For the past week, Crew Turing have focused on personal wellbeing – we’ve been exploring how to make sure we practice some self-care during the stressful GCSE exams that are coming up!
One way we chose to de-stress as a crew was by running a ‘spa morning’. We kept some humour in it, though, by choosing funny face masks! We also welcomed Jay into crew who will join us for this week!
Lewis seemed to really enjoy the cucumber slices… and I’ve never heard a better “disgusting” than when Dylan put his hands in the moisturising gloves! A big thanks to Mrs Parker for providing smoothies, too!
We’ve kicked off the new term with Y11 students heading straight into their Art exam. Next week, Spanish students have their Speaking exam, and we then begin the final countdown to the full GCSE exam window.
We are going to keep you up to date with all our important information/reminders/messages leading up to the exams by publishing our weekly ‘what’s on our plate’ (WOOP) briefing. This is shared with students during Monday’s Crew session.
Further to the Spring Newsletter which you will have received earlier in the year, please find the attached letter which details some additions to our current offer of Extended Study and study support. This will come into effect fully after next weeks mock exams and leading up to the start of the summer GCSE examinations which begin during the next half term.
We would like to appreciate everyone who came to our GCSE Support evening. We hope you found the information useful and that you and your son/daughter feel more confident about where and how to access revision support for each subject.
We know there was a lot of information to take in on the night so we have attached the presentation for you to go through again in your own time.
As mentioned at the evening, the GCSE Revision Support website is now live with subject specific resources, links to Y11’s 2023 calendar, our current revision timetable and lots more information for students and parents. Please bear in mind that this is a work in progress with new links and information being added as we speak!
If you do have any more questions, here’s a reminder of who to contact (please include your child’s Crew Leader in any emails you send.)
If you have any other questions your feel weren’t covered in the presentation, please contact your child’s Crew Leader or Phase Lead: Angella Parker for XP East ([email protected]) and Mel Cocliff for XP ([email protected])
We’d also like to take this opportunity to say a massive ‘well done’ to all the Y11’s who have completed their Student Led Conferences over the past few weeks. This was their opportunity to reflect on their mock exam grades (which most did with honesty and integrity!) and discuss how they are going to keep focussed and motivated during the next few weeks leading up to exams.
Our Crew SLCs have kicked off this week and it’s been really interesting to hear our students talk to us and their parents about their recent mock results, what worked well with their revision leading up to mocks, and what they want to improve on moving forward.
Crew members have spoken with integrity, managed some difficult conversations and the level of self-reflection has been really impressive.
Special appreciation to those of you have taken the time to seek feedback from ourselves or your fellow Crew members, and have presented some of your most recent work to us during your SLC.
During SLCs, we have asked Crew what we can do to help them achieve their GCSE targets. So far, all have requested that we schedule in additional Academic Crew sessions. This is something we are more than happy to facilitate. We have agreed to focus on developing revision strategies and will create a subject specific timetable next week. Plans are already in place to create a Quotation Wall to support our English Literature exam!
As part of Y11’s History course, we have a wonderful opportunity to visit the site of Wabtec in Doncaster – which was formerly Doncaster Plant Works – a massive part of our heritage! One of the history GCSE papers Y11 will sit is based around this local site and we’re really privileged to be able to visit the birth place of both The Mallard and the record breaking Flying Scotsman – where students will gain a real insight into the site’s significance, both locally and nationally.
ALL of E25 will be attending on Tuesday 24th January 2023. Explorer’s fieldwork will take place in the morning, leaving XP at 9:15am and returning at 11:30am. Explorer will be in sessions as normal in the afternoon.
Pioneer’s fieldwork will take place in the afternoon – leaving XP at 1:15pm and returning back to XPE for around 3:00pm. Pioneer will be in sessions as normal in the morning.
Lunches should not be affected, but students may wish to bring a packed lunch. We have now secured a coach to transport us from XPE to Wabtec Rail.
If you have any questions/queries, please contact crew leaders, or the following:
This week Mrs Parker took us all out for a morning crew sessions around the fire pit! We had hot chocolates, a selection of biscuits (apart from the ones Dylan dropped!!!) and a wonderfully relaxing time. Even Miss Cocliff (who LOVES being outdoors)… was thrilled with the session – but it was incredibly chilly!!!!
The icing on the cake was Lewis and Tyler doing everyone’s washing up… which we didn’t know Lewis did on a weekend anyway!!!!
Huge appreciations to Mrs Parker and Mrs Watson for organising this session – despite some of our faces we had a really lovely time, and it was a wonderful way to end a smashing term for Crew Turing, who have all worked brilliantly!
We only have one week left and that’s the first half term done! Again, Crew Anoa’i have had another good week in crew, creating a great atmosphere to be in.
To start the week, Crew Anoa’i began colouring their own Mandalas. A geometric configuration of symbols that are commonly used by tantric Buddhists as an aid for meditation. There were some beautiful designs and choices of colour used. Once finished, our goal is to place them on our crew wall to add a pop of colour to the room.
On Tuesday, some of us went over to XP to discuss Work Experience and our list of ‘to do’s to ensure we are all ready before next Monday. The rest of us completed our forms for Work Experience and then started to create some flash cards for a subject of our choice.
Wednesday, our team building activity day! This week we were joined by Crew Ali and some of Crew Parkinson. We went outside to complete a variety of activities, some required teamwork and some required early morning brain power. This was my highlight of the week, seeing other crews join us and having some fun. What a great morning!
On Thursday, Crew Anoa’i composed our weekly appreciations, reflecting on the week we’ve had. We then moved on to some self study, allowing us all to focus on our own topics.
On Friday, we cleaned our crew room, ensuring it was spotless before we left for session. Everyone counted their class pack item and added any missing equipment to the list, as we like to keep our crew room neat and tidy every day for others to use. Crew Anoa’i take pride in being great stewards of our school.
I can’t believe September has come to an end already, this year is flying by so quickly! All the more reason to cherish the moments we have left as a crew. And that’s exactly what we did.
Due to the staff days, Year 11 lost some crucial session time this week. However on Tuesday, Crew Anoa’i, along with the other Year 11 crews of XP East, took part in a History catchup session. They continued their work on the Black Death and made up for lost time. Great job everyone!
On Wednesday, C25 gathered on the stairs of XP and shared our appreciations, apologies and stands with one another. This was also a chance for staff to share their appreciations with students in the form of a slideshow. Special shout out to Jacob, James, Denim and Zach for receiving some great appreciations. Well done, keep up the good work!
On Thursday, Crew Anoa’i completed our weekly ‘to do’ list. We started off with attendance. As a crew, we discussed the overall average of our crew and who we need to hold accountable. We then moved onto the praise log, looking at each crew member’s achievements from the previous week. We finished our crew session by playing The Frog Game, a game that gets the brain working by counting the eyes, legs and total number of frogs entering a pond. This was definitely one of my highlights of the week. It was lovely to see everyone smiling and laughing!
To finish the week on a high, the students of XP East all gathered on the stairs for our whole school community meeting. We celebrated the success of our students from Year 7 all the way up to Year 11. We also revisited the Attendance League – Crew Anoa’i were 15th place with 12 points. Yes, we haven’t gained any points (Very disappointing!). However, Crew Anoa’i are still in the top 15 crews of XP East. I have made a pledge to help my crew improve this, as it is key for the students of Year 11 to be in school as much as possible leading up to their exams.
