Cranford Review - March 2011

Cranford Community College, High Street, Cranford, Hounslow. TW5 9PD Tel: 020 8897 2001 www.cranford.hounslow.sch.uk
THE CRANFORD REVIEW March 2011
International
School Award
recognition for
the 5th time
Cranford Community
College has been awarded
the prestigious International
School Award for the 5th
successive time putting
Cranford in an elite group
of schools nationally. The
award, which is managed
by the British Council,
was given to the school in
recognition of its work to
bring the wider world into
the classroom.
The International School
Award seeks to celebrate,
develop, recognise and
accredit outstanding
practice in the international
dimensions of teaching and
learning. Fostering an
international dimension
in the curriculum is at
the heart of Cranford
to ensure that young
people gain the cultural
understanding and skills
they need to live and work
as global citizens.
In order to achieve the
International School Award
the staff and students at the
school had to demonstrate a
wide range of international
Cranford Community College is delighted
to announce the outstanding achievement
of being awarded the Cultural Diversity
Quality Standard ‘Diamond Award’
having attained the Gold Award in July
2010. Cranford Community College is
one of only 10 schools in the country to
successfully achieve the Diamond Award.
The assessor reported “it is clear that the
schools ethos and approach is making a
difference to the outcomes of its students
and is an achievement worthy of this level
of recognition”. The assessor continued
“it is evident that cultural diversity and
equality objectives are fully embedded into
the school ethos and that the curriculum
enables pupils to understand and value
diversity and equality and how people
can live in a cohesive community”. The
Diamond Award represents exceptional
achievement, for a school where students
can achieve to their very best in an
environment that celebrates diversity and
nurtures respect. Cranford remains fully
committed to promoting cultural diversity
and equality for all and continues to
ensure that all its students are
able to reach their
potential.
activities which included
trips to France for year 7,
8 and 10 students; cultural
weeks throughout the school
year; a senior leadership
trip to China to further
consolidate our partnership
with TIFERT (our partner
school in China); a trip to
Auschwitz in Poland for
year 12 students; a trip
for year 7 and 8 students
to the German Christmas
Market; a chance for year
7 students to experience
maths in German and a
truly wonderful Languages
Excellence Evening.
John Rolfe, Manager of
the International School
Award at the British
Council, said: “Many
congratulations to all the
schools across the UK who
have been successful in the
International School Award.
We are very grateful to
all the schools for their
excellent commitment
to the enriching, creative
and innovative international
dimensions of teaching and
learning. The fantastic work
is vital preparation for all
our young people to better
understand their place in
the world, and support the
development of their skills
in an increasingly
global economy”.

One Humanity
In keeping with its diverse school
community, Cranford hosted
another evening bringing together
different faiths and highlighting
the common ground between
religious teachings. The focus
of the event was to consider the
need to help the less fortunate
as well as considering why all
religions state this is important,
perhaps highlighted best of all
by the ‘Debate with the selfish
man’. Three year 7 tutor groups
performed their own songs about
belief and identity which were
created through the “Many Voices”
transition project. The evening
took on a fundraising element as
Victoria Lyon Dean from Save
the Children explained the work
her charity does including the
Humanitarian Imperative upon
which it is based. Staff, parents
and pupils donated money to their
cause and some even tried the
“Plumpy Nut” paste which helps
nourish children like Tigabu,
who was helped back to health
by Save the Children. A message
about charity and generosity was
the perfect start to the festive
Christmas period.
A Multifaith Event
Ask the year 7
Mandarin class at
Cranford Community
College what these
characters mean and
they will be proud
to tell you it is the
name of their school
written in Chinese.
Students have been
learning Mandarin Chinese
since the beginning of the autumn and have
already made great progress. During September
they were able to entertain a group of 10 students
and 4 teachers from Cranford’s partner college
TIFERT (Tianjin Institute for Foreign Economic
Relations and Trade) in Tianjin in China, who
spent 6 days learning about the way we live,
work and learn. The TIFERT group were very
impressed with the facilities and the way students
learn interactively at Cranford, and particularly
enjoyed visiting the outdoor classroom and the
conservation area. “They
speak so well after only 2
weeks, it is amazing” said
Liang Jing, leader of the
TIFERT delegation.
In addition 20 headteachers from Guangzhou
province in southern China came and spent a
very exciting time with the group as part of a
2 week visit to the UK. They had their name
and date of birth checked in Mandarin and
were very impressed by the ability of Cranford
students to communicate in Mandarin after such
a short time. Hazel Bennett, one of the year 7
class said: “Chinese is completely different but
not as hard as you think…we have lots of fun
learning, especially using the tones“. Mr Prunty,
Headteacher at Cranford signed a Partnership
Agreement with TIFERT in March 2010 and
said: “It’s really good to see the agreement
becoming a reality for Cranford students”.
By Philip Dobison (Assistant Headteacher)

PASSION FOR SCIENCE
Dr. Simon Singh style
Simon Singh made his visit to Cranford
one to remember, sharing his personal
experiences in the world of science, his
life as a PhD research assistant at Imperial
and the challenges of now becoming a
controversial writer.
I requested and organised the session with the
aid of Ms Painting to give students an insight
into what studying science at university is
all about. During the talk we began to
look into a concept known as the “Bible
Code”. This controversial idea sparked
fire in the LRC, some agreeing to this
mystical scheme of Bible predictions of the
future and others claiming this phenomenon to be
a coincidence. The evidence of the Bible Code
existing was truly convincing. Simon used the
research of Professor Brendan McKay who had
found similarities between the codes found in
the Bible and codes found in “Moby Dick”,
a book chosen randomly to show us that the
Bible Code may just be a coincidence. Seeing
how science can prove such a controversial idea
to be wrong was incredible, whispers of “Oh my days,
that’s sick!” could be heard every few minutes.
To demonstrate how having a passion for
your subject can help you succeed as
a student entering university, or as a
graduate starting a career Simon played
us a short clip from Fermat’s Last
Theorem, a documentary based upon
one of the most revered problems in
the history of mathematics. Andrew Wiles
was shown describing his experience when
finally finding out how to solve the theorem.
It was clear to see how much that meant to
him. This was an inspirational story that
made us all think about how much we wanted
to study our chosen subjects and how much
passion do we really have for our education,
we were left spell bound.
Parents
going back
to school
at the
Science
Excellence
Evening
Tuesday 2nd November 2010
was an evening when students
with their parents were able
to perform experiments like a
normal school science lesson.
The evening was set up in
three different science labs.
The experiments were
learning about separation
for chemistry, food energy
for biology and forces
for physics.
I enjoyed the chemistry
experiment which was separating
salt from salt water.
I have recently done this at school
and was able to answer all the
questions for the experiment.
My mum found the biology
experiment interesting because
she learnt how to test energy
contained in food.
My dad took charge of the
physics experiment to find an
efficient sail for a ship. Because
he’s an engineer, he solved
all the problems and pointed
out improvements. He also
explained what was happening
when we were carrying out the
experiment. He said, “It felt like
going back to school”.
I think this was a very useful
evening for everyone because
students were able to show their
parents, their abilities and
knowledge. Parents got the
feel of a science lesson and
teachers were able to meet the
family in an informal way. This
helps getting parents involved
in their children homework.
I hope Cranford Community
College continues to have
this type of evening in
future.
By Reshma Lall (year 13)
By Shalen Sankreacha
(year 8)

Cranford is
definitely
in
the
charitable
spirit
The total money raised for
Charity Autumn term 2010
£ 1,628.80
Cranford Community College
declared Friday 22nd October
2010 as Jeans For Genes day, where
students wore a pair of jeans to show
support and raise money for the charity,
‘Jeans For Genes’. This is a charity that
raises money for children who have
genetic diseases, such children are born
with diseases that often lead to a life
of pain following trips in and out of
hospitals.
The Quartet suggested this charitable
day for two reasons; one to raise money
to help those less fortunate and secondly,
to allow students to be able to set an
example and to justify a Mufti day.
Students and staff were all allowed to
wear any jeans and shoes of their choice
however they were required to wear
their school polo top and sweatshirt.
Cranford managed to raise a grand total
of £1251.61
‘Jeans for Genes’ day charity will use
this money to provide care for those
children who are unable to afford
it, to fund research and projects on
genetics diseases, to find ways to make
each person’s childhood as normal as
possible.
By Amarpal Khuttan, Radhika Badianni,
Shivaani Kaushik, Cyrus Mwangi (year 13)
BUS SAFETY
AWARENESS DAY
On Monday 27th September
2010, students from each year
group participated in a bus safety
workshop in order to raise awareness
of safety on buses.
We were taught a variety of things
that could be done in order to show
respect and civil behaviour towards
our local community and local bus
drivers. We were shown a video by
TfL (Transport for London) which
portrayed an example about the
wrong use of Oyster cards which
are conditionally free, meaning
that there are rules about their use.
We have to show we know how to
behave with our oyster card. They
are a privilege and should not be
taken advantage of and can be
taken away as quickly as they were
first handed to us.
There are many ways in which we
can help ensure bus safety in our
community including allowing the
elderly or passengers less able to
go before you in the queue and
giving up your seat to mothers with
children. You should always place
your oyster card on the machine
to avoid any differences between
you and the driver and greet or
thank the driver because showing
consideration to others could
help you later on when you have
forgotten your oyster or need help
on the bus.
We saw a performance by ‘Riot
Act’ who invited us to suggest
the decisions and dilemmas they
acted out which made us see both
points of view of each character
they played. It helped us determine
which actions are wrong and right
and how we could avoid situations
like these in the future.
All in all we have gained a good
understanding of the rules and
conditions of oyster cards and
travelling on buses is a privilege
that should not be taken lightly.
By Najma Hassan & Rahiqa Hersi
(year 11)
Music
brings us
together
“We were inspired with the poems
in Donovan’s book. he rapped for
us an he also taught us about
how important poetry was. He
talked about using a paper and
pen to write poetry and to flow
with the words. He was a very
funny guy open and friendly to
all the people around him”.
Nield Dela Cruz (year 10)
The Creative
and Media Arts Faculty at
Cranford Community College have
commissioned year 10 Creative and
Media students to develop and paint
a design for a mural entitled ‘Music
brings us together’ as part of their
unit 1 Artifact-Visual Arts project.
The murals have been painted
on one wall in each of the music
practice rooms. The designs were
inspired by the various discussions
and research evidence collated from
the students at Cranford and what
they wish to see in the murals.
The murals are now complete and
there for all to enjoy and inspire
music making at Cranford.
Donovan Christopher- the famous poet and rapper visited Cranford
Community College in October 2010. We were lucky enough to be in a
workshop with him during the day and we were also going to the poetry
presentation after school. He is a person who has strong views against racism
and he taught us a lot about Black History Month. He is a fun person who
clearly enjoys working with young people. His enthusiasm was great and he
encouraged all to participate, teaching them a lot about culture and respect.
In the evening, many people from Cranford went along to
watch him perform. He performed reggae and portrayed
culture throughout his poems and work. The evening
had followed with competitions and book signings
(a book which he wrote himself on identity and
discrimination) which students won
through quizzes.
By Pravjot Kaur & Catrina Goncalves
(year 10)
“The Rappaman was so cool
because he told us lots of
raps, poems and jokes. I was
laughing and smiling during
the event because I was excited
and very happy too. I would
love to meet him again”.
Bruna Goncalves (year 7)
“Life is what you live
and life is
what you make it
don’t be such a sieve
and go around
and fake it
You can do it,
you can make it
make it if you try.
If you really want it
set your standards
high.”
By Donovan Christopher
(Rappaman)

Editor Director: Jessica Joyce
Graphic Designer: Enzo Gianvittorio
Presentation Evening 2010
an inspirational evening of celebration
Thursday 18th November 2010 saw the annual
celebration of student achievement at Cranford Community
College, with actor, comedian and writer, Sanjeev Bhaskar as guest
speaker and to present the awards. This was his second visit to the school in as
many months having returned in October 2010 to film a documentary about his life
with Channel 4. Sanjeev is a former student of the school and his return after more than
25 years created for him a nostalgic journey down memory lane, some of which
he shared with the audience during the evening. His amusing and
highly engaging speech based around the evening’s theme of
“Inspiration-Aspiration”, really captured the audience’s
interest. His inspirational talk cited hard work,
curiosity and a passion to learn as key factors to
success and encouraged the students to pick up this
mantle and make it happen for themselves.
The evening was attended by a variety of guests from across
the borough including primary headteachers, officers
and officials from the local authority, Michael Marks
Assistant Director and Judith Petterson, Director
of Children’s Services. It was an evening of
great pride for the school. One of the many
highlights was the presentation of awards
where so many students were recognised for their
achievements at GCSE, A/S and A level, some returning
from universities across the UK such as Nottingham,
Warwick and Brunel. Sanjeev took time to
talk to each recipient as he presented
their award, clearly keen to learn more
about their achievements. Dr Ambily
Banerjee Principle Regulatory Executive at
GlaxoSmithKline who sponsor the additional
science awards, spoke of her delight in being
associated with the school. As a former Cranford student
she too said how proud she was of her long term association with the
school both as a student and now in her professional role at GSK.
The evening was a celebration of Cranford’s
talented performers too, who performed a
variety of dance and drama pieces reflecting
the theme and Cranford choir performed
“I Believe I can Fly”; a fitting conclusion
to an inspiring evening.
Copyright Cranford Community College © 2011 | Editor Director: Jessica Joyce | Graphic Designer: Enzo Gianvittorio | Printed by: schoolhousestudios.co.uk
Copyright Cranford Community College © 2011 | Printed by: schoolhousestudios.co.uk