Crew Brunel: A Festive and Reflective Week

This week in Crew Brunel, we kicked things off in true festive style with our Crew Christmas party. Everyone arrived ready for a cheerful check-in, sharing positive moments and holiday spirit while enjoying some very Christmassy treats. The room was full of smiles, laughter, and seasonal cheer — a wonderful way to start the week.

After celebrating together, we shifted our focus to learning by revisiting the final reflective section of our Passage presentations. Crew members thoughtfully considered their journeys, recognising their progress, challenges, and achievements. 

One of the week’s highlights followed soon after — Secret Santa! Gifts were exchanged with excitement and gratitude, and it was lovely to see how thoughtful everyone had been. Every gift was received with appreciation, reinforcing the kindness and respect that defines Crew Brunel.

Crew Brunel raised both money and awareness for the Coral Reef Alliance by hosting a successful bake sale for students. The event featured a variety of delicious homemade treats that attracted many buyers and encouraged generous donations. Through this bake sale, Crew Brunel not only supported an important environmental cause but also helped educate students about the importance of protecting coral reefs, raising a total of £68!

As the term drew to a close, we completed our final HoWLS assessment. Crew members reflected honestly on how they have improved this term and identified clear goals for the new year. Time was also spent ensuring our passage presentations had a set of slides to go along side our scripts, highlighting key pieces of work.

We finished the week by coming together for a whole-school community meeting, where we reflected on the many positives of the term. As part of this, we also celebrated our Crew Champions of the Term. A special congratulations went to Chloe, who was named Crew Champion for Crew Brunel. Chloe was selected for her consistent demonstration of XP character traits. Her resilience, positivity, and commitment are a true credit to herself and an inspiration to others. Another shoutout goes to Matilda for being one of just 10 XP students randomly selected for achieving 100% attendance, earning her an Amazon gift voucher. It was a proud moment to recognise collective achievements, resilience, and growth across the school.

Overall, it has been a meaningful and memorable week for Crew Brunel — full of celebration, reflection, and gratitude. We’re heading into the break feeling proud of how far we’ve come and excited for the opportunities the new year will bring!

Happy holidays to everyone — we hope you all have a restful and well-deserved break.

Miss Mitchell

Year 8 C31 HPV vaccine – 20/01/26

The School Immunisation Nursing Team will be visiting XP School on 20 January 2026 to administer the HPV vaccination to Year 8 students. Emails were sent this morning for parents consent or non-consent. It is very important that all parents/carers complete the form, even if you choose not to give consent, so that a response is received by the School Immunisation Team.

We kindly ask that this is completed by the end of this week. I appreciate your cooperation.

Wishing you a Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year.

E30 Beautiful Work – Analysing the impact of governmental population policies.

E30 Explorer have been grappling with the comparison of France and China’s population policies in Geography this week! Examining the strengths and weaknesses of arguments, and providing their personal opinion on the ethical and moral aspect of Governments regulating their populations. Super impressed with their grapple and craftsmanship displayed in their work and discussions!

Crew Brunel: Rockstars, Reflections and Remarkable Achievements!

What a brilliant week it’s been for Crew Brunel! Even though the week started a little differently, we certainly made the most of every moment.

Because Monday was a staff day, students enjoyed a longer weekend — and we kicked off Tuesday by checking in and sharing what we all got up to during the extra time off. From family days out to chilled time at home, it was a lovely way to reconnect and ease back into the school routine.

We then continued our important Passage work, focusing on how our character has grown through Years 7 and 8. Students took time to look inward, thinking about how they’ve changed, matured, and what they’ve overcome. These reflections are shaping their Passage presentations beautifully and helping them recognise their own development.

This week marked the start of our Wise Wednesday presentations, with our first two groups stepping up to deliver their topics. The rest of Crew Brunel listened carefully, shared thoughtful feedback, and offered WWWs (What Went Well) and EBIs (Even Better If) to help each other improve. We’re already excited to see the next two groups take their turn!

Later in the week, we reviewed our praises and conducts, then dug into our HoWLs (Habits of Work and Learning) assessments from Years 8 and 9. This helped students reflect on their consistency, their growth, and where they want to push themselves next. We also weaved these insights into their Passage presentations.

In Friday’s community meeting, we celebrated students who topped the praise leaderboard — a special shout-out goes to Rowena, who placed top of the leaderboard for Year 9! A fantastic achievement and well-deserved recognition of her dedication, hard work, and consistent positive attitude both in and out of sessions.

This Week’s Highlight

Without a doubt, the standout moment of the week was Thursday Night Live. Four members of Crew Brunel – Lily, Pippa, Brooke and Chloe – took to the stage as part of a band and performed in front of a live audience. With singing, guitar and drums, they absolutely smashed it. Their confidence, talent and teamwork shone through — true rockstars in the making. Well done, girls!

Miss Mitchell

Get Ready to Sparkle! Christmas Jumper Day for Save the Children!

We are excited to announce a fun-filled day of festive cheer and fundraising as we take part in Christmas Jumper Day on Thursday 11th December.

This annual event is a wonderful way to bring our school community together while raising vital funds for a fantastic cause: Save the Children.

What is Christmas Jumper Day?

On Thursday, December 11th, we are encouraging all students to come to school wearing their favourite, most festive, and perhaps even most ridiculous Christmas jumper! It’s a great opportunity to embrace the holiday spirit and support children around the world.

How to Donate

To participate in Christmas Jumper Day, we ask that each student makes a small donation to Save the Children:

  • Cash Donation: Please bring a donation of £1 cash. This should be passed on to your Crew Leader.
  • Online Donation: Alternatively, you can donate directly to our JustGiving page using this link.

Your generous donations will help Save the Children ensure every child has the chance to grow up healthy, safe, and educated.

More Festive Fun! Santa Dash, Christmas Crew Dinner & Bake Sale

The fun doesn’t stop with the jumpers! On the 11th of December, there will also be: 

  • Santa Dash: Our fantastic PE teachers have organised an energetic Santa Dash for all students to take part in! Get ready to run, jog, or power-walk your way around a festive course. It’s a great way to get moving and add even more fun to the day!
  • Christmas Crew Dinner: Students will also enjoy their special Christmas Dinner with their Crew. This is a lovely chance to share a festive meal together and celebrate the end of a busy term.
  • Crew White’s annual Christmas bake sale supporting The Eve Merton Dreams Trust will feature festive treats and hot chocolates, with prices starting from £1.

We look forward to seeing the school full of colourful, sparkling, and fun Christmas jumpers! Thank you in advance for your support and generosity.

Miss Jones.

Crew Nightingale – Kindness

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: Highlights of the Week

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

Lost Property – 10/11/25

Our latest collection of lost property from this week has now been logged and is available to be claimed. If you’ve misplaced clothing, shoes, or any other personal items recently, please stop by the office to check whether your belongings are here.

All items will be held until the end of next week. After that time, any unclaimed property will be donated to charity so that nothing goes to waste and others can benefit.

If you think something of yours might be among the current items, please drop in as soon as possible.

Thank you,

Crew Brunel

Reminder FLU vaccine 10/11/25


Students whose parents have completed the e-link consent form will receive their FLU vaccine at school tomorrow. Thanks to all those parents who have communicated with RDASH promptly.