Another Great Week in Years 10 and 11!

By Mr M Voltaire25th January 2021

Dear Parents and Carers of Students in Years 10 and 11, 

 

It’s been another strong week for us here at XP in our phase. Whilst we are now almost four weeks into the term, our students have still managed to maintain the high levels of work and engagement and are producing some fine examples of beautiful work even from home and without access to resources they might usually have at their disposal. Friday’s community meetings were lively and happy meetings with many appreciations for students coming from staff and each other. The overall message this week was a simple one; we’re alright we are. If we keep attending and engaging with our learning online, we leave ourselves with all to play for as when we finally do come back to school and for whatever shape the final assessments do take. It is at this point that we stress again the need to attend online and get stuck into sessions. Whilst it’s been a busy week and has felt tiring at times, it is as important as ever to keep the momentum we are building as we move into next week and the long weekend with next week’s staff days. 

 

After that, in the week commencing February 1st we will begin Student Led Conferences which are always a positive occasion and this time around our students will be reflecting on their progress to date and what they need to do for the rest of this year in order to achieve the academic success which will set them up for the next phase of their education. Crew Leaders will be making contact with you to arrange times to take part in an online version of the SLC. We look forward to seeing you there. 

 

I’ll leave you this week with some more examples of beautiful work going on in online sessions and some of the praise that our students have received this week. 

Have a great week. 

Mr Voltaire

Assistant Principal of Years 10 and 11

Crew Thunberg Back At It Again!

By Joe Nixon25th January 2021

So it turns out it’s still January even though it feels like we’ve been in lockdown 3 (or is it 2??) for about a thousand years.

HOWEVER Crew Thunberg have been rising to the challenge of distance learning and have been absolutely smashing it!

Attendance in online hangouts has been absolute near perfect and the engagement in online sessions has been great too. Here are a few of the highlights so far:

Y8 students have been working hard to produce some ‘Op Art’ and their own homages to Bridget Riley’s ‘Moving Squares’. Here you can see Lola and Ava’s fantastic work on these home projects:

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Fantastic work, girls!!

And I’ve also been sent this great picture from Kristian. A reyt good work set up! Cats? Check! Bearded Dragon? Check! Lego AT-AT Walker? Check!

Keep up the fantastic work, Kristian!

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Well done for the excellent engagement, everyone! Don’t forget to send in some more pictures – we love to see them!

Remember, it is a staff day on Friday (29th) and Monday (1st), so school and online learning will be off for those days. Also, SLCs are coming up – an email will be sent out in the next week inviting you to an online hangout where your child will be talking about their learning at XP this past term.

X26 Student of the Week goes to…

By Sophie Elliott25th January 2021

… Bobby in Crew Pankhurst!

A massive appreciation to you Bobby for your hard work in your online learning sessions. Your teachers have mentioned how you have stepped up this week and completed beautiful work which evidences real thought and detail.

Here are some of the comments teachers have made about you:

 

 

 

Well done Bobby! Keep up the great work, it is not going unnoticed!

Year 10 X24 GCSE Spanish Get Smart

By Mrs N Sprakes19th January 2021

Today Year 10 have focused on being able to describe their reading habits; what they like and dislike to read, with explanations. This led to some interesting finds, including a love of football blogs and vampire stories! Students used a Think Pair Share Protocol to encourage thought and discussion, then worked on a writing exam task. Here’s what Alfie and Milla produced.

 

 

X24 Art: Beautiful Work

By Mr A Jackson15th January 2021

Year 10 started this expedition with an immersion task practising their skills on digital design apps.  Students worked on a range of devices and using different apps which allowed them to edit and filter images that they’d chosen.  We grappled with the apps and started off by creating a horror film poster.

We also looked at the principles of good design, and then started to create our own posters for the fictional movie – Emerald Bay.  Miss Taylor and Mr. Jackson were really pleased with the work that everyone managed to produce – especially considering the wide range of skills and experience that the classes started out with.  Well done year 10!

Beautiful STEAM work from Beth in Year 9

By Mr M Said8th January 2021

In STEAM this week we have been learning about the difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic life.

All students have been working hard and completing some great work on their google Docs for me, but I just wanted to share these beautiful and thorough notes from Beth in Admiral.

it’s clear that Beth is developing a passion for learning about the nature of life itself.

And as a bonus, it’s only on Spiderpaper!

Christmas in Spain BBK from Years 9 – 11

By Mrs N Sprakes15th December 2020

This week the GCSE groups have been researching Christmas in Spain using the BBK protocol. Students found similarities and differences between the two countries, including a friendly giant, tons of nougat and what happens when you’re on the naughty list! Well done to all year groups for this beautiful work.

 

 

X25 Spanish GCSE Online Session

By Mrs N Sprakes7th December 2020

Today X25 showed excellent HOWLs during their online session. Students had their first attempt at answering our Guiding Question this term, “Gobierna mi vida el colegio? (Does school rule my life?). With some agreeing, some disagreeing and many with both points of view, the session was productive and interesting. A special appreciation goes to Ebony, who showed tremendous recall of vocabulary and tenses, supporting other students and being Crew. Well done Year 9, looking forward to our session next week!

Crew Berger’s Beautiful Revision

By Mr A Jackson23rd November 2020

       

 

Crew Berger have been focussing again on revision tasks.  A couple of weeks ago we started a programme of revision inspired by Mrs Sprakes work last year with crew Bronte.

Each member of our crew selected an area of study that they were comfortable with and pledged to create some revision materials based on that.  We gave ourselves two weeks to get it started and this week we presented our work.

Abi worked on the Vikings and shared several pages of notes that she’d made on Viking society.  Joe found and shared a sample Maths question and Henry produced some notes on Cell Biology, looking at cell structure and moving into DNA.

Rex and Laura also worked on Biology – producing flashcards on Hormones and Menstruation.  Laura went down the more traditional route of writing hers out on cards and then taking photos so she could share them.  Rex used an app to create his flashcards which allows you to see how long you’ve spent studying each one.

     

Laura also produced some character notes for one of our English texts – An Inspector Calls, and Khushi worked on flashcards for characters in Macbeth.  We enjoyed testing each other on these – can you remember who Fleance is!?

Jac decided to focus on Physics and, although he is doing the higher tier papers, he produced foundation study material to help others in crew.  His worked examples of answers on volume, density, electricity and other topics are beautifully presented and explained.

We’ve pledged to continue to produce this revision material and to make it public over the coming months leading up to the exams in summer next year.  We’re also pledging to put together a website so that our work can be made available to other crews and other students hoping to do well in their GCSEs.