Welcome!
Membership of the Trust
- Dr Richard Pountney (Chair)
- Steven Mundin
- Doncaster Rotary, represented by Adrian Hattrell*
- Michael Wilkinson
- Sally Lockey
- Liam Scully
Strategy – Governance, Communications & Technology
“Are we doing the right things in the right way with the right tools…?”
Governance
Membership of the Board of Directors
- S Bielby (Chair)
- R Pountney
- L Scully Resigned 2/9/2021
- R Scott
- J Harris-Evans Resigned 13/10/2022
- M Dewsnap
- N Skelton
- J Sharp Resigned 19/01/2022
- D Dickinson Resigned 10/01/2022
- A Green
- A Buxton Appointed 13/10/2022
Membership of the Executive Team
- Gwyn ap Harri – Chief Executive Officer – Strategy and Operations
- Andy Sprakes – Chief Academic Officer – Curriculum
- Neil Butler – Executive Principal – Performance
Heads of School
- XP / XP East / XP16 – Claira Salter
- XPG – Mark Lovatt
- Green Top – Kelly Overson
- Norton Infants / Norton Juniors* – Andrea Tunney
- Plover – Jayne Ogle
- Carcroft Primary School* – Kirsty Laing
Local Governing Committees are held for all schools with delegated powers to engage with local policy, issues and key performance indicators from the Trust.
The Trust has a full engagement calendar with all schools, ensuring engagement wider than just the Head of School. This is a weekly calendar of events with networks and crews happening mainly on Wednesday and Friday afternoons.
A full time Clerk to the Board (Julie Morrell) coordinates all of these activities and ensures legal compliance.
Communications
The well established, centralised Trust Comms team, (based in XPE, but regularly visiting all schools in the Trust) coordinates communication both internally and externally. This can mean anything from banners & blogs to videos and media releases.
They work with and support the development of projects with external partners, such as Edge and the Wood Foundation, helping to deliver and capture the CPD delivered. They create films, books and events to showcase expedition products and curate work across all the Trust schools. They also play a key role in the sharing of the stories of XP locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
The professional skill sets of the team range from journalism, branding & design, photography & film making, social media, curation, copywriting and crisis communications.
Technology
We have centralised how we use technology across the Trust, including developing our own online
This year we have worked on an equitable distribution of technology across our Trust. In primary schools we have a bank of 30 iPads for each phase. In secondary schools we will soon have an iPad available for every student via our parental contribution scheme.
All teaching staff and crew leaders were distributed Macbook Air computers, ensuring that we have the best technology available to complete professional tasks efficiently.
Working closely with our partners at realsmart we have developed ‘smaps’ (realsmart learning maps). This technology replaces the need for Google sites, classroom and sheets for curriculum planning, delivery and standards mapping and creates a method of curating a digital and repurposeful curriculum. Staff have been trained on this technology during professional development days and all Learning Expeditions in 22/23 have been planned and delivered using smaps.
Our school operating system has undergone development including group messaging features, call logs, and student data dashboards via school websites. We have also developed an integration with ‘Wonde’ who are a data standardisation organisation, this will enable us to rapidly integrate with many third party technology organisations including DfE and The Fischer Family Trust.
Curriculum
“How are we actively contributing to building a better world?”
All of our schools continue to develop and deliver cross-subject, academically-rigorous Learning Expeditions as the cornerstone of curriculum delivery and implement Crew, our pastoral system.
Some expedition highlights from 2021/22 were:
Are We Really Free To Choose book and artwork exhibition
Above All Compassion film premiere at ‘Coal Drops Yard’ (Kings Cross)
Better World Day
XPG Opening and their first Product – From The Ground Up
School to School – Instructional Teaching
Climate Conference – Power to the People
Our Design Principles
Fight the Power – Suffragette Plaque unveiling in Doncaster
Michelle Navarre visits from Polaris, Chicago
Return to Outward Bound
From our Primaries
Why is sugar not so sweet?
XP16 – Our Post 16 provision is now specialising in creative arts, rather than the broader offer we started with. This has been shaped by student choice, expertise in the Trust and the smaller, more focused provision allows us to use the space at XP East for Trust development.
Our delegate visits are now well established and have grown exponentially over the last two years. Individuals and groups join our delegate days we deliver in association with the Edge Foundation – a key partner for us across the Trust. We also now have a well established relationship for delivery of CPD with The Wood Foundation (2019), who are working closely with a number of schools in the Aberdeen area.
Resources for our own schools and CPD for our own teams are a welcome and structured benefit of these visits – as well as the student participation, which has brought a richness and diversity to their XP experience.
These resources include books, films and shared experience & research.
Visitors from all over the UK – the world – visit us on a regular basis from: America, Australia, Denmark. Visitors from Israel and India are part of the 2022/23 calendar.
These visits and partnerships also also translate into real world opportunities and experiences at conferences and online for our staff and students – from visits to the Samsung Centre, London for the premiere of the XP film and the Festival of Learning to talk about Crew and their school life.
As part of our partnership with The Edge Foundation we are now part of the Deeper Learning Coalition – a cohort of schools, colleges and education advocates from across the UK and around the world, who are working together to create and lobby for a better future and opportunities for all students – with above all compassion and through Crew.
The Trust will be hosting a two day event bringing all of these organisations together on the 21st / 22nd June in 2023.
Leadership and Performance
“How are we moving towards where we want to be …?”
This academic year we saw the improvement in the provision of our Schools. Annual School Reviews, External Learning Reviews and External Moderations show an impact of the work that the Trust and Schools have led.
We are very proud that we continue to grow our own staff and distribute them to schools within our Trust. Two Headteachers / Principals were recruited from within the Trust, as well as 5 Assistant Headteachers earning promotion from other Trust Schools. This is then supported by the continual professional pathway process by recruiting teachers from our supported ITT providers.
The Trust engagement calendar has seen Trust Networks being joined by Trust KPI work and now XPU courses. This quality first offer ensures all staff and leaders have the weekly offer of improving their teaching or leadership capabilities by learning with staff from all 8 schools.
The Trust improvement team have led significant improvement through their bespoke work in each school. SENd, Safeguarding, Quality of Instruction and Habits of Work and Learning have improved by this weekly support from the central Trust team.
Our end of Key Stage Outcomes for the 2021/22 academic year were below expectations. However, from last September, we ensured our students were safe and engaged post pandemic. We are determined that significant ground work will pay off next academic year as we can now improve our provision offer due to a consistent workforce, improved student attendance and significant leadership changes.
Equity
“What do we need to be the best versions of ourselves…?”
Schools across the Trust have been embedding our ‘Narrative for Success’. This has been articulated as a ‘Core Practice’ for all our schools.
We need to keep coming back to the simplest piece of information:
- Do we have a concern?
- If so, what are we doing about it?
- …and is it having an impact
Our common mission at XP is that all students are ready and prepared to be the best versions of themselves. If safety is prioritised, children are attending and the barriers are identified, then reasonable adjustments can be made ensuring that academic success will be achievable for all.
Operations – Finance & Legal, Facilities and Risk Management
“Do we have everything we need to survive, sustain and thrive..?”
XP Trust still has a significant surplus, which we are strategically planning to get closer to our children across the Trust. All our schools have received improvements to technology and buildings. Gary Brown has worked on projects across a number of our sites to improve facilities and generate more funding and reduce costs in the long term.
The biggest challenges the Trust will face over the next 12 months will be managing the uncertainty of the energy market, and making strategic staffing decisions as a result of the pay increases that have been awarded by the DfE without any additional funding.
The surplus the Trust has built up over the last 8 years puts us in a fortunate position to shoulder the impact of the current financial climate, whilst still being able to focus on projects such as progressing our aim to become carbon neutral, and introducing solar energy solutions across the Trust to become more self-sufficient.
The Trust is financially solid, and we believe that we have capacity at Executive level to look at bringing in a small number of local Primary schools in the near future.