Cranford Review 2010-2011 (Annual edition 2011)

Cranford Review 

2010 2011

Welcome to the Cranford 

Review of 2010/2011. 

Another year of record 

breaking examination 

success with 100% of 

Cranford students gaining 

more than five GCSE passes 

and with more than 91% 

(more than 9 out of 10) 

with more than 5 GCSEs 

at the higher grades A*-C 

and more than ever gaining 

high grade passes in GCSE 

English and mathematics. 

Cranford became an academy 

in April 2011 and as such 

is an independent school, 

a registered company, a 

Editorial 

charity and no longer under 

the control of the local authority. The freedoms, funding and 

independence gained by becoming an academy have been put 

to great use already with a massive additional investment 

in facilities (come to the school to see the difference with 

your own eyes), additional high quality staff to make smaller 

groups sizes and greater support in key areas (for example in 

maths, English, ICT and science), an enhancement of training 

for teachers to ensure the best teaching and support for our 

pupils, a massive investment in extra-curricular opportunities 

(including the W-factor every Wednesday afternoon, holiday 

programmes, etc.) and improvements to our school curriculum 

to better meet the needs and aspirations of all students. 

We are delivering everything we promised and the extensive 

use of the school facilities by the community means that 

the whole community benefits from these investments and 

improvements. Cranford is also delighted to have become a 

founding partner in the ‘Big Local’ lottery project which will 

bring £1 million for the local community to spend on its own 

priorities. 

In the summer of 2011, the school became one of less than 

1% of organisations to achieve the Investors in People GOLD 

award (the highest possible accolade), Cranford became 

one of a very elite group achieving the Cultural Diversity 

Quality Standard at the most challenging ‘Diamond’ level 

and the school again achieved a number of other awards and 

recognitions to add to its wall of achievement. 

It’s always amazing to reflect upon the enormous range of 

curricular and extra-curricular events, activities, trips and 

enrichment opportunities that have helped to develop and 

realise the potential and the differing talents that exist within 

our student 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 – 

enrolment into our sixth form this year 

has been very intense and we are fully 

subscribed in year 7. I wish there was 

space for everyone. 

Cranford students understand that 

‘education changes lives’ and I am 

delighted that our students know they 

do have a future even in this harsh 

competitive and economic environment. 

They retain the ambition, optimism and 

hope that is built from the confidence 

they gain by doing well academically, 

making progress and achieving at 

school. This is, perhaps, one of the 

reasons our students were not caught 

up in the riots of the summer. 

As an academy and a significant local 

employer, Cranford will also be ensuring 

it provides employment opportunities 

for young people to get a foothold in 

the world of work. 

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. 

Our behaviour strategy in the coming 

year will be encouraging our students to 

contribute to the ‘moral and charitable’ 

dimension, to contribute positively to 

society and to the local community in 

particular and ensure that the general 

public see the positive and polite young 

people that we know and work with 

every day. 

When you’ve read this digest of the last 

year you will understand why I remain 

so proud of the school, its students, its 

staff and its community – this is what 

school should be like. 

Kevin Prunty (Headteacher) 

Cranford Review 2010/2011 

2 Excellence in all areas 1 

First Story is a creative-writing society 

which helps foster the artistic flair of 

students in their written work, all over 

the UK. Each school gets given an 

author, we had the best author: Ross Raisin, or 

as the First-Storians call him ‘Sir Ross’. First 

Story isn’t anything like a traditional English 

lesson; in fact, far from it. Workshops are held 

Wednesdays after school and range from writing 

6-word stories to completing your final original 

piece, to be printed in your very own anthology. 

The great thing is you’ll all be published 

authors by the end of it because you can buy 

your anthology from places like Waterstones! 

If you don’t believe me, go to Google and type 

‘9780857480194’ to have a look at our completed 

anthology ‘This’ll look nice when it’s framed’. 

But wait, there’s more to First Story than just 

writing. 

In the past couple of 

months we’ve been 

treated to Banoffee pie 

made by our very own 

talented cook, Shabab; 

we’ve eaten some 

delicious fairy cakes made 

by our other fabulous 

cook, Manpreet C; we had 

a chance to do some laughout-loud 

comedic acting; 

visit the prestigious Oxford 

University; and generally 

just have a lot of fun. I 

think I speak on behalf of the 

entire First Story group when 

I say thank you Sir Ross, Ms Powell, Ms 

Chatralia especially when it came to writing 

up our final pieces; and Miss Ara, a maths 

teacher, who could easily teach an originalwriting 

English class. Looking back at the First 

Story year, it’s been brilliant 

and gone far too quickly. The 

only bad thing about all of this 

is that we won’t be having a 

‘Second Story’ next year. 

So seize the opportunity 

when you have chance, year 

12 students – you won’t 

regret it. 

(year 12) 

By Maninder Bhambra

Junior Road Safety Officer 

I think the assemblies that 

we did during “Walk to 

School Week” gave lots of 

information and we told 

everyone how the record card works. It was also a great hit as we 

put posters up around the school. The “Walk to School Week” was 

a good idea as lots of people took part. 

“Walk to School Week” keeps people fit and having the £50 gift 

voucher as the prize made students competitive and encouraged 

them to walk more than they usually do. 

To make walking fun we gave them ideas on what they can do while 

walking, like: 

This year we have managed to gain the Higher Award 

for our school travel plan. This is a real boost to the 

school and we will continue to work even harder to 

improve areas such as car sharing, walking and cycling 

to work, safety on the roads and involvement of the 

community. 

To gain the Higher Award we had to meet a long 

list of criteria including having a more innovative 

approach to travel and a high level of participation. 

We had to review our travel plan, build in more student 

involvement, partnership and consultation, apply for 

funding, achieve some modal shift; eg. less car use, 

more students walking to school or greater use of buses 

and produce evidence of everything we had achieved. 

To maintain the standards we now need to continue to 

promote safe and sustainable travel, keep it as a whole 

school approach, push for all our new targets to be 

achieved and update our evidence. 

• Walk with your friends 

• Listen to music 

• Play games etc. 

If we ever have “Walk to School 

Week”again, I think more people 

will walk than before. 

By Rimsha Amjad 

(year 7 - Junior Road Safety Officer) 

Cranford Gains the Higher Standard for our School Travel Plan 

Some of the initiatives that we have organised this year 

included “Free your Feet Week” Monday 16th-Friday 

20th May 2011, cycle training and a staff pool bike 

scheme. We now have two folding bikes for staff to 

use to cycle to work or if they have meetings at other 

schools during the day. We have introduced Junior 

Road Safety Officers (JRSO) and cycle training on the 

playground with a complete road layout marked up. 

We have recently secured funding for more resources, 

including more staff pool bikes and rewards for students 

who cycle or walk to school on a regular basis. If any 

students are looking to get more involved in the school 

travel plan, please see Mr. Dean. 

By Simon Dean Assistant Headteacher) 

‘Congratulations to everyone at Cranford 

Community College on achieving the GOLD 

standard of Investors in People. 

This is a truly amazing accolade 

for all of us as less than 1% of 

businesses and organisations 

that undergo IIP assessment 

have achieved the GOLD, 

the HIGHEST POSSIBLE 

ACHIEVEMENT. 

Cranford has achieved the standard 

by a very clear margin with a MASSIVE 176 out 

of 196 being achieved with the additional criteria 

and there were no gaps or big weaknesses in any 

of the remaining 20 standards. The threshold for 

achieving the GOLD was 126 criteria at this level, 

we achieved 50 more at this high standard. 

The report describes Cranford staff as 

ENTHUSIASTIC, PROFESSIONAL and 

DRIVEN. All staff were open and honest and this 

allowed the assessor to get a really convincing, 

accurate and holistic picture of the way the 

organisation leads, develops and 

invests in its people. 

Particularly impressive is the 

range of CPD activity, the use 

of people’s skills, the sharing 

of knowledge and the fact that 

the school takes account of 

people’s different learning styles. Individuals 

recognise that they have responsibility for their 

own learning and make excellent use of the myriad 

opportunities provided. 

Leadership and Management is also a real strength, 

consistently solid in this category, and people feel 

they can trust leadership and can develop their own 

leadership skills. Staff feel very well supported by 

their line managers and are committed to achieving 

the best possible outcomes for the school, the 

students and the community. One member of staff 

said ‘ We are consulted regarding the direction the 

school is taking so I know that Senior Managers 

respect our views’ another quotes ‘our views on 

how improvements can be made are sought on a 

regular basis.’ 

Quotes from staff say ‘ I am proud of the reputation 

the school has in the community’; ‘I am proud to 

be part of an efficient team’ and ‘ the school does 

the best it 

can for each 

and every one 

of its students, 

irrespective of 

their academic 

ability and I am 

proud to be part 

of this.’ 

Other strengths are 

social responsibility and 

continuous improvement and 

that nothing stands still. One 

person interviewed said: 

‘Excellence in all areas 

underpins everything that 

happens in the school so we 

are always looking for ways to 

improve how we work’. 

We should offer our thanks to all those that 

took part in the assessment (teachers, support 

staff, members of the Governing body) and 

represented us all ensuring that Cranford and 

its staff are credited and recognised as an 

outstanding, people focussed organisation. 

As a GOLD organisation, Cranford will now be 

invited to become an IiP Champion. 

By Veronique Gerber (Deputy Headteacher) 


2 Excellence in all areas 3

Cranford Community College’s ICT and 

Business Enterprise Excellence Evening held 

on Tuesday 14th June 2011, was a fantastic 

success. 

The theme of the evening was to design a 

Chinese chocolate bar. The judges (teachers 

from the school) were very impressed with the 

standard of work achieved by all involved. The 

students had no idea what task was to be given 

until the start of the evening. A little surprise 

was waiting for the parents who turned up, as 

they were also asked to participate. 

Some of the ideas the students came up with 

were: 

• “China-Choc”. The wrapper design would 

be a Chinese flag divided into 3 equal areas, 

designed for a family chocolate bar, a chocolate 

bar where all of the family would eat 

a piece. In gold coloured writing [ 

in the middle ] it would say “China 

Choc” and in small writing below it 

would say “family bar”. The three 

sections would be different types 

of chocolate; milk chocolate, white 

chocolate and dark chocolate. 

• “Jackie Chan Goes Nuts”. For the wrapper 

design they had a cartoon version of Jackie 

Chan doing a karate kick; behind him would 

be a picture of the world map and in the left 

bottom corner it would say “Jackie Chan 

Goes Nuts”. The actual chocolate bar itself 

was nuts wrapped in a solid rectangle shape 

chocolate. 

• The wining chocolate bar, voted by the 

judges, was …. “XIONMAO” (a Chinese 

word) which translates as “Panda Choc”. The 

wrapper was Kung Fu Panda standing on a 

rock ready to do a karate kick. “XIONMAO” 

was positioned at the top of the chocolate bar 

just below Kung Fu Panda. They also had a 

bamboo stick background. What convinced 

the judges was the price of the chocolate 

bar and how it can influence the Chinese 

to get a bit of a western cultural 

into China. 

We hope Cranford can make 

other excellence evening 

just as good as this one. 

By Faheem Uddin (year 7) 

In February half term 2011 we visited New York. I found that New York City was one of the most 

colourful and vibrant cities that I have visited in my life. New York has a significant impact upon 

global business, finance, media, art, fashion, technology, education, and entertainment. Centre Park 

contains numerous attractions; there are several lakes and ponds, two ice-skating rinks, the Central 

Park Zoo, the Central Park Conservatory Garden and during my trip to New York I had the opportunity 

to visit this wonderful park. We were able to visit the 9/11 Memorial Ground where we were allowed 

to have a tour of the museum; this was an emotional encounter. I descovered New York 

was the best city for shopping. We visited the famous 5th Avenue. Manhattan’s 

skyline with its many skyscrapers is universally recognised, and the city has 

been home to several of the tallest buildings in the world which include the 

Chrysler and Empire State Building. 

By Jusdave Atwal ( year 12) 

“ I C T a n d B u s i n e s s 

E n t e r p r i s e E x c e l l e n c e 

Evening was an experience 

that was educational and 

enjoyable with 

a competition like “The Apprentice”. We 

had to create a chocolate bar for China and 

it had to have its own packaging. We had 

to use maths skills to work out the prices 

of the advertising and much more. This 

competition made me want to recommend 

to anyone to come to the ICT Excellence 

Evening, I would say to participate and 

use your computer skills as well as other 

skills. ICT Excellence Evening helps you 

experience the joy of taking part and working in 

a team. It was great to work alongside teachers 

and parents on the project and not just being 

told what to do”. 

By Mandip Gill (year 7) 

4 Cranford Review 2010/2011 

Excellence in all areas 5

“The ADT exhibition was very 

impressive I was the Tin man 

in the Wizard of Oz theme and 

I would love to help out next 

year. The ADT department is 

one of the best in the school”. 

Sara Mallah 

(year 12 - 

Applied art 

student) 

Thursday 7th July 2011 saw 

the annual Art, Design and 

Technology Exhibition. 

This was a celebration of students’ 

achievements in their examination 

courses. It is a tradition across 

the faculty to display work from 

every student who has completed an 

examination course and this year was 

no exception. 

“I think it was a 

wonderful experience 

to be part of the 

ADT exhibition”. 

Anum Ashfaq 

(year 12 - 

Applied Art 

student) 

Each year the exhibition follows a 

theme and this year “The Wizard of 

Oz” invited visitors to “follow the 

yellow brick road” with students 

hosting the event dressed in 

character. 

Munchkins welcomed visitors with 

lollipops into the magical land of 

Oz while the Cowardly Lion, Tin 

Man, Scarecrow and Dorothy guided 

visiting students and their guests 

along the yellow brick road to view 

the displays. Staff, students and guests 

alike expressed their admiration for 

the quality of work on display. 

Kevin Prunty, Headteacher proposed 

a vote of thanks to the 

students and staff who 

had put in so much 

hard work to make the 

evening such a success. 

He said; “this exhibition 

once again demonstrated 

the outstanding talent 

of our students and the 

quality of teaching in the 

ADT department”. 

“I would like to thank all my art 

teachers for a wonderful year. I really 

enjoyed my A level art and the work I 

produced. My dad was very proud of 

me! He was so proud he insisted Mr 

Wildbore to shine the spot light on my 

work during the ADT exhibition”. 

Amandeep Dhunay 

(year 12 - Fine Art student) 



“PETRVRG” 

and the study 

of Social 

Science 

On Tuesday 10th May 2011, the Social Sciences Department 

held their excellence evening. This was a valuable and important 

opportunity for our 6th formers to revise some of the essential 

information required for their exams and a chance for them to 

demonstrate their knowledge and research methods skills. 

The main focus of the evening was to look at PETRVRG 

issues in social sciences research methods. Practical, Ethical, 

Theoretical, Reliability, Validity, Replicability, Generalisability 

issues in all of the studies they encounter throughout the 

course. 

The evening began 

with Ms Bilkhu’s 

revision session on 

Philip Zimbardo’s 

prison experiment 

with a particular 

focus on ethics. 

Zimbardo assigned 

random people 

with the roles of 

either ‘prisoner’ 

or ‘guard’, and 

then observed 

these people in an artificial 

prison setting to see what happened, the results 

were shocking, so shocking in fact that the experiment had to 

be cut short. This study created a very lively debate between 

both students and staff who attended. 

This was followed by Mr Cripps’ session on James Patrick’s 

study of the Glasgow gang, a group of disaffected young boys. 

Staff and students were able to learn about some of the issues 

involved with participant observation. It was a study into 

the activities and behaviour of a gang of young people, and 

illustrated how little some aspects of gang culture have changed 

over the last 40 years. This was a very thought-provoking session 

and raised quite a lot of interesting questions, particularly as 

the media tend to portray gang culture as a relatively recent 

phenomena. 

The next revision session was led by Ms Nandra focussing 

on the darker side of human nature, with a look at Milgram’s 

infamous electric shock experiment. The results of this study 

showed that we are prepared to inflict harm on others as long 

as someone else takes responsibility. This sparked a very 

lively and interesting discussion about ethics, methods and 

the application of psychology and sociology in the real 

world. 

The evening was rounded off with a lively and extremely 

competitive quiz, which tested how much the staff and 

students had managed to remember from the revision 

sessions. The quiz results showed that everyone had done 

very well and went away having learnt something new about 

sociology and psychology. 

Youth and 

Philanthropy Initiative 

wins £3000 for The 2000 Club 

Wednesday 20th July 2011 saw the spectacular 

final event of the Youth and Philanthropy 

Initiative (YPI) that year 12 students 

had been working on in their PSHCE lessons. One 

local, grass root charity was awarded £3000 (funded 

privately by the Toskan Casale Foundation). YPI gives 

our students a hands-on experience of philanthropy 

that provides them with the skills and awareness to 

make a positive difference to their communities. In 

groups the students researched and discussed the social 

needs of our local community and identify the local 

social service charities they believe are best placed to 

make a positive contribution. As part of this scheme 

year 12 students visited and built relationships with 

their charity, and all the charities had representatives 

attending at the final event. 

The students had prepared presentations in order to 

pitch their charity in front of four judges, Mr Prunty, 

Mr Scher, Mr Hoffman and Ms Berndt. In total there 

were seven groups in the final, with a range of charities 

and social issues. For example, the Icthyosis Support 

Group highlighted a serious skin condition that most 

people have no knowledge about. 

The groups were extremely passionate about their 

charities, and were able to articulate just how 

important their charities are to the people they 

support. The presentations were outstanding and I 

was greatly impressed by the range of presentations, 

which included role play and poetry. As many of our 

students have not presented or spoken in front of a 

large formal audience, this experience was even more 

rewarding for them to develop their confidence in 

public speaking. 

The judges had an exceptionally difficult decision 

to make on deciding which group should be awarded 

the money to present to their charity. After some 

deliberation Mr Hoffman explained the rationale 

behind their decision. They based their decision on 

how the £3000 would most benefit the local community 

group that served our local community. The judges 

were very complimentary to the groups, in particular 

they commented on the group pitching for Hounslow 

Extra Club (Kuljeet Kang, Gulvant Atwal and Raihan 

Ahmed), Horn of Africa Community Group (Faiza 

Ali, Fatima Adan, Sonela Seljekaj, Juanita Stuber 

and Nasrin Warsame) and The 2,000 Club (Maninder 

Bhambra, Ambryn Saini and Ashnee Dhondee). 

However, there could only be one winning group 

which was The 2,000 Club. This charity is based in 

Heston and offers membership to adults who have a 

disability, offering a range of recreational and sporting 

activities. It was a touching moment when the charity 

was awarded the large cheque for £3000 pounds. The 

charity had 6 representatives, who were overwhelmed 

by the whole experience. Not only will the money help 

secure further activities for these people but it will 

encourage links between the different charities as they 

work together to achieve their ultimate aim. A member 

(Ashnee Dhondee) of the winning team declared; “I was 

absolutely thrilled that The 2,000 Club won, it is such a 

rush of adrenaline. Ambryn added that she really wants 

to keep this relationship active and keep good links 

with the charity. Maninder Bhambra concluded, “It was 

a brilliant experience and I have really developed my 

presentation skills.” Faiza Ali had this to say about the 

experience, “It was an interesting experience as it gave 

me an opportunity to work within a group researching 

something I felt passionate about.” 

I want to say well done to all the competitors, I was 

very proud of all of you. Thank you to the judges for 

helping to make such an important decision and to the 

charities for attending our event. Lastly, an important 

thank you to YPI for allowing us this opportunity 

(and the funding) for this event. 



A year in the life of a Further Maths Student 

Fundraising ideas and giving to others 

less fortunate or in need is nothing new 

to Cranford. Skipathons, cake sales, 

football tournaments, sponsored silences 

and a whole school mufti day helped to 

raise £1273.47. Once again students and 

staff showed kindness and generosity 

to various charities home and abroad 

including; Comic Relief, the Japanese 

Earthquake Appeal, Great Ormond Street 

Hospital and the Shooting Star Hospice. 

The success of the YPI Citizenship project 

by year 12 culminated in a further £ 3,000 

awarded to local Charity, The 2000 Club. 

This Academic year a total of £5,902.27 

has been raised 

for charitable 

causes. Well Done 

Cranford. 

Junior 

Maths Challenge 2011 

As the challenge grew closer, tensions rose 

higher. Questions were buzzing through our 

minds. How hard would the questions be? How 

many people were going to enter? As we sat in 

the class, we were told what to do. The shapes, 

numbers and equations floating around the yellow 

piece of paper challenged our minds, but we got 

through it. A couple of weeks later, the results 

were announced. Amy Ale (year 8) stole the top 

spot with a Silver Award, meaning she is in the 

top 20% of mathematicians in the country while 

Jay Modhwadia (year 7) and myself: Alexinder 

Riyat (year 8) achieved the Bronze Award 

meaning we are in the top 30%. We felt a real 

sense of achievement and were extremely proud 

of ourselves. We now knew we were in the top 

30% of junior mathematicians in the UK. We look 

forward to similar competitions that will test our 

knowledge. 

By Alexinder Riyat (year 8) 

Being in further mathematics gave me and my fellow maths students a way to express our talent as 

mathematicians and created a strong bond between us all. Having lessons nine times a week not only 

made us a family but allowed us to enter a journey of hard revision, frustration and achievement together. 

A fast pace of learning and having to pick up ideas quickly keeps everyone focussed and on their toes. One of 

the most pivotal moments is after the January exams which is when things start to get tense. Staying late in 

the study centre after school, hunting down any teacher with a vague knowledge of integration and sleepless 

nights only intensify what is already hard maths. When leaving the exam hall after C4 everyone was fearful 

of what the future held. After months of uncertainty we finally were rewarded with great results including 

one member of the group one mark away from the A* grade, another two only 10 marks away and the rest of 

the group hitting their personal targets made us feel proud and ready for the next stage of learning and the 

challenges ahead. 

After the January exams we were introduced to the most creative, out of this world, crazy modules; FP2 and 

FP3. These two modules being the uncles of C3 and C4 were just as demanding but were a little more easy 

going. When studying for these modules the pressure was really on. We spent a long time getting the hang 

of FP2 during April giving us limited time for FP3. This was when we had to dig deep; we were covering 

content very quickly, shifting from example to example, technique to technique. Study leave for us all was 

a very simple equation “Maths + Killing yourself With Hard Work = Conquering FP2 and 3” but with other 

subjects piling on, the Apprentice and loads of good films coming out keeping loyal to this equation was 

hard. Walking out of the exams left us with talks of revising harder and paying more attention in class. Now 

was the end of our journey in further maths. With only results left only time will tell whether our hard work 

had paid off. 

The experience of further maths is something which goes much further than the class room. Spending time 

together, working hard and then playing hard plus making some amazing friends is what it’s all about. Yes 

there is the aspect of hard work and yes there is the fact that you are probably smart and intelligent to be part 

of the group but later on through the tough times you realise that passing exams is only half the story. That 

it is the people and the experience itself that makes the second half just as crazy, exciting and fulfilling 

as the first. 

By Resham Lall (year 13) 



Cranford’s Careers week 

Week beginning June 13th 2011 

Cranford launched its whole 

school career week offering a varied 

and inspiring programme for students. 

Working with outside agencies, students 

learned new skills and undertook career 

challenges to help them with their 

subject choices and future aspirations. 

Year 7 and 8 students were entertained by 

the Around Midnight Theatre Company 

and their production “I want to be….”, 

followed by workshops which helped 

them to understand the importance of 

learning and future aspirations. 

Ye a r 9 s t u d e n t s w o r k e d w i t h a 

variety of career providers including; 

the Army, Nandos, NatWest Bank, 

Brentford Football Club, Collage Arts 

and a forensic science team working 

on projects which enabled them to 

understand aspects of their chosen field 

of interest in an exciting and interactive 

forum. Other projects included catering, 

construction, business enterprise 

and designing an Olympic City. To 

inspire their thinking, “Twist and 

Pulse”, runners-up from ‘Britain’s Got 

Talent 2010’ wowed year 9 with their 

inspirational dance performance and 

careers presentation. 

The year 10 programme focussed upon 

what alternative careers pathways are 

available to students and the importance 

of GCSE grades including; what it 

means to go to university presented by 

student ambassadors from Westminster, 

Roehampton and Royal Holloway 

Universities, Pharmacy, Landscape 

Gardening, Human Resources careers 

in nursing and teaching; careers in IT 

and Apprenticeships and much more. 

The sixth form focussed upon higher 

education, student gap year and 

voluntary work and alternatives to 

university. Students were also provided 

with an opportunity to visit Royal 

Holloway University. 

Careers week has certainly made a 

difference to Cranford students and 

the way they view learning in relation 

to their future careers and aspirations. 

As one year 9 student said… 

”what a great week”. 

We did forensic science for careers day. 

We learnt how to collect evidence by 

taking finger prints, sampling blood stains 

and collecting fibres from the crime scene. 

We learnt many skills of how to become 

a SOCO (Scenes of Crime Officer). 

After collecting the samples we analysed 

them using a microscope to determine who 

the killer was. It was an interesting day full 

of learning activities and we had fun. 

By Sharleen and Shannon and Nida (year 9) 

An insight into University life 

On 15th June 2011 we went to visit Royal 

Holloway University in Egham. When 

we arrived we met our student university 

representatives from different subject areas. 

We started with a question and answer session 

about the university and their courses which 

I found to be very useful and informative. 

After this session we had to feedback to the 

rest of the group on what we had learnt about 

our representative. This was helpful because 

we were able to learn about different courses 

and degrees. 

The second part of our visit took us on a 

tour around the university campus and we 

had the opportunity to look at the different 

lecture theatres, the library and the student 

association building. I enjoyed this part of 

the visit because I could envision myself 

leading a student lifestyle and being part of 

a university atmosphere. 

I am very glad that I decided to go on the trip 

because it was very informative and it will 

definitely help me make a decision about 

which university to attend and I also feel 

much more confident now in applying for a 

university place. 

By Mohamed Saeed (year 12) 

Languages 

Excellence 

Evening 

The Languages Excellence 

Evening on Tuesday 7th June 2011 

focussed upon the importance of 

languages in the world we live in, both 

within our school context and the global 

business world. With the introduction of 

the English Baccalaureate, languages are a 

key element to achieving this qualification 

and Cranford is committed to ensuring all 

students have the chance to enjoy their 

chosen modern world language and be 

confident linguists for the future. 

Guest speakers talked to parents 

and students about how languages 

had helped them in their careers 

in accountancy, the media and 

business, providing them with 

an additional qualification 

and skill which employers are 

looking for. 

The languages staff invited 

parents and students to learn the 

key techniques to support language 

learning at GCSE to achieve success. 

“This was a very successful and worthwhile 

experience for everyone. As a parent I now 

feel able to really understand how I can 

support my daughter in languages. The 

teachers work so hard. Thank you”. 

By The Modern World 

Languages 

Department 



Urdu Culture Week 

German 

Christmas 

Market 

Trip to South Bank in London 

On 15th December 2010 we took 39 students from 

year 7 and year 8 to the German Christmas Market 

on London’s South Bank. This market is held every 

year and is a great opportunity for our students to 

experience traditional German food and hand-crafted 

gifts for Christmas. The market is beautifully lit and 

has typical stalls with German people selling food 

or crafts. 

We left school at lunchtime and went by coach to 

the South Bank. Once we arrived, the students had 

the opportunity to walk around the market at their 

own pace in groups and look at street artists. It was 

an amazing experience for the students to be able to 

say what they had learnt in the classroom to Germans 

and to be able to be understood and buy things. The 

students completed a quiz about the Christmas market 

and had a lot of fun asking for the required answers 

in German. It was a very successful and exciting 

day for everyone and we are looking forward to the 

Christmas market 2011. 

By Angela Roeder 

(Joint Head of Modern World Languages Department) 

28th March to 1st April 2011 was Urdu Culture 

Week. Everyone from our class participated in the 

assembly, research and the preparation. During 

Urdu week we did an assembly for every year 

group. In the assemblies we talked about the spring 

celebrations in Pakistan and we showed a video on 

how and why Pakistan celebrates Basant. 

We enjoyed doing our research on Basant. We found 

out in Pakistan people celebrate Basant to welcome 

spring. They wear traditional clothes and eat nice 

food. Children celebrate basant by flying kites; they 

also have an early day off from school or work. 

On the Thursday, traditional Pakistani food was 

served to everyone during lunch. 

Our teacher, Mrs Shah, designed a quiz for all the 

students to see what they know about Pakistani 

culture, festivals and Urdu. 

We really enjoyed the week and everyone liked it. 

By Rimsha Amjad (year 7) 

Knowing that only 

10% of UK schools 

a r e c u r r e n t l y 

offering Mandarin classes 

Cranford students can feel 

very privileged as we have been offering it as an option to 

year 7 students since September 2010, and as Saif Malik 

would say ‘it’s not that hard’ like everything else, it comes 

with practice. 

At the beginning of the academic year, 8 students arrived 

in a Chinese classroom with no previous knowledge of the 

language. Now you can’t stop them from talking about the 

weather, food, holiday destinations, places in town and much 

more. This group is simply fantastic. Their confidence is 

growing daily. Even their friends are practising Chinese they 

have learnt from them during break time. 

This year, we strengthened our link with TIFERT, our Chinese 

partner college in Tianjin. In September 2010, a delegation 

of teachers and students stayed with us for a fortnight- what 

a windfall for the year 7 students, regular exposure to the 

language with native speakers from the start. 

Empowered by the experience, we put together a Chinese 

culture week to share our passion about China with the rest 

“Nihao! Hi in English, my name is Hazel, or, in 

Chinese, Wei Wei! This year. I have progressed from 

saying a simple ‘hello’ ’goodbye ‘to ‘what’s your 

favourite fruit?’ and ‘where are you going on holiday’. 

I truly believe that Chinese will help me a lot in the 

future and it will be a good thing to know”. 

Zai Jian or bye 

Weiwei - Hazel Bennet (year 7) 

of the school. Raising awareness 

about Chinese culture and language 

through assemblies, language 

workshops, paper cutting session 

and even a Chinese lunch. 

Ms Fan from the Tianjin College 

stayed with us 3 more months 

and helped us to create excellent 

resources for teaching Chinese; 

she gave classes to teachers after 

school on Wednesdays which people 

attended on a regular basis. 

The impact of Chinese Mandarin on 

the whole school has been incredible. 

We look forward to continue. 

It goes without saying that students 

will be well qualified for the global 

market with the language opportunity 

they are being offered at Cranford 

Community College. 

再见 - Bye 

By Cecile Ajinça 

(Modern World Languages Department) 

“We enjoy Chinese because of our teachers Mr 

Dobison and Ms Ajinca. We also liked it when 

it was Chinese New Year; Mr Prunty gave all 

of us £5.00. The characters are easy but the 

rest is hard. Chinese is really fun”. 

Li Manlian Saif Malik (year 7) 

Great trip to France 

Wednesday 6th July 2011 was the best day of my life because year 7 and 8 

students were able to go to France for the day. We went to Boulogne where 

we visited the beach and went to a market. We also visited an aquarium 

called Nausicaa. 

First we met at school, we did the register and checked all of our passports. 

Then we set of to Folkestone to get the Eurotunnel which was a bit shaky. 

We went to the market to get some souvenirs, to the beach and had our 

lunch. Afterwards we went to Nausicaa where we saw lots of fish and other 

marine creatures such as sharks, turtles, seahorses, clown fish and many 

more amazing species. Finally we had ice-cream and bought some sweets 

which were very tasty and came home from our long journey to France. 

It was an awesome day and a great experience all; thanks to Ms Painting 

for organising this mind-blowing trip and we all wish to go there again 

one day. 

“Chinese this year has been fun yet hard. 

The fun part of this was learning a lot 

about the cultural facts about China and 

learning how they write. The hard part 

of this was learning how to speak their 

language and pronounce the tones”. 

Li Zhonghan - Harjot Sahota (year 7) 

“Through this year I have learnt not 

just to say hello and good bye but I 

learnt many other things like: complex 

sentences, how to write characters, how 

to read characters, and how to play 

some Chinese games”. 

Li An - Saif Anwar (year 7) 

By Tapinder Sran (year 7) 



On Saturday 2nd July 2011 Cranford Community College 

and its local community buzzed with excitement as we 

opened our 3rd biennial International Festival. After 

weeks of poor weather we all crossed our fingers for sunshine 

and to our relief the day was bright, rain free and very warm. 

Cranford is known for its ability to stage an event with pizzazz. 

True to form we adorned the concourse with bunting creating 

a multi-coloured frame which led to a large performance stage 

designed, built and managed by the outstanding Creative and 

Media Diploma group under the skilful eyes of the Creative 

and Media Faculty. 

At 12.00pm approximately 60 pupils and staff dressed in 

coloured T-shirts representing the five continents of the world 

paraded from Brabazon Road along the High Street to Cranford. 

A sea of brightly coloured national flags accompanied by 

drumming announced the parade for all to see. Residents came 

from their homes, members of the community lined the streets 

and shop keepers left their places of business to cheer the 

parade on its journey. 

Kyle Powell, year 10 who recently represented Great Britain 

at the Paralympics proudly led the parade carrying an Olympic 

style torch which he handed to Kevin Prunty, Headteacher, to 

light our Festival flame and formerly open the Festival. 

A stream of visitors joined in the festivities including staff and 

students past and present, their families, friends of Cranford, 

members of the Governing Body, pupils from primary school 

who are about to join us and a large number of our local 

community. 

It was quite a spectacle to see all the flags placed along the 

concourse to frame the events of the day. The smell of various 

national dishes mingled with popcorn and BBQ aromas. Stall 

holders offered opportunities to purchase plants, books and soft 

toys amongst other things whilst children were entertained with 

face and plate painting, a bouncy castle, a bungee run and a host 

of oversized games on the field. An army assault course, dance 

mats, football and other sports challenges engaged the energetic 

whereas those who just wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet 

indulged in cream teas and cakes in the tea room or croissants 

at the French café. There was something for everyone. 

The hub on the day was definitely the stage. One by one 

performances by students and guest performers, sang, danced 

and acted their way through a packed and varied programme, 

pronouncing loud and clear that Cranford’s got talent. The 

highlight for us was our Jo rapping to capture the hearts of all 

who watched him. Even PC Danny Mac zumba’d away whilst 

the Metronome Steel Band played on to close the event in 

style. 

The success of the day was entirely due to the good will of the 

staff involved, before during and after. Although it was hard 

work we did it together and everyone had a great time. 

By Jessica Joyce (Assistant Headteacher) 

After I had completed my tasks preparing 

the stage, me and my fellow creative 

and media students had to start getting 

changed into our costumes that we 

designed ourselves. When we started the 

parade I faced a little problem which was 

because my wings were so big it was a bit 

hard to walk in the front of the parade so 

I had to move back. Most people said the 

costume looked really good. 

I had a great day and I really enjoyed 

it because all my friends were there and 

also because everything went well. I 

learnt how to work as a group and how 

hard it is to organise an event and how to 

make a carnival costume by myself. 

By Sathma Nugera 

(year 10 - Creative and Media team) 

My role for the day was ‘stage hand’ 

alongside Marie, Sathma and Khatra. 

The whole festival wasn’t as simple 

as it may sound. Firstly, we had many 

technical problems. For example; 

one performer started to sing and the 

microphone wasn’t working. We had 

to instantly stop the performance and 

give her a different microphone. 

‘Cranford International Festival’ was 

very successful. The thing that was 

successful for me personally was my 

job. 

It was a great experience because I 

got to learn a lot of things over the 

process of organising it as well as 

running it. 

By Nazish Hussain 

(year 10 - Creative and Media team) 

I have never hosted anything quite so big, at first 

I felt nervous as I made my first announcement 

but everyone really motivated, encouraged me and 

helped me improve. 

Our goal was to show Cranford’s talent and we 

accomplished that. Everyone was very impressed 

with the standard of talent and how well everything 

was organised when it came together. We also had 

external acts, and they really appreciated how we 

organised everything and were impressed with how 

we dealt with them. 

In my personal opinion I feel as if the day couldn’t 

have gone better, even with the problems we 

came across, I’m happy they happened as it made 

everything more of a challenge and just gave the 

team more of a drive to work hard. The day was 

a great success, a day to remember and a great 

experience. 



By Sara Khan 

(year 10 - Creative and Media team)

Student roles of responsibility 

Following a Student Conference in the summer term of 2009, we began a 

programme of introducing real jobs for students at school in Autumn 2010. 

Using the feedback from the conference, roles were created around the school for 

students to take on real life responsibilities. The concept of working 

alongside staff and also learning a work based skill or 

qualification proved appealing. 

Students are able to apply for positions as in reception, the 

LRC and SSO. In addition roles were created for student 

leader, student buddy, news and events team management. 

A large number of students have applied for and been 

successfully appointed to these roles. 

We always evaluate the progress of any new scheme and this 

year it was clear there were favourite roles and those that proved 

less appealing. With that in mind I am introducing a new role for the 

new academic year which will have an enhanced responsibility. This new role 

will be titled Student Ambassador... more news on this in the Autumn term. 

It has been a great experience for me to see students apply and secure a post of responsibility and to watch 

them grow within the role and become competent and confident in the skills they learn. A real reward for me. 

But don’t take it from me... here are some quotes from students who have held posts of responsibility in the 

last two years. And some quotes from students keen to try the new Ambassador role… 

By Tracy Murphy (ECM Pastoral Co-ordinator) 

“My job is going really well. So far I love this 

job because I am helping the school and doing 

something for myself”. 

Jatinder Sran (year 9) 

“I am looking forward to applying for this role, 

I was excited when Ms Murphy told me about it”. 

Tiffany Harris (year 8) 

“I think that my job as SSO assistant is really 

good. I enjoy working because I can help 

others, at the same time I learn new things”. 

“I enjoy working in reception because I 

get to do a lot of things such as answering 

the phone. I always get nervous if I have 

to answer the phone. The encouragement 

I have received from the staff has helped 

me through it”. 

Sharmaake Mohamed (year 7) 

Idil Mohamed (year 8) 

“I learnt a new skill and the job 

also made me more responsible”. 

Tofiq Qilmanov (year 9) 

Head Girl / Head Boy 

Elections 2011 

The HG/HB elections at Cranford are what 

everyone looks forward to. They’re your chance 

to support someone who could become the next 

ambassador for the school, the voice of the student body 

and most importantly a friend. 

This year’s elections were definitely interesting 

since there were only four candidates. We had been 

campaigning for weeks by going to assemblies, creating 

our manifestos, videos and speaking to students - it all 

depended on one day – 6th July 2011. It was hard for us 

not to embrace the competitive atmosphere although we 

knew we would all be working together soon 

Ms Judkins was my unfailing campaign manager for 

the elections and I could not have chosen anyone better 

for the job. 

Looking back at the experience, I find it hilarious that I 

forgot my speech in both the year 9 and 10 assemblies we 

did. I was left standing on the stage completely frozen; 

having forgot what I had prepared! It was definitely my 

highlight of the elections. 

The results were announced by Mr Prunty at 4:00pm on 

6th July 2011 in front of staff, students and our families 

and it was by far the most nerve-wracking experience 

ever. Sonela could not attend the ceremony however 

I recall Hilay, Dean and I were shaking wildly with 

nerves as the results were being announced. It was all 

over within a couple of seconds and before I knew it, 

we were being asked to make our speeches and shake 

hands with our teachers and supporters. The tiring last 

couple of weeks had definitely been worth it! 

For that reason, I would like to say that although Sonela, 

Dean, Hilay and I have different personalities and ideals, 

we make a great team and therefore I look forward to 

working with them next year and I am sure we’ll make 

‘change’ come to Cranford. 

By Karishma Lall (Head Girl) 



The election campaign was a 

chance for all candidates to shine 

individually. It was an amazing 

experience for me because it has 

turned me into a person that is 

committed, confident, enthusiastic 

and a team player. I enjoyed all of 

the activities that were part of our 

campaign as they all gave me different 

experiences even though I didn’t win 

the Head Girl position. However, I 

am going to take full advantage of 

my role as a Deputy Head Girl and 

work on making sure that I can achieve all the aims 

stated in my manifesto. 

By Hilay Qurban (Deputy Head Girl) 

At the start of my campaign to become Head Boy, 

after the interviews and the application process, I 

began to think about how I might get my message 

across. I attended and gave presentations in the 

year group assemblies and also had a t-shirt 

made (by Milan Parmar 12s – to whom I am very 

grateful). The overall campaigning process was 

very stressful but also very rewarding as I knew 

that as I undertook every step of the process I was 

gaining more support. I believe my only regret 

throughout the process was not giving myself 

enough time to produce a video. However, that said, 

I was happy with my performance throughout the 

festival day where, as a quartet we were assessed 

by the electorate. I am very happy with the results 

and I look forward to being Head Boy and working 

with the quartet – I do hope that Karishma and I 

can change aspects of the school for the better. 

I thank you all who voted for me and I promise 

I will achieve the points I set out in my manifesto. 

By Dean Blake (Head Boy) 

‘Running for head girl was a new experience 

altogether; I was not previously accustomed to 

being in the spotlight so much but I found it an 

enjoyable experience, nonetheless. It provided me 

with a chance to get to know the younger students 

and really listen to what concerns and ideas 

they have for the future running of the school. 

It provided me with the chance to improve my 

confidence, public speaking skills and ability to 

engage an audience. In all, it is something I would 

definitely do again and I am very excited to being 

in my role as Deputy Head Girl.’ 

By Sonela Selgjekaj (Deputy Head Girl)

Teaching in a little village in Swaziland 

Volunteering at a School and Orphanage in India 

One of the highlights of my visit was the way I had to get around. 

Mr Gutierrez who has been teaching in a little village in Malawi, 

took 2 days by road to get to Swaziland (that included a 24 hour bus, 

a lift on a massive trailer and also travelling on the back of a pickup 

truck). I, on the other hand flew to Johannesburg from London, 

but not in style, as the hand luggage compartments 

in the plane kept randomly opening and the crew 

kept telling me to go help myself in the kitchen 

if I wanted more water. Once in Johannesburg 

I took a bus to Manzini in Swaziland which 

took 8 hours. 

Mr G and I spent the night at Michelle Brear’s 

house. Michelle is an old Australian 

university friend of mine who has 

been living in Swaziland for the last 

5 years. She helped the little village in 

Kaphunga to start Matjana Pre-school 

back in 2007. She taught there until last 

year and now she has been focussing on the 

fundraising side of things. 

The next day we made our way to Kaphunga. Again it 

was a healthy combination of a bus and hitching a ride 

with whoever drove by. We noticed that these are the same 

options that the local kids have to get to school. Later we 

were told that just in case no cars drive past some students 

leave home 2 hours before school to make sure they get to 

school on time. I think I might stop complaining about the 

105 bus being late. 

The next 

morning, with 

my backpack full of 

donations from Cranford we 

were finally walking towards Matjana 

pre-school. We encountered some kids on the 

way, so Mr G and I practised our Siswati: “Sabona 

bhutti/sisi” (Hi brother/sister)… in return, they practised 

their English with us: “Hello, my name is Mgoni, I am a boy, I am 

5 years old.” We were outdone by 5 year olds. 

Matjana pre-school has only one building, with 4 tables that seat 

about 6 kids each: two tables of 3 year olds, one of 4 year olds and 

one of 5 year olds. They welcomed us by introducing each other, 

singing a few songs and then we presented the donated stationery 

to them. Most of them had not used a marker pen nor coloured 

paper before, equipment that young kids in first world 

countries just take for granted. 

The building that the pre-school uses at 

the moment is borrowed from an unused 

backpacker ’s site. Construction has 

started towards the new building. The 

walls and floor were in place when we 

visited, the fence around the ground was 

being prepared by the parents, and the 

cash donations I received from Cranford 

teachers were put towards the materials 

needed for the roof. 

Sadly most of the children in the preschool 

are HIV positive, they do not have 

contact with anyone outside Kaphunga, 

have no access to electricity and 

they have no access to any other 

recreational activities outside 

school. Nutrition-wise, their 

main staple food is made 

out of ground maize which 

is very low on nutrients. 

It is very clear that they 

need plenty of support; 

simple things such as 

stationery can make a lot of 

difference in their lives. 

OLD SCHOOL 

Mr G. and I had one of 

the best experiences 

possible, and are glad 

that with the help 

of some Cranford 

students and teachers 

we were able to make 

a little difference. 

NEW SCHOOL 

If you are interested in supporting this little 

pre-school please contact me. 

42 degrees, a bumpy ride and 24 hours later, I arrived in the tranquil and sleeping town of Dwarka. I was greeted 

by students with striking smiles, a perfect way for them to welcome me into their lives. It wasn’t long before 

introductions had taken place and we were all playing ice breaker activities. It was nice to put my native language 

Gujarati into good use. The kids were fascinated by the English language and eavesdropped on every single word 

I spoke and even attempted to mimic me when my back was turned. The grounds of the school and orphanage were 

really big, there were 16 dormitories and each room had 6 beds. It has its own farm so that the school doesn’t have 

to purchase milk from anywhere else; this is a great way to save money in the school and cows are considered 

to be an auspicious god. The school’s kitchens used wood as they don’t have a stove and many of the facilities 

are very basic. The students have to pull water out of a well to have a shower as there is no running water. 

A day into my trip I went on the hunt for equipment that I could use with the activities I had prepared. After 

searching for some time I came to the conclusion that there were none. After speaking to the students I learned 

that they only used a pen and a book in their classes. It was shocking to hear that the youngsters, who ranged 

from 6 to 18, had never used a colouring pencil, a felt-tip pen or even a normal pencil. I ran a hygiene promoting 

activity where the students had to design a poster about keeping clean. The activity went really well and they 

showed that they had a good understanding. All of them presented their work to everybody else and then we 

all displayed them around the school. While I was there I held 2 folk dancing programmes and also went on 3 

different visits to student’s homes. 

By Luisa Ara (Maths teacher) 


Excellence in all areas 21 

One student, Anand, lived about two hours away from the 

school. The journey took one hour in a bus to the nearest 

village and then another hour on a dirt track road in a 

‘chakra’ (motorbike with a trailer mounted on top). The 

roads are too small for the buses and the areas too remote. 

We were nearing his house when he pointed to a field; he 

said with excitement ‘that is my house’. All that could be 

seen was deserted land and a little tent like structure, a 

polythene sheet held up by tree logs. There was no running 

water or electricity, no sign of life, just the sun showing 

its presence on the dry parched land. Anand was proud 

to show us his father’s field; I took some presents for 

his brother and sister too. It was quite shocking to see 

the circumstances that Anand’s family endured but also 

I contemplated how tranquil and surreal the place was. 

There was a calf which provided milk for the family; their 

last cow had died because it had been bitten by a snake. 

Anand’s granny was happy to invite us onto their farm. 

She longed to see Anand get an education and tears welled 

up in her eyes in appreciation of the time and effort I took 

to see and visit Anand’s field. 

I could write endlessly about the tales of my 

adventure, a trip that will be remembered for 

a life time. Teaching the students of Dwarka 

who were deprived of a creative, interesting 

and dynamic education was very rewarding. 

I hope to accept 

their invitation, to 

return back again 

soon. 

By Mahavir Ladva 

(Learning Resource 

Centre Assistant)

Growing Organic Vegetables 

From April to July this year we learned about pesticides 

and grew our own vegetables without using them. 

First we looked at a vegetable planner to see which 

ones we could grow at the time then we chose which 

vegetables we wanted to grow. I chose potato 

We prepared the potato bed and the raised box bed. We had to 

work hard to weed the potato bed and get the surface raked and 

ready. The raised box bed was even harder work as we had to 

move soil from one end of the conservation area to the other 

using the wheelbarrow and then move all the soil up to the 

raised bed. After that we put compost on top of the soil. 

Finally we were ready to plant the seed potatoes and 

water them in. Over the next few weeks we watered 

and weeded both of the beds. 

At last some of Harpreet’s carrots were ready so we 

all tried the carrots fresh out of the ground, they were 

delicious and sweet. 

I am looking forward to harvesting lots of potatoes and 

I will take them home to be cooked and eaten. 

By Ben Coleman, Manraj Lotay and Omar Shawqi (year 10) 

My adventure at UCL 

On Wednesday 4th May 2011, 3 students 

(including me) went on a trip to University 

College London also known as UCL 

for a day to discover new things and do 

experiments in science. 

The minute we got in we were welcomed 

by a member of staff and she gave us some 

booklets and then led us to the auditorium 

where a man gave us a welcome speech. 

We went to a massive science lab to start 

on our first experiment. Then we had lunch 

and then did our second experiment and 

concluded the day with a lecture. 

Experiment 1 

The case; the day before our trip a man had 

died and had a white powder on his shirt. 

There were six suspects and all six suspects 

had a white powder on their shirts. Our task 

was to test the six substances and see which 

one matched with the powder on the dead 

body. For this experiment we had to dip the 

River Thames Field Trip (Pier House, Chiswick) 

On Thursday 14th July 2011, 25 year 12 A level Biologists and Applied 

Scientists, accompanied by Ms Dhillon, Mr Marway and Ms Kerr, visited 

Pier House, managed by the Thames Explorer Trust. This is a research 

and educational centre on the banks of the River Thames which 

amongst other things, carries out conservation 

work and research for the Environmental 

Agency on how human activity is affecting 

the wildlife in the Thames. 

The studies that the students did at Pier 

House are also being done by the Zoological 

Centre for London and our data is going to 

be sent to them to be analysed, alongside 

the data that they collect. 

Our lecturer on the day, Joe Pecorelli, was 

very enthusiastic and positive about how our 

students worked. The students really enjoyed 

the experience and learnt a lot to support their 

studies at post 16. 

A big thank you to everyone who made the 

day such a positive experience. 

By Kiranjit Dhillon (Head of Science/Biology) 

Why should people be interested in astronomy? 

Well I am interested in astronomy because all the stars and the 

planets really fascinate me and their facts just seem out of this 

world. 

What Does Astronomy Mean? 

Astronomy means the science that deals with the material 

universe beyond the earth’s atmosphere. 

Where Does It Come From? 

The word comes from the Greek -astro- and -nomia- meaning the 

study of the stars. The Greeks were the first to map the skies. 

I’ve discovered about the amazing and massive VY CANIS 

MAJORIS. It is currently the largest known star to man. It 

was discovered in 1801 by Lalonde. It wasn’t until 2006 that 

we could measure its 

radius. It is located in 

the constellation Canis 

Major. 

By Taranvir Dhaliwal 

(year 8) 

wire into hydrochloric acid and then burn 

it with a Bunsen burner. We had to do this 

with all the chemicals until we found the 

right one that matched with the chemical 

on the dead body. 

Experiment 2 

The star trek Enterprise’s engine just 

malfunctioned and the engine’s temperature 

just went up and we needed to cool it down 

using two types of chemicals and distilled 

water. 

The lecture 

For the lecture a scientist came in and did 

lots of cool experiments in front of us like 

making a blown up glove really hard to 

break. At the end of the lecture the scientist 

made us all ice-cream in less than 2 minutes 

with liquid nitrogen, sugar, chocolate and 

fruit. I thought it was a great day. 

By Kapilan Marutharajah (year 7) 

River Thames Field Trip (Pier House, Chiswick) 

- A student perspective - 

Where to start? This has been one of those experiences which left us speechless. 

There were many things which blew our mind away. One of those things was 

the Chinese mitten crabs which many students were allowed to hold. 

This field trip was a great opportunity to be out in this environment which has 

helped me to realise the drastic impact human activity has had on the river. It 

has led to deaths of organisms due to sewage waste overflowing and pollution. 

After many years of treatment the Thames is beginning to return back to its 

natural beauty with all the organisms living in one community. 

What an eye opener. There was so much to see and learn. Since the tide was 

out, we had a chance to look at some of the creatures you wouldn’t normally 

be able to see, since they are at the bottom of rivers. Confusing the exoskeleton 

of a crab with a real Chinese Mitten crab, we had the opportunity to kick water 

and collect invertebrates, how often do you get a chance to do that in your 

wellies? Never. 

We finished off with a series of tests assessing the water in the River Thames, 

in particular the temperature, nitrate and phosphate levels, and salinity (salt 

levels) of the water. Since this area is between salt water (from oceans) and 

freshwater (from mountains), we had a range of results, but generally the water 

was very clean despite looking murky. This made us realise how human activity 

is impacting our rivers. 

By Maninder Bhambra and Amarpal Johal (year 12) 



‘The War of the Worlds’ is about a martian-like creature 

emerging from a cylinder and it describes how the 

people present felt. The atmosphere created is spooky 

and scary. 

‘The Day of the Triffids’ is about two people in a car, 

coming across a triffid which is a dangerous plant. The 

atmosphere created is terrifying. 

H.G. Wells uses interesting adjectives and figurative 

language to create suspense and fear. He uses interesting 

adjectives such as ‘brown’, ‘oily’, and ‘fungoid’. He 

also uses figurative language such as ‘as it bulged up 

and caught the light, it glistened like a wet feather’. 

These things suggest how dirty and slimy the Martian 

was in great detail. By using these techniques, it helps 

us to really imagine what the Martian looked like and 

helps build up an image of the Martian in our heads. 

In contrast to ‘The War of the Worlds’ , ‘The Day of the 

Triffids’ uses direct speech and powerful verbs to create 

suspense. John Wyndham uses people’s reactions to the 

sight of the triffid. This can be seen through Josella’s 

reaction: “Josella gave a cry and ran forward”. He also 

uses powerful verbs such as “hesitated”, “whipped” and 

“screamed” which let you know how the characters are 

feeling through their actions. For example by saying 

“glanced fearfully”, you can tell the character is feeling 

scared as she “glanced”. 

In addition to this, H.G. Wells uses various sentence 

structures and punctuation to create suspense and fear 

in ‘The War of the Worlds’. He uses short sentences 

ECO-Campaigns 

The work of HG Wells and John Wyndham 

- A critical comparison - 

In English we created our own 

eco-campaign. In the campaign 

project Ms Tank set us three 

compulsory tasks and a bonus 

task. Some groups were really 

enthusiastic and completed all four 

tasks as well as some extra tasks 

by themselves. The project was 

great fun. Everyone in the class 

enjoyed working in groups chosen 

by them. They loved having a 

challenge. Lots of children used 

their imagination and thought of 

really amazing ideas. In the end 

the presentations were brilliant. 

Ms Tank said: 

“7X have been a DREAM class”. 

such as “I know I did” as well as complex sentences 

such as “A big, greyish rounded bulk, the size of 

perhaps a bear, was rising slowly and painfully out of 

the cylinder”. The effect of the short sentence is that 

it keeps the reader interested and focussed on the text. 

The effect of the complex sentence is it gives the reader 

lots of information and detail. 

However, in “The Day of the Triffids” the author 

uses dialogue to create suspense. John Wyndham 

uses dialogue like “Stop!” which creates a terrifying 

atmosphere because it is an example of dramatic irony. 

You know there is a triffid behind the girl but she 

doesn’t until the other character screams at her. By 

using dialogue, you can really see the emotions of the 

characters. 

H.G. Wells’ text is very effective because he uses 

interesting adjectives, figurative language, sentence 

structures and punctuation. These techniques make the 

text interesting to read as well as building the suspense 

well. John Wyndham’s text is action-packed because 

he uses dialogue/speech to show people’s emotions 

and powerful verbs. These techniques make the text 

different from the other one. 

In my opinion, I think that ‘The War of the Worlds’ 

is the more successful text because I feel it builds up 

suspense and fear better. I also find it scarier to be in 

the position of the character which builds up suspense 

better. 

By Alexinder Rayit (year 8) 

Carlos Donnelly from Global Warming 

campaign said: “I enjoyed working with my 

group and it taught me quite a lot and I got 

quite a high grade from it, Ms Tank’s lessons 

are great.” 

On the day of the results there was lots of 

tension but in the end we all knew the best 

group would win. The winners were Save the 

Planet and Green Globe. There was a draw 

but both campaigns were presented with 

certificates and a gift for their amazing end 

product. 

Daniella Sangha from Green Globe said: “I 

was so excited when our campaign won. I 

wanted to scream.” 

Unza Ahsan from Save the Planet said: “I felt 

proud of myself and my group for doing such 

hard work and it all paid off.” 

By Unza Ahsan (year 7) 

These photographs are from 

7V’s performance of the Greek 

myth ‘The Gorgon’s Head’ in 

September 2010. The students 

worked in small groups, each 

group telling a different 

part of the story (hence 

the multiple actors playing 

Perseus, identifiable by the 

pink paper-plate shield). 

In this story, Perseus is 

challenged to get Medusa’s 

head by the mean king 

Polydectes, who is in love 

with Perseus’s mother 

Danae. Perseus must outwit 

the monstrous ‘Grey Ones’, 

negotiate with the goddess 

Athena, and defeat the 

terrifying Medusa (or else be 

turned to stone)! Even then, 

his heroic adventure is far 

from over… 

By Lucy Judkins 

(English Department) 



Bonjour monsieur Gauguin 

The stars twinkle brightly 

As the flowers sleep tightly 

Not everyone is asleep except a man 

Walking his dog 

He sees the flowers, trees and the juicy grass 

And everything that’s 

Surrounding him is seen as a work of art 

A woman on the other side all wrapped up 

She’s out there as well but why at this cold night 

The birds start to sing but not during the light 

A Memory 

The fluffy dog sniffs its way 

is there something hidden 

Or is it not to be spoken of 

It may look beautiful at first and 

disappear the next 

Is she a ghost or a real human or 

maybe my eyes just playing 

Playing tricks 

She’s still staring but at a different 

Direction 

By Parnoush Islamzadeh (year 7) 

In a distant memory of delectable abstract art, 

I will always see a splodged shimmering rainbow, 

Coloured peas in a pod gracefully roll off 

the edge of nothingness, 

And fall into the deeps of the swirling, 

gushing sea of pink coral and shells, 

With a faint plop the colour disperses slowly 

mingling with the others. 

Jelly fish swarm, 

Bubbles issuing out of their tiny mouths, 

And the waves of streaks resemble seaweed, 

Above a dewy colour dripped cave, 

While unusually twisted snakes slither, 

In a whirlwind of a rainbow, 

Tickled by the hands of lightning, 

An imprint of imagination. 

The stenches of pears hover above a sunset, 

Of a ship in its way, 

Its flag swaying for a lonely surrender, 

Uplifting the spirits of the darkened, 

Though in a distant memory of delectable abstract art, 

All I can remember is that I’ve wasted 

half an hour of the test, 

Pondering over my socks! 

MY PORTRAIT FOR THE DAY ! 

By Bavneet Dhanjal (year7)

Year 7 Sports Day 

Fantastic Netball 

success for year 7 

Year 7 students had their 

first Cranford sports day 

on Wednesday 20th July 

2011. The much anticipated 

event was greatly supported and 

organised by the year 7 team. The 

track and field events showcased year 

7 talent and their conduct during the 

events were second to none. The spirit and 

sportsmanship displayed by the students 

was impressive and everyone cheered 

each other on regardless of which tutor 

group they were representing. Whilst 

everyone waited in anticipation the 

points were calculated and the results 

were announced. There was only 1 

point difference between 1st 7Y, 2nd 

7X and 3rd 7U. It was a fantastic end to 

a fantastic year and the rain held off. 

By Catherine Goodwill (Head of year 7) 

I’ve been in the Cranford netball 

team for about a year. I started in 

my primary school in year 5. I have 

carried on playing netball since 

then. I’ve had a lot of practice 

recently with friends, family and of 

course teachers e.g. Ms Sacha. Ms 

Sacha is my netball coach and has 

helped me gain more helpful skills. 

I’ve always appreciated her help. When we had our first game against The Green 

School I was really nervous and I never thought we’d win, but then I realised 

that if me and my team work really hard, we would win. We won our first game 

10-1. We then came third in the borough tournament. I was really happy and 

thanked everyone who arranged it and we had a group discussion.’ 

We won all our games and we played against the Green School, Lampton, 

Heathlands and Brentford. The netball club is a really good place to make 

friends and exercise after school. 

Cranford’s 

Olympic 

hopeful 

I 

j o i n e d S t . M a r y ’s 

R i c h m o n d A t h l e t i c s 

Club in March 2010 and 

I now train 3 times a week 

at St. Mary’s University in 

Twickenham. I was identified 

and fast tracked through 

the Aviva Parallel Success 

programme and made my 

Aviva Great Britain and 

Northern Ireland team debut 

in the Paralympic World Cup 

on the 27th May 2011. 

I am currently working hard 

on training and technique 

sessions with my coach and 

put in 100% all the time. I 

have now been selected to 

represent Great Britain in 

the 2012 Paralympic Men’s 

4x100m T46 Relay team, and 

this involves going to Portugal 

for 10 days for warm weather 

training and I’m excited about 

it, and hope it will be another 

great learning experience and 

hope to have a lot to offer to 

the team. 

The only way forward for me 

is up, my goal is to be the 

best, and I believe with the 

correct training, motivation 

and dedication I will be the 

best, and my main focus 

is the 2016 Rio de Janeiro 

Paralympic games. 

The smell of the 

greasepaint 

The roar of the 

crowd 

Another bumper year of outstanding studio 

performances engaged an audience from far 

and wide. The year 13 projects, “Believe Me” and 

“Poise-On” both based around the condition of 

Munchausen Syndrome and Munchausen by Proxy, 

amazed audiences with their touching storylines 

and outstanding character portrayals. 

Year 12 Drama students also wowed audiences 

with their excellent monologue performances from 

Berkoff to Chekov and group performances of 

“East is East” and “Metamorphosis”. 

Key stage 3 and 4 students have a tough act to 

follow but looking at their work this year, there 

are some stunning performers in the wings just 

waiting to enjoy the smell of the greasepaint the 

roar of the crowd. 

By Barry Bray 

(Head of Creative and Media Faculty) 

“Throughout the 

play, I had the surreal 

feeling that I wanted 

to help the characters; 

this was because of the 

interaction of the actors 

with the audience which 

made me feel actively involved in the 

story. I felt like I had been a bystander 

at a terrible tragedy and not done 

anything to help. This made me think 

about how in life people will often 

stand by and watch something 

awful unravel because they think 

It’s nothing to do with me.” 

On “Poise-on” 

By Siobhan Croker (Drame Teacher) 

“At different points, 

the performance made 

me feel different things 

including anxiety, worry 

and sadness. I am glad 

that it made me feel 

those things because it 

was those feelings that 

made me empathise 

with the characters 

“From the whole drama 

experience I learnt how to work 

as a group and how to handle any 

problems that may occur. I also 

learnt new drama techniques 

and how to use these 

techniques when putting 

a play together. I feel 

that from an actor’s 

point of view, to be part 

of drama it’s all about 

experiencing different 

things that you are not 

used to, developing many 

techniques and understanding 

about things and that it doesn’t 

matter if you get something 

wrong. This is because I believe 

drama is all about learning how to 

become better and improving on areas which you 

may be weak in so you can get it right.” 

and meant that I left 

the studio feeling like 

I had watched a truly 

meaningful piece of 

theatre.” 

On “Believe me” 

By Pooja Pisavadia 

(year13 A level - Drama student) 

On “Believe me” 

By Siobhan Croker 

(Drame Teacher) 

By Thinekitha Mathybalan (year 7) 

By Kyle Powell (year 10) 


Excellence in all areas 27

The Spelling Bee is an 

American invention which 

came to the UK in 2008 and 

Cranford was one of hundreds 

of schools to take part. On the 

28th of April 2011 a group of year 7 

Cranford Pupils and Sixth Formers 

went to Feltham Cineworld to take 

part in the Times Spelling Bee. 

The Thunder Bees; Nameerah, 

Muhammad, Shafla and Sylvia were 

chosen to compete against 10 other 

schools from around the county 

Middlesex. This was definitely a 

nail-biting event. After 3 anxious hours 

of the competition, Cranford came 5th 

which was a great achievement. The Sixth 

Formers and I had been training the year 

7 students along with Mr Ladva and Ms 

Gawali, since January and we were so 

proud of how far the group had come. 

I would definitely recommend taking part 

in the Times spelling bee again next year 

as it is an amazing opportunity. 

By Karishma Lall (year 12) 

We went to the Paul Robeson Theatre in Hounslow, to participate in the annual borough 

wide Speed Read. There were about 30 or more students from different schools. 

We were told to stand in a circle, and we did some warm up exercises with host Tony Dallas. We then had 

to walk around and meet some of the students. Next we had to stand in a line alphabetically from the first 

letter of our name and we had to communicate effectively with each other as there was a limited time to 

complete the activity. Then we had to stand according to the month and date of our birthdays, it was fun. 

After that we sat in two circles, facing each other. We had to talk to the person in front of us about the 

book we chose. I was talking about Vampire Federation by ‘Sean McCabe’. The book is fast paced and its 

easy reading. 

After the 10 minute break we swapped so people were telling me about their book. Then we all had to 

vote for the book we were most likely to read based on the talk we had. Although my book didn’t win, I 

enjoyed it a lot and made a few new friends. 

By Nathan Payne (year 9) 

The Thunderbees 

experience 

When I was picked for the Times 

Spelling Bee, I was told that I 

had to stay after school 1 hour 

every Thursday and Tuesday 

but actually it was great fun 

being taught by 6th formers 

and playing various different 

spelling games. I was nervous 

about the big day but I wanted 

to do a good job and try to help 

my team win. I knew that it 

would take a lot of work if we 

wanted to win the competition. 

On the day I was very nervous. 

I was happy that I would not 

have to wait any longer for the 

competition. I was scared but 

was determined to win. 

While on stage it is very nervewracking 

when you have to spell 

a word. Everybody looks at you 

and you feel a lot of pressure. 

I liked the quick fire challenge 

the best because I like trying to 

spell hard words very fast. 

By Muhammad Sarwar (year 7) 

A Mentor’s Perspective 

Joining “The Thunderbees” at the end of every Tuesday and Thursday 

was always something to look forward to. 

I, along with the other mentors, were extremely proud to see our 

Bees try so hard, and do as well as they did in the Spelling Bee local 

championship event. 

Sylvia showcased her amazing calmness throughout; always supporting 

her fellow team members, ready to offer one of her amazing smiles to 

us all. 

Nameerah was always a delight to talk to and work with. She is a girl 

of many talents and I shall really miss plotting plans of mischief with 

her. 

Shafla brought great maturity to the table, always offering comfort and 

encouragement to the others to help achieve full potential. 

Melissa was a great laugh and a great contributor to The Thunderbees; 

always full of team spirit and support for the others. 

Muhammad - well the boy is a pure genius. He is smart, funny, and 

always with a bag of crisps on him. Mohammed achieved great things 

throughout his time with the Bees, but the biggest one I have to say, was 

him finally learning how to spell “moose” correctly. Well done you. 

My advice to those who want to mentor the Bees next year would be: do 

what me and Nameerah planned to; bring a custard gun and soak anyone 

who gets a spelling wrong. 

By Sabahat Mahmood (year 12) 

ednesday 20th July 2011 the LRC 

On Worganised for an international 

bestselling author MG Harris to visit our students in 

Cranford. MG or Maria which is what the ‘M’ stands 

for has been shortlisted for 

several awards. Her 

book series has sold 

over 150,000 copies 

and has been translated 

into over 15 languages 

worldwide. 

Maria talked about her book series “The Joshua Files” 

which briefly can be described as conspiracy-thriller 

fiction. She also spoke about Mayan culture, end 

of world prophecies and the importance of reading. 

The students connected well with her due to her 

personal stories. I particularly enjoyed the way she 

explained belonging to two cultures and having the 

opportunity to travel. She believed that her having a 

Mexican background was a privilege and enabled her 

to develop a better understanding of the world. 

Maria also brilliantly described how one can have 

different passions in your life and that if you are 

brave enough you can have a go at anything. 

Some students actually asked her for career advice 



LRC Author event 

-MG Harrisalongside 

the autographs. In Maria’s case she 

loved science and did a degree in biochemistry 

and worked for the industry for several years. 

All the time she had a lingering urge to write and 

finally an accident led her to a new career and the 

success she has achieved now. Maria explained 

to the students what processes are involved 

before getting published and even afterwards 

when you need to continue to write. There was 

great interaction between Maria and the students 

during her audio visual presentation as students 

were able to ask questions in-between watching 

small film clips and photographs from Marias 

visit to the Mexican jungle and the Swiss Alps 

(all part of her research). 

MG Harris said on her visit to Cranford: 

“Thank you so much for making me so welcome at 

Cranford! It was wonderful to meet such attentive, 

enthusiastic people with such enquiring minds! 

Lovely conversation afterwards too especially 

with Nathan (conspiracy theory fan, just like 

me) and Gaytri a 

budding barrister! 

Keep reading and 

valuing books…!” 

By Kiran Gawali 

(LRC & Study 

Centres Manager)

-Friday 8th July 2011- 

“I believe the R.E. conference as a whole was a 

massive success. I was pleased with how the day 

turned out. In my opinion the workshop debating 

the problem of evil workshop in RE3 was the most 

enjoyable. Not only was it entertaining, it was 

extremely thought provoking and informative. 

It was clear a lot of planning had gone into the 

production of these workshops and it was evident 

in the end product. The Question Time was really 

engaging as we got to see teachers debate and 

answer our questions based on their beliefs; it 

was great to see them in a different light” 

The visit of the British High 

Commissioner to Pakistan, 

Adam Thomson 

In June 2011, “West London Impact” facilitated a 

visit to Cranford Community College by the British 

High Commissioner to Pakistan, Adam Thomson for a 

question and answer session with our pupils and staff. 

Being of Pakistani origin, I was excited both personally 

and professionally by this opportunity. It took a good 

deal of perseverance to ensure the High Commissioner 

came to Cranford but I finally pinned him down and 

the pupils began preparing their questions for him. So 

many pupils were eager to attend, and more interest 

was generated as the visit came just 2 days after the 

operation in Pakistan that during which Osama Bin 

Loving the ... 

Cranford’s Rewards day on Monday 

18th July 2011 rewarded students across 

the school for their Discipline, Respect, 

Enthusiasm, Achievement and Maturity 

throughout the Academic year. 

The new rewards system encourages students to 

collect DREAM points. Every student from year 

7 -11 accumulated enough points to go to either 

Thorpe Park or Bowling or to work with a theatre 

company on circus skills, drumming or drama 

workshop. Year 10 students even had a chance 

to do paint balling with the army cadets. 

They were loving the DREAM…. 

Meanwhile…. The whole of year 12 were 

living the DREAM as they had the amazing 

opportunity to work with a professional music 

video director to recreate the Robbie Williams 

video “Let me entertain you”. This was quite 

an experience for staff and students alike. 

“I had a lot of fun when I went to 

Thorpe Park as I went on four 

rides and I would like to go 

there again next year”. 

iscipline 

espect 

Fizza Amjad 

“It was fun because we 

learnt about what some 

circus people do for 

eg juggling, tight rope 

walking and we had a 

go at trying different 

things”. 

Marcelo Alves 

By Harish Ravi (year 12) 

“Participating in the RE conference required full 

concentration in order to prepare ourselves for 

the day. To plan and prepare our workshops we 

were given two weeks, in which we formed our 

group and assigned tasks to each individual, we 

created resources and activities to ensure that 

workshops were both informative and enjoyable. 

When it came to the day, we felt as if we had 

prepared ourselves sufficiently to deliver a 

professional lesson. As a whole, the day was a 

success, and the RE conference gave me more 

confidence with talking to large groups of people, 

and was a good way to put the information we’d 

learned over the year to good use”. 

By Ruttan Masih (year 12) 

Laden was killed. Pupils had prepared a number of 

topical and potentially controversial questions such 

as should Bin Laden have been tried a court of law; 

why did India and Pakistan develop differently after 

partition; could former cricketer and politician Imran 

Khan lead Pakistan in a better way; and a question 

about the role of American and British foreign policy 

as well as other factors in the radicalisation of some 

young people. Each question generated several more 

and the session could have lasted hours as everyone 

was gripped with interest. We were very grateful for 

Mr Thomson’s generosity answering questions long 

into ‘extra time’ and for his very honest and direct 

answers. Unlike many politicians he did not sit on 

the fence and the audience appreciated his frank and 

open approach. He inspired some of our youngsters 

to consider a career in the Foreign Office and he 

continued to chat to some of our year 13 students 

after the others had left about what it involved and 

how to apply. 

By Mehmoona Yousaf (Joint Head of Humanities Faculty) 

Living the ... 

How often do you get a chance to feature in a 

music video directed by (director) and watched 

by Robbie Williams himself? Never. This once in 

a lifetime opportunity was grasped by the lucky 

year 12 students on 18th July 2011. 

The concert hall could be likened to a real-life 

studio: lights, camera and a room full of clowns. 

No, seriously, the theme for the video was black and 

white clowns, mainly to match the original “Let me 

entertain you” music video by Robbie Williams. 

There were many roles allocated to us students. 

We had colourful playback “singers”, like 

Manjot; pro drummers, like Ms Cousins; crazy 

guitarists, like Gulvant; dedicated dancers, 

like Dipesh; and of course, the stars of the 

show: Alka, Milan, Pavanjot and Mr Scher. 

The mood was insane at one point! Everybody was just 

enjoying themselves and giving everything they had. 

It was a brilliant day and I’m sure all of us would 

recommend that the younger years take 

up an opportunity like this if they get the 

chance. Thanks to the Creative and Media 

Faculty for organising this for us. 

By Maninder Bhambra 

(year 12) 



nthusiasm 

chievement 

aturity 

“It was very fun. It was 

fun to see the teachers 

try to bowl because 

they weren’t very 

good”. 

Kunal Fatania

Trip to Oxford 

inspires year 9’s 

On Wednesday 20th July 2011 we went on a trip to Oxford 

University to understand the importance of an education 

and we all have it in ourselves to have a bright future 

(job). Oxford University is old yet beautiful, we all 

went on a tour bus to see all of Oxford; as we learnt at 

the start when we visited St. John’s College that Oxford 

University isn’t a campus as it’s not all in the same place, 

there are colleges scattered all over the place but are part 

of Oxford. Later in the day we met a man called Hashi. 

Hashi shared with us his past and told us that no matter 

what the consequences you can make it. There was also 

some of Hashi’s friends such as 

Muna, Rupa, Emma, Jake, Nick, 

Marco and Ugi who were all very 

successful and from different 

backgrounds. Personally I found 

this experience very inspiring 

and thank my Head of Year 

Mr Paterson and Hashi and his 

friends for this opportunity. 

By Nada Hassan and Kadar Yousaf (year 9) 

Hounslow Youth Question Time 

In the spring term 2011 some of our year 12 students were 

given the opportunity to attend Hounslow Youth Question 

Time; the purpose of this Saturday afternoon event held at 

the Civic Centre was to allow young people to express their 

concern and interest in Global political and economic issues 

(focussing particularly on the USA and Britain) in a safe 

environment and allowing their voice to be heard. There was 

an array of guests on the panel including Diplomats from the 

American Foreign Office and entrepreneurs trying to inspire 

young people to actively engage in society to make it a better 

place for them. Our students did themselves proud and asked 

a number of challenging questions on topics ranging from 

the backdrop to increasing pirate activity, American foreign 

policy, the British Coalition Government as well as the 

damaged reputation of the Liberal Democrats since joining 

hands with the Tories. The year 12 students relished this 

opportunity to mingle with other young people and listen 

to panel members tackle their questions. For me it helped 

initiate contact with West London Impact who helped bring 

another amazing event to Cranford in June 2011. 

By Mehmoona Yousaf 

(Joint Head of Humanities Faculty) 

The night began with a fabulous Bhangra 

performance by Satvir Sidhu, Jaspreet Saini, 

Hazra Vora and Sharonpreet Brar; the dance was 

entertaining, enthusiastic and energetic, getting 

everybody into the mood of the night. Even I could 

not stop my feet from tapping to the beat of the 

‘dhol’ Lakhvir Bhagri was playing. 

One entertainment after the other: next was Ryan 

Hodges with a cool break dance performance, 

followed by Saujanya Natarajan doing a Bollywood 

dance - full of elegance and expression. 

The handing out of the folders ran very smoothly. 

So smoothly that no one (despite all their previous 

fears) tripped! 

Throughout the ceremony there were many 

speeches: touching and nostalgic, leaving a 

melancholy atmosphere which suddenly made the 

fact that school had ended more realistic - more 

scary. Some were in tears - (including my mum). 

Tears continued when all the years we had spent 

together as a year group were reflected upon in the 

beautiful video Faiz Sheikh made. Another video 

after that was played (made and directed by Miss 

Lowdon), that got us all laughing (great acting Mr 

Blades, Ms Knights, Mr Booth and Mr Fraser). The 

video ended with ‘Friday’ by Rebecca Black. 

Food and photos followed; actually lots and lots of 

photos followed instantly after the ceremony on the 

concourse which was full of us year 11 students - 

all looking smart and fabulous, of course! 

Soon the concourse was empty, we all left. Class of 

2011 left happy from our wonderful farewell from 

Cranford Community College. 

Only to return again on 25th August 2011 for our 

GCSE Results… 

By Roshni Mehra (year 11) 

There was no mistaking the 

sense of pride and joy at 

the year 13 Celebration 

Evening as the Class of 2011 

said their fond farewells to the 

teachers and friends they had 

known and loved for the last 

seven years. Many parents joined 

in the fun to share this important 

moment in their son or daughters 

life, as they leave Cranford for 

the next stage on the journey of 

learning. 

The formalities of the evening 

w i t h t h e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f 

certificates to every year 13 

student was punctuated by 

entertainment from the year 13 

band and dancing from Gurkavel 

Mahli and Brahmjeet Sahota 

The Head Girl /Head Boy quartet 

(Amarpal, Radhika, Cyrus and 

Shivaani) bid a fond farewell 

to everyone and thanked the 

teachers on behalf of year 13 

for their support, hard work and 

commitment in helping them 

achieve their ambitions. 

Then everyone partied the night 

away, staff and students together. 

Good times, good friends and 

great memories 

Good luck year 13. 



END OF TERM ASSEMBLY 

iscipline 

Cranford’s annual end of year whole 

school assembly was a celebration of 

talent and achievements on many levels 

across the school and culminated in the 

presentation of certificates for the top 

DREAM rewards students in each year 

group. 

Kevin Prunty, Headteacher, 

congratulated everyone on 

another amazing year at 

Cranford saying that there had 

been so much to celebrate and 

he asked students to think about 

their favourite moment in the year. 

As he and the Chair of Governors, 

Roger Owen thanked everyone for 

their hard work and wished them 

well, the assembly served as a fitting 

ending to a fantastic year. 

espect 

nthusiasm 

chievement 

aturity 

34 

Cranford Review 2010/2011

Cranford Review 2010-2011 (Annual edition 2011)

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