We’re proud to share the incredible work our students, staff, and schools achieved in the 23-24 Academic Year. From thought-provoking expeditions to beautiful products, this report celebrates the stories and successes that make XP Trust truly unique.
Activism
“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 our curriculum. In addition, all of our schools develop culture through Crew, our pastoral system.
Our Curriculum Seams dominate the design and influence the delivery of our compelling curriculum inspiring activism in our students.
Our engagement with local communities continues to evolve and grow, as does our connection and collaborative work with the wider world.
Our charitable work is usually connected to Learning Expeditions and/or Crew and this year was no exception, with considerable monies raised for various local organisations. For example, Jake, a pupil at Green Top, organised a range of fundraising events for Motor Neurone Disease raising over £2600 to help combat this terrible condition.
We have welcomed hundreds of delegates from around the globe, sharing our design principles, how we XP and delivering CPD. Visitors from India, Hong Kong, America, Australia, Spain, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Denmark, Japan and many other places have joined our schools across the Trust.
The partnerships and collaborative work developed through this have been hugely positive and palpable.
To develop the research and activism of our expeditions we are also working more closely than ever before with partners, including Doncaster City Council, The Edge Foundation, The Frenchgate Centre, The Wood Foundation and various other local, regional and international cultural organisations.
For example, our CEO, Gwyn ap Harri is developing a partnership with the Government of Southern Australia to implement Crew and Expeditions across schools in their state.
Internationally renowned, Doncaster Youth Jazz Association (DYJA) have now made XP their permanent home, meeting and practising here every week. We are looking forward to working with their orchestras and ensembles in the future.
We held our inaugural Arts Festival in July 2024 hosting artists from all of our schools in the Trust as well as community partners including Higher Rhythm, New College and DYJA.
We were delighted to welcome back to XPE for a second year the Royal Ballet in residence, with their ‘Chance to Dance’ programme. This not only raised revenue for the Trust of nearly £3,000, but also involved the participation of students from six junior schools in the area – including our own Norton Junior School. A wonderful showcase for the school and Trust.
We were also invited by Doncaster City Council’s Cultural Services Team to be part of delivering a prestigious new exhibition at the Danum Gallery Library and Museum, about Sir Nigel Gresley in the centenary Year of the Flying Scotsman. We created the official brochure and our students were invited to the launch. (Our book ‘Rail City’ was also timed to complement these celebrations and is now sold in both the gallery shop and Waterstones).
Expedition Highlights
Power to the People – Climate Conference 24
XPD students organised and led our third climate conference focussing on how we need to protect our planet involving local businesses, community partners and politicians in finding solutions to this existential crisis.
Should I Stay or Should I Go
XPD students created beautiful bird sculptures as part of an Expedition on migration that featured in a parade at our inaugural Arts Festival. Year 9 also wrote poems with expert Andy Craven Griffiths about the climate emergency, which they also performed on stage at the festival. The sculptures are now displayed in XP and XP East.
From the Ground Up
XPG students in Year 7 crafted and performed folk songs that linked to their study of the history of coal mining in County Durham, sharing and celebrating these important community stories. The songs are available to enjoy on CD, digital download and streaming services.
Being Human
XPG students in Year 8 created a high quality artwork display as part of this learning expedition promoting organ donation that is installed in the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Gateshead.
Public Health Conference: You Give Me Fever
XPG students in Year 9 organised and led a Public Health Conference as part of their expedition, ‘You Give Me Fever’ where they explored the impact of the cost of living crisis on public health and lobbied local MPs to act to make a difference. Alongside this students in XP Doncaster produced a stunning book showcasing science influenced artwork.
Pride of Thorne Awards
KS1 students at Green Top asked ‘What can I do to be a superhero in my community?’ and learned of the impact of local care workers, emergency services and more. They then invited them to an award ceremony to appreciate and reward the work they do for the community of Thorne and Moorends. It was an emotionally charged evening!
Once Upon a Time
Across EYFS, our students raised money for book boxes to be donated around the community as part of their ‘Once Upon A Time’ Expedition. Over £700 was raised and books made it to Children’s Wards, local nurseries and more!
March for Askern Foodbank
Norton Infants KS1 raised awareness for Askern Cry Foodbank with a food drive march to support the valuable and important work carried out by this organisation as part of their ‘How can I be a superhero in my community?’ Expedition.
What Happens Where the Sea Meets the Shore? – EYFS students across the Trust designed recycling stickers for wheelie bins to encourage local residents to recycle more with compelling messages about protecting the sea from plastic pollution as part of the design.
There is no Planet B
In the Spring of 2024, Year 3 and 4 pupils from across the XP Trust studied a cross-curricular Learning Expedition looking to answer the guiding question, ‘Why should we protect our wonderful world?’ At Norton Juniors, during the Celebration of Learning, students unveiled the litter-themed artwork inspired by Mandy Barker. Here, children explained how they created this artwork as well as how they hoped it would raise awareness of the damage to the environment happening within our own community. This culminated in beautiful signs located on the schools’ perimeter fence and in the Frenchgate Centre.
Lungs of the World
Year 5 and 6 across the Trust embarked on an expedition with the guiding question: Why should we help our planet survive? As part of the Expedition at Norton Juniors, students created their own soft toys based on a chosen animal from the Amazon rainforest – learning about why it is endangered and what we can do to protect the species. The students used ‘The Great Kapok Tree’ as a model text. The pupils wrote their own version of the story through rainforest animals’ eyes for younger children in the form of a book and shared them with Year 2 pupils (along with the soft toys) with the purpose of teaching them about deforestation and its impact. Money was raised at the POL for the WildLife Foundation.
Blue Planet – Key Stage 1 children at Carcroft School produced a Spring Learning Expedition, Blue Planet, which culminated in the curation of a beautiful wall display located in a local scout hut – answering the guiding question: ‘How will what I do today impact the world tomorrow?’
Eco Garden
As part of their ‘Blue Planet’ Expedition, KS1 at Plover provided a lasting legacy for the community – a lovely eco garden that will develop across future Expeditions to provide a range of habitats and food sources for a variety of insects, birds and mammals. Students dedicated the trees to community heroes who have helped to improve the lives of people across Intake and Doncaster.
Coming to Doncaster – Why then, Why Now?
The LKS2 students at Plover School embarked on a Learning Expedition to investigate the reasons why the Romans came to Britain and what their life was like at the time. This was then compared with modern day migration: where people come from, why they leave their homes and what makes them settle in Doncaster? An online interactive map was created along with an external sign which is displayed within the school grounds for passers-by to view.
How can a healthy lifestyle impact my body and mind?
Year 5 and Year 6 students at Plover School began a Learning Expedition called ‘How can a healthy lifestyle impact your body and mind?’ This was also the Expedition’s guiding question. The children studied History, Biology and DT, where they made a number of different healthy recipes, demonstrating a variety of techniques, including boiling, roasting, grilling and baking. The Learning Expedition culminated in a wall display, where each child researched ways to positively support mental health. Each child wrote a message of mental wellbeing advice which made up the wall display of 100 different coloured bricks and will be a long lasting legacy of the children’s learning.
Rail City
“Rail matters because it connects Doncaster to the world and the world to us. It matters because our heritage in the sector fills us with pride and helps to define who we are. It matters because the rail engineering sector continues to thrive and because we have the capability to design the future of the industry. It matters because the sector can provide brilliant jobs and exciting careers locally and around the world for our talented young people. It matters because rail freight and travel can play a big role in reducing our carbon emissions. It matters because rail people are typically good people who are motivated to help and provide solutions for others. It matters because, since retiring, my Dad has become a successful rail historian; researching and writing about railways gets him out of bed in a morning and gives me another reason to be fiercely proud of my wonderful father!”
Dan Fell, Chief Executive Officer, Doncaster Chamber of Commerce.
Visitors and Delegates
We have continued to develop our connections and collaborations with delegates and partners from across the UK and all over the world. We’ve also travelled and delivered CPD, on everything from Crew to curriculum.
One of the most gratifying things has been the natural development of our work with key partners – including Edge and the Wood Foundation. This has involved our first visit to Aberdeen, working on the ethos and delivery of Crew over three days with 70 staff from more than a dozen schools in the area.
We also attended the annual Edge Deeper Learning conference in London, an event we hosted at XPE in 2022; at School 360, sharing our stories and listening to educators from across the UK making a difference to students and working towards social equity, opportunity and meaningful community connections, to play our part in developing the education models of the future.
Our 372 visitors this year came from Ireland, Wales, Scotland, England, Australia, America, Spain, Hong Kong, Japan and Denmark.
Our visitor from Japan was a journalist from the largest circulation Japanese National newspaper, the Yomiuri Shimbun founded in 1874. Mr Kazuhiko Makiti then wrote a column, with photographs, about his day with us.
For the second year running we have welcomed, in one day, over 60 visitors from Hong Kong.
Our protocols and processes have continued to develop to accommodate the ongoing progress and needs of the schools who visit us. Some have engaged with us many times now, returning to continue their CPD and bringing new colleagues with them.
