Students in Crew donated £3 each to support the charity Samaritan’s Purse, enabling them to send a Christmas shoebox filled with educational supplies and toiletries. Their contribution will help provide a child—who may not otherwise have these everyday luxuries—with a thoughtful and meaningful gift this Christmas.
Crew Brunel kicked off the week in a calm and positive way with a mindful session in the sportshall. We spent some time burning off a little energy – kicking a ball around, skipping, playing throw and catch, and enjoying some relaxed time together before settling into the week ahead. It was a great way to start with focus, connection and a clear head.
On Tuesday, we continued our Passage work, diving back into our science books from Year 7 and 8. It was interesting to look back at how far everyone has come, identify the progress made, and reflecting on their learning journey so far.
Midweek, we explored our final Wise Wednesday topic for this term. With all our topics now finished, students will begin creating and refining their own presentations, bringing together the progress, insights, and reflections they’ve gathered throughout the term.
Later in the week, we looked at praises and conducts, checking out who has climbed to the top of our Crew praise leaderboard. It was great to see so much positive recognition being shared.
We rounded off the week with our whole-school community meeting, where we celebrated character traits and shared real examples of staff and students showing them in action. We also found out who topped the praise leaderboards across the school – huge congratulations to Liam, Matilda, Pippa and Ayden who all tied for the top spot in Year 9! A fantastic achievement. As always, there was time for apologies, appreciations and stands, strengthening our community spirit.
Another brilliant week for Crew Brunel – well done everyone!
Miss Mitchell
Well done to all the students who have taken part in enrichment this week. Great effort from the year 9 boys football team who visited Outwood Adwick on Wednesday evening out in the cold. Cross country was another huge success this week where have had a number of students make it through to the South Yorkshire next round.
Well done to the year 7/8 girls football who have had a busy week. First fixture was against Hungerhill on a cold winter night, not the result we were hoping for but the girls did not give up. The girls then went on to compete in the EFL cup at the Keepmoat, where 21 school competed. The girls were fantastic and came top of their group with some outstanding wins against Hall Cross, Don Valley, South Axholme and many more. The girls then made it through to the semi finals but unfortunately lost 1-0 in what was a tight match. What an incredible achievement, well done to everyone who played.
We have another busy week next week so please read the what coming up next week blog post.
Have a fab weekend from Team PE.
Monday – Badminton Practice 3.30-4.30. Cheerleading practice 3.30-4.30
Tuesday- Man City fieldwork, leaving school at 3.15. Return around midnight. Will contact parents on the way home. Students will need warm clothing, packed lunch for the bus and money if they would like to buy any food there. All letters have gone to parents/guardians whose child is on the fieldwork.
Wednesday – Year 7 and 8 girls netball game at home finish at 4.45. Year 7 boys football match at home finish at 5pm. Please tick your name off the team sheet.
Thursday – KS3 badminton fixture at home finish at 5pm. Please tick your name off.
Any questions please email
cogrady@xpschool.org
dcurrie@xpschool.org
abowser@xpschool.org
Here’s a selection of beautiful work from across the XP Trust!
To read about other stories from across the XP Trust, visit xptrust.org.
KS1 Community hero awards! @ Green Top
Authentic Art making in Y8 @ XP
And sew it begins… @ Norton Juniors
E30 Explorer – A Debate Full of Energy, Respect and Brilliant Ideas @ XP East
G29 Geography – Has the regeneration of the Ouseburn been a success? @ XP Gateshead
Remembrance Day Celebration @ Norton Infants
We now have a new dedicated news email so that you can send your stories, updates or ideas about potential news articles directly to us in Comms.
It might be something you or your students have achieved, a charity you’re supporting or anything at all that deserves a wider audience.
Write to us at comms@xptrust.org – we want to hear about it, write about it and celebrate it!
What Does It Mean to Be Human?
Today, our Y8 students at XP School explored this guiding question in the most powerful, creative and authentic way — alongside the incredible Michelle Clarke-Stables.
Working shoulder-to-shoulder with Michelle, students created a legacy artwork that will live on in our school: a large-scale micrography portrait of Frida Kahlo, built entirely from handwritten words, reflections and quotes that answer our guiding question.
Every mark is a voice.
Every layer is a story.
Every word speaks to the messy, beautiful, painful and resilient nature of being human.
Frida Kahlo feels like the perfect muse for this work. Her life was shaped by courage, compassion and fierce tenacity — choosing colour in the face of pain, truth in the face of silence, and creativity in the face of adversity. She epitomises what we hope our students discover: that being human is about resilience, tenderness, and the bravery to tell your story.
Watching students collaborate, debate, write, paint and truly see one another was extraordinary. Michelle brought out the best of them — their empathy, their curiosity, their willingness to be bold with ideas and generous with meaning.
This is what authentic Art education looks like.
This is legacy work.
This is XP. 💙
Thank you, Michelle, for inspiring our students to make something deeply human, and deeply unforgettable.
#ArtEducation #XPTrust #ProjectBasedLearning #FridaKahlo #BeingHuman #LegacyWork #Creativity #Compassion #StudentVoice #MichelleClarkeStables
This afternoon, E30 Explorer showed what thoughtful, passionate learners they truly are during our big debate: Who was responsible for the deaths on the island?
The enthusiasm in the room was infectious; students were animated, expressive and full of insightful ideas. What made the debate so special, though, was the level of respect they showed one another. Even when opinions differed (and they definitely did!), students listened, challenged each other kindly, and built on each other’s thinking.
Discussions like this remind us just how powerful books can be: they spark curiosity, emotion, imagination and deep thinking. E30 Explorer absolutely brought the story to life today.
Fantastic work, all of you. Keep debating, keep questioning, and keep reading! 📚✨
Extra-Curricular Sports Round-Up
It has been a fantastic week of extra-curricular sport, showcasing brilliant effort, teamwork and resilience across our teams.
Our girls’ football squad put in an outstanding set of performances, playing three competitive fixtures with superb attitude throughout. They secured two impressive wins, 3–0 and 2–0, and battled to a determined 0–0 draw in their final match. Their defensive organisation was excellent, and the whole team should be proud of their discipline and work rate.
Meanwhile, six Year 9 boys represented the school in a badminton fixture. They competed with great spirit and sportsmanship, showing real progress in their games. Although they unfortunately finished on the losing side, their positive attitude and determination were a real credit to the school.
We’re excited for the upcoming weeks, with plenty more fixtures and enrichment opportunities ahead. Well done to all involved—keep up the brilliant effort!
We would like to invite parents and carers to Y11’s Teacher-Student Led conferences on Wednesday, 3rd December 2025 at XP East.
These conferences will provide parents with an opportunity to meet with subject-specific teachers, allow students to discuss and reflect on their progress in different subjects following their recent mock exams and look at areas for development as they move into Y11.
Students will be given a booking form which will allow them to book a time between 14:30 and 17:30. These will be booked on a first come first served basis, so please ask your child to see their booking form and suggest a time to meet teaching staff. These booking forms will be handed out in crew time this morning.
We look forward to seeing you soon!
The Y11 Team
This morning, Crew Peake demonstrated incredible activism and community spirit by tackling a litter pick around the school grounds and car park… even though it was freezing!
Their hard work is a brilliant example of stewardship in action. Stewardship is all about students and staff taking responsibility for our surroundings and actively working to protect and improve them.
This is also a perfect way to get involved in our Duke of Edinburgh Award (DofE) volunteering. Volunteering is a crucial section of the award, and activities like litter picking will help us to achieve the required number of hours in school time.
Well done, Crew Peake – it was worth the frozen hands!
