Message from the Head of Secondary - 7 May 2020 | May 2020

Dear Parents

This week has been designated as Teacher Appreciation Week. The volume, creativity and lovely, heartfelt messages sent to the school by students and parents has been humbling. We did not expect so many expressions of gratitude and, given the precarious times we currently live in, their delivery has meant a lot - much more than you may imagine. Messages to individual teachers, videos, picture collages featuring whole classes, e-mails and message posts have been received and have lifted spirits considerably. Saying 'Thanks' to all of you who took the trouble and time somehow seems inadequate, but, on behalf of all the Secondary staff, it is the best and most sincere response available. Thank you.

On a more pragmatic note, Zoom lessons continue as normal and are not impacted by the recent migrations to Canvas. Please help us by stressing to the children that late arrival will mean non-participation. It is a security measure that the Zoom is locked after the first 5 minutes.

Year 10 will migrate to the Canvas VLE (along with Years 3 and 4) next week. Details have been sent to parents, including 'How to.....' guides and instructions on accessing video tutorials. However, I expect that Year 10 should be relatively self-sufficient in setting up access. Mr. Sidat will be available on Sunday and Monday to respond, by e-mail, to specific queries and to support Year 10.

We are always interested in any photographs or videos of our students engaging with their distance learning. Please send any potential contributions to our weekly Newsletter to Reception@oryxschool.qa. Dina and Susan, our Receptionists collate all contributions.

The PE Department has adapted their lessons to take account of children currently observing the Ramadan fast. As mentioned previously, we encourage you to give the children any opportunity for aerobic or fitness activity and to disengage from the screen.

In normal times this period would have been the climax of Year 11's school career to date. However, all over the world new arrangements are in place and we all await the next stage on the road to normality. Year 11 will move to A level learning after the Eid holiday. We are hopeful that some of their new colleagues, joining us in Year 12, will also be able to participate and that those relationships will grow, even ahead of the summer vacation. Mr. Cundall is preparing a programme of induction which will be shared with Year 11 once their forthcoming assessments are complete. We have plans to recognise Year 11 after the summer but much depends on how things develop and conclude.

This week marked the halfway point between the enforced closure and the end of the term. We are so, so proud of our students (your children) and the way they have accommodated and adapted to the present reality. They are amazing. A.Maz.Ing.

Yours sincerely

Ken Haggarty

Well done to all who have been joining the Zoom sessions being offered by the Inclusion Team each day. These sessions are available to those students who are just starting to learn the English language or who have extra learning challenges. If you feel that your child would benefit from these extra Zoom sessions then please contact me at Michael.peacock@oryxschool.qa. Remember to ensure that your child has regular breaks away from the computer and an opportunity to stretch their legs.

Please remember, if your child has any worries, concerns or anxieties and would like to talk to someone at school please reiterate to them that they can contact our school counsellor, Miss Bunmi, at oluwabunmi.tobun@oryxschool.qa. She can also be contacted by giving her a call on 66011301 from Sunday to Thursday between 8:30-9:30 am and 12:30-1:30 pm. She’s always happy to listen and provide reassurance.

Mr. Walsh, one of our specialist Inclusion Teachers, is running a parent workshop on revision strategies. This is mainly aimed at the parents of students in the Secondary school, but there may be some content appropriate to all ages. This workshop is open to all parents. To join the event please click on the below Zoom invite at 09:00 am on Sunday 10th May.

Time: May 10, 2020 - 09:00 am Riyadh

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86988322710?pwd=YlZMVU1zeTBwdGZpbkxya2gzSFdJUT09

Meeting ID: 869 8832 2710
Password: 013854

It was a busy week for our students in Arabic this week.

They worked on applying their Arabic language skills, developed their reading skills through the videos provided, and read the lessons clearly and correctly.

They also studied and memorised many verses of the Qur’an.

Our students learned valuable information in Qatar History subject and they were enthusiastic in carrying out the homework assigned to them.

My sincere thanks to our wonderful students and to the parents who have been our constant support in the success of the educational process.

Next week:

Year 7: Students will continue to use the work of Yayoi Kasuma and Elizabeth Murray to create their own abstract shapes.

Year 8:Students will continue to draw their realistic self-portrait.

Year 9:Students are starting to use continuous lines to create observation drawings and will begin to add colour.

Year 10:Students will continue developing their paint skills in using acrylic paint as well as develop their abstract painting in response to Georgia O'Keeffe.

Year 11:Students are selecting appropriate work to resolve their components.

Year 10: Students will continue studying Unit 5. Students will learn about Quality in Production. They will further enhance their knowledge of Quality in Production when they look at different testing methods and how different quality control methods are carried out by different companies.

Year 11: Students will be doing a past exam paper based on all units combined.

Secondary Y10 Bus Studies Good Quality 01

Secondary Y10 Bus Studies Good Quality 02

Secondary Y10 Bus Studies Good Quality 03

Year 7:

7A students will be learning how to carry out binary shifts and the effect of those binary shifts to the computer.
7B, 7C, 7D - Will be looking at how to add binary numbers and the effect of an overflow.

Year 8: Students will learn about the Hardware inside the computer. Students will look at different CPUs and the characteristics of those CPUs.

Year 9: Students will look at implement selection statements (if and else) into their Python programs. They will explain the different pieces of code using the # symbol.

Year 10: Students will learn all about Protocols. Students will explore the different protocols used in networking and then learn about packet switching and how this is used to send messages over networks such as the internet.

Year 11: Revision will be carried out for all units ready for the assessment on the 11th May.

Year 7: Students will continue the Board Game project. Students will begin to develop what the game will look like, how it will be played and the rules. They will start to produce initial design ideas for the appearance and aim of the game. They will be required to use their research to inform their design ideas.

Year 8: Students will continue following their series of tutorials about 3D printing and Computer-Aided Design. Via online videos and presentations, students will learn how to create 3D products using different computer software (tinkercad, onshape, freecad). Students have started to create a headphone wrap design in tinkercad which they will complete during this lesson.

Year 9: Students will continue the ‘Product in a Tin’ unit of work. Students have been challenged to design a product to fit in to a tubular tin. Next week students will begin to develop some initial design ideas, using the research they have carried out about existing products.

Year 10: Students will continue to practice and develop their drawing, sketching, and presentation skills. They will also start to consider developing their design ideas within the desktop organiser project on CAD (Computer-Aided Design). Students will be shown how to use Onshape, which is an online CAD program used to create 3D virtual models.

Year 11: Students will continue to work on the Design and Technology theory content and revision materials in preparation for the assessment week. Students will cover practice exam questions to help with revision.

Year 7: Students have started a Shakespeare Summer Project. They will be doing a variety of home activities such as interpreting a script for a performance as an actor, director, and designer, developing their scriptwriting skills, editing and formatting parts of a script, and recording monologues. All of the activities are based around the play A Midsummer's Night Dream

Year 8: Students are working on a Live Theatre Project. They will be using the musical Aladdin as their inspiration. They will work as a performer and/or a set and costume designer to complete a variety of tasks around the production. The students will develop an appreciation of live theatre and gain knowledge on the performance and design elements that make a production successful for an audience.

Year 9: Students will complete a theatre evaluation after watching a digital theatre performance to develop their critical writing skills. They will then be researching the theatre practitioner Bertolt Brecht and be exploring some of his theories in Epic Theatre. This will contrast against last term's Naturalism style of performance.

Year 11: Students have completed all their practical GCSE work and are now revising for their written paper and practicing past papers.

I’m sure all the students and teachers would prefer to be back in the classrooms but until then we continue to work on Zoom and Canvas. In English this week, many of our industrious students have shown themselves to be hard-working, diligent and able to work on their own initiative.

The poetry unit continues. Some of the subject matter in these poems can be thought-provoking and challenging.

Year 7: Students have been studying a rather humorous poem, The Lesson by English by poet Roger McGough. It guides students to make clear distinctions between real-world situations and make-believe fantasy.

Year 8: Students have started Search for My Tongue by Sujata Bhatt. Sujata Bhatt’s poem is a work that describes the struggle of a person embracing a new culture and “tongue” while having the ongoing fear of forsaking the core details of who they are in the process.

Year 9: Students started, What Were They Like? by Denise Levertov. The poem muses on the effects of war, and what happens when one culture conflicts with another culture. ... Apart from criticizing the army, the poem also criticizes those who just believe in complaining by sitting at their homes, but in actuality don't do anything.

Year 10: IGCSE English students continue to study the mandatory texts in The Anthology and this week looked at the poems Search for My Tongue and the classic Blake poem Tyger Tyger.

Year 11: IGCSE English practised reading aloud and sharing their opening paragraphs for the 45 mark question from past papers, whilst their peers tried to guess the original question. A good introduction to an extended writing question should make it easy for the reader to discern what the question is, as well as the intended audience. Reading and analysing the past 5 years’ worth of past paper questions from Pearson also helped.

Year 7: Students will learn about the population of Africa

Year 8: Students will look in detail at European Russia and the role of Crimea

Year 9:

9-1 Students will be introduced to China
9-2/9-3 students will learn about the climate of rainforests

Year 10:

Students will learn about the threats to coastal ecosystems
Students will learn about the conflict in coastal areas

Year 11: Students will close the gaps in their knowledge preparing them for A level

Year 7: Students will discover the life of Elizabeth I and how she came to power

Year 8:

Students will be able to put the events of John Snow’s life in order.
Students will be able to explain whether incorrect notions about what caused illness helped or hindered medicine.
Students will be able to analyse the relative significance of Snow and Chadwick.

Year 9:

Students will understand the reasons for the Gallipoli campaign.
Students will understand the key features of the Gallipoli campaign.
Students will understand the significance of the troop evacuation from Gallipoli.

Year 10:

Lesson 1

Students will understand how both sides moved from conventional to nuclear weapons.
Students will understand the impact of nuclear weapons on international relations.

Lesson 2

Students will understand how new leaders affected relations between East and West.
Students will understand what peaceful coexistence aimed to do.

Year 11: Students will close the gaps in their knowledge preparing them for A level

Year 7 Lesson 1: Kerboodle Formative and Summative Online Assessment Chapter 13

Year 7 Lesson 2:

Mental Methods and Decimals
14a-pg262
Consolidate and extend mental methods of calculation to include decimals
Solve simple word problems mentally

Year 7 Lesson 3:

Written Methods of Multiplying Decimals
14b-pg264
Multiply 3-digit by 2-digit whole numbers
Extend to multiplying decimals with 1 or 2 places by single-digit whole numbers

Year 8 Lesson 1: Chapter 13 Kerboodle Assessments

Year 8 Lesson 2:

15a – Ratio
Pg268
Simplify and use ratios including dividing a quantity in a given ratio. L5

Year 8 Lesson 3:

15b - Division in a given ratio
pg270
Simplify and use ratios including dividing a quantity in a given ratio. L5

Year 9 Lesson 1:

Understand and be able to draw
Distance-time graphs

Year 9 Lesson 2:

Calculate and solve problems using
Distance-time graphs

Year 9 Lesson 3: Calculate and solve problems from Speed-time graphs

Year 10 Lesson 1: Recognise and draw the graph of Cubic functions

Year 10 Lesson 2: Recognise and draw the graph of reciprocal functions

Year 10 Lesson 3:

To be able to find a general formula for the nth term
Determine whether a particular number is a term of a given arithmetic sequence

Year 11: Practising Exam questions from Past paper Booklet and revising for exam.

Spanish Update:

Year 7: Students will be describing others

Year 8: Students will be writing about how they would like to dress

Year 9: Students will be writing about social issues

Year 10: Students will be writing about their region

Year 11: Students will be doing past papers

French Update:

Year 7: Students will be writing a text on their past-times

Year 8: Student: Students will practice writing about festivals and their house in 3 different tenses

Year 9: Students will writing about where they live

Year 10: Students will be writing about the problems in their town

Year 11: Students will be doing past papers

Year 7-9: KS3 music classes will be developing presentations to showcase their research so far for their Music Personal Projects

Year 11: Students will continue to develop the composition brief through guided experimentation and study of popular trends in relevant music.

This week in secondary PE students have been learning about the difference in resting heart rate and heart rate after exercise. Students have been experimenting with different activities to understand how our heart rate rises after different levels of physical activity.

Our Year 10 GCSE PE students developing their own fitness workout this week to help them enhance their chosen sports and our Year 11 GCSE class have been busy working on mastering exam questions and maximising the marks available.

Mr. Parmar and Miss Fitzgerald have been working hard to ensure your PE lessons have a variety of different tasks and you get a chance to develop new skills each week. As some of our students are fasting throughout the month of Ramadan, we are including tasks that do not involve physical activities but allow you to learn about health and the human body. We encourage all of our students to give them tasks a go.

Have a look on your canvas page for our Secondary Weekly Challenges that you can try at any point in the week.

We are extremely pleased with how hard everyone has been working and we look forward to seeing more of you in action next week.

Year 7: