To ensure a balanced intake of students across all ability levels, all applicants to an XP secondary school must sit a Fair Banding Assessment.
This multiple-choice test focuses on non-verbal reasoning and helps us place students into one of five ability bands. There is no pass or fail, and results are used solely to support a broad and representative admissions process.
Completing the assessment is a key part of the application and must be done to be considered for a place.
Please ensure your child is registered by 31st October 2025 and prepared to attend the assessment on 22nd November 2025.
At XP School, we believe music has the power to inspire and shape young minds. Each year, we offer a unique opportunity for children with a natural flair for music to gain a place in Year 7 through our dedicated Musical Aptitude route.
Whether your child already sings or plays an instrument, or simply has a keen ear for rhythm, melody, and pitch, this pathway recognises raw musical potential.
With access to expert tuition, vibrant performance opportunities, and a culture that celebrates creativity, XP School is the perfect stage for your child to flourish musically and academically. Click here to see highlights from our recent annual XP Festival of Arts and Culture https://youtu.be/-tcB979lD_g
Apply now, and don’t miss this chance to join a learning community where talent is nurtured and passion takes centre stage!
What a fantastic final week of the half term it’s been for Crew Brunel! We kicked things off in true Halloween spirit with a themed party that included some frightfully fun games such as Trick or Treat and Pin the Stem on the Pumpkin. Students were told there was a special Boo Basket up for grabs at the end of the week — and tokens could be earned through various activities. The student with the most tokens would be crowned the winner!
Midweek, we held a Year 8 and 9 Community Meeting, where we reflected on how awesome our students have been this term. Teachers shared lots of praises and appreciations, recognising students for their effort, kindness, and commitment both in and out of lessons.
Our creative challenge this week was to design a Halloween costume, and the results were Creeptastic! From scary monsters to clever, funny designs, students really let their imaginations run wild. A special well done to Pippa, whose creative design won her an extra 10 tokens!
We also kept an eye on praises and conducts — every praise earned 5 tokens, while each conduct resulted in 2 tokens being deducted. It was great to see so many students gaining tokens through positive actions and great behaviour.
To top off our busy week, Crew Brunel took part in a Penalty Shootout Fundraiser to raise money for our chosen charity, the Coral Reef Alliance. There were plenty of laughs and friendly competition — and congratulations to Blake for winning the hamper!
We ended the week on a high with a whole-school community meeting, celebrating the end of our first half term of the year. It’s been a fun-filled week full of teamwork, creativity, and community spirit. Huge shoutout to David, who has absolutely smashed it this half term by finishing at the top of our praise leaderboard with an impressive 43 praise points! Well done, David.
In true Crew Brunel fashion, our students showed great teamwork and strategy — instead of competing individually for the boo basket, they decided to join forces and pool their tokens. This led to two teams forming and battling it out throughout the week to see who could collect the most tokens. The competition was fierce, but in the end, the girls took the win! Well done to the girls’ team for claiming the Boo Basket!
Now it’s time for a well-deserved rest over the half-term break — I can’t wait to see what the next one brings!
Following the upcoming half term break, Year 11’s mock exams will begin on the first week back.
The mock timetable can be found here:
Due to this, learning labs will begin week 2 – week commencing November 10th. Term 1B (October-December) focuses on non-core subjects from 3:15-4:15pm.
As the first half- term of Year 9 draws to a close, we wanted to take a moment to express just how incredibly proud we are of every single student in Crew Peake. This term has been defined by their exceptional efforts, remarkable progress, and a real demonstration of our HoWLs and character traits.
Their commitment shown to school this term has been nothing short of amazing! We’ve seen great dedication in lessons, with students tackling challenging topics head-on and showing genuine academic resilience and growth – parents have received a number of emails from staff such as Miss Buckley, talking about their efforts in Humanities! This dedication is reflected beautifully in the huge amount of positive praise points awarded to our lovely kids this term, recognising everything from outstanding classwork to daily acts of kindness.
Crew members continue to shine, not just within our crew room, but across the entire school community. It has been fantastic hearing so many members of Crew Peake receiving shout outs in our community meetings for setting an example and making a positive difference.
We wish you all a restful and enjoyable break, and look forward to welcoming crew back next term, ready for even more success!
Starting the Day Right – X32 Crew Breakfast & Dodgeball! 🥐🏐
This week, X32 kicked off the day in the best possible way – with a crew breakfast followed by a game of dodgeball! It was a brilliant chance to build crew spirit, share laughs, and enjoy some well-earned time together after a busy half term.
Since starting at XP, X32 have been nothing short of amazing. From settling in so well to showing real maturity and kindness, they’ve embraced the XP way with enthusiasm and heart. Their commitment to crew has really shone through, especially in our recent attendance push.
Attendance plays such a huge role in success at school – not just academically, but socially and emotionally too. X32 are really taking that message on board, and we’re already seeing the benefits. Starting the day with energy, community, and a bit of friendly competition was the perfect way to celebrate all their hard work.
Well done, X32 – keep it up! Have a Great Half Term
Here is our fantastic enrichment offer for after half term. This will run until December. Come along and try out some of the amazing clubs we offer. All after school clubs run from 3.30-4.30. Any questions please email team PE
Miss O’Grady – Subject lead of PE cogrady@xpschool.org
Mr Currie – PE Teacher/ Year 10 and 11 phase lead dcurrie@xpschool.org
Miss Bowser- PE/ Science Teacher abowser@xpschool.org
X28 Ethics have been keeping their Friday 5 sessions filled with energy and motivation! This new routine is already becoming a highlight of the week.
Each session, they tackle a 15-mark exam question together, planning, debating, and refining their responses as a team. Students earn points for hitting exam criteria, building strong arguments, and challenging powerful ideas, all while learning from each other and preparing to write their answers in full.
It’s been brilliant to see their confidence, critical thinking, and exam readiness grow week by week!
Our Year 7 students have been working incredibly hard on crafting their historical narratives this week, and the creativity on display has been fantastic!
Students have been critiquing each other’s work, offering fab feedback, and sharing ideas to help one another improve. The atmosphere in sessions has been buzzing with collaboration and imagination as everyone pushes themselves (and each other!) to make their writing as powerful as possible.
We were also joined in Session 5 today by some of our Year 11 experts; Leo, Joseph, and Alfie, who spent time coaching the younger students, offering guidance, and providing expert critique. Their advice and encouragement really inspired Year 7 to keep raising the bar.
With so much talent, hard work, and support flying around, it’s safe to say we’ve got some future published authors in the making. Watch this space…
