Crew Ali had a ‘ball’ in the Sports Hall with Crew Parkinson

By J Townson6th February 2019

Crew Ali and Crew Parkinson had a great time competing against one another in a game of bench netball and I’m proud to say that Crew Ali won.  In the debrief after our game, we considered what went well and what could be even better: the team spirit of both Crews meant they kept pushing to the end and cheering one another on; this was definitely a friendly match!  Crew Ali had arrived first in the Sports Hall and had a bit of a warm up, so perhaps we could do this together next time, as well as perhaps mixing the teams up.

We have promised ourselves there will be a rematch soon!

What Does Crew Mean To You? – Crew Parkinson

By Florence Roberts4th February 2019

In Crew on Wednesday 23rd of January students were asked to go across to Mrs Parker’s crew room and take part in a Digi Crew. In the Digi Crew a handful of students were taught how to post blogs on the XP East website. At the end of the Digi Crew we were all asked to work in pairs or threes and post a blog about what crew means to us from our point of view, instead of the teachers. In Crew Parkinson, 3 students joined the Digi Crew ( Florence, Rosie and Dylan), we have worked together to create a blog post on what crew means to our whole crew.

We had our Friday afternoon Crew session dedicated to ‘ what crew means to you’ . This meant that we shared our favourite moments and what crew means to us, here are some quotes that Crew Parkinson shared:

 

Crew boosts my confidence and inspires me to do what I  can.  – Ava

 

I love crew because I trust people and talk to them about any problems I have   – Marcus

 

Crew brings a smile to my face every morning’ – Lacey 

 

‘I’d be lost without crew because they help keep me on the right path in both my academic studies and my social life and behaviour.’  – Shanna

 

‘Crew is my second family.’ – Kristian

 

These are all quotes made by members of Crew Parkinson. What crew means to you is different for every person in each different crew because we are all unique. All of these quotes maybe different but in a way it all means the same thing.

And finally here are some pictures of our amazing experiences :

 

 

A great week for getting smart

By A Brown30th January 2019

We’ve talked a lot about the GET SMART element of our HOWLs in the last week: what it means, why we do it, and more importantly, where we are seeing it around school in our lessons too.

And I’m glad to report, Crew Shackleton are definitely getting smart!

One name that continued to pop up in crew (not to mention 8 appreciations by peers in the community meeting) was Denim. She’s made an amazing effort to go above and beyond since coming back after Christmas, extending her learning at home, and even making models of blood cells to share with her class. Voluntarily. Amazing!

Here she is taking Crew Shackleton through a presentation she’d prepared at home about the Great Depression, providing a bit of extra context to To Kill A Mockingbird:

Miss Hickson commented:

“In her own time, Denim has researched and created a powerpoint on the Great Depression. The work she has produced is of great quality and shows she cares about her learning and is taking responsibility for it. A very mature approach to improving her HOWLs and her understanding of the expedition. Fantastic!”

And it’s not just been Denim. A few students got a mention on the praise sheet for a variety of things:

Miss Haughey said, “Thea hit the ground running today, she’s been on fire in maths despite not being in this week. She was a pleasure to teach, she was more alert than others and was following my instruction really closely. Great stuff!”

Miss Haughey also commented on April’s work recently: “ALWAYS being kind to other members of her table. [She] provides great support in steering collaborative activities and makes sure everyone is involved. She is a mature voice when there is disagreement. She’s doing fab!”

A really positive week, and an amazing vibe about the work going on in and around lessons.

Keep it up Crew Shackleton!

 

Crew Ali sharing work they’re proud of

By J Townson29th January 2019

Working Hard and Getting Smart results in beautiful work we can be proud of.  Crew Ali spent a morning Crew session sharing examples of their favourite pieces, using rubrics to explain how they have achieved each grade and comparing their efforts with work they produced earlier in the year.

Charlie was particularly pleased with his HUMS task as his JOLT improvements had helped him to smash his MEG!

Leoni was proud of her Craftsmanship and Quality in Maths.

Lacey had worked really hard on her extended writing in HUMS and wanted to share with her Crew what Working Hard looked like for her.

Everyone in Crew Ali had something to share and the critique which came out of it was also helpful in suggesting areas where each of us could progress even further, in our classwork and HOWLs in general

I’m a very proud Crew Leader!

Yogi Crew

By Katie Haughey28th January 2019

Last week Crew Turing have had their first student-led crew session, courtesy of Alice and Abi. The girls led a yoga demo, where they released muscle tension and practiced relaxation and enjoyed the scent of tea tree oil. Afterward, we circled up and discussed how we felt before and after doing a bit of yoga. Most people were feeling calmer and more ready for the day which was good to hear! We’re going to try and make it a monthly crew activity, because while it’s important to push yourself in school, it’s also equally important that we have those chances to wind down every once in a while. Particularly when we’d had a couple of difficult conversations regarding conduct, allowing ourselves the time for clarity and reflection was really helpful moving forward into this week.

Another crew activity that has been cherished from crew members is our quiet AR comfy reading sessions. Each member of crew has a habit of finding a little nook in my classroom to get engrossed in their books. As mentioned before, this is a great way to get smart, but it’s also chance to get a lost in a good book! I’ve set a 100 book challenge by summer, that we have to reach collectively – myself included. I want to hear less about fortnite during check-in and more about how much my crew enjoyed something they read at the weekend!

This week, we’ve got a session planned out by Torran, he’s putting on an Active Crew where we’ll be getting a badminton masterclass. C25 have a spanish assessment coming up on Friday too, so we’ll also be putting on a Crew Español to support their preparation for that. I’ve also had requests for art-based crew sessions, a competitive crew session against another crew, so watch this space!

Kristian and Aaron’s Crew Session

By H Hickson27th January 2019

I was approached by some members of the Crew at the beginning of the week asking if they could run a Crew session. Of course, I said yes – what a great way to take on responsibility improve organisation and leadership skills. Kristian and Aaron led a well planned crew session on Wednesday. They thought about everything they needed to run their activity, such as booking the sports hall, and gave clear instructions to the Crew which was aided by visual slides. It was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Well done! 

Rosie, Florence and Dylan also attended a Digi-Crew session this week, led by Mrs Parker. As part of this, they were taught how to write a blog post. Rosie, Florence and Dylan have started to prepare their first blog post for Crew – so watch this space! I am really excited to see what they write, I’m sure it will be a credit to themselves and Crew.

Zach at the helm!

By A Brown22nd January 2019

Zach showed courage this week to step out of his familiar zone and lead an entire Crew session.

His idea. His hard work. His success.

What started as a really simple idea about what we could do one morning as a Crew session, turned into an amazing session enjoyed by all of the Crew, with some excellent work produced as a result.

Zach: “Mr Brown, I’ve got an idea for a Crew. Could we do something where we all bring something in or draw something that represents us as a person so we can learn more about each other?”

Me: “Yeah. Do you want to do it?”

Zach: “Er. Okay!”

So a few days later, Zach came prepared with resources, an engaging greeting activity and a plan of the entire session, complete with protocols.

He even had a WAGOLL, which he’d worked hard on at home!

I’ve got to say, I was massively impressed with the attention to detail and enthusiasm he showed to produce the entire 45 minute session. He showed great leadership qualities and confidence – he never faltered! Like a rock!

And it would be remiss of me if I didn’t congratulate the Crew for their support towards Zach shown by their hard work and respect for the effort he’d put in. Although it is testament to the quality of the session that everyone was on task and thoroughly enjoyed the session.

Zach, great job!

Perhaps (dare I say it) a teacher in the making?

Crew Ali: seeing through each others’ eyes

By J Townson22nd January 2019

Last week Crew Ali spent time really thinking about our conduct norms in Crew and dug down into what we expect from one another in Crew sessions; we asked, how do others see us and how might our conduct affect others?   This is particularly the case where jokes are concerned, as we don’t all share the same sense of humour!  Our discussions encompassed the HOWLs and tied in closely with what we see in lessons.

On Friday we really had to focus on our Crew conduct principles, playing a challenge game with blindfolds on, which required trust, clear communication and organisation.  Some challenges were harder than others, including getting into yoga poses, writing the answers to mathematical equations and drawing a route for a ship through shark infested waters – all with a blindfold on and only your Crew mates to guide and instruct you!

Earlier in the week, some Crew members had been courageous in sharing some personal experiences; in response, the Crew really rallied together and worked to see the situation through the eyes of their Crew mate.  They decided to support their Crew member by putting together a fundraising proposal for charities supporting a cause close to their heart.  Keep an eye out for more news in the future as to charity events we are planning.

I am also pleased to announce that Leoni and Taylor will be training to be Crew Bloggers tomorrow morning; we look forward to seeing their first published posts, viewing Crew through their eyes, in the coming weeks!

Praise for Crew Parkinson!

By H Hickson19th January 2019

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!

How are Crew Turing getting smarter?

By Katie Haughey16th January 2019

Crew Turing have focused this week on one particular HOWL- getting smart. We agreed that this was the most difficult HOWL to discuss, because some crew members saw this as a product of working hard. We thought about how we could go above and beyond as a crew to work on this, here are some of our ideas:

One focus that we’ve touched on quite a bit as a crew is how reading can positively impact our lives, making us smarter in the process. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s studies on the impact of education and reading shows that teenagers with a reading habit are more likely to get the top grades in GCSE exams. It has shown to improve vocabulary, spelling, and increase creativity in students. We spent a whole crew session recently making book recommendations, discussing our favourite books, and it was lovely to see how passionate everyone got about literature!

What really struck me was a genuine love for reading from each member of my crew. Mr Ryder covered my crew session on Tuesday during their accelerated reader session and he even felt that they were worthy of an entry on the praise form for being so engrossed in their books! While the research on reading and grades is a legitimate reason for me to promote it in crew, I’d hate to think that was the only reason we bothered reading. It does make us smart, but it is able to do so much more than that! A good book is a window into another world, it allows us to empathise and understand experiences that are beyond our own. I think the Harper Lee quote above summarises how transformational reading can be in terms of developing free thought. I can’t wait to do our next accelerated reader crew.

Another feature we’ve been looking at in crew to help us get smarter is having a bit of a handle on what’s going on in the news. This week has been monumental in our country’s history and whenever Brexit has been brought up in crew, there have been some really interesting insights on the matter. I left them with the following question, which again, Mr Ryder led on as I was out on training:

I was delighted to hear my crew had spent a whole 40 minutes deeply discussing issues such as the voting age, Brexit, what they thought about our leaders, and who deserved to have a say in such matters. Apparently there is consensus that the voting age needs lowering so that their voices can be heard. We’ll definitely be taking another look at major news stories next week and how they may affect us!