Year 7 Crews’ first solo

19th March 2022Mr A Jackson

On a beautiful Friday afternoon, Crew Darling and Crew AJA spent some time reflecting and engaging with an important question for us at XP – “What is Crew?”

In a solo experience, we ask our students to spend time focusing on themselves and the natural world around them. For our first solo in school, we sat in a circle facing outwards thinking about what crew meant to us. For about half an hour all we could hear was the sounds of nature and of our community as others went about their busy lives. Some of us chose to write or draw our ideas, while others simply thought about the question or took the time to unwind from the stresses and anxieties of the working week.

At the end of the solo students chose to share their ideas about what crew meant to them. We saw beautiful drawings and heard thoughts about compassion, integrity and kindness.

It was a real privilege to spend time together in this way, and a great reminder that what we do at XP is very special.

Crew AJA’s Time Capsule

By Mr A Jackson10th October 2021

During our first week together we decided to create a snapshot of the beginning of year 7 at XP for crew AJA.  Our plan was to make a time capsule that we could bury in the school grounds and excavate in five years time, at the end of year 11 when our crew are preparing to say their farewells and to have their “Final Word” (an XP tradition where graduating students speak to family and friends about their experiences over the previous five years.)

In the time capsule we placed letters to our year 11 selves, artwork representing us and the things that we’re interested in, and also a few personal items that some crew members chose to represent themselves.  There’s a photo of all of us together on our very first day in school too!

Sadly due to Covid, a couple of crew members missed the official capsule burial ceremony on October 1st, but we’re going to give them an opportunity to re-open the package and to make their mark on the capsule before it’s re-buried until 2026!