What a fantastic first week back crew have had!
We completed den building, time capsules and played some amazing team games.
Crew were respectful and helpful to each other. We had a fantastic time!
Crew Peake First Week Back Fun!
Crew Peake came closer together over the first week. Here are some of the highlights that they had!
X28 Year 10 Crew Pasteur Crew Activities
As a Crew, we can’t believe it’s Week 3 already! Crew Pasteur have come back excited and positive about the challenges of Year 10, and it’s been a whirlwind since those first (mostly) sunny days since the first week back.
Crew Darling’s First Week Back: Kicking off year 10 with Compassion, Courage and Craftsmanship!
Crew Darling has kicked off Year 10 in style, showing true XP values!
Our first week was packed with team-building activities, including a blindfold challenge that tested trust and courage (well done Junior for leading Crew to safety!), and winning the Egg Drop, proving their craftsmanship and teamwork are ready for the year ahead!
During a micro-adventure around Doncaster, Crew spread kindness, delivering flowers to strangers, including staff at Sue Ryder and Cancer Research, who helped them collect antiques and a mascot. A huge thank you to the people of Doncaster for supporting and embracing our acts of kindness.
Back in school, we listened to expert speakers (XP Alumni) around careers, getting to grips with options for the future! We continued to spread Kindness around school and act as stewards of our community!
Crew Darling has started a scrapbook to capture these memories and achievements, and there’s plenty more to come! Most importantly, we had a fantastic week rebuilding Crew and the bonds which will support us through our GCSEs!
Watch this space for more awesomeness from Crew Darling!
X31 Murton Park Fieldwork Return
Our Year 7’s have not disappointed! We have had another brilliant day!
Fortunately for us, life as Vikings has come to an end and we are on route back to school.
Our expected return time remains at 4pm. We will post an update should there be any changes.
Sharing our Stories: 06/09/2024
Beautiful Work This Week
Highlights from our first week back!
At XP Trust we always use our first week back to establish and reaffirm our culture of Crew. This year has been another resounding success as young people across our schools have considered deeply the purpose of Crew through a range of opportunities and experiences and how Crew develops character and service so that they can help themselves, others and the wider community to be compassionate and successful.
At Carcroft we saw students engaging fully in a community meeting reflecting on their habits of work and learning and expressing what working hard, getting smart and being kind looks like every day at school. Students at Norton Infants Y5 visited local Care Homes delivering glasses cases they had made as well as treats! At Plover students were working alongside the RSPCA to capture and tell the stories of abandoned pets and, alongside drawing beautiful pictures of the animals, helping to find them homes as well as creating stunning murals in a street art style to promote the importance and legacy of Crew.
Students at Green Top took part in a fundraising Colour Run which was quite frankly spectacular whilst also creating kindness key rings that they gifted to members of the community! At XPG, Year 8 showed their qualities as leaders of their own learning by planning, organising and leading Year 7 activities including creating resources and fieldwork opportunities for their peers. Finally at XPD, students carried out acts of random kindness at the Lake side and welcomed past students who came back to school to talk about how Crew and their time at XP shaped the beautiful people they are today.
It was striking to hear a member of staff at Carcroft say, ‘I’ve been teaching for over twenty years and this is the best start back I’ve ever experienced.’ – I think that says it all!
In addition, our new Year 7’s from XP Doncaster and XP Gateshead spent their first days of secondary school building Crew together in the Lake District with Outward Bound. This is something we have been proud to do with our students for ten years now and it was inspiring to see students cultivating resilience, compassion and teamwork – especially through some very adverse weather! We are looking forward to seeing Crews grow together over the coming years…
Andy Sprakes at BridgeFest
Our Chief Academic Officer, Andy Sprakes was the keynote speaker at Spaghetti Bridge’s ‘BridgeFest’ earlier this week. He shared beautiful work and stories from our students at XP as part of their inspiring itinerary celebrating the last year. We are proud to be a part of their story and a key influence on the work that they do.
XP Alumnus Alfie is Oxford bound!
Alfie Lockey was part of the X22 cohort at XP and left two years ago to study for his A Levels at New College. His results of 3 A*s and and A, helped secure him a place at one of the oldest and renowned universities in the world – Christ Church College, Oxford. Alfie will be studying biology; a lifelong love and something that during his time at XP was actively encouraged and supported.
He created an allotment at school, had an opportunity to take part in an online conference organised by the Edge Foundation, which addressed climate change. That day Alfie spoke alongside the co-creator of the Eden Project in Cornwall, Sir Tim Smit KBE. An office at XP also became the perfect place for Alfie to experiment with growing a variety of plants for several years; bringing a touch of hot house greenery to XP!
CAO of the XP Trust, Andy Sprakes commented:
“Alfie is one of our many alumni who are already making a positive difference to the world. We’re always thrilled to hear about how our students are progressing and where they are now – they will always be part of our Crew.”
XP Doncaster’s High Flying Birds
In Summer 2024, XP and XP East’s Year 8 students embarked on Learning Expedition called ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go?’, where they aimed to answer the guiding question: ‘Is migration worth the risk?’.
In Art, they looked at the work of artists who used imagery of birds to represent migration. Leonardo da Vinci studied anatomy and used that to design flying machines. The students took his ideas and constructed their own three dimensional bird designs. They then made large scale sculptures of the birds that you can see on display, here. Before culminating in the display, the sculptures were paraded at this summer’s inaugural XP Festival of Arts & Culture.
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C27/Y11 Weekly Planner & GCSE Revision Evening
Y11 have had an absolutely fabulous start to their final year and have not even been fazed by being thrown straight into preparing for and presenting their English speaking exams!
Academic Crew and Learning Labs will be running this week – full details in the Weekly Planner above.
We would also like to take this opportunity to invite all Y11 parents and students to our GCSE Revision Evening on Wednesday 11th September, 5pm-6pm. Again, details are in the planner.
As ever, if you have any questions please contact your student’s Crew Leader in the first instance or Y11 Phase Lead for your school: Angella Parker for XP East ([email protected]) and Mel Cocliff for XP ([email protected]).
We’re all in this together!
Wow! After an action packed few days at Outward Bound where Crew KBA really had to learn the art of working together to ensure everyone (myself included) made it through the experience.
We had tears and lots of laughter through out the activities but I am proud to say that every member or our crew made it to Friday.
We completed a range of activities from packing our camping bags, to a jog and dip, rock climbing and boating. Each had its own challenges but we worked through these together.
This week Crew KBA have been navigating yet again but this time it was between their sessions and rooms. I have seen lots of praise being added and last time I checked every single crew member had at least one praise!
I can’t wait to see what the next few weeks hold for us as a crew and I look forward to seeing each of them grow and develop.
Mrs Barnes
Outward Bound Crew CCR
We had a great week on Outward Bound. Everyone in the crew tried something new and was challenged to show courage. The week began with a quick plunge into Ullswater which certainly woke us all up after a long coach journey! The challenges continued with gorge walking, waterfall climbing and a lengthy hike up Hallin Fell. Pupils were very tired, with many even asking for an earlier bedtime so they could get some much needed rest.
One of the most memorable experiences was the overnight camp. Pupils set up their shelters at the lakeside, hunkering down in their sleeping bags until it was time to wake up and enjoy the sunrise over the water. The ration packs were surprisingly tasty, with macaroni cheese and full English breakfast gaining rave reviews.
Although everyone was pleased to get home and enjoy the comforts of their own beds, we had a wonderful time getting to know each other.
