Now that we have welcomed students in the class of ’26 back as Year 11, it is time to start thinking about how we prepare them for their final GCSE examinations later this academic year. Starting next week we’ll be running additional academic support sessions known as ‘Learning Labs’ which will take place after school.
Learning Lab is an additional study session which will provide students with targeted instruction from teachers in order to ensure that students are as prepared as possible for their final exams. Learning Labs will take place on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 15.30-16.30. Your child’s Crew Leader will, today, share with you a letter which details the after school sessions that your child must attend. This Term, Learning Labs will focus on Core Subjects: English, Maths and Science. We will be rotating provision each half term, with next term focusing on History, Art, Ethics, Geography, Spanish and PE. If there is a blank space on one of the days on the letter, this means that your child is not required to stay on that evening.
We’re looking forward to getting going this year and thank you again for your support!
Y7 had their first XP Outdoors session this week and what a cracking start the term it was!
We used the session to continue to build on the crew fundamentals introduced during the first week back. We did this by introducing Y7 to Number Minefield – a crew building activity which relies on communication and collaboration, with the aim to complete the task in the quickest time and not incur any penalty points.
Of course there were some frustrations along the way, Crews didn’t always work together (especially during the first attempt of the activity), but it was great to see how all the students reflected on how they could improve before their next try and they did all see an improvement in times! We also appreciated how some of the natural leaders in crew stepped back and allowed others to express their thoughts and ideas.
Looking ahead, we have some fantastic sessions planned for the rest of this term. We have included the weekly session details below (we are on Week 3 next week so will be out walking):
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
28/08/23
06/09/23
13/09/23
20/09/23
27/09/23
4/10/23
11/10/23
FWB Outward Bound
Getting to know you session with crew building activities
LocalWalk
Fire Pit Gardening
Fire Pit Gardening
Orienteering Route planning and map reading
Local Walk using map reading skills
It is important that students come appropriately dressed for these sessions. In the winter months the outdoor area can be wet, cold and sludgy and in the summer months hot so please make sure the following items are provided.
Autumn/Winter kit:
Long sleeved jumper
Long trousers – waterproof if possible
Warm hat and gloves
Waterproof coat
Spring/Summer kit:
Sunscreen
Sun hat
Water bottle
Waterproof coat
We are really looking forward to the year ahead with Y7. The XP Outdoors curriculum is absolutely essential to helping our students to continue to focus on the importance of Crew, to help them learn outside of the classroom, to help them learn new skills, to build resilience and help them become the best versions of themselves.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact our XP Outdoors lead, Miss Watson: [email protected] or your child’s Crew Leader.
Thank you from the XP Outdoors Team: Mrs Watson, Mrs Parker and Miss Dickinson
We would like to invite all Y11 parents to our Y11 GCSE Information Evening at XP East on Tuesday, 12th September from 5:00-6:15pm.
This evening will focus on providing information about exam layout/content, exam dates, revision/work required for each exam and component. This was a really useful evening last year to ensure parents knew how to best support our wonderful Y11s throughout their GCSEs. Subject leads and teachers will also be around if you have any questions.
I would like to take this opportunity to remind parents about our system for using Car Park 3 to pick up and drop off students.
Please could parents observe the speed limits so that students aren’t put at risk and can we be patient with one another as the car park does get congested, particularly at the end of the day.
If parents could use the proposed routes as suggested on the picture below then we should be able to ensure a steady flow through the car park.
In addition, please could we ask that you switch your engine off whilst you wait, in the interests of keeping the environment as healthy as possible for our students and the wider community.
Check out the video below from Sports Day 2023. I think you will agree… we have a great day that included a range of traditional and non traditional sporting activities which allowed all of our students to take part. Thank you to the PE team for organising such a fantastic event!
Crew Marx had a great return to school last week resetting and carrying out acts of service!
We started the week with crew activities and back to bickering, we then did some baking and delivered the goods to a local care home. We sat and chatted to residents and Alfie (our most competitive member of crew) was beat at dominoes by a resident. He says he let him win, I think otherwise! We then took a trip up to Monsal Trail where we completed some activities to earn points for crew and as always we WON! As well as some crew members facing fears and completing the abseiling, well done Arina, Brooke P, Tammy, Alfie!
We finished the week completing crew pledges and Presenting to the rest of the year group!
Crew Rashford have enjoyed a fabulous first week back which has focussed on us reconnecting as crew, performing acts of service and giving back to the community. As we prepare for the next stage of our journey into Y10 and the start of our GCSE studies, these activities have helped us realise how important it is for us to support each other through.
Here’s an overview of what we’ve done this week:
Crew building (overview by Jorja)
On Tuesday we had crew building day. To start our day off we did some crew activities with other crews. After this we went for a walk around the lake and we did litter picking as an act of stewardship. In the afternoon we played crew dodgeball. All of these activities brought us closer together.
Ivy Court Care Home (by Tammy, Emma, Manveer, Sofiya)
On Wednesday, we all made cornflake/rice crispy treats within crew. After lunch, we went to the Ivy Court Care Home in Balby where we met the residents that live there. We were all quite anxious to talk to the people however when we first got into the building all our nerves went away. One woman that affected most of us was called Sheila. She was very affectionate and showed a lot of compassion and was telling us about how much she enjoyed her childhood and told us repeatedly to live our lives to the fullest and enjoy ourselves while we’re young. After this, we gave our treats to the residents and they were all so full of joy. We were singing with them and dancing with them and it made us look at life from a different perspective and it just goes to show that we don’t appreciate it enough. We were all quite upset when we had to leave but we’ll be back to see them all at Christmas.
Millers Dale (overview by Callum, Holly, Jayden, Keegan, Sam, Zak)
On Thursday we went to Millers Dale where we took part in a variety of games and situations we had to figure out.We did orienteering (even though we went the wrong way), teamwork games and ab-sailing. In ab-sailing a lot of people were very scared but as a crew we came together to help each other overcome their fears and when most people set off after they got over the first bit of fear they were able to Get to the bottom very easily. People showed courage when doing it.
We then went on to attempt an activity that involved multiple gutter pieces and a ball, the objective was to align the pieces to make a bridge for the ball as it rolled into the gutter pieces. This game used a lot of teamwork and communication between each other. we had to take pieces from the back and align them in the front so the ball could keep moving, we made it quite far when unfortunately we ended up dropping the ball on the floor and we failed. We tried using teamwork to make sure that we got further and further each time. We also did a number game where we had to not get into the zone and not touch the wrong numbers where we had to have good communication skills with each other and make sure we weren’t going into the zone when somebody else was and tell eachother where the next number is and after our turn we had a discussion at the end to say how we can do better and use teamwork to help each other.
The week has ended in us presenting our pledges to the rest of Y10 and sharing how we are going to help each other get to the top of our Y10 mountain.
We know it’s going to be challenging and we have already shared some of our worries around this, but we will get through it as a Crew 🙂
What a Week we have had! Please have a look at what we have been up too this week but more importantly being together as “CREW”. Da Vinci have answered a guiding question of “How can we get everyone to the top of the mountain?” This is what Crew Da Vinci came up with;
To climb the mountain we need to look out for each other, encouraging each other and taking on the challenges together. There will be bumps in the road ahead but we know that we can face it together.
By Listening
By Being kind
By Being respectful
By Acknowledging our differences
By Team players
Back onto the timetable next week! Lets buckle up and get through this year!
What an absolutely jam-packed first week back we’ve had.
Students have worked in crews to answer their guiding question which has enabled them to reflect on our character traits.
Currently our C30 students are returning from Aberdovey and Austerfield, tired out but with lots of stories to share from their crew adventures. C29 completed some fabulous work at Sandall Beat Woods yesterday and even saw one of trust Primary Schools there too! C28 enjoyed their fieldwork in Flamborough, exploring the cliff top and navigating the coastal path. Many of our C27 students faced huge challenges as part of the abseil from the bridge at Miller’s Dale yesterday and our C26 students completed fieldwork at Langsett Lake. The students have prepared and presented their learning to the other crews in their year group, sharing their stories and experiences.
Coming up this week
NEW TERM – NEW EXPEDITIONS
A new term means new and exciting expeditions for our students. As always, immersion takes place this week and our students will be working hard to find out what their new guiding questions are and the challenges and new learning their expeditions will bring. We can’t wait to welcome you to the Presentations of Learning at the end of term where they will share this learning.
ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES
Our subject teams are this week working on a timetable for enrichment activities, extended study opportunities and learning labs. All of these will be communicated on the blog in the coming week.
Please look out for our parentpay registration letters these will be sent home next week.
LOOKING AHEAD:
EXPEDITION NEWSLETTERS
These will land in your email inbox in the next couple of weeks including the important dates planned this term and any further relevant updates for your child’s year group in the same format as last term, please look out for the email.
IPad scheme
The IPad scheme will be added to parent pay this week and any students who have joined the scheme this term will be sent information about where and when to collect these IPads once they are on the scheme.
A reminder ALL STUDENTs should have access to an IPad to access our online learning platforms this is part of daily equipment check. For more information please select the icon here on the school website
Locker Keys
Lockers will be assigned to new students on the staff days in September, a payment for the locker will be available on parentpay for new students.
As usual, if you have any questions please contact your child’s crew leader in the first instance. If you unsure of their contact information please call or email the school office.
E29 went on fieldwork to Sandal Beat Wood yesterday – not only to rebuild Crew but to also get involved with some local activism.
Students took part in activities such as ‘Rhodie bashing’, helping to get rid of overgrown and invasive vegetation. Orienteering, den building and some reflection work based around personal aspirations and goals personally and academically this school year.
We are certainly tired today from all the walking we did and we are sure our students will be feeling just the same. Mrs Fowler’s fitbit calculated we walked over 23,000 steps! But after all the fun we had, it was totally worth it – minus the bites!
