Year 11 Historians Explore Industrial Heritage at Plant Works for GCSE Study

This week C27 were able to tour the historic plantworks site in Hexthorpe, Donaster. Here they took a tour of the Wabtec facility from the HVAC testing shop to the erecting house which was home to the legendary Flying Scotsman. The students were able to take in the history of the location as they were escorted around the 22 acre site seeing where it reached to at the height of production, spanning a staggering 90 acres. The site has been an integral part of our community for more than 170 years employing thousands of local people who worked numerous jobs from labourers to master craftspeople. The plant was also an integral part of the war effort with Doncaster women becoming ‘Munitionettes’, working long hours in dangerous conditions.

With the future of the site being discussed this may well be the last cohort from XP Trust to visit such an important part of Doncasters heritage. With this area of Hexthorpe being home to such historic achievements and listed buildings it really was a privilege to be welcomed into this local slice of industry.  

C28/E27 Superb Focus and Effort in English LOOL

Over the last half term we began a project focused on the documentary ‘Blackfish’ about the plight of orcas at Seaworld.

After completing our research and extending our comprehension skills last half term, this half term we are starting to apply this to our GCSE Component 2 English Language Transactional Writing tasks.

Today in LOOL students started to plan a persuasive e-mail which we will be sending to the governor of Orlando, Florida explaining why we feel orcas and other sea animals should no longer be held at Seaworld.

The focus and engagement of all the students involved has been superb and I am very excited to see what they produce.

Well done guys!

Mrs Desborough – Trust Leader of English

Post 16 Evening success

Thank you to all who attended last night’s Post 16 event, it was lovely to see Year 10 & 11 parents and students there and the feedback from our local schools and colleges was really positive and they are looking forward to welcoming XP and XP East students as year 12s in September. They were really positive about the conversations they had with our young people last night and both our alumni students’ character and dedication to learning that students have and are showing as they progress through their next steps.

I’ve attached a copy of the presentation from last night which has links to all the post 16 providers. The expectation for year 11 students is that they apply for more than one college/6th form/apprenticeship with a recommendation of at least 3 different places. Students don’t need to commit to chosing one specific place and do not need to make any final decisions until results day in August.

Here is also the different minimum expected grades that are needed for each level of course, the school/colleges website will have their own guidance. Some schools and colleges also use grade averages so all GCSEs count towards their entry requirements.

As always any questions please email me at kburns@xpschool.org

Thankyou for supporting your student and the school in this

Kathryn Burns XP Trust Careers Lead

Doncaster-area-post-16-opportunities-2Download