This week at Plover, students in EYFS completed a sponsored Bear walk as part of their new Expedition! They raised £1148 to support their local community – and dressed up as bears to perform bear related exercises and have fun during the process! Beautiful work!
Beautiful Curation at XP Gateshead
Last week, Comms installed some new wonderful displays of student work at XP Gateshead. These wall displays are culminations of recent Expeditions and Activism from the last year.
Steplab Coaching @ XP Trust
Last Monday, our staff worked closely with Steplab to start implementing their ICT platform for coaching across XP Trust. Staff spent the day looking at effective coaching and learning and how Steplab can help create a positive culture around it.
Crew JPO/JNO’s Ullswater Story
Over the coming week’s we’ll be sharing more stories of Crew from our recent Outward Bound Expedition – here’s another from Crew JPO/JNO!
Welcome to our first selection of beautiful work from the brand new 2024/2025 academic year!
Highlights from our first week back!
At XP Trust we always use our first week back to establish and reaffirm our culture of Crew. This year has been another resounding success as young people across our schools have considered deeply the purpose of Crew through a range of opportunities and experiences and how Crew develops character and service so that they can help themselves, others and the wider community to be compassionate and successful.
At Carcroft we saw students engaging fully in a community meeting reflecting on their habits of work and learning and expressing what working hard, getting smart and being kind looks like every day at school. Students at Norton Infants Y5 visited local Care Homes delivering glasses cases they had made as well as treats! At Plover students were working alongside the RSPCA to capture and tell the stories of abandoned pets and, alongside drawing beautiful pictures of the animals, helping to find them homes as well as creating stunning murals in a street art style to promote the importance and legacy of Crew.
Students at Green Top took part in a fundraising Colour Run which was quite frankly spectacular whilst also creating kindness key rings that they gifted to members of the community! At XPG, Year 8 showed their qualities as leaders of their own learning by planning, organising and leading Year 7 activities including creating resources and fieldwork opportunities for their peers. Finally at XPD, students carried out acts of random kindness at the Lake side and welcomed past students who came back to school to talk about how Crew and their time at XP shaped the beautiful people they are today.
It was striking to hear a member of staff at Carcroft say, ‘I’ve been teaching for over twenty years and this is the best start back I’ve ever experienced.’ – I think that says it all!
In addition, our new Year 7’s from XP Doncaster and XP Gateshead spent their first days of secondary school building Crew together in the Lake District with Outward Bound. This is something we have been proud to do with our students for ten years now and it was inspiring to see students cultivating resilience, compassion and teamwork – especially through some very adverse weather! We are looking forward to seeing Crews grow together over the coming years…
Andy Sprakes at BridgeFest
Our Chief Academic Officer, Andy Sprakes was the keynote speaker at Spaghetti Bridge’s ‘BridgeFest’ earlier this week. He shared beautiful work and stories from our students at XP as part of their inspiring itinerary celebrating the last year. We are proud to be a part of their story and a key influence on the work that they do.
XP Alumnus Alfie is Oxford bound!
Alfie Lockey was part of the X22 cohort at XP and left two years ago to study for his A Levels at New College. His results of 3 A*s and and A, helped secure him a place at one of the oldest and renowned universities in the world – Christ Church College, Oxford. Alfie will be studying biology; a lifelong love and something that during his time at XP was actively encouraged and supported.
He created an allotment at school, had an opportunity to take part in an online conference organised by the Edge Foundation, which addressed climate change. That day Alfie spoke alongside the co-creator of the Eden Project in Cornwall, Sir Tim Smit KBE. An office at XP also became the perfect place for Alfie to experiment with growing a variety of plants for several years; bringing a touch of hot house greenery to XP!
CAO of the XP Trust, Andy Sprakes commented:
“Alfie is one of our many alumni who are already making a positive difference to the world. We’re always thrilled to hear about how our students are progressing and where they are now – they will always be part of our Crew.”
XP Doncaster’s High Flying Birds
In Summer 2024, XP and XP East’s Year 8 students embarked on Learning Expedition called ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go?’, where they aimed to answer the guiding question: ‘Is migration worth the risk?’.
In Art, they looked at the work of artists who used imagery of birds to represent migration. Leonardo da Vinci studied anatomy and used that to design flying machines. The students took his ideas and constructed their own three dimensional bird designs. They then made large scale sculptures of the birds that you can see on display, here. Before culminating in the display, the sculptures were paraded at this summer’s inaugural XP Festival of Arts & Culture.
Welcome to our final selection of beautiful work from the 2023/2024 academic year!
XP Festival of Arts and Culture – Highlights
In our 10th anniversary year at XP, last week we celebrated with our first ever Arts Festival. Across our Trust, all of our 8 schools brought some of their creativity, community and beautiful work to share at the XP Doncaster campus. Students from our Primary Schools sang their fundraising original song ‘Dear World’, always an emotional and uplifting moment. From Samba to saxophone, spoken word to sensational dance routines – the XP Arts Festival, over nine hours of parades and participation, celebrated our schools, students and partners.
The dynamic Doncaster Youth Jazz Association’ who are now based at XP, delivered a brilliant set – complementing at one stage our parade of birds. Add ice cream and an audience not deterred by the occasional rainfall and you have the perfect day. We would like to appreciate everyone who contributed to this festival – whether artists on stage, backstage or as part of the dedicated crew who helped to make it happen.
See you next year!
All of the photos and videos above were captured by our Student Digital Leaders – beautiful work!
XPCC24
This week, we hosted our annual climate conference at XP. Students delivered a powerful keynote speech and then set up stalls, talking about different solutions and the research they have done on efforts we can all make to protect our planet.
How can a healthy lifestyle impact my body and mind?
During this learning Expedition, students in UKS2 explored how a healthy lifestyle impacts both body and mind through three case studies: history, science (biology), and design technology (DT). In history, they learned to use evidence to deduce information about the past, focusing on the achievements and societal structures of ancient civilisations. In science, they studied human development and the circulatory system, emphasising the importance of diet, exercise, and lifestyle on bodily functions. In DT, students applied principles of a healthy and varied diet, learned to measure ingredients accurately, and demonstrated various cooking techniques while creating and refining recipes.
Every school produced different final products that encapsulated their learning. Plover school’s Expedition culminated in the creation of colour tiles to decorate the school’s exterior, each carrying messages of mental well-being. These tiles serve as a lasting legacy of the students’ work, promoted during a colour run event involving parents and activities aimed at mental health awareness, with funds raised going to a mental health charity. Norton Junior School focused on producing healthy recipes, where students practised calculating ingredient ratios and perfecting cooking techniques – they then celebrated their work with parents with an event at Campsall Park, where participants ran 5k and enjoyed a healthy picnic together!
Diverse Doncaster: where do I belong?
Year 1 and 2 pupils from Norton Infants embarked on a cross-curricular expedition to answer the question, “Where do we belong?” through art, geography, and history. They explored ideas through drawing, painting, and sculpture, learned to use geographical vocabulary and mapping skills, and investigated historical events and significant local figures. The expedition included expert visits, including talks from local leaders, to deepen their understanding of Doncaster’s uniqueness and diversity. Students also visited local landmarks, created related artwork, and produced an interactive travel guide. This project culminated in a family-oriented orienteering activity, showcasing the students’ findings and creative works.
Children engaged in a presentation of learning. Alongside their families, they visited our Diverse Doncaster art gallery and were able to see their art work of significant landmarks from across Doncaster. The artwork was accompanied by writing explaining important facts and information they have discovered throughout the expedition. Children were also invited to take part in our Doncaster orienteering challenge. Each family was given a list of clues about significant places in Doncaster – the children had to demonstrate their knowledge by working out what the location was, find the image of it in our school grounds and use the orienteering peg to mark their answer.
From Bean to Bar – what is the cost of a bar of chocolate?
In the summer term of 2024, Year 3 and 4 students at Carcroft embarked on a learning expedition titled “From Bean to Bar,” exploring the question, “What is the real cost of a bar of chocolate?” The curriculum spanned history, science, and design technology, integrating studies of the Mayan civilization and fair trade practices. Students applied their learning by baking brownies, creating Mayan-inspired packaging, and developing an understanding of states of matter. For the presentation of learning, students sold their baking in boxes and invited parents to try different healthy dishes inspired by Mayan cuisine!
Beautiful Presentations of Learning at XP Gateshead
There have been a series of wonderful celebrations of beautiful work at XP Gateshead this week! G29 celebrated their learning from the Expedition ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go?’ – students truly excelled in all areas, from catering for 150 people, creating wooden birds decorated in their own Islamic art, folding over 150 paper cranes, creating menus, seating plans, not to mention the artwork inspired by the poem that they then performed beautifully. You can read more about it here.
G30 celebrated their work from across their first work at XPG – you can read the full blog and see more photos here. They also launched their CD of folk songs from their ‘From The Ground Up’ Expedition – which is available to stream online from next week! Stay tuned for more information!
And finally, last night G28 celebrated their learning from their ‘Hold Back The River’ Expedition with a Live Stream full of creative writing, read and recorded by the students – you can watch the stream below!
Farewell, Class of 2024!
As we say goodbye to our Class of 2024 cohort across our XP Trust primaries, we wish them all well with their futures! We will miss you and remember – you will always be Crew.
Here are some highlights from Green Top’s Leavers celebrations yesterday!
XP Festival of Arts and Culture – Next Friday 12th July!
We first opened in September of 2014 in Doncaster and began to offer a creative and purposeful curriculum based on learning expeditions that connect subjects together so that learning is deepened and made relevant. Ten years on we have established a successful Trust that has shared this model with two more secondary schools, XP East in Doncaster and XP Gateshead, as well as five primary schools in the Doncaster area including: Carcroft Primary, Green Top Primary, Norton Infants, Norton Juniors and Plover Primary.
Our students create beautiful work that connects to the community and the world through the creation of high quality products that actively serve to make the world a better place.
To kick off our celebrations we are hosting our first community wide ‘Music and Arts Festival’ at XP East on the 12 July. This will become an annual event to bring together creatives from across the XP community, the wider community and the world to show why the Arts are so important to making our world more just, more beautiful and more humane and why they are at the heart of our curriculum.
We look forward to seeing you at the start of our festivities and hope you will join us as we continue to celebrate and share our stories throughout the rest of 2024 and 2025!!!
In 2023, XP had over 1000 visitors from all over the world – including India, Australia, America, Israel, Norway and Spain, just to name a few! As we continue to welcome more visitors, here’s what they’ve said about our students…
Exciting plans for Green Top – watch this space!
Friends of Norton Campus Summer Fair
This week we held our second Friends of Norton Campus Association Summer Fair. We were joined by members of our local community to raise funds for our schools. There were bouncy castles, penalty shoot outs, welly wanging and face painting.
Askern Community Brass Band provided the music – and there were plenty of sweet treats and snacks to enjoy too. Children were spending their pocket money on the hit the teacher coconut shy and sponge the teacher! Not forgetting we were joined by our special VIP’s Lenny and Alan (the alpacas!) We’re already looking forward to next year.
Plover School is excited to join the “Walk and Wheel Challenge” by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority. This fun initiative gets kids walking, cycling, and wheeling to school, making travel safer and healthier.
But that’s not all! The students are also tackling a big issue – problematic parking around the school. They’ve made a video asking everyone to park considerately so driveways aren’t blocked and crossing the road stays safe.
Spread the word, watch their video, and look out for their signs around the area to support their efforts.
A Message from C29
‘This week, our school hosted the Conversation Club, shedding light on the challenges faced by refugees and asylum seekers. One major expense is transportation, but we realised that having a bike could eliminate this cost and provide free, reliable transport.
In response, we are organising a bike drive, inviting the community to donate any old bikes, which will be invaluable to those in need. You can drop off your bike donations at XP Doncaster, and we will ensure they are distributed by the Conversation Club to refugees and asylum seekers, helping to ease their daily struggles. Your support and generosity are greatly appreciated.’
XP Gateshead Students Shine as Digital Leaders in Exciting Expeditions Project
Students at XP Gateshead are stepping up in a big way as Digital Leaders, diving into the world of technology to record content for their Expeditions. Teaming up with the XP Trust Comms Crew, these young tech enthusiasts are taking on the role of professional sound technicians. They’re not just learning the ropes of audio recording and editing – they’re skilfully mastering them, gaining hands-on experience that goes beyond the classroom and reaching into real-world applications.
It was so inspiring to see these students get stuck in and take charge of such an important project. Across our Trust, students are constantly proving that with enthusiasm and dedication, they can achieve anything. A massive appreciation to these Digital Leaders for going above and beyond!
A Decade of Activism – New Beautiful Work in Frenchgate Centre
A new curation of recent beautiful work has been installed in the Frenchgate Centre in Doncaster City Centre! There’s awesome work from schools across our Trust, with a key focus on our Curriculum seam ‘Protecting our Planet’ – be sure to go and see the awesome work our students have created!
Year 10 Band ‘LOOM’ @ the Doncaster Festival of Colour
On the last Friday before half term, students from XP Doncaster performed their original composition ‘Like A Storm’ in the magnificent ‘Luminarium’ at Right Up Our Street’s Doncaster Festival of Colour.
As part of ‘LOOL’ music sessions, Year 10 students have worked really hard to write this piece of music with Skinny Pelembe and Higher Rhythm as part of the Noise Collective project.
We are really proud of what they have achieved over the last few months – they’ve created beautiful work and developed a true sense of Crew in music.
There is No Planet B – Product Curation in Carcroft Community
Beautiful work from LKS2s most recent Expedition ‘There Is No Planet B’ has been curated on three signs in Carcroft! Their guiding question was ‘How can we protect our wonderful world?’.
Their learning focussed on the climate emergency and the impact that humanity is having on the environment, as well as what can be done to prevent further damage and protect the planet. The curated signs they have created not only celebrate the beautiful work they have done during the Expedition, but also make a stand about a persistent issue with local fly tipping.
Students have created helpful guides on recycling as an alternative to tipping and how this can benefit the community as a whole.
Friends of Norton Campus Football!
Friends of Norton Campus Association organised a community football match – parents versus teachers at Askern Miner’s Welfare Ground. Teachers were joined by some of Doncaster Rovers coaches and staff from Green Top – a real crew effort. The match was a tight game with both teams really wanting the win but at the final whistle it was the teachers that took home the trophy!
Friends of Norton Campus organised food, face painting and activities for the children – we even had a special visit from Donny Dog! We were supported with over two hundred members of the local community resulting in a really fantastic event.
Student Showcase – 4th July 2024
Y5 parents please find attached an event you can attend to find out more about XP and XP East.
Please note this is not for Y6 students who have already been allocated their school.
We were delighted to be able to welcome the Royal Opera House and Royal Ballet programme ‘Chance to Dance‘ to XPE last weekend. Over two days the tech teams and over 100 pupils from five Primary Schools across Doncaster – including our own Norton Junior School – rehearsed and then performed a specially choreographed piece based on a Midsummer Night’s Dream.
For months the children had been working in their schools, finally joining us at XPE last weekend to meet all the other participants and share their love of dance, working together to create a beautiful piece of ballet. Performing alongside them were Isabella and Valentino, remarkable solo artists from the Royal Ballet.
Over two performances several hundred friends and family filled the auditorium at XP enchanted by the stunning piece that was received with cheers and much applause. This is the second year running that XPE has hosted this event and it was a delight to welcome back the team from the ROH and Royal Ballet.
Blue Planet – Product Curation at 23rd Owston Scout Hall
Beautiful work from KS1s most recent Expedition ‘Blue Planet’ is on display of the walls of the Owston Scout Hall! Their guiding question was ‘How will what I do today impact the world tomorrow?’.
The art focusses on three different countries they have been learning about: the UK, Africa and Antartica. The exhibition not only showcases all of the children’s artwork but also food and drink from the countries and facts that they had learnt about each country.
Visitors from Hong Kong at XP
XP Doncaster hosted 50 Visitors from Hong Kong last week. The visitors left feeling very inspired and praised our students for being so confident and articulate – we look forward to welcoming our visitors back to XP in the future!
We’re looking for an outstanding Learning Coach (Teaching Assistant and HLTA) and Crew Leader at XP Gateshead!
Since 2019 we have been working with the educational charity The Wood Foundation, which is based in Scotland. Dozens of educators from schools in the Aberdeen area have been visiting our Trust as delegates for the last four years – learning about Crew, expeditions and Leadership.
This week for the first time colleagues from our Trust, including our CAO Andy, had the opportunity to deliver CPD to teachers in Aberdeen, visiting schools and meeting students. It was heartwarming and humbling to see Crew – sometimes called Squads and Clans north of the border – being delivered in Scotland.
We look forward to welcoming more delegates to our Trust schools in the future and travelling back to support our new friends as they continue their Crew journey.
There Is No Planet B – Product Curation at Norton Juniors
The beautiful work from LKS2’s Expedition ‘There Is No Planet B’ is now curated outside the school! The awesome artwork, created from digital images of discarded waste, depicts various different animals whose habitats are being destroyed in the local community. To further reinforce the notion of climate emergency, through their literacy cycle, pupils also wrote persuasive speeches about how we can all bring about positive change if we work together.
