After a few months of feeling lost and distant from one another, at the start of last term, Crew Anoa’i decided to reboot crew. We brainstormed ideas and listed our ‘WWW’s and ‘EBI’s (What Worked Well and Even Better If). We then came up with a plan to action these and change the atmosphere of our crew. Let us show you what we came up with.
Miss Buckley, our newest crew member, joined us in March. Since then, she has helped us all to perform better in every aspect; From voicing our opinions to respectfully listening to others, Miss Buckley has reminded us to be the best version of ourselves. Miss Buckley assures each crew member feels at home whilst achieving greatness in crew. Thanks Miss Buckley!
On Friday 29th April, World Wish Day, we raised money for our chosen charity Make-A-Wish UK. Five brave students dressed up as fairies and went around both XP and XP East granting wishes for both students and staff. We loved seeing our crew show courage and entertain other students with their magical presence. We raised a total of £50 and have donated this to the charity. Here you can see Fairy Sasha (Jacob) and Fairy Gertrude (James) busy at work cleaning the cupboards for Miss Taylor. Well done lads!
On Wednesday 11th May The Wood Foundation came into our crew to observe us and learn about our unique way of learning. The Wood Foundation got involved with our weekly emotional check in by choosing one of the emoticons provided and explaining why they felt that particular way that morning. As it was a Wednesday, we were looking at our Wise Wednesday slides; A slideshow that highlights a topic of conversation regarding life skills and the understanding of managing these skills. The topic of this crew session was ‘Tattoos and Piercings’. This topic sparked lots of great discussions around the age at which you are allowed to have tattoos and piercings and whether this age limit should be raised or not. It was great to have The Wood Foundation join us for crew that morning, as we feel this type of crew session demonstrates one of our strengths, as a crew, the best. We love a good debate!
On the 13th May, during an afternoon crew session, Miss Mitchell kindly organised a party to celebrate April’s, Théa’s, and Nikodom’s birthday. In this crew session we had food, drinks and we listened to music. This was a memorable way to end the week where we could enjoy ourselves and have quality time to spend with each other. Here you can see Nikodem and Fin showing their amazing dance moves.
During the last few weeks of last half term, we were given the opportunity to plan our own crew sessions. This is called Student Led Crew. In small groups we created a plan for a crew session. We had to think about the structure of the session and what the students would take away from it. In these groups, our crew came together to create some fun activities for us all to enjoy. This half term we will present these to each other and decide which session to do first.
Finally, on Wednesday 25th May everyone brought in different breakfast items, such as croissants, pancakes, apple juice and chocolate milk. Miss Buckley even baked some blueberry muffins for us all. They were scrumptious! This was a really nice way to come together as a crew. It made us all feel relaxed and it gave us a chance to check in properly with one another. We would definitely do it again in the future, as the food was delicious and the company was great!
It has been great to see crew Anoa’i find themselves again. As a crew we have found our new dynamic and we wish to continue working on this moving forward. It is essential for us, as a crew, to feel comfortable within each other’s presence each morning. It allows us all to express ourselves and enjoy the time we have with each other. We are heading into the last half term of Year 10, a scary thought for most. Crew Anoa’i have found that with the help of their crew, they can achieve greatness. We’re excited for this last half term. Watch this space, Crew Anoa’i are back!
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