Cranford Annual Review 2009

Cranford Community College, High Street, Cranford, Hounslow. TW5 9PD - Tel: 020 8897 2001 - www.cranford.hounslow.sch.uk

Cranford Review 2008 / 2009

Welcome to the Cranford Review for 2008/2009, a year of record breaking examination success with an impressive 79% of our year 11 students achieving 5 or more GCSE grades A*-C. This summer three more of our sixth form students have gained places alongside other Cranford ‘alumni’ at Oxford & Cambridge with many more at the elite Russell Group universities.

Editorial

By Kevin Prunty Headteacher

Cranford Review 2008/2009

Executive Editor:

Jessica Joyce jjo@cranford.hounslow.sch.uk

Graphic Designer: Enzo Gianvittorio enzo.gianvittorio@gmail.com Printed by: School House Studios www.schoolhousestudios.co.uk Copyright © Cranford Community College - 2009

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

Word certainly seems to have got around our community and we are delighted that so many people now want to be part of this exciting and happy place. We wish there was space for everyone.

At Cranford Community College, we are committed to meeting the needs and aspirations of our community and this brochure, whilst only the tip of the iceberg, gives a good flavour of how we can and do.

The school has travelled a long way towards its goal of ‘Excellence in all areas’ receiving many outstanding judgements because of its academic success and its positive, caring and inclusive ethos which nurtures and encourages pupils to grow into healthy, well-rounded, happy, confident citizens with the skills and values to make a positive contribution to society and live fulfilling lives.

I’m so proud of the school, its students, its staff and its community – this is what school should be like.

Social Sciences Excellence Evening On Tuesday 28th April 2009 the Social Sciences Department held an eventful and memorable evening to introduce people to the weird and wonderful world of sociology and psychology, and to recognise the achievements of the students. There were numerous interactive activities for everyone to take part. Guests had a chance to participate in games like ‘Deal or No Deal’ and ‘Blockbuster’ with a social science twist. There was a chance to look at our preconceptions of crime and deviance when participants got the opportunity to draw their own crime scenes. Visitors were privileged enough to have an audience with Freud (or Cranford’s answer to Freud), and were able to watch a role play of Milgram’s famous electric shock experiment.

The ‘History of Hounslow’ display, was particularly impressive with a presentation of information from the ‘Meri Zindagi’ exhibition kindly loaned to us from Gunnersbury museum. The exhibition showcased the lives of South Asians in Ealing and Hounslow told the stories of the first generations here, their journeys, how they settled and looked at how life has changed for their children and grandchildren growing up in multi-cultural West London. Visitors were extremely grateful to have the opportunity to celebrate the diversity of our community and to applaud their achievements Perhaps the most memorable part of the celebration was the Grand Finalé performance by one of Cranford’s former students Amardeep Dhanjal better known as Magic Singh. Guessing A2 student Shabana’s exact time of birth, and pick pocketing Headteacher Mr Prunty were just a few of the impressive tricks that wowed the audience. A fitting conclusion to an evening which highlighted the importance and excellence of the Social Sciences Department and celebrated our achievements of the students.

RE Conference

Sixth form philosophy students spent three weeks preparing workshops challenging the nature of God to present to fellow pupils in the sixth form.

Workshops consisted of: God on trial (a role play); Letter to God (where students wrote to God) and a God’s Facebook profile (where students designed a page filling in God’s criteria).

The day ended with a quick fire question round based on the question ‘Is there a place for God in the 21st Century?’ consisting of a panel of 6 judges Mr Stumpf, Mr Behl, Ms Yousaf, Ms Dhillon, Mr Franklin and Mr Scher each of whom represented the main worldwide religions including Atheism. Students were encouraged to ask questions considering religion and the various factors that shape its foundations as well as the changing attitudes in society.

These were directed at the judges who provided insightful responses aiding the knowledge and understanding of the many religions with regards to their rules and customs.

Participants attended three workshops led by AS philosophy students who acted as ‘teachers’ for the day, each accompanied by a small team.

The conference was a success and made each student think and argue about what they really believe, especially through debates.

Every student was assigned a different role according to their chosen lesson plans. They used starter activities to engage the other students.

It was an exceptional day which challenged the ideologies and underlying perception of students in turn enhancing the importance of religion in today’s society.

On Thursday 9th July 2009, year 12 students took part in our annual RE Conference.

By Sharmin Walters, Diltaaj Dhatt, Sarina Sidhu and Shadman Ahmed (year 12) Excellence in all areas

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Galileo Galilei 2009 has been designated as the ‘Year of Astronomy’. It coincides with the 400th Anniversary of Galileo’s first use of his telescope. The science department organised a writing competition on Galileo. Below is the winning entry.

Galileo was a great benefactor to mankind and was a brilliant scholar. He was born in 1564 to a merchant of Pisa.

He became a physicist, mathematician, philosopher and astronomer. Galileo played a great role in the scientific revolution.

He had many achievements in his lifetime like improving the telescope, making astronomical observations and also supporting the Copernicans. He is called “the father of modern observational astronomy,” “the father of modern physics” and “the father of modern science.” The motion of uniformly accelerated objects was taught in nearly every high school as the subject called Kinematics.

Nettlecoombe Court Trip On Friday 17th July 2009 a group of intrepid explorers left Cranford and embarked on what was predicted to be a very long wet weekend.

Galileo lived the last years of his life under house arrest on the orders of the Vatican because he was forced to recant his heliocentrism.

He died on 8th January 1642 at the age of 78 but will still be remembered for all of his major improvements to science.

By Gursharan Seera and Madeeha Hussain (7Z)

Games, Ghosts and Deadly foxgloves

Little did we know what was in store for us over the weekend; our activities began almost straight away with an introduction to freshwater ecology. Everyone was soon having fun finding various types of invertebrates in the water.

be told that these were foxgloves, famous for producing digitalis the poison used in Casino Royale.

Saturday brought more rain but everyone’s spirits remained high as we began our long excursion to Exmoor Wildlife Park. We seemed to attract the bees and one young explorer fell into the stream but otherwise all the year 7, 8 and 12 students completed a range of techniques to a very high standard. These included kick sampling which is usually the sole terrain of the A level Biologists.

The sixth form group carried out individual investigations which would help them secure their knowledge for year 13 while younger students made some excellent presentations of the work that they had done. A scavenger hunt ended the evening.

Sunday morning the sun loomed high. Overnight we had captured a variety of four legged creatures including several dormice and even a vole.

The afternoon saw us hike around the valley collecting objects which would be used to produce a trail later on. Many picked some beautiful blue flowers only to 2

He contributed to a great extent to observational astronomy, confirming the phases of Venus and discovering the four largest satellites of Jupiter. These were named the Galilean moons in his honour. He observed and analysed sunspots and improved the compass using applied science and technology.

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Monday saw us take one final excursion to Tropiqaria, a tropical zoo and aquarium. Here many pulled on their reserves of courage and held snakes in their arms as well as seeing the more familiar monkeys, lizards and birds. The sixth form were also given the privilege of being the first members of the public to see the Scottish wildcats.

It was without doubt an absolutely brilliant trip. Everyone learnt so much about ecology and team work.

n i w r a D

n o i t a r Celeb

n o i t u l Evo

In 2009, we celebrated 200 years since Charles Darwin, one of the world’s most creative and influential thinkers, was born and 150th anniversary of the publication of his famous book on evolution ‘On the Origin of Species’.

To raise awareness of his great work students were encouraged to research and write on Darwin.

Below is the winning entry.

This year we are celebrating Darwin’s theory of Evolution. Charles Darwin is remembered as a brilliant scientist all over the world and is celebrated because he was the man to discover our evolution.

When we talk about evolution there are many different meanings such as…evolution could be a process of gradual, progressive change in a group of living people (organisms) such as us humans and animals.

Evolution helps us live how we need to. That is why the whole world needs to remember. Without knowing this important discovery we wouldn’t understand so many fascinating things; such as why do monkeys have tails but humans don’t? and why don’t snakes have any legs? Well the answer is because they didn’t need them. Their bodies evolved to suit the way they needed to live generation after generation like technology has done to us now.

Charles Darwin believed that evolution was when genes from a father are passed onto his offspring. So if you’re wondering why you look like your dad the reason is that the same genes have been passed down from your father to you. Surprisingly Darwin did not know much about this passing down of genes (inheritance).

He thought that the difference between individuals of a group of species would mean that some members would be better skilled than others. This could be because of their environment (habitat) as well as because of the genes passed down to them.

Sadly Darwin’s theory did not get published until after he had died but we all did find out about his famous theory and is now hopefully remembered as a great scientist by everyone around the world.

So remember DARWIN’S THEORY OF EVOLUTION.

By Sapna Gupta (7Y)

A murder has taken place in the science lab with a catalogue of unknown chemicals found at the scene the question is to identify what they are. If successfully completed the murderous chemicals can be identified and convicted.

This was the task placed before the A level chemistry students on Friday 8th May 2009. Having studied infra-red and mass spectroscopy from textbooks this was a rare opportunity to gain hands on experience in using this specialised equipment. Aiding the students in their investigation were two post graduate students from UCL, who introduced the various sophisticated and complex methods of data analysis needed to solve the crime.

After intense deliberation the crime was solved, students had learnt how to use spectroscopy, obtained some useful hints for university life and to top it off had a free deck of Top Trumps cards to take home. A huge thank you to Ms Thind for organising this wonderful event.

Excellence in all areas

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Finding Moonshine -A Mathematician’s Journey through SymmetrySymmetry is all around us, it is present in our day to day lives and how we interpret the world…

On Thursday 19th March 2009, Cranford Community College’s year 12 and 13 Further Maths groups embarked on an epic journey through the underground and streets of London to take part in a lecture hosted by renowned Maths Professor Marcus du Sautoy at City University, who recently presented the four part series, ‘The Story of Maths’ on the BBC and presents the game show ‘Mind Games’ on BBC4.

Lecture entitled ‘Finding Moonshine – A Mathematician’s Journey through Symmetry’, Professor du Sautoy discussed the history behind symmetry as well as finding symmetry in many historic artefacts and religious buildings in his personal experience aboard. Students as well as teachers learnt that maths involved many different angles and prospectives and not just the taught rules of ‘sine’ and ‘cosine.’ This idea was present in the audience challenge to find the total number of possible symmetries in a Rubik’s Cube, with the prize of a symmetry group being named after the winner who achieved the possible closest answer to the exact figure.

Our very own Rahul Banga of Cranford Community College successfully met the challenge by guessing the closest figure hence the symmetry and proudly ‘The Banga Group’ takes the name of the recent findings which is based on new symmetrical objects that have connections with objects in number theory called elliptic curves and published on Marcus du Sautoy’s very own blog http://findingmoonshine.blogspot.com

By Jyoti Kachhwaha (year 12)

6th Form Popular Maths Lectures

On Monday 22nd June 2009, A-Level maths students accompanied their maths teachers to a set of fascinating lectures held at the Institute of Education.

The first lecture given by Dr Nina Snaith, entitled ‘Hollywood’s Hippest Mathematics’, focussed on the Riemann Hypothesis. Did you know there is still a $1 million prize for the person that solves it? Dr Snaith gave a very engaging lecture which addressed complex issues such as random matrices and imaginary numbers.

The second lecture of the evening was by Dr Mark Miodownik who looked at ‘The Scale of Things’. It was strange to us that if a hamster was dropped from a tall building it would not die. Miodownik justified this statement by explaining to us the relationship between mass and volume. The stimulating lecture opened with a microscopic view of a bumble bee, ant and a piece of thyme. It was amazing to see the complexity of such insignificant organisms.

Overall it was a memorable evening from which we took away many things, including free pens and puzzles. The popular lectures allowed us to gain a greater understanding of how mathematics can be found all around us.

By Fahmish Shaikh (year 12)

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Year 12 Geography Field Trip to Newhaven and Brighton

Year 11 visit to London Docklands

On Saturday 6th May 2009, six eager and enthusiastic year 12 geographers made the journey to Brighton as part of their core geography field work.

The first destination was Brighton on the South Coast. The work focused on the ‘rebranding’ section of the AS course.

We looked at how Brighton had been rebranded as a place for holiday makers and the young alike. To investigate this, the year12 students carried out pedestrian counts, land use surveys and field sketches.

The afternoon fieldwork concentrated on the physical section of the course and to carry out the necessary studies we headed to Seaford, a geographer’s paradise located roughly 12 miles from Brighton. Here the students acquitted themselves very well whilst conducting a beach profile. They measured the angles of the beach and measured the size of different beach material. This enabled them to draw up a profile of the beach and the different erosion processes that are seen there.

This was a very beneficial experience in preparing them for their year 12 exams.

Year 11 students annual trip to the London Docklands for their fieldwork and research, as part of their coursework took place in the spring. 40 students visited Custom House and Canary Wharf to conduct fieldwork, which allowed them to gather data for their write up back at school.

At Custom House in East London students completed questionnaires, environmental quality surveys, field sketches and shop surveys. They were let loose on the general public and asked them questions from their own questionnaires which they had already designed in class. All the students worked really hard to ask as many questions as possible. The more people they asked the better their coursework would be as they would have a lot more data.

A coach took them to Canary Wharf, an area of London which had a lot of regeneration in the 1980s. Here they completed the same field work techniques to ensure that they could compare the two places. In addition, we went to the London in Docklands Museum where students investigated the rise of the Dockland and why there was so much regeneration and how it came about. During lunch students were allowed to spend 30 minutes buying their lunch while taking shop surveys i.e. how much certain items cost in different shops.

All the students had a really good time on the trip and, as a result, produced excellent coursework for their June exams.

Year 7 Trip to Chepstow Castle On 20th June 2009, 36 year 7 pupils travelled on a journey back to a Mediaeval Britain as they spent a day exploring the ruins of Chepstow Castle in Wales. Rain on arrival failed to dampen their spirits as they marched through the castle grounds led by Mr Rich, climbing up to the turrets of this beautiful site, before delving deep down into its underground dungeons. As the sun broke through during the afternoon, our intrepid year 7 students

enjoyed charging up to the castle walls in a reenactment of an invading army, though much to their disappointment the defensive features of the castle proved difficult to overcome. After circumnavigating the castle walls, and spending their pocket money on medieval-style bows, arrows and swords, pupils returned to Cranford exhausted and exhilarated, with a new found respect for the kings and knights of Mediaeval Britain.

Excellence in all areas

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DESIGN & T E CH N O LO G Y Tea

on the Lawn with

A D T

A large marquee in the memorial garden at Cranford Community College created a beautiful setting for its annual Art Design and Te c h n o l o g y e x h i b i t i o n on 2nd July 2009. Staff, members of the Governing Body, family and friends were invited to share “Tea on the Lawn” whilst admiring the superb and varied work of Cranford students.

Members of the Governing Body judged the staff art competition “Cranford’s Got Talent”, won by Steve Wall one of the premises team for his painting of a ship on high seas. Guests commented upon the talent and creativity of the work presented and how the setting of a garden environment certainly enhanced and framed the work. Sculptures grew out of natural foliage lit by sunlight whilst children’s toys and soft furnishings provided a montage of shapes and colour as far as the eye could see.

It was a wonderful day enhanced by wonderful weather.

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Cranford Art students gain National recognition Congratulations to year 12 student Manish Kumar of Cranford Community College whose work from the Art, Design and Technology Department has been selected for the National Students Exhibition at the Mall Galleries London. A number of schools nationally submitted work and only the highest quality work was selected to be part of the exhibition.

The standard of entries was extraordinarily high and all Cranford student’s entries received commendations.

The chance of a lifetime for Manish

“Looking at my paint ing a lo ng with the rest of the works made me realise how lucky I was to have my work up there on the wall.

It made me appreciate how many opportunities it is going to give me in life, for example when applying for university and proudly taking my painting as part of my portfolio�.

Manish Kumar (year 12) Excellence in all areas

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NATIONAL SCHOOL SPORTS WEEK PRESENTATION EVENING

This year for national school sports week the whole school looked at two different sports during their PE lessons. They were Choi Kwang Do and ultimate frisbee. The students had a great week filling in sports pledges and relating what they wanted to do with the Olympic and Paralympic values. We wanted all the students to try something different and increase the number of hours of sport each week.

The students loved the two new sports This year’s Sports Day was and really enjoyed different from anything we getting involved in have tried before. We ran the activities that are session for each year group with trials taking place after not currently on school the week before. On the curriculum. the day it was the fastest in Choi Kwang Do each tutor group that raced in taught them about self the finals. discipline as well as self defence. What made this even more enjoyable was that it was our own students leading the sessions.

SPORTS DAY

The ultimate frisbee was brilliant, we had competitions to see who could throw it the furthest and competitions to see which team had the most control of the frisbee through their passes. By the end of the lesson students were able to self referee games, name the rules and describe how to score. All the students found this game an easy one to grasp and wanted to add it to the curriculum.

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This year PE created a dance piece for Presentation Evening. Ms Kennedy worked really hard with 7U in their PE lessons and Ms Fiddes helped out with extra sessions during registration to bring the dance to life. It was a fantastic exhibition of courage and hard work which paid off with a dance that really made an impact.

EXTRA CURRICULAR This year we ran a number of interform sessions, the most popular being football.

Each tutor group was able to enter a team and they all played against each other one evening after school. It was a fantastic evening with spectators from the tutor group cheering their teams on.

SPORTS LEADERS At Cranford we are running a highly effective sports leaders programme, which trains students in year 9 upwards to lead extra curricular events.

We have a number of students who lead the rounders training and the ultimate Frisbee during lunch as well as students coming after school to run football and cricket clubs.

GIRLS INTO SPORT During National Sports Week there was a day dedicated to getting girls more involved in sport.

This day was put together with some very special athletes to get the girls motivated where they looked at rock climbing, kombat training, vew do boards, breakdancing, volleyball and dancemats. The athletes that helped out on the day were Enigma and Atlas from Gladiators, Emily Drumm the New Zealand cricket captain and Denise Austin UK No 1 at beach volleyball.

My Fulcrum Journey Before I came I lived a life of fame No two days were ever the same Never ready to accept any blame And all my waste food went down the drain Then our journey started and From our families we were parted Our luxuries isolated And basics exaggerated We trekked a path with no destination in sight We were climbing to an unknown height Our legs heavy and hamstrings tight We are not going down without a fight Because what we were destined for felt so right The sun was strong The work was long We all had our own unique pong But we all stuck together to sing a song We arrived at the school full of hope But Dawn dropped the bombshell labelled Cope The early morning and late nights Came hand in hand with the fly’s bites Dirty sore and bruised we marched on Giving the kids a chance to move on What have I learnt from my Fulcrum journey Is that there is more to life than luxuries and money The children’s smiles lit up our day How I wish I didn’t have to go away The children’s laughs echo in my ears As soon as I hear it, I have no fears At night the stars lit the sky I love you all and that’s no lie At times we began to cry I want to thank you all for standing by my side

“The main learning point of my Fulcrum journey was the fact that I had witnessed the true value of a smile. The journey was a difficult experience, but it was worth while. Helping people overcome their struggle in the depths of solitude and providing a building where people can unite and cherish life’s most essential gift, education.

It helped me open my eyes and realise how privileged we are having the basic amenities such as clean water and shelter really means a lot when considering how people around the world are not as fortunate as we are.”

By Waqar Ahmed (year 12)

I’m a changed man Going into everything with the attitude, I can I’m returning to England with more than a tan I’m returning to England with a life changing experience at hand.

By Raghav Kaher, Ashwan Suman and Vijay Chhaya (year 12) Excellence in all areas

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Year 11 Students appear in the Worldwide Fronter Newsletter

Primary French Market Day On the 1st July 2009 the Languages Department at Cranford Community College held a French Market Day and invited classes from two different primary schools. Year 5 students from Berkley and year 3 students from Norwood Green came along, with their classroom teachers, to take part in this fun activity.

To make this possible, Cranford students, from years 7 and 8, who participated in the French market had to rehearse their lines during their lunch break and after school in order to make this day excellent and enjoyable for the primary school children. On the day we helped set up the hall so that it looked really authentic. The French market had many stalls such as a café (un café), a post office (une poste), a pet shop (une animalerie), bakery (une boulangerie), a fruit and vegetable stall (un marché) and a clothes shop (une boutique).

The children really enjoyed themselves and were very enthusiastic about the work that they were set.

They spoke good French even though they were beginners.

The children who came to the French market had ‘Euro’ currency to spend on different things from the stalls. After the children stopped shopping they had the chance to eat baguettes, apple tarts and cakes at the café. All in all the day went really well. We really enjoyed helping the younger students get a taste of France by coming to Cranford and it was great to see them really enjoying speaking French. It also helped us revise our own French which was even better.

By Gursharan Maheroo and Inderpreet Bhupall (8Z) 10

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Six year 11 students, Simran Kahlon, Amarpal Khuttan, Irfaan Saheb, Harsimran Sall, Sobya Sheikh and Chris Nicoll are recognised for their ground breaking work in our Common Room and a 3 page case study is a feature in the Fronter newsletter, delivered to schools across the world!

Year 7 & 8 trip to Boulogne On 9th July 2009 36 pupils from years 7 and 8 got up bright and early to travel all the way to France and back in one day accompanied by Ms Painting, Mr Watkins, Ms Huynh and Cllr Elizabeth Hughes one of the members of our Governing Body.

After a quick journey to Folkestone, the pupils were amazed to be getting on a train whilst still on a coach and travelling under the sea! On arrival in Boulogne we visited the historic old town with its mediaeval walls, pleasant cafés and souvenir shops.

There could be no question about which country we were visiting as the students left the old town having bought model Eiffel Towers, berets and Tricolores.

Perhaps the highlight of the day was our picnic by the sea where we took advantage of the glorious sunshine to eat our sandwiches alfresco, build sandcastles and burn off some excess energy.

After this it seemed almost a shame to leave the outdoors for Nausicaa Sealife Centre but it soon became clear that this would be well worth it as we witnessed sharks up close, saw an underwater 3D film and stroked some very friendly stingrays.

Finally, there was just enough time for the pupils to practise their French in the all important task of buying an ice cream before it was time to get back on the coach for a return journey, tired but happy to think of all we had experienced in one day.

Year 10 Trip To Paris in Spring time In May 2009, 40 intrepid travellers from year 10 said ‘au revoir’ to family and school and set off on the annual trip to Paris, accompanied by Ms Edwards, Ms Rose, Mr Watkins and Mr Chaudri, a member of our Governing Body. On arrival in Paris, we walked through the Louvre museum stopping for many a photo opportunity and then along the river Seine to Notre Dame Cathedral. With the sun shining and a food fair taking place in front of this worldfamous church, the students had plenty to take in and wasted no opportunity in using their French to try out the different types of food available.

We then headed into the old heart of Paris to have dinner together. Walking off the delicious food, the students, still in high spirits after a very long day, took in some more sights before heading to the coach to drive to our hotel. Their day was made when we drove past the Eiffel Tower, stunningly lit up at night and causing great whoops of excitement.

Staff Spanish Lessons

The following day, some very bleary-eyed students and staff headed off for the most French of theme parks, Parc Astérix. There the students spent the day on some fantastic rides, shopping and generally burning off even more energy. That evening we had the opportunity to shop again in an enormous shopping centre just outside Paris and then return to the hotel via a night-drive through central Paris. And still the students had energy to spare.

With Sunday came a more gentle activity, a cruise along the Seine with the chance to learn more about the main sights of this beautiful city, culminating in some time at the Eiffel tower, more photo opportunities and then a quiet journey home.

Considering the brilliant language skills of Cranford students, Ms Rose decided that it was time that some of the teachers caught up with them over second half of the summer term the Languages Department was filled with the voices of slightly older students, as staff began learning Spanish on Friday lunchtimes.

Punctual, well-behaved and very good at doing their homework, the teachers and support staff showed great enthusiasm and all really enjoyed learning some basic Spanish. However, they did get extremely competitive as soon as there were stickers to win…

The lessons will continue next year, and hopefully students of Spanish across the school will soon have a whole group of teachers they can test.

Excellence in all areas

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A day to remember‌ Saturday 4th July 2009 will be a day to remember as Cranford Community College held its biannual Carnival day.

This year the event was combined with the London finals for Blastbeat, an award winning, Teen Music & Multimedia Business project, offered to high schools around the world to teach business skills and support youth communities.

Year 10 Creative and Media students organised and managed the event alongside staff and music professionals as part of their Diploma qualification.

Students from across key stages 4 and 5 contributed to all aspects of the initiative by creating their own business company called TAP and received recognition for their efforts.

The Carnival programme began with a parade led by the Pride of Murray pipers, through the streets of Cranford with 200 students in full carnival costumes and masks created by the students, working along side professional Samba musicians and performers.

Friends and families from the local community attended the day and enjoyed a variety of student performances.

They had the opportunity to try a range of sports club activities, purchase local produce and international foods, enjoy fair ground rides and take part in competitions and games.

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“I loved the experience because not only was it enjoyable, but I also got into rock music because I never thought I would listen to that kind of genre of music, but I found that it is actually quite catchy. It was such a brilliant experience because throughout the planning of the festival I got to meet the founder of BlastBeat and I got to be on a Japanese TV programme. It was also a good experience because I got a taste of what running a festival was like”

By Laila Hanafi (year 10)

“Personally I really enjoyed the festival especially being held alongside the carnival, I think that there is a lot of cultural difference in all the people who came along but this event brought them all together as a community where it was very lively but peaceful.”

By Demi Howlett (year 10 )

“I personally enjoyed the experience, not just because of the actual festival day, but because of the whole build-up and work for the festival as I gained good knowledge on something I had never come across before.

I gained a good understanding of the organisation of festivals.”

Simran Sahota (year 10) Excellence in all areas

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Football Africa: My When Mr Prunty agreed to my trip to Africa my first emotion was to jump for joy. When I landed I thought “Oh no! Where do I start?” For anyone looking to embark on a threemonth venture driving from London to Africa, I’ve got to tell you that there’s a lot of planning and preparation to do; funds for travel, petrol, food, water, accommodation, and in my case footballs.

I must admit I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I said I was going to try to set up a link between my school in Hounslow and a school in Africa. The images I conjured in my head were nothing like what I saw and although on the outside you see a designated area, a school sign and a structure of a school site, when delving into the reality of an Ethiopian child’s experience of school, it is quite another story.

Through pure determination, a lot of organisation and the help of some very supportive friends, family, colleagues and students, Football Africa departed in February 2009.

We drove across the Sahara Dessert through Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Sudan.

Sudan was hot. We had a long hot drive to Khartoum, where paradise waited.

A warming visit to a Sudanese home led to the offer of much appreciated dates and Nile water.

One final night in the desert, the easiest crossing so far, a short drive to Gonda and it was “welcome” Football Africa to Ethiopia. It may have been nights of cockroach-infested walls (sleeping one eye open with my torch on) but I really enjoyed it. The staff and associates from Link Ethiopia (the company that links schools from Europe with Ethiopia to aid the education of pupils) were amazing and helpful for all our needs and questions. We even had our own “tracker” called Million (mum named him after he had a 1-in-a-million chance of survival at birth). He was definitely the man on the street to know.

An Ethiopian pupil goes to school in either the morning (8:00am12:00pm) or afternoon (12.30pm-4.00pm) because there are not enough schools, space or teachers to teach all of the pupils in a school day. Either side of the school day, the pupils help with household and farming duties.

The classes are crammed with 3 pupils to a desk a teacher and a chalk board. The classes are silent and the pupils have to share resources to complete their work. It is quite a different world to that of the students at Cranford.

In Ethiopia, out of the 3888 students who go through school, only 230 will take the equivalent of GCSE, A levels and continue to University.

It will be a higher percentage of males than females that complete these exams.

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Journey of Discovery Things are “tougher” for those pupils who study in Ethiopia but it doesn’t mean that the system doesn’t work and that there aren’t many success stories. It’s brilliant that organisations like Link Ethiopia exist and can create these learning chances, financial aid and links between different people in differing continents.

So on to North Kenya over terrible road conditions but amazing wildlife and scenery.

The projects we visited were awe inspiring, with model Africans running the show and adding to my list of most amazing people. It is was in Kenya that I found worthy causes to hand out the donations that I received from Cranford Community College and it is here that I would like to recognise those special people that have supported myself and the Football Africa cause.

I thank them for their generosity in support and collections by both staff and students.

Nairobi took me to St Johns Church where they house and look after orphaned children and a fantastic teacher, Grace, whose school Kitui Village Nursery School had been burnt down. Out of the three classrooms, two were destroyed by fire and for learning to continue they had to share the one remaining classroom amongst the 200 students.

It is here that I thank the year 9 students for their valiant effort in collecting pens, pencils and calculators that will contribute to the start of a new school. Vanessa Tutt for her large contribution of pens that were given out along the African roads. Maria Bramwell, Sarah Brackley and Hiruni Galpayage (year 10) who donated football shirts and children’s clothes that were greatly received by the orphans at St Johns Church.

The statistics of Malawi are absolutely alarming. There are 13 million people living in this small country (about the size of the UK) with half of the population under the age of 15 and half of the population have HIV. Our trail has therefore led us to many orphan projects where children have been orphaned through the loss of parents to HIV and there have been fantastic projects set up to feed, clothed and nurtured these children into happy wholesome lives. My happiest and saddest time was meeting a class of 78 smiling orphans aged 3 to 5 where we played, ate together and sang songs. It was on asking about the HIV rates in the class and being told that 40% had HIV that hit home and brought tears to my eyes.

Africa has both shocked and inspired me as a continent. There are two sides to the coin; where the old tribal traditions still exist and the rise of the Western influences try to over shadow those thoughts of the past. I naïvely went to Africa thinking that I was going to teach them a thing or two, when in fact Africa taught me the most. I realised that we have lost the fuller communities that we once lived in knowing our neighbours, our towns. I realised that we take so much from the earth and at times give so little back.

I will miss the smiling faces and waving hands as we pass in the cars. I will miss the landscape, the stars and the sunsets. I will definitely miss Africa for all that it offers and for all that it can. It is certainly a place that is now forever etched in my heart!

By Charlotte Kennedy (PE Department) Excellence in all areas

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DRAMA

It’s All in the

Performance...

Cranford Community College Drama department’s extensive programme of performances through the year provided real variety for a diverse audience of all ages. Devised characters and storylines for GCSE and key stage 3 drama productions demonstrated the talents of up and coming performers whilst A Level and AS students stunned audiences with high q u a l i t y p ro d u c t i o n s o f B re c h t , P i r a n d e l l o and Berkoff. Inventive lighting plots and sound effects, imaginative costumes and inspired staging enhanced some outstanding individual and group performances equal in quality to the West End. Months of rehearsal paid off to prove that Cranford really does have talent.

“I wasn’t sure about taking drama even at GCSE. However, I soon realised that not only was it fun, with great trips to the theatre and interesting and exciting work, but there was so much to learn.

It made me think about what I really wanted to do with my life, and how drama would help me to realise my ambition – to become an actor and a teacher. I enjoyed it so much I decided to take it at A-Level. In year 12 I have taken my understanding of drama and theatre to a new level – I particularly enjoyed being directed by my teacher in a full scale production of ‘Our Country’s Good’ as well as being an assistant to Mr Bray in one of his year 8 classes. I love drama because it has allowed me to both build my self-confidence and express myself much more articulately.”

By Kulraj Thethy (year 12)

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& PERFORMING ARTS “Drama is my passion. I started off studying drama in year 10 where we were able to create our own plays with lights, sound and costume, as well as plays already published.

Ye a r 1 2 w a s m u c h h a r d e r, especially the written work, but I worked really hard at it and started t o u n d e r s t a n d d i f f e re n t c o n c e p t s m o re .

But the practical work is the best, and this year I performed a monologue in which I was a man who became a dog who went back to being a man. I have managed to join an agency and have done some extra’s work, including ‘The Bill’.

I am applying to do drama at university now either here or in America”.

By Hassan Mirza (year 12) “I enjoyed AS Level drama because I learned about so many different practitioners and methods. It has really opened my eyes to appreciating theatre and given me a much greater and deeper understanding of the world in general.

The teachers are great; they make it fun but work you really hard so you can succeed.”

By Aruneema Lahon (year 12)

“Drama is really fun and exciting. I love being able to play different characters in class, and I like playing comedy characters. I have also learnt how to be quiet in class so that I can understand things more clearly.”

By Liam Pillay (7Z) Excellence in all areas

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The John Betjeman Young People’s Poetry Competition Budding poets, Sapna Gupta, Surya Varatharajan in year 7 and Fatima Mahmood year 8 rose to the challenge to write original poetry about their local surroundings. The spirit behind this competition is to encourage young people to understand and appreciate the importance of place.

A True Garden?

A Stroll in the Park…

At the uppermost point in the ambiguous atmosphere a spherical light awoke, so luminous, so golden, so airy she rose as her maiden warm fingers froze in such a pose.

A stroll in the park, may leave a special mark, a mark of freedom and space, where people of all race, can walk and talk and enjoy the dream, surrounded by the sweet smell of ice-cream, with the soothing tweet tweet of the birds, the chatter from the herds, followed by the sight of nerds, with their complicated words.

The ancient maple trees, with their green top hats and mahogany ties whistled inspiring stories to their newborn offspring who down below lie.

Together the luscious emerald grass swayed continuously to and fro, to the sonorous sounds of the streams which were not deep but low.

And within the orchestral streams of course nothing was as it seems. There was no abandoned shallowness but a world full of fun with exotic fish and seaweed that wish and rocks that even run.

Scarlet, amethyst, topaz and sapphire shimmered and glimmered throughout like fire. fluttering and zooming at the speed of light far far too difficult to even glimpse a sight.

Then when finally after all had occurred the floating shadows approached and it was then and always then you gained the special truth that a garden isn’t just a garden it’s anything and everything you could ever want it to be.

By Sapna Gupta (year 7)

A stroll in the park, may leave a special mark, the stars appear at night, to everyone it’s a beautiful sight.

As the morning sun rises, shadows appear in different sizes, standing on the grass, leaves crunch like glass, the branches shade and quaver, according to the seasonal flavour, sweet cherries grow on trees, attacked by big yellow bees.

A stroll in the park, may leave a special mark, cars on the road are singing, bells on bikes are ringing, babies sleep in their prams, men hurry about in trams, twisting and turning of doors, squeaking and scrunching of floors, peace and quiet, where there’s no riot, it’s no dungeon, after all, it’s my heavenly London!

By Fatima Mahmood (year 8)

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The Search I am a bird, With air slicing wings, Made of fine sponge feathers, With the colours of the Indescribable rainbow, Down my elbow, I fly to places seeking, For the best place, The best place, Where the heart of art lives…

I adventure through the places, Which gives your eyes a treat, I flew down, The shimmering river Yamuna, Where the monument built for romance, Reflects by, The Mahal which was built with crystallised tiles, The building is covered in the blanket of marble, White’s glow symbolises the purity, For the king’s tragic shade of romance, The tombs which shows, The unwilling force, Which splits his benevolent heart away, To where he can’t find her as a mortal, Not so far away from there, In the place where you see, An Architecture, Which you think no-man, Could have constructed it, To invite his newly born successor, Into this short period of time, Between life and death, Khufu created an immense wall, Made of the amateur’s cry, Which was solicited, When he was welcomed more by death than life, The bond of friendship, Is a priceless offer, As the country who has made the first face-drawing, Gave the 20th century world leaders, A gift, They gave a humongous statue, With jagged spikes which represents, To kill corruption, The light from the woman’s hand, Interprets evil will be destroyed, The colour of the statue is blue, Shows freedom, This gift was a token of friendship, To the veto powered country, What do you think is the best place?

None of them are, They are all equal, But, every wonder’s untold secrets, Leads up to the greatest power in the world, Love, A place in a person’s heart for you, Is the best and beautiful place.

By Surya Varatharaja (year 7)

Cranford’s Youth and Philanthropy winners recognised for achievement Thursday 25th June 2009 was definitely a day to remember. As a reward for winning the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative competition we took part in for citizenship, we got to spend a day with Ms Arnold and visit the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith. It was a day of total fun.

The day started when we arrived at the theatre and had breakfast, and waited for other school winners of the YPI to arrive. Later, we went into the theatre totally unaware of what was about to happen: we all got to experience a poet, Polarbear. At first we were unsure of who he was, but after his performance, we knew we were never going to forget him.

During the day, we got to take part in different workshops such as street dancing, which was great fun. We made T-Shirts which represented the charity we won £3000 for: Southall Black Sisters.

Later we were invited back into the theatre to watch numerous acts such as famous dancers, rappers, singers and even the Channel 4 presenter, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, and we got the opportunity to meet the founder of MAC cosmetics and the Youth and Philanthropy Iniative [YPI], Julie Toskan Casale.

This day was simply amazing as it taught us that we can be anything we want to be and can be the ones to actually make a change.

So can you.

By Manisha Das, Ikram Abukar and Rajmeet Sarna (9T) Excellence in all areas

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First Story Readings

“The thirteen students whose work you’re about to read have their own voices, their own ways of seeing, their own stories - unprecedented and unrepeatable - of memories and feelings. Even when I thought they’d never stop talking, they wrote things that surprised and moved me.

They made me laugh, lots.”

By William Fiennes (Writer in Residence)

On Thursday 7th May 2009 Cranford Community College hosted their second official First Story readings where thirteen year 12 students read their own creative pieces inspired from their childhood memories.

The workshop, which began in September 2008, has been hosted by our very own in house writer in residence Will Fiennes author of ‘The Snow Geese’ and ‘The Music Room’. Will has encouraged students to use their imagination and relive their precious moments that they experienced whilst growing up and turn them into fun, exciting and touching pieces of writing.

It was an event attended by staff, parents, students and other authors associated with the First Story scheme. It was a great success and one enjoyed by all. It was definitely inspirational and even influenced some members of the audience to begin writing their own stories.

Three lucky young writers Shadnam Ahmed, Gagandeep Chaggar and Jagdip Randhawa were selected from the group to attend the summer school writers workshop in Shropshire.

A young author’s Summer School Workshop with First Story The week we spent in Shropshire helped my writing skills a lot. It was structured around workshops. Authors such as Pete Hobbs would prod us in the right directions by setting us simple writing tasks to complete; for example we wrote stories based around what a specific smell reminded us of and another time we tried to write poetry about random objects given to us in bags, such as apples.

The workshops were not the only way the trip helped. We read extracts from our favourite books to each other, thus learning more about what other people like to read. The authors also helped us by teaching us the importance of editing our work properly, so we went away and drafted our stories several times. On the last day we read out the final version of our best stories.

When we had to come back at the end of the week, we were given elaborate notepads/diaries to write in. Overall, this was a very enjoyable experience.

By Shadnam Ahmed (year 12) 20

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GCSE Success We are truly delighted at another leap forward on the school’s journey to ‘Excellence in All Areas’ with these record smashing results by Cranford’s hard working students. Everyone in the school community is so proud of them all.

These well deserved results continue the steep trend of improvement at the school across the last 7 years.

This year our GCSE students achieved an impressive 14% rise in 5+ A*-C and a 7% increase including both English and maths. The huge rise in the points score confirms that many more pupils are passing with the highest grades and will be well placed to follow in the footsteps of last week’s 3 Oxbridge successes.

Jagjit Kang achieved 14 GCSEs with 11 at grade A* and 3 at grade A and Harsimran Sall achieved 15 GCSEs with 10 A* and 5 A grades.

More high flying pupils are benefiting from gifted and talented provision and are being accelerated, including various fast track and early GCSE and AS entry programmes.

Alo n g s id e th eir G C S E success, a number of students picked up an AS level one year early and all at the higher grades.

The students are reaping the rewards of hard work by them, school staff and supportive families.

Kevin Prunty (Headteacher)

Year 11 ROA Evening The Class of 2009 Ye a r 11 R e c o r d of Achievement Evening brought a real sense of togetherness and showed how close all of the year had become over the last 5 years at Cranford Community College. It has truly been a journey and just one big stage in our lives. The evening helped us to mark and celebrate our successes throughout the year but to also meet and greet our fellow students and teachers. The evening presented great talent from all the performers.

The speeches from Ms Bramhall, Ms Robinson and Ms Dhillon were truly emotional and heartfelt and it made us feel all part of a big community but also a big family.

The ROA evening video created by myself and Kiranpreet Bains along with help of Anisha Bhatowa and Ms Bramhall based on the music video ‘Is this the way to Amarillo’ really summed up the evening and the class of 2009 together. It managed to get the whole year singing together and cheering as each of their tutor groups came up and familiar faces were shown in all their glory.

HEFCE Year 11 Maths Summer School

- Imperial College, London -

Between 29th June and 3rd July 2009 six year 11 maths students: Resham Lall, leuan Bevan, Jagjit Kang, Sobya Shaikh, Radhika Badiana and myself were fortunate enough to attend a ‘year 12 head start to maths’ 5 day residential course at Imperial College London. This was a summer school funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the company Excitec.

During the week, we were assigned to 2 mentors and a group which we were often in. We participated in a number of strange lessons such as ‘Zero to Infinity’, ‘Unbreakable Codes’ as well as launching rockets and programming our own robots.

We learnt about the world of banking, buying and selling shares and investing money into companies (which we did online). We had a rare opportunity to visit Barclay’s Capital, known as BARCAP in Canary Wharf, where we witnessed some serious share trading on the trading floors.

It was truly one of the best experiences we’ve had. It allowed us to gain a huge insight into what university life is like, especially the ‘staying away from home’ side, where we stayed in Biet Halls, one of the university’s student accommodation.

Not only did we learn some interesting maths, we also made a whole load of new friends which we all stay in tough with!

Thank you Mr Simmons and the Maths Department for putting us forward for this fantastic week.

By Harsimran Sall (year 11)

By Amarpal Khuttan (year 11) Excellence in all areas

21

Triple Triumph for Oxbridge Applying to Oxford to read Physics was a very daunting experience; only 24% of those who applied (nearly all of whom had straight As in year 12) were chosen in the previous year.

Despite this I was determined to have a shot at getting a seat at Oxford to do Physics. I never really thought that I would actually get into the university, so it was a massive shock when I did. The application procedure is very long, especially for those doing a science. Initially the application simply involved writing and sending a personal statement along with information on my results in exams.

However, once I managed to pass that stage, I had to do a written test, set

by Oxford Physics tutors. This was in my opinion the hardest part of the procedure.

After passing the test, I was left with the interview. I knew that there would be competition (especially those from private schools) I would therefore need serious planning on how to deal with this final part of the procedure. With help from the school (who specifically funded an interview preparation day for the three Oxbridge applicants) and its teachers, I got an offer at Oxford. I knew that all that was left was to then attain the straight A’s required to meet the offer. Although the grades required in the modular exams remaining in year 13 were not that high due to my efforts in year 12, I took no chances and studied diligently. Now I’m off to Oxford (hasn’t sunk in yet) after seven years at Cranford. I thank all the teachers for the help they’ve given me throughout these years. It was only really last minute in which my brother and I got a place at Cranford (2 weeks before term started in year 7). That was definitely one of the greatest strokes of luck that we’ve had in our lives...

By Bhavik Bhatt (year 13) 22

The final year of my A-levels was the toughest of the seven years at Cranford. Juggling my applications for universities, preparing for interviews, carrying out my Head Boy duties and of course exams.

The first few months were hectic, then on 6th January 2009 I got home from school, and there on the table sat the envelope with my name and the Cambridge University mark.

So many things go through your head when you read that you have a conditional offer to read Law at one of the best universities in the world. The first are excitement and joy, the second is satisfaction that all the preparations and wider reading paid off, and the third is determination to clear the final hurdle in June 2009.

The next day, I went into school and let all my mates know. I then went to the Sixth Form management team and thanked them for their help with my application. They were all delighted at the good news.

In August 2009, when I received my AAA, again emotions ran over me.

The first are again excitement and joy, the second is again satisfaction that all those hours after school I spent in the Sixth form Study centre studying paid off, but the third was gratitude towards all of my brilliant A-level teachers.

Seven long years at Cranford has produced so many memories. I am of course slightly sad to be leaving, but at the same time I cannot wait to start the next chapter in my life.

And now I need to shop for all my University supplies, get my finances in order, and get over this long A-level hangover...

By Bhavin Bhatt (year 13) Head Boy

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It has been seven years since I first joined Cranford; a girl of only so high, nervous and fresh faced. I don’t think I could have imagined all that my time here would bring.

Thanks to the wonderful support of all the teachers and staff, my closest friends and my family I have grown ever more ambitious and confident over the years and have taken on an increased involvement within the school from helping children from lower years to read, to being a Council Representative, Prefect and finally Deputy Head Girl. In the Sixth Form I have been given ample opportunity to contribute to the school in the form of giving my opinions, sitting on the Academic Board, taking part in what seems like thousands of events the school has worked hard to organise, as well as selecting and handing over the baton to the new Heads and Deputy Heads of the school.

However, all too quickly my time at Cranford has come to an end, and, as my primary school headteacher would say, we have become fish too big for their bowl.

The thought that within a month I’ll be at Cambridge reading history still hasn’t quite sunk in, but even though it is nerveracking starting this next chapter of my life, I cannot wait to take on whatever lies ahead.

Although I feel sad about leaving the place that has been like a second home to me for all these years, I will surely come back and visit soon.

By Esther Nicoll (year 13) Deputy Head Girl

High performing

Sixth form students achieve A level success Cranford’s sixth form students have performed very well again this year and are a real credit. We are very proud. The improvements of the last 5 years have been sustained but with further rises in those numbers achieving A grades and higher grades. Year 12 students have achieved particularly well which puts them in pole position for next year. We are celebrating today with so many students and their families. but are particularly pleased for our Head Boy, Bhavin Bhatt (AAA) who is going to Cambridge University to study Law alongside his twin brother Bhavik Bhatt (AAA) who is to read Physics at Oxford University and our Deputy Head Girl, Esther Nicoll (AAA) who will read History also at Cambridge University. Among other high achievers are Namrita Khosla (AAA) reading Dentistry at Kings College, London and Mohit Kanda (AAA) reading Chemistry at Warwick University. Congratulations to the students, their teachers and supportive families. Cranford’s students are extremely well placed in the competition for University places this year.

By Kevin Prunty (Headteacher)

Glitz, Glamour and Grateful Goodbyes to Year 13 2009 A flurry of Saris, smart suits and sequins adorned year 13 as they celebrated the end of their time at Cranford Community College.

Music and dance performances punctuated by speeches and presentations entertained members of the Governing Body, staff, students and their families. The Head Boy and Head Girl and their Deputies handed over the baton to the new quartet as they spoke about their memories of life at school, their friends and the teachers who had made such a difference.

Excellence in all areas

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This year the Global Campaign for Education (GCE), the world’s largest children’s campaign, has asked schools in the UK and around the world to take part in the main campaigning action The BIG Read.

Cranford Community College participated in this huge event happening in over 100 countries and 6000 schools in the UK. Parents and teachers were invited to hear and see our students’ written pieces and creative work including drawings of the number ten door, speeches and poems.

The theme for the evening was the importance of literacy and how the ability to read and write opens doors for all children. We invited a speaker from the charity Humanity First, Mr Rashid. “I’m really glad that the school is making students aware of issues like these. They need to understand that what they take for granted others can only dream of having.”

The charity is currently working in schools in Uganda and trying to set up a library in some of the schools there, a cause which we have supported through book donations.

To show our commitment to the right for an education, we also arranged a lunch meeting between the local MP and selected students.

The students discussed their work but more 24

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importantly asked Mr Keen to deliver all the work Cranford students had done for The BIG Read to the Prime Minister, to remind him to keep his promise that all children receive a free, primary education by 2015. Mr Keen was passionate about this issue himself so had no problem doing so or signing the motion which backs this campaign.

Students were really pleased to meet Mr Keen and learn more about his work, the government and effects of politics.

Thank you to Ms Goold, all tutors that took part and the brilliant students for making the BIG Read a success.

Cranford to the House of Commons On 10th June 2009 I was privileged to be selected to go to the majestic Houses of Parliament and Commons. I didn’t sleep the night before the visit, the only thing which came to my mind was having a tea party with Gordon Brown and discuss about his crisis (posh word) to stay in 10 Downing Street.

The day arrived; the visit that money cannot buy was standing before me. I went to school with perfect uniform, polo shirt tucked in, formally brushed hair and shinning shoes, you could see your reflection in them (very unusual).

It was so kind of Mr Dean to take me on the wonderful visit. I was scheduled to meet Mr. Dean at 12.30pm.

The clock was tick-tocking and I couldn’t bear it anymore. A minute passed by like a year and finally the time arrived, me and Mr. Dean went to Feltham train station because of the tube strike. We took a train to Waterloo so we could see attractions such as London Bridge, River Thames, the London Eye and of course Big Ben. We went into the House of Commons security checking area; they checked me and gave me a visitor pass which I will store in my record book.

When I entered the House of Commons I saw loads of familiar faces from the BBC news, I suddenly got goose bumps. The building was so huge. I saw Alan Keen who is the MP and he was talking about football.

I was holding the football which had signatures of our year 7 Girls and Boys football team members. We were talking about FIFA World Cup because the aim of the visit was to take photographs to promote the bid for 2018 FIFA World Cup to come to England. We met the Sports Minister and took photographs with him. Then we played footie beneath Big Ben. We visited the Speaker’s apartment where there were luxurious massive chairs, a big hall and rooms. We visited the terrace where MPs have a view of central London, then we headed back home and I said bye bye to the Houses of Parliament.

My sincere thanks to Cranford Community College and Mr Dean for offering this unforgettable visit to me.

Thank you a million times,

By Surya Varatharajan (year 7)

Trip to Number 10 Downing Street As a result of our campaigning action, The BIG Read, the school received an invitation from Mr Keen to visit him and hand over the school’s petition and work to Number 10 Downing Street.

Kirenjit Jatana year 11 and Maryam Mohammed year 7 were chosen to go on this trip. “I was really happy when I got the letter telling me that I had been chosen to go on this trip. I knew this would look good on my CV and I was also curious to know if we would actually go inside Number 10.” Kirenjit says. Despite a tube strike we managed to go ahead and arrived at Waterloo Station in good time. Once outside 10 Downing Street we were joined by pupils from Bedfont Junior School and MP Mr Keen. After being checked by security, we walked up to that famous black door you see on TV and knocked. Mr Keen explained what our campaign was about, we were not allowed inside however we did get a tour of parliament by Mr Keen who was very kind and told us about the history of parliament and Big Ben (which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year).

Maryam says “I will remember this trip forever and want to say to all students that if the LRC is running a competition you have to enter!”

Excellence in all areas

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Cranford Community College Staff Recognition Event 2007-2009 On Friday 10th July 2009 Cranford Community College held its first biannual Staff Recognition Event to celebrate the work of teaching and support staff over the past two years. This event recognised the work of individuals and departments, nominated by colleagues. Friends and family attended this wonderful evening which was an opportunity to applaud the work of colleagues who work so hard to ensure our students succeed.

Kevin Prunty Headteacher said he felt extremely proud to be part of such an initiative and the opportunity to recognise the work and commitment of his excellent staff.

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Excellence in all areas