Sharing our Stories: 22/12/2023

22nd December 2023Geoff Hewitt

Beautiful Work This Week

Lungs of the World: Beautiful Work from Norton Juniors

In Autumn 2023, Year 5 and 6 across the trust embarked on an expedition with the guiding question: Why should we help our planet survive?

As part of the Expedition, students created their own soft toys based on a chosen animal from the Amazon rainforest – learning about why it is endangered and what we can do to protect the species. The students used ‘The Great Kapok Tree’ as a model text. The pupils wrote their own version of the story through rainforest animals’ eyes for younger children in the form of a book and shared them with Year 2 pupils (along with the soft toys) with the purpose of teaching them about deforestation and its impact.

G30’s first POL at St Mary’s Church, Heworth

In the Autumn term of 2023 students at XP Gateshead studied an expedition called ‘From the ground up’ with the guiding question “What do the communities of the North-East of England owe to the miners?”. They presented their learning from this Expedition on Monday at St Mary’s church – sharing their story and performing the songs they have written to tell the stories of the mining community.

These songs will be recorded in New Year and a CD will be produced!

As part of the presentation, students unveiled a board full of their beautiful work – including narrative accounts, diary entries and artwork relating to the Felling Pit disaster.

The chosen venue for the presentation was also historically significant. Not only is St Mary’s the site of a memorial to the disaster and those who lost their lives, but it is also the final resting place of Thomas Hepburn – the famous miner, Trade Union leader and advocate of better working conditions for miners. The building that XP Gateshead is now based in was once named after him.

Sir Tim Brighouse

We were deeply saddened across the XP Trust to hear about the death of Sir Tim Brighouse on 15th December. 

Sir Tim was considered to be one of the most important voices and thinkers in education, and a great champion of state schools.

We were very fortunate to be able to welcome him to XP on a couple of occasions and to hear him speak about our school with warmth and encouragement.

He has left a legacy of equity and advocacy for education for all and we are very proud that he is part of our story.

Top of the Blogs

Rail City Launch @ Doncaster Free Press

Enjoying Christmas Lunch in our festive clothes! @ Norton Infants

Crew Spetch Christmas Fun @ Green Top

Weekly update for families @ XP Gateshead

There’s s’more from XP Outdoors @ XP

Christmas Party @ Plover

Primary School Christmas Musical @ Norton Juniors

E28 Crew Malala Roundup @ XP East

Festive Fun @ Carcroft School

We’ve got Vacancies at XP Trust!

Visit xptrust.org/vacancies to find out more and apply to #JoinOurCrew

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!

Merry Christmas

There’s S’more from XP Outdoors ;)

21st December 2023Angella Parker

XP Outdoors ended a fantastic term by getting together with s’mores and hot chocolates around the firepit (which provided some much needed warmth on a blustery day!)

We had a few burnt marshmallows, but lots of smiles!

Activities such as this give our Y7’s the opportunity to get to know eachother more outside of the classroom, whilst learning new skills and appreciating the outdoors.

Each group checked out with what had been their favourite activity of the term and, whilst the firepit featured highly, it was closely followed by walks around our lovely local area and litter picking!

Lots more activities planned after the Christmas break as we take learning outside of the (normal) classroom for another term.

E28 Crew Malala 2023 Round Up!

21st December 2023Web Blogger

Crew Malala in E28 had a great term in Autumn 2023. Here are some of the highlights:

We have been working on our Duke of Edinburgh Voluntary Stewardship by taking our turn to pick up litter around the school site. We have it down to a science, splitting into teams and taking different areas. We can clear the site of litter in around ten minutes!

With 97% attendance, we won the attendance league for Term 1a! We are waiting to see if we can keep the top spot for Term 1b.

At the end of Term 1b, E28 had their termly awards. Crew Malala came out on top with three awards! Fasia won for kindness, Alex for most improved, and Holly won for consistently working hard. Holly was a unanimous decision by all teachers who voted.

Crew Malala are looking forward to what 2024 brings. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from Crew Malala. See you in January.

Miss Batty & Miss Collinson

Y8 & Y9 End of Term Celebrations

21st December 2023Web Blogger

What a fantastic way to end the term!

The remarkable dedication and effort demonstrated by all of Year 8 and Year 9 students throughout this term have been truly inspiring.

In our commitment to acknowledging their achievements, we have employed various means such as recognising them through praise points and expressing appreciation in community meetings.

To cap off the term on a high note, we collaborated with leaders, teaching staff, and crew leaders to shine a spotlight on students who have truly exemplified our XP values. This was achieved through an uplifting community meeting where several students were honoured for their outstanding accomplishments and commitment.

We carefully identified and commended students in various categories to celebrate their successes and positive contributions to our school community.

Above and Beyond
For students who consistently go above and beyond what is expected of them. Extracurricular activities, volunteer work, or initiatives that benefit the school or community.
Consistently Working Hard
Students who consistently put in effort and dedication to their academic progress and HoWL’s
Most Improved Student
For students who have shown remarkable progress and improvement over a period of time.
Wonderful Human Being
For students who actively show compassion, extend support, and exemplify outstanding human qualities by looking out for their peers and being kind to others.

Each student will also have the opportunity to join a celebration breakfast and festive acivities this week

Here a little insight into our community meeting.

E28_E29-Awesomeness-Community-Meeting-1Download

All Year 8 students’: HPV vaccine available in the New Year 31/01/2024.

20th December 2023Mrs N Mawby

An email has been sent to all parents/carers of students in Year 8. (Please check spam mail if not received). The Electronic consent link is attached for all parents to access and fill the form online; whether you do not consent or consent, the RDASH team would appreciate a response from each student’s parents/carers (this saves phone calls home asking about consent or not). The HPV vaccine will take place at school on 31 January 2024, so the link will need to be completed two weeks before this date. Thank you for responding to the link.

E27 Viking Festival

19th December 2023Web Blogger

E27 hosted an immersive Viking festival to showcase their work to their parents!

We have been studying the Viking expansion in preparation for GCSE and we decided to create a Viking settlement in school to show our parents about viking homelands, the foods they ate, how they made weapons, what they traded and showcase some wonderful artwork!

E27 students created Viking ships and weaponry to show how the Vikings expanded their settlements as well as giving parents a glimpse into the harsh realties of Viking life, outside in the cold but eating some great stew!

Well done guys!

Year 8 students’ HPV vaccine available in the New Year.

19th December 2023Mrs N Mawby

An email has been sent to all parents/carers of students in Year 8 today. (Please check spam mail if not received). The Electronic consent link is attached for all parents to access and fill the form online; whether you do not consent or consent, the RDASH team would appreciate a response from each student’s parents/carers (this saves phone calls home asking about consent or not). The HPV vaccine will take place at school on 31 January 2024, so the link will need to be completed two weeks before this date. Thank you for responding to the link.

Introducing the ‘Extraordinary Earth Project’

18th December 2023Miss Jones

Students Rebuild is operated and funded by the Bezos Family Foundation, a private, independent foundation based in Seattle. Guided by the belief that all young people deserve the opportunity to reach their full potential and meaningfully contribute to society, the Foundation invests in the science of learning and the experiences that young people from birth through high school need to learn and thrive. 

Matching funds for each Challenge are donated by the Foundation and given to benefiting partners. Each partner is carefully vetted at the outset of each Challenge for their capacity to make lasting impact in the communities they serve.

Part art project, part philanthropy, part immersion in global learning, Students Rebuild Challenges connect students worldwide in a common effort to make a difference.

This years challenge is called the Extraordinary Earth Project where students from around the world are invited to ‘learn about our environment, and the things we can do to protect our earth‘. Although global environmental issues like climate change affect us all, different parts of the world are impacted in diverse ways. Our goal is to encourage students to be thoughtful about how our actions affect both the ecosystems in our backyard and the planet.

In order to raise money for this, you need to create art using found objects in nature to channel
sustainability into beautiful works of art.

BE CREATIVE: Use any artistic medium, from painting, digital artwork, poetry, murals and photography — the world needs YOUR art to tackle our climate crisis!

Whatever you do, make it fun!

What are you waiting for? Let’s get started on the Extraordinary Earth Project!
Here are some instructions to help you think about how the climate crisis affects your communities.
Think about the questions below — and perhaps do some quick practice sketches of how you can use materials to create art, produce less waste and clean up your community:

Please give your original artwork to Miss Jones in P08 or send a photo of it to [email protected].

It will then be uploaded with all other submissions from the XP Trust.