Hegarty Heroes!

By Katie Haughey27th April 2020

I’ve compiled a blog of truly beautiful work that has been submitted to me over the last few weeks from the Y9s. I felt inspired by the virtual gallery that has been produced by the art teachers, as I’d argue that some of this work could be considered art, with art being interpretive…

Aran K, your work on converting fractions was stunning. I love how you’ve used colour codes to break down your thought process.

Charlie R: Decided to do some of the ‘additional tasks’ that I set weekly. This work he did on translations was fantastic, my only even better if being use a ruler!

Chloe T: I love your use of examples in the videos, that go on to support your work on the tasks. That little ‘convert to make it easier’ is a great tip, and worth taking note to help you get unstuck. Great job!

 

Tyler B: I have been wow-ed by Tyler’s weekly updates, his notes are really aesthetically pleasing and well ordered. Tyler has been going above and beyond by completing more tasks than I have been outlining, and his hard work isn’t going unnoticed. Check it out:

Lewis D: has produced very methodical working on the percentage multiplier tasks I set a couple of weeks ago. I appreciate that he is starting out each piece of working out on a new line.

& last but certainly not least…

Theone C: I can’t get over the quality and amount of the work that you have produced Theone, except I can because I know how dedicated you are to working hard! Each week your emails exemplify how it should be done, they are a joy to look through and they make me feel extremely fortunate to teach you. You really set a high bar for those hoping to achieve excellence!

Like and Subscribe to Chris M!

By J Smith27th April 2020

Chris Mbano this week has gone above and beyond with his Common Mission work and been extra creative on his Youtube Channel. Chris has been onto old videos on YouTube and re-edited the first day of all students at XPE. Chris said he did this as a little reminder and to cheer people up of what we can expect when we go back to school. 

 

 

If you haven’t already like and subscribe to Chris’s channel here. 

Also this week there was some confusion with the day of the crew google hangout this week. As there was an invite sent for both Tuesday and Thursday this week. Big thanks to Corey A who checked in on both!

As for everyone else, most crew members checked into at least one of the sessions, but just to clarify this week, the crew hangout will be on Tuesday at 11:30 as normal.

NEW EXPEDITION ALERT!

By H Hickson26th April 2020

On Monday 27th April, Year 8 will be starting a new Hums expedition.

Our previous expedition ‘I’ve Got the Power!’ – didn’t quite end the way we planned it to due to the COVID-19 closures, however, it made me realise that we do have the power – the power to spread or halt the spread of an infectious disease, depending on our behaviour. I thought this image highlighted the ‘power of one’ brilliantly in context of the current situation.

Immersion is one of the most exciting weeks in a new expedition – year 8 will start their Immersion week on Monday where they will have the week to work out the clues to figure out what the new expedition could be about, its title and guiding question. I’m looking forward to seeing their responses and doing a bit of detective work!

I’d like to say a massive thank you and well done to how hard the students have worked in lockdown – I know it brings many challenges in a variety of ways but I really appreciate their dedication and hope this continues into the new expedition. The majority of students managed to complete all their work on time but for any who haven’t this is a message to you:

If you have any work that is not completed from the old expedition (I’ve Got the Power) leave it and start from the Immersion week of the new expedition 

This means that all students will start from the same point and it will reduce anxieties about an overwhelming amount of work and the feeling of falling behind.

As with the previous expedition, all work will be set on Google Classroom. Students will receive an assignment of google slides each week. Each weekly assignment contains 4-5 sessions to be completed over the week. The sessions are broken down into different tasks – like with the previous expedition – whenever there is a red task symbol like the one below, there is something for the students to complete.

Each student has a google doc assigned to them on Google Classroom. This doc has the layout of each session and tasks so it is clear for students to organise their work. This doc needs to be submitted once ALL the sessions are completed for that assignment at the end of the week. 

Any questions, email [email protected]

Let the new expedition commence!

Crew Mercury

By Rachael Rothwell24th April 2020

Another fantastic week for Crew Mercury, lots of hard work finishing off expeditions and completing final products.

Have a listen to how amazing Poppy’s speech is for the final product of the expedition ‘Get Up, Stand Up’ with the guiding question ‘When is it right to make a stand?’.

Poppy Speech

 

Mrs Poncia was over the moon with it! Well done Poppy!

As well as the fantastic learning Poppy has been completing, she has also been enjoying spending time with her sister baking…looks yummy!

And of course, Poppy being the amazing dancer that she is, she has also been doing lots of dancing!

Look at this…!

It was fab catching up with Crew Mercury on our Crew Hangout on Monday, I look forward to seeing you all again next week!

Crew Mercury

By Rachael Rothwell17th April 2020

So following on from last week’s post showing what Lewis has been up to, it is Daniel’s turn this week.

Daniel has completed some real quality learning including a HUMS assessment where he achieved a fab score and showed great understanding of Africa, development and the DRC. He also completed an assignment answering the question ‘How far can Maycomb be called prejudiced?’. Mrs McCarthy said ‘What an absolute joy to read! Well done, great understanding and detailed yet clear explanation!’

 

In addition to completing his learning, Daniel has been enjoying walks with his family catching Pokemon!

 

He has also been enjoying quality time with his sister 🙂

It has been great the hear what Daniel has been up to, it’s been lovely keeping in touch and seeing the pics!

Beautiful Work – XP East / XP

By A Brown17th April 2020

It’s been brilliant over the last 3 weeks to receive daily updates and work from Year 9 in both XP and XP East. It is a personal highlight of the week / day when an email arrives with titles such as ‘here is my extension task’ or ‘these are the notes I made’ .

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.

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.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1kcHMBKEB8o8PBCBfJEjqioyfxkwr7dNB7p0cy-GE3Eo/edit?usp=sharing

Ella’s Fantastic Cards!

By Rachael Rothwell13th April 2020

Have a look at these amazing cards that Ella from Crew Mercury has been making this week!

Ella has been giving these cards to her mum so she can pass them on to her fellow front line workers in social care. A lovely way to show her appreciation for everything they are doing in these difficult times.

I’m sure these cards have been massively appreciated, such a wonderful thing to do Ella! I am very proud!

Crew Mercury

By Rachael Rothwell9th April 2020

It has been great to check in with crew and see what we have all been getting on with our learning. The learning that you are producing is fab, and we’re getting lots of praise from teachers. Well done everyone!

I’ve also enjoyed hearing about what crew have been getting up to in their free time.

For this week’s post I’m going to share what Lewis has been up to. He has been enjoying taking Thor for a daily walk. Look how big Thor is!!

 

   

 

Lewis is particularly proud of his maths learning, and I’m sure Mr Nixon is super impressed too! Mrs McCarthy also said she is proud of what you have done so far Lewis, keep it up!

 

 

Check back next week when we have an update on another member of Crew Mercury!

Crew online check-in with Mandela

By J Smith2nd April 2020

It has been fantastic to have a Google Hangout from everyone in Crew Mandela. It seems a lifetime since we had to finish at school so abruptly, however all crew members are in  good spirits and we discussed some ways that people have been keeping busy!

Everyone in the crew commented on how the new timetable has made routines much more manageable learning to be a solid structure of the day.

Big shout out to Alfie and Chloe who have been completing STEAM work to an excellent standard. Check out the pictures below:

 

Also a huge shout out to Beth who has been going above and beyond in Spanish Plus and completed all tasks to an excellent standard! well done Beth!

Our next Check in online will be Tuesday at 11:30 am. Holly is going to lead the check in- with a pub quiz style competition to follow. See you then!

 

E25 Human Work During School Closure

By H Hickson23rd March 2020

It’s good to see some students already starting their online learning assignments. Here are the instructions on how to complete the work set. This was shared with students in lessons but those who were absent last week will have missed them. They must READ all the instructions on the slides/Google Classroom.

Submitting work 

  • Currently on Google Classroom, there are 2 assignments set. Students need to complete the Geography one FIRST and then the English slides. They should submit the doc on Google classroom once they have got to the end of each slide. 

What to complete and when

  • Each set of slides are broken down into ‘lessons’, students need to complete a minimum of a lesson a day or follow the ‘weekly planner’ timetable sent out my Mr Portman each week.
  • Whenever the students see a red ‘TASK’ symbol which looks like the one below they need to complete the activity on their doc.

Layout

  • On the docs, work needs to have the layout of:

           Subject: Geography/English/History

           Lesson Number:

           DLT: 

           Task: 

Students need to write in Quicksand font, size 12.

If you have any questions, email me at [email protected]. I will be checking emails everyday and student work completion – if work is not being done, parents will be contacted.

Thank you!