We’ve got vacancies across our Trust for Cleaners!
Find out more here and apply to #JoinOurCrew – xptrust.org/vacancies
We’re looking for Cleaners at XP Trust
Being the Healthiest Version of Me – Healthy Eating Community Meeting
This week, we came together for a Key Stage 1 community meeting as part of our guiding question: How can I be the healthiest version of me?
During our time together, we focused on how the food we eat helps to keep our bodies strong, healthy and full of energy. To get us thinking, we began with a simple question—holding up an apple and a piece of chocolate:
“Which one helps our body grow strong?”
The children quickly recognised that while some foods are better for our bodies, we can still enjoy a balance. This helped us introduce an important message: healthy eating is about balance, not restriction.
Learning About Healthy Foods
We explored the different types of food our bodies need:
- Fruits and vegetables help keep us healthy
- Carbohydrates (like bread and pasta) give us energy
- Dairy helps build strong bones
- Protein supports growth and repair
The children enjoyed sharing their own ideas, talking about the healthy foods they already love and eat at home.
Healthy or Not?
We then played a quick game of “Healthy or Not?” where children responded to different foods using actions:
- 👍 Hands on head = healthy most of the time
- 👎 Hands on knees = sometimes foods
This was a great way to reinforce that some foods are everyday foods and some are sometimes foods—and that both have a place in a balanced diet.
Reflecting Together
We spent some time thinking about how healthy foods help our bodies. The children shared brilliant ideas about how food gives us energy, helps us grow, and keeps us feeling good.
We also linked this back to our wider learning:
If we want to be superheroes in our community, we need strong, healthy bodies!
Making a Healthy Pledge
To finish our community meeting, each child made a simple, personal pledge about how they can make a healthy choice:
- Eat more fruit and vegetables
- Drink more water
- Try a new healthy food
This moment encouraged the children to take ownership of their choices and recognise that even small changes can make a big difference.
Our Key Message
We reminded the children that being healthy doesn’t mean being perfect. Instead, it’s about making small, positive choices each day that help our bodies grow, stay strong, and feel their best.
We are so proud of how engaged and thoughtful the children were during this session. Ask your child about their healthy pledge—you might even be inspired to make one of your own!
Thank you for your continued support.
Class Six Are Artist Extraordinaires 🎨
Last week we dove head first into our art case study. We spent the week working with different mediums to create a range of different pieces of artwork from our sea creature outlines. We started the week with pastels, making bright, colourful pop-art style pieces of art.
On Tuesday we moved onto sketching, we spent a lot of time thinking about tone, shading and creating patterns with our sketching pencils.
On Wednesday we worked with watercolour pencils. We spent a lot of time thinking about which colours work well together, how light/ dark we should make our colours and how we can effectively blend our colours together.
On Thursday we had a blast working with printing! We worked with everything from cotton buds and dice to pieces of lego and sponges.
We are so proud of the artwork we created last week in Class Six!!
We’re looking for a Teacher at Norton Juniors!
Find out more and apply here to #JoinOurCrew
https://xptrust.org/were-looking-for-a-primary-teacher-at-xp-trust/
RE-St.George’s Day
This week, we celebrated St. George’s Day at our school. The children took part in a special assembly where they listened to a retelling of the story of St. George. We really enjoyed learning about the legend and its meaning.
Sharing our Stories: 24/04/2026
Beautiful work this week
Here’s a selection of beautiful work from across the XP Trust!
To read about other stories from across the XP Trust, visit xptrust.org.
Top of the Blogs
Turning XP School Inside Out: A Global Art Project @ XP School
Third Annual Public Health Conference @ XP Gateshead
Earth Day Crew @ Norton Infants
Share your stories with us!
Write to us at [email protected] – we want to hear about it, write about it and celebrate it!
Our Power, Our Planet – Earth Day Community Meeting
This week, we came together for a special Key Stage 1 community meeting to celebrate Earth Day. This year’s theme, Our Power, Our Planet, helped us to think about how even the smallest actions can make a big difference to the world around us.
During our time together, we explored what is happening to our planet and talked about pollution—what it is, where it comes from, and how it can harm our environment. The children shared thoughtful ideas about what they already know and noticed how everyday choices can impact the Earth.
We also introduced the idea of renewable energy, helping children to understand that there are cleaner, more sustainable ways to power our world, such as using the sun and wind.
A big focus of our discussion was on what we can do to help. We talked about:
- Using less plastic
- Reducing, reusing and recycling
- Taking care of our environment in simple, everyday ways
Making a Pledge
To finish our community meeting, each child made a personal Earth Day pledge. This was a really special moment, as the children reflected on how they could take action.
Each child placed a counter into the pledge they wanted to focus on:
- Turning off taps and not wasting water
- Making sure rubbish and recycling go in the correct bins
- Walking, scooting or cycling more often
This simple act helped the children to feel empowered—showing them that they can make a difference.
Our Key Message
We reminded the children that looking after our planet doesn’t have to mean making huge changes. Instead, it’s about lots of small, positive actions that, together, have a powerful impact.
By working together, we can all play our part in caring for our world—because it truly is our power, and our planet.
Thank you for your continued support in helping us grow responsible, thoughtful global citizens.
🌍 Earth Day Crew 🌍
This morning in crew we were thinking all things Earth Day. The seam running through our expedition this term is “protecting our planet” and so the timing of Earth Day during our expedition was absolutely perfect. We started our crew session with discussions about what we can do to help protect our planet – thinking about turning off lights, picking up litter, using reusable water bottles and using the same shopping bags all the time.
We then started to think about what the ways that we were going to try and really make a difference. Thinking of four ways we are going to try and help the planet.
We’re looking for a Learning Coach (TA) at Plover!
Find out more here and apply to #JoinOurCrew – https://xptrust.org/plover-learning-coach-teaching-assistant/
🎨 Class 5 Artists – Sketching Like the Greats!
This afternoon, Class 5 fully embraced their role as artists as we continued exploring our guiding question:
The Blue Planet: How Can I Impact the World?
We began by reminding ourselves of our exciting final product — a reusable water bottle featuring our very own artwork. The children were buzzing with purpose, knowing their designs will help promote looking after our planet 🌍
✏️ Inspired by Beatrix Potter
We started by learning about the wonderful Beatrix Potter — a famous artist and writer who loved sketching animals using pencil. We noticed how carefully she observed real creatures and used soft, delicate lines to bring them to life.
Inspired by her work, we practised using our art pencils to create a range of tones, from light shading to darker, bolder marks. We then explored different patterns and textures, thinking about how these could help add detail to our own artwork.
👀 Thinking Like Artists
Next, we became art critics! We carefully studied a selection of model sketches and asked ourselves:
- How has the artist used shading?
- Where are the darker and lighter areas?
- What techniques do we like and want to try ourselves?
One of the examples was Mrs Parsons’ own artwork… but the challenge was set — could we do even better?
Finally, we took our sea creature outlines and began transforming them into beautiful, detailed pieces using all our new sketching skills.
The concentration in the room was incredible — children carefully adding shading, experimenting with tone, and bringing their sea creatures to life. Every piece is unique, thoughtful, and full of creativity.
We are so proud of the effort and artistic flair shown today — we can’t wait to see these designs printed onto our reusable water bottles! 💧✨
