C26 – Thackray Museum of Medicine Fieldwork

26th February 2022Web Blogger

Students in C26/Year 9 will be visiting the Thackray Museum of Medicine in Leeds.

We are venturing out on 2 separate days as part of their current expedition ‘You Give Me Fever’. 

XP East – Tuesday 15th March 2022

XP Wednesday – 16th March  2022

The primary purpose of the visit is to explore the galleries which will help students get to grips with the science behind disease, and the state of public health when Victoria was on the throne. This opportunity to travel back through time and meet key figures in the fight against disease will support the learning on how its history can help us inform the very current issues we face today.

Oh wait there is more…  Alongside this amazing experience, we are also booked on a workshop that looks at the following – Does history always move in a straight line? Is innovation always straightforward? This engaging talk uses events and changes throughout medical history to consider the past, present and future of medicine.

We will be departing at around 9:00 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. 

Students will need to dress appropriately and in line with the school dress code. As we will be walking around the museum, comfortable footwear is required.

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 me at ewatson@xpschool. 

Bit of History!

The museum building has a long and chequered history.

It first opened in 1861 as the purpose-built Leeds Union Workhouse, a harsh and unwelcoming home for poor and homeless people with nowhere else to go. Over the years, new buildings were gradually added to the workhouse complex, including a separate infirmary.

Click Pic for more info…

Year 10 History Revision

20th February 2022H Hickson

Just a quick notice to let all Y10 students and parents/carers know that History revision sessions will be resuming after the holidays, starting this Monday. 

We will be offering two nights of History revision: 

  • Monday 3.30 – 4.30pm in A06 (XP EAST) with Mrs Elliott & Miss Hickson
  • Tuesday 3.30 – 4.30pm in X11 (XP) with Mrs Elliott 

This is an excellent opportunity for students to embed their learning, to gain support, to practice exam technique and to push themselves further. It really is important that students are revising outside of lessons and this is perfect space to be able to do this successfully. 

Students are welcome to come to both sessions or just one. In these sessions we will be recapping GCSE content and applying this to exam questions as well as giving students time to self study areas which they feel they need further development. 

Y10 have made a fantastic start to their History GCSE and are working really hard in sessions. We now need to continue this hard work outside of the classroom, there is an expectation that students should now begin revising in their own time to embed the content already covered and prepare themselves for their GCSE exams. 

If you have any questions regarding extended study, please don’t hesitate to email Mrs Elliott ([email protected])

Looking forward to seeing you this week! 

Mrs Elliott / Miss Hickson 

Marvellous Mocks!

10th February 2022H Hickson

It seems like a lifetime ago when we first started to prepare for the Year 10 History mock exams and finally now the whole process is complete and I am really proud of how the students conducted themselves through the process. It all started after October half term with weekly revision being set and the start of after school revision classes – it was great to see so many students taking responsibility for their learning and putting in the effort to prepare for their exams. In our lessons we spent time going through exam technique and what to expect from each style of question and it was clear to see that this advice had been absorbed and acted upon. After the mocks had been marked, students spent their time FIXing the assessments, responding to feedback to improve their answers to the questions and I am confident that they will do themselves proud if they continue. It also highlighted the importance of revision, with some students who maybe didn’t put enough work in being disappointed by their result, I hope this acts as a lesson to learn from and not make these same mistakes as we continue through their GCSE content – as we keep saying, if you don’t know the content you can’t write an answer!

A massive well done to all students who achieved their target grade and a special mention to students who did exceptionally well: Lewis, Zach H, Harvey, Rosie, Mollie and Ava – we are so proud of you and all your hard work has paid off! Keep going and you’ll smash your final exams in year 11.

A reminder as well to keep revising using both the Nazi and Vikings textbooks and to attend the after school revision sessions on Monday and Tuesday with myself and Mrs Elliott.

E24/Y11 history exam skills

10th February 2022A Parker

Earlier this week, I posted Y11’s mock exam timetable.

We are using time in lessons to prepare for the mocks by making sure students not only have the subject knowledge, but also the skills to apply this knowledge to exam questions.

In today’s history session Y11 worked on building these key exam skills by working together to create model answers to questions from past papers, before testing out their exam skills by working independently on another question.

Practise makes perfect!

Aiming high in all we do!

9th February 2022Web Blogger

As you may remember, before Christmas Crew Rowling were raising money for our chosen local charity Big C Little Warrior and Rhys volunteered to cut his hair to raise funds for them to go towards hair accessories for those going through cancer treatment and potential hair loss from this.

A few weeks ago, Crew were surprised and humbled to receive a sweet parcel each from Big C Little Warrior as a thank you along with a lovely card which now is pride of place on our Crew wall.

This week we were so pleased to be able to welcome Annette Powell into our Crew at XP East for a short visit. Annette wanted to come and personally thank Crew Rowling for the amazing fundraising achievement and we were very proud to be able to present Annette with the money we raised which totalled £720! It’s amazing to think how many people this will support, making a very difficult time that little bit more bearable.

We can’t wait to continue supporting Big C Little Warrior even more in the future.

Meanwhile, time is ticking closer and closer to Crew getting the chance to share their Passage Presentations. It’s been great to hear snippets of conversations regarding their thoughts on what they may want to do after their GCSEs. They have all given each other so much support throughout this process and this for us as their Crew leaders makes us very proud. They have all worked so hard on these and I can’t wait to watch the final polished products.

We look forward to seeing you all soon!

Mrs Barnes and Miss Johnson

C24/Y11 Mock Exam Timetable

9th February 2022A Parker

C24_Y11-Mock-2-Timetable-Feb-2022Download

Y11 will be sitting their second round of mocks when they return to school after the half-term break. This timetable should help students to plan and manage their revision.

More revision resources and general information for parents can be found on our C24 Revision Support Website.

Subject teachers have also uploaded revision tasks onto their google classrooms, so students have plenty of resources to help them.

C24/Y11 Science Update

8th February 2022A Parker

Yesterday we received the exam board guidance on what the “major focus” will be in each of the exam papers in Combined Science. The exam board has made it clear that the students may be examined on other content in “low tariff and linked content” questions. It is also worth noting that the Physics exams use around 20% multiple choice questions, and therefore a broad knowledge base is useful in determining wrong options. Students are still expected to apply their knowledge in unfamiliar contexts. 

Our guidance is that our students should revise as broadly as they can, whilst ensuring that they have deep knowledge of the content highlighted by the exam board. This is highlighted in the table below for each paper. Please note that the content may be different for foundation and higher levels.  

The exam board guidance can be found here 

Any queries regarding this please contact [email protected] 

Science-Exams_-Overview-Post-Exam-board-guidance-2Download

E24/Y11 Friday Focus

4th February 2022A Parker

It might be Friday, but Y11 are definitely not winding down for the weekend – yet!

From revisiting ‘A Christmas Carol’ in English…

To working through past GCSE papers in maths…

Study+ revision groups…

Before finishing the week off with a much needed PE session to work their bodies as hard as they’ve been working their brains!

And I’m ending my Friday feeling super proud of the fantastic work and focus from Y11 🙂

Y11’s amazing art!

25th January 2022A Parker

We’ve had some absolutely amazing focus and some beautiful work created in today’s art session!

Y11s are working really hard to complete their coursework as they prepare to start planning and producing their final exam piece.

The theme for their coursework is ‘identity’ and it’s been really interesting to see what students have created to reflect their own identity.

Massive appreciation to Miss Dickinson for her support in these lessons and helping to keep everyone on track!

C24 (Y11): key dates and information update

23rd January 2022A Parker

Just a quick update on some key information and upcoming dates for our Y11 students (including those all important GCSE dates!)

Firstly, we’d like to massively appreciate those students who are attending in-school and after-school revision sessions, including D6 on Saturday. There is no doubt that this level of commitment to their learning will be reflected in their final grades. Our current revision session timetable is here, but is being updated with more sessions which we’ll publish once finalised.

Although these are optional at the moment, we are targeting specific students to attend and we ask that parents support this. Teachers will be in touch with students and their parents with details of when they need to attend extra revision sessions.

In addition to focussed revision sessions, we are pleased to announce that Extended Study is back up and running for Y11 students Monday-Thursdays, 3.15-4.30. This means that students can stay for an extra hour after school to complete any extended study that’s been set or work on revision tasks with support from staff, away from any potential distractions at home. Please note that this is just for our Y11 students at the moment, but we’re hoping to offer to other year groups soon.

Here’s a quick look at some key upcoming dates – further information about each of these events will be published in separate blog posts:

1st Feb – 11th FebStudent led conferences
3rd February GCSE revision information evening for Y11 parents
21st Feb – 4th MarchMock exams 2
16th May – 24th JuneGCSEs (full timetable will be published at a later date!)
w/b 27th June (tbc)Final Word and celebrating Crew

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us:

Angella Parker (Y11 Phase Lead XP. East): [email protected]

Mel Cocliff (Y11 Phase Lead, XP): [email protected]

With thanks, as ever, for your continued support.