X28 Ethics have been keeping their Friday 5 sessions filled with energy and motivation! This new routine is already becoming a highlight of the week.
Each session, they tackle a 15-mark exam question together, planning, debating, and refining their responses as a team. Students earn points for hitting exam criteria, building strong arguments, and challenging powerful ideas, all while learning from each other and preparing to write their answers in full.
It’s been brilliant to see their confidence, critical thinking, and exam readiness grow week by week!
Our Year 7 students have been working incredibly hard on crafting their historical narratives this week, and the creativity on display has been fantastic!
Students have been critiquing each other’s work, offering fab feedback, and sharing ideas to help one another improve. The atmosphere in sessions has been buzzing with collaboration and imagination as everyone pushes themselves (and each other!) to make their writing as powerful as possible.
We were also joined in Session 5 today by some of our Year 11 experts; Leo, Joseph, and Alfie, who spent time coaching the younger students, offering guidance, and providing expert critique. Their advice and encouragement really inspired Year 7 to keep raising the bar.
With so much talent, hard work, and support flying around, it’s safe to say we’ve got some future published authors in the making. Watch this space…
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!
Admiral have been further developing their mathematical skills by revisiting their Vitruvian Man ratio drawings. Previously, each student calculated the ratio of their head to their body to represent themselves in the style of the Vitruvian Man. Building on this, students deepened their understanding by learning how to use scale to create even more accurate representations. They carefully chose which parts of the body to measure, using this data to enhance the precision of their drawings.
As a class, we connected this work to our expedition theme, Being Human. Students engaged in thoughtful discussions about identity, historical beliefs around human proportions, and how shape played a role in these ideas. They reflected on how perceptions of human identity and physical ideals have evolved over time.
Their effort, creativity, and attention to detail were outstanding. They demonstrated excellent craftsmanship and produced work they can be truly proud of!
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.
We are absolutely thrilled to celebrate the incredible artistic achievements of one of our own, X30 student Arina Barsukova! Arina recently had the fantastic opportunity to exhibit her artwork at the Barnby Dun Church Art & Craft Festival, and her pieces truly shone among the local talent.
Arina’s commitment and passion for art are truly inspiring. Her painting, which features a dimly lit, narrow street after rain, captured with striking, warm-yellow reflections from the streetlights, is a powerful example of her technical skill in handling light and mood.
Having your artwork framed and presented in a public gallery space like this is a massive achievement for any artist, let alone a student!
Celebrating 30 Years of Local Art
The Barnby Dun Church Art & Craft Festival, which celebrated its 30th year this year, is a cornerstone of the local community art scene. Participating in such a long-standing and respected event gives Arina invaluable experience, from preparing her work for display to sharing her creative vision with a wider audience.
An Inspiration to All
Arina’s exhibition at the festival is a brilliant testament to the talent fostered here at XP. It’s a powerful reminder that our students are not just learning skills, but are actively contributing to the wider community and pursuing their passions at a higher level.
Please join us in giving Arina a huge round of applause for this incredible accomplishment. We can’t wait to see where her artistic journey takes her next!
Have you ever exhibited your artwork or craft? Share your experiences in the comments below!
This week, 7 Skipper have been showing what it really means to work hard and get smart as they prepare for their History skills check on the Norman Conquest.
Our class have been learning how to become more independent and reflective learners by focusing on revision strategies that help them remember and apply key knowledge.
We didn’t just say “go revise” — we learned how to revise. Skipper explored techniques such as:
Creating flashcards with key terms and dates
Using retrieval practice to quiz themselves and each other
Organising knowledge into mind maps to see the bigger picture
Good luck to 7 Skipper in their History skills check today, you’ve got this!
Another great week in Crew! we have been selecting a charity which we will start to raise money for, and we have also spent time in crew looking into the theme of identity. Each member of my crew created an outline of their face and filled the diagram with what makes their personal sense of identity.
We have also taken photos using the photography studio lighting kit so that teachers can see what my crew looks like when they are logging all the wonder praise for their outstanding classwork.
X31 Admiral used their knowledge of ratio to sketch themselves in the style of the Vitruvian Man after measuring their heads and bodies. They also discussed how this linked to their expedition and how we can further improve their sketches throughout the topic of proportion and scale.
The whole class showed amazing teamwork, integrity, respect and craftsmanship and quality in their work.
