Breaking Ground in Year 4

Quite literally.  What an amazing end to our spring term where both y3 and 4 have planted over 120 trees as part of our expedition – There is no Planet B.  During the celebration of learning, we shared our stories about all we had learnt and then talked about the urgency needed to combat climate change.  The crescendo of our celebration resulted in a ‘mass planting’ session where, with our community out in full force, we planted the remaining 62 trees around our school perimeter.  It has been a quite remarkable expedition – beginning with a litter pick and ending with the children’s work being displayed to the community in order to raise awareness of how pollution and waste can impact on the environment.

As always, we are indebted to a great number of people and services that have supported and driven our expedition.  However, special praise is reserved for Murphy’s Group who kindly donated over 100 trees so that each and every child in LKS2 could plant a sapling themselves and know that their learning is steeped in both legacy and life.

Finally, we must finish with a nod to the amazing children across our phase. Throughout this expedition, they have been at their brilliant best and continue to remind us all that although there is much to be frustrated about in the world that we live in, with such impressive, intuitive and inspirational young people having an impact on the planet – our future is indeed bright.

Have a lovely Easter everybody.

There is no Planet B 

Sharing our Stories: 28/03/2024

Beautiful Work This Week

Sign Language Week at Green Top

Last week was Sign Language week in the UK – so all the students at Green Top have made this video, singing and signing the song ‘True Colours’ as part of the celebration!

‘If We Plant Trees…’ – Legacy @ NJS

As part of their awesome POLs this week, every single Year 3 and 4 child has planted a tree at Norton Junior School, with support from Murphy’s and their Roots Programme.

They also celebrated their product from last term (more on this next time!) and unveiled their awesome digital artwork, made from images of recycling – this will be on display in school after the Easter break!

Plover’s Eco Garden!

KS1 at Plover have just finished their Expedition ‘The Blue Planet’. Their final product has provided a lasting legacy for the community – a lovely eco garden that will develop across future Expeditions to provide a range of habitats and food sources for a variety of insects, birds and mammals.

Students dedicated the trees to community heroes who have helped to improve the lives of people across Intake and Doncaster at their POL yesterday – including Mrs Ogle and Dame Rosie Winterton!

Highlights from KS1 and LKS2’s COL @ Green Top

On Friday, KS1 and LKS2 at Green Top celebrated their learning for their two Expeditions – ‘The Blue Planet’ and ‘There Is No Planet B’

The celebration included an interactive art gallery, a visit from Reptile Rendezvous and showcasing awesome family learning.

Top of the Blogs

Weekly Update for families @ XP Gateshead

Finding the magic in Science @ Norton Infants

KS1 Artists @ Green Top

Action Packed @ XP

Danum Read Aloud @ Plover

UKS2 Celebration of Learning @ Carcroft School

Easter Hamper Day @ XP East

The French Revolution at Campsmount @ Norton Juniors

Join our Crew!

We’re looking for Cleaners and a Cleaner in Charge to #JoinOurCrew at XP Doncaster – find out more and apply here!

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!

The French Revolution at Campsmount Come Dancing 2024 🪩

On Thursday 21st March, a team of twenty-one dancers took part in the annual Campsmount Come Dancing competition. After four months of weekly practice, their collective efforts and commitment culminated in a captivatingly dramatic performance in front of four judges and a raucous crowd of local parents and carers.

With strong competition from other local junior teams in Askern Spa, Barnburgh and Kirk Smeaton, The Norton Junior School dance team captured their audience with a energetic and emotive performance, based on the French Revolution, with accompanying music from Les Miserables. Just when staff and parents could not have been more proud, the team secured a perfect score of 40/40 and came first place in the competition. Spectacular effort! 🪩

Sharing our Stories: 22/03/2024

Beautiful Work This Week

Beautiful Activism at Plover

As part of their Expedition ‘Once Upon a Time’, students in EYFS at Plover have raised money to provide boxes of books to local community organisations, including Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospital Trust. They posted this update on their social media this week from their Children’s Ward, thanking students for their generous donation.

Genius of Steam and Speed

Across the Trust we have always researched and celebrated Doncaster’s railway story through expeditions. Lots of our students’ work is already out there in the community – including railway stations and parks. Our latest book, Rail City, is also on sale in Waterstones and the Danum Gallery, Library and Museum.

On the 23rd April a remarkable new exhibition – Gresley: Genius of Steam and Speed – will open at DGLaM, featuring artifacts, letters and stories about the man who engineered the Flying Scotsman and the Mallard in Doncaster.

Students from the Trust will be co-creating an audio guide which will be accessible through an app for the exhibition. We will also be helping to create rail related resources for the summer holiday programme of children’s events at DGLaM.

More on the story in the Doncaster Free Press here

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Crew Parks Tree Planting @ XP Gateshead

Easter Maths Hunt @ Norton Infants

Class 6 read anywhere, any table, any chair… @ Green Top

Crew Tubman Year 10 Beautiful Work @ XP

Festival of Football @ Plover

The beat goes on @ Carcroft School

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!

Sharing our Stories: 15/03/2024

Beautiful Work This Week

For the love of reading: curation at Green Top!

As part of their Expedition ‘Once Upon a Time’ Green Top have had some beautiful displays created for their reading areas in Nursery and Reception!

Staff Days across the XP Trust

All our staff were getting their heads together and planning for next term’s Expeditions last Friday and Monday – lots of exciting learning and products are on the horizon for students in term 3!

As with all of our Expeditions, students will work within one of our three curriculum seams and staff will do the project first! If it’s good enough for our kids, it’s good enough for us!

Passage Presentations at XP Gateshead

This week, G28 were the first year at XPG to complete their ‘Passage’ – these are presentations to a panel where they reflect on their learning journey, discuss examples of their work, and talk about how they are prepared for next steps in learning and GCSEs.

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Beautiful Work from Winnie and Evan @ XP Gateshead

We are sprouting scientists @ Norton Infants

Year 6 Learning Club @ Green Top

Crew Ardern DofE Volunteer Work @ XP

We are Activists! @ Plover

Raising money for the British Heart Foundation @ XP East

Creating confidence in Crew @ Carcroft School

Scientific Discoveries @ 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!

Y4 Celebrate Science week with a visit to CTC!

What an amazing experience Y4 children had today with our visit to Campsmount Academy as part of this year’s science week. For many of our year 4 pupils, this was their first visit to Campsmount and what a wonderful, positive and awe inspiring first experience they had. Mr Wilson and his magnificent team organised an array of enthralling investigations, exciting experiments and daring demonstrations that left the jaws of our pupils trailing off the floor in astonishment.

As a year group and staff team, we are very grateful for how both the staff and students facilitated the afternoon and provided wonderful opportunities for our young scientists to be, well, young scientists!

Sharing our Stories 11/03/2024

Beautiful Work This Week

Expedition Stories: UKS2 @ Plover

This week we’re proud to share the beautiful story of UKS2s Expedition from last term ‘Earth Emergency’. The carefully designed planters and greenhouse will surely be a catalyst for Plover growing its own produce for generations to come!

Beautiful Curation at XP Doncaster

XP on the TV!

For anyone who missed it – XP Doncaster has been featured in a BBC Two documentary which aired on the 7th March. All episodes are available on BBC iPlayer now.

We’d like to thank everyone who has got in touch or left a comment about the programme – we are so proud of our students and how eloquently they expressed how they feel about their school.

If you’d like to learn more about our schools and how you can do what we do too, you can get a copy of our book How We XP here.

Top of the Blogs

Just another day… @ XP Trust

Beautiful Work from Reuben @ XP Gateshead

World Book Day @ Norton Infants

Class 8 Story Writing @ Green Top

FXP Tuck Shop @ XP

Save our Seas! @ Plover

Crew Da Vinci SLCs @ XP East

Magnets @ Carcroft School

Lowry inspired artwork @ Norton Juniors

We’re looking for a Cleaning Lead at XP Doncaster

Find out more about the role and apply here to #JoinOurCrew

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!

Wonderful World Book Day!

A wonderful World Book Day was enjoyed by all yesterday! The children in 4TE started the day being welcomed into school by Willy Wonka himself! Then, they spent the morning with Year 3 before becoming immersed in all things pirates in the afternoon! It was a really lovely day and a great way to end the week!