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When changes are proposed to admission arrangements, we must consult on our admission arrangements that will apply for admission applications the following school year and at least once every 7 years, even if there have been no changes.
Our consultation will last for 6 weeks and between Friday 20th December and Friday 31 January.
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Join our Crew! XP Doncaster is looking for a Cleaner! Be part of a team that makes a difference every day. Apply now: https://xptrust.org/were-looking-for-a-cleaner-at-xp-doncaster/
This term, Year 7 students are embarking on the HUMAN and ARTS expedition “Do Your Bit!”.
After an engaging immersion week—including activities like a gallery walk of WWI artefacts, the “notices and wonders” protocol, and reading the play White Poppies—students explored how art reflects the realities of war through WWI artists’ work. The week concluded with the reveal of the guiding question: “Why do we need to honour all those who made sacrifices during WWI?”
The expedition delves into the causes of WWI, the impact of propaganda, the “unheard voices” of war, the Commonwealth’s contributions, Sikh beliefs and their influence on soldiers, and the lasting effects of the war.
Case Studies and Anchor Texts
The expedition is divided into three case studies:
The anchor text, War Girls: A Collection of First World War Stories Through the Eyes of Young Women, enriches the students’ understanding of the period.
Artistic Connections, Drama, and Crew
In drama, students are staging scenes from White Poppies, making directorial decisions. In art, they are exploring colour theory and composition while recreating WWI-inspired works by artists like CRW Nevinson and Otto Dix. During Crew, they are reading Michael Morpurgo’s Private Peaceful to understand the war’s impact on families and communities.
Celebration of Learning and Final Product
The expedition concludes with a live Presentation of Learning on 25th March at 4:30 pm. Students will present their learning, read extracts from their creative writing, and show some of their artwork, interspersed with dramatic performances of White Poppies. Their final product—a wartime-style radio broadcast featuring extracts from their creative writing to amplify WWI’s unheard voices—will air on Memory Lane Radio on Remembrance Sunday in November.
This week we have revealed the full details of our new expeditions for all cohorts.
You can see more detailed information on each of the new expeditions by clicking here.
We also enjoyed meeting with G29 families at our Information Evening on Wednesday to give further details around key events for Year 9 this year – Passage Presentations, the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award and our KS4 curriculum offer. Thank you to those families who attended. Here are the slides we shared so everyone can access the information.
On Friday we welcomed Alison and Yvonne from the charity Samantha’s Legacy into school to run sessions with our G28 and G29 students on knife crime and to hear first-hand the devastation one family can experience at the hands of knife crime. The team at Samantha’s Legacy work relentlessly to raise awareness around this important issue, support families and young people who have been affected by knife crime and prevent knife crime in our region.
The feedback from all involved was extremely positive. We will be running further sessions for our other year groups later this term. We’ve also been offered the opportunity for a group of students to attend the new theatre production of ‘Our Sam’ which is being held at the end of the month at Whitley Bay Playhouse which is a play based on the true story of Samantha Madgin, a young mother who tragically lost her life to knife crime in 2007 and highlights the irreversible impact of knife crime. More information about this event will follow.
This week we welcome film director Russell Smith to XP Gateshead. Russell will be talking to our students about his work and sharing his award winning film documentary ‘The Last Men Standing’ with G28 with a screening followed by a Q&A session. The documentary is about 15 East Durham Miners which not only goes back to G28’s first expedition which focused on East Durham mines but also supports learning in their current expedition in terms of our curricular seam of social justice, connecting to themes of social class in their current anchor text ‘An Inspector Calls’.
This week our Year 8 students will spend a day working with experts at the Shipley Art Gallery in Gateshead.
More details including kit and packed lunches can be found by clicking here.
Our PE sessions this week are as follows. Please ensure that your child has their full PE kit.
SLCs for G31 and G30 will take place this term in the two weeks commencing 27th January 2025. It is an expectation that all families attend SLCs to fully support their child’s progress. All G31 and G30 families should have now made appointments to attend their child’s SLC. Our students continue with their preparations this week which, for G30 students includes responses to questions from their families. Please can all G30 families ensure that they have completed this Google Form to help your child to prepare for the conference.
Our year 9 students continue with preparation for their Passage Presentations which will take place during the 17th and 18th March and slots will be available during the days. We will soon send out a the system to book a passage presentation slot.
Please note that our whole staff will be travelling to Doncaster on Thursday 23rd January for a twilight CPD session which will launch an XP Trust Teaching and Learning conference on Friday so school will end at the slightly earlier time of 1.30pm on Thursday 23rd January to allow for this.
As always, students are not expected to be in school on staff days Friday 24th and Monday 27th January.
More details of the fieldwork can be found here.
Can all G30 families return reply sheets to Crew Leaders by Wednesday this week. As you can imagine it is imperative that we have full details to ensure appropriate arrangements and travel bookings are made.
Please note that we want to give every student the opportunity to come to London and there is no cost to families for this fieldwork. We do expect a commitment from both students and families in terms of their conduct and if there are any absences on the day of travel, we will ask families to cover the costs incurred by us as a school.
As usual if you have any questions please contact your child’s crew leader in the first instance. Thank you as always for your ongoing support.
Julie Mosley
Principal
As part of our preparation for fieldwork to London, this week Year 8 students are working with our partners at the Shipley Art Gallery.
We will be travelling to the Shipley on foot, which is around a 40 minute walk. Students should therefore be prepared for the weather.
The fieldwork will take place entirely within the school day so students should arrive at school at the normal time and will be leaving school at the usual time too.
On the days that students are working at the art Gallery they will need:
Exciting opportunity at Carcroft School! We’re looking for a Teacher with a Specialism in SEND to join our team and make a difference. Interested? Find out more here: https://xptrust.org/carcroft-school-teacher-with-specialism-in-send/
Here’s a selection of beautiful work from across the XP Trust from this week. To read about other stories from across the XP Trust, visit xptrust.org.
The following letter will be sent home with Year 8 students tomorrow, which includes a permission slip for the visit which must be completed and returned by families as soon as possible.
There will also be a media consent form attached to your letter, which the V&A museum have requested for you to fill in.
All important details of kit and timings are in this letter. We are travelling to London by train, and then using underground services to reach the museum. Students will carry out a range of activities including a tour of the museum. Students will need a packed lunch, tea and any snacks as well as their full kit. They do not need to bring money for the gift shop, but can do so if you wish.
Join our Crew at XP Trust as Central Administrator! Play a vital role in keeping everything running smoothly and making a real difference.
Apply now: https://xptrust.org/central-administrator-xp-trust/
As part of our current expedition ‘Do your bit’ with the guiding question:
‘Why do we need to honour all those who sacrificed in WWI?’
We are carrying out religion and worldviews fieldwork at the Gurdwara Siri Guru Singh Sabha in Newcastle on Tuesday 11th February. This fieldwork will consolidate the studying the students are going to be doing about the involvement of the many Sikh soldiers who fought bravely for the empire during WW1.
The students will have an informative presentation and Q & A session with an expert, Rav Singh from ‘A Little History of the Sikhs’ in London, on 7th February as well as lessons which explore the beliefs and practices of Sikhi. This fieldwork will then provide the students with firsthand experiences and insights into the Sikh religious traditions that they have learned about.
Students should arrive for school as usual before 8.25am.
We will be travelling to the Gurdwara by metro from Heworth, leaving school at 9:00am and returning by 3:15pm.
As a mark of respect, and as is the case in many different religious buildings, students will need to cover their heads when in the Gurdwara – if they have their own bandana or thin headscarf to do this they can use that, otherwise they will be provided with one (which has been freshly laundered) on arrival at the Gurdwara. Hats and hoods are not an appropriate or acceptable head covering inside the Gurdwara. Students will also need to remove their shoes but leave on their socks whilst in the Gurdwara. Students need to be dressed modestly which in terms of going into the Gurdwara means shoulders and knees covered so no shorts or vest tops to be worn please.
One of the practices we will have learned about in the Sikh faith is Sewa which is selfless service or volunteering for the betterment of others and the community without expecting anything in return. Our students will be contributing to ‘Langar’ whilst there, helping to prepare the meal that will be eaten at lunchtime. Students will also be responsible for serving the lunch and clearing away. Sewa is activism which emphasises the importance of compassion, empathy and the selflessness needed in order to promote a caring community and therefore aligns perfectly with our character values here at XP.
The lunch that the students will help to prepare and then will be served to eat will be a vegetarian dhal and flatbread. If students would prefer to bring a packed lunch it MUST not contain any meat, fish or eggs and, as always, strictly no nuts). Lunch will be provided for students eligible for FSM if you request this.
We are looking forward to students being able to find out more about Sikhi and how the Gurdwara holds immense significance in the Sikh faith and community.
Last year’s cohort and staff found this a very enriching experience and we know that G31 will too!
If you have any questions about this fieldwork, please contact your child’s Crew Leader.
This event will take place at 5.30pm in school.
It will include information evening for G29 families to give further details around key events this year – Passage Presentations, the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award and our KS4 curriculum offer for GCSE and other courses.
Our theatre space is out of use at the moment. To allow us to plan the best room to use, if you have not already done so could you please indicate how many family members will be attending using this Google Form.
Students do not need to attend but are welcome to do so.
