Crew Anoa’i: Weekly Update

17th September 2022Web Blogger

Another fantastic week for Crew Anoa’i! I’m seeing such a difference in our crew at the moment. Everyone is attempting tasks in crew time with no hesitation or reluctance. I’m so pleased to see this big change.

On Monday we celebrated Miss Mitchell’s birthday and took on the challenge of learning ‘Origami’, the art of folding paper, often associated with Japanese culture. This activity definitely divided the crew; some struggled to follow the complicated instructions, whilst others were paper-folding magicians! Despite the clear divide, we helped each other follow the instructions, step-by-step, and we all managed to create some origami animals and boats. 

On Tuesday we took some time to revise, looking back at the work we completed last year regarding the Nazis and Hitler’s rise to power. As you can see, everyone got stuck in, sparking some great discussions around the contrasting nature of Nazi Rule in Eastern and Western Europe.

Wednesday was great fun! We went outside again to take part in some team building activities, including: Silent Line Up, Jump In Jump Out and River Crossing. These activities got our brains working, in particular Jump In Jump Out. We had a good laugh with this one, as this activity tested everyone’s coordination. What a great way to start a day!

On Thursday, we looked at the praise log whilst composing our weekly appreciations. We then completed our student pledges, thinking about what we need to work on this term. 

And on Friday, we had our whole school community meeting, where the Attendance League was reintroduced. After one week, Crew Anoa’i are joint 15th with 12 points. I’m not going to lie, it’s not an amazing start, but we can improve on this and we will. This is something we will be working on this term, as the winning crew receives £50 as their prize! 

We’ve got this Crew Anoa’i, let’s win that money!

 – Miss Mitchell

#GotThis



History stars in the making…

By Web Blogger16th September 2022

History stars in the making…

Our students in Y10 have been working extremely hard in their History sessions over the past two weeks. We have been learning about different aspects of Viking life in their homelands of Scandinavia, from the food they ate to their religious beliefs and the rituals they practiced.

I have been really impressed with their work ethic, contributions to classroom discussion and the craftsmanship and quality of their work.  Check out Logan and Harvey’s beautiful books below!

Next week, Y10 will be working hard planning and completing their first formal assessment on the Vikings. If they continue this level of concentration and continue to graft, I am sure they will be very successful and proud of their achievements.

Keep up the great work Y10!

Praise for 11 Pioneer History

13th September 2022Web Blogger

Year 11 have been thrown straight back into it in history – we’ve started our new history unit ‘The People’s Health’ that is a thematic study focusing on how factors such as beliefs, technology, government, wealth and poverty impacted public health from 1250-present day. I’ve been so impressed with Pioneer – particularly in our lessons this week as they have been so focused and motivated to do well. It seems like everyone has their eye on the end of the year and there is definitely an atmosphere of determination and motivation to do well – I’m pleased that they are taking everything in their stride whether it is the mountain of content and knowledge they need to learn or practising their exam technique each lesson, it is all attacked with hard work and a maturity that seems to have developed over the summer.

It’s been wonderful to watch your personalities and academic skills grow over the years since our first lessons in year 7 and I’m sure all this hard work will pay off – and yes Charlie, I may still have my Miss Battle-Axe moments, you’ll thank me for them later!

Miss Hickson

What a Wonderful Week for Crew Parkinson!

13th September 2022Web Blogger

I am absolutely thrilled with the attitude that Crew have got now they’re in year 11 – everyone is 100% focused on the end goal and working really hard in sessions to achieve the best they can! It’s been great to know that many of crew are attending after school revision sessions and I’m hearing really positive things about their conduct from teachers. Keep this momentum going – I’m so pleased with you all and you deserve to do well after all the effort you’re putting in to your education. Everyone has already got at least one praise point so far and here’s just some of the praises for Dylan, Lacey, Bob, Callum and Toby have got since the start of term:

Crew Anoa’i: First Full Week Complete!

10th September 2022Web Blogger

After a great start last week, Crew Anoa’i have continued to amaze me this week. I’ve  heard nothing but praise for our Year 11s. Crew Anoa’i have had another fantastic week! 

On Monday we took some time to relax and enjoy some seasonal colouring. On Tuesday we completed our ‘to do’ list full of little jobs, ensuring we were ready for the week ahead. 

Wednesday was a great morning! Despite some grey clouds hanging over our heads, we went outside to take part in some team building activities, including: The Human Knot, Crossing The Line and Buzz Off. We even had a few members of Crew Turing join us. It was amazing to see everyone getting involved and having a good laugh with each other. Thank you for joining us Callum, Ralph, Lewis and Tyler!

On Thursday, we had our first Year 11 community meeting where we shared our appreciations with each other. And on Friday, we had our first whole school community meeting, the perfect opportunity to share more appreciations. 

A special shout out to Jacob Sutton for his hard work this week. He has started Year 11 with such determination and a fire to succeed. I’m so pleased to hear so many positive comments around his work ethic and contributions in sessions. Keep up the good work, Jacob!

Crew Anoa’i are smashing it so far, let’s keep going. Here’s to next week!

 – Miss Mitchell

#SmashingIt

C26 (Y10) & C25 (Y11) – what a cracking start!

10th September 2022Web Blogger

What an absolutely cracking start to the year. Both year groups across both schools have been absolutely on it! Some of our Y10 students are already getting smart by creating revision resources to help them over the next 2 years, whilst our Y11s have come back ready to work hard for their GCSEs.

This week we held our first year group community meetings and, as you can see from the slides below, we already have lots to celebrate!

Year 10 Appreciation Slides:

C26-Community-Meeting-07_09_22Download

Year 11 Appreciation Slides:

C25-Awesomeness-Community-Meeting-08_09_22Download

Crew blogs:

Your child’s Crew Leader will keep you up to date with what’s happening in crew via their crew blogs. You can find these here:

X26E26
Crew Blessed Crew Frank
Crew KahloCrew Obama
Crew PankhurstCrew Mercury
Crew ThunbergCrew Rowling
X25 E25
Crew PiperCrew Ali
Crew Rosa ParkesCrew Anoa’i
Crew Stan LeeCrew Parkinson
Crew TomlinsonCrew Turing

A couple of reminders:

We have asked all students to re-familiarise themselves with our dress code policy. We understand that our lack of uniform allows students to express themselves, however we do still have guidelines. If students persistently break the dress code guidelines, they will be challenged and required to complete after school reflections. We want to avoid this, so they can attend revision sessions instead to achieve their best grades at GCSE level!

Could we also ask for your support please in ensuring your child comes to school every day with appropriate equipment. This should include a pen, pencil, ruler, water bottle, and fully charged device (we don’t allow students to work on mobile phones). In Y10/Y11 we find devices are used a lot more, so please make sure students are bringing their chargers to school too! It’s vital that they have access to these devices to achieve their full potential through work in sessions and revision. Students may find it beneficial to have a notebook for revision material too, but that’s personal preference!

As ever, please feel free to contact us if you have any questions and we look forward to meeting some of our Y11 parents at our work experience launch on Wednesday 14th September 🙂

Mrs Parker (E25/E26 Phase Lead, XP East) and Miss Cocliff (X25/X26 Phase Lead, XP)

Turing’s tremendous first week back

6th September 2022Web Blogger

We wanted to update you about Crew Turing’s first week back at school! Along with welcoming a wonderful new crew member, Tyler – who has started to settle beautifully – crew have been up to loads of activities this week to reestablish their bonds as crew, ready for their final year at XP East!

Crew Turing joined the rest of Y11 in walking around Flamborough Head. They were absolutely fantastic! Ralph & Lewis led the way beautifully, Crew showed compassion by checking in on each other, and it was lovely to be out and about getting to know Turing more.. (and have a sneaky ice cream at the Lighthouse!)

We had a gorgeous day for walking, and took in some stunning scenery. Behaviour was impeccable, and the day was a beautiful start to Y11!

On Wednesday, we had a crew activities day – again, this was a lovely opportunity to get to know students in crew more, to start to build solid relationships, and to just have a laugh! We started to think about our journey through Y11 and the challenges we may face. We spoke at length about how crew Turing can support each other throughout the upcoming year – Crew has some beautiful ideas about how they can do this, and began to create some amazing ‘road maps to success’!

We started and ended the day with some card games – UNO seems to be a favourite! (Sami doesn’t like Liar, though – he ended up with half the deck!!) During the day we also took part in Mrs Elliott’s version of ‘the Cube’ – I’m very proud to say that Crew Turing’s sterling efforts, Sami, Lexi & Dylan’s FABULOUS point scores, and Mollie’s photographic memory meant that Crew Turing came out as the champions with 6,500 points!

On Thursday, Crew took part in more crew team building activities with an external company called Wise Up. We couldn’t even pick out a superstar from Wednesday – all students in Crew were AWESOME! They worked together really well, built each other up when they needed it, and offered loads of support! It was fantastic to see them come together as a crew to work out brain teasing conundrums and physical challenges throughout the day.

We ended our first week back with more crew activities and a presentation of learning. We’ve reflected on our time as crew from year 7 to now – identified our favourite moments (LOTS of them with Miss Haughey – gone but NEVER forgotten!) – and got some photos together from Y7 to now (and Lewis hasn’t changed a bit, but Lexi is unrecognisable!) Crew presented their slides to the rest of Y11 and did a great job!

A fanstastic start to what will hopefully be a fantastic final year.

Miss Cocliff & Mrs Parker

Dance & Drama Club: AUDITIONS!!

4th September 2022Web Blogger

After a successful show last year, XP’s Dance and Drama Club are putting on another show. This year we will be doing a rendition of… Disney’s ZOMBIES!

Are you interested in Dance, Drama and all things Performing Arts? Are you wanting to try something new? Look no further, XP’s Dance and Drama Club is here.

Auditions will take place tomorrow (Monday 5th September) in the XP Drama Space after school from 3:15 – 4:30pm. There will be an audition preparation session at lunch from 12:45 – 1:10pm in the XP Drama Space. This will be a chance for students to look at some of the audition material before the auditions after school. The auditions are open to all year groups!!

A note for all students wanting to join the club – rehearsals will take place on Mondays and Thursdays, both at lunch and after school. 100% commitment is needed for this club, as everyone has a part to play in the show.

If you have any questions, please contact Miss Mitchell via her email [email protected].

Please join us and show us what you’ve got. We look forward to seeing you tomorrow at lunch and after school!

#AnotherOpeningAnotherShow

Crew Anoa’i: It’s The Last Chapter!

3rd September 2022Web Blogger

How time has flown for Crew Anoa’i and E25. It feels like it was only yesterday I met the crazy bunch of kids who would change my life forever. We’ve had many ups and downs along the way but we’ve made it! I can’t believe that in only a few months time Crew Anoa’i will be fledging the nest and venturing into the big wide world. 

For the first few days of Year 11, we spent time refocusing and coming together as a crew once again. We reflected on our time here at XP East, looking back through photos and reminiscing the journey we’ve had so far. 

On Tuesday, we travelled to Flamborough Head, where we walked from North landing to South Landing. Whilst faced with a beautiful landscape, we were given the opportunity to catch up with one another after a long 5 weeks off. It was a great way to start the week, tiring but great.

On Wednesday, we spent the day in crews. We started with a check in regarding the summer holidays then completed several tasks as individuals: tasks such as ‘We Can Be Heroes’, an activity that involves each student designing a fancy dress costume. The designs are then swapped over and a background is created to set the scene of someone’s car breaking down whilst dressed in the costume. This naturally is the worst place imaginable. Then the designs are swapped over again and students have to design a superhero, the saviour of the person stranded in their party outfit. A superhero name is given and powers are selected wisely, all relating back to our XP character traits. All designs are then revealed to each other, here are some examples.

Crew Anoa’i then focused on completing their letters to their year 7 self. Everyone took their time and thought very carefully about their individual journeys at XP East and composed some great letters offering guidance to their younger selves.

We then moved onto our last task of the day, our GCSE Roadmap. We were given instructions to create a journey that resembled our last year at XP East, including Mock Exams and revision techniques. Our aim was to create a roadmap but in a theme of our choice. All designs are then judged and the winning design would secure the prize cake for their crew to share. (We will update you on this next week, fingers crossed we win!)

On Thursday, Crew Anoa’i and the rest of C25 took part in countless activities organised by Wise Up. We worked together to complete a number of team building tasks, including ‘Flip It’, ‘Giant Nails’, ‘Crazy Maze’ and ‘Say What You See’. We were given the job of scoring ourselves in the following categories – Planning, Communication, Motivation, Teamwork and Completing The Task. During this process we showed integrity with our marking. After we completed as many tasks as we could in the time given, we calculated the average of our scores. We came SECOND out of 8 crews, with an average of 21.8! This was a huge achievement for us and we are very proud of ourselves for doing so well with the team activities, something we have previously struggled with.

On Friday, we celebrated our success with some sweet treats and then focused our attention on answering the guiding question: 

“How can we get everyone to the top of their mountain?”

We created a short video showing our journey from year 7 to present day and how we have come together, as a crew, in this past week. We presented this video to the other crews in E25 and shared our answers to the guiding question. 

What a start to the year we’ve had. I can’t wait to see what Crew Anoa’i do in their final year at XP East. I’m looking forward to spending these last few months together, creating memories that will last a lifetime!

– Miss Mitchell

#LastChapter

Climbing to the top

2nd September 2022Web Blogger

Wow! What a week! 

I firstly want to say how amazed I am of the compassion shown this week in Crew Rowling. There have been ups and downs but we have pulled each other through and had great fun along the way.

To start off we had a day in Crew and we were introduced to our guiding question which was ‘How can we get everyone to the top of the mountain?’. This got us thinking about how we are going to tackle both year 10 and 11 and the all important process to sitting GCSEs. Crew got straight on with this and I loved hearing about their ideas, concerns and ways we could overcome these. 

The second day we had a day packed full of team building activities from WiseUP. These tasks tested Crew’s ability to work together, their compassion, resilience, perseverance, patience and communication skills. As a Crew we did tasks such as the magic carpet, crazy maze, baton pass, shepherd and sheep and say what U C, to name a few. This day was full of laughter and we had an amazing partnership from Charlotte and Harvey, who were determined to conquer the most difficult of tasks (switching places on a beam). Every single member of Crew Rowling took part, whether it be planning, voicing strategy, reading or selecting the activity card and all worked together in the tasks which was great to see.  

Thursday we went off to Flamborough where we walked from North Landing to South landing, stopping half way at the lighthouse for lunch. The conduct from students was impeccable and it was so lovely to see them showing respect to members of the public by letting them pass by and saying ‘hello’ or ‘thank you’. We were lucky with the weather which meant we could admire the stunning views whilst walking with the rest of E26.

Friday we planned a product of learning to deliver to the other Crews in E26. This needed us to work together to give each of our thoughts on the week. We then split into two teams to begin designing our roadmaps to success. These are not quite finished as we want to get the craftsmanship and quality just right so these can be added to our Crew wall. So watch this space as a further update on these will follow! The POL which was presented in the afternoon really captured who our Crew had worked together so brilliantly all week and I was extremely proud of each one of you! We then has a small awesomeness community meeting which allowed students to appreciate each other. We ended our first week back with a Crew game of mafia which as always, had us in stitches.

It has been a fantastic start to year 10 for Crew Rowling. I can’t wait to see where this coming year takes us but after this week I know that Crew Rowling can get through anything together. 

Mrs Barnes 🙂