What’s new in our Crew?

By D Pearson17th November 2017

Monday 13th Nov – On Monday, we had a shared community meeting for all XP East students. In this community meeting, we discussed who we were proud of for numerous different reasons, such as people persevering through HOWLs (Habits Of Work and Learning) over our half term break. (by Alesha).

Tuesday 14th Nov -Today in Crew, we started by reading a short slideshow, about who you can talk to if you have got a problem. Then the majority of people still had to do the email for our Student Led Conference ,but then some people – the ones that had finished – were asked to do a blog post (by Isabel).

Wednesday 15th Nov – We used the Apple Macs or our own devices in our Crew Room to complete and send off personalised e-mails to invite our parents to the SLCs. (by Mr Pearson).

Thursday 16th Nov – We watched a video-clip of several Y10 students’ Student-Led Conferences, so that we know what to expect for ours. We then divided into two groups – some students paired up and practised delivering their presentations to each other, giving and receiving kind, specific and helpful critique, whilst others word-processed their notes on the Apple Macs (by Mr Pearson).

Friday 17th Nov – Our whole school Community Meeting provides a weekly opportunity to give apologies and pledges, share appreciations and make stands for things that we feel strongly about (by Mr Pearson).

SLC Preparation

By K Poncia17th November 2017

This week our Crew has been working hard preparing for our first SLCs which begin next Monday.  We’ve decided on which pieces of work we want to share and talk about, made notes to help guide and support our discussions and, today, we have practised and critiqued our presentations with others.

We’re now feeling excited about sharing our academic achievements and progress with our parents.  

Alyssa said, “I can’t wait to talk about my learning from the heart”.

 

Crew JSM SLC Prep

By J Smith17th November 2017

Crew JSM this week have been preparing for their student led conference (SLC). After our final session this week, all students are prepared, ready and confident. Crew JSM have all parents booked in and ready to attended. An outstanding comment of the week from Frida C in our last checkin is was ‘I am really confident and just excited to show my parents how hard I have worked’. All the folders are full and ready to be shown, bring on next week!

Crew JSM first week back!

By J Smith9th November 2017

Crew JSM have kicked off the second half term with a series of sessions focused on preparation for their student led conference (SLC). The crew have taken control of blogging their own sessions to let you know a little more about what is going on in crew. 

 

Written by Holly N.

On Monday in crew we did a check-in, with the question ‘what did we enjoy most about our two week holidays and what we did on halloween and bonfire night’. After that, we each got a post-it-note and wrote one of our character traits or howls that we need to focus on this term and identify for our SLC. Then we talked in partners and shared what we had written and discussed strategies of how to improve as a crew.

 
Written by Callie S.

On Tuesday in Crew we have been practising and preparing for our SLC’s (student lead conference). Before the half term break we practised greetings and now we’ve moved onto watching an example of past SLCs. In the video there are people doing the conference and talking to their parents about their work and how to improve and what they’ve done especially well in their portfolio.

 

Written by Chloe T.

On Wednesday in crew we had a check in question of ‘how do we feel about our student led conference’. Some of the crew said they felt excited about the chance to show work, some feel nervous about the challenge. We then worked on our portfolios and jumped on learning targets for improve our work. We focused on bringing all our pieces of work up to the highest standards our craftsmanship and quality.

 

The Japanese Puffer Fish

By Jamie Portman3rd November 2017

I covered Miss Poncia’s Crew this morning, and our check in discussion revolved around ‘stand out moments’ from our expedition so far.

Interestingly, many of the student’s points were related to Case Study 1, and the work that we did on ‘What makes a successful community?’ I was delighted to hear students making comments about some of the more sophisticated aspects of our work, and how much they enjoyed working hard on some of the extended pieces of writing.

We then watched the following video on the Japanese Puffer fish, and Ben B was able to make links to our character value of ‘craftsmanship and quality’.

It’s an amazing piece of footage – check it out for yourself.

The latest from Crew 7DP – Restart-a-Heart training

By D Pearson22nd October 2017

Our Crew member tasked with drafting this week’s blog was absent when it was due to be posted, so I have taken over. Building on our recent CPR course, Crew 7DP have completed further training endorsed by the British Heart Foundation, including another practical “hands on” session on placing casualties in the Recovery Position. We learnt the acronym D.R.A.B., and so in this photo our Crew are checking for Danger to themselves and others when approaching a casualty, looking for a Response before opening the Airway and then checking for Breathing.

We are delighted to report that following this training, part of the BHF’s Restart-a-Heart campaign, our Crew have all received a certificate and wrist band and would know what to do (should they choose to intervene) in the event of a medical emergency. For more info:

https://www.bhf.org.uk/heart-health/how-to-save-a-life/cpr-kits/cpr-training-for-schools/get-involved-on-restart-a-heart-day

 

Reflections

By A Parker21st October 2017

Phew! We’ve made it to our first half-term break – and what a journey it’s been!

You’ll know by now that our crew sessions are an essential part of our day at XP. East. Every morning we crew up for our daily check-in, and this term we’ve mostly been focussing on teamwork, relationships and character building, using our character traits and HoWLS (Habits of Work and Learning) as the foundation.

During our last crew session of the term, we all reflected on how far we’d come since starting at XP. East. What became clear is that I now have twelve very different children to the ones I met when we first crewed up together in Malham… But then again, my crew have a very different Crew Leader now, too.  In the words of Fat Boy Slim (ask your parents, kids!) “We’ve come a long long way together.”

I’ve seen my crew really develop in confidence and find their voices (especially Megan R and Ali M). I’ve seen improvements in behaviour (and we’re getting better at not swinging on our chairs, eh, Bryn W 😉) We spoke about where we feel like we need to work harder to improve and, just like Tom D, I want to improve in STEAM!  Brendan K spoke about how much he’s enjoying HUMANS and, I have to say, that is evident in the quality of work he’s producing.

But it hasn’t always been easy for us. We’ve had some difficult conversations around being kind, building friendships, and appropriate behaviour/language. We’ve had to make apologies and stands. My crew have held each other accountable and publicly challenge the behaviour of their peers (which shows great courage!)

We’ve all had bad days, but we’ve supported one another – just like we did when we had to jump into the freezing cold water at Malham and climb up Jacob’s Ladder at Kingswood. In other words…

We’ve become Crew.

Have a wonderful holiday, stay safe, and I’ll see you all in two weeks.

Mrs Parker

P.S. I pledge to post more crew blogs next term!

What’s New In 7DP Crew? – Restart A Heart (CPR)

By Ella5th October 2017

Today, Crew 7DP learned the simple steps to CPR (Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation). We used an Annie manikin to learn how to do it. We watched a video that was very helpful.  It was a door-opening experience for some as they would like to be a doctor or a paramedic.

We had to interlink our fingers and lean over the manikin, then push the chest until we heard a click. Once we had heard the click, we knew we were doing chest compressions that were hard enough. We then moved on to the mouth-to-mouth technique. We had to put one hand on the forehead, pinching the nose. Then, our mouths had to cover the manikin’s mouth and blow into their mouths so that they have breath in their lungs.

We learned how to do CPR on both an adult and a child so that, if we needed to, we would know what to do. This skill is very important in everyday life in case somebody nearby goes into cardiac arrest. Once we finish our training, we will receive a certificate and a wrist-band from the British Heart Foundation.

For further information on the Restart-a-Heart initiative, and to view the training video that we watched in Crew, please visit:

bhf.org.uk/…/get-involved-on-restart-a-heart-day

https://www.bhf.org.uk/heart-health/how-to-save-a-life/how-to-do-cpr/cpr-training-videos

What happened in Crew 7DPE recently?

By D Pearson1st October 2017

In one of our daily Crew sessions 7DPE explored the concept of “conflict” and Crew members contributed to the discussion of four key questions:

(1) What is conflict?

(2) What causes conflict?

(3) What happens to us when we experience conflict?

(4) How might we defuse or resolve conflict at school?

We considered the global conflict of interests on the Korean Peninsula, the plight of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and contemporary sources of conflict in the local and national news.

We identified the “fight or flight” reflex that sometimes governs our reactions when we experience conflict, and the physiological response to it that cannot always be controlled. 7DPE then discussed how we might defuse or resolve conflict in the school context.