Marvellous Mocks!

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.

E25/X25 Year 9 Common Mission

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?:

 

 

Passage Presentation

This is the last week for me with crew Ali before Mrs Townson returns from maternity leave, and what a last week it has been. I have been so proud to be a part of some of the crew passage presentations. They have been absolutely amazing and such a great way to finish off my time with Ali.

 

I would like to express my huge appreciation to the whole crew for welcoming me in and keeping me on the straight and narrow with all things XPeast. I have loved being a part of it all and have been really lucky to start off my time at XP east getting to know you all.

 

Good luck for all the passage presentations to go and huge well done to Taylor, Marshall and Cerys for absolutely smashing yours this week!!

 

Miss Burrows

Online Crew!

Over the last two weeks we have been meeting online and checking in every morning. It has been so lovely to keep that consistency and support each other with any issues. Zak and Marshall have been keeping us all upbeat with their great sense of humour and interesting stories!

We have started our new Wise Wednesdays module and will be looking at the guiding question of ‘Why do we have rules!’ And have made a great start discussing anarchy and the court system!

We need to work on ensuring everyone is on time at 8.30 and aiming sure those alarms are set!!

 

Cant wait to have everyone back in school again soon!

Coming back after half term…

We have decided as a crew to take it in turns to produce the crew blog! Today is Ruby and Lacey’s turn…

On Thursday in PE we did an inter crew dodgeball competition between the year 9 crews. Crew Ali, Crew Shackleton, Crew Parkinson and Crew Turing. We were challenged to a game of dodgeball by Mr Allen and Miss Mitchell. We played around 5 games and in the end Crew Ali won!!!

We would like to appreciate Reuben, Tom and Charlie for their contributions to the team!!

🙂

Beautiful work!

This week crew Ali have done some beautiful work learning about ourselves and our body image! Excellent work guys!

What are you looking forward to?

Our Crew check-in this week on our Google Hangout was “what are you most looking forward to when lockdown ends?” and we had some lovely answers!

  • Eating at McDonald’s came to mind for Marshall
  • I think all of us are looking forward to seeing family and friends
  • A number of the Crew are just excited at the thought of being in school (XP East is just that good!)
  • Cerys is really looking forward to ice skating – not something you can really practice from home!
  • Going to festivals – Zak has tickets to Leeds Festival in August and it is still happening as far as we’re aware…
  • What are you most looking forward to?

And what have we been getting up to, to pass the time when we’re not doing our school work?  Leoni has been doing mindfulness colouring, Zak is continuing with his basketball and Cerys with her baking – check out the cake below!

Charlie and Ruben have both shaved their heads to keep cool in the warmer weather and keep their hair under control – though we haven’t got photographs to share yet!

In recognition of his participation and commitment to Crew Hangouts every week, I also nominated Marshall for a mention on Mrs Poncia’s Associate Principal blog:

It’s also great to see several of the Crew going above and beyond in their learning, even when working remotely.  Special mentions in the last week or so go to:

  • Ruben for getting ahead on his HUMAN work and asking for even more before the new expedition started!
  • Cerys, Caiden, Leoni, Marshall and Zak for full completion of their HUMAN immersion.
  • Cerys, Charlie, Marshall, Ruben and Tom for going above and beyond in Maths on at least one occasion, in Cerys’ case, with every single task!
  • Billy, Leoni, Marshall and Ruben completing their STEAM tasks way ahead of this week’s deadline on 8th May.
  • Great completion rate across the Arts for Leoni and Cerys, again ahead of the deadline in Leoni’s case.
  • Zak, Ruby, Leoni, Lacey, Charlie and Cerys all receiving e-postcards from Mr Pearson in Spanish.

I’m really impressed that there are so many names of our Crew members mentioned by staff in a positive light in the various meetings we have each week.  Let’s make sure any deadlines we are behind on are caught up and that we keep helping one another to be successful despite the wait until you can all have a celebratory McDonald’s!

Rising to the Challenge!

I think it’s fair to say that, even though we’re not in school and have the challenge of working at home, our staff and students in E26 (Year7) and E25 (Year 8) are still Working Hard, Getting Smart and Being Kind.

Over the last couple of weeks, we have seen determination (when the work has been tricky), compassion (when helping our fellow crew members who have been stuck) and the completion of so much beautiful work, ranging from stand-out science assessments, amazing artwork, passionate speeches and marvellous maths!

Here are just a few appreciations for students and their beautiful achievements:

Oliver. S. (E26):

Jayden (E26):

Marcus (E25):

Cerrina (E26):

Raphael (E26):

Marshall (E25):

 

Crew Ali have been busy over the last week with various endeavours, many of them making the most of the lovely weather we have been having around keeping up with their online learning schedules.

I have seen some lovely praise for our Crew from staff who are recognising students Working Hard and Getting Smart with their learning.  Keep it up Crew Ali!  Here is a message Mr Pearson sent to Cerys for her hard work in Spanish:

And Caiden’s artwork here for his ‘Power poster’ earned him a special mention from Mrs Cross and was highlighted during a staff Expeditionary Team meeting:

Ruby hadn’t used her bike since Year 7 but is enjoying the long, if tiring bike rides with her dad and brother.  A great way to pass the time, get fit and ensure you sleep well at night too.

Tom has been exploring his local area on foot and found some new places to walk, essential for someone who loves to be outside.

Marshall’s family and neighbours go outside every day at 11am to dance on the street whilst observing social distancing rules – a great way to exercise and have fun.  They regularly update the YouTube channel – why not subscribe and join in from your street?!  Check out Marshall and his dad (dressed as The Hulk!) from 1 minute and 45 seconds in:

They also do a weekly quiz as many of you have been doing, with a modified WWE belt as a prize for the winner!

Caiden’s family are getting ready for when lockdown finishes as their garden is looking great – with a completed vegetable patch ready to feed everyone, as well as buildng a garden bar and rainbow painted seating area.  He’s looking into do the Chelsea Virtual Soccer School activities with his younger brother too.

Charlie has been making up for missing out on haircuts by shaving his head, and now informs us that he needs to put suncream all over his head when he goes out in the sun – the sunshine hasn’t been great for everyone it seems!

I have been spending time with my two daughters and husband in our garden, making dens out of all the garden furniture, blankets and pillows and helping my eldest learn to ride her bike.  She also loves the Chelsea Virtual Soccer School activities (I showed a few of the Crew a video of her balancing a football on her foot) and we can recommend the Lockdown Panto on Facebook for all ages on a rainy day!  She is starting school in September and loves to hear what my ‘school children’ in the Crew have been up to, as well as practising her writing, alphabet and numbers.  Many of our Crew have younger siblings and it’s lovely to know many of them are working on their learning together.

It is always lovely to see what Crew Ali get up to and we continue to check in every Monday and at various other points in the week 1-1 as needed.  More photos and videos to be posted soon!

How am I spending my time?

We had our second Google Hangout this Monday and I’m glad to say we had almost a full-house!  It was lovely to hear from you all; it’s really important we have that contact each week to make sure everything is going ok.  We had two students missing, so I have been in touch with them and next week we will be aiming for all 13 online together.

The Crew Challenge this week was for each member of the Crew to come up with an idea of something they wanted to do or work on during the time spent away from the classroom, particularly for some of our students who live further from the school site, who are gaining in some cases almost 2 hours a day in saved travel time!  Here are some of the ideas they have had so far:

Caiden – he and his dad have built a vegetable patch and he even took his device out into the garden to show us.  We’re looking forward to seeing how it goes, with potatoes and carrots being just some of the vegetables they plan to grow.

Charlie – keeping fit, as Charlie is a keen footballer and obviously can’t play with his team at the moment!

Ruby and Leoni – Ruby and Leoni have been tidying their rooms, getting it all in order and Ruby really wants to have a solid plan in place for next week’s Crew session.  There’s a lot to be said for setting aside time to organise the space you spend so much time in.

Tom – learning to solve a rubix cube.  We have requested a video of him doing it once he has mastered the skill!

Marshall – alongside putting a focus on his schoolwork, Marshall has dedicated time to playing family games with his parents and younger siblings

Zak – developing his basketball skills is on Zak’s to-do-list, including perfecting his slam dunks.  We’re waiting for some photos of his makeshift basketball net!

Mrs Townson – alongside keeping my two small daughters busy, I have been reading, playing board games with my husband and taking time each day to develop my meditation skills – some of the Crew enjoy it when we take a few minutes to quietly refocus in Crew – some of them feel a bit silly sitting still with their eyes closed, but they humour me and do it anyway!

A few of you mentioned getting a bit bored once your schoolwork is out of the way each day, so remember the resources on our Crew Google Classroom to inspire you, including the Duke of Edinburgh resources to develop your Physical fitness, your Skills and also ideas to allow you to do Volunteering, even whilst in lockdown.  We won’t start D of E until Year 9, but the ideas apply to people of all ages.

Looking forward to our next Crew Hangout next week!

Mrs Townson