Cranford Annual Review 2010

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

Tel: 020 8897 2001

www.cranford.hounslow.sch.uk

Cranford Review 2009

2010

Election Fever Hits Cranford Community College

Welcome to the Cranford Review for 2009/2010. Another year of record breaking examination success with an impressive 82% of our year 11 students achieving 5 or more GCSE grades A*-C. 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.

Editorial

By Kevin Prunty ( Headteacher)

Cranford Review

2009/2010

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.

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 - 2010

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Cranford Review 2009/2010

We are particularly delighted to have ended the year by achieving the Cultural Diversity Gold Award and the International Schools Award for the 5th consecutive time, making Cranford almost unique in this success.

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

Thursday 6 May 2010 will be remembered as the day the country voted, and a coalition government was formed. At Cranford Community College this day will be remembered as the day the whole school community came together to choose their next Head Girl, Head Boy and their Deputies.

Each candidate, supported by a campaign manager, was tasked with a variety of campaign activities including publishing a manifesto, creating a campaign video, running a hustings event and talking to their electorate to engage their support.

When Mr Prunty announced that I was Cranford’s new Head Girl, a sense of excitement, thrill and relief ran through my body. I never anticipated that I was going to win; after all it was the first time the whole school was voting.

I couldn’t believe that I had come such a long way from that original application letter.

The whole election process was definitely different, I never knew what hustings or a manifesto were until then.

I look forward to working alongside the rest of the quartet and prefects.

I want to thank Ms Painting, my campaign manager, who worked incredibly hard. I couldn’t have done it without her.

So all that’s left to say is… ”Yes she Can.”

On election day the whole school buzzed with anticipation.

The candidates began the day early as did the polling stations.

Students were welcomed into school by the candidates, canvassing right up to the final minute. Polling stations with sealed ballot boxes were set up around the school. You could hear students and staff speculating as to what they thought the final outcome might be. At 4.00 p.m. the polling stations closed and all the ballot boxes were brought to the Leadership and Management Centre for the count.

T h e t e n s i o n g r e w a s t h e c o u n t g o t u n d e r w a y.

The candidates gathered in the memorial garden with their sixth form supporters, campaign managers, staff and family waiting in nervous anticipation of the outcome. The drama grew. A recount was needed. The result was too close to call for the Head Boy position with only one vote between the two candidates the count had to be checked.

Finally, with the count completed, Headteacher Kevin Prunty as Returning Officer, took to the stage to announce the results to cheers and applause for every candidate. Head Boy Amarpal Khuttan, Head Girl Radhika Badiani, Deputy Head Boy Cyrus Mwangi, Deputy Head Girl Shivaani Kaushik.

Kevin Prunty, said of the school elections; “This has been a wonderful example of togetherness where the whole school community had one focus and came together to achieve a real result. I am extremely proud of all the candidates and how they have managed themselves throughout the process. I am looking forward to working with the new quartet as they join the leadership and management of the school in achieving its goal of excellence in all areas”.

By Jessica Joyce (Assistant Headteacher)

By Radhika Badiani (Head Girl 2010-2011)

The election campaign for me was electric. It really helped in developing my personal skills opening my mind to marketing methods from the large posters we had to create to the leaflets and stickers. Shouting out loud through a loudspeaker on the concourse to making wristbands all helped in achieving that community spirit around school and it was fantastic to have such strong support from my campaign manager Ms Rose, my friends and fellow supporters.

I now look forward to working together with the quartet and the prefect team to develop and carry through ideas.”

By Amarpal Khuttan (Head Boy 2010-2011)

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W h at h ave yo u d o n e

to d a y

t o m a ke yo u fe e l p r o u d ?

The day started with music blaring from the school’s new PA system. Staff and students danced in the corridors to the sounds of ‘I’m gonna shine’, ‘Eye of the Tiger’,’Proud’ and other motivational sporting songs.

Our special guests on the day included Cllr. Sachin Gupta, Lead Member for Education and Cllr. Lily Bath, Lead Member for Children’s Services as well as Education department officials, Mike Pears and Susan Williams.

The sports festival was very successful and everyone in the school (teachers and students) were having fun throughout the whole day.

Our Creative and Media group organised the event as part of our coursework and it was a great achievement and particularly impressive to have organised such a complex day in such a limited timeframe.

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Cranford Review 2009/2010

My role on the day was to go round the school with Ryan Hodges finding out who the teachers would nominate for the leadership award.

Overall I enjoyed the day very much and I think it should be an annual event.

Chelsea-Ann Cook (year 10)

The rattling of the bats, the rhythm of the dance floor, echoes of cheering, the day brimmed with excitement as Cranford Community College hosted its International Sports Festival. The air was vibrant and full of excitement as students started to make flags and inspirational banners to cheer on their countries. Each zone offered a variety of sports activities ranging from 100m sprint, rounders, cricket, tennis, dancing, skipping and aerobics to trampolining, high jump, football and even an assault course or Wii Sports; the list goes on...

The weather was amazingly hot and this gave the students motivation to try various sports from an energetic football match to a calm and relaxed yoga class.

My role for the day was a news reporter, going around to each activity and interviewing people about the Sports Festival. We used our Creative and Media Bus to broadcast the event around the school site. It was very motivating and enjoyable to work with professional people from outside school. They taught how broadcasting systems work just like in national and international sporting events. One participant said; “This is the best sports day ever” and “I definitely want to do this again next year”.

Walking around interviewing people made me feel like a famous reporter interviewing famous sports people. I truly enjoyed the experience.

The International Sports Festival was fantastic.

At Cranford, we indeed have future sports stars.

By Saujanya Natarajan (year 10)

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First Story Garden party On Tuesday 22 June 2010 Cranford held its annual First Story Open House event in the Memorial Garden in glorious sunshine. Fifteen year 12 students read extracts from their published anthology entitled “The Buzzer” to staff, family and friends. The various stories were inspired by students’ life experiences and creative thinking, some humorous and some thought provoking. These were enjoyed by all in the wonderful garden surroundings on a summer afternoon.

First Story allowed us to sit down with author, William Fiennes, every Wednesday afternoon and use different methods to create our own short stories. One week we used our five senses to reminisce what it was like to be ten years old.

Another week we were all given a postcard and using the image on it, we created the main body of a story. Not only did First Story help us improve drastically in our creative writing and give us the opportunity to meet William Fiennes, it also organised a trip to Oxford University. We were given a tour of the Christchurch campus and learnt all about its history.

By Fatima Karim (year 12) 4

Cranford Review 2009/2010

When I heard about First Story, I was very excited to say the least. I had finally found an opportunity to express myself through writing and be given topics from keys to postcards to writing as if I was ten again. I allowed my imagination to drift and write stories that I would never have dreamed of writing; from experiencing a hurricane to a story from a key’s perspective.

Not only has first story improved my self esteem and my reading skills, it has enabled me to visit places that I wouldn’t have normally. The first story cohort travelled by minibus to Oxford to attend the Oxford Literary Festival with special guest Philip Pullman author of ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy. This was an overwhelming experience as we saw the beauty of the renowned Christchurch College and even saw the great hall used in the Harry Potter films. It was really inspiring and a great experience to be in such a great place and hopefully in the future I will be there too, not as a visitor, as a student.

On 10 May 2010, the First Story group went to the Le Café Anglais where we were going to read extracts from our story to help persuade investors to support the First Story Charity. We were all very nervous and it was the first time that I had taken part in a public speaking event. To do so in front of 300 acclaimed members of society was nervewracking for someone who at most had read a story to 10 of his fellow students. However, I only had one chance and as it was for a good cause I had to put all nerves aside. The evening turned out to be a huge success and there were some great stories, from Cyrus’ fear story to Fatima’s about bullying. Through the evening First Story raised an impressive £40,000 which will support the charity with its work in another 8 schools for a year.

I would like to finish by recommending any younger students who love to write to join First Story as it is a great experience and will help you in so many ways.

By Amarjot Deol (year 12)

First story and what it means to me Ever since joining First Story I have learnt a lot about writing and I have met some wonderful people and have been guided by an amazing writer: William Fiennes.

I was excited at the prospects of working with a well-known published writer for a year. As soon as the session was finished I was amazed at how well it had gone and it really opened me up to a new style of writing. As I wrote about things ranging from a plain desert with tracks and saving my grandmother from a storm, a femme fatale to a lost soul trapped in hell I found that I have learned different techniques on how to portray the emotions I desired to show in my work. Mr Fiennes recognised my keen and positive attitude towards writing along with my English teacher Mr Ind who set up a First Story workshop for key stage 3 students which I with Simran Kahlon organised. I have new and exciting times to look forward to and being a part of the First Story Workshop for almost 8 months has helped me get those few steps closer to my dream of becoming a writer.

By Aniq Imran (year 12) Excellence

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Karandeep learns to rear chickens

The chickens are an exciting addition to Cranford encouraging students to take on responsibility for looking after and nurturing them.

This has provided learning opportunities in a variety of forms including, developing emotional and social skills.

The eggs are enjoyed by all.

On 21 April 2010 Ms Knock and her group went to see some marvellous new chickens which arrived. At first I though Ms knock was joking but she wasn’t.

We walked to the Conservation Area and saw the chickens which we were allowed to hold. All of our group felt the chicken by stroking it. I went to the chickens’ house and started to help the man who had brought the chickens to help build the house. I cut the chicken feathers to stop it from flying. This morning we got good news because one one of the chickens laid a egg.

By Karandeep Sidhu (year 7)

The creation of an outdoor classroom space in the conservation area provides a different learning opportunity and environment. Making greater use of the outdoors inspires learning in a different context which enhances the curriculum.

Year 10 Green fingered Growers We chose our vegetables (lettuce, corn, peppers, beans, cabbage) and Ms Kirke got the seeds for us. We took them down to the Conservation Area and we planted them in seed trays. Over the half term we kept a record of their growth and kept them watered. We dug over the raised bed and did some hard work weeding so the plants could be moved outside.

Soon it was half term and our work was over so Ms Smith’s group took over caring for the vegetables keeping them watered and weeded and protected so the two groups had food to take home for the holidays.

Students participating in growing vegetables are Amar Khan, Lieam Smith, Zohaib Ahmead, Kaltej Bassi, Ilwat Abuker, Savannah Grant-Williams and James Barratt

By Lieam Smith and Amar khan (year 10) 6

Cranford Review 2009/2010

Learning is fun under the sun My year 7 English classes were fortunate enough to enjoy the natural surroundings of the outdoor classroom during the summer term. The wild flowers, dragonfly chrysalis and of course the chickens offered much inspiration for descriptive writing and poetry in the style of Romantic poets, much of which can be seen in and around the English department. The experience of teaching in the outdoors makes for a refreshing change; students are energised and inspired, showing an appreciation for the natural surroundings and asking Mrs Spiller many questions regarding the wildlife and conservation area. The outdoor classroom is a fantastic facility that I have found not only inspires students’ creativity but is also enriching across the curriculum.

A very enjoyable experience for us all.

By Kerry Mulhair (English Department)

Wo u l d yo u l i ke to g e t st u ck in too?

National Schools Spor ts Week 2010

Ms Kennedy and a group of Cranford girls attended a ‘Girls Conference’ This was an unforgettable trip, definitely one not to miss out on. During the event we had to team up with girls from other schools to face 4 different challenges like dancing on dance mats, playing volley ball (that was harder than you think), using these weird-looking skateboards (they seem to have no wheels, but I got the hang of it), doing boxing (this was a little bit more challenging than the other activities because I wanted to beat the other girls records, which I didn’t), then after all of that hard work (it was lunch), it was optional to go and do some rock climbing (it was wicked), I even got up to the top because I was so determined.

Overall my favourite was the weird-looking skateboard it was called ‘View Do’, because I now know an easier way to use a skateboard.

The day, totally changed my way of thinking about sport. I used to think it was always about sweating and getting tired but it’s about fun, learning new techniques of being more alert, in control, ready for action and challenges. I have also gained confidence and enjoy helping others when they don’t know how to do something. My highlight of the day was meeting a celebrity athlete, Enigma (her stage name). She was really eager for everyone to be successful, achieve the best they could and follow their dreams in life like she did. She also talked about her life and how she got where she was. I and my friends went to school the next day with grins on our faces, we shared how the experience made sport easier. I would love to do this again and lots of girls should get involved so get started. Would You Like To Get Stuck In Too?

I thought National School Sports Week was great. It was very active and everyone did exercise which is good for health. All the zones had different sports which everyone took part in. This was a great chance for everyone to show their sporting abilities. I am really looking forward to National School Sports week next year.

Divya Verma (year 7)

I believe that I gained a lot from National School Sports week. It made me more active and had a very good influence on me and the others in my class. Being part of this gave me experience in different sports activities and helped me develop new skills.

My favourite part of National School Sports week was when we did trampolining and football.

It was great and I have loads of fun memories from it. I enjoyed the week and hope we can do it again.

Simran Chopra (year 7)

National schools sports week was the most fun thing my class did. There were so many things and we loved them. We did trampoling, we learned some tricks and used tackling bags to play pass the ball in rugby.

I wish all schools did this.

It was great fun.

Gurdeep Khela (year 7)

Fahma Mohamed (year 9) Excellence

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ART The Big Bash 2010

In July 2010 the ADT Department organised for year 7 and 8 students a competition in the style of The Apprentice. Students worked in teams to produce a concept idea to present as an event. Each team created a design and made invitations, company logos, posters, leaflets, and a party pack for their chosen event.

They also had to design and make a model of the venue in which the event would be held. In addition students designed and cooked food to be served at this event. Students used their ICT skills to design a Power Point presentation for the final round.

Teams adopted inventive company names such as Pixie Dust, the A-Team and Sweetie Pie. Initial work was completed in the classroom and the successful team from each class went forward to the final and presented to the judging panel consisting of the Head of Year, Year Manager, members of SLT and the Chair of the Governing Body, Roger Owen At the end of the day the winners were announced, Pixie Dust and Party Paradise were the winners for year 7 and 8.

It was a fantastic day. It showed how imaginative Cranford students can be and how well they work together.

By Ruby Qureshi (Head of Art) 8

Cranford Review 2009/2010

D ESIGN & T ECHNOLOGY In year 13 I was asked to produce work for a specific topic. I chose portraits. I saw it as a challenge.

I completed a whole sketch book which included research of artists including Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Franz Xavier. All of my work contributed towards my final piece which was a self portrait.

In my exam unit I chose to answer a question about clowns. My first observation for the exam question (clowns) was based on the Joker character from the Batman movies. I then took the character and applied it to myself to show a personal observation.

For my final piece I provided a triptych painting which consisted of 3 canvases which covered all my research.

At the end of the year I was awarded The Best Artist. I was given a trophy as well as a certificate. Winning this award was an exciting and overwhelming moment as I was awarded for all the effort I had put in over the whole year for both units.

By Mandeep Kalsi (year 13)

An Exhibition of Excellence Many people will never understand the delicate accuracy required when painting a picture or cutting a block of wood. They will never understand the joy that some people acquire when they finally see their finished product, after hours of brush strokes or after the endless sanding of wood.

The inner workings of the Art Design and Technology department is always a mystery to all but when the spotlight was turned on and the work went on display, you couldn’t help but stand back and applaud.

The Art Design and Technology excellence evening held on 8 July 2010 was a chance to celebrate the vast amount of art and design work produced by students ranging from self portraits to vivid blue waves crashing on silent shores. To complement the evening’s theme of “Night at the Museum”, lamps designed by year 12 students lit the way as flocks of people entered the darkened ‘museum’ to view work on display.

Art students became living sculptures dressed in various costumes including a mummy, two wind-up dolls, a roman soldier, a mime artist and security guard.

The evening went extremely well concluding with an awards ceremony where Mr Prunty presented the awards.

This has been an extraordinary year for all students, and the evening allowed us to celebrate the diverse talent within Cranford.

As part of Art and Design in year 12. I was asked to work on the topic ‘Natural Form’, so I chose fruit and vegetables.

I found the topic interesting so I decided to use different media, my favourite being oil pastels.

The project included work from two sketchbooks, some preps and a final piece which came from primary images of peppers painted in acrylics. My second project was based on festivals and carnivals where I decided to do a project on Hallowe’en relating to Mexico’s “Day of the Dead” festival.

The final outcome of this came from different artistic influences which I found unique and unusual. The final piece was made up of four different sections conveying a different aspect of the topic.

When I got my award from Mr. Prunty, I was actually surprised as the rest of the students worked really hard just as I did. I was really pleased with myself.

By Amandeep Dhunay (year 12)

By Faizan Khan (year 12, Product Design Student) Excellence

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Year 7 & 8 trip to Boulogne

Somalia Culture Week The Somalia cultural week beginning 21 June 2010 was a great success. The week included a running presentation of information screened around the school, an assembly by Anas Hassan (y9), Huda Yossuf and Busseina Ali (y8) featuring a video presentation on: ‘Somalia then and now’; an interactive quiz for tutor time and a third event which focused on food from Somalia with traditional dishes of suq-suqaar (minced meat), beef and potato and rice served in the canteen. The feedback from staff and students was that the food was delicious.

The aim of Somalia cultural week was to raise awareness about Somalia, its profile and different peoples throughout Somalia by highlighting some of the achievements and struggles of the nation. The events provided opportunities to showcase the various aspects of their culture and promote racial harmony and social cohesion within the school community.

Somalia Cultural Week has provided an opportunity for students of Somalian heritage to build their sense of ethnic origin and cultural background. K’naan’s ‘waving the Flag’ World Cup song was the icing on the cake as many people did not know that K’naan is from Somalia!

On behalf of parents and pupils, I would like to express our great appreciation for this opportunity to share Somalian achievements and challenges with the school community.

With its positive community cohesion practices, Cranford Community College has embarked on innovative programmes to make all parents and pupils an integral part of its multi-cultural community and in the process shared with them the school’s aspirations and opportunities for their personal, social and academic successes.

French language and culture week During the spring term 2010, the French department organised a week of events to celebrate and promote French language and culture throughout the school.

Sixth form students studying French put together an assembly for each year group on the theme of the French national anthem, ‘la Marseillaise’. The assemblies explained the origin of the name and song and Cranford students learned about its beginnings during the French revolution.

On 7 July 2010, 38 pupils from years 7 & 8 got up bright and early to travel all the way to France and back in one day. Accompanied by Ms Painting, Mr Alfaro, Ms Ajinça and Ms Ashfaq, the pupils had a wonderful opportunity to practise their French and experience French life.

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. In Boulogne we visited the historic old town with its medieval walls, pleasant cafés and souvenir shops. There could be no question of which country we had been to visit as the students left the old town draped in berets as well as some interesting jewelry and carrying model Eiffel Towers.

After lunch we visited the Nausicaa Sealife Centre where we saw sharks and sea lions 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 buying an ice cream before it was time for a return journey, tired but happy to think of all we had experienced in one day.

During the week, French food was available to sample in the dining hall and a variety of French films were on show during lunchtime. Students were given the opportunity to test their knowledge during tutor time, by completing a quiz on all things French.

Au revoir Cranford, Bonjour Paris In July 2010 thirty six year 10 students began a journey which would take them almost up to the front door of Notre Dame Cathedral for the first part of their Parisian adventure, followed by an evening meal at a French restaurant where they could practise speaking French.

Saturday began with a short trip to the most French of theme parks, Parc Astérix where students spent the day on a huge range of roller coasters, shopping like mad and watching a variety of shows, from sea-life to gladiator style stunts.

Despite a long journey on a really hot day, the students’ appetite for discovery clearly had not diminished and, having boarded the bus for a night-time sightseeing tour of Paris which took in the Louvre museum, the Champs Elysée and the Eiffel Tower, they ended up at the Arc de Triomphe and everyone braved the 200-stair climb to the top.

The final part of the day was spent at ‘Trocadero’, just opposite the Eiffel Tower where street performers entertained the crowd in front of the tower.

Sunday morning concluded their journey with a fantastic boat trip past the city’s finest examples of architecture where they learned so much about the history of the city.

By Simon Watkins (Head of French)

Primary French Market Day On Wednesday 14 July 2010, it was Primary French Market Day when primary schools came to Cranford to shop in French. Norwood Green Junior school and Berkeley Primary School came this year and really enjoyed it.

The purpose of the day was to encourage the children to use their knowledge of French and to improve their French language.

There were so many stalls including a café, bakery, clothes shop, sweet shop and many more and at every shop two or three year 7 students took control. At the end, everyone ate a selection of French snacks and baguettes.

Everyone enjoyed the day.

By Vivek Mandalia (year 10)

By Mohamed Kahin (EAL) 10

Cranford Review 2009/2010

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Languages Excellence Evening: Parents Learning the St. Martins way

St. Martins method and Primary Languages Partnership 2009-2010

On 20 July 2010 parents, students, staff and invited guests had the opportunity to experience their first ever languages’ taster lesson as part of the Languages Excellence Evening. Parents joined their children and discovered first hand how much fun their languages lessons are here at Cranford Community College.

Amarpal Khuttan and Simran Kahlon compered the event and wowed the audience by speaking in five different languages. The guest of Honour, Lucia Miarka, German Embassy Representative for Culture and Education assisted in the presentation of awards to those students studying German.

Staff from other departments were impressed by the teaching methodology, “such a great way to learn”, said Mr Booth (Maths): “all the repetition and actions are a fantastic way to remember”, said Ms Bramhall, Assistant Headteacher (ICT).

To round off the afternoon the Languages Choir sang ‘Lean on Me’ in six languages – everyone loved the performance so much the crowd called “encore” and the choir had to perform twice.

Students were keen to show off to their parents and soon had them chanting structures as though they had been doing it for years.

In the memorial garden the sun shone as everyone gathered to applaud the presentation of awards by Mr. Prunty at the Awards Ceremony, whilst ensuring they sampled the delicious cakes, Indian sweets and samosas.

This year I have been working with staff and pupils from Berkeley Junior, Bedfont Junior and Victoria Junior Schools.

It has been a real pleasure to teach French to year 3 and year 4 classes, using routines and mimes so that all children speak as much French as possible during their lesson. The children are very enthusiastic and always look pleased when they realise it is time for French: “Oh yes, Madame Edwards is here! Bonjour Madame! Ça va?” .

Using routines to start the lessons gives the pupils a sense of security as everything they have to say is scaffolded on the board, with words and pictures.

As every word or expression is accompanied by an action, this approach to teaching is very inclusive and means that every child can access the lesson.

Routines are used to teach quite complicated language but the pupils take it all in their stride and are able to produce an excellent level of spoken French for their key stage.

The starting routines (for sitting down, doing the team points) are followed by input of new vocabulary, always scaffolded and always kinaesthetic, practised through a variety of games that mean the children repeat over and over again in a variety of ways. They do not always realise how often they have said the same thing due to the nature of the games. They can now nearly always beat

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Sathma Nugera year 9 said ; “I was so nervous but really enjoyed it”, It was a wonderful event which celebrated that Cranford is a successful Language College where the global vision is part of our future.

By Tiffany Robinson (Language College Manager)

the teacher at “Répète si c’est vrai” (Repeat if true) and “Jacques a dit” (Simon says).

Towards the end of the lesson the children practise in pairs, then the class count up the points gained by each team. This is followed by a song to celebrate the winners.

The aim of the lesson is to get the children speaking as much French possible. Speaking English is not normally allowed. Initially class teachers are a bit apprehensive about taking this on board, especially if they do not speak French at all.

However, when they realize that the lesson routines are easily managed, very repetitive in content and mostly driven by the children themselves, they are happy to take part in some of the lesson.

One of the highlights of the year was when a teacher at Berkeley Junior School informed me that during an observation lesson teaching maths she put both thumbs up to check for understanding and this triggered a spontaneous response in French from her pupils who recognized the gesture used in French lessons (“C’est clair ou ce n’est pas clair?”). The observer was very impressed and suggested that next time the whole maths lesson was conducted in French.

So, as the pupils would say: “Merci Madame et au revoir!”

By Susie Edwards (French department)

German Cultural Week

Spanish Culture Week

In December 2009 we celebrated German Cultural Week. During the celebrations staff and students were introduced to different aspects of German culture including German R&B music and films.

In Spring 2010 we celebrated Spanish Culture week, and tutor groups took part in activities to teach them all about the Spanish speaking world- all 400 million of them!

The highlight of the week was definitely the incredible acting skills displayed by some of our Y7 Spanish students, who performed a short play in assemblies for all year groups and managed to impress and amuse wherever they went. ¡Felicitaciones!

Every tutor group completed a quiz about Germany. The quiz not only focussed on Germany itself but also on how England is related to Germany in a variety of ways. George I from Hanover in Germany, for example, was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death in 1727.

The week was a great success and was enjoyed by staff and students alike.

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Expedition Tropics Eagle - Borneo 2010 We are members of the Air Training Corps based at 86 Squadron (Heston & Isleworth), We were amongst twenty other cadets based around the country who received the wonderful opportunity to take part in the trip of a lifetime...an expedition to Borneo, a large island in South East Asia shared by Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.

The expedition was a life changing experience learning to live in the jungle and do without all those things we take for granted at home. In the first few days we had to get used to our surroundings and the challenges ahead of us in the jungle. We were taken to a smaller version of the jungle we were going to be camping in order to be taught how to light fires, tie our hammocks to trees, purify water, and set-up our campsite.

We began with an exhausting 3- day and 2- night trek.

Before going deep into the jungle we visited a school where the small children were overwhelmed to see us as we handed them stationery and toys. We had collected these items donated from school. Our trek was hard going, climbing hard, while carrying 15kg rucksacks.

Our main job was to be a transporter to help rebuild a bridge. We carried large pieces of wood over to a bridge where the other cadets arranged and nailed them onto the bridge. In the heat, this wasn’t easy.. With the help of the local villagers, the bridge was completed and ready to be opened to the public the very next afternoon. We held an opening ceremony .

Cranfor d Community Colle ge Charity Champions We have a great track record at Cranford of fund raising for others in need and those doing charitable good work. In 2009-2010 we have been able to donate £1,500 to the Haiti Appeal, £1,500 to the Prostrate Cancer Charity, £1,500 to the Terrence Higgins Trust, £1,000 to First Story, £650 to Children in Need and £650 to the British Heart Foundation with £3,000 donated to HomeStart as part of the year 9 Citizenship Philanthropy Initiative.

This totals £9,800 . During the summer term we continued this initiative and raised a further £1,000 towards Haiti as well as £250 for Sports Relief, £20 for NSPCC and £394.10 for HIV/ AIDS and UNICEF. We expect, therefore, to have donated at least a whacking £11,464.10 in total. Cranford charity champions are truly amazing.

By Kevin Prunty (Headteacher)

We were pleased to take part in a remembrance parade for the Sandakan Death Marches where 470 prisoners of war were forced to march through the jungle until they eventually died. Air Cadet wreaths were laid in remembrance of those who died for us. Lest We Forget.

Then came the nervously-anticipated climb of Mount Kinabalu. The 4095m (13,435ft) beast of a mountain is not completed easily and requires two full days of climbing at high altitude. It was tough, but everyone got up to the Laban Rata mountain hut at 3200m high. The next day, with our head torches on, we plodded on further up towards Low’s Peak - the summit of Mt. Kinabalu.

Finally hitting the top in time for sunrise, we arrived to great open views of N.E. Borneo. The final push to the summit was incredibly hard since oxygen levels were so low. The scary part was the descent from the peak. We had to hold on to ropes and walk backwards while bits of rock were chipping away beneath our feet. It was incredibly scary .

By Daniel Matharu and Manpreet Settie (year 11) 14

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Home-Start-YPI Project 2010 For citizenship we had to choose a charity that is in our community and the charity that would win would get £3000.

We wanted a charity that would cover a wide range of problems in our community and decided on Home-Start because last year they supported 109 families including: 176 children under five years old, 24 families with a disabled main carer, 45 lone parent families and 58 children aged five and over.

We contacted Home-Start and asked if we could choose them as our charity for the YIP competition, they agreed and were delighted to be entered in a competition because £3000 would make a massive change in our community. They sent us so much helpful information, and visited them more than three times and made a short video clip of the manager to Home-Start (Margaret) and one of the volunteers in home start (Reena).

We gave our charity presentation to our class (9z) and Reena came to answer questions.

Our group and another group called ‘Mulberry Centre’ went through to the final.

I love to help charities because people desperately need our help. My favourite charity is NSPCC because they help young people who have suffered from abuse.

I have raised £20 from my Art Exhibition

By Cindy Onwuokwu (year 11)

On the final day we were one of the last presentations which made us nervous but when we walked on stage and said our first words, our nerves disappeared. It was a great feeling when we saw Home-Start written on the £3000 cheque. When we heard that we won, all the hard work paid off. We will never forget that day because it was a very memorable day for us!

By Inderpreet Bhupall, Parnyan Islamzadeh and Gursharan Maheroo (year 9) Excellence

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Doctors in the House

In March 2010 at every corner of the science department all that could be heard was talk of the future. A future in the medical profession!

Amersham Field Centre The GSK Award A moment of great pride It’s nice to get rewarded for your efforts, especially if all the hard work you’ve put in is recognised by a prestigious organisation such as Glaxo Smith Kline.

Having won the GSK award for the Best GCSE science grade last year, is one of the best feelings ever when you’re on stage, applauded by the crowd for your effort, being handed the GSK trophy at Presentation Evening.

It was a moment of great pride for all the hard work I had put in during key stage 4, firstly by achieving the best grade in my year and secondly by being recognised in the school community for doing so. It was a moment I will never forget.

I am about to start applying to universities including Oxford and need to write my personal statement. The award will provide a basis on which to talk about my academic performance when going to interviews at university and this will hopefully set me apart from others applying for the same place as me.

Winning the GSK award was, and still is, one of my best achievements in Cranford to date. What I do hope is that more students will be inspired to achieve the best that they can and go on to win such awards.

By Jagjit Kang (year12)

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Endangered animals In many places across the world, there are endangered animals, such as tigers, whales and all sorts of other animals. Endangered species are a population of animals which is at risk of becoming extinct because they are very few in numbers. It could also mean that due to the effects of deforestation there may be a lack of food or water.

There are many more species alive right now on Earth than there have been at any other time because humans have destroyed and changed their habitat more species are being threatened with extinction than ever before.

We know that a lot of animals are suffering because humans are destroying their habitats and upsetting the balance of nature.

We have to save endangered plants and animals because they can help us alot. For example; research into medicines and major developments in science.

On the 6 July 2010 ten Advanced Biology students visited Field Study Centre in Amersham Buckinghamshire to carry out field studies for their Unit 4 exam, involving a lot of practical and classroom based study.

From the moment we arrived we were out in the woods putting the Mark-ReleaseRecapture method into practice by catching woodlice. We discussed many areas of ecology; biomass, food chains, energy flow, pyramids, biodiversity and species.

We were given the opportunity to carry out various sampling techniques ; quadrats, point quadrats and transects which we used to measure plant diversity in areas of the woodland, causing us to go deep into the wild plantation. We measured both biotic and abiotic factors like light intensity, soil and air temperature, canopy cover and soil pH. The activity we most enjoyed was the pond dipping in the meadow and woodland ponds. By tallying the number of individuals of different species we found from three different samples, we were able to produce our own diversity indexes.

In doing so, the delicate and wonderful balance between us and the environment is restored.

Apart from the numerous bugs and hayfever it was definitely an experience to remember, mainly because we were able to put into practice everything we have learnt in the classroom and see how the methods of estimating population sizes or measuring biodiversity really work.

Many thanks to the science department for organising this for us.

By Simran Bakshi (year 7)

By Harsimran Sall (year 12)

You can help endangered species by telling all your friends and family’s about them. We can also raise money needed to help treat and maintain the lives of the endangered species.

The cause of this sudden interest was the presence of Michael and Matthew medical students from King’s College London University in the Science department.

Mr. Nosimohamed had arranged for them to come into school to enable students to meet and engage with real doctors. They were soon assured that Cranford truly is the home of Britain’s future doctors, dentists and nurses, by the scores of students who attended daily lunchtime sessions. Michael and Matt discussed their experiences of medicine and answered any queries. They were surprised by the depth of research that students had carried out into their chosen professions but were able to provide several useful pointers on how to excel in this field.

Intrepid Science If you come to Science on any Wednesday lunchtimeyou can hear liquids boiling, equipment moving, and even one or two explosions. The cause... a group of intrepid young scientists.

Enthusiastic year 7 students come every week to enhance their science skills and do the experiments not normally able to be done in science lessons, ranging from forensic investigations to making bombs (in a safe way of course). Their enthusiasm has paid off as they now exhibit the best practical skills not just here but within class as well.

No doubt they will be among the leading future students and who knows, the leading scientists in Cranford.

By Amrat Johal (joint Head of Science)

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John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi, directed by Elizabeth Freestone captures the very essence of the decadent Renaissance Italy adhering to the typical revenge tragedy.

It bursts into a blood-thirsty vengeance, a pool of jealousy and exhilarating madness, only to be balanced by the blossoming romance of the Duchess and Antonio. Not only was it a theatrical sensation but it brought learning to life, benefiting the vast number of students present who were glued to the action.

The spectacular performance reincarnated the bleak Jacobean era and promulgates in vivid and dynamic ways distinct moral and political positions. Webster’s decision of a female protagonist evokes a whole new interpretation of the play, where as audience we are forced to judge analytically and objectively the male attitudes towards violence and oppression through a female perspective. Notably the production manages to bring out the concept of patriarchy including themes and values that were just beginning to be explored in Renaissance thought. This therefore, enabled young spectators to critically evaluate reasons for attitudes towards submissiveness, domesticity and class.

What’s more, Aislin McGuckin delivered a truly remarkable performance conveying the stereotypical attitudes of the 17th century, in which she highlights the consequences of marrying below social class whilst being a powerful woman of her time. Ironically, the playwright makes points about women’s rights at a time when only men were allowed to act on stage. In doing so, students were able to value the social attitudes of historic periods and the changes regarding social breakdown, which have been the work of influential woman such as Webster’s Jacobean heroine.

The tragic journey on which she embarks is largely solitary in both the physical and spiritual sense despite her romantic motivation. Her determination to defy her brother’s choices ultimately leads to a disturbing ordeal of pain, torture and a final blood-fest.

The staging was used to great effect, where a number of psychologically delusional characters were situated on different levels surrounding the Duchess and feeding on her insanity only to be watched by an enthralled audience and their convulsive enthusiasm. Dowdeswell’s impressive yet simple designing, plunges the stage in to a world of utter darkness where we witness a growing “ Te m p e s t ” a s Ferdinand’s passion for his sister erupts into a fearful 18

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madness. Having been successfully executed with an eerie set and a single spotlight that outlines his ominous figure, we engage with his spiritual detachment from reality.

In addition, Mark Hadfield makes a convincing Cardinal as a means to mask his sinister attempt in ruining his own blood and swiftly stimulates the dark humour which Tim Steed’s neurotic character highlights. Specific stage directions incorporating the Cardinal’s corrupt nature demonstrate the hypocrisy of the Early Roman Church which the 17trh century English audience would have opposed.

The contextual significance is what gives the production a back-drop of Jacobean intensity simultaneously educating the audience on religious and political levels.

Credit must also be awarded to the play’s production in terms of bringing out Webster’s dramaturgical elements, making it sound impressively modern and accessible for the audience.

Despite being a real benefit for literature students in terms of the dynamics of language it also acts as an exemplar piece for drama in classrooms and therefore is a credit for both students and teachers.

On the whole, Freestone’s imaginative directions introduce those studying the play to the fundaments of the human mind, where the unconscious can be driven by love, wealth and ill-desires. Her means of directing a sensational performance stems from John Webster’s portrayal of universal themes in a morally corrupted era. Such depiction of 17th century reality gained her much praise as people left talking about the grotesque blood-bath not to mention the erotic scene characterised by Bosola and Julia which stimulated a draw-dropping reaction.

Undoubtedly as a whole, it provoked an electrifying response from the audience and turned out to be an incredible learning stimulus for students. The production was thought-provoking, enabling them to enjoy learning through entrancing visuals and designated props and characterisation. It was also successful in terms of developing analytical and evaluative skills within students whilst leaving them to experience the true flavour of Jacobean society in an objective manner.

By Sharmin Walters (year 12)

English A Level student, Sharmin Walters, year 12, receives public recognition for her outstanding review now published on the theatre’s website

Won lottery. Lost ticket. Very depressed.

Vania Catanho (year 7)

Oh no! Meteor! End of world.

Tofiq Qilmanov (year 8)

Superman in his cape: so cool.

Cameron Sidhu (year 7)

He was beaten. He got revenge.

Ali Almosoy (year 8)

The world is about to end…

Simran Bakshi (year 7) Tried, tried, tried. Never, ever succeeded.

Dilpreet Pannu (year 7)

She waited…then she gave up.

Harveen Sekhon (year 8) Another innocent life ruined by parents.

Bethany Johnson (year 8)

Lost, found: a place called home.

Jasleen Brar (year 7)

DEATH! Where? When? Why? How? Who…?

Jatinder Sran (year 8)

Wasted day, wasted life…dessert please!

Jaspriya Lall (year 7)

Abandoned dog; loved once, forever neglected.

Nida Malik (year 8)

Love at first sight. (She’s blind).

Fuad Warsame (year 9) Drive, turn… Brake! Bit too late.

Sahwen Sethi (year 9) A look, a smile; first love.

Rivar Journet (year 9) It’s all over! Tactical nuke: inbound.

Rajan Bains (year 9) Aah! Zombie! Hack its head off!

Joseph Najjar (year 9) Big day. Burned face. Happy ending.

Petra Fernandes (year 9)

Loved: happy. Betrayed: sad. Abandoned… heartbroken.

Julieta Catanho (year 10) Drank potion. Which bottle, again? AaghAneeqa Mahmood (year 10) She loves him! She loved him…

Gaurika Bedi (year 10) ‘Mum, am I allowed to-’’ ‘‘No!’’.

Manmeet Rajbans (year 10) Failed Jedi: chose the dark side.

Arun Sahni (year 10) Greatest ship ever built. Iceberg….Nooooo!

Jaspreet Saini (year 10)

Ernest Hemingway once said that the best story he ever wrote was only six words long: ‘For sale: baby shoes, never worn.’

It is a tragedy, as our English students worked out when asked ‘why were the shoes never worn?’

Then, when asked who the voice in the story might belong to and where the words might be found, they quickly put together a picture of a grieving mother advertising for sale the shoes of the baby she had recently lost. Or the baby she had always wanted, but never had…

The beauty of the story is in its apparent simplicity. The reader has to infer, or read between the lines, to understand it..

Our students had to make sure the stories were understood and enjoyed by their readers.

Who were the winners? We’ll let you be the judge…

By Lucy Judkins (English department) Excellence

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Taking part in UK Chess Challenge Tony Lee A Graphic Novelist visits Cranford Andy Briggs comes to Cranford Community College The very popular Hero.com and Villain.net author Andy Briggs came to Cranford Community College on Wednesday 19 May 2010. We were already reading ‘Council of Evil’ and ‘Rise of the Heroes’ when we met Andy so we were extra excited.

Everyone welcomed him with warm applause.

Andy talked about his inspiration for the series and what the books were about. He talked about the amazing things and people he had seen around the world; in America he met his idol creator of “Marvel Comics” Stan Lee That’s amazing right?

His words of inspiration made everyone feel like they had the spark that Andy did. He spoke about the many careers that you can follow with writing.

Finally came the questions, and he got a wide array of questions.

Someone asked about Andy’s day at work.

Andy answered, “It’s all fun and games”.

What a job.

By Pranav Bhatt and Karanveer Kang (year 8)

Local inspiration and comic book writer Tony Lee, was invited to visit Cranford Community College on 7 July 2010. Originally from Hayes, Tony said that one of the most important parts of his job was to inspire another generation of writers and give something back to the community. His own inspiration and encouragement came from his English teacher who had told him that he had a very comic book way of writing.

He mentioned his recent graphic phenomenon ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’ which has sold over 700,000 copies. Tony described the writing strategies he uses when converting a novel into a graphic novel.

At the end of the event he announced the winner of the competition which was to draw a sign for the new Graphic Novels section in the LRC.

The LRC holds the chess club every Wednesday at lunchtime. We took part in UK Land Chess Challenge 2010 which started in January. The first stage was between the students of the school which ended in March. Four students qualified.

The students were Adrian D’Souza, Dominick Cybulski, Nield Dela Cruz and me. I was delighted when I qualified as this is my first tournament in UK. On 9 May 2010 we went to play in Lady Eleanor Holles School in Hanworth for the Middlesex Megafinal. We played against sixteen students from different schools and I was lucky enough to qualify. I won the Under 18 category and earned the title Supremo. The Giga Final was held in July in Berkshire. The fourth and final stage was held in August at Warwick. It was exciting to know I was representing my school and Middlesex County. I would like to thank the LRC staff and the school for giving us their support so that we could take part in an event like this.

Fatima Mohammed’s entry was creative but also functional as it did the job of marketing the new collection.

It was a great opportunity for us because as well as reading we met new people and I got a great chance to talk about the book I had chosen for the Speed Read. I enjoyed discussing in groups what we thought each book.

Tony’s view of Cranford Community College:

By Darpit Shah (year 12) Cranford Review 2009/2010

At the end we all voted for the book we felt most like reading. The boys voted for ‘The Hunger games’ and the girls voted for ‘The Last Taboo’ presented by Hardeep Rai and Kyle Powell who won from Cranford. The day was fun and full of energetic people who have the same hobby of reading.

By Fatima Mahmood (year 9)

“One of the friendliest and most enthusiastic group of students I have had the pleasure to talk to.

I Would certainly come back”.

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On Thursday 8 July 2010, six year 9 students were chosen to attend the annual Speed Reading event in Paul Robeson Theatre which schools across Hounslow attended. We began by shaking hands with other children with the same interest of reading then spread out in rows opposite another gender and spoke about your favourite book and how it interested you to read. Speed reading is based around the idea of speed dating as every pair has one minute to advertise their book and convince the other why their book is worth the read.

Speed Read is all about choosing a book you enjoyed and want to recommend to other people. The book I had chosen was called “Cherubs” which are about teenage children who are spies. Overall it is a very good book and I would recommend it to any one.

By Paavan Mohindru (year 9) Excellence

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A trip that changed my mind

A Sunny weekend in Swanage

A Trip to Chepstow Castle A 45 minute delay on the M4 didn’t ruin our excitement as we crossed the WalesEngland border and found some road signs in Welsh. At the Castle we noted two holes in the entrance door which may have been used to store oil when the enemy attacked.

We walked to the cellar and the kitchens where we saw defences including the high walls and the river outside. We then walked into a room possibly used for storage and a large window to allow large goods to be taken into the castle. After that we climbed the tower (which had very steep steps) and was very high. We walked into the inside of the tower which used to have an upstairs and downstairs however the floor above had worn away. After lunch we went onto the grassy area for some drama - role plays.

In groups, we went to visit the gift shop to buy some memorabilia. We then headed back to England - very tired and sleepy.

It was a very interesting and educational trip. I am looking forward to many more similar ones.

One sunny weekend in April 2010 the AS geography group went to Swanage, in Dorset.

The aim of the trip was to look at fieldwork technique in preparation for their exams, but it was also an excuse to learn outside the classroom – something geography is all about.

The Dorset coastline is officially called the Jurassic Coast because of the geological history dating back to the Jurassic period, some 250 million years ago. Geographical processes have affected the rocks changing their shape, structure and overall appearance.

Fieldwork techniques are an important part of any fieldtrip and is crucial for the students in their exams as they will be asked specific questions about what they did and how they did it. Much of Saturday was spent at Lulworth Cove, walking along the coastal path to Durdle Door.

On the way back we stopped at Boscombe in Bournemouth to see how they had rebranded the town into a UK’s “surfer’s paradise”. Although there are few similarities between Boscombe, England and Surfer’s Paradise in Australia, it was great to see how the town had rebranded itself.

All the students enjoyed their visit to the south coast to put theory into practice. Through the skills they learnt on the trip they were able to enter their exams with confidence and had real life examples to relate to. The department is already looking forward to organising the trip again next year; let’s just hope the weather is as good!

By Mark Kemp (Head of Geography)

Sixth Form Philosophy and Ethics Conference 2010 This year’s R.E conference was a huge success because of the great amount of enthusiasm that we all had.

Our key note speaker was a Buddhist monk who for 2 minutes managed to keep the whole of year 12 silent in meditation captivated by his lifestyle and speech.

During the Philosophy and Ethics Conference we were split into 3 different groups, where each workshop had a different theme: ‘Is God to blame for the bad actions of humans?’; ‘Is God a fashion accessory?’ and ‘How relevant is God in the decisions we make?’. In these workshops students were asked to participate in various activities, varied from watching videos, debating to filling out a Facebook page for God. The debate at the end of the day saw teachers and support staff of a variety of different faiths being questioned by the students on various religious controversies such as genetic modification, life after death, science and religion, religious experience and the existence of God. The students got really involved and took an active role in each workshop and gave back positive feedback. Many students even said that they would like these events to be more frequent.

By Luul Hussein, Huda Qanyare, Devinder Gill, Andre Costa, Naina Karwal and Jane Gathinji (year 12)

On 2 July 2010, a group of year 9 and year 10 students, made the journey to St. Johns College, Oxford University. They were given a guided tour, asked questions and heard stories about ghosts and famous former residents.

I then met a gentleman named Hashi who had been to Oxford and now works in London as a barrister. Hashi told us his amazing story of how he turned around a hard start in life to achieve all the things he has done today.

Speaking to Hashi was very inspiring and made us all realise we can achieve anything we put our minds to.

After lunch we went with Hashi to the Islamic Centre and mosque where we were met by Dr Hassan, the Head of Islamic Studies at Oxford who gave us a guided tour of the mosque.

The mosque was made from beautiful stones from around the world and it was fascinating to hear about the construction.

The trip has changed my mind about higher education and university and in particular aiming for a top university like Oxford.

By Ikram Abukar (year 10)

By Alexinder Riyat (year 7)

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Governors’ Corner

Totally Over You:

School Production - July 2010

“I love drama because it’s so much fun.

I really liked learning about human rights this year when we created our own play based on how you can stop knife crime. I’ve gone on to do the creative and media diploma as well so I’m learning about all the arts industries”.

By George Streather (year 10) “Drama has given me a real sense of purpose and direction in my life, and I’m off to university to study it further. I’m not sure what I would have done without my teachers who are always so dedicated and there for you”.

By Kulraj Thethy (year 13)

In March there was an audition for a school play called ‘Totally Over You’. The teachers that were organising the play were Ms Joyce, Ms Crocker and Mr Lopez. There were three auditions which took place in the Concert Hall at different dates because so many students from Cranford Community College wanted to take part in this exciting play. I went to one of the auditions with my friends because I totally love acting and I thought it would be a really fun and enjoyable time.

The feeling of auditioning was nerve-racking, knowing that I was competing against many talented Cranford students. Half of the people who attended the auditions looked nervous. My heart rate went up every time we came closer and closer to auditioning.

After what seemed like two long, hardworking weeks the cast names were finally announced on a board outside DR1. I didn’t think that my name wasn’t going to be up there but surprisingly it was and I was so shocked, I was speechless. The whole cast was given a script and a timetable to tell us when the first rehearsal would be.

As time passed everyone got to know each other and become good friends. No one was shy, nervous or scared of anything that the teachers may have asked us to do. Some of the times we had our ups and downs but we did it and achieved a sense of pride and much more. Our first performance was on Tuesday 14 July 2010. Everyone was nervous but we went on stage and put on a great show. Our audience loved the play, and were amazed by the performance.

On the Wednesday we performed to primary schools and they loved it. Each performance got better and better and by the last night we did our best performance ever. It was a great feeling just to be part of something so exciting and working with such great teachers like Ms Joyce, Ms Crocker and Mr Lopez.

By Parnyan Islamzadeh (year 9 )

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‘Totally Over You’ written by Mark Ravenhill was originally created as part of the National Theatres Connections season of short plays in 2007. His idea was based around Moliere’s play Les Precieuses Ridicules where two young women reject their suiters because they do not have courtly manners, manners which Moliere believed were affected and stifling of humanity. Mark Ravenhill felt that our modern celebrity culture had the same stifling affect on our society, particularly the young teens who are at this very impressionable age. Many teenagers see things only through the media representations of celebrity, they want to look like them, be like them and live like them. It is a very powerful and often worrying factor of our modern society.

Setting the play in a school and using the idea of putting on a play exposes the shallowness of this celebrity culture and how teenagers are seduced about the ‘possibilities’ without seeing consequences.

By Abdiweli Hersi (year 7)

Thank You.

By Roger Owen (Chair of Governors Cranford Community College)

We hope you all enjoyed ‘Totally Over You’.

First of all it was a pleasure to work with Mrs Joyce as her passion for theatre helped me interpret Letitia’s character making me comfortable on stage. It was an amazing experience for me as I love drama and I got to meet students f r o m other years. Letitia’s character was over confident as she loves to take the spot light in every scene and I tried to portray this by projecting my voice and using lots of noticeable gestures.

Over all “Totally Over You” was a challenging yet superb experience that I will take and remember forever.

By Jessica Joyce (Director)

By Alka Masson (year 12)

The vision for this production was to go that much further and really bring to the forefront the reality of this exposure on teenagers today through the turbulent relationships of each of the couples, sometimes funny, “I really like sometimes Drama because not, and how they explain they ‘grow up’ everything really by the end of clearly and use the play and lots of good reflect on their examples to help experience.

us. It’s also really good fun!”

Please pass on my congratulations to the actors and those involved in the production of ‘’Totally Over You’’. It was brilliant entertainment by some very talented people and totally awesome.

It was one of the most professional performances I have seen at Cranford, and I have seen a few. Cranford Community College always manages to put on excellent entertainment and last night the actors excelled.

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Year 9 Interform On the 16 June 2010 a football competition took place at Cranford Community College called Inter-form, which occurs every year, during the summer and this allows students from every form to compete against each other and become the ultimate champions of their year.

This year, seven studemts from each form in year 9 represented their form. “It’s not all about the winning but to build on relationships and encourage friendship, but more importantly to enjoy and have a good time”.

The tournament was exciting with running, tackling, diving and shooting the ball until goals were conceded. At the end every form managed to play each other and have a great time, while the audience cheered on their teams.

It was a great tournament but unfortunately my form (T) did not win and (Y) became the “Ultimate Champions” of their year, however there’s always a next year.

By Zakariya Ahmed (year 9)

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An

Unexpected

Day

On Friday 2 July 2010, Cranford Community College held an educational safety day, exclusive to all year 9 students.

My initial reaction was “how dull”, much like other year 9 students.

We initially thought safety day would be a rather boring event, where we all had to run through a series of safety drills. In fact, the event was something unexpected, and something that would affect us all.

Three organisations were involved; the Arc Theatre, Locked in Locked out and a one man act Shabazz Nelson, helped us come face to face with emotional and real life dilemmas. We learnt about violence, jail, and underage sex and pregnancy. These topics are becoming an increasingly dangerous issue amongst teenagers. All three organizations, had their own unique way of exploring the topics, and of involving students in their presentations.

We particularly enjoyed the ways in which the acts included us in their presentations; one perfect example of this is the Arc theatre, a professional theatre, which cares passionately about the learning of children our age. They allowed us to empathise with young teenagers situations presented. They used drama to involve us in their act and allowed us to see each one of the dilemmas from all perspective. They were fantastic and were my personal favourites.

Shabaz Nelson, well he’s just amazing. His comic strategy of educating us about violence and confidence was absolutely phenomenal. He used magic, jokes and even the students to widen our understanding of violence. He left every single member of the audience in stitches. On the other hand, Locked in Locked out, took a more serious approach to teach us about the dangers of going to prison. The couple are professionals who have experience working with young offenders. They introduced us to a prototype prison cell. It was revolting and looked absolutely horrendous; no colour, no excitement, no life. Although there was less student involvement in their presentation than in the other organisations, they successfully taught us about the damage going to jail can do to our lives. We were, without doubt, put off gaol.

Everything about modern day China is big. The population of 1,300,000,000 is united by a common language, Mandarin Chinese (Putonghua) based on Beijing’s dialect. The Chinese economy has overtaken that of Japan as the second largest in the world and grew last year at a rate of 9%. Beijing airport is an impressive gateway into this fascinating country, a great showcase for the 2008 Olympics it is the largest building in the world.

Although this wasn’t my first trip to China, it was going to be a very important one as the aim was to come back with a signed friendship agreement with our long-standing partner TIFERT (Tianjin Institute for Foreign Economic Relations and Trade) in Tianjin about 2 hours by car to the south east of Beijing. The link with Tianjin has been strong but perhaps not as strong as it will be from now, and the length of our partnership held us in good stead with Mr Gao, Party Secretary and Dr Qian, TIFERT’s president. Our new partnership agreement was signed with appropriate ceremony in March 2010 by Kevin Prunty and Dr Qian.

Our Chinese hosts offered us a great gastronomic, local cultural Headteacher and educational feast. As part of our work with the local area, we met with Mr Li Shi Liang, General Secretary Director of the Beichen Education Bureau in Tianjin. A visit to no 47 Middle school and Nankai primary school, famous for its associations with Zhou Enlai, a former pupil, was a delight. Both were modern and very large, with over 2000 students. We enjoyed a cultural visit to the Eastern Qing tombs, near Tianjin where 5 emperors, 15 empresses, 136 imperial concubines, 3 princes, and 2 princesses of the Qing Dynasty were buried, covering a total area of 80 square kilometres. It is a world heritage site.

Safety day was an amazing experience that will stay with me and other year 9 students for the rest of our years to come. It has opened each and every one of our eyes, as to what is wrong and what is right for us, and how the small things we do in life can make a huge difference to our futures and our person. It was a very clever and imaginative event, and I’m sure that the rest of year nine would love to have another event similar to this, and hopefully be able to share it with other years in Cranford Community College.

Mandarin Chinese is a modern world language and as part of our commitment to the future, we are seeking ways to promote learning for our students that will serve them for the next 40 or 50 years of their lives and beyond. English shares this platform alongside Hindi, Arabic and Spanish, which are on our Language College agenda for promotion and development.

We can share our knowledge and understanding of European business and social mores, language and culture and gain the equivalent from the Chinese. Their society and education system are changing and moving in strikingly similar ways to our own and this is a real win-win situation. The agreement that was signed is the first step along the road to making our partnership, co-operation and collaboration a day-to-day reality at Cranford.

By Suhani Visana (year 9)

By Philip Dobison (Assistant Headteacher)

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THE COLOURS OF LIFE - June 2010

Celebrating the Best Results Yet The A2 & Level 3 results are pleasing and the efforts of students, family and school staff have proved to be very important for the futures and dreams of many of our students this year. We can all also be happy with an increase in top grades achieved by our students and yet there is no doubt that we need to build on this and really get to grips with the new A* grade to benefit the next cohorts.

22 students achieved A* and A grades, with overall 63 gaining A*-B grades of which we are particularly proud.

Some notable successes include Gagandeep Chaggar (A*A*A) reading English at Nottingham, Amrita Dehil (AAA) reading Business at City University, Tasneem Kasenally (AAA) studying Business at Queen Mary’s and Omair Nazimi, former Head Boy (AAA) reading Accounting and Finance at Warwick. These results reflect all the talent of our students and staff and Cranford’s GCSE results are fantastic for the students and the school. These results are the strongest results ever achieved overall with 82% achieving at least five or more GCSEs at higher grades A*-C beating last year’s record. The achievements consolidate the steep trend of improvement at the school over the last 8 years. We are all very happy and congratulate the students, staff and supportive families. 15 students achieved 10 or more A*/A grades, including Joshua Desouza with an impressive 14 A*/A, Akhil Suresh, Hiruni Galpayage Dona & Gulvant Atwal with 13A*/A and Safwan Khan & Jasmeet Gill with 12 A*/A. We are very proud of the whole year group.

If you were here to see the students’ faces, smiles and body language in the memorial garden as they opened their results, you will have been reminded again why working with these young people is such a privilege, is different from many other jobs and is so important to our community.

By Kevin Prunty (Headteacher) 28

Cranford Review 2009/2010

Good times to remember and Good times to come Year 13 Celebration Evening is always one to remember for lots of reasons and this year was no exception. Could it have been Aruneema’s Lady Gaga impression or Diltaaj’s delightful dance?

Maybe it was Amerjeet’s (slightly off key) OMG with Omair break dancing or even the Bhangra boys breaking our ear drums? No it was definitely the sight of all the smiling faces dressed to impress and looking so grown up as they collected their certificates from Headteacher Kevin Prunty.

As always the formalities are a joy to watch. Seeing these young people blossom and grow into inspiring young adults is a delight and being able to spend the evening with them and their families is great fun.

But it is the tutors and year team that make the difference and it is clear that the relationships developed with their tutees during their time in the sixth form is very special.

We wish all our year 13 good wishes and success for the future.

By Jessica Joyce (Assistant Headteacher)

Painting helps me to express both my happiness and my pain, so other people can really see some of the things that go on inside me.

As you see I love all the colours of the Rainbow. I use multi-colours to make large signs to tell people all the things I love. This shows them how enthusiastic I am. For me life is full of colour and interest.

My sign for the gymnastics club has a big heart on it.

I have tried to make it look like a wonderful club that anyone would love to go to.

The dance club was my favourite inspiration. I loved picking my own dance moves.

“I love Cranford Community College because it is good; everyone is friendly, polite,

I like to use hearts as well on my posters; these show to everyone how much I care about so many things.

special and helpful in different ways we are

Life is full of colour – Enjoy!

help out each other whenever we need help

When you see the black picture on the other side, it is something I don’t often talk about to other people, but bad feelings are important too. Bullying can make people feel unhappy, hurt and angry. Feelings can come back years later. I know these feelings are normal. All teachers must help young people to express their feelings and not hold everything inside.

will always be there for you, never laugh at

all one family who care about each other and or need a friend to talk to or somebody who you, gossip about you or be rude to you, we are one community we come together as one race, one family if we all love and care for each other nobody can bring us down we walk with our heads up high feeling proud and happy of who we are and know we

The black picture explains this feeling.

will never forget each other and always be

I would like everyone to know that bullying hurts.

I love to help charities because people desperately need our help.

faithful! I will miss everybody at Cranford Community College. HAVE A WONDERFUL AND EXCELLENT FUTURE”

By Cindy Onwuokwu (year 11)

St. Mary’s University Visit On Wednesday 19 May 2010, ten students from each year 9 tutor group visited to St. Mary’s University as part of an Aimhigher trip. St. Mary’s in Twickenham is a small university on campus and surrounded by the countryside. We were introduced to all the different courses which are available by playing a game of Pictionary. After, we were all taken around the university on a tour which was led by students that study there. After lunch we had two trial lessons. The first one was Media Studies which was fun and exciting!

In the room there were Apple Macs and the teacher showed us how to make our own song using a type of software called ‘Garage Band’. There were funny cartoon sounds that you could add into your song as well as your own voice. The second one was Drama and this subject involved a lot of practical work. We made lots of different freeze frames and then made our own scripts using any old textbook which made it funny and strange. Then the university students escorted us out. It was a great experience.

By Heenalì Odedra (year 9) Excellence

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Lights, Camera, Action !

On a fine s p r i n g evening our own Cranford stars hit the stage for the Media Excellence evening.

Students, parents, teachers and guests joined together to experience life behind and in front of the camera as they sampled activities related to the world of the media. GCSE and A level students organised activities which included imaginative storyboarding, interactive quizzing and mobile photography and really putting guests to the test.

Special guests included Chief Examiner for OCR, Pete Fraser and Head of Education at the British Film Institute, Mark Reid. The quality of coursework this year was outstanding and some of the AS and A2 coursework portfolios have been recorded as exemplary and retained for future use by the examination board.

Congratulations to all nominees and winners for all of the awards categories: ‘Best overall Year 10 student’ ‘Best Horror Project’, ‘Best Foundation Portfolio’, ‘Best Advanced Portfolio’ and ‘Outstanding contribution to Media Studies’ presented by our guests and Headteacher Kevin Prunty.’.

By Kirsty Lowden (English Department)

Trip to

Osmington Bay

in Dorset In July 2010, fifteen intrepid year 7 students were lucky to be chosen to participate in a free, five day activity holiday at the beginning of the summer break. Mr. Parris raised £3,500 for this fun – packed trip as a reward for outstanding behaviour and improved confidence. He was joined

by Ms Ledlie and they both had a fantastic time with a superb group of very appreciative students.

Activities included quad and mountain biking, kayaking, Jacob’s ladder, archery and much more.

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