Beautiful art work in X22!

By Melissa Cocliff24th January 2020

Ebonie has been working hard with Mr Mably to practice techniques in art to work towards her GCSE exam.

This year’s exam theme is Events -Ebonie’s ideas surround different events to do with climate change. Take a look at the result of her hard work below – some are still in progress!

 

Looking at the Australian Wildfires – a work in progress.

Practising techniques to create a realistic Sun!

My personal favourite – playing with techniques to create a Galaxy effect!

Great work Ebonie, and a big thank you to Mr Mably for your support!

X22 Exam Prep for Art, Craft and Design

By H Cross23rd January 2020

X22 have embarked on their Final Art GCSE exam paper and have been given 8 weeks to prepare for their 10 hour exam. This is the timetable that shows what work needs to be completed within the time period. We are on week 3 and in their sketch book they should have a mind map with their ideas and a spider diagram. By next week they should have a total of 6 drawings in different media from the work of other artists that they have researched. Could parents please check to see if they are on-track at home as they should be completing extended study every week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see they are close to completing their Art GCSE and their final exam will be after the half term.

X25 Fieldwork to Oakham Castle

23rd January 2020Miss S Robinson

On Tuesday X25 went on fieldwork to Oakham Castle to enhance their understanding of the Medieval Period. Oakham Castle worked really hard to create an itinerary which built upon our learning in the classroom. Throughout the day we did a variety of interactive and thought provoking tasks such as taking part in a Peasants’ revolt role-play, playing a game called ‘Surviving the Black Death’ where groups of peasants had to battle to survive against all odds and participating in a debate over democracy verses dictatorship in the courtroom of the Great Hall.

We all throughly enjoyed immersing ourselves in medieval life. The students came back into school yesterday with a stronger understanding of the context and events of this time period. Which is exactly what fieldwork is all about! If you haven’t been before Oakham Castle it is certainly worth the visit!

Changes to the DofE expeditions 2020:

By Mrs K apHarri23rd January 2020

This year we have decided to trial a few changes to how we do DofE Expeditions at XP.

The Bronze Expedition will no longer have an overnight practice expedition. Instead we will spend the day hiking; learning navigational skills and return to school the same day. The qualifying expedition will still be an overnight expedition.

The Silver Expedition  will be voluntary this year for year 10 students. Students will still be expected to complete the voluntary, skill and physical sections of the programme.

We hope that by allowing students to choose to do the expedition we will create a much richer and fulfilling experience for those that participate. We would love for parents to encourage their son / daughter to do the expedition so that they can complete their full Silver DofE Award as this is an internationally recognised qualification.

Instead of the expedition planning sessions taking place on a Friday afternoon they will now happen on a Monday after school, however this won’t necessarily be every week.

The silver practice expedition will take place from Friday 3rd – Sunday 5th April and the Qualifying expedition will be from Friday 15th – Sunday 17th May. Whilst expedition students are out of school on these 2 Fridays the students that remain in school will be doing service learning within the community. 

Crew leaders have been fully briefed on these changes and can answer any questions you may have, however I am more than happy to receive emails or speak over the phone too.

This week in crew we will be asking year 10 students whether they would like to take part in the silver expedition. A letter will then be given to you at the upcoming SLCs for you to sign and give consent.

Thanks

Kate ap Harri

X24 / Y9 GCSE Spanish Extended Study reminder

By David Pearson22nd January 2020

A reminder that our X24 (Y9) GCSE Spanish group must submit their “at the doctor’s” gap-fill extended study task sheet this Friday 24th January. A series of slides have been shared with the group to help them to complete this challenging work, and I will be supervising Extended Study in XP East Library after school tomorrow (23.01.20) if any further assistance is needed.

Thank you.

X22 Spanish Gallery Walk

By Mrs N Sprakes22nd January 2020

X22 students today were studying the topic of natural disasters, a theme which is very relevant in our world today. Here they are reading text in a  Gallery Walk, completing the final GCSE topic before we start revision and exam practice. Keep working hard X22!