Please note – you can also access dates through the Parent Calendar on the website:
Medieval Day
What a great day class 8 had designing their own crowns, making shields, having photos taken in front of our own castle and then finishing the afternoon with medieval dancing and banquet.
Class 7 Medieval day!
What a great day Class 7 had designing their own crowns, making shields and having a banquet!
We even had chance to have our photos taken in front of our own castle!
Have a great weekend Class 7! 🙂
Hook Week in Class 6
What an amazing start to one of my favourite expeditions – ‘From Rags to Riches. What lies within the castle walls?’. The children have blown me away with their amazing attention to detail while sketching and colouring dragon eyes and then actually sculpting them in clay. Our classroom also looks amazing with a real castle play area and battlements, and the children have added to this by making sconces and coats of arms. Mr Kershaw was true to his word and we spent a lovely afternoon in our quad with him learning about fire safety and toasting yummy marshmallows! We finished our exciting week with a medieval dress up day, photographs under the amazing castle gate balloon arch, made for us by Elsie’s mummy, and a banquet with Mrs Clay and Xavier even treating us to some live entertainment!!
All of this has left us very excited to begin our proper learning next week.
Well done everyone!
A huge shoutout to this weeks postcard winners! ✨
What a fab start to Year 5! Thank you for all your hard work and effort during Hook Week!
Year 3 | WW2 Expert
What a pleasure it was for the children in Year 3 today as they were able to listen to our special guest Mick from Doncaster’s Victoria Cross Trust, who was kind enough to come in and talk to the children all about the Second World War.
We were able to learn about a local hero who received the Victoria Cross as well as experience some of the equipment and uniforms used by soldiers during the war.
Year 4 – our amazing WW2 expert
We had a wonderful expert visitor in school today who had fantastic WW2 knowledge and had even researched into people who lived in Thorne but played keys roles in the war, one who was actually awarded the Victoria Cross.
The children also got to see different original items from the war, uniform, weapons, gas masks and lots of other items too. They were hooked! Just ask them about it, if they haven’t shared with you already.
UPDATED Year 6 – Secondary School Opening Evenings
The deadline for applying to secondary school is 31st October – you must apply for a secondary or your children risk not getting a place.
Please see some of the open evening details for some of the schools in our surrounding area. We would suggest you go along where you can to take a look around the schools! XP and Ash Hill Academy dates will be confirmed asap.
Trinity Academy
Trinity
Axholme Academy
The Snaith
The Snaith School
South Axholme
South Axholme
Opening evening – Thursday 19th September 5.30pm – 8pm
Opening morning – Thursday 26th September 9.30am – 10.30am
Open afternoon – Tuesday 24th September 1.45pm – 3.10pm
XP
Thursday 26th September 4pm-6pm. This is the same event that was hosted in June so you do not need to attend again if you went then.
Year 4 – PE and XP outdoors
Year 4s PE session will be on Fridays and XP outdoors will be on Tuesdays up to Christmas.
Please see below information around clothing and kit. Many thanks, year 4!
Sharing our Stories: 06/09/2024
Beautiful Work This Week
Highlights from our first week back!
At XP Trust we always use our first week back to establish and reaffirm our culture of Crew. This year has been another resounding success as young people across our schools have considered deeply the purpose of Crew through a range of opportunities and experiences and how Crew develops character and service so that they can help themselves, others and the wider community to be compassionate and successful.
At Carcroft we saw students engaging fully in a community meeting reflecting on their habits of work and learning and expressing what working hard, getting smart and being kind looks like every day at school. Students at Norton Infants Y5 visited local Care Homes delivering glasses cases they had made as well as treats! At Plover students were working alongside the RSPCA to capture and tell the stories of abandoned pets and, alongside drawing beautiful pictures of the animals, helping to find them homes as well as creating stunning murals in a street art style to promote the importance and legacy of Crew.
Students at Green Top took part in a fundraising Colour Run which was quite frankly spectacular whilst also creating kindness key rings that they gifted to members of the community! At XPG, Year 8 showed their qualities as leaders of their own learning by planning, organising and leading Year 7 activities including creating resources and fieldwork opportunities for their peers. Finally at XPD, students carried out acts of random kindness at the Lake side and welcomed past students who came back to school to talk about how Crew and their time at XP shaped the beautiful people they are today.
It was striking to hear a member of staff at Carcroft say, ‘I’ve been teaching for over twenty years and this is the best start back I’ve ever experienced.’ – I think that says it all!
In addition, our new Year 7’s from XP Doncaster and XP Gateshead spent their first days of secondary school building Crew together in the Lake District with Outward Bound. This is something we have been proud to do with our students for ten years now and it was inspiring to see students cultivating resilience, compassion and teamwork – especially through some very adverse weather! We are looking forward to seeing Crews grow together over the coming years…
Andy Sprakes at BridgeFest
Our Chief Academic Officer, Andy Sprakes was the keynote speaker at Spaghetti Bridge’s ‘BridgeFest’ earlier this week. He shared beautiful work and stories from our students at XP as part of their inspiring itinerary celebrating the last year. We are proud to be a part of their story and a key influence on the work that they do.
XP Alumnus Alfie is Oxford bound!
Alfie Lockey was part of the X22 cohort at XP and left two years ago to study for his A Levels at New College. His results of 3 A*s and and A, helped secure him a place at one of the oldest and renowned universities in the world – Christ Church College, Oxford. Alfie will be studying biology; a lifelong love and something that during his time at XP was actively encouraged and supported.
He created an allotment at school, had an opportunity to take part in an online conference organised by the Edge Foundation, which addressed climate change. That day Alfie spoke alongside the co-creator of the Eden Project in Cornwall, Sir Tim Smit KBE. An office at XP also became the perfect place for Alfie to experiment with growing a variety of plants for several years; bringing a touch of hot house greenery to XP!
CAO of the XP Trust, Andy Sprakes commented:
“Alfie is one of our many alumni who are already making a positive difference to the world. We’re always thrilled to hear about how our students are progressing and where they are now – they will always be part of our Crew.”
XP Doncaster’s High Flying Birds
In Summer 2024, XP and XP East’s Year 8 students embarked on Learning Expedition called ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go?’, where they aimed to answer the guiding question: ‘Is migration worth the risk?’.
In Art, they looked at the work of artists who used imagery of birds to represent migration. Leonardo da Vinci studied anatomy and used that to design flying machines. The students took his ideas and constructed their own three dimensional bird designs. They then made large scale sculptures of the birds that you can see on display, here. Before culminating in the display, the sculptures were paraded at this summer’s inaugural XP Festival of Arts & Culture.
We’re got vacancies across XP Trust!
Find out more here to apply now and #JoinOurCrew