Working with our partners and friends the Wood Foundation on implementing and embedding Crew
It was a great pleasure and privilege to work alongside our partners the Wood Foundation in April this year as forty two visitors from schools across the North East of Scotland descended on XP to learn more about why and how we Crew and experience first hand what Crew looks like, feels like and sounds like. Colleagues from Scotland explored Crew at XP through the lens of a learning expedition, ultimately reflecting on and answering the guiding question,
‘How can we implement Crew in our schools to further build a positive culture?’
After checking in as bespoke Crews with fellow Crew Leads, Kerry Poncia and Laura Parsons (my Crew was named Dalglish!!) delegates experienced ‘immersion’ activities around the concept and practice of Crew:
These included:
- visiting a live Crew session to activate their thinking and
- debriefing their experience to consolidate their learning
We then moved into a Case Study entitled, ‘Building Crew’ and colleagues worked with experts and on purposeful activities to further strengthen their background knowledge of Crew at XP. The expert sessions were led predominantly by students and included an ambassador tour, the purpose of Crew from a student perspective and a service learning activity.
The afternoon session of a packed first day saw Gwyn apHarri, co-founder and CEO of XP Trust, working with delegates on the leadership of Crew. Gwyn encouraged our partners to reflect on some of the lessons we have learned in developing and embedding Crew leadership:
“If we are to teach crew, we must be crew – we must commit time to unpacking what crew is ourselves.”
Gwyn apHarri
To finish the first day we continued our learning expedition by heading out into Doncaster on fieldwork. Colleagues were challenged with finding where our student work lives in the city centre of Doncaster and consider how this linked to our culture of Crew.
Here is a visual record of what they found:
At the end of a long but rewarding day we met up at the Wool market for much needed refreshment and an opportunity to reflect on our learning.
The following day began with a debrief of our fieldwork activities. Our partners reflected on how they were blown away by the authenticity and impact of student work in our community and how this develops a deep sense of civic duty, community and compassion. All in tune with ‘building’ a culture of Crew.
After the debrief, we moved onto Case Study Two of our expedition which was called, ‘Being Crew.’ Starting the day with a Community Meeting, our visitors were able to experience students at XP East ‘being Crew’ as they made apologies, appreciations and stands, showing how this structure is culturally wrapped around our Character Traits and Habits of Work and Learning. Some of our Scottish Crew showed courage and compassion by stepping up and appreciating the staff and students at XP East for sharing their knowledge and expertise of Crew and how they would honour this work by using what they’d learned in their own settings north of the border.
The final session consisted of colleagues working in their school groups to reflect on what they’d learned about ‘building’ and ‘being’ Crew and how they could apply this knowledge and understanding to developing Crew in their own context.
What began to emerge was the importance of Staff Crew as a starting point for conceptual understanding and the strength of shared experiences and shared language to embed Crew and that:
“Through doing this, we build a common language and our language IS our culture.”
Colleagues from each school worked on a collaborative document reflecting on the following prompts:
- What have you learned about Crew?
- On reflection where are you with ‘being’ Crew in your setting?
- What values has the Crew expedition reinforced in your current work?
- What will you do to develop Crew further in your school?
- How can you articulate this as a pledge(s)?
Each school then culminated the expedition, just like our students do, by delivering a Presentation of Learning where they shared their work and pledges publicly in front of an authentic audience. You can see some of the reflections below:
These reflections will now be repurposed into a beautiful product that will be shared across all the schools and act as a reminder of the pledges they have made, creating accountability by making the work public.
In conclusion, it was reinvigorating to welcome back our friends from the North East of Scotland. It always reminds us of the power of Crew and what we need to do to continue to embed and sustain a positive culture across our Trust. Thank you to the Wood Foundation for continuing to work in partnership with us and thank you to Claira, staff and students at XP Doncaster who made this experience so fulfilling and affirming.
In Crew, always.
Andy Sprakes