XP East

Today I had the pleasure of visiting XP and XP East to complete English walk throughs and review our students’ books.

Across year 7, with both Mrs Poncia and Miss Johnson, I was able to see some beautiful narratives being carefully crafted. Students were incorporating a range of tier 2 vocabulary and were redrafting key paragraphs based on specific feedback from their teacher. It was fantastic to see the students so engaged and working so meticulously.

In year 8, Mr Wilmot’s Explorer class showed superb recall of key details from their anchor text. They were all working diligently and offering wonderful contributions and ideas. Their books were also very good and showed some high levels of productivity.

In year 9, Miss Wilkinson and her Pioneer class were considering how the character of Jack had changed from the beginning of Lord of the Flies to chapter 8. They could clearly recall key events and were curious when asking clarifying questions about key vocabulary. They then used this vocabulary to support their choices about the character. Additionally, the maps they have created of the island are fantastic!

Finally in year 10, both Ms Cross and Miss Buckley’s Skipper and Explorer classes were grappling with annotating a key poem from their GCSE anthologies. In Skipper students offered some stunning inferences carefully considering the context and motivations of the poets. Whereas in Explorer students summarised key contextual information on the background of Wilfred Owen and practiced their subject terminology skills.

All in all it was a pleasure to be in all these classrooms. In every room the atmosphere was positive and enthusiastic and students were engaged.

Well done Team English from Mrs Desborough (Trust Leader of English)

We are looking for courageous educators to join our Crew at XP Doncaster and guide transformative Learning Expeditions.

Help our students grow their character, create beautiful work, and achieve academic success.

xptrust.org/vacancies

As part of National T Levels Week 2026, Amazing Apprenticeships is hosting a dedicated webinar for parents and carers to help explain what T Levels are, how they differ from other post-16 options, and where they can lead.

The session will include David Scott, T Levels Lead at the Department for Education, alongside a parent sharing their own experience of supporting a young person through the T Level route.

T Levels Week Parent and Carer Webinar: Understanding T Levels
Tuesday 20 October 2026
6:30pm–7:15pm

Parents and carers can register here:
https://www.amazingapprenticeships.com/events/t-levels-week-parent-and-carer-webinar-understanding-t-levels/

Even if you cannot attend live, we would still encourage you to register, as all registrants will receive access to the webinar recording and slides afterwards.

This is a useful opportunity for families to find out more about one of the technical education routes available after Year 11 and to support conversations at home about future options.

We are looking forward to welcoming students in Years 9, 10 and 11 to our upcoming Careers Fair, giving them the opportunity to speak directly with a range of colleges, training providers, employers and organisations about their next steps beyond XP.

The aim of the afternoon is to help students explore the different routes available after secondary school, ask questions, compare options and begin making informed decisions about what might suit them best. For Year 10, the afternoon will also include a short soft launch of Work Experience 2027, encouraging students to start noticing sectors, organisations and opportunities that may interest them in the future.

We are pleased to have a broad range of confirmed providers attending, including Doncaster College, New College Doncaster, Outwood Academy Danum Post 16, Club Doncaster Foundation Sports College, Active Fusion, the RAF, South Yorkshire Police and the National Horseracing College.

Each provider brings something different, from A Levels and vocational courses to apprenticeships, specialist training, public-service careers and employment routes. We want students to use the opportunity to ask meaningful questions about entry requirements, courses, progression, apprenticeships, practical experience and what they could be doing now to prepare for their next step.

Year 11 parents and carers

We would particularly like to invite Year 11 parents and carers to join us for the final part of the fair.

From 3.30pm until 4:45pm, Year 11 families are welcome to drop in and speak with providers alongside their child. This is an opportunity to have a longer conversation about possible next steps after XP, including college courses, sixth-form options, apprenticeships, specialist provision and other routes.

For some students, knowing what comes next already feels quite clear. For others, there may still be lots of questions. Both are completely normal at this stage. Having students, families and providers in the same room gives everyone the chance to hear the same information, ask questions together and begin making plans with greater confidence.

Please note that the after-school parent/carer drop-in is for Year 11 families only.

We are really looking forward to seeing students making connections, asking good questions and beginning to make their futures a little more visible.

Wednesday- Cheerleading practice 3.30-4.30

Year 7 boys football match at home finish at 5pm.

Football practice for all other year groups 3.30-4.30

Thursday – Netball match Year 7 and 9/10 at home finish at 4.45.

Year 7/8 girls football match at home finish at 4.45

Please tick your name off the on the sheet.

Beautiful work this week

Here’s a selection of beautiful work from across the XP Trust!

To read about other stories from across the XP Trust, visit xptrust.org.

Top of the Blogs

Class 6 Family Learning @ Green Top

Comparing numbers in maths @ Plover

Our beautiful work @ Carcroft School

C29 and C30’s fieldwork to Cambridge University @ XP

Sensory Play Crew @ Norton Infants

Year 5/6 boys football champions @ Norton Juniors

G31 Farrell Centre Fieldwork @ XP Gateshead

Netball Update: Brilliant effort and a first win! @ XP East

Share your stories with us!

We now have a new dedicated news email so that you can send your stories, updates or ideas about potential news articles directly to us in Comms.

It might be something you or your students have achieved, a charity you’re supporting or anything at all that deserves a wider audience.

Write to us at [email protected] –  we want to hear about it, write about it and celebrate it!

Today during our Year 9 Community Meeting, we had the opportunity to gather as a year group, reflect on our progress, and celebrate all the incredible achievements happening across XP.

Here are the key takeaways for Crew Rock from today’s meeting:

Attendance

Consistent attendance is at the heart of our success, and Crew Rock came out on top! We secured the #1 spot for best attendance in the entire year group with an outstanding 98% attendance rate. Fantastic dedication from everyone in our crew—setting the standard for the rest of Year 9 to follow!

Crew Praises

Our hard work and positive contributions are definitely paying off. Crew Rock earned an impressive 328 praises, placing us right near the very top of the year group leaderboard (just a fraction behind first place)!

Moments like this remind us what it truly means to “be crew, not passengers.” Let’s keep showing up for each other, building up those praises, and pushing for another incredible week ahead.

Well done crew Rock!

On Wednesday 7th October, a group of sixteen successful Key Stage Four students were cordially invited to visit the University of Cambridge. Places for this fieldwork were limited, and therefore hotly contested. Students had to make a written application outlining their suitability for the visit, which was excellent preparation for future job and university applications. We very impressed to read quality self reflection within the successful applications. 

The day included a guided tour of Homerton College (even to their college pub!), along with an introduction to University session with a student ambassador Q&A session. All students conducted themselves incredibly maturely, and we were especially proud to see the confidence with which they asked clarifying and probing questions of the Cambridge staff and students about what it is like to study there. We were invited along with 3 other schools from Doncaster, Sheffield and Rotherham; during the Q&A session, XP students were the only ones asking some brilliant questions!

During the afternoon, pupils were put to the test by Dr. Paul Elliott – the admissions tutor for Homerton college – in a murder-mystery, ‘escape room’ type session. Dr Elliott has designed, created, and implements over 100 different puzzles to test critical thinking ability! Paul’s puzzles are often used as part of the admissions process, to test logical and lateral thinking – and thinking outside the box! These puzzles required lots of critical thinking, problem solving and quick mental arithmetic to try solve a crime – with students being offered a fully funded, formal visit back to the University early next year if they were able to fully solve the crime. Stay tuned here – they have 2 weeks to do it in!

Fortunately, the challenging curriculum at XP had already prepared our students pretty well for this as they are well used to making lateral connections between subjects. Here at XP, we agree wholeheartedly with the professor’s assertions that “it isn’t enough to just know stuff”. You must be able to apply it to different situations too! 

Overall, yesterday was an incredible day which showed the successful applicants exactly where they could be in 3-4 years time. We had so many great conversations to raise aspirations!

Miss Cross & Miss Cocliff x

No Year 10 netball tournament tonight. Practice for Year 7 and 8.