Crew Rowling’s XPionage

Over the past couple of weeks E26 have been tasked with a secret mission. Their mission was to collect information on a member of their class (pioneer or explorer) and to produce a positive statement about them which would remain anonymous. The aim of this was to reboot crew after the Christmas holidays.

Here is what the secret spies observed…

‘Logan has worked really hard throughout the week in all sessions. Mainly quietly getting on with his work, showing respect, and occasionally helping people who are stuck on the work, showing compassion. In Art especially, he shows Craftsmanship and Quality in all areas of the work and his book.’

‘Lydia worked well in HUMS lessons on Wednesday, she always gets on with her work and is good at partner work. Even though she may be quiet she is always ready if anyone else needs help.’

‘Lily worked hard in all sessions this week. During the week, she has had an excellent work ethic and worked hard. She got most, if not all, work done and to a high degree. I believe this is a great start to the term and the year of 2022.’

‘Harvey has shown respect to everyone and he is not scared to tell you if you did something wrong he is always there to help people. For example, today he helped clean the classroom after doing art and he always has got time to play a game of chess with anyone during break and sometimes lunch.’

‘Ben has worked incredibly hard during these couple of weeks, without particularly being noticed for it. In HUMs, Ben created some beautiful work regarding annotating texts. During active lunch, Ben worked very hard in Dodge-ball, and did very well. And of course, Ben always works hard and always creates great work!’

‘Thomas has worked very hard in maths this week. He has also been very attentive in lessons such as Spanish and HUMS. In Maths, Thomas has shown compassion as he was helping others once he had finished his own work.’

‘Shawn has worked hard in all lessons this week. In class, Shawn answers a lot of questions, which shows courage. In Maths, he has worked hard and completed the work to get onto and finish the pushing for 4 and above worksheets. In HUMs, he produces a good quality of work, all the time, and is very compassionate as he helps others with their work in lessons such as Spanish where others get confused. Others around him are always laughing, which shows that he is a great person to be around.’

‘Cerrina has been helpful in Crew. She always has my back and tries to help me. She participates in most sessions and is kind.’

‘Charlotte has knuckled down in passage and has been asking older years to help her with it. In maths I feel she has also been working really hard with our new teacher Mr Hamilton, she’s working really hard with getting on with her GCSE work.’

‘Rhys has been trying harder in lessons to get the work done as every time i look up he has been having his head down. I haven’t heard anything negative about Rhys’ behaviour in sessions which is amazing and an outstanding improvement.’

‘Faith has worked really hard by writing a lot of notes down when told to .She has also been really respectful in most sessions by always listening to the person who is speaking. Faith has shown craftsmanship and quality by keeping her book neat.’

‘Layton worked really hard in HUMs this week. We were learning about diseases in the past and he ‘got smart’ by asking questions and talking to his partner, Robert. In art, Layton showed craftsmanship and quality by keeping his art book and work tidy. In PE, Layton showed respect by listening and following instructions.’

It has been great to see all of the positive comments for each person.

I also wanted to congratulate Faith and Harvey on successfully gaining places on the Doncaster Youth Council where they will be representing XP and XPE. I am very proud that 3 out of the 5 candidates were from our crew, they all did a great job!

Mrs Barnes and Miss Johnson

Busy morning at D6!

Absolutely fantastic to see so many Y11s here at D6 this morning, especially as it meant dragging themselves out of their warm and cosy beds on such a cold and frosty Saturday morning!

We’ve got about 20 students here either undertaking independent study or taking advantage of the support on offer from our Student Coaches to produce some high quality revision notes.

Some of the boys have even snuck in a game of chess during a ‘brain break’ – still developing their mathematical and critical thinking skills 😉

D6 runs every Saturday morning during term time, 9am-12.30pm, over at XP. East. It is open to all Y10 and Y11 students.

Working hard and getting smart – that’s what we like to see!

Keep up the fantastic work, Y11, we’re so proud of you!f

Mrs Parker & Miss Cocliff x

Y11 Learn2Earn revision rewards

Today we launched our Learn2Earn Revision Rewards scheme to Y11 as a way of recognising the hard work and commitment of those students who are attending our lunchtime and after-school GCSE revision sessions (and perhaps encourage some of our other students to attend, too!)

So, what is Learn2Earn?

  • A rewards ‘loyalty’ scheme for revision – the more sessions students attend, the more points they earn! 
  • After 5 sessions, students receive a small ‘reward’…
  • After 10 sessions, students receive a medium ‘reward’…

All completed cards will be entered into a ‘big CREW reward’ prize draw – so the more crew participate in sessions, the more chance their crew have of winning the bigger prize at the end of Y11!

Y11 students working hard in one of our lunchtime History revisions sessions.

Here is our current revision timetable. Please note this is currently under review and we’ll be adding more sessions soon:

Don’t forget that Y11 – and Y10 – students can also attend D6 on a Saturday morning, from 9am – 12:30pm, which is back up and running this weekend (15th January). D6 provides students with a relaxed and informal study space working alongside our expert Student Coaches. We are expecting these to get busier as GCSEs get closer (16th May – 24th June.)

How far we’ll go!!

We hope you have had a lovely Christmas and New Year.

You may remember that as a crew we were fundraising to support the local charity, Big C Little Warriors and that Rhys had offered to cut his hair as a way of raising money.

We originally thought that this was going to take place 18th December but Rhys gave us all a huge shock when he came to crew on 17th December and pulled down his hood to reveal his new do!

I’m sure you will all agree that Rhys’ hair looks so good and we wanted to thank everyone for their support in sharing and donating. We have raised an epic £720 in total for Big C Little Warrior! I am in the process of liaising with Big C Little Warrior in order to present this to them.

We will hopefully be able to share more about this soon!

Mrs Barnes and Miss Johnson

Big C Little Warrior

As a way of giving back to others in our community Crew Rowling have chosen to raise money for a local charity called ‘Big C Little Warrior’.

 
Big C Little Warrior was founded in 2019 and specialises in boosting the self esteem and confidence for individuals going through treatment for cancer by offering beauty and grooming treatments. After speaking with Big C Little Warrior they informed us of a new venture that we could support with. This is to raise money towards vouchers that individuals undergoing treatment who have lost their hair, can use towards handmade hats and headbands with hair pieces. Every £50 raised will help go towards one voucher per person.


We brainstormed ideas on how we could raise money and one of our amazingly kind and thoughtful crew members, Rhys has offered to cut his thick shoulder length hair, going for a short back and sides! This is something he felt fitted well with the charity and what the money raised was being used for.


As a crew we feel it is important to give back and support others in out community. The character values and traits that we strive to maintain at XP East are extremely important to us and we hope you will agree this is for an amazing cause!


Crew Rowling would really appreciate a small donation to help our charity and for Rhys’ courage in having his hair cut short.


The proposed date is 18th December for Rhys to have his hair cut so there will be updates to follow this 🙂


We are already doing so well in such a short amount of time but here is the link to donate. 


https://www.gofundme.com/f/raising-money-for-big-c-little-warrior?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1


We want to thank everyone in advance for supporting Big C Little Warrior and Crew Rowling.


Kirsty and Natalie

E24 Active Citizenship Investigation

Despite an intense couple of weeks sitting the first set of Y11 mock exams, E24 haven’t put the learning brakes on and are continuing to work hard across all sessions.

I have been particularly impressed with the focus in Citizenship this week as students prepare their investigation portfolio, which is worth 15% of their final grade.

This part of the qualification focuses on active citizenship and asks students to explore through case studies and by their own actions how citizens are able to try to make a difference to society. Our students have always been encouraged to be activists, starting way back in Y7 with our Stand Up expedition, so researching and producing this investigation portfolio is right up their street!

Here are some of the topics being explored:

  • How can we encourage Society to better accommodate those with hidden disabilities advocate for them?
  • Why do 1 in 4 people in the UK experience a mental health problem each year and as citizens of the UK, how can we fulfil our moral duty to support them?
  • As members of UK society we have a moral duty and a responsibility to protect all living things. How do we ensure that our most vulnerable living creatures are looked after?

The class are already having considered, insightful and mature discussions around their chosen topics not just in their Citizenship lessons, but in Crews too.

Absolutely fantastic, Y11!

D6: business as usual

C24 can breath a huge sigh of relief as the first set of Y11 mocks are almost over (they still have the Spanish Speaking and Art mocks to look forward to!)

However, it’s really important that students keep the momentum going with their revision all through the year, and not just before the next set of mocks (which are scheduled for March).

Click here to view our current enrichment timetable, which includes details of all the all the lunchtime and after school revision sessions available.

We are also encouraging all Y11s to attend D6 on a Saturday morning from 9am-12.30pm each week to access additional support, or just to have a relaxed space for a bit of focussed self-study away from any potential distractions at home.

For those of you who don’t know, D6 is our voluntary sixth day of school which will take place each Saturday during term time. D6 is led by ex-students of XP who are returning to provide our current students with peer to peer academic study support. There will be additional support from our school learning coaches and members of the Leadership Team.  Refreshments will also be provided.

We’re really looking forward to seeing our Y11s at D6 this Saturday!

(Please note that D6 is only open to Y11s at the moment).

1 DAY TO GO C24 & 25 Parents Evening – Post 16 Provision. Wednesday 8th December 2021 at XP East 5.30pm to 7.30pm.

XP & XP East are proud to announce our Post 16 Evening and would like to extend the invitation to parents/carers and students in years 10 & 11 at both schools. FXP have kindly offered to support so refreshments will be available on the night and all funds raised will support our students across both schools. As you will be aware opportunities to attend potential provisions have been difficult to arrange so at XP we decided to invite providers to come and meet our students.

6th form providers have been invited to give a short presentation and will be available with stalls for the rest of the evening to answer any question you may have about their Post 16 provision. We are delighted with the response so far from providers and are looking forward to supporting our students in making informed choices as they come to the end of their XP journey. Please complete the form in the link below if you will be attending.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdEMK2-Gyx2y90anT01mGV31pyVwohWZ1BU2zxmXr9754m23Q/viewform

Launch of C26’s Fight the Power plaque – Friday 3rd December 2:00PM

The Fight the Power final product is being officially launched on Friday 3rd December at 2PM, at Sir Nigel Gresley Square (just outside of CAST).

We’d like to say a massive thank you to parents, carers, and our community for supporting the crowdfunder, and we look forward to launching it with students and those involved with the expedition.

If your son/daughter is in C26 (Year 9) and you would like to attend the event to celebrate its launch with us, please join us – feel free to email [email protected] if you have any questions about the grand reveal.

Y11 ‘down time’!

It’s been a wonderful lunch time today spent with Y11 (and other years!) at Embrace in the library at XPE. Some Y11s were revising in study groups ready for this afternoon’s maths exam, but the highlight for me was seeing Tom, Hollymay, Frida, Mia, Ruby and Eleanor play Twister with students from Y7! [I’m not sure how Mia managed to stand back up, though!!] What a fantastic example of Crew – and a good laugh, too!