younger performers and ensuring that their efforts are genuinely appreciated. Through his hard work the school has been a happier place to be over the last month which we hope will also have a direct impact on punctuality and consequently student attainment.

June 2014: Jaspriya Lall (year 11) Jaspriya continues to go above and beyond with extra-curricular activities which benefit others in her year group as well as the wider school community. Jaspriya has helped the year 11 Ambassadors with her great technical ability with filming. She helps the High Achievers group and has planned and run the writer of the future initiative to inspire young students to write. She is also part of the Young Fellows where she has planned and organised university trips alongside members of staff and helps with the Philosophy and Theology book club when she can.

13

ENGL Inspirational Young writers tell their stories

D

uring WFactor in the summer term 2014, eight young creative writers were inspired to write their own stories starting from an original image, which grew into a story full of imagination and wonder. Each story demonstrates the wonderful writing talents of our students and here are some extracts from their stories. All the writers received a prize and a certificate for their efforts but the prize of a book token went to Sadaq Sharif (year 7) for his winning story “The Mark of the Shadow”.

Fran Gibney, their English teacher who worked with the group said of their work; “I am so proud of the year 7 and 8 creative writing group – they have produced some really lovey work.

They put a huge amount of effort and thought into their pieces and are really pleased with what they have produced”.

Here are extracts from their wonderful stories.

An Almost Perfect Happy Ever After The stars twinkled above the night sky, like tear drops over the bitter valley. The sounds of weeping and moaning surrounded the empty houses. The sound of a lonely soul trapped in stone. Her face contorted with sorrow, with her wings beside her, trapped in a world where she is lost; alone and forgotten forever.

Before this punishment, being frozen in her own misery, she had been alive. More alive than any goddess, living in a great royal palace with her father – Sarten. He was quiet and had a sad soul. His daughter, Bella, barely ever saw a smile on his face and he was normally fighting one war or another.

Bella was free to wonder in her imagination. Even though Bella had a gift, to never die, she was always aware of time. Because Bella couldn’t die she had stayed 15 years old since the world began.

Salma. A. Mohid (year 7)

Sophie As they entered the pet shop they could not get over the babble coming from the different kinds of pets there were. They, however, were only interested in the bunnies. Holly couldn’t believe her eyes that stood out on sticks looking at the baby rabbit Sophie. Holly’s excitement increased as her mum [Jenny] delved into her pink and white dotted bag and pulled out a bright pink purse that own a new looking, crispy new £10 note and handed it over to the young, blonde girl.

Holly Donnelly (year 7) 14

The Boy Who Made A Wish As I lay there frigidly I wish, I was no longer alone.

I believed that dreams came true but I needed someone here, My desire was to have a soul mate Someone to tell me “don’t cry tears”.

I never found that person so I became My own friend. I could no longer stand This desolation. I was the best friend I ever had but It hurt but I kept as hard as stone, Until upon the great darkness came a sparkle.

It was magically magical and wonderfully wonderful.

So I made it my desire and set a wish upon it, And my wish came true.

Latifah Nakitende (year 7)

My Story Speechless. Horrified. Heart-broken. This was her mum and dad’s reaction. Only two days later her mum and dad were both paralyzed. Five days later her story was all over the news channels and newspapers; messages were sent to every school in the borough.

Teachers were taking action from bringing parents into school, to specially prepared assemblies. Rebecca was an ordinary fourteen year old girl: great friends, a great life - everything was great for her. She had one younger sister who was only the age of three. One day the whole world was turned around… for Rebecca anyways…

Simran Matharu (year 8)

LISH The Mark Of The Shadow…

The wet breath of the horse tickled Rik’s ear. He rifled through the contents of the bag slung across the destrier’s back. He had been pickpocketing the barracks for a good hour or two and had been rewarded with a nick of his thumb from a dagger, now in his makeshift scabbard. Rik removed his hand from the bag. He sighed. All of the danger of sneaking into one of the King’s barracks and he had been rewarded with a dagger! Rik went outside, half fearful that the guards would still be posted there. However, emerging from the musty building, Rik found that the guards had gone to join the battle. Suddenly feeling exhausted, Rik slumped on a tree and closed his eyes.

“Oi, you” came a faint cry. “Oi, you there, boy!”

Rik opened an eye to find a tall Legion warrior standing over him, yellow grass on his boots. “What do you want?” Rik mumbled.

Wonderful Luck

Her eyes were dazzling blue as she stared at the hungry unicorn grasping the lush green grass. Helena slowly moved towards the hungry unicorn she felt the unicorn’s smooth silky skin and his soft hair. She was mesmerised it looked like she was hypnotised.

Helena had the greatest happiest smile. Desperately she jumped on the unicorns back; the unicorn gave a welcoming grunt. Helena’s bright red hair glimmered in the sun.

Shabnam Hashemi (year 7)

“Aren’t you meant to be in the battle? It’s already started and you’re not even in armour!” Dragging him with a gauntleted hand, the soldier took no mind to his sleepy objections.

A half hour later, Rik found himself standing in line with other boys, wearing rag-tag mail with a rusty spear in his hand. He couldn’t believe it! As flaming green arrows rained down upon King Rob’s vanguard, Rik shook away his lethargy. He was in battle!

Sadaq Sharif (year 7)

NNijjer “You can’t destroy this castle Toothless!” yelled Hiccup.

“Oh yeah, who’s going to stop me?” laughed Toothless.

“I will stop you from destroying this castle!” replied Hiccup.

The Mendoza Twins And The Morphing Man The house stood there, abandoned and on its own. A forbidding shape: shadowy and gloomy, it was the size of a mansion, with pieces of cracked dry paint surrounding it like a pool. It was a stormy night; thunder over-powering the whole world. The naked trees were fluttering and dangling like a poisonous spiders building a web, covering up bits of the house.

Over at the bottom of the house a shadow darted across the floor, it looked like a ferocious dog, and it was!

His beady eyes star-gazing at his home forever lost.

It looked like he was terrorized by the state of the disrepair into which his home had fallen.......

Nadima Hiyati (year 7)

“You’re very funny! Now move!” boomed Toothless.

“No, I won’t move! I want you to fight me!” cried out Hiccup.

“Fine, I will! However, if I win I get to destroy this castle with everyone in it and you have to help me.”

Toothless said while doing an evil laugh.

“Ok! But if I win you have to protect the castle with everyone in it.” said Hiccup and they began to fight.

As the dragon brothers fought they scared all the town’s people and all the royals ran and hid in the enormous hall in the magnificent castle. The fight between the dragons was still going on. Then, finally, the fight was over and Hiccup had won and now Toothless was the protector of the castle.

Navjit Nijjar (year 7)

15

A

The INNER challenge, a TEAM challenge:

team of 14 eager students, 2 attentive teachers and one experienced expedition leader left their mark across the vivacious country of Morocco, and I am ecstatic and privileged to say that I was one of those students. After a year and a half of fundraising, our team reached the goal of raising £1429 each with only the sheer determination and dedication we all had within ourselves, not to mention the utmost motivation we all received from our fellow students, teachers, family and friends. On 19th July 2014, we began our journey from Gatwick airport. The plane ride itself was hilarious with all of us singing, “Let it go” loud enough for the entire plane to hear! Oh, and I’m sure we won’t forget the air host addressing Nameerah as “Mr Ahmed” – boy did she get an earful of that throughout the whole trip. We landed in Marrakech after a short stop in Casablanca and arrived at Hotel Ali around 2am; not even 10 minutes in a new country and I stumbled over my bag and fell – my accident-prone instincts kicked in quicker than I expected. However, despite that we all entered our room with the desperation of collapsing into our beds and snored away through the early morning.

16

The next day we set off for a 4-hour journey to Taroudant, to where we would start our project phase.

However, only after reaching there and unloading the van did we realise that Suban’s duffel bag was missing – busy with helping everyone else take their bags down, he forgot his own! Nevertheless, we found his bag when we went back to the hotel on the last day in the luggage room – ironic right? Though one thing we learnt from this incident is that we all

have each other’s best interests at our hearts: everyone was just as worried as he was and we all tried to find his bag - a shout out to the boys who managed to spare some clothes for him! During the whole week, we stayed in the house of a man named Rashid, where we were showered with such great hospitality – which I’m sure everyone will cherish for always. We were all sorted into 3 groups and were assigned daily chores to do; these included laying the breakfast, lunch, dinner and washing up as well as cleaning the toilets – that one sure did bring a lot of laughs.

Every day, we would walk to the school, where we were working at and started doing various jobs such as laying out a pebble path, ploughing into the ground, shovelling mud, evening out the patches, pulling out weeds and plants and finally painting murals across 3 different walls. Thanks to our artistic genius Majnu, we managed to create a pretty awesome piece of art!

Getting paint all over our clothes wasn’t really the highlight. We all would return back home by lunchtime and have the rest of the day as downtime to do whatever we wanted; most of this time was occupied by all of us playing UNO, or chilling out on the roof.

One of the days, Rashid’s daughter Fatima – who was our age, took us out to an Argon Oil factory where we all saw authentic grinding stones in which the oil was produced. Of course we all pretty much blew our money buying all sorts of products for our families and ourselves. Another day, we went out at night for a walk around the Taroudant Walls, the breeze was so refreshing!

On the last day, after completing all our work, everyone played hide and seek around the school – including Ms Hibbins and Mr Myers. It was great, running around the place

looking for Mr Myers and Suban, when eventually we gave up and found out that they were sitting on top of the toilet rooftops. I’m positive I wasn’t the only one who felt nostalgic about playing such games; it brought out the childish instincts within us. However, our real challenge started from then onwards, because now… our trekking phase would begin. We all drove up to a little village in the Atlas Mountains where we met our incredible guide Hassan who joined our family with such ease. The following days were so great and memorable with him, we couldn’t have asked for a better guide.We did have to walk up for an hour to reach our gite – a guesthouse, which was situated at 1000m above sea level. The next day we ventured out to see a waterfall, from which the view was pretty amazing. However, we all knew that the following day, we would begin our Toubkal trek to the Summit – the highest peak in Northern Africa at around 4200m. So putting aside our nervousness, we slowly – and by slowly I mean SLOWLY, walked up to the base camp in-between two Refugee camps – Bourbon and French. That itself was 3204m which is probably 3 times the height of any peak in the United K i n g d o m (whoop whoop), so I’m sure everyone must have been incredibly proud and I know Ms Hibbs and Mr Myers were as they continued supplying us with their immense support throughout the entire 5 days. I owe a lot to Mr Myers who pretty much set a record by playing cards for about 5 hours with me. We returned back to the gite and enjoyed a phenomenal time sleeping out underneath the stars, so peaceful and calm. Witnessing a shooting star, it was simply indescribable.

The following day we returned back to Marrakech to spend the day at the Soukes. I have to say – Muhammed was the king of bargaining. He pretty much bargained every item I bought with ease. The atmosphere was so different; it truly was something worth experiencing. The same night, we all went out for dinner with Hassan who came out to the city to meet us. Oh, I forgot to mention that Mr Myers, Alison (our leader), Arun and myself being the only vegetarians pretty much survived on couscous and tajines, so I’m sure you can guess what I ordered on the night. The awesome day ended with everyone being treated to ice-cream and enjoyable time out on the roof of the hotel, witnessing the crowd of the people in the town square with bright lights and music, I pretty much just sat

there and soaked in the excitement. Finally, it was time for us to bid farewell to what had been our home for 2 weeks and jump back into the welcoming hands of our anxious parents at the airport. However, I cannot describe the time I had there. The hilarious moments such as ALL the card games and games of catch or when Saif touched the toilet brush or when a mule chased Sylvia or when we all posed with oranges in our mouth or the fact that throughout the entire trekking phase, Hassan would chant “Bad boys bad boys” and the rest of us would sing “Whatchya gonna do when they come for you!” or when any of us wanted to pause for a break, Ms Hibbs would shout “NO MERCY!” and push us along to keep going. Of course there were moments such as when Suban’s bag went missing, when we all worked as a team and truly proved our capabilities to work together and that not only did we have great fun, but faced the “challenges” that came in our way – what else did we expect, we were doing World Challenge.

For some of us, a challenge was reaching the summit or to paint a mural or simply to work better as a team but at the end of the trip, we all managed to overcome our individual challenges and that is the biggest accomplishment of all. Overall; these past 2 weeks have been simply spectacular and have been so memorable for everyone and I honestly couldn’t imagine going on this trip with any other people. I sincerely thank Ms Hibbins – who stood as a mother for all of us throughout the trip and showed such sincerity and care towards us all, Mr Myers – who livened up the whole trip and made it so much more worthwhile with his card games and Alison who lavished her expertise on us all. They are solely the reason why we all had this once in a lifetime opportunity and have returned back home safely with tons of memories and friendships that we will all hopefully cherish and reminisce on for a very long time.

Sahithya Natarajan (year 10)

17

Duke of Edinburgh Award Three

In

February 2014 I was able, with great pride, to witness the Awards ceremony for all our students who have now completed either the Bronze or Silver D of E qualification. We are now in our 3rd year of the programme and each year the team who apply to take part in the challenge in addition to their studies, gets stronger and more determined, as do the staff that support them.

At the start of each new expedition, I always wonder if this time there will be someone who will give up or fail to finish, but to date, I can honestly say they have all made it through and achieved so much personally in doing so.

Year 10

Bronze expedition is... just a walk in the park

W

hen we went to New Forest, Hampshire, we embarked on an enduring experience that many Pupils of us would not forget.

Walking 14.8km on the first day was a painful thought because most pupils were not prepared for a hike, but with a positive mind and pure determination shown by all the pupils, the distance no longer seemed like a trek but almost like a ‘walk in the park’. Obviously, we had to stay alert on our route; being cautious of where we were and where we were heading.

One part of the course that we trekked through was Beaulieu Heath Airfield which, during WW2 was used as a bomber and fighter airfield for pilots to take off from.

Ending the final day of the expedition on Lepe Beach made the course worthwhile as this was a significant place where the D day landings left from. We were also able to enjoy ourselves after two days of hard work; it allowed us to break free from this mind set of just getting things done to relaxation and the pleasure that we finished. The spirits of the pupils were raised and the general atmosphere was a lot more jubilant, lively and upbeat.

The Duke of Edinburgh expedition is not to be taken lightly as it requires self-confidence, dedication and a drive to get things completed. Being able to communicate with your team members is vital as along the course, you have to overcome obstacles and establish routes to take to get back on track without losing focus.

Sabina Viera (year 10) 18

...an experience

The

Duke of Edinburgh Award was an exhilarating experience that included a turbulence of emotions. To complete this phenomenal journey, it was imperative to learn a physical skill and a different new skill; you also had to do 6 months of volunteering which took determination, before you could go on the expedition. Our practice expedition in March 2014 was slightly cold and even though we were out of our comfort zones we had each other and got a great taste of the real expedition; even though all three groups got a little lost, it was worth it. On our real expedition which lasted two days and one night there were many ups and downs, but definitely happier times. On our first day large numbers of kilometres were covered which was very enjoyable. Arriving at the campsite was a massive relief as the gigantic bags on our backs could be thrown on to the unkind, hard ground allowing us to set up our tents and relax our drastically tired bodies. Whilst excitingly wandering around the campsite and trying to fill ourselves up with never ending food (so our bags would be lighter the next day) humour was aroused and unforgettable stories were told. The aggravating rain did not help us sleep and carried on during the morning. The second day took less time due to the shorter distance, but was equally fun. Overall, the whole spectacular experience was amazing as we developed various skills and talents which we never knew we had, we also learnt several new things, and now have countless new stories to tell that will stick with us for the rest of our lives.

Aarina Babra (year 10)

steps to Gold This year we have our first cohort of students who will complete their Gold D of E qualification; some may even do so by Christmas. This is amazing and will provide them with additional points for their university applications and increase their life chances.

As we begin a new academic year I look forward to the next group of enthusiastic year 10 students who want to join our roll of honour and learn what it is to take on the wonderful challenges of doing the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme.

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

Year 11

Silver expedition is...

A time for Adventure

Our

Duke of Edinburgh expeditions never fail to be a time of adventure, perplexity but most of all, enjoyment. By the time we got the campsite, it was pitch black. One of the biggest challenges came before we had even started walking: putting up a tent in the dark. Pegs, poles and pyjamas were the talk of the campsite before we all settled down and rested our heads for the long hike ahead.

In true country style, we were, frustratingly, woken up by our birdy friends. After packing up all of our gear again, we set off on our quest… to get back to the campsite – today’s walk was one big circle. Think it was easy?

Read on…

During our walk, we encountered an array of animals from squirrels to horses (we attempted a ‘selfie’ with one but it didn’t quite work out). Being so near the coast, the ground was exceptionally muddy so we tried to avoid the wet ground, where possible. However, we squelched through a patch of extremely wet mud and Gabby’s shoe got ‘stuck in the mud’ (literally). As a team, we frantically pulled it out while Zahra supported Gabby on one leg in an attempt to keep her sock dry. Continuing to trudge along, the morale of the group began to drop: we were lost and ready to give up. So, we did what Group 1 always does in a situation like this – eat. As if by magic, once we arose from our state of despair, we hit the main road. On our last leg of the journey, we naïvely took a sort of shortcut that was to prove a really bad decision. After taking our first step in the horrific salt marsh, we felt the liquid rise through our supposedly ‘100% waterproof’ shoes (we’re all suing our shoe manufacturers).

When we got back to the campsite, we desperately tried to dry our soggy socks and wet trousers before cooking our dinner: hot dogs. Despite walking for over 9 hours, we couldn’t get to sleep and resorted to more singing (again).

Our second day was rather relaxed as far as expeditions go; the land was generally flat and the walk wasn’t very long. Our massive sigh of relief when we saw the school minibus was truly a photographic moment. We had done it. We’d completed our Silver DofE. Luckily, we ended up on Lepe Beach where we spent a couple of hours relaxing as well as watching the swash arrive at the coastline (GCSE Geography came in use). To top it of, a certain someone performed a re-enactment of Beyoncé’s ‘Drunk In Love ’ – it certainly wasn’t me.

Aside from the long walks in the heat, the disputes over which was the north and the rough nights (with badgers trying to steal our food), all of our Duke of Edinburgh expeditions have been a truly incredible experience that have allowed us to develop as young individuals. Will we do Gold? We’ll have to see…

Alexinder Riyat (year 11) 19

TI Days,

as they are more affectionately known, provide our school community with time throughout the school year for both staff and students to experience deeper learning. For the 8 days that we had this year, spread through the year, a plethora of activities have taken place, far too many to mention all of them here. Prior to these days, meticulous planning is required to ensure everyone has the chance to experience different opportunities as the timetable is suspended; this means that residential trips and visits can take place without students missing their lessons and external outside agencies can come in to school to work with us. The benefit from these days goes beyond what can be taught in a classroom centred lesson and provides experiences that will be remembered long after exams have been taken. Have a look at some of the examples here that we did this year; if you have any suggestions of things we could do in the future please let us know.

Innovations Day – whilst students had a Frog Flexi-Learning Day, completing their usual lessons but at a time and place that suited them, using Frog, staff took the opportunity to spend a whole day making our curriculum even more exciting and varied, to go beyond Outstanding. They were able to work in their Departments (in school or off-site) to develop an area of their curriculum, so, for example staff in ADT visited the Barbican Gallery to see the “Pop Art Design” exhibition and then the National Gallery to see “Facing the Modern Portrait” to assist students in years 7 to 11 in the use of 3D abstract work, informing more realistic portrait paintings, helping to be more innovative with techniques and being supportive with inspiration for projects. The Business and Economics Department visited the City Business Library to discuss how students can use the facilities for research and independent learning; the English Department visited the Poetry Library at the Southbank Centre and then the Gothic exhibition at the British Film Institute to research and explore new material which they used with students in subsequent TI Days. The Modern World Languages Department visited the Tate Modern so they could research the facilities. In a later TI Day in November 2013 they took year 9 students there who then planned tours for visitors, in their target language, giving them a real experience of using their language skills. The History Department visited the Imperial War Museum, National Army Museum and Jewish Museum to research teaching ideas and resources for all classes they teach; the RE Department visited an exhibition on the Islamic Middle East at the Victoria and Albert Museum, for research for art in their year 8 Islam module. With the recent changes to the curriculum including a greater emphasis on computing, both the Maths and ICT Departments visited Bletchley Park to prepare for a key stage 4 trip and to provide inspiration and materials to enrich the key stage 3 Cryptography unit, Codes and 20

Ciphers module and Computing GCSE. In the photos you can see the staff by the rebuilt and fully operational Colossus, the world’s first electronic digital computer, developed for British codebreakers for World War 2.

Further TI Days enabled students to visit the Skills London Careers fair at the Excel Centre which was a very informative and “hands-on” exhibition for year 11; key stage 4 students who were interested in catering attended a Catering Taster afternoon at the Southall campus of the West London Enterprise and Skills Academy; Stephen Mann, from Middlesex County Cricket Club, has worked with our students on their cricket skills and we have now set up a Cricket Board with them. Dedicated time has also been allocated for students to work with the community on the Convent Way Community Project.

Key stage 3 students have visited the Science Museum, a London Symphony Orchestra workshop and the British Airways Community Learning Centre.

Year 8 students have worked in small groups to focus on behaviour, manners and respect, whilst also developing their team work and public speaking skills and year 9 students have had the privilege to experience a very moving talk from a Holocaust Survivor.

Motivational speakers and subject specific specialists have been in on several occasions to work with various year groups to ensure they had the knowledge, confidence and enthusiasm to feel fully prepared for their forthcoming exams.

Residential trips included students in year 8 taking part in ICT and outdoor activities at the Kingswood Activity Centre in Kent, key stage 4 students taking part in their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze and Silver practice expeditions to the New Forest, Post 16 geography students going to Lulworth Cove for their field work and the post 16 ADT students visiting the Eden Project in Cornwall.

Throughout all TI Days opportunities were afforded where students could work in small groups with their teacher to help improve their exam technique, essay writing skills, confidence in performing, team building, research skills, and take part in consultation groups to have their say in the way the school develops in the future.

Tutors have also been able to have a dedicated interview with each of their tutees to guide and support them through their academic year.

The TI Days also enable the school to meet their statutory obligation with regard to Personal Development. Rather than spending a lesson a week all year to cover the topics, students are able to gain much more from a dedicated day that meets their specific needs. For example, year 13 students, who will be venturing into the world of employment or university after the summer enjoyed sessions on how to cook on a budget and they learnt relaxing techniques in yoga. Year 11 students benefited from teamwork sessions led by the Army and learnt how to fuel their bodies to gain maximum impact and year 10 students enjoyed a very thought-provoking theatre performance on the theme of relationships.

Maria Bramhall (Assistant Headteacher Raising Achievement and Raising Aspirations Team)

21

Exhibition 2014

An Exhibition of Excellence

On

Thursday 3rd July 2014, Cranford Community College hosted the ‘Art, Design and Technology Exhibition 2014’. This fantastic exhibition of work showcased the talents of exam students in year 11, 12 and 13.

The range of work on display this year was excellent with a more creative element on Product Design and Textiles. Students and parents who visited the exhibition were very impressed with the work on display and many commented on the high standard of the work. Students were commended for their dedication and commitment they have clearly shown in producing the work.

This year we introduced the prestigious Tracy Fletcher Award in memory of Tracy Fletcher, former Head of Art and Expressive Arts, who sadly died in July 2009 aged 42. Ten outstanding pieces of key stage 5 artwork were nominated by students and staff to receive this award. Students voted to choose the final four pieces of work by; Samar Ali Khan, Nida Malik, Amarpal Singh Kharay, Yousuf Magre.

The Tracy Fletcher Award along with art equipment was presented to Yousuf Magre at the event by Mr Prunty, Headteacher who said he had great difficulty deciding on the winner as all the work was stunning but the chosen piece stood out for its originality.

In addition there was a special award presented to two up and coming artists in year 7 and a special area set aside to display their work. Bilal Sohail and Zahra Sadiq produced a beautiful exhibition of their own work which displayed their creative talent. Mr Prunty presented both students with a certificate and a prize for all their hard work and excellence.

Zahra Sadiq said; “It was amazing, each design was different.

It was great to see the A level work which was fantastic. I was proud and happy that I had my work up and that all the teachers could see it. I was very nervous but it was great to receive a certificate and prize from Mr Prunty. I was over joyed!”

Ruby Qureshi (Head of ADT Department) 22

Tracey Fletcher Award winner 2014 “The piece you see before you was inspired by natural and mechanical structures. I enjoy making odd structures. I was happy to construct this wall hanging of miniature sculptures. I used everything I could get my hands on when building this piece of art.

I used recycled materials, scraps of metal, and wire, bits and bobs from an old radio and tools to make the pieces for the finished structure you see before you. I have never created a structure this big and to specific criteria but with the help of designers and inspiration from Ms Jaura my DT teacher, I completed my piece of work. I promise you as the audience you will notice something new every time you see it”.

Yusuf Magre (year 12)

The

s tu d en ts en jo y ed a wo rld f ull of chocolate and taste testing at Cadbury World on Monday 7th July 2014. Their visit involved watching how chocolate is moulded then packaged.

The purpose of the visit was to help students to develop their coursework using techniques they saw. We toured the factory looking at how chocolate is made by bulk and what machinery they use to produce chocolate.

We then enjoyed the fun factor of buying different chocolate, teddies and mugs from the Cadbury’s shop. The students were overwhelmed by the amount of chocolate which was stocked but they all managed to bring something home.

To finish off our experience we went into the Bourneville Experience 4D cinema where we watched a 10 minute roller-coaster video clip of how Cadbury’s was made and where it is today. The chairs moved which made it a sobering experience as we felt as if we were on a roller-coaster.

The trip was amazing and everyone really enjoyed themselves….and the yummy chocolate.

Shakera Graham Whyte (ADT Department) 23

National Saturday Art Club

D

illon Chuhan, Sian Dhanday, Amy Ale, Tania Pereira, Gabriella Manna Meah and Rogina Gurung in year 11 were lucky enough to have taken part in the National Saturday Art Club in conjunction with the University of West London. They attended the club regularly picking up a range of skills and learning about the cultured environment by visiting Museums and Galleries. They attended a Masterclass at the prestigious Turner and Duckworth Associates and worked on a live brief. I am very proud of the commitment and dedication they have shown.

Pirmjeet Mehay (Second in Charge of ADT)

“Saturday National Art Club is a real joy to be a part of.

You meet different kinds of people from different schools and backgrounds but we all share the same passion for art. The atmosphere in the room is so creative and being around other creative artists who love to draw is inspirational.

Part of Saturday National Art Club was the Master class.

We were asked to design a new shoe box for Adidas. We were given a brief and had to design our own shoe box”.

Gabriella Manna Meah and Tania Pereira

“Art club was an awesome experience. It was really cool to have so many different techniques taught to us which I could then incorporate into my work for school. My Saturdays were more constructive than ever and I met so many interesting people”.

Sian Dhanday

“I had a photograph with Sir John Sorrell after the ceremony, he was very friendly. It meant so much to have my work up in such an important place”.

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Amy Ale

“Saturday Art and Design Club was an amazing experience.

Everyone helped each other as a team and this created a strong bond between us all. We went on many interesting trips - visiting different museums and seeing different types of work.

One of the best was Turner Duckworth where we met one of the Duckworth Brothers, Phil, who helped create interesting logos such as the Metallica logo. We met graphic designers that helped us understand how we can get into the field of graphic design as it is my ambition to become a graphic designer.

I can’t wait to go back next year (hopefully)”.

Dillon Chuhan

“It was really good to go and collect my certificate with my family at the Awards ceremony, my family were really proud”.

Rogina Gurung

“I see excellence in abundance when I look at the hugely impressive work on display”.

Guest speaker Althea Efunshile (Deputy Chief Executive of Arts Council England)

ADT trip to Cornwall Eden Project

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Art Design and Technology Department arranged a trip to Cornwall Eden Project and the Barbra Hepworth Gallery over two days in March 2014. All of the A level students taking Fine Art, Textiles Art and Product Design were asked to attend; there were 25 students in total. We had to meet at 6.30am outside the school and our teachers were there to greet us with big smiles on their faces as we had to be in Cornwall by 12 noon. As we all gathered onto the coach with sleep in mind Ms Jaura and Ms Qureshi welcomed us on and we set off.

The five and half hour journey to Cornwall was amazing and we had two stop off to stretch our legs and have something to eat. Every student on the trip took a lot of pictures and our first stop was to the Barbra Hepworth gallery. It was amazing to visit one of the local areas where the artist’s work was based; this gave us all a good insight of her work and foundation and how her innovations have influenced artists in the UK. This trip was great because we had a keen interest in the Eden Project for our individual projects/units and it brought out the photographer in all of us. The Eden Project was huge and we spent a lot of time drawing and sketching ideas taking photographs and working

for our final year art projects. Ms Qureshi and Ms Jaura were always on hand to help and advice us.

As a year team we didn’t know each other too well but being away from home and so far from school it brought us all together and we enjoyed each other’s company more. The accommodation brought all of us together like a family in the evening; we all played board games together and had long walks with the teachers. The students enjoyed the teachers’ company as they all got involved in most activities even when we all decided stay up late and tell ghost stories Ms Qureshi and Ms Jaura tried scaring everyone. I think this trip overall has to be the best school trip I have been on and one of the best experiences I have had at Cranford I would like to go on more trips with my class mates and teachers as some of us said ‘we wished we could have stayed longer’.

The A level Art and Design class would like to thank Ms Qureshi and Ms Jaura for organising this trip and taking us to a part of England that we would never get the chance to see on our own.

Samar Ali Khan (year 12) 25

Harmondsworth Moor trip

On

Thursday 3rd July 2014, year 10 geography students embarked on a trip to Harmondsworth Moor. This consisted of visiting several sites including the British Airways headquarters.

We were truly amazed to see some of the things that were located there. For example trees and lakes inside a building – something you don’t see every day.

Harmondsworth Moor was formerly a brownfield site.

Brownfield sites are lands that have been previously used for industrial purposes or some commercial uses. This land may be contaminated by low concentrations of hazardous waste or pollution, and has the potential to be reused once it is cleaned up. It was a truly eye-opening trip as we were able to travel back in time and see what the land was used for. We also had guides that explained in detail how the sites have been redeveloped and what they would have to do to sustain them for the future.

The purpose of this trip was for year 10 students to collect data which would later help them in their geography coursework.

Overall we had a fantastic time and learnt a lot about Harmondsworth Moor which will hopefully get us the grades we’re aiming for.

Rimsha Amjad (year 10)

Lessons from Auschwitz

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brar and I had the opportunity to visit Auschwitz Birkenau early in February 2014 from the Holocaust Educational Trust through the “Lessons From Auschwitz” programme.

Visiting the concentration camp was a daunting experience and gave a more tangible insight into the torture that the people went through. We learnt about the holocaust in a way that enabled us to look deeper, beyond the statistics and assess the holocaust individually.The whole programme revealed many horrific truths about the Holocaust, which were truly heart-breaking. There was no evidence of rape in the camps in Poland but women were being tormented; they had to undress before entering the camps in front of everyone, all the people in the camps were told to undress and were dehumanised standing outside for hours together regardless of weather.

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The Living Rainforest International Essay Competition 2014

On

Wednesday 9th July 2014, I and two other students were given the privilege to visit the Living Rainforest in the Hampstead Norreys. Prior to this, 10 students had visited The Eden Project in Cornwall to research sustainability as evidence to use in essays that were entered into the Living Rainforests International Essay Competition. When we reached The Living Rainforest. We were split into different groups; rural, urban, more developed, the government and less developed. I was in the rural group. Charnice was in the urban group and Hudaifa was in the less developed group. Our task was to explore what sustainability means to these different categories. Each group had pupils from a variety of cultures and countries which gave us a great opportunity to learn how sustainability is different in different parts of the world. In addition we had the opportunity to go on a tour around the rainforest; an indoor greenhouse tropical rainforest, home to its very own ecosystem supported by the people who work there. The rainforest was incredibly humid and had a biodiversity of different species; from a jet black bird called Luigi to a simple flower that helps treat leukaemia in children, the living rainforest is truly an icon of salvation for the world.

We also had the privilege to meet a Holocaust survivor Ziggi Shipper to hear the first-hand account of his shocking experience.

He had recalled that many people who were survivors of the Holocaust had later died from over eating because the starvation was so severe. The trip was emotionally challenging and thoughtprovoking of what prejudice against people can lead to”.

During the second part of the day we took part in a debate where all our twenty ideas had to be cut down to just eight ideas, which we then had to prioritise. I found this activity made me think as we were being questioned by the ‘government’ about the points we had put across.

Following that, a Vodafone speaker came in to talk to us about how Vodafone are becoming more sustainable. A point that she had given us was mobilising development, and how mobile technology can help lift people out of poverty.

The final part of the day was the awards, Suraiya, Hudaifa and I all got an honourable mention for the essays putting us near the top of 1,094 international entries. Hudaifa also received a medal for the best debating group. Overall, we all thought that the trip was superb and we would definitely take part again.

Sarah Chebrolu and Abrar Al-Habtari (year 12)

Suraiya Baig and Charnice Gill (year 9)

Annual Sixth Form Conference July 2014 The Annual Sixth Form RE Conference was a brilliant day. It began with an introduction which immediately captured the attention of us pupils.

During this time people were required to ‘speed debate’ a number of contentious statements, so right from the outset we were able to talk about our own opinions, but more importantly listen to others. After break, A-level Religious Studies pupils delivered their own workshops on a wide range of topics which were both current and controversial, for example ‘Should Politics intervene with religion’ and ‘Is the media making Britain racist.’ These workshops allowed sstudents to interact with each other and they included a wide range of activities which meant we were engaged throughout. The day ended with a ‘Question Time’ panel activity in which teachers represented different faiths positions including Atheism which was a remarkable opportunity as we could ask many questions and challenge ideas held by others but also think more deeply about our own preconceptions.

Yasmin Ismail (year 12)

Annual SACRE Conference 2014 As an A Level Religious Studies student, it was a privilege to be part of the annual SACRE Borough Religious Education Conference at Lampton School.

It gave us the opportunity to discuss current affairs that are relevant to us. The question addressed by the panel of specialists at the beginning was “Is Britain a Christian country?” this was the main stimulant for the day and the specialists representing different faiths backgrounds, including humanism tackled this question and others (ranging from the compatibility of religion and science to traditional religion and gay marriage) put to them from the floor in an impressive and scholarly manner. We then attended various workshops where we engaged in philosophical debates with other students and PGCE teachers from the Institute of Education. It was a great experience that enabled me to express my thoughts and challenged me to think differently having taken in the ideas presented to me by others on the day.

Isabella Bruno (year 12)

Geography Field Trip to Swanage

Year 12

geography A Level students are required to participate in fieldwork for our Unit 2 exam, with the two units being on Crowded Coasts and Rebranding Places.

Using a more practical approach to further fortify our knowledge of coastal processes and rebranding, we were able to experience geography at its peak. This was an exciting part of the course that develops our skills and understanding of field work techniques.

Witnessing the majesty of coastal landforms is completely different to learning autonomously about them, as you realise that the places along the coast are truly beautiful and that the coastline is rightly named a World Heritage Site. We visited many different places along the Jurassic Coast like Lulworth Cove and Boscombe. We undertook sand dune transects in Studland Bay and also completed a bi-polar analysis at Swanage Beach focussing on the success of coastal defences or of rebranding schemes in Boscombe. Our primary focus was to incorporate fieldwork techniques and data with relevance to exam questions. Through implementing a plethora of fieldwork techniques, we were able to gather a greater understanding of how to achieve higher marks in the exam. Both Mr Clifford and Mr Myers dedicated their evenings to marking our exam questions and providing feedback for each student immediately, which was particularly helpful in strengthening our understanding and addressing key issues. I and the rest of the year 12 geography students at Cranford would like to thank Mr Myers, Mr Clifford and Ms Cousins for accompanying us and for making this experience both enjoyable and educational.

Kishan Shah (year 12)

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meant that every day we could go and enjoy the park activities.

On a personal note, I first visited Tianjin in August 2008 and the speed of development of the city, indeed of the whole area, never ceases to amaze me. The city has expanded exponentially and the population rose by 31.4% between 2000 and 2010 to just under 13 million. By 2012 this had crept up to 14.1 million. It is therefore no surprise that the city is changing so rapidly to accommodate its growing population.

Once

again, Cranford Community College sent a delegation of staff on the trip of a lifetime to t h e Ti a n j i n C o l l e g e o f C o m m e r c e i n Ti a n j i n , China. The purpose of the trip was focussed on professional development for staff from both institutions but also included some amazing trips and visits in the local area and further afield to Beijing itself.

The staff and students at the College welcomed us with open arms and showered us with their hospitality. The College is about to move to a brand new campus, which we visited and are really looking forward to staying in on our next trip in 2015.

Thank you to our friends in the Tianjin College of Commerce and we look forward to welcoming you in the autumn to Cranford Community College.

Doug said: I will especially remember the dancing in the square; they had such a good time and welcomed us into their group (even with my left feet!)…then the guy writing on the concrete in a world of his own. The sights in Beijing were amazing just the sheer volume of people, cars and construction going on at such a pace.

Greetipal said: The highlight of the trip would have to be climbing The Great Wall which was a once in a lifetime experience! #China2014 #4thFloor Philip Dobison (Assistant Head of School - International Relations)

The programme included a number of sessions during which Cranford’s staff presented how we do things here; from behaviour management to lesson planning and how we manage outstanding learning. The staff from Tianjin showed great interest in the way we do things at Cranford.

One of the highlights of our presentations was surely though the run through of Aussie English. It was a great moment to hear the Chinese staff chanting back “G’day mate” in broad Oz. For some of Cranford’s staff, one of their highlights was the visit to the Great Wall, which stretches for 8,850 km (5,500 miles); this is the “Ming” Wall. The section we saw and walked up reached from the valley floor up to the hill side. It was extremely steep in places, and the day was a hot one, even in April. It took some puff and sweat to reach the top, but we all did. The view was dramatic and it is astonishing how such a wall could be built in such difficult terrain.

For others, it was the visit to the Forbidden City in Beijing. It was called “Forbidden” as no women or any none imperial male was allowed to enter. It is an enormous complex with fantastic architecture and beautiful statues.

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The parks of Tianjin are full of dancers, singers, skaters and scribes every evening. Once again, the friendliness of the Chinese was such that we were invited to join in their dancing and they were very accommodating, despite our errors in following the sequence. The warm evenings

It was a great opportunity to go to China to experience at firsthand the educational system and the culture of the Chinese people.

From the moment we arrived there the students made us welcome. We stayed at the college campus in Tianjin. During our stay we visited the most famous attractions and numerous historical and cultural centres and always guided by members of the teaching staff and students.

The trip was highly educational for me and I enjoyed it immensely.

Farzaneh (EAL teacher, Berkeley Primary School)

For the second time,

we welcomed students and staff from South Dong Chang Middle School in Shanghai to Cranford Community College. This visit is a result of the partnership agreement between the two schools to confirm our mutual friendship and commitment to work together in a variety of ways to deepen and consolidate partnership activity with the purpose of creating opportunities which benefit our institutions, staff, students, our communities (both local and global) and our countries.

The group delighted the audience at the National Orchestra for All (NOfA) event in the memorial garden with charming renditions on the ‘hulusi’ (gourd flute) and the ‘dizi’ (wooden flute) followed by a stunning performance of the 3rd movement from Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata’ on the piano.

The group joined in the WFactor on the two Wednesdays they were at Cranford and thoroughly enjoyed the variety of activities, taking part in BMX biking, Zumba, the chess club and Gok Wan, amongst others and were delighted to work alongside Cranford students.

Berkeley Primary School was privileged to be presented with an incredible performance by the whole group.

The concert featured Chinese folk dance and music, some join- in songs for the pupils at Berkeley and more beautiful piano music. The applause was rapturous.

Alongside the visits to schools, the group had a great time in Bath, Stonehenge, Brighton, Oxford and London, where they saw the Changing of the Guard and other famous sights. We look forward to welcoming them back again soon.

Philip Dobison (Assistant Head of School - International Relations)

Benvenuti a Londra

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ranford welcomed 35 students from Italy on 7th and 8th July 2014 as part of their integration programme into an English school. Each Italian student was buddied up with a Cranford student who acted as their host for the two days. The Italians took part in the same lessons as their buddy student and the feedback was excited and full of praise for the experience they had enjoyed. This is the first time this has happened at Cranford, but I am sure it won’t be the last.

Philip Dobison (Assistant Head of School - International Relations)

“Having the Italian visitors was an amazing experience, because they were from a foreign country and were different to us. That enabled us to learn new things such as different sentences in Italian”.

Armela Dukaj (year 8)

“It was interesting to find out about school life in Italy, for example schools finish at 1 p.m. and the holidays are earlier and longer than ours, but they do go to school on Saturdays”.

Zahra Vora (year 8)

“We made friends with some of the Italian students and we are already in touch with them regularly. We also have plans to visit them in Italy in the future”.

Harkiran Virdee (year 8) 29

W Factor “In photography we have been using the camera to take close ups of animals and plants.

I enjoyed taking close ups of the bee I found”.

Nur Ali (year 10)

Year 3 of WF

actor has continued to embrace the philosophy of inclusive learning and enrichment for both staff and students. The photography groups have undertaken to capture this through their project work this year to great effect using the camera lens to show how varied and exciting this programme continues to be and the diverse opportunities students have each week on a Wednesday afternoon.

Jessica Joyce (WFactor organiser)

“We used the camera to take pictures of natural scenery. We also took pictures of the puppets and animals in other Wfactor classes. I think that photography was great and I would encourage other students to pick this for Wfactor”.

Hamir Butt (year 10)

In WFactor

photography we began looking at an overview of the history of photography, from the humble light box to everyday smartphones and the reasons why it is still such a valued skill. Students worked in small groups getting to grips with the school’s Cannon cameras. They changed the settings and apertures taking snap shots and close ups of details and activities around the school. As the weather was getting warmer it was perfect for taking lots of outdoor shots in and around the busy hub that is Cranford Community College. The students really enjoyed learning about composition and the effects of light by experimenting with sun print paper. They used different objects and created a print by exposing the paper to light.

As well as photographing their surroundings they also had a chance to notice things they would normally be too busy to see. They enjoyed taking close ups from different viewpoints and zooming in on the scales of reptiles and planes above. They also learnt how an image can be manipulated using Photoshop, from enhancing eye colours and clearing skin to layering, transforming and having fun with an image. Our budding photographers ranged from year 7 to year 10 and it was lovely to see them work together and get excited about what they had captured with a camera.

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Ciara Raleigh and Michael Gomez (WFactor Photography)

“I used a Cannon camera to take panoramic pictures of clouds and people outside on the school. I enjoyed taking time to see things around Cranford I hadn’t noticed before”.

“We went to the field to collect some objects and we then placed them on some sun print paper. We left them in the sun on the wall outside. It left magnificent shapes on the piece of paper”.

Navneet Brar (year 8)

Samiya Yusuf (year 9)

“In photography I have learnt how to take good pictures from an angle and how to edit them on Photoshop”.

Amrita Tar (year 8)

Volunteering the Community Majorie Kinnon Review

In

these sessions we helped children from Marjory Kinnon School. They have special needs. We made friends with them and also played sports and games which they really enjoyed. Each week we did something different which was really fun. I am sure next time when I get a similar opportunity I will go ahead and sign up for it as I know it is worth it.

Bhavini Deuchande and Maathuka Kagenthirarasa (year 11)

“The time spent in volunteering the community was amazing. The things done were hard to decide but in the end it was fun spending time with the children from Marjory Kinnon School some of them were scared but then they became friends with us. I loved everything we did and I’m sure they did to”.

Shariq Ahmed (year 7)

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Cranford High Achievers Showcase “I learnt about atmospheric pressures and how it changes over time… I would like to be involved in more activities over half term”.

“I would like to carry out more of my own experiments, observing reactions… I would like to do more sporting activities”.

Mehardeep Singh (year 7 / Science Fair)

Rayhan Ahmad (year 8 / Science Fair)

On

Thursday, 26th June 2014 the High Achievers’ Showcase saw students from Cranford Community College host an evening in celebration of students’ outstanding talents, from scientists to engineers and dancers to philosophy boys, to name but a few.

Students presented work they had been completing this year through the High Achievers’ Centre at Cranford Community College. The aim of the High Achievers’ Centre is to provide additional learning opportunities for young people at the school and for local primary feeder schools in addition to their normal curriculum. The centre not only challenges the more able students but it also actively looks for ways students can learn independently linking with business and universities to provide knowledge, culture and wisdom in ways that are not necessarily accessed via the day to day curriculum. Some examples from the High Achievers’ Centre have included the Philosophy Boys; a group of students exploring the bigger questions in life and the “Step into Dance” programme that provides students with access to West End performers to teach them how to dance. The evening also included performance from talented linguists who demonstrated the skills in Spanish and Italian and young engineers who discussed some of the practical work they have been doing with various universities.

The showcase evening was an amazing success. Many parents and colleagues attended and were extremely impressed with the quality of work produced, the amazing experiences the students had been given and the dynamic confident presentations by the students who were so clearly proud of what they had achieved.

Kevin Biggs (Senior Teacher- High Achievers) 32

“I learnt about the military and national service, it was really interesting to listen to other people’s opinions and see what teachers are like outside of the classroom”.

Fraidon Jami (year 10 / High Achievers Dinner) “It’s an amazing place to learn something completely new, I’m able to express my ideas and debate them out; it’s allowed me to see life in a different way”.

Majid Anjum (year 8 / Philosophy Club) “We learn interesting things, especially when we get to go on field trips, my favourite one was the Natural History Museum Sleepover”.

Alice Himani (year 8 / Theology Book Club) “This is a great opportunity to enhance my skills in all subjects, especially history, science and geography. It’s cross curricular so it makes me feel empowered when I’m back at school as my understanding is greater”.

Haashim Nisar (year 8 / UCL Scholars) “Researching higher education and meeting up each week to check on our progress has really enabled my confidence to grow”.

Jaspriya Lall (year 11 / Young Fellows Society)

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Activities Week 2014

WW1 Centenary “Lest We Forget”

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onday 14th – Friday 18th July 2014 was our annual activities week and this year our focus was the World War 1 Centenary. Students in years 7- 10 learnt about the war and related topics through a three day carousel of projects in creative and performing arts, history, science and art, followed by their DREAM rewards day on the Thursday and we finished the week with our whole school end of year assembly.

To mark the centenary and Cranford’s activities programme, the Art, Design and Technology Department with the year 12 ADT students, created a set of light reflective acrylic poppies which were laid out in the Memorial Garden depicting the war dates 1914-1918. At the centre of each poppy is a solar light which when dark, brings the centenary dates to life. As a mark of respect for our own students, friends and colleagues who have died, we have engraved the names of all those we have lost on the leaves of the poppies and these will remain as a feature in the Memorial Garden.

The school environment was transformed to reflect the week. Bunting, propaganda, recruitment posters and banners created a corridor of information to set the scene as students came into school with the school bell being replaced

by WW1 songs from original recordings to welcome them in. The conservation area hosted a pop-up museum of artefacts and memorabilia and we built a trench with a recording of sounds from the trenches for students to understand and appreciate what it would have been like to be there. The school caterers turned the dining hall into a wartime food kitchen and produced a menu of foods served during the war including, fish pie, potato cakes, fish sausages and trench cake.

The History Department taught the important historical aspects looking at various key topics including; why it happened, propaganda and recruitment, the role of women and the Christmas Day Truce. The Science Department focussed on topics which included the importance of Morse code, First Aid and the creation of the Zeppelin; students got to experiment and make their own versions of each. In addition they created a massive assault course which tested the students’ stamina, agility and ability to work as a team in WW1 scenarios.

Students selected which area of the creative and performing arts they wanted to work in and spent time either writing amazing, moving poetry and letters from the trenches or writing and performing their own original war songs whilst in drama they created beautiful and moving physical theatre pieces and freeze frames to depict the stories of the individuals and their families in war.

The Art Department led four awesome and beautiful mural projects, one by each year group. These are now proudly exhibited at the top of each stairwell in A Block as a visual reminder of a time 100 years ago which shaped our lives for ever.

On Wednesday afternoon twenty students from year 10 accompanied by Ms Lowden and Mr Clifford were selected to attend a creative writing seminar at the prestigious British Library in London which included access to original poetry writings of our famous WW1 poets. This was quite an experience for all concerned and produced some amazing reflective writing by our students.

Two outside companies supported the week; Gaia Technologies ran a 3D Trench experience and each year group attended a thought-provoking performance by Quantum Theatre Company entitled “Your Country Needs You” which included, letters, poetry, songs and music from the era performed in front of a screen projection of original footage and historical evidence.

Year 12 students followed a similar programme with a focus on how modern film and media represent the war, the lead-up to the war and a letter to an unknown soldier. The Monopoly Challenge began their week, followed by time to work on their UCAS application and personal statement, some sports and enrichment opportunities and a Personal Development Day. As in previous years’ students and staff were allowed to wear non-uniform and all the money raised was donated to our chosen charity, ‘Help for Heroes’. Cranford Community College once again proved its generosity and raised over £1200 for a very good and relevant cause.

The whole week was a huge success. Everyone enjoyed working together and clearly learned a great deal about WW1, why it is so important and why today we still remember those who paid the ultimate price with their lives…

“Lest we forget”.

Jessica Joyce (Event organiser) 34

“Assault Course – we got an idea of how people in the war felt”.

Serena Lola (year 7) “It was very adventurous, very creative and a great experience”.

Parneet Kaur (year 7) “The theatre performance was very informative”.

Huzayma Khamis (year 8) “Morse code – fun to make the words”.

Rohit Bhuller (year 7) “3D video – really understood how they felt and trying to put us in their shoes”.

Aisha Jeffaari (year 9) “I liked creative writing because I like writing, and enjoyed writing about WW1”.

Dameen Ali (year 9) “Art – I enjoyed making the poppies”.

Kemmar Fray (year 7) “Writing the letter to the Unknown Soldier was interesting, stimulating and thought-provoking”.

Harprit Birk (year 12)

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A lesson in Particle Physics

On

Monday, 3rd March 2014 the Science Department had a special visitor, Dr Veronique Boisvert, a senior lecturer at Royal Holloway University.

One year 10 class was lucky enough to have a lesson taught by Dr Boisvert on particle physics and I was among these fortunate ones. Dr Veronique Boisvert, is a particle physicist, is part of the team at the ATLAS A Toroidal Large Hadron Collider Apparatus detector and also contributed to one of the most exciting scientific discovery – the Higgs Boson. Simply, the Higgs Boson is a particle that gives mass to other particles. This theory was first initially theorised in 1964 and was proven on 4th of July 2012 at CERN – 48 years later!

Dr Boisvert’s lesson was very enjoyable as we were learning about something that we first thought was quite complicated but we soon realised it wasn’t; by the way she was using everyday objects to explain these theories.

I know I’m not alone when I say her class was very thought-provoking and sparked curiosity among my classmates as well as myself about other scientific discoveries and what takes place at CERN. We also learnt an interesting fact that we never knew before. We use this every day and I think most of us don’t realise that, it was not always there. It has made our life very easy – especially when it comes to homework- and we sometimes take it for granted. CERN invented the World Wide Web (www) in 1989, and in 1993 CERN put the software in the public domain for everyone to use.

Dr Boisvert is a remarkable person as well as a teacher and we all enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Rimsha Amjad (year 10)

FROG - Student led design and content

Every

Wednesday afternoon in WFactor a group of website designers meet to discuss, plan and create community content for Frog, our Virtual Learning Platform. Cranford’s Frog site allows students to access school work and resources anytime, anywhere. In addition to providing lesson materials we have a dedicated website known as Student Central. The content in Student Central is designed and created by students for students. Each year group has a dedicated Student Champion who has spent time learning how to create websites and the team meet together weekly to consider and curate content for the Student Central site.

For example the year 7 page, designed by Onkar Riyat, includes sections that allow students know how many dream points they’ve earned and who has a birthday coming up. Year 8 spend some time on entertainment; alongside news for the year they have riddles and puzzles as well as a forum for discussion. They have a special “brain food” section designed to get students thinking. Sameer Verma and Haashim Nisar have worked hard to make a site that is both useful and entertaining.

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Year 9 students have a great feature where they publish emails from teachers about students who have worked well or achieved success across the curriculum. The year 9 page is currently masterminded by Aadil Awan and Vignesh Kannan.

In year 10, Halima Monir has created a website that provides useful information and even includes a section on careers and courses to help students to think about their future options. Halima says that “working on the Frog page has helped me to understand how to make websites appealing to an audience”. Interface design is an important aspect of the team’s work.

The year 11 page has been designed and maintained

by Alex Riyat. The year 11 website is complex, for example he built a special section that enabled the year 11 committee to work collaboratively online to plan the year 11 prom.

Alex is the school’s lead student champion and has worked with a number of Departments to create websites and hopes to one day have a career in computing. Alex has been able to use his work on the website as part of the evidence for his Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Barbara Lodge (FROG Lead and Head of ICT Department)

Year 11

Class of 2014 Record of Achievement and Prom

As

another academic year draws to an end, it’s that time again to bid farewell to our lovely cohort of year 11 students. In true class of 2014 style - the ROA (Record of Achievement) and Prom was bigger and better than ever before.

The class of 2014 prides itself on being an original year group that like to start new trends, therefore this year we decided to host our Record of Achievement event at The Concorde Club.

We were truly overwhelmed by the number of students, parents, guardians and staff that joined us at this special event to celebrate the end of our year group’s memorable 5 year journey at Cranford Community College.

The night opened with a magnificent performance by our pianists Zain Malik and Pariksit Dogra which truly set the mood for the evening.

Each student was then presented with their ROA folder which documented their outstanding achievements since joining Cranford by Assistant Head of School Mr Dean. Having guided this cohort since year 7, it was a proud moment to be able to share this experience with them and see each of them blossom into the wonderful young adults that they have become. Entertainment on the night included the duet by Jade Roopraye and Maria Hashmi who sang ‘All of Me’ and Diana Atouguia who sang a beautiful rendition of ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’. To close the event, we had a screening of our much talked about end of year video (which you can find on YouTube).

For most, the ROA was just the beginning of the celebrations, as students made their way to the Riverside Venue for the year 11 Prom. Over the past 6 months, the year 11 ambassadors worked hard to ensure we created a Prom fit for a King and Queen – they definitely managed to do this by booking the Royal Gallery as our chosen venue. The ambassadors had planned every aspect of the prom in minute detail from the mood lighting and décor to the extensive buffet menu and fun photo booth. It really was a spectacular event which will be difficult to top.

From the lavish outfits to the extravagant cars, the students arrived in style and partied all night. I’m sure that everyone that attended will agree that Prom 2014 was a night to remember.

Class of 2014 - you have brought joy, laughter and many proud moments and I truly wish you all the success and happiness with your future plans. Ms Ledlie and I are honoured to have had the opportunity to be your Head of Year and Year Manager and we are looking forward to sharing more great moments with you as our journey continues into sixth form.

Bhavisha Tank (Head of year 11)

37

Year 12

At

the beginning of 2014, we were informed about the Social Mobility Foundation (SMF) – an organisation that helps high achieving students from disadvantaged backgrounds in pursuing higher education and then going onto successful careers in eleven sectors, including banking and finance, engineering, law, medicine and politics amongst many others. They offer this through a wide range of programmes, such as the Aspiring Professionals Programme (APP), City Talent Initiative (CTI) and many residential programmes too.

I was lucky enough to be able to apply and get through to the Aspiring Professionals Programme, along with a few others from Cranford Community College. This is SMF’s core programme and is run in 7 different cities across the UK. Within this programme, you are given an e-mentor - a person who works in the career that you are looking to go into in the upcoming future. This is a great way to get first-hand advice on and get any questions answered directly by someone who works in the career that you are interested in. As well as this, APP also helps students to gain internship placements, summer schools and provide university application support by developing key skills that not only universities but potential employers look for, such as building confidence, teamwork and leadership skills and creating networks. They do this through various university visits to many top Russell Group universities, one of which I was able to go to.

In late June, I was able to go to UCL for a taster day tailored for SMF students. The day began with a quick introduction about the history and development of UCL over the years and how it has become such an outstanding university as we now know it.

We were then introduced to 6 current students, mostly first year students, all from different courses. We were allowed to ask the students any questions that we had, from course content and how great the jump is from A levels courses to university degrees to student life, accommodation and student finance. I found this highly useful as the same question was answered by all of the current UCL students and so I was able to see the different perspectives from different people and so gain a more well-rounded view for each question.

This was followed by a quick tour of the UCL campus, which was a great experience as we were able to see how greatly integrated the university is to the busy inner-city London lifestyle and all of the great facilities it has, such as its huge library and science labs. Let’s just say…there’ll never be a dull moment.

The day ended with a session solely on personal statements which, to me, was the most beneficial aspect of the day. We were able to speak one to one, with a lecturer at UCL and see what they do and do not like in personal statements. We viewed four personal statements from real applicants – two of which had been accepted and two that had been declined. By comparing them to each other side by side, we were able to clearly identify the components that make a personal statements stand out (in a good way!) and steer clear from certain common features of personal statements which could lessen your chances of being accepted by top, leading universities of the country.

Overall, it was a great day and a fantastic experience and I am so grateful for having been given the opportunity to go. I now feel more prepared for taking the next step and applying to university.

Harprit Birk (year 12) 38

Year 12

Monopoly Challenge - Monday 14th July 2014

W

hat starts off in a form room at Cranford and ends up with you outside one of the most famous buildings in the world, having a selfie with one of the icons of the twentieth century? Answer, the year 12 Monopoly Challenge.

Students start by picking teams in their form groups and discussing their strategy for the day, then head off to the nearest bus stop to start their journey into London. The aim of the day is to visit all the destinations on an adapted Monopoly Board and take a picture with a member of the team in it to prove they have been there. This year the Monopoly Challenge had a WWI theme, which required students to visit the Cenotaph, Southwark War Memorial and find the Unknown Soldier. Students had to return to school for 3:00pm and upload their pictures onto an electronic copy of the Monopoly Board and for every place visited they received points. The winning team this year with 5,545 points out of a maximum of 6310 was 12U, who were very closely followed by 12Z and 12Y. Students gained celebrity bonus points this year for getting in snaps with David Beckham, Optimus Prime, Charlie Chaplin, M & M and Spiderman… Overall, including the lost group that called at 4:30pm, everyone had a great day and really enjoyed this opportunity to explore their capital city.

Jonathan Ryan (Head of year 12)

The results for the Monoploy Challenge are: 1st Place - 12U who win a Dinner at Nando’s 2nd Place - 12Z who win a Pizza Party 3rd Place - 12Y who win a large tin of Sweets Special Prize - for the ‘Selfie of the Day’ is the Chaplin close up 39

Celebration Evening…

Year 13

Celebration Evening was a spectacular evening full of warm smiles, vibrant dresses and suits and a great atmosphere hosted at the BA Concorde Club.

The evening began with a warm welcome by teachers, parents and friends in the reception area. Once everyone had arrived we all sat with our forms, whilst parents, teachers and friends took a seat in the middle. Then the quartet and I went up on stage for a formal welcoming and introduced Mr Prunty.

Our entertainment was amazing and we thank those all involved. Lithium band playing “Use Somebody” led by Jake Fernandez and Adam Ateye; Priya Sengupta singing “Hold On We’re Going Home” and Sathma Nugera singing “Titanium”; the dance performed by Bethany Johnson, Imran Noorabdul and Hanifa Morgado and finally “Stand By Me” performed

by Katie Hibbens, Matt Southern-Myers and Aaron Singh.

Who knew we had such amazing singers in our year? It was a perfect a mixture for the evening.

Then came the part of the evening where each form lined up to pick up their certificates. A memorable moment including one that will never be forgotten when one student whilst shaking Mr Prunty’s hand took a selfie with him. No one saw that coming. Well it is the year of ‘Selfies’ and just about everyone is involved. Just before the quartet and I presented the final performance of the night and delivered our goodbye speech, our Head of Year Ms Suri and Year Manager Ms Shah came together one final time to deliver a very heart-warming speech, and this was the moment I believe everyone realised that this amazing year group had now come to an end. As Ms Suri said ‘we have had our ups and downs, but as the cohort of 2014 we have remained strong and united.’ It was finally ending and to see how far we had come since we started felt like a great achievement.

Once the formal part of the event had ended… parents, students and teachers were provided with snacks, the bar was open, and the photo booth in the reception area was always full of students and teachers with funny hats and wigs. It was amazing to see how everyone came together at that moment, afterwards parents, friends and relatives left, but the evening was far from over.

The last part of the evening was by far the perfect send off.

We pushed the chairs to one side, the DJ set the music up, and everyone was on the dance floor dancing the night away.

I would like to thank everyone who came and contributed to this amazing evening and I wish everyone the best of luck.

Thank you to our Head of Year and the year 13 team for giving us a great send off and for always having our best interests at heart. Without them this chapter would not have come to an end in such a heartfelt glorious way. Finally all I can say is...we came, we saw, we achieved.

Sara Khan (Head Girl 2013-2014) 40

A message from Ms Suri ...and so the chapter closes…

S

even years ago the cohort of 2014 all started a journey with us here at Cranford Community College. Along that journey we’ve had our highs and lows and ups and downs. We have loved and we have lost along the way. Regardless, we’ve all persevered together and become stronger. Friendships have been forged forever. We have built a family. We have continued to build a community.

This year group achieved excellent GSCE results, one of the best that Cranford has ever seen. This year group played an important part in turning our school into OUTSTANDING and helped to create Ofsted history. This year group was the first year group to successfully organise an End of Year Prom in year 11, which continues today. You are all pioneers, ensuring positive change here at Cranford.

It was on Thursday 8th May 2014 that we honoured and celebrated the years we have had together, the smiles, the joys and the tears. We celebrated our individual and our collective achievements. We honoured our friendships and those relationships that we had created. We celebrated the ‘One Love’ that we had as a year group, the love you that we created.

And so your journey goes on and continues into the next stage in your lives.

We wish you all the best. We want you to build your careers, enjoy university, enjoy your apprenticeships, make the most of your Gap Year, learn about life, learn about love and achieve the best that they possibly can. We want you to never look back, but only forward and smile at what the future holds for you.

Keep your friendships strong, create networks for the future and build on relationships. Shine bright like diamonds year 13, because you are all very special people…

It has been a great honour to have been your Head of Year for the past 5 years, especially with this cohort of very special talented individuals, each and every one of them. What a journey and even though it is sad that it has come to an end, I’m grateful for the memories that we have created. I’m a very proud of them all. Thank you for being such an awesome and loving year group, one that makes me very proud.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have helped you along your journey: Mr Prunty and the Academy Trust, your parents and carers, both teaching staff and support staff, Ms Berndt and the year 13 team and their friends.

I wish year 13 students every success in the future as without them these great memories would not have been created at all.

They have taught me so much about life and they have learnt so much about themselves. They truly are the best, true diamonds that will be missed for sure. ‘They Came, they Saw, and they Achieved’.

Kuljit Suri (Head of year 13) 41

End of Year Assembly 2014

End

of year whole school assembly is always such a wonderful opportunity for everyone to come together to celebrate another amazing year and this assembly was no exception.

Performances by two year 10 dance groups, the school band and a staff band performance helped to create a lively and celebratory atmosphere.

The new Student Leadership Quartet introduced themselves to the school and shared with everyone their delight in being elected and the importance they placed and the responsibility they have to the school community in this role.

The Jack Petchey Award recipients were announced by Mr Dean. Ms Joyce congratulated the school on their generosity in raising over £1200 in support of ‘Help for Hero’s’ charity during Activities week and a special award was presented to Jake Fernandez in recognition for all his support to both staff and students and his contribution to the whole school community. He was clearly touched by this acknowledgement, especially when he received a standing ovation.

Dean Quelch (year 10) received a surprise gift of a bike, kindly donated by Cycle Experience Limited who has been working with Cranford teaching bike maintenance and cycling road safety every Wednesday afternoon in WFactor.

Dean is such a worthy winner; He was nominated by his Year Manger Ms Kaher, and his teachers Ms Tutt and Ms Knock for being an outstanding student who has made such amazing progress, works exceptionally hard and always with a smile. His Head of Year, Ms Sullivan presented him with his helmet and padlock during the assembly and Ian from Cycle Experience presented him with his bike at home.

The assembly concluded with a visual presentation of a year at Cranford which captured all the wonderful things that have happened during this academic year 2013-2014.