Thoughtful Thursday

By Brandon Burke23rd April 2021

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During this weeks thoughtful Thursday, Crew Frank have been self assessing their HoWL grades since returning to school. Each Thursday crew session, students individually fill in their HoWL grades which they believe they have been working at each week.

During this time, crew members check in with others to agree and disagree with other students HoWLs. This pushes forward meaningful discussions in crew where students then change their HOWLs based and peer feedback. This provides a more accurate HoWL data input.

Integrity is key with self assessing and as crew we have helped each other improve on areas of HoWLs in each individual subject since looking at the data.

As a crew we have really strong HOWLs in ‘ Be Kind’, its seen that throughout sessions, we help, encourage and are always their for our friends and others, This a really nice thing to see. Although we thrive of the good stuff we do as Crew Frank, we also believe it’s important to look at where we can improve. We have identified that through lockdown and since returning, we need to work with all our HOWLs across Art, Music and Spanish. We have intentions to do this through our Crew Narrative which we refer back to support us as a crew.

It’s brilliant to see how well our students are doing in sessions and how they are taking  responsibility with their own learning.

 

WELL DONE CREW!!!

 

Mr Burke

 

Over to Crew!

16th April 2021Web Blogger

One really important part of the XP identity is the compassion and maturity pupils show when delivering appreciations, stands and apologies in front of their peer group. The appreciations really showcase the breadth of reasons we have for valuing our fellow members of the XP community. I especially liked an appreciation this week for someone who tried, even though they ultimately failed to achieve their goal!

Crew members have spent time considering their progress this week by assessing their own HOWLs scores. This is yet another example of how children at XP are given a voice. Over to Imogen and Scarlett for a reflection on Crew Obama’s progress this week:

“During our HOWLs self assessment this week, we noticed that we have been struggling with maths this week as we are doing a new topic. We wondered how we could improve on the subjects we struggle with. We could do this by contributing more in our lessons and working hard. Our HOWLs in HUMS and STEAM have been very good because we engage more in these lessons. Currently in HUMS we are writing a first person narrative through the eyes of a migrant and this has been spread across all our lessons. We had some experts come in and we had a look at the ‘I am A Migrant’ website. This helped us collect our ideas to put into our work. In science we have been looking at parachutes and how the different forces act on them. We made our own to see this for ourselves and timed it to find out the perfect design.”

 

Crew Mercury’s ‘screens off, well being on’

By Rachael Rothwell9th April 2021

Crew Mercury have been working extremely hard during remote learning sessions and we all welcomed some ‘screens off, well being on’ time. As a crew we decided which activities we would like to complete. These ranged from spending quality time with our families and pets, to building dens.

Here are a few pics sharing our highlights of this time…

 

Mood Monsters

31st March 2021Web Blogger

Crew Obama returned to school with a mixture of enthusiasm and trepidation. We spent our first day back in Crew and used the time to share any worries we had. An overall sense of tiredness told us that we needed to get back into the routine of having earlier bedtimes! 

This week we spent Mindful Monday reflecting on our own feelings and emotions. We used the ‘Colour Monster’ to help us to visualise our mood, and to convey it to others. There were some really good discussions about the connotations of colours such as blue or green, and whether they should be used to represent feelings of calmness, sadness or happiness. 

The completed colour monsters were used to illustrate just how varied our moods and feelings can be at any given time. Not just within our Crew, but within individuals too. I don’t think there was a single member of Crew Obama who used just one colour for their mood monster. The activity showed how important our character traits of kindness and compassion really are in order to look after ourselves and each other. 

Enjoy the Bank Holiday,

Miss Cross

Goodbye to Remote Learning!

By Web Blogger5th March 2021

I would like to send a huge appreciation to all the parents and pupils who have helped this term to go as smoothly as possible. XP determination and compassion have served us well!

It has been an absolute pleasure to see Crew Obama get behind the ‘Screens Off and Recharge’ initiative during the final two weeks of term. Pupils have reported reconnecting with their families and forgotten interests in a variety of ways. Siblings have called truces and gone out for bike rides together. Savvy parents have encouraged make-over challenges resulting in gleaming bedrooms, kitchens, dogs and scooters. Art and reading books have been opened and enjoyed. Pupils have tried new crafts or skills such as photography and origami. Crew Obama really are a talented bunch! 

I will leave you with a few of the many images pupils have shared in Crew, and to wish you all a restful two weeks. 

Miss Cross

Recharging and Reconnecting with ‘Off Screen’ time

By Web Blogger28th February 2021

Another great week for Crew Rowling this week, they continue to blow me away with their hard work, positivity and creativity.

 

Crew Highlights (from Crew members):

-Harvey always has an answer ready and is always listening.

-Thomas works really hard to make his work the best that he can do and always has a good detailed answer.

-Layton is always prepared to give critique to others in his class and is always there when you need help or struggling with any work at all.

-Cerrina gives a lot of helpful feedback and she is an amazing friend. She is very helpful and kind, thank you! Cerrina is also always asking for critique to make her work better which shows how much she cares about her lessons and how responsible she is for her learning.

 

Other news this week:

-Faith’s quiz was slightly kinder than previous weeks and no one is looking forward to Layton’s turn more than him so he can reduce everyone else’s brain cells! These quizzes really have become something we all look forward to!

– Shawn’s recreation for the ‘Off screen’ task on Wednesday made headlines in our community meeting and made everyone laugh, it was brilliant!

 

Star Student Nominations for last week:

 

There were some great nominations within Crew for our star student. I wanted to share these with you all as it is always lovely to hear the Crews thoughts on the efforts put in by their peers. 

 

Shawn was nominated as he always works hard in sessions and in science he helped a group of people who didn’t understand the task.

Harvey is always on task every week so he was nominated for his consistency and dedication.

Layton was nominated as he always works hard and on Thursday in science he was doing very well grappling with his work.

Charlotte, for always joining the call on time and working harder in lessons.

Tom because even though he had trouble logging into his school account he still tried to take part in the lessons as much as he could.

 

The winner over all this week with a majority of votes was Tom! 

As a Crew we saw how hard you tried to participate in lessons and the work set when you were having trouble with your account, Well done!

 

‘Off Screen’ Time

 

This week we began our off screen time as we acknowledged how much time we are all spending on our screens, we therefore have come up with tasks to get us off the screens, recharging and reconnecting with things we enjoy and our family.

 

Tuesday was launch day so we decided to get out and photograph nature, the majority got involved and we had some beautiful photos uploaded to our Crew slides.

Wednesday we were tasked with recreating something in our house. Some decided to draw items, build items and Shawn made himself into a burger!

Thursday it was time to do something with our families. Activities varied and it was great to see how much everyone enjoyed this. There were bike rides, walks, board games, reading, baking, trips to the park, exercising and relaxing with pets.

Friday we got competitive with a scavenger hunt! 

For those who have attended the in-school provision, they also completed activities within school, including board games, dancing and outdoor photography. 

 

We have all enjoyed these activities so far and it has given a boost within Crew. It’s been good to check in each morning with what we have all been up to by looking through photos of everyone’s activities.

 

Keep up the good work everyone and keep the amazing photos coming in!

 

Mrs Barnes

Star Student of the Week…

By Brandon Burke22nd February 2021

Every Friday afternoon all of E26 get together via hangout for a community meeting. In these meetings, we share important messages for the students, apologies, appreciations & stands as well as any praises/start students of the week.

Star Student of the week: 

Jacob Dawson, member of crew Frank was nominated by different crews of E26 as the star student of the week.

This was down to him working hard in all of his sessions and trying his best all the time. Jacob had been contributing loads during a maths hangout and was praised by the teacher a number of times. Jacob was flying through tough algebra work and really getting stuck in. He not only showed good traits of ”Working Hard” & ”Getting Smart” but helping others out when stuck. Jacobs ”Be Kind” HOWL has really improved over the past couple of weeks, and no wonder he has been recognised by his peers as a Star Student of the week.

Jacob was over the moon that he had been nominated and he said ” well, I wasn’t expecting that” with a sigh of relief from all the hard work he had been putting in.

Well done Jacob – what a lad! keep up the good work.

Crew Frank

Crew Mercury complete their SLCs…

By Rachael Rothwell19th February 2021

It has been an absolute pleasure to be part of crew Mercurys’s student led conferences. It was fantastic for the students to reflect on their learning and HOWLs. The students shared pieces of beautiful work and answered the guiding question ‘Where does real power exist,  the heart, the body or the mind?’ Although challenging to complete a student led conference online, crew Mercury smashed it, well done everyone!

Here are some of the words that students and parents used to describe the SLCs…

 

The Power of a Quiz!

By Web Blogger17th February 2021

Wow, what a couple of weeks! 

 

Everyone has worked so hard on their SLC preparations within crew time over the last few weeks. Quiz Friday has become something we all look forward to and Rhys’ ‘hardest quiz in the world’ on 5th February was a great way to unwind and have some fun. Even though we found it super difficult, we all laughed throughout.

 

Star Student Nominations!

 

Each week in our crew session on a Friday afternoon we vote for an over all star student, this is within Crew and the year group and announced within our community meeting. We are proud to announce that these students were selected as nominees for start student from not only our Crew but also others within E26.

 

  • 22nd January 2021, Shawn was nominated for trying every challenge he is given, giving detailed answers to questions and working hard no matter the situation.
  • 5th February 2021, Lydia was nominated for always being kind, contributing in lessons, always being on time and consistently working hard and trying her best in all sessions.

 

Well done both of you! Your hard work is paying off- keep it up!

 

Crew Highlights: (Discussed and nominated by Crew members)

 

  • Rhys has been working really hard especially in maths. His quiz was just as hard as Harvey’s the previous week, but great fun! (We were hoping Shawn might be easy on us with his quiz)
  • Cerrina always tries her best and answers lots of questions in her science session.
  • Logan has been working really hard and has improved by speaking up more in crew sessions.

 

The Crew also wanted to highlight how Miss Jonson always knows what to do in any situation, how organised she is and how much support she has given to the Crew during the preparation for SLC’s which has been difficult online.

 

I want to say a huge appreciation to all of Crew Rowling for their continued efforts with their online sessions, their never ending support for each other and never failing to make quiz Friday so much fun!

 

Stay safe 🙂

 

(Mrs Barnes and all of Crew Rowling)

Student Led Conferences Appreciation

By Web Blogger15th February 2021

Wow!

Massive appreciation to everyone in Crew Obama for making my first experience of Student Led Conferences such a positive one. It was inspiring, and sometimes heartbreaking, to hear all about your achievements and the challenges you have faced. 

I have included a couple of images of the work pupils commented on during their SLCs, but it is sadly not possible to include everyone here. It was fascinating to learn about your expedition ‘Fight The Power’. Not only did pupils share the work they were most proud of, but they were able to talk meaningfully about what they found difficult. Pupils identified where they felt the quality of their work had fallen short, and explained how they intended to improve further. This is quite an undertaking for pupils of this age. It is especially impressive when we consider the extent to which remote learning has replaced traditional classes for these children over the last twelve months. As such, grappling with this task and adapting to its online delivery, is really something!

It was also wonderful to ‘meet’ so many parents and guardians, albeit through a computer screen. Thank you all for your continued support and for the probing questions you asked during the Student Led Conferences.

Miss Cross