E28 Crew Malala Term 2a Roundup

3rd February 2025Vicky Collinson

Term 2a was full on for Crew Malala. We have completed our SLCs, where students spoke in detail about their learning over the past term and their current progress. They also reflected on their Habits of Work and Learning. It was great to see Crew being able to talk about both their strengths and areas for improvement, as well as considering how they can start to prepare themselves for the upcoming mock exams.

Over half of crew are attending the Valencia fieldwork in two weeks’ time. We can’t wait to hear about their adventures!

Crew’s expedition for Term 2a was Raiders and Invaders – a study of the Vikings. The Guiding Question for this expedition was “How far did the Vikings forge a legacy?” Students learned how the Vikings lived in their homelands, travelled to other lands, traded, raided, and invaded, and the influences that they have left behind. The expedition culminated in a Presentation of Learning where students presented what life might have been like in a Viking village, including the foods they ate and how they forged metal weapons.

Please enjoy the selection of photos from Crew Malala’s SLCs which were held over the last two weeks. We are looking forward to Term 2b and what it might bring.

Mrs. Collinson & Mrs. Batty

E30’s Powerful Work on Macbeth

31st January 2025Web Blogger

As part of E30’s expedition ‘Fight the Power’ they are grappling with the anchor text, Macbeth. Me and Mr Portman have been blown away by every single students’ engagement, effort and focus so far. Our Friday session 5 drama sessions are quickly becoming the highlight of our week.

Not only this but their analysis work, interpretation of key scenes and characters and book work is beautiful. They are really embodying XPE’s HOWLs in their lessons. Keep working hard, getting smart and being kind guys.

See a sneak peak below of some of our thespians in action. Get ready for the POL! Details of which will be sent out asap.

Thank you for making our week – Mrs Desborough and Mr Portman

E29 Explorer – Working Hard in HUMAN

5th December 2023Web Blogger

Students in E29 have been working hard this morning examining different forms of Aid and their advantages and disadvantages. Students made great links between the quality of life and quality of Aid! Seven Students were nominated by peers to receive a praise sticker and email home for Working Hard, Getting Smart and Being Kind. Keep an eye on your inbox if you spot your child in the photo below!

Miss Wilkinson

E29 Spanish Presentation of Learning

25th June 2023Web Blogger

The E29 Year 7 Spanish presentation of learning will take place on Monday 10th July starting at 4:00 pm and finishing at 5:00 pm. The students will presenting work from their Spanish expedition “¿Te alegras de ser tú?” (Are you happy being you?). During this expedition the students have learned how to talk about themselves, their local area, their families and friends, and their life at school. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear E29 show off their impressive Spanish skills!

Students will be expected to stay on site until the presentation starts, and parents and carers should come to reception to sign in. The presentation will be held in the heart of XP East school.

Señora Collinson

E27 Expedition 9.2 begins!

6th January 2023Web Blogger

E27 have officially began their new expedition “You Give Me Fever,” an expedition that takes students on a journey through the fascinating world of medical history.

During their immersion experience, students have had the opportunity to learn about medieval medicine and the changing treatment of those with mental health issues, including the infamous Bedlam Hospital. They will also examined a variety of medical artifacts from throughout history, giving them a deeper understanding of how medicine has evolved over time.

In addition, students will have looked at different parts of the body under the microscope and learned about the bacteria and fungi that inhabit our world. They have also played the popular board game Plague Inc., which allowed them to experience first-hand the challenges of containing and combating the spread of disease.

But the learning didn’t stop there. As part of immersion, students have taken swabs of different locations around the school to grow and study bacteria and fungi. This hands-on activity gave students a unique opportunity to explore the microorganisms that exist all around us and learn about their importance in our world.

“You Give Me Fever” is a exciting and educational expedition that will give students a deeper understanding of the history and science of medicine and public health. Be sure to ask them about their studies throughout the term as they answer the guiding question, Is science enough to save lives?

E28 Year 7 Presentation of Learning

26th November 2021XP East

Finally E28 are able to show off their great work to their families in a Presentation of Learning. This is an opportunity for the students to show off their work and learning from their current expedition From the Ground up! Something we are so excited to have back at XP and XP East.

The current expedition has focused on mining and students have been answering the guiding question “What does the community of Doncaster owe to mining?”, alongside showing their work, parents and carers will have the opportunity to hear the music students have created inspired by the Colliery bands of South Yorkshire and see the Artwork students have produced!

If your child is in E28 they will be hosting a Presentation of Learning on Thursday 9th December, starting at 16:00 and will finish by 17.00.

Students will be expected to stay at school at the end of the school day before the Presentation of Learning.

We ask that students bring a change of clothes and dress in smart clothes as it is a formal occasion. They may also want to bring a snack to eat before the start of the evening.

We will post a reminder closer to the event and we hope to see you all there!

The art of (silent) conversation

By A Parker29th September 2017

Our 7P students are preparing to write their first piece of reflective writing next week, where they’ll consolidate all their ideas and evidence around what makes a community successful.

Mrs Poncia introduced a new protocol in class this week: the ‘silent conversation.’ We presented the class with five different images (one on each table), gave them some marker pens and the instruction to move around each table, consider the image for a few moments, and then write down what it represented to them… all in complete silence!

This protocol gives students time for some focused thinking, allows them to reflect on the views of their classmates, and helps to stimulate new ideas for them to include in their own work.  It also means that all students have the same opportunity to share their thoughts with the rest of the class.  It really is a silent conversation!

At the end of the exercise we discussed the common theme, which we agreed was around the sense of ‘belonging’ to a community.

Mrs Parker

This week in Crew 7AP…

By A Parker23rd September 2017

We’ve started to read ‘Lion: A Long Way Home’ by Saroo Brierly.  For those of you not familiar with the book – or the film! – ‘Lion’ tells the true story of how the author, Saroo, finds his way home from Australia to a remote village in India, 25 years after becoming lost in Calcutta when he was just five years old.

We’ve read the prologue this week, and we’re already starting to wonder and ask questions: How did Saroo become lost? Where did he come from? How did he end up in Australia? Will he be reunited with his family?

Reading ‘Lion’ together as a Crew will allow us to unpick and discuss our character traits, as we’ll be looking out for examples of compassion, respect, courage, integrity and craftmanship and quality (there are lots of examples throughout the book, but I won’t give too much away at this stage!)

We’re also looking forward to using Saroo’s journey to do some more focussed work in lessons, as we continue to work towards answering our first expedition’s guiding question: “What makes a successful community?”

Mrs Parker

Expedition Planning

By Jamie Portman20th July 2017

XP East’s Teachers and Learning Coaches have been really busy planning our first learning expedition. As you will be aware, we don’t have a traditional Secondary school curriculum of separate lessons. Instead, XP School and XP East have lessons incorporated into Humanities (RE, Geography, History, and English) and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). Whilst we do have some distinctive lessons for Spanish and PE, other subjects like Art, Drama, Music and Computer Science appear within ‘XBlock’.

Whilst we don’t want to spoil some of the surprises that we have planned for our first expedition, I wanted to explain some of the processes involved.

Last week, the team visited the site of our first immersion which is in a city somewhere in the North of England. This stimulated lots of great ideas for Humanities and STEM. In fact our first expedition will be a blend of both disciplines with aspects adapted from 2 of XP’s existing expeditions, and with new ideas taken from the expertise of staff from XP East. The product from our first expedition will be a published book made from every Y7 student’s work around different aspects of their learning. In addition to this, all students will read extracts of their work in a presentation of learning evening on a date to be confirmed.

The expedition will also have an anchor text (a book which is studied throughout the expedition), and students’ learning will revolve around 3 different in depth case studies. Teachers and Learning Coaches have made contact with several experts who will wither visit us at XP, or we will visit them on mini immersion trips.

Other teachers from XP have been fine-tuning our expedition plans around strict protocols which have been designed to answer any burning questions that we may have, and offer advice and expertise. We have had 2 rounds of this, and a final fine tuning process will take place next week by a panel of Year 9 students from XP.

As you can see, all of this is very exciting and I’d like to thank the staff and students from XP school for their fantastic welcome and support so far.

Mr Portman