In a world where you can be anything, be kind like Crew Rowling!

By Natalie Johnson24th April 2020

As the weeks go by homeschooling seems to becoming easier for Crew Rowling! We’ve had a much more productive week this week and i’d like to appreciate the parents for their support in us reaching this point!

At the end of the Crew Session on Monday, I asked Crew if by the end of this week they could share with me some work they are proud of and I have to say it has been extremely uplifting to see my inbox inundated with positivity and work which has well and truly blown me away! This blog post will highlight some of the fantastic work thats been going on!

Hums has proven difficult for many of us in Crew Rowling, many a hangout has been conducted in order to assist us all in reaching the ‘hand in’ button… but we’ve done it, and we’ve done it together! It gave me a real sense of achievement for all of the Crew members therefore when I looked through some of the work I had been sent, and it was Hums!

You go Crew Rowling!!

Faith had completed her DRC Speech:

I particularly liked how Faith has used persuasive techniques in order to capture the readers attention alongside our shared language of ‘making a stand’ in order to emphasise her points. Excellent job, Faith!

Rhys wanted to write something he was passionate about in order to change peoples viewpoints, therefore his speech surrounded the idea of children gaming:

Its great to see Rhys also including some presentational devices in his work, meaning his speech can be displayed for clarity! Great work Rhys, keep it up!

As Harvey is whizzing through the work that has been set for him, he spent some time this week completing tasks for the new Y7 Expedition:

This work clearly captures Harvey’s understanding of ‘The Lorax’ by Dr Seuss. I am impressed with the vocabulary Harvey has chosen to use! You are working so hard- i am really impressed with the progress you are making!

Layton had trouble completing his speech, but with a little help from his friends in Crew he was able to produce this belter:

A fantastic job showing clear understanding of the topic and implementing some persuasive and presentational devices, alongside a link to really get his point across! Fantastic! Well done Layton for persevering with this.

The stand out Crew member for me this week though, had to be Cerrina! Its no secret that Cerrina has struggled to settle into a new routine, working from home, managing her own timetable and deadlines and in the first few weeks we had to strip things back, take manageable chunks, and settle for getting done what we could, when we could! And that was fine! But this week we’ve seen a huge leap forward in Cerrina’s progress, she has met all her deadlines for this week, is happier, and has also been able to spend time doing things she enjoys! It was particularly uplifting for me to receive emails from other members of staff this week about Cerrina’s progress too. Check this out!

The best part for me about all of this though, although the work is superb, has actually been to see the smile return to Cerrina’s face! Sometimes we all need to take a moment to remember that having an off day (or couple of days) is fine! We need to give ourselves time to rest and recuperate in order to return to our best!

Well done Cerrina, i am incredibly impressed with all that you have achieved this week. You have worked super hard and it has paid off! Keep it up!

It would be fair to say that Cerrina’s success has stemmed from having the support of Crew around her. Every day I am blown away by the support and compassion they show one another. I mean, just imagine stumbling across Crew messages like this.. using language like this!

To quote Cerrina’s Mum: “The support from Crew is great!”

The commitment they show to helping each other ‘up the mountain’ in times of trouble, at such a young age is like nothing i’ve ever experienced. Thank you all for your time and patience, for not only each other but me too!

#WEARECREW

Crew Obama Live Bake-a-Long!

By Henna Mistry24th April 2020

Inspired by my talented crew who love to bake, I decided to do a live bake-a-long on Youtube for my crew. This is so we could bake together, give students a break from school work, do something fun and be part of our new routine.

This week it was banana bread which seems to be a new craze at the moment since going into isolation! I had pictures sent from Crew Obama parents and crew members of their versions of banana bread… they looked even better than mine!

Click on the image below and check out my baking superstars.

If you are interested in doing the live bake-a-long here is the link to my Youtube channel with the past and upcoming videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqmfp_CNL4ank09fVlVc3zw?view_as=subscriber

The ingredients and equipment are in the description box of each video (click on the video and press show more to see this) which are posted a week in advance.

Stay safe & happy baking!

An appreciation, an apology and a stand

By A Parker24th April 2020

Friday is usually Community Meeting day – the time of the week when we are invited to make appreciations, apologies and stands. So, here are mine:

An Appreciation

We spend a lot of time appreciating one another at XP East – and rightly so! I’m missing our Friday community meetings where we’d get to share our appreciations for a student or member of staff with the rest of the school; those stand-out moments of the week that really made a difference and realising that, quite often, the smallest of actions can have the biggest impact.

A staff appreciation board has been set-up online for us to pass on our thanks to colleagues who are helping us through this strange time, for whatever reason. I’ve really enjoyed reading the little notes that have been left for people and it once again proves how important it is to have the right crew around us during this strange time.

So, as I was adding my own appreciation for a couple of colleagues this morning I did begin to think about everyone else who deserves a massive appreciation.

And that’s you lot. My Crew Finch Parents who have sort of become accidental members of staff! I really do mean it when I say that I couldn’t do my job without your full support. You’re ace, you are.

An Apology

Today I sent out a copy of the work tracker to parents and students. This outlines all the work that has handed in (or not!) over the last 5 weeks. My apology is that I didn’t get this information out to you sooner, as there is quite a lot of information on that spreadsheet to go through. I’ll update on a weekly basis and I pledge to send it out every Friday, meaning that we can pick up on any issues sooner. Just let me know if you want to arrange a google hangout with me to discuss progress.

A Stand

At our last academic check-in I had several Crew members tell me that the reason they hadn’t completed their HUMS work was because they didn’t understand it. I was more than happy to help them with this and set up a HUMS Support Hangout where we could go through the tasks together. Despite accepting the invitation and assuring me that they would have a go at the three tasks I’d set beforehand, nobody turned up for the session. So my stand is, if you say you want help and I offer that support to you, please have the courtesy to show up for the session. More support sessions will be on offer and if you are invited, it’s because we’ve identified that you need some help to complete the work. You’re not on holiday, remember 🙂

I’d like to appreciate those of you who are working hard to completing the work that’s been set.

An announcement (in case you missed it!)

We have made some changes to how we’re delivering DofE. These are highlighted in this blog post and I’ll go through it with Crew during Tuesday’s hangout.

That’s all from me!

Have a lovely weekend, stay safe, and I’ll see you next week!

Mrs Parker.

Crew Mercury

By Rachael Rothwell24th April 2020

Another fantastic week for Crew Mercury, lots of hard work finishing off expeditions and completing final products.

Have a listen to how amazing Poppy’s speech is for the final product of the expedition ‘Get Up, Stand Up’ with the guiding question ‘When is it right to make a stand?’.

Poppy Speech

Mrs Poncia was over the moon with it! Well done Poppy!

As well as the fantastic learning Poppy has been completing, she has also been enjoying spending time with her sister baking…looks yummy!

And of course, Poppy being the amazing dancer that she is, she has also been doing lots of dancing!

Look at this…!

It was fab catching up with Crew Mercury on our Crew Hangout on Monday, I look forward to seeing you all again next week!

Quality Work from Crew Parkinson!

By H Hickson24th April 2020

We’re now in week 5 of lockdown and Crew have been very busy. It’s lovely to catch up with Crew each week using Google Hangouts – we check in to see how everyone is and what they’ve been doing. It’s great to hear that Crew have been out on bike rides, baking and dog walks – it’s so lucky that we’ve had this lovely weather to enjoy.

It’s also been fantastic to see how each student is taking responsibility for their own learning and responding so maturely to the change to normality. Have a look at the quality work Crew have been producing:

in Art students have been producing waves in the style of ‘The Great Wave’ by Hokusai – here’s Marcus and Ava’s fantastic work:
In Hums to end the ‘I’ve Got the Power’ expedition, students have been analysing persuasive articles and writing their own – here are examples again of Marcus and Ava’s articles on whether power is a force for good or not.
Callum also worked super hard on this article, always trying to push himself and Get Smart – here’s an email I received from him so that he could respond to my feedback before the final submission – what a responsible and hard working young man!

Rosie also blew me away with her commitment to analysing an article by Jo Butler – answering the question ‘How does Jo Butler try to convince the reader that British people are being taken for granted?’ – here’s her great response!

Last but not least, over to maths! Aaron has been working above and beyond on Hegarty maths – it was lovely to be copied into this email from Mr Nixon to Aaron and his Mumwhat a superstar!

I’m so impressed with all crew members – here’s just a selection of work and praise but I’m so proud of everyone for how they have adapted to these times – I love checking in with Crew each week and hope you all continue to work hard and play hard!

Stay safe everyone

A Big Frank You!

By Brandon Burke24th April 2020

Courage was the topic of discussion during Crew Anne Frank’s google hangout as we all joined together yet again for an online crew session. But before anything, lets check-in…

”If you could do anything right now, what would it be and why?”

Here are some of the things which were shared…

Go and see friends…
Play football (obviously Mr. Burke)
Go indoor skydiving…
Come back to school…
Go shopping…

However, the standout check-in to crew was:

”Id make a world in which something like this ongoing virus never existed and people could live a happy life”

We really liked this check-in as not only it shows the compassion we have between students, but the compassion between the students and the world. This check-in promted us to think about the ongoing courage we have seen in the current situation…

What courage have you noticed?

We as students and as a whole crew have shown courage from the start of the virus. But why have we? Because we are in a situation which we never thought we’d be in and it’s pretty scary. We are also taking a new role in learning at home which is tricky and I think some of us like discussed in other crew session was finding It really hard and on the edge, of giving up, but we didn’t.

But most of all what about the NHS and other keyworkers. There is a list of people who are showing courage by risking their own lives to work day in, day out to help combat the virus across the world. The government has also done a brilliant job in placing restrictions and a bigger thank you for all of us out there to follow these restrictions. Instead of talking about this, Crew Frank wanted to share some images of the ongoing courage we are seeing today…

So to everyone staying safe, and helping the world in these hard times, here’s a BIG FRANK YOU!

Shackleton Craftsmanship and Quality

By A Brown23rd April 2020

It’s been an absolute pleasure to receive emails about some of the amazing things being done in Crew Shackleton while at home this week.

Special mention for April – what an amazingly gifted and caring young lady. Not only has she been working hard on school work, but she’s been using her sewing machine and old donated materials to make masks and headbands for NHS staff. i was clapping for April at 8pm this evening too.

If there was an exam for kindness, April would get a grade 9. Take a look at some of her handy work…

(Thank your mum for the photos!)

And it’s brilliant to get emails from teachers too showcasing the brilliant work being done in lesson at home. Mr Nixon emailed me today to share some of the amazing work completed by Lilly, celebrating the standards we’ve come to expect from her.

Take a look…

Outstanding craftsmanship and quality. I’m a HUMS teacher so I’m taking Mr Nixon’s word for it that the maths is good! Well done, Lilly.

And not forgetting other conversations I’ve had about James and his work ethic and beautiful work at home; Nikodem completing all the tasks each week on time and to a high standard; and all the students in Crew Shackleton who are showing great independance and resilience to keep going despite these challenging times.

You will all be sorely missed. Keep up the amazing work.

DofE with a difference

By A Parker22nd April 2020

Following on from this previous post about continuing with the DofE Award at home, we’d just like to explain some changes we’ve made to our programme delivery. This information is mainly aimed at those doing their Bronze award (Y9 students) but it might also help those doing the Silver and Gold awards, too.

As you know, the Bronze Award is made up of 4 different sections:

Physical
Volunteering
Skills
Outdoor expedition

Obviously, the outdoor expedition is on hold but students can still carry on working towards achieving the other 3 sections. We would like all Y9 students to follow this adapted programme – Crew Leaders will be in touch to discuss.

In the meantime, click through the slides below to find out more:

Above and Beyond!!

By Brandon Burke21st April 2020

Crew Frank have been working very hard over the past weeks to complete the work that has been set online.

Year 7 Maths teacher Mr Nixon sent a brilliant XP East postcard about the hard work Olivia from Crew Frank has been putting in at home.

This is fantastic Olivia, your hard work doesn’t go unnoticed. Keep up the good work! – You’re developing into a great mathematician.

Making the most of the sunshine and some great praise!

By J Townson20th April 2020

Crew Ali have been busy over the last week with various endeavours, many of them making the most of the lovely weather we have been having around keeping up with their online learning schedules.

I have seen some lovely praise for our Crew from staff who are recognising students Working Hard and Getting Smart with their learning. Keep it up Crew Ali! Here is a message Mr Pearson sent to Cerys for her hard work in Spanish:

And Caiden’s artwork here for his ‘Power poster’ earned him a special mention from Mrs Cross and was highlighted during a staff Expeditionary Team meeting:

Ruby hadn’t used her bike since Year 7 but is enjoying the long, if tiring bike rides with her dad and brother. A great way to pass the time, get fit and ensure you sleep well at night too.

Tom has been exploring his local area on foot and found some new places to walk, essential for someone who loves to be outside.

Marshall’s family and neighbours go outside every day at 11am to dance on the street whilst observing social distancing rules – a great way to exercise and have fun. They regularly update the YouTube channel – why not subscribe and join in from your street?! Check out Marshall and his dad (dressed as The Hulk!) from 1 minute and 45 seconds in:

They also do a weekly quiz as many of you have been doing, with a modified WWE belt as a prize for the winner!

Caiden’s family are getting ready for when lockdown finishes as their garden is looking great – with a completed vegetable patch ready to feed everyone, as well as buildng a garden bar and rainbow painted seating area. He’s looking into do the Chelsea Virtual Soccer School activities with his younger brother too.

Charlie has been making up for missing out on haircuts by shaving his head, and now informs us that he needs to put suncream all over his head when he goes out in the sun – the sunshine hasn’t been great for everyone it seems!

I have been spending time with my two daughters and husband in our garden, making dens out of all the garden furniture, blankets and pillows and helping my eldest learn to ride her bike. She also loves the Chelsea Virtual Soccer School activities (I showed a few of the Crew a video of her balancing a football on her foot) and we can recommend the Lockdown Panto on Facebook for all ages on a rainy day! She is starting school in September and loves to hear what my ‘school children’ in the Crew have been up to, as well as practising her writing, alphabet and numbers. Many of our Crew have younger siblings and it’s lovely to know many of them are working on their learning together.

It is always lovely to see what Crew Ali get up to and we continue to check in every Monday and at various other points in the week 1-1 as needed. More photos and videos to be posted soon!