Crew Parkinson have had another fantastic time in Crew this week.

Our Crew sessions involved discussing who had made it onto one of the Work Hard, Get Smart and Be Kind boards in lessons. This is where staff (and students) acknowledge where students have been meeting the HOWLs in lessons.  I am pleased to say that every member of Crew Parkinson made it onto one of the HOWLs boards at least once this week. An improvement on last week where we only had 5 members of the Crew on the boards – onwards and upwards! We also looked at the praise sheet – this is where students are mentioned for meeting one of the character traits or HOWLs to an outstanding level.

A special mention to Bob who has been entered onto the praise sheet 5 times this week!

Wednesdays are dedicated to activities, either with other Crews or by ourselves, which often revolve around team building. This week we challenged ourselves to the human knot game. The students had to untangle themselves to create a circle without letting go of each other’s hands – communication was key. The Crew dived in trying to untangle only themselves, they soon realised this wouldn’t work and they needed to change tactics. After realising this, they discussed a plan and untangled one person at a time, leading to success! 

I’m looking forward to seeing what next week has in store for us!

Crew Parkinson have certainly hit the ground running this term! They came back focussed, enthusiastic and ready for anything. The guiding question for the last week was ‘how can I hit the ground running during the first week back?’

We discussed this in Crew, thinking of examples, which revolved around our HOWLs of how we can hit the ground running. Students also nominated a person in Crew who they thought had hit the ground running – I’d like to give a special mention to Marcus who I personally thought had hit the ground running due to his conduct on the fieldwork to Liverpool.

As part of this discussion, we also looked at our Crew league table for the HOWLs. This is created from each student’s HOWLs grade which have been used to create the Crew average. Crew Parkinson are doing fantastically well in regards to working hard, getting smart and being kind. We identified some of the behaviours that Crew does which mean that we have high averages for the HOWLs, but also ways in which we could improve.

We are currently in second place so a massive well done Crew!

I hope everyone in Crew Parkinson had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to the year ahead.

We had a fabulous last week at school. Secret Santa was a wonderful Crew session – it was great hearing all the laughter and seeing everyone with massive smiles on their faces. Thank you Crew Parkinson for spreading Christmas cheer.

We also had a great time at Flip Out. This was our reward for brilliant conduct in PE and everyone remembering to bring their kit each week. Keep this up! We had some great laughs during our time there. Needless to say the Crew were definitely better than I was – Aaron and Kristian were particular superstars at it!

I’d like to thank Crew for a wonderful start to the academic year, I’m sure next year will be even better.

Happy New Year Crew!

On Friday, Crew Parkinson and Crew Turing competed against each other in a game involving drainpipes!

The aim was to roll the tennis ball along the drainpipes from one side of the sports hall to the other and back again in the fastest time. It’s harder than it looks!

At first our technique was lacking but the Crew soon realised the best way to manoeuvre the ball – make sure the drainpipes are connected underneath each other, don’t have the slope too steep, everyone stand on the same side so we don’t bump into each other to name a few.

It was a team effort with values of respect and compassion being shown, for example not getting annoyed if someone dropped the ball and letting each other have a turn to speak when discussing tactics.

It was great fun and really helped teamwork in the Crew – we also learnt that we’re quite competitive!

Crew Parkinson have completed their first SLC at XP East. I would like to appreciate them for all their hard work, effort and dedication they have put into preparing for them. They have worked as a Crew to support each other by offering critique, advice and their time to practice with each other.

I am so proud of how much they have grown both academically and socially since their time at XP East. Their confidence, maturity, knowledge, understanding and friendship has developed since meeting each other for the first time on Outward Bound in Wales. All this has happened in 3 months – just think where we’ll be in 5 years time!

Here’s a throwback to our first few days together in Wales, it’s immensely rewarding the journey we have been on together and I am thrilled to know that this will continue. 

Part of the SLC process is making an academic pledge in order for the students to develop further and continue improving. This is what we discussed today, it was great to hear how students have identified the areas they need to work on in regards to subjects and the HOWLs and what they need to do to achieve this pledge. It will be interesting when we review the pledges next year to see what progress we have made towards meeting them.

Well Done Crew Parkinson – you should all be proud of what you have achieved!

This week marks the start of the Crew Parkinson’s first SLC. Florence kicked them off yesterday, setting the bar high! In Crew today, she shared with the rest of the Crew her experience of her SLC to help the other students understand what to expect. Thank you Flo!

Most students have nearly completed or have already completed their script. That only means one thing – practice, practice, practice! In Crew today, students were rehearsing their SLCs with each other and giving critique to improve it.

This week we will continue to rehearse, prepare and reflect on SLCs. Good luck to everyone in Crew Parkinson with their upcoming SLCs – the hard work you have put in is sure to pay off!

Crew Parkinson have been preparing for their Student Led Conferences over the last couple of weeks. We have watched videos of SLCs, discussed what the role of the student is during them, chosen their work from their portfolio, reflected on their achievements and challenges so far, reviewed their HOWLs and started writing a script. They’ve been busy bees!

Each pupil has chosen a piece of work they are proud of, one they found challenging and one they need to improve on. They have then reflected on their work in regards to the Learning Target, their MEG and the HOWLs. These 3 pieces of work will be central to their SLC.

Here’s Marcus, Dylan, Florence and Harvey in the midst of their preparations.

Yet another fantastic week in Crew for us!

Monday: We had our check ins from the weekend –  it’s lovely to hear what an exciting and relaxing time Crew had at the weekend – I look forward to this weekend’s update on Monday.

Tuesday: This session was dedicated to accelerated reader. It’s great to see some students so engrossed in reading, meaning they have already finished their books, taken the quizzes and moved onto a new book.

Wednesday: We discussed homework and organisation. It’s vital we all take responsibility for remembering to do and complete homework – this is a perfect opportunity to show that you work hard and get smart.

Thursday: Rosie’s birthday! (We all enjoyed cupcakes- thank you!) We also challenged Crew Churchill from Year 8 to a game of dodgeball – both crews showed respect, compassion and worked well together – we need a rematch to decide the ultimate winners! 

Friday: Apologies, appreciations and stands followed by community meeting – it’s brilliant to hear crew reflecting on the week and appreciating each other for their friendship and compassion. For instance, Ava appreciated Lacey for showing compassion by waiting for her after lesson so they could eat their dinner together. It’s the small acts of kindness that make a big difference.

Let’s see what next week has in store for us!