Schools/colleges

A YOUNG golfer is teeing up for a national sporting award.

Nine year-old Aadam Syed, a pupil at Cranford Primary School in Phelps Way, Harlington, is in the running for the HSBC Young Sports Personality of the Year at the 2010 British Asian Sports Awards, to be held on February 6.

He regularly participates in tournaments, often competing against older golfers, and he is the youngest member of the Middlesex under-14 team.

He will be up against two other boys, so if you want to see Aadam victorious, register your vote by calling 09050 260 300 or by texting BASA 300 to 84555. Texts cost 25p and calls cost 25p per minute, and voting closes on February 4.

STUDENTS and staff at Harlington Community School bid a fond farewell to their headteacher retiring after 20 years of service.

Neil Sherman joined the school in 1979 as a maths teacher, before leaving for a brief spell and returning as deputy head.

He was appointed headteacher at the school, in Pinkwell Lane, Hayes, eight years ago.

More than 100 pupils and past and present staff joined Mr Sherman to wish him well on Monday (14).

CHILDREN at Yeading Infant and Nursery School celebrated Diwali with a special assembly.

The pupils put on the performance at the school in Carlyon Road, Hayes, on Friday (16) to mark the festival.

Emily Watts, a reception class teacher, said: "The children worked really hard learning their lines and dances for the special assembly. A big thank you to both Mrs Bir and Mrs Kandola for all their hard work.

"The whole school applauded their fantastic performance. Parents were really pleased and enjoyed watching the assembly.

"Children and staff joined in with the singing and dancing. In the afternoon children carried on celebrating with Diwali parties."

IT IS the time of year which sets parents nerves jangling, with the seemingly crucial decision to make of choosing a Secondary School for their children. Reporter DAN COOMBS spoke to Robert Lobatto, headteacher at Barnhill Community High School, in Yeading Lane, Hayes, about the process.

DEDICATED and enthusiastic students have returned home from a trip to South Africa where they spent 10 days building a much needed house.

In July three teachers and eight Post 16 students from Mellow Lane School, in Hewens Road, Hayes, travelled to South Africa with the charity Habitat for Humanity to build a house in a township called Mfuleni, which is about 30km from Cape Town.

Mfuleni is currently home to about 25,000 people and over 40 per cent of the community is unemployed with an average household income of less than £1,400 per year.

Whilst housing development is taking place in this township it is slow and the majority of families still live in shacks.

Mellow Lane School adopted the charity in 2008 and spent the entire year raising money to support the venture to South Africa.

Money was raised through raffles, tournaments and individual fundraising initiatives.

With help from the Youth Opportunities Fund and Hillingdon Education Business Partnership, £22,000 was raised.

The project involved working with the local community and building the external and internal walls of the house, construction of the roof and decoration.

The staff and students also worked with local families and children and they contributed writing and sports equipment to the local school.

The venture was the brain child of teacher Lisa Butler and the Post 16 psychology students, supported by teachers Rhian Taylor and Tom Crowe.

The eight students who went on the trip were Gary Miles, Steve Bell, Jack Moody, Oliver Lambert, Cherrell Hallet, Jacksha Chandarathas, James Taylor and Matt Jean-Pierre.

MELLOW Lane School came in the top 25 per cent in the country with 89 per cent of students achieving at least five GCSEs.

The school in Hewens Road, Hayes, is celebrating a number of superb performances by students in Years 11, 12 and 13.

Top GCSE students include Eesha Qureshi with three A*s, five As and two Bs, Rohinee Luther with one A* and eight As, Raman Sutdher with three A*s, seven As and one B and Priya Thandi with seven A grades and two Bs.

At A-level, Anik Ghai gained A grades in maths, physics, chemistry and biology, Simon Yu gained straight As in maths, economics and law with a further B in physics and Adnan Shah, Karanbir Sandhu and Subaib Osman also celebrated three A grades across their subjects.

PUPILS starting their first day at secondary school got their term off to a bang with an imaginative mix of activities.

Harlington Community School, in Pinkwell Lane, Hayes, launched a 'student induction programme' to welcome the new year seven's into their new school life.

A POLICE officer went back to school to help students with a geography project which looks at the way location affects crime.
PC Mike Smooker, crime preventions officer has been visiting Mellow Lane in Hewen's Road, Hayes over two weeks to talk about the ways in which crime can be reduced as part of their topic called designing out crime.
Neelam Virdee, geography teacher at the school, said: "Mike has been coming into the school to talk about crime in hot spot areas and how to reduce it. The pupils came up with lots of interesting ideas like reducing the amount of shrubs in such areas to decrease muggings as criminals won't be able to hide in them and they also suggested additional CCTV cameras. The project has given students the chance to collaborate and to think about ways in which they can improve their environment.'
Mr Smooker said: "The students came up with some innovative ideas, one of the things we looked was how by changing the design of a public bench to individual seats you can make it less attractive to vandalism and drunks. It was a good project for the children because it has made them more aware of the way crime affects their area."

TODDLERS, parents and staff celebrated the official opening of a new nursery which was also attended by the town's Mayor.
Councillor Brian Crowe the Mayor of Hillingdon and MP John McDonnell both paid a trip to Rosedale Nursery in Wood End Green Road, Hayes at the event on February 7.
Three children, Joshua Tappin, Grace Kirby and Leah Reardon who are all three years old also had the chance to help the mayor in cutting the ribbon.
Debra Kearne-Smith, nursery manager, said: "The day was extremely successful and brought together children and families who were able to stay and play together."
Jo Foley, 33, mother of Joshua, said: "I enrolled my son at the nursery because I like the staff there and there was lots for the kids to do. Joshua also seemed comfortable there having plenty of friends.
"It was funny seeing them trying to cut the ribbon because they only had kiddy scissors so they were only able to make very small cuts and weren't really able to cut through it."

STUDENTS and staff at Hayes Park Primry School welcomed a headteacher from Argentina who came to visit them as part of a project to see how schools in different countries operate.

Susana Aguiler who works at Tucaman School made the visit to Hayes Park Primary School in Raynton Drive, Hayes on January 20.

The visit was part of a project headed by the British Council for headteachers to visit schools abroad.

Dr Neil Suggett, headteacher at Hayes Park School previously visited the school in Argentina.

He said: "It has been a joy to receive colleague headteachers from Argentina. Their passion for improving the life chances of children in their schools is inspirational."