Beautiful Artwork by Freya in Crew Malala

“Miss, would you like to see my pencil drawings?” “I’d love to see them, Freya.”

I had no idea how incredibly intricate and beautiful her pencil drawings really are. The level of detail is so impressive, and Freya has really demonstrated our character trait of Craftsmanship and Quality. The flower drawing took around six hours. They’re too beautiful to not share with the world. Beautiful, stunning work Freya.

Crew Malala Forward Planning

The focus this week has been GCSEs, what to expect, how to revise, and how to prepare. On Thursday students had a visit from XP alumni who have been through their GCSEs and gone on or are going on to university. Students had the opportunity to ask questions during this session.

The end of the week was spent looking over the calendar for the academic year and creating a plan moving forward. Students color-coded staff days, holidays, mocks, and real exams to create a visual representation of Year 11. From there, students created a revision timetable to manage their time wisely and revise efficiently.

Crew Malala walk around Langsett Reservoir

Crew Malala kicked off Year 11 by taking a hike around Langsett Reservoir in the Peak District. They were set a number of photography challenges (as if the walk wasn’t challenging enough). Here are some photos that students took today:

E28 Crew Malala Term 2a Roundup

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

Crew Malala practise mindfulness

Yesterday E28/Y10 students had a visit from With Me In Mind, a local organisation which helps students manage anxiety and other mental health concerns. One of the strategies they talked about was mindfulness, and so this morning we are putting that into practise by doing some mindful colouring to start our day.

Crew birthday and a beautiful cake!

Today in crew we celebrated Sandra’s birthday with the most beautiful cake made by Sandra’s very talented mum.

It was lovely for crew to sing happy birthday and share the cake throughout the day.

Sandra was very kind and wanted to share her birthday cake with her crew and also other friends (and staff) around school.

Happy Birthday Sandra! We are crew!

Crew Malala Roundup

This term we have begun to use part of our Thoughtful Thursday. Crew have identified their priorities and begun to use time to revise, recall and develop their knowledge of a range of subjects.

Next week we will be looking at revision techniques and bring back to Crew how we have found flash cards, revision diagram and the revision clock.

Crew also received their certificates for successfully achieving our Duke of Edinburgh Bronze award.

Crew 7EJN/AGO: Our first week in Year 7

For the first week of school, our new Y7s ventured away with many students and teachers that they didn’t know. Although I myself have worked within XP school for over 8 years, I had never had the privilege of having a crew from Year 7 and had never experienced this side of the outward bound experience. So, even for a teacher who is experienced in working with students both in and out of school in a similar situation, it can be eye opening and nerve racking. I remember when I was myself in Year 8, I went away with school and I was terrified, I cannot imagine what it was like for Crew “Chandi” (given through the outward bound trust).

When we arrived in Ullswater and discussed some of the activities we would take part in, myself and our instructors (Dan and Stewart) were met with “I’m not doing that” however it showed even in the first activity “Jog and Dip”, that those barriers, those negative mindsets were falling. I think crew “Chandi” were quite lucky in the sense that there were at least half of its students that didn’t have a problem with outdoor pursuits. However, one of the biggest reasons for the outward bound experience is to push students out of their “comfort zone” to build resilience and therefore open them up to learning new and difficult things in ways that challenge and increase independence of thought. 

So the challenges all come for different reasons for different students, be it home sickness, the outdoor activities or speaking up in the presentation at the end of a long, tiring week. Crew Chandi performed all of this in an exemplary manner. Each one of our crew faced their own challenges and not a single student stepped back, only stepped forward.

Three members of our crew were put forward to money off further experiences with the outward bound trust- Sandra, Molly and Lucas showed all of their character traits consistently. Sandra was like my right hand, with the most compassion I’ve ever seen in a Year 7 and on our Gorge Walk, she proved vital when I fell over in the water- Thank you Sandra. Ewan, Sandra and Penelope showed awesome orienteering skills. Ronnie, Lucas and Spencer proved their craftsmanship and Quality whilst helping other crew members to erect their tents. Kaiden showed a lot of courage by standing up for what he believed in. Ewans craftsmanship and quality excelled in preparation for the presentation. The biggest change in mindfulness that I’ve seen came from Spencer, who found that when he went to get a drink, the glasses on the worktop had run out, so instead of just getting himself a glass, he decided to replace all the glasses to help his entire year group.

It was a very tiring week, and I’m certain your children will agree with that. The stories I’ve related are only some of the things I could relate to you. However, if crew “Chandi” carry on in the way they have started they won’t only help each other to get to the top of the mountain- they will move the mountain. 

Thank you for an amazing start to the year.