The Cranford Review March 2011

Cranford Community College, High Street, Cranford, Hounslow. TW5 9PD

Tel: 020 8897 2001

THE CRANFORD REVIEW

I nter national

School Award recognition for the 5 th time

Cranford Community College has been awarded the prestigious International School Award for the 5th successive time putting Cranford in an elite group of schools nationally. The award, which is managed by the British Council, was given to the school in recognition of its work to bring the wider world into the classroom.

The International School Award seeks to celebrate, develop, recognise and accredit outstanding practice in the international dimensions of teaching and learning. Fostering an international dimension in the curriculum is at the heart of Cranford to ensure that young people gain the cultural understanding and skills they need to live and work as global citizens.

In order to achieve the International School Award the staff and students at the school had to demonstrate a wide range of international

Cranford Community College is delighted to announce the outstanding achievement of being awarded the Cultural Diversity Quality Standard ‘Diamond Award’ having attained the Gold Award in July 2010. Cranford Community College is one of only 10 schools in the country to successfully achieve the Diamond Award.

The assessor reported “it is clear that the schools ethos and approach is making a difference to the outcomes of its students and is an achievement worthy of this level of recognition”. The assessor continued “it is evident that cultural diversity and equality objectives are fully embedded into the school ethos and that the curriculum enables pupils to understand and value diversity and equality and how people can live in a cohesive community”. The Diamond Award represents exceptional achievement, for a school where students can achieve to their very best in an environment that celebrates diversity and nurtures respect. Cranford remains fully committed to promoting cultural diversity and equality for all and continues to ensure that all its students are able to reach their potential.

www.cranford.hounslow.sch.uk

March 2011

activities which included trips to France for year 7, 8 and 10 students; cultural weeks throughout the school year; a senior leadership trip to China to further consolidate our partnership with TIFERT (our partner school in China); a trip to Auschwitz in Poland for year 12 students; a trip for year 7 and 8 students to the German Christmas Market; a chance for year 7 students to experience maths in German and a truly wonderful Languages Excellence Evening.

John Rolfe, Manager of the International School Award at the British Council, said: “Many congratulations to all the schools across the UK who have been successful in the International School Award.

We are very grateful to all the schools for their excellent commitment to the enriching, creative and innovative international dimensions of teaching and learning. The fantastic work is vital preparation for all our young people to better understand their place in the world, and support the development of their skills in an increasingly global economy”.

One Humanity In keeping with its diverse school community, Cranford hosted another evening bringing together different faiths and highlighting the common ground between religious teachings. The focus of the event was to consider the need to help the less fortunate as well as considering why all religions state this is important, perhaps highlighted best of all by the ‘Debate with the selfish man’. Three year 7 tutor groups performed their own songs about belief and identity which were created through the “Many Voices” transition project. The evening took on a fundraising element as Victoria Lyon Dean from Save the Children explained the work her charity does including the Humanitarian Imperative upon which it is based. Staff, parents and pupils donated money to their cause and some even tried the “Plumpy Nut” paste which helps nourish children like Tigabu, who was helped back to health

by Save the Children. A message about charity and generosity was the perfect start to the festive Christmas period.

A Multifaith Event

Ask the year 7 Mandarin class at Cranford Community College what these characters mean and they will be proud to tell you it is the name of their school written in Chinese.

Students have been learning Mandarin Chinese since the beginning of the autumn and have already made great progress. During September they were able to entertain a group of 10 students and 4 teachers from Cranford’s partner college TIFERT (Tianjin Institute for Foreign Economic Relations and Trade) in Tianjin in China, who spent 6 days learning about the way we live, work and learn. The TIFERT group were very impressed with the facilities and the way students learn interactively at Cranford, and particularly enjoyed visiting the outdoor classroom and the

conservation area. “They speak so well after only 2 weeks, it is amazing” said Liang Jing, leader of the TIFERT delegation.

In addition 20 headteachers from Guangzhou province in southern China came and spent a very exciting time with the group as part of a 2 week visit to the UK. They had their name and date of birth checked in Mandarin and were very impressed by the ability of Cranford students to communicate in Mandarin after such a short time. Hazel Bennett, one of the year 7 class said: “Chinese is completely different but not as hard as you think…we have lots of fun learning, especially using the tones“. Mr Prunty, Headteacher at Cranford signed a Partnership Agreement with TIFERT in March 2010 and said: “It’s really good to see the agreement becoming a reality for Cranford students”.

By Philip Dobison (Assistant Headteacher)

T uesday

PASSION FOR SCIENCE Dr. Simon Singh style S imon

Singh made his visit to Cranford one to remember, sharing his personal experiences in the world of science, his life as a PhD research assistant at Imperial and the challenges of now becoming a controversial writer.

I requested and organised the session with the aid of Ms Painting to give students an insight into what studying science at university is all about. During the talk we began to look into a concept known as the “Bible Code”. This controversial idea sparked fire in the LRC, some agreeing to this mystical scheme of Bible predictions of the future and others claiming this phenomenon to be a coincidence. The evidence of the Bible Code existing was truly convincing. Simon used the research of Professor Brendan McKay who had found similarities between the codes found in the Bible and codes found in “Moby Dick”, a book chosen randomly to show us that the Bible Code may just be a coincidence. Seeing how science can prove such a controversial idea to be wrong was incredible, whispers of “Oh my days, that’s sick!” could be heard every few minutes.

To demonstrate how having a passion for your subject can help you succeed as a student entering university, or as a graduate starting a career Simon played us a short clip from Fermat’s Last Theorem, a documentary based upon one of the most revered problems in the history of mathematics. Andrew Wiles was shown describing his experience when finally finding out how to solve the theorem.

It was clear to see how much that meant to him. This was an inspirational story that made us all think about how much we wanted to study our chosen subjects and how much passion do we really have for our education, we were left spell bound.

By Reshma Lall (year 13)

Parents going back to school at the Science Excellence Evening

2nd November 2010 was an evening when students with their parents were able to perform experiments like a normal school science lesson.

The evening was set up in three different science labs.

The experiments were learning about separation for chemistry, food energy for biology and forces for physics.

I enjoyed the chemistry experiment which was separating salt from salt water.

I have recently done this at school and was able to answer all the questions for the experiment.

My mum found the biology experiment interesting because she learnt how to test energy contained in food.

My dad took charge of the physics experiment to find an efficient sail for a ship. Because he’s an engineer, he solved all the problems and pointed out improvements. He also explained what was happening when we were carrying out the experiment. He said, “It felt like going back to school”.

I think this was a very useful evening for everyone because students were able to show their parents, their abilities and knowledge. Parents got the feel of a science lesson and teachers were able to meet the family in an informal way. This helps getting parents involved in their children homework.

I hope Cranford Community College continues to have this type of evening in future.

By Shalen Sankreacha (year 8)

in

the

charitable spirit

The total money raised for Charity Autumn term 2010

£ 1,628.80

Cranford Community College declared Friday 22nd October 2010 as Jeans For Genes day, where students wore a pair of jeans to show support and raise money for the charity, ‘Jeans For Genes’. This is a charity that raises money for children who have genetic diseases, such children are born with diseases that often lead to a life of pain following trips in and out of hospitals.

The Quartet suggested this charitable day for two reasons; one to raise money to help those less fortunate and secondly, to allow students to be able to set an example and to justify a Mufti day.

Students and staff were all allowed to wear any jeans and shoes of their choice however they were required to wear their school polo top and sweatshirt.

Cranford managed to raise a grand total of £1251.61 ‘Jeans for Genes’ day charity will use this money to provide care for those children who are unable to afford it, to fund research and projects on genetics diseases, to find ways to make each person’s childhood as normal as possible.

By Amarpal Khuttan, Radhika Badianni, Shivaani Kaushik, Cyrus Mwangi (year 13)

BUS SAFETY A W A R E N E S S DAY

Cranford is definitely

On Monday 27th September 2010, students from each year group participated in a bus safety workshop in order to raise awareness of safety on buses.

We were taught a variety of things that could be done in order to show respect and civil behaviour towards our local community and local bus drivers. We were shown a video by TfL (Transport for London) which portrayed an example about the wrong use of Oyster cards which are conditionally free, meaning that there are rules about their use.

We have to show we know how to behave with our oyster card. They are a privilege and should not be taken advantage of and can be taken away as quickly as they were first handed to us.

Music brings us together

There are many ways in which we can help ensure bus safety in our community including allowing the elderly or passengers less able to go before you in the queue and giving up your seat to mothers with children. You should always place your oyster card on the machine to avoid any differences between you and the driver and greet or thank the driver because showing consideration to others could help you later on when you have forgotten your oyster or need help on the bus.

Donovan Christopher- the famous poet and rapper visited Cranford Community College in October 2010. We were lucky enough to be in a workshop with him during the day and we were also going to the poetry presentation after school. He is a person who has strong views against racism and he taught us a lot about Black History Month. He is a fun person who clearly enjoys working with young people. His enthusiasm was great and he encouraged all to participate, teaching them a lot about culture and respect.

In the evening, many people from Cranford went along to watch him perform. He performed reggae and portrayed culture throughout his poems and work. The evening had followed with competitions and book signings (a book which he wrote himself on identity and discrimination) which students won through quizzes.

We saw a performance by ‘Riot Act’ who invited us to suggest the decisions and dilemmas they acted out which made us see both points of view of each character they played. It helped us determine which actions are wrong and right and how we could avoid situations like these in the future.

All in all we have gained a good understanding of the rules and conditions of oyster cards and travelling on buses is a privilege that should not be taken lightly.

By Najma Hassan & Rahiqa Hersi (year 11)

The Creative and Media Arts Faculty at Cranford Community College have commissioned year 10 Creative and Media students to develop and paint a design for a mural entitled ‘Music brings us together’ as part of their unit 1 Artifact-Visual Arts project.

The murals have been painted on one wall in each of the music practice rooms. The designs were inspired by the various discussions and research evidence collated from the students at Cranford and what they wish to see in the murals.

The murals are now complete and there for all to enjoy and inspire music making at Cranford.

By Pravjot Kaur & Catrina Goncalves (year 10)

“ We w e in Do re inspired novan with t ’s he poe us an m he als book. he ra pped f s o taug how i ht us or mport about ant po talked etry ab pen to out using a was. He write paper p with t and he wo oetry and t funny o flow rds. H e was guy o a pe all the people n and frien very dly to around Nield him”.

Dela C r u z (ye a r 10)

l a s so c o o paman w p a R e f h o T “ lo ts e to ld u s b e c a u se h e s. I w a s k jo d ms an ra p s, p o e g d u ri n g a n d sm il in ed la u g h in g w a s e x c it e c a u se I b t n e v ld e th e . I wou h a p p y to o a n d v e ry g a in ” . a e e t h im lo v e to m ear 7) ncalves (y Bruna Go

“Life is what you live and life is what you make it don’t be such a sieve and go around and fake it You can do it, you can make it make it if you try.

If you really want it set your standards high.”

By Donovan Christopher (Rappaman)

Editor Director: Jessica Joyce Graphic Designer: Enzo Gianvittorio

Presentation Evening 2010

Thursday 18th November 2010 saw the annual celebration of student achievement at Cranford Community College, with actor, comedian and writer, Sanjeev Bhaskar as guest speaker and to present the awards. This was his second visit to the school in as many months having returned in October 2010 to film a documentary about his life with Channel 4. Sanjeev is a former student of the school and his return after more than 25 years created for him a nostalgic journey down memory lane, some of which he shared with the audience during the evening. His amusing and highly engaging speech based around the evening’s theme of “Inspiration-Aspiration”, really captured the audience’s interest. His inspirational talk cited hard work, curiosity and a passion to learn as key factors to success and encouraged the students to pick up this mantle and make it happen for themselves.

The evening was attended by a variety of guests from across the borough including primary headteachers, officers and officials from the local authority, Michael Marks Assistant Director and Judith Petterson, Director of Children’s Services. It was an evening of great pride for the school. One of the many highlights was the presentation of awards where so many students were recognised for their achievements at GCSE, A/S and A level, some returning from universities across the UK such as Nottingham, Warwick and Brunel. Sanjeev took time to talk to each recipient as he presented their award, clearly keen to learn more about their achievements. Dr Ambily Banerjee Principle Regulatory Executive at GlaxoSmithKline who sponsor the additional science awards, spoke of her delight in being associated with the school. As a former Cranford student she too said how proud she was of her long term association with the school both as a student and now in her professional role at GSK. The evening was a celebration of Cranford’s talented performers too, who performed a variety of dance and drama pieces reflecting the theme and Cranford choir performed “I Believe I can Fly”; a fitting conclusion to an inspiring evening.

Copyright Cranford Community College © 2011 | Printed by: schoolhousestudios.co.uk

Copyright Cranford Community College © 2011 | Editor Director: Jessica Joyce | Graphic Designer: Enzo Gianvittorio | Printed by: schoolhousestudios.co.uk

an inspirational evening of celebration