Cranford Review 2018

This
has been a great year for Cranford,
recipient of both the World Class
Schools Quality Mark re-accreditation as well as
the International School Award 2018-2021. Our
examination results remain strong despite the new
tougher grading system and new specifications
at GCSE. The attainment of our students remains
significantly above average as does their progress
when examining the new ‘Progress 8’ score and
Cranford received the prestigious SSAT Award for
exceptional student progress. 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 Oxford University, Imperial
College and King’s College London, Warwick
University and Exeter University to name but a
few.
In addition to outstanding teaching and achievement,
our students continue to benefit from astonishing
opportunities such as the masterclass with Lord
Neuberger, former President of the Supreme Court.
Cranford was the first UK school to welcome the
newly appointed US Ambassador Robert Wood
Johnson who gave a talk to students about his life
journey and took part in a lively debate, prompting
him to say that he “really enjoyed meeting all of
the impressive students” and offering to become a
mentor. Students at Cranford continue to develop
as leaders within the school and beyond with many
participating in a Seeds of Peace seminar focused
on creating positive change within communities
and large numbers running activities as part of the
Cranbury Festival 2018.
We remain immensely proud of our international
links with schools in the best performing systems
across the Globe including China, Australia, New
Editorial 2017 / 2018
Zealand, Thailand, Korea, Japan, Sweden, 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.
Our partnership with Berkeley continues to
flourish. The school converted to academy status
this year and set up Advantage Multi Academy
Trust. We are very pleased that our other partner
Berkeley Pre-School was graded outstanding
following an Ofsted inspection in November 2017.
This means that children in the local community
receive outstanding education from the age of 2
to 19. As a Lead School for Teacher Training we
are delighted that Teaching London, our Teacher
Training provider, was also graded outstanding by
Ofsted this year.
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 including our
partnerships with ArtUK and the English National
Opera. 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.
This review provides you with a flavour of the
range of opportunities available to students at
Cranford which makes it such a special place. I
hope you enjoy reading it.
Kevin Prunty
(Executive Headteacher, National Leader of Education)

Cranford Community College remains truly
OUTSTANDING !
Cranford Community College is one of only a few schools in the country to receive the SSAT
Educational Outcomes Award 2017 for Exceptional Student Progress. Pritesh Mistry from the
School, Students and Teachers Network presented Executive Headteacher Kevin Prunty with
the plaque personally. He congratulated the school on its achievements and spoke of the myriad ways
it stands out from the crowd, contributing best practice articles in the Leading Edge publication and
leading many initiatives on several fronts such as international partnerships, community transformation,
curriculum innovation and inclusion.
SSAT is the largest and longest standing network of schools in England. It has extensive partnerships
with 34 countries and brings together leading educationalists, thinkers, researchers and practitioners
from all over the world.
Veronique Gerber (Associate Headteacher)
1

World Class School
again and now
recognised
internationally
Cranford Community College
has been re-accredited with the
prestigious World Class School
Quality Mark until 2021. This is the second occasion on which Cranford has been accredited with
this student-led award and we are very proud of our students. The re-accreditation process involved
reciprocal visits with another London school and the students involved found the whole process very
rewarding and revealing about how good each other’s schools are. However, Cranford Community
College, judged by Ofsted as an outstanding academy didn’t stop there. Cranford’s long-lasting
partnership with its sister school, Ocheon Senior High School in Pohang, South Korea, gave students
the ideal opportunity to work towards the international accreditation of the World Class School
Quality Mark. On Monday 9th July 2018, Cranford Community College and Ocheon Senior High
School became the first schools ever to be presented with this top-level international accreditation. A
group of students and staff from Ocheon Senior High School arrived in Cranford on 10th July 2018.
Mr Prunty, Executive Headteacher, Cranford Community College presented the award on behalf of
WCSQM to Mr Yohan Ju and Mr Hyunsang An from Ocheon Senior High School, Republic of Korea.
We are all very proud of our students both at Cranford Community College and Ocheon Senior High
School.
Our partner school for re-accreditation said:
“The students from Cranford Community College were exemplary in their conduct during
their visit. They were gracious and courteous at all times whilst extracting evidence from
our school... Thank you”.
2

International School Award Re-Accreditation
We are delighted to
announce we have received
re-accreditation of the
International Schools Award
for 2018 - 2021.
The
assessor said about Cranford
Community College: the
international dimension is clearly an integral
part of your curriculum and whole-school
ethos, promoting citizenship and celebrating
cultural diversity across the school and
wider community. You have active links
with an impressive number of schools in a
wide range of other countries and continents,
which provide rich learning opportunities
for your students and staff. Of your fifteen
submitted international activities, seven fulfil the International School Award programme criteria, in that
they involve your students learning about other countries and cultures in a curriculum-based context.
This means that your application is successful, as the requisite three activities of the eligible seven
also involve active and reciprocal collaboration with international partner schools. Two of the seven
activities also involve the required element of foreign language learning which includes an element of
intercultural understanding. That being said, all of your fifteen activities are very clearly beneficial
in providing many different international opportunities for students and staff, as you indicate in your
Impact Evaluation. The overall impression is of a truly international school, and this is recognised and
reinforced by your International World Class School Quality Mark award. Your international work
dovetails neatly with your Global Learning Programme work, and your role as a GLP Expert Centre has
provided an excellent opportunity for ambassadorial work in promoting and supporting international
links and opportunities in other local schools, as well as showcasing your own activities and learning
outcomes. Your Impact Evaluation is detailed and insightful. You recognise the benefits of international
links for staff professional development, enabling your teachers to share good practice at an international
level and to learn about other countries’ education systems. You recognise the benefits for your students
in terms not only of increased knowledge of other countries and cultures, but also new international
friendships and extended life skills - in short, the acquisition of citizenship skills and attributes. Activities
such as “Generation Global” also enable your students to address issues in a motivating and real context,
in dialogue with peers from other countries. You also acknowledge the involvement and benefits for
local community members. Congratulations! The international dimension is prominent and dynamic at
Cranford Community College. We wish you success and enjoyment with your ongoing international work.
Philip Dobison (Consultant - Internationalism)
3

Over
the past year students from Cranford Community
College have taken part in eight video conferences
as part of the Generation Global programme. We have had
dialogue with schools from USA, Israel, Egypt, Italy, Colombia
and Indonesia.
Perhaps the highlight was a video conference where we had a
guest speaker, Dave Fortier who was a survivor of the Boston
Marathon bombing. Dave told his story and what he had been
doing since the bombing. Dave is a co-founder of an organisation
called One World Strong which aims to support victims (or as
Dave calls them survivors) of terrorist attacks across the world.
He has worked with groups in many countries including France,
UK and Somalia. He was truly inspirational and the students
gained a lot from his words and charismatic personality.
“I was honoured to be part of the video conference regarding hate
speech. The contribution Dave Fortier made in this video conference
was absolutely amazing; it made this conference the best one I have
experienced to date. The personal story Dave delivered to everyone at the beginning of the conference was
incredibly inspirational; it made me view life from a completely different perspective, but most importantly it has
made me grateful for what I have in life. Due to the fact that Dave was brave enough to talk about such a lifechanging
experience I felt more confident and motivated to share a story I had experienced. I am glad I did so,
because I received various responses which really helped me. Overall I would say that this video conference and
Dave’s important contribution have made me realise the importance of life and supporting other people in life”.
“The video conference with Dave through Generation Global was quite inspirational to me personally because
it allowed me to talk to a victim of a terror attack for the first time and see how it feels from their perspective. It
was inspirational to see the work Dave does and how he reaches out to people not only in the developed countries
but also emerging nations. There are many people in the world who are affected by such tragedies and through
One World Strong victims can talk to one another to rebuild their lives and have a better future than they may
have initially thought. It was a very interesting conference and I learnt a lot from it including changing my views
on how victims are rehabilitated”.
Dave ended the conference with two challenges for the students. The first was to gather stories of where
people had experienced hate speech, how it had made them feel and how they had dealt with it. The
second challenge was to take part in a ‘virtual marathon’ next year. This is a very exciting global event
with Cranford working with Dave to get schools and community organisations in the UK and across the
world to engage in this project. More about this in the near future.
Alan Fraser (Assistant Headteacher - Director of Community Development)
4
For
three years
Cranford
Community College
has used the Extreme
Dialogue programme
with its students
to develop critical
thinking skills and to
build resilience within
students. The programme is delivered by both
teachers and students.
The peer-to-peer model of delivery has been
pioneered by Cranford and created a lot of interest
in the European Union when presented at a meeting
in Madrid. In May 2018 a new cohort of eight
year 12 students was trained to deliver Extreme
Dialogue to their fellow students something they
will be doing from September 2018 onwards.
In another pioneering move the plan is that those
trained students will then go to other Hounslow
schools and deliver the programme.
If you would like to find out more about
Extreme Dialogue please visit the ED website
extremedialogue.org. You will find on the website
information about the programme and interviews
with our students and staff.
Alan Fraser (Assistant Headteacher – Director of
Community Development)

Cranford Community College,
London
and
Princess Chulabhorn College,
Thailand
In May 2018, Kevin Prunty, the Executive Headteacher of
Cranford Community College and Philip Dobison visited
Princess Chulabhorn’s College, Pathumthani (PCCP),
Thailand with the aim of securing our relationship and
expanding it further. PCCP is part of a chain of 12 schools
focussing on science and technology, founded by Princess
Chulabhorn in 1993. It is a mixed boarding school for
students aged 12 to 18. Both schools are really excited by
the opportunities this partnership offers and we are seeking
to develop exchanges of staff and students in the future.
Cranford is looking to welcome a group of staff and students
from PCCP this coming autumn. Watch this space.
Philip Dobison (Consultant - Internationalism)
5

This
year I took two groups of students to Jamie’s Farm in Ditteridge, Wiltshire. Both groups
consisted of twelve students and three members of staff. Jamie’s Farm is a working farm
with both dairy and beef cows, sheep, horses, chickens, dogs, ducks and a donkey. There are always
many (often challenging) jobs to do at the farm and it is really inspiring to watch the students really put
100% effort into everything that is asked of them: herding sheep and lambs through country lanes, to
cleaning the pigs out to chopping wood for the wood fired boiler. It is always heart-warming to watch
them reclaim their childhood, rolling down hills, getting muddy, swimming in the river and generally
just having fun – having left their troubles at school.
Whilst at the farm students have no access to mobile phones or any other electrical
device – this information can often cause problems whilst convincing the students
to agree to go on the trip however once there they genuinely do not even think
about them. A good night’s sleep is vital at the farm. Often the children will
say that they will be unable to get to sleep at the farm because they always go
to bed with their phone, iPad or Xbox. However they don’t bank on how tired
they will be at the end of every action-packed day and they are always asleep
pretty much as soon as they get into bed. Upon their return home, I encourage
them to continue sleep without being attached to their electrical devices.
They are also given hearty freshly produced food with no sugar and very few
additives. The students love seeing how food is produced and grown, picking
fruit and vegetables from the farm garden and then preparing and cooking
for everyone. It is really interesting watching fussy eaters who say they only
eat burgers and chips at home tuck into food that they would never usually eat
and then going up for seconds because they like it so much.
A large part of time at the farm is thinking about how they are at school, and
reflecting upon this. We spend time around the huge table and have meetings whereby the students
give shouts out (compliments) to each other and also to staff. It is lovely listening to them give well
thought out, constructive feedback to each other and also hearing and absorbing what is said about them
the students always leave Jamie’s Farm with a renewed sense of wellbeing, newfound confidence and a
determination to be the best they can be.
Jamie’s Farm’s moto is cultivating change and it really does do that.
Vanessa Tutt (Jamie’s Farm Trip Leader)
The Jamie’s farm Experience
Cultivating Change
6

I just wanted to say...
Thank
you so much for all your
hard work in organising the
Jamie’s farm trip and for inviting me along. It was
a thoroughly inspirational experience and it was
as challenging as it was enjoyable.
I found that the trip heightened already positive
relationships with students, and turned what were
once difficult relationships into positive and
fruitful ones, within about an hour of being on the
farm. It gave students with difficult backgrounds,
low self-esteem, depression and language barriers
among other things, the chance to experience a
totally and utterly different reality to their daily
lives. By the end of the week every student on the
trip had flourished in their rural environment and
overcome their own personal challenges.
I was really impressed by how they made their
beds every morning, cooked as a team and fed and
cared for animals before even having breakfast.
They got on with hard farm labour with smiles
on their faces, and any reluctance was combatted
immediately by someone else’s enthusiasm. They
also sat around a table and had three meals of
sugarless food together every day, which to many
is a completely alien concept. This became routine
and I noticed almost immediately the constructive
impact this had on the
children through the way
they interacted with me,
Jamie’s Farm staff and
each other. This was
remarkable to witness
because in school, at home
and in an urban setting,
so many of these students
are often easily caught up
in negative lifestyles and
habits often through no
fault of their own.
Their mobile phones were taken away from them
and I don’t think I heard them mentioned until
they were given back a week later. This resulted in
improving interpersonal skills and it was lovely to
see them telling riddles, jokes, listening to stories,
playing chess and connect4, and enjoying each
other’s company in an increasingly dehumanising
society. Long country walks through rough terrain
in the evenings were highlights of their days,
whereas in their home lives lots of teenagers
are used to staring at screens or have to fend for
themselves, so hearing them give and receive
heartfelt shouts out was often very emotional.
Having seen this transformation in students first
hand has had a huge impact on my outlook as
a teacher. It has confirmed to me that students’
negative behaviour does not define them and that
they are products of their environments and there
is always more we can do to reach out to them and
engage with them. This trip has further informed
me on how I will plan and deliver lessons and how
I approach students who are displaying concerning
behaviour.
Since returning to school and seeing the students
who were on this trip I
am optimistic that the
impact the farm had
on them will last. I
have already seen
vast improvements
in certain students’
composure in and
around school and
would love to be
involved in any follow-up strategies that you
may implement.
Thanks again for a once in a lifetime experience”.
Matthew Nation-Tellery (Head of Year 7)
7

Duke of Edinburgh Award
Expedition July 2018
Another
year and another Duke of Edinburgh
Award Expedition ventured out
in July 2018 with more students than ever: 60 silver award
students from year 10 and 22 bronze award students from year
9. We braved the wilds (and heat) of the South Downs over two
consecutive weekends. Students performed amazingly on their
assessed expedition successfully navigating each day into camp
and preparing a cooked meal on their stoves, they continued to
show off their exceptional camp craft skills and were a credit
to Cranford Community College as several other campers on
the site commented on how well behaved they were.
Spirits were high as was the temperature which set
its own challenge both on the practice and assessed
expedition. Students took on board feedback from the
practice expedition and showed a massive improvement on
the assessed weekend in their navigation skills and resilience,
taking on the challenge of finding their way and rerouting
themselves when losing their way.
The staff supporting the expedition did exceptionally well at
motivating and challenging students to achieve a successful
outcome on both the practice and assessed expedition. This is a good reminder to all
of the time, commitment and energy they have put into support students beyond the
conventional curriculum. A massive thank you from all the students on expedition
and me to Mr Venancio Ferreira, Ms Lodge, Mr Sohi, Ms Shaikh, Mr Barrett, Mr
Southern-Myers, Mr Guyett, Mr Bussue, Ms Ridgeon, Ms Ledlie and to Ms Prunty, Ms Brown and
Ms Gladysz for supporting the logistical and administration side of the expedition.
Kevin Biggs (Assistant Headteacher – Duke of Edinburgh Lead)
8

On
Wednesday 4th July 2018 we were delighted to host two opera workshops by the English
National Opera (ENO) and welcome into the school Hannah Conway, composer, Karen
Gillingham, director, Abigail Kelly, soprano, Katherine Wilde, ENO Baylis Producer and Leanne Sedin,
a workshop leader.
More than 40 students from years 9-12 were selected to take part in the workshops which involved
creating the first part of their own opera. It is not often students get a chance to work with professional
artists in this way drawing upon their skills and talents creating lyrics and music from scratch. It was so
inspiring watching how our students engaged with the process, grew in confidence in singing and create
something really amazing in just two hours. Some students decided they would like to be involved further
and have taken up the opportunity to join a Summer School project at the ENO in London.
One of the most magical moments was when Abigail sang Suzanna’s aria from “Cosi Fan Tutte” by
Mozart. Our students were spellbound. Some students said they were “speechless” and one girl cried at
the beauty of her voice.
This workshop is just the first of many new opportunities open to Cranford students over the forthcoming
year. They will be able to get involved with a year-long opera project with the ENO to be stage at
Cranford, summer 2019. A very exciting year ahead.
Jess Joyce (Consultant – Creative Arts)
Opera Workshop: An inspiring experience
Hi Jess,
Thank you so much for your support today, we were
made to feel so welcome and were blown away by
the young people we worked with. Both groups were
incredibly creative and brave, and a complete delight
to work with. We would love to have all of them take
part in our youth projects.
If you have facility to email the groups, they can visit
www.eno.org/youthmailinglist in order to register their
contact details so that we can let them know about
upcoming opportunities to get involved.
Thank you once again for having us, you are clearly
achieving amazing things at the school. I shall look
forward to seeing you for Opera Squad next year, if
not before.
All best wishes,
Katherine Wilde (ENO Baylis Producer)
On Wednesday the 4th July 2018 I was able to take
part in an amazing workshop from the people of the
ENO opera foundation. It was an amazing experience
and although normally I would have never signed up
for it myself but after taking part and knowing the true
meaning of opera it was really fun and I will definitely
want to carry on doing something like that for the
future. I learnt a lot more things such as gaining
confidence to have with new people and that opera
is like a story that someone is telling you and is so
peaceful to hear. I am very grateful to have been part
of the workshop and hopefully I am able to go forward
with something like that.
Layba Nisar (year 9)
9

On
US Ambassador Visits Cranford
17th May 2018 Cranford Community College welcomed the US
Ambassador Robert Wood Johnson. This was the Ambassador’s
first visit and talk to a UK school since presenting his credentials to the Queen
last year. The US Embassy chose Cranford to host the first visit because of
the strength of our relationship with the US Embassy and the American people
and they knew that Cranford would ensure a high quality visit.
The Ambassador’s views and ideas prompted a lively discussion in the room.
It is important for students to experience views different from theirs and also
have the opportunity to challenge those views in a constructive manner.
The Ambassador gave a talk to fifty year 10 and year 12 students on his life
journey with the emphasis on his role as owner of the New York Jets American
Football team. He used the record-breaking Superbowl comeback of the New
England Patriots as an inspiring story of overcoming adversity. He then
went on to discuss how you should not be put off by bad things and used the
analogy of bumps in the road. His advice to the students was that you should
not focus on the bumps in the road but on the destination. He thought that
while American and British people have much in common a difference was
that British people tend to focus on the bumps in the road whereas Americans
focus on the destination.
Following the talk, the Ambassador then took questions from the students.
Topics discussed included the environment and locating the US Embassy in
Jerusalem. For the last question one of our students stood up shook his hand
and told the Ambassador how much he admired the work he had done both as
a businessman and for the charities he supports. He then asked the Ambassador
whether he would mentor him. To the delight of the audience the Ambassador
said yes.
The Ambassador then spent the next 15 minutes engaged in informal discussion
on a one-to-one basis with our students. He was clearly enjoying himself as
the Embassy staff had to remind him three times that it was time to go.
For the last part of the visit the Ambassador went to the Cranford SuperDome.
He was amazed that a school would have such a fantastic facility and thought
our students and wider community were very lucky to have access to such a
great facility.
All round a very successful visit perhaps best summed up by one of our
students, “Regardless of whether or not we had polar views on certain topics,
it was still very interesting to hear what Mr Johnson had to say”.
10
Alan Fraser (Assistant Headteacher – Director of Community Development)

Dear Colleagues
A big thank you to everyone for helping
to make the visit of the US Ambassador to
the UK Ambassador Johnson a resounding
success this morning.
The US Embassy chose Cranford as the
venue for the Ambassador’s first visit to a
UK school because they knew they could
rely on us to do a great job.
The Ambassador gave an interesting
talk to a group of 50 students from
years 10 and 12 followed by a Q&A
session. Our students asked probing
questions on topics ranging from global
warming to the opening of the US
Embassy in Jerusalem. At the end of the
Q&A session one of our students asked
if the Ambassador would be a mentor to
him and he readily agreed. If you don’t ask
you don’t get. The Ambassador then spent
a further 15 minutes talking individually to
students and was clearly enjoying himself
so much that his visit overran. His parting
comment was ‘Great day here. Really
enjoyed meeting all of your impressive
students’.
The site looked stunning, our students
were stunning and the fantastic support
of staff made the visit seamless.
I have no doubt that this visit will lead
to further opportunities for both staff and
students.
Kevin Prunty - Executive Headteacher
11

Browns Book Bus visits Cranford
“I just wanted to say a massive thank you for hosting
the book bus on its first ever outing in London.
From start to finish, the whole afternoon was a huge
success. It was great to see so many members of
teaching staff on board and engaging with their
textbooks, non-fiction and fiction. In my opinion,
this is exactly why we designed the bus, and I
couldn’t have been happier with how the day went
– our driver actually commented that this was the
largest turnout of teaching staff he’d seen so far.
It was also great to see how much you enjoyed the
day, a point proven by how much your baskets came
to. Until next year”.
James Baker (Browns Books for the Students –
Area Sales Manager)
Cranford Community College was the first
school to host the Browns Books for Students
(BBFS) Book Bus on its inaugural visit to London.
Browns Books for Students is a book supplier
based in Hull; the school has been using them to
supply books for over ten years. They recently
created a purpose-built Book Bus which stocks
4000+ exciting and key books. The Book Bus is
so big it has a meeting room and kitchen too.
As a school, we heavily invest in resources
to support the students’ needs. I am lucky the
budget allows me to stock text books; they are
very expensive but are so valuable to support
students’ studies. I had arranged for all Heads of
Departments to come on-board and explore. They
were asked to have a look at their subject areas
and make recommendations to me for the Library.
I spent 3 hours in the bus looking at the new
books that were available. Normally books are
selected through ‘BBFS’ website but it is much
easier and fascinating to look at the wide variety
of books available when they are at hand. The
Book Bus had a wide selection of books; there
were books about Lego, manga books, fiction
books, textbooks, dictionaries and so much more.
It gave me a good opportunity to look at the books
we didn’t have and buy them for the Library and
Supervised Study Centres.
It was a very valuable and beneficial experience.
Mahavir Ladva (Library and Study Centres Manager)
12

ArtUK Your
Sculpture project
at Dorich House
Cranford Community College was
approached by ArtUK to take part in a
Heritage Lottery funded scheme called
Your Sculpture. The project will make a number
of films about sculpture as seen through the eyes
of young people. These films will be made with
and for young people and will also have teachers’
resources linked to the National Curriculum. The
audience is able to view these films via ArtUK
and the Culture Street websites, as well as through
associated YouTube channels. The filming is
taking place at 25 locations across the UK and
Cranford was asked to represent the London area.
The filming with six year 8 Cranford students took
place on Tuesday 12th June 2018 at Dorich House.
Dorich House is the former studio home of the
Russian sculptor Dora Gordine and her husband
the Hon. Richard Hare, a scholar of Russian art
and literature. Now Grade II listed, the building
was completed in 1936, to Gordine’s design, and is
an exceptional example of a modern studio house
created by and for a female artist. In the spirit of
Gordine’s exemplary life and career, the Museum
operates as an international centre to promote
and support women creative practitioners. The
Museum holds the world’s largest collection of
Gordine’s work, which spans her artistic career.
Our students thoroughly enjoyed the experience
and were outstanding in the way they worked with
the camera crew to create the finished film. They
were intrigued and surprised by the dedication and
time given to create the sculptures.
Here is a link to the ArtUK website:
www.artuk.org
Alan Fraser (Assistant Headteacher – Director of
Community Development)
13

Osmington Bay Trip 2018
As
part of our annual fieldtrip we set off for Osmington Bay once again. 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.
Watching our year 12 students complete the maps around the world challenge and compete against some
year 6 students showed their competitive nature and their desire to beat everyone, no matter how small.
The trip began with our customary visit to “Old Harry Rocks”, from where we completed a number of
dune transects along Studland Bay. A well-deserved ice cream was enjoyed at the end. After arriving at
our accommodation, the PGL centre, a tour was given shortly before heading to dinner. We then watched
our year 12 students complete our geography-orientated maps around the world activity. 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, 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,
which resulted in Mr Lee taking an
unintentional plunge into the sea
for wave height measurement.
We spent the afternoon in
Lulworth Cove completing
similar activities to
Durdle Door. This again
resulted in a welldeserved
ice cream
break. That was
not the end of
the work as we
spent Saturday
night in a two-hour computer room session completing our statistical analysis.
Our final day was spent in the idyllic Lyme Regis, again completing similar activities to the previous
day. The scenery on the drive was rewarding before we set off for Cranford.
Overall, our trip to Osmington Bay was found to be extremely entertaining with lots of food and music,
but most importantly, hard work.
Gerry Lee (Head of Geography Department)
14

History Trip to Battle Abbey, site of the Battle of Hastings, 1066
15 students
made the
trip with Mr. Rich
and Mr. Watton to
the Sussex coast in
July 2018 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 I listed historical site operated
by English Heritage.
Markedly improved by successive kings of
England we were immediately impressed by the
formidable early 16th century gatehouse which
leads to the grounds of the early mediaeval 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.
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 11th century 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 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 History Department)
15

16
Modern World Languages
The
Modern World Languages
Department has had a busy year
with an educational trip to Germany, a Spanish
cooking project, teaching Portuguese, Urdu and
Romanian to Norwood Green Primary school
children and the Foreign Language Spelling
Bee to name but a few things.
In December 2017, a group of seventeen year 9
and year 10 students explored the city of Cologne,
Germany and its many beautiful Christmas
Markets, where they sampled local food,
practised their German skills and explored
the old city. Everyone had a great time and
brought back lots of chocolate, even more
selfies and wonderful memories.
Over Easter, our year 7 and year 8 students
studying Spanish competed for the best
Spanish Junior Chef accolade – following
a recipe of Bolones De Verde – a savoury
dish made with plantain. Although recipes
weren’t always followed to the letter, the
children made a massive effort and enjoyed some
authentic South American cuisine.
In May 2018, three very excited year 7 students
won in the Foreign Language Spelling Bee
school competition and went to the regional
London Semi-finals for Spanish and
German. Our three Semi-Finalists
spelled up to 32 words correctly in
one minute – in Spanish and German
respectively, after initially translating
the word from English. An amazing
achievement as they were better than
9637 of their peers. Congratulations
for your outstanding achievement to
Nancy Harkous, Alia Samad and Josiah
Rodrigues.
Alexandra Manole (MWL department)
German Exchange student
In
June 2018, we were
delighted to welcome
an exchange student from
Hürth, Germany. Kyara
Landgraf, who is 15 years old,
spent five weeks as a year 10
student at Cranford, where she
took part in everyday school
life at Cranford. She prepared
a presentation about her home
town for her English class,
took part in sports day during
which she won points for her
form 10T (pictured first left,
second row) and learned all
about school in the UK.
Not only did Kyara have the
chance to improve her English
and experience a different
culture, but her presence also
encouraged Cranford students
learning German to practise
and improve their German
as well as learn more about
a different culture. The visit
was an all-round success for
everyone.
Kyara returned to Germany at
the end of term with wonderful
memories of great teachers and
the lovely students she has
made friends with, interesting
lessons (school and life
lessons) and an invaluable
experience of other cultures.
Kyara has been very
complimentary about the
quality of teaching and the
welcome she has received from
teachers, staff and students alike
during her time at Cranford.
I am very grateful to you for
making this possible for her.
Alexandra Manole
(MWL Department)

European Administrators
Trip to Germany
In
April 2018, I had the
opportunity to meet
up again with the principals
of European schools to look at
the provision made for refugee
children in German schools. This
was the third visit for our group
which started in the USA in 2016,
and then met in Paris in 2017.
This trip focused on Bavaria, the
southernmost state in Germany. In
2016, Germany took in over 1 million
refugees from Syria, Afghanistan
and other countries in the Middle East and
Africa. A massive challenge for German schools
has been how they adapt their curriculum and
teach German to this large number of newcomer
students.
We visited both primary and secondary schools
and met with teachers and students, many of
whom had recently arrived in Germany. What
was particularly impressive was the dedication
and hard work of the teachers who wanted to
ensure that these new arrivals, many of whom
had experienced traumatic war situations, settled
into the country and school as soon as possible.
We also focused on the provision of vocational
education and visited a very impressive vocational
school where students were learning skills in
order to become bakers, hairdressers, beauty
technicians for example. This is particularly
relevant as Cranford has been designated as one
of the first schools to run the new Technical Level
qualifications in 2020.
Our network has been together now for 2 years
and we look forward to hosting the school leaders
at Cranford and Berkeley in 2019.
Peter Stumpf (Associate Headteacher)
17

Antipodean
In
our pursuit of the very best teachers for Cranford Community
College, and our interest in learning about education systems
around the world, we found ourselves on a plane to Australia and
New Zealand in the Easter holidays of April 2018. Cranford had previously
recruited excellent teachers from the other side of the world through teaching agencies in England,
such as Paul Foden and Diane Marston who worked in PE, and our intention was to explore how we
could recruit exceptional teachers directly from Australia and New Zealand. From our experiences of
antipodean teachers we know that they have a desire to travel, explore and experience England and teach
in English schools. We therefore got in touch with some ex-Cranford teachers who are now teaching in
Australia or New Zealand, such as Catherine Goodwill who was an RE teacher and a Head of Year here,
Mick Andrews who had recently returned to Australia to teach mathematics and Gareth Munroe from
the Science Department with his wife Maitreyi Basu who was a teaching assistant, so we visited their
schools and met their headteachers. It became apparent from those visits that there was, in most cases, a
surplus of teachers and therefore a strategic approach to recruitment in Australia and New Zealand could
reap rewards for Cranford. In addition, we met representatives from universities to discuss recruitment
opportunities through their Careers Hubs and recruitment events. We are confident that these partnerships
with schools and universities in Australia and New Zealand will contribute to the recruitment of high
quality teachers for Cranford.
Another very interesting part of the trip was to visit a primary school just outside Sydney and secondary
school in Melbourne. Both were like a scene from Home and Away or Neighbours with the girls in
checked dresses and the boys in shorts and short sleeved shirts. It was very interesting to see how they
had embraced ‘bring your own devices’ to school and the use of technology in the classroom. The primary
18

Adventures
2018
school also had an open plan learning environment
in years 5 and 6, where 90 students were taught in a
large space which had break-out rooms, a variety of
different furniture and teachers that supported all the
students with their learning. It was amazing to see the
independent learning that was taking place and the
students could all articulate what they were learning
and why they liked this approach to their learning.
In the secondary school they also have a focus on the
use and application of technology in the classroom
through personal notebook computer programmes.
This provides students with ‘24/7’ learning
opportunities, anywhere in the world. Very interestingly all their world maps show Australia in the centre,
unlike the maps we are used to seeing. Their enrichment programme is varied and, as you would expect,
includes surf lifesaving and a multitude of sports as well as aviation, architecture, ceramics, costume
design, sculpture, music, languages and much more. All students are encouraged to develop their skills
and experiences through the programmes – just as we do here at Cranford.
We look forward to continuing to strengthen our relationships with schools, universities and teachers
in Australia and New Zealand and look forward to welcoming teachers from “down under” in the new
academic year.
Rita Berndt (Head of School) and Maria Bramhall (Deputy Head of School)
19

-ENGLISH-
Hamlet
Globe
Theatre
Trip
On
Wednesday 6th June
2018, I went with my
English class and my English
teacher Ms Brooks to the Globe
Theatre to watch RSC Hamlet
(2018) in production. Previously,
we had watched film productions
of Hamlet in class such as Doran’s
2009 and Robert Icke’s Hamlet
(2017). This production of Hamlet
was directed by Michelle Terry,
who also played the lead role of
Hamlet.
What interested me was the concept of gender
roles being subverted, as the character of Hamlet
is traditionally played by men, however in this
production Hamlet was played by a woman (Michelle
Terry). Other characters had “gender blind” casting:
the character of Ophelia was played by a man
(Shubham Sharaf), Laertes played by a woman
(Bettrys Jones) and the soldiers in the beginning of
the play were played by women. This suggested that
the play’s central theme is based on performance and
how gender can be argued to be a performance. They
also included a diverse range of actors from different
ethnic minorities, which promoted the idea of
cultural inclusion. Another interesting perspective of
the play included sign language as a form of speech,
as the character of Guildenstern was mute and
Rosencrantz translated what Guildenstern was saying
suggesting that their
bodies are one.
I was surprised by
the way Hamlet was
performed as they
had involved the
audience by giving
them flowers or
talking to them as
a part of the play’s performance and the way they
were interacting with them. They also appealed
to a modern audience in terms of the use of the
costume as Hamlet was wearing a black hoodie and
a hat. Another interesting perspective was the use
of excessive makeup, which suggested the ideas of
pretence, artifice and hypocrisy that are seen in the
play.
During the interval, (the play being 3 hours long),
we discussed our views of the production by sharing
interesting points on the performance and comparing
it with the other productions; it was so interesting
that the American tourists behind us got involved
in the lesson too. At the end of 3 hours, the cast
members ended the play with a dance with no
talking; it was choreographed suggesting the concept
of teamwork. The trip was really worthwhile, as I
can now comment on some of the director’s choices
in my essays and can compare productions and it
was really interesting to see the play in its original
staging.
“Does culture influence religion more
than religion influences culture?”
The
Samia Qureshi (year 12)
‘Annual Borough Sixth Form RE Conference’
was hosted by Cranford Community College for
the 4th consecutive year. Students from Hounslow Borough
sixth forms were able to discuss, debate and reflect on the
theme of: “Does culture influence religion more than religion
influences culture?”
The day consisted of interactive workshops run by students from the Institute of Education (IOE)
and Roehampton University. Students visited a variety of different workshops which ranged
from ‘Can you be an atheist Jew?’, ‘Can religion be fashionable?’ to ‘Should we change religion
or should religion change us?’ Once students had an opportunity to discuss these questions in
small groups, they were then invited to participate in a Q&A session with expert panellists.
The panellists represented the major world faiths and students were able to gain an insight on religious
views on questions such as ‘Can you be religious and homosexual?’, ‘Does sexism stem from religion
or culture?’ and ‘Has religion been taken over by culture?’
20
Students left the conference positive and having enjoyed a day where they could reflect on some of the
bigger questions.
Avneet Kang (Head of RE Department)

Swedish visit
During May half term, Ms Green, Head of English and Literacy,
and Ms Gerber, Associate Headteacher, visited Karlbergs
Primary School and Vasa Real Secondary School, two highperforming
schools in Stockholm, Sweden. They spent a day in each school, meeting with staff and
students and observing lessons. Discussions with Principals Carina Rennermalm and Ulrica Colliander
focused on opportunities to share best practice in teaching English and further visits for staff and students.
Ms Gerber commented: “We were really impressed with the Swedish schools’ emphasis on meeting the
needs of all students and the way they develop and promote student independence from an early age”.
Ms Green added: “All Swedish students learn English from the start of primary school (age 7) and they
show great enthusiasm in practising it with us. The curriculum is very student-centred with few formal
examinations”.
The staff and students could not have been more welcoming
and are very keen to learn from the outstanding practice at
Cranford Community College and Berkeley Academy.
Ms Veronique Gerber (Associate Headteacher)
21

On
Wednesday 23rd May 2018,
ZeroPlus, our partner Theatre
Company presented their production
of “My Grandad & I” in the Concert
Hall for students, staff, parents and
members of the local Community
“My Grandad and I”... is a moving and
touching story told through the eyes of a
eleven year old Sikh boy called Tarsem,
who has a passion to play football,
but gets teased and intimidated for
wearing the patka (children’s turban).
While practising football on his own outside
school, Tarsem befriends Tahila, a burqawearing
Somali girl from his class. She
provokes him to chart the experience of his
Grandad and inspires him to face up his own
‘fight’ against the teasing/bullying.
My Grandad & I ...
“The play was very well acted and followed
by a fascinating Q&A session highlighting
the importance and relevance of showcasing
these issues in today’s world”.
Veronique Gerber (Associate Headteacher)
“I was surprised by the storyline. I didn’t
know these things happened back then”.
Juhi Kumra (year 12)
“Many, many, years ago, when the Sikhs first came to our
country, they had to cut off their hair to get a job...
I didn’t know that!
My Grandad and I... is a TIE play about the experience
of first generation different faith based migrant
communities to the UK, who faced difficult attitudes
from the British public...
The play juxtaposes historical context with modern and
current attitudes to faith based symbolism..
The production is about the experience of
the first generation different faith-based
ethnic migrant communities to the UK, who
faced difficult attitudes from the British
public, despite being brought over by
www.zeroplustheatre.co.uk/my-grandad-i
their government from the commonwealth
23rd May - 4pm
countries to fill the labour shortages in factories, mills and other manual jobs.The Sikhs, particularly
Cranford Community College
with their unshorn hair and wearing of turbans,
presented
confronted
in associattion
the most hostile
with
attitudes
Heston West
as they
Big
found
Local
themselves having to cut their hair in order to mix into the work situations. It was only after the defiant
and exhaustive stand by a few individuals who took their fight to the House of Lords, that attitudes
changed.
“Many, many, years ago, when the Sikhs first came to our country, they had to cut off their hair to get
a job... I didn’t know that. One of them was my grandad, who had got himself a job driving buses, but
when he turned up on his first day, he was asked to take his turban off and cut his hair...Poor Grandad.
He of course refused. So his employers wouldn’t let him work. My Grandad had no choice but to
take the bus company to court, and won his right to wear a turban by forcing British law to change.
The historical context is juxtaposed with modern and current attitudes to faith-based symbolism.
Hardial Rai (Creative Director ZeroPlus)
22

Masterclasses
The
second new initiative of Hounslow’s Promise which Cranford is helping to lead together with
Seema Malhotra MP was launched in May 2018 with a Masterclass from Lord Neuberger,
former President of the Supreme Court. Over 100 young people from Hounslow were able to listen to
and question Lord Neuberger on careers in law and the challenges facing the judicial system.
The Masterclass programme brings leaders and experts in a range of disciplines together with the young
people of Hounslow. The programme consist of five Masterclass events, three held locally with guest
speakers and two external events aiming to inspire and increase aspirations within the young people of
Hounslow. The programme is designed to provide young people with opportunities they are unlikely to
experience elsewhere. An important aspect of the Masterclass is that it provides an opportunity for the
young people to demonstrate their leadership skills and develop their networking skills.
The second cohort of Cranford students being mentored by members
of the local community is also underway with 15 year 12 students
participating and benefitting with regular meetings with their mentors.
Alan Fraser (Assistant Headteacher – Director of Community Development)
23

Inked Dreams is an anthology of new writing
by the First Story students at Cranford
Community College who took part
in creative-writing workshops led
by writer-in-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:
Ahoura Bakhtiari
Akashdeep Kundal
Ayisha Mahmood • Chloe Mills
Cristiana Eftenoiu
Huzayma Khamis
Jaineet Gulabzada
Maeve D’Souza • Mahira Butt
Manjot Bains • Namra Ansar
Nurah Mahamud • Sabrina Akter
Sankavi Sivaharan
Sanskriti Doerga Tanaja
Suman Kaur Tonaja • Syed Jaffery
Warda Khalif • Zena Rehman
Cranford Community College Inked Dreams
First Story 2018
Launch Event.
Celebrating
10 Years
Changing lives through writing
'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
Front cover design by Nizelle Soares
Back cover design by Hamdan Khanzada
Typesetting by Avon DataSet Ltd
This
FIRST STORY
www.firststory.co.uk £10.00
year, at Cranford Community
College, we are celebrating 10
years of First Story. This was the place where
it all started: the creative juices of our students
were finally given a national outlet and were to be
rewarded with publications of their ideas. This is a
tradition that we at Cranford Community College
are proud to have continued for a decade and will
endeavour to continue in the future.
The cohort for this year was made up of year 12
and year 10 students – all of whom brought their
own personalities to the sessions and to their
writing. Every year we, as staff, hope that the
anthology produced by the students will be less
macabre and less dark than the previous year…
however, this year was no different. The pieces
produced by these ingenious and creative minds
were still just as gloomy and just as eloquent as
they have been in the past. You can read some
snippets of what they have written here.
An Anthology by the First Story Group at
Cranford Community College
Edited and Introduced by Ross Raisin
Story, we produced a montage video of student
readings from previous anthologies which was
shared with parents, staff and the young writers
at the sophisticated launch event. The talented
young writers had the opportunity to share their
writing with all in the audience and were given
certificates to celebrate and commemorate their
amazing achievement. To complete the event and
to uphold the sentiments of what First Story is and
the talents of our school, we had two performances
in which three year 8 students shared their
originally-written and composed songs. It was
truly mesmerising to witness the talent that the
students of Cranford Community College have.
Thank you to all students, staff and parents who
helped to mark this special event. And a special
thank you to Ross Raisin for continuing to be an
inspiration to our young writers.
Sahrish Shaikh (First Story Lead Teacher)
24
The cover design for this year’s anthology was
also created by our artists in this year’s W-factor
sessions. All the young writers gave as a prompt
was the title: ‘Inked Dreams’ and voilà. An amazing
design came into existence. Ross Raisin (the
writer-in-residence at Cranford) and myself were
thoroughly impressed and excited by this – it just
goes to show how much talent our students have
and that we should continue to nurture, support
and share their talent with the wider community.
To celebrate this year’s anthology ‘Inked Dreams’
and our long-standing friendship with First
“The evening was a great opportunity to showcase
our hard work over this year. Additionally, it also
gave us a chance to read each other’s work and
knowing the stories behind their words helped us to
realise the true value of writing”.
Ayisha Mahmood 10Z
“First story was a wonderful exciting experience,
a way to express our feelings and emotions through
creativity. Writing my own anthology feels like an
amazing accomplishment and we were all able to
present how we truly feel in our writing”.
Chloe Mills (year 10)

The Perfect Panic Attack
Huzayma Khamis
It is like walking down the stairs and
Missing
The bottom step…
That mini heart-attack feeling.
But it stays with you all day.Every day.
It is as if I am holding my breath underwater;
When I try to resurface
I cannot.
I continue to struggle to breathe.
Once I do resurface though
I finally get some air
But it is still not nearly enough.
When I feel like a bag of bees
I know a panic attack is coming on.
I become restless,
I cannot concentrate
I become itchy.
It is as if I have no skin.
And then comes the shortness of breath.
Sometimes I cry,
Sometimes I appear impassive
But inside I am screaming
And dreading death.
It is like having a heart attack
While trapped in quicksand:
The more you fight
The quicker you sink.
No one can reach in to save you.
Eventually you lay back and surrender yourself
To fate.
And just like heart attacks and quicksand,
You never know when you’ll get ensnared
By either one.
The Broken Bride
Zena Rehman
Smudged eyeliner,
clumped mascara,
Bleeding lipstick
And an abandoned soul;
A broken bride.
I remember the day like it was yesterday:
You picked me up and threw me across the room.
No remorse and no feeling;
I was like a rag doll
To you.
I trusted you,
I gave myself to you,
And on that last day
I turned around one last time,
And told you I loved you.
But today I look back at that memory,
And know that was not love.
It was fear of the unknown.
I walked away with nothing.
I lost myself.
I lost hope in humankind.
I lost faith in love.
But today I stand up high and strong,
Because I fear not the unknown.
I am stronger than I ever was.
I am wiser than I ever was.
And for that I thank you.
My best mistake,
My best teacher.
25

Never Give Up!
Suman Kaur Tonaja
Never give up:
you will be a
blissful person forever.
Never give up:
you will ace
all your exams.
Never give up:
you won’t have anxiety
when it comes to your
university interview and
your personal statement.
Never give up:
you will get
your acceptance letter to
that dream university.
Never give up:
you are going to the
top university
and will gain a
Bachelor’s degree
along with a
Master’s degree.
Never give up:
you will go into a
top career and
help others get to
the same place.
Never give up:
you are accomplishing
in life and will be
a joyful person forever.
But again,
just remember to
Never Give Up – because
this is how astonishing
you have been and will be.
(You have seen the marvellous results already).
Never Give Up!
Before I Go to Sleep
Sankavi Sivaharan
I fell asleep for a thousand years. There was water from my eyes from emotional
nightmares, as the trail of my dress flowed like the circulation of blood in my
wrist. I remember that I always hoped for that one perfect day, when I would
wake up to the iridescent, golden flakes of the sun sitting on my face, and the
birds singing a sweet symphony. And my pale skin would feel as soft as the fresh
grass that hasn’t been touched for weeks.
But I wonder when this fantasy will ever come to an end – as for now I’m stuck
in this recurring nightmare.
I wish I could see the world and the precious creatures within it, though here I
have been doomed with an eternal curse. The cause for the curse: jealousy. But
no matter what, I am determined that one day I will meet my star-crossed lover.
Even though I am still waiting, I will have to be patient with both myself and
this curse even if it is for an eternity.
It has already been two days and there is no sound of footsteps coming up the
stairs of the tower and again I feel hopeless and heartbroken as no one wants to
save me. Am I that dangerous to approach? Am I that horrible? What is wrong
with me? But, however the day goes by, at night I will always have the shiny
reflection of the bright stars on the lids of my eyes. Then, all of a sudden,
everything goes dark and I can’t see anything. Everything is gone: my dreams,
my hopes, my imagination and the heart that was just pumping out of my breast,
have now stopped.
26

Ocheon comes to Cranford
Korean visitors
For
the fourth year running, Cranford welcomed students and staff
from Ocheon Senior High School, Pohang, South Korea. This
has become an annual visit and Cranford is delighted to be sending a group
of 32 students and 3 members of staff in October 2018 to visit Seoul and
Pohang. This is the first time a group from Cranford has gone to Korea but
we hope this is just the beginning. While the Ocheon group was here, they
spent some time in lessons with Cranford students and particularly enjoyed
visiting the creative arts lessons with key stage 3 students. The Korean
students were impressed with the teaching and learning in all lessons they
visited in all year groups. They got involved in the food preparations for
the Cranbury Festival with year 8 and shared time in business and sociology
in year 12. They gave presentations on a variety of topics about Korea to
a group of year 12 students, all of whom are part of the group going in
October 2018. The Korean students were also able to take in 3 musicals
and many of the sights and sounds of London and Oxford and were blessed
with the amazing weather this summer has on offer.
Philip Dobison (Consultant Internationalism)
27

UK-US Dialogue Seminar 2018
www.seedsofpeace.org
“Treaties are negotiated by governments.
Peace is made by people.
Seeds of Peace is doing what no government can”
From Friday 4th
to Monday 7th
May 2018, we
embarked on a journey
to a Seeds of Peace
Seminar in Kent
where we participated
in dialogues (talks
where we can safely
and truthfully communicate
our views to people we have never met before.)
This required huge amounts of trust built up from
group-bonding exercises which have created
everlasting friendships between us.
Having met new people from different walks of
life, we had begun our insightful journey with
Seeds of Peace with a small introductory session
into what was meant by dialogue. We explored
different aspects of problems and political views
that affect people such as identity. We took part
in a small yet powerful exercise which helped us
understand the responsibility that weighs down
the reality of your identity being threatened. This
particular group activity helped us acknowledge
how identity was valuable when we were told to
throw away key features that made us who we were.
Following this intense session, we had engaged in
our first dialogue in which we directed common
stereotypes and stigmas towards specific groups
that made up our society. Moving further into this
powerful dialogue, many of us had experienced an
awakening in which homophobic and extremist
views came to life.
Once we had experienced dialogue, we were then
trained on how to facilitate our own dialogues.
The training had provided us with a means of
facilitating discussions that will target conflicts
affecting the world around us. Having enjoyed
the values we had learnt from the first day, we
were eager to learn how to spark dialogues within
Cranford. With professional training and sheer
passion to create change within our community,
we are going to run our own dialogue sessions to
follow up the lessons learned with Seeds of Peace.
Overall, working with Seeds of Peace was a
fantastic opportunity we will never forget and
forever cherish.
Guy Boonyarakyotin (year 10)
“Having been personally confronted as a “terrorist” as
a Muslim and” cheap labour” as a south Asian during
the identity dialogue, took me out of my comfort zone and
helped me realise how people have conflicting views and
that it is up to me to make a change”.
Ayisha Mahmood (year 10)
“Seeds of Peace has been an eye-opening experience for
me; I have learnt how to tackle and facilitate dialogue on
the controversial issues that exist in the world today and I
hope to carry these skills with me into the future”.
Anjali Bhambra (year 10)
“I have learnt to do things I never thought I would do, built
new friendships and learnt the values behind my personal
opinions and those surrounding me”.
Guy Boonyarakyotin (year 10)
“This experience is one I will never forget and I hope to
apply my newly-learnt skills wherever I go”.
28
Abdulahi Awal (year 10)

Sathnam Sanghera Journalist and Writer visits Cranford
On
Friday 6th July 2018, famous writer and
journalist Sathnam Sanghera visited
Cranford Community College for a talk to our
students organised in collaboration with the Royal
Society for Literature. He told the touching story
(which has been made into a film by the BBC -
The Boy with The Top Knot) of his childhood and
the challenges he felt being raised in a traditional
Sikh family growing up in Wolverhampton. The
conflicting cultures which Sathnam experienced
is something many of our students could relate to
all too well. They listened attentively as Sathnam
described his childhood, working in a factory
as did many in his family. He spoke also of the
challenges of having family members with mental
illness and the painful re-visitation of events in his
life in order to write a book, which was motivated
by the desire to explain to his family why he wasn’t
conforming to traditional expectations.
Students listened attentively as Sathnam provided
them with key bits of advice, some of which
include:
1. Anyone can be a writer.
2. Oxbridge might not be something you think is for
you, but don’t write it off – it opens so many doors.
(He mentioned that he can’t watch TV for more than
15 minutes without seeing someone he attended
Cambridge with).
3. Don’t be afraid of being different – hold on to
what makes you different
4. You are 15, you might be working until 2093, so
it might as well be spent doing something you enjoy
doing.
5. Don’t misinterpret confidence for talent, some
people are good at faking it.
Every now and then we have guest speakers who
can clearly evidence that they believe in what
they do, and see the importance of trying to make
an impact on youngsters by sharing their stories
and their advice. Naturally this makes students
feel connected in a way that makes them want to
follow the afore-mentioned advice. Sathnam in
one such guest. Our students are lucky he made
the time to visit them, and the honesty with which
he shared his life experiences moved everyone. As
he said, he is the son of immigrant parents, with
a schizophrenic father who couldn’t work and a
mum who couldn’t speak English. He went on to
graduate from Cambridge with a first class degree
in English langauge and literature and is now a
member of the Royal Society for Literature and
so in his own words this shows that “anything is
possible”.
Thanks go to the Royal Society for Literature and
two former Cranford students who enabled this
talk to happen; Jay Bhadricha, who now works
as the Editorial and Content Manager for First
Story, approached us and mentioned that the Royal
Society for Literature has a writer for us and our
very own Ms Shaikh in the English department
who got it organised at this end.
The objective for such events is always to inspire
and nurture students in whatever path they choose;
on this day, it was clear to see that Sathnam had
that very impact. I am confident that there were
some very inspired and motivated young people
who left that hall genuinely wanting to pursue a
career in Literature and writing.
Mehmoona Yousaf (Senior Teacher - SMSC)
29

The National Saturday Art and Design Club
The
National Saturday Art and Design
Club at Cranford Community College
has thrived, developed and grown in numbers each
year. Now, at the end of the fourth year, we look
back on many defining moments of this year.
30
One of the most significant moments of the
year is the National Saturday Club’s welcome
exhibition at Central St Martin’s that occurs
at the start of each academic year. This year,
the students have had first-hand experience
creating, and exhibiting work at Central St
Martin’s – a triumph in its own right. For the
exhibition work, we combined artistic media –
black and white photography and colour monoprinting
– to create unique, juxtaposing
and bold selfportraits.
After
the exhibition,
we attended the
Whitechapel Gallery
for the Thomas Ruff
photography exhibit.
This was a moment
not to be missed for
some of the students
as their first experience at an art exhibit. This event
was vital to building the students’ confidence,
motivation and enthusiasm for the year – it enabled
the students to understand the curation involved
within exhibitions, the creativity, research and
workload concerned and empowered a sense of
achievement surrounding their own creations.
The event also emphasised the importance of
individual artistic study outside of the Saturday
Art Club – bringing to them an awareness of all
the galleries and museums on their doorstep.
Over the year, the Saturday Art and Design Club
runs sessions and workshops covering various
areas of the arts; we have explored the diverse
drawing techniques of renaissance masters,
experimented with mono-prints, collage,
expressive painting (and its link to colour,
emotions and sound), impressionistic painting
and abstract expressionism (studying the artists
involved within the artistic movements and the
painting techniques), performance art and gestural
art, clay and sculpture, graphic design and recycled
art, comic book design and character building,
amongst many others. Additionally, we intersperse
the sessions with critical theory, artistic techniques
and processes, and art history; this takes the form
of presentations, group debates and project work.
This year, a particular discussion surrounding
contemporary art and politics underpinned one
of our final pieces for the Protest Art division
of the end of summer show. We discussed how,
what and why contemporary artists used particular
media to explore the cultural, political, social and
historical associations in their art and how that
pertained to their personal lives. We spoke about
how our own associations with politics, society
and personal history can amplify our artwork and
provide another layer and meaning to our work.
The students became actively passionate about
current politics (and its effect on their lives) and
channeled this into fueling thought-provoking
protest art.
During the year, we participated in at least
two Masterclasses run by artists and designers
within the creative industry. This year we had the
opportunity to visit Thomas Matthews, an ecosustainable
graphic design company, and partake in
an all-day workshop with comic book artist Richy
K. Chandler. These masterclasses influenced and

Saturday Science and
Engineering Club
This was
Cranford’s first
year running
the Science and
Engineering
Club, and despite
melted rubber
sticky-tape cuts and egg disasters –it was
a great success. The year started with a
space theme but quickly branched out into
chemistry. The highly-motivated members
were delighted to work hard for the CREST
award and especially enjoyed any sessions
that involved dissection or setting things
on fire.
steered our art work
for the Summer
Show at Somerset
House. The masterclasses are
integral for the students to learn
additional artistic techniques
and forms within the arts, in
addition to understanding the
process and endurance needed
for a job in the creative industry. These
masterclasses have opened their eyes to the range
of media and artistic processes the world has to
offer and has enabled them to become aware of
the necessary qualifications and work needed to
pursue a career within the arts. The students have
grown in confidence, and do not hesitate to try
new things. It is wonderful to witness my students’
early arrival to the group on a Saturday morning
with the excitement to learn, and motivation to
explore. It has been a pleasure to watch as each
student develop their own distinct style and follow
their interests outside of the Club. Each year, with
each group, we create such wonderful memories,
and this year is no different – I will cherish the
memories of the Saturday Art and Design Club
group 2017/18 and wish them luck in all future
endeavours.
Aminder Virdee (Teacher – Saturday Art Club)
Over the course of the year they made
pH indicators from fruit and vegetables,
plotted titration curves, dissected
kidneys and sardines, investigated how
to protect an astronaut during re-entry
to earth’s atmosphere and looked at
the energy contained within different
fuels.
Further highlights included trips to
the University of West London to
tour its Ealing campus and visit the
Heathrow archive and exhibition and
to Imperial College’s science fair. The
Club fosters deep friendship resulting
from working together on projects. All
members had the opportunity to learn new
skills and pursue scientific investigations
which has inspired them to go on to Higher
Education.
My own personal highlight was working
with the Royal Astronomical Society
on mapping the lunar landscape and recreating
it on canvas.
Running the CREST award has allowed
members to explore their own research
initiatives. By setting a target and guiding
them towards their goal they have improved
their own practical skills tenfold and taken
their first steps into the world of scientific
research.
Sam Barrett (Saturday Science and
Engineering Club)
31

Masterclass at the Studios of Thomas Matthews
On
Saturday 21st April 2018 the Art and Stem Clubs had a fantastic Masterclass at the Studios
of Thomas Matthews. Thomas Matthews is an award-winning communication design agency
creating work that has sustainability at its heart. The experience was open to 25 club members from
different schools in the borough who participate in the Saturday club initiative. Sophie Thomas, one of
the Trusts founding members warmly welcomed us into their creative space. Surrounded by brutalist
architecture, Sophie helped the students give life to their own campaigns against the overproduction
and waste of non-biodegradable plastics. From a nightmarish Ariel, the little mermaid, with deformed
plastic hair to straight-up, no nonsense facts about how badly we’re damaging the planet and its aquatic
life, Sophie was able to get the best ideas and designs from everyone involved. It was an invaluable
experience for students to work with industry specialists, designers and engineers.
Pam Hunt and Sam Barrett (Saturday Art and STEM Club teachers)
32
“I am writing this to tell you how
much I enjoyed this trip at Thomas
Mathews where I was able to meet
Sophie Thomas and that gave
us the opportunity to talk about the
biggest problems of plastics and
how they pollute our world. After
we had discussed the matter we were
able to create our own ideas of how
we can prevent this mass pollution
of plastics and make London a more
sustainable place. Another reason I
really liked this trip is because it gave
me the opportunity to ask for work experience for
graphic design since this is what I want to do in
the future”.
Atanas Aleksandrov
“I attended the Thomas Matthews trip where we
learnt about sustainability and we created new
ways to make our society more
sustainable. This trip was really
enjoyable; the way they told us how
we are polluting our world made
me realise that I should be more
careful about my surroundings”.
Gergo Boros Gyevi
“Thomas Matthews ran a workshop
which allowed us to think outside-thebox
to solve the global problem of plastic
consumption, a project which concerns
the future of every organism on the
planet. We had the opportunity to let
our minds run wild and come up with
cost-efficient and imaginative ways of
reducing our reliance on plastic as well
as deter the population from throwing
it away rather than recycling it, most
of which ends up in marine ecosystems,
endangering the lives of its inhabitants.
We were told many eye-opening facts, one
of which was that by 2050, the oceans
will contain more weight in plastic than
fish, truly a reminder that this is a global
responsibility.
Art and science came together and
resulted in solutions such as designing
a presentation of a dinner table, with
plastics on the plate instead of food.
It genuinely was an unforgettable
experience”. ​
Harit Boonyarakyotin, Brahmnoor Brar
and Adam El-Kosbi (year 10)

In Memory of
Jagdip Randhawa
Six years on
and the Jagdip Randhawa memorial
football tournament continues to resonate
with the local community and draws former students and staff to participate
in it. It is always a little bittersweet, as some of us can’t help but think about
what Jagdip could and should have been doing as his peers reach different
milestones in their lives.
Jagdip was always a sports enthusiast; his friend
Jagdeep Budwal recalls that he was a good footballer,
started off as a goal keeper and then discovered
his hidden talents on the pitch too. He was an avid
Manchester United fan. So the idea, initially suggested
by Inderpal Sembhi was that it would be a good way
to honour his memory by doing something within the
local community. He spoke to Jagdip’s family and
friends and together they organised the first memorial
football tournament in the summer of 2012.
As Jagdip’s friends and peers enter a new phase in
their lives, by getting married, starting families,
establishing themselves in different careers, they still
all come together to ensure that this event in the annual
calendar is always a success. Those who participated in the tournament, were
busily catching up in the midst of playing in the various knock out rounds.
Others enjoyed a more relaxing approach, cheering from the side-lines and
eating ice creams, provided by the business of another former student.
This event was a great opportunity to hear all about their busy lives and beam
with pride when listening to all that these wonderful individuals have achieved
since leaving school. I noted down the contact details of all former students to
add to our fast growing Cranford Community College Alumni. The enthusiasm
of these students when told we wanted them to be involved with our current
students was extremely encouraging and gives me great confidence that they
will contribute to making our future Alumni events a huge success like the
inaugural one earlier this year.
This year’s winners namely “Peter Cech Yourself” beat “CF Cranford” on
penalties. In keeping with the spirit of the event the £400 goes to charity. We
all look forward to next year’s event which will no doubt continue to make
everyone associated with it very proud.
Mehmoona Yousaf (Senior Teacher –SMSC)
“We thought a football
tournament would be the
best thing to do to remember
Jagz, we saw it as an
amazing opportunity to
get everyone together and
raise money for charity. It
was something we wanted
to do for Jagz’ family, to
make them feel we are all
with them and will always
keep Jagz in our hearts and
memories.
We are just so grateful to
have the support of everyone
at Cranford Community
College to help with this
tournament, Ms Joyce who
we initially approached
to hold the event free of
charge, which means we
can give a substantial sum
of money to charity every
year and offer a significant
cash prize. We need to thank
Ms Ashfaq who arranges the
pitches and classrooms and
the caretakers for always
being on hand and helping
us with anything we need.
Finally, to former staff
who come to support us
and especially those who
have given up their time
to referee over the years,
namely Dr Ranvir Singh, Mr
Andrew Chauhan, Mr Mark
Cripps and Mr Vivek Behl.
We are also amazed with
the generosity of former
students who have supported
the event, whether it’s Djing,
providing an ice cream
van, refereeing or First
Aid. Others have helped by
handing out water, taking
donations for food or just
being part of the audience.
The Randhawa family would
like to say a huge thank you
to Jagz’ friends and former
teachers who put in so
much hard work each year
to make this day a success.
He would be very proud that
they have organised this
football tournament as it is
a positive inclusive and fun
event. We are very grateful
for their help and support
over the years”.
Jagdeep Budwal and
Inderpal Sembhi
33

The Heston West
Big Local Building a
united community
The
Heston West Big Local is a successful
community partnership helping to
build a stronger community in our area. We are just
end our third year with a summer programme jampacked
with activities and events ranging from a
production of Romeo and Juliet on the Redwood
Estate to a four-week summer school.
But Heston West Big Local is more than just a series
of fantastic activities and events it is about you
and supporting you to have a healthier and happier
life in Heston West. HWBL aims to build a united
community where everyone feels welcome in a happy and safe environment. To do this we need to build
a culture of giving back through volunteer programmes such as our Youth Action Team and being a good
neighbour. We would be delighted to hear from you if you are interested in becoming a volunteer or in
some other way contributing to our community.
The community partnership board is currently looking at the vision and direction of the Heston West Big
Local and will be consulting with you over the coming year on what you think our community should
look like and feel like. The coming year is going to be a very exciting one as HWBL look to become
their own separate charity which will enable it to spread its outstanding work beyond the narrow area it
already works in.
If you would like to know more about the Heston West Big Local or would like to volunteer please visit
our web site www.hestonwest.org or contact Taz Virdee on 07840047771 or t.virdee@berkeleyacademy.
org.uk.
Alan Fraser Chair (Heston West Big Local & Director of Community Development, Cranford Community College)
Romeo and Juliet
Joint Community Arts
Production Project
On
Sunday 15th July 2018, the Redwood Estate became
Shakespeare’s Globe for our outdoor performance of
Romeo & Juliet. The play was directed by young Heston West
Big Local volunteers and Cranford Community College students
Juhi Kumra and Huzayma Khamis. We had Emaan Saleem as
the delicate but strong-minded Juliet, Hana Sharif as the cool
and charismatic Romeo, Callum Wills as the determined and
dedicated Tybalt and Layba Nisar as the powerful and persistent
Lady Capulet. We were also joined by Iman Jaura as the masterful
Mercutio, Brooke Smith as the legendary Lord Montague, Anjali
Parmar as the supportive Nurse, Haris Sethi as charming Paris
and Mario Zapata as the mischievous Apothecary.
Romeo & Juliet was a production from Heston West Big Local’s Theatre in Education project in partnership
with ZeroPlus Theatre. The project gave the opportunity for young people to take ownership, be creative
and to enhance their leadership and communication skills.
Taz Virdee, Project Manager at Heston West Big Local said: “The young people have worked incredibly
hard over the past 6 months to put together this amazing performance. It’s not easy coming in every
Sunday, and although we had our challenges, I am proud of everyone’s effort. It was brilliant seeing the
young people perform on the Redwood Estate and hopefully we will see more of these performance in the
future. I also would like to thank ZeroPlus Theatre for their support during the programme, it was great
to have experienced practitioners from the industry inspire our young people.”
Big thanks to the Arts Council England, Cranford Community College, Local Trust and Make A Difference
Entertainment. Photos credit: Haroon Lukka.
Taz Virdee (Project Manager Heston West Big Local)
34

“It was a lovely day for all. All the
children really enjoyed themselves”.
Taz Virdee
“It was nice to see the children enjoy
their day out, some have not been to
the zoo or this part of London before.
It was a great day for everyone
involved”.
Claire Smith (parent)
Cranford Hosts the Big Local
Commonwealth Big Lunch
On
21st April 2018 at the Big Local
Commonwealth Big Lunch event held at
Cranford Community College we raised a total of £500
to the Jayden Powell was led by Claire Smith and the
local traveller community and the Heston West Big
Local Youth Action Team. Jayden,17 years old, who
has been diagnosed with a glioblastoma tumour (an
aggressive form of cancer) requires ongoing treatment
and support and the money raised will go towards this
help.
A delighted Claire Smith said: “I cannot thank everyone
enough for their kindness, generosity and support.
I am overwhelmed by how much help came from
the community. It meant so much to us and Jayden’s
family”.
Ms Cannon added: “It was great to see how many
people contributed for the cause, The generosity and
support was amazing”.
Taz Virdee, Project Manager for Heston West Big Local
said of the event: “It was great to see the community
unite together to support Jayden and his family.
We are proud of the effort from our local Traveller
community and our young amazing volunteers”.
Since the event, we have continued to support the
Heston West Big Local in weekly activities aimed at
the Travellers families such as: Flower Arranging,
Jewellery making, storytelling and a trip to London
Zoo on 17th July 2018 which all the families enjoyed.
Cara Cannon (TA- Travellers Support)
35

Cranbury Festival 2018
On
a very hot sunny day, Saturday 14th July 2018 Cranford opened its
doors to the school and community to enjoy the Cranbury Festival.
The festival was a celebration of arts, storytelling and sports,
the first for four years and was the combined initiative between the Creative Arts
Department, PE, Community Sports, the Heston West Big Local, Bounce Theatre
and ZeroPlus theatre company. It took its name from a combination of Cran(ford)
and (Glaston)bury.
WATCH IT LIVE ON BIG SCREE
CRANBURY
During the day visitors were entertained by student bands, singers performing a
catalogue of original songs and dancers on the live stage, storytelling in various
“pods” around the site and were welcomed by the characters from Alice in Wonderland
to join the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party to decorate cakes and meet the characters. In
addition, a range of sports workshops and taster sessions were on offer run by various
community sports groups and Cranford Sports Leaders helped to manage the signing
up. Sports on offer included a number of activities provided by QPR including: UV
dodgeball, soft archery, and football challenges. London Welsh offered touch rugby,
Spidernets Badminton Club ran taster sessions as did the Kendo Club and the Boxing
club set up their ring outside on the playground where they ran demonstrations and
offered visitors to step inside the ring and have a go. The Heston West Big Local offered
cooking sessions, film making sessions and the volunteers ran the
popcorn and candyfloss stall and BBQ.
F E S
MUSIC SPORTS
SATURDAY
1
CRANFORD CO
There were a number of school and community stalls selling various
crafts, foods and activities. Face painting and henna proved very
popular as did the curry stall run by our wonderful Chartwells staff
led by Lettie. In addition, we gave samples of various foods from
our stunning food stories recipe book created by the students in
creative arts alongside jewellery, badges and T shirts all made by the
students. Other stalls included a First Story writing workshop, an Alumni
stall recruiting former students to join our school alumni and the local army
cadets offered first aid support whist running an obstacle course.
A main thread of the arts at the festival was storytelling. Students in creative
arts have been working all term on various story performances ranging from
a re-creation of a traditional tale like Jack and Beanstalk to sensory stimulate
stories made up or retold from their culture. Zero Plus theatre also retold cultural
stories and ran workshops for anyone who had a desire to take part.
36

N! We were delighted to include in the event the annual Jagdip Randhawa memorial
football tournament in memory of a former student who died suddenly in 2011. It
was so lovely seeing so many of our former students participating in this event and
joining us at the festival.
£1 ENTRY (U5’s FREE)
T I V A L
ART DANCE COOKING
14TH JULY 2018
2 TO 5PM
MMUNITY COLLEGE
There were so many wonderful moments during the day but one of the highlights
must be the Mad Hatter’s Tea party where children joined the tea party, met the
characters of Alice, the Cheshire cat, Mad Hatter and the Red Queen and shared
in their storytelling whilst decorating cupcakes. Some of the children were so
enthralled they kept coming back.
Events like these take a huge amount of organising and good will on behalf of its
participants. Thanks must go to all those staff and students, community and sports
providers for making the day such a success and to the various sponsors including
CATO and Back Stage Academy for the live stage, Heathrow Communities
Together and Arts Council who helped fund this event. Finally, thanks must go
to all those visitors who came to the festival and made it such a happy, memorable
community event.
Jessica Joyce (Creative Arts - Festival Organiser)
37

It
Jack Petchey Awards 2017-2018
has been yet another year of inspirational students receiving the Jack Petchey Award at the
celebration evening attended by the Mayor of Hounslow. As with previous years we have received
a fantastic range of nominees which has made the task of shortlisting the actual prize winners more
difficult than ever. In addition, Milton Venancio Ferreira received the adult Award.
I am sure you will agree when you read the citations for each of the recipients they are worthy winners.
Kevin Biggs (Assistant Headteacher – Jack Petchey)
Callum Wills (year 9)
Callum is always available to support others and has
grown in confidence in the past 18 months. He is a
valuable asset for our youth action team and has been
involved with a number of community projects and
activities including: Youth Film Club, Healthy Cooking
for Families, Kids Fun Club and Walking Football
to name a few. Callum loves helping out, especially
with the elderly and disabled. He has demonstrated
exceptional attitude and we are really proud to see him
grow into a polite and hardworking young man. Callum
is known throughout our community for his fantastic
smile and dedication to volunteering.
Serena Lola (year 11)
Serena is a talented young person who has contributed
immensely to the Big Local in the past 14 months.
She has a top rate attitude and is always helpful and
supportive of others. She cares about the community
and has been ever present in our Youth Film Club and
Youth Action Team. Serena has created media content
for the Big Local which has reached over 8,000
views on YouTube - this has helped us promote our
community project via social media. Serena has also
organised and planned a number of community events
including: Community Clean Up Days, Family Fun
Days and Maria Pedro (the Royal Deputy Lieutenant
of Hounslow) visit to our community. Serena also
interview Maria Pedro - the interview can be found
here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZUuM6-
f0o0 The interview was uploaded onto the Greater
Lieutenancy website. Serena has also been developing
our Heston West Magazine and she completed a 2 week
work placement with the Big Local during the summer
2017 and was involved with our Politics and Life Skills
Campaign and presented in Parliament with our Youth
Action Team to a group of MPs. The magazine will
be published at Christmas and will aim to reach 4,000
residents. Serena was also the official journalist for the
Local Trust Young People Making A Difference Event
in September and her article was uploaded onto the
Local Trust website. Serena is a shining star for our
community and we are very proud to have her involved
with our community programme.
38

Layba Nisar (year 9)
Layba joined the Big Local and has been an amazing
and influential youth action team member. Layba is
always positive and ready to help others. She is clearly
passionate about volunteering and has demonstrated
first class attitude. Layba has also started her own dance
sessions for children at Berkeley Primary School and
recently received £1000 funding from the Big Local
for her Debates projects. She was also instrumental in
our summer projects including painting the Brabazon
Community Centre and coming to our Parliament trip.
Sharanjit Kaur (year 9)
Sharanjit has been a great role model for other young
people involved with our youth action team. She
has been involved with our Politics and Life Skills
campaign and spoke in Parliament. Recently, she has
been working on developing a project to promote the
Sciences and Life Skills to our community (working
alongside Sharanjit Kaur). The project was funded
£500 by our committee and will commence in January
2018. Sharanjit has also supported us at our events
including our Traveller’s BBQ, Family Fun Day and
Community Fun Palace events and has helped organise
our awards evening. Sharanjit has also been involved
with our BFI project and has recently started dance
sessions for young children at Berkeley Primary School.
Sharanjit also helped us paint the Brabazon Community
Centre during the summer and ran side activities for
the children during the intervals She has also helped
create a number of short film productions, notably our
introduction film for the Heston West website and our
NHS prevention film.
Juhi Kumra (year 12)
Juhi has been incredible this year, she is always
enthusiastic and positive. Juhi helped organise a
number of community events this year including:
Christmas Fundraiser, Comic Relief (https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=BrJiNtXUhaA), Family Fun
Day, Community Clean Up Day (https://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=xyYZNcbHmak) and the Great Get
Together with NCS. The Community Clean Up Day
film was showcased the Big Local Film Festival at
the University of Birmingham. Juhi represented us
at the Local Trust Young People Make A Difference
Event and presented at the event. Juhi also starred
in our Body Image campaign film: https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=2S9QHe8REXI and presented
the Family Fun Day film: https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=Hu53J7ah8bY. Juhi completed her work
experience with Bounce Theatre during the summer
and received glowing reviews about her work ethic and
performance. Juhi was recently nominated and awarded
the Brian Clark Young Community Leader Award 2017.
Megha Dahdrai (year 12)
Megha is passionate about community and also about
global affairs. She has demonstrated excellent leadership
and communication skills and has helped organise a
number of community events including our Christmas
Fundraiser, Comic Relief, Cranford Fun Day and is
currently working on her Natural Disaster Awareness
campaign and helping us plan our Awards evening.
Megha also represented us at the Local Trust Young
People Make A Difference event in Essex and presented
to an audience about the benefits of volunteering.
Megha also secured summer paid work experience
with Bounce Theatre at our Big Local Summer School.
Megha is always coming up with ideas to help benefit
the community and has improved her confidence and
public speaking since started volunteering with us
nearly 20 months ago.
Geetanjali Kumar (year 12)
Anjali is always smiling and eager to help. Anjali is
passionate about helping others and has played an
important role in developing our youth action team.
Anjali has also been involved with a number of events
and has helped organise and deliver them. Anjali
represented us at the Local Trust Young People Make A
Difference event in Essex and presented to an audience
about the benefits of volunteering. Anjali also helped
us paint the Brabazon Community Centre during the
summer and ran side activities for the children during
the intervals. Anjali is an amazing person with lots of
energy and enthusiasm and has been an invaluable asset
to the Big Local.
Kavleen Auroa (year 9)
Kavleen has volunteered in drama productions as an
Assistant Director. In this role she has taken on large
responsibilities helping shape the artistic vision of the
production and planning and delivering appropriate
tasks in order to nurture skills in other students.
Harpreet Kaur ( year 12)
Harpreet has gone above and beyond a normal student
and has shown dedication not only to the subject area
but to the community as a whole. Harpreet was a
successful applicant and was chosen to take part in the
UAL spring school. She also volunteers and participates
weekly in helping the Heston West Big Local giving a
lot of her time to help others. Here she has helped to
run and plan events and also has run art sessions for
younger children in the community. She is also setting
up a sewing class that will run on a Sunday and will be
working with young people to promote ethical clothing.
39

Maths News 2018
Cranford has had great success this year in the United
Kingdom Mathematics Trust challenges. In November
2017, 24 sixth form students completed the Senior
Maths Challenge, winning two Gold Awards, 3 Silver Awards
and 12 Bronze Awards. Particular congratulations go to
Teodor Jevtic (year 12) and Baljinder Padda (year 13) who
both achieved Gold Awards and also qualified for the Senior
Kangaroo which is one of the follow-on competitions for high
scorers.
In February 2018 it was the turn of year 9,10 and 11 students
with the Intermediate Maths Challenge. We received a
staggering two Gold Awards, Ria Kalia (year 11) and Haroon
Lukka (year 10), 9 Silver Awards and 39 Bronze Awards.
We were delighted to see Ria Kalia, Awo Igaal (year 9) and
Ahmed Ali (year 9) qualify for the Intermediate Kangaroo and
are incredibly proud of Haroon Lukka who qualified for and
receive a Certificate of Merit in the Intermediate Mathematical
Olympiad, which is a competition only open to the top five
hundred high scorers across the country.
A group of year 7 and 8 students completed the Junior
Maths Challenge in April 2018, with Marjaan Aman (year 8)
receiving a Gold Award, 11 students gaining a Silver Award
and 13 getting a Bronze Award.
Cranford also entered two teams for the UKMT team Maths
challenges.
On 3rd December 2017, Baljinder Padda, Teodor Jevtic and
Haroon Lukka along with Karan Kumar (year 12) competed
in the Senior Team Maths challenge at St. Paul’s School in
Barnes. They worked wonderfully as a team and held their
own against teams from quite a mixture schools from across
London, including many independent and grammar schools.
Their excellent attitude and superb mathematical ability led
them to securing third place.
On 14th March 2018, the Junior Team, consisting of Marjaan
Aman, Ayesha Kaur, Ria Dhaliwal and Manav Vivek (all year
8) went to the West London Free School, in Hammersmith to
compete in their team challenge. They put in an admirable
performance and although they did not make the top three, they
gained a great deal of experience and enjoyed the challenge.
Both teams showed a great deal of commitment in attending
weeks of period zero preparation sessions and were model
students when representing the school in these competitions.
The Maths Department is very proud of them. We would also
like to thank Mr Ennis and Ms Jones, for taking them to their
competitions, and Ms Gupta for working with them to prepare
beforehand.
Sarah Brackley (Head of Maths Department)
40

The
UKMT Senior Mathematical Team Challenge is an
event in which students from many schools, typically
in years 12 and 13, come to one school and compete to see who is
the best team at solving interesting mathematical problems. Rather
than focusing on using complex mathematics, the questions focus
on using many simple, logical methods to come to the correct
answer. Therefore, it took a large amount of training to ensure we
scored the highest we could.
On the day of the TMC (Team Mathematical Challenge), we
travelled to St. Paul’s School in Barnes, South West London.
The first activity that we completed was the Cross-Number. In
this round, the team of four split into two pairs and we had a
crossword sheet, that we needed to fill with the digits from 0-9.
There are about 60 squares and we get a point for each correctly
filled square. However, one pair did across and the other did down,
and some of the answer clues required other values for the other
rows. Moreover, we were unable to communicate with the other
pair; this is so the whole team contribute to the challenge.
Secondly, we had the Group Round, which consisted of ten
demanding questions where we all had to complete. The questions
required the most creative thinking and good problem solving
ability. We could be given either 0 marks or 6 marks depending on
the answer, so it was important not to rush the questions.
The Shuttle Round followed the Group Round; this round required
the team to split into pairs. This round consists of sixteen questions,
grouped into sets of four (A, B, C, D), and the question number (1-
4). Each pair was given two questions in each set. One pair received
the odd numbers and the other pair received even questions. To
make it harder, the answer to the previous question is needed to
answer the next question (e.g. the answer from A1 was needed to
solve A2). We are given three points for each correct answer, plus
3 marks for each set completed within the time limit. This round
was, arguably, the most challenging round since we were unable
to answer the question until the other pair had done so.
Finally, we had the Relay Round. This round also works in pairs
and we have to go to a teacher to receive the question, and return
to answer it, then give it back to the teacher to check the answer.
Then the teacher will give us another question and we must give
it to the other pair. There are 30 questions, in two sets (A and B),
so we could get 2 marks per correctly answered question. In the
TMC, we scored 6th out of approximately 30 schools. This is an
outstanding result.
Overall, I would like to thank the Mathematics Department for
allowing us to take part in activities like this, and I feel proud to
represent Cranford Community College by participating in many
different educational activities, trips and opportunities.
Haroon Lukka (year 10)
Maths Team Challenge
41

What
Creative Arts
do you do when you are faced with a difficult decision?
Well if you are Kevin Prunty, Executive Headteacher and
you are passionate about providing young people with a broad and balance
curriculum, you see a challenge as an opportunity and you find a solution.
The school, like many schools across the country, was facing a huge
challenge in 2017 with the EBac agenda and the current education cuts
effecting the delivery of non-EBac subjects including the arts. Many schools
have made the decision not to continue to provide subjects like art, drama
and music, but not Cranford. An innovative and exciting new programme of
creative arts was introduced in September 2017 which has not only served
to maintain Kevin Prunty’s vision for a broad and balance curriculum but
has opened up amazing opportunities for the students.
The vision for this initiative was twofold. Firstly, with the ever-increasing
stresses on young people to meet targets and
raise attainment, the arts would provide a
different approach through a combined arts
curriculum, delivered by a team of dynamic
arts practitioners and teachers, offering
students the opportunity to learn new
skills and techniques through a variety arts
experiences whilst nurturing their talents
and enabling the joy of the arts to be at the
centre of their learning. The focus was on
key stage 3 in the first instance. Secondly,
to enable those professionals to bring their
wealth of knowledge and experience of
the arts industries, so students can see the
career possibilities should they wish to
pursue that direction. Above all it had to
be fun.
It didn’t take us long to get the ball rolling.
Students worked towards a Christmas
event, “The Light and Dark Experience”
where they performed and shared with
parents and guests the work they had been
doing, including some amazing animation
work. This was followed by the “Mad
Hatter’s Tea Party” at the end of the spring
term based around the topic of mental
health. The year culminated with the
“Cranbury Festival” with storytelling and
live performances in drama and music. In
addition, students took part in a number
of extra-curricular opportunities including
two drama productions: “Twelfth Night”
for the Shakespeare in Schools Festival
and “Tale of the Unknown Island” in
March 2018.
42

A Year of Innovation,
Collaboration and Inspiration
Many of these additional enrichment activities and opportunities were
enhanced by the additional resources given to the department. The Music
Department was transformed into an amazing area with the creation of a
music technology room for students to write their own music, a live room
with large stage area for bands to rehearse and the practice rooms were
given a makeover. Students in every year group created their own bands
and began to write and perform new work. Most recently a recording studio
has been installed and students are now recording their own tracks using
up-to-date technology and this is proving really popular.
Arts professionals joined us during the year to aid learning. We hosted a
visit from an enormous tour bus from Back Stage Academy where students
learnt about what it would be like to work in the music industry and go on
tour. Tom Hovey, illustrator for the Great British Bake Off worked with
students in art to use his techniques in bringing to life the food stories
cookbook and recipes created through the
lessons. Bounce Theatre and ZeroPlus
theatre company worked with students on
the storytelling project for the festival.
Looking back, what has been achieved
has more than exceeded our expectations
and our hopes for the students. There is
no doubt that this way of working can
only serve to enrich the lives of students
because of what they have experienced and
the wealth of knowledge and expertise of
the arts practitioners. With the multiple
opportunities in the year ahead, not
just in the lessons (RSL Music is being
introduced at key stage 4) but in the extra
curriculum including, “King Lear” with the
Shakespeare in School Foundation, the new
National Theatre Connexions production,
a planned Christmas concert, tickets to
see “Warhorse” at the National Theatre
and a school visit by the actor playing the
lead role of Albert, the ENO Opera Squad
project to put on our own opera, gallery
trips and artist workshops, Battle of The
Bands and animation project and so much
more, proves the arts at Cranford are very
much alive and a thriving important part of
the curriculum. It just goes to show what
can be achieved with vision, determination
and collaboration.
Jessica Joyce
(Consultant - Creative Arts)
43

National Writing Day is a First Story initiative which is in its
second year. To celebrate this event, we decided that at Cranford
Community College we would run an inter-form competition
on Wednesday 27th June 2018 and a 7 minute independent free-writing
activity for all students to be involved in. The theme for this year was
‘freedom’ and the poems that have been submitted by some form groups
were lovely to read and quite eye opening. These poems and this competition enabled form groups to
come together as a team and share their thoughts and feelings with the rest of the school. It was also an
opportunity for them to express their creative ideas and reflect on themselves – what does freedom mean
to them? As an adult, particularly as a teacher (an English teacher to be precise), it’s always enlightening
and interesting to see what the younger generation has to say about something as broad as freedom and
some of these poems really do demonstrate that there is more to these young individuals than social
media, video games and sports. I hope you enjoy reading these poems as much as the students enjoyed
writing them.
Here is just a sample of the work they produced.
Sahrish Shaikh (English Department)
National Writing Day at Cranford
Freedom
by 8X
Poem
by 10V
I feel most free when I’m alone,
Letting my emotions flow,
No one telling me where and why to go.
I feel most free when I’m alone,
No one to pause my thoughts,
And question why I feel this type of way.
I feel most free when my ideas are
arguable to be dwelled on,
And I can share my curiosity with those
who are willing to listen.
I feel most free when my inner thoughts
have the ability to conquer the outside
world.
I feel most free when I depart the worries
of my surroundings to enter a brand new
world full of fascination.
I feel most free when I put effort in to
achieve the essential, proving that I have
the potential.
I feel most free when I am not bound by
any responsibilities.
I feel most free when the gates of
education are open for us to succeed.
My freedom has no taste.
My freedom has no sound.
My freedom had no scent.
Because freedom is abstract and cannot
be seen.
It has a different meaning for everyone:
Some feel free when having fun,
Others feel free when with their mum.
Life is equal – spread your love -
Just know love’s never done.
I feel most free when no one’s in charge of me,
That is when I feel most free.
In life, people act like puppets waiting to be played with
But rules and laws give us reason to live.
I feel most free when I am listening to music
And no one is interrupting me.
I feel most free when I am with my mum
When she gives me a kiss.
No racism for anyone -
Seeing no one alone.
So pick up the phone,
And make everyone your own!
Think about what freedom means to you.
In today’s society we have boundaries
Stopping us from spreading our wings.
Some feel free when birds sing –
Others feel free at the sight of nature.
Why do events that shake the ground
Beneath our feet finally knock some
Sense into us, when the smaller
Events are overlooked?
Freedom.
It might be a right, but
You need to know its true meaning
To appreciate it to its fullest extent.
Freedom, freedom means to be free:
The word has different meanings for everyone.
44

Poem about Freedom
by 8Z
I feel most free when I draw the world on paper
When the pen swishes from the speed
And where reality isn’t meant to be
Emotions and memories told through lines
Yet open enough for all to interpret
Feeling satisfied when eating ice cream
And dropping my bag and lying in bed
I feel most free when I am acting on stage
Free like a bird, Free like the wind
Letting go of all the dirt
All of it’s been binned
I feel the most free when I do wheelies
on my bike
I feel free when I play fortnite
The ones that believe they have the right
to cherish freedom
I feel most free when I dream
Why? Because I’m free
I feel most free when I watch the sunset
It’s the most beautiful serene sight
Which shows you how small you are
And how much there is left to explode
The colours vibrate like an exploding firework
Keep me alive
I feel most free when I play sports
When Portugal win their football matches
in the World Cup!
I feel most free when everything is calm
When everywhere is quiet
Not a single care in sight
I feel free when I play football
When I am playing a game with my brothers
I feel most free when I listen to music
Listening to the sound of the melody and the
meaning of the lyrics
I feel most free when I am acting on stage
I feel most free when I am singing
I feel free when I am dancing and learning
something new
Dancing is a way of communicating
It takes your mind off all the stress
you are going through
The jokes and the laughs
Makes your mood happier
I feel most free when I can be myself
in front of people
When I do not have to pretend
A lightbulb popping above my head
I feel most free when I laugh
I feel most free when I play sports
I feel most free when I am with friends
When I am socialising
I feel most free when I am around people
that I love Friends.
Happy. Family. Love. Sports. Excited.
Free…
When 9X Feels Free
I feel most free when I am cooking
because it feels so great when my
emotions and passions blend into
something wonderful; the different
flavours play a beautiful harmony in
your mouth,
I feel most free when I’m home alone,
free from others’ judgement, trapped with
nothing but my conscience,
I feel most free when I am sleeping as I
can dream of driving foreign cars, living
with all the mandem,
I feel most free when there’s a breeze
flowing through my clean duvets,
I feel most free when I go on adventures
around areas I have never been to,
I feel most free when I hear nothing but
the wind blowing and the birds singing,
I feel most free when I am walking
by myself with only my own thoughts,
allowing me to create the best ideas,
I feel most free when I am by myself.
When it’s a good sunny day with no
troubles to think about,
I feel most free when I am around
positive people,
I feel most free when I’m playing or
listening to music. You can let your
creativity run wild and write about
whatever you want,
I feel most free when I am listening to
music as the drum and exotic music
makes me feel like I’m on a beach with
the sun gazing upon me,
I feel most free when I perform for others
as I love to see the smiles on their faces,
I feel most free when I am able to express
my thoughts and feelings,
I feel most free when I go home from
school – it feels like nothing, peaceful
and calm; it feels like being yourself all
the time,
I feel most free when I go free running
– the breeze that hits your face as you
vault over blocks and walls,
I feel most free when I am munching
on Nandos, the tender chicken and the
sizzling hot sauce, endless combinations
to taste,
I feel most free when I see other people
free, people have been trapped and
locked away throughout history. I will
feel free when everyone in the world is
free. No, let’s not talk about me being
free, let’s talk about freedom.
45

PSHCE
has grown this year with more students accessing information, advice and
guidance on Personal, Social, Health, Citizenship and Economic education. We
are going from strength to strength with students gaining the opportunity to explore challenging topics
that fast young people in the world today from politics and democracy to relationships and sex education.
Cranford Community College is equipping young people to be successful in the future in the world of
work but also in life. This year we have relaunched our drug education programme and developed our
work with year 8 students on risk and how to manage it in different situations. All year 8 students have
completed a First Aid course and the Be Internet Citizen Course. This is yet another first for Cranford.
Google and The Institute for Strategic Dialogue invited Cranford to be the first school in the country to
run Google’s new flagship resource to teach young people on the safe use of the internet and social media.
Cranford has developed an internationally-recognised programme for teaching young people about the
safe use of the internet and social media. The new resource enhances the existing programme and will
help to ensure our students are equipped for the world we live in. Our year 9 programme continued to
challenge students’ thinking on equality, equity and diversity and has students exploring themes based
around human rights. Below is a flavour of student responses.
Kevin Biggs (Assistant Headteacher PSHCE)
I have learnt what scapegoating, emotional manipulation, filter
bubbles, hate speech, free speech are and how to handle them
when they hurt your feelings. Also, how to tell the difference
between the categories. The way you can handle the situations
is by flagging or reporting and blocking that person. If you
don’t feel comfortable, you can speak to somebody about your
situation and get a help talk from a trusted person. If I could
change anything differently, I would be careful about what I
post or say on the internet and social media. Also, I would help
people who are feeling bad about the hate speech they get by
reporting it.
Student year 8
PSHCE has taught me a lot. Some of these things included
relationships, drugs and abuse, first aid, finance and other
things related to that. I believe that learning about all these
different aspects of life, which we eventually will come across
and learning about these things early on, will open up our eyes
to how we view the world, and how we handle our future. I’ve
found out that there are a lot of different help lines and sources
for anything that you’re going through. In relationships, I learnt
the importance of qualities such as loyalty, trust and love, and
how without simple things like these, any relationship, whether
platonic, family, or romantic, can’t flourish. Boundaries and
learning how to deal with different problems and things like
rejection are important things for anybody, in order to develop
more as a person. Moreover, I found out the different types
46

of abuse, some more common than
others, such as emotional, physical,
mental, financial and how important it
is not to overlook these things, which
unfortunately, happen a lot in this
society. An example for that is people
who believe that only women fall
as victims under sexual or physical
abuse, and often, men don’t speak out,
or if they do, they are often criticised
for it. I’ve learnt how damaging
drugs and gambling can be towards
families or possible connections that
you have. Both can lead to serious
problems, like compulsive gambling,
drug addictions, which come with side
effects on your health. However, there
are multiple hotlines, such as “Talk to
Frank”, which can educate you on the
dangers and effects of drugs. I also now understand first aid clearly and believe I will know what to do in a circumstance
where it is needed, and hopefully be able to save a life if needed, I realise that mistakes during first aid can be fatal
at times. I also understand how to be appropriate on the internet, and be wary about expressing my own opinions and
if others will see it as hate speech or offensive, or simply free speech. A lot of ignorant people exist, hence why things
like scapegoating takes place.
Student year 8
I do not often think about where the things I buy come from, unless I am directly reminded about it, such as seeing the
FairTrade logo. But it seems that these logos aren’t often on materials. Nearly all things we buy will be made in poor
conditions and the people who make them will be paid very little to do so. This happens even in the UK, whether it’s
slavery or not, just look at people working in Tesco or in office buildings, these people won’t be paid very much, however
those in slavery will be paid nothing. Lots of the things we buy often say Made in China​but because of China’s major
overpopulation problems employers can afford to pay their workers buttons because there is such major competition
for jobs, even the lowest paid ones. When people think of slavery they think of people slaving away in dank conditions
with people with guns watching over them, slavery can happen right out in the open, even if it isn’t considered slavery
by the strict definition, huge employers make poor people work in factories for nothing when they can travel the world
at any point.
Student in Year 9
Risk is the chance of something bad happening to you after doing something. People can assess risk by thinking about
what could happen to them. The risks involved with being near or on the road are the chance of you being hit by a
car or if you are driving crashing into something or someone. These risks can be amplified by not paying attention
by watching a mobile device and they can be decreased by paying attention to the road and if you’re driving paying
attention to people crossing the road. The responsibilities for someone who is crossing the road are looking at the road
and listening out for beeping or cars when crossing because if you are not looking at the road a car could be running
at you at full speed and it would hit you hard. Also, if you are listening to songs you can’t hear a car that is right about
to take a corner and crash into you causing injuries or death. You can keep yourself safe by looking at the road and not
listening to music, videos etc. The key points to the Green Cross Code are: Think, Stop, Look and Listen, Wait, Look
and Listen again and arrive alive.
Student in Year 9
We have learnt about young women having the same freedom to get their education. I think education should be free
for everyone in the world and gender shouldn’t stop people from learning. I think I’m using my education well but
other people sometimes waste their education and don’t use it to its fullest. ISIS and other organisations like ISIS are
destroying the name of Islam because Islam is about peace. I think we should make education free for everyone in the
world, this means everyone in country can be smarter and the knowledge of young people will help us discover more
things and live in a better world.
Student in Year 9
From the 4 weeks I’ve worked on this project I’ve discovered how bitter sweet society is. In my PowerPoint I’ve included
my opinion for majority of slides which I thought was essential. LGBT+ is a topic I personally am really passionate
about because I’ve realised that love is beautiful, whether it’s romantic love or your love for hobbies. It’s stupid how
people want to ruin something so amazing because of invalid reasons, if someone who is still in the closet were to read
this, I hope this gives them some support and courage to really love themselves and possibly to change someone else’s
opinion on LGBT. This certainly has been a journey for me.
Student year 8
47

The thing I have learnt about relationships
is that you have to make sure that it is a
healthy relationship. Without a healthy
relationship, you would start to feel sad
and angry, and you will need a friend at
this time. When your relationship starts,
you need to take some time away from your
partner, so if something goes wrong, you
have somebody who can help you, and make
them feel better. The second thing I learnt
is that you have to make sure that you are
ready to do something, like if your partner
wants to take it to the next level, and you’re
not ready, you have to make sure that your
partner knows that you are not ready. If
your partner is still trying to force you to
do something you don’t want to, you have
to go and talk to someone who you trust,
like a family member or a friend. Sometimes
the best thing to do is break up with your
partner. Today I have learnt that I get to
choose where my boundaries are and that
if my partner wants me to do something
which is out of my boundaries I should say
no unless there is a proper reason for it. I
get to choose whether I say “I love you,” If
I am not ready for it I should not say it just
to make the other person happy you should
not have sex with your partner just because
other people are doing it. I will spend some
time with her as long as I still have time
for my friends. I will not force her to do,
or have anything that she doesn’t want to
have. I will not have sex, or anything else
just because other people are having it
because I am different to other people, so
I will make my own choices as long as my
choices are ok with my partner.
Student year 8
The most significant thing I have learnt and caught onto is: Not to rush into a relationship when you know your
partner isn’t ready which could ruin your connection with your partner as you are putting your heart and soul into a
relationship but your partner isn’t on your level of love and compassion that you have towards her/him. I have also
learnt that you shouldn’t force or put pressure on your partner to do something for you when you know they aren’t
particularly comfortable with it because this will make them feel like they don’t have a choice in the relationship and
you will eventually drive them away which is why communication and respect are some of the most important qualities
for a long-lasting and loving relationship. The other important fact that I have learnt is that you should always assume
the best and trust your partner if they have friends of the opposite gender or are doing something out of the ordinary
because at the end of the day your partner invested time and love into this relationship because he/she loves you and
you trust them and think that they are mature enough to not go behind your back and cheat. If you have this quality in a
relationship it will make you much more relaxed and stress free and gives the pair of you freedom in your relationship
that both of you have put your heart and soul into. When I myself get into a relationship I will move into it and not
rush too fast into the relationship. I will trust them and always assume the best if something goes wrong. I will support
them in their endeavours and adventures and make sure that they excel as a human being in terms of honesty, loyalty
and respect whilst I am by their side.
Student year 8
“Seeing the teacher’s way of presenting every week, really has made me more confident in speaking in front of people
as her way of teaching people is different to other teachers and I will definitely miss her teaching me. Even though she
won’t teach me in year 10 I will definitely come to her sometimes as her room has become my safe place after giving
me such good advice in life for the future, that I will keep with me for the rest of my life.”
Student year 9
48

On
Wednesday 27th June 2018, 30 year 9 students were lucky enough
to attend the new musical ‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’, at
the Apollo Theatre, as a PSHCE rewards trip. It was a great experience and
is something the students will remember for years to come.
Throughout the play, many issues and topics we commonly discuss in PSHCE
lessons were explored in great detail, from many different perspectives. A
main theme throughout the play was sexuality and other topics linked to
it (such as coming out and gender identity). The play allows you to delve
into the minds of people who have different views on these issues: you get
to see through the eyes of Jamie himself, as a person who identifies as gay
and wants to be a drag queen, but also through the eyes of Dean, a boy who
bullies Jamie because of his sexuality, and his views on the topic.
The play also sheds light on issues people have with religion and race (as
shown through Jamie’s friend Pritti - a British Muslim who wears a hijab.
The play sheds light on how religion can be negatively viewed in the public
eye and compares it to what the message actually preaches.), family issues
(like divorced parents and trying to keep a ‘broken’ family together) and
bullying and peer pressure.
“The play was brilliant: they
tackled a lot of issues in a deep
yet comical way. I would definitely
recommend it”.
“My favourite part was being able
to meet some of the actors after the
play and take pictures with them
- they are such talented people”.
The wide array of topics tackled in the musical was truly amazing, and I
personally believe it helped start many conversations on the topics and
helped people acknowledge and understand them more.
Not only was the play’s general message great, the general quality of the
musical was also amazing. There were brilliant, catchy songs, dances and
comical jokes which kept the audience laughing all throughout the play
and the mood light, making the musical more engaging. It was very well
done and made the audience feel interested and amazed at the talents of
the actors.
Overall, going to the Apollo Theatre to watch this musical was an extremely
enjoyable experience that explores many issues we face today and ways to
overcome them. I would highly suggest going to see the play- you won’t
regret it.
It was just great to meet the cast afterwards and so lovely how they were
happy to spend time with us.
Zehra Hasan (year 9)
49

W Factor 2018
Factor continues to provide students with a range of enrichment
W activities. Activities on offer included: jewellery and badge making,
construction, STEM club, dance, storytelling, drama workshop, watercolour
painting and the DofE training for the expedition. In addition, the ever
popular sports activities were on offer.
Two productions came to Cranford both dealing with safety on the road. Year
7 students were entertained by a performance by “Riot Act” and year 8 students
saw a production called “Traffic”. Road incidents are a major cause of
injury and death for young people across the UK. As young people get
older and move from primary to secondary school, making more and more
independent journeys, they become more at risk of being involved in a road incident. Adolescents between the ages of 12
- 16 are in one of the most vulnerable groups of road users accounting for 51% of all child road casualties (0 - 16 years).
Making young people aware of the risks and providing them with strategies to take positive actions to remain safer is an
important part of their development. Walking and cycling should always be encouraged amongst young people as sustainable
travel is an important part of staying healthy and active; teaching road safety alongside this helps them to become safer
and more confident independent travellers as well. The plays were well received and students took key messages about
keeping themselves safe whilst travelling.
Kevin Biggs (Assistant Headteacher - WFactor)
STEM WFactor
This
year WFactor lessons have been designed
around developing our students’ inquiry and
communication skills as part of the wider STEM (Science
Technology Engineering and Mathematics) curriculum.
Currently WFactor students are working on integrating
their classroom knowledge of circuits to design and build
toy solar cars. Each group has been expected to create an
aerodynamic design against specific criteria. They have
been provided with basic circuitry that includes motors,
solar panels and wires as well as a range of household
items to build their unique design. Students will be testing
their models at the end of the term and will be able take
them home.
Students have also had the opportunity to design and build
egg parachutes, incorporating their existing knowledge and
research to ensure they produced a product that allowed
their egg to stay intact. They were asked to test a range of
designs and materials in order to determine which design
elements delivered the best results. Designs were given
names –‘Eggwin’- and students tested them by dropping
their parachutes from outside the music department. This
allowed them to quantitatively measure the effect of their
parachute.
WFactor also encourages students to incorporate sustainable
design ideas – a concept that is increasingly informing
engineering practices in the workplace. Students were
given recycled items and asked to repurpose them to create
an effective football. Groups varied the size and density of
their footballs and took great pleasure in testing them out
on the football pitch – in windy and wet conditions.
“In general WFactor was really fun as we got to build
our own parachutes and solar cars and test them
out. The lesson which I enjoyed the most was when I
dissected the heart because that was my first proper
dissection of anything.”
Ehsan Ayobi (year 9)
50

Outside of structured activities students have had
an opportunity to participate and observe other fun
experiments. The Non-Newtonian fluid Oobleck, proved to
be a particular favourite. Students combined corn flour and
water to produce a substance that was neither completely
solid nor liquid. Applying any type of stress/mechanical
pressure resulted in the liquid instantaneously transforming
into a solid. A few students bravely volunteered to ‘walk
on the Oobleck water’. The experiment was loud, messy
and fun with students repeatedly asking for the chance to
do it again.
However, the chance to dissect a heart resulted in a more
polarised opinion. After the initial shock had worn off,
students observed dissection techniques and
were able to identify landmark features on the specimen.
Before long they were sticking fingers into the aorta and
pulmonary artery to understand their origin and visualise
the journey of a red blood cell.
“It was a very fun experience. I enjoyed doing
Oobleck even though it was messy. The dissection of
the heart was disgusting, but I shouldn’t complain
because it’s inside all of us!”
Inderveer Brar (year 9)
We look forward to seeing how WFactor can continue to
inspire our students to pursue STEM pathways.
Bradley King (Science Department)
Step into Dance
“The WFactor I did this term was Duke
of Edinburgh. In this WFactor, I enjoyed
learning different things about Duke of
Edinburgh and learning different life skills
like first aid (e.g. CPR) as well as: Camp
craft, equipment and hygiene for Duke of
Edinburgh. For example, we learnt how to use
a trangia, build a tent and read a map. I found
the Duke of Edinburgh WFactor educational
and helping us complete the expedition.
Overall, we have learnt many facts and skills
from the Duke of Edinburgh WFactor such as
teamwork, leadership, communication skills
and more as well as having fun while we were
on the expedition”.
Year 9 Student
Street dance was an amazing opportunity to try a new type of dance which I had never done before, it
was extremely fun. Since September 2017 we have been practising and learning a 2-minute routine
during WFactor, which was then performed at St Mary’s School in Hammersmith during the summer
term. The performance was an unforgettable experience since some of us were able to get over our fear
of stage fright and break out of our shell. In addition,
“A new and exciting experience”- Iman Javed
it was a way to meet new people and see other types
of dances and how equally as hard other schools were
“Given me a new opportunity”- Samira Wardhere
working on their dance (we even got ‘step into dance’
“It was very inspirational” - Maria Alves
shirts) Our dance teacher Maria was honestly the
“I learnt new things” - Vanisha Maugi
best and we can’t thank her enough
“The teacher was amazing” - Kereena Gurwal
for helping us try out a new thing.
“It was really fun” - Samhita Damerashetti
The programme was called ‘Step
Into Dance’ which is also supported
“The whole experience was very friendly” - Kacey Childs
by the Jack Petchey Foundation;
they were wonderful and made
us feel extremely welcoming. We
had worked extremely hard on
our performances and had great
fun learning and performing a
new dance. It was incredibly
inspirational and a fun experience.
Kavleen Arora (year 9)
51

On
Tuesday 1th July 2018, year 12 performed their A level devised piece based on the characters
and storyline of Tennessee WIlliams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire”. The performance was
the culmination of ten weeks’ work researching the original context of the play, drawing out the
themes and creating a 40-minute performance which would engage a young audience. Fortunately,
some of the group have also been studying the play in English which helped them to find their way
through a challenging storyline and the outcome was clearly a success and will set them up for the
main exam in year 13.
Jessica Joyce (Consultant – Creative Arts/A level Drama)
Having read and taught ‘A Street Car
Named Desire’ and then being invited to
watch a year 12 drama adaptation of it had
me intrigued - before entering the drama studio
and having been greeted by Mitch and Stanley at
the door, I was already curious to learn how the
sensitive issues of rape and mental health would be
explored in a student production of the play. How
would they show Blanche’s plight and conflicting
emotions? How will they present Stanley to be
the macho overbearing man that we understand
him to be? How would they demonstrate the
fragile and complex relationship between Stella
and her elder sister? All of these questions were
eloquently and maturely addressed leaving me not
only amazed by the talent of these students but
also in awe and appreciative of their ability to
empathise with the characters and acknowledge
the complexities of relationships. The audience
became a part of the performance when Blanche
was seen to be caught in a web of lies; the change
in setting was demonstrated through the characters
themselves who became the setting using their
voices to build tension and replicate the sounds
of a train; the shift in time and use of flashbacks
was cleverly presented allowing those who hadn’t
read or seen the play before to clearly comprehend
each character’s motives and behaviour. The
character, and
actor(s), that stood
out to me the most
was Blanche, played
by both Cristiana
Efteniou and Aria
Cundall in turn.
They did a fantastic
job in showing her
breakdown and
the intricacies of
communicating with
the outside world
when internally
you are suffering.
The tears, the
ballet-like movements and
the raw emotions on their faces were undeniably
moving. The role of Stanley was as it should be:
intimidating, unkind and masculine. The slow
and powerful steps of Timmy around the circular
stage with his intense staring at the audience was
enough to make you want to hide with fear. It
was a fantastic performance for me, as an English
teacher who has taught the text, to watch. It was
creative, sensitive and mature - everything that the
play deserves to be when staged.
Sahrish Shaikh (English Department)
52

Powerful, profound
and professional
is how I would
describe last night’s A Level
dark gothic adaptation of
‘A Streetcar Named Desire’.
The eerie and wonderful
opening captivated the
audience’s attention right
from the word go. We were
thrown into the chaotic,
crazy and charming world
as we transformed across
the Atlantic into the
1950s.
Every character played
a pivotal role in alluring
and mesmerising the audience. I especially
enjoyed the spider web dance; it was hypnotic
and spellbinding. The New Orleans/Mississippi
accents were spot on – especially Cristiana
and Aria. Cristiana’s ‘Blanche’ excellent vocal
variety, eye contact and body movement made her
performance a memorable one. Timmy brought
an even darker and rebellious edge to ‘Stanley’
through his controlled silence, imposing and
powerful presence. Aria’s excellent audience
interaction and playfulness of her character
captured the essence of the performance. Juhi was
simply terrific in character, I felt her roller-coaster
emotions and could see joy and terror in her eyes
as she flowed from scene to scene. Haashim’s
character evolved throughout the play, at first,
so innocent and kind but his demons started to
surface, every movement carefully calculated.
Although all actors were superb, in my opinion
the standout performer was Harveer – cool, calm
and composed throughout the entire performance.
Quietly hovering in the background, she looked
as if she had just fallen from the 1950s. I felt
the pain in her eyes, the frustrations and angst in
her character. Through her stunning voice, facial
expression and body language, she was the glue
that held the performance together.
A Streetcar Named Desire is one of the world’s
most influential, thought-provoking and famous
plays and I believe yesterday’s performance is
one of the best adaptations I have ever seen. It
was of very high standard, not your typical A
Level or even University performance, I enjoyed
the audience interaction too. I would have paid to
see this performance; it was that good. I firmly
believe the students involved with this play will
go on and have a successful career within the arts.
Well done to all the students involved with this
production and staff. Outstanding.
Taz Virdee (Project Manager Heston West Big Local)
53

Careers Education 2018
An
extensive and varied programme of careers learning in 2018 has served
to provide students with a range of support and information to aid
decision-making around careers and aspiration delivered through whole class,
small group and individual sessions and TI day activities. All students had access
to on line careers support such as :Icould, Futurestart, Fasttomato, Milkround.
Year 7
Enterprise Challenge and careers week
activities. Careers walks exploring in London.
Year 8
Risks linked to employment in PSHCE, careers
week activities, Industry /institution Visits -
including talk on career progression of professional,
career advice and skills/qualities exploration.
Enterprise Challenge, Job Explorer Careers
Activity. 1-2-1 guidance meetings as requested.
Year 9
Careers Week Activities, Future Focus Evening,
Employer and Further Education Engagement (TI
Day). Careers Activities - Skills and future planning
(TI Day), Alumni Careers event, Enterprise
Challenge. 1-2-1 guidance meetings as requested.
Year 10
Form time Career Planning, Careers Week
Activities, Careers Activities - Skills and
future planning. Tutor mentor meeting (TI
Day), Work placements and Summer School
Placements offered. Alumni Careers event,
Enterprise Challenge, 1-2-1 guidance meetings
as requested. Targeted Work Experience.
Year 11
Form time career planning, Careers Week Activities,
Future Focus Interview, Future Focus Evening,
Work placements and Summer School Placements
offered. PSHCE Future planning session, Alumni
Careers event, NCS Programme. 1-2-1 guidance
meetings as requested, Targeted Work Experience.
Year 12
Careers Week Activities, Work placements and
Summer School Placements offered. Form time
career planning and UCAS prep, Careers and
Higher Education Day - University, employers,
skills, apprenticeships, UCAS and Application
support, Enterprise education activity, Alumni
Careers event, NCS Programme, Form time career
planning and UCAS preparation. 1-2-1 guidance
meetings as requested, Targeted Work Experience.
Year 13
Form time career planning and UCAS preparation,
Careers Week Activities, Alumni Careers event,
1-2-1 guidance meetings as requested, Targeted
Work Experience.
54

Thames Tideway Careers Trip
The trip to Thames Tideway was most definitely worth the arduous
journey to get there. The students found the day most fascinating
and worthwhile as the company is building a tunnel underneath
the whole of London in order to ensure sewage does not keep
contaminating the River Thames. They showed us models of the
Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) as well as offered the chance for us
to see the real thing. The day was extremely insightful and gave the
students the opportunity to meet different personnel in the company
ranging from several different engineers to the office scientists
who were constantly analysing the cross section of the Earth where
the proposed tunnel will be. New technology was shown to the
students such as virtual reality and 3D apps. The students found
them most exciting to use and extremely interesting. Students like
Leo Payne, Emma Kinahan, Valeed Ali and Freddie Taylor (year
8) asked insightful questions continuously throughout the visit.
On the way home Freddie who was most impressed said; “When I
am older I want to be an engineer and work there”. Leo said of the trip; “The trip to Thames Tideway
was really fun. I met a real tunnel engineer and finally found out how tunnels are made under the sea”
and Emma said; “I had a really good time and enjoyed seeing the TBM machine. I never realised there
were so many different ways to build tunnels”.
Careers Trip to Constain Skanskia
Constain Skanskia was a great opportunity for year 8 students to visit a major construction site that has
planned and help deliver the Cross Rail to the UK. During the visit student met engineers, apprentices
and employees and found out about their jobs and the challenges of working on this massive project.
Students spent time planning and finding a solution to real problems that they face such as deciding the
route of the rail and its impact on individuals, groups and the environment.
Kevin Biggs (Assistant Headteacher – Careers)
“It was great meeting somebody who does a real job
especially the engineers. It was interesting finding out
about their jobs and how they got to their jobs”.
Careers Help and Support
• www.icould.com
For information and careers videos.
• www.nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk
For careers and skills information.
“I enjoyed the group work the best. It was nice finding
out how a project like this would affect different people
and the environment and see how a business plans for
the impact of a project. We learnt about planning and
organisation as well as the technical skills required by
an engineer”.
• www.prospects.ac.uk
Careers information and quiz to help give students ideas about what to be in the future.
• www.milkround.com
Information on current jobs and advice on applying for and getting jobs.
• www.getingofar.gov.uk
Government apprenticeships website.
• www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship
Government apprenticeships website.
55

Parent Advice
This
parent page has been created to provide parents and carers with useful information and
links to aid with supporting your child. In this ever changing world it is always helpful
to know where to go to find out the right information to support young inquiring minds. We hope you
find this information useful.
Kevin Biggs (Assistant Headteacher – PSHCE)
Useful Websites
• Childline – www.childline.org.uk
• The Mix – www.themix.org.uk
• Youth Access – www.youthaccess.org.uk
• Relate – www.relate.org.uk (Help for children and young people section)
• Samaritans – www.samaritans.org (England, Scotland, Wales)
• Thinkuknow – www.thinkuknow.co.uk
• UK Safer Internet Centre – www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-entre/parents-and-carers
• CEOP – www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre/
• Common Sense Media – www.commonsensemedia.org/
• Internet Matters – www.internetmatters.org/advice/social-media/
• Break – www.brake.org.uk
Safety online
• Help your kids stay safe online by using TEAM:
• Talk to your kids about being safe online.
• Explore their online world together.
• Agree rules about what’s ok and what is not.
• Manage your family’s profile, settings and controls.
• If you are unsure that to do ask for help there are loads of websites out there that will support you,
talk to your child’s Tutor or Head of Year for more help and support.
Safety on the roads - Brake
Your child’s risk of being injured on foot or on a bicycle increases as they gain independence – far more
teens are knocked down and hurt than younger children. Peer pressure can also cause children to behave
unsafely. Keep talking about road safety with your child, ensure they know the importance of continuing
to take great care when crossing including putting their phone away and taking earphones out, and help
them plan the safest possible routes in your area.
Mental Health - Relate
Mood swings are normal in teenagers but if your teen is coping with something more serious here’s our
advice on how to spot signs of depression, anxiety, obsessive behaviour or self-harm and what you can
do to help.
For Single Parents:
• www.gingerbread.org.uk
• www.grandparentsplus.org.uk
56

Talking about Drugs – Relate
If you’re worried that your teenager is taking drugs it can be hard to know what to do. You may just
have a feeling that something is wrong and suspect that drugs are involved, or you may have evidence
that they are using drugs. We can help. A change in a young person’s appearance, mood and behaviour
may indicate that they’re taking something. On the other hand, lots of young people are moody and
uncommunicative during adolescence. They may often become secretive or private as a way of trying to
establish their independence from you, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re taking drugs. Here’s
our advice for how you can tackle suspected drug use:
Get Informed. Get as much knowledge as possible, the unknown for parents can be scary and may
cause you to panic and overreact.
How to spot drug taking. Try not to be overly suspicious. Often the signs of drug taking are the normal
signs of growing up. Signs can include:
• Sudden and regular mood changes
• Unusual aggression
• Loss of appetite
• Gradual drowsiness or tiredness
• Lying and secretive behaviour
• Unusual stains, marks or smells on the body or around the house
• Looking “drunk”
• Money being spent with no visible evidence of what it’s being spent on
Eating Disorders
Supporting your child if you think they have an eating disorder:
• www.youngminds.org.uk/find-help/feelings-and-symptoms/eating-problems
• www.stem4.org.uk/eating-disorders/identification
LGBT advice
Supporting your child if they are or you think they are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender or Queer
+ - Stonewall.
Until your child comes and tells you that they are, or might be lesbian, gay, bi or trans you can’t know.
Try not to make assumptions and let them come and tell you in their own time. Create a positive
environment where your child feels able to talk to you about their sexual orientation or gender
identity, for example, say positive things about LGBT people when they’re on TV and don’t allow
people to say negative things under your roof. Stonewall has extensive
information about various gay/lesbian/bisexual issues, as well as details about local services.
One thing you can do is give them the information they need to make good decisions. LGBT young
people often lack access to information about their rights, where to access support, sex and staying safe
so, even if you feel like you can’t talk about it personally, you should at least be able to point them in
the direction of the information they need. You can contact Stonewalls Information Service for pointers.
RU Coming Out has stories about coming out from people worldwide.
Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays .
London Lesbian and Gay switchboard is open every day and can provide support
and advice.
• www.familylives.org.uk
• www.youngminds.org.uk/find-help/for-parents/parents-helpline
• www.parenting.co.uk
57

Science News
Year 8 STEM Week
Earlier this year, year 8 classes took part in a unique STEM
week project looking at ‘Engineering through the Ages’ focusing
specifically on both historical engineering marvels (how did
Ancient Egyptians build the pyramids without the aid of
electricity?) to the cutting edge technologies that are allowing
skyscraper architects to ‘Race to Space’. Our students threw
themselves into the tasks and came up with some of their own
ingenious models of pyramids and skyscrapers, explaining how
these would be built using the technologies of the time. To
conclude both sets of activities, students presented their models
back to their class in context, either as an advisor to the fictional
pharaoh Nehemitep, or an architect, with winners selected based on the design’s resourcefulness, quality
and usefulness.
Thursday P0 STEM Club
Our popular period 0 STEM Club has been as busy as ever with unique, new
activities being held every week. Throughout the course of the term students have
taken part in a variety of activities that they very rarely get to carry out in lessons.
Picks of the bunch are researching and carrying out their own heart dissection
and making their own unique types of slime (glow in the dark and magnetic
slimes being the particular highlights). A walk through the Science Department
on a Thursday morning would currently offer you the opportunity to see students
focused on building their own hydraulically-powered hands and vending machines,
purely out of cardboard, some syringes, and rubber tubes. Our regular attendees
really value their time spent at STEM club, so much
so that they’re currently researching and creating
potential project ideas to complete next year. Well
done to Nihal Kang 7T, Harsimran Bath 8U, Neha
Khendria 8U, Manav Vivek 8U and Nehchal Singh
8T for their continuous attendance and enthusiasm
for everything to do with STEM this year.
Active Learning - National Grid
Science is a subject in which you study the ways of the world around you
– therefore what better way to learn than getting hands on and practical at
every opportunity. Active, practical opportunities and tasks are embedded
into our curriculum at every possible opportunity and these frequently offer
spectacular outcomes. Take a look at some models made by our year 9
students for a half term project for a prime example of this.
Jack Petchey Donations
A massive thank you to Serena Lola, year 11, for donating her Jack Petchey prize money to fund a brand
new colorimeter for the Science Department. The A- Level biology students and the members of the
STEM club have benefited greatly from this donation. A massive thank you also to Geetanjali Kumar,
year 12, for donating her Jack Petchey prize money to fund new A-Level biology books. The students
learning experience in A-Level biology will be greatly improved with these new resources.
58

Year 12 Taster Day Experiences
My taster day at Queen Mary’s was a great opportunity to experience a day as a university student, learn more about the
biomedical course they offer, and to explore the Mile End campus, and get advice on preparing your UCAS application.
It helped me find the perfect course which suited my interests and abilities, whilst enabling me to develop my existing
knowledge and gain new skills. For example, the lecturer discussed the course elements such as biotechnology,
which develop technologies and products to improve our health, this
increased my passion to study the course as I would like to be part of
the system that supports such a major organisation such as the NHS
to provide care.
Muna Aden (year 12)
I attended a four day ‘DentView’ course which included a clinical
placement at Kings College during the February holiday. We were
given access to the Dental Institute at Guys Hospital to see the
dental students in different years of the course and in this short
time, my interest in dentistry had increased as seeing all the dental
students working in their areas explaining to me the different types
of procedures they need to carry out before even starting with a
patient. This made me realise that being a dentist is more than just
teeth and it includes the relationships you build with your patients
and the safest ways to carry out procedures. During the placement we
were put in scrub uniforms to look the part and the nurses explained
the importance of uniform and the correct uniform to wear and it
all linked back to health and safety. I had the privilege to shadow dentists/orthodontists during their work and was a
helping hand by handing them utensils for example. I asked questions as to why they
did certain things such as wrapping the dentist chair and the light with aluminium for
each patient. These four days helped me finalise my decision into becoming a dentist
and I was fortunate enough to be able to attend.
Hamdi Herse (year 12)
Taster day at City University. On Thursday 24th May I went to City University for
an optometry taster course. I learnt so much and it did truly give me an insight into
optometry. I wasn’t really sure about what course to choose at university and after
going to this taster course I made my mind up about optometry. The staff and students
were extremely helpful and they didn’t mind us asking a lot of questions. Even though
it was only for a day, it really taught me a lot.
Kirthiga Thangeswaran (year 12)
VESPA In Science
Cranford’s Science Department has always looked to be innovative in
its practice; this year the teachers seized the opportunities given by the
new linear courses to change the way we teach A Level Biology. This
year students took part in specialised activities to teach them different
methods of writing up their notes and actively teaching them how to
revise. Students could be seen trying Cornell note taking for the first
time and discovering the Leitner technique for flashcards. Students new
to Cranford commented that for some of them it was the first time that
they had been taught how to study effectively. Staff took the challenge
further and introduced concepts such as Growth Mindset by Dweck and
marginal gains as practised by the successful Team Sky in the Tour de
France. This encouraged students to make small but successful changes
in their activities to help them achieve. Although in its early stages we
are looking forward to building on this next year. ​
Bradley King (Science Department)
59

Targeted
Intervention
Days 2018
Targeted intervention (TI) days have continued to
provide a range of opportunities for students to
enrich their learning and venture out of school and
experience opportunities beyond the timetabled curriculum.
Each activity is designed to add extended learning
opportunities appropriate to each year group.
TI days have continued to be popular with both staff and
students in providing very specific targeted learning that
supports students’ success.
Targeted Intervention Day 2 - Careers and Targeted Intervention
On 9th January 2018 we had another exciting targeted intervention day that saw our students
learning from a huge variety of activities. Year 9 and year 12 students had a day focusing
on careers where they worked with employers, apprenticeship providers and universities
to help formulate their understanding of where they are aiming for. Year 9 students
completed work on planning for their options process and moving into their GCSE studies.
Year 12 students completed work with Royal Holloway University, Queen Mary University, Brunel
University and worked on exploring different options for the end of their time at Cranford. This
included looking into interview skills, apprenticeships, life as a university student, student finance,
taking a gap year and choosing a university, volunteering opportunities, building confidence,
preparation for work and employability skills, CV writing and writing a personal statement
Year 9 students spent time working with Cisco, NHS, British Airways, Richmond College, St. Mary’s
University, Dell, GSK, Media Freelance worker, Hawk, IT Consultants, Bam Construction, Babcock,
Allianz and Morgan Sindall. The students had access to these institutions and employers and found out
through networking meetings about the types of roles that would be available to them in the future, the
types of skills employers want and need and the types of activities employees do on a day to day basis.
Universities shared what university life is like and were able to talk to current undergraduate students
Year 13 students spent time working with class teachers and targeted key areas for development within subject
areas to prepare for their summer examinations. Subject teachers put on a variety of sessions from reviewing
and reflecting mock examinations, essay writing skills, skills sessions in maths and knowledge gathering.
Year 7 students spent the day completing exciting activities working with a variety of departments. Activities
included creating a motte and bailey castle in humanities, bespoke skills based sessions in English, languages
skills in Spanish. The Performing Arts team worked with a large group of students developing a performance
piece for sharing. The PE Department worked with students on developing the sporting and team working skills.
Year 8, 10 and 11 students worked with tutors on developing skills to improve their attitude to
learning. This was done via small group work that targeted individual students needs to ensure they are
able to approach education with a better understanding of skills.
Targeted Intervention Day 3 & 4
Wednesday 28th and Thursday 29th March 2018 were subject focussed. Subject areas offered over 60
different intervention activities on these days where students worked with a variety of departments to
ensure they are successful. Activities included trips to the Bank of England to find out about how it works,
Bletchley Park, the Science Museum and Design Museum. In addition they completed a huge variety of
tasks including walking talking mocks for examination groups, coursework sessions, extension of the
more able workshops, workshops prepping Russel Group Universities, practical experiments in science,
philosophy and ethic essay writing, research methods and action planning and stretching the more able.
60

Targeted Intervention Day 5
Students had a variety of opportunities to get out of school and see the world in which we live. Some year
7 students went into London to explore different career sectors. Some year 8 students went on industry
visits to two major organisations in the construction industry, Thames Tideway and Constain Skanskia.
On-site activities included students meeting industry professionals working in journalism and research.
In addition, students were challenged in an enterprise activity to celebrate Pride. Through the enterprise
activity students were able to develop their awareness of employability skills and entrepreneurial skills
which culminated in a design presentation.
Kevin Biggs (Assistant Headteacher – TI days)
Enterprise Project - Celebrating Pride
This year students in year 8 were faced with an enterprise project that looked at students planning a
project to celebrate London Pride 2018. Students learnt about Pride and what it stands for and then
created a bid for the school to celebrate it at Cranford Community College. The project developed lots
of skills from financial planning to team work and project management. Students then had to pitch their
ideas to win the prize.
“I really enjoyed the planning and design element of the project. It really taught me team work as we got
to work with other tutor groups”.
“I learnt about profit and loss and making decisions that affect the finance of a project. It was a fun
experience and I really enjoyed the advertising of the Pride Festival we designed. My team made
merchandise for the Pride event that included sliders and tee shirts”.
61

Sport News
The
2017/18 academic year has
been momentous in the PE
Department at Cranford. There has been
a huge amount going on. We started the
national pilot scheme of the Youth Sport Award. Only 15 schools around the UK were chosen to trial this
scheme. Alongside this, we built stronger links with Brunel University and St. Mary’s University. Brunel
have enabled us to focus on getting more girls into an Active Healthy Lifestyle and developing leadership
skills through the Girls Active programme. We have helped develop future teachers from St. Mary’s
University; they have been invaluable in promoting sport and bringing new ideas to our own teaching
and learning. Queen Park Rangers continue to work closely with the department. Part of their education
programme we deliver, has been recognised as one of the strongest Football Education Programmes in
the country. Throughout the year form groups have been fiercely competing for the Interform Cup. This
has spread across different sporting disciplines, from dodgeball to 4 x 100m relay races. Students have
also had plenty of sporting success. The year 9 and 10 cricket teams and the year 7, 8 and 9 rounders
teams have all gained wins from around the borough. The most notable success comes from Szymon
Gora, who won two gold medals in shotput and javelin at the Hounslow Borough Athletics competition,
and was selected to represent the borough at the London Youth Games.
The year concluded with the sports contribution to the Cranbury Fetsival and a highly competitive sports
day event. Students in each year competed as a form group in track events. The form tutors certainly
did their bit to cheer on their competitors. We are looking forward to 2018/19 which we are sure will be
another exciting year for Cranford Sport.
Rob Notley (Director of Community Sport)
“I really enjoyed sports day as it brings out the competitive
side of Cranford. There were the 400,300,200 and 100m races; I
really enjoyed them but what I enjoyed the most was the relay as
it involved teamwork and my form like to work together. (That’s
why we won). It was so hot on the day reaching the scorching
temperatures of 27 degrees but we still ran and had a good time.
But this just shows how outstanding the school is giving everyone
a chance to show their competitive side. There was a lot of banter
and it was all fun. We shook hands at the end and my form had a
mini party. It was so tasty; I really enjoy Cranford’s sports day.
Best time of the year if you ask me”.
Adewole Agboola (year 9)
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School
Games
This
year we increased the participation
in our competitions with more
children and schools taking part, alongside the
other School Games Organiser’s for the Hillingdon
Borough we did 49 Inter-School events.
A few events were hosted at Cranford. In the
autumn term we had the Sports Hall Athletics, one
of the most popular competitions in Hillingdon
with over 25 Schools (250 children) participating
over 6 days, all in different locations. For this day
we had 15 Young Leaders from Cranford helping
and officiating the event.
This competition leads to the London Youth Games
Finals. This was won by a Hillingdon team -
Whiteheath Junior School.
The other events were hosted in the Cranford
SuperDome. The first event was the Tri-Golf
years 5 and 6 competition with 4 primary schools
participating and 40 children involved. For this
competition a group of 16 Young Leaders from
Cranford were involved in the setup, as well as
explaining each game to the young students
participating, taking scores and helping with the
rotation of the teams.
The last event was an inclusive festival for key
stage 2 &3. Thirty children were involved where
20 Young Leaders supported all the activities.
From the autumn term we had the years 3 and
4 Mega Fest Tag Rugby hosted by the Ruislip
Rugby Club with five schools taking part and over
50 children involved. In addition, there was an
inclusive Boccia for Special School and six key
stage 2 primary schools took part and over 35
children were involved.
A basketball competition was a really well attended
completion with 30 teams involved from over 20
schools in a total of 150 children playing basketball
at the Uxbridge College.
Finally, QuadKids Athletics hosted at the
Hillingdon Leisure Centre took place with a high
popularity among the schools in Hillingdon with
12 Schools taking part and around 120 children
involved. 12 Young Leaders from Cranford were
invovled in this competition.
Ricardo Ramos Alheiro (Youth Sports coordinator)
63

School
Games
Organiser
and Sports
Leaders
Cranford has a strong tradition of innovation
and pioneering so when we were approached
by the Youth Sports Trust to run the School
Games Organiser role for Hillingdon we said yes.
The Youth Sports Trust had struggled to get any
secondary school in Hillingdon to take up the role
and felt Cranford had the expertise, experience of
community sports and the fantastic facilities to be
able to deliver a quality programme.
64
“On Wednesday 11th July
2018 I was called up to be
part of the team that was
going to play Scotland in a
cup final in Headingly. I was
told to meet the team at Lords,
where we departed as a team
on the coach. The match was
a 50 over game (one day)
between 1pm to 8pm and
this was rather tiring as the
weather was really hot and
humid. The end result was a
win but was contested till the
last over where we won by 10
runs. By winning the trophy I
also got a finalist medal and a
team photo. My performance
in the final was 10 overs- 3
for 45 runs. At the end I felt
really privileged to be part of
the team and receive a finalist
medal which I will remember
for a long time to come”.
Sahib Kumar (year 12)
Since May 2017 the newly appointed Ricardo Ramos
Alheiro has been working with primary schools in
South Hillingdon to get engagement and improve
the delivery of sport and games in South Hillingdon
schools. When he started only 5 schools out of 24
were engaging and in a year he has managed to get
engagement in 21 out of 24 schools.
A key to this success has been the Cranford Sports
Leadership programme. The Leadership programme
is recognised by Youth Sports Trust as an example
of best practice and is a very important and valuable
quality and at Cranford. We have with nearly 100
13 to 15 year olds developing leadership skills and
then putting them into practice at a variety of events
across Hounslow and South Hillingdon,
The programme has been so successful that Brentford FC Community Trust
have been recruiting some of the leaders to run their summer programme
across the borough.
Pete Lamas, Sports Impact Event Coordinator best sums up the work of the
leaders. Sports Impact ran three major Primary events at Cranford in the
Cranford SuperDome this year.
The quality of the ‘Sports Leaders’ who have supported me at these events
has been extremely high; over 50 of your young people have supported the
teams during the year and all have demonstrated initiative, high quality
organisational skills and above all, an understanding of the needs of the
1500+ children who have attended during the year. Thanks to Rob Notley
for organising the Leaders and helping them with their ‘initial’ training.
I would like to specifically mention two of the leaders who supported me
today. Lizzie acted as the ‘team leader’, organising her peers and ensuring
that everything was set up for each event, In addition, she successfully
undertook the difficult scoring role during the afternoon, showing great
confidence. The star of today was undoubtedly Abdanuur. He worked with
the children from Lindon Bennett special school and throughout the day
he demonstrated amazing empathy, enthusiasm and understanding of their
needs and he alone made this a very special day to remember for them.
Many colleagues from other primary schools have praised him highly for
his efforts and I also thank him for his contribution in making the day a
great success.
Congratulations to all Sports Leaders for their outstanding contribution to
promoting healthier lives in Hounslow and beyond.

Girls Active
Girls
Active is an initiative that supports schools to motivate girls to take part in physical
activity. Developed by the Youth Sports Trust, Girls Active aims to address the decline in
activity levels of girls as they transition into and progress in secondary school, helping them to achieve
the government’s recommendation of a minimum of 60 minutes of physical activity per day.
Barriers that girls face to participation such as negative attitudes towards body image, improving attitudes
towards PE, Sport and Physical activity are addressed with the aim of making sport relevant to girls’ lives.
This has been our inaugural year in the Girls Active campaign which began in March with the recruitment
of 6 girls to take a leading role. Isra Jadoon, Areeba Ali, Sanjana Bhola, Nikola Szczawinska, Lizandra
Pereira and Shenon Dias attended a day at Brunel University in which they explored the challenges
girls face and the strategies they can implement at Cranford to motivate and inspire girls from across
the school to get more active.
They have since met with the PE Department and made suggestions about what can be done to improve
girls’ attitudes towards PE lessons, requested new extra-curricular activities that might appeal more to
girls, assisted in the running of sports events and extra-curricular activities and started making a longterm
plan about how to engage more girls in physical activity at Cranford.
Amiri Brothers Going for Gold
I
Lucy Ridgeon (PE Department)
first started doing Taekwondo when I was
9 years old and my brother (Nesaar) was 7.
Our dad encouraged us to take up the sport as
used to do it when he was younger and told us it
was great fun. We have learnt respect, discipline,
built up strength and confidence in self-defence.
I train two times per week but when it is
competition time I have to train 4 times
per week. I am really dedicated and would
love to represent team GB in the Olympics
one day with my brother on the same team.
So far we have entered many tournaments and
been successful. I (Yasser) have 4 golds, 3
silvers and 2 bronze medals. Nesaar my younger
brother has 2 golds, 4 silvers and 3 bronze medals. Recently I won silver at an international tournament
in Sheffield and hope next time to get gold. The aim is to keep training, working hard and listening to
my coaches. I have learnt a lot and it helps me with my studies such as focusing, being determined to
get good grades just like a gold medal. I am also very happy that Mr Rattu (Head of Year) and Mr Notley
(Director of Sport) are interested and supportive of our journey.
Yaseer Amiri (year 9 )
65

Year 8
It
has been a busy year for year 8 with lots of exciting opportunities for them to enjoy. Here are
just two examples of what year 8 have been getting up to this year.
The year 8 reward trip in the spring term to Laser Quest in Watford was awarded to students with
the highest ATL’s and DREAM points and in April 2018 we also went to Thorpe Park to a STEM
Careers Fair Event which was being run by West Middlesex University. We had a focus on careers
and students had to apply for their position on the trip as they would apply for a job. Students were
given a criteria of things they needed to address in their application. The Fair was interactive; it
consisted of talks about the science behind roller coasters and lots of cool gadgets which
students got to work with and operate.
Randeep Sidhu (Head of Year 8)
Myself and other students were able to go on the trip to Laser Quest as we were the top 15%
of students to be given dream points in our year, and were the most well behaved. I felt very
glad, and proud of myself as there are over 200 students in our year and I was one of the many
students that got go. I was also excited as my friends also got to go and my favourite teachers.
We watched a video the taught us how to play and the rules and had a health and safety
presentation about what to do and what not to do whilst being in the maze. Then We then got
separated into a red and green team. After that we wore our packs with our laser
guns and went to our stations and started the game. We played two sessions. My
Most memorable moment was the worker announced that my team (the green
team) had won both rounds, and that player 8 had got the most kills.
Rahma Suleiman (year 8)
On Thursday 26th April 2018 15 students were chosen from year 8 to go to a
wonderful trip Thorpe Park to learn more about STEM and obviously to enjoy
yourself and have fun.
We entered Thorpe Park and quickly left made our way to the STEM room.
Then Ms Sidhu told us to explore everything in the STEM room and to enjoy
ourselves. The first game we came across was a dice/robot game, the rules were
very simple, and you had to control the dice by an Xbox controller, overall, I
came second place in that game and got beaten by Sanjana. After that we sat down to watch a funny show
about science and I personally loved it. When that ended Sanjana, Isra, Harsimran and I walked around
to look at new things and then decided to go to the virtual reality set and I decided to go on first. Now
this was the part that I got most terrified on because I hate heights and I am literally afraid of being on
roller coasters or something that goes high, so even though it was fake I still got scared and started to
shiver but let’s not talk about that part and let’s move on. After we all had out turn we sat down to listen
to an important speech about Thorpe Park and the science behind it.
66
Forty-five minutes later, the speech ended. Ms Sidhu then allowed us to go off onto some rides and have
fun. So, while Sanjana, Isra and Harsimran went on the ride (swarm.) I just decide to sit down and chill
while they were gone. When they came back they got pictures and then we made our way to tidal wave and
surprisingly I went on that ride. Then we had a bit of fun and went on the angry bird climbing ladder ride.
After that, we went on ghost train and had to wait a long time but overall it was worth it. Overall my day
at Thorpe Park was incredible and I enjoyed every single part of it.
Satnam Curry (year 8)

Year 10
Fund Raising Week
Despite it being the final week of
term, when energy is low and
thoughts have already turned to
home, a group of year 10 students managed
to find the time and energy to raise funds
for a local charity: Speak Out in Hounslow.
Three days of activities including, a cracker
eating competition, a bake sale and a guess
the number of sweets in the jar saw the
group raise over £150 for the charity. Led
by the ever enthusiastic and kind-hearted
Nurah Mahamud, the group gave up their
mornings and both breaks to ensure the
activities went well; showing excellent
team work, commendable maturity and
excellent sales patter, the group hustled and bustled their way to an impressive sum of money and did
themselves, the year group and the charity proud. Sadly, no one managed to eat the targeted 5 crackers,
despite some epic attempts; Veronique Gerber managed to win the jar of sweets with her impressive
guess of 260 the closest to the actual number of 267.
Big thanks to all the students involved in the findraising inclusing, Simleen Shdana, Khadija Mohamed,
Mahira Butt, Shanza Rashid, Manlen Aurora, Zobia Ali, Rinky Matta, Keyley Smith and Aniya Gill.
Aaron Sohi (Head of Year 10)
Royal Academy Trip
On
Friday 29th June 2018 the year 10 art and
design group visited The Royal Academy to
see their current exhibition of work. The purpose of the
visit was to help the students to understand the range of
media that can be used to inspire them in their own work.
Ruby Quresshi (Art and Design)
“The exhibition was eye-opening and gave everyone an
insight into what the real world of art is like. It was a very
inspirational trip, as everyone left the exhibition with new
ideas to apply to their own work to get to the next level”.
Mahira Butt (year 10)
“I found the art trip very interesting and amazing to see
different and unique art which inspired me. I know that this
experience has helped me with my art work as it has given
me so many ideas to add to my own artwork in the future”.
Harsimran Rayit (year 10)
67

Year 11 - Celebration Evening and Prom
Thursday 5th July 2018 marked the celebration of the end of GCSEs and the beginning of A
Levels for year 11 students with a formal celebration at Cranford followed by the Prom at the
Riverside Conferencing Venue. Students were dressed in their finest and grandest attire and the
mood was celebratory as students were presented with their Record of Achievement folders in front of
their parents, staff and peers. Performances by Shanan Bhamra and Daniella Bic provided entertainment
for the 450 strong audience, Shanan sang ‘This is me’ from the Greatest Showman and Daniella sang
‘Ripetide’ by Vance Joy. The evening was opened by a warming speech by one of the Heads of School,
Rita Berndt and a fun and energetic performance by the year 11 dhol drummers: Prabhleen Ghattoray,
Harpal Gill, Mehir Singh and Hunerdeep Sidhu.
A quick change after the formalities at school and everyone made their way to The Riverside. The prom
was again another fantastic success with many students looking even more glamorous as they
hit the dance floor and stayed there until carriages at midnight. A fantastic
way to celebrate the right of passage from year 11 to year 12
and finishing GCSE examinations.
Thanks must go to all the year 11 tutors,
to subject staff and the parents for their
wonderful support and encouragement to get
the year 11 to this point in their education.
They couldn’t have done it without you.
Kevin Biggs
(Assistant Headteacher – Head of Year 11)
68

Year 12
Rewards Day - Monopoly Challenge 2018
Year 12 Rewards Day – Monopoly Challenge on Friday 6th
July 2018, Forty year 12 students won the award for best
average attitude to learning (ATL), achievement, best attendance and
outstanding behaviour. The cohort was split into groups of ten and
the challenge was to visit as many of the sites on the personalised
monopoly board as possible,
photographing themselves at each
location. The team that visited the
most locations would be the winner.
The winning team on the day included
Amandeep Ballay, Keanu Grewal,
Tavleen Bumrah, Navneet Brar, Rhea
Rana, Simranjeet Arora, Davinder Gill,
Jay Sihota, Ryan Aujla, Lewis Tirahan.
Well done to all the students who
took part in the challenge. They really
demonstrated a positive team spirit
although the competition was fierce.
Shawn D’Souza (Head of year 12)
69

Year 13
Celebration Evening 2018
The
annual Celebration Evening for year 13 was an event where the sheer determination,
resilience and success of the current year 13 cohort were celebrated by staff and pupils
alike. Along the night, the Student Leadership Team did a brilliant job of making sure the evening
ran as seamlessly as possible, despite some very high heels and sunglasses indoors. The concert hall
was brimming with families and friends and as such, it was a truly special moment to see every face
carrying an expression of admiration and pride. This was especially evident from the faces of the year
13 pastoral team made up of Mr. Cripps, Ms. Birdi and Ms. Ledlie, who were only too happy to offer
pearls of wisdom to the pupils about to embark on the next phase of life, along with Mr. Ind and Ms.
Berndt, Heads of School.
The evening began with performances from the year 13 band, aptly named “Not a Band” and their
outstanding performances were followed by heartfelt speeches from Head Boy – Aadil Awan and Head
Girl – Jessica Atouguia, who both took us back to the days of Duke of Edinburgh and the Monopoly
Challenge. The Student Leadership Team also offered their sincere thanks to the year 13 tutor team who
beamed brightly for their tutor group photographs with their bouquets of flowers offered by the pupils
as a gesture of thanks and appreciation.
Mr. Ind and Ms. Berndt also addressed the cohort to congratulate the pupils on their successes and their
achievements where Mr. Ind took the opportunity to remind the Class of 2018 that they will also have a
family at Cranford Community College. Mr. Cripps recapped the importance of mental well-being and
staying calm during the stresses of life, followed by Ms. Ledlie who took the cohort back down memory
lane with stories of them being in year 11. Ms. Birdi finished by motivating the pupils to model the
stunning standards of the staff at Cranford Community College by working hard and never giving up
whilst also keeping to tradition by telling some bad jokes.
70

During the presentation of certificates, the
tutors addressed each pupil whilst a superb
list of the future aspirations of the cohort
appeared as the backdrop. It was a pleasure for
all attendees to see a range of high aspirations
– from doctors, lawyers and midwives to
architects and business developers, the
cohort impressed everyone with their level
of determination.
The evening ended with nibbles and drinks in
the Memorial Garden and it was clear to see
the atmosphere of calm and content amongst
the students as they grouped together
for photographs and to recall memories that they have all made during their time here.
Mr. Myers took on the role of photographer and as the cohort gathered for one final
group photograph, there were tears of both joy and sorrow – embarking on a new journey
in life is often bittersweet but we have no doubt that the Class of 2018 will thrive in the
community and the greater world.
We all wish the Class of 2018 much happiness, well-earned success and personal strength to
carry them through the adventures of life and will be delighted to see them join the Cranford
Alumni in the near future.
Jasmeet Birdi (Head of Year 13)
Celebration Evening Speech
our time has been short and sweet but memorable.
Year 13, You have taught me resilience but also patience.
You have made me laugh on our best days and our worst days.
But that’s exactly what life is about, it becomes about celebrating the best
days and learning from the worst days and so, you must always remember
that everyday becomes the mind-set that you meet it with. So, let go of the
negative and always embrace the positive.
Learn from the staff at Cranford who have helped you along your journey,
take their ethos of sheer determination and stunningly high standards
and be the best versions of yourselves.
Find hope in your hard work and take courage in your upcoming
examination period knowing that the universe rewards those who deserve
success by recognising individuals that put in hard work
and never give up. So do just that, work hard and don’t
ever give up.
From my heart, I wish you happiness and good times
and always remember, like I tell you every week in every
assembly – I believe in you.
71

Sixth Form Leaders
Geetanjali Kumar (Head Girl)
My six years at Cranford have enabled me to make exceptional
progress; I am truly grateful for the opportunities that the school has
provided me with. By working closely with students and staff, I aim
to strengthen and maintain an optimistic working environment where
students can strive for and achieve their full potential. I am privileged
to be taking on the role of Head Girl which will require a great deal
of dedication and hard work that will inspire and create opportunities
for both current and future students.
Sameer Verma (Deputy Head Boy)
As Deputy Head Boy I aim to give back to a school that has provided me with so
many opportunities over the years. I hope to help other students achieve the best they
can and be a positive role model for others. Taking on this role will help widen and
improve my skill set, making me a better equipped person for the future. Overall,
as Deputy Head Boy I will be giving support where needed around the school.
Najma Aden Mohammed (Deputy Head Girl)
The opportunity of becoming Deputy Head Girl is something I am very excited
about and I am looking forward to passionately dedicating my time to. I have
been given tremendous support by teachers and peers and hope that my skills
as a member of the leadership team can influence the years below me. I hope
that the skills I develop in this role allow me to make positive impact to our
school in the future, and to make sure that the school remains a building block
to help students to prosper further in all aspects of life.
Abdirasak Hersi (Deputy Head Boy)
The position of Deputy Head Boy will provide me with the platform that I require
to voice the opinions of the students that attend Cranford Community College.
I am incredibly excited by this opportunity which will enable me to make a
difference within the school. Furthermore, I believe I have the right qualities
and characteristics to represent the diverse student body here at Cranford.
72

hip Team 2018-2019
Davinder Gill (Head Boy)
I consider it a great honour to have been successful in the Head Boy
selection process. I know Cranford to be a friendly environment where
students have a wealth of opportunities. In my time at the school
I have participated in the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, have
gone on multiple trips such as a visit last year to Tianjin College of
Commerce in China. I hope to be a positive role model for the school
who is approachable and able to offer advice and guidance to the
younger students.
Harpreet Kaur (Deputy Head Girl)
Having studied in this school since year 7, I can unarguably say that throughout
the years this school has provided me with skills and knowledge I require as
Deputy Head Girl. Therefore, with this role I hope to create an inspiring and
motivating environment for every student in this school from year 7 to 13. I am
prepared to take on challenges and willing to put my responsibility and passion
into helping the school and pushing all students to the best of their abilities.
Haashim Nisar (Deputy Head Boy)
As Deputy Head Boy I hope to not only be a role model to the younger students,
but use my knowledge on university personal statements and applications to
advise younger sixth form students on career choices and opportunities. I also
want to encourage a greater student voice here at Cranford and work to the best
of my ability to represent the student body.
Navneet Brar (Deputy Head Girl)
Becoming Deputy Head Girl of Cranford Community College has been an
amazing opportunity for me, which I have always wished for. Having been
at Cranford since year 7, I have been fortunate enough to have been provided
with incredible opportunities, allowing me to prosper as an individual and
enabling me to develop upon my interpersonal skills. As Deputy Head Girl, I
will definitely endeavour to use these skills and key qualities that I have learnt,
in order to showcase a positive change and continue to present this school in a
positive light.
73

English National Opera Millinery Experience
On
Thursday 14th June 2018, 30 year 8 students had an exciting experience at
the studios of English National Opera. They had an introduction and a tour
of the studios and were able to meet the milliner. The experience was amazing and
the students were able to get feedback on their individual hat designs which really
helped them to visualise how they could approach their own work. Students also had
a tour of the costume department and were able to see how costumes were made from
concept to garment. It was a great opportunity
for students to gain a valuable insight into
professional practice.
Pirmjeet Hunt (Creative Arts – Art)
“The London Studio experience at the
ENO was full of different creators and
artists and they were very talented; they
made a lot of different costumes and hats.
What I also loved is how we were able to
get involved, the lady first showed us how
to do it and let us make a plan for a hat”.
Fadumo Mohamed (year 8)
“Going on the trip made me realise that a
lot of work goes into art and designing. It
was very interesting and I really enjoyed
finding out the little things about designing
hats and clothes. They showed us around
and taught us how props and clothes were
made. We really enjoyed the experience
and would love to go on more trips like this
and learn new things”.
Huda Sharif, Urina Paudyal, Deborah
Adebowale (year 8)
End of Year Assembly 2018
Our
annual end of year assembly on Friday 20th July 2018 was a fitting celebration of a very busy
and exciting year. Music was provided by Band name Odyssey - Kavlin Arora year 9, and
Adewole Agboola and Emanuelle Adebowale year 9 who performed two original raps which certainly got
the audience involved. In addition, the Step in to Dance group performed their street dance piece.
Achievement awards were presented as were sports day cups by Rita Berndt, Head of School. The newly
appointed Head Girl Geetanjali Kumar and Head Boy Davinder Gill introduced themselves to the school
community and shared some of their hopes for the year ahead. They also presented a
number of sixth form medals.
Although this was a time of celebration it was also a time for goodbyes to various staff.
Kevin Biggs (Assistant Headteacher)
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“Cranford Review” is a regular printed publication either available to download in digital format at www.cranford.hounslow.sch.uk/newsletters-publications
Editor-in-chief: Jessica Joyce | Graphic design: Enzo Gianvittorio | Printed by: Cleverbox.co.uk | Copyright © Cranford Community College - 2018