9 Pioneer | XP East

E25 STEAM Extended Study – October Break

By Martin Said15th October 2020

Students in E25 have been set a few tasks for the break.

Watch a BBC Documentary from David Attenborough. There are questions to answer. (Around 1 hour)
Complete three quizzes in Kerboodle.(Around 30 mins)
Make sure that they are up to date and have responded to feedback in their Mastery eBooklet. (For most students this should be responding to feedback, around 15 mins)

In addition, as an optional task, if students are at a loose end, there are some flashcards in Quizlet and Tassomai that students can use to quiz themselves.

All details are on Google Classroom. If your son or daughter needs any help, please ask them to contact me through Google Classroom.

Thanks for your continued support,

Mr Said.

Year 9 Fieldwork to The Hatfield Moors – Thursday 15th October

By Katie Haughey30th September 2020

Year 9 will be going on fieldwork on 15th October as part of their ‘Welcome to the Machine’ expedition. We’ll be leaving school at 9:30AM and returning at 3:00PM, so this will not affect their drop off or pick up times, however, due to the pandemic, we ask that all students have guardian consent for them to attend.

We’ll be visiting Hatfield Moors, to collect species data and conduct scientific tests on the peatland during the day. We will be maintaining the bubbles, and wearing masks on the coaches to minimize risk of transmission, and we will be outside all day.

As part of the precautions, we ask that you fill in the following google forms, granting permission for students to attend the fieldwork on 15th October:

PERMISSION FORM

This outlines that if your child falls ill with covid symptoms on that day, they would need collecting from Hatfield Moors (about 40 minute drive from the school).

If you have any questions about the plans for the day or concerns, don’t hesitate to email me ([email protected]).

Year 9 E25 Extended Study STEAM

By Martin Said22nd September 2020

Students in E25 Explorer and E25 Pioneer have three pieces of extended study, all due for Monday 28th Sep.

Redraft answers to questions on adaptations in their Mastery eBooklet.
Answer the comprehension and application questions on extremophiles, plant and animal adaptations in their Mastery eBooklet.
Students have been set either: revision of keywords in Quizlet OR experimenting with a simulation demonstrating natural selection.

Full details can be found on Google Classroom.

YEAR 9: New birdwatching world record*

19th May 2020Martin Said

We have a new record in Year 9 for the most birds spotted in a single session.

Kyle in X24 spotted an incredible 60 birds from 14 different species, including a sparrow hawk and two herons.

Whilst we have not set any work for students in Year 9 to complete over the two week break we would love it if they continued with their birdwatching, bug hotels and bird boxes. Please remind them to send us lots of photos. We are in competition with XP for the most birds spotted. This means we need to up our game, as E24 are currently behind X24 in the leaderboard.

*not verified by Norris McWhirter

E24 – Closing circle hangout meeting

By Martin Said7th May 2020

This afternoon at 3.00pm we will be hosting a hangout for all of Year 9 across both schools to find out how they have been getting on with their STEAM immersion challenges.

Students can join the meeting by logging into their school account and going to:

http://g.co/meet/c24steam

Attendance for the launch hangout was fantastic. Thanks to all of our families for your continuing support.

#wearecrew

New STEAM Expedition – Here Comes the Sun

By J Smith30th April 2020

On the 4th of May- all year E24 and X24 at XP Trust will be starting their new expedition for STEAM. This will be starting with a week of immersion, adapted for the current lockdown home learning. Including experts, fieldwork and whole school Google Hangout quiz challenge!

All students in year 9 in both schools will receive a Google Hangout invitation hosted by Mr Smith and Mr Said and learning coaches. This will have key information and challenges for the week to come.

The Hangout will be 1pm Tuesday 5th of May.

Below is a Teaser Trailer to the new expedition- Here Comes the Sun!

E24/Year 9 How to build a rollercoaster workshops

By Katie Haughey14th September 2019

Year 9 have been lucky enough to experience another fantastic day of fieldwork, helping them build background knowledge for their STEAM expedition, ‘Slow Down’. In a few weeks time, their learning will culminate in a final product that answers the guiding question:

What does physics and maths have to with saving life?

This Thursday, the year group visited Alton Towers’ education department to learn about how they assess the safety and functionality of their roller coasters. Students were briefed on how they might want to design their own roller coasters using the principles of physics and mathematics.

They also applied their knowledge of algebraic substitution by calculating gravitational potential energy, as well as velocity at each hill of their roller coasters and centripetal acceleration. Students were then given a workbook to fill out as we travelled through the park – they were able to explain why they felt so weightless during the drop on oblivion, and were able to calculate GPE on the coasters across the theme park using the knowledge gained in the workshops. Plus, we all had a lot of fun on the rides!

We will be picking up this new physics and maths content once we get back into school this coming week and applying it across the STEAM sessions.

Y9 (E24) upcoming fieldwork: 29/30 August and 2 September

By A Parker28th August 2019

In addition to the fieldwork on Thursday and Friday (more details in this post here) Y9 students will also be out of school on Monday, 2nd September. This fieldwork will kick-off our immersion activities as we embark on the first STEM expedition of Y9.

Students will need to be at school for 8am to allow for a prompt departure at 8.15am. We will be back at school for the normal finishing time of 3.15pm.

Appropriate closed-toe footwear must be worn – trainers are ideal!

A packed lunch is required (no fizzy drinks or sweets!). Be aware that we are now a nut free school.

A lunch will be provided for those students on free school dinners.

**Please note that we will also be out on fieldwork on Thursday, 12th September – details to follow!**

Welcome back, E24!

By K Poncia27th August 2019

Today saw all students returning to school following the summer break. It was wonderful to see students smiling and sharing how they are looking forward to the new school year.

For E24 (Year 9), it has been a busy first day back, with students rejoining their crews and starting the day with a summer check-in and inter-crew puzzles and challenges to get everyone warmed up!

We then had an informative introduction to the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme by Mrs. Ap Harri and discussed how we would be taking part in the scheme as crews. It’s fair to say everyone is looking forward to how they can take part in voluntary and physical activities and how they can learn and develop new skills.

This was then followed by the introduction to our new guiding question:

‘What makes me ready to start GCSE?’

This guiding question will be explored over the coming weeks as students prepare for their passage presentation which holds the key to them being considered ‘GCSE ready’.

Today saw the introduction of Case Study 1: ‘Where can I be?’

Throughout the day, students investigated how professionals in a number of trades and industries started their journey and investigated potential career paths starting at GCSE. This was done by a three hour career carousel of experts, including the police, Yorkshire Wildlife Park, Polypipe and GoGreen, who visited XPE.