X24 STEAM immersion: CHALLENGE 2 – Powerhouse hunting

By Mr M Said6th May 2020

ETCH A CELL RESEARCH PROJECT

We need our student to help with important medical research!

In this second challenge of the new Year 9 learning expedition: Here Comes the Sun, mitochondria research scientists in London need our students’ help.

Nearly every cell in our body contains hundreds to thousands of mitochondria. These tiny structures are incredibly important. They are often referred to as the ‘powerhouses’ of the cell. This is because they convert the fat, protein and sugar from the food we eat into the energy we need to survive.

We couldn’t live without mitochondria, and if they do not work properly it causes very serious problems.

Students’ job is to identify mitochondria in images of cells at a very high level of magnification.

Volunteers like our students’ work will eventually train AI computers to help analyse new data even faster. This will help the scientists to do their research more quickly and develop new drugs.

More details can be found on Google Classroom or on the immersion section of our expedition website.

 

THIS WORK CAN ALSO COUNT TOWARDS DofE Volunteering during lockdown too!

X24 New STEAM expedition launch: HERE COMES THE SUN

By Mr M Said5th May 2020

Our new Year 9 STEAM expedition is called ‘Here Comes The Sun’. The website for the expedition is live now.

This afternoon we kicked off STEAM immersion week in Year 9 with a huge Google Hangouts Meet.

The meeting was attended by over 60 students from both XP and XP East who met to learn about the challenges we have set for their immersion this week.

One of the main things that we want students to get out of this week, and the whole of this term’s Year 9 STEAM expedition is an appreciation of nature.

 

CHALLENGE 1 – BIRDING

We have asked students to spend at least 30 minutes spotting birds. We have shared a guide and record sheet with them in Google Classroom. Staff have been having a go this week and spoke to the students about how lovely it was to spend time out enjoying nature.

We would love to see lots of photos from students of any birds that they see or just general shots inspired by nature. We are also determined to beat XP East with the number of birds that we spot!

In our meeting we had a massive game of quizlet live to compete with other in identifying 20 of the most common garden birds.

Spoiler alert: Penguins won! 🐧 🏆

 

 

There are also some optional challenges that we would like for the students to try if they can:

OPTIONAL CHALLENGE 1 – BUG HOTEL

If you have a garden or patio space, it would be amazing if students could gather resources to build a bug hotel, these can be as complex or simple as students want to make them.

Students don’t need to complete all of the work on it this week during immersion, as we will revisit it throughout the expedition. Again we would love to see photos of any that students build. Here is mine that I built with my son, we had a great time:

 

OPTIONAL CHALLENGE 2 – NEST BOX

If students have the resources and space they might want to build a small nest box.

This would be a great project to do with family members.

Again students would not need to complete it in this immersion week. It is something we will ask them to return to every week.

 

Details of all of the above are on Google Classroom.

 

There is another important challenge we will be sharing tomorrow, after which I will add a new blog post.

 

GOOGLE HANGOUT CLOSING CIRCLE – THURSDAY AT 3.00pm

It was wonderful to see so many students this afternoon to kick off the new expedition. Charlie even played us out of the meeting with what I believe the young people call ‘The Rave Music’.

On Thursday we will be gathering again on Google hangouts Meet at 3.00pm to see how students have been getting on with their challenges and share the photos that they send to us.

We will also share the guiding question and more exciting details about out new expedition then too.

Please do encourage your son or daughter to get outdoors and enjoy nature wherever possible, get them to send us photos and to join us in the hangout at the end of the week.

Thanks as always for your support.

Have a great week and enjoy VE Day with your family on Friday.

 

#wearecrew

X24 producing beautiful work in HUMAN

By B Batty5th May 2020

As we begin another week at home it felt like a good time to once again highlight the beautiful work students in X24 are producing for their current HUMAN expedition; Empire. Our guiding question is ‘Do we need structure to make society stable?’

We have begun Case Study One and are now starting to consider the actions of the British Empire across the world. Did the British Empire really act as a force for good? Or were the actions taken detrimental to the countries that were colonised? These are the questions that we will be considering over the coming weeks.

At the same time, we are continuing to read Animal Farm, our anchor text. Students have again begun to look at the ideas of power and hierarchical control within the text.

We hope you enjoy just a snapshot of some of the work we have received.

Mrs Batty and Miss Johnson

And the winners are…

By Melissa Cocliff1st May 2020

Archie & Milo!   This morning, Crew Macmillan joined in with our first virtual crew quiz (after moaning from Vinnie!!!). Archie and Vinnie took the top spot with an amazing score of 23.5/25!!!  Well done to everyone for taking part! I can’t wait for our next one in 2 weeks!

Past Winners | Past Recruitment Achievements | Recruiter Awards

This week has seen lots of hard work, as always, from Crew Mac. I wanted to focus on some appreciations this week, though.

  • Firstly, a huge appreciation for Charlie. I know school isn’t always the easiest, but it’s fantastic to see you completing lots of work, and that isn’t going unnoticed:Well done Charlie. Keep up the awesome work!
  • Secondly, an equally huge appreciation for Milo. Milo has managed to keep up with all pieces of work set, and he’s smashing it – in his mum’s words, he’s “making the best of a crazy situation” – and i couldn’t agree more!
  • Thirdly, an appreciation from me to all of Crew Macmillan! Mr Said spent some time creating and sending out postcards to highlight some of the fantastic science work you’ve all been doing. Keep going with this, i look forward to seeing what you do in the next expedition, too! Well done to everyone!

And from students in crew…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wanted to highlight the work that’s going on with some of my crew to ‘catch up’, too. Crew are just getting on with it – they’re completing as much work as they can, to the best of their ability. Brilliant. This week has proven to me just how useful Google Hangouts can be. I’ve spent a lot of time with Ricki this week supporting him to complete tricky work, had a hangout with Courtney to go through where we’re up to, and even caught up with my Y11s (who i’m missing terribly, too!).

Following this, i’ve organised 30 minute tutorials with each individual member of crew, for next week, to discuss progress. We’ll check in, see where we’re at, and if needs be, come up with a strategy to move forward.

Don’t forget, Tuesday at 1pm, you all also need to join a hangout with Mr Said & Mr Smith – it’s the launch of your new STEAM expedition! It all looks very exciting – and chaotic – so please make sure you’re there.

I look forward to setting your crew challenge next week, too… it’ll be an interesting one!!

Thank you all for your work this week. You all make me proud to be your crew leader!

I AM PROUD OF YOU - blue black white: quote, text, humor, funny ...

 

Miss C x

This Week in Crew Macmillan

By Melissa Cocliff24th April 2020

As we end week 5 of school closures, I’d like to showcase some of the amazing things that have been going on in Crew Macmillan – a long post from me today!

Firstly, Thank you to crew – we broke the record for the amount of students checked in to hangout! Alfie and Charlie joined in, too, but left the hangout before i could get them in my picture! Next week, we aim for full attendance!

This week, I challenged crew Mac to bake or cook something. I think we have some future chefs in crew! Check out their solid efforts here:

Isaac’s Fish Cataplana:                                                   Alfie’s Ciabatta:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Courtney’s Chocolate Concrete:                                                   Miss Cocliff’s Oaty Cookies:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finn’s Toastie:                                                                              Archie’s Flapjack:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heather’s Brownies:                                                                       Joe’s Cake:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ricki’s baking:                                                               Milo’s Kebabs (with homemade Tzatsiki!):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A great effort from all involved – Vinnie also made brownies (which must have been too good to wait to take a photo of!)

In Crew Macmillan we like to appreciate people! We know how hard all staff are working, especially whilst at home – so a big thank you! This week, we have a couple of special shout outs:

 

 

 

 

 

I’d also like to highlight some fantastic work from Courtney again this week. Each week, she is going the extra mile and creating some beautiful artwork so we can keep sending some pictures to the care home to cheer residents up. Here’s my favourite from this week:

 

I’d also just like to remind crew that i’m here for any support you may need. This week, I spent an hour on a Google Hangout with Charlie completing some maths work – and did the same again today with Ricki. If you are struggling with any pieces of work, please do let me know, and i’ll try my best to work through it with you (i’m no expert on Atoms, though!)

Final thing from me today is about DofE. Mrs Parker has worked extremely hard (a big thank you!) to explain DofE changes simply. In terms of summarising the changes:

  • If you haven’t completed 12 weeks of physical activity, get in touch with me and we can change your activity to suit your 1 hours daily exercise whilst in Lockdown.
  • Our volunteering  section should now be complete, and hopefully we can sign this off.
  • To complete our bronze award, you have already done 12 weeks of skill  (board games, baking, craft or sports leaders). To extend this, we are asking all y9 students to complete this first aid course. This will take our skill to 6 months, helping us to achieve the award.
  • I’ll be in touch about DofE when we know more.

In the meantime, it’s all explained really well here – Please ensure you read this!

Phew. I think that’s the longest post i’ve ever written! Thanks for sticking with it – some beautiful work going on in Crew Mac. Let’s keep going Crew- we’ve got this, our new normal!

Over & Out. Miss C x

 

Beautiful work by X24 and E24

17th April 2020B Batty

It’s been brilliant over the last 3 weeks to receive daily updates and work from Year 9 in both XP and XP East.

During their time at home students have been immersing themselves into our new expedition entitled ‘Empire’ using the the google site which can be found here https://sites.google.com/xpeast.org/c24-yr9-empire/home

Our guiding question for this expedition will be Do we need structure to make society stable?

Our anchor text is Animal Farm and we will explore the content through one of our three case studies. The other two have yet to be revealed to students…

In this post I’ve tried to capture a snapshot of the great work we have received.

Students have looked at Russia both in its past and present formation. Explored the different ideologies behind Socialism, Communism and Capitalism and how these ideologies were part of the Cold War. Analysed historical sources and the poem Hawk Roosting by Ted Hughes As well as created a facebook profile on Ted Hughes using research on him and his life.

A special mention must go out to Theone for creating a facebook profile on Ted Hughes in the first person, Milo who carried out some detailed research and to Noah and Maclaren who thought about the finer details and decided whether they would have befriended him and gave him a specific number of friends.

I hope the slides give a sense of how hard students have been working from home.

Crew Macmillan: SPOTLIGHT

By Melissa Cocliff10th April 2020

Crew Macmillan have been plugging away at their academic work again this week, still adjusting to our “new normal”.

Earlier in the week, i received a lovely email from Mr Pearson about Milo. Milo has been a superstar with his Spanish work:

Brilliant work, Milo. Keep this up – you’re developing into a fantastic linguist!

I’ve also seen some fantastic efforts towards HUMS work this week. EMPIRE! looks like a fantastic expedition, but also looks quite tricky! Here are some examples of crew’s beautiful work, summarising some of their learning about Socialism,Capitalism and Communism:

 

Well done to Milo, Archie, Finn, Isaac, Imogen & Alfie (Top left to bottom right) – amazing work!

Finally, this week I set Crew a more creative challenge. Mrs Pulham’s mum works in a care home where elderly residents aren’t getting visitors at the moment. I asked crew to create something – this could be a letter, a note, a picture – that we could pass on to make the residents smile. Alfie and Courtney have created some gorgeous artwork – early – the deadline is next Friday. Alfie created some watercolour flowers to bring Spring indoors, and Courtney has been learning how to use the digital art app, ProCreate, to create some sunsets – and some of our Disney favourites!

 

 

 

 

 

                   

Hopefully this will spread a little happiness – some great talent in Crew Macmillan!

Keep up the fantastic work, Crew. No matter how long this goes on, you’re making me proud to be your Crew Leader. I love seeing the work you do – it blows me away every time!

Stay safe, and enjoy the Easter Weekend. I look forward to our check-ins next week!

Miss C x

UPDATED: X24 Fieldwork – Sheffield Hallam University – Thursday 26th March

By Mr M Said4th March 2020

As part of their expedition “Sagas, Sailing and Steel” X24 students will be carrying out fieldwork at Sheffield Hallam University on Thursday 26th March.

Students will be testing the strength of different materials to help them gain a deeper understanding of how Viking swords were strengthened with materials from ancestral bones.

We will be leaving school by coach at 9.00am. We expect to return at around 3.00pm.

Students will need to bring their regular stationary: pen, pencil, ruler, eraser, pencil sharpener.

They will also need to bring a pack-up lunch.

We do not expect to be outdoors for any great length of time so no specialist clothing is required.

Thanks as always for your continued support.

X24 Presentation of Learning Thursday 5th December

By B Batty21st November 2019

Students in X24 Skipper and Admiral will be presenting their learning from our expedition Small Change on 5th December at 4.30pm in XP East School. Students have been working towards a number of Learning Targets focused on the GCSE text A Christmas Carol and the historical context of the period when Dickens produced A Christmas Carol. We like to invite you to hear from your son or daughter and see the work they have produced in order to answer the guiding question Why do we still need charity?  

We will also be asking, if possible, for donations to support the work of the Balby Church food and clothing bank.

FOR THE FOOD BANK: food that just requires hot water adding: e.g Instant porridge, Cup Soups, Mug shots, Instant noodles and Pot noodles (Supermarket own brands are ideal) FOR THE CLOTHES BANK: all types but the greatest demand is for jeans, joggers for men and all clothes for children aged 6-18.

 

Thank you in advance the Year 9 Team