Back to school…..again!

We started back, once again, amazingly!

First day we spent a couple of hours in Crew, reflecting on lockdown learning and discussing our anxieties about being back in school in the crazy world of Covid testing! A few of the students in our Crew had attended school throughout lockdown so were able to offer lots of reassurance to those new to the testing process and it was lovely to see them offering each other support and being there for each other NO MATTER WHAT! That’s what crew is about right?

After testing, we came back and had a HoWL’s reset, we made some new pledges and talked about not trying to catch up, but trying to be the best version of ourselves now we are back in school! You can see the boys working together to create their pledges below!

 

This week the students had the pleasure of being introduced to an expert in refugee’s and asylum seekers. Nic Burne runs the conversation club in Doncaster which helps out asylum seekers and refugees and has arranged for some of them to come in to school next week to tell their story which is an amazing opportunity!

You can see all of them listening perfectly and representing XP as the amazing school it is!

 

Have a nice easter guys! Enjoy!

 

 

X27 and E27 and their first art expert!

On Thursday, all our Year 7 students had a hangout with their first art expert.

Their expert was called Derek Robertson who was speaking to our pupils about his ‘Migrations‘ exhibition.

These pieces of artwork that Derek created fitted in perfectly with Y7’s current expedition called ‘Wherever I lay my hat’ where they are answering the guiding question of ‘Is migration worth the risk?’

Our expert was able to give our students information about his experiences when visiting refugee camps around the world and insights into the lives of the people he met.

Mr. Wilmot made loads of notes!

Mrs. Marshall was on fire with the anchor charts.

Miss Hickson was busy making notes on the board.

Manveer and Maisie shared the notes that they wrote during the hangout.

Keegan even recorded the whole hangout as a voice note on his iPad and sent it to me!

I was so impressed with our Year 7’s. They were respectful and inquisitive. They asked some fantastic questions and wrote brilliant notes.

Well done Y7!

We made it!

It’s Been a Long Term!

But wow we made it! We have really dug deep and proven how much we can adapt and overcome anything! I just want to say i am extremely proud of Crew Rashford and everything they have overcome and achieved this term, you truly are an inspiration! 😊 

Crew/session attendance has improved over the last 2 weeks, which is a fantastic achievement soooo…. Well done Crew, you rock! 👏 🎉🥳

It has been a pleasure and privilege to become Crew Leader for Crew Rashford and I believe we have the making of being a fantastic team. I for, one really enjoy our crew sessions especially Friday’s, we have the opportunity to chill and reflect on the week, listen to music, quiz till we cant quiz no more and really get to know each other. I can not wait until we are in school for crew. 

 

⭐️ Stars Of The Term ⭐️ 

⭐️ Keegan – For really working hard on adhering to the online protocols. 

⭐️ Manveer – For being super helpful and helping crew members with hangout links. 

⭐️ Sofiya – For overcoming her worries of coming to school and wonderful note taking.

 

Switch Off & Recharge Time

As a crew we really appreciated and took full advantage of this opportunity to divert our attention away from technology.

Here are some of the activities Crew took part in over the last 2 weeks. 

Online memories 👩‍💻📱 👨‍💻 ✉️

Online learning has been a mix of many emotions, laughter and tears! (oh technology😠)  Laggy/glitchy have got to be thee two most spoken words in 2020/2021 I’m sure of it 😂

Crew have put together some of their most memorable moments of their online learning this term.

Have a lovely, well deserved break! 

Signing off till we return in 2 weeks, enjoy, have fun and i hope the sunshine’s for you all 🌞. 

 

Mrs Watson 😊 Remember to just be you! 

Aaaand Relax..!

We made it!

It’s been a long, tiring term but we are fighting until the finishing bell. There have been ups and downs but needless to say I reckon we are all ready for this 2 week break!

I think everyone will agree this Lockdown has possibly been the hardest on everyone and mental health has been a much talked about topic. In order to help with the mental health of our students, the school launched a Screens Off and Recharge initiative to help combat the screen fatigue!

That said, I wanted to take some time to show off some of the great proof of what our crew has been getting up to during our Screens off and Recharge time over the last 2 weeks of term! We made pillow forts, went on a walk, artwork, did some baking… Just see for yourself…

Looking forward to seeing everyone in one room again but until then… have a fantastic and restful break!!

 

Well done Alfie!

Alfie from our crew has been doing some extracurricular art work I wanted to share with you all! I am always so proud when someone from our crew goes above and beyond! He has been contributing to a project carried out by a care home in Matlby along side the residence and giving everyone involved a reason to smile!

Check out the article published in the Rotherham Gazette!

Keep it up Alfie. Above all, compassion. Always!

#CREWMARX #KINDNESS #COMPASSION

Crew Rashford – Student Led Conference

Crew Rashford absolutely smashed their very first SLC’s, the presentations were very professional and each and everyone of them did themselves proud. It was amazing to see their confidence shine and to really dig deep and manage themselves through the presentation.

We decided it would be beneficial to write a reflective log of the experience, this well help us lay the best foundations for our next round of SLC’s and also remember what it was like the first time around.

These are some of the reflective logs that crew have done so far!

Zak

What went well was i didn’t manage to show my work that i did and struggled with, but without it i think it still went well. (Zak is going to take a photo when he returns to school to show his parents)

It would be even better if i could show my work that i struggled with and the work that i was impressed with.

The experience was very good, i was really really nervous but it went well and i think i did good a job. I was quite scared because i was worried if i messed something up and it would be really awkward for me.

Manveer

What went well – I was very proud of my SLC. I put a lot of Craftsmanship and Quality into my work. The setting of my work and the way it was presented was very organised. I definitely showed my level of understanding. When I first joined the meeting, I had butterflies in my stomach, I was really nervous and scared feeling like something would’ve gone wrong. When I first started talking, all of my nervousness went away and I just started to feel confident which I think is really great!

Even better if – I think it would be even better if I could speak up a little louder, everything was amazing but if I could change one thing, it would be that I could speak a little louder. Concluding it, I think mostly everything went exactly to plan haha!

The experience was overall exciting because I couldn’t wait to show my work to my teachers and it was my first time with an SLC so I didn’t really know what to do.I think if I could change one more thing, I would change my speaking and my voice, I was speak loud but maybe I could speak a little louder. I would like to praise my older sister, Aran because she helped me with my SLC and helped me present it because I was calling on my iPad and my sisters laptop and I felt really. Scared but my sister was there and I felt really calm and relaxed :).

It was a joy to part of the process from start to finish and despite the nerves and the hurdles of being at home, they all did a sterling job.

Hello too!🙂

Hi

Many of you parents/carers may have seen me on the SLC hangout and you should any received an email from myself last week. Apologies if you haven’t. My email address is as follows [email protected], please send me an email and let me know if you haven’t received it.

I am super excited to be part of Crew Rashford and the journey they will take through XP. I hope with your support they can individually and collectively be the best of the best.

Thank you 😊

We Are Crew

The Dog Days are (almost) Over

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 🙂

Final Push!

We are all feeling the pressure at the minute but we are so close to half term I can almost taste it!

On Friday I asked our crew to think about what they are enjoying and what they are struggling with at the minute, it is easy for us to forget how hard it can be for them so this opened up a forum of discussion for us to help each other out and appreciate people for their support!

Lots of people are struggling with tech issues, and the distractions round us at home in general and lots of us opened up about the subjects we are struggling with include Maths, Hums and Science. We discussed as a crew ways around this and how we can help each other out!

On a more positive note we shared the things we are really enjoying some of them being Maths, Science and HUMS. In particular they are enjoying Geography and learning about migration in India. However, it would seem the common enjoyment is coming from Art, Cameron stating “Andy Warhol is an absolute genius”.

We also shared a few appreciations and they are so heartfelt I thought I would share them with you!

Tammy “I appreciate my crew, especially Brooke and Alysia for always helping me out”

Riley “I appreciate Tammy for always sending me invites when I can’t get in to calls”

Alex, Charlotte and Brodie “I appreciate all the teachers and learning coaches for planning lessons and giving us an online education”

Alfie “I appreciate everyone for powering through this tough time”

Kiahna “I appreciate Brooke for helping me out in school”

Arina “I appreciate everyone who made a stand about online learning distortions in chat, it has really helped minimise distractions”

Brooke “I appreciate Max, Cam, Ben, Catherine and Jayden for always helping me in school”

Cam “I appreciate Brooke for helping me out with maths when I struggle”

What a way for us all to stop and think about the things you are grateful for! How amazing are our kids to be able to show such maturity at 11/12 years old and be able to appreciate kindness in others!

Keep up the good work guys #wegotthis #wearecrew

 

 

Reading is Fun!

This week I have decided  to focus upon the reading that we do here at XP and the great work that my Crew are doing.

We have taken our AR reading tests this week and there have been both up’s and downs.

Some of our crew have raised there reading age! . While there is also some who have received a reduced age.

We discussed reasons for this , and they responded with honestly and integrity. Some simply do not enjoy reading and have mentioned that they do not read at all apart from in school.

Some may not have book at all. There are many opportunities to get books.

Where to get books…

  • Students have access to an online library eReader
  • If your child prefers physical books, take a look at this website which has a list of places you can buy books cheaply without having to buy through Amazon
  • Doncaster Libraries are currently offering a click and collect service

Reading is so important and I hope that by working together we can support our crew to develop a lifelong love of reading.

 

On a second notes are some appreciations for my crew.

Well done to Belle , Ed and Lucas for consistently being recognised as hardworking students during this difficult time. You are a credit to the crew.