Welcome Back!!

By Web Blogger12th April 2021

It’s been lovely seeing everyone face to face rather than on a screen! 

Crew seem to have grown at least a foot, with the exception of Miss Johnson and Mrs Barnes of course! Crew have settled back into being in school really well. I do not think the transition would have been as smooth without the continuous support that the members of Crew Rowling have given each other.

Crew Rowling have been lucky enough to gain a new crew member, Jake. I know that Crew Rowling are experts at making people feel welcome as I have witnessed it first hand. They pulled together to show Jake the ropes and he is fitting in great with our Crew sessions. He did shock us with his amazing ‘poker face’ during a game of ‘two truths, one lie’, which we used as a fun way of reconnecting after so long of not being together. Jake has also done a great job of helping Mrs Watson and his peer with litter picking and keeping the school looking clean and tidy. We were very impressed with the job they had done.

This week in Crew, students took time self evaluating their HoWLs and recorded this for each subject. The interactions between students were great as they gave feedback to each other via comments on the spreadsheet, highlighting areas that they may want to increase their grade and examples why. This seemed to give a boost in crew and everyone seemed quite positive after the session. I do think some were a little hard on themselves to start with.

 

Rounding off last week, we played the mystery game ‘Mafia’,  where Harvey did a fantastic job of narrating and making the story entertaining. It was a great way to end the week and we went into the E26 community meeting on a high after having fun as a Crew. 

Keep up the good work Crew Rowling!

Mrs Barnes and Miss Johnson

E25/X25 Year 9 Common Mission

By J Smith11th April 2021

Year 9 Common Mission 


Purpose

To explain how we use Common Mission to support students to access different pathways to academic, career and life readiness at XP. Common Mission is a curriculum process that is additional to our Core GCSEs, where we further develop character and positive habits of work and learning in our students.  In addition to our Core GCSEs, we run one session a week from Year 9 called ‘Common Mission’. These sessions allow students to think about, prepare and take qualifications in pathways that will help them to become who they want to be later in life. Common Mission sessions include career and further education advice, as well as time for them to study a GCSE of their choice if they have the motivation, capacity and capability to do so.  Common Mission includes the opportunity to study a Choice qualification or to pursue other curriculum or personal interests. In these sessions students develop their self-study skills so they are ready for their next steps in the education process.

 

 

X25/E25

On Wednesday the 14th of April, students at X25 and E25 students will choose one of the following common mission options to develop their self-study skills so they are ready for their next steps in the education process, with the potential to gain the listed qualifications. 28th of April will be the start date Your support and guidance as parents will be invaluable to our students making a choice that is right for them. As well as discussions at home, our students will spend time in crew this week. Please see the video below outlining the overview of Common mission. If you have any further questions please do not hesitate use the form attached and I will answer any questions as soon as possible.

 

Topic Options:

 

 

Common mission Option  Potential Qualification Specification
Business Studies GCSE AQA
Engineering NCFE Level 1/2  NCFE
Maths pushing 9.0 Additional Study  GCSE AQA AQA Maths
Music ABRSM  Level 2
Music qualification through the Rock School (RSL)
BTEC PE BTEC Pearson Edexcel
Triple Science GCSE AQA Triple Biol, chem, phys
Psychology GCSE AQA
Dance BTEC BTEC Pearsons Level 2
Geography GCSE AQA
Core Expeditions Additional Study  STEAM, MATHS, HUMAN
Self Study Mix Mix

 

XP Self Study Website Examples:

 

Business Studies

Psychology

Geography

 

 

Have any questions?:

 

 

E24/Year 10 Day 6 Invite

By J Smith11th April 2021


D6 is our voluntary sixth day of school which will take place each Saturday during term time. D6 is led by ex-students of XP who are returning to provide our current students with peer to peer academic study support. There will be additional support from our school learning coaches and members of the Leadership Team. Existing students in Year 10 will be able to come into school on a voluntary basis on a Saturday morning from 10.00-12.00 each week to access this additional support.

The long-term plan is to open this up to students in all year groups, but in light of the recent lockdown, we are currently only extending this invitation to students in Year 10 as an additional layer of support in response to the previous lockdown. Whilst we understand that there may be some concerns around coming into school on a weekend, we feel it is justified in light of ensuring our students are able to access the education and additional support they deserve. Therefore, all Year 10 students are welcome at XP from this Saturday 17th April. Sessions will usually begin at 10.00 until 12.00 for the time being.

Appropriate risk assessments and protocols around safe and hygienic working have been prepared, and we will ensure that rooms used in the school have been sanitised before and after use. Refreshments will also be provided.

We hope students in Year 10 along with XP and year 10s and year 11s can join us this Saturday! If there are any questions or concerns please email Mr Smith at [email protected]

Together Again!

By S Mitchell2nd April 2021

After 3 long months of lockdown and online learning, Crew Anoa’i were reunited!! To say they were excited to be back would be an understatement. Crew Anoa’i are back and ready for the term ahead, full of hard work and possibilities. This term is the term for change!

For the past week and a half, Crew Anoa’i have spent the mornings getting to know each other again. We spoke to each other about how lockdown has affected us and how we felt about it. Being around people, other than your family, was daunting for some but as a crew we overcame those fears and settled back into our tribe life. We have bonded once again and enjoyed each other’s company. This helped us to feel comfortable at school, as some of our crew felt very anxious about being back in the building. 

There have been many hilarious conversations about random topics, resulting in tears of pure joy. We’ve been able to open up and talk about personal things, which we haven’t done before. Crew Anoa’i have also played some games where we worked in teams, something we would have struggled with previously.

We then took a journey down memory lane and started to create a memory board for our crew room. We rediscovered images of each other that display togetherness and demonstrate how we are a family. Crew Anoa’i will continue to add to this as the year goes on. We wish to capture all of the best moments with each other, memories that will last a lifetime. 

Crew Anoa’i have come together and really bonded this past week and a half. I can’t wait to spend more time with them!

#ComingBackStronger

X27 and E27 and their first art expert!

By Emily Jones28th March 2021

On Thursday, all our Year 7 students had a hangout with their first art expert.

Their expert was called Derek Robertson who was speaking to our pupils about his ‘Migrations‘ exhibition.

These pieces of artwork that Derek created fitted in perfectly with Y7’s current expedition called ‘Wherever I lay my hat’ where they are answering the guiding question of ‘Is migration worth the risk?’

Our expert was able to give our students information about his experiences when visiting refugee camps around the world and insights into the lives of the people he met.

Mr. Wilmot made loads of notes!

Mrs. Marshall was on fire with the anchor charts.

Miss Hickson was busy making notes on the board.

Manveer and Maisie shared the notes that they wrote during the hangout.

Keegan even recorded the whole hangout as a voice note on his iPad and sent it to me!

I was so impressed with our Year 7’s. They were respectful and inquisitive. They asked some fantastic questions and wrote brilliant notes.

Well done Y7!

PARENTS: NHS workers needed for Year 9 Final Product

By Martin Said11th March 2021

When we return to school on Monday 22nd March, students in Year 9 will start working on the final product for their learning expedition ‘You give me fever‘, which has the guiding question:

“Why should we care about health inequality?”

The final product will celebrate and honour the work of NHS staff across the whole organisation during this most difficult of years.

 

We would like for small groups of students to speak with NHS workers to find out about their role, and how it has been impacted over this last year.

If you or anyone in your family is an NHS worker, we would really appreciate it if our students could speak to you about your important work.

Ideally we would like for workers to meet with small groups of our students online during Monday 29th – Wednesday 31st March.

 

We are looking for workers from across all of the NHS, and are especially in need of some of the typically unsung heroines and heros such as cleaners, porters or community ambulance drivers for example, although our students would learn a lot from speaking to anyone with a role in the organisation. We have many experts already lined up, but it would be great to get even more from our families at XP.

If you or someone you know can help our students to learn more about the herculean efforts of this past year, please contact Mr Said.

We can’t wait to welcome all of our students back very soon!

[email protected]

Recharging and Reconnecting with ‘Off Screen’ time

By Web Blogger28th February 2021

Another great week for Crew Rowling this week, they continue to blow me away with their hard work, positivity and creativity.

 

Crew Highlights (from Crew members):

-Harvey always has an answer ready and is always listening.

-Thomas works really hard to make his work the best that he can do and always has a good detailed answer.

-Layton is always prepared to give critique to others in his class and is always there when you need help or struggling with any work at all.

-Cerrina gives a lot of helpful feedback and she is an amazing friend. She is very helpful and kind, thank you! Cerrina is also always asking for critique to make her work better which shows how much she cares about her lessons and how responsible she is for her learning.

 

Other news this week:

-Faith’s quiz was slightly kinder than previous weeks and no one is looking forward to Layton’s turn more than him so he can reduce everyone else’s brain cells! These quizzes really have become something we all look forward to!

– Shawn’s recreation for the ‘Off screen’ task on Wednesday made headlines in our community meeting and made everyone laugh, it was brilliant!

 

Star Student Nominations for last week:

 

There were some great nominations within Crew for our star student. I wanted to share these with you all as it is always lovely to hear the Crews thoughts on the efforts put in by their peers. 

 

Shawn was nominated as he always works hard in sessions and in science he helped a group of people who didn’t understand the task.

Harvey is always on task every week so he was nominated for his consistency and dedication.

Layton was nominated as he always works hard and on Thursday in science he was doing very well grappling with his work.

Charlotte, for always joining the call on time and working harder in lessons.

Tom because even though he had trouble logging into his school account he still tried to take part in the lessons as much as he could.

 

The winner over all this week with a majority of votes was Tom! 

As a Crew we saw how hard you tried to participate in lessons and the work set when you were having trouble with your account, Well done!

 

‘Off Screen’ Time

 

This week we began our off screen time as we acknowledged how much time we are all spending on our screens, we therefore have come up with tasks to get us off the screens, recharging and reconnecting with things we enjoy and our family.

 

Tuesday was launch day so we decided to get out and photograph nature, the majority got involved and we had some beautiful photos uploaded to our Crew slides.

Wednesday we were tasked with recreating something in our house. Some decided to draw items, build items and Shawn made himself into a burger!

Thursday it was time to do something with our families. Activities varied and it was great to see how much everyone enjoyed this. There were bike rides, walks, board games, reading, baking, trips to the park, exercising and relaxing with pets.

Friday we got competitive with a scavenger hunt! 

For those who have attended the in-school provision, they also completed activities within school, including board games, dancing and outdoor photography. 

 

We have all enjoyed these activities so far and it has given a boost within Crew. It’s been good to check in each morning with what we have all been up to by looking through photos of everyone’s activities.

 

Keep up the good work everyone and keep the amazing photos coming in!

 

Mrs Barnes

YEAR 9 PARENTS: Permission to use the Pixlr image editing app

By Martin Said19th February 2021

Within our expeditionary art sessions in Year 9 we would like students to use the Pixlr app to create some digital artwork.
This is a free and fantastic online image editing app. By doing this it will allow all students to work on the same platform regardless of the device being used.

Students need to sign up for an account, however it specifies that users should be over the age of 16. This is a condition of the app creators, however there are no inherent risks in using the software. Essentially it is an online photoshop equivalent.

Could you please complete this short Google Form to let us know if you give permission for your son/daughter to sign up for an account and use the app.

If you have any questions please contact [email protected]

Thanks as always for your support.

The Power of a Quiz!

By Web Blogger17th February 2021

Wow, what a couple of weeks! 

 

Everyone has worked so hard on their SLC preparations within crew time over the last few weeks. Quiz Friday has become something we all look forward to and Rhys’ ‘hardest quiz in the world’ on 5th February was a great way to unwind and have some fun. Even though we found it super difficult, we all laughed throughout.

 

Star Student Nominations!

 

Each week in our crew session on a Friday afternoon we vote for an over all star student, this is within Crew and the year group and announced within our community meeting. We are proud to announce that these students were selected as nominees for start student from not only our Crew but also others within E26.

 

  • 22nd January 2021, Shawn was nominated for trying every challenge he is given, giving detailed answers to questions and working hard no matter the situation.
  • 5th February 2021, Lydia was nominated for always being kind, contributing in lessons, always being on time and consistently working hard and trying her best in all sessions.

 

Well done both of you! Your hard work is paying off- keep it up!

 

Crew Highlights: (Discussed and nominated by Crew members)

 

  • Rhys has been working really hard especially in maths. His quiz was just as hard as Harvey’s the previous week, but great fun! (We were hoping Shawn might be easy on us with his quiz)
  • Cerrina always tries her best and answers lots of questions in her science session.
  • Logan has been working really hard and has improved by speaking up more in crew sessions.

 

The Crew also wanted to highlight how Miss Jonson always knows what to do in any situation, how organised she is and how much support she has given to the Crew during the preparation for SLC’s which has been difficult online.

 

I want to say a huge appreciation to all of Crew Rowling for their continued efforts with their online sessions, their never ending support for each other and never failing to make quiz Friday so much fun!

 

Stay safe 🙂

 

(Mrs Barnes and all of Crew Rowling)