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Posted on July 18th 2023
Deeper Learning Days - Thursday 13th and 14th July
Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 all took part in Deeper Learning Days on Thursday 13th and Friday 14th July.
For two days, students were off timetable and participated in enrichment activities, trips and career insight activities, all designed to further their Personal Development.
Year 7 - Science and careers
Year 7's Deeper Learning Days were themed around our core value of knowledge, primarily focussing on science and careers.
On Thursday, students set off for the Science Museum, visiting several galleries and attendeding a careers workshop with some real life science technicians. They were very intrigued by the microphone ball being thrown about and were keen to ask questions!
Naziah – "The Trip was really exciting and the workshops were engaging."
Maria – "My favourite part was the space part; it incited my curiosity."
Eliana – "My favourite moment was when I was able to view the planes and go up on to the balcony. I also enjoyed the Secret Life of Home exhibit because it had many interactive features."
Tawana – "We went to the Science Museum and got to explore it. There were so many fun things to do!"
On Friday our Science team put together a science practical day in school where students took part in a series of activities ranging from bridge building, extracting DNA and even making lava lamps!
The day culminated in a show-stopping science assembly during which students were tested on their scientific knowledge in a quiz.
Maysa – "The Deeper Learning Day was really interesting because we learnt a lot of things I didn't know before. I loved all the experiments as well. My favourite part was building the bridges and buying things with fake HABS money. The day was very fun, and I would like to do it again soon."
Year 8 - Confidence
Year 8’s Deeper Learning Days were themed around confidence, in particular thinking about how to be career ready and develop teamwork skills. Students had the opportunity to learn about shaping a career around your passions, telling stories and the day-in-a-life of an office worker.
On Thursday morning, Year 8 were invited to Apple Headquarters at Battersea Power Station and had one session from Apple in their new lecture halls. Students were sent to Music, Product Marketing and Games and Apps.
In the afternoon, the students were taken on a tour around the Power Station before having bespoke and personalised sessions with Apple partners Turbine 
Theatre, Polestar and Adidas. The students were thrilled to get some first-hand insight and knowledge about career pathways and firing some impressive questions at our panel guests. All the students who attended the trip represented our core values by seeking knowledge and asking great follow up questions.
Mirza – "My favourite part was when we went to the Apple offices and got to sit on the official meeting room chairs; and ask questions about the careers at Apple."
Hiba – "The Apple office was very peaceful and welcoming. The work environment was amazing and I was really driven by it. I really wanted to work in a place like that."
Jesse – "My favourite part is when we went to Polestar, and we got to sit in the cars."
Assim – "This was the best day trip ever!"
On Friday, all Year 8 students participated in 'Wise Up'. We spoke about the importance of working together as a team and relying on our communication skills to successfully complete challenges under time constraints.
Students had staff ready on hand to support with each group of 12 students, but ultimately the hard work and resilience was put in by our student-led teams. They showcased their natural leadership skills, comradeship and confidence to complete the following:
- Problem-solving some mind boggling puzzles
- Guiding peers (who were blindfolded) to safe zones
- Building shapes and blocks using pattern recognition
- Racing through mazes
Some staff couldn’t help but get involved in all the fun! Students were thrilled to be part of such an enjoyable day of team building. The rain did not damper their spirits, as our students were keen to complete all challenges.
Year 9 - Gender, roles and feminism
Year 9’s Deeper Learning Days were themed around reflectiveness - particularly reflecting on gender roles and feminism from the 1950s to present day.
On Thursday morning, Year 9 had sessions from the Performing Arts Department around the history of the musical Grease and ‘how to be a good audience'. This musical was selected as it explores gender, romance, peer pressure and friendships in the 1950s.
The morning sessions were a preparation to see Grease The Musical live at the Dominion Theatre (pictured), with 180 staff and students travelling to the West End that afternoon to see the show! All the students represented the academy excellently and lots of students, as well as staff, were singing along!
Samya – "My favourite part was the first dance where they showed all the characters and the types of dances they were doing."
Geovanni – "The best part was the ending was best as it shows a sense of togetherness."
Ramadan – "I wouldn’t improve anything from the trip - it was perfect!"
Noel – "My favourite part was all the jokes that they made in the play."
On Friday, the humanities team put together an engaging day focussing on gender attitudes and discrimination. In the morning, the Year 9 students had an assembly on the concept of feminism. Other sessions looked at:
-
1950s gender roles – What can we learn from Grease about gender in the 1950s?
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1970s gender roles – Why was Grease: The Movie controversial in 1978? (Second wave feminism)
- Today’s gender roles – How far have we come from Grease? (Intersectional feminism)
These sessions built on their prior learning of the Suffragette Movement and related to the musical they had seen the day before.
Finally, the students also had a workshop with the external organisation Just As You Are. This workshop covered gender stereotypes, relationships and consent. On the Friday, we were able to have rich conversations with our pupils about gender, feminism and consent.
Ms Masters, Mr Edwards and Mr Ogunleye
Year 10 - Stepping out of your comfort zone
Year 10’s Deeper Learning Days were themed around resilience - stepping out of your comfort zone.
On Thursday morning, Year 10 were introduced to the facilitators of the hub challenge - WiseUp. We spoke about the resilient attitude and mindset that would be needed to be successful and then we let them lead the way.
One hundred and eighty students spilt into groups of 10-12 and walked into the back playground ready to overcome the challenges ahead of them. The challenges had the students:
- Scrambling through ropes
- Balancing precariously on the beams
- Delicately moving a ‘ticking-bomb’ to the deactivation platform using only ropes but from a distance
- Racing through mazes
- Slowing down the pace to solve mind-boggling geometric puzzles
Some staff couldn’t help but get involved in all the fun!
Alana – "My favourite part was all the laughing and when we failed, we all laughed and we all did it again and then we did it correctly."
Robert – "My favourite part was working with the group to finish tasks. I thought it’d be horrible being with people I barely know but it wasn’t that bad."
Shaymaa – "It was very fun. I’d like more things like this."
Shannon – "My favourite part was making plans with my team when solving problems in the activities."
On Friday, the Maths and Creative Tech team put together an engaging museum day for all Year 10 students. The day started with a briefing including the history of Mary Anning – the first person to discover the complete skeleton of a Plesiosaur.
Once the life story of Mary Anning was under their belts the students made their way to the Natural History Museum for a whistle-stop tour of four galleries: Fossil Marine Reptiles, Birds, Creepy Crawlies and Fossils.
Then we shifted gear, braved the relentlessly intermittent rain and headed to the Science Museum – here the students got to engage with another four galleries before the end of the day. They included: Exploring Space, Making the Modern World, Flight, Information Age, Mathematics: The Winston Gallery, Engineers, and Technicians: The David Sainsbury Gallery.
Abdullahi - "I enjoyed that we could watch the dinosaur in live action."
Sadie – "My favourite part was seeing the dinosaur fossils."
Jamila – "I enjoyed the designs in the mathematics section in the Science Museum."
More pictures...
Year 9 sessions and workshops looked at issues relating to gender stereotypes, relationships and consent.
Grease: The Musical: "The ending was my favourite part as it shows a sense of togetherness", said Geovanni.
Year 8's visit to the Apple Headquaters at Battersea Power Station, as part of their two days looking at confidence, career-readiness and teamwork skills.
"My favourite part is when we went to Polestar, and we got to sit in the cars." Jesse, Year 8
