Art makes us happy…

In case study two the children have been answering the question ‘What happens to plants as they grow?’ Not only have the children been scientists in this case study, but we have also been inspired by Vincent Van Gogh and his series of ‘Sunflower’ paintings.

Each child did a great job mixing powder paints to create a large petal that we later turned into a bigger piece of artwork. We are looking forward to sharing the finished product with families at our celebration of learning event.

This week we have been working on our own versions of Vincent Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflower’ painting. The children have mixed different colours and shades to create a desired effect. I think we may have some budding artists of our very own in class 1!

PE lesson in Class 2

We loved our PE session this morning where we practised lots of skills at a series of stations. We travelled across and jumped off of different apparatus. We worked on our ball skills, kicking a football and dribbling around cones and also using basketballs to bounce balls to ourselves and our partners. We also practised Yoga poses that we have learnt recently. It was great fun and was brilliant to see children challenging themselves and moving with great control and confidence. A great effort by everyone in Class 2 today!

Sharing our Stories: 28/02/2025

Beautiful Work This Week

Here’s a selection of beautiful work from across the XP Trust from this week. To read about other stories from across the XP Trust, visit xptrust.org.

Top of the Blogs

Crew Outdoors @ Norton Infants

Geography Club @ Green Top

Karate Community Clubs @ Plover

Challenge Crew – putting our memory through its paces @ Carcroft School

A Visit from Rt Hon Ed Miliband @ Norton Juniors

Weekly update for families @ XP Gateshead

Year 11 Historians Explore Industrial Heritage @ XP

Another ace week in PE @ 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!

Teamwork makes us Bloom.

Over the past few weeks Nursery have been working hard as “Artists” to create a petal each or as a duo, in preparation to be used as part of their final product for this expedition. Through our stories “Little Sunflower” by Igloo Books and “Sam Plants a Sunflower” by Kate Petty the children gained inspiration for their artwork as they learnt how a sunflower grows and blooms. They have been investigating and exploring techniques using both paint and collage. The children have grappled with the effects that they could create using ready mixed paint and different brush strokes or manipulations of their paint brush. Some children chose either medium of paint or collage, whilst others chose to create with both. Here are some wonderful examples;

Upon completion of this beautiful artwork, the children worked collaboratively to first build their own sunflower for each nursery group, and then as a collective of Nursery as a whole merging both groups petals (later to be revealed on their final product at our celebrations of learning). Just look at the children’s beautiful work!

Crew Outdoors

Crew Goodyer have had a lovely week taking crew outdoors and enjoying some early Spring sunshine!☀️ Mrs Jackson led our crew on Tuesday when we made some wonderful clay animals and this morning we walked around our grounds looking for signs of spring. Being out in the fresh air and sunshine is a great way to start each day.

Fitness Fun in Class 1!

The children have been showcasing their physical skills this week in P.E. This includes, balancing, jumping, dribbling and negotiating space. We had fun whilst keeping fit…