During this last week of term, Year 8 students have been busy preparing for and delivering their STEAM Presentation of Learning, as well as going on fieldwork to Leeds University where they attended seminars and presented to medical students there.  We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: we don’t wind down at the end of term, we wind up!

However, we took the opportunity in Crew to explore ways in which we could ‘wind down’ a little bit by having a yoga session.  We began with a discussion about why yoga is beneficial.  We are quite a sporty crew – we are a mix of runners, dancers, footballers, MMA fighters, rugby and basketball players! – so we all appreciate the physical benefits of stretching, strengthening and improving our flexibility. However, yoga also helps us to improve our focus and to persevere, as well as encouraging us to practice compassion to others and to ourselves.

We worked through a simple Sun Salutation flow (with a cheeky Warrior pose thrown in for those who wanted a bit more of a challenge!) ending with a 5 minute guided relaxation. We then circled up and discussed how yoga had made us feel.  The boys especially enjoyed it, with Thomas and Mackenzie both commenting that yoga was actually a lot harder than they thought it would be (the grunts and moans I heard from them whilst getting into poses confirmed this!) Aden particularly enjoyed the relaxation at the end, saying that he loved the bit where he was instructed to breathe in peace and relaxation, and breathe out anything that was bothering him. He felt “hypnotised” by the end of it.

We will be doing more yoga and mindfulness activities next term, and I’ve already had a request to do a Warrior sequence – seems to be a favourite pose!

In a nod to Valentine’s Day, we have spent the week sharing some love!

On Monday, we had a “speed dating session” to find out more about each other.  Crew were set the challenge to find out more about each other in 45 second intervals, including what their favourite book was, what they were most proud of, and what advice they would give to someone to make them feel happier, reporting back to us all at the end of the session.

On Tuesday, we had a bit of a “self love” session, so we all had to think about what made us unique and special.  We’ve created a lovely display of peacocks, and I hope Crew will refer back to these when they feel like they need a bit of a confidence boost.

Thursday was all about sharing the love, so we made these little appreciation cards to hand out to friends or family.  I was particularly touched to receive my own little Valentine’s Day gift and message from Crew – they know the way to my heart is *always* through chocolate!

What a lovely way to spend the week, but we need to remember that showing appreciation to others and being kind to other people (and ourselves!) is not just for Valentine’s Day – it’s for life!

Much love from Crew Finch x

We have ended the week by asking each other the question: “How ‘Crew’ have you been this week?”

This gave us chance to reflect on our behaviours and learning, and reinforce the notion that, as Crew, we have a collective responsibility towards achieving our HOWLs and character values.

Thomas and Noah reported that they had been crew by continuing to work hard in sessions, and completing their homework on time.  I have to say, I am extremely impressed with both these boys at the moment, who are not only work extremely hard in class, but consistently show respect and compassion to their fellow students.  Keep it up!

Others admitted that they hadn’t been 100% crew this week, and felt that they could do more next week, particularly around getting smarter.  Aden pledged to do his homework after a disappointing week, with the rest of the Crew offering to support him with this – now that’s Crew!