Super glad to have everybody back in crew. It’s ace to see everyone again after such a long time and hear everyone’s stories about working from home!

Over the first couple of weeks back we have hit the ground running. In crew we have focussed on resetting the basics. During Wise Wednesdays, we have discussed how we can improve and keep an eye on our mental health as well as how we can support each other during tough times. There have been some really mature and in depth discussions with some fantastic points. Big shout out to Holly, Amelia, Max and Louie who consistently add to conversations in crew.

Thoughtful Thursdays have consisted of resetting our Howls and making pledges to help our learning this term. Here are some of the fantastic pleaders some crew members have made to help improve their Howls!

Liam, Amelia, Holly and Lukas pledge to get less distracted so that they can work hard.

Lilly and Poppy pledge to ask and answer more questions in order to get smart.

Max pledges to use the explore further tab on the expedition to dive deeper into his subjects. A really fab pledge to get smart.

Pledges are really important in XP to help to hold ourselves and each other accountable for our learning. I am looking forward to seeing the effect of these pledges on our next Howls drop!

Lastly, we have had a really exciting opportunity these past couple of weeks… we have had lots of experts in to talk to us in art and Human. Yesterday, students were lucky enough to hear the stories from some refugees who fled their countries in order to seek safety here in this country. Everyone sat beautifully and respectfully to listen to them speak. The stories we heard really opened our eyes to what some people experience and gave students a great idea of how to answer their guiding question “Is migration worth the risk?”.

Hearing their stories makes me grateful for what I have and I’m sure my crew will feel the same.

It has been a rocky road, this online learning, but the end is definitely in sight and crew JRI is powering on until the break! There is no doubt how tough this has been and if I am honest, the difficulties started to show in work completion and attendance data. HOWEVER, crew JRI do not give up and a huge improvement on both of these has been made in the past week.

After a long week of lessons, I must say, the highlight of my week is always our crew sessions on a Friday afternoon. This is always a chance to kick back and relax after busy week and just enjoy spending some time together. We have spent these sessions enjoying a range of activities including Among Us, Kahoot, Sporcle quizzes and the ever popular scavenger hunt!! (Congratulations to Lukas who won the scavenger hunt in the week just gone!)

Appreciations for this week:

I appreciate Lily H, Lilly P, Poppy, Louie, Ethan, Olivia and Lukas for always being on crew early and ready to go to start the day.

I also appreciate Max and Poppy for consistently completing work to the best of your ability, well done.

The last thing I can say is it’s not long now until we can have a break, keep on going, we can do this!

Miss Ridout 🙂

Our year 7s have been back at school now for a week after their 2 week isolation. Despite the uncertainty of school at the moment and ever changing environment, they were happy to be back in the crew room and I was ecstatic to see them.

This week on Wise Wednesday, we took a chance to regroup and remember what it means to be crew. When everything around us feels so crazy and fast, we need to come back to crew. Crew isn’t just the 45 minutes in the morning before lessons begin, crew is the school, it’s what we always come back to. As beautifully put by Louie, crew is like a family. We had some lovely reflections from various crew members about how they plan to be more crew in every aspect of school because in the end, if we get crew right, we get everything right.

One way that we can be more crew is by showing the HOWLs in every aspect of our learning. The HOWLs are our Habits of Work and Learning (Work Hard, Get Smart and Be Kind). Students are marked (out of 4.5) by their teachers and myself as to how they are showing their HOWLs at school. I am so pleased with the progress crew JRI as their HOWLs marks came back generally fantastic! I am so proud of this crew!

As my finishing segment, I just wanted to sing my crew’s praises a little bit more… I was passing through the sports hall on Friday when something caught my attention. It was Crew JRI working as a brilliant team in Mat Ball! When stopping to watch, I could see Poppy and Olivia trying to throw balls to the other side of the pitch where the rest of the crew were trying to catch them so that the person who threw it could join them. I was in awe as I watched them encourage each other and persist until eventually… they won! It truly is amazing what crew can do! I think the action shots below show some of the excitement!

We have come a very long way as a crew from day 1 but it is all movement in the right direction. We are brilliant, we are a team, we are crew!

It’s been an interesting start to the term for our Year 7s in XP East but Crew JRI have taken it all in their stride. After only 2 days back at school after the holidays, everything was shaken up again and 2 weeks of home learning began. I am constantly amazed by the adaptability of our students to be able to thrive in every setting and remain positive and enthusiastic!

During this time of virtual home learning, we have had to get creative with lessons and crew sessions! This has included a lot of problem solving with how to use new apps and remembering to mute our microphones! This requires much integrity. But what has been fantastic to see is the willingness to help each other with the tricky issues which technology can bring. Louie has been especially helpful, sharing his screen to help his crew mates access the apps we have been using!

On Remembrance Day, we talked about what remembrance means to us. A few crew members showed a lot of courage by speaking about family members who have fought for the country both during wars in the past and more recently. This year especially, remembrance has even more importance. With the global pandemic causing big shifts in the NHS and other public sectors, we took a chance to remember and thank those brave key workers who have been on the front line, making sacrifices for us. See below some of the notes that Amelia, Nikodem and Louie wrote on Padlet about this topic.

We also have taken some time to discuss the importance of mental health, especially when working from home. The crew were fantastic at discussing this topic with great maturity. They shared some fantastic advice on how to manage mental health which can be seen below:

Louie: Be kind to everyone, give what you would like to receive. Don’t be scared to tell people if you aren’t feeling the best

Liam: Be friendly and be kind despite the conditions

Holly: Take more take for yourself

Lukas: It is scientifically proven that exercising helps

Amelia: Go for a walk and get some fresh air. Check up on each other.

Poppy: Open up to people

I’m looking forward to being together again for crew on Tuesday!

Until then 🙂

As another week draws steadily to a close, its really beginning to feel like our new year 7s have been at school forever (can’t believe it’s only been 5 weeks!) It has been fab to walk around lessons to see members of the crew working hard, getting smart and being kind.

In crew sessions lately we have been focussing on the topics of friendship and bullying, two very important topics for XP East and XP School. As a crew, we took some time to really look deeply into what makes a good and fulfilling friendship and I am very pleased that these kinds of friendships are already beginning to bloom beautifully as our time in school continues. Especially in times such as these, meaningful friendships are more important than ever. We also spoke about the tricky issue of Bullying and how this can affect peoples school lives. Everyone in crew was very supportive to each other about this topic which was fab to see, it was lovely to see such maturity when discussing such a serious issue. Shouts to Poppy and Amelia who gave fantastic contributions to the discussion

A particular highlight from the last two weeks was when Holly performed her song about 2020 for us (lyrics attached). Her voice was lovely and the words had brilliant meaning. I see a new star on the horizon!

I am enjoying seeing so much talent arising in our crew and I hope there will be more to share soon!

Wow! What a whirl wind these first few weeks have been!

Despite the long and confusing break, Crew JRI have hit the ground running and are all settling into school successfully. I have been so impressed with their maturity and readiness to start school, which is credit to them but also to their fabulous parents and guardians!

The first day seems a long time ago now but it was a fantastic chance to get to know each other and our new school. As a new member of the school myself, I knew how daunting it must be for the year 7s, but we soon settled into crew by playing games and having a good laugh. We tested teamwork by attempting to make bridges out of paper, shoutout to Louie, Lily H, Liam and Holly who Showed amazing craftsmanship and quality by making a bridge that could hold 10 pens AND 4 books!

In our crew sessions over these weeks, we have been talking about identity, diversity and the importance of accepting each other’s differences. We have had a chance to share and brainstorm all the ways in which we are different and most importantly, how we can support each other as a crew despite these differences! Some of us are sporty (Lukas and Olivia), some of us speak different languages (Nic), some of us are tech wizards (Ethan and Louie) and this is just to name a few! We have a wonderfully diverse crew!

I am so enjoying getting to know Crew JRI and I am excited to see the fantastic things this year has in store for us!

J Ridout 🙂