Dear Parents/Guardians

Welcome back to the start of a new half term leading us up to the Easter break.

Staffing Update

I am delighted to report that before the half term break we successfully appointed three new members of staff in readiness for next academic year: a SEND coordinator, Maths/STEAM teacher, and a HUMAN teacher. Along with a Science/STEAM teacher we have already appointed, this means we are fully staffed from a teaching point of view for next year. We are looking forward to working with our new colleagues and they will start their staff induction with us in June. 

In addition, Simon Walters, our new Emotional Welfare Officer, will start his new role on March 1st.

In the coming weeks we will begin our recruitment of Learning Coaches for next academic year too.

Extended Study and after school clubs

Extended Study and after school clubs will be running as normal this week.

• MONDAY: Sports / Extended Study
• TUESDAY: Extended Study
• WEDNESDAY: Extended Study
• THURSDAY: Sports / Extended Study / Minecraft

Visit to Sikh Temple – Monday 21st February

Students have a fantastic start to our new term with a fieldwork visit to a local Gurdwara in Newcastle. Information on what students need for this visit has already been posted by Ms Tatters in an earlier post. This is part of an expedition entitled – “Do Your Bit” with a focus on the sacrifice made by ALL during the first World War.

Note that this is tomorrow morning, Monday 21st February. Further details have been provided by Ms Tatters,  expedition lead, in an earlier post. Please make sure that you have read this and are aware of arrangements for lunch.

Lateral Flow Testing

Until further notice – Please continue to support us with lateral flow testing your each Sunday and Wednesday evening and that you make sure you enter results into our website on each of these occasions

This is especially important now that the government has decided to remove “masks” as one of the mitigation measures in schools although we are happy for students (and staff) to continue wearing masks if they feel more comfortable doing so. 

COVID infections are still very high in the community. If you require any extra LF testing kits please let us know. 

We will continue to keep doors and windows open for ventilation so students are advised to bring multiple layers to school to keep warm. This is how we look after each other  – We are Crew.

Digital Leaders

Students will find out who has been successful in their application to become a digital leader on Monday. Excitingly, these students will also have an opportunity to visit our Doncaster secondary schools very soon to meet with their peers and learn more about their role.

Calendar dates

Our calendar can be found here.

As usual if you have any questions please get in touch with your child’s crew leader in the first instance.

Best wishes

Mark Lovatt

Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians

What an incredible two weeks of Students Led Conferences (SLCs) – I think you will agree that students have handled their first SLCs brilliantly and have reflected on their work and progress with integrity. It has also been fantastic to see parents face to face and to finally meet in school! A big thank you to all of our parents for supporting our first SLCs. We hope you enjoyed them as much as we did.

This coming week students will begin the first case study in their science expedition, Staying Alive with the guiding question, ‘Is Survival Sufficient?’ They will be studying digestion, nutrition, heat transfer, and separating mixtures amongst other things as we look at the food we need to survive, the importance of staying warm, and the importance of access to clean water. Underpinning our expedition will be a theme of social justice as we work with experts on nutrition and local organisations concerned with food poverty. Our final product will be a food box which will contain all the ingredients needed (plus recipes) to feed a family of four for a week. The recipes will be based on the food books by Jack Munroe who wrote ‘Cooking on a Bootstrap’ and ‘The Tin Can Cook’.

They will also be continuing with their HUMAN expedition, Do Your Bit, learning about the Sikhi faith and the involvement of Indian soldiers in World War I, ready for a fieldwork to a Gurdhwara following the February break – see below.

We will also be interviewing this week for teachers of Humanities and Maths and also for a SENDCo. Successful candidates will join us next year. 

Extended Study and after school clubs

Extended Study and after school clubs will be running as normal this week.

Half Term and early finish Friday

Please be aware that it is half term w/c 14th February and so as normal students will finish at 1.30pm this Friday (11th February) to allow staff to replenish resources and to degunge rooms and teaching spaces ready for after the half term holiday. Students will return to school at the normal time on Monday 21st February. 

Visit to Sikh Temple – Monday 21st February

Note that on the morning of Monday 21st February students will be visiting a Sikh Temple as part of their expedition “Do Your Bit” – further details will be provided in due course by Ms Tatters, the expedition lead. 

Lateral Flow Testing

Please continue to support us with lateral flow testing your each Sunday and Wednesday evening and that you make sure you enter results into our website on each of these occasions

This is especially important now that the government has decided to remove “masks” as one of the mitigation measures in schools although we are happy for students (and staff) to continue wearing masks if they feel more comfortable doing so. 

COVID infections are still very high in the community. If you require any extra LFT testing kits please let us know. 

We will continue to keep doors and windows open for ventilation so students are advised to bring multiple layers to school to keep warm. This is how we look after each other  – We are Crew.

Calendar dates

Our basic calendar can be found here, or the Google Calendar with additional important dates such as SLCs can be found here.

As usual if you have any questions please get in touch with your child’s crew leader in the first instance.

Best wishes

Mark Lovatt

Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians

This week students will continue to take a lead in their first Student Led Conferences (SLCs). One of the very powerful aspects of learning at XP is that students take ownership of their own learning and can articulate how well they are doing in terms of their Academic Progress with reference to pieces of work they are proud of and/or have found challenging as well as their HoWLs (Habits of Work and Learning). Students have been preparing hard for these and we are looking forward to meeting parents (face to face) and listening to students talk about their learning at XPG.

On Tuesday morning students will have the opportunity to work with an historian from a local University as part of their Humans expedition “Do Your Bit”. On Wednesday, Students will also find out what their new science expedition is called along with their new guiding question in our big “reveal”.

This week we will also hold our termly Local Governance Committee meeting which is an opportunity for local Governors to share and discuss the report of their visits which have taken place over the course of the term. We look forward to hearing what they have to say and welcome any feedback we receive.

I am also happy to report that we have appointed an Emotional Welfare Coordinator who will work in the classroom as a Learning Coach and in addition offer us some capacity to our safeguarding team and be available to work with families as need arises. We look forward to welcoming Simon Walters to our crew and he will start in his new role on March 1st.

Student-Led Conferences (continuing this week)

Parents should by now have received an invitation to attend their son/daughter’s SLC and also an email to sign up for a time “slot” via sign up genius. We are planning on holding these in school and face to face and it will be great to finally meet in person. To allow us to do this safely we ask that no more than two members of the same household attend and that parents stick closely to allotted time slots arriving no earlier than 5 m minutes before scheduled times. 

We would also like to remind parents that SLCs are formal events and your child will be following a script they have prepared in advance. Please allow them to speak without interruption and there will be an opportunity for questions at the end. Each SLC will take approximately 25 minutes.

In addition we ask that parents (and anyone else attending an SLC) bring a mask to the SLC and wear throughout the interview if at all possible. We will be in well ventilated rooms and socially distanced however this is an extra measure for everyone’s safety and well being.

Please contact crew leaders in the first instance if you have any problems signing up or any questions.

Lateral Flow Testing

This is especially important now that the government has decided to remove “masks” as one of the mitigation measures in schools although we are happy for students (and staff) to continue wearing masks if they feel more comfortable doing so. 

As we are returning to school on Tuesday this week we ask that parents conduct Lateral Flow tests with their children on Monday evening (and then again on Wednesday evening) this week and enter the results in our spreadsheet as normal.

We will continue to keep doors and windows open for ventilation so students are advised to bring multiple layers to school to keep warm. This is how we look after each other  – We are Crew.

Extended Study and after school clubs

Due to SLCs taking place there will be no extended study classes or after school clubs this week.

A reminder about PE sessions this week

Class 2 have a change in their timetable this week. For Class 2, PE will be on Wednesday 2nd February. Class 1 will have PE on Tuesday as usual.

As usual if you have any questions please get in touch with your child’s crew leader in the first instance.

Best wishes

Mark Lovatt

Principal