From Art and Photography …

Year 7 Art topic week ‘The Great wave’, Hokusai.

Our Year 7 students have been super busy this week creating 3 tasks based on Hokusai’s Great wave.

Task 1 was to create a double research page discovering The Great wave and its artist. Task 2 was to create a detailed copy of the Great wave. Lastly, Task 3 was to be inspired by the painting and create their own version based on Great British traditions and themes.

Task 1 – Research.

Here are some examples from their Task 1.

Task 2 – Year 7 studies of ‘The Great wave’ by Hokusai.

Here is a sample of work from Task 2. The pupils produced excellent and detailed studies of this famous wood block print.

Task 3 – Hokusai inspired wave pieces connected to a Great British theme.

Here is a sample of the fantastic work that Year 7 have produced this week. Well done to everyone for the amazing effort and hard work you have put into your Art project this week. We are all proud of you.

Mrs Francis

Year 8 Art topic week ‘The Great wave’, Hokusai.

Year 8 have also been working on a Japanese project based on the painting ‘The Big Wave ‘By artist Hokusai. They have researched his work and created some wonderful, imaginative waves based on all things British.

From teapots, fried breakfasts to strawberries and tennis and Harry Potter…..

Thank you Year 8 for your fantastic ideas and in depth research 😊.

Well done and thank you.

Mrs Page

Year 9 Bridging work into Year 10 Art

Year 11 Bridging work into Year 12 Fine Art

Well done to our Year 11 students this week after producing some beautiful studies as part of their ‘Aspects of nature’ component.

Keep up the great work.

Mrs Francis

Year 12

Mrs Bird

Molly Reid 

Look at this fantastic parrot study by Molly, who is one of our Year 12 Fine Art students. It has been wonderfully observed and created. Well done Molly.

Mrs Francis

From Science …

Year 9

My Year 9 class have just started a research project. They have all chosen an area of science that interests them, and are going to research this in detail, presenting their finding as a powerpoint or poster. They have only just started the research but I have been so impressed with the quality of the work already I thought it needed to be shared. Although three have been shown here, there were many more that I could have chosen. Well done for all of you hard work.

Cassandra Lyall – Project

Mr Britton

From Biology …

Last week in Biology, we looked at different threatened species, why they are at risk, and current conservation efforts. Mariko Eglin made a beautiful poster to help raise awareness about green turtles!

From English …

Year 7

Year 7 students wrote some wonderfully inventive poems inspired by The Magic Box by Kit Wright. Responses ranged from travels in the realms of fantasy to family memories and reflections on lockdown life. Well done everyone!

(If looking on a phone please swipe the poem)

Year 8

Focusing on presentation and language skills in English, Year 8 have been tasked to create eye-catching and thought-provoking brands. Having picked a target audience, Year 8 wrote up plans and designs for a new breakfast cereal which matched the needs of their desired buyer.

Berrylicious by Amber Wingrove

Year 9

A brilliantly powerful short story written by Freya Naylor-Stewart in Year 9.

Dear Jakob

We met at The Place. The Place was the future, hope and sorrow. The Place brought the figure into my sight. The Place was where darkness slithered and the moon never shone. Although the everlasting glint in the eyes of the man that stood bold, robust and able-bodied before me seemed to be the ignition of a thousand suns. It was the safest place we could meet, ‘safe’ being akin to living as a member of the Palace of Versaille in 1789. Choking me, the smell of the menacing building behind us watched over our meetings every Tuesday night. Reaching out towards the rough, fist shaped hands of the well-structured man, I slipped my dainty fingers through the prison which enclosed my only form of joy. The note. My knight in shining armour slinked back into the shadows becoming a meaningless figure once more. Not for the first time, the herd of rhinoceroses that had taken refuge in my heart were stampeding around my chest as I retraced my steps through the sickening maze of huts. Number 141. My hut. Mine and 60 other people I shared it with. Rotting and impacted with maggots the door cracked open and I wriggled my 26 inch waist into the musty room. With my back against the wall I opened the note.

Dear Jakob,
I am writing this in my bunk as the other girls are fighting about the last piece of my bread. I wasn’t hungry anyway, and it is all filled with those slimy creatures of which I seem to have forgotten the name. I know you would be telling me to eat as I need my strength for when we escape, but I think even you wouldn’t have eaten it! Frank has been very helpful in delivering our notes and I feel very enlightened by his presence. All is well and I am in good health. I wish the same for you also. I will be longing for Tuesday.
Love always,
Naomi.

I read the note again. And again. Memorising every stroke of her pencil. Every letter. I grasped the note as if it were her, as if she were beside me. My heart was full of cement, it was sinking deeper and deeper throughout my body till I could barely breathe. Taking one large gasp of air, I pushed my weary body toward the bunk and felt around the sleeping bodies till I found the pencil. I started to write.

The long days between Tuesdays haunted me like the Hundred Year war, but as it usually does, it arrived once more. Snaking my way through the groaning huts, I arrived at The Place. With the note in my clammy hands, I waited. I waited. Scanning the darkness that mocked me, I waited. Frank never came. The man I would’ve trusted with my life never came. He never came. The figure never came. I was distraught. Tearing back to hut 141, tears scarred my dirty, ashen face. I ripped open the infested door and threw my aching body onto the bunk into the mound of sleeping bodies. I sobbed till i could sob no more, when i could sob no more i wept, when i could weep no more i lay. I lay silently. It was inevitable. My joy was dead, my heart and soul felt as if they were about to burst through my skin and leave my body to rot. Naomi was dead. This was the only explanation. Now the figure meant nothing to me as it had for all those Tuesdays; hatred cursed my veins.

A cold shower of numbness followed me around for the next few weeks. Then the voices arrived. They told me not to eat, not to sleep, they whispered to me when the world was silent, telling me I was worthless and I had brought this on her, that I was Naomi’s downfall. Recently, I have concluded that I don’t care if I die, I will get to be with Naomi and that is all that matters. Each day I would work less hoping the guards would notice my weak, weary body and take me away like they did with the elderly. One day, my wish came true. It was a blur. The flashes of the navy uniform, the swastika glaring into my soul, laughing at my drained stature, the barking voices of Germans drowned my body and my legs abruptly stopped working. Moaning as they dragged me through the huts, I forced my eyes awake to get one last look of the earth I had lived on for so many years. Then I heard her, the voice that had helped me through my life, that I had not heard for so long. It was Naomi. She was alive. Struggling like a rabbit in a fox’s jaw I cried out for her, trying to free my clenched arms from the Germans that ruthlessly swept me along the teething stone path towards the welcoming ‘shower’. I was being invited to the room full of people who were getting ready to cleanse themselves; as for Naomi she was becoming a figure, eyes, a blur, a memory, a feeling. Reaching out a solitary hand towards the figure, I begged to hold her once more but my pleas were worthless. Just like my death.

From Design and Technology …

Year 9 Bridging work into Year 10 Graphics

Kim Pittaccio – Great information about Mechanisms and Levers. A neat piece of work that is laid out easily for all to understand-well done Kim!

Thea Galaxy – Great research and inforamtion about Levers, an important part of the course that goes hand in hand with mechanisms and engineering in Design and Technology. Neatly laid out and good annotation with the diagrams.

Mia Nicholl – A good explanation of Mechanisms and Levers-good presentation too-well done Mia!

Saoirse Slater – Great information about different materials, excellent use of highlighting technical vocabulary and the diagrams are easy to understand-well done Saoirse!

Sophia Re – Excellent layout, great information and good use of diagrams too-well really wonderful sheet Sophia!

Stephanie Moor – A really great mindmap showing the different materials and the key information about them-good use of highlighting keywords to show an understanding of key technical vocabulary.

Year 10

Leni-Ann Nicholson – A great example of how a design idea can develop. Using different sketches and good, detailed annotation, you can achieve some excellent results-well done Leni!

Lizzy Murray – Lovely design development sheet, great sketches to show different elements of the design, and also super annotation of the design-well done Lizzy!

Isobel Hargreaves – Another super example of task analysis. Brilliant dissection of the three tasks set, with interesting and challenging products. Well done Isobel, this is a skill that shows you are developing really well as a designer!

Ella Coker – Fantastic sheet to explore the different tasks available for the NEA. The presentation is super, and the detail shows a high level of design competency. Well done Ella!

Tigerlilly Pike – A great development sheet that shows not only some fantastic forward thinking ideas using Smart Materials, but also quality annotation that clearly shows the design thought process-well done Tigerlilly!

Holly Yeoman 1 – A fantastic sheet that explores the three different tasks that have been launched for the Design & Technology NEA. Such a super layout!

Holly Yeoman 2 – What a fantastic example of how you can develop a design idea-a super piece of work which any Year 12 Product Design student would be pleased with-excellent detail, fantastic rendering and the annotation is of a really high standard-well done Holly!

Katie Swindell – Excellent sheet that shows clearly how a design can be developed, showing several iterations with detailed annotation to support the changes-well done Katie!

Kirsten Gee – A great development sheet that follows on from the good design work last week. Good layout, great rendering and detailed annotation!

Madeleine Hopwood – A sheet that shows how from a good range of ideas (last week) can lead to a superb development of an idea. I think any Year 12 student would be happy with the amount of detail and thought has gone into this iterative design-well done Maddie!

Year 11 Bridging work into Year 12 Product Design

Anthe Beston – A great Product Analysis, with excellent detail about the different elements of the lamp. Referring to the designer, and explaining how the existing product will be used as inspiration, is a skill that is commendable!

Jamie Scott – A really great initial sheet from one of our prospective external students-good detail, nice layout and images to support-well done Jamie!

Future Year 10 and 12 work

We are thrilled, as a Department, that the work Year 10 and Year 12 Design & Technology students have produced over the Lockdown period, has been excellent, and we feel fortunate that we were able to share so many pieces. Unfortunately due to the NEA (coursework) commencing, we will no longer be able to share the work under QCA rules for these year groups. We wish all our fabulous Year 10 & 12 students well in their upcoming NEA projects and will be delighted to share their work next year.

From German …

Year 9 have made an excellent start to their GCSE German course. They have done some research about German people and culture and created a title page for the new course. They have also begun a weekly planned revision of all the vocabulary learnt from Year 7 which is also excellent preparation for the year ahead.

Freya Lund : KS3 German vocab revision

Emilija Vipule : German research

STEM Rocket Launcher Challenge

Just over two weeks ago, soon after the launch of the Space X rocket, KS3 students were given the opportunity to build their own rocket launcher. The only material students could use to do this task was a cardboard tube, card, straws, elastic bands and Sellotape.

The aim was to launch their rocket and see how far it can go, the winners rockets traveled the furthest horizontal distance.

Thank you to everybody who participated in this challenge. The table below shows the distances achieved. Well done to everyone who took part.

Congratulations to the winners Gemma Archer, Abbie Norris and Ella Richardson whose rockets traveled the furthest in their year group.

Special prizes will be also going to Nefeli Tsamili who produced a lovely video report about her Rocket and Alice Lynn who made and tested two rockets and showed fantastic STEM skills.

The next STEM Challenge is ‘The Solar Tower’ deadline for entries is Wednesday 1st July.