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!

DRB Kayaking at Woodmill

 3DRB were the first group to take to the water this summer. We had a few nervous paddlers at the start of the day as we headed down to Woodmill Activity Centre. 

The session was put on to develop confidence, build resilience, develop gross motor skills and coordination, but also to have fun. I am super proud of every single pupil as they gave it their best shot and were all paddling around the lake with buckets of confidence. Pupils that did not want to get in the water at the start of the session were jumping in and swimming around an hour and a half later. 

Pupils listened well to the instructor as they worked on turning and stopping. 

Once everyone had found their confidence, pupils went on a journey around the lake. This tested their resilience and stamina. It was lovely to see them paddle as a group helping each other out and giving each other advice when they got stuck. 

Everyone then had lots of fun playing red light green light on the water. 

The boys were the allowed to jump in off the decking at the end of the session. They were challenged to strike the best pose as they jumped. A super session had by all, well done 3DRB.