It’s been another productive week in class, and it’s hard to believe we now have only four weeks left of the term. Students have continued to engage well with their learning, showing great effort, curiosity, and focus across all subjects as we move toward the final stretch. Here are some highlights from the week.
Literacy
This week in English, students continued developing their Gothic writing skills. First, they focused on Gothic setting description by exploring how a hero might return to a dark or dangerous location, using sensory detail and figurative language to bring the atmosphere alive. Next, the class created their own Gothic figurative language posters, combining eerie images with original similes, metaphors, and personification to reinforce the mood and vocabulary of the genre. To finish the week, students applied these techniques in an exciting creative writing session where they crafted a tense confrontation scene between their Gothic hero and villain, using setting, suspense, and character movement to build fear.
IMYC
In science, students learned about the structure of atoms and explored how all matter is made from tiny particles called atoms. We looked at the roles of protons, neutrons, and electrons, and the class used clay to build their own 3D atom models. This hands-on activity helped them visualise the nucleus and electron shells, compare different elements, and understand why atomic structure is so important in science.
In history, students began a new inquiry project exploring how creativity has shaped different historical periods, including the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. Working in collaborative groups, they researched one era in depth, investigating key thinkers, inventions and ideas that changed the way people lived and understood the world. Once this research project is finished, they will present it to the rest of the class. Through this active, student-led project, the class gained a deeper understanding of how creativity has evolved and how these historical changes still influence our modern world.
In geography, students explored how the cave dwellers of Matmata, Tunisia use their natural environment creatively to build homes that stay cool in extreme desert heat. After looking at images and discussing how geography shapes shelter, students worked in pairs to design and write an estate-agent style advert for their own cave home, highlighting its unique features, sustainability, and advantages of living underground. They used Canva to design their poster and emphasised how it uses the landscape creatively, and then shared their cave home “for sale” with the class before reflecting on how people adapt their homes to their environment.
Maths
Year 7
This week we have continued our work on fraction, decimal and percentage equivalence with lessons covering how to:
- Understand the meaning of percentage using a hundred square
- Convert fluently between simple fractions, decimals and percentages
- Use and interpret pie charts
- Represent any fraction as a diagram
- Represent fractions on number lines
- Identify and use simple equivalent fractions
Year 8
This week, students completed their assessment covering:
- Aut.5.8 – Represent grouped discrete data
- Aut.5.9 – Represent continuous data grouped into equal classes
- Aut.5.10 – Construct and interpret two-way tables
I am pleased to share that students did excellent work on their assessment.
After the assessment, we began a new topic:
Tables and Probability
Students have now started working on:
- Aut.6.1 – Construct sample spaces for one or more events
They have been learning how to list outcomes clearly and use sample spaces to describe probability situations.
Upcoming Assessment
There will be a test this Friday on Tables and Probability
The workbook will be sent home on Thursday so students can review and practise before the test.
Year 9
Students completed their assessment on Aut.4.12 – Volumes of cones, pyramids and spheres (H). Papers have been sent home for review.
We have started a new unit on Construction and Congruency, covering:
- Aut.5.1 – Drawing and measuring angles
- Aut.5.2 – Constructing and interpreting scale drawings
- Aut.5.3 – Locus of distance from a point
Students worked well with practical ruler and compass constructions.
