Dear Families
I returned to school on Friday after a whistle-stop tour of Denmark where I had the honour and privilege of sharing the work of staff and students at XPG with education leaders from Denmark and beyond. I visited six intentionally designed schools and talked to colleagues who, like us, are working hard to design curriculum where students engage with real-world problems on local, national and global levels. The shared belief that by tackling authentic societal issues, students develop a deeper understanding and stronger connection to their education was held by all educators I met and their students too. XPG students took centre stage at the LEAPs conference where I shared photographs of their beautiful work and videos captured across the years where our young people talk about crew and character development, beautiful work and academic success. I returned to the UK full of inspiration, especially around school design but, after 4 days away, I was keen to be back home at XPG with our students and staff – they truly are magnificent!
Open Evening
On Tuesday we held our Open Evening and welcomed over 400 people to our school. As you know, on evenings like this our students take centre stage and as always, they shine.
Families attended 4 sessions – XPG The Facts (and the Myths), Beautiful work, Character and Academic Success. Every session, apart from the Mythbusting one, was a showcase ran by students who shared the work done at XPG and answered questions from their audience.
The positive feedback on exit tickets was stunning, our students definitely communicated our culture well with very few questions left unanswered. The confidence shown by our young people and their ability to articulate what we do and why we do it is stunning and we are extremely proud and grateful to all students who were involved. A thank you to families too who supported this event.
Mr Said will be posting an update for families of children in Year 6 that were not able to make it to the event.
Club Tasters
This week our students have had the chance to try some of the clubs on offer before school, at lunchtime or after school. Club tasters continue next week too. This week students have trialled book clubs, culture and language, Warhammer and games, photography and rock bands, school newspaper and drama . More to come this week!
As a small school, it can be challenging to offer a wide variety of extra-curricular opportunities but staff at XPG always go that extra mile and it is wonderful to see such a choice of clubs offered as well as daily extended study clubs. It is great to see real leadership in our students with some G28 student leaders running cheerleading and multi-spots sessions again this year.
Please encourage your son/daughter to get involved in clubs and try out some next week when club tasters continue.
National Poetry Day
On Thursday, we celebrated National Poetry Day and all took the chance to share in the pleasure of poetry. With over 1.5 million people participating on the day, XPG students stepped forward and got involved in the ‘I have a Dream’ national poetry competition for 11-18 year olds.Â
And as always, we are working hard, getting smart and being kind
We continue to challenge our students in every session around our habits of work and learning (HOWLs). Our students reflect on their HOWLs each week during Thoughtful Thursday Crew session, setting pledges for the week ahead and challenging each other to be better and offering support to each other to get there. Over the next two weeks our staff will be entering their assessment of students’ current HOWLs and academic performance in each subject. This will be shared with students and their families after the half-term in preparation for our first Student-Led Conferences this year.
Our week aheadÂ
G28 Information Evening for All Year 11 Families
We are hosting an important information evening in school for all G28 families. This will detail:
- The year ahead and supporting your child
- Post-16 pathways
- Arrangements for the end of the academic year
Club Tasters continue
We will trial lunchtime and after clubs Monday to Wednesday this week. Clubs will then start fully in the w/c 13th October.
Extended study sessions run every day except Friday. If a student attends a club or an extended study session they must attend the full sessions until 4:30pm.
Breakfast Club supported by Magic Breakfast
Breakfast club continues each morning from 7.45am.
PE sessions this week
Please can parents make sure that their child has a PE kit for PE sessions. We expect students to change into their appropriate PE kit, and not wear the same clothes they wear in school. Similarly, students must change out of PE kit afterwards, into their normal school clothes. For safety, jewellery must be removed and hair must be tied back.
- G32 students (Year 7)
- Class 1 have PE on Monday
- Class 2 have PE on WednesdayÂ
- G31 students (Year 8) have PE on Tuesday.
- G30 students (Year 9) have PE on Thursday.
- G29 and G28 students (Year 10 and Year 11) have PE on Monday
As usual if you have any questions, please get in touch with your child’s Crew Leader in the first instance or email general enquiries to [email protected].
Thank you as always for your ongoing support. Together we are stronger #WeAreCrew.
Julie Mosley