This year, we were lucky enough to have new Year 7s from both XPD and XPG working closely together at the Ullswater and Howtown Outward Bound centres. As a result, we were able to capture these wonderful highlights of both sets of students building Crew and expressing what it means to be Crew at the end of their week in their first ever presentation of learning.
Beautiful Curation across the XP Trust
More beautiful work has been made public this week – in both Plover and Carcroft School. Look at these awesome selections from final products, now curated for all to see!
XP Trust Crew Away Day @ YWP
Our Heads, Admin, Facilities and Comms Crews came together to further develop positive relationships and build Crew at Yorkshire Wildlife Park. They spent the day exploring Case Studies to improve communication and conceptual understanding around day-to-day crucial aspects of what we do at XP Trust.
The day was extremely positive and productive – thank you to YWP for your hospitality!
Yesterday, we welcomed an extra special visitor into school. Kath is a local volunteer who gives up her time to support UK charities in and around Doncaster including the homeless, food banks and women’s refuge. We presented Kath with the toiletries which were purchased by the money raised from Yr 5s bake sale back in August. She was a true inspiration to both adults and children and we have pledged to continue to support through the year.
We’d like all parent/carers opinions on school dinners, including those who’s children have packed lunches. XP Trust would like as many children as we can having delicious healthy meals so your and your child’s opinions are important to us. Children will be asked about their dinners at school but it would be good to have parent/carer opinions too.
Yorkshire Sport Foundation – Opening School Facilities at Plover
Check out this actively awesome video courtesy of Yorkshire Sport Foundation. The children and staff at Plover were superstars in explaining their positive experiences regarding the OSF funding they secured last year, to provide after school and community clubs! Plover have been lucky enough to secure some OSF funding this year too, so watch this space for Community Clubs starting in October! #LovePlover
Beautiful Curation!
We don’t just ensure our work is made public – it needs to live inside our school communities, too! More beautiful work has been curated at Plover School, celebrating their ‘Pride of Plover’ award winners and recent Expedition products!
‘If we get staff Crew right, we get everything right…’
One of our great friends and mentors, Ron Berger, once said to us that ‘staff culture can never outpace student culture.’ With this firmly at the forefront of our minds we set out last week on our bi-annual outdoor staff induction process with a group of educators from across our Trust.
We headed out into the wilderness to answer the guiding question, ‘What does it mean to be Crew?’ through a number of shared experiences and activities our Crew formed very quickly. We explored the purpose of Crew deeply and considered how we could make Crew even stronger on our return to our respective schools so that we continue to create the culture in which our students grow their character and make our community and the world a better place for everyone.
Below is an immediate reflection from one of our XP educators:
‘This experience has helped me to understand the building of community. The support that other members of our Crew showed this week has been immense. There have been some activities that have been challenging but everybody has been supportive whilst giving positive challenge so that everybody has been able to push themselves in a safe environment where everybody trusts each other and it’s lifted me and made me feel that I can achieve anything I put my mind to with the support of other people.’ – Louise
It was an honour and privilege to support and challenge our adults to reflect on the imperative we all have at XP to become and create great learners and even better human beings!
This week 3EG visited Wilderspin Museum, to learn all about life on the home front and the importance of being one of Churchills Cogs! The children were engaged in some exciting activities and handled artefacts from the Second World War. Our pupils once again did us proud with the exemplary behaviour – well done!
On Tuesday, 5CC practised their passing and evasion skills in PE. Looking at football this half term, there was a focus on both attacking and defending in the session. Attackers developed their passing and receiving skills with an emphasis on movement and communication. This later evolved into attackers needing more agility when faced with the presence of a defender. Attacking and defending was indeed a significant focus of the lesson, the children discussed how to succeed in both roles: the attackers require loud, clear communication, control of the ball and accurate passing whilst the defender needs to be agile and quick to react. Awesome effort, class!
At the end of the first Maths case study, Year 5 put their place value skills to the test. With the place value case study coming to a close, the children got the chance to handle NASA data. Whether it was comparing the millions of litres of rocket fuel or ordering the circumferences of planets in the Milky Way galaxy, 5CC enjoyed the variety of challenges and the opportunity to look study different data sources.
What an absolutely fab day we have had at Wilderspin Museum today! The children participated in two workshops: ‘Life on the Homefront’ and “Operation Pied Piper’. I must say, the children have been fully engaged and focused throughout the day and once again, I am left in awe of their fantastic behaviours and above all, wonderful manners. It is also of note, that the staff on site echoed my thoughts too. Amazing!
Today Yr 5 took part in an Expedition maths lessons looking at a whole range of data. Children visited numerous stations to compare astronaut statistics, order and round planets based on the distance from their moons and look at amounts spent by NASA and USSR over a period of 40 years. It was super to see the children grappling with such large numbers. Great job everyone!
