What is Crew?
Relationships with our students are at the heart of everything we do at XP Gateshead. Crew is a structure for developing strong relationships and sustaining our positive culture ensuring all students are known, cared for and supported socially, emotionally, and academically.
The tradition of Crew is both a culture and a structure. The term “crew” comes from educator Kurt Hahn, the founder of Outward Bound who said:
“We are crew, not passengers, strengthened by acts of consequential service to others”.
At XP Gateshead, each student is placed into a crew of 12-13 students. Crew provides each student with a one-to-one relationship with an adult (their Crew leader) at the school, as well as a consistent and ongoing small-scale peer community, a ‘school family’, throughout their time with us. Crew Leaders monitor and support student progress, serve as the student’s advocate in academic and social situations, and act as the primary contact point between parents and the school.
Crew fosters a sense of belonging in students, and is a place where they learn to be the best version of themselves.
Here’s what our students say about Crew:
In short:
‘We get Crew right, we get everything right!’
The key purpose of Crew is to build positive relationships and to cultivate good habits of work and learning. Crew is a fundamental part of our curriculum and we start every day with a 45 –minute crew session. These sessions are carefully planned to ensure students are set for learning each day and are engaged in rich and broad experiences. Crew provides a safe place for students to use their voice, discuss issues and ask questions in a safe and trusting environment. Similarly we have a Staff Crew which is tended to throughout the year.
Each half term we have Crew Days where students and staff spend a full day together engaging in initiatives which tend to and build their crew stronger. Students work together on stewardship, acts of service, charity work and develop student leadership both in and outside of school. Crew days connect to and build on the idea of ‘service’ – to be part of a Crew is to be part of something that is bigger than the individual.
The measure of success in our Trust is weighed through service and kindness. Crew allows everyone associated with our Trust to become part of something bigger than themselves and fosters a sense of community and belonging, reflected in the stories we share with each other every day. Crew is fundamental to this.