The Last After School Cookery Session of the Year!

 As it was the last after school cookery club of the year, we made Cookie Monster Oreo Stuffed cookies! There was a great turn out for this last session and the boys really enjoyed making something different and a bit strange as a treat!

Well done on another successful school year boys and thank you for a lovely ASC!

Yr7s SWAC

 All year 7 pupils have been offered the opportunity to attend Southampton Water Activity Centre (SWAC) for 3 sessions over 3 weeks. Each session a different activity was on offer which included raft building, paddleboarding, mega SUP and sailing. I am really proud of how each individual got on and the progress they have made. 

  Paddleboarding on the River Itchen was hard work tackling both the tide and the wind, but the boys found some inner strength while learning to paddle and some were even able to stand up! 

Once they had tried paddleboarding, pupils then had to work together trying to stand up on the mega SUP. This was a test of core strength and balance as they then started to play games. 

3LBH could resist finding a few crabs to ride on their paddleboards with them. 

The second week pupils had to put their problem solving skills to the test and try and build themselves a raft to sail. They learnt how to tie knots and discussed what materials might sink and float. One raft did not last long so pupils tried barrel riding instead! 

The final week pupils tried their hand at sailing. Pupils learnt about the different parts of the boat and had the opportunity to steer. It was great to see their confidence build and even start to learn out on the boat as they were sailing along.  

The session ended with the boys having the opportunity to jump of the pontoon. 3AW smashed it as they jumped off pulling all different types of poses. What a great way to the the session. 

Year 9 English - Poetry

 Year 9 English - War and Disability Poetry

This  half-term the Year 9's have been exploring poetry, specifically within the themes of  'war' and 'disability'. They have studied a GSCE level text - a poem called 'Disabled' by Wilfred Owen. In order to understand this text, the pupils have had to first learn the context behind the poem, this has meant independently researching about World War One. They went on to anaylse the poem using both literary skills and the context they have learnt about. From there, they used flowers and FLIRT (Form, Language, Imagery, Rhyme and Theme/Tone) to plan and write their answers to the question "How does Wilfred Owen represent theme in the poem 'Disabled'?". All the pupils have tried incredibly hard this half-term and they should be proud of the work they have produced. 

Year 8 English - War Poetry

This half-term the Year 8's were exploring War Poetry. This included understanding what is meant by 'war', researching about World War 1 and learning key historical information in order to develop a better understanding of the topic and how it affects people. They also spent some time this half term looking at how to analyse poetry and FLIRT (Form, Language, Imagery, Rhyme and Tone/Theme) with poetry.  All the pupils in year 8 have got really stuck into learning all about World War 1 and have written, edited and developed their own poems.  

KS4 Poetry

 This half term KS4 have been getting to grips with poetry. They have looked at a range of different poems including 'The Eagle' by Alfred Lord Tennyson, 'An Unknown Girl' by Moniza Alvi and 'Valentine' by Carol Ann Duffy. They have been learning how to identify different poetry devices and considering how each poem makes them feel. They have also started to explore language and tone which has been done with the aid of an onion.  

Pupils had to put their food and cookery chopping skills to the test as I asked them to chop up an onion. They then had to answer a range of questions regarding their onion and how this made them feel. The poem was then revealed and we started discussing meaning. Pupils then started exploring the positive and negative language used and displayed their findings in a Venn Diagrams. 

This term pupils have also had a go at creating their own Blackout poems. This is where pupils take a page from a book and allow the words on the page to jump out at them to create something beautiful. Great work from both 4NA and 4PR.  

ELNO Art at The Polygon

Polygon School were lucky to have the artist ELNO Art to work with the students on an 'Avatar' art piece on the inside of the perimeter wall.  This project was carried on from a workshop in the autumn term which was funded by Creative Partnerships. The students had developed their work within their art lessons, ready for this final phase. 

The Avatars were created by the pupils to show their unique identities, something they have been exploring in PSHE also. We had so many incredible designs from gaming Avatars, to football Avatars, to displaying their love of dogs!

Elena combined multiple students avatar ideas to create the piece that she and 17 of our pupils spray painted. Following some 'bush clearance' work by some of the boys and staff, the wall became the perfect space to showcase how talented our pupils are! 

It was a fantastic 3 days and we were very lucky to be able to book this very busy and popular artist.

Well done boys and thank you Elena! 

 

Year 7 English - Diary Entries

 Year 7 English - Diary Entries 

This half-term the Year 7s have been developing their skills on how to write diary entries.  We have used our cross-curricular links and focused on exploring the diary of Anne Frank, understanding what life was like for her and her family, whilst they were in hiding. We have also explored World War Two, looking at key events and how people might have been affected by them. The pupils have gotten stuck into this topic and have created some beautiful diary entries, which have been burnt and stained to give a war time effect. Well done Year 7 on your last half term of the academic year!