Y7 had their first XP Outdoors session this week and what a cracking start the term it was!

We used the session to continue to build on the crew fundamentals introduced during the first week back. We did this by introducing Y7 to Number Minefield – a crew building activity which relies on communication and collaboration, with the aim to complete the task in the quickest time and not incur any penalty points.

Of course there were some frustrations along the way, Crews didn’t always work together (especially during the first attempt of the activity), but it was great to see how all the students reflected on how they could improve before their next try and they did all see an improvement in times! We also appreciated how some of the natural leaders in crew stepped back and allowed others to express their thoughts and ideas.

Looking ahead, we have some fantastic sessions planned for the rest of this term. We have included the weekly session details below (we are on Week 3 next week so will be out walking):

Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7
28/08/23	06/09/23	13/09/23	20/09/23	27/09/23	4/10/23	11/10/23
FWB  Outward Bound	Getting to know you session with crew building activities	Local Walk	Fire Pit Gardening	Fire Pit Gardening	Orienteering  Route planning and map reading	Local Walk using map reading skills

It is important that students come appropriately dressed for these sessions. In the winter months the outdoor area can be wet, cold and sludgy and in the summer months hot so please make sure the following items are provided.

Autumn/Winter kit:

• Long sleeved jumper
• Long trousers – waterproof if possible
• Warm hat and gloves
• Waterproof coat

Spring/Summer kit:

• Sunscreen
• Sun hat
• Water bottle
• Waterproof coat

We are really looking forward to the year ahead with Y7. The XP Outdoors curriculum is absolutely essential to helping our students to continue to focus on the importance of Crew, to help them learn outside of the classroom, to help them learn new skills, to build resilience and help them become the best versions of themselves.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact our XP Outdoors lead, Miss Watson: [email protected] or your child’s Crew Leader.

Thank you from the XP Outdoors Team: Mrs Watson, Mrs Parker and Miss Dickinson

XP Outdoors took full advantage of the sunshine on Monday. We headed out in our classes and embarked on a little adventure to Lakeside – one of our favourite spots.

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Students paired and shared creative sorties, interpretive dance and songs.

This is an awesome opportunity to develop confidence and learn new interesting things about ourselves.

We took the opportunity to also incorporate a little bit of fun! 

Here are Hill Rolling  – even Mrs Watson had a roll down the hill! 😵‍💫

I look forward to seeing you in next term for more outdoors learning and crew building activities.

Mrs Watson

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At this time of year, it is important to put food and water on a regular basis. In severe weather, feed twice daily if you can: in the morning and in the early afternoon. Birds require high-energy (high-fat) foods during the cold winter weather to maintain their fat reserves to survive the frosty nights. Use only good-quality food and scraps.

Our Outdoors (Indoors) session this week was about understanding the importance of looking after out wildlife during the winter months.

So we made some bird seed apple feeders and cheerio multigrain rings to support our wildlife over the coming weeks.

We grappled and supported each other and produced some awesome feeders!

Some students took them home! It would be great if you could spot and photograph any birds feeding from them in your gardens!

XPD Outdoors Crew! Have fun spotting!