C25 (Y11) Fieldwork to Wabtec Rail

11th January 2023Web Blogger

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:

Mrs Hannam – History Lead – at [email protected], or Miss Cocliff – X25 Phase Lead – at [email protected].

E25-XPE-Wabtec-Fieldwork-Letter-Template-2Download

What have Crew Rowling been up to…

5th December 2022Web Blogger

Crew Rowling have once again been extremely busy during their crew time.

On Friday last week, the lovely ladies from Big C Little Warrior came into school and Crew Rowling were able to support them by helping put together Christmas bundles for patients receiving vital cancer treatment. These included warm socks, mindfulness colouring books, pencils, hand and lip cream, power banks and much more. Crew felt really humbled to be a part of this task and enjoyed every minute of it. We were also finally able to present Annette with the funds we raised from our bake sale which totalled £105!

Today, Crew had a little bit of down time and we spent time engaging in a little festive activity with help from Mrs Watson from XP Outdoors. The task was making wood cookie ornaments. This activity gave us time to chat and have fun together while getting into the festive spirit. Faith can’t wait for her ornament to have pride of place!  

Next week we are looking forward to Harvey running his own student-led crew session which I know he has been working hard behind the scenes preparing for.

We look forward to keeping you updated on what this entails.

Mrs Barnes and Miss Johnson

Brain Food with Crew Obama

8th November 2022Web Blogger

In ‘Wise Wednesday’ recently, Crew Obama learned about the importance of sleep. Most of us already knew that sleep helped to recharge our batteries and repair our bodies. However, we were surprised to find how vital sleep is in helping us to remember things and that it is a vital part of committing our learning to our long term memory. We were really pleased to have Ms Ivy with us, as she is an expert in psychology. Ms Ivy explained that our suggestion of having afternoon naps in school might not actually help us to remember what the teacher has taught us. Apparently, a short nap wouldn’t be long enough to allow our learning to be transferred out of our short term memories. Oh well, it was worth a try!    

At the end of the session, we discussed our own experiences of the Circadian Rhythms. It was really interesting to hear Ms Ivy explain that the stress hormones produced by our body in response to playing Fifa before bed are the same those produced in response to danger, so it’s not a good idea to game right before trying to sleep. We also wondered if there could be a link between problems with short term memories and migraines.

After all that neuroscience, we were pleased to have the chance to feed our brains with a taste of South African culture. Ms Ivy very kindly brought a selection of snacks back from a recent trip home to Cape Town for us to try. This idea was born in an earlier crew session where we introduced Ms Ivy to a range of delicacies such as Refreshers, Sherbet DipDabs, Earl Grey tea and Parma Violets. It was great fun getting her to try some of our favourites for the first time, but we think she had the last laugh when she brought us some ostrich biltong and antelope sausages to try! The overall favourite was the ‘Peppermint Crisp’ which reminded us of a mint aero. It had a completely different texture in the middle; a bit like a boiled sweet! 

‘Venison’ means something different in South Africa. …

Donde quiera que vayas

3rd November 2022Web Blogger

E28’s Pioneer had an outstanding session in Spanish on Today, they started off by going through ‘things they could do’ at the weekend and how to say this in Spanish along with where they would do these. Such as, Voy al cine. Voy a ver una película’ (‘I am going to the cinema. I am going to watch a film’). 

Students then made their way outside of the classroom to conduct their surveys of what their peers were doing over the weekend, in Spanish of course!

During this task the students were impeccable in the way that they conducted themselves.

From their surveys they were then asked to write a paragraph of what they had found out about their peers’ weekend plans. This encouraged students to use the guidance provided to push to ‘excellence’ on the rubric given to allow them to assess where they are at.

Throughout  the session, Pioneer’s HOWLs and character traits were fantastic, they showed courage, integrity, compassion, showed craftsmanship and quality, worked hard, got smart and were all kind to others.

Well done!

Señor Pearson and Señora Barnes

Making a Difference!

14th October 2022Web Blogger

As we previously mentioned, Crew Rowling held a bake sale on Wednesday to raise money for our chosen local charity Big C Little Warrior. This charity helps boost the confidence and self esteem of people undergoing treatment that can result in hair loss by providing free head coverings. We were blown away by the amount of students who wanted to purchase goods and support our cause and sadly we had to turn people away when we sold out of items.

We would like to give a huge thank you to those Crew members and their family members who baked items for the fundraiser and also the Crew members who supported the even in various roles whether it was crowed control (it was very busy), handling money and serving the items. You all smashed it!

We are pleaded and very proud to say that Crew Rowling raised and amazing £105 for Big C Little Warrior. We are also hoping to help them out with some of their work towards Christmas so please keep a look out for updates.

Have a lovely half term!

Mrs Barnes and Miss Johnson 🙂

XPD Outdoors – Hits the ground running!

14th October 2022Web Blogger

What an awesome start to the year. XP Outdoors has really taken off this year and we have some amazing stories to share with you.

We started the term with a getting to know each other session andwe played crew building games. It was a fantastic way to find out more about each other and for staff to build relationships with students.

From here we moved on to safety protocols and expectations. Being in an outdoor environment comes with some risks and C29 certainly took on board the different safety protocols we discussed to ensure each student was safe at all times.

Our first activities were a huge success and enjoyed by students and staff. Heading down to the firepit and garden area, students took part in Hapa Zome – an ancient Japanese Fabric dying activity and Leaf Art. Here are some of our products from the sessions.

Students grappled and supported each other and were able to produce some amazing crafts.

Alongside this students also took part in a CampFire activity. Where we enjoyed biscuits and Hot Chocolate (like by a few students). We were blown away by their engagement and behaviour during the activity. Students were able to all take part and play a role during the session, from making hot chocolate to handing out biscuits and washing up the cups. It was awesome to see everyone working together as crew!

Here are a few snaps from the sessions.

As the colder weather is approaching students are reminded that additional clothing may be required. Please come prepared for all eventualities, we would love to be outdoors as much as we can.

We are looking forward to next term’s activities and can not wait to see what amazing products the students produce. 

XPD Outdoors Staff 😀

E25 Crew Turing’s Campfire Success!

13th October 2022Web Blogger

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!

Miss Cocliff & Mrs Parker x

Big C Little Warrior

10th October 2022Web Blogger

As you may remember, Crew Rowling previously raised money for the local charity Big C Little Warrior. Once again we would like to support them and our latest fund raising activity is a bake sale. This is going to be held on Wednesday break for students and staff. Crew have been busy making posters to promote the event in crew and have really taken their time to ensure their craftsmanship and quality is of the highest level. We will update you after half term with how much we raise for this fantastic charity.

Mrs Barnes 🙂

Crew Anoa’i: One Week To Go!

7th October 2022Web Blogger

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. 

One week to go. Let’s keep going!

 – Miss Mitchell

#7DaysLeft