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Cranford Review 2017

The “Cranford Review” © is a publication of Cranford Community College. Is an annual high standard produced magazine which provides an archive document highlighting various aspects of the life of the academy, its staff, students and community from each academic year. It is a wonderful read and a useful historical document which, with its termly sister publications and occasional special editions, also serves to describe the values of the academy and support the aspirations of the academy, its staff, students and wider community. A colorful layout with a wide range of topics comprising events, extracurricular activities, recognition awards, initiatives, trips and excursions among many others. Hard copies are provided to stakeholders including families, staff, partners, visitors, prospective parents/students, prospective employees and others with an interest or stake in the academy and its students. Headteacher & Director: Kevin Prunty / Editor-in-chief: Jessica Joyce / Graphic Design: Enzo Gianvittorio Danese (Enzo GD) / Printed by: Springfieldpapers.com

The “Cranford Review” © is a publication of Cranford Community College. Is an annual high standard produced magazine which provides an archive document highlighting various aspects of the life of the academy, its staff, students and community from each academic year.
It is a wonderful read and a useful historical document which, with its termly sister publications and occasional special editions, also serves to describe the values of the academy and support the aspirations of the academy, its staff, students and wider community. A colorful layout with a wide range of topics comprising events, extracurricular activities, recognition awards, initiatives, trips and excursions among many others. Hard copies are provided to stakeholders including families, staff, partners, visitors, prospective parents/students, prospective employees and others with an interest or stake in the academy and its students.
Headteacher & Director: Kevin Prunty / Editor-in-chief: Jessica Joyce / Graphic Design: Enzo Gianvittorio Danese (Enzo GD) / Printed by: Springfieldpapers.com

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2016 / 2017


Editorial 2016 / 2017

This

has

examination results remain strong

been a great year for Cranford

on so many different fronts. Our

despite the new tougher grading system brought in

this summer at GCSE. The attainment of our students

remains significantly above average as does their

progress when examining the new ‘Progress 8’ score.

We are delighted that so many of our Sixth form students

have scored very highly at A level and are going on to

study at the most prestigious Russell Group universities

in the UK including the London School of Economics,

Kings College London, Warwick University and Bristol

University to name but a few.

In addition to outstanding teaching and achievement,

our students continue to benefit from a vast range of

additional enrichment opportunities and activities such

as the Eton University Summer School. This year, we

hosted the Duke of Edinburgh awards at Cranford for

the first time and the uptake of this programme among

our students goes from strength to strength.

We remain immensely proud of our international links

with schools in the best performing systems across

the Globe including China, Brazil, Thailand, Korea,

Japan, Finland, and the United States. These are unique

opportunities open to students at Cranford and the

breadth of experience gained from these experiences

is of immense value.

Students at Cranford continue to develop as leaders

within the school and beyond. This year we hosted

a Student Leadership Conference and many of our

students took up the opportunity to be involved in

politics through events held at the Houses of Parliament

as well as direct experience of the General Election

campaign in June 2017.

Our partnership with Berkeley Primary School

continues to flourish and we are delighted that this

year, Berkeley has had its best results ever at every

Key Stage. The school is truly a great place and is now

hugely oversubscribed. This is a great transformation

over a short period of time.

Despite changes to how examination subjects are rated

in the school performance tables, the Arts at Cranford

remain incredibly strong as you will see through the

many stunning art, drama and music activities taking

place in the school. Whilst we promote academic

excellence at every opportunity we also have a deep

commitment to develop the ‘whole person’. I am

therefore immensely proud of the many awards our

students achieve as for example with the Jack Petchey

awards where we recognise excellent contributions to

the school community and beyond, and our students

winning the EU Commission poetry competition.

This review provides you with a flavour of the extensive

range of opportunities available to students at Cranford.

I hope that you enjoy reading it.

Kevin Prunty

(Executive Headteacher, National Leader of Education)

2

Cranford Review 2016-2017

Executive editor: Jessica Joyce | Assistant editor: Philip Dobison | Graphic design: Enzo Gianvittorio

Printed by: Cleverbox.co.uk | Copyright © Cranford Community College - 2017


Student

Leadership

Conference 2017

Cranford’s Student Leadership conference on Wednesday 8th

March 2017 with over 400 staff and students attending in a full

day of collegiate activities focused on team-building, creative

brainstorming and blue-sky thinking about ideas for future innovations in

the school based around the core theme of Student Leadership.

The day, began with a keynote address from Executive Headteacher Mr

Kevin Prunty and focused on the importance and future of education both at

Cranford and worldwide. Participants worked in four strands based around

key values of the school: Pride, Respect, Learning and Aspiration. Much of

the creative thinking and strategising came from smaller working groups of

staff and students who focused on school improvement and student leadership.

There were a number of light-hearted but interesting ideas presented and

already practical changes have been implemented to build student leadership

and responsibility and ensure students have a voice. The positive

atmosphere generated by the day was a key outcome and an action plan

is being completed considering short, medium and long term change.

Significant alterations to the spaces available for students at social

times, both to learn, exercise and relax, have been put into place and a

new cycle of registration activities has been implemented with the aim

of building on this positivity and generating the ‘family’ environment

the pastoral team believe form classes must embody. Additionally,

within form time, tutors are beginning to pilot a ‘shout out’ space

for students to praise the achievements of their classmates. These

positive messages of reinforcement also feed into the outcomes on

mental health, a key area highlighted by the conference. Work in this

important area has begun with form time reflection activities, the school councillor’s

drop in sessions including how to cope with exam stress. It also provided a launch

platform for the peer-mentoring programme which is running alongside the Hounslow

Promise mentoring scheme.

The conference was successful and the involvement of prefects and year group

councils in its planning and delivery was a very good example of student

leadership in action. This was only the first stage in the process of

building student leadership in across the school. Medium term priorities

include more specific leadership roles for students including subject

specialists, further support for mental health, the school marking policy,

development of the PSHCE, Period 0 and WFactor programmes.

Kevin Biggs (Senior Teacher)

1


When

“Face Value”

An Arts Intergenerational Project

I was approached about this project in December 2016, I

wasn’t quite sure what shape it was going to take. What I

loved about it was its organic nature, where the artists Marion Pike, Frances

Rifkin and Nikki Rolls took what the students gave them and created artistic

moments through this. Augusto Boal’s style of theatre is very much about

changing the human condition and helping us to see things differently, and

this is what “Face Value” did as a visual and theatre arts project.

Participants consisted of students, young community members and elders

from the local area working both independently and with the older people

involved from Hounslow Seniors Trust to explore their perceptions of each

other. In the first session they worked with visual artist Nikki Rolls to create

a painting based on perceptions young people have of older people and vice

versa. These perceptions were also recorded so that we were exploring other

senses to make us aware of each other. Nicki Rolls works with film, painting, drawing

and installation to produce works which explore cinematic and virtual worlds and the

tension which arises between the natural world and its appropriation by technological

process. She seeks to interrupt and break down this process, attempting to wrest the

image from the grasp of technology. Nicki is a London based artist. She graduated

from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design in 2005 with a BA (Hons.) Fine

Art and in 2011 she completed her MA in Fine Art at London Institute, Wimbledon

College of Art.

The following sessions used Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed techniques with Frances

Rifkin, to explore the relationships young people have with older people and the lack of connections

that exist. But the focus soon shifted to explore the common ground and finding solutions in

relationships to create a more harmonious family, society, individual so we as humans can

create a better world. Frances founder and lead practitioner at UtopiaArts knows her stuff.

She gained her experience working at the coal face of political theatre recording stories

on the picket lines of the miners strike. She has written papers and led academic classes

examining participatory ethics within the arts, social and welfare sectors. The focus of her

work is taking forum theatre and Theatre of the Oppressed techniques into the community

to health and wellbeing professionals and its service users.

During the sharing on 28th March 2017 a parent of one the students at Cranford also

participated in the performance, which she thoroughly enjoyed. She acted

alongside her daughter where her daughter was playing the mother…roles reversed

to help them see the situation from another perspective.

In the last few sessions participants created their second visual art piece to see

if their perceptions had changed of each other through the drama sessions. The

project culminated in an event at Chiswick Town Hall on Friday 31st March

2017, where the participants performed their work to a very diverse audience of

families, councillors and artists. They watched older people do a Bollywood dance

and some contemporary dance with Ballet Rambert. It was an event where people

shared conversation, shared an arts experience and had fun The focus was not

on the outcome of the project but much more on the journey for the participants

in understating each other and being transformed deeply as part of the process.

2

Seema Sethi (Head of Drama, School and Community Arts Development)


Zeroplus

Theatre

Teachers

Preview


Theatre in education is a powerful tool to engage students both in theatre and the issues

they are faced with and the need to reflect on to bring about social change”

Our

resident theatre in education

company, Zeroplus Theatre,

based here at Cranford Community

College, held a teachers’ preview for

both primary and secondary schools in

Hounslow on Tuesday 10th January 2017.

Teachers had the opportunity to watch and

hear some extracts from the performances

to give them a flavour of the work that

Zeroplus Theatre are currently touring, all

of which have been available throughout

this academic year.

They performed scenes from:

The Maharajah and the Kohinoor

- showcasing British Asian heritage -

key stages 1, 2 and 3 - history, English,

geography and drama.

Agent - address the plight of refugees

and economic migrants - key stage 4 -

PSHCE, RE, history and English.

And readings from:

My Grandad and I - faith symbolism

- key stages 2, 3 and 4 - RE, PSHCE,

English

All Our Heroes - 1914 WW1 -

South Asian and overseas soldiers’

contribution to WW1 - history, PSHCE,

RE and geography.

The evening was a great success and gave

us a chance to sample some of the work,

look at the resource material and speak

with the workshop leaders.

Seema Sethi (Head of Drama, School and

Community Arts Development)

3


Targeted

Intervention

Days 2017

Personal Development Day

On

Tuesday 17th January 2017 the school collapsed the timetable

and we spent time developing our understanding of personal,

social, health and citizenship education. This year saw a big focus on

mental health with all students working completing a mental health

workshop looking at mental and emotional

health and strategies to manage it. The school

also spent time looking at drugs education and finding out about the risks of

drugs. There was a bespoke programme for each year group that supported

students including year 7 students managing loss including bereavement,

separation and divorce. Year 8 students looked into the impact of cancer,

the developmental of physical health and explored relationships. The year 9

cohort developed their understanding of self-esteem and dealing with criticism

and looked at the impact of gambling and its consequences. Students in year 10

spent the rest of the day looking at health and wellbeing linked to relationships,

including working with nurses on sexual health. They also found out about

being pregnant and a parent and the impact this has on their lives. Year 11

students spent time looking and managing loss and failure as well as making

informed decisions about their life, whilst exploring the impact of media on

their lifestyle. Students in year 12 developed their understanding of consent, parenthood,

adoption and fostering and sexual health. Finally, year 13 students spent time looking at preparing

for the future considering personal finance and living on their own with various external organisation

and thinking about the impact of leaving school and starting the next steps of their lives.

Careers TI Day

On

Tuesday 7th February 2017 the whole school took part in a targeted

intervention day that focused on careers, jobs and enterprise. Each year

group worked on a bespoke programme that helped them look to the future and

further their thinking on which path they will take. Year 7 students spent time visiting

different parts of London researching different job sectors and understanding the

types of organisation that gravitate together in different areas such as the creative

arts, financial district, retail and media. Students in year 8 visited a number of

employers to explore different job roles and and meet employees to find out the types

of jobs they do, the skills they need and the routes they took on their own career

paths. Year 9, 10 and 11 students had the opportunity to visit a careers fair where they

talked with various employers from all major sectors. Year 9 and 10 students faced

the Zombie Apocalypse during which they spent time exploring different higher

education opportunities and the requirements needed for a society to function as

well as completing an activity with the Royal Navy to build a wheelbarrow to move

water, building team skills as part of the STEM project.

Year 11 students looked at skills and in particular spent time looking at the transition

from GCSEs to A Levels and continued to upskill themselves ready for their up

and coming exams.

Year 12 Careers and Higher Education Day – Year 12 students looked into their plans

after A Levels and spent time exploring the different options available to them. They

spent time exploring how UCAS works, apprenticeships, student finance and looked

into alternative options such a taking a gap year or volunteering. Students in year

13 spent time working with key groups of teachers on bespoke subject intervention

to ensure they are ready for their up and coming exams. A number of students spent

time working with apprenticeship providers and staff to prepare for their future after year 13.

Kevin Biggs (Senior Teacher)

4


Year 7 - TI Days

On

the Tuesday 7th February 2017, year 7 students embarked on their own exhilarating journeys

to London for a careers day. On the train, we did a great job in representing Cranford

Community College and many members of the public were asking which school we were from and

where we were going.

Our form, 7W, made its way to East London Tech City first. We managed to catch a quick glimpse of

the iconic skyscraper ‘The Gherkin’ which is a famous landmark in London where ‘The Apprentice’

and many other television shows were filmed.

Whilst we were walking through Tech City, we were fortunate enough to see a number of different

careers. We saw estate agents, restaurants and retail outlets. The extra businesses and shops around

East London meant we got to see how adults work differently and how their jobs are a major part of

their lives.

Next, we went to Spitalfields Market which had a mix of different types of jobs. There were people

selling food, clothes and accessories such as sunglasses and handbags. The market helped us learn

how different people come to their jobs every day. The market’s food stalls were very different to

the restaurants in Tech City because the market stalls handed out food samples outside whilst the

restaurants did not.

Last but not least, we visited The Geffrye Museum of The Home. This gave us an insight

to what our bedrooms and houses in general will look like in the future, what they look

like in the present and what they looked like in the past. Sadly, we only visited the teenage

bedroom display at the museum because we were running of time but the visit

was definitely worthwhile.

Ria Dhaliwal (year 7)

5


On

Wednesday 15th March 2017, Cranford

Community College played host to the

borough Duke of Edinburgh Awards Evening

where students and young adults from various schools and open award centres across the borough,

came together to celebrate their achievement at Bronze, Silver and Gold Level.

This high profile event was attended by a number of dignitaries including: Peter Fleet, Director of

Duke of Edinburgh London Region, Maria Pedro, Hounslow’s Deputy Lieutenant, Councillor Ed

Mayne, Ambassador for the Award, London Borough of Hounslow and Ajmer Grewal, Mayor of

Hounslow. Cranford Community College is the first school in Hounslow to host this prestigious event.

Kevin Prunty, Executive Headteacher, opened the proceedings, welcoming parents, teachers, young

people from nine centres of excellence and invited guests to celebrate 50 years of the Duke of

Edinburgh scheme and promised an evening of inspiration, in true Cranford style. In addition, he

spoke with great fondness about the wonderful work of Dot Hasslet who has led the borough DofE

initiative for over 25 years and presented her with flowers on behalf of the school.

The evening saw performances from various groups including Shubhdeep Sethi, Marco Paoli, Teodor

Jevtic from Cranford and a Duke of Edinburgh Award group ‘signing’ to music, a skill they had learnt

as part of the award programme. The evening saw over 500 Bronze and Silver Awards presented

including a Gold Award presented by the Mayor.

Kevin Biggs (Senior teacher – DofE Co-ordinator)

Cranford Hosts the

Duke of Edinburgh

Awards Evening 2017

6


Duke of Edinburgh Expeditions 2017

The

Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme continues to

be a popular and well-attended programme run

by staff for students at Cranford. Each year more and more

students from year 9 upwards want to take on the challenges

and rewards the course has to offer and to gain either a Bronze,

Silver or Gold Award. This year was no exception and a group

of likeminded and determined young people embarked on the

ever-challenging expedition at the start of the summer term and

all returned triumphant having completed the required elements.

Thank you to all the staff who supported the expeditions and

well down to the DofE students 2017.

Kevin Biggs (Senior Teacher - DofE Co-ordinator)

“Throughout my DofE experience, my happiness levels were high,

however, there were many points when I was aching and just

wanted to get to the campsite. Despite this, I managed to soldier

through and I didn’t complain during the walks. One thing that

kept me going throughout the walk was a text from my mother I

received early on in the walk. I’m not exactly sure why it did but

I believe it may have been the idea of seeing my family once I

had completed this walk that had allowed me to walk on. I felt

as if I was a motherly figure towards the other girls as I tried my

hardest to make sure that they were okay”.

We left our home with fears and hopes

Wondering what mysteries lie ahead.

Our rucksacks were packed and ready to

go,

Yet we remained optimistic about what the

future held.

Day 1 was scary, anticipating, challenging

and frustrating.We powered through the

day,

And ended with our ‘not-so-cosy’ tents.

Day 2 was fun. With bodies rested and

minds alert, maps ready and compasses set,

We were ready to face the world.

This experience is one we’ll never forget,

All our walks and all our talks,

All our mistakes and all our achievements,

Finally paid off.

Jaineet Gulabzada, Dua Zehra, Anjali

Bhambra, Manleen Arora (year 9)

Kimran Virk (year 9)

“DofE, where do I begin? It was one of the best experiences in my

life, it was hard but fun at the same time. I had an amazing group

who kept me safe and my partner constantly made me laugh. I

will never forget this experience or the memories I made. DofE

brought me closer to my friends and others who I wasn’t as close

to before”.

Arsida Dukaj (year 9)

“My experience of Duke of Edinburgh was something that I know

that I will always remember. I think it definitely took me out of

my comfort zone but sometimes you need to be taken out of your

comfort zone to be able to open up and try new things, hence

my applying for DofE an embarking on this amazing journey.

This also gave me the opportunity to meet and talk to people I

don’t usually talk to. This broadened my knowledge of others and

my surroundings. I think that the real perk in this award is the

volunteering as it extends my social skills and gave me a real

insight to the world of work”.

Nimra Anjum (year 9)

7


St Mary’s University Gymnastic Workshop

On

Friday 24th March 2017, the PE

department took 12 year 8 boys to

take part in a gymnastic workshop at St Mary’s

University. The purpose of the visit was to show PE

university students how to teach a gymnastic lesson

so they understand about health and safety, the set

up and how to work with students and be able to

do some micro teaching/coaching with students

themselves.

The workshop was extremely successful and

enjoyed by both students and our year 8 boys who

demonstrated what talented gymnasts they are.

Here is an account of one student’s experience of

the day.

Hamesh Rattu (Head of Year 8 and PE Teacher)

The atmosphere on the mini-bus was

electric. There was a buzz in the air in

anticipation of how much fun the trip

was going to be and the chance to go

to a university and see the facilities.

When we arrived at St Mary’s we

were organised into two groups and

we demonstrated our jumps to some

students who are potential P.E teachers

or coaches. If we completed the jumps to

the high standards of Mr. Notley and Mr.

Rattu (which were extremely high) then

we would proceed to a more complex

jump. The jumps we did were straight

jumps, tuck jump, pike jump and straddle

jump.

After a short break we were arranged

into three groups where we demonstrated

our jumps to the students who then gave

us feedback to better our jumps. They

were extremely helpful and kind and

motivational which helped us to improve

our jumps significantly. Rather than

giving us general tips, they took their

time to give us personal and individual

advice and techniques.

Fortunately we had time to have a

competition amongst my group. We had

to perform 5 different jumps. We were

rated by our peers on a scale of 1-10;

1 being the lowest and 10 being the

highest. It was great fun. Not to brag I

came in the top 3.

I am extremely fortunate and thankful

to have had a great opportunity like

this to represent Cranford Community

College. This trip was really fun and I

wouldn’t hesitate to do it again if I had

the chance. Thank you Mr. Notley and

Mr. Rattu for not only selecting me but

organising this great trip.

Ibrahim Hersi (year 8)

8


Modern World Languages Department - TATE Modern trip

On

Thursday

9th March 2017, the Modern World Languages Department organised a trip

to the Tate Modern gallery in London with fifteen students studying German, Spanish,

Urdu or Panjabi.

The Tate Modern is a modern art gallery located in London holding art from 1900 to the present day. It

is based in the former Bankside Power Station, on the South Bank.

We had the chance to walk across the famous Millennium Bridge from which we caught a glimpse of

several London landmarks before reaching the gallery and spending time immersing ourselves in the

world of stunning contemporary art.

During the visit students were involved in a range of engaging and culturally-stimulating activities. They

carried out tasks such as seeking specific works of art including by Salvador Dali and Max Ernst or

collecting information about a particular topic such as the Spanish Civil War or Joseph Beuys’ intriguing

creations. The activities were carried out on language-specific worksheets that were later handed in to

their teachers. Students were also given some time to walk freely around the gallery and admire some

other interesting pieces of art from other collections.

This is the second combined trip and its success has led its coordinator and the MWL Department to think

about future days out involving an even greater number of students.

Uxio Seijas and Kevin Scalia (Modern World Languages Department)

Languages fun to start the Week

Every Monday morning throughout this academic year, the Modern

World Languages Department opened its doors to a group of faithful

and enthusiastic year 7 gamers. We played various games including,

dominoes, cards, monopoly, “Guess Who” and snakes and ladders,

all in Spanish. Some students joined at the start just to get out of the

cold in winter but loved it so much they carried on until summer,

having fun and improving their language skills at the same time.

The club soon caught on and students who studied German even

turned up, and they learned Spanish along the way. Due to

the success of the club and everyone having so much fun this

will be something the MWL department will continue next

year and open to all key Stage 3 students in both Spanish

and German.

Matthew Nation-Tellery (Modern World Languages Department)

9


Cranford celebrates World Book Day and Book Week 2017

It

was that time of year again. We were ready

for a week of much-loved and anticipated

fun. Students were eagerly waiting for the start

to this action-packed week: a workshop, a poet,

an author, a creative writing workshop to “The

London Eye”, various competitions, a book shop

and a treasure hunt. It could only be World Book

Day and Book Week 2017.

It was a pleasure to put together an exciting

programme to capture and harness students’

excitement for these literacy initiatives. It is

always a challenge to come up with new ways

to make it better and more exciting than the

previous year; however, it all came together and

students were quick to get involved, even more

so when they found out the prizes that were on

offer.

Alex Scarrow is a bestselling junior science

fiction author. His first series TimeRiders has 9

books and tells of a team of three teenagers who

use time travel to tamper with history to prevent

tragedies. Two year 7 classes were lucky enough

to meet Alex and the rest of the students were

invited to a talk in the LRC after school. Alex

said; “The best part of my job is coming out to

meet students like these. It’s a joy to present and

read to such focused and well-behaved students”.

Molly Case is a spoken word artist, writer and

nurse born and brought up in south London She

achieved national recognition after performing

her poem “Nursing the Nation” at the Royal

College of Nursing, gaining over 350,000

views on YouTube in just a few months. Her

debut collection of poetry, “Underneath the

Roses Where I Remembered Everything” is out

this year with Burning Eye Books. Molly is a

multiple slam winner who was honoured to meet

the Queen at Buckingham Palace as part of the

Contemporary British Poetry celebrations. Molly

gave a talk to a year 12 English class and met

lots of students after school in the LRC for a

Spoken Word Workshop. Molly said “I had such

a fantastic time; the poetry the young people

created really blew me away”.

The following articles capture the amazing things

that took place and the enjoyment students from

the experience.

Mahavir Ladva (Library and Study Centres Manager)

10

The Alex

Scarrow

Visit

Alex Scarrow is an inspirational

author, who has written an awardwinning

series of books entitled

TimeRiders. TimeRiders does not only

show us the history of mankind, but

also the history that could’ve been.

Time lines are altered with just a few

words, which completely changes the

present, leading to alternative realities,

where say Hitler won WWII. What

would have happened then? Places like

London and New York most certainly

would not be the same.

The books are set in a universe where

time travel has already been invented in

the future, a machine that allows time

waves of change to occur. To stop this

small groups working independently

are recruited throughout history and

time to keep the timeline as it is.

This captivating series follows the

adventures of one of the groups.

Alex Scarrow, visited Cranford on

Tuesday 7th March 2017 and gave a

wonderful presentation. Even in the

short time he was there he excited the

entire room with witty jokes and an

amazing story. Everyone enjoyed his

reading and it was fantastic to be there.

Mohsin Ahmed (year 10)


Manga Workshop

for students

I

was asked by Mr Ladva to run a workshop during Book Week. He knows about

my talent as a Manga artist so I was really pleased to be asked. I have never

spoken in front of a large group like this so I was nervous. I created a PowerPoint

presentation. It included what Manga art is, the basics, famous Manga artists and

also some of my own art.

On the day I was happy to see there were lots of students who attended. I showed

them my drawings and we learnt how to draw a person step by step. Students were

amazed to see what they were capable of and the 6th form students did so too. I’m

glad I could share my passion with everyone. It was a wonderful experience.

Zahra Sadiq (year 10)

to pursue my dreams. The memory of her words

are still as vivid as the day I met her.

We also got to see her after school as she was

running a workshop. I learnt a lot about poetry

and how easy it is to structure a poem to make it

sound amazing. She gave us some examples from

people such as Eminem and gave us many points

on what good poems have and how you don’t

have to make poems rhyme. Hearing this from an

actual poet who does this for a living made me

feel more confident to write in this way.

The Molly Case Visit

When

I first walked into the LRC I

was shocked to see Molly Case

and I immediately bought her book “Underneath

the Roses Where I Remembered Everything” and

got it signed. I got to talk to her about many things,

such as what inspired her to become a poet. She

gave me advice about my own writing and how

to work your way up the ladder of success. She

was a very nice person and loved to talk with

us. She said her poems were all about personal

experiences and that you should try to write from

the heart. Her words of knowledge were very

inspiring and gripping. She has encouraged me

Molly set us a task to write our own poems about

our best day ever and she flew round the LRC

like an angel lending us some of her vast amount

of wisdom to help us with our own poems. It

was much easier writing a poem from one’s own

experiences.

I felt very privileged to have the opportunity of

meeting a famous poet and getting to talk to her.

I personally loved the visit and hope the school

has more visits from famous people as I believe it

helps students to get advice from someone who’s

actually been on the rollercoaster of becoming

what they are today. I enjoyed the visit very

much especially when we were allowed to take

a picture with her.

Isra Jadoon (year 7)

11


Creative Writing Workshop

to the London Eye

On

Thursday 9th March 2017, a warm spring day

in Hounslow 25 fortunate students prepared

themselves for a day at the London Eye, Jubilee

Gardens and an exhilarating four dimensional experience.

Before leaving, Mr Ladva, Ms Giga and Ms Ghazi had ensured all students had finished

reading an amazing children’s novel, “The London Eye Mystery” written by Siobhan

Dowd. The story is about a young boy named Ted who has autism. The book allows

us to see how Ted sees the world from a different perspective with his incredible

thinking. Ted’s cousin Salim comes to stay en-route to New York where he is moving

to with his mum. Salim gets a ticket to go on The London Eye, boards a capsule but

never comes back down.

At the start of the day each student was given their own booklet to fill out at various

places in London. It involved things like fun facts about each character, writing a

story in the same style as “The London Eye Mystery” and much more.

We took the tube to The Jubilee Gardens and spent around forty-five minutes soaking up the sun as

we completed some activities in our booklets and a storyboard about the most significant events in

the story. We then walked through a half-empty corridor, we were handed some black glasses. We

were ready for our 4D experience. We had front row seats to really capture the moment. Lights faded,

the noise of the busy city was drowned out, music began to play and before we knew it everyone

was waving their hands around in an attempt to capture the white seagulls floating in the open space

around us. We were amazed by the effects of the experience, snow, wind, fire and rain all in a video

about The London Eye.

After the excitement of the 4D experience, we made our way to the London Eye with a personal

London Eye assistant. She guided and shared fun facts with us whilst she pointed out the icons on the

London skyline. As we rose into the sky in a capsule, we started exploring the wonders of London.

We noted the Google headquarters which, in our opinion were the best set of buildings we saw. The

four buildings which were connected were all the colours of the Google logo and they stood out like

a sore thumb but in a good way. The assistant told us that in Google, employees use slides instead of

stairs to begin their day. We also saw Buckingham Palace, St. Paul’s Cathedral, The Shard and many

more exciting skyscrapers such as the Walkie-Talkie and the Gherkin. It was simply phenomenal, an

experience that we will never forget.

12

Ria Dhaliwal and Ayesha Kaur (year 7)


Playing the Critic at the National Theatre

“Beauty is but skin deep, ugly lies the bone; beauty dies and fades away, but ugly holds its own”.

I

was privileged to watch the prestigious premier of “Ugly Lies The

Bone” at the National Theatre on the South Bank in March 2017. This

opportunity arose after completing a critique of another play through the

MouseTrap Critics project undertaken by year 11 drama GCSE students

in the autumn. I was chosen from the group to take up this opportunity.

At first I felt out of place next to so many professional critics sitting

silently analysing the play. This was truly the most elite audience I’ve

ever sat alongside: people who write for the Metro, The Times and the

Daily Mail. I, on the other hand, had only written theatre reviews for

my drama coursework.

After the spectacular performance I discussed the key themes of society

imposing views of beauty upon women with the other critics and many

interesting points were raised. I thought to myself that this is what

theatre is truly about: discussing and understanding key problems in

our society. This is something I’ve never discussed so much and this

experience has clearly proven that drama is essential for the younger generation, as it is the only

subject that creatively challenges nearly every problem in society. This is important as many people

don’t understand key problems such as racism and sexism. To conclude, I am truly grateful to Ms

Sethi for providing me with such an opportunity.

Haashim Nisar (year 11)

“The Kite Runner” at the Wyndham’s Theatre

On

Monday 23rd January 2017 the Drama Department took students from key stages 3 and 4 to

see “The Kite Runner” at the Wyndham’s Theatre in the West End. This production, based

on the internationally-renowned novel and award-winning film, tells the story of Amir and Hassan

who are inseparable friends growing up in Kabul. As an adult Amir, now living in California, remains

haunted by a childhood incident in which he betrayed Hassan’s trust. When he learns that the Taliban

has murdered Hassan and wife, Amir returns to his homeland to learn the fate of the couple’s son.

Here is a review by two year 10 drama students who attended the production:

“The Kite Runner” was an amazing piece of theatre. It was a shocking and emotional tale told us through the power of

the actors’ portrayal so we shared their experience. We have never been so moved by a piece of theatre to the point that

our eyes were welling up with tears as we empathised fully with Hassan’s character and the whole rollercoaster of his

emotions. It made us gasp, made us giggle, made us cry, made us clench our fists in anger, made us hide our eyes behind

our shaking hands. We loved the cultural vibe you get from the very beginning and the way it is never lost throughout the

whole play was impressive. “The Kite Runner” in a way is also an eye-opening performance that shows how things like

this still happen in today’s modern day society and we can’t and shouldn’t be oblivious to it. Overall the play enabled us

to go home and think about all of the things that are happening around the world and to give us just one moment to really

appreciate the things we have and open our eyes to the real world we live in. “The Kite Runner” was an awe-inspiring

play filled with many emotions and lots of culture. We were speechless at the end of it”.

Shanan Bhamra and Maisie Mullen (year 10)

13


Arts and Culture Evening - A place for deep thought and

Cranford’s annual Arts and Culture Evening was

held on Wednesday 12th July 2017 and was

attended by students, staff, parents and guests,

all of whom had come along to enjoy and celebrate the

stunning ADT exhibition, our First Story anthology

readings and hear music performed by our talented

music students.

Because of the turbulent times we live in and the

uncertainty of where the arts stand in schools, it is now

more than ever we need the arts in our schools, in our

communities and in our world. We are experiencing

challenging times, when we all need to express what we

feel and what better way to do so than through the arts:

visual and performing. We need the arts to give young

people the forum for expression, and a safe place for

deep thought and reflection.

Our evening this year was about that expression: of

joy, of fear, of celebration, of devastation and of hope.

Sometimes our expressions may not be complete, may

not be fully formed or developed, but the fact that we

can express and imagine is what makes us human and it

is this that will bring about community cohesion.

Completely Incomplete Thoughts is an anthology of new writing

by the First Story students at Cranford Community College

who took part in creative-writing workshops led by writerin-residence

Ross Raisin. First Story believes there is dignity

and power in every person’s story, and here you’ll find young

people expressing themselves in their own unique voices.

We hope you enjoy this collection.

Featuring writing by:

Changing lives through writing

Cranford Community College Completely Incomplete Thoughts

Faisa Ali • Halima Elmi • Selma Essadok • Prabhleen Ghattoray

Navneet Ghttora • Manriat Gill • Jaijiten Hundal

Ria Kalia • Ajeet Khela • Ishika Mehra • Calia Mohamed

'First Story is a very exciting idea –

writing can liberate and strengthen

young people’s sense of themselves

as almost nothing else can.'

PHILIP PULLMAN

Author of His Dark Materials

Cover illustration by Eloise Oui

Cover design by Euan Monaghan

Typesetting by Avon DataSet Ltd

20170516 First Story Cranford-v2.indd All Pages

FIRST STORY

www.firststory.co.uk £10.00

In this time of fast-paced technological advancement

and young people bombarded with so much visual

imagery, a quiet experience of an art form can help us

to feel safe and connected. To connect with ourselves

and who we are as part of the whole picture and what

our responsibilities are within that picture.

Mr Kevin Prunty, Executive Headteacher, talked about

the need for innovation and imagination with the arts

in school and how Cranford was leading the way with

some inspirational new approaches to arts in September

2017, to keep them live and meaningful for our students.

It is events like this that make us feel part of the bigger

community, where people come together and talk about

what they have seen, heard and experienced. Events

like this are not just a celebration of the immense talent

and skills but an opportunity to connect. The writing

although some of it dark celebrated the maturity and the

imagination of our students. They gave voice to their

thoughts, their desires, their feelings and their fears and

they emerged strong. The art and design work echoed

these feelings and the presentation of the Tracy Fletcher

Award gave credence to the talented and hard work of

the students. It was truly a wonderful evening, where

the arts came together and celebrated that voice.

Seema Sethi (Head of Drama, School and Community Arts)

14


eflection

Completely

Incomplete

Thoughts

An Anthology by the First Story Group at

Cranford Community College

Edited and Introduced by Ross Raisin

30/05/2017 11:22:34

15


National Science and Engineering Week 2017

National Science and Engineering Week, 13th-17th March 2017, focused on the theme of interactive

STEM activities. This is the fourth year Cranford’s Science Department has hosted the event

and once again it proved to be a popular and inspiring week for our young scientists. The many

exciting and varied activities included a challenge a day, a science fair, year 7 assembly (by year 11

students), key stage 3 lessons and STEM ambassador visits. Thank you to all those many students

who took part in the Science Week and congratulations to all the amazing prize winners.

Assembly

The

week began with an assembly to

year 7 by year 11 students, Majid

Anjum (11Z), Hana Khan (11V), Davinder

Gill (11U) and Navneet Brar (11Z) who

worked really hard to prepare and deliver

an assembly for the year 7 cohort on the

challenging science topic of osmosis. They

invented their own demos and executed the

assembly with real skill and confidence.

“The assembly was on diffusion and I

enjoyed it because they did a practical

to show us how it worked. They also

interacted with us by asking questions”.

16

Muskaan Sanghera (year 7)


Key stage 3 science lessons

Year 7 and 8 classes had special science week

themed lessons that required them to develop

a ‘lander’ that would be able to protect their ‘rover’

when landing on Mars. They had to make a model of

their lander and their rover was an egg.

They spent a couple of

lessons trying to build their

landers out of cardboard,

straws, string, plastic bags,

sellotape and cups working

to a budget of 100 credits.

During the third lesson

they tested their landers to

see which group protected

their egg the best whilst spending the least amount

of credits on material. Some groups even were even

able to build their own rover as well as lander.

“It was a great lesson learning about

rovers and landers. We have had so

much fun in making the project. It was

an excellent way of communicating

and working as a team. Our design

was a cardboard box with cotton

balls underneath to give it a smoother

landing and also to protect the egg from

cracking. We added a polystyrene cup,

which held the egg in place. We added

cardboard walls so the cup doesn’t fall

out. This was a successful design, as the

egg didn’t crack”.

Maryam Ayub (year 8)

“We started off designing

the lander and the rover.

I didn’t even know what

a rover was up until

this lesson. For our

parachute, Maryam and I

were thinking about using

tissue paper, but when we

tried to put it on, it was

very thin and we knew it

would rip easily. We then

decided to use the balloon

because it can carry

weight without breaking.

Our design wasn’t the best

as some of it fell apart in

the air but it kept the egg

unbroken”.

Sumaya Elmi (year 8)

17


Challenge a Day

Throughout the week, we

abandoned our morning

experiments and created

a set of interactive activities

entitled ‘Challenge a Day’.

This included challenges such

as making a tower from dry

spaghetti, marshmallows that

can support an egg, making

floating gardens and the

students conducted various new

experiments that had a wow

factor. Thursday was National

Demo day. The science staff

demonstrated how to not pop a

balloon, canon fire and the Van

de Graf generator.

Riddles were also given to the

students to solve including:

1. ‘You have to measure exactly

4 litres of water, but you only

have a 3-litre bottle and a 5-litre

bottle. How do you do it?

2. ‘When I’m young I’m tall

When I’m old I’m short

When I’m alive I glow

Because of your breath I die

What am I?’

Well done to Amy Agboola

(10T), who was award a prize

for demonstrating enthusiasm

in science, as well as really

helping and teaching the

younger year groups.

“I took part in science

week with year 7 students

helping them to understand

the experiments we were

carrying out. One of the

challenges that we did was

using balloons, hot water,

cold water and a bottle.

We used them to test if

heat expanded the balloon.

This challenge helped us to

understand how convection

worked”.

Amy Agboola (year 10)

18


Science Fair

On

Wednesday 15th March 2017

between 3:30-4:30, students

hosted a science fair. All students who

attend the STEM club took part in the

science fair, demonstrating experiments

of their choice. Other students volunteered

and came along with their own homemade

inventions, whilst others manned

stalls that had been invented/created by

Ms Foale and the technicians.

STEM Ambassador Visits

The

year 12 & 13 physicists and chemists were

given the opportunity to listen to two

STEM ambassadors. The first speaker Chris Haley is

a hedge fund capital investor. He gave the students an

insight into the new STEM advancements as well as a

glimpse of how the finance industry operates. It was

so encouraging to see the year 12 students take a keen

interest in all he had to say.

Chris Haley said; “I have spent the last several years

working with and investing in technology businesses.

I specialise in selecting, mentoring and investing in

businesses with cutting edge technology as the basis for

their offering. Although it’s not my expertise area I have

been coding myself for over 15 years and I am a strong

advocate of encouraging more kids into the STEM

fields, in particular girls into the field of technology.”

The second speaker, Cyril Molony, is an engineer with

special educational needs and is on the autistic spectrum.

His speech was focused on changing the perceptions of

what engineering is, as well as promoting a growth

mindset by sharing his story. The students were visibly

inspired by his speech.

Kristy Foale (Science Department)

All the stalls at the fair were manned

by students who were experts in their

chosen science field. The Science

Museum literally came to Cranford and

students who attended left having had an

interactive experience as well as feeling

inspired by their peer’s achievements.

Prizes were awarded for the best

inventions which included: joint winners -

Angel Manchanda 12V with Taqdees Tahir

12X (dry ice experiments) and Armeen

Junaid 12Y runner up (heart dissection).

There were also a model car with a motor

(made out of a bottle), an electrocuting

kit, Michelson’s interferometer, a

gold leaf demo, a cloud chamber, an

erupting volcano (every science fair

has to have this), a lava lamp, projectile

motion taught by year 12 students, a

standing wave demonstration, Chladni

plates demonstration, supersaturation

experiments, marble runs, blue bottle

experiments, glow in the dark slime,

an electromagnet demonstration and a

structure of the Earth model.

“The Science Fair was fantastic. Seeing

children having fun made me happy. The

different experiments that were going on made

me want to learn about science even more”.

Janat Ahmed (year 10)

“The engineer who came was very inspiring, he gave me a

new perspective on the career path I’m aiming towards”.

Raul Plahe (year 12)

“The STEM ambassador’s visit was extremely helpful and

interesting and allowed us to see how physics and technology

can work hand in hand to create a successful business”.

Onkardeep Sahota (year 13)

“The science fair was the best time I have ever

had at Cranford, and being someone who made

an actual science invention was an honour. I

showed my homemade car with a real working

turbine with the help of the science technicians.

Everyone admired my invention. I saw so many

different and unique science inventions from

year 7 students all the way up to the 6th form.I

cannot wait till the next year”.

Naffay Azaan Mahmood (year 7)

19


ENO

National Saturday Art and Design Club

There

are so many facets to the National Saturday Art and

Design Club at Cranford Community College which

deserve to be celebrated, and it’s difficult to address them all. The most

prominent project of the year ran over three months spanning six weeks

altogether with Ruth Paton and the English National Opera. This project

culminated in the display of a large 3D scaled version of The Winter’s

Tale ‘Sicilia-meets-Bohemia’ sculptural landscape.

For this project, club members worked across an array of art forms, media

and techniques which has culminated in the dramatic model set shown at

the exhibition evening and the End of Summer Show.

As a part of the project, we were invited to attend the private show for The Winter’s Tale at the ENO

Coliseum. Together with this fantastic opportunity and the theatre set design techniques Ruth imparted,

we aimed to encourage a dialogue and critique concerning the play to comment upon the set design, the

themes and concepts of the play, the costume design, the sculptural elements and the performing arts

techniques involved (delivered by the artists themselves). In addition to nurturing each club member’s

creativity, informing them of the pathways available within the creative industries, exploring how a

production is created and who works behind the scenes, each club member was encouraged to discuss

their experience as an audience member and as an artist. The club members’ responses

20


were inspired and documented through their design work of creating 3D mood-boards in support of

their collaboration with the entire club to create the scaled landscape of ‘Sicilia-meets-Bohemia’. The

club members thrived under a three-month deadline to produce such outstanding designs mimicking

the landscape of the ENO’s version of The Winter’s Tale.

In addition to the English National Opera project, we were joined by BioArtist Mellisa Fisher during

the end of the year. Mellisa’s “Design Your Own Microbiome” workshop encouraged club members

to learn about the invisible world on their skin. The workshop allowed club members to engage with

the invisible world through sculptural and painting techniques, alongside collage.

The most memorable moment for the club was definitely the logo design workshop I created in support

of a visit from local MP Seema Malhotra. Seema Malhotra MP set a competition for the club to design

the new logo for Hounslow Promise, a new initiative based on the belief that all children are capable of

learning and thriving and the whole community shares a responsibility to help young people succeed.

We were incredibly proud to learn that two of our club members’ design had been chosen to feature

as the prominent logo for the programme.

Throughout this year, the club members have consistently shown their incredible potential and

enthusiasm regarding the creative arts. I congratulate all club members for such a beautiful End

of Year show at Somerset House last month and I am incredibly proud to have been

a part of this fantastic club and support such talented, creative and

articulate individuals who I am certain will flourish in

whatever path they decide to take in life.

By Aminder Virdee (Saturday Art Club tutor)

21


Spark! @Youth Talk 2017

Spark! @Youth Talk 2017, formerly known as TedTalks was held

on Wednesday 1st March 2017 at West Thames College. The event

is an opportunity for young people to have a voice and talk about

a topic or theme about which they are passionate. Two of our year

12 students, Lucy Tirahan and Kulbir Maras represented Cranford

at this event and spoke eloquently about their chosen topics.

The following pieces outline why they chose the topic and an extract from their speeches. If you would

like to hear their speeches in full, go to the YouTube link to access both speeches.

“The Power of Storytelling”

The topic I chose to speak about was “The Power of Storytelling”. I wanted to reach out to as many

people as possible on how important storytelling is. Its effect is subtle yet powerful. The feedback

I’ve received has been overwhelming and I hope they’ve learned that storytelling is important because

of its undeniable power to change lives. Here is an extract from my speech.

Link: https://youtu.be/oznQpfar_L4

“What is storytelling? Storytelling, in its simplest form, is to tell or write

stories. They are stories that could be true or fictional. Storytelling is

such a valuable form of human expression, an expression that, to me,

gets overlooked because in life we tell stories all the time, it just goes

undetected and underappreciated. We have conversations all the time, but

you know what consists in our conversations? Stories. People’s stories.

Our own stories. No matter how small the talk is or how entertaining it

is, we’re sharing stories, we tend to care because there’s a point to them.

There’s something we’re trying to get across... ...Storytelling is important

because it bonds us to our humanity. It shows us where we came from,

and tell us where we going in the future. It gives us a meaning to our

lives because our lives like stories, have a beginning, middle and end.

We need storytellers, we need them now more than ever. They make us human beings. Storytelling makes us emotionally

feel what other human beings haven’t felt and feelings they have felt. It can inspire a generation, it can entertain, teach,

predict and convey splendour. Everyone’s story is unique... ...That is the power of storytelling”.

“Refugees in Crisis”

Kulbir Maras (year 12)

I was really grateful to take part in the Spark @Youth Talk event to speak about ‘The Future of

Refugees’. When given the theme ‘Youth Voices’ and ‘The Future’ I wanted to steer away from the

technology route and speak about a crisis that we are becoming desensitised to through our media. It

was an incredible experience to give the speech alongside other students delivering equally powerful

messages; I hope through my speech I have inspired people to pay more attention to our refugee crisis

as this is a problem we can no longer afford to ignore. Here are some extracts from my speech.

Link: https://youtu.be/kZKTTJ6wvP4 :

“What is the future of refugees who have had their future stolen?

...According to UNHCR just over 60 million people have been forced to

flee their homes... ...Is liking a Facebook video really enough to show

your support of refugees? ...If you’re an adult, challenge your peers when

they make generalised comments. If you’re a journalist, start using your

platform for people who no longer have a voice. And if you’re human,

volunteer once a fortnight at your local refugee shelter – they are there,

you just need to find the time... ...How are we going to use our voices

and our future to ensure that, even though refugees may have had their

future stolen, they do not have to remain victims of theft?”

Lucy Tirahan (year 12)

22


National Theatre “Twelfth Night” Student Conference

On

Tuesday 21st

March 2017 the

year 10 drama

GCSE group attended a Student

Conference for ‘Twelfth Night’

at the National Theatre in

London’s Waterloo. ‘Twelfth

Night’ is on the drama GCSE

specification as a set text so

this was a perfect opportunity

for students to explore the play further with input

from industry professionals.

On arrival we were greeted by the friendly NT

Education Team and took our seats in the Olivier

Theatre ready for the first session. Dr Nick Walton

from ‘Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust’ gave an exciting

and in-depth study of what life would have been like

in Shakespeare’s times. This was then followed by a

panel discussion led by Jane Ball and members of the

NT Creative Teams. Here we got to listen to Soutra

Gilmour, set designer for Twelfth Night, explaining

her vision for the show and the process that designers

go through to bring a play to life.

After lunch we were introduced to some of the cast of

‘Twelfth Night’ and took part in a workshop exploring

the 1st scene of the play. Tamara Lawrance, who

played Viola, spoke to us about how she approached

the character of Viola.

In-between the conference and the show

in the evening we took a walk to the Tate

Modern and immersed ourselves in the

‘Anywhen’ exhibition by Philippe Parreno

commissioned by Hyundai. ‘Anywhen’ is

a site-specific exhibition that continuously

changed with moving elements, light

configurations and sound environments.

Having spent a day enjoying arts and culture,

we were pretty hungry, luckily for us there

was a Nando’s and Wagamama’s nearby

who were happy to host 16 students from

Hounslow.

The last thing on the agenda was to watch

‘Twelfth Night’ with Tamsin Grieg. This is

what some of our students had to say about

the production: “Theatre trips in support of

the study of a Shakespeare text are essential

to student understanding and to their ability

to realise that something written hundreds

of years before can still be relevant today.

Meeting and working with professional

actors, designers and directors enhance their

confidence to be creative in the way they

interpret text and take a play from page to

stage and their ability to write as an expert

when answering exam questions”.

Deepak Bahra (Drama Department)

“Twelfth Night’ was honestly one of the best performances I have

watched. It was light-hearted and funny. The gender blind casting was a

very interesting take on the characters in the play. Overall, it was a fun,

colourful and modern twist on a traditional Shakespearean text”.

Maisie Mullen (year 10)

“I have no words; the play was absolutely mind blowing. Before the play,

we had been invited to a student conference joining many other schools.

It was a chance of a lifetime as we were able to explore Shakespeare’s

traditional play, work with cast members and observe all the creativity

that took place backstage. Overall, the trip was phenomenal”.

Nabeeha Ali (year 10)

23


National Writing Day Poetry Competition

This

Grey Carpet Glitz

year, First Story ran the first ever National Writing Day in the U.K.

and Cranford students were fortunate enough to take part. We ran

two poetry competitions in school and another national competition lead by the

Young Writers Association. One

competition task was to write a

poem which could be said in one

breath. This meant writers had to

avoid using punctuation and say

the poem aloud without running

out of breath. There were some

lovely poems submitted. Thank

you to those who entered.

Another poetry competition

asked students to write a ‘Thank

You’ poem to something/

someone that they do not

usually say thank you to,

however, there was a catch.

Students were not allowed to make clear who the

poem was saying thank you to; the listeners and readers

had to work this out by listening to the clues given in

the poem. Again, these poems were brilliant. Thank you

to those who entered this competition too.

e want ever yone, ever ywhere to get writing!

www.nationalwritingday.org.uk

A collaborative campaign from

First Stor y and partners across the UK.

The winner for both poetry competitions was Ayesha

Kaur in 7Y. Well done to her. She is an avid reader and

since great readers make great writers, she was given the

opportunity to select a book of her choice to take away

as a prize. Here are her poems for you to enjoy.

Sahrish Shaikh (English Department and

First Story Lead)

Immortal

Tick tock tick tock poof and

I’m in Alton towers in the queue to

Empower the smiler to

Empower the longest

Ride in the world exactly a hundred and

Eighty-four seconds and the record

For the most amount of

Loops in the world

And a record for a bone

Shattering ruthless accident but

Hey no big deal and I’m pretty

sure I’ll make it back in one

Piece of a decapitated body which

Is the best I could wish

For and slowly the queue keeps

Snipping off as the evil

Smiler clown cuts us apart to

Drag our bodies into the arena of

Savage death as smiler spirals hypnotise

Me I find myself in the front row clenching

Onto the ride as the monster ejects

Into the sky for the

Dip and then we pierce through

The air like a bullet as my

Flesh clings onto me

Being sucked back but somehow

I have made it to the end and now

I can say

I conquered the smiler

Ayesha Kaur (year 7)

Birds poo on you every day,

Cigarettes squished on you that decay

Chewing gums splattered like dots of paint

That’s something you don’t deserve

because you are the foundation of the world

I want to say thank you to you today

for accepting our feet anyway

You reduce the friction on our cars

Regardless of how dirty they are

Yet we punish you with arrogance

And taint your so complex designs.

People rebuke you for the cracks you have

but little do they know

the intricate beauty of yours

So elegantly you form grey velvet Carpets for us

As we venture the world with a fuss.

Ayesha Kaur (year7)

A Match Made In Heaven

My gratitude is beyond words,

Because your deeds are so priceless,

That anything else would be an underestimation

And saying that would be absurd.

I live only because of you

And inhale your wholeheartedly gifted air.

I exhale your return gift,

Keeping you alive,

Gifting you back with air.

You are my lolly to my pop.

My cup to my cake.

My pop to my corn.

You rule my garden,

Your friends and cousins are in every branch of the world

Also ruling the empire from which you belong.

A thank you from the heart.

Ayesha Kaur (year 7)

24


Ex Cranford student returns to

run a workshop with year 10

Nida

Mazen Sarfraz (some of you may

know her as Nida Bhatti), is not

only an ex-student, but she is also an established

young author. As part of the National Writing Day

initiative this year, she kindly offered to come to

Cranford to run a writing workshop and discuss

her novel with year 10 students. Her novel, ‘A

Tale Of Two Lands’, has recently been published

and this was something that was of great interest

to the students. Nida explained what inspired

her to write her novel and asked the students

to use a variety of the same materials that she

found inspirational to write their own short

pieces. It quickly became an intense competition

too. There were 3 prizes to be won and the winners were judged by

Ms Brooks and Nida herself. There was a wide range of story lines

developed from all the materials given, ranging from something

mystical and magical to something as poignant and relevant such as

being a refugee.

1st prize went to Waleed Ali (10Y), 2nd prize went to Sanna Rafiq

(10W) and 3rd prize was awarded to Hunerdeep Sidhu (10Z). It was

a great workshop which the students thoroughly enjoyed; some even

left the classroom saying ‘I think I might write a book of my own

now’. Each winning student won either a signed and dedicated copy

of the novel or other signed and dedicated merchandise.

Nida also ran a small WFactor session with some keen year 9 students.

They too produced some amazing writing and won some signed copies

of the book.

Sahrish Shaikh (English Department)

“You’re safe.

No one will find you”

The words of reassurance rang out from

across the claustrophobic lorry as dozens

of half-starved, exhausted yet hopeful

people struggled to find a spot where no one

could find them. These people had given up

everything to finally reach their destination.

They walked, swam and ran halfway across

the world just to be in this lorry. No one was

going to fail now.

“Just be quiet and when we start moving,

don’t make a sound,” Yusef whispered to

his little brother Ishmaeel. Yusef knew that

they could not afford to be caught; they had

lost too much and the fear of failure would

hopefully silence Ishmaeel.

Yusef heard of the stories of what happened

to people who had been caught and he was

determined to not let Ishmaeel be denied a

future.

Waleed Ali (year 10)

A Tale of Two Lands

On

Wednesday 21st June 2017, a workshop was

organised for a year 10 English class, with

N.M. Sarfraz, author of ‘A Tale of Two Lands’. Firstly,

she introduced herself and spoke about her book and

her journey to becoming a writer. She then read her

prologue which had an interesting storyline. We were

asked to create a piece of writing about an image

which was given to us. She was very encouraging and

gave us tips to include in our writing. We were then

given examples of songs and poems which led to the

next task where we had to produce a two-sided A4

page of writing from our favourite from the examples

given. There were three prizes which were awarded

to the winners. First and second prizes were a signed

copy of N.M. Sarfraz’s book and third prize was also

a signed notebook from her. Overall it was a very

inspiring session which we all enjoyed.

Prabhleen Ghattoray (year 10)

25


On

Jack Petchey Awards 2017

Wednesday 24th May 2017 the annual awards evening for the Jack Petchey prize winners was

held at Brentford Watermans Centre. The evening, attended by prize winners, parents, staff and

dignitaries from the Jack Petchey Foundation and Hounslow borough, was a wonderful celebration of young

people who were being recognised for achieving something outstanding or for going beyond the expected.

Each winner receives £250 to spend on an area of interest or need for their school. It was a truly inspirational

event and one in which Cranford students continue to shine.

Kevin Biggs (Senior Teacher)

Haroon Lukka (13 y/o) - Haroon has been nominated because of his extensive contribution to the local community

through the Heston West Big Local. He has worked on numerous projects and supported various media projects and

school events. He has been recognised for his independent learning style, including learning of the piano.

Spent money on: Maths revision books for students who cannot afford them.

Jessica Atouguia (16 y/o) - Jessica has been nominated for her contribution to drama, supporting productions,

directing performances and running the production group for WFactor. She has been a teaching assistant in drama

and has led period 0 sessions. Jessica has participated in many charity events to help raise awareness for cancer

and poverty in Africa.

Spent money on: Cranford Park Nature project.

Teodor Jevtic (16 y/o) - Teodor has been nominated for his contributions to the music department, for numerous

performances and supporting the running of such events. He has supported students with their learning and his

amazing piano playing is admired.

Spent money on: music department.

Haashim Nisar (16 y/o) - Haashim has been nominated for his contributions to drama and representing the school

at external events such as UCL Urban Scholars programme and ‘The Battle of Ideas’. Haashim is very interested

in science and has taken part in numerous science projects. He successfully completed his work experience with

Mayfair Solicitors, as he wants to be a barrister. Haashim was elected as the class representative in year 7 and he

has kept this role throughout the years. This year he is part of the Prom Committee.

Spent money on: Shakespeare in Schools Project.

Gurshaan Ghattoray (13 y/o) - Gurshaan has been nominated for his contributions to sport and extra-curricular

activities. Gurshaan was an ambassador at the Junior Citizenship event and took part in Cranford’s Got Science

Talent event. Gurshaan helps at open evenings, participates in charity events such as the Big Local; he plays an

Indian instrument and is in the cricket and rugby team.

Spent money on: PE sports and geography department.

Arjun Sandhu (14 y/o) - Arjun has spent his free time for the last 2 ½ years with the ASD Centre. He has used

the ethos of the Centre “always showing kindness and respect” to embody these principles and guide the incoming

students in years 7 and 8 to follow these axioms. He is a solid and dependable role model and has helped a new year

7 student to set up a highly popular WFactor activity for which his passion has remained undented over this whole

academic year. The boys in the Centre view his continued friendship to be that of a “brother”.

26

Spent money on: Train Club and Picasso Centre.


ICT & Computing News

In

ICT & Computing we have been experimenting this year with independent

learning projects. Year 9 students have been allowed to choose, plan

and follow a topic of interest for them to support their interests or career

plans. Students have chosen to pursue software skills in programs such as

Adobe PhotoShop and PremierePro or even to undertake online programs of

learning in a wide range of topics from an Introduction to Psychology to Business

Accounting Fundamentals. Students have achieved fantastic results this year. Year

9 grades are higher than ever and we are very proud of their accomplishments. They

produced some outstanding work along with evidence of learning through diaries

and presentations.

Barbara Lodge (Head of ICT & Computing)

“The Independent Learning Project in ICT was

absolutely amazing, as we were given the freedom

to learn anything we wanted to. This project helped

us build up our research and design skills, as

well as helping us to become more independent in

general. For the past year, I have really wanted to

learn Python, which is a programming language;

when I found out that we had this opportunity, I

was ecstatic. This project also helped people like

me, who want to do Computer Science as a GCSE

subject. I learned enough program skills

to be able to program a

chatbot that could hold

conversations. I was

really proud of my final

product and I am really

excited to learn more

next year”.

Brahmnoor Brar (year 9)

“Participating in the Independent Learning Project

allowed me to broaden my horizons and enhance my skill

set. For my Independent Learning Project, I decided to

complete a variety of First Aid courses as I think First

Aid is an essential skill for life and can be utilised to

help others. My aim was to learn something new which

I can then implement usefully into real life to give back

to the community around me. I completed five different

courses; Basic First Aid Course, Advanced First Aid

Course, Anaphylaxis Course, CPR Course and

a Paediatric Course. After completing each

course, I received a certificate to certify my

achievement. Overall, I think the Independent

Learning Project was an amazing opportunity

and should be incorporated into the school

curriculum more as it allows pupils to excel

and learn something new whilst boosting

their independence and knowledge”.

Rajvir Sran (year 9)

“In ICT, I chose to do a topic related to what I see

myself doing in the future, accounting and finance. I

completed an online course, on a site recommended by

my teacher, called Accounting Foundations. This course

gave me a great insight into my career path and I believe

that the project was a very good way to expand my

knowledge of topics outside IT whilst still using the skills

that we have learnt in years 7 and 8 on report writing

and formal document skills”.

Prabhdeep Nijjar (year 9)

“In ICT this year we spent half a term on an Independent

Learning Project. I found this a really exciting opportunity

as I have always wanted to learn how to use PhotoShop

to edit and manipulate digital images. I loved learning

different techniques and my favourite was learning how

to combine different fonts with images to produce text

made out of different backgrounds. I really enjoyed being

responsible for myself and being allowed to choose the

techniques I wanted to learn”.

Zaafar Ahmed (year 9)

27


European Commission Commemoration Day in Brussels

28

In

February 2017, we were approached by the European

Commission to be involved in the 13th European

Remembrance Day Victims of Terrorism service, to be held in

Brussels on Friday 10th March 2017. In response to this invitation

we organised a poetry competition. We received numerous pieces

for our consideration and after a lengthy shortlisting process, the

winning poem “Boxes” by Lucy Tirahan (year 12), chosen by the

EU, was read during the service. Lucy and Ms Shaikh represented

Cranford and attended the day.

Alan Fraser (Assistant Headteacher - Community)

Boxes

When I was five

You took a box

And from it you made a car

When I was eight

I fell during our water fight

And on my elbow formed a scar

When I was eleven

We slept in our den

And our last words were goodnight

But when I was twelve

I had to carry you in a box

That you would forever lie

And when we lay it down

The water was no longer in the gun

But spilling from my eyes

Because this gun was more fatal

And in my heart, lives a scar

That forever asks why

Because this is no longer child’s play

And to half of me

I had to say goodbye

Lucy Tirahan (year 12)

“Going to Brussels to read

my poem for the European

Commission was an incredible

experience that I am really

grateful for. It was the 13th

Annual Day for Commemorating

Victims of Terrorism around

the world and whilst the

survivors’ testimonies were

distressing, it was also inspiring

to see their strength and how

communities had coped with

a devastating event. It was

a privilege to attend and be

given the opportunity to share

my work at that level - it is

definitely an experience I

will never forget. I also got

to meet the EU Commissioner

who was incredibly kind and

supportive of my work as well

as many other members of

the European Parliament. As

well as testimonies, there were

also psychologists delivering

research conducted on the

aftermath of a terrorist attack

and political leaders who were

to discuss new plans to cope

with attacks. Being there made

me realise how important it is

to discuss terrorism on a global

level to ensure that countries

can work together, rather

than letting these events divide

them. I hope they continue

to hold these annual days of

commemoration as they are

essential in ensuring safety

amongst a population. I would

like to thank the European

Commission for inviting me, Mr

Fraser for his correspondence

and organising our travel and

Miss Shaikh for taking me – you

all enabled me to take part in a

moving experience and for that I

am very grateful”.

Lucy Tirahan (year 12)


Lucy Tirahan represents Cranford in Brussels Victims

of Terrorism Remembrance Day Service

Being invited to visit Brussels and accompany Lucy to the EU Commission was an opportunity

that I did not want to miss. The entire trip and occasion are things that I will not forget. Not

only was it an opportunity to visit a new place and support Lucy in her task of reading out her

poem at the EU Commission, but it was also an opportunity to understand the first-hand experiences

of those affected by terrorism, to be able to comprehend what local European governments were doing

about such attacks and how they were changing their policies to adapt to the support needed by the

victims of terrorism. Many of the stories and experiences that were shared were by the family members

of those who were killed by terrorist attacks; it was a very sobering and humbling experience and

reminded me of how important it is to come together as a community and to support one another in

the good times and the bad. Everything that was said and felt came from the heart – very much like

Lucy’s own poem. It’s full of emotion and was perfectly suited to match the occasion. As a teacher,

it was a very proud moment to see Lucy take the stand and share her words with the world but it was

even more amazing to hear the praise that she received from the European delegates, officials and

from those who were there to share their experiences of terrorism. It was truly a great opportunity.

Sahrish Shaikh (English teacher)

Dear Alan,

Lucy was great. I think she is a very

inspiring young woman and I am sure

she has a very bright future ahead of her.

Thank you so much for the arrangements,

I hope she and her mentor enjoyed it.

We appreciate all the efforts from your

side and hope to continue working

together.

Warm regards,

Ms. Pomme Woltman | RAN Centre of

Excellence

29


On

Thursday 26th January 2017, another group

of beaming youngsters embarked on their first

and most definitely not last visit to the US Embassy to

attend a “Media Minded” event, run in collaboration with

Shout Out UK.

The event started with an informal mingling activity

centred around various snippets of news headlines or

tweets about real events; students discussed whether they

liked or disliked the headline and whether would share

it online, some of the students were amazed that some of the headlines were actually real news, for

instance: “Is 18 legged killer squid being weaponised by Putin?”

A welcome session by the founder and director of Shout Out UK made use of the familiar clickers to

get an immediate survey of crowd habits, including how many current events did you discuss today/

share online today. The power of the media was highlighted as an older problem than perhaps assumed

by our youngsters. In particular, attention was drawn to The Sun front page the day after the 1992

election result, proclaiming “It’s the Sun wot won it” as the Tories won an election many thought

would be a Labour victory.

The following break out sessions allowed Cranford students to share their ideas on the Russia and

Ukraine conflict; students worked in smaller groups on different news stories to discuss the bias,

intention and sentiments that could be behind different news. All 12 students were assuredly confident

when presenting their findings to the rest of their group in an articulate and persuasive manner.

It was Lucy Tirahan who was selected to represent Cranford in the whole group feedback and though

I myself maybe accused of bias, I felt Lucy’s summation of the findings of her overall group was the

best on the day. She was eloquent with her words and demeanour, as she seemingly effortlessly picked

out the most pertinent points that all the mini-teams within her group had made in the previous 45

minutes. She was the first up on stage but this did not phase her and I, along with the entire audience,

was extremely impressed by her poise.

Mehmoona Yousaf (Senior Teacher - Cultural Diversity)

Media Minded Event

“The media have persisted to be the most well-defined platform championing issues since the age of the printing press

and, for just as long, has been at the forefront of doubt, i.e. regarding poor critique portrayed as a consequence of

political agenda, spin and censorship pertaining to contemporary issues.

Our trip to the U.S Embassy shed light on such issues, giving us the necessary tools, information and skills to identify such

mechanisms, in turn accentuating them and preventing the spread of misinformation through the media - essentially curing

the “Mass Zombification of Ukraine” along with taming Russia’s “Killer Octopus” through the simple understanding of

sensationalism, exaggeration, triangulation and, of course, “a pinch of salt”.

Al-Enzeli Ramji (year 12)

“This opportunity was really useful as it enabled me to further increase my knowledge of the variety

of factors that impacted on the US Election result. We were a part of a workshop which required us to

analyse different newspaper articles and how they may influence a person’s opinion on certain media

reports, talked philosophically concerning what the ‘truth’ really is and how we can independently

distinguish what these media organisations are really trying to sell us. It was a tremendous experience

thus increasing my interest in politics and its importance in the world we live in”.

Maarya Zaabar (year 12)

“Being given the opportunity to visit the US Embassy in London was an experience I will not

forget as it enabled me to talk with other students who share the same interest as me particularly

the US Presidential Election and Brexit. It was really informative as a vast plethora of ideas was

articulated and shared by students from a number of schools around the country. While we were at

the Embassy, it gave me an insight into others views on the different ways subjects are portrayed in

the media, deepening my understanding on the varying interpretations in the media”.

30

Carmen Gaur (year 12)


Cranford Students Promoting Democracy

During this academic year, Cranford students having

been working alongside Seema Malhotra, MP for Cranford

and Heston, in various events, to understand and engage with the

democratic process. This included their participation in the local election campaign in the recent

general election on Thursday 8th June 2017.

“Campaigning with Seema Malhotra (and the Labour Party), the MP for our constituency, has allowed

me to gain a lot more knowledge in how politics actually works. It has allowed me to learn the

procedures of how different political parties bring together unique strategies to ensure they keep the

voters they have had in the past but also swing more voters towards their party.

A lot of time has to be put in and there are many tasks that anyone can get involved in within

campaigning politically. It is essential everyone is aware of what they are voting for and being able

to portray and spread the messages for political parties such as Labour has boosted my confidence in

politics, in which I have a keen interest in. I hope to get more young people involved with politics on

a local and national scale in the near future as the steps the governments take on a daily basis effect

everyone, but more so effect the young population in our community”.

From Aadil Awan (year 12)

31


discussions and share their opinions, views, concerns

and questions challenging topics, including issues

related to terrorism, extremism and radicalisation. It

is through this need the “Hear Our Voices” project

evolved. It provides young people of school age a

safe place to consider such challenging topics and

questions and allows them to not only share their

opinions but aims to educate these young adults

about the dangers and consequences of extremism

and radicalisation.

Project

In

January this year, Cranford

embarked on a major project

working with the Home Office in

support of its agenda of tackling extremism

and radicalisation of young people.

Schools have a duty to protect their children

from the dangers of radicalisation. Over the

past few years Cranford has commissioned

projects to shore up students’ defences to

those who would seek to draw them into

terrorism. One of the projects we use is the

Institute for Strategic Dialogues Extreme

Dialogue programme. This programme uses

high quality video and teaching resources

to develop young people’s critical thinking

skills. A group of Cranford students who

participated in the Extreme Dialogue

programme wanted to challenge the

difference between their school world and

the world beyond the school gates. They were

convinced that something should be done

to promote the shared values of the school

community with the world outside. They felt

the need to go out into the community to

promote common values and in particular

those of respect and tolerance.

“Hear our Voices” aimed at giving children

a voice and to demonstrate to schools that

this can be done in a non-threatening way,

equipping children with the resilience

needed to combat any future radicalisation

threat. The world around us is a fast-paced,

turbulent and scary place for the ‘children’

of today. The newspapers are filled with

headlines aimed to shock yet inform.

However we often forget that it isn’t just

the adult population that is reading these

articles. There is an urgent need to allow the

children of today to have a safe and open

forum where they can engage in honest

The project aimed to provide both primary and

secondary schools with some simple tools and

resources to enable them to fulfil this duty in a

non-threatening way. Through the use of drama

and creative writing students explored the topic of

extremism and radicalisation. The performance in

front of parents and teachers enabled both to start

having a dialogue with their children on this difficult

topic.

The three pieces are based around different briefs;

The Ripple Effect, Social Networks and The Open

Brief.

The Ripple Effect mixes live action with filmed news

bulletins reporting on a fictional suicide bombing of

Kings Cross by a young man from Hounslow. The

play explores the ‘ripple effect’ of his actions on

those who know him. Actors play a friend, teacher,

girlfriend, work colleague, football coach, aunt and

mother. The play explores not only the devastation to

those killed by the terrorist act but those who knew

him. The mother makes a plea to parents to talk to

their children. The key question is how well do you

really know someone?

The Social Network play deals with a young boy

who is being bullied at school. His mother and

father separate and the only constant in his life is his

computer games. He is befriended by another online

gamer who initially we think is another child but

as their conversation progresses we start to wonder

who this person is. He advises the boy to stand up

for his beliefs. When the boy asks his mother about

his beliefs and his identity she ignores him. In the

next scene buoyed by his new beliefs he challenges

his bullies and feels good about the experience. Our

mystery gamer tells him that people will try and

turn him from his beliefs but he must be strong. In

the last scene his mother is seen as a distant figure

slowly withdrawing from his life. The boy picks up

his school bag then picks up a suitcase throwing down

his school bag and walks off. The key question is how

did he become so alienated?

32


The Open Brief explores putting your family at

risk by your actions. The story is told through the

lives of a grandmother, mother and two daughters.

It is a loving family where each generation has

a daughter becoming pregnant at 16. The mother

has a boyfriend who persuades her to look after

a mysterious box contain cash and a gun. Her

actions put her family at risk until one day the

boyfriend comes looking for the box and one of

the daughters discovers it. The family confronts

the mother and casts her out. She pleads with her

boyfriend to take it away and when he refuses she

calls the police. This action resurrects her family

and the mother makes a pledge to her family to

never put them in danger again. The key question

is should you put your family through this?

Through this project the Prevent message was

delivered to a diverse audience of nearly 1,000

children, parents and teachers. The 28 secondary

students developed a very good understanding

of issues surrounding violent extremism with

the 14 who went on to deliver the plays having

a very deep understanding of Prevent and

violent extremism. The 14 are very committed

to the project and have taken great pride in

their contribution to the Prevent agenda and

feel they have made a difference to children’s

understanding of this subject.

Parents were overwhelmingly supportive of the

project and felt it was important for their tenyear-old

children to have an understanding of

this sometimes difficult topic. The project has

given parents a safe referencing point to discuss

Prevent and what their children should do if they

have concerns.

The workshops on British Values reminded the

children and teachers the importance of these

values and the need to protect them. The poetry,

often funny, conveyed the strong message of

what we value and that it is a shared value. In

particular, they focused on tolerance and respect

which are probably easier for the children to

conceptualise. A website has been developed

which will have all the resources available for

schools and methodology. A film has been created

which explains the project and why it important

to engage in the Prevent agenda.

Alan Fraser (Assistant Headteacher - Community)

Thought Wednesday was brilliant - really insightful. The ladies running

the workshop were BRILLIANT. They approached the Manchester attack

really sensitively, and in a way that opened up a forum for the children

to speak about it freely. It was then dealt with in a really positive way,

promoting British Values in a way I hadn’t thought of before.

Primary School Teacher comment

“When I left the drama production by Cranford Community

College and year 5 students yesterday I was in two minds,

unsure if I wanted my innocent child exposed to such terror.

I remained unsure until this morning when I heard of the horror

that had taken the lives and injured innocent children at last

night’s concert.

I wanted to thank you for identifying the need and addressing

this sensitive subject with year 5 students. The production was

a great way of educating both parents and children on ways

in which we can tackle this issue together and protect one

another”.

“The experience was really positive for Year 5 and

they thoroughly enjoyed working with the theatre

company ‘Bounce’ and learnt a great deal from the

plays performed by the older students. It was also really

fulfilling to work alongside a local school on such a

powerful project”

Deputy Headteacher Hounslow Primary School

Parent comment

33


INTERNATIONAL

From Osterley to Oslo, Hounslow to Helsinki, Bedfont to Beijing, T

World Class School Quality Mark (WCSQM)

Cranford Community College was designated a World Class

School in November 2015 and by a year later was providing

student assessors and a staff assessor for the new cohort of

would-be world class schools. Cranford is once again at the forefront of

international developments and is about to start trialling the International

Accreditation Programme for WCSQM with some of our partner schools.

2016-17 has been a magical academic year, roll on 2017-18.

Philip Dobison (Assistant Head of School, International Relations)

China

Korea

34

The year began early in the autumn term with the annual visit

by the delegation from Tianjin College of Commerce, which we

reciprocated in October 2016. 17 Cranford students, accompanied

by 5 members of staff visited the sights of Tianjin, the Forbidden

City and Temple of Heaven in Beijing as well as clambering up

the Great Wall of China. This trip is a real experience and eyeopener

on the dizzying growth of China and its economy. It is an

opportunity not to be missed and I am delighted to say that this

October, some 30 students from year 12 will be following in their

footsteps.

Our link with the South Dong Chang Middle School in Shanghai

goes from strength to strength and once again, we welcomed

students and staff from our partner school. The students visited

lessons from drama to science and all said how wonderful the

lessons were. One member of the Shanghai staff

commented: “You could feel the passion

with which the teacher spoke about her

subject”. That is all part of what makes

Cranford beyond outstanding.

Our links with

the Korean

Education

Ministry and

Embassy are

now very strong.

The Education

Department of the Embassy

has been sponsoring a Korean

teacher at Cranford and there

are currently 29 students

enrolled on the course.

Cranford is just one of a

handful of schools that offer

Korean and we are proud to

do so. The school has also had

requests for support from the

Embassy for various activities

involving educationalists from

South Korea, which itself is an

outstanding education system.

One of our students has been

very lucky to be accepted as

only one out of two from the

whole of the UK to participate in

a programme in Korea organised

by the Korean Government. The

student will spend 10 days in

Korea with all expenses paid,

experiencing Korean culture

first hand, visiting schools and

businesses, places of interest

and most importantly taking the

opportunity to speak Korean in

a real context. More news of this

soon.


ISM 2016-2017

wickenham to Tokyo, Southall to Seoul, everyone knows Cranford

Thailand

Japan

As part of

Cranford’s continuing look

at the world, we have developed

exciting links with a group of schools

in Thailand, Princess Chulabhorn’s

College group of schools, whose

focus is unashamedly on science

and technology. The school we are

particularly linked with is about 50

minutes from Central Bangkok and

offers students a calm and peaceful

location for learning. This is a brand

new link and is set for greater things.

Our links with Keio University

(one of the most prestigious

university in Japan) located

in Central Tokyo began last

February (2016) and have

blossomed since then. This August

(2017), 10 Cranford students from

years 9 and 10, plus 2 year 12

student leaders will join their

Japanese counterparts from the

Keio University Junior High

School for a week long activity

centre stay in the New Forest. It

is the stay of a lifetime and in

preparation. Before the summer

school, Cranford students will

take a crash course in basic Japanese. Activities

include kayaking, swimming, rope walks, archery

as well as visits to the local sights and Lulworth

Cove. We also have strong links with Joto Senior

High School in Okayama who were introduced to

Cranford by a former teacher at Cranford, Mr Baxter, who

now teaches at Okayama Joto Senior High School. Year 12

students worked with 10 students from Joto for the day,

challenging their knowledge of the UK and

Japan. In the end, the challenge came as a

draw with both sides pulling the punches

when needed. Students from both schools

really enjoyed the experience. As one

Cranford student said: “It was not only

fun being in a mixed team of Cranford

and Joto students, but we also got to

know so much about each other in such

a short time. I cannot wait for the next

opportunity like this to come my way”.

35


Finland

Cranford hosted a group from the Etelä Tapiola

School in Espoo, Finland. 13 students from

our partner school joined Cranford students in

their lessons (economics, English, physics and

psychology). This was yet another chance for

Cranford to open its gates to the world and help

our students become real global citizens.

Kazakhstan

Our work with the British

Council continues and we

welcomed a group of 5 prize

winners from Kazakhstan,

who came to visit Cranford

as part of their award

for submitting STEM

projects which were judged

outstanding. The 5 students

came from 4 different schools

across Kazakhstan and

enjoyed time with students

from Cranford’s own STEM

club, run by Ms Foale. They

also visited lessons in chemistry and biology and

engaged with year 12 Cranford students in their

experiments.

Brazil

Brazil too was on our agenda and we hosted a

visit by 6 science and mathematics teachers from

secondary schools in Rio de Janeiro, Barra and

Rio Claro. The Brazilian teachers visited classes

in the Science and Maths Departments and were

delighted with what they saw. Jessica Atouguia

(year 12) said afterwards: “I would so like to

thank you for the amazing opportunity, it was

great fun and the visitors loved our school”.

US Diplomats visit Cranford

We

arrived at CR4 and were welcomed

by Diplomats from the US Embassy.

They first introduced themselves and gave a

background of the US through an interactive

quiz. This showed the cultural differences

between the UK and the US as it was highlighted

what the average US citizen would answer and

some questions showed the clear difference in

views we held. We were then asked to write on

the front and back of a card, what we liked about

the US and something we either didn’t like or

were confused about. After doing so, there was

a discussion about the issues that some of us

had raised such as gun crime. When explaining

the US gun laws the diplomat tried to give some

context to why the laws are not as strict as the

UK, though we weren’t all easily convinced.

We were joined by other members of the local

community, some much older than us, and

the question and answer opportunity really

demonstrated the differences between us, not

least when Donald Trump was raised. We were

slightly shocked to find some support for Donald

Trump in our community and didn’t expect that

people would feel he was justified in some of

his more controversial views and pledges. This

was interesting as I previously thought the

vast majority of people were like-minded on

the topic of Donald Trump, but this conference

showed this to be incorrect. We finished by

discussing the positives about the US such as

tourism, Disney World and New York.

Ahmed Fadhluddin (year 12)

36


Election

Night

at the

US Embassy

in London

On

Tuesday 8th November 2016, Mr Fraser and I were invited to an Election Night at the

US Embassy in London. There was a real party atmosphere from the outset with many

notable media personalities and national and international politicians in attendance. The invitation

was extended to us in recognition of our continued special relationship with the people of the United

States and the US Embassy. This was one of the last formal engagements of Matthew Barzon the

US Ambassador to London who had been a good friend to Cranford during his tenure, Whatever the

outcome of the election he was returning to the US and we wish him well.

The event was in full swing at midnight with election results slowly trickling in and all seemed well.

The highlight of the evening for me was when I literally bumped into one of my favourite political

commentators Andrew Marr. The optimistic atmosphere continued until around 1:30 a.m. in the

morning when some of pollsters were predicting a much closer call than everyone had imagined. The

mood in the auditorium shifted from one of fun and enjoyment to rather more gloomy; the change was

palpable as the worried expressions of the vast majority of people seemed to ask the same question:

“Could the unthinkable happen?” By about 3:00 a.m. in the morning it seemed so and with so called

swing states declared as Republican and with our shoulders slumped, one by one people began exiting.

When we woke up for work the next morning the political landscape of the world had changed once

more; and however shocked we were by the result, we can say that on the night it happened, we

were in one of the key places witnessing the drama unfold alongside some key names in British and

international politics.

Mehmoona Yousaf (Senior Teacher – Cultural Diversity)

37


Cranford working with

our American partners

European School Leaders Programme to the United States

38

In

October half term 2016, I was fortunate

enough to be selected for a US government

funded trip to Washington and Minnesota. The trip

participants were European school leaders from

the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands and

Sweden and the focus was educational provision

for immigrant and refugee communities in the

United States.

The trip commenced in Washington DC with a

series of lectures and workshops on US policy

and practice. There was also the opportunity to

meet members of different ethnic communities

and visit schools in Washington and Maryland.

We had time to see some of the great sights in

the American capital city. The timing of our

visit was just before the American Presidential

election and this explained the added vibrant

buzz palpable throughout the city.

The second part of the trip took us to the Midwest

state of Minnesota where we engaged in a further

study programme with a particular focus on the

educational achievement of Somali communities

as well as other immigrant groups such as the

Hmong (from Laos), Vietnamese and Latino

students. I discovered that Minnesota has the

largest Somali community in the United States

and there are many links between Somali families

in London and Minnesota.

The trip was a fascinating opportunity for

European school leaders to meet US teachers,

students and academics and also spend time with

the different immigrant communities. We were

able to meet some inspirational teachers and

also hear from many students of their different

experiences adjusting to life in the US. We met

many young people who had overcome significant

barriers to learning and are now achieving great

results. In addition to meeting American school

leaders, this was also a superb opportunity to

spend time with other European Headteachers to

share and learn from our different experiences

and challenges.

This trip has become the start of an ongoing link

with the University of Minnesota with whom

we have embarked upon collaborative research

work into the educational experiences of Somali

students in Europe and the United States.

A follow up trip then took place in January 2017

to Paris and Poitiers in France. This trip continued

the focus on immigrant and refugee communities

but this time in France. This provided a further

opportunity for this team of school leaders to

work together and will be the springboard for

ongoing collaborative work with new US and

European partners.

Peter Stumpf (Associate Headteacher)


Minnesota comes to Cranford

In

June 2017, Cranford Community

College welcomed Marina Aleixo

and Nimo Abdi from the College of

Education and Human Development,

University of Minnesota, USA. Both

Nimo and Marina met Peter Stumpf when

he visited the US as part of a conference

delving into the educational experiences

of students from immigrant communities

in Western countries. Marina and Nimo

are conducting academic research into the

educational experiences, attainment and

integration of Somali students in different

western contexts.

The purpose of this visit, in light of their

entire study, was to look at the good

practice in the UK, specifically in Cranford

Community College, in comparison with

other countries in Europe, including the

Netherlands and Sweden. Whilst here,

Nimo and Marina conducted various

focus groups with staff and parents and

explored the perceptions, views and most

importantly the experiences of students

themselves. They also gave us an insight

into the systems in the US, which gave

the term “postcode lottery” a whole new

meaning as we learnt how vastly different

the educational experiences of American

students were depending on which

neighbourhood they belonged to.

The study will explore school structures

and national policies and consider the

impact these have on the school experience

of students and will be examining whether

these differed according to the different

countries. A thematic interpretive analysis

of all the data will be done. Alongside

this, the study will attempt to provide

in-depth analysis of national policies

regarding immigrant student integration.

Implications for research, policy and

practice will be highlighted once the

study concludes – which won’t be for a

while. This is to be a longitudinal study

and so this is not an isolated visit and we

look forward to welcoming both Nimo

and Marina back to Cranford in the future.

The students were extremely grateful and enthusiastic to

share their experiences and they summed up their meetings

with Nimo and Marina thus:

“The discussion we covered with Dr Abdi was incredibly educational

and fun. We were able to explore the different views of our Somali

peers and their aspirations for change in society.”

Calia Mohamed (year 10)

“Our discussion with Dr Abdi was enlightening as we learnt about

experiences of students in the US and we were able to share our

personal experiences with her, which as a young Somali felt both

refreshing and necessary.”

Faisa Ali (year 10)

“The session with Dr Abdi was extremely significant, because it felt

good to have someone explore the opportunities open to people from

ethnic minorities.”

Halima Elmi (year 10)

“I really liked the interview with Dr Abdi; it let me express my feelings

about life at school as a Muslim Somali student. It was valuable as I

felt she was truly interested in what we had to say. It was a good thing

that I got to share my experiences because I felt like I have made a

massive improvement since year 7 and I wanted to show Somali kids

and teenagers do very well at school and that everyone can change

and overcome challenges. It allowed me to reflect that my parents

raised me in the right way, which is something I am proud of.”

Abdihakeem Ali (year 9)

“I thoroughly enjoyed the experience because we discussed and

evaluated the many reasons why some Somali students and indeed those

from other ethnic minorities don’t do as well in education and gained

a greater understanding as to how we can stop this from becoming

a recurring global pattern. We also explored ways in which we, as

Somali students, can actively break stereotypes. We also discussed

the main factors that can cause barriers in the educational success of

immigrant communities such as teachers’ expectations, culture, peer

pressure and dealing with issues surrounding dual identity.”

Amirah Jama (year 12)

Mehmoona Yousaf

(Senior Teacher – Cultural Diversity)

39


When

we went on the trip to the London Symphony

Orchestra, I had the time of my life. It was

amazing. Gary from the LSO taught us so many things such as how

to use a variety of different things on an app called GarageBand,

which has many different instruments to choose from ranging from

a recorder to a guitar. After he taught us the basics of the app he

then let us create our own piece of music. I know it may sound hard but it really wasn’t as all of the

instruments had many clips of them playing a part of a song. There must have been over 150 types of

guitars which absolutely blew my mind; I never even knew there was that many types of guitars, I only

thought there was 3 types of guitars: electric, bass and acoustic. After we had created our simple piece

of music he then taught us more complicated things such as how to fade out a piece and start another

piece straight after the one I just faded out. I was really amazed by all of the things Gary taught us

as I had only ever used GarageBand once. By going on this trip I think it has really helped me in my

learning as it has taught me a numerous amount of new features and instruments and has improved

my knowledge technology and instruments. I certainly think this trip should be set again whether or

not it is for my year or another year. Thank you, it is an experience I will never forget.

By Robert Keeley (year 7)

Trip to the London Symphony Orchestra

Remix the Orchestra Workshop at the

Cranford Music Department has a longstanding

partnership with the London

Symphony Orchestra (LSO) and has for the

past 5 years been working alongside them in their

workshops and attending various concerts.

High-achieving music students in year 7 were

invited to take part in the ‘Remix the Orchestra’

workshop at the LSO. This was an opportunity for

them to build on the fantastic work they have been

doing throughout the year in class on topics such

as composition, theme and variation as well as

renaissance and sonata music.

40


Cranford is fast becoming the new Hollywood of

Hounslow. Over the past year there have been six

major campaigns filmed at Cranford and numerous

smaller social media campaigns shot using Cranford’s

fantastic facilities. Film companies choose Cranford because

of our unique facilities and the helpful staff and students.

On arrival students were given

a tour of the venue, where they

watched musicians rehearsing for

a concert and had the opportunity

to speak to professional recording

artists. At the workshop students

were given an overview of a

professional recording studio and

how it has changed over the last

30 years. They had the opportunity

to create their own compositions

using professionally recorded

samples, as well as collaborating

with the music producers delivering

the workshop which inspired them

greatly. Ayman Goudari (7T) said

of the experience; “I didn’t realise

how easy it was to make music and

how much fun it was. I want to set

up a studio at home”.

Mr Paoli (music teacher) said the

students’ music is “Fantastico. I

always knew they had so much

creativity in them and it’s so

pleasing to see and hear it here. The

joy, happiness and concentration

in their eyes really inspire and I

hope we open this opportunity up

to more students as this will help

build a legacy”.

All the students received a copy of

their music on a CD.

Mo Wasiq (Head of Music Department)

Last summer saw the Cranford SuperDome used as a location

for motion capture for a new football computer game. This was

the biggest shoot ever for a computer game involving building

a rig with over 250 cameras each capturing the movements

of ten freestyle footballers. The aim is to make the game as

real as possible with the final game being released next year.

In December 2016 our sports hall and rugby pitch were

used for Sport England’s award-winning campaign This Girl

Can. The sports hall was transformed into a multi-coloured

arena with over 150 women who had participated in the film

coming together for the grand finale.

In January 2017 it was the turn of Adidas to film international

rugby stars including Sam Warbutton, Connor Murry and

Maro Itoje. The three-day shoot primarily took place in the

Cranford SuperDome and on the rugby pitch. The international

campaign was launched during the recent British and Irish

Lions tour of New Zealand.

In March 2017 it was the footballers turn with New Balance

shooting a new campaign. We had various Premier League

players coming to Cranford for the shoot including Aaron

Ramsey, Jesus Navas and Casper Schmeichel. Indeed, they

loved our facilities so much so they decided to have the launch

event in the Cranford SuperDome in August 2017.

March 2017 also saw Alexis Sanchez spend a day at Cranford

shooting an advert for Gatorade, Chile.

Perhaps the most unusual film request was to have a horse in

our Leadership and Management Centre. This was for a new

advert for Skittles to promote their limited edition new white

skittles. The white horse behaved itself very well and the film

crew left behind a bucket full of skittles which were enjoyed

by staff over the rest of the week.

Together with smaller shoots for the likes of McDonalds

we think this makes Cranford Community College the most

popular location for filming in Hounslow.

Alan Fraser (Assistant Headteacher- Community)

41


This

National Writing Competition 2016-2017 run by First Story was a competition for aspiring writers in

year 7. Students were asked to produce a short story or poem of a maximum of 850 words inspired

by the theme of ‘Footprints.’ This theme could be interpreted in many ways and that is exactly what the students

did; poems and short stories that were submitted ranged from the detective and mystery genre to writing about

memories of friends and families. The work submitted was of an amazing standard and it was brilliant to see

that so many year 7 students were keen to participate. Three entries were allowed to be submitted for Cranford

Community College. Once submitted, First Story judged the winner and identified the representative for the school;

that winner’s entry was then submitted for the next round of judging whereby they would be up against entrants

from all over the country. The overall winner would have the opportunity to go to the Arvon Writing Festival where

they could also take their friends or family and enjoy a range of workshops with established writers. Although

Cranford did not necessarily have the winner of the whole competition selected from its entrants, Ayesha Kaur

(7Y) had her work selected and short-listed for the digital anthology which is published on the competition website

in the summer of 2017. Well done to Ayesha. You can read her poem here.

Sahrish Shaikh (First Story)

The

sweet, luring aroma of ginger wafted through my numb nose,

My ample cheeks were ruby-red and frigid like a frozen rose,

Refreshing sensations of joy and pleasure was what I was dwelling on,

Bells jingled and jangled whilst elegant reindeers pounced and bounced under the enchanting blanket of black,

The gleaming diamonds in the realm of darkness affectionately watched down on me,

The crisp, blustery winter breeze kissed my rosy cheeks,

Crystalline, sparkling snowflakes began to dance down majestically,

My tongue tingled for the sweet taste of lush, intoxicating cinnamon pretzels

that were sprinkled with the finest of sugars,

My red, glossy lips formed into an endearing smile,

I plunged my cushioned leather boots in the white, pristine and untouched duvet of snow,

And then I gaped in awe at Christmas standing in many rows …

Oversized seasonal candy sugarcanes shot out of the ground like luscious bountiful trees,

Surrounding the detectable canes of richness and magnificence,

Were petite, ornate, chocolate cottages of flamboyance,

The toiling chimneys chugged up laughter and Christmas spirit,

Spreading it to the world every minute.

Marshmallows were doorbells,

The wall of the cottages were neatly assembled together with mouth-watering, white chocolate shells.

Beside the doorstep mints were thoughtfully placed in a jar for guests,

Making the hunt for sweets no longer a quest!

Amaranthine, floral and exquisite were the wreaths upon doors,

And behind those doors I could hear hush little snores,

Delight and tenderness instantly filled my heart,

As the snores were so calming, setting all my worries apart.

42


Ayesha Kaur

I diverted my attention,

And set my eyes upon,

Something that made my eyes widen,

Something I had to keep my eyes on.

Stood solely in the middle,

Was a festive lavish Christmas tree,

Embellished with ornate ornaments,

All one-of-a-kind,

Each branch of perfection

With a twinkling angelic golden star at the top,

It added the cherry to a cupcake,

And the sprinkles to an ice cream,

Nestled in the limelight,

It was perceived from further than far,

Like shepherds trying to find Jesus

with a glistening star.

I pinch myself repeatedly,

Blinking and blinking, bedazzled,

Then I squint my eyes in utter disbelief

As I see a peeking smile

From behind the tree of wonders,

A mysterious face cheekily peeps out,

I scratch my head curiously,

Which had cleared all the doubt!

Excitement bubbled inside me,

As I realised who it was,

He was the one and only,

The one there only was!

I giggled at the hysterical face he was making,

And followed him around

To where he was standing,

To where the tree unbound.

He welcomed me with open arms,

And cuddled me to the core,

Then lifted a present from under the tree

and gifted me a Christmas well and galore.

His eyes were green gleaming emeralds,

His smile was the cave leading to happiness,

His boots were black and long,

And he sang his merry old song

He was indeed the man,

With the beard and the “HO!HO!HO!”

With the well-known red clothes,

He was Father Christmas for sure!

The footprints we left in the snow that day,

Will never ever go away,

For memories remain deep in the heart,

And nothing take them far apart.

I still re-live that footprint until now,

Because it’s the footprints that count anyhow …

By Ayesha Kaur (year 7)

43


Personal, Social, Health and Citizenship Education

PSHCE is always a lesson that everyone looks forward to; PSHCE helps us to understand

ourselves physically, emotionally and socially as we talk about topics that are not

generally talked about in other lessons. In PSHCE, we talk about topics that we can

connect with emotionally and discover more about the world around us,

PSHCE deals with real life issues that affect us all and being able to discuss these issues helps

us become better and more mature people because we discuss issues that can

be quite difficult to talk about like bullying. PSHCE helps us to develop a

level of maturity in order to be able to fully understand the subject and this

gives us the understanding we need throughout our whole lives.

This year we have discussed various topics such as human rights, girls’

education, mental health and terrorism. Personally, my favourite topic was

human rights as I found it extremely interesting because human rights play

an essential role in our lives. Without human rights, the world would be

likely to be in chaos and there would be conflict all around the world. Every

day, we are protected by these human rights, even though we do not realise

this and tend to take them for granted.

PSHCE helps us to realise how fortunate we are and how we should appreciate

things more by discussing topics like human rights and girl’s education as

there are countries where neither are enforced. An example of this is North

Korea. Human rights in North Korea are severely limited with many human

rights being violated and North Koreans being denied many rights which we

have access to at all times. PSHCE is about sharing our opinions and thoughts,

whilst learning and being educated about important issues.

Jaineet Gulabzada (year 9)

Cranford’s year 9 students have had a great year in PSHCE. To

reward the students who have done exceptionally well, the

school took us to the Apollo Theatre on Wednesday 3rd May

2017 to see “Wicked” the Musical, the retold story of the Wizard of

Oz, now from the perspective of the Wicked Witch of the West.

For some of the students, this was their first experience of going to

the theatre, but it left a great impression on all of us. We had our first

mock exams on that day, so the trip was a very enjoyable way to take

our minds off the tests. It was a rather rainy day, so we weren’t in

the greatest spirits during the journey. However, that turned around

immediately when we got to the theatre. We were introduced to

Elphaba Thropp, a socially awkward and younger version of the

Wicked Witch. It was interesting to see how the story unfolded from

the point of view of the villain, to get to the final stage of the story

that we are all familiar with.

We particularly enjoyed the witty humour integrated in an otherwise

serious story line; the writer of the play expressed humour through

the character of Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, though in this

version her character is an egotistical, dim-witted girl who becomes

Elphaba’s best friend despite their differences.

Overall, the experience was one of the great examples of how Cranford

rewards the students who try their hardest in school.

44

Guy Boonyarakyotin and Brahmnoor Brar (year 9)


MADE in HESTON WEST Film Making Project

Made

in Heston West is a community filmmaking project designed for young people (11-

18yrs) living and studying in our Big Local area. The project is in collaboration with

MADE (Make A Difference Entertainment) and Heston West Big Local. During the sessions young

people learn the art of filmmaking and community work. In the last year they have filmed and edited

Big Local community events, interviews (with our MP Seema Malhotra and the Deputy Lieutenant of

Hounslow Borough Maria Pedro) and campaign films, such as: community clean up, tackling gender

identity and body image issues. The sessions are an opportunity to learn leadership, communication

and creative skills in a safe, friendly, family orientated environment. Our Community Clean Up Day

film was recently featured in the Local Trust Film Festival at the University of Birmingham. Although

the project is aimed for young people we also have had parents and film experts volunteer their time

to support the project and help our young crew. By getting involved with our project young people

will have unique access to the film industry, an opportunity to network, visit film studios and festivals

and also get involved with other exciting Big Local projects aimed to help our young people gain new

skills and work experience.

We are always looking for more potential film makers to join our project and help make a real

difference in our community. If you would like to get involved or would like more information please

visit: www.hestonwest.org/made-in-heston-west

The sessions run Sundays 10.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Cranford Community College throughout the year

with additional sessions during the school holidays.

Taz Virdee (Community Project Manager Heston West Big Local)

“MADE in HESTON WEST is a community film project

where young people get to explore and learn new and

exciting things while creating amazing videos for the

world to see. It has helped me to grow my confidence

and do things I could never imagine myself doing

such as going out and interviewing people and being

in front of the camera without being scare”.

Serena Lola (15 years old)

“The film club has helped me learn camera, sound

and editing skills and made me a better filmmaker.

I am also a keen photographer, thanks to the MIHW

film club sessions teaching me about how the camera

functions work and different compositional techniques

I can use in my own photography. MIHW is the main

reason I got my own camera last Christmas, although

it is only a compact camera. I am now hoping to

get a DSLR bundle this year. My favourite part

of filmmaking is the camerawork itself, e.g. using

manual mode, altering settings to improve the look of

my filming, and overall taking more control over the

camera and getting out of the habit of always using

auto mode”.

Haroon Lukka (13 years old)

“MADE in HESTON

WEST club is a group of

people who make videos

for the community. It

has made me realise

that there is more in

life for those who take

the opportunity to do

things. What I enjoyed the most was

the recent fall prevention project

working with local GPs”.

Cammeron Jones (13 years old)

“MADE in HESTON WEST Film

Club has improved and developed

my editing skills using Final Cut

Pro that has helped me with my own

YouTube channel McPigmenPlayz”.

Leo Payne (13 years old)

“What I really like about the MADE in HESTON WEST sessions is

that you learn different things including how to use a camera and

how to interview people. I like the fact that we are one big family,

we all stick together and we help each other. My confidence has

grown within a year and I am now comfortable being in front of

the camera and working in teams. These sessions are simply the

best and I now look forward to my Sundays”.

Anjali Parmar (13 years old)

“The MADE in HESTON WEST club has inspired me to do more

working on filming I enjoy teaching others how to use the camera,

sound equipment and tripod. I really enjoy these sessions and I

look forward to coming every week”.

Callum Willis (13 years old)

45


At

Easter, Keven Prunty, Executive

Headteacher, Seema Malhotra MP for

Cranford and Heston and myself were invited

to attend the 20th Anniversary Celebrations of

America’s Promise in New York. America’s

Promise was started by General Colin Powel

and his wife Alma. He enlisted the support of

all the living US Presidents to launch this major

initiative. The declaration signed by President

Jimmy Carter, President George Bush, Nancy

Reagan (Ronald was too ill to travel) and

President Bill Clinton stated:

“The collective work of the Alliance involves

keeping Five Promises to children and youth that

form the conditions they need to achieve adult

success.

We promise to young Americans that they

will grow up with the help and guidance of

caring adult relationships, healthy childhoods,

safe surroundings, effective education and

opportunities to serve others”.

Subsequent to its foundation the declaration has

been signed by President George W. Bush and

President Barack Obama.

The event was about re-committing that pledge

to young people and was a truly inspirational

America’s Promise

time. The programme was made up of a series of

panel interviews, performances and films with a

key note speech from President Clinton. One of

the highlights was the twenty minutes we spent

with General Colin Powel and Alma discussing

the similarities and differences between young

people in the US and UK. We were delighted

when in his closing speech he said that one

of his highlights was meeting the

delegation from the UK and that

he had passed on our details to Bill

Clinton.

The event looked at some of the

challenges that face young people

in society today but underpinning

everything said was the message of

hope. We all learned so much from

our time in New York that will inform

what we do at Cranford and beyond

in the future. Indeed, many of the

messages are already informing

what we are doing such as the HOPE

Movement but watch that space as

there is a lot more to come.

Alan Fraser (Assistant Headteacher -

Community)

46


Hounslow’s Promise is an initiative devoted

to creating the conditions for success for

all young people in Hounslow, inspired

by the successful America’s Promise, and is

centred on a vision of Five Pledges to be made and

kept to the young people of Hounslow. It is based

on the view that in building our social capital

around our education system, we can help grow

and share prosperity. It is based on the belief that

all children are capable of learning and thriving

and that every individual, organisation and sector

shares a responsibility to help young people

succeed. It sends a simple message of aspiration

– that every young person is valued and no young

person should be left behind, and that we all have

a part to play in the success of the next generation.

It literally takes a village to raise a child.

The Five Pledges are:

Promise 1: A network of caring adults

We need a network of caring adults

and mentors around our young people.

​Parents are at the centre of caring for children

and need our support, but young people also need

caring adults in all aspects of their life, including

in school and in the community, extended families,

teachers, neighbours, coaches and mentors.

Promise 2: Safe spaces and facilities

For our young people to develop intellectually

and emotionally, they need to be – and to feel –

safe wherever they are. ​This means safety in the

physical sense, but also in the emotional sense,

where they feel free to explore and grow without

fear and stress, online and offline

Promise 3: Support OUR Teachers

Hounslow’s 1200 teachers work incredibly hard

and are becoming even more stretched. They need

the support of the community behind them to be

able to do.

Promise 4: A healthy start

Our children need a healthy start, ensuring the

food, nutrition and well-being they need to get a

fair start in life and to alleviate poverty that too

many children in Hounslow suffer.

Promise 5: Youth Leadership

We want to provide our young people with

opportunities to help others, to grow up to be

leaders, proud citizens who have been supported

by their communities and in turn give something

back. We want our young people to be empowered

to feel that they are in control of their own destiny

and with that, to care for others.

Since Hounslow’s Promise launched in early 2017,

Cranford has been actively working to fulfil these

five pledges through various activities in school

and links with the local community, primarily

Heston West Big Local.

Alan Fraser (Assistant Headteacher – Community)

47


Cranford Charity Fund Raising 2016-2017

Cranford’s students and staff once again undertook to support a number of charity initiatives this

year and continued to raise money for those less fortunate than themselves, including Comic

Relief and most notably the victims of the dreadful Grenfell Tower disaster. The target was

to raise £1150 and we set up various activities to raise money on Friday 23rd June 2017. In addition

year groups have continued to run fund-raising activities to add to the monies already raised. All

money raised will support the families who have been affected by the tragic fire. Well done Cranford

for raising £3165.55. You did yourselves proud.

Rita Berndt (Joint Head of School)

£3165.55

Red Nose Day

As

always, Cranford students and staff took part in

the fund raising event for Red Nose Day 2017

with great enthusiasm. Students and staff were invited

to wear silly socks. This fundraising idea originated at the

Student Leadership Conference held in March 2017 and we

are delighted that is raised £450. Thank you to everyone who

donated money and participated in the event.

On

Friday 23rd June 2017, an immensely catastrophic

disaster occurred, the Grenfell Tower fire. Many

people lost their lives and others were critically injured. In

this difficult time, the school came together to host a charity

fundraiser with games, a £1 bring and buy sale, a cake sale,

a picnic and general gate donations. The fundraising event

was an incredible success as we surpassed our goal of

£1150 and reached £3165.55. I am so proud of our school

for acting together to raise this money to help the victims

of the fire, and a special thank you to all those people

that donated or helped to run the activities.

At the gates, willing students including myself, volunteered to collect donations

early in the morning from passing staff and students with massive smiles on our faces and

sympathy for the victims. Later in the day during break 1 we had our ‘bring and buy’ sale where

generous students with big hearts donated different items to be sold at the sale for others to buy. There

was also a mouth-watering bake sale with so many scrumptious treats for people to buy. During break

2 active students could play either dodgeball or capture the flag; these were a great way to have an

amazing time with friends. Overall the fundraising was a massive success and all donations received

will be given to those affected by the horrific tragedy. We hope the families can use this money to

help their current situation and start to rebuild their lives.

Manav Vivek (year 7)

Grenfell Tower

48


Community BBQ

brings everyone

together

Cranford Community College and the Heston West Big Local Traveller’s BBQ held on

Tuesday 18th July 2017 was a huge success with local groups and over 200 local residents

attending. The weather was spectacular reaching highs of 24 degrees. The event was

organised by Cranford staff, students involved with WFactor and the Big Local team.

There was a wide range of fun activities for everyone to get involved in, from face painting, arts and

crafts, to multi-sports and a live classical Indian Ghungroo dance performance. We were also treated

to cupcakes and candyfloss! It was great to see the event unite so many members

of our community. The Big Local Youth Action Team - an army of 15

dedicated volunteers - was hard at

work helping run all the activities

while the Cranford staff and Big

Local parent volunteers were on

the BBQ serving our community

members. The event was a great

achievement in helping unite the

community and helped reach

the Big Local mission to offer

opportunities, create happier, and

healthier lives for everyone.

Taz Virdee (Community Project

Manager Heston West Big Local)

49


Year 11 - GCSE Drama - Looking Back, Looking Forward

This

year’s drama group was amazing

to work with. There has been a

rollercoaster of emotions over the two years, but

what amazes me is the resilience of the students

and their huge commitment and passion for the

subject.

The brief from the exam board this year

“Looking Back, Looking Forward” was one

that the students were very excited about, with

lots of potential. But the initial response soon

turned into confusion. Each group wanting to

experiment with lots of different ideas, forms and

styles. Because of their commitment they were

able to journey the last part of it with a belief that

the final outcome would be great. And it was.

As always the students produced thoughtprovoking

challenging theatre, exploring issues

that are often difficult to discuss, but they

emerged strong and because of their belief in

their ideas they produced some stunning, highly

imaginative pieces.

Seema Sethi

(Head of Drama – Community Arts)

“I was astonished by the genuine realness of

the effects created - it was almost hard to

believe it was not real. After this workshop

it has persuaded me to potentially further

the art of stage make-up and even

pursue it as a career”.

Lia Kamboh (year 10)

50


I

really loved the sfx

makeup course that

we did in our GCSE

drama class. It was

informative, fun and

interactive. At the

beginning, we were

introduced to a woman

called Kate who was a

professionally-trained

makeup artist. She has been

in the business for 15 years and

worked in movies such as “Logan”.

During the first part part of the course, Kate

explained to us the difference between theatre

and television makeup; television makeup is

a lot more skin-like compared to heavy theatre

makeup. She went on to tell us about the different

companies and types of makeup she used. Kate

also told us how to make things like pus, blood

clots, vomit and wax for the special effect.

Special

Effect

Makeup

Master

Class

After she explained everything, she brought

up 2 of my classmates and did a demonstration

on them. She showed us how to make bruises

(different stages of bruising), a cut from a shard

of glass and a severed finger. Personally, this part

of the masterclass made me feel quite uneasy as

it looked extremely realistic and therefore quite

terrifying.

Then, it was onto us. We were paired up with a

partner and we applied the makeup to them; most

people applied cuts. In my opinion,

my favourite part of this was

applying the fake blood

as it really pulled the

whole piece together.

I also enjoyed

applying the bruise

because it was so

realistic.

Overall, I really

liked the masterclass

as we learned a key skill

for when we perform theatre

performances and we were given

really useful information and techniques

if any of us wanted to go into a career path of

makeup artistry. As well as this, I liked how

this class taught that makeup isn’t just used

for beautifying someone; it can make you look

gruesome, dead and ugly.

Maisie Mullen (year 10)

Geography trip to

Osmington Bay

As

a part of our geography coursework,

year 12 geographers are required to

take part in a field trip and we can honestly say

that the trip to Osmington Bay between 9th-

11th June 2017 was one of the most enjoyable

trips we’ve been on. During our three-day stay,

a continuous supply of effort was essential from

all students as a result of the intense workload

throughout the day, however many rewards and

activities awaited us after the completion of the

tasks.

The trip began with a visit to Studland in Swanage

where we examined cliff profiles and visited a

local sand dune ecosystem. After arriving at our

accommodation, the PGL centre, a tour was given

shortly before heading to dinner, and later we

were treated to a campfire where we peacefully

roasted marshmallows and relaxed with music.

The following day had a number of tasks in store

for us – we commenced with a drive to Durdle

Door where we were provided with insightful

information regarding the rock type, any forms of

management which were occurring and how the

area was affected by erosional processes. Once all

information was gathered, we conducted various

types of field work including beach profiles,

measuring longshore drift and wave counts,

where one of our classmates decided to take an

unintentional trip into the sea! Then, all groups

travelled uphill towards Lulworth Cove where we

enjoyed lunch and conducted an environmental

quality assessment, questionnaires and land use

maps. As the final day approached us, we set

off to Lyme Regis and Chesil Beach to view

the numerous management schemes in place to

contribute towards the protection of the area,

whilst also being rewarded by many amazing

sights.

Overall, our trip to Osmington Bay was extremely

entertaining with lots of food and music, but most

importantly, hard work.

Ilmeet Khaneja & Divan Odedra (year 12)

51


History

Trip to

Battle

Abbey,

site

of the

Battle of

Hastings,

1066

15

students made the trip with Mr. Rich and Ms.

Wrigley to the Sussex coast on Tuesday 11th

July 2017, to take in a number of sites of historical

interest to A-level historians who are studying ‘Anglo-

Saxon England and the Norman Conquest’ in year 12.

Battle Abbey, the remains of which are still more than

evident at the site, was commissioned and built by

William ‘the Conqueror’ to celebrate his famous victory

over the Anglo-Saxons and King Harold II in 1066 at the

Battle of Hastings. The Pope ordered King William I to

build an abbey to pay penance for spilling so much blood

on that day in October 1066. It was, and is still, such an

impressive building that it took 24 years to build and

wasn’t finished and consecrated as a religious site until

his son William ‘Rufus’ II was king. Today it is a grade

1 listed historical site operated by English Heritage.

Markedly improved by successive kings of England we were

immediately impressed by the formidable gatehouse, built in the

1500’s, which leads to the grounds of the early medieval remains of

Battle Abbey. We walked the circumference of the Hastings battlefield

itself, enjoying the figures erected by English Heritage to celebrate

the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings last year.

The remains of Battle Abbey were by far the most impressive part

of our tour and it was incredible to discover, despite Henry VIII’s

dissolution of the monasteries from 1536 – 1541, how much of the

original early building remained.

Once we had finished touring the abbey and battlefield we drove to

Pevensey Bay on the Sussex coast where William landed with his

invasion force from France in late September, 1066.

Did you know? The site of the ‘Battle of Hastings’ is actually 23

miles from the town of Hastings in what is now the town of Battle – so-called

after the enormous clash of armies that fought there on the 14th October 1066.

Having landed at Pevensey Bay, William led his army inland from the coast to

hunt down the Anglo-Saxon army and this just happened to be the place where

he met the Anglo-Saxon army which had marched from London to defend King

Harold II’s crown and the country from invasion.

Tom Rich (Head of Humanities Department)

52


The Jamie’s Farm experience

Again

this year I was very lucky

to be able to organise two

trips to Jamie’s Farm, a working animal farm as

well as an organic fruit and vegetable garden in

Ditteridge, Wiltshire.

I take twelve students and two members of staff

with me on each trip and they all benefit from

living as a family in a calm, peaceful atmosphere.

Often when I first invite the students to come

to the farm I am met with reluctance to go

and sometimes a flat refusal. However, with

persistence and usually asking previous Jamie’s

farmers (all of whom would go back to the farm

in a flash) to speak to them they agree to go.

There are strict rules regarding no junk food or

sugary snacks or mobile phones which initially

causes a panic, but this usually disappears very

quickly once we are there.

In November 2016 we saw some lambs being

born, helped with the movement of sheep through

villages to new pastures, milked the jersey

cows, and generally worked very hard to look

after the land and animals. Every day we go on

long, hilly walks armed with torches and highvis

jackets; the students and staff alike all love

the adventure of climbing

hills, wading through

mud and scrambling over gates and fences. It

is fabulous to watch and listen to the students

interacting and supporting each other on these

walks.

In May 2017 we had a few pet lambs which needed

bottle feeding and there was never a shortage of

volunteers; the students made butter and cheese

with the milk from the lovely, friendly Jersey

cows. We helped with shearing sheep as well as

weighing them to see if they were the right size

to go to market. The students all love moving

sheep through villages and along the roads and

in the warmer weather we incorporate a dip in the

river into the afternoon walks which is absolutely

freezing but again something the students love

to do.

One of the most important parts of the day is meal

times. Not only because we get to eat delicious

food prepared by the students (who all take a turn

with the cooking) alongside experienced chefs,

but coming together as a family and share our

feelings is a very special part of every meal.

Every student would love to go to Jamie’s Farm

again and how they aspire to do well at school

with the hope that they may be able

to return as a student mentor.

Vanessa Tutt (Jamie’s Farm co-ordinator)

“At the farm I was more confident. At school I’m not that

confident and I would usually give up very easily, but on

the farm I was very confident and I wouldn’t give up, I

tried my hardest to get stuff completed”.

Clayton Sinclair (year 7)

“The impact the farm had on me was really good to be honest

because I feel like I’ve changed a lot and I deal with situations

differently. The feedback I received from the farm made me realise

I am a better person than I thought and this encouraged me to be

more confident in myself”.

Ronit Sawira (year 10)

53


Junior Citizenship 2017

Cranford hosted the

third Hounslow Junior

Citizenship Scheme from

Monday 3rd to Friday 14th July

2017. This year the two-week

event took place in the Cranford

SuperDome. We decided the

Cranford SuperDome would

be a great venue because of

its inspiring nature and offer

greater protection from the

rain we had experienced in

previous years. The Junior

Citizenship Scheme teaches

year 6 students about becoming

more independent and some of

the dangers they may face. It

encourages the children to make

right choices and covered 13

different scenarios including

the dangers of water, fire safety

in the home, healthy lifestyles

and the dangers of violent

extremism. Over the two

weeks 2500 children took part

from over 30 Hounslow primary

schools and the feedback has

been wholly positive from all

who attended. On Wednesday

12th July 2017 we had a VIP

day attended by the Mayor,

Hounslow Councillors and

senior fire and police officers.

Cranford Community College

continues to be proud to host this

event and its role in engaging

young people in learning

how to stay safe and become

independent young adults.

Alan Fraser

(Assistant Headteacher – Community)

54

Native American visit in celebrating Pocahontas

In

March 2017 Cranford played host to

two Native American chiefs from the

Chickahominy tribe. The two chiefs were here

as part of the commemoration events for the

400th anniversary of the death of Pocahontas. The

real story is that Pocahontas married an

Englishman and spent part of her life living in

Isleworth. She died suddenly at the age of 21 on

a ship returning to America and is now buried in

Gravesend, Kent.

The chiefs gave a special assembly to year 7

students about their culture both now and at

the time when Pocahontas was alive. This was

followed by a tour of the school where the chiefs

commented on how happy and studious the

students were. Later that day they attended the

unveiling of a plaque commemorating the life of

Pocahontas with the Duke of Gloucester.

Alan Fraser (Assistant Headteacher - Community)


Mathematicians with

Distinction

There

have been many successes

over this fantastic year

for our budding mathematicians at Cranford

Community College. Students across all year

groups managed to obtain a grand total of 5

gold, 25 silver and 42 bronze awards in the

various levels of the UK Maths Challenge.

A special mention must go out to Haroon

Lukka (year 9), whose results in the Senior

category were in the top 2000 students in

the whole country, qualifying him for the

next round of competition. Haroon now has

Gold awards in the Junior, Intermediate and

Senior categories. Shargeel Hussain, Rohan

Kapoor, Awo Igaal and Ahmed Ali (year 8)

were amongst the top scorers of the Junior

competition, and have also qualified for

another round at this level.

Saranian Thiagalingham (year 13), Baljinder

Padda, Ahmed Fadhluddin (year 12) and

Teodor Jevtic (year 11) accompanied

Mr Zramalval to the Senior Team Maths

Challenge event in Barnes. They came 11th

out of 30 schools, which is an incredible

achievement as they were up against some of

the top state and private schools in London.

Haroon Lukka, Ahmed Ali, Rajvir Sran and

Harit Boonyarakyotin (year 9) accompanied

Ms Patel to the Junior Team Maths Challenge

event at Haberdashers’ Boys’ School. They

improved significantly from the previous

year, going from 10th place to 4th. This

fantastic position was a real triumph,

competing against other fantastic state and

private schools.

In July the Maths Department ran an excursion

to Bolingbroke Academy for the Timetable

Rock Star London Championship. 35 schools

and over 120 students attended the event.

Jaslina and Manmit Singh and Ayesha Kaur

(year 7) represented Cranford and put in

performances that were well ahead of most

of the students.

Overall, we have been extremely proud of all

our young mathematicians, and are thrilled to

celebrate everything they have accomplished

throughout this academic year.

Sarah Brackley (Head of Maths Department)

Times Table Rock Star

Rock Wrangle

On

Saturday 8th July 2017 I, Jaslina

and Manmit Singh (year 7) went to

Bolingbroke Academy for the Times Table Rock

Star Rock Wrangle. It was an incredibly long train

journey so we were fortunate enough to experience

the picturesque sightings

of London followed by a

walk with nature to our

final destination. The

first round consisted

of twelve sub rounds

which tested our speed

against the clock for

each time table up to

12. It was challenging but the three of us tried

our best encouraging one another. Afterwards, we

enthusiastically sat down in the puzzle room playing

a tense game of Sets which we all really enjoyed.

Then we went to strike a stunning rock pose with

our trendy tattoos, flamboyant pink wigs, stylish

glasses and sassy boom boxes for our rock band

photograph. We nailed it- especially Mr Andrews.

Before the finalist rounds we had an air guitar

competition where I

participated and totally

rocked out with the other

children. Next it was

results time; who was

going to compete in the

quarter finals? Manmit

was one of the top

sixteen to compete in the

quarter finals and it was really thrilling as it was

the first time our school came this far. Manmit

and the other competitors typed like robots- they

were unstoppable and nothing would alter their

concentration. Manmit did awfully well but didn’t

make it to the next round; being in the quarter finals

was definitely something to be very proud of. It was

a spectacular day leaving us a lot to learn from.

Ayesha Kaur (year 7)

55


By

raising awareness of all strands of diversity

we hope to help eliminate discrimination

and promote equality. This cross curricular project

involved all elements of the school curriculum in an

exciting way that maximises efficiency and celebrate

all elements of our school community.

Activities took place in the afternoons where

students worked on STEM, the arts, sports, equlaity

and diversity. The programme was challenging and

pushed students views on topics such as race, gender,

religion and ability.

STEM

Gender imbalance in the current STEM Workforce was

discussed. Why do they think there is one and what

we can do about gender stereotyping, unconscious

bias etc. Then there was a quiz on the stats of STEM

careers, followed by a presentation on how a fantastic

female engineer called Eleanor Stride has engineered

nano bubbles to try to cure cancer. Students then had a

research activity to make their own model of a chosen

nanoparticle and argue its value to society. The class

then voted on the best project..

Arts and Creative

Activities

Theme: Equality, Diversity and Unity

Students watched a performance of ‘Hear our Voices’

which looked at diversity and the impact of extremism

through three short plays. The different arts groups

which students opted moved into working on various

projects including:

Music – Exploring the life and impact of Bob

Marley.

Drama – Developing a response to the ‘Hear our

Voices’ project and collecting responses from

students.

Art – Weaving and threading project. Large scale

artwork in both 2D and 3D form.

Sports – Students took part in traditional sports

day activities and sporting activities that had been

adapted for people with different abilities such as

seated volleyball.

Kevin Biggs

(Senior Teacher - Activities Week)

56


Week 2017

“The year 12 charities project was

good, it was fun to organise our own

event and run it. It was good to be

challenged in a different way”.

“I enjoyed the weaving which

is something I have never

done before”.

“The STEM project was interesting.

I learnt about nanotechnology and

how it can solve problems. I created

a model of a nanotechnology”.

“I really enjoyed the sports afternoon, it

was fun to do adapted sports and work with

my friends on completing team sports”.

57


Annual Borough 6th Form

RE Conference

Cranford Community College was delighted to host the annual Borough 6th Form RE Conference

for the 3rd consecutive year on Friday 16th June 2017. This year saw 6th form students from

Cranford as well as teachers and students from Lampton School and The Green School, think,

discuss, debate and reflect on the theme of “Should religion play a role in identity?”

Students were able to actively engage in big questions about identity and consider what their identity

is made up of. The day involved students visiting various workshops run by teachers from the Institute

of Education, Roehampton as well as Cranford staff. They were then able to participate in a Q&A

session where they had an opportunity to question a variety of speakers. Speakers included:

Billy McCurrie who was 12 years old when his father was killed by the IRA. Consumed with anger,

Billy joined the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) at 16, and a year later was ordered to kill. Sentenced

to life at 17, Billy spent 10 years in the Maze Prison and it was there that a Christmas Eve reading of

the crucifixion story changed his life. Feeling guilt for his crime for the first time, Billy repented and

rediscovered God, becoming one of the first prisoners to renounce violence before eventually being

released. Bharti Taylor (Secretary General of the Hindu Forum of Britain) made history by becoming

the first female to be elected to the post of Secretary General of the Hindu Forum of Britain. She is the

first woman to lead a faith organisation in the UK and was joined by John Leeson from the Humanist

Society, Basil Mann and Charanjit Singh from the Hounslow Friends of Faith and Najeeb Ahmed a

Prevent Coordinator.

The conference was really well received and promoted some excellent debate.

Avneet Kang (Head of RE Department)

58

“I enjoyed the workshops; as a young Muslim myself it was interesting to see

how identity is shaped by such a wide variety of factors”.

Zainab Rahman (year 12)

“My favourite part of the conference during the panel discussion, in particular

listening to Najeeb’s views on Islamaphobia and being a British Muslim”.

Jaspreet Mann (year 12)

“An interesting speech was given by Najeeb, a member of the Muslim community.

He spoke about different beliefs and aspects of religion and how these influence

identity”.

Imaan Haque (year 12)

“I really enjoyed Ms Birdi’s

workshop; she questioned our

beliefs and ideas and by the end

of the workshop I was thinking

about my identity”.

Kumail Abbas (year 12)


Dream Rewards Day 2017

The

annual DREAM Rewards Day on Thursday 20th July 2017

saw over 1000 students partake in various events across

the South East of England. This year there was more choice than ever

with up to thirteen activities on offer ranging from a training day with

the Royal Navy, swimming, a trip to Brighton, to the hugely popular

trips to Thorpe Park and Chessington World of Adventures. Year 12

students embarked on the annual Monopoly Challenge around London,

all competing to win the prize of being first back to school having

completed all the competition tasks. Thank you to all the staff and

students who took part and made the day such fun for everyone and

to the admin team led by Ms Brown for the mammoth task of ensuring

everyone got to the right activity. The day was a great success and most

importantly everyone came back with a smile on their face.

Matt Southern-Myers (Head of Pastoral - Senior Teacher)

Year 12 Monopoly Challenge

This

year’s Monopoly Challenge was a great success with

each team being highly competitive. For some students,

this was the first time they had ventured into London and

there was a definite air of excitement as they were briefed

at the start of the day and an eagerness to get started. The

winning team led by Mr Andrews had lunch on the go to

avoid losing time and clearly it paid off. I was so proud

of the way the year group took on the challenge. They

showed great determination and enthusiasm in the way

they approached the task and a real sense of healthy

competitiveness when the winners were announced.

Well done year 12. A great end to a very successful

year.

Sharandeep Saroya (Head of Year 12)

Brighton

Rewards Day

Trip

For

Rewards Day, I

went on the trip

to Brighton. The journey

down took approximately 1

hour and 45 minutes, which

is not bad at all. When we

arrived in Brighton, we

formed into groups of 3

students. Each group would

do what they want for the

whole day. However, I

was lucky enough as an

ASD student to go with Mr

Dobison into Brighton City

Centre. There are many nice

shops (as well as buses)

in Brighton that I saw. In

general, I would say that

Brighton is a beautiful city.

I had some fish and chips

for lunch, but the food from

the place wasn’t nice. I also

had an ice cream that tasted

good. We then went to look

at the Pavilion Gardens

which were beautiful. After

that, we headed back to the

beach and relaxed until it

was time to go home.

Daniel Ortega (year 8)

59


News from Year 7

What

a brilliant first year at Cranford for year 7 who have been involved in so many

wonderful events and activities whilst learning new skills and embracing every

opportunity to do well academically. They finished off their year with a week-long charity fund raising

initiative for the Grenfell Tower disaster fund raising an additional £446 to add to the whole school

fund as reported on the Charities page. Well done year 7. Ms Jenkins and I are extremely proud of

you and all you have achieved and look forward to year 8.

Randeep Sidhu and Tammy Jenkins (Head of Year 7 and Year Manager)

Grenfell Tower fundraising

On

Friday 23rd June 2017 I participated in raising money for the Grenfell

Tower disaster. I chose to participate to help the families who had

been affected by the tragedy. I helped collect donations at the gate where we

held buckets, accepting donations. Some people were donating at the gate but a

vast majority saved their money for activities or treats We worked shifts of 15

minutes each. I started at 8 and finished at 9 a.m.

60

During the incident the tower was encased in a massive fire. I felt happy that I helped the less fortunate

who lost those close to them. Our target was £1150 and we raised £1322. I was glad we raised an

extra £172 to help people affected by the incident. There were activities you could participate in for

£1. You could buy items, play dodgeball, buy cakes or play capture the flag. I spent my pound on

a cake. Some people came in as early as 8 a.m. to accept donations from others. Other people gave

things to the hatch which could be sold for a pound, some brought in cakes. Some people helped by

assisting while selling the cakes or the various items. Many people brought more than the agreed £1

contribution, this is the reason why we raised £1322.

Harsimran Bath (year 7)


Bowling Rewards Trip

On

An Amazing Trip

Wednesday 14th December 2016, four

lucky children from each year 7 class

were rewarded to a magnificent, extraordinary

trip to go ice skating in Hampton Court Palace.

The reason why these four people got chosen was

because they worked hard to get the highest dream

points in the class and they were good year 7 role

models, but don’t worry the people who didn’t get

to go, they have still got up to year 11 where they

can work hard and get a huge reward for what they

deserve.

When we entered I was so shocked and surprised

because, in front of me was a colossal palace. When

we were getting ready to go ice skating, we had to

give in our shoes so we could get our skates and

have some fun.

When we got out onto the ring I was confident in

myself, but boy was I wrong. As soon as I put one

foot down I was flying everywhere and bashing

into the ring; it was so embarrassing and it was a

nightmare. Half way round I fell on my back and

then my knees so I thought I should take some time

out because I was injuring myself one too many

times.

Then I thought to myself why did they have to call

it ‘ice skating’ I mean why couldn’t they call it,

‘How many times can you fall in an ice rink’ the

person with the highest score wins, because surely

I would have one that.

Afterwards two good friends of mine called Robert

and Ryan, told me to get back into the ring and try

again. I thought to myself ‘Satnam don’t give up

try your hardest and you’ll get the hang of it.’ So, I

finally got up and guess what, I got the hang of it.

So overall my experience of ice skating was great

and a real learning experience.

A big shout out to Ms Jenkins, Ms Sidhu and all

the other teachers for organising this. Thank you.

Satnam Curry (year 7)

Producing hard work, showing positive

behaviour around the school and overall

being a good role model to their own

forms: these are qualities 4 students from each

form in year seven (including us) had shown to

receive the award of going on an entertaining trip

to airport bowls.

As we approached Airport Bowls, there was a lot

of excitement as we couldn’t wait to start playing.

However, before we put all our energy into

bowling, we’d purchased some delectable snacks

and collected our shoes. After we’d eaten, we

were split into five extremely competitive groups

(including the teachers’ extremely competitive

group as well). As we had filled our names into

the bowling results chart, certain individuals

were boasting about how they were going to

win. During the first few courses of the game, it

seemed like the bowling balls were

dodging the pins and at one point,

a girl in our team “accidentally”

rolled the ball for a teacher who

wasn’t very impressed when they

found out.

Saffiyaa Patankar in 7Z got the

highest score of an amazing 105

and Mr Nation-Tellery had the

highest score out of the

teachers with 96.

We would like to

thank Ms Sidhu,

Ms Jenkins and Mr

Nation-Tellery for

organising and taking

us on the trip.

Shamaila Baig and

Saffiyaa Patankar (year 7)

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This

academic year has

been nothing but

eventful for year

8 students. They have had an unlimited

number of opportunities to develop

themselves academically and as young

adults learning core skills and values along

the way.

Year 8 - From Me to We

Some of the opportunities students

have included: the role models project,

Shakespeare in School, the year 8 band,

participating in sporting events and fixtures,

Youth Sports Awards, and TI days.

However, the year 8 project is probably the one that stands out the most. This was part of their new

curriculum and was focused on core strands of community cohesion, communication, team work and

respect. Year 8 students developed these four main strands whilst developing a legacy and a constant

reminder for year 8 of what can be done if people work together effectively as a team.

This challenging project has come along really well and I am very proud of the hard work the students

and staff involved have put into the conservation area as now it will be more actively used by the whole

school community. We talk a lot when we start school about the ‘legacy’ we leave behind, and while

we hope this is achieved through excellent grades and further success, being involved in a project like

this has already begun to create that legacy for our year 8 students.

Well done to all involved and a special thank you to Mr Biggs for his support with the planning and

organising of the project.

Hamesh Rattu and Yas Ashfaq (Head of Year 8 and Year Manager)

Year 8 Lego® project

On

Thursday 9th March 2017, Cranford held a Personal

Development Day where the normal school timetable

was collapsed for bespoke work on activities and topics relevant

to a year group.Year 8 students enjoyed the Lego Project challenge

which required them to deal with various technical information,

work in teams and compete against their peers in a final race. During

the session, students were inspired by employees of Heathrow and

had the opportunity to build a robot and programme it using LEGO®

MINDSTORMS making it following complex commands. Once

programmed the robots participated in the robot “race off”. It was

a fun and engaging day where students learnt how to problem

solve and work together in a

business environment. Year

8 students developed lots

of employability skills and

were challenged to solve

problems.

Kevin Biggs (Senior Teacher)

62


WFactor and Period 0 - Enrichment at its best

2016-2017

has seen continued

development in the

enrichment provision during WFactor and period 0.

Student leadership of activities has become a major feature

of the enrichment programme with students in key stage 5

running sessions for students across the school in a variety of

topics. These include running introductory language courses,

sports and current affairs. In addition, students have been

working with teachers to broaden horizons and have worked

on topics including gothic literature projects, construction,

music and drama production. Cranford has introduced its

own horticultural society and train club. There has been a focus on healthy living with students having

opportunities to improve their own health including fitness, dodgeball, swimming, rugby,

athletics and cricket.

Kevin Biggs (Senior Teacher - Enrichment)

63


Year 11

ROA and PROM 2017 - A Significant Milestone

Wednesday 5th July 2017 marked a

significant milestone in the lives of

the year 11 class of 2017, starting with the

Record of Achievement event to celebrate

their last five years at Cranford. The

entire cohort worked very hard for their

GCSEs, and the ROA helped recognise

their achievements and drive in the run

up to the examination. It started with an

excellent performance by the year 11

band who performed “New Divide” by

Linkin Park followed by the awards, a

staff performance of “Counting Stars” by

One Republic and the year group video.

The evening was amazing and thoroughly

enjoyable for parents, carers, staff and

students.

The celebration continued with the Prom

at the Riverside. The students looked very

glamorous, were impeccable and really

enjoyed themselves. There was a further

award ceremony where tutors rewarded

their tutees, Head of Year awards and

awards voted by the students. Lewis

Tirahan and Naomi Clelland

won Prom King and

Prom Queen.

I would like to thank

everyone who helped make

the day a success especially

Ms. Prunty, Mr. Biggs, Mr.

Myers, the Prom Committee

and Haashim Nisar for the

leavers video.

Shawn D’Sousa (Head of year 11)

64


“It

is truly an honour and privilege to be standing

here addressing all of you on this momentous

day. I have to say that I am very proud of the

young men and women seated here today and I say men and

women because it has been amazing to see you all mature and

flourish into who you are today.

July 2012, I was looking forward to the London Olympics, I was

the head of year 13, just waved goodbye to my year group and

preparing for the year 13 ROA and Prom. I was informed that

I would be going to be head of year 7 and moving

up through the years with a brand new year group.

During my time at Cranford I had always been in

the sixth form and the thought of having to start

with a year 7 group was daunting.

It was around this time of year that all of you

turned up for your taster day and I got to meet

you. Over the years a few have left and a few more

have joined and all of you have been amazing. You

were a year group of many firsts. First to wear the

new Cranford smarter uniform looking very smart

on that first day. You were one of the first groups

to have a very strong male and female rugby team

that went onto many competitions and successes.

You were first to take on the challenge of the new

1 – 9 GCSEs in English and maths, paving the way

for all the year groups to follow.

My friends and family who are not in teaching often ask me,

how do you do it. How do you deal with teenagers? Why put

yourself through the stress?

Well I tell them that there isn’t single day in my life, as head

of year that has been the same. Every day in this job I am

surrounded by inspirational, motivated, enthusiastic, clever,

talented and interesting young individuals. I am guaranteed

to have a positive experience, guaranteed an interesting chat,

guaranteed a challenge and guaranteed to have laugh.

To the parents, carers and senior teachers here today, who gave me the

opportunity to work with you over the last 5 years, I have to say thank

you. Thank you for the opportunity to work with a

bunch of phenomenal young people.

Over the last few months I would park my bicycle

in the memorial garden and make my way into

the school. I witnessed the majority of you in

school early, attending additional revision in

period 0 and staying late after school even

after period 6 would end. Weekends, end

of term breaks. I have seen the effort that

you have put in. So year 11, I hope that

this summer will provide you with a set of

exam results that you are proud of and will

propel you into an amazing future.

I say that I wouldn’t have been able to do this

without an amazing team backing me. The

tutor team over the years have been amazing;

thank you. Also a massive thank you to all

your teachers, I wouldn’t have been able to

do it without all of them.

And lastly after all the hard work over the

last few months, the massive effort that you all made and all the

preparation. I do hope your results are amazing this summer. Please give

yourselves a massive round of applause”.

Shawn D’Sousa (Head of year 11)

65


Year 12

Cranford

Youth

Talks

2017

On

Thursday 18th, May 2017, Lucy Tirahan

and I had the lovely opportunity of hosting

the inaugural Cranford Youth Talks event. The

event consisted of students from year 12, who were

given the chance to express themselves on a topic

they felt passionate about. The topics varied from

understanding technological advancement to the

importance of self-worth. It was absolutely fascinating

to hear all of the eleven students convey their zeal on the subjects/issues they discussed. One thing I was

able to notice about the speakers, as they spoke, was their growth in confidence. You could feel the

energy, the passion and the excitement as they imparted their wisdom to the audience. I felt so proud

of all the speakers as for some it was the first time they had spoken in front of large audience and they

handled their nerves to deliver heartfelt and thought-provoking speeches.

I feel honoured that I had the opportunity to co-host this event, the first of its kind at Cranford. We

need more people to express themselves and have their voices heard so they can find what they feel

passionate about and hopefully inspire others to find their passion. This event was designed so anyone,

regardless of race or background, could have the opportunity to have their voices heard. I’d like to

say thank you to Ms Saroya for organising the event and a massive thank you to those who took part.

We certainly look forward to next year’s Youth Talks, as we hope to hear new voices and discover

hidden talents here at Cranford.

Kulbir Maras (year 12)

66


Eton University Summer School

Attending the Eton University

summer school was an

incredible opportunity to

experience English at degree level;

I attended the summer school with Baljinder

Padda who did double mathematics and Samiha

Begum who did history of art. It was challenging

but informative and allowed me to understand the

UCAS process better. I was not only challenged

academically, but also got to meet amazing people

from all over the UK. It was a ten-day residential

course, something I had never experienced

before and encouraged me to become more

independent. The academic side of the course

included analysis of medieval literature and

literary criticisms, whereas the recreational side

of the course meant we also got to have a break by

playing sport. On the weekend we were given a day

off lessons and got to take part in special activities;

I was lucky enough to be given a place on the

silverwork course where I got to make my own

ring. ​The lessons were mainly discussion based

and working in small groups improved my ability

to articulate myself. In addition to lessons, all

courses were given the opportunity to have mock

interviews and a question panel with Oxbridge professors which was insightful as we were educated

on the application process. The English course specifically were given the chance to do an ELAT

(English Literature Admissions Test); this was another example of how we prepared ourselves for

university by doing activities which are not included on our school specification.

I would like to thank the school for sponsoring us to go and the charity ‘Spark!’ for providing support

during the application process. The charity held a period 0 session where they showed us previous

applications which were successful,

giving us an idea of how to make

our own applications suitable. It

was a competitive process and I

feel incredibly privileged to have

been chosen. I am grateful for the

opportunity because it has reassured

me that you are capable of getting

into top universities if you work

hard enough, regardless of what

area your school is in. I would

encourage anyone to take up this

opportunity if it is offered to them,

especially if there is a subject you

are passionate about and know you

want to pursue in the future, as it will

give you a chance to explore depths

unknown to you.

Lucy Tirahan (year 12)

Intensively studying mathematics for ten days was unlike anything I had

previously been exposed to. We were introduced to topics beyond our

specification with a prime focus on Oxbridge applications, for example:

I learnt how to prove theorems I had previously taken for granted giving

me a better understanding of the workings behind mathematics. We also

focused on improving our problem-solving skills by tackling Cambridge

examination questions.

Baljinder Padda (year 12)

Studying history of art at the Eton University Summer School for 10 days

reinforced my desire to study architecture. The intensive course consisted

of many trips to galleries to study the artworks on display- we visited the

National Gallery, Tate Britain and the Wallace Collection. During my time

at Eton I realised that I would thrive in a creative subject like architecture,

and my teacher Mr Nolan motivated me to work hard to reach my goals.

The support he provided made me realise that in order to succeed, I need to

be proactive; we visited an architects’ firm where I organised some work

experience over the summer. Overall, my experience at Eton was incredible,

my peers and teachers all gave me a new enthusiasm for learning and

motivated me to do the best that I can to succeed.

Samiha Begum (year 12)

67


Year 13 - Celebration Evening

The

Year 13 Celebration Evening took place on

Thursday 25th May 2017 in the Concert Hall

and Memorial Garden at Cranford Community College,

which was attended by staff, students and parents. The evening was filled with speeches, entertainment,

more speeches and finally a big farewell to our year 13 students 2016-2017 in the Memorial Garden

with a glass of prosecco or two.

The evening started with the Leadership Quartet welcoming staff, students and parents and sharing their

great memories of the last 7 years alongside their hopes for the future. Sahi and Hasan are

truly an example of what any year group could ask

for in a Head Boy and Girl: committed, confident,

ambitious and most of all approachable. Mr Stumpf

and Ms Gerber then took to the stage to congratulate

students on their achievements so far and

remind them that even though this

chapter of their lives has come to a

close the doors will always be open

to them as Cranford Alumni.

We were entertained with a fusion

dance piece by Shafla Sharaz and

Eliza Thapa who danced to a medley

of songs ranging from Bollywood to

modern pop. Following that Mr Cripps,

Head of Sixth Form, spoke about his memories of the

year group in the short amount of time he’d got to know them,

how proud he was of every student and how he had high hopes for

them in the future.

Next up was Ziah Charles who sang a beautiful rendition of ‘Running’

by Beyonce which captured the audience’s attention from start to finish.

Ms Jenkins and Ms Kaher were invited on stage to impart their wisdom

about the road ahead for year 13 students and share their wonderful

moments together. Ms Kaher has been with this year group since they

were in year 7 and her speech was filled with enjoyable moments from those 7 years.

The final performance of the evening was a mash up dance performance by Jasveen Wadhwa who is

also part of ‘Karan’s Bollywood masterclass and Kspark Entertainments’ which was then followed by

me, Ms Bahra Head of Year 13 expressing how extremely proud I was to be Head of Year to a fantastic

year group who had faced many hurdles in their journey to adulthood but as true stars came out the

other side shining brighter than ever. These are students who never gave up their on dreams and have

grown into fine young men and women who are ready to embark on the next chapter of their lives.

It was then up to Shafla Sharaz to wow us with her farewell film which was received with lots of

laughter, cheers and a few tears. Our Leadership Quartet then closed the formal part of the evening

and did an amazing job at hosting, and as ever were dressed immaculately, spoke with conviction and

did Cranford proud.

Year 13 students were then invited to the Memorial Garden to say farewell to their peers and teachers

in a more relaxed setting. The evening was a huge success and only achievable with the support from

students, parents and staff.

68

Deepak Bahra (Head of year 13)


69


Introducing the Sixth Form Student Leadership Team 2017-2018

The

annual Sixth Form Student Leadership election for 2017-2018 took place in July

2017 and was hotly contested by a number of highly eligible and well-deserving

applicants. We were overwhelmed by the quality of applications and were spoilt for choice when

it came to shortlisting. Fortunately, we had the help of students from across the school to assist

in the election process, scrutinising their manifestos and giving them tough panel interviews. This

year we decided to extend the team to six to reflect the quality of candidates. Congratulations to

Aadil Awan Head Boy, Jessica Atouguia Head Girl, Mustafa Ahmed and Kulbir Maras, Deputy

Head Boy and Lucy Tirahan and Zala Amiri, Deputy Head Girl.

Mark Cripps (Head of Sixth Form)

“As I have progressed through the years at

Cranford Community College all the way

from year 7 to year 12, I have realised that

the honourable and prestigious role of Head

Boy is one that I want to pursue. This has

all come from my passion for my school, the

foundation it gives to students to prosper

further in all aspects of their life and the opportunities

Cranford has afforded me. I strongly believe that taking

on the role of Head Boy would allow me to bring positive

change to our school”.

Aadil Awan (Head Boy)

“I believe this school is an amazing place

to learn, grow and enjoy. As a “beyond

outstanding” school we require representatives

that live up to that name. I believe I have the

right qualifications and experience from my

position as Regional Youth Board member to

carry the mantel as Deputy Head Boy. I wish

to bring a new viewpoint as well as leave a legacy at this

wonderful school. This school has done a lot for me and I

feel it is only fitting to repay the school by trying my best

to improve it”.

Mustafa Ahmed (Deputy Head Boy)

70

“I have always wanted to make a change, be

it a physical change in the world or changing

the mentality and the way people think. I have

striven to bring myself closer to this goal

every day and the role of Head Girl would

be perfect to achieve this, a role of extreme

importance that can help me continue to

inspire those around me to be not only themselves, but the

best version possible of themselves. It requires someone

who is willing to take responsibility for their actions and

will take on the role of a leader not only in school, but

in the community. I aim to inspire myself through my

motivation and the motivation of others”.

Jessica Atouguia (Head Girl)

“The opportunity of becoming Deputy Head

Girl of Cranford Community College, has

been a wish as well as a goal for me. I believe

this opportunity is an exceptional way for me

to gain numerous skills, which I can carry

with me throughout my entire life. I would

love to be able to use these skills I have

learnt to contribute to our school and make our school

an even greater educational place for students”.

Zala Amiri, (Deputy Head Girl)

“The position of Deputy Head Girl is a

role I can passionately fulfil. Having been

at Cranford since year seven, I have been

provided with incredible opportunities to

find myself as a person and would love to

reciprocate this role for the younger years.

Through my time at Cranford I feel that I have

acquired the necessary skills for this position, for example,

good leadership skills. I am dedicated to ensuring the

school remains a safe, positive learning environment for

everyone and would ensure that any schemes implemented

would meet these criteria”.

Lucy Tirahan (Deputy Head Girl)

“During my six years at Cranford, I have striven

to become a welcoming and recognisable

figure to not only my peers and teachers, but

around the school as a whole. This has greatly

developed my interpersonal skills, enabling

me to be a highly approachable individual,

which I believe is a key quality that a Deputy

Head Boy embodies. I am aware of the challenges that lie

ahead and I fully embrace challenges as for me it is what

brings the best out of people”.

Kulbir Maras (Deputy Head Boy)

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