Just a quick note to say that there is no lost property from last week to collect this week.
Thanks!
Reflections on our return
It’s been absolutely brilliant to see Crew Young return to school with such a focused start to their year 10 after months in lock-down! Last week we watched a video that showed the origins of XP School, and how the first year group set the bar……it’s fair to say that at XP East our “Youngsters” are doing the same!
I also asked our Crew for their reflections on their return to school and it’s clear from their comments that they just want things to be back to normal:
“At first, I was excited to see all of my mates, but at the same time, I had a slight worry in my mind of how the norms would be when we return back to school. Overall, I was happy to be back at school and it had exceeded my expectations”.
“To be honest my return on school didn’t make me feel anxious to be mixing with a large group of people at all as during lock-down I still mixed occasionally with people when I could whilst playing basketball. I was more anxious about the fact the GCSEs are coming closer which causes unnecessary stress. However, now that stress has somewhat subsided and isn’t as much of a worry but glad to be at school as it’s a sign things are normalising again”.
“To reflect on my return to school, I wasn’t very worried about coming back because I knew that the guidelines would be followed by school and that I wouldn’t feel unsafe at all…..”.
“Before coming back to school, I was thinking about how it would all work whether it was class or just around school. I was excited to see my friends again but I also wasn’t looking forward to possibly having to keep 2 metres.Now I’m not as concerned about any of this because nothing has really changed other than having to sanitise my hands every time I enter the building”.
“…..During the quarantine, I didn’t meet my school friends even once, and we only really started keeping contact again a couple of weeks before we came back. Despite that, the idea of getting to see my friends was exhilarating after months spent isolated. And finally, I was glad that the ordeal was over. As somebody who was quarantined a week longer than the rest of the UK, I began to feel how tedious lock-down had become by the fourth month. I found myself counting the days until I was back at school again, purely because I longed for some sense of normality, for feeling like a functioning human again. That’s why I was extremely glad that school managed to open”.
We’re back….even stronger than before!
I was absolutely delighted to welcome my crew back this week after a long few months of distance learning and the summer break. The change in all thirteen members of my crew that I’ve picked up on over the past week and a half has been astonishing – and I don’t just mean the fact that they’ve all shot up and I don’t recognise their broken voices!
We started back a couple of weeks ago sharing what we’d been up to during the break and making pledges about the sort of person we want to be in year 9. This is a really important year with passage and the Duke of Edinburgh award, so getting our priorities right in these first few weeks is vital. Everyone is excited about doing the outdoor element of the DofE award, as am I. We’ll be working on their first aid skills in coming Friday crew sessions.
Academic crew
We held our first academic crew of the year on Thursday this week. We fetched all workbooks from the short-lived year 8 year, and had a flick through them to discuss what we felt proud of and what elements of our work we wished to improve. There were a few comments about craftmanship and quality that we will be holding each other to account over the coming months, and a few people who noticed that they’d not put as much detail as others in certain activities, so pledged to be productive in their session time.
On the whole I was incredibly impressed with the quality of their work, and am excited to see what they’re capable of producing this year.
Notting Hill Carnival – Why’s it important we celebrate different cultures?
I’d like to appreciate Mrs Hannam for sharing the work she did on Notting Hill Carnival that should have taken place over the August bank holiday weekend. We learnt about the history of Carnival and discussed why these sorts of events and customs we celebrate that are similar. We also discussed historical issues surrounding the press and police involvement in Carnival celebrations, and how that may have influenced people’s perceptions of the celebration.
Birthday celebrations!
We ended crew this Friday with cake and co-op activities, to celebrate the many crew members birthdays that are in late August / early September. We reflected on the arrival of a new year 7 cohort and comparing it with our crew in year 7. We laughed about how sweet all the year 7 friendship-based appreciations were in the community meeting and how during the first few community meetings, I had to limit them to one appreciation each. If only they were still so keen!
UPDATE: What to do if my child or someone in my household has Covid-19 symptoms
UPDATE: As of Sunday 6th September 5pm we have not had any member of our community test positive for Covid-19.
The following was posted on Friday 4th September:
I wanted to update our community on the recent school reopening procedures, and outline the specifics for what parents should do if their child or anyone in their household has any Covid-19 symptoms.
We really appreciate the positive feedback that we have received concerning the website that we created to support parents through the reopening process. As you will have seen, the videos explain the extensive measures that we have put into place concerning entry into the school environment, building, classrooms arranged into zones, split breaks / lunches etc.
As Principal of both XP and XP East, I have been absolutely delighted with the mature and focused approach from all of our students. To say their behaviour has been outstanding would honestly be an understatement. As we progress throughout the weeks and terms ahead we will need to maintain this level of conduct, and I know that we will be able to count on parents to support us as we continue to navigate any potential challenges that lie ahead.
Remember, if students show the following symptoms parents must ensure that they are tested:
- A new, continuous cough (where you cough a lot for more than an hour, or have three or more coughing episodes in 24 hours)
- Fever – where your temperature is above 37.8C
- Loss of smell or taste
In addition, the table below includes specific details about what to do regarding a range of different scenarios for anyone else in their household (for instance, the Mother of a child that goes to XP).
My newsfeed has been overrun with ‘back to school’ photos this week – so here’s ours!
After almost 6 months apart, it’s fantastic to be back in Crew together – albeit socially distanced from me, as per our bubble safety measures!
I can’t praise my Crew enough for how they’ve handled the return to school. They all sauntered back into school like they’d never been away, keen to get right back into lessons. It’s been an absolute joy to see them back where they belong, sat at their desks with their classmates, enjoying the challenges of this week’s immersion activities.
I always notice the physical changes after the Summer holidays, but the changes have been on another level this year. Yes, they’ve all come back taller, but I’m even more astounded by the changes in their attitude and outlook. All of a sudden, my Crew are very grown up!
As we look ahead to what we want to achieve in Y10, we’ve spent some time revisiting the pledges we made at the start of Y9. This time last year we were thinking about Passage Presentations and beginning our GCSE journey. Many of the pledges focussed on improving HOWLs grades in certain subjects by the end of the school year… but the rest is history and we never got to see what those grades would’ve been!
However, I reckon Crew have achieved so much on a personal level during lockdown, above and beyond what we could teach them in school (and no, I’m not talking about Mackenzie’s new found block paving skills!)
So, as most of them wanted to end last year with improved grades, I’m giving them all a 4.5 for their courage, resilience and determination not to let the missed time at school hold them back from wanting to succeed.
Year 10 – we’re ready for you 🙂
It has been fantastic to see the students back in year 10 after so long out of school. The students displayed fantastic maturity and conduct throughout the crew day and all were highly respectful of the new routines that are in place to keep students in the year 10 bubble.
In addition to new safety measures that have been but in place, we have also updated the offer for common mission and choice of subjects to be studied in year 10 and 11. The new options for our students are attached below.
Due to Co-vid, our students did not start their initial choice in March as planned as we went into lockdown and closed our school. Although our students made choices 9 months ago, due to changes to the offer, and the amount of time since the first decision, we feel it is right students and parents have the opportunity to make the choice once again based on the new offer.
The chosen Qualification of year 10 students will be started on the second week back of term- this means that students choice of GCSE will we collected in crew before the end of the week- to allow the preparations needed to set up groups.
Thanks
Mr J Smith
I’m sure parents maybe having a quick last minute look at the preparations for Y8, Y9 and Y10 students returning back to school tomorrow (Y7s and Y11s started back today)
Please remember that we communicated the changes for reopening during the last week of term via the website as we created this website to support parents through this tricky process.
At a glance, I’ve included the overview of the start times below.
Please remember that XP East parents should use the DRFC Away Fans car park as a drop off / pick up point. Parents of XP students should continue to use Car Park 3.
It was great to welcome our new Y7s at both XP and XP East today. After so many concerns, questions and worries our school corridors and classrooms were buzzing again today – and I’m absolutely delighted that the day went so well.
The morning started with a community meeting for Y7 students from both schools in the Sports Hall at XP East. I explained to all students that despite feeling a little bit nervous about starting a new school, it was actually an exciting time because it was a new start for everyone. I built on this by saying that everybody enjoys the feeling of having a new start somewhere (including staff!). It is a time to leave any problems or issues that may have happened elsewhere and seize this opportunity to start afresh.
Students were then organised into their Crews, where they spent the entire day working with their Crew Leaders, reflecting on XP’s character values and habits of work and learning. The majority of this time was also spent just getting to know each other – after all, strong and purposeful relationships are at the heart of everything that we do.
A special thank you to Mrs Vayro (Assistant Principal for the Y7 phase at XP & XP East) and the Y7 team for such a well organised and thoroughly enjoyable day.
Check out some of the photos from the day.
School reopening details
Hi everyone,
please find a link to the new ‘school reopening: support for parents’ website that we have created in order to help our community to understand the changes for the return of our students in the last week of August.
As you will see, we have produced a series of videos that explain:
- the rationale behind the planned changes
- overview of the safety measures
- details for the first week back and the staggered approach to students returning
- helping students to get back into the swing of things
- how PE will work
- individual videos for every year group at XP, XP East and XP16 (zoned locations of ‘bubbles’, entry/exit locations, lunch arrangements, equipment, staggered end of school day times).
- a section for FAQs
- Google survey to ask any questions (bottom of the link)
We have worked hard to produce such detailed resources because we want to reassure parents about the comprehensive plans that we have in place, and to let our community know well in advance of the changes that we have made.
We have also produced this video (also embedded below) which explains how the website works, and I encourage all parents to please take the time between now and the week beginning 24th August to make themselves aware of the changes.
Please stay tuned for further details between now and the start of the new school year.
Click below to access the site
Hi everyone, further to my update from the 3rd July I can confirm that on Wednesday 15th July we will be publishing the final details concerning school reopening.
We are currently finalising many different aspects of this work, and we will be releasing a specific website that will include a series of documents and different walkthrough videos.
The website will include video presentations on how the site has changed, details about the first week back, timetable changes, advice for encouraging children to get back into good habits and the different protocols for keeping our community safe.
We’re nearly there – please stick with us.