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In computing, Year 3 have continued to explore scratch by creating an animation. Children used a variety of blocks to make their sprite move, spin or make a noise. Some children even started to add some dialogue to it. This lesson will support children ahead of the next lesson which will be where they start telling a story using code. Before we finished the lesson, some children shared their animation to the board and what their idea was.
Building on from our last computing lesson, Crew Barber created an invention all together. We discussed the type of invention that weâd like and how we could modify it to suit everyone. We worked through and discussed the shapes we could use and how we would like the machine to work.
Our invention was a food and drinks machine at would allow you to order anything you wanted. You would type in what you wanted and the machine would make it automatically. The crew decided that this invention would be best suited in their bedroom so they could have food whenever they wanted. The winning requests were chicken nuggets, cupcakes or chips.
In Re, Year 1 have been learning about creation. Last week, we learned about what Christian people believe about creation and how God created the world. To start our lesson, children recapped what God created each day before we started looking at what some Hindu people believe. We watched a video about Hindu peopleâs beliefs and then discussed the similarities and differences to the Christian creation story.
In computing today, children were able to build on their learning from last week by building the code for a timetable game independently. This allowed them to apply their skills from this unit of computing and demonstrate their understanding for coding.
Pupils in Crew McGlone made my day on Friday last week. They not only came to visit me with some beautiful work, what is even better, is that they had created this beautiful work at home as part of their home learning. They have loved their learning in school so much that they wanted to do even more at home. Such beautiful creations! Thank you to their grown up’s too for supporting them to create their work, we appreciate your support and thank you for taking the time to do this.
In Crew Gray, we have started learning how to play the guitar! We are excited to continue developing this new skill and are already making fantastic progress, watch this spaceâŠ
In todayâs expedition lesson, the children spoke about the role of a nurse to which they were shocked a nurse can be either male or female as many of them thought all nurses were female. The children were given scenarios and used their acting skills alongside a few props to recreate the scenario with their partner. Lots of discussions were happening alongside lots of great acting!
Last week, on Tuesday, I visited Carcroft Primary to work alongside Crew Leaders. Whilst there I came across some beautiful curation of pupil work from the Spring Term of last year. The expedition was entitled, âFight for Your Rightsâ and pupils had attempted to answer the guiding question, âHow Can One Moment Influence Our Future?â
Pupils had engaged with a number of Case Studies including History, Art and Science. In Case Study One pupils learnt about historical figures who had made stands for human rights often in times where others were intent on suppressing them usually through fear and ignorance. Pupils studied the Civil Rights movement in the USA in the 1960s and compared and contrasted this to the womenâs suffrage movement in the early twentieth century.
Pupils moved onto an Art Case Study where they considered the way artist Jonathan Yeo uses light and shade in his portraits. Using this as inspiration, and drawing on their Science studies about the nature of light and vision, pupils practiced a range of techniques to ensure their own picture had appropriate lighting and shading, based on the direction of light, and carefully considered colour choice to evoke a specific mood. Portraits were representations of the people they had studied who had inspired them the most.
Pupils used this learning to write speeches about the importance of human rights and why we must protect them.
The quality of work speaks for itself. What was particularly noteworthy was the blend of pupil work alongside design and curation work supported by our Comms Team. It was also lovely to see exploded quotations where pupils had picked out key learning points from the expedition, beautiful pupil writing and stunning artwork.
Finally, our students often provide an answer to the learning expedition’s guiding question and it was lovely to see this visually represented by one of the children to capture the connections and the progress in their learning through a particular Case Study.
In conclusion, the work I saw was not only important but also beautiful.
Andy Sprakes
Chief Academic Officer, XP Trust.
Hereâs a selection of beautiful work from across the XP Trust!
To read about other stories from across the XP Trust, visit xptrust.org.
G29: What makes a great education?
Last term, students in G29 at XPG were challenged to give a keynote at the MTEM conference on what makes a great education. Over a week they drafted and put together an incredible speech which they have now recorded back in school.
Crew Nightingale – Higher Maths @ XP
XP Outdoors – Year 7 take on mighty task of litter picking @ XP East
A visit from Stuart – learning about helping homeless people @ Norton Infants
This afternoon for our science lesson, Crew McLoughlin let their imaginations run wild and became inventors to dream up their very own crazy inventions, inspired by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. From zipable chocolate bars to unlimited sweet machines, the ideas were as magical as a Roald Dahl story itself.
Crew McLoughlin worked in mini crews to sketch, design, and name their inventions. Each group was challenged to think not only about what their creation would do, but also why we needed it.
Once the inventions were designed, in true Dragonâs Den style, we presented our designs to the rest of the crew. With confidence and plenty of imagination, the children sold their ideas as if they were about to launch them in the real world. We were all blown away by the originality and enthusiasm of every team, making our decision a very tough one indeed.
At the end, the crew voted for their favourite sales pitch. The winning teams walked away with the sweetest prize of allâchocolate, of course!
