Once again, I’m donning my running shoes, together with my brother Michael, and attempting the challenging Sheffield Half Marathon on the 23 March to raise funds for our upcoming Music and Arts Festival in the summer term.

This year will be the third time we have brought together students from across the Trust to showcase their artistic and musical skills alongside community partners and professional artists. Take a look at the highlights from last year.

To make this happen again we need your support! If you could make a donation, however big or small, we can place music and the arts right at the heart of our mission to make ourselves, our community and our world a better place!  And make the third Community Arts and Music Festival the best yet.

Just click the link here to make a donation. 

Thank you for your continuing support. 

Andy Sprakes

Co-founder and Chief Academic Officer, XP Trust

Beautiful work this week

Here’s a selection of beautiful work from across the XP Trust!

To read about other stories from across the XP Trust, visit xptrust.org.

Top of the Blogs

Year 5 Dodgeball @ Green Top

World Book Day in 5L @ Plover

World Book Day Crew Frost @ Carcroft School

Crew Peake – stewards of our community @ XP

Weekly update @ XP Gateshead

Crew, Collaboration, Critique and Teamwork Tigers! @ Norton Infants

Multiplying our Maths Skills @ Norton Juniors

Share your stories with us!

We now have a new dedicated news email so that you can send your stories, updates or ideas about potential news articles directly to us in Comms.

It might be something you or your students have achieved, a charity you’re supporting or anything at all that deserves a wider audience.

Write to us at [email protected] –  we want to hear about it, write about it and celebrate it!

Beautiful work this week

Here’s a selection of beautiful work from across the XP Trust!

To read about other stories from across the XP Trust, visit xptrust.org.

Top of the Blogs

Dancing Crew! @ Green Top

Will it float or sink? @ Plover

The Student Becomes the Master @ Carcroft School

Crew Brunel: Finishing Half Term Strong @ XP

Weekly update @ XP Gateshead

Building Bright Ideas for a Better Planet @ Norton Infants

The Last Straw: Making Maths Fair and Square @ Norton Juniors

Share your stories with us!

We now have a new dedicated news email so that you can send your stories, updates or ideas about potential news articles directly to us in Comms.

It might be something you or your students have achieved, a charity you’re supporting or anything at all that deserves a wider audience.

Write to us at [email protected] –  we want to hear about it, write about it and celebrate it!

If you think making shapes is easy, try handing a group of determined students a tricky polygon problem! This week, in class, we entered into the world of geometry by challenging the children to make squares using exactly six straws.

At first glance, it sounds impossible—after all, a standard square only needs four sides. Did we draw the short straw with this lesson plan? Not a chance!

What followed was a beautiful display of grit and determination. At times, it might have felt like they were literally grasping at straws, but the children worked tirelessly. They experimented with different angles, overlaps, and spatial reasoning, showing incredible courage and resilience in the face of a genuinely puzzling task.

I am so proud to report that every single student got there in the end!

Great work 4GC!

Beautiful work this week

Here’s a selection of beautiful work from across the XP Trust!

To read about other stories from across the XP Trust, visit xptrust.org.

Top of the Blogs

Class 10’s Safer Internet Day Assembly – delivered by Kole and Sam! @ Green Top

Writing superstars @ Plover

Academic Crew @ Carcroft School

Reimagining Art History @ XP

G30 Beautiful Work @ XP Gateshead

Chinese New Year Festival @ Norton Infants

An Unforgettable Ski Trip to Pila with Our School Students @ XP East

Magnificent Mathematical Treasure Hunt @ Norton Juniors

Share your stories with us!

We now have a new dedicated news email so that you can send your stories, updates or ideas about potential news articles directly to us in Comms.

It might be something you or your students have achieved, a charity you’re supporting or anything at all that deserves a wider audience.

Write to us at [email protected] –  we want to hear about it, write about it and celebrate it!