Cranford Review 2015

Activities
Week
2015
14
Week
beginning Monday 13th July 2015,
Cranford transformed itself into
a Sherlock Holmes type investigation as the school
collapsed its usual timetable and embarked on our
annual Activities Week. Students developed new
knowledge and investigative skills in different subjects
in order to explore an imaginary murder mystery
and solve the crime. The week provided an exciting
chance for students to forge links between subjects and
explore careers linked to the theme. The rich learning
experience saw students work in five main areas;
Under the Microscope, Crime Scheme Investigation,
Code Breaker, The Mystery of Harris Burdick and
Agent Training.
Under the Microscope
Students worked with mixed media in the ADT
department and developed and ‘explored’ pieces of art
work. Students took microscopic images and enlarged
them to create pieces of art based on cells and viruses.
Crime Scheme Investigation
Working with science and humanities students spent
time exploring a crime scene and using scientific
investigation to explore evidence and solve a given
crime. Once the evidence had been collected they
used this to find further evidence around the school
site. Students then presented their findings at a panel
hearing and discussed who was responsible.
Code Breaker
The ICT, Business Studies and Social Science
Departments provided students with the chance to
explore the world of surveillance where students had
to work with imaginary CCTV footage to discover
through an imaginary scenario who had broken into the
school. Once the footage had been analysed students
looked into using computing software to crack the
code and gain further digital evidence to find the
culprit. This was followed by a number of debates
and discussions about the use of eye witness accounts
and living in a surveillance society.
The Mystery of Harris Burdick
The Mystery of Harris Burdick provided the next
challenge based in intrigue and fantasy to explore
different mysteries and as a stimulus to create their own
mysteries. The responses ranged from dance routines,
drama and board games to pieces of creative writing,
poetry and song. The creative output was amazing as
students independently selected their own medium of
response; this work was created with the English and
Performing Arts Departments.
Agent Training
During this day students were set the challenge of
becoming agent ready. The day was split into four
main areas to ensure they were ready for the challenge
of the week. Activities included archery and caving
which tested their accuracy, dexterity and focus.
Students then moved on to develop their problem
solving and powers of logic with the maths and PE
department working on tackling different challenges
and completing “escape the room” style trials. Finally
they finished the day testing the linguistic skills with
the Modern World Languages team where they had
to complete ‘the 39 steps’ a series of coded messages
which had to be decoded and translated in order to find
secret locations around the school.
Throughout the week students and staff were allowed
to wear non–uniform to raise money for our two
nominated charities The Terrence Higgins Trust and
the National Aids Trust. We raised a grand total of
£1126.96.
The week concluded with our DREAMS rewards
day where students enjoyed a day of visits, trips and
sporting activities and year 12 held a pizza party in
the Memorial Garden with our guests from Korea, to
round off a very successful week and celebrate the end
of another amazing year at Cranford.
Kevin Biggs
(Senior Teacher Activities week Organiser)