A super shout out today for Nida & Oscar S in Maths – they produced some fantastic work and strengthened their knowledge about factorisation. Look at how beautiful Nida’s book looks – amazing Craftsmanship & Quality!
I was mightily impressed by Admiral today – additional ‘well done’s’ to Shaurya & Kolby, Lucy & Rebecca, & Liam!
Keep up the great work, Admiral!
Miss Cocliff x
X26 have come back to school with a sterling attitude! Most students are already working hard, getting smart and being kind every single session!
This morning’s community meeting highlighted the good stuff going on – along with a few reminders from our behaviour policy. We have incredibly high expectations, because we see every day how amazing X26 are!
Take a look below at the reminders and the praises highlighted this week 🙂
Great work, guys!
Miss Cocliff x
As they are coming to the end of Year 9, crew has been reflecting on their year. When thinking about their journey throughout the year, here are some of their highlights.
They have finished their second expedition of the year called ‘Every Picture Tells a Story’ by creating beautiful work. They looked at Islamic tiles and then used rotational symmetry to design their own patterns to paint with acrylic paint.
Here are some examples from Crew Kahlo:
Crew also chose their options for ‘Leading Our Own Learning’ that they will be studying next year. The crew has picked a range of options such as Engineering, Citizenship, Psychology, Further maths, ICT / Computing as well as some members of the crew decided to take up the opportunity to join the ‘pushing for 4’ group that will support them with Maths, English, and Science leading up to their exams.
They cant really believe that they are coming to the end of Year 9 and going into Year 10!
Today students aged 12 in Year 7 and all students in Year 8 and Year 9 were given information letters and a consent form for the Covid Vaccine. These students are able to have a Covid Vaccine on Monday 27th September. Please could parents read the information letter and return the consent form back to school by Thursday 23rd September. If a student is not having the vaccine, this can be indicated on the consent form and returned, please.
What a busy first couple of weeks crew Kahlo has had in Year 9!
There’s never a dull moment at XP, especially at the beginning of term. We kicked off the new year with an outward bound trip where we went abseiling off a bridge (80ft!) and caving:
On our second day of Year 9, crew took part in a number of fun challenges (working as a crew) in the morning and then played the other Year 9 crews in a bench ball tournament. We ended the day with a community meeting.
On our third day of Year 9 we walked to Potteric Carr nature reserve and then did a ‘Solo’.
When we got back to school, crew prepared for their POL to explain what they had done that week and what they had learnt from it. They worked well as a team to present to their peers and parents.
As you can see – we don’t mess about! We start as we mean to go on here at XP.
Cant quite believe that crew Kahlo are in Year 9 already – bring it on!
Hi X26 – just thought I would add another blog post to remind you all what the plan is for your first week in Year 9 (I can’t believe you’re going to be Year 9’s!!)
Your first day back is Wednesday 1st September and you need to be in school at 8 am (this is because you all need to do a covid test before we set off). You will be out of school all day so you need to come prepared with the following:
(All of these items will be used again throughout Year 9 – not just for this week).
We are expected to be back at school between 4.30 pm and 5.00 pm if you need to organise a lift home or plan which bus to catch.
On Thursday 2nd September you will be in school all day and need to be in for the normal time (8.20-8.30 for crew). You need to make sure you bring your usual school equipment with you (pen, pencil, ruler, and device). Make sure you wear sensible footwear as you will be doing some activities in the sports hall and outside. You will be able to have a school dinner if that’s what you usually do or bring your packed lunch with you.
School will finish at the usual time of 3.15 pm.
On Friday 3rd September you need to arrive at school at the normal time for crew (8.20-8.30am) but will be out of school in the morning. You need to bring the same things that you have been asked to bring on Wednesday (apart from wellies – you don’t need those). You also need to bring your equipment and device to use in the afternoon.
You also need to bring a packed lunch and a bottle of water as we will be out at lunchtime (this will be provided for students on FSM)
School will finish at the usual time of 3.15 pm.
I hope you have all had a lovely summer break and we will see you all next week!
So, we got through our first week back after Lockdown 3.0. It was a tiring week but we made it.
Crew hit off the week with a covid test before they were able to mix with their classmates. They did really well and were really sensible about it.
To end the week, X26 crew leaders thought that it would be good for pupils to blow off a little steam and have a couple of games of dodgeball.
I was really impressed with crew as we didn’t come last! Even though we were two crew members down.
I was particularly impressed with Arthur who was throwing the balls so so far and properly took poor Kolby out at one point! He was a great sportsman and said sorry for the powerful take-out.
I hope Nida won’t mind me sharing this – but I was so happy to receive the following photos of some artwork she has been working on this weekend based on the artist Luke Dixon that we are looking at in Y8 art sessions. Nida always works so hard and has a real talent for drawing. Everything she does is presented so neatly with great care and attention. Absolutely brilliant work Nida!
Fantastic week back crew! Roll on next week.
So, we made it crew! A 9-week term online – WOWZER!
It’s been tough, but we have got through it.
There has been some wonderful work produced by crew Kahlo this term and they have worked so so hard and I’m really proud of them.
These last two weeks we have been able to log off lessons and have some time at the end of each school day to do something a little different.
The crew have been….
It’s been great to see the crew doing something a little bit different!
For our crew members that have been in school, they have been working off some of their energy by playing badminton, basketball, or busting out some shapes following ‘Just Dance’ routines with their friends. Look at Olivia go!!!
Have a relaxing 2 weeks off crew Kahlo and try to stay off those screens!
With everything that is going on around us at the moment, it can sometimes be difficult to remember the most important stuff…. connecting, interacting, and looking after one another.
If you ask any member of crew Kahlo they will probably say that I say the same things over and over again like a broken record – but hopefully, they listen when I say (almost every morning)
‘Email me if you need me, let me know if there is anything wrong’
I say it because I mean it. I always tell them that I can’t help them unless they let me know what is the matter. That goes for all pupils at XP. Every single member of our staff wants each pupil to be safe and happy and will always be there if and when needed.
This is one of the reasons why each morning during our crew sessions we have a ‘check-in’, where each pupil is asked to share their thoughts in some way. I don’t know about other crews, but our check-ins ALWAYS spark some kind of discussion, debate, or even just an opportunity for us to have a bit of a laugh.
Here are some examples of our crew check-ins during lockdown 3.0:
Some of our check-ins provoke insightful and interesting revelations and others just make it very clear that crew Kahlo is a special little bunch who I fit in with perfectly.
My crew knows how much I love a cat meme.
Stay safe
Miss Jones
On Friday, I had the pleasure of hosting our weekly community meeting for X26. I wanted to take the opportunity to speak to my crew and their peers about seeing the positives in life at the moment.
I started our online hangout by asking pupils to have a think about what this quote means:
One of the explanations from a student was ‘When you’re unhappy you don’t feel like doing anything but when you’re more positive you have more energy and you’re happier ‘. I have to say that I agree with this.
I described my own feelings about lockdown 3.0 and the fact that we are working in a very different way. We are all going to have good days and bad days but we must remind ourselves of the positives.
It’s very easy to think negatively about ourselves, about a situation, or about an event that has happened or is about to happen. However, it’s really important that we find positive thoughts to keep us happy and feeling good.
Finding the positives isn’t easy and is a skill that we definitely have to work on.
Last week, I asked all the teachers of Year 8 to give me some feedback about how pupils are getting on with their online learning.
I was so impressed and it genuinely gave me a warm fuzzy feeling being able to share this feedback with X26 and especially crew Kahlo.
Look at this lot!
#wearecrew
