Our students lead our open evenings. This page lets them show you what learning at XP is really like…
At XP Trust, we believe in providing transformative educational experiences that nurture academic success, character growth, and the creation of beautiful work.
Our schools are built on strong relationships and meaningful learning, where students are supported and challenged to become the best versions of themselves.
This Student Showcase gives you an insight into what life is really like at XP Doncaster. Through the videos below, you’ll hear directly from our students and staff, explore the work they produce, and begin to understand what makes our schools different.
Hear directly from our students about life at XP:
Learning Expeditions: Real-World Learning That Matters
At XP, learning is purposeful and connected to the real world.
Our students engage in Learning Expeditions – interdisciplinary projects that connect subjects such as Science, History and English through a guiding question. These expeditions are designed to foster deep understanding, develop critical thinking and enable students to produce high-quality, meaningful work.
Students regularly create final products with a real purpose, including books, campaigns, exhibitions and presentations for authentic audiences.
Our approach ensures that learning is academically rigorous, relevant and impactful, preparing students not just for exams, but for life beyond school.
Crew: Building Stronger Communities
Every student at XP is part of a Crew – a small, supportive group that functions like a school family.
Crew is the foundation of our culture. It ensures that every student is known, supported and challenged to be their best. Through Crew, students reflect on their academic progress, develop their character, and learn to support and hold each other to account.
Crew sessions focus on:
• Academic support and goal setting
• Character development and reflection
• Building relationships and community
This structure creates a strong sense of belonging and ensures no student is ever anonymous.
Character Traits and Habits of Work and Learning
At the heart of XP are our character traits:
Respect, Courage, Integrity, Craftsmanship and Quality, and above all, Compassion.
These are not simply values displayed on a wall – they are lived every day through our work, our relationships and our expectations.
Alongside this, students develop their Habits of Work and Learning (HOWLs):
Work Hard, Get Smart and Be Kind
Students are supported and challenged to reflect on these habits regularly, taking responsibility for both their learning and their behaviour.
This combination of academic rigour and character development is what we call our three-dimensional approach to education.
What is XP Really Like?
Choosing an XP school means choosing a different kind of education.
Our schools are intentionally designed to combine:
- strong academic outcomes
- meaningful, purposeful work
- a culture built on respect, compassion and community
Students are encouraged to take ownership of their learning, to work for real audiences, and to contribute positively to the world around them.
Success at XP is not measured solely by exam results, but by the kind of person a student becomes.
Take a look around – virtual tours of XP and XP East
Our school environment is designed to support collaboration, discussion and high-quality work.
Fair Banding Assessment: Building our Crew
At XP, we believe that our community is made stronger by the unique backgrounds and perspectives of every member. We want our school to be a true reflection of the wider world. To ensure we welcome children of all ability levels – not just those who achieve the highest scores – every child applying for a place must take a Fair Banding Assessment.
This is a multiple-choice cognitive ability assessment, and importantly, there is no pass or fail mark. It is simply our way of making sure our admissions are equitable and that every child has a fair chance to join our Crew.
You can find out more about our process here.
See XP for Yourself
The best way to experience XP is through our Student Showcase events, where students lead the evening and share their work, their learning and what it means to be part of Crew.
Our Student Showcase events take place throughout the year and are led by students, giving families the opportunity to see learning in action.
Please contact the school to find out when the next Student Showcase is taking place.
Q: How do you support children with Special Educational Needs during the fair banding assessment?
We want every child to feel safe, comfortable, and empowered to simply do their best. If your child has a special educational need or disability that might affect their experience during the assessment, please let us know so we can put the necessary arrangements in place. To ensure we get this exactly right, we will ask your child’s current school to provide details of the support they normally receive during assessments. This allows us to replicate that support and create an equitable, welcoming environment.
Q: Does a higher score give my child a better chance of getting a place?
Not at all. We use this assessment to ensure our Crew truly reflects the diversity of our wider community. Rather than ranking students to take the highest scorers, applicants are placed into one of five bands based on their results. Children whose scores fall into the top 20% of the local ability range are placed into Band 1, and the subsequent bands are filled in the exact same way. We then admit an equal number of students from every single band. It is entirely about creating a balanced, equitable community, rather than topping a leaderboard.
Q: Is XP a private, fee-paying school?
Not at all. We are a proudly state-funded, mainstream school, and completely free to attend. We believe every child deserves an education that builds character, creates beautiful work, and achieves academic success, regardless of their background or postcode.
Q: With all the fieldwork and projects, is XP a vocational or outdoor adventure school?
We love getting out into the world for fieldwork and taking our new Year 7s on their Outward Bound experience, but we are a school with an academically rigorous, standards-based curriculum. We guide our students to achieve excellent exam results, and we go far beyond that. Through cross-subject Learning Expeditions, students engage with experts to craft beautiful, real-world products—like published books, art exhibitions, and science reports—that positively impact our local and global communities.
Q: Is XP a special school or designed for specific behavioural needs?
We are a mainstream secondary school designed for the children of Doncaster. While we deeply value supporting every individual to feel safe and seen, we do not operate as a behaviour school, nor do we rely on constant one-to-one nurture groups. Instead, our students are empowered by our culture of Crew. We hold each other to high standards, expecting every student to Work Hard, Get Smart, and Be Kind.
Q: How are your classes structured? Do you put students into sets based on ability?
We teach our students in mixed-ability classes of exactly 25. Rather than separating children by test scores, our students work collaboratively together all the way from Year 7 to Year 11. By sharing diverse perspectives and supporting one another through complex Learning Expeditions, our students are challenged to become the best versions of themselves, knowing that we get to the top of the mountain together.
Our School Culture
These stories give a glimpse into the work our students produce and the impact they have beyond the classroom.
