Go, Go, Nursery’s boats.

Last week Nursery children were immersed in learning about all kinds boats introduced through our key text “Go Go Pirate Boat”(which is a melodic text that tells a story, to the familiar tune of Baa Baa Black Sheep, drawing on the children’s previous phonic knowledge and helping them to create new Nursery rhymes of their own). We began by focusing on the two boats in our story using pictures to support our understanding, these were a rowing boat and a pirate ship. We noticed the similarities and differences between the boats and unpicked key vocabulary, using physical movements to activate our learning pretending to use or be a sail, a hoist, oars and the plank.

The children made up their own boat themed stories using our tales tool kit resources, thinking of their own problems and solutions of what happened to “Sharon” the mermaid and “Captain Pirate Underpants”. The language, ideas and enthusiasm was infectious! The children worked hard to revisit and recall all of the story using repetition. Great work!

On Wise Wednesday the children were encouraged to think carefully about what other vehicles or vessels go in or on the sea? They went on a gallery walk around Nursery and observed several different vehicles, some which were familiar and others that they didn’t know of, including a kayak, a submarine, a cruise ship, an oil tanker, a fishing trawler, a speedboat and a hovercraft. The children engaged in some thoughtful conversations about the vehicles using clues from the pictures to guess what that type of boat would be used for.

Afterwards the children continued their previous learning of making a list, being encouraged to think of the initial sound of the sea vehicle. Look at out our beautiful drawings.

🎉 KS1 Sponsored Dance-a-Thon – What a Day! 🎉

What an amazing day we had at our KS1 Sponsored Dance-a-thon on Friday 30th January! The children brought the energy, the smiles and some seriously impressive dance moves — and we are so proud of every single one of them.

Thanks to your incredible generosity and support, we are thrilled to share that we have raised an incredible £1,060… and counting! 🤩
This fantastic total will go directly towards the cost of producing the children’s very own KS1 Doncaster Board Games, helping us keep the final cost as low as possible for everyone. We are also continuing to work with sponsors and supporters to make this project even bigger and better.

💃 How did we dance the day away?

We kicked off the morning in style with a high-energy Zumba session in the hall, led by Mrs Ponsonby and Mrs Murray, which certainly got hearts pumping and feet moving!

Throughout the day, each class took part in a range of fun, creative dance activities, including:

  • 🧊 Ice Dancing and 🎲 Dice Dancing games in the classroom
  • 🖐️ Finger dancing to explore movement through different music styles
  • ✏️ Pencil dancing, where children drew how the music made them feel
  • 🤸 A dancethemed PE lesson to finish the structured part of the day
  • 🎉 And of course… party dances during Golden Time to end on a high!

Children took turns dancing so that every crew was represented throughout the day, showing teamwork, resilience and lots of encouragement for one another. We were also lucky to have some grown ups join in the fun, adding to the excitement and buzz around school.

🎲 Why it matters

All the money raised will support our KS1 Doncaster Board Game Project, where children are designing and creating their own board game inspired by local landmarks. The final game will be professionally produced so that all KS1 children can enjoy playing it — a brilliant example of learning, creativity and community coming together.

💛 Thank you

A huge thank you to all our families for your sponsorship, encouragement and enthusiasm. Every single contribution is helping to bring the children’s ideas to life — and days like this remind us just how powerful learning can be when it’s joyful, active and shared.

Well done KS1 — you danced your socks off! 🕺💃

Sharing our Stories: 30/01/2026

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

Key Stage 1 Community Crew @ Green Top

Fruit Tasting and Painting @ Plover

Sticky knowledge – Maths reasoning @ Carcroft School

In the spirit of Crew @ XP

Weekly Update for Families @ XP Gateshead

Maths, Mysteries and Masterminds @ Norton Infants

High Energy and Big Wins @ 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!

Sharing our Stories: 23/01/2026

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

Extended Study Learning @ Green Top

Amazing home learning in Year 6 @ Plover

Baking biscuits @ Carcroft School

High energy and big wins @ XP

Weekly Update for Families @ XP Gateshead

Crew Hamilton: Orienteering Extraordinaires @ Norton Infants

Academic Thursday in Crew White @ 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!

Class 5 Artists: Using Critique to Improve

Today, Class 5 built on yesterday’s learning by taking part in purposeful critique. With sketchbooks open and first drafts in front of us, we carefully revisited our work and gave feedback that was kind, helpful and specific. Everyone listened thoughtfully, asked questions and showed real respect for each other’s ideas.

Using this critique, we then began our second drafts. You could see pupils making deliberate changes — adjusting shapes, refining lines and thinking carefully about composition. The improvements were thoughtful and intentional, showing just how powerful feedback can be when it is used well.

We also transferred these critique skills into our writing, as we began our non-chronological reports about Conisbrough Castle. Just like in our artwork, we edited and improved as we went along, rereading our sentences, making changes and strengthening our work in real time. This process required honesty and integrity, and the children supported one another brilliantly, offering feedback with care and respect.

Class 5 continue to show that critique isn’t about pointing out mistakes — it’s about helping each other grow, whether as artists, writers or as a crew.

Class 5 Artists: Learning to Draft, Critique and Improve

This week, Class 5 revisited Austin’s Butterfly, focusing on the power of critique and redrafting. We reminded ourselves what makes great critique truly helpful — it should always be kind, specific and supportive, with the clear purpose of helping each other improve.

Before putting pencil to paper, we spent time looking carefully at Conisbrough Castle through an artist’s eye. We asked thoughtful questions together:
What shapes can we see?
What do the lines need to look like?
Would our sketchbooks work better in landscape or portrait?

These discussions helped us slow down, observe more closely and make deliberate choices before we began.

We then got busy on our first drafts. They are strong starts — thoughtful, detailed and full of effort — but we know they aren’t perfect yet. That’s exactly where the learning lives. Tomorrow, we’re looking forward to giving and receiving careful critique, using each other’s feedback to refine our work and create even stronger second drafts.

Class 5 are learning that great art (and great learning) doesn’t happen in one go — it happens through reflection, feedback and the courage to improve.

Beautiful artwork

Today, as part of our Diverse Doncaster: Where do I belong? expedition, we explored another important local landmark- Cusworth Hall. The children researched key facts about the building, recording their learning through a silent conversation. The children then created the first draft drawing of Cusworth Hall, carefully observing its features. We finished the session by watching the inspirational Austin’s butterfly video. This helped us to critique and reflect on our next steps.