Well done year 7/8 girls football team on their 1st win against Don Valley. The game was full of goals ending in 4-3 to XP. Fantastic hat-trick by Mollie.
What a fantastic day we had on our fieldwork yesterday with E25. We visited Oakham Castle to experience workshops, role-play and re-enactment specifically tailored to our expedition ‘I’ve Got the Power!’.
We began the day with a walk-through re-enactment of William the Conqueror’s invasion through England, resulting in the Harrying of the North. Needless to say there were some great acting skills showing the death and destruction that William caused. Then, onto the Domesday Book where we analysed data and figured out how the ownership and value of the land changed between 1066 and 1086.
A tug of war game to represent the story and changing power balances during the First and Second Barons’ War where King John, followed by King Henry III battled with their Barons. It was clear to see the complexities and changes in power during the 1200s and each student played an excellent role to tell the story.
Next, we explored the Black Death, Hundred Years War and the Poll Tax which was brilliantly represented through another interactive game. We learnt how these events helped to cause the Peasants Revolt. We met John Ball and Wat Tyler and felt first hand how they inspired and lead the Peasants to challenge the traditional power dynamics – it was absolutely great to see how involved the students got. Who’d have thought they would make such enthusiastic revolting peasants who so passionately rejoiced over the death of the Archbishop of Canterbury (Dylan).
After the excitement of the revolt, we returned to the hall to prepare for a debate – democracy vs. dictatorship. The students used sources to gather information on the two systems of power in order to defend their side – again, fantastic arguments from both sides, with a special mention to Ava who brought examples in from our learning so far this expedition to support her pro-democracy argument.
All in all, a wonderful day – it’s great to have such confident, enthusiastic students!
A reminder that our E24 (Y9) GCSE Spanish group must submit their “at the doctor’s” gap-fill extended study task sheet this Friday 24th January. A series of slides have been shared with the group to help them to complete this challenging work, and I will be supervising Extended Study in XP East Library after school tomorrow (23.01.20) if any further assistance is needed.
Thank you.
Im sorry to say that BOTH the Y8 fixture at home and the Y9 fixture at Rossington has been cancelled. This is because Conisborough are no longer able to bring a Y8 team as there are too many students in detention and too many schools have dropped out of the y9 tournament so the whole event has been called off.
A slight silver lining is that the Y9 s will automatically qualify for the finals of said tournament and the Y8s will be given the 3 points.
NB: The Y7 & 8 fixture tomorrow is still on as planned
Dear Parents.
We feel that it is only right that we share and remind all parents of the schools Credit Control Policy.
If there is an outstanding balance on your account at present can you please bring it up to date asap. We will be implementing the policy wherever it is required and contacting parents over this coming week where necessary.
The policy is as follows:
Students School Meals
School meals are priced at £2.50 per student which is the price that the school pays to Doncaster Schools Catering. This is charged at cost, with no profit to the school, through ParentPay.
When a child’s account is in arrears the school makes contact with the parent(s) to ask for the outstanding balance to be brought up to date. There may be exceptional circumstances as to why there is an outstanding balance, in which case the school will work with parents to put in place a payment schedule. If parents fail to bring the balance up to date the following process will be followed on a weekly basis.
- If the balance exceeds one week’s lunch costs (£12.50) a text will be sent to the ParentPay payer.
- If the balance exceeds three week’s lunch costs (£37.50) the payer will be contacted by phone call. A voicemail will be left if necessary. At this stage we will ask parents to send their child in with a packed lunch until the debt has been cleared. The child’s Crew Leader is expected to monitor if the child is expecting a school lunch, and contacting the office if they have not brought a Packed Lunch. The office will then contact parents to bring one in for that day.
- If the balance exceeds four week’s lunch costs (£50.00) the Assistant Principal will contact parents via phone call. This call will be to agree a payment schedule that will be communicated with the office team for tracking. Failure to comply with the schedule will result in further action.
- If the balance exceeds five week’s lunch costs (£62.50) a letter will be sent to the payer from the Principal. This will advise parents of a meeting date and time they must attend in order to resolve their ongoing failure to pay for their child’s lunches. This meeting will be with the Principal. A payment schedule will be agreed and failure to comply will result in further action.
- If, following the above meeting, the balance remains outstanding the school will seek legal advice and any necessary action will be taken.
Music Lessons
XP believes that music should be made accessible for all and has decided to subsidise the cost of music lessons for parents. Each hour of music lessons costs the school £36.00, but we charge parents £22.50 for an individual lesson and £16.50 for a group lesson. This is a saving for parents of at least £135.00 over an Academic Year.
As a result we ask that parents commit to lessons for the whole year in the form of a signed letter agreement, as the school must commit to the Music Service provision for the whole year.
Cancellation of lessons mid year will still require payment in full to avoid any further cost to the school.
Payments are required in 3 installments as per the ‘traditional’ school terms. One payment is expected in September, one in January and the final payment in April.
- If the payment is not settled by October (first payment), February (second payment) or May (final payment) a text will be sent to the ParentPay payer.
- If the payment is still not settled by November (first payment), March (second payment) or June (final payment) the payer will be contacted by phone call. A voicemail will be left if necessary and Crew Leader will also be notified.
- If the payment is still not settled by December (first payment), April (second payment) or July (final payment) a letter will be sent to the payer from the Principal. This will advise parents of a meeting date and time they must attend in order to resolve their ongoing failure to pay for their child’s music lessons. This meeting will be with the Principal. A payment schedule will be agreed and failure to comply will result in further action.
- If, following the above meeting, the balance remains outstanding the school will seek legal advice and any necessary action will be taken.
Fieldwork and Visits
XP does not normally charge parents for the cost of fieldwork as part of the curriculum. We do ask parents to pay in full for non-essential visits due to the higher costs eg Visit to Spain.
Parents are also notified that payment of the initial, non-refundable deposit is their acceptance of the liability for the costs to the school incurred through pre-booking.
The school will issue a payment schedule to parents in advance. Failure to pay in a timely manner will result in the following process.
- As per the payment schedule, a text will be sent to all payers who have not settled the amount due by the installment deadline date.
- If the payment is still not settled one week after the payment deadline the payer will be contacted by phone call. A voicemail will be left if necessary and the trip leader will also be notified.
- If the payment is still not settled two weeks after the payment deadline a letter will be sent to the payer from the Principal. This will advise parents on a meeting date and time they must attend in order to resolve their ongoing failure to pay in advance of the next installment due date. This meeting will be with the Principal and trip leader. A payment schedule for the outstanding amount will be agreed and failure to comply will result in further action.
- If, following the above meeting, the balance remains outstanding the school will seek legal advice and any necessary action will be taken.
During crew this morning Crew Young and Crew Mercury came together for student led conference prep (SLC). Students from Year 9 modelled what an SLC looks and sounds like. It was fantastic to see how our Year 9 responded to the challenge, finding out only 5 minutes before our Year 7s arrived.
In the closing circle students spoke about their experience, discussing the quality of questions asked and the respect shown by Year 7 during the presentations. Crew Mercury gave great critique to Crew Young about the quality of the presentations and thanked them for helping out. We are CREW ! A massive well done to all involved this morning.
The Key stage 3 Cheerleading squad will be performing their routine at the Nexus Dance show.
Rehearsals are on Friday 24th January 4.15-5.15 (times have changed for pick up) we will arrive back at school at 5.30. This is for students only.
Dance Show Wednesday 29th January 6pm-8pm. Students will leave from school at 4pm. Students will receive 2 tickets for the performance all other tickets can be bought on the door at £3.
If you require anymore information please contact Miss O’Grady
On Wednesday 22nd January, E25 will be going on fieldwork to develop their knowledge and understanding of the medieval period.
Their current expedition ‘I’ve Got the Power!’ has the guiding question ‘how does power affect us?’. We are undertaking a thematic study of power over time, with our first area of study focusing on the medieval period. This fieldwork will directly link to our learning in lessons and greatly help to support the expedition.
We will be going to a mystery location that will be revealed to students on the day.
Students need to arrive at school by 8:15 and we will be returning to school at 5:30.
Students will need:
- a packed lunch (FSM students will be provided for)
- a warm coat as we will be outside for some of the day
- a drink (no fizzy drinks)
- a pen and notebook/paper to write on
- a bag to carry the above in
- travel sickness tablets if needed
- normal school dress code and mobile phone expectations apply to the fieldwork
Last term, students in E25 studied the expedition entitled ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go?’ with the guiding question of ‘Why should we care about migration?’
Our final product for this expedition is a documentary that explains our answer to this question. The first screening of this documentary will show at E25’s Presentation of Learning tonight, Monday 20th January at 6.40pm at Cast theatre, Doncaster.
We have worked closely with the Conversation Club, a charity which helps asylum seekers, during this expedition. It has been a valuable experience for all involved and our work with this charity has played an important role in our documentary.
Every student will be expected to attend on Monday with one ticket for one adult companion. Unfortunately, as the theatre has a full capacity of 130 people, students are unable to invite more than one person. Students need to make their own way to and from CAST theatre as transport will not be provided.
Therefore to allow students to showcase their hard work to more relatives/friends we are putting on another screening at XP EAST on Thursday 23rd January at 4.30pm.
Please arrive in enough time to be seated before the screening begins.
We look forward to sharing our expedition with you.
Year 7/8 Girls Football Home Don Valley 3.30-4.30
Please see team sheet
Faith
Faith
Lydia
Sareena
Abigail
Safi
Cerrina
Millie
Maddie
Leoni
Maddie
Lacie
Mollie