Lest we forget!

On Friday 10th November Nursery learned about and celebrated the tradition of Remembrance Day. They watched a short video about the meaning of the day and why we wear poppies as a mark of respect and remembrance. The children learned that the poppies were the first flower to grow on the fields after the war. Teachers modelled how to make our own poppies using loose parts and also how to create a field of poppies, using paint and an apple to print in provision. Just look at our beautiful work!

For snack we also made our own Poppy toast. We used our fine motor skills to spread the jam. The children were encouraged to think about the shape of the toast and why we were using Strawberry jam to decorate it? Some of the words the children used were; “Because it’s red”, “Because it’s red like a Poppy”, “same colour as the flower”, “because it’s yummy!”

To draw our celebrations to a close we read a story called “Thank you for the Little Things” by Caryl Hart to inspire and encourage the children to be thankful for the duty and service of the fallen and our current serving servicemen and women. Finally we watched a beautiful, poignant and child friendly animation about the tragic effects of war lived through the eyes of animals, which the children empathised with and received well. Some of their words were “Sad”, “Upset”, “Scary”, “They’re hiding”, “Frightened of the bangs”, “Like fireworks”, “Foggy”, “Cloudy”, “Poppies grow”, “Soldiers hat”, “Happy again” and “it’s safe now”.

Sharing our Stories: 10/11/2023

Beautiful Work This Week

Flying Scotsman Centenary

Students from XP Doncaster were very lucky to be able to welcome Flying Scotsman home today as guests of Doncaster Council. They had the opportunity to see this iconic engine up close and meet so many people who have made this special visit happen. 

They were also able to hand copies of the newly published book ‘Rail CIty’ to those who had so kindly contributed to it … but more on that next week!

Final Product Preview: Beautiful Sewing at Norton Juniors!

XP Gateshead: Unheard voices of WWI

Last year, Y8 at XPG recorded a radio broadcast of unheard voices from WWI. They did this to honour the sacrifices of those who are sometimes forgotten when we remember the victims of WWI.

We are proud to share that this broadcast will be played on Memory Lane Radio on Saturday 11th November at 11am (their Armistice day slot!) Reuben visited the studio with Mrs Downes and was interviewed about the project. We will share a link to this interview in the coming days.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow to hear this beautiful work on the radio!

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We’ve got Vacancies at XP Trust!

Visit xptrust.org/vacancies to find out more and apply to #JoinOurCrew

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!

Happy Diwali 🪔

This week the children in Class 2 have been learning all about Diwali. We read stories and information books about the Hindu festival, moulded clay to create divas, dressed up in traditional clothing and took part in a rangoli pattern competition. We also tasted some festival foods such as naan bread, poppadoms and mango chutney. We had great fun and learned so many interesting facts about Diwali.

Crew Champions

We have celebrated our crew champions in our Community Meeting today! It was lovely to hear crew leaders and children talk about each others howls and character traits. 

Well done to all this week’s recipients.

The Lost Sheep

Class Five impressed me in our RE lesson today. Everyone could tell me what a parable is and could retell The Good Samaritan.

We then read The Lost Sheep and had some great conversations about what we thought the meaning was. To finish our lesson off class five turned into little actors and worked together to re-enact the parable – it really was brilliant work!

Super effort everyone ⭐️

Rainy Play

Not even the rain could stop us having fun in class five today! We decided to spend our playtime in the hall playing some throwing and catching game.

I tried as hard as I could to get everyone out but you were all just too good at catching and working together!

Mrs Parsons xx

Diwali Fun 🎆🎇✨

This week we have been learning about Diwali. The children have listened to the story of Rama and Sita, made clay candle holders and took part in a Rangoli colouring competition. All the children took part in tasting some festival food such as naan bread, poppadoms and mango chutney. The poppadoms went down a treat with the children!

Happy Diwali! 😊🎆

We love to read and listen to stories in Class 2!

When we are looking at books our story dogs Max, Sam and Bob like to join us because they love information books and stories too!

Every weekend three lucky children get to take a story dog home with them. The story dogs like to join in with fun activities at home but best of all they enjoy listening to stories and sharing information books. The children can then share their photos with their friends in class when they get back to school.