The Key stage 3 Cheerleading squad will be performing their routine at the Nexus Dance show.
Rehearsals are on Friday 24th January 4.15-5.15 (times have changed for pick up) we will arrive back at school at 5.30. This is for students only.
Dance Show Wednesday 29th January 6pm-8pm. Students will leave from school at 4pm. Students will receive 2 tickets for the performance all other tickets can be bought on the door at £3.
If you require anymore information please contact Miss O’Grady
In an attempt to explore the social, moral, spiritual and cultural reasons behind rites of passage practised by communities throughout the world, we spent Crew time this morning studying the Apache and Fulani tribes. It quickly became apparent that Crew Young were largely ignorant of the term “rites of passage” and its significance in E24 Year 9 at XP East.
We watched Dashina, of the Mescalero Apache Tribe, prepare for the trials of womanhood, by enduring four days of ancient tests of strength, endurance, and character before taking her Apache woman name of “morning star feather”. We saw two adolescent boys of the Fulani tribes of Benin, Western Africa engaged in a whipping trial to prove their strength and courage before tribal elders.
We then considered the similarities and differences between these two cultures and made a connection between these rites of passage, and “passage” that is being planned for this term.
It was the French anthropologist and folklorist Arnold van Gennep, who coined the phrase rites of passage in 1909. In 2020 at XP East our students’ preparations for a more academic “passage” are well under way.
It’s fair to say that this week Crew Young have needed reminding of why the XP Trust sign: “above all, compassion” greets them as they enter the school premises. We decided to re-boot our concept of Crew as a result of recent issues involving relationships within our group. Starting with a focus on our character traits – courage, integrity, craftsmanship and quality, respect and compassion – we considered where students have exhibited these in sessions and around school, and, remaining with the latter we contemplated the guiding question: “what do we want compassion to look, feel and sound like in Crew?”.
Following a silent conversation protocol, we collated our ideas:
This is a work in progress, and it’s likely that we’ll need to return to this character trait and develop our ideas further after the Christmas break, but at least for now we’ve started the ball rolling.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Never mind what’s been happening in Westminster, something much more crucial has been going on here as the whole school spent last week finding out more about the different parties, taking part in debates, and casting their own votes in the XP – East General Election (please do have a read of the blog post; it’s ace!)
I have to say, it was one of the best weeks we’ve ever had in Crew with lots of intelligent and well considered discussions and … erm … “lively debates” (arguments?!) about politics and democracy in our country. We really do need to keep young people engaged in these types of conversations. Now more than ever.
A MASSIVE appreciation to Miss Haughey and her A-Level Politics students for organising and facilitating the XPE General Election.
We didn’t have the best start to Crew this week.
I received an email from Mr Pearson telling me that (with the exception of 2 students) Crew Finch hadn’t behaved very well during Friday’s DofE session. They’d been disrespectful to him and to each other. To top it off, other teacher had similar feedback about certain members of Crew. As you can imagine, I was not a happy Crew Leader!
So they spent Monday’s session writing out reflections on what they’d done and how they were going to put things right with Mr Pearson, myself and with each other.
However, what struck me about their reflections is that there was no sense of accountability in any of them and that they were all blaming each other! We had a discussion about this during Tuesday’s Crew session, and it became apparent that Crew are actually a bit fed up with one another at the moment, be it because of general conduct, missing extended study deadline, or not respecting each other during Crew time (talking over people is a major issue in my Crew!)
I thought it was worth regrouping and revisiting what Crew should be, and all it has been to us in the past.
I set up an activity where they had to tell me “just one thing” about Crew, focussing on the following areas:
We used the silent conversation protocol for this – a dialogue using writing rather than speech – meaning that we all had chance to have our ‘voices’ heard.
It was heartwarming to see that Crew is still something special: it makes us feel safe, welcome and not alone.
There were lots of examples of how Crew had helped one another (Aden broke the rules here and added 3 things rather than just the one!)
The ‘What could be improved?’ sheet gave us the chance to reflect on what is going wrong at the moment, and open up discussions on how we are going to fix these issues.
The activity really helped to clear the air and we’ve now got a plan to get back on track. I guess like most relationships, we will have falling outs and annoy each other from time to time, but what matters is that we make the time and space to address the issues and make things right!
An appreciation goes out to Libby for making an apology to Mr Pearson on behalf of Crew Finch during our Y9 community meeting.
As we come to the end of the first term of Y9, Crew Finch took time to reflect on their progress so far and made pledges for next term.
We focussed on three specific areas:
Attendance:
We are tracking attendance because, as our board says, every day at school matters! When we mapped this on the board we soon noticed that our overall attendance needs improvement: only 4 out of 12 Crew members have achieved 100% attendance this term! It was a bit of a wake up call to realise that if you’re around the 96% attendance mark (which sounds quite high) you’ve actually missed 7 days of school per year, which equates to a whopping 35 lessons!
Accelerated reader:
All our students sit STAR Reading tests at the beginning and end of the school year to track progress in reading ability. I’m pleased to report that the latest results shows that all Crew Finch have improved their reading levels. We all know that reading improves comprehension and vocabulary, which in turn helps us to understand texts and write more creatively in other sessions. Well done Crew Finch! We still have one dedicated reading session per week, and Crew will also be helping Y7 students out by listening to them read for 15 minutes a week.
Crew HOWLs:
Crew are assessed on their Crew Habits of Work and Learning. I have shared the data with Crew and they agreed that I have been fair. There are a few students hitting 4.0 across the board, but I have had to take into account those students who let Crew down by consistently not completing extended study, or by not coming to school with the right equipment, or by appearing on the conduct form. This has been reflected in scores.
Our pledges:
So – after all that discussion Crew have set themselves targets for each of these areas for the next term. These range from “I will aim for at least 98% attendance” to “I pledge to read at least 3 books to end without skipping any pages” (!!)
This lot are so focussed so I know that they’ll smash their targets by the end of next term!
On Thursday Crew Finch shared a lovely breakfast together whilst using the time to talk about being kinder. But this session wasn’t about being kinder to others; it was about being kinder to ourselves.
A recent State of the Nation report explored the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people, and indicated that 1 in 5 young people aged between 10-24 years are not happy.
Of course, there are lots of contributing factors towards this, but I thought it would be good to sit with Crew and talk more about what it means to be kind to ourselves, and make them realise that the voice inside our head – i.e. our own self perception – often tells us lies.
I asked Crew to consider this: is it OK to talk to other people the way we often talk to ourselves?
They answered with a unanimous ‘No.’
We ended the session by writing down 3 things we loved about ourselves. We’re going to have these on display for a few days and I’ve asked Crew to add more good things as and when they want to (either more about themselves or about others.)
I also asked Crew to write down a burden – one thing that is making them feel unhappy about themselves at the moment – and these have been passed to me rather than shared, unless they were happy to do so. I’ve pledged to spend a some time with each member of Crew individually over the next week, just to have a quick discussion about their burden. Hopefully it will lighten the load for them and make them understand that it is indeed good to talk: to ourselves and to others!
Check out the Duke of Edinburgh final products for Editing skill session:
Extremely proud as crew leader of both Chris M, Corey A and Alfie for their brilliant editing of our fieldwork to Alton Towers.
Check out the video below on both their own YouTube accounts- remember to like and subscribe!
Chirs M:
Corey A, Alfie
This morning Ella kindly led a Crew session by sharing her experiences, skills and knowledge about being a St. John’s Ambulance Cadet. Although she might have received some sideways looks as she arrived in her official full green overalls, the quality of reflection, delivery of her presentation, and the way that she checked Crew Young’s understanding of her voluntary work with this organisation were all exemplary.
In great appreciation to Ella for volunteering to deliver her session, and to Crew Young for being a quality audience, showing respect, and for their intelligent and thoughtful questions about Ella’s work afterwards.
What a lass!
Let me introduce Aden.
Not only is he part of my Crew, I’m also lucky enough to work with him across all his lessons and have done so since Y7.
When Aden first started, it’s fair to say that he was a very different boy to the one he is today. He won’t mind me telling you that he struggled to manage his frustrations and found it difficult to focus in class. But Crew supported him (even when he didn’t want us to!)
He often found himself getting into trouble and was sometimes removed from his peers to spend time in reflection. But we always welcomed him back into Crew.
During Y8, Aden’s little ‘blips’ became fewer and far between, and by the end of the year, he had improved both his academic grades and his HOWL grades. And Crew celebrated him!
There were a couple of moments today which have made me reflect on Aden’s progress from Y7 to Y9. Simple things which show how far he’s come and how much he’s grown to love learning. For instance, he was so absorbed in reading and making notes on Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ he didn’t even notice me taking his picture. Later on in History, he received a spontaneous round of applause and an entry onto our praise form for the quality of his response when asked to analyse the message behind a source we’re studying. Moments like this got me thinking about his journey from Y7 to where he is today in Y9, about to embark upon his GSCE studies… and it took my breath away!
Last week, I asked Crew how they felt about Y9 so far. Aden said that it was more challenging than Y8, but that he would “knuckle down and try my hardest.”
And he absolutely is!
