Mrs Moss
Curriculum Co-ordinator for Technology
Technology News
Computing News
Key Stage 3 Computing
This final half term sees Year 7 exploring digital media. They are exploring social media influencers and looking at why they have a huge impact in young people’s lives. The students will be creating an interactive presentation, including sound and videos all about these social media influencers.
Year 8 are learning about designing their own music festival and they have planned a website to promote this. The students are incorporating a variety of features into their websites, including scrolling text. They are investigating the HTML programming language that sits behind the websites and are starting to write some HTML codes to help produce their websites.
Year 9 are learning about sound and video editing and are currently in the process of creating an advert for a holiday. They have downloaded suitable music and sound effects. Using Audacity, they are mixing the music and effects together to create the audio track for the advert. They will then download video clips and start to edit these and add the sound track. I am looking forward to seeing the finished products.
GCSE Computer Science
This term has seen the year 11 cohort complete their GCSE Computer Science exams. They have been an absolute pleasure to teach and have worked exceptionally hard and made me extremely proud! Good luck, girls in your future career paths.
Year 10 have almost completed all the theory for paper 1, Principles of Computer Science. This theory consists of systems architecture and software, looking at data representation including binary, hexadecimal and sound, learning about the security of networks and how different networks are structured including the internet. The final learning will be about ethical and environmental issues surrounding Computer Science, including legislation. They have also started revisiting Python programming language from Key Stage 3. You have all worked extremely hard this year and I look forward to next year when the main focus will be Paper 2, focusing on the practical elements of the course and intervention will also begin.
Mrs Bennett
Curriculum Leader for the C.A.T. Faculty
GCSE Art & Photography Exhibition
We are delighted to be hosting an evening exhibition to showcase our extremely talented Art & Photography student’s work. The exhibition will be on all week for students to see in school too. Please feel free to pop along on Monday evening between the hours of 4-6pm.
Year 10 Photography
Our Year 10 GCSE Art students have started their second major piece of coursework on the theme of Portraiture. They have completed a photoshoot of their friends and are now starting to stylise them in the style of Loui Jover.
Check out our Instagram account for all the latest work @penwortham.girls
Mrs Mitchell
Head of Art & Design
Year 9 Art & Design
Our Year 9 Art students have shown great promise and many are planning to continue their Art education into KS4. Their work has continued on the theme of Architecture and the influence of various artists over time, including Hundertwasser with his bold colours and crazy shapes. Students have shown remarkable understanding of perspective drawing and we are very proud of the stunning outcomes. Fabulous effort, Year 9!
Mrs Mitchell
Head of Art & Design
Year 8 Art & Design
Our budding Year 8 artists have continued their complex and decorative work on ‘Cells Under the Microscope’. Having studied Abstract Art over time, our most recent Artist inspiration has come from Angela Canada-Hopkins. Students have shown talent in reproducing a high level of detail in their pattern and design work. Recent Fine Art outcomes have combined media such as textured collage, vivid inks, mark-making and drawing with stitch. Students have enjoyed these lessons immensely and we are very impressed by their creative and eye catching experimentations, leading up to our final outcomes later this term. Great work, Year 8!
Mrs Mitchell
Head of Art & Design
Year 7 Art & Design
Year 7 artists have been enjoying learning how to sculpt in clay, producing work inspired by shells and their textural surfaces. These 3D sculptures have been very impressive, showing good understanding of the 7 Elements of Art, learnt earlier in Year 7. Practises were first done in plasticine, while skills were perfected. This 3D based project will culminate in a selection of sculptures rich in texture. We are very proud of Year 7 artists who have worked so hard and appear to have thoroughly enjoyed their first year of high school Art lessons. Well done, Year 7!
Mrs Mitchell
Head of Art & Design
Year 10 Art Students
The Art Department has been very busy as usual, with some fantastic work being produced!
Our Year 10 GCSE Art students have started their second major piece of coursework on the theme of either ‘Built Environment’ or ‘Corrosion & Decay’ and have shown great enthusiasm, taking lots of their own photos to inspire their projects. We have been doing some experimental drawing in a variety of media with some fantastic results. Year 10 also have worked hard on a set of Poly-Prints which we did as a workshop, resulting in very successful outcomes. Keep up the great work, Year 10!
Mrs Mitchell
Head of Art & Design
Chemical Changes
The year 10 students studying Separate Sciences have recently finished the Chemical Changes unit, which covers some of the fundamental building blocks of their understanding of chemical processes. As we are mastering some basic synthesis techniques, students have also started to do some analysis which they will build on in year 11. As part of this, they have been carrying out titrations, a key laboratory process which any A-level chemist’s amongst you will remember well.
What is a Titration?
A titration is a laboratory method used to determine the concentration of a solute (solid) in a solution (a liquid). It involves adding a titrant (a solution of known concentration) to a sample solution until a reaction is complete, which is usually indicated by a colour change. In school, we tend to use phenolphthalein which gives a very clear colour to bright pink. This process allows us to calculate the unknown concentration of the sample solution.
Why Do We Study Titrations?
Titrations are crucial for several reasons:
- Precision and Accuracy: Titrations are a precise method to determine concentrations, which is vital for chemical reactions requiring exact measurements.
- Real-World Applications: This technique is used in various industries. For example, in the pharmaceutical industry, titrations ensure the correct dosage of ingredients in medicines.
- Foundation for Advanced Study: Understanding titrations prepares students for more complex topics in A-level chemistry and beyond.
The Titration Process in Our Classroom
In our recent practical sessions, students have engaged in titrations using acid-base reactions. This build on their previous knowledge whilst also allowing us to recap concentration calculations from the Quantitative Chemistry unit. This revisiting of challenging content helps to secure this knowledge whilst allowing staff to identify students that need some extra support.
Mastering titrations is a significant achievement in our GCSE chemistry curriculum. As we progress, students will build on this knowledge to explore more complex chemical reactions and analytical techniques. This hands-on experience not only strengthens their understanding of chemistry but also enhances their problem-solving and analytical skills.
Mr Coogan
Teacher of Science
Forces
Our Year 10 students have been diving into the fascinating world of forces, a fundamental concept in physics that explains how objects move and interact. Recently, our young physicists have been focusing on resultant forces and the concept that forces are vectors. This means they are learning that forces have both magnitude and direction, which must be considered together to fully understand how they affect objects. Have you seen the movie Despicable Me? Do you know who the famous villain Vector is? To put their knowledge into practice, students have been tasked with calculating the overall magnitude and direction of multiple forces acting on an object. This involves drawing vector diagrams to scale, a crucial skill that helps them visually represent and solve complex force problems. Through these hands-on activities, they are not only enhancing their understanding of physics but also honing in on their problem-solving and analytical skills. We are incredibly proud of the dedication and enthusiasm that our students have shown in mastering these challenging concepts.
Mrs Honeyman
Associate Assistant Headteacher & Curriculum Leader for Science
