Category : Sharing Our Stories

Beautiful Work This Week

Plover Pantry

Inspired by the rising cost of living and the ongoing pressures families of the Plover community face, Plover Pantry was launched.  With the support of the national charity FareShare, Plover is able to access a range of dried foods on a weekly basis from local food suppliers.  

Every week, the Plover wellbeing team organise the foods delivered before opening up this foodbank to our parents and carers.  Not only are the foodstuffs available appreciated, it also serves as a great opportunity to socialise with other families. Any voluntary donations made at the Plover Pantry are used to fund additional food items.

As part of an Expedition Slice ‘Nothing about us without us’ at XP University, Staff from across the XP Trust have raised money and created a product to support the work that the Pantry are doing. As a crew, they put together a week’s worth of recipes and gathered the ingredients needed to provide for a family for a week.

This week, they went to ASDA in Doncaster to put together their food parcels – ready to take across to Plover for their Pantry day. A huge thank you to the staff and managers for supporting us with our shopping lists!

Plover have also recently started to offer second hand uniform for those who need it. All the funds raised for the Plover Pantry will go towards the ongoing running of the foodbank.

‘I’m proud that Plover School is able to offer this support to our community – especially during these difficult times.’

Jayne Ogle, Head of Plover School

It was 7 years ago Today…

We first set foot in the XP building for the first time – oh, how the time flies!

‘Are We Really Free To Choose’ – Book Launch at D31 Gallery

In September 2021, students in Year 10 at XP and XP East School in Doncaster embarked on a joint Human and STEAM learning expedition which endeavoured to answer the guiding question ‘Are we really free to choose?’.

The beautiful work from this Expedition will be featured in a brand new art exhibition at the D31 Gallery in Doncaster. The Exhibition opens on Saturday 5th November at 5-7pm and the general public, parents and their children are invited to join us to celebrate the opening of the collection.

As part of the evening, there will be poetry readings from the book and original artwork prints from the book will be on display. Light refreshments with be available. 

Come and join us at D31 this Saturday to celebrate the launch of this beautiful book! 

Booking is essential – please follow this link to find out more and secure your place.

Top of the Blogs

Thank you to Doncaster Stories! @ Plover

Crew Gerrard Litter Picking! @ Carcroft

Class 8 Family Learning @ Green Top

It’s been a strange first day back… @ Norton Infants

Mathematicians in the making! @ Norton Juniors

Year 7 Expert Visit: Historian; Professor Natalie Thomlinson @ XP

Donde Quiera Que Vayas @ XP East

Parents Update @ XP Gateshead

Beautiful Work This Week

XP Doncaster Student Showcase

This week, XP Doncaster hosted their first ever Student Showcase for students in Year 5 and 6 across the City. This student-led event was an opportunity for prospective students to come and learn about XP’s culture and the way we learn!

We had an excellent turnout and it was great to see students telling the story of their school to encourage younger pupils to come to XP!

C29 Outward Bound Reflections

Visitors from Scotland

This week we welcomed visitors from schools in Aberdeenshire and our friends from the Wood Foundation! They spent two days with us working on their own Expedition, chatting to our Expert students and creating content for a beautiful book that will soon be published!

Thank you for coming to see us!

Mr Sprakes raising money for Plover Pantry

Plover Pantry has been put in place to help our families, especially with the rising cost of living.
Mr Sprakes, XP Trust’s Chief Academic Officer, is running the Worksop Half Marathon to raise funds for this much-needed cause.

Any donations will go towards restocking the pantry, and our families will greatly appreciate it.

Find out more and donate here!

Apply for your Nursery Place at XP Trust

Start your child’s learning journey at one of our Primary Schools and apply for a Nursery place today!

You can apply for a place through the Local Authority here…

www.doncaster.gov.uk/admissions

If you’d like to find out more or arrange a visit, please contact the school directly.

Plover: 01302 361450

Norton Infants: 01302 700743

Carcroft: 01302 722353

Green Top: 01405 813181

Top of the Blogs

Hockey at Hall Cross @ Plover

School Trip Day! @ Carcroft

Class 9 Practical Maths @ Green Top

Thoughtful Thursday @ Norton Infants

Conclusion of the Space Story Saga! @ Norton Juniors

Crew Kahlo putting the hours in at home @ XP

XPD Outdoors – Hits the ground running @ XP East

Beautiful Work This Week

Beautiful Work Curation at XP Gateshead

An interview with our CDO, Gwyn ap Harri in Schools Week!

Gwyn ap Harri, chief design officer, XP School Trust

Awesome things are happening at Green Top!

Take a look at these recent stories from Green Top!

Apply for your Nursery Place at XP Trust

Start your child’s learning journey at one of our Primary Schools and apply for a Nursery place today!

You can apply for a place through the Local Authority here…

www.doncaster.gov.uk/admissions

If you’d like to find out more or arrange a visit, please contact the school directly.

Plover: 01302 361450

Norton Infants: 01302 700743

Carcroft: 01302 722353

Green Top: 01405 813181

Top of the Blogs

Pride of Plover @ Plover

Crew Ferguson Autumn Scavenger Hunt @ Carcroft

Crew Ambler Family Learning @ Green Top

Looking into the past @ Norton Infants

Factors of numbers @ Norton Juniors

C29 Experts – CMFCB @ XP

Y8 Football enters the National stage @ XP East

Beautiful Work This Week

XP Festival of Learning

Awesome things are happening at Norton Infants!

Take a look at these recent stories from Norton Infants!

Apply for your Nursery Place at XP Trust

Start your child’s learning journey at one of our Primary Schools and apply for a Nursery place today!

You can apply for a place through the Local Authority here…

www.doncaster.gov.uk/admissions

If you’d like to find out more or arrange a visit, please contact the school directly.

Plover: 01302 361450

Norton Infants: 01302 700743

Carcroft: 01302 722353

Green Top: 01405 813181

We’re looking for Teachers and Learning Coaches at XP Trust!

You can apply here and #JoinOurCrew!

Top of the Blogs

Making numbers @ Plover

Enjoying tomatoes in Crew Nursery @ Carcroft

Crew Ambler Family Learning @ Green Top

Another great week in Class One! @ Norton Infants

Actors in the making @ Norton Juniors

Extra curricular clubs at XPG @ XP Gateshead

Lord Blunkett Visit @ XP

Crew Marx always having each others back @ XP East

Beautiful Work This Week

Visitors from Miri Piri…

This week we’ve had the joy of hosting three visitors from Miri Piri Academy in Amritsar, Punjab, India.

Kiran, Japjeet and Prem visited XP, XPE and Green Top schools – as well as enjoying a tour of all our students’ beautiful work on display in Doncaster.

Our guests also had the opportunity to see more of our City with a trip to view landmarks and villages around the Borough, including Conisbrough castle.

We love welcoming visitors from all over the world to our schools and sharing moments like this – meeting up with the awesome Plover elephant in the Frenchgate Centre!

Awesome things are happening at Carcroft!

Take a look at these recent stories from Carcroft School – beautiful Expedition work and a new playground for EYFS!

Apply for your Nursery Place at XP Trust

Start your child’s learning journey at one of our Primary Schools and apply for a Nursery place today!

You can apply for a place through the Local Authority here…

www.doncaster.gov.uk/admissions

If you’d like to find out more or arrange a visit, please contact the school directly.

Plover: 01302 361450

Norton Infants: 01302 700743

Carcroft: 01302 722353

Green Top: 01405 813181

We’re looking for Primary Teachers at XP Trust!

There is the opportunity of a lifetime to teach in our extraordinary schools, Green Top and Norton Junior School! 

You can apply here and #JoinOurCrew!

Top of the Blogs

Amazing Maths @ Plover

Hockey – Crew Shields @ Carcroft

Castle research and building @ Green Top

Hook Week in Class 4 @ Norton Infants

Striking Silhouettes @ Norton Juniors

Beautiful artwork from G29 @ XP Gateshead

Beautiful artwork in Y8 Admiral @ XP

Praising E27 GCSE Spanish students @ XP East

Beautiful Work This Week

XP Gateshead – the most oversubscribed school in the North East!

This week, the Gateshead Chronicle shared the story that XP Gateshead had 2.4 first preference applications for each of the 48 places offered – with 115 parents in total picking it as a first choice, making XPG the most oversubscribed school in the North East just one year after opening!

We asked students from Year 7 and 8 what they think makes their school great…

https://youtu.be/cCVV9nQqIOo

C28 ‘Being Human’ Immersion – Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Awesome things are happening at Plover!

Take a look at these recent stories from Plover School – beautiful family learning and a trip to London!

Apply for your Nursery Place at XP Trust

Start your child’s learning journey at one of our Primary Schools and apply for a Nursery place today!

You can apply for a place through the Local Authority here…

www.doncaster.gov.uk/admissions

If you’d like to find out more or arrange a visit, please contact the school directly.

Plover: 01302 361450

Norton Infants: 01302 700743

Carcroft: 01302 722353

Green Top: 01405 813181

‘Dear World’ – an update!

The Children of XP Trust are proud to announce that their Charity Single donations will be pledged towards the WildLife Foundation‘s Big Give!

In the Spring of 2022, Year 3 and 4 Pupils from Norton Junior School, Carcroft Primary School, Green Top School and Plover School studied a cross-curricular expedition, ‘What a Wonderful World’ looking to answer the guiding question, ‘Why should we protect our beautiful planet?’

During the Expedition, the students wrote and recorded this beautiful song to raise money for their chosen charity, the WildLife Foundation.

There is no better way to sum up the beauty of the work the students have created than with lyrics from the song created by them… ‘there is no Planet B.’

You can Download the song and make a donation here! https://childrenofxptrust.bandcamp.com/album/dear-world

Top of the Blogs

Phase of the Moon @ Plover

LKS2 Family Learning @ Carcroft

Crew Knowles: WW2 Memories @ Green Top

Hook Week @ Norton Infants

Year 3 Community Games Afternoon @ Norton Juniors

Weekly update for parents @ XP Gateshead

C29 Visit to National Coal Mining Museum @ XP

Crew Malala Learn to Work Together @ XP East

Weekly update for parents – W/C Monday 5th September 2022

Weekly update for parents – W/C Monday 5th September 2022

Beautiful Work This Week

Outward Bound – XP, XP East and XP Gateshead

This week C29, C28 and G29 have been building Crew on Outward Bound in Aberdovey and Ullswater. Here are some highlights from all of the trips…

Some more footage from #G29Ullswater 😎#WeAreCrew#WeAreXPGateshead pic.twitter.com/eXYUCwy44D

— @xpgateshead (@xpgateshead) August 31, 2022

You can follow these Hashtags to see the full story from the week…

#G29 Ullswater

#C28Ullswater

#C29Aberdovey

Top of the Blogs

COL – Where do we belong? @ Plover

National Space Centre @ Carcroft

Crew Pearson/Hilton – amazing team building fun! @ Green Top

Building relationships in Crew @ Norton Infants

Eden Camp Excitement @ Norton Juniors

Beautiful Work This Week

Dear World – Children of XP Trust

The Children of XP Trust are proud to present their Charity Single to raise money for WildLife Foundation – ‘Dear World’.

In the Spring of 2022, Year 3 and 4 Pupils from Norton Junior School, Carcroft Primary School, Green Top School and Plover School studied a cross-curricular expedition, ‘What a Wonderful World’ looking to answer the guiding question, ‘Why should we protect our beautiful planet?’

During the Expedition, the students wrote and recorded this beautiful song to raise money for their chosen charity, the WildLife Foundation.

There is no better way to sum up the beauty of the work the students have created than with lyrics from the song created by them… ‘there is no Planet B.’

You can Download the song and make a donation here! https://childrenofxptrust.bandcamp.com/album/dear-world

XP Gateshead – What a Wonderful World

On Thursday 21st July, XP Gateshead hosted their final POL of the year for their Expedition ‘What a Wonderful World’ online! You can watch them answer their guiding question ‘what is our relationship with the natural world?’ and present their beautiful work here!

How can a healthy lifestyle impact your body and mind?

In 2022, Years 5 & 6 began their learning exploration with the guiding question ‘How can a healthy lifestyle impact your body and mind?’

In Case Study One they became historians, they developed our knowledge of history on a timeline to understand chronological order. 

In Case Study Two, they became scientists working in the field of biology. They learnt depth in human anatomy, studying the circulatory system, function of the heart and how nutrients are transported around the body. 

Finally, in Case Study Three, they became designers and developed our food technology knowledge and skills. They learnt how to store food correctly and how to handle food. In addition to this, they looked at the different food groups and why these foods are important for a balanced diet. They unpicked recipes to look at calorie content and what healthy foods look like. In our final week of food technology they learnt to bake and cook following simple recipes and how to prepare and cook a variety of foods. 

Their key literature was ‘Pig Heart Boy’ by Malorie Blackman; a tale based on morality about a young boy who urgently requires a heart transplant and is given a pig heart. Alongside this, other texts such as ‘At the sign of the Sugared Plum’  were used to support our first Case Study.

The work from English and expedition lessons culminated in a series of beautiful videos that were created collaboratively from children in Y5/6 from across the Trust primaries. There were four main topics included in the video: the history and evolution of medicine, physical health, mental health and first aid. 

You can watch them all below!

Carcroft School – Mental Health

Plover School – First Aid

Norton Junior School – Physical Health

Green Top – Healthy Eating

XP/XP East Madrid Trip 2022

A few weeks ago some of our C25 and C26 students viewed priceless paintings by Picasso, Van Gogh and Dali, relaxed with an ice cream in the Buen Retiro Park, enjoyed a sociable meal out, and rode some scary roller-coaster rides…all over a long weekend in Madrid. This culminated in a Celebration of Learning event last Friday, during which our students invited their parents to view their work journals, and shared their memories and highlights in fluent Spanish or English. The video below was shown at the end of the evening, and we would like to appreciate all the students for their hard work in making this such a success.

Diverse Doncaster: Where do we belong?

Top of the Blogs

Microadventure to Cleethorpes @ XP East

What a Wonderful World – Final Product @ XP Gateshead

COL – Where do we belong? @ Plover

End of year treat! @ Carcroft

A great start to our new phase Crew! @ Green Top

Stay safe in the sun @ Norton Infants

Year 6 Leavers BBQ! @ Norton Juniors

Women’s European Football Fieldwork @ XP

Thank you for joining us for another great year of beautiful work and stories from across the XP Trust – we hope you have a wonderful summer!

We’ll see you in September!

XP Comms Crew

Beautiful Work This Week

XPCC22

We hosted our inaugural Climate Conference this week at XP East – an exciting evening of Activism organised by our students to tackle the issue of Climate Change. The event was a huge success, welcoming huge crowds of parents and students to listen and learn about the importance of sustainable energy in the effort to stop climate change. 

The event included talks from students about the impact of climate change on the world, Q&As with local businesses and the launch of ‘Dear World’ – a protest song written by our Trust Primary Schools.

Read the full article here.

You can also join in the discussion on Twitter and make your pledge – follow #XPCC22 to get involved and see more stories from the event!

‘From The Ground Up‘ – Two amazing book launches!

Over the last week, XP Gateshead have had two amazing launches for their first book ‘From the Ground Up. Students gathered to celebrate their learning at Seven Stories in Newcastle and sold their book for the first time to the general public. They also visited the prestigious Durham Miner’s Gala to talk to visitors about their awesome book that they’ve written and published themselves. Beautiful work.

XP/XP East Sports Day

XP and XP East had an awesome Sports Day last Friday – here’s a selection of photos from the day!

Top of the Blogs

Norton by the Sea @ Norton Infants

A Trip to the Seaside @ Norton Juniors

Making memories to last a lifetime! @ Green Top

Crew Welburn’s Transition Week @ Carcroft

Ready to XP – C29 Transition Days @ XP

Crew Finch have flown the nest! @ XP East

Selling our CDs at the Climate Conference @ Plover

Beautiful Work from G28 – Durham Miner’s Gala @ XP Gateshead

Beautiful Work This Week

For King and Another Country – XP East Radio Broadcast

Listen to E28’s awesome radio broadcast – the final product of their Expedition with the guiding question ‘Do we honour all those who sacrifice in War?’.

‘From The Ground Up‘

A Visit from Michelle Navarre

This week we welcomed a very special visitor to the Trust – from Chicago.

Michelle Navarre, a friend of XP, is co-founder and Head of School of the Polaris Charter Academy, Polaris is Chicago’s only EL Education – Expeditionary Learning – school. 

As part of her visit, staff across the Trust were invited to take part in  ‘An Evening with Michelle Navarre’. This was a unique opportunity to hear the story and engage in a Q & A with one of the most respected and remarkable educators in the world.

This week Michelle also visited schools across our Trust – in Doncaster and Gateshead.

Polaris is internationally recognised as a national and international example of positive school culture and character development.

It was a privilege to listen to Michelle as she shared her leadership journey with us. 

She is an inspiration – as are her students; for whom Crew means life. Crew is life at Polaris and with her and her team’s work Michelle is making sure that every child in her care has the best chances of being the best version of themselves.

They know that Miss Navarre keeps them safe in a city where their pupils made a stand about gun crime and, for one significant and uplifting day, made a powerful impact on their neighbourhood – which saw no incidents, in a day that would normally have seen many.

Michelle Navarre is a mighty woman with a great heart – we are so lucky to have been able to welcome her to all our schools.

Top of the Blogs

Cricket Competition Success @ Norton Juniors

Thackray Museum Visit @ Carcroft

What Crew Goodall has been up to recently… @ XP

Crew Ardern Visitors @ XP East

Preparing for our family learning @ Plover

Year 3/4 Celebration of Learning @ Green Top

Critique @ Norton Infants