C29 Experts – CMFCB @ XP

Earlier in this expedition C29 were treated to some world class experts visiting school in the form of the Carlton Main Frickley Colliery Band.

The students were able to watch the band rehearse and see the microscopic detail that was drawn out by the Musical Director Allan Withington. It was an amazing opportunity for the students to hear a brass band in such top form as they prepared for the British Open Brass Band Championships.

Below is a recording from one of the rehearsals the week before the contest.

The band went on to give an outstanding performance at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall from a number 1 draw. Playing number 1 also meant they made history at this brass band contest by being the first band to play ‘God Save The King’.

Following the contest day and all the excitement of the performances and of course the results, students debriefed the contest in our following lessons together. We listened to some of the recordings from the day and analysed the final placings. We continue to reference our visiting experts in most lessons as part of our expedition ‘From The Ground Up’.

We would like to thank all involved in the Carlton Main Frickley Colliery Band for their support of our expedition and for giving our students such a high quality experience. We look forward to welcoming the band back in the future.

X28 – Yorkshire Sculpture Park Fieldwork

Students in X28/Year 8 will be visiting Yorkshire Sculpture Park in Wakefield.

This will form part of their immersion for their first expedition of Year 8. 

Students will be visiting on Wednesday – 7th September 2022.

We will be travelling by coach, departing at around 9:15 AM and returning at approximately 15:00 PM.

Students will need to bring a packed lunch unless they access free school meals, in which case school will provide one for them. 

This is an outdoor site so students will be required to take a waterproof jacket/coat in case of wet weather, and wear suitable footwear (old trainers).

Usual school rules will apply in terms of mobile phones and these should not be used by students on the bus. Students may wish to take devices such as iPads to take any photographs or to make notes.

If your child needs to take any medication, please inform their Crew Leader so that any necessary arrangements can be made. 

All medication should be labelled with their name, and passed to a member of staff.

If you have any questions about the day, feel free to contact [email protected]

C27 Fieldwork to Shrewsbury

Year 8 across both XP and XPE will be attending fieldwork to Shrewsbury Prison. This is an opportunity for them to get inside a prison and experience what life would be like. Shrewsbury is a Victorian prison which is now used as a museum and is no longer a working prison.
We will be leaving school at 7:30 on Thursday 30th June. Please can students arrive no later than 7:30. We aim to arrive back at school between 3:30-4 traffic pending.

A busy couple of weeks for crew Kahlo

Well, it’s been a busy couple of weeks in crew. We have been working hard and cracking on.

This week, crew Kahlo has been looking at ‘British Values’ as part of our crew curriculum. We have been learning about how British Values teach us tolerance and respect for others.

We even made a display in our crew room.

We then moved onto looking at the difference between weather and climate. Pupils carried out research into causes of climate change.

I wanted to highlight this beautiful work by Bryan and Jessy. For our current Y8 expedition ‘Wherever I Lay my Hat’ where we have been looking at the artist Luke Dixon for inspiration. Pupils have practiced adding lines and patterns to simplified copies of his work and also using a viewfinder to zoom in on details. I don’t know about you, but I think Jessy’s pencil-tone portrait is absolutely amazing! I only asked for a line drawing – but she went for it! We didn’t want to add any lines (like Luke Dixon does) over this drawing – so we have photocopied her work and she is adding lines to a copy so she has not one but two beautiful pieces of work!

On Thursdays, crew Kahlo has started to think about the HoWLs grades that they would give themselves for that week in each subject area and crew. Pupils critiqued each other’s grades and commented on whether they agreed with them or not. This led to loads of discussion about what ‘work hard’ looks like and how they could try and improve their own ‘get smart’ in lessons. It has been really great to have Mr. Challen in crew with us as he has been able to comment on pupils’ work in their maths lessons.

A very productive couple of weeks crew! Keep up the good work.

X26 Student of the Week

Student of the week in Year 8 / X26 goes to Arthur…

Congratulations Arthur, you have been nominated by so many of your teachers for working so hard in your online lessons and producing beautiful work. I am really impressed with what I am seeing and hearing about Arthur. Keep up the hard work, it is not going unnoticed.

 

Here are some of the comments teachers made about you:

I am really impressed with Arthur. He always has his hand up answering or asking questions. He is working and trying really hard. He has been working hard since the start of the new lockdown and i think he needs appreciation 🙂 (Miss Haythorne)

I nominate Arthur. He is working really hard in all his sessions and getting good feedback from every teacher. Dedicated to having a good SLC and being prepared and creating some beautiful artwork. (Miss Jones)

It would have to be Arthur for me for student of the week. Absolutely smashing it!! Example of work – OMAM character analysis – finding quotes to support his inferences! Independently! Always answering questions! (Miss Ibbotson)
Miss O’Grady also commented on how impressed she was in the quality of the work you are producing in PE.
Well done Arthur! Let’s hope you have a happier face when you see this post than in your picture! 🙂

 

 

Amazing prints by X26

Really impressed with Y8’s prints from today’s art lesson.

It was lovely to see the enthusiasm and excitement of the students with this new technique.

 

We are back to school for a new term. Back to home learning and trying our best – having good days and bad days and just trying to get through and stay safe.

Crew EJN were ready for a break and a little time off last week. Luckily the weather was absolutely stunning!

This is what crew got up to:

Arthur went on lots of walks, met his grandad and took Dotty the dog for a walk and play. He had his first KFC in months (Its was delicious!) He went to Birkin fisheries for ice cream and a picnic and he saw lots and lots of ducklings. He also made a bug hotel for his garden by cutting lots of bamboo up and putting twigs around an old pop bottle in a plant pot. He also painted a pebble to say thankyou to the NHS. 

Brandan went to Cleethorpes for the day (social distancing of course) and sat and played on the beach. He also went to his sisters for the day where they had a new pool and a 7ft dinosaur sprinkler called Dino.

Tammy built a bird table and found an old colouring book to colour in. 

As well as being out in the sunshine, crew were still keeping busy with their home learning tasks.

Max has created some lovely artwork based on the artist Kandinsky

Crew EJN have also made a cracking start on their Visual Dairies for their new expedition called ‘Above all, compassion’. Here are their front covers

Im really proud of crew EJN and all their hard work. They have enjoyed their holiday and have got back to working hard with their home learning!

Well done crew!

X26 Extended Study – STEAM

Students in X26 have now been introduced to Tassomai. We’ve had a great session today!

Tassomai is a quizzing app which tracks student progress and builds the level of challenge over time. It will also return to previously studied questions automatically to check that new knowledge is being retained over time.

This will be an ongoing extended study for every week. Each week students need to complete their daily goals for at least 4 out of the 7 days.

There is a Tassomai app which can be downloaded from the app store or google play.

I will check that students have been completing this each every Friday.

Any questions or problems, please contact me:

[email protected]

X26 Admiral – STEAM Extended Study – Revision

X26 (Year 7) Admiral have an assessment in STEAM on Thursday of this week.

X26 Admiral Students need to revise for the following two learning targets:

LT6: I can explain how the states of matter are a function of the spacing and movement of the particles that make up a substance.

LT7: I can demonstrate how the motion and spacing of particles in a substance change as the substance changes state of matter.

 

On the Over the Top expedition website, there are lots of resources to help students with their revision. Some students have also taken their STEAM exercise books home to revise.

The expedition website can be accessed from the school homepage at any point by clicking n the menu on Students,  Year 7, 7 Expeditions.

Under “STEAM Case Study 1” there are revision guides, quizzes and example assessment questions.

 

How should my son or daughter revise?

The most important things to remember about revision are that watching videos or reading information are not revision. You can help at home by quizzing your son or daughter and testing what they know.

The most effective way to revise is to do retrieval practice and the apply this knowledge to questions. This video explains how that works.

Students have set their own priorities for revision based on areas for development from mini-quizzes this week.

X26 Skipper – STEAM Extended Study – Revision

X26 (Year 7) Skipper have an assessment in STEAM on Tuesday of next week.

(Due to the staff days Admiral will have their assessment later in the week, I will put an additional post on when Admiral students are prepped for their revision.)

 

X26 Skipper Students need to revise for the following two learning targets:

LT6: I can explain how the states of matter are a function of the spacing and movement of the particles that make up a substance.

LT7: I can demonstrate how the motion and spacing of particles in a substance change as the substance changes state of matter.

 

On the Over the Top expedition website, there are lots of resources to help students with their revision. Some students have also taken their STEAM exercise books home to revise.

The expedition website can be accessed from the school homepage at any point by clicking n the menu on Students,  Year 7, 7 Expeditions.

Under “STEAM Case Study 1” there are revision guides, quizzes and example assessment questions.

 

How should my son or daughter revise?

The most important things to remember about revision are that watching videos or reading information are not revision. You can help at home by quizzing your son or daughter and testing what they know.

The most effective way to revise is to do retrieval practice and the apply this knowledge to questions. This video explains how that works.

Students have set their own priorities for revision based on areas for development from mini-quizzes this week.