Cranford Review 2010-2011 (Annual edition 2011)
“Cranford Review” © is a publication of Cranford Community College. Headteacher & Director: Kevin Prunty Editor-in-chief: Jessica Joyce Graphic design: Enzo Gianvittorio Danese (Enzo GD) Printed by: Springfieldpapers.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cranford_Community_College
“Cranford Review” © is a publication of Cranford Community College.
Headteacher & Director: Kevin Prunty
Editor-in-chief: Jessica Joyce
Graphic design: Enzo Gianvittorio Danese (Enzo GD)
Printed by: Springfieldpapers.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cranford_Community_College
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The Spelling Bee is an<br />
American invention which<br />
came to the UK in 2008 and<br />
<strong>Cranford</strong> was one of hundreds<br />
of schools to take part. On the<br />
28th of April <strong>2011</strong> a group of year 7<br />
<strong>Cranford</strong> Pupils and Sixth Formers<br />
went to Feltham Cineworld to take<br />
part in the Times Spelling Bee.<br />
The Thunder Bees; Nameerah,<br />
Muhammad, Shafla and Sylvia were<br />
chosen to compete against 10 other<br />
schools from around the county<br />
Middlesex. This was definitely a<br />
nail-biting event. After 3 anxious hours<br />
of the competition, <strong>Cranford</strong> came 5th<br />
which was a great achievement. The Sixth<br />
Formers and I had been training the year<br />
7 students along with Mr Ladva and Ms<br />
Gawali, since January and we were so<br />
proud of how far the group had come.<br />
I would definitely recommend taking part<br />
in the Times spelling bee again next year<br />
as it is an amazing opportunity.<br />
By Karishma Lall (year 12)<br />
We went to the Paul Robeson Theatre in Hounslow, to participate in the annual borough<br />
wide Speed Read. There were about 30 or more students from different schools.<br />
We were told to stand in a circle, and we did some warm up exercises with host Tony Dallas. We then had<br />
to walk around and meet some of the students. Next we had to stand in a line alphabetically from the first<br />
letter of our name and we had to communicate effectively with each other as there was a limited time to<br />
complete the activity. Then we had to stand according to the month and date of our birthdays, it was fun.<br />
After that we sat in two circles, facing each other. We had to talk to the person in front of us about the<br />
book we chose. I was talking about Vampire Federation by ‘Sean McCabe’. The book is fast paced and its<br />
easy reading.<br />
After the 10 minute break we swapped so people were telling me about their book. Then we all had to<br />
vote for the book we were most likely to read based on the talk we had. Although my book didn’t win, I<br />
enjoyed it a lot and made a few new friends.<br />
By Nathan Payne (year 9)<br />
The Thunderbees<br />
experience<br />
When I was picked for the Times<br />
Spelling Bee, I was told that I<br />
had to stay after school 1 hour<br />
every Thursday and Tuesday<br />
but actually it was great fun<br />
being taught by 6th formers<br />
and playing various different<br />
spelling games. I was nervous<br />
about the big day but I wanted<br />
to do a good job and try to help<br />
my team win. I knew that it<br />
would take a lot of work if we<br />
wanted to win the competition.<br />
On the day I was very nervous.<br />
I was happy that I would not<br />
have to wait any longer for the<br />
competition. I was scared but<br />
was determined to win.<br />
While on stage it is very nervewracking<br />
when you have to spell<br />
a word. Everybody looks at you<br />
and you feel a lot of pressure.<br />
I liked the quick fire challenge<br />
the best because I like trying to<br />
spell hard words very fast.<br />
By Muhammad Sarwar (year 7)<br />
A Mentor’s Perspective<br />
Joining “The Thunderbees” at the end of every Tuesday and Thursday<br />
was always something to look forward to.<br />
I, along with the other mentors, were extremely proud to see our<br />
Bees try so hard, and do as well as they did in the Spelling Bee local<br />
championship event.<br />
Sylvia showcased her amazing calmness throughout; always supporting<br />
her fellow team members, ready to offer one of her amazing smiles to<br />
us all.<br />
Nameerah was always a delight to talk to and work with. She is a girl<br />
of many talents and I shall really miss plotting plans of mischief with<br />
her.<br />
Shafla brought great maturity to the table, always offering comfort and<br />
encouragement to the others to help achieve full potential.<br />
Melissa was a great laugh and a great contributor to The Thunderbees;<br />
always full of team spirit and support for the others.<br />
Muhammad - well the boy is a pure genius. He is smart, funny, and<br />
always with a bag of crisps on him. Mohammed achieved great things<br />
throughout his time with the Bees, but the biggest one I have to say, was<br />
him finally learning how to spell “moose” correctly. Well done you.<br />
My advice to those who want to mentor the Bees next year would be: do<br />
what me and Nameerah planned to; bring a custard gun and soak anyone<br />
who gets a spelling wrong.<br />
By Sabahat Mahmood (year 12)<br />
ednesday 20th July <strong>2011</strong> the LRC<br />
On Worganised for an international<br />
bestselling author MG Harris to visit our students in<br />
<strong>Cranford</strong>. MG or Maria which is what the ‘M’ stands<br />
for has been shortlisted for<br />
several awards. Her<br />
book series has sold<br />
over 150,000 copies<br />
and has been translated<br />
into over 15 languages<br />
worldwide.<br />
Maria talked about her book series “The Joshua Files”<br />
which briefly can be described as conspiracy-thriller<br />
fiction. She also spoke about Mayan culture, end<br />
of world prophecies and the importance of reading.<br />
The students connected well with her due to her<br />
personal stories. I particularly enjoyed the way she<br />
explained belonging to two cultures and having the<br />
opportunity to travel. She believed that her having a<br />
Mexican background was a privilege and enabled her<br />
to develop a better understanding of the world.<br />
Maria also brilliantly described how one can have<br />
different passions in your life and that if you are<br />
brave enough you can have a go at anything.<br />
Some students actually asked her for career advice<br />
<strong>Cranford</strong> <strong>Review</strong> <strong>2010</strong>/<strong>2011</strong><br />
28 Excellence in all areas 29<br />
LRC Author event<br />
-MG Harrisalongside<br />
the autographs. In Maria’s case she<br />
loved science and did a degree in biochemistry<br />
and worked for the industry for several years.<br />
All the time she had a lingering urge to write and<br />
finally an accident led her to a new career and the<br />
success she has achieved now. Maria explained<br />
to the students what processes are involved<br />
before getting published and even afterwards<br />
when you need to continue to write. There was<br />
great interaction between Maria and the students<br />
during her audio visual presentation as students<br />
were able to ask questions in-between watching<br />
small film clips and photographs from Marias<br />
visit to the Mexican jungle and the Swiss Alps<br />
(all part of her research).<br />
MG Harris said on her visit to <strong>Cranford</strong>:<br />
“Thank you so much for making me so welcome at<br />
<strong>Cranford</strong>! It was wonderful to meet such attentive,<br />
enthusiastic people with such enquiring minds!<br />
Lovely conversation afterwards too especially<br />
with Nathan (conspiracy theory fan, just like<br />
me) and Gaytri a<br />
budding barrister!<br />
Keep reading and<br />
valuing books…!”<br />
By Kiran Gawali<br />
(LRC & Study<br />
Centres Manager)