Unfortunately the car park used to drop off and collect XP East students is temporarily inaccessible to us, we are working on this to get it re-opened ASAP, during the mean time parents will need to collect students from car park 3 on the other side, making sure that your registration is logged with either office by email [email protected] [email protected] or by phone 898792. Any longer than 20 minutes could create a fine letter in that car park, many thanks, XP & XP East.
Year 9 Common Mission
Purpose
To explain how we use Common Mission to support students to access different pathways to academic, career and life readiness at XP. Common Mission is a curriculum process that is additional to our Core GCSEs, where we further develop character and positive habits of work and learning in our students. In addition to our Core GCSEs, we run one session a week from Year 9 called ‘Common Mission’. These sessions allow students to think about, prepare and take qualifications in pathways that will help them to become who they want to be later in life. Common Mission sessions include career and further education advice, as well as time for them to study a GCSE of their choice if they have the motivation, capacity and capability to do so. Common Mission includes the opportunity to study a Choice qualification or to pursue other curriculum or personal interests. In these sessions students develop their self-study skills so they are ready for their next steps in the education process.
X25/E25
On Wednesday the 14th of April, students at X25 and E25 students will choose one of the following common mission options to develop their self-study skills so they are ready for their next steps in the education process, with the potential to gain the listed qualifications. 28th of April will be the start date Your support and guidance as parents will be invaluable to our students making a choice that is right for them. As well as discussions at home, our students will spend time in crew this week. Please see the video below outlining the overview of Common mission. If you have any further questions please do not hesitate use the form attached and I will answer any questions as soon as possible.
Topic Options:
| Common mission Option | Potential Qualification | Specification |
| Business Studies | GCSE | AQA |
| Engineering | NCFE Level 1/2 | NCFE |
| Maths pushing 9.0 | Additional Study GCSE AQA | AQA Maths |
| Music | ABRSM | Level 2 Music qualification through the Rock School (RSL) |
| BTEC PE | BTEC | Pearson Edexcel |
| Triple Science | GCSE | AQA Triple Biol, chem, phys |
| Psychology | GCSE | AQA |
| Dance | BTEC | BTEC Pearsons Level 2 |
| Geography | GCSE | AQA |
| Core Expeditions | Additional Study | STEAM, MATHS, HUMAN |
| Self Study | Mix | Mix |
XP Self Study Website Examples:
Have any questions?:
D6 is our voluntary sixth day of school which will take place each Saturday during term time. D6 is led by ex-students of XP who are returning to provide our current students with peer to peer academic study support. There will be additional support from our school learning coaches and members of the Leadership Team. Existing students in Year 10 will be able to come into school on a voluntary basis on a Saturday morning from 10.00-12.00 each week to access this additional support.
The long-term plan is to open this up to students in all year groups, but in light of the recent lockdown, we are currently only extending this invitation to students in Year 10 as an additional layer of support in response to the previous lockdown. Whilst we understand that there may be some concerns around coming into school on a weekend, we feel it is justified in light of ensuring our students are able to access the education and additional support they deserve. Therefore, all Year 10 students are welcome at XP from this Saturday 17th April. Sessions will usually begin at 10.00 until 12.00 for the time being.
Appropriate risk assessments and protocols around safe and hygienic working have been prepared, and we will ensure that rooms used in the school have been sanitised before and after use. Refreshments will also be provided.
We hope students in Year 10 along with XP and year 10s and year 11s can join us this Saturday! If there are any questions or concerns please email Mr Smith at [email protected]
Just a reminder that all students should do their Covid home test this evening and to add it to the NHS test and trace app and the schools register. These can both be found on the front page of the school websites on the right hand side. It is necessary to add the result to both registers please.
Crew leaders will send reminder emails to their students every Sunday and Wednesday to remind them to test. If your son / daughter does get a positive result please keep them and any siblings at home and contact the school office as normal.
It is really important that staff, parents and students understand that the Lateral flow tests we are doing at home must ONLY be used for asymptomatic testing. This means that they should only be used on people who have no signs or symptoms associated with the covid virus. If you or a member of your family have the specific covid symptoms (new and persistent cough, high temperature, loss or change in taste or smell) then you and your family must immediately isolate. A PCR test must then be done to confirm if you are positive or negative. Only confirmation of a negative PCR test will allow you to return to school. A negative lateral flow test will not.
If you have any questions please contact the school and I will be happy to answer any questions.
Have a lovely Sunday.
Kate ap Harri
Year 10 will begin their first set of GCSE mock exams from the week commencing 10th of May over the following two weeks. This first round of mocks will be over two weeks to all the students.
The following exams will be taken by students in E24/Y10:
AQA citizenship (Cit students only)
AQA Spanish Writing (GCSE Spanish students only)
AQA Spanish Speaking (GCSE Spanish students only)
OCR B SHP History The People’s Health / Living under Nazi Rule
AQA Geography Paper 2 (Common Mission students only)
Eduqas English Language Component 1
Eduqas English Literature XP made paper from a combination of Comp1 and 2
AQA Business Paper 1 (Common Mission students only)
AQA Maths Paper 1 Non Calculator
AQA Maths Paper 2 Calculator
AQA Science Paper 1 – Communicable and non Communicable diseases
AQA Science Paper 2 – Mag/electro mag/Hydrocarbons/alternative sources energy
All exams will take place during a normal school day, and will take place in the sports hall with appropriate CV-19 safety adjustments in school.
I’ve lost count of the number of ‘Crew Finch are back!’ style blogs I’ve written, but here’s another one! We are (finally) back together in Crew for – can you believe it – the first time in 2021!! Fingers crossed that this time, we are back for good…
What’s struck me this time round are the good vibes coming from Crew who seem genuinely happy to be back at school with their friends and are even, dare I say it, enjoying being back in ‘proper’ lessons. Although I can’t praise the quality of our online provision and our students’ engagement during these challenging times enough, there’s nothing like the real thing!
Understandably, some of our Crew were anxious about being back in school so we spent the first couple of days together just doing what we do best: pulling together to help alleviate some of those worries, giving each other a safe space in Crew to talk about how we feel about things (with no judgement) and just generally helping each other settle back in to our new school routine.
We also reconnected with some speed dating! After not seeing each other for over 3 months, it was good to spend 1:1 time with everyone, finding out more about what makes us tick by asking deep, probing, philosophical questions 😉 such as:
- If you had a warning label… what would it say? (most were spot on!)
- Who is the most intelligent person you know (Kobe was outraged that nobody named him!)
- What’s your favourite fizzy drink? (Dr Pepper caused some controversy…)
- Would you rather be really good looking, or super intelligent? (always a tough one to answer, that one!)
I won’t be looking at some of our Crew in quite the same way after the answers they gave to some of the questions!
I enjoyed taking a step back and just watching them all interact during this speed dating activity. It made me smile to see them laughing with – or, in some cases, at – each other and I feel reassured that, whatever life throws at us, we always find our way back to Crew.
Good morning.
Just a quick reminder that school closes today at the normal time for your childs year bubble and re-opens on Wed 7th April due to the Easter weekend break and staff days.
Have a fab weekend!!
NHS Test and Trace: COVID-19 Home Testing for Students
Dear Parent / Carer,
All students should now have completed 3 in school covid lateral flow tests and are now able to move on to the home testing provision. The home tests are the same Lateral Flow Device (LFD) tests that we have been using in school so the students should be capable and comfortable with doing them.
Up to one third of people who have coronavirus are asymptomatic. By testing regularly we will help to reduce the spread in school and college settings through asymptomatic transmission. I am therefore strongly encouraging all students to take part in the mass testing.
Students will each be given 2 boxes, each containing 3 individual tests. This will mean students will have a total of 6 tests which is enough for testing twice a week for 3 weeks. These will be given to students by their crew leader on Wednesday 31st March. Further tests will be supplied at a later date.
Please keep testing kits at room temperature and do not store below 2 degrees or above 30 degrees and out of direct sunlight.
Testing using lateral flow device (LFD) tests
LFD tests have been widely and successfully used to detect COVID-19 in asymptomatic individuals. No test is perfect, but the speed and convenience of LFD tests supports detection of the virus in asymptomatic individuals who would not otherwise be tested. They are clinically approved and are crucial in the fight against the virus. As the tests are more sensitive with higher viral loads, there is a risk of returning a negative result when viral loads are low (for example, in the early stages of infection). This is why Public Health England recommends two LFD tests 3 to 5 days apart (or 3 to 4 days for home testing), to enhance detection by picking up any cases which were not detected during the first test and to catch any new infections.
If you test positive using an LFD, it is likely that you are infectious at that moment, whereas people testing positive on a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or lab-processed test could be in the less infectious early or late stages of disease. This means that by using the lateral flow test we can identify people with a high viral load who are the most likely to spread the virus further. A negative LFD result should not be read as a means to relax or ignore social distancing or other virus prevention measures intended to reduce transmission – LFD is an additional tool that contributes to reducing risk.
Testing of students
For the first week we would like students to test on Saturday 3rd April and then the evening of Tuesday 6th April so that all students have tested before returning to school the following morning. After this we would like students to join our staff testing days of Sunday and Wednesday evenings starting Sunday 11th April and continue until advised otherwise.
The LFDs supplied do not require laboratory processing and can provide a quick result within 20 to 30 minutes. Please refer to the additional instruction booklet rather than using the instructions inside the boxes. There is also a useful video to show you how to administer the test. This can be found here.
All test results need to be uploaded to the NHS Test and Trace app as soon as the test is completed either online or by telephone as per the instruction booklet. You will also need to register your result with school using the test result google form. The link is on the right at the top of the web page.
We will continue to run a small testing site at school as a provision for those students who are unable to or do not wish to test themselves at home.
Due to year 11 having to isolate they still need to do a 3rd and final test in school before receiving their home test kits. This will be done as soon as they arrive at school on Wednesday 7th April. Further information will be sent direct to parents and students regarding this.
Consent / Privacy
Once you have understood the testing process and have read the privacy notice, you are committing to self-administer the test and report your results (whether positive, negative or void) via the NHS Test & Trace digital platform and to school.
Students who decline to participate can still attend school if not symptomatic. If they begin to show symptoms, they should get tested and follow the usual national guidelines on self-isolation.
We will support all our students throughout this process but please get in touch with your crew leader if you have any further questions or concerns.
Yours faithfully,
Jamie Portman
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