Crew Turing’s Time at the Spa!

For the past week, Crew Turing have focused on personal wellbeing – we’ve been exploring how to make sure we practice some self-care during the stressful GCSE exams that are coming up!

One way we chose to de-stress as a crew was by running a ‘spa morning’. We kept some humour in it, though, by choosing funny face masks! We also welcomed Jay into crew who will join us for this week!

Lewis seemed to really enjoy the cucumber slices… and I’ve never heard a better “disgusting” than when Dylan put his hands in the moisturising gloves! A big thanks to Mrs Parker for providing smoothies, too!

What a lovely crew morning!

Year 11 Extended Study Support Sessions

Dear Families of students in Year 11,

Further to the Spring Newsletter which you will have received earlier in the year, please find the attached letter which details some additions to our current offer of Extended Study and study support. This will come into effect fully after next weeks mock exams and leading up to the start of the summer GCSE examinations which begin during the next half term.

Best wishes,

Mr Voltaire

Y11 – D6 is on this week!

Our Saturday provision, D6, is still on this week despite the staff days today and Monday!

XP East School will be open from 9:30 – 12pm! Our student coaches (ex year 11s!) are in attendance to support with revision techniques, practice questions, or any content you need support with. Alternatively, you are more than welcome to just come and use the space to study independently!

We had a good turnout of students last week who enjoyed their morning and gained lots from it.

We hope to see you here in the morning! 🙂

Crew Anoa’i: One Week To Go!

We only have one week left and that’s the first half term done! Again, Crew Anoa’i have had another good week in crew, creating a great atmosphere to be in.

To start the week, Crew Anoa’i began colouring their own Mandalas. A geometric configuration of symbols that are commonly used by tantric Buddhists as an aid for meditation. There were some beautiful designs and choices of colour used. Once finished, our goal is to place them on our crew wall to add a pop of colour to the room. 

On Tuesday, some of us went over to XP to discuss Work Experience and our list of ‘to do’s to ensure we are all ready before next Monday. The rest of us completed our forms for Work Experience and then started to create some flash cards for a subject of our choice. 

Wednesday, our team building activity day! This week we were joined by Crew Ali and some of Crew Parkinson. We went outside to complete a variety of activities, some required teamwork and some required early morning brain power. This was my highlight of the week, seeing other crews join us and having some fun. What a great morning!

On Thursday, Crew Anoa’i composed our weekly appreciations, reflecting on the week we’ve had. We then moved on to some self study, allowing us all to focus on our own topics.

On Friday, we cleaned our crew room, ensuring it was spotless before we left for session. Everyone counted their class pack item and added any missing equipment to the list, as we like to keep our crew room neat and tidy every day for others to use. Crew Anoa’i take pride in being great stewards of our school. 

One week to go. Let’s keep going!

 – Miss Mitchell

#7DaysLeft

Crew Anoa’i: Another Great Week!

Although it was a short week, with only three days for us to continue improving our awesomeness, Crew Anoa’i have managed to bag another great week.

On Tuesday, Crew Anoa’i completed some Maths revision, where we looked at a previous Foundation paper. This made us think about all the work we have done in the past few years at XP East. We then marked our work and set personal targets to work towards.

On Wednesday, instead of going outside to take part in our weekly team building activities, we stayed inside and continued our seasonal colouring whilst having a lovely crew discussion. It was great to spend time with everyone in a calm environment, it was definitely needed.

On Thursday, Crew Anoa’i looked at their student pledges once again but in more detail. We then helped one another to improve them further, ensuring everyone had two detailed pledges. We also wrote our appreciations for the week.

I’m loving crew at the moment. We seem to have settled this year, allowing me to deliver a wide variety of activities each morning. Enjoy your long weekend Crew Anoa’i, see you on Tuesday!

 – Miss Mitchell

#ShortButSweet



Getting smart(er) in our history learning labs

Absolutely fantastic turnout at tonight’s after-school history revision sessions. Great to see Y11 so committed to their learning and already thinking ahead to GCSEs. Creating good study habits now is absolutely crucial.

Here’s the full timetable of learning labs/revision sessions.

Our Saturday morning revision session – D6 – will be back up and running after the October half-term. This will be open to Y10 and Y11.

Mrs Parker

Crew Anoa’i: Weekly Update

Another fantastic week for Crew Anoa’i! I’m seeing such a difference in our crew at the moment. Everyone is attempting tasks in crew time with no hesitation or reluctance. I’m so pleased to see this big change.

On Monday we celebrated Miss Mitchell’s birthday and took on the challenge of learning ‘Origami’, the art of folding paper, often associated with Japanese culture. This activity definitely divided the crew; some struggled to follow the complicated instructions, whilst others were paper-folding magicians! Despite the clear divide, we helped each other follow the instructions, step-by-step, and we all managed to create some origami animals and boats. 

On Tuesday we took some time to revise, looking back at the work we completed last year regarding the Nazis and Hitler’s rise to power. As you can see, everyone got stuck in, sparking some great discussions around the contrasting nature of Nazi Rule in Eastern and Western Europe.

Wednesday was great fun! We went outside again to take part in some team building activities, including: Silent Line Up, Jump In Jump Out and River Crossing. These activities got our brains working, in particular Jump In Jump Out. We had a good laugh with this one, as this activity tested everyone’s coordination. What a great way to start a day!

On Thursday, we looked at the praise log whilst composing our weekly appreciations. We then completed our student pledges, thinking about what we need to work on this term. 

And on Friday, we had our whole school community meeting, where the Attendance League was reintroduced. After one week, Crew Anoa’i are joint 15th with 12 points. I’m not going to lie, it’s not an amazing start, but we can improve on this and we will. This is something we will be working on this term, as the winning crew receives £50 as their prize! 

We’ve got this Crew Anoa’i, let’s win that money!

 – Miss Mitchell

#GotThis



Praise for 11 Pioneer History

Year 11 have been thrown straight back into it in history – we’ve started our new history unit ‘The People’s Health’ that is a thematic study focusing on how factors such as beliefs, technology, government, wealth and poverty impacted public health from 1250-present day. I’ve been so impressed with Pioneer – particularly in our lessons this week as they have been so focused and motivated to do well. It seems like everyone has their eye on the end of the year and there is definitely an atmosphere of determination and motivation to do well – I’m pleased that they are taking everything in their stride whether it is the mountain of content and knowledge they need to learn or practising their exam technique each lesson, it is all attacked with hard work and a maturity that seems to have developed over the summer.

It’s been wonderful to watch your personalities and academic skills grow over the years since our first lessons in year 7 and I’m sure all this hard work will pay off – and yes Charlie, I may still have my Miss Battle-Axe moments, you’ll thank me for them later!

Miss Hickson

Crew Anoa’i: First Full Week Complete!

After a great start last week, Crew Anoa’i have continued to amaze me this week. I’ve  heard nothing but praise for our Year 11s. Crew Anoa’i have had another fantastic week! 

On Monday we took some time to relax and enjoy some seasonal colouring. On Tuesday we completed our ‘to do’ list full of little jobs, ensuring we were ready for the week ahead. 

Wednesday was a great morning! Despite some grey clouds hanging over our heads, we went outside to take part in some team building activities, including: The Human Knot, Crossing The Line and Buzz Off. We even had a few members of Crew Turing join us. It was amazing to see everyone getting involved and having a good laugh with each other. Thank you for joining us Callum, Ralph, Lewis and Tyler!

On Thursday, we had our first Year 11 community meeting where we shared our appreciations with each other. And on Friday, we had our first whole school community meeting, the perfect opportunity to share more appreciations. 

A special shout out to Jacob Sutton for his hard work this week. He has started Year 11 with such determination and a fire to succeed. I’m so pleased to hear so many positive comments around his work ethic and contributions in sessions. Keep up the good work, Jacob!

Crew Anoa’i are smashing it so far, let’s keep going. Here’s to next week!

 – Miss Mitchell

#SmashingIt