XP East

New Year, new exciting opportunities in extra curricular for our students. Please see the new enrichment extra curricular timetable below to see what fantastic academic and sporting opportunities we are offering this half term.

The timetable comes into effect today with basketball for all years with Mr Stables

Any questions about any sporting clubs please contact Mr Stables

Dear Parents and Friends of XP East

Please find attached the Ofsted report for XP East school that took place on October 12 and 13 in 2021. 

You will probably be wondering why the report has taken so long to be published and that is because we were compelled to complain to Ofsted about the judgement regarding the overall effectiveness of the school and the conduct of the inspection team. 

As you will see when you read the report we achieved a ‘good’ judgement for the quality of education. We strongly disagree with the ‘good’ judgement as we are confident that our curriculum and implementation is world class.

In addition, we were given a ‘good’ judgement for behaviour and attitudes. Once again, we strongly disagree with this judgement as our students respectfully and amazingly express who they are every day.

The school was judged as ‘outstanding’ for personal development and safeguarding was judged as effective. 

Indeed, comments in the report are very positive, even though we were disappointed by the ‘good’ judgements. Inspectors did not seem able to grasp fully what we do in terms of our curriculum model or recognise the impact that the high quality work our students produce has on their character growth and academic success.

The judgement for sixth form is ‘requires improvement’. This was based on the fact that our quality assurance of external provision has not been robust enough and that we need to improve this aspect of our work. Within 24 hours of the inspection, we identified the risks and mitigated the issues raised regarding the quality assurance of our external Post 16 provision to put things right.

This in no way reflects the excellent external provision in place at both Harrison College and Higher Rhythm, who provide amazing provision for some of the most vulnerable students in Doncaster.

There were no issues with our in-school Post 16 provision.

Nevertheless, this judgement has then led the inspection team to judge our leadership and management and overall effectiveness as ‘requires improvement’. We consider this to be disproportionate and it is contradictory to the other judgements and general comments in the report.

Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, Ofsted did not uphold our complaints regarding the above, the unprofessional conduct of the team and their conflicts of interest.

Regardless of Ofsted’s view, we know XP East is a fantastic school that provides world class provision. The school is not defined by Ofsted but by the work we do, with our students, parents and wider community on a daily basis. Our students produce beautiful and important work that impacts positively on the community, develops their character and sense of social justice whilst allowing them to succeed academically. Hundreds of visitors from around the world who come to see our school as a model of excellence agree with that analysis.

We would like to thank you for your ongoing support of the school and the noble work that we are engaged in and that we deliver every day. We are not deterred from our mission to enable our young people to make the world a better place and we will continue to focus on this in the future.

With my very best wishes, as always.

Andy Sprakes

Chief Academic Officer

XP School Trust.

XP East Ofsted Report

We were really disappointed that parents could not come into school in the final week before Christmas for the planned Presentations of Learning. However, this didn’t mean that they could not go ahead.

Instead of parents, Y9 students presented their learning and final products from their expedition ‘Welcome to the Machine’ to Y8 students. As you will see in the video, Y9s planned, rehearsed and then presented their work to Y8s who had an exit ticket based on key learning points.

As ever, the Y9s did everyone proud. Let’s hope parents can experience this in person next time!

As per recent Government announcements, we have received confirmation from the Department of Education that should your child test positive for Covid via a Lateral Flow Test, they are no longer required to accompany this with a PCR test. Instead, they will be required to isolate immediately. If they do test positive, they may leave isolation after 7 days if they receive 2 negative Lateral Flow results 24 hours apart on days 6 and 7.

More details can be found here

‘Confirmatory PCR tests following a positive lateral flow device (LFD) test result are to be temporarily suspended from Tuesday 11 January. This will mean that anyone who receives a positive LFD test result will be required to self-isolate immediately and will not be required to take a confirmatory PCR test.

In line with the reduced self-isolation approach announced on 22 December, anyone who tests positive will be able to leave self-isolation 7 days after the date of their initial positive test if they receive 2 negative LFD results, 24 hours apart, on days 6 and 7.‘

Today our E26 / Year 9 Spanish students were joined by Miss O’Grady and Ron (our resident skeletal structure) to kick start a healthy new year. This was an immersion session to introduce our next topic – focused on body parts, ailments and treatment, healthy lifestyles and healthy food. As usual, students in this group gave it 100% with burpees, star jumps and long strides raising their pulse rates at the start of the session, then group work to cool down towards the end.

Happy new year! attached below is the C25 Mock exam timetable- all exams will take place in classrooms and students will follow the normal timetabled sessions when not in exams. Spanish speaking exams will take place on the second week of exams.

Good luck!

Happy new year! attached below is the C25 Mock exam timetable- all exams will take place in classrooms and students will follow the normal timetabled sessions when not in exams. Spanish speaking exams will take place on the second week of exams.

Good luck!

Happy New Year Everyone

This weeks PE extra curricular timetable:

Wednesday 5th January C25 and C24 BTEC Sport revision 3.30-4.30. A01 and A03 XP East.

The full timetable for this term will be published on Friday.

Thank you Team PE

Happy New Year everyone! We hope that all of our families have had a safe and restful break. We’re really looking to 2022 but before we start back please find below updates from an email that we received from the DfE this morning.

Firstly, just to remind everyone the DfE has strongly recommended that students are tested for Covid on the first day back after the Xmas holiday (Tuesday 4th January). As a result, XP and XP East will be closed on Tuesday except for the specific time frames for students to take part in our in-school testing provision. Online learning has been provided for all students via Google Classroom and please refer to this update from before the holiday for more details. School will open as normal on Wednesday 5th January.

‘Does my child need to have a lateral flow test if they have tested positive for Covid in the last 90 days?’ 

We have had enquiries around the question above. As confirmed in this morning’s DfE update the answer is ‘they are strongly encouraged to take part’. Whilst this is a change to the previous guidance, the email stated:

• ‘Even if someone has tested positive for COVID-19 within the last 90 days, they are strongly encouraged to take part in Lateral Flow testing on-site or at home once they have completed their isolation period for their prior infection.’ 

If a child or member of staff tests positive via lateral flow, they would need to have a PCR test and await the result before returning to school.

Changes to the self-isolation period:

The update contained details on changes to the self-isolation period for individuals who test positive for COVID-19. It stated:

• ‘Since Wednesday 22 December, the 10 day self-isolation period for people who record a positive PCR test result for COVID-19 has been reduced to 7 days in most circumstances, unless you cannot test for any reason.’

• ‘Individuals may now take Lateral Flow tests on day 6 and day 7 of their self-isolation period. Those who receive two negative test results are no longer required to complete 10 full days of self-isolation. The first test must be taken no earlier than day 6 of the self-isolation period and tests must be taken 24 hours apart. This also applies to children under 5, with LFD testing at parental or guardian discretion. If both these test results are negative, and you do not have a high temperature, you may end your self-isolation after the second negative test result and return to your education setting from day 8.’ (more details here)

The use of face-coverings in lessons and in school:

• ‘From today, Sunday 2 January, it is recommended that face coverings are worn in classrooms where pupils in year 7 and above are educated. The advice is short term only, to support pupils and teachers as they return to school this term and builds on the existing proportionate guidance that recommends face coverings for all adults in communal areas of all settings. We are updating our guidance to reflect this. The advice on face coverings in classrooms will be in place until Wednesday 26 January, when Plan B regulations are currently scheduled to expire, at which point it will be reviewed.’ (more details here)

To reiterate, all of the changes and guidance are provided centrally from the Government. We appreciate that the complexity of the ongoing changes can be confusing – therefore please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s Crew Leader as your first port of call should you have any questions or concerns. 

Best wishes for 2022.