Meet Ralph…

This week the children considered the question… ‘is it only humans that show they care?’ We quickly discovered that we share our world with amazing animals who show kindness, love and care in lots of different ways. We were lucky enough to meet Ralph, a therapy dog from the charity Pets are Therapy. The children loved hearing all about Ralph and the important job that he has bringing people joy and happiness.

After the visit we thought about all the words we could think of to describe Ralph. Here are just a few…

EYFS Community Meeting

We started our meeting by singing our ‘Wake Up Shake Up’ song. It was a great way to start the day. We then celebrated all of the amazing learning behaviours that we have seen in our Reception classes this week. Well done to all of our children who received postcards…

Sharing our Stories 11/10/2024

Beautiful Work This Week

Beautiful Curation at Green Top!

Have you seen these beautiful newly curated areas at Green Top – awesome spaces for students to learn and play in!

A great sporting week at XP Doncaster!

On Monday, students met a few of the Doncaster Rovers first team players and were able to have photos and get autographs from the players. Students asked questions about the life of a professional athlete and the journey that the players have been on playing for different clubs. It was great to hear the players speak about our character traits and how these character traits link to sport. 

Then on Tuesday students visited Hill House school to listen to Olympic gold medal GB hockey player Sam Queck. Her experience as an athlete and the ups and downs she has faced really helped our students to understand that if you want something in life you have to work hard for it! Students were able to have a photo and ask questions to Sam at the end – they even held her gold medal. 

We’re looking for an Art Teacher at XP Doncaster!

Find out more and apply now to #JoinOurCrew

Top of the Blogs

Creating Beautiful Work @ Norton Infants

American Themed Day @ Green Top

We Care Wednesday – Crew Chain @ Plover

XP Outdoors @ Carcroft School

Crew KBA – what makes up our identity? @ XP School

Working on a different planet! @ Norton Juniors

Beautiful work from Brooke @ XP Gateshead

Crew Rashford getting smart-er @ XP East

Share your stories with us!

We now have a new dedicated news email so that you can send your stories, updates or ideas about potential news articles directly to us in Comms.

It might be something you or your students have achieved, a charity you’re supporting or anything at all that deserves a wider audience.

Write to us at [email protected] –  we want to hear about it, write about it and celebrate it!

Therapy dog visit.

Today Nursery had a visit from an expert visitor of an unusual kind….. a therapy dog named Ralph! The children were so excited to meet Ralph and his carer Sarah, who came from the charity Pets are therapy, who kindly agreed to spare what little spare time they have to visit us, as part of our case study “How do people show they care?” Sarah explained about the important work that the pair do in the community and the important job Ralph has to make friends and bring people happiness.

The children looked at photos of different therapy dogs and the kinds of people that they help, including the elderly, children in schools, people in hospital and hospices, as well as adults with learning difficulties and even people in prison. The dogs bring healing to those who are feeling very low, poorly or suffer with anxiety or worry.

The children were so excited to stroke Ralph and ask questions about his job and about what he needs, to care for him, after looking after so many others…. “He likes sausages and cheese best”. They thought he was “very kind”.

Thank you for coming to visit Ralph and Sarah – we very much appreciate your time and kindness.

Desert Island Balancing

In P.E this week the children enjoyed playing a balancing game. The children helped one another by holding onto each other. We all found that balancing on one foot was the most challenging. Great team work and impressive balancing skills class 1!

Super Spellers

This week in phonics the children have learnt a new strategy to help them spell words. We use our segmenting fingers to help us break down the word before we write it. I have been blown away by their attempts! Keep it up Class 1!

Celebrating Harvest Festival.

Last week Nursery and EYFS celebrated a Christian tradition, Harvest Festival by being thankful for the food we eat, grown by farmers from all around the world. Nursery children were excited to join in a whole school assembly hosted by an expert visitor, our local pastor and volunteer/coordinator at Askern Food Bank, Mr West. Some of our children were even brave enough to stand at the front of the assembly and participate in the activities!

In Nursery we explored a little further about what Harvest actually is, by watching a short video about the celebration. The children learned that Harvest is when crops and vegetables are collected and sold to supermarkets. They also learned that a christian tradition is to gather food and donate it to others that maybe in need, through their local church. This fits in perfectly with our case study, “How do people show they care?” We were very grateful to all of our families who donated food, as the children collected the food and have made care packages to send to the local food bank with Mr West.

Another part of our beautiful work last week was also to create a “Corn Dolly”.

The children learned that the Corn Dollies are made from the strands of corn left over in the fields after the Farmers have collected their corn with their combine harvesters. They are made into dollies and then taken to the local church to wish farmers good luck for the year ahead’s crop! Just look at how amazing our corn dollies are!