Cranford Review 2015

Cranford Review

2014 / 2015

EDITORIAL Yet

again, this has been a very impressive year for Cranford on many fronts. Our examination results continue to rise and our GCSE headline figures are now significantly above the national average. The government is introducing new measures for pupil progress and the progress that the students have made in this summer’s examination results is also significantly above the progress for pupils across the country. This means that students at Cranford achieve stunning results in every respect.

Our A level students were no exception with superb outcomes, and this is the first year that one of our Sixth formers, Gugandeep Banga has been awarded the highly prestigious Fullbright scholarship, and he will start at New York University this Autumn. Needless to say, the track record of Cranford students going on to the best universities continues, with this summer seeing our students secure places at the top Russell Group universities including Kings College London, University College London and Durham University.

Cranford has continued to achieve a number of awards for excellent achievement including yet again two awards from the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust. We were also invited to become the Lead School for the Southwest London Science Learning Partnership as we take the forefront in training and developing science education across eight London boroughs.

As a newly designated Teaching School, we have this year added to our impressive portfolio partnerships including with Kingston University and the London Diocese to provide school based training for many teachers particularly in shortage areas where it has often proved difficult to recruit.

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2014 / 2015

Our partnership work with Berkeley Primary continues to flourish and Berkeley was cited in HMIs annual report to Parliament for the extraordinary journey of improvement made which we at Cranford have supported.

Creativity at Cranford has reached new levels particularly in Drama where we had a stunning performance of Richard III as part of the Shakespeare in Schools project. More recently we were treated to an amazing theatre production of the Caucasian Chalk Circle showing the immense talents of Cranford students.

Numerous high profile visitors have come to Cranford this year and in particular we welcomed the US ambassador who met with our Sixth Formers in December. Cranford hosted the Hounslow Young Citizens scheme where most primary schools in the borough attended a training event at the school designed to raise pupil awareness of risk and their ability to make the right choices in a range of different situations. This is on the back of a great deal of involvement and support from Seema Malhotra, our local MP, on a wide range of equalities issues that are vital for this community and beyond. She also took part in the borough Sixth form RE conference that took place at Cranford.

I remain immensely proud of the amazing achievements of our students and the many successes of Cranford.

The school continues to go from strength to strength and I am delighted to remain so deeply involved with this school and the community.

Kevin Prunty (Executive Headteacher, National Leader of Education)

Cranford High Achievers Programme in Full Bloom

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fter 3 years the High Achievers Programme, is now in full bloom; seeing some of its first participants achieving far beyond expectations. The High Achievers Programme has enabled students to adopt a new perspective on learning, seeing it not as something that they can gain just from lessons but rather by participating in the wider world. After our trip to Oxford University we were told that learning had to be intrinsic, that a student’s innate love for their subject is what makes them stand out. This is what I and Mr Biggs have encouraged in students over the past few years.

Such a desire can be found by considering our first young fellows group which is now embarking on new and exciting journeys to some of the best universities in the UK and Worldwide, I am especially proud of Gugandeep Banga who achieved a full international scholarship to New York University after completing a Sutton Trust International Summer School. Our second year young fellow participants have been spending much of their free time attending summer schools at the top universities: Oxford, Cambridge, Eton and University College London, They gained knowledge that will be passed on through young fellows’ dinners next year, while our young year 9 scholars have been accepted onto the year 10 UCL scholars programme after completing both their first and second years with flying colours. Here they will be able to explore medicine, astro physics and engineering in greater depth and our year 8 scholars will follow suit.

Three of our High Achiever writers have won themselves a place at the First Story writer residential this summer, an opportunity to work with prestigious published authors. We have also been lucky to have taken part in an exploration day lead by a PhD student from Cambridge, where our AimHigher year 12 students were able to discuss in-depth ‘Platos Meno’ and whether in fact goodness can be defined.

The High Achiever group has taken part in the prestigious Benjamin Franklin debates at the US Embassy, and the participated in the prestigious international essay writing competition for the Living Rain Forest. We have also been out of school on several discovery days with year 9 students at University College London, looking at engineering, physics and humanities, to encourage learning through exploration. Such a desire to learn has been furthered through the key stage 3 Theology Book club and Philosophy Boys and Girls who over the past three years have grown in true awareness of the ultimate questions that surround us.

For me the High Achiever Programme continues to be a driving force behind my love of education and indeed behind my belief that through encouragement and opportunity a child regardless of background or ability can achieve far beyond their own and others’ expectations.

Katie Hibbins (High Achievers Co-ordinator)

Jacinta Noel (Law)

Roshini Lal (English)

Mumtaza Ahmed (Biological Chemistry)

Nabila Hiyati (Biological Chemistry)

Alexinder Riyat (Chemistry)

Janvi Poddar (Chemistry)

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Cranford Careers Programme 2014 / 2015 A nother busy year in the Careers Department saw 161 UCAS applications, the whole of year 11 visit the Skills London Careers Show, in school careers days for year 9 and 12 students, and successful periods of work experience for a variety of students in key stage 4 and 5. In addition we took part in the inaugural Kickstart Express project run by ‘Spark’, numerous trips as well as visits to businesses supported by guest speakers from a range of industries who came to talk about different careers and pathways.

In December 2014, all year 9 students took part in a variety of activities including the play “Choices” to help them decide about their GCSE options for 2015.

On Tuesday 17th March 2015, a team of year 9 students visited IT giants Cognizant Technology and were involved in the exciting wearable technology challenge where they designed a wristband which enables you to monitor your health. They worked very well together as a team and had a thoroughly enjoyable day.

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loser to home again we visited the Heathrow C a r e e r s F a i r, I C o n n e c t , o rg a n i s e d b y Connexions, and took part in Kickstart Express. This three day project in the summer term 2015, saw year 12 students visit several local companies for example, Sky, Discovery Channel, Worley Parsons, Metrobank and the Heart of Hounslow clinic to find out more about what they do and learn about careers in that sector.

Barclays Bank Dragons Den challenge in the spring term 2015, was set in the daunting surroundings of their head office in Canary Wharf, but undeterred, the Cranford team of Baljinder Padda 10U, Ashika Kapoor 10T, Saugaat Banskota 10W and Arun Sharma 10X presented their “Unity” community health and fitness app with confidence and enthusiasm and ended up winning the competition.

The students entered a competition to write the best blog about their experiences. This was followed by a year 12 Higher Education and Careers day on 2nd July 2015, where students took part in various workshops including: writing personal statements, choosing your university and course and student finance as well as alternatives to university such as apprenticeships, speed networking and interview skills.

“Thank you for enabling me to attend this helpful workshop, I was able to enhance my team work, presentation and confidence skills. I appreciate the opportunity”.

A very busy but exciting year for careers which we hope will make the difference for Cranford students when thinking about their future aspirations and career pathways.

Gurgina Sidhu (year 12)

Cath Goold (Head of Careers Co-ordinator)

Now

2014 / 2015

in my third consecutive year participating in the First Story writing group, I felt comfortable pouring my innermost feelings and sparks of ingenuity on paper and using this with guidance from the group, Ms Hibbins and our resident writer, Ross Raisin. I was the only year 13 student in a group filled with students from years 10 and 11, which was refreshing and I got to know them quite well. They interacted well as a cohort of literary creativity and inspired our amazing anthology ‘It Always Seems So Simple’. Our refined masterpieces were centred around this recurring theme and it made for some very dark but also light-hearted material.

As a safe-haven of friendship and challenge, the group was able to freely express themselves and delve deeper into the extraordinary world of creative writing away from revision for exams. As a collective, we have become a beacon for future originality in writing. Personally, having the opportunity to support the First Story scheme at Cranford for the last 3 years has greatly improved my self-esteem and inspired my love for creative writing and reading novels. It enabled me to make great friends through this shared passion of writing and it just feels like home, a place where we go to get away from the anxieties of modern life. I am all the more thankful that I was able to be a part of it and extremely grateful for the time and dedication everyone has put in over the last 3 years, in particular to Ms Hibbins and Ross for their phenomenal efforts and contributions to First Story for the amelioration of the students.

Kishan Shah (year 13)

We All Have a Favourite Day ...

We

all have a favourite day, for some it is Friday which jubilates in the weekend’s commencing, the hope of a Saturday morning lie in and a fragrant coffee that revivifies the fatigue of the past week’s marking. For others it is Monday that holds them; the simple hope of a new beginning, a once-again chance to renew past wrongs and get to it. But for me Wednesday holds that draw. It smells of cherry blossom damp on out-stretched arms and sounds like the giggles of children hiding in the bushes at Cricket matches. It looks like a warm open fire that crackles with the innate feel of warmth and companionship and finally it feels like home.

On a Wednesday at 3:30pm (sharpish) S7 morphs into a literary paradise of friendship and challenge. A place where the students aren’t held to any particular literary technique but rather are asked to give into the joy that can be found from simple writing… because full stops can be thought about in editing. It is a place where happiness and sometimes sadness are shared in the joys that can only be expressed through prose. It is a place where invigoration is openly celebrated and cultivated knowingly by lovely Ross who is always enthused with epic ideas. Finally, it is my favourite day because it is the day where I realise once again that away from the normal humdrum education system of results and exams that students’ minds really are a beacon of inspirational hope for the future. Their minds are really so inquisitive given the chance… so able to think out of the ordinary and into the extraordinary. My lovely students have simply astounded me with their ability to think and create and for that I will be eternally grateful, because that is why I became a teacher in the first place.

I am and always will be a very proud Ms Hibbins so thank you for your time and dedication.

Katie Hibbins (First Story) 3

Foreign Languages Spelling Bee Competition

The

Spelling Bee competition in the summer term 2015 was a great experience. We started by having an interschool friendly competition in German and Spanish and we were selected by our teachers to attend the regional competition, which was held in Essex. We left school at 2pm by mini coach with Ms Williams and Mr Dobison. Ms Williams kindly brought snacks for us and we ate and practised on the long 3 hour journey.

Once we arrived at the Cooper’s Company and Coborn School in Upminster, we were separated into a German and Spanish pair. Ms Williams went with the Spanish students and Mr Dobison stayed with the German students. We then competed against 20 students from other Greater London schools. Almost all of us went to the semi-finals, which was a great achievement. Despite being very nervous at the beginning, the whole day was very exciting and a lot of fun and we learnt a lot.

German competitors: Guy Boonyarakyotin (7z) and Ayisha Mahmood (7z)

Spanish competitors: Ricardo Oliveira (7z) and Anjali Bhambra (7x)

The German Christmas Market in Hyde Park

We

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left school by coach on a cold winter’s morning in December 2014. It took a long time to get to Hyde Park, but the journey was interesting and it was worth the wait. Once we were there, we were told the expectations and that the meeting point was by the huge Christmas tree. We then split up into groups of 4 or 5, given a German quiz to complete and went exploring the Christmas market looking for all the answers to the quiz. The quiz was very good as it helped us find out a lot about German food and drink. The food was amazing and delicious.

Some of us bought really nice presents for our family and we had a lot of fun. The winners of the quiz won a box of chocolates which we all shared. Everything went really well and we all met up on time at the meeting point and left to go back by coach to school. Overall the day was brilliant, because it was thrilling and a lot of fun.

Jack Blandford, Adam El-Kosbi, Jahsean Williams, Abraham Mathews, Zahra Mahmood, Gargi Jadhav, Shabnam Uria, Zena Rehman, Suadi Barri, Octavia Madej, Prabhdeep Nijjar & Atanas Aleksandrov (year 7)

This

year we had fifteen year 10 students completing their Bronze Award, and seventeen year 11 students completing their Silver Award.

Students have all undertaken periods of volunteering, learning a new skill and taking part in a physical activity. The activities have included coaching year 2 and 3 children football, supporting students in the ASD centre, dog walking, learning cross-stitch, British sign language, tyre fitting, badminton, and much, much more.

The final part of the award was an expedition where students plan and navigate a route including camping overnight, carrying all equipment and cooking on trangia stoves. The Bronze Award assessed expedition to Box Hill took place on Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th July 2015 and the students had a fantastic time and all navigated their way Duke of Edinburgh without too many detours; even camping in a thunderstorm didn’t stop them. The Silver Award 2015 assessed expedition ran from Thursday 9th to Saturday 11th July 2015 and the students walked from Beachy Head around the South Downs. The glorious weather and beautiful setting by the coast helped keep their spirits up over the 3 day expedition through the blisters, sore shoulders and a couple of wrong turnings.

Thank you to Ms Ledlie, Mr Biggs and Ms Hibbins for leading both expeditions.

We h o p e t h a t a l l these students will continue on to Silver or Gold next year and that their success will inspire lots of the other students to get involved for the first time next year.

Eleanor Stokes (Assistant Headteacher DofE Co-ordinator)

“As tiring and difficult the expedition maybe, carrying on is essential for success even if you take the wrong route because the feeling of knowing you completed it is worth it the most”.

Onkardeep Sahota (year 11)

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After

a five year absence the Junior Citizen Programme returned to Hounslow on Monday 15th June 2015 hosted by Cranford Community College. The programme targets year 6 pupils transferring to secondary school and encourages children to make the right choices as they develop into young adults. The two week event took place in a tented village on the 30 acre site at Cranford Community College. 31 primary and junior schools from the whole of Hounslow and over 2200 children took part in the interactive event.

PC Michael Purvey and PCSO Anna Madden are the driving force behind re-establishing the Junior Citizen Programme. They are determined that the children of Hounslow should be as well informed as possible about the dangers around them to make good choices, stay safe and to have bright futures. With the support and sponsorship of the Metropolitan Police, London Borough of Hounslow Community Partnership Unit and Cranford Community College the programme has returned on a scale larger than ever before.

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Each participating school spent a whole day at Cranford engaging in a range of Junior Citizen activities such as internet safety, road safety (Hounslow Highways), behaviour on public transport (TfL), kitchen and fire safety (London Fire Brigade), seaside safety (RNLI), stranger danger, Prevent (anti-terrorism), stop and search, drugs and alcohol dangers, anti-bullying, train and platform safety (British Transport Police), knife and gun crime, etc.

On Friday 19th June 2015, the Mayor of London Borough of Hounslow, Nisar Malik, Seema Malhotra Member of Parliament for Feltham and Heston, Ruth Cadbury MP for Brentford and Isleworth along with many LBH Councillors and senior Met police officers joined in the activities with the children and toured the Junior Citizen Programme. Seema Malhotra commented, “The Junior Citizen Programme at Cranford is delivering a crucial message to our children and I would strongly encourage all Hounslow primary schools to attend this event”.

It was not just the year 6 children of Hounslow who enjoyed the experience. Cranford students in years 7, 8 and 9 undertook the role of Junior Citizen Ambassadors guiding the year 6 children around and acting as role models for the younger children.

The programme ran until 26th June 2015 and Sue Sampson, Lead member for communities was delighted to support the programme. “London Borough for Hounslow is proud to have been part of the re-launch of the Junior Citizen scheme. We are also proud of our children who have attended and enjoyed the scheme. Those yet to come will equally find the scenarios excellent. This scheme has my full support”.

Kevin Prunty, Executive Headteacher said; “This event is of enormous value and relevance to the needs of our young children in being prepared, skilled and equipped to make a positive contribution to shaping our society and becoming successful and committed British citizens. Planning has already begun for an even bigger event next year”.

Alan Fraser (Assistant Headteacher) 7

Holocaust Survivor Uri Winsterstein visits Cranford

On

20th March 2015 we were privileged to have Uri Winsterstein visit to tell us about his experiences as a holocaust survivor and the impact this had on him and his family. This was a unique opportunity, which allowed year 9 students to engage with a personal account of such an historic time period. The aim of the testimonies is to preserve and record the life stories of these special people. Our students were able to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the events that contributed to the holocaust and importantly the impact on people in Germany and across Nazi occupied Europe. The students had the opportunity to ask Uri probing questions in order to further advance their understanding and seriously consider a challenging and emotional topic with maturity. During period 5 a group of students were able to work with a specialist and analysed sources and historical documents to further enhance their historical skills.

Michelle Cousins (Head of Humanities Department)

Visit to Hampton Court

The

year 12 A’ Level history students visited Hampton Court on Wednesday 1st July 2015 in support of their studies on Henry VIII. The day turned out to be the hottest so far this year with temperatures soaring to a sweltering 32C. Despite this, students still had an excellent time and the trip was successful in bringing their studies of Henry VIII and the English Reformation to life. We toured the Palace using the audio guides to learn more about the kitchens, state apartments and great hall before (unsuccessfully) attempting the maze.

Rachel Thorpe (History Department)

AS Geography

Field Trip to Swanage

Year

12 geography students are required to participate in fieldwork in preparation for an end of year AS examination, so eleven budding geographers took the minibus down the M3 to the world heritage site that is the Jurassic Coast.

The group visited many different places along the Jurassic Coast like Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door applying practical fieldwork techniques to enhance their understanding of physical processes.

The students undertook sand dune transects in Studland Bay and completed a bi-polar analysis at Swanage Beach focusing on the success of coastal defences.

In

June 2015, year 10 GCSE geography students went on a trip to Windsor to discover the negative and positive impacts of tourism on the town, as part of our Geography coursework During the trip, we collected numerous types of evidence such as: the amount of litter in certain locations, the amount of congestion and the amount of pedestrians going towards or away from certain well known attractions such as Windsor Castle and The Long Walk. Collecting this evidence assisted us in supporting our reasoning and also made our data presentable with accurate results.

Both I and Mr. Myers were very proud of the way the students approached their investigations and their hard work throughout the day.

In addition we gathered answers by questioning members of the public as a part of primary research about their thoughts and opinions on Windsor.

Although the weather was not always the best, the trip was still enjoyable and educational as we still managed to accomplish our task.

Rory Clifford (Teacher of Geography)

Divan Odedra (year 10)

We also visited Boscombe beach in Bournemouth to consider the human impact on the coast and assess an area that had undergone rigorous rebranding and then evaluate the rebranding success back in the classroom.

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Field Trip to Windsor

Year 8 - IT

Kingswood Adventure April 2015

Going

up and down the curved hills of a white cliff bay with a group of fifty excitable year 8 students is quite an experience especially when they first caught sight of the Kingswood Centre.

On arrival the students familiarised themselves with the campus and then were challenged to unpack and make their beds. Some students struggled with this as they had never done it before. Mohsin Ahmed in 8W said ‘Sir, should I go and help some of the students that are stuck, I can’t believe they have never done this before?’

It was a chilly first evening as the students ventured to their first activity; some took part in the abseiling and others on the ‘leap of faith’, so it was nice to get inside and watch a DVD with a room full of giant bean bags and popcorn before going to bed. Having slept late, Ms Kudhail gave everyone an enthusiastic wakeup call advising them to get ready quickly for breakfast and an exciting day ahead.

Students drove Go-karts on the race track, zip wired across a trench and also ‘flew’ on the 3g swing. After dinner one group went on the team challenge.

Students were blindfolded and had to communicate with each other in games. They were taken down to the beach to look at the landscape and discover living creatures in the rock pools. When they competed in the assault course blindfolded Mr. Healy turned this into a 4D experience for his group, he showered them with water and made them jump by sneaking up and throwing water on them.

In the evening everyone took part in a scrap heap challenge, where they had to make the longest marble track which they really enjoyed as a wind down activity. They used card and paper to compete against each other.

The following morning it was time to pack up and make our way to the ferry and sadly our adventure weekend had come to an end. Everyone had a wonderful time and it was nice to spend time in a centre on the beach. The centre was delighted with the students’ and the staff ’s enthusiasm and sent a letter of thanks to the school inviting us to come back again next year.

Sukhjeet Kudhail (IT Department)

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Jamie’s Farm - A Unique Experience

Cranford Community College has enjoyed a successful partnership with Jamie’s Farm for three years and over 70 students and a dozen staff have enjoyed this unique experience tucked away in the hills outside Bath.

Jamie’s farm combines family, farming and therapy and both students and staff have benefitted in a huge range of ways: re-engaging with education, building self-esteem and allowing our predominantly urban students to flourish in a rural environment that fosters independence and enables them to engage with themselves and their environment in a completely different way.

Rob Ind (Assistant Headteacher Pastoral)

This

year, I was very lucky to be given an opportunity to go to Jamie’s Farm with the students to help boost my confidence. Our Cranford students were very well behaved and friendly, I had so much fun with them, taking part in the activities without any hesitation such as; going on a swing, wood chopping, cleaning out the pig’s pen so that it looks clean and brand new for another pig, herding sheep from one field to another at Steve’s farm, cooking, breakfast, lunch or dinner etc.

I made friends with the staff too; Jake, Rachael and Sue. Sue helped with cleaning the pig’s pen and was nice to chat too. What I learnt about myself from this trip is; always give something a go rather than just saying no first, I can socialise with students and animals very well now. I was also involved in telling the students who did well when we were doing a check in where we also rated out of ten how we felt after what we did. They loved to go for a swim in the river during the warm weather during our long walks in the evenings.

It’s been a while since I have been on a residential trip such as this, and is the first time as an adult. I had a lovely time, as well as the students, and hope they do well in school now after having been given the opportunity to go on this trip and prove that they can change and do well in future. I have seen a few of the students back in school and we say hello. I, too, am surprised that I have also been told that I have changed and would like to see how this goes.

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Alwin Sandhu (Reprographics and postal services administrator)

Jamie’s Farm, Cultivating Change

the delicious food and then we all sit around a huge table and eat as a family.

what the logo says and that is exactly what it does. A place that helps young people flourish in education, at home and in the community. Twice a year Cranford takes two groups of 12 students for 5 days. They all feel at home at the farm very quickly and love being there and without exception are all very sad when it’s time to come home. Every child I have ever taken would jump at the chance to return.

In addition to the no junk food rule the students are not allowed to have mobile phones, iPads or any other electrical device. They often find the thought of being away from social media, texting etc. very difficult but as soon as we arrive at the farm it is so busy they don’t even mention it. They very quickly learn to actually have face to face meaningful conversations rather than looking down at a phone and text talk.

That’s

The working farm aspect of the visit means that all of the animals have to be tended to and cared for – in the morning the animals are fed and cleaned out before we have our breakfast. The students all have to take part in even the most smelly and dirty of jobs. When asked the children would say that cleaning out and feeding the pigs is the smelliest – however they all just tackle the job without complaint and always do a complete and thorough job and usually with a lot of smiles and laughter. As well as the feed round everyone takes part in herding sheep and moving them from field to field, helping with the delivery of lambs and bottle feeding any orphans, grooming the horses and learning to horse whisper, clipping the chickens wings, collecting eggs and herding cows.

There is always work to do in the organic garden which produces a lot of the fruit and veg that we eat at the farm and chopping wood which helps heat the house and barn and provides us with hot water.

The students are not allowed to bring sweets, crisps, fizzy drinks or any other snacks to the farm. Instead all food is produced from scratch and is healthy and plentiful. Even the fussiest of eaters do not go hungry and become much braver in their food choices. All of the students have a turn at preparing breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and the evening meal. This includes collecting fruit and veg from the garden, making bread, preparing vegetables, and cooking meals for about 25 people. They really take pride in serving

At the end of mealtimes (after clearing the table, washing up and clearing away), we sit at the table and all take part in a shout out and check in. This involves everyone (students and staff alike), when we think about how we are feeling. The shout out is when we recognise that someone has done something well, has been kind to someone else, has been helpful etc.

It is often a very moving time and on occasion there are tears, positive tears. One of the students said “it’s weird, the louder kids become quieter and the quiet ones start to speak up”.

Every afternoon we all go on a very long hike which always involves a lot of hills. The students really enjoy the walk; we take the farm dogs, if the weather is fine we stop at the river and go in for a swim.

The walks are a great opportunity to really get to know the students.

By bedtime the students are all very tired and it’s straight to sleep ready for more of the same the next day.

The whole trip is absolutely amazing, exhausting, fun filled and really gives students the chance to reflect and think about how to make positive changes to their lives when they return. As one student said: “I love it here, I can just be me”.

Jamie’s Farm, Cultivating Change.

A place that helps young people flourish in education, at home and in the community; yes I truly believe it does just that.

Vanessa Tutt (SEND Department)

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The

National Saturday Art club is an exciting opportunity for young people.

As well as more than 100 hours of specialist tuition, they benefit from visits to museums and galleries, Master classes from leading art and design practitioners and an exhibition of their work in London’s Somerset House. The Saturday Club nurtures talent, builds confidence and raises aspirations. It helps young people gain qualifications and gives them an insight into studying at college or university and an understanding of careers in the creative industries.

This year Kavlin Arora and Jaslin Arora (year 11) attended the Saturday club, showing real commitment to the Arts. They attended a Master class with Jim Sutherland.

Jim Sutherland was co-founded of Hat Trick Design in 2001, which became the most awarded agency in 2010. He has worked for clients including the National History Museum, Royal Mail, Land Securities, Rambert, AHMM Architects, Imperial War Museums and Williams F1.

At the Master class Kavlin and Jaslin learnt about his passion for graphic design and typefaces and about his career path to success. They learnt about projects at Hat Trick Design and his current work and produced their own work inspired by this based on the letters in their names. The students really enjoyed looking at type in a new way.

The whole experience culminated in a final show where students exhibited their work from the Master class and an additional project. The final design of ‘the lady’ made from willow, papiermâché and mixed media was a show stopper and was Kavlin and Jaslin’s big idea for the group. The light from the heart and brain gave ‘the lady’ life and the images displayed a wealth of living.

Kavlin and Jaslin Arora received certificates from Lord and Lady Sorrell at the awards ceremony at Somerset House. Their parents and I are very proud of the dedication they have shown; how they have matured and grown as individuals and the work they have produced.

Permjeet Hunt (Second in Charge of ADT) 12

“ Going to a Saturday art club seemed at first to be just another school art class; well this was my first but last misunderstanding. National Saturday Art School opened my eyes not only to new techniques of art, but brought about a new definition for art. Here someone’s art skills weren’t judged for perfection, but as an opportunity for everyone to express themselves through art. I made new friends, built my confidence, developed my skills and changed my perspective towards art and design.

We began the programme with a series of activities including doing unusual selfportraits, typography and the attitude towards women in art. We explored modern art, art with stories and art created by many other artists across the nation. I was overwhelmed and felt I could really achieve. In addition we were able to engage with professionals in this field who have chosen art and design as their career.

The Sorrell Foundation provided us with ‘master classes’ giving us guidance through the path of art and design which was a real privilege. I think I was indeed fortunate to be offered this opportunity and to be recognised for something so prestigious. I have been left with such memorable experiences and I am extremely grateful to Ms Hunt who gave me this opportunity that has changed how art is for me, forever”.

Kavlin Aurora (year 11)

“The twins have been amazing!

They have attended sessions and the idea for the final lady was their idea”.

Linda Newcombe (Lecturer University of West London)

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Activities Week 2015

Week

beginning Monday 13th July 2015, Cranford transformed itself into a Sherlock Holmes type investigation as the school collapsed its usual timetable and embarked on our annual Activities Week. Students developed new knowledge and investigative skills in different subjects in order to explore an imaginary murder mystery and solve the crime. The week provided an exciting chance for students to forge links between subjects and explore careers linked to the theme. The rich learning experience saw students work in five main areas; Under the Microscope, Crime Scheme Investigation, Code Breaker, The Mystery of Harris Burdick and Agent Training.

Under the Microscope Students worked with mixed media in the ADT department and developed and ‘explored’ pieces of art work. Students took microscopic images and enlarged them to create pieces of art based on cells and viruses.

Crime Scheme Investigation Working with science and humanities students spent time exploring a crime scene and using scientific investigation to explore evidence and solve a given crime. Once the evidence had been collected they used this to find further evidence around the school site. Students then presented their findings at a panel hearing and discussed who was responsible.

Code Breaker

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The ICT, Business Studies and Social Science Departments provided students with the chance to explore the world of surveillance where students had to work with imaginary CCTV footage to discover through an imaginary scenario who had broken into the school. Once the footage had been analysed students looked into using computing software to crack the code and gain further digital evidence to find the culprit. This was followed by a number of debates and discussions about the use of eye witness accounts and living in a surveillance society.

The Mystery of Harris Burdick The Mystery of Harris Burdick provided the next challenge based in intrigue and fantasy to explore different mysteries and as a stimulus to create their own mysteries. The responses ranged from dance routines, drama and board games to pieces of creative writing, poetry and song. The creative output was amazing as students independently selected their own medium of response; this work was created with the English and Performing Arts Departments.

Agent Training During this day students were set the challenge of becoming agent ready. The day was split into four main areas to ensure they were ready for the challenge of the week. Activities included archery and caving which tested their accuracy, dexterity and focus.

Students then moved on to develop their problem solving and powers of logic with the maths and PE department working on tackling different challenges and completing “escape the room” style trials. Finally they finished the day testing the linguistic skills with the Modern World Languages team where they had to complete ‘the 39 steps’ a series of coded messages which had to be decoded and translated in order to find secret locations around the school.

Throughout the week students and staff were allowed to wear non–uniform to raise money for our two nominated charities The Terrence Higgins Trust and the National Aids Trust. We raised a grand total of £1126.96.

The week concluded with our DREAMS rewards day where students enjoyed a day of visits, trips and sporting activities and year 12 held a pizza party in the Memorial Garden with our guests from Korea, to round off a very successful week and celebrate the end of another amazing year at Cranford.

Kevin Biggs (Senior Teacher Activities week Organiser)

“Collecting evidence was fun because we were independently working.”.

Kinza David (year 10)

“Code breaking is particularly interesting because it challenged me to be mathematical and logical”.

Ismaeel Abdul (year 7)

“It was interesting learning about the World War II code breaking and how it influenced computer theory”.

Frank Smith (year 7)

“Caving was something different; you have to overcome challenges like being in the dark and getting through small gaps”.

Brendan Fernandez (year 9)

“Archery was good because I was taught how to aim and hit the bullseye”.

Alex Lamb (year 10)

“We did an MI6 test to see how observant we were, we had to learn a cover story and pretend we were someone else, it was different, fun and challenging”.

Arjun Bansal (year 9)

15

On

Sunday 12th July 2015, Humza Arshad aka bad man star of Diary of a Bad Man attended an anti-radicalisation event along with former members of extremist groups hosted by Cranford Community College, and organised collaboratively by Hounslow’s prevent team and West London Initiative. Diary of a Bad Man is a satirical take on British Asian culture, with a twist: the videos all end with a moral message.

The aim of the event was to highlight the distressing impact of travel to Syria and Iraq on families, to dissuade people from travelling and to undermine ISIS and other organisations’ propaganda. The event allowed younger students to meet a hero of their times and they were extremely excited to ask him a range of weird and wonderful questions including which football team he supported and what his favourite food was. For older and former students it was more an opportunity to ask Humza what inspired him to use his comedy to promote a very serious message. The more serious and hard-hitting panel discussion about the very real techniques used by radical groups in grooming youngsters had everyone captivated and all the students wished the discussions could go on for longer. One bit of advice given by Mr Muhammad Manwar Ali (Abu Muntasir) applicable to all people from all walks of life was that common sense and your conscience have a very important part to play in life, and whatever goes against both cannot be a good thing.

Mehmoona Yousaf (Senior Teacher SMSC & Head of RE Department) 16

“The anti-radicalisation event targeting the youth of Hounslow hosted by Cranford Community College was one which was truly enlightening and very much needed. The event addressed current issues surrounding the dangers of ISIS and other such groups and ways to better ourselves and society. Humza aka Diary of a Badman added an entertaining comedy element whilst still addressing a very serious issue. Events like this are amazing and spread a message not just to a specific religion, but to teach everyone how to be a better person.

Cranford was an amazing, brave host willing to tackle this sensitive subject rather than shy away like others do. We were provided with great food and an amazing environment which allowed everyone to feel comfortable and safe in asking their questions. I am especially grateful that despite being former students myself and others are still invited to these events”.

Susan Adam (Former student currently reading English Literature at Queen Mary)

“The diary of a Badman antiradicalisation event was amazing!

I loved the way Humza Arshad explained everything in a fun way.

It made me think about how some Muslims are being treated because of the media”.

Michael Rodrigues (year 8)

“On Sunday 12th July 2015 I came to school to see the Humza production. The event was extremely helpful and interesting because he talked about his own experiences. His humour made me completely engaged. The panel discussion at the end was helpful as they spoke about issues that I could relate to and have personally experienced, for example the way in which all Muslims are labelled by the media when something bad happens”.

Sabrina Ahmed (year 9)

“The conference served as a means to bring to light a very real and prevalent issue which is overlooked in modern day society due to focus on extremist groups themselves - radicalisation which frequently takes place under our noses even to people close to us. Although the discussion by the panel was brief, it was insightful in showing how vulnerable individuals are to indoctrination not only by extremist groups, but also by the media and so a question was posed “Who do we put our faith in if no one is to be trusted?”

Humza Arshad’s performance allowed a serious message to be delivered in an intuitive and unconventional way, which appeals to the youth; comedy”.

Al-Enzeli Ramji (year10)

“It was a wonderful thing to see a famous person coming into a secondary school and talking to us about a major issue in our society, ISIS. Radicalisation by such groups is a massive problem which is causing teenagers from the UK to join ISIS in Syria. The event attended by Humza Arshad (Diary of a Bad Man) and people who were involved in extremist groups in the past was designed to show how these groups groom young minds. It is essential that students of this age are made aware of the dangers and consequences of even thinking about travelling to one of these terrorism groups. Apart from Humza’s humour and jokes, the event made the students realise how such terrorism groups brainwash children and lure them into joining them. We certainly need more of these events so that children are aware of the dangers and also to prevent any adults and young adults from joining such groups”.

Aadil Awan (year10) 17

Stephen Kelman Workshop On

Friday 19th June 2015, the English Department organised an author event with Stephen Kelman, author of “Pigeon English” who delivered an inspiring workshop to students at Cranford. Firstly, he introduced himself and told the story of how a young boy felt isolated in his new town. Not all students had heard of his novel, but we were all so intrigued by the stark reality of this storyline.

We then completed a writing task in groups, thinking about how we would feel in the boy’s shoes and to write from the perspective of someone outside their comfort zone, having moved to a new place.

The groups came up with lots of different ideas for a story about moving to a new place, from an alien on a new planet, to a student in a new school. I really enjoyed it because we were able to work on teamwork skills and Stephen was there, helping us think of ideas and making suggestions for our stories. He encouraged us to brainstorm and create new ideas so our stories could be exciting and interesting.

He spoke to us at the end to encourage us to read widely, visit the library and write short stories in our own time. I’m really glad I went. Here are two stories written by students who attended the workshop.

Ayisha Mahmood (year 7)

Big Ben

I

swam off into the rubble peacefully residing on the seabed, it was almost frightening.

The scale of destruction came overhead. Miniscule pieces created a sandstorm like movement. The movement was not violent, just beautiful. “Wow!” I said to myself. I laid back to float and waited. I did not wait for anything but myself. My relaxation was shortlived as I hit my head on an arched door. I cursed. The door was corroded heavily through time and sea water. I wandered through that very door and found myself in place more beautiful than that meatloaf from earlier. It was the little remains of parliament, it was just a mixture of rooms and halls with no roof, I sighed in disappointment. Looking down, I found an unusually old container; it looked to be a box of importance - yet if I were to open it, anything inside would be destroyed. While investigating I was covered by an ominous shadow, my heart skipped a beat. I dare not look up. At that moment, I hated everything. If I looked up, I felt everything I sought after would have ended. I expected something of goliath proportions. I had repeated those lines. My fate and my soul were up to me. I looked up and I was right. Everything I had wanted in life ended right there, thousands of fathoms below sea level. The shadow was, I whispered “Big Ben” in all its glory.

Karan Kumar (year 9) 18

Healing ...

Today

it’s his birthday. A very special day for all of us but no one has said a word about it; I would like it to stay that way. I don’t want the past to perpetuate itself in the present. It has been three whole months since my father’s death and our family is still – healing. More pain grows into our hearts with each passing day. We’re all in the same place, on the same plane, heading towards the same country but we live in different worlds, on different planets, dealing with our own frustrations. My mother has died on the inside. She has built her walls so that no one could climb themand now she’s alive – but her soul isn’t. I’m so much like my mother. I have the same dark, brown eyes, the same short, brown hair, the same nose, hands and face but a completely different attitude. When I look at her I see the pain in her dark brown eyes.

However, my eyes don’t show pain, they show enormous hatred for the people who killed my father. The people who have caused so much misery into our lives, but in a way they have managed to open new doors for me and my mum, and my sister. We’re heading to London today.

Looking around the plane, I spot my sister talking to her teddy bear and I envy her with all my heart. Her brown eyes are gleaming with joy and her long, light brown hair is suffocating the teddy bear’s face. She’s not aware of what is happening in the world because she lives in her own colourful world. Unlike mother who’s in a world of her own too, full of pain and misery, my sister Lana, is in a happy place full of dreams and beautiful things.

For her, father is still alive. ‘When is father coming back from work?’ she asks sometimes, when her mind can’t think of anything else to say. How lucky. I close my eyes, lean my head on one of the hundreds of blue, tiny chairs on this massive plane. I hope I can get some sleep before we arrive but it seems impossible as too much excitement mixed with pain is running through my body. This is the first time I am travelling on a plane and I have to say that it’s very fascinating as well as scary. The scariest thing so far was the take off because it felt like the plane was attempting a backward flip and it got stuck in the middle but now everything is fine. In London I’ll finally get a chance to go to school and get the education I need to support my family. I’ll get a home. My home; away from the bombs and the tears, and the wars; away from all the agony. Thanks to my aunt, who has offered to do everything she can to bring us here, all my dreams are now possible, but I still think about Syria. I still think about my friends, my burnt down house and most of all, my dad.

Christiana Eftenoiu (year 9) 19

On

a lovely summer’s evening, Thursday June 25th 2015, the Gypsy Roma Traveller community of Cranford Community College and Berkeley Primary School gathered together in the Memorial Garden to celebrate their history month. Students showcased their work and created a display of all their achievements throughout the academic year. In addition they performed to celebrate their rich heritage. Celia Green from 7Z sang a song by ‘Adele’ alongside younger students from Berkeley Primary. Students’ younger siblings took part in a number of fun activities, one of which was to create their own Crown Derby designs on paper plates.

This was a great family event and the parents really appreciated the BBQ (ably cooked by Mr Fraser) and refreshments that were provided and look forward to joining together again next year.

Cara Cannon (Teaching Assistant)

“The BBQ was lovely. It was nice to see the younger children performing in front of other families and teachers.

They loved joining in with the activities and games. Making their own Crown Derby on paper plates was their favourite. We have them on the shelf at home”.

(Parent comment)

“I had fun at the

BBQ, the singers were really good and the food was nice”.

“I liked looking at all of our photos on display, I was showing my Mum and Dad and they liked seeing them too”.

“My Mum really liked reading my piece of writing about ‘who inspires me’; she wants a copy of it for at home”.

20

C

ranford’s budding mathematicians have had an outstanding year, with amazing success in the junior, intermediate and senior maths challenges. The sixth form students made an excellent start in November 2014 with the Senior Maths Challenge, where 6 students won bronze awards, with Mariyum Mahmood and Meharpaul Gill gaining the highest scores in year 12 and year 13.

In March 2015, there was further success with the Intermediate Maths Challenge. Our year 9, 10 and 11 students achieved magnificent 5 gold awards, 12 silver award and 23 bronze awards.

Particular congratulations are due to our gold award winners: Sachin Ranadev (Best in Year 11), Harjit Singh, Arun Sharma (Best in school), Anjitha Anilkumar and Teodor Jetvic (Best in Year 9). Because of their excellent results for their respective year groups, Arun, Anjitha and Teodor, along with Hudaifa Mohamed from year 9 were also invited to take part in the Europe wide Kangaroo Maths Challenge, and Teodor was also invited to attend a special Royal Institution Maths Master class for the best year 9 students in the competition.

“The Rock Star trip was amazing.

We went to a radio and TV station and it was brilliant. We saw many things there such as how they worked and what they did as well as seeing many fish as they have the biggest amount of fish in Europe. We met many people from different schools who were also there and who were playing with us on the computers. It was amazing going there”.

Shariq Ahmed (year 8)

In April 2015 it was the turn of year 7 and 8 students who achieved wonderful results in the Junior Maths challenge, with 20 students attaining silver awards and 28 students attaining bronze awards.

Neha Hussain (year 7) and Jaijiten Hundal (year 8) did exceptionally well, scoring the highest scores in their year groups.

Congratulations to all students who participated in or won awards in the Maths challenges. The Maths Department is very proud of you all.

We are also happy to announce that four of our wonderful year 8 students competed in the first ever Times Tables Rock Wrangle. Parminderjeet Tamber, Subhan Jaura, Shariq Ahmed and Zakariya Abdullahi, accompanied by Mr Andrews, travelled into central London to compete in this prestigious competition involving many other schools from across the country. They all did extremely well and Cranford came in 17th out of the 38 participating schools.

Sarah Brackley (Head of Maths Department) 21

The

Academy Trust Board ratified the new internationalism policy at Cranford in November 2014, which confirmed our mission to educate students for the future, which is ever changing and as yet unknown, providing them with the skills, knowledge and outlook required in the new world order and enabling them to grow into global citizens.

Cranford’s success in developing strong international links for the benefit of its students and staff has been recognised since the International School Award first began in 1999.

A submission has now been made for a record sixth time. The feedback from the reaccreditation application was:

Internationalism in action at Cranford

“The collaborative work you have conducted with your partner schools and plan to conduct in the future is impressive and your relationship with them is very well-established, as shown by your achievements, which speak for themselves”.

Ocheon High School, Korea In July 2015, we welcomed, for the first time, a group of 24 students and 2 members of staff, including the Principal Mr Park, from the Ocheon High School, Pohang in South Korea. Their stay of just one week was packed with things to do. Some of the group from Korea already have pen pals at Cranford and this was a great opportunity to meet face to face. The students were integrated into year 12 and joined in their activities during the final week of term. A high point of the week was on the Thursday when the Korean students were awarded certificates in front of their year 12 Cranford colleagues in recognition of their time at Cranford. During the week, Mr Prunty, Executive Headteacher and Mr Park , Principal, signed a Memorandum of Understanding between Cranford Community College and Ocheon High School with a view to deepening this new and exciting relationship.

Cranford has established strong links with Korea and has hosted many visits by senior educationalists, eager to see how Cranford works. They always leave very impressed by the students and the staff.

Napoli, Italia In June 2015, we welcomed a group of 12 students from the Naples area in Italy for a 5 day integration programme with year 10 students. Each Italian student was buddied up with a Cranford student and attended their lessons. This first-hand experience of visiting lessons in an English school is second to none and every student was very appreciative of the support and help from both Cranford staff and students. We look set to work directly with the Italian school to ensure this kind of opportunity occurs again. Berkeley Primary School was also involved and hosted 2 Italian students who worked with year 4 and 5 pupils for the week. They were absolutely delighted with the experience and this opportunity gave both the Italians and Berkeley pupils a wonderful opportunity to get to know each other more.

22

Tianjin College of Commerce In September 2014, we played host to a group of 10 students and 6 staff from our long-standing partner college in China, the Tianjin College of Commerce.

This was their annual visit to Cranford, during which they experienced school life as well some of the sights and sounds of London, Oxford and Brighton. This link goes from strength to strength and was reinforced by the re-signing of the Partnership Agreement earlier this year between the two institutions. In addition, one of their teachers, Ms Qi Wang stayed on at Cranford to further develop her English skills as well as see how Cranford does outstanding teaching and learning. I am delighted to announce that this coming October, a group of 37 year 12 Cranford students and 5 members of staff will be flying to China to visit the new campus of the college, which is now located in the enormous Haihe Education Park, in Tianjin, which houses all types of education institutions.

South Dong Chang Middle School, Shanghai Once again at the end of June 2015, we welcomed a group of 14 students and 4 members of staff from our partner school in Shanghai, the South Dong Chang Middle School. This relationship has flourished since Mr Prunty, Executive Headteacher, first made contact with the school in March 2012. The students participated in the music concert on the Wednesday evening, when the rain, rather kindly, held off. The group, as last year, visited Berkeley Primary School and gave a wonderful assembly covering many aspects of music, dance and recital, from a Chinese fan dance, a fusion music piece with a clarinet and traditional ocarina (xun, pronounced a little like soon) to full western rock. The pupils at Berkeley were enchanted and welcomed the visit with open arms. The Chinese students were able to visit Cranford and learn about the way the school works as well as visit London, Oxford and Windsor. We look forward to Cranford visiting Shanghai.

Matsumoto, Japan In April 2015, a group of 32 students from Japan were with us for one day.

They were also buddied up with Cranford students from years 9 and 10.

Japan scores very well in the PISA ratings and as an outstanding school, we are keen to learn from the best of their system, whilst sharing what we do very well too.

The list goes on and on: visits from Finnish students and teachers came to Cranford in May 2015, a group of Lithuanian teachers keen to learn from us visited for a day, we have a new link with the Lebanon, which focusses on Arabic, we have had a number of year 8 students involved in webconferences with Russian students in Moscow and St Petersburg and we are always seeking ways that we can enjoy international relations with a view to learning from each other.

Cranford, a truly international school.

Philip Dobison (Assistant Head of School / International Relations))

23

“Excellent people don’t believe in excellence - only in constant improvement and constant change”.

Tom Peters

T

argeted Intervention Days have again been a huge success this year with students experiencing challenging and diverse learning experiences. The aim of these days is to provide ‘deep learning’ opportunities for students to explore new topics or revisit subjects to embed learning. In addition students have opportunities to develop as citizens with activities designed to prepare them for the world beyond school. This year has seen students taking part in a rich variety of activities from personal development, educational visits and subject specific intervention all of which have supported students in making excellent progress and experiencing new things that they have never done before.

Personal Development Days Year 7 focused on improving communication and team building whilst challenging bullying and anti-social behaviour. There was a focus on cyber bullying and e-safety.

Year 8 explored risk and making informed choices, in particular looking at drugs and alcohol. They also spent time exploring the impact of the media on their decisions and thinking.

Year 9 explored positive relationships and careers; they focused on domestic violence, sexting and e-safety. In addition they explored different options and pathways as part of their careers education.

Year 10 focused on health and wellbeing learning about healthy bodies, sex, relationships and pregnancy.

Year 11 learnt about mental health and preparations for their examinations. Time was spent exploring managing their workload and stress whilst being ready for the future.

The primary aim was to provide them with strategies to cope with future challenges and exam stress.

Year 12 spent a great deal of time revisiting key topics such as the impact of drugs and alcohol as well as positive relationships. In addition students looked to the future, preparing for life after secondary school discussing their life and positive skills they have.

Students contributed to key debates linked to the wider world debating topics such as plastic surgery and the impact of tourism on society.

Year 13 “Healthy Mind and Healthy Body” day explored just that but also focussed on UCAS and strategies to prepare them for life after school including cooking for one.

24

“Computers let people avoid people, going out to explore. It’s so different to just open a website instead of looking at a Picasso in a museum in Paris”.

Raf Simons

Subject Days Targeted Intervention Days have provided an excellent opportunity for departments and year groups to get out of school and continue the learning on educational visits. Through the TI Day programme we have seen students set foot on foreign soil and have experiences very different to that offered in the normal curriculum at Cranford.

This year we have seen TI Days provide students with access to learn new skills at the London Careers fair at the Excel Centre and explore human evolution at the Natural History Museum.

They have studied great artistic works at Tate Modern, the National Gallery and even ventured to Barcelona and the Eden project to study the natural form and creative expression. Students have analysed artefacts and sources of evidence at the Museum of London and travelled to Bletchley Park to see some of the first computer systems that helped crack codes during World War Two. Within the creative arts, students have spent time on theatre and ballet trips, studio tours and creative workshops to develop their dance, drama and media talents. Students have studied the impact of time and people on the country with a trip to the south coast and navigated the countryside with the Duke of Edinburgh residential trip. Year 8 students have had their nerves challenged with outdoor pursuits activities at Kingswood and created games in the computer lab. This is just a flavour of the exciting challenges students experience outside of the classroom and beyond the blue gates of Cranford.

Targeted Intervention Days are an excellent opportunity for students to revisit and boost their understanding of key topics within subjects so that they are in top shape to approach their exams. This year saw teachers’ creativity go into overdrive with activities taking place for all year groups and with all subjects giving students that little something extra to ensure they make the best progress.

From coursework clinics and external visitors to no pens day Wednesday and a whole school numeracy focus students feet hardly touched the ground as they moved from one fantastic learning experience to the next.

Let’s see what TI Days hold in store next year.

Kevin Biggs (Senior Teacher Developing High Attainers) 25

On

Tuesday 30th June 2015 as London basked in glorious sunshine and temperatures soared to 25°C Cranford Community College hosted the ‘Art, Design and Technology Exhibition 2015’. The fantastic exhibition of work showcased the talents of exam students in years 11, 12 and 13.

The theme was based on Barcelona in recognition of the year 12 and 13 trip in March 2015 with the ADT Department.

The range of work on display this year was excellent with a more creative element on 3D Design and Textiles. Students and parents who visited the exhibition were very impressed by the work on display and many people commented on the high standard this year. Students are commended for the dedication and commitment they have clearly shown in producing the work.

There was a special area set aside for our very own year 8 artist Zahra Sadiq who has a keen interest in art and design, working during her spare time to produce beautiful Manga pieces for the exhibition.

This year the prestigious Tracy F l e t c h e r A r t Aw a r d , c r e a t e d i n memory of Tracy Fletcher, a former Head of Art and Design who sadly died at the age of 49 in 2009, was presented to this year’s recipient Noorish Hussain by Mr Prunty along with some art equipment.

Five outstanding pieces of key stage 5 artwork were selected by students and staff. Students voted to choose the final five pieces of work by: Nida Malik, Amarpal Singh Kharay, Lyba Fatima, Tahir Hussain and Noorish Hussain.

Thank you to the ADT staff who helped to set up the exhibition to make it a great success. Your contribution and tireless motivation made the day run smoothly and definitely made it the best Art Design and Technology exhibition to date.

Thank you to all the staff in whatever capacity you contributed, it made the day run smoothly. It was great to see so many colleagues at the exhibition as it makes a big difference to our students for other teachers to see their work. Many of you said really lovely comments to me in passing during the evening.

Ruby Qureshi (Head of Art Design and Technology) 26

Exhib

bition 2015

When

I was given a set of questions to choose from an exam paper I considered various t o p i c s r e l a t i n g t o t h e m . H o w e v e r, ‘Significant events’ stood out to me and inspired me to produce something which had a strong, influential and effective meaning behind it. I started to brainstorm a few ideas for this particular question which resulted in me choosing World War One as a significant event.

As I researched more about World War I, I came across an idea which inspired me to create this particular final piece; research of the fallen soldiers. I felt the need to express this unit with a final piece which told a story. When I was researching fallen soldiers and their lives I discovered that the soldiers carried many possessions with them, in their helmet, while fighting for their country. This created the basis of the ‘story’ I wanted to present through my final piece and I wanted to closely look at a particular soldier and his life. After further research I included and made the following items placed in the helmet: a letter to the soldier from home, a tin of cigarettes, medals, a prayer card, a field manual and a picture of his sweetheart.

I came across a poem, ‘For the Fallen’ by Robert Laurence Binyon, which inspired me to base my whole final piece on a fallen soldier. This final piece represents this poem and shows how WW1 is expressed through a 3D art piece.

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them” Noorish Hussain (year 13)

27

Feltham and Heston Youth Engagement Conference 2015

On

Friday 13th March 2015, Cranford’s sixth form students attended a Heston Youth Engagement Conference. The event involved a discussion about politics and Q&A with Seema Malhotra MP as well as a panel debate with external guest speakers. With an election looming it was an opportune time to listen to both MPs and other experts about how to make society a better place. More importantly this event provided our students with an opportunity to have their say and to share their concerns and ideas with people that need to better understand the local community.

Mehmoona Yousaf (Senior Teacher SMSC and Head of RE Department)

“I enjoyed the different activities ranging from sports workshops to feminism. I liked the fact that I got to have my say on how people our age should be treated”.

Simran Gill (year 12)

“The event was truly eye-opening as we discussed the involvement of young people in politics. I was also informed about the many youth clubs and activities arranged for us. Most of us were unaware of these and so we are now more enthused about getting involved in local events and clubs”.

Sofia Rahimi (year 12)

Sixth Form attend a debate on the future of Britain’s Constitution

On

Wednesday 26 November 2014, students in years 12 & 13 attended a deliberative event to engage with a significant parliamentary consultation focused on the future of Britain’s constitution.

This event was to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta, held at Royal Holloway College, University of London. In this debate we explored various arguments for and against having some form of written constitution. This allowed us to recognise that although the unwritten nature of the constitution is distinctively British and reminds us of our history, it is necessary and can become a symbol and expression of national identity and a source of national pride. With a panel of experts in the field of politics, we discussed three options for the ‘New Magna Carta’ and concluded that due to the practical problems with preparing a written constitution, there is limited support for implementing one and is a low priority even for those who support the idea.

28

Simran Mehra and Gursharan Seera (year 13)

Trinity School RE Debate with the former Archbishop of Canterbury

In

the spring term 2015, I was contacted by Trinity School in Croydon and invited to a seminar held by the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. This was an alumni event and so former pupils of all ages were able to attend. Eager to broaden my pupils’ horizons as much as possible and provide them with excellent opportunities, it was agreed I could take three students with me; Ashwin Thakur, Zahra Butt and Gurpreet Wadhwa (year 12) were selected to come on the trip. The event allowed them to reflect upon the wider impact of RE and its relevance to our society, and it proved to be enjoyable as well as informative.

“I had the opportunity to visit the Trinity School to listen to the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.

The workshop about God questioned many topics such as what if religion was still as strong as it used to be? The workshop was good fun and useful as it gave a wider insight into the significant impact religion has on society. We also considered what it really takes to be connected with God”.

Ashwin Thakur (year 12)

“I feel privileged to have been given the opportunity to meet the former Archbishop of Canterbury. He spoke about religion in society and there was a question and answer session which I found interesting as it allowed me to understand things from more of a religious perspective.

It was a great experience and I thoroughly enjoyed it”.

Zahra Butt (year 12

Sam Hodge (RE Department)

Local Women and Girls Safety Summit

In

February 2015, Cranford played host to a girls’ safety summit that was led by Seema Malhotra, MP for Heston and Feltham and Shadow Minister for Preventing Violence against Women and Girls. Approximately 70 students of both genders attended to discuss challenging topics including (female genital mutilation), sexual abuse and harassment of females, especially amongst young people. We explored the media portrayal of women with many students highlighting the role of the music industry in perpetuating negativity towards women, both in their physical appearance as well as the language used to describe them and the influence this has on them. Many of the girls were brave in sharing their own personal experiences of unwanted attention when out in local areas and these were noted by the local councillors who were present.

We felt privileged to have had the chance to voice our opinions and to have a say in improving the safety of young women in Hounslow.

Kishan Shah (year 13)

A Visit to the US Embassy

On

a hot Thursday in June 2015 we were invited to attend a very special event at the US Embassy in London. The evening, celebrating the life of Herman Bernstein, gave us an insight into the history of Albania during World War II. In fact Albania was the only country in Europe that had more Jews after the war than before showing how much of a safe haven they offered the persecuted Jews of Europe escaping Nazi terror.

The conference opened our eyes to the harmonious relationship amongst followers of the Abrahamic faiths in Albania and we learnt a lot about Bernstein’s life and contribution to this end.

Gurpreet Wadhwa (year 12)

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The M

usic Department in partnership w i t h T h e D J Wo r k s h o p Company ran a series of DJ’ing workshops with students from years 7, 8 and 9 throughout the spring and summer terms 2015. This was an opportunity for students to gain valuable experience and build skills in the art of DJ’ing.

Students attended the sessions once a week and learnt a new skill at each session. They learnt to use state of the art equipment, build skills and gain knowledge of the history and techniques of DJ’ing.

In addition, all students gained an Arts Award qualification upon successful completion of the course.

This has been a fantastic experience for all students involved.

Julie Sacre (Workshop leader) said: “The students love the workshop. They learn something new each week and it’s wonderful to see them achieve so much in such little time”.

Lewis Tirahan (year 9) added: “I learnt so much in the workshop. I’ve never used these mixing desks before and it was really cool to get my mix on a professional CD. I also got a qualification from it and my parents are really proud of me”.

The Music Department look forward to working with The DJ Workshop Company in the future to continue to provide workshops of such high quality.

Mo Wasiq (Head of Music)

“I think it is fantastic that this is on your qualifications. There are lots of songs that I liked. The teacher was very helpful”.

Humza Jeylaani (year 9)

“I found the course really interesting and it is not something you would usually get the opportunity to do especially like this. This course really interested me as I engaged with the teacher really well.

I would now love to do the silver award as I am now enthusiastic about D’jing”.

Paula Antougia (year 9)

“The teacher was extremely encouraging.

She explained the work incredibly well.

I understood fully. I would really like to carry on and get the silver award in this course”.

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Lina Imam (year 9)

continues to make Cranford’s students truly shine

The W

Factor Team are responsible for organising activities focused on improving personal and social development whilst learning new skills and gaining new experiences. Our aim in WFactor is to provide our students with a rich set of experiences that serve to inspire them to be engaged citizens who can effectively interact with peers and adults whilst enjoying and learning about the wider opportunities available to them beyond the taught curriculum. We set our students apart from the crowd when moving on from school not just making them outstanding on paper but as individuals that truly shine.

We are now in our fourth year of running this unique initiative and this year we have delivered a comprehensive enrichment programme as well as a wealth of other opportunities for students to make new friends, gain new experiences and learn new skills.

Our activities are open to all students and over 75 different experiences have been on offer, including volunteering in the local community, kick boxing, Latin, BBC Schools Radio project, creating the props and set for the school production, and classical civilizations alongside some old favorites, to name but a few .

WFactor continues to provide an afternoon of activities to make Cranford students truly shine.

Kevin Biggs (Senior Teacher / WFactor)

“My first WFactor was robotics and I chose it because it was interesting and I love learning about technology. We first started by building a Lego Mindstorms® robot and there was an assortment to pick from which had different abilities. I learnt about teamwork and helping others since there were a lot of parts and we had a deadline by which to finish the complex construction. During the last 2 weeks we had permission to use the iPad with a compatible app to control the robot and move it wherever we wanted, our robot worked and we had a lot of fun”.

Oussama Zemry (year 10)

“Bollywood dancing was the best WFactor I’ve had this year as it was very entertaining, fun and I love Bollywood dancing. Exploring comedy was just unbelievable, there were times I was laughing so much that tears came while laughing so much”.

Gracey Mehra (year 7)

“Over the years I’ve had many WFactors but my favourite by far was crafts because I was with all my friends and I got to make a vase spray painted gold and silver. WFactor is a chance to meet new people and have a chance to relax”.

Ehlaama Ahmed (year 9)

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Cran Community

O

ver the past year Cranford has developed a strong relationship with Queens Park Rangers. The school delivers the education programme for their academy players and the Cranford Superdome is now ready and will open autumn 2015. Cranford students and the wider community are also benefiting from a number of initiatives led by QPR’s Community Trust.

QPR run two very successful Premier League for Sports clubs at Cranford. The clubs are free and open to anyone from the local community. Currently QPR run tennis and basketball but are proposing to introduce a new sport in the new academic year. The club runs weekly with regular tournaments involving other premier league teams. The basketball students recently showed their determination by getting up at 4:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning to take part in the National Premier League Basketball Finals in Sheffield. Sadly they lost in the quarter finals to Stoke but they did beat the Manchester United team on the run up.

Tennis has also proved popular with young people taking advantage of our excellent indoor facilities during the winter. Some of our students had the opportunity to take part in their first tournament at Roehampton National Tennis Centre. This was followed by a trip to Wimbledon which was enjoyed by all.

Friday evening sees the busiest QPR club with 50 to 60 young people aged between 16 and 19 having a coached football session. This has proved so popular that students who have left school and gone to university still come along.

In addition students have benefited from one-off events such as a coaching session for year 9 girls and boys led by Les Ferdinand and Charlie Austin.

This has been an excellent first year and we are confident that our partnership will continue to grow and develop in the future.

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ford‘s Partnerships

W

hat a wonderful first year it has been, working with our partners Brentford Football Club Community Trust and Motivate Hounslow, part of the Mo Farah Foundation.

The key to the success of our partnership has been the training of twenty year 10 students as part of the Games Force programme. This has enabled them to move beyond the Sport Leaders’ work in primary school to running clubs at Cranford and even going out into the community and running sports activities at events. Recently four of our Sports Leaders were praised by organisers and members of the public for the work they did at a sporting event in Chiswick.

The Games Force leaders have now established a number of highly successful clubs at Cranford, in particular Dodgeball and basketball. The dodgeball session is amazing and not for the faint hearted with over 70 children aged 11 to 15 playing and loving it. Our Sports Leaders are now trained coaches in dodgeball and are confident in running session both in and out of school.

Our strong relationship with Brentford has enabled them to run free football sessions on Mondays and Wednesdays for boys aged 11 to 16 and a free girls session on Wednesdays.

Another highlight of our partnership was the athletics events at Brunel and St Mary University in July 2015. Over 60 of our year 9 and 10 students took part in these events which enabled our students to receive top class coaching from university coaches.

It also gave them the opportunity to visit two of the best athletics training facilities in the country. Everyone said they were suitably inspired.

Alan Fraser (Assistant Headteacher) 33

“We found this WFactor really interesting, educational and fun. During this WFactor, we had the opportunity to visit Brunel University which was an unforgettable experience for all of us.

It helped us notice the unconscious bias between both genders around us.”

Science Department Activities 2014 / 2015

Devyani Greentilal and Juhi Kumar (year 9)

The Drayson Project There is a huge issue currently in the UK’s STEM (science, t e c h n o l o g y, e n g i n e e r i n g a n d maths) workforce as less women are opting for careers in this industry.

Cranford Community College is currently involved in the Drayson Project. This is a pilot project run by the Institute of Physics. The main aim is to try to get more girls studying A-level physics. We are doing this through a variety of methods, such as: • Training for Science teachers on novel ways of teaching concepts like forces or energy • Increasing girls’ exposure to more STEM careers (trips, WFactor etc) • Training whole-school on unconscious bias and gendered teaching methods • WFactor “Girls in Physics”

Three year 10 classes took part in “I’m a Scientist - Get me out of here” (IAS). This is a live chat with physicists around the world. The impact of IAS on the student groups was measured and the girls showed an increase in confidence and positive associations with physics/physicists and a decrease in negative stereotypes. The boys showed a decrease in negative stereotypes.

Additionally, staff and students have been invited to take a test produced by Harvard University to test their own unconscious bias: A WFactor session named ‘Girls in Physics’ taught the girls about unconscious bias, career opportunities and how to boost their confidence in this subject. One way of doing this was by setting the girls a task of designing a physics toy for an 11 year old. This included market research with a group of year 7 students and conducting presentations on their toy and, describing the physics of the toy in detail. A group of year 9 girls also attended a day at Brunel University aimed at trying to encourage more girls into the industry.

For more information on the Drayson Project you can visit the link below: https://www.iop.org/education/teacher/support/girls_physics/drayson/page_63799.html

The Egg Drop Project As part of the mechanics unit in A2 physics, Students have been undertaking a project to design an impact container that would protect an egg when dropped from a considerable height. Students were required to bring together their knowledge of how force is related to acceleration and the steps that can be taken to reduce the impact force in the event of a crash. There were some excellent designs with most students’ opting for spongy materials that increase the impact time and reduce the overall force felt.

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The Algae Fuels Project At the start of this year, a group of year 9 students were engaged in a research project between UCL (University College London) and The London Steam Museum involving the use of algae as a biofuel at UCL alongside members of the UCL research team. They were investigating different methods of extracting biodiesel from Algae.

London Water and Steam Museum Trip On the 20th March 2015, the Science Department took 15 gifted and talented year 8 pupils to the London Water and Steam Museum in Kew. Here they attended a master class on energy by the Institute of Physics. The master class was in the context of how steam was once used to generate energy for much of London in the 19th century and the challenges facing us now and in the future as the demand for energy gets higher.

Trip to Kendrick School

On

Monday 9th March 2015 the Science Department took nine year 10 students on a “Cutting Edge Science� trip to Kendrick School (Reading). Our year 10 students took part in two workshops: Drug Discovery - Through a range of activities, students were introduced to drug discovery and learnt key concepts used by the pharmaceutical industry and academia to develop new medicines. A case study involving current research into malaria treatment at Imperial College was used as the context.

Current & Biosensors - In this workshop students explored how electricity works in both solid and liquid. We also looked at the use of this knowledge in biological sensing applications.

In addition, we got to meet the eminent scientist Professor Lord Robert Winston who gave an inspirational lecture to a hall packed with students from various schools.

Everyone had a great day working with Early Career Researchers from Imperial College London to explore the role of a scientific researcher and hear inspiring contemporary research issues explained and demonstrated. Our students were able to acquire and learn new scientific vocabulary working in groups to discuss ethical considerations and acquire problem solving analytical skills.

Kirsty Foale (Science Department) 35

GCSE Music Showcase 2015

C

ranford Community College’s Music Department held its final GCSE Music Showcase of this academic year on 1st July 2015 in the Concert Hall. The showcase has been running successfully for the past 2 years and this event was once a again a celebration of the talented musicians at Cranford.

This year we decided to include students from years 8 and 9 who will be studying the RSL Level 1 course (GCSE equivalent) from September 2015, to showcase some of the music they have been working on. The repertoire was chosen by the students and gave them a chance to perform and as ever, it was very diverse, challenging and exciting. For some of the students, it was the first time they’d performed live to an audience and they took up the challenge with great enthusiasm.

Mr Seijas (teacher of Spanish) said: “It was fantastic to see the students perform to such a high standard. They really looked like they were enjoying themselves. I certainly did”.

Mr Fraser (Assistant Headteacher) said: “It’s really refreshing to see such talented and dedicated students performing with confidence”.

The students involved were: year 10 GCSE, Tatyana Baiden, Mercedes Blake, Ahmed Fadhluddin, Amir Hashemi, Raul Plahe, Zohaib Salam, year 9 RSL, Teodor Jevtic, Shubdeep Sethi, Jaiman Bhalsod, year 8 RSL, Shariq Ahmed, Daniella Bic, Onkar Riyat and Nathan Thongkom.

The Music Department would like to thank everyone that came along and look forward to holding more events like this next year.

Mo Wasiq (Head of Music)

NOfA Summer Concert 2015

On

We d n e s d a y 8th July 2015, musicians from years 7-11 celebrated their incredible year at Cranford with a packed out concert in the Memorial Garden.

Despite rain clouds earlier in the day, the sun was shining as students showcased their work in bands, as soloists, with featured performances from our Chinese visitors from our partner school in Shanghai, the South Dong Chang Middle School, the Year 7 Choir and the school NOfA ensemble, who played music by Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev.

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.

We have been working closely with the organisation for two years as part of its 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, our students had met with other young musicians from across the country to rehearse and perform at the Alexandra Palace at an event organised by NOfA. They worked with professionalism and dedication, on music we had learnt here at Cranford, and music they saw for the first time on the trip and the results were amazing. The students on the trip, and those taking part in the concert really were a credit to the school.

Our concert was the perfect opportunity to showcase the hard work from this trip, as well as the hard work of many other young musicians at Cranford. In the past two years, the Cranford music department has really taken on board the NOfA spirit, and students, particularly in the lower school have grown hugely in both confidence and skill. I’m sure those parents and staff who have been at concerts for the past two years will agree that the students have been going from strength to strength.

The school’s NOfA ensemble will continue to rehearse and are looking forward to another year of brilliant trips, activities and concerts. For more information please contact Mr Wasiq, Head of Music.

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Leah Mirsky (Music Department/NOfA)

NOfA Unforgettable Opportunities My name is Cristiana, I play the keyboard and I want to tell you about NOfA. NOfA, for those of you who don’t know, is the National Orchestra for All and it is a wonderful organisation that gives young people like me great, unforgettable opportunities. NOfA allows us to perform at several different events and learn many musical pieces written by amazing musicians.

Recently, some of us in NOfA went on a trip to Alexandra Palace where we got to rehearse various different pieces throughout the day and have a concert at the end. I want to say how great it felt to be part of an orchestra and how amazing all these different melodies and instruments sounded when they were put together in order to play as an ensemble.

One thing I love about NOfA is the fact that anyone can join, no matter how talented you are or whether you’ve never played an instrument before, if you’re willing to put in the effort and you enjoy music NOfA would be pleased to have you.

Another thing that I love is the noncompetitive environment that you join when you’re part of NOfA. For example, when we went to Alexandra Palace, during the rehearsals everyone was helping each other and the staff were just brilliant, always there to give you a hand because we weren’t working individually, we were working as an ensemble.

One last thing I’d like to say is “ Thank You”. Thank you NOfA for giving us great opportunities, thank you to all the parents and people for attending this concert, thank you to the Performing Arts Department for offering so much support and last but not least thank you Ms Mirsky for helping us become such a great orchestra because without her this concert wouldn’t be taking place.

Cristiana Eftenoiu (year 9) 37

Cranford Hosts Annual Hounslow Sixth Form RE Conference 2015

On

Friday 19th June 2015 Cranford Community College hosted the annual RE conference for sixth form students in Hounslow.

All secondary schools in Hounslow were invited to bring sixth form students to participate in the daylong conference. The day was hugely stimulating for both students and staff alike, offering excellent learning and reflection plus great professional development.

The theme for the day was: Is Britain still a Christian Country?

The Keynote Speaker was Dr. Ranvir Singh with closing remarks by Seema Malholtra M.P. The conference was sponsored and supported by Hounslow SACRE (Standing Advisory Council on RE), Cranford Community College, UCL Institute of Education and the EiP RE group.

The day began with a Keynote Speaker, Dr Ranvir Singh, who was formerly a member of the RE department at Cranford. Ranvir always offers a unique perspective to stimulate minds. He is involved in Religious Studies as a teacher, an examiner, a teacher trainer, a producer of resources, a member of a faith group, an activist in interfaith relations, a member of SACRE and as a parent. Most recently, he has been involved in the curriculum and qualifications review as a member of the board of the Religious Education Council of England and Wales.

The day included lively, interactive workshops as well as a ‘Question Time’ style panel, with members of religious and non-religious belief systems responding to questions made from the floor. The carousel of different workshops was run by teachers who have just completed their PGCE in Religious Education at the UCL Institute of Education.

RE is currently very much in the spotlight, with Ofsted giving the subject renewed attention and the current government’s emphasis on the importance of young people understanding what it means to live in a religiously diverse society and there is also the opportunity in terms of fundamental British values that these type of events offer.

This annual conference was an extremely worthwhile event and very well received by all those students and colleagues who attended.

Mehmoona Yousaf (Senior Teacher SMSC and Head of RE Department) 38

“I enjoyed many activities in the Borough RE Conference, including debating about the design argument and references to it in many religious books. It was interesting looking at how the universe was created and we considered different theories”.

Shagufta Bibi (year 12)

“The Annual Borough RE Conference was good as the workshops allowed me to increase my knowledge of ethical and philosophical issues. Listening to the opinions of others increased my awareness, in particular the workshop on terrorism was intriguing as we debated the definition of a terrorist and it had me constantly thinking”.

Adil Hassan (year 12)

“Running a workshop at the Annual Borough RE Conference enabled me to understand students’ perceptions about whether Britain is a Christian country. Leading the workshops was demanding but valuable as we were constantly trying to challenge students about their mind-sets. Overall the conference was very interactive and enabled everyone to develop their views and learn not to accept everything the media reports at face value”.

Nabila Hiyati (year 12)

“The annual Borough RE Conference was kicked off by Dr Ranvir Singh’s key note speech which was amazing in exploring international history and politics in addressing the key question: Is Britain still a Christian country?

He made the speech very interactive and highlighted for instance how Christian beliefs dominate our legal systems. I learnt to appreciate life as a teacher as I led a workshop on the problem of evil”.

Gurgina Sidhu (year12)

“The Annual Borough RE Conference allowed students from different faiths to interact and communicate in an academic setting. It was largely to engage with controversial themes and international problems which have connections with religion. The highlight of the event was the panel discussion because all major faith groups were represented including Humanism and the fact that two students stepped up to represent their beliefs”.

Mariyum Mahmood and Faisa Samater (year 12) 39

DRAMA 2014 / 2015

An Amazing Year of Opportunities

“All

Our Heroes” is a community arts project touring schools and public venues in Hounslow and Birmingham. The project which began in September 2014 and will be touring for two years, evolved through workshops and discussion with Cranford students in creating the piece working alongside professional actors from Zero Culture Theatre Company. The play opens your eyes to a wider world that is not part of the regular curriculum. It delves into the lives of villagers in a distant land but soon brings home to you the thing that connects us all, the theme of loss, longing and suffering.

When you have productions like this performed in school you can see the impact immediately. Some of the comments made by the younger audience were profound: “It has made me think of history in a different way. The effects of war on the lives of real people, not just soldiers, but families and children like me”.

Seema Sethi (Head of Performing Arts)

H

aving received in September 2014 the recognition of Arts Mark Gold for outstanding arts opportunities across the school, we started the academic year with the success of “Richard III” and the Shakespeare in Schools project, with a cast mainly comprising of year 11 students. We knew this was going to be an amazing year of opportunities for students in drama, either as a participant or as a member of the an audience.

This academic year we took 8 trips to the theatre including “Richard II” at the Trafalgar Studios with year 9, 10 & 11 students and “Red Earth” at the Unicorn, London. Year 13 drama students, in support of their A Level drama studies saw “The White Devil “ at the RSC, Stratford Upon Avon, “Woyzeck” and “Othello” at the Lyric, Hammersmith and at The Globe and some year 10 and 11 students joined them to increase their theatre experience. In addition we took year 10 and 11 students to see “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time at the Gielgud Theatre and “Woman in Black “at the Fortune Theatre, London.

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In the summer term students from year 9 performed to 120 primary school students from Berkley Primary School as part of their Theatre in Education project that they have been working on in lessons. They tackled

themes that are relevant to younger audiences; bullying, peer pressure, SATs, friendships, and family. The young children engaged with the performances and asked some very pertinent questions along with giving some very positive feedback. This experience fired up the year 9 students and had a direct impact in lessons.

We finished the year with our stunning school production, “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” where students from across the school got involved either onstage or back stage in making this an outstanding end to an amazing year of opportunities.

I am delighted these experiences in drama this year both in lessons and beyond have captured the imagination, enthusiasm and love of drama amongst so many in our student population. Our focus for the new academic year will be building upon the success of 2014-2015 including even more opportunities for key stage 3 students to visit the theatre and participate in performance, with the introduction of the Arts Award and a KS3 drama club and our planned new production for the Shakespeare in Schools Project in October 2015.

There is much to look forward to... ...So get involved.

Seema Sethi (Head of Performing Arts)

“All

Our Heroes” play was very dramatic and engaging as it was based on people’s lives which then made you feel more connected to the play. The fact that the main story was about war and from the perspectives of the people who lived in India made the play even more powerful as it has not been spoken on it before about how some countries just got pulled into the war without having a choice. It went into depth and detail about how this war affected different classes in India. The piece was presented with only 3 actors; who played many different characters, who made the switches through the use of costume. The use of limited props but made it even more effective and in depth because of their symbolic meaning for example the ladder that was symbolic of the how the farmers sowed their land and then it was used as the barrier between the countries who were at war and finally as a look out post on the rooftop of a home in a village where a young boy looks out for his father and then a look out post in England where they are looking for enemies approaching.

Zara Choudhry (year 11 GCSE drama student 2015)

“My personal response to this play is that I think the play was really good; it had a lot of passion to it but I think it could have been longer because I wanted to get more engaged in the play because it was really intense”.

Nia Morgan Herman (year 11 GCSE drama student)

At

first I believed that the play would be created around the topic of war only; that it would be dull like all the war plays I have reviewed, however when the play started I was grabbed by the performance skills and I found it very interesting as it was from a different perspective. Their aim was to mark the centenary of the First World War; ‘All Our Heroes’ explores the stories and perspectives of men and women from the Indian sub-continent far, far away.

I think that it was thought-provoking because it was from a complete different perspective, one that is never told to us in schools and we had never learnt; for example we are always shown the British side of the war and how they felt during the war. These performances showed us that people living in Asian countries, who I thought, were not in so much tension and were in good living conditions were suffering badly from the war.

Personally I think that the play was valuable to watch, this is because it makes all of us aware of the things happening in other countries and reminds us of how much we have developed during the past centuries. Also it reminds us the role that was played by each country during the world war. The message of the play probably was to show that life was not easy for anybody and that they were also suffering throughout the world war. From this performance I learnt that I should view different things from a different perspective. I understood the play very well and enjoyed it a lot due to there being only 3 main actors which made it easier for you to focus on. The theatre and stage being small made the audience feel closer and connected to the actors.

Diba Sarvari (year 11 GCSE drama student 2015) 41

The

Performing Arts Department’s summer production this year, “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” was performed as a traverse piece to a sold out audience. The original play by Bertolt Brecht is a play within a play and one that comments on the politics and what was going on in society in 1944, in the lead up to the World War II: the divide between rich and poor and the issue of corruption and lawlessness.

Our version was set in contemporary India, against the backdrop of the fast growing economy where the rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer. Wanting to stay true to the original play we workshopped around the themes and then looked at the original text and then changed names and locations. This process was really useful because not only did I want the students to be performers working towards a production, but I wanted them to engage in depth with the themes that the play raises, so that they can think about them and act critically.

The cast began rehearsing in March 2015 during WFactor and after school on Fridays and some weekends in the lead up to the performance. Students started the process with improvising around the text, where they were given scenarios based on the original text. This proved to be a challenge, especially learning the lines. Three weeks before the performance dates we had a full run through reading the play, which we had not done before and discovered it was running at 4 hours and no audience was going to sit through a school play that was this long so we edited more and more until we got the running time to 2 hours.

The first part of the production was filmed by professionals and starred our staff, Mr Ali, Mrs Bahra and Mr Ladva, all of whom did a sterling job. We also took on the expertise of a professional lighting and sound technician, because I wanted the students to have an experience of working with professionals.

The credit for the design and making of the floor cloth goes to two year 7 girls Gursharen Pannu and Arsida Dukaj, who worked tirelessly to ensure that it was ready in time, seeking the help of others when the pressure was on.

During the production week, when we got into the performance space that’s when it began to feel like everything was all coming together. Lights and sound, singing and acting... the true ensemble worked creatively to produce a stunning show, one which the students will not forget in a hurry and neither will I. The message in Brecht’s original play is about giving to those who are worthy and the message I wanted to strongly portray was how much we need to preserve the arts within schools, communities, society so that we are humanised. Productions always bring out the best in people, and the entire school community galvanised in ensuring that the show went on, especially those friends and colleagues who gave of their time at weekends and after school to make it a success.

Post-show feelings are always emotional, but the cast and technical crew have created a group chat family... the chalk circle, and long may it live.

Seema Sethi (Head of Performing Arts) 42

“It’s really hard to describe how I felt when I saw my name on the board for the selected actors and singers. The feeling is overwhelming as you know that taking part in a production at Cranford is going to be amazing because the standard of drama is phenomenal. I’m so grateful to have taken part in such a meaningful play and as Ms Sethi said at the end of the three tiring days “the arts are what humanises us” and only now have I realised how deep those six words are; (Also my last lines in the play were “and the land to the villagers so that we are humanised”). At the start of the play, I didn’t know 90% of the people and now I can proudly say that I know everyone. Now it is finished I miss the late night rehearsals, endless learning of lines and giving it your all. I can’t thank Ms Sethi enough for allowing me to be a part of this, and everyone who put so much hard work into it This is one I definitely will not forget.”

Tatyana Baiden (year 10)

“I’ve just got in from watching “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”. Please could you pass my congratulations on to the pupils, they were wonderful. Also pass my thanks on to the staff for their inspiration and hard work. Really enjoyed the performance”.

Jenny Lewis (School Governor)

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The LRC Buzzing with the Spelling Bee

The

Learning Resources Centre was a hive of activity on Monday 6th July 2015 when Cranford hosted the first ever Hounslow Primary Schools Spelling Bee in the morning and in the afternoon the 3rd annual Hounslow Secondary Schools Spelling Bee.

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It was an exciting and nerve-racking morning and three schools arrived for the Primary Bee. Beavers Primary School, We s t b r o o k P r i m a r y School and Berkeley Primary School and, all schools entered a team of four budding spellers having held internal heats in their own schools. The first activity was a memory game. All students took it in turn to go and look at an image filled with words and they then had to spell these words back to their teams who would then recreate the image. All of the schools were very competitive and interestingly all scored 23 out of 25 in this game.

We then went to the first round; the children had a choice on spelling an easy, medium and hard word. The harder the word, the more points it was worth. The teams all had to try and earn as many points as possible to make it through to the final. After all the schools had taken part in this round the children went on a break whilst the scores were added up. Sadly, Beavers missed out from being in the final but only by a couple of points. All the teams were gathered back and the finalists Berkeley and Westbrook were invited to take a seat on the stage. The next round would be in the format of a penalty shootout, the first school to spell two words incorrectly would be eliminated and thus the other team would

be crowned a winner. The two schools took to the platform and spelt words. The words got more difficult but the students kept spelling them correctly. I became increasingly worried I was going to run out of words as the round progressed. There were gasps around the room when Westbrook spelt their first incorrect word but the round continued. The teams spelt a few more words correctly but then Westbrook spelt another incorrectly. This meant Berkeley had won the first ever Hounslow Primary Schools Spelling Bee. In the afternoon, eight schools had accepted an invitation to attend and participate in the 3rd annual Hounslow Secondary Schools Spelling Bee. The competition is getting bigger every year; Cranford Community College, Brentford School for Girls, The Heathland School, Isleworth & Syon, Kingsley Academy, Lampton School, Reach Academy and St Marks Catholic School all challenged each other in an attempt to win the prestigious and highly soughtafter trophy. Councillor for Hounslow and author Shaida Mehrban volunteered to sit on the panel and award the trophy to the winning school. The students battled it out in teams to try and accumulate the most points. The first round was nerve-racking and all of the students eagerly spelt the words they were given.

After all the teams had competed the students then had a break whilst the points were counted. It was then announced that Cranford Community College, The Heathland School, Isleworth & Syon and Reach Academy had made it into the final. The four schools chose their best two spellers to represent them in the final. The difficulty of words for the round was chosen by the panel. At first all of the schools spelt their words correctly, then after a few rounds Reach Academy spelt their word incorrectly, this meant they were out.

The teams proceeded on and next to fall under the pressure was Cranford Community College and soon after Isleworth and Syon. This meant The Heathland School won. Shadia Mehrban was invited to award the trophy.

It was a very successful exciting day and Cranford students can be very proud of their achievements again this year. Roll on next year’s challenge.

Mahavir Ladva (Learning Resources and Study Centre Manager)

On

Tuesday 9th June 2015, six year 7 students were selected to take part in the Poetry Slam competition at the Paul Robeson Theatre. The competitors were St Marks, Brentford School for Girls, Kingsley Academy, Isleworth and Syon and Cranford Community College. We were required to write a poem about transition (moving from one thing to another) which we would later perform in a competition against the other schools.

The workshop was run by a poet called Adam. He was also a rapper; he performed one of his pieces to us about his time wandering the streets and living on M&S rubbish from the bins. Our poem was called “Origins”. It was based on a poem we heard about a man who moved into a new city. We made our poem about the things people have said and things we did in the past.

Cranford Community College came 3rd. Some pupils were chosen as the most enthusiastic members and they received a book that has not been published yet. Although we did not win the event we came in 3rd place and it was a great experience taking part.

Harit Boonyarakyotin (year 7)

Origins I’m from do your homework.

I’m made of average grades.

I’m made of don’t show you’re weak.

Just act like the hard guy.

I’m from konnichiwa.

I’m made of I’m not Japanese!

I’m I’m I’m I’m I’m I’m I’m

made of sleeping in assembly. made of visits to the head of year. made of tuck your shirt in. from hidden insecurities concealed by confidence. made of the middle child. from get ready for your exams! made of all my friends.

I’ve lost fragments of a heart now cold.

I’ve lost life that made me the centre of the universe.

I’ve lost the comfort of youth but I’ve found the hardships of growing up.

I’m made of trying to fit in a world that doesn’t want.

I’m I’m I’m I’m I’m

made of belike your older sister from spit your gum out from turn your phone off made of you’re going to be late from a shadow that lurks behind confidence.

I’m torn between good and bad.

I’m from the back of the class.

I’m made of blending in with the crowd I’m now from the scorching sun, always shining bright.

We found ourselves in a community.

Written by Harit Boonyarakyotin, Zain Khan, Kimran Virk, Abdulahi Awal and Yasmin Rabi (year 7) 45

McKenzie and Company Cup Winner 2015

The

Cranford force, managed by Mr Wain and Mr Rattu, arrived at Regents Park. Having won the previous tournament beating Twickenham Academy and Featherstone High School and drawing against Isleworth & Syon in an intense match, Cranford’s year 9 & 10 combined team qualified for the McKenzie & Company Cup 2015. We met up at Southall Station early on a hot Wednesday morning in July 2015, with our packed cricket kits.

We were ready to go and win the competition.

The 7 over format favoured the team with the two big hitters, Hamza Hussein (year 9) and Junaid Aurangzeb (year 10) who were hitting everything out the ground. There was no stopping them. With the rules coming into play, the batsman had to retire once they reached 20, which was disappointing after seeing the big hits from the two openers. None the less Cranford could finish off the game with the middle order batsman, Amaan (year 9) Vignesh Kannan (year 10) and Aadil Awan (year 10). Our opening bowler Sahib put the pressure early on the opposing team in every game after earning at least a wicket to his name in all three games. With some awesome fielding by John and Ryan (year 9), we were able to defeat Hayden and Stephney Green School in the two opening group games of the day and win our group.

Cranford Cricket News

Cranford was in the final. One more win against Bethnal Green School (winners of group B) in the finals, would crown Cranford champions. The team were on their toes on every ball, and with the encouragement and support from one another, Cranford had won the McKenzie & Company Cup 2015. Winning a trophy, medals for each of us, shirts, tickets to one of the Middlesex games, kit bags for the school and most importantly qualifying for the regional finals and representing Middlesex, it turned out to be a great day after all. Without a team effort this would not have been possible.

Aadil Awan (year10)

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ranford cricketers represented 6 counties in the regional finals in Chelmsford. Winning their Cranford cricketers represent 6 counties first game by 7 wickets they were in the Regional Finals in Chelmsford boosted with confidence. Junaid, Vignesh and Tawos each played a beautiful innings to give Cranford the win. Going into their second game, the team were confident after they posted 68 runs from 7 overs. Hamza (year 9) getting 20 runs from 6 balls.

Unfortunately the opposing team had a few good starting overs getting 36 runs from the first 3 overs. Despite the efforts from Akshat who only conceded 4 runs in his over and Aadil who got 2 wickets, Cranford lost the game and was not able to reach the final game.

Even though they did not reach the final, Cranford still won their 3rd game and came 3rd in the competition. Well done to the team and a special thanks to Mr Wain and Mr Rattu for supporting us all the way. Let’s make sure we are better and even stronger next year round boys.

Aadil Awan (year10) 46

Cranford Girls Boxing Clever “E xh ila ra tin g”

“I ca n’t be li ev eI m et a bo xe r”

“Great fun, thanks”

“I am co mp let ely ex ha us ted bu t it wa s so fu n”

“Can we do this every week?”

This

year Cranford has continued working in partnership with Sky Sports Living for Sport running the year 10 Sports Leaders Course.

The Sports Leaders have again stood out and shone at all the primary schools they have visited and run events for. We were incredibly lucky to win a competition due to the leadership training and won an additional visit from a Sky Sports Mentor Hannah Beharry.

Hannah has boxed for England and Great Britain, with a string of gold medals under her belt aged just 23. She is an inspirational role model and ambassador for the positive influence of sport.

Hannah has been an Athlete Mentor for Sky Sports Living for Sport for several years. Speaking about her role as an Athlete Mentor, Hannah commented: “I’m really looking forward to visiting as many schools as possible and using my life story to inspire and motivate others. It will be fantastic to support teachers, and make a real difference to young peoples’ lives by talking about their own stories and journeys.”

Hannah stayed in the Physical Education Department for the day and led 3 lessons on boxing training. Students were selected by the Physical Education Department based on their effort during the year in their PE lessons. During the lessons the students learnt a variety of punches and basic training techniques with Hannah and were a credit to the school for their enthusiasm and the maturity of their questions they asked at the end.

Anita Fiddess (Second in PE Department) 47

Jack Petchey Award Abdiaziiz Sahal September 2014 (nominated by students)

Sarah Mahmood November 2014 (nominated by Ms Mirsky)

Abdiaziiz Sahal was given the Jack Petchey Award in September 2014 because he participated in the Regional Spanish Spelling Bee, which was won by Cranford, and participated in the side that came in the top 5 in the National Spanish Spelling Bee. Abdiaziiz has also won the Hounslow English Spelling Bee which was an amazing achievement for him. Abdiaziiz helps our teachers after school helping us to go beyond outstanding. He has chosen new books for the LRC and he empathises with people’s genres. Abdiaziiz has helped make the year 8 FROG page dedicating hours at home and in school editing and creating new ideas. He has been student leader two years in a row and is a great role model for students.

Ashmita Kumar October 2014 (nominated by Ms Painting) Ashmita is an incredibly hard working young lady whose homework and classwork always demonstrate an outstanding attitude to learning. She is polite, helpful and respectful – in all ways a model student. I am nominating her because of her amazing ability and willingness to help other students. Twice now, I have seated a new starter next to her in German lessons – one student with real literacy and confidence issues and another who was an EAL beginner. She has managed to act as an incredible TA to these students whilst never letting the quality of her own work drop. She ensures that they understand every element of their lessons and these students’ success in German is in no small part due to Ashmita’s fantastic help.

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Sarah has contributed hugely to the Music Department in the past year, not only being dedicated to her own studies, progress and performances, but also supporting the school community as a whole. She has performed at prestigious events such as the year 13 Celebration Evening, the NOfA project and supported behind the scenes at extra-curricular events giving up her free time before and after school.

Dillon Chuhan January 2015 (nominated by Ms Qureshi and Ms Jaura) Dillon is a committed student who has given up a lot of his time for art & design.

He consistently encourages younger members of the school with their work and students look up to him as a role model. He has grown independently by actively engaging in the National Saturday Art Club. He volunteers to mentor other students in the community and has given up his time on Saturdays by becoming a student leader at the University of West London. This role ensures he is supporting students who would not otherwise have the opportunity to explore art and design in such an open and varied way.

Gugandeep Banga February 2015 (nominated by student) Gugandeep is an exceptional individual, who always strives to improve the school, its ethos and the surrounding c o m m u n i t y. T h r o u g h h i s work with the charity ‘Mind’ he has developed skills central to his passion and initiated some mental health lessons as part of the school curriculum. His responsibility as a prefect provides support and empathy for others who may need it. He is

“We do the Awards because we want to believe in themselves and make a con

Winners 2014 / 2015 the first person, within our school, to apply to the top universities in the US and is very fortunate to have received the opportunity to gain a scholarship to New York University. He has taken part in various extracurricular activities such as the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award. He participated in “First Story” last year and wrote an inspirational and heartfelt poem that was published in an anthology called “Fishing for Words”.

Gugandeep truly deserves recognition for his superb efforts within the school and the community.

Kishan Shah March 2015 (nominated by student) Kishan is truly a unique, inquisitive and conscientious individual.

These attributes will only strengthen his aspiration of becoming a lawyer. His completion of the Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award epitomises his endeavour to test his abilities. Kishan has been an active member of the school community with his 3-year-long contribution to the First Story organisation. He endlessly aims to give back, evident through his position as co-leader for this year’s cohort for First Story, as well as expressing and sharing his passion for creative writing.

Khalid Butt May 2015 (nominated by Mr Fraser) Khalid has been working alongside another coach teaching tennis to students in years 9, 10 and 11 in WFactor. He is a natural coach whose style is encouraging and positive.

The transformation of a disinterested year 11 student into a keen enthusiastic player is a testament to his coaching skills and was done with continual praise. Khalid is a fantastic role model and is keen to take further coaching qualifications.

Lucy Tirahan June 2015 (nominated by Ms Joyce) Lucy is an outstanding all round student who involves herself in the life of the school whilst maintaining excellent academic standards. She is a credit to her year group. Winning the regional final of Jack Petchey Speak Out competition recently is just one example of why she should be given this award.

Josiah Mutupa April 2015 (nominated by Ms Sethi) Josiah is a conscientious student who seeks out opportunities that will develop him both as a person and as student of drama. He independently took it upon himself to enrol at the Lyric Theatre and on a film project. He has a quiet confidence and has produced some excellent work in his drama lessons, both individually and as part of an ensemble. Recently, he sought out an organisation that volunteers in India, and prepared an application and video to outline why he wanted to go to help build a school. He was open to the culture and the country and as a result had a very positive experience.

Ms Katie Hibbins Adult Leader Award (nominated by students) Ms Hibbins is an exceptional teacher who goes above and beyond her normal duties in order to drive students to succeed and engage in enrichment programmes such as High Achievers and the Duke of Edinburgh Award. She has enabled students to be involved in visits to Oxbridge and Edinburgh Universities. Not only is she a true scholar, but she also embraces the World Challenge Scheme and took students to Morocco last year to help build classrooms. As a kind and genuinely caring teacher she encourages even the most challenging students to behave appropriately. Ms Hibbins is a true asset to this school.

help young people raise their aspirations, tribution to their society.” Jack Petchey

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ranford’s Rewards Day is the culmination of the DREAM rewards points system which runs throughout the year. All students attended a trip or activity with over 700 going offsite. New trips this year included the London Eye, Harry Potter World and the local bike track for a half day’s BMX coaching and races, as well as old favourites such as Coral Reef, Thorpe Park and Brighton.

The DREAM system was imported from New York in 2008 and is the focus of our positive behaviour management strategy with students gaining DREAM points for D iscipline, R espect, E nthusiasm, A chievement and M aturity. Whilst individuals are rewarded on a weekly basis and the leading form group in each year wins a half-termly pizza party, the end of year Rewards Day is what all students are working towards and trips are allocated on the basis of DREAM points gained throughout the year.

Although competition for the top choices is always stiff, every student enjoys a fantastic rewards trip or activity and, as always, much fun was had by students and staff again this year.

So whether you are hoping to be sunning yourself on Brighton beach, hurtling down Thorpe Park’s log flume ride or gliding across the ice at Slough’s ice rink, the competition starts again in September 2015 to gather those all-important DREAM points. We can’t wait.

Rob Ind (Assistant Headteacher Pastoral) 50

Message from

Year 7

It

has been a wonderful past 9 months for the year 7 cohort in all asepcts. 2014-2015 has seen students representing Cranford at Lord’s Cricket ground, athletics tournaments and other varied, activities including a whole year musical performance in the very first term.

Therefore, it was no surprise that the end of term saw a tremendously successful debate between the different tutor groups. Each tutor group put forward teams of two and thanks to the support of their tutors, as well as the students themselves, the quality of performance was extremely high.

Eight teams were whittled down to two in an engaging opening round, with only two teams entering the final round. In the final, Aliza Abbas and Ajeet Kang (7U) were pitted against Ayisha Mahmood and Shaan Abbasi (7Z).

It was a thoroughly entertaining and tightlyfought affair; 7Z’s pairing o f S h a a n a n d Ay i s h a came first by a margin of just two votes. As well as this, presentations and speeches were given by other members of year 7 in an evening that did credit to the whole year group, the tutors and the students themselves. It has been, from start to finish, a tremendously positive year for the cohort and year 8 will no doubt see further impressive work from them all.

Aaron Sohi and Yas Ashfaq (Head of Year 7 and Year Manager)

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Year 11 Record of Achievement and Prom 2015

On

Tuesday 16th June 2015, year 11 students together with their parents, friends and family gathered together to celebrate the achievements and talents of the year group. The event began with a dance group performing a dance fusion piece which perfectly captured the energy and enthusiasm of the year group and it was clear that the dancers had spent a lot of time preparing the performance.

Ms Gerber and Mr Stumpf made an excellent opening speech which inspired the students and was a perfect introduction to the presentation of the Record of Achievement folders. The tutors worked hard to ensure the presentations were seamless and all members of the year group looked smart and mature when collecting their folder.

The Year 11 Band performed “Flashlight” by Jessie J which mirrored the feelings of many within the room.

Ms Sullivan and Ms Kaher gave emotional speeches, reminiscing on how year 11 students had grown up since year 7 and considering what the future may hold for all of the young people who have been in their care. The final part of the formal presentations was the RoA video, created by Shafla Sharaz and Rimsha Amjad. It contained messages from former as well as current teachers, photos from year 7 to year 11, videos from drama performances and time spent together; a fantastic finale with many lasting memories.

“If there ever is a tomorrow when we’re not together…there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger then you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we’re apart…

I’ll always be with you”.

“Do the things you love, not the things others love”.

“Don’t think you know everything, take other people’s advice into consideration”.

“Never be afraid to ask for help”.

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“Be yourself, respect yourself. Don’t be afraid to stand up for what you believe in, even if it means risking embarrassment”.

Everyone then set off for the Prom which was held at the Riverside venue. The students looked fantastic, with some very smart suits and beautiful dresses. Their behaviour and attitude reflected their appearances and it was wonderful to see the entire year group dancing together all night. Tutors made presentations to students who had worked hard throughout the years, and the prom king and queen were announced. It was a fitting end to a fantastic year group’s hardest year yet and they did it as they had the last 5 years; together.

Well done Class of 2015- the best is yet to come.

Rachel Sullivan (Head of Year 11)

Year 13

Year 13 Celebration Evening 2015

Celebration Evening took place at the Heston Sports Ground Imperial College London venue on Thursday 7th May 2015, to acknowledge the culmination of our year 13 students’ academic careers at Cranford Community College. Ms Prunty, Mrs Joyce, Mr Wasiq, the Year Team and the students put on an evening which was well attended by students, parents, grandparents, siblings, teachers, tutors, year managers (past and present) and senior management.

The programme for the evening got off to a spectacular start with a Bhangra Performance

by Rimsha Jaffari and Mehreen Nazimi, supported by KS3 students on the Dhol Drums. Then the Student Leadership Quartet (Bethany Johnson – Head Girl, Surya Varatharajan – Head Boy, Abrar Al-Habtari – Deputy Head Girl, Ravi Mandalia – Deputy Head Boy) introduced the evening and thanked staff and peers for their support.

Mr Prunty, Executive Headteacher, then took to the stage (in his red socks…) and praised the year group for their commitment to Cranford and strong work ethic. This led into the second amazing performance of the evening, with Kimran Mahal singing “Killing Me Softly” accompanied by Mr Singh on guitar.

The tutors from the Year Team then introduced their Form Groups and read out personal messages about their tutees as they came onto the stage and received certificates from Mr Prunty. In the background a presentation displayed pictures from years 7, 10 and 12, and each student’s destination university or employer for next year.

The final performance of the evening was a passionate performance of Sam Smith’s “Lay with Me” beautifully sung by Bethany Johnson and Ms Mirsky, also accompanied by Mr Singh on guitar.

The formal element of the evening closed with Mr Ryan (Head of Year) reminding his year group they were a record breaking year group. Before Ms Ledlie (Year Manager) thanked the year group and Ms Ashfaq (Year Manager / Year 7-12) said an emotional farewell to her babies.

Then everyone got into the party spirit ate, danced and partied a memorable evening away. We wish everyone well for the future and hope they will keep us informed of their progress at university and beyond.

Jonathan Ryan (Senior Teacher Head of Post 16)

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Welcome to the Student Leadership

The

annual elections for the new Student Leadership quartet for 2015-2016 were held during the latter part of the summer term 2015. The candidates went through a number of stages in the election process which involved: writing a letter of application, presenting in assembly, supporting and presenting on year 7 Taster Day, creating a manifesto and being interviewed by a student panel. Congratulations to all those students who applied and to our elected team, and to Hanna Malik, Ashwin Thakur and Amit Asskoumi who also did really well, but just missed out.

Jonathan Ryan (Senior Teacher Head of Post 16)

“I applied for the role of Head Girl because I’ve always been able to put my thoughts into words, but this application process was harder than usual as I was enthusiastic to write down everything I could possibly offer the role. I am currently studying A Level English literature, history and religious studies and I hope to one day be a lawyer. This application process has allowed me to practise writing for my UCAS personal statement. As a lawyer, you need to adopt the position of leader in a court of law to achieve justice. The role of Head Girl will allow me to lead a team to achieve the best possible outcomes for the school. I am extremely excited to embark on this eventful journey as your Head Girl. I will put everything into making myself a positive Cranford role model. Thank you”.

Diana Atougia (Head Girl)

“I applied for the position of Head Boy as I wanted to make a change that would last a lifetime.

When the position of Head Boy was first advertised with specific traits and characteristics, I immediately felt that my personality and achievements met these requirements and with the encouragement of my peers, I proceeded with the application and much to my delight was successful. The application process stretched me because it was the first time I had ever been through such a rigorous process. However, much like with everything I do, I gave it my best effort. The first fence to jump was the letter of application. From this I learnt how to present my achievements. The next hurdle was creating a unique manifesto that would inspire and excite.

Finally, the interview; this stretched me the most as it was a test of ability to vocalise my views and ideas as well as answering questions under pressure. I currently study A level psychology and sociology and BTec business. My career aspiration is to become an officer in the British Army. Being Head Boy requires leadership, communication, resilience and perseverance, and this position will help prepare me for my future career. That’s looking into the future. My priority, apart from getting exceptional grades, is to be a Head Boy that Cranford can be proud of”.

Taylor Panesar (Head Boy)

“I applied to become Deputy Head Girl as I would like to be part of any challenges and developments happening within our school. Applying for this post gave me experience of an interview which helped my confidence along with other skills. I believe the position of Deputy Head Girl will help me in the future because I know that it will make me stand out as a successful student amongst others and will make others aware of the responsibility I have in this role. This opportunity will help me to listen to students’ views and opinions and if there is anything I could do to help them I will ensure to do so ”.

Maria Isaaq (Deputy Head Girl)

“I am Adil Hassan, the Deputy Head Boy. I’ve been a student in the school for 6 years and when this opportunity arose I decided to aim for it. The application process stretched me but I discovered I am skilled in speaking in front of big crowds as well as handling bigger responsibilities. The role of Deputy Head Boy will allow me to increase my skills in being a leader and being able to make decisions within a team which links to my career aspiration of being an Investment Banker for which I am studying maths, physics, economics and geography. I am proud to be the Deputy Head Boy and I aim to help keep Cranford at the top”.

Adil Hassan (Deputy Head Boy)