Crew Kahlo are back!

By Emily Jones5th September 2020

It’s all go at XP after our time at home during the lockdown. It’s so good to have the crew back together again. I’m really proud of crew Kahlo for settling back into their school routine (even though they’re all a bit tired). Each and every member of crew has made a fantastic start to Year 8 and has received some lovely feedback from their teachers.

For our first day back we had a full day together to re-connect and catch up.

I was impressed with their mature attitudes towards the new rules that we have to follow to stay safe in school. They also let off a little steam by playing a few games outside to get some fresh air…

We discussed ideas for crew pledges to try and help each other when we need support

The crew has had some changes this week like our first whole school virtual community meeting:

We also had the introduction to ‘Wise Wednesdays’. For our first week, we were looking at ‘Understanding Identity’. We discussed how social and cultural factors help to shape our identity. It was a chance for the crew to explore who they were as people and think about how others see them. It was challenging for some members of the crew but they grappled with the tasks and supported each other. It was lovely to have the chance to speak to them all about ‘what makes them who they are’.

Well done for having a great start to Year 8!

X26 & X25 Coming Back Stronger!

By Miss S Robinson26th August 2020

It is wonderful to welcome back our students in Year 8 and 9 today, they have certainly returned with renewed energy and enthusiasm!

Today, is all about Crew.  Students have been spending their time today reflecting on the past few months, learning how to keep themselves safe whilst in school and most importantly reconnecting as a Crew.

I have had the pleasure of spending time in each of the Crew’s and it is great to see the students engaged, working collaboratively and happy!

What a way to start the year! #Comingbackstronger

 

Its official! We have a crew name!

By Emily Jones25th June 2020

So, crew EJN presented their crew name suggestions to Miss Robinson in last week’s crew hangout. They were prepared, confident, and articulated their reasons for each individual really well.

I was very impressed!

After almost an hour of presenting their slides, Miss Robinson decided that our new crew name was going to be…(drum roll please)…

This is after the famous Mexican artist ‘Frida Kahlo’. You may recognise some of her artwork below:

She created a number of self-portraits as well as paintings about her disabilities.

She had a really tough time and was in a lot of pain throughout her life.

 

Here are some of the pages that Arthur in our crew prepared to describe her:

 

So, as you can see from Arthurs slides – she didn’t have it easy. She had a lot of challenges to overcome in her life – but she was so determined and courageous!

Harrison read through most of the slides as Arthur had a few technical issues and was losing connection. Harrison read really well, he was clear and confident. He showed a lot of courage as I know he was not in his comfort zone whilst doing it. Well done Harrison.

For Arthur’s last page he described why he thought that we should name our crew after Frida Kahlo…

The reasons that he gave above absolutely blew me away and actually brought a tear to my eye – thinking about how far we have come as a crew and all that we have been through!

We have been through some hard times, some challenging times, some difficult times – but we are crew and we can get through it! We support each other and back each other up.

I am a very proud, emotional, embarrassing, and ‘cringy’ crew leader – but I don’t care!

I’ll leave you with this quote from Frida which I think is VERY true.

Our last week as crew EJN

By Emily Jones11th June 2020

This week, crew EJN have been working on their crew name presentations that they will be showing Miss Robinson next week during their weekly crew hangout.

Crew have a few ideas about who they would like to be named after and why:

Crew have also been busy completing their home learning, creating some beautiful work.

These are for the nature page for their visual diaries:

 

Arthur
Arthur
Arthur
Brandan
Max
Nida
Olivia
Tammy

Positive and motivational quotes for their visual diaries:

In other news, Olivia has been swimming in a river!!!

…and Jessy has a new dog called Callie.

Crew EJN making the most of the beautiful weather

By Emily Jones4th June 2020

We are back to school for a new term. Back to home learning and trying our best – having good days and bad days and just trying to get through and stay safe.

Crew EJN were ready for a break and a little time off last week. Luckily the weather was absolutely stunning!

This is what crew got up to:

Arthur went on lots of walks, met his grandad and took Dotty the dog for a walk and play. He had his first KFC in months (Its was delicious!) He went to Birkin fisheries for ice cream and a picnic and he saw lots and lots of ducklings. He also made a bug hotel for his garden by cutting lots of bamboo up and putting twigs around an old pop bottle in a plant pot. He also painted a pebble to say thankyou to the NHS. 

Arthurs bug hotel
Arthurs first KFC for months
Arthurs NHS painted pebble

Brandan went to Cleethorpes for the day (social distancing of course) and sat and played on the beach. He also went to his sisters for the day where they had a new pool and a 7ft dinosaur sprinkler called Dino.

Tammy built a bird table and found an old colouring book to colour in. 

As well as being out in the sunshine, crew were still keeping busy with their home learning tasks.

Max has created some lovely artwork based on the artist Kandinsky

Crew EJN have also made a cracking start on their Visual Dairies for their new expedition called ‘Above all, compassion’. Here are their front covers

Arthur
Brandan
Max
Nida
Tammy

Im really proud of crew EJN and all their hard work. They have enjoyed their holiday and have got back to working hard with their home learning!

Well done crew!

Surprising revelations made by crew

By Emily Jones9th May 2020

This week we went back to basics a little for our crew google hangout. We discussed a few protocols like ‘microphones to be on mute unless you have been directly asked to speak’ and to put your hand up and wait if you have a question. I decided to go through this because our previous hangouts have been a little rowdy and off topic. When everyone talks at the same time, it’s really difficult to hear anyone.

Once the new rules had been established, we did our check in which was ‘What is the worst thing you have ever eaten?’. Now, this is where I was really surprised! There were some very unexpected answers. For example:

Broccoli, olives, ketchup (who doesn’t like ketchup!?), garlic, asparagus, shepherds pie, instant mash, coleslaw, tuna, Harry Potter dog food flavoured jelly bean and finally – a caterpillar and a worm!!

After those revelations, we looked at our crew tracker. This is where I have been keeping tabs on crew and their progress with their home learning tasks. I have shared this document with parents as well so they can see the work that is being completed and what needs to be done.

By talking about work that some members of crew have completed  – it really helps the other students understand the tasks and help each other (which has been really lovely to see)

We then moved onto a quiz which was made up of four rounds; general knowledge, films, music and capital cities. Jessy won with a massive 24 out of 25, with Arthur coming second with 21 and Tammy third with 20. Olivia has volunteered to prepare a quiz for next week and be the quizmaster. I wonder how many questions I will be able to answer!

REMEMBER – our crew hangout is every Tuesday at 12 noon and is compulsory. 

All but one crew member attended the last one, it would be SO good if we had every member of crew joining next week (and every week that we are in lockdown).

I would also like to say a big well done to Olivia, Arthur, Harrison and Max for joining Miss Vayro’s google hangout session for Hums on Mondays at 1.30 and also Nida for joining one.

Can ALL crew please ensure that they join Miss Vayro’s hangout EVERY MONDAY at 1.30 please.

This will help you with your expedition and also give you an opportunity to stay in contact with your classmates (which I think is really important).

Lastly for this week, I wanted to share some emails that I received from Mrs Collinson. She wanted to let me know that some members of crew EJN have been working really hard on their Spanish work:

Massive well done! Keep it up.

 

Crew EJN being creative!

By Emily Jones1st May 2020

Crew EJN have produced some beautiful work based on the artwork of Wassily Kandinsky during lockdown.

By Nida

By Tammy

By Bryan

By Arthur

By Jessy

By Olivia

They have also started their new expedition ‘Above all, compassion’ off with a bang by designing a storyboard to show the environmental changes during ‘The Lorax’.

By Harrison

By Arthur

By Jessy

There is a website that has been created especially for this expedition to help pupils find the tasks that they need to complete and to give them extra guidance. The link for the website is here.

Keep up the good work crew and remember that I want you to concentrate on the most recently set tasks on google classroom and try to meet your deadlines. If you fell behind with the work from the beginning of lock down – that needs to be done after you finish the new work.

Take care and stay safe!

Year 7/8 Common Mission

By Charlotte OGrady1st May 2020

As part of Common Mission in year 7/8 we are launching The Book of Memories. Crew leaders will be sharing this during google hangouts. We would like you to produce a virtual (slides) or book of your memories during this time so that we can look back and reflect on our time at home.

Each week you will be given a theme to help you create your book of memories and give you ideas of activities you might be able to do at home. Your crew leader will share the introduction with you and how you can make your book and also the first theme which is “What is in my cupboards”

We look forward to seeing your ideas and sharing with us what you have been up to whilst at home.

Stay Safe Everyone

Ilinca’s Year 8

Crew EJN’s top tips if you get bored during lockdown!

By Emily Jones23rd April 2020

This check in for our crew google hangout this week was ‘What are you grateful for?’. I shared a doc that crew could add to and as I suspected, their answers were all pretty similar. Here’s what they said:

  • The sunshine
  • Having a garden that I can go out in
  • WiFi
  • All the members of my family are safe and healthy
  • The internet
  • My family 
  • My friends
  • My pets
  • My crew
  • I am grateful for my mum and stepdad because even though they are really stressed with work because they are supplying oxygen for the hospitals they are still providing food on the table and clean clothes for me to wear everyday and they make sure that all my needs are done.
  • The NHS working long shifts to help those who are vulnerable.
  • That I get to video call my Nana and Grandad lot
  • Asda Click & collect
  • Swingball and Trampoline
  • The fact I have a roof over my head
  • I have food and water 
  • I have amazing people in my life
  • The fact I go to one of the best schools in the uk 😉
  • Football
  • Hot tub 
  • Education 

As you can see – that is a LOT that we feel grateful for. I think on the difficult days during lockdown – this is the kind of list that we need to read to remind ourselves of all the great things we have around us. It was lovely to see crew being so grown up about this situation. I am so proud of them.

We decided, during out google hangout on a task that we could work together on that might help other students (and teachers!) on what to do if you get really bored during lockdown. These are crew EJN’s top tips on how to cure lockdown boredom:

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I hope crew EJN have given you a few ideas!

Stay safe!

Miss Jones and crew

Working hard and getting smart

By Emily Jones17th April 2020

I have been looking through the work that crew EJN have been doing whilst they have been in lockdown. Some pupils are finding the whole situation more difficult to adjust to than others (which is totally understandable). Everyone deals with things in their own way. I have emphasised this during our crew google hangouts and explained that they need to be kind to themselves and just try their best.

Whilst tracking the work that crew have been completing I have noticed that Nida, Arthur, Tammy and Harrison are consistently completing tasks that they been set. These students have been working extremely hard and I’m really proud of them.

Here are some examples of their work:

Keep up the good work crew….and remember – if you need any help or support with any of the tasks you have been set – make sure you contact your subject teachers (or me)

Keep safe.