This week, Crew Brunel returned after a well-deserved two-week break, refreshed, energised, and ready to dive back into learning and community life. It was great to see everyone recharged and eager to catch up with one another. We kicked things off by checking in and sharing stories from our time off — some relaxing, some adventurous, but all full of fun memories.

Once we’d reconnected, we jumped straight back into our learning. We revisited our reading routines and explored our weekly Wise Wednesday topic, sparking thoughtful discussions and establishing expectations for a strong start to the term.

A highlight of the week was the launch of Passage. Designed to prepare students for the next stage of their academic journey, Passage offers students a structured opportunity to reflect on their learning, identify strengths and areas for improvement, and assess their readiness to progress to GCSEs.

During this week’s session, we explored the purpose of Passage, its importance in supporting both academic and personal growth, and the specific expectations for each student. By providing a clear roadmap for success, including defined milestones and achievable targets, Passage ensures that every student understands the steps they need to take to reach their full potential and transition confidently to the next stage of their education.

We rounded off the week with a whole-school community meeting, celebrating a fantastic first week back. It was a wonderful opportunity to recognise everyone’s contributions, highlight achievements, and reinforce the strong sense of community that makes our school so special. A big congratulations to Pippa for being awarded the Spanish Star of the Week. Her excellent work and beautiful craftsmanship and quality have really stood out. Well done, Pippa!

This week has set the tone for a term full of focus, resilience and collaboration. Crew Brunel is back, buzzing with energy, and ready to take on everything the weeks ahead have in store.

Miss Mitchell

What a fantastic final week of the half term it’s been for Crew Brunel! We kicked things off in true Halloween spirit with a themed party that included some frightfully fun games such as Trick or Treat and Pin the Stem on the Pumpkin. Students were told there was a special Boo Basket up for grabs at the end of the week — and tokens could be earned through various activities. The student with the most tokens would be crowned the winner!

Midweek, we held a Year 8 and 9 Community Meeting, where we reflected on how awesome our students have been this term. Teachers shared lots of praises and appreciations, recognising students for their effort, kindness, and commitment both in and out of lessons.

Our creative challenge this week was to design a Halloween costume, and the results were Creeptastic! From scary monsters to clever, funny designs, students really let their imaginations run wild. A special well done to Pippa, whose creative design won her an extra 10 tokens!

We also kept an eye on praises and conducts — every praise earned 5 tokens, while each conduct resulted in 2 tokens being deducted. It was great to see so many students gaining tokens through positive actions and great behaviour.

To top off our busy week, Crew Brunel took part in a Penalty Shootout Fundraiser to raise money for our chosen charity, the Coral Reef Alliance. There were plenty of laughs and friendly competition — and congratulations to Blake for winning the hamper!

We ended the week on a high with a whole-school community meeting, celebrating the end of our first half term of the year. It’s been a fun-filled week full of teamwork, creativity, and community spirit. Huge shoutout to David, who has absolutely smashed it this half term by finishing at the top of our praise leaderboard with an impressive 43 praise points! Well done, David.

In true Crew Brunel fashion, our students showed great teamwork and strategy — instead of competing individually for the boo basket, they decided to join forces and pool their tokens. This led to two teams forming and battling it out throughout the week to see who could collect the most tokens. The competition was fierce, but in the end, the girls took the win! Well done to the girls’ team for claiming the Boo Basket!

Now it’s time for a well-deserved rest over the half-term break — I can’t wait to see what the next one brings!

Miss Mitchell

This week, Crew Brunel has been all about resilience, reflection, and responsibility. Students have continued to show commitment even when routines have shifted a little – something to be proud of!

Monday

With Miss Mitchell feeling unwell, Crew Brunel joined Crew Peake for their weekly check-in. It was great to see students adapt quickly and still take the time to share how they were feeling and set themselves up for a positive start to the week.

Tuesday

As Miss Mitchell was still recovering, students joined Crew Sinfield and Crew Attenborough for their Tranquil Tuesday reading session. Everyone settled in beautifully and engaged with their reading — a perfect calm moment in a busy week.

Wednesday

Midweek brought our Wise Wednesday focus. Students worked in groups to take notes and discuss the weekly topic, showing great teamwork and thoughtful contributions. It was brilliant to see everyone learning from one another and building on each other’s ideas.

Thursday

Thursday was a big day for reflection and celebration. We looked at praises and conducts, recognising those who achieved their goals and challenging everyone to aim for a ‘no-conduct’ week next week.
Students also reviewed the targets they set last week and made action plans to help them achieve them.

Friday

To finish the week, Crew Brunel joined the whole school community meeting. Students reflected on behaviours that didn’t align with XP’s character traits and offered apologies where needed, showing real maturity. We also celebrated those who have achieved a ‘no-conduct’ term so far — a fantastic achievement!

Special shoutout to David again, who topped the Crew Brunel praise leaderboard this week with an incredible 15 praises! Well done, David — your hard work and positive attitude are setting a brilliant example for everyone.

Overall, it’s been a week of growth and ownership. Crew Brunel are showing increasing responsibility for their HoWLs and are really beginning to take charge of their progress. I’m proud of the effort, honesty, and improvement I’ve seen — let’s keep it going!

Miss Mitchell

This week in Crew Brunel we kicked things off by checking in after the long weekend. It was great to hear what everyone had been up to and to share our stories. We were joined by members of Crew Attenborough for this session too, which made the conversation even more enjoyable and gave us the chance to connect with others across the year group. It was a positive way to ease into the week and reminded us how important it is to start with connection.

On Wise Wednesday, we continued our focus on developing note-taking skills. We took it in turns to take notes and worked in our small teams to make sure we captured all the information. 

Together as a crew, we reviewed our praises and conducts before reflecting on the targets we had set ourselves last week in order to think carefully about our progress. It was a valuable chance to pause, be honest about where we are with our HoWLs, and consider the steps we need to take to push ourselves further.

The week finished with a whole school community meeting, where we came together to share appreciations, apologies, and stands. These meetings are always a highlight because they bring the whole school together to celebrate each other, reflect on mistakes, and show support where it’s needed. It was powerful to hear so many voices and know that everyone has something valuable to contribute.

Finally, a special mention goes to David, who has managed not to receive a single conduct so far this academic year! This is something he has been working on, and his consistent effort is really paying off. We’re really proud of him for showing determination and self-management – keep it up, David!

All in all, it’s been another strong week for Crew Brunel, filled with connection, reflection, and community.

Miss Mitchell