Cranford_Review_June_2010

Sixth form
First Story
writer’s forum
at Oxford University
Hounslow Teen
Read Awards Trip
The long ride on the school bus through wild countryside and
busy streets was tiring and made the perfect conditions for a
quick nap. As we arrived in Oxford and just a few hundreds yards
away from the Oxford University colleges, everyone stood up in
amazement to appreciate the magnificent gothic architecture.
We walked into Christ Church feeling as if we had been
transported to the world of Harry Potter; the college campus
was glorious in its own right. The trip was organised by
First Story and all participants were invited to attend the
Oxford Literary event. This takes place once a year where
writers come to share their work, so it was an honour to be
there. The whole group became like children again as we
explored our way through the college and visited the old
library, dorms and gardens.
I was to be on a panel with Philip Pullman (Author of
Golden Compass & Of His Dark Materials). William Fiennes
(Author of The Music Room), Ms Powell, who is leading the
current writers’ group plus other writers and students from a
variety of schools. All of the students were given the opportunity
to read their story and talk about their experience of being in
First Story. I was nervous at first, with so many strangers in the
audience, but I later got on with it and was glad to have had
such an amazing opportunity.
By Cyrus Mwangi (year 12)
Every day the same. Nothing changes.
The alarm goes off at 7.30. I heave myself out of bed. I get
ready. I leave the house. I go to school. I work. I go home. I eat.
I go to bed. And the routine starts over again in the morning.
It never changes: it almost can’t be changed.
Why must we live in this way? It makes no sense. On the odd
occasion, if you muster the power, you can break out of the
mould. And for those brief moments in time you are free.
Free to do what you want.
But if you don’t treasure these moments, you will never be free.
The routine always finds a way of coming back.
• ROUTINE BY CHRISTOPHER NICOLL (CRANFORD COMMUNITY COLLEGE)
On Thursday 18 March 2010, seventeen
year 9 students along with Mrs Gawali
travelled to the Paul Robeson Theatre in
Hounslow’s Treaty Centre. We were there
because Cranford took part in the Hounslow
Big Read. The challenge was to read a
couple of books and to write a review. We
had to vote on the book which we thought
the best. Most schools in the Borough were
running this challenge too. At Cranford we
voted for the title ‘Numbers’ by Rachel
Ward and guess what… ‘Numbers’ won!
The results were presented by author
Ian Beck, who was there to talk about
his new book, his first one for teenagers
called ‘PastWorld’. After the talk we had
a question and answer session. He talked
about his work as an illustrator.
I thought that the trip was very interesting
because for me it was the second time
I had met an author.
By Jad Greisaty (year 9)
19 March 2010, and it had been months since
our team had begun preparing for The Times
Spelling Bee Local Play-Off. Savas Barima,
Manraj Rai, Ali Alweis and myself (Mariyum
Mahmood), tried to think positively and stay
focused so on the day of the Spelling Bee
we knew it was time to ‘pull up our socks’.
Once we arrived at Feltham Cineworld, ‘The
Cranford Crew’ met their rivals for the very
first time. There were two rounds, the play
off and the quick fire round. The final scores
were very close. We did not come first place
but we got goody bags with a cinema ticket,
note book, pens, pencils and badges for superb
effort towards the spelling bee.
Our sixth form mentors (Simran Kahlon,
Amarpal Khuttan and Kiranpreet Bains) had a
few words on our efforts “All of the members
of the Spelling Bee worked extremely hard
and are very clever, interesting characters.
We enjoyed working with each of them. In
the audience we all glowed with pride as
we watched ‘The Cranford Crew’ compete
against very high calibre rivals. We hope that
all contestants enjoyed the in-school sessions
and events, and hope that this experience will
last them a lifetime. We are all very proud
of each of them and they should be proud of
themselves too”.
This has been the best experience anyone
could ever have and we were part of it. I really
hope that the next year 7 students continue the
Spelling Bee so Cranford can be winners of
the Times Spelling Bee competition.
By Mariyum Mahmood (year 7)