XP East

A few weeks ago we decided as crew to make up some gift bags for a local charity. We decided on the Doncaster Housing for Young People charity, they are a local charity who work with 16-25 year olds who are homeless or facing homelessness. They provide support on so many levels that allows young people to have a home and a chance at success.

We met three of their service users who told us how they had got to a situation of which they became homeless, there were so many reasons that were out of their control. One of the girls was in foster care and had to leave care at 16 which left her vulnerable, her family lives in Wales and she had no support, DHYP helped her find a property and she is currently happy, healthy and housed!

It was a great learning curve for crew to take away the stigma surrounding homelessness and help them understand that it can happen to anyone! Amazing charity!

Unfortunately the charity have to be careful of posting pictures meaning this is the only one we got!

Huge thank you as well to parents of Crew Marx and Gemini Rail for donating so many lovely gifts!

These last few weeks, we have been doing lots of fun things, like decorating our crew room for Christmas. We pinned a Christmas tree to our crew wall, and worked as a crew to decorate it. We also made 3D paper snowflakes, and hung them from the ceiling to make the room look even more festive. 

We have also been working on our final product. This expedition, our final product is a 3D model of a house, showing ideal social housing. We worked in multiple subjects to plan out this model, looking at many current examples of social housing, and the ways that they could be improved to aid people that may need help finding a place to live. 

This last term we have also been working on Passage . We have been working on a script for the passage presentation which we will be doing in February. The script we have been writing about what we did in year 7, year 8, and year 9 and. And also we have written about what we did in our lessons. This has helped us to reflect on how far we have come since joining XP East and how quickly that time has gone. 

Caitlin and Oliver S

Just to remind all parents and students all sports clubs are suspended this week and will return after the Christmas break,

With the exception of Cheerleading on Thursday,

A massive well done to all students and staff this term we have had fantastic engagement in extra curricular sports and our students have done themselves proud in sports competitions across Doncaster.

We look forward to more of the same in the New Year!

The Y10 boys football team have their first league fixture of the year this Wednesday away at Astrea Woodfields Academy,

The team are too meet at 3:15 at the changing rooms to travel to the fixture and should be back at school by 5:15 to be picked up at XP

Any questions please see Mr Stables

Due to the recent Government decision to go to Plan B, and the increasing concern around the Omicron variant, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the Y7 and Y9 Presentations of Learning that have been planned for today and next week – all Y7 parents were contacted this morning via text.

We are currently exploring alternative options for students to present during school hours, but unfortunately parents won’t be invited. We will hopefully be able to create a video of this experience and we will share this on our school website.

Whilst we are all very disappointed with this news, we hope to welcome our parents back into school for the next set of POLs in late March of 2022.

Please contact your child’s Crew Leader should you have any questions.

Jamie Portman.

Cheerleading is cancelled tonight for all year groups.

Girls football practice on tonight for all year groups. 3.30-4.15

Thanks

E26 (Year 9) will be holding the Presentation of Learning for their current expedition ‘Welcome To The Machine’ on Tuesday 14th December, 4:30-5:30pm at XP East.

Students have been working extremely hard throughout their expedition and have been answering the guiding question: ‘To what extent has innovation advanced our society?’

This will be the first time in two years that they will have the opportunity to share their learning with parents, carers and visitors in such a formal way and we very much look forward to seeing you there.

Where possible, please complete a lateral flow test beforehand.

Please do not attend if you have any symptoms of coronavirus. All adults must wear a facemask unless exempt and observe government guidelines regarding social distancing and handwashing.

As part of the immersion for our next expedition, students will be carrying out fieldwork at the Museum of Liverpool. In addition to visiting this museum, they will also visit The International Slavery Museum, which they were due to visit as part of the Being Human expedition.

Students will need to arrive at 7.45am in order to be registered, so that we can board the coach at 8am, promptly. All students will need to be dressed appropriately for the weather, including a waterproof coat and sensible footwear, as there will be some walking between the museums. Students will also need a packed lunch and snacks for the day, and sufficient drinks. Please don’t send students with fizzy drinks or products containing nuts, due to some students having allergies. If your child is entitled to a free school meal and would like one providing, please email me at [email protected] or contact their crew leader.

We will aim to arrive back at school between 5.30 and 6pm, traffic dependent. Students will be allowed to call their adults on the way home, with a more accurate arrival time