XP East

Y8/E27: A bird’s eye view of the Outward Bound centre in Ullswater

6th September 2021Jamie Portman

I think all parents will agree… the location of the Outward Bound centre in Ullswater is breathtaking!

You can follow us via our Twitter feed, and this blog post that brings all of the updates together.

See you on Thursday.

Update: Positive Covid19 cases in our schools

6th September 2021Jamie Portman

In order to update our community, we have a total of 22 cases of Covid19 in our schools.

Our testing provision has identified 14 cases in school today, with the remaining cases being identified via home testing Lateral Flow kits and PCR tests. 10 of these positive cases are within Y8/X27 at XP school.

I have been in contact with Public Health Doncaster today, and they have identified this as an outbreak. Myself and Andy Sprakes will be meeting their representatives as soon as possible in order to implement any necessary measures from our Covid Outbreak Management Plan.

As a precaution, we will implement the following as of tomorrow:

Y8/X27 students will be tested in school daily for the next 10 days (as mentioned this is because 10/22 students are Y8/X27 students)
All students will have a 2nd round of testing in school tomorrow
Moving forward, all students will be tested in school twice per week for the next 10 days
All rooms will continue to ensure that they are well ventilated: windows and doors must be kept open wherever possible.
Personal hygiene control measures will remain a priority

I will update our community on any further measures once we have met with Public Health Doncaster.

Please do not hesitate to contact school should you have any questions.

Best wishes, Jamie Portman.

E27 Outward Bound 2021

6th September 2021realsmart admin

How does it feel to be kind?

5th September 2021Web Blogger

We kicked off with a bang in E27 and in Crew Marx! It was great to see everyone back safe and well and getting stuck into crew activities!

We focused in crew Marx over the first week on resetting our HOWLS and how we intend to make the most of our time in year 8. We already have a really strong sense of crew and help each other as well as holding each other to account! We have noticed though, that there always seems to be a boy/girl divide, so we decided to do some work around our HOWLS in pairs of boys and girls (I have told the boys the girls don’t bite but they don’t trust me). Here is Tammy and Kiahnna working with Ben, as well as Brooke and Leo who smashed their jigsaw in record time and guessed it represented kindness!

We had a HUGE push on kindness throughout this week! It is so important at XP East that not only do you Work Hard and Get Smart in your sessions but you are being kind at all times! From helping each other when needed to complimenting each other and boosting people up! We decided our micro adventure would focus on kindness and for this we created handmade gifts to give out to the public at Lakeside village! This went down a storm and the students felt so good to be making random people also feel good! just goes to show NO ACT OF KINDNESS, NO MATTER HOW SMALL, IS WASTED!

I was so proud of everyone in crew Marx for stepping out of their comfort zones and talking to shoppers in Lakeside but I would just like to mention something inparticular:

Charlotte – She was so brave and worked really hard to show the courage to talk to strangers and after she had done it her words were “Miss, I always hide behind my mum whenever we go shopping and she talks to people, XP is making me so confident, somebody took my gifts and I feel so good!”

What an achievement!

See you all bright an early for the adventure to really begin!

Miss Ibbotson

Y8/E27 at Lakeside during their 1st week for their Final Product

5th September 2021Jamie Portman

After spending Tuesday and Wednesday with Y8s from XP at Aberdovey last week, Thursday saw me supporting the XP East Y8s at Lakeside shopping centre.

The guiding question for their first week back was ‘How does the power of kindness impact on your life and the lives of others?’ Part of their work revolved around creating artwork, rock paintings, and other arts and crafts in preparation for talking to members of the public and donating them as gifts.

As you can see in the video below, students had to show tremendous courage by talking to people who they had never met before, explain the purpose of what they were doing and donate the gifts. Many students spoke about how nerve wracking it was for them to do this, but as you can see – they pulled it off.

Well done all concerned!

X25 / E25 Immersion Fieldwork

5th September 2021Web Blogger

Dear Parents and Carers of Students in X25 and E25,

It’s been fantastic to welcome back students in X25 and E25 this week where we have seen them getting stuck into Crew activities. It has been great to spend some time with them so far and get to know them a little better, especially on a brilliant walk on the Monsal Trail in the Peak District!

We’ll build on this great start by getting straight into expeditions next week. As part of our Immersion into the first expedition of the year, we’ll be taking all students in Year 10 from both XP and XP East to the Royal Armouries Museum Leeds on Tuesday 7th September. We’ll be travelling to Leeds by coach and and will leave school after Crew at 9.15. We’ll be setting off back to school at approximately 14.00 so that we are back in school for a normal finish time of 15.15. As the visit is based inside, students will need their regular school dress but will also require a packed lunch and a drink. Any students access free school meals will have a lunch provided.

Usual school rules will apply in terms of mobile phones and these should not be used by students on the bus. Students may wish to take devices such as iPads to take any photographs or to make notes. If your child needs to take any medication, please inform their Crew Leader so that any necessary arrangements can be made.

If you have any questions or queries, please email myself at [email protected].

Best wishes,

Mr Voltaire

Positive Covid in Y8/E27

5th September 2021Jamie Portman

Unfortunately, we have received confirmation that a student in Crew Rashford in Y8/E27 has tested positive for Covid19 via PCR test.

Track and Trace may get in touch with some parents as they are the organisation for helping the student to identify close contacts – they may advise the identified student to have a PCR test. As per the revised guidelines, children under 18 and 6 months and adults who have been double jabbed no longer need to isolate.

The document that we use at school to support all operational matters surrounding Covid states that those children who are close contacts should continue to go to school as normal (unless they have symptoms):

‘Staff who do not need to isolate, and children and young people aged under 18 years 6 months who usually attend school, and have been identified as a close contact, should continue to attend school as normal.’

If some students have already been aware of this news, and they have had a PCR test this morning the helpline explained to me that they should continue to come to school even if they have not yet received the result. However, this is only the case if they do not have any symptoms.

In light of the planned Outward Bound visit to Ullswater tomorrow, we recommend that students should have their Lateral Flow test at home as normal today. As an additional precaution, we will also test all students tomorrow morning before we go to Ullswater in our testing provision in the XP drama studio.

The following document provides additional useful information: ‘Guidance for contacts of a person with a positive test result for coronavirus (COVID-19) who do not live with that person.’

Please don’t hesitate to contact us should you have any questions.

Crew Young…..Back to the Future!

3rd September 2021D Pearson

I’ve been really looking forward to returning to school this week, and the opportunity to circle up once again with Crew Young. Almost as hard to believe that we are now entering our fifth year together at XP East, is the fact that some of them have grown even taller (and/or wider) during the summer break! However, whether they’ve grown further in character or in stature, there are some wise heads on these young, broad shoulders…..

Amongst other things, over the past three days we’ve discovered that Summer has almost completed the manuscript draft of her first novel, Maclaren’s alter ego is the superhero “Oven Glove Man” (with some amazing super powers), Lewis still aspires for a career in the police force, I’m rubbish at the rock game, and Isabel has encyclopaedic knowledge of pop stars, media and social influencers.

From our first outward bound adventure in Malham Cove and Kingswood, to the challenges of Aberdovey, to the experiences of the Slave Museum, and leaving an indelible mark on the fabric of our school when signing the central pillar of the building, Crew Young are now well on the way along their learning journey. Today they designed and then described their roadmap to future GCSE success.

Crew Young takes both their name and inspiration from Cliff Young, Australian farmer who won an ultra marathon finishing in Doncaster, a suburb of Melbourne Australia, beating world class athletes by an unorthodox approach to running the event. He is quoted as saying: “I like to finish what I start doing. I like to see it through to the end, to the best of my ability.”

So do we.

What an Amazing Week!

3rd September 2021Web Blogger

First Week Back!

We are back together and super excited to see what this year has in store for us.

This week we have had a real big focus on Kindness, what this looks like and how we can be kind to others. We aimed to answer the GQ – How does the power of kindness impact on your life and the life of others?

Wednesday – Crafting Kindness Gifts

Crew Rashford considered what kindness is and looks like? We collaborated together on ideas that we would show kindness in and around our community.

With all our resources and ideas, we created beautiful gifts. Some students made origami flowers, shapes and butterflies, some wrote lovely messages on postcards, some were creative with the resources and made wond’s with kind messages such as “You are Wonderful”, some also hand painted pebbles and gifted bells as a security system for theft.

Here they are working hard and ensuring they have checked for quality and craftsmanship!

Here are some more of the amazing gifts Crew Rashford created.

Thursday – Micro Adventure at Lakeside Shopping Centre

On Thursday we embarked on our adventure, connecting with the world to spread kindness within the local community.

The visit to Lakeside shopping centre was a massive success and there was a real buzz around the place. Members of the public were blown away with the generosity of our students and their gifts but smiles on the faces of those around us and our students too.

It was fabulous to see crew members step outside of the comfort zones and challenge themselves to approach members of the public. I was super proud of Crew Rashford for stepping up to the plate, articulating themselves well and having lovely meaningful conversations with shoppers around the centre. Quite often there was no physical gift given, but for our crew to have a chat with shoppers and make someone’s day.

It really showed the essence of Crew, it shows how we support each other and play to our strengths.

We thought it was important to remind ourselves of the purpose of this exercise as we went along and students made a scrapbook of the micro adventure to Lakeside.

Here are some of the reflections…

Friday – Solo Adventure and Crew Pledges

With all these acts of kindness, we considered that we also need to take time to reflect on the week as a whole. This was an opportunity for Crew Rashford to spend time individually and understand how they can be even more kind in the future.

There was a real mixed bag of emotions, some found it lonely. Realising that they enjoy being around others… while others found it relaxing.

Whilst we have been focused on acts of kindness we also revisited our character traits. We discussed these in many ways, as a crew they look at themselves and how they would like to display these this year. They considered what compassion looks like, how we show respect, when we might need to have courage, what is integrity and how we can ensure we consider craftsmanship and quality is encompassed in our work.

We made pledges as a crew on what kind of things we want to do differently this year compared to Year 7. We really dug deep into what this is and how we can achieve this. As a crew we pledge to hold crew members accountable for them.

After a jam packed week, we also had time to let loose and enjoy some time outdoors. So E27 went and enjoyed a fab game of rounders and cricket. It’s safe to say that there are some members of crew who are slightly more competitive than others 😃. I’m not sure of the score, but Crew Rashford did a pretty good job of communicating and having fun.

Here are some action pics.

It’s been an amazing week and I am looking forward to the year ahead.

Next week is our Outward Bound trip to Ullswater. I honestly cannot wait to spend even more time with Crew. Build a great relationship and deeper foundations to become a stronger unity and crew family.

We are the mighty Crew Rashford! 😀

E24 (Y11) Visit to New College

3rd September 2021A Parker

New College Doncaster were invited to speak to XP East students today as part of their careers programme.

Scott Faulkner, Assistant Principal gave a presentation to E24 in advance of a taster day they will be attending on the 27th September (postponed from July). Students were asked to choose 3 options for the taster day which will be submitted to the college next week after looking at the prospectus they were given.

XP East is the first school to receive this talk and Scott made it clear to students that they should visit and research all local Post 16 provision so they could make an informed choice.

There is an open day on 16th October where students can have a look around and speak to staff and students. Both myself and Scott advised E24 students to apply to several colleges/schools or apprenticeships in their educational journey to Further Education and to be fully aware of the results needed to get there.

As Careers Lead I am also actively engaged in working with other local post 16 providers to ensure the best outcomes for our students.

Today was a timely reintroduction to the purpose of working hard this year as our new year 11s are preparing their road maps to success in their GCSEs and beyond. It has been wonderful this week to listen to the enthusiasm and determination of our young people as they start their last year with XP East. My role will be to support them by giving them the opportunity to make informed decisions for the best outcomes possible.

(Posted on behalf of Mrs Burns)