XP East

At XP, our first week back looks a little bit different. Across our Trust, students and staff have been working hard to build and reestablish the most important part of our culture – Crew.

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 12 | WW2 Crafts @ Green Top

Appreciating Kindness @ Plover

Crew McGlone – Tough Runner @ Carcroft School

Focus and Deep Thinking in Year 8 this week @ XP

Hook week day two @ Norton Infants

Crew week = complete! @ Norton Juniors

G29 first week back! @ XP Gateshead

Crew DCU @ XP East

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!

From today, Y11’s Learn 2 Earn rewards scheme is back!

Students have the opportunity to collect stamps on ‘loyalty cards’ for outstanding contributions in Learning labs and at D6 [when it’s up and running] – this year, staff are able to award stamps to class superstars – if students are going above and beyond to contribute in sessions/work hard, staff will award extra stamps!

When their cards are complete (after 10 sessions), students need to hand them back in; there’ll be a half termly draw for a gift card for those attending the most sessions!

Please encourage students to get these filled in to claim those prizes (take a look at a small selection below!)

Miss Cocliff x

The Year 11 students at XPE have demonstrated exceptional Habits of Work and Learning (HoWLs) as they diligently prepare for their upcoming English Spoken Language assessments. Across both Miss Buckley’s and Mrs Desborough’s classes, lessons have been driven by outstanding focus, active engagement, and dedicated craftsmanship and quality, ensuring students refine their delivery, structure, and techniques to present with confidence. This commitment is clearly reflected in the exciting and diverse range of topics chosen by the students, spanning pressing social issues, personal passions and curiosities. Their hard work, positive attitude, and thorough preparation promise a brilliant and engaging set of spoken presentations.

After a whirlwind start to Y7 and attending Outward bound, Crew DCU have settled into school as we embark on our schooling journey.

Over the course of last week, we managed to take part in a plethora of activities, exploring the beautiful scenery in Ullswater. We braved new challenges like gorge walking and night navigation, showing immense courage and determination in unfamiliar environments.. It was a privilege to be part of this experience, and all of our crew members showed exceptional character growth, as we started our journey to the ‘top of the mountain’. We hope to bring these experiences, memories and character traits back to school this term.

Overall an amazing effort. Here are some of our highlights:

The transition to Year 7 is a monumental step for any student, but C33 Explorer took it in their stride during their very first mathematics lesson this week. Stepping into a secondary maths classroom can be daunting, yet our new Year 7s demonstrated extraordinary Courage right from the moment they walked through the door.

Guided by our Teaching and Learning protocols, the classroom was a space where taking risks, embracing contributions, and stepping out of comfort zones are celebrated as essential parts of the learning journey. All valuable skills that were developed at Outward Bounds last week!

Data Analysis and the Gallery Walk

The highlight of the lesson was an ambitious data analysis task. Working collaboratively, students identified patterns, trends, and information.

To share their findings, we deployed our Gallery Walk protocol. The data analysis was superb for a first lesson – students were actively interpreting what the data meant and backing up their conclusions with clear mathematical reasoning.

Shout-Out to Kai! A massive shout-out goes to Kai, who showed fantastic leadership by kickstarting our Popcorn protocol. Taking the initiative to launch a new classroom routine in front of peers requires serious courage, and Kai set a brilliant, high-energy benchmark for the rest of the crew to follow!

Working Hard and Living Our HoWLs

Throughout the session, C33 Explorer embodied our Habits of Work and Learning (HoWLs):

• Work Hard: Every single student remained focused, persevered through challenging tasks, and gave 100% effort from start to finish.
• Be Kind: Students supported one another during group discussions and built upon one anothers answers.

It was a great start to the academic year. C33 Explorer proved that with courage, collaboration, and dedication to our HoWLs, there is no limit to what they can achieve in our expeditions. Keep up the amazing work E33 Explorer!

All enrichment and learning labs will being on W/C 7th September. See timetable below.

And just like that… that’s a wrap on our fifth and final ever first week back!

It has been such a lovely week reconnecting after the summer break. We kicked things off with a wellbeing walk on Monday, followed by reflections and roadmapping our final year on Tuesday. Wednesday brought a ‘How to Revise’ workshop, before we created our year overview calendar, plotting all of those important dates — mocks, TSLCs and, of course, our exams.

We then worked out that we have just 153 days physically left in the building until our final exam.

153 days. Mental.

Thursday saw us thinking about the legacy we want to leave behind for future students, and today we finished with a POL before hitting the ground running with revision sessions.

But amongst all the planning and preparation, we’ve also made sure there has been time for some fun. We’ve played games we loved back in Year 7, compared our Year 7 first-day photographs with this year’s, and laughed at just how much we’ve all changed.

Then, just before everyone left today, we watched the video from their first week in Wales.

And that got me.

Watching those little Year 7 faces, knowing that those children are now about to enter their final year, made me incredibly emotional. Five years. Gone in the blink of an eye.

I honestly can’t believe we’re here.

We’re coming into our finale, and I’m not ready for it. I want a few more acts. A few more chapters. A few more first days, fieldwork, laughs, silly moments and memories.

I don’t want this journey to end.

But if there is one thing I know, it’s that Crew White are going to make this final year count.

So here we go, Crew White.

Our final chapter. Let’s make it one we never forget.

Good Afternoon, our ETA is 4.15 for the XPE bus and 4.25 for XP bus. We can’t wait to see you then.

Thanks

Welcome back, Crew Rosa Parkes, to Year 10. We have experienced a remarkably productive and engaging week re-establishing our crew norms and further building our relationships.

Throughout these packed week, students have consistently demonstrated our core character traits, most notably courage. This week, they meticulously prepared their CVs and cover letters in anticipation of their mock job interviews. Our students received exceptional feedback from industry experts regarding the depth and maturity of their interview answers—experiences that will undoubtedly support them as they approach future college interviews.

As Year 10 marks the official commencement of the GCSE period, students in Rosa Parkes have already begun collaborating on strategic revision ideas to support their preparation for May 2028. This proactive foundation sets an excellent trajectory for the year ahead.