Students in Year 10 took part in a wonderful visit to the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds yesterday. The purpose of Immersion is exactly that; to immerse students into the subject content that they will be exploring throughout this expedition. Going on fieldwork is just one of the ways we build curiosity and give students a visceral experience to get them to begin making connections between different subjects and the real world.
In this visit we were given a guided tour of the WW2 ‘Firefight’ exhibition and a handling session based on the theme of choice where students were able to hold and explore different weapons and artefacts from both WW1 and WW2.
Our students conduct and attitude to learning was exemplary and they really did our school proud. Well done, Year 10. Let’s see what comes next…
New College Doncaster were invited to speak to XP East students today as part of their careers programme.
Scott Faulkner, Assistant Principal gave a presentation to E24 in advance of a taster day they will be attending on the 27th September (postponed from July). Students were asked to choose 3 options for the taster day which will be submitted to the college next week after looking at the prospectus they were given.
XP East is the first school to receive this talk and Scott made it clear to students that they should visit and research all local Post 16 provision so they could make an informed choice.
There is an open day on 16th October where students can have a look around and speak to staff and students. Both myself and Scott advised E24 students to apply to several colleges/schools or apprenticeships in their educational journey to Further Education and to be fully aware of the results needed to get there.
As Careers Lead I am also actively engaged in working with other local post 16 providers to ensure the best outcomes for our students.
Today was a timely reintroduction to the purpose of working hard this year as our new year 11s are preparing their road maps to success in their GCSEs and beyond. It has been wonderful this week to listen to the enthusiasm and determination of our young people as they start their last year with XP East. My role will be to support them by giving them the opportunity to make informed decisions for the best outcomes possible.
First of all I would like to say how great it has been to be back with crew this week. We have all pulled together and helped each other so much. We were missing a key member of our crew this week as Miss Johnson has been unwell and we wish her a speedy recovery.
The first day back we completed crew challenges against crew Frank, this became quite competitive but we had lots of laughs. Challenges included, magic carpet riding, tennis ball dropping (with your knees), lid moving (no hands), tea bag throwing, balloon and cup game, jigsaw puzzle races, skittle sorting and finding the kings in a deck of cards. I’m sure crew will love filling you in on the ins and outs of these challenges, if they haven’t already.
During the afternoon we held joint crew dodgeball and corner ball competitions where we were teamed up with crew Mercury. There were some brilliant shows of integrity by those who were out and we ended the day by circling up and sharing apologies, appreciations and stands.
For our second day we went caving and abseiling. This was something that I know some crew members and myself were feeling very apprehensive about but we threw on our waterproofs and headed to the caves. We ended up having a blast and really showed how well we work as a crew by encouraging and supporting each other. We were especially proud of Lily as she decided at the last minute to give caving ago, the smiles on everyone’s faces when she came through the cave entrance was priceless!
After a short coach ride we arrived near the bridge on the Monsal Trail. When we saw the bridge it dawned upon us how extremely high it was and that after around 6 foot the wall of the bridge disappeared, as this was then the arch. This is where most of the panic started to show and that was just from me! There were some who decided they really did not want to complete the abseil but they were a massive support to others by cheering them in and greeting them at the bottom. Layton did well by unhooking everyone’s buckles when they reached the bottom ready to send back up to our guides. Those who did complete the abseil said that they felt a great sense of achievement and I had to agree with them!
Day three was our ‘solo’. For this we walked to Potteric Carr nature reserve and students were given a space and time where they could go through their journal and also reflect on the week and generally themselves. The majority coped with this really well and it was lovely to see them in deep thought.
In the afternoon as a crew we made a presentation of our week and answered our guiding question which was ‘What does it mean to be ‘crew’?’ This was presented as a product of learning on the stairs at XP east. Each person in the crew contributed by either adding information to the slides, photos, spelling and grammar, arranging the layout or presenting. It was lovely to finally have some parents and guardians be able to join us for this.
Although I am extremely tired as I’m sure the rest of the crew are after this fun packed week, I am looking forward to what this year holds for us.
I can’t quite believe that we’re ready to begin the final chapter of our Crew Finch adventure. I’m sure this chapter will include many more exhilarating twists and turns as we step onto the final road of this epic journey, overcoming obstacles and celebrating triumphs, which will ultimately lead Crew to GCSE success. We’ll end as we started: Together (I do love a happy ending!)
We’ve spent our first few days together regrouping and refocusing on Crew. We’ve had some to time to reflect on our Y10 results and map out what our Y11 learning journey will look like. This hasn’t been a solo activity; we know we can’t get there without the support Crew so we’ve been focussing on our Guiding Question:
How can we can everyone to the top of their mountain?
This generated a very mature and compassionate discussion about how everyone’s journey to the summit will look and feel different, but we need to respect each other’s journey and be on hand to support those who need it and respectfully challenge those who may be holding others (or themselves!) back. Crew have also created some amazing learning journey maps, which I will share with you next week.
We also had some time in sports hall playing dodgeball and even snuck in a bit of yoga! And can you spot our new crew pet?? (I’ve pledged to buy a souvenir from every place we visit together this year and will raffle them off at the end of the year!)
On Tuesday we travelled to Flamborough Head, where we hiked from North Landing to South Landing. This featured as the highlight of the week for most of us, especially as we were lucky enough to spot a cove full of seals! We reminisced about some of our other hikes and Malham Cove is still a firm favourite!
The nicest thing about this week for me has got to be the fact that it’s “business as usual” at school (albeit with some extra precautions in place). It’s been absolute joy to see different year groups mixing at break times. Y11s talking to our new Y7s at break times. Lots of excited chatter and activity around the school. What a buzz!
I’m also excited that we can start having parents back into school and I can’t wait to see you all soon at our first face-to-face SLCs for a while! I’ll contact you all soon with more details and other key dates for your diaries.
As this academic year ends, we’re already looking forward to our first week back!
School starts again on Wednesday 1st September when we will be embarking on a week of Crew. Please take a look at the outline for the week so that students are fully prepared for each day.
Wednesday:
Students will be in school all day (normal school hours). They will require their usual equipment (pen, pencil, ruler and device). Sensible footwear is required. School dinners will be provided as usual.
Thursday:
Students will need to be at school for 8am as they will be out of school on crew activities. Students will need a backpack with a packed lunch (provided for students on FSM), a bottle of water, hiking boots and waterproofs. Please check the kit list for further details of the required clothing. Please can students come to school in trainers, not their walking boots. We are expected to be back at school between 4.30pm and 5.00pm.
Friday:
Students will be out of school today for the morning (normal school hours). They should wear the same clothes as required for Thursday (please refer to the kit list) and bring their bags and equipment (including their device). Sensible shoes and waterproofs will be needed so please make sure that students bring these, too.
Students will also need a packed lunch and a bottle of water (provided for students on FSM).
*We have been advised that students wear and bring insect repellent for our morning fieldwork.
Please refer to these important docs and ensure you and your child are familiar with them.
We are super excited to be taking C24 out on fieldwork on Thursday, 1st July.
We have arranged to take the whole of Y10 to Shrewsbury Prison, to support our final expedition of the year: Karma Police – have we got justice right?
Shrewsbury Prison was decommissioned in 2013 and now provides an “interactive prison experience” for visitors. It was also recently used as the location for BBC’s drama ‘Time’, which gave a harrowing picture of prison life.
We’re not giving too much away about the activities we’ve got planned for students, but we promise not to leave any of them locked in the cells 😉
We are booked in at the prison at 9.30am meaning that we do have to set off between 6.45am-7am at the latest. If this is a problem for anyone, please let your Crew Leader know as soon as possible.
We will be leaving the prison at approx 1pm, so hope to be back at school between 3.30-4pm, traffic dependant. We will update socials on the day.
Please make sure students wear comfortable clothes and take a jacket as it can become cold in the prison and sensible shoes. Students will also need a packed lunch and sufficient water for the day. Please don’t pack any products containing nuts in packed lunches as we are a nut-free school! If your child is in receipt of free school meals, a packed lunch will be provided for them.
By Katie Haughey24th June 2021
We’ve waved goodbye to Crew Turing’s 15th member, Miss Narey, the fantastic trainee teacher who has been supporting as well as leading crew sessions the past few months. To celebrate her successes in passing her training year, we had a slightly early afternoon tea with scones. We wish her the best at Armthorpe and look forward to hearing from her through friends of my crew who attend the school.
Thanks to the girls in my crew for cracking a smile for the selfie!
Torran’s student led crew session
During half term, I received an email highlighting the incredible work Torran undertook during the break, supporting his family and local football team by supporting the coaching of the under 12s. I was inspired by his leadership and wanted to try and reboot something with my crew that we’ve not done in a long time!
I’ve got a big appreciation for Torran for hosting our first student led crew of the year. I’ve asked all of my crew to think up an activity that we can do in the remaining weeks, considering the purpose of what we do and how we can build our character doing these activities, as well as develop their leadership skills. Torran requested to lead a football skills and game crew session to help our sports day efforts. I’ve also challenged the rest of crew to come up with a session to run with us.
I’ve also added some footage of our crew stewardship duties to the video below, we spent a Friday afternoon litter picking and managed to fill two bin bags.
Pride
Miss Jones shared a really comprehensive set of resources on why we celebrate Pride, we have spent some crew sessions this month celebrating and learning about the month. Our crew is named after Alan Turing, who was persecuted for being gay which ultimately led to his suicide. We created a water painting mural to decorate our crew wall with, every crew member getting to add background rainbow colours to the image.
Here’s our final product!
Crew mile
This week, we have teamed up with other schools in the trust to run a mile to support Ray Mathews who has worked a lot with Norton Junior/ infant school raising money for charities through running. Ray is 80 this year and he would like the school to run 80 miles to help support the charity Age UK.
We did our 4 laps round both schools on Thursday this week and it was glorious! I am going to donate the money we raised to Age UK.
Just 4 weeks to go until we break up for summer, we’ve got some exciting work in the pipeline that will be ready for sports day that I look forward to sharing with you!
As a Crew the HOWLs grades we collectively needed to work on were in Spanish. We discussed in Crew why we thought this was and we established that many were not as confident to offer answers in these sessions because they were unsure of pronunciations of words. So in true Crew spirit we decided that we would practice Spanish together via the website linguascope. in Crew, Miss Johnson and Mrs Barnes included! Our first go at this was great fun and we look forward to improving with this and building everyone’s confidence, hopefully resulting in an increase in HOWLs grades and becoming Spanish masters (maestras/maestros de Español).
We have also been looking into which local charity we would like to support. Crew Rowling selected Big C Little Warrior which is a Doncaster based charity that works in hospitals, homes and hospices in the surrounding area providing free beauty and grooming treatments to anyone undergoing treatment for cancer. We thought this linked with our drive to encourage confidence. During our sessions we are looking at possible ways of fundraising for the charity and we can’t wait to get started!
We look forward to keeping you all up to speed with our Spanish and fundraising efforts.
UV rays are most intense from 10 AM to 4 PM, and this is when students are usually outside for break, lunch and Physical Education. XP offers the following recommendations for keeping students sun-safe during the spring/summer months:
Clothing is the single most effective form of sun protection for the body, so send kids to school in densely woven and bright-coloured fabrics, which offer the best defence. The more skin you cover, the better, so choose long sleeves and long pants whenever possible.
Send children to school with a wide-brimmed hat and UV-blocking sunglasses, to protect their face, neck and eyes. If they won’t wear a wide-brimmed hat, a baseball cap is better than nothing.
Make sunscreen part of the morning routine: At least 30 minutes before children go outside, parents should apply a broad spectrum (UVA/UVB) sunscreen with an SPF 30 or higher to their skin. Older children should learn to apply sunscreen themselves and make it a routine habit. To remain effective, sunscreen should be reapplied every two hours or immediately after swimming or sweating. At a minimum, remind children to reapply sunscreen before outdoor activities.
One ounce of sunscreen (about the size of a golf ball) should be applied to the entire body. Remind children to cover those easy to miss spots, such as the back of ears and neck, as well as the tops of the feet and hands.
You should also note that windy, warm, and sunny days can increase levels of pollen turnout.
If you’ve ever suffered from a snotty nose, watery eyes, or itchiness, then you know exactly how annoying allergy season is for many – especially when it’s finally warm enough to enjoy the outdoors again.
Allergies can be especially frustrating in a year like 2021, when most people have been limited to the confines of their homes for months on end. Plus, thanks to climate change, it turns out that people’s allergies are actually getting worse over time. Temperature increases lead to more pollen production, which can be a major irritant for those with respiratory issues like asthma. This might be the longest, most intense allergy season yet.
But knowing when exactly allergy season will start this year, and how to prep your body for any allergen invaders, will help you fight back. To get specific information around this, Pollen.com has a National Allergy Map that provides an up-to-date allergy forecast in different areas around the country and an Allergy Alert app that gives five-day forecasts with in-depth information on specific allergens.
Allergists recommend you start taking medication a couple of weeks before the allergy season arrives, or at the latest, take them the moment you begin having symptoms. Taking them early can stop an immune system freak-out before it happens, lessening the severity of symptoms.
If your child requires hay fever medication, please ensure you fill in a medical form and hand their medication to a staff member at reception. We must not have medication in students’ bags.
Finally, we are allowed to go on fieldwork! We have managed to squeeze one in before the end of term!!
We are currently doing the expedition “Call the cops”, looking at crime and punishment through time. We will be looking at the introductions of police and prisons, having already looked at crime and how it was dealt with before this!
In order to support our work for the introductions and developments of our system, we have arranged fieldwork to Shrewsbury Prison. The prison was closed in 2013 and is used for educational purposes now, so rest assured students will not be walking around a working prison with inmates.
The students will take part in being booked in as prisoners, shown around, then participate in an escape room activity! It is an amazing experience and will be extremely beneficial to the expedition!
We will be leaving school at 7:30am on Wednesday 16th June in order to arrive at Shrewsbury for 10:30. We are leaving the prison at 14:00 with the hope of arriving back at school between 16:30 – 17:00. This will be a long day for the students, but I am sure they will love it! Please make sure students wear comfortable clothes and take a jacket as it can become cold in the prison and sensible shoes. Students will also need a packed lunch and sufficient water for the day. Please don’t pack any products containing nuts in packed lunches as we are a nut-free school!
Any questions please feel free to email me on [email protected] or your child’s crew leader!
