Cranford Review 2014

My
name is Ravleen Thakker
and I was one of the students
chosen for the Spelling Bee competition.
Cranford students, including me, worked really hard to attend
the Spelling Bee. We practised with our librarians, Mr Ladva, Ms
Gawali and Mr Calica, to spell hard words and find their definitions.
(They weren’t easy at all.) Every Tuesday and Thursday, after
school, we would go to the library and practise spelling the words.
We spelt them out loud and had spelling tests. We also played a
lot of games. We had to make the longest word, we could think of,
out of newspaper. We also had to memorise spellings and layouts
of words and copy them on the paper, without touching the paper.
It was all about teamwork and communication. These things were
to boost our confidence, practise with fun and to increase our
knowledge of learning with sight, hearing and reading/writing. It
was a good time.
During the practice sessions, we didn’t realise that the event was so
close but when we did, we practised even harder. There were many
rules to follow but one main one was to never backtrack and to say
the word, then spell it, then say the word again. And that was what
we did at the event. The event was held at Kingsley Academy. There were 3 rounds. The first round was for all
schools who were participating. Every person, from each school, was given 3 words, which they could choose out
of easy, medium and hard. Our school was so good that we chose 3 hard words. After that round, we had a break
for refreshments. The judges counted the scores and we were told that we were through to the next round. In the
next round, only 3 people from the school were allowed to spell. We chose our 3 best people and guess what? We
beat the other schools in that round too. So all was left was the last round. In this round, only 2 people could go
through. So Faisa, and I went through. The words in this round were extra, super hard but we were so good that
we beat the other school in that round too. So that means… WE WON. It was an amazing feeling to be up there
being one of those people winning. It was great.
When the trophy came into our hands, I was delighted. That shiny, gleaming thing was with us and no one else.
We deserved it and that was the main part. When we took it back to school, everyone was really happy for us and
proud of us. That’s really it...well there was a lot more but you should’ve been there to see it for yourself.
Ravleen Kaur Thakker (year 7)
Such a Buzz
with Spelling Bee
In
March 2014 a group of year 9 students went on a trip to the Paul Robeson
Theatre. It was a fantastic experience as we managed to do a book review
face to face, similar to speed dating. However we were
selling our favourite books. Schools across Hounslow
attended, with a special attendee named Tony Dallas.
Tony Dallas is an inspirational writer for teenagers and
children, so it was a special time meeting him. The day
itself was fun as we managed to find out what other
students of our age, liked to read. Then we voted for the
book we most likely would read and the best presenter.
I thought that my book Bakuman Vol.1 would win, but
I thought wrong. Mustafa had also chosen to promote
a manga book, although no one really voted for that.
Overall the winner was from multiple schools, Cranford
Community College, Brentford School for Girls and
Kingsley Academy all had promoted “The Fault In Our Stars” by John Green which
won the 1st place.
Abdulhakim Yussuf (year 9)
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