Today was the first day back from the Summer holidays, and it was great to see the team back together again. We visited Malham in North Yorkshire to reccy the area in preparation for our first official day as XP East.
XP and XP East Y7 Crews
Although this is instead of our original planned residential to Wales (this will still go ahead in Spring), we’re absolutely confident that the day will be a memorable one designed for students to begin to consider their first guiding question of ‘What is Crew?’ On Friday XP East students will also visit ‘Kingswood Inspiring Learning‘ adventure park, which will also help them to answer their guiding question. A special thank you needs to be given to Mr Said for organising the event at such short notice!
First impressions may create a false sense of security about what these 2 days represent. Make no mistake about it, students will be out of their familiar zones and will be confronted with challenges that will need the support of others in order to get through them. Yes, they will be enjoyable, but Crew is about establishing genuine and sincere relationships in order to achieve what had previously thought was not possible. Crew goes beyond ‘team work’ and instead creates a genuine culture of community which will underpin XP East, just as it does at XP School.
The 2 days will also be academically challenging from the perspective of gathering knowledge of the local geographical landscapes, and further exploring the character traits of the XP Trust (building on the Y6 induction day). Mark my words, this is important stuff for what lies ahead for the rest of the year.
Our own staff Crew at XP East is bringing together a variety of skill sets, experiences and personal qualities which will provide the foundations of what I know will be something very special. For me, our findings from the reccy at Malham today didn’t just reveal details about the visit, it also reinforced our own excitement for the beginnings of our new school, and amplified our Crew’s ambition for what something Margaret Mead once said:
Further links:
‘What does running around in the woods have to do with growing a school?’