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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.
Reception: Crew champion music makers @ Green Top
Demonstrating the character trait courage @ Plover
Bye-bye litter! @ Carcroft School
First week back – CREW CHIPS @ XP
Rain or shine: Learning outside every time @ Norton Infants
G28 morning fitness, breakfast, revision! @ XP Gateshead
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!
At our school, the outdoors isn’t just a place to play—it’s a space where some of the most meaningful learning happens. Whether it’s bright sunshine, a light drizzle, or a brisk breeze in the air, you’ll find our children outside, exploring, investigating, and connecting with the world around them.
We are excited to share that we have officially launched our very first case study of the year! This term, we are diving into the big, meaningful questions: “Who am I?” and “Who is in my family?” These questions are at the heart of helping children explore their identity, build self-awareness, and celebrate the unique stories that make each of us who we are.
To kick off our exploration, we read a delightful book called Measuring Me. This story is packed with fascinating and fun ways to measure yourself. It inspired us to start measuring ourselves too.
In addition to measuring, we’ve been busy exploring new vocabulary from the book. The children have shown so much curiosity as we unpacked the meaning of different words, building our understanding and adding some exciting new terms to our word banks. One of the highlights? Discovering what stapes are! (Ask your child if they remember!) The children were amazed to learn about this tiny bone in their ears—and couldn’t believe just how extraordinary they really are!
We’re also thrilled to share how well the children are doing in phonics. This week, we’ve been focusing on identifying initial sounds in words. The children have been listening carefully and working hard to write down the first sound they hear. It’s been wonderful to see their confidence grow as they connect sounds to letters—a big step in their early reading and writing journey!
This week, Year One designed their very own Super Veggie Superheroes! From lightning-fast carrots to broccoli defenders of the planet, the imagination on display was truly inspiring.
Each child created a unique veggie-themed superhero and after completing their masterpieces, the children took part in a gallery walk, proudly showcasing their artwork and admiring their classmates’ creations.
What a “Marvellous” hook week Nursery had last week! As part of our first expedition “Marvellous Me” the children shared parts of their personality that make them “the same, but different” to each other. To begin the week we all dressed in our favourite colour, we were all very bright and beautiful, very much like the rainbow.
Over the next couple of days the children brought in their favourite toys, certificates or props from a hobby to share with their friends during Crew and explain a little bit more about what they like and are interested in. Here are a few;
On Thursday we shared photos of our families and spoke about who our special people are. The children loved to see their photos up on the big screen or being held up. We played a short guessing game to see if we could work out whose family it was? There were also lots of beautiful pets that featured in the photos – We were all excited to see them.
Friday saw us finish our hook off with a teddy bears picnic. The children brought in their favourite friend in the form of a soft toy or teddy and we shared a delicious brunch together in the sunshine. We sang nursery rhymes and some tried croissants and fruit juice for the very first time. It was just lovely.
We’re excited to share some amazing artwork that our Year 1 children have been working on. We have been exploring Pop Art known for using bright colours and bold shapes. We used powerful action words like “BANG!” “ZOOM!” “WOW!” “BAM!” and “WHAM!”
We had a lovely community meeting this morning where we celebrated our first HoWL stars in Reception. It was a very difficult decision as all children have made a wonderful start to their time in Class 1 and 2 and we are very proud of them all. Here are the first children to receive a postcard:
We celebrated our first few weeks in school and the end of our hook week with a lovely breakfast of fruit, toast, croissants and juice. Well done everyone.
We’ve absolutely loved kicking off our new expedition, Marvellous Me, this week! It was wonderful to see all the children dressed in their favourite colours—Class 1 was definitely a bright and colourful place to be on Monday!
It was another exciting day on Tuesday when the children brought in their favourite toy to share with the class…
The children have been drawing their favourite foods…
It has been wonderful getting to know more about your child this week—it’s been such a purposeful and rewarding start to our expedition. To round off our hook week, we’re really looking forward to our Teddy Bear Breakfast tomorrow morning!
As part of our expedition, we welcomed our second hero – and we couldn’t think of anyone who embodies our core values more than Ben Parkinson.
Before his visit, the children spent time researching Ben’s life and his incredible achievements. This meant they came ready with knowledge, curiosity, and thoughtful questions. When Ben arrived, alongside his equally inspiring mum and dad, he shared photographs and special objects that held deep meaning to him. Listening to his story gave our children the opportunity to show real compassion and respect as they heard about his journey.
The children asked some fantastic questions, which Ben answered with honesty and humour, leaving everyone inspired. To recognise the way Ben embodies all of our school’s character traits, we were proud to present him with one of our Community Champion Awards.
The timing of Ben’s visit was even more special because, during our first week back, we had been selecting crew names inspired by people who show strong character. One of the crews had chosen Ben Parkinson as their role model, so they were absolutely thrilled to meet him in person and have their crew photograph taken with him.
It was a truly memorable and inspiring visit, and we are so grateful to Ben and his family for sharing their time and story with us.
During our first official week back with all Nursery children together, they have been focusing on being kind, like “Loving Lions” through carefully chosen texts. The children have began to play co-operatively and alongside each other with more respect and kindness. We have focused on sharing toys and resources and praised the children when we have seen this in the areas of provision. Children continued to familiarise themselves with the environment and begin to follow routines with increasing ease.
Here are a few photos to show how well the children are settling in, having fun and becoming Crew and getting used to routine and the expectations for the beginning of their school journey.
Taking part in fun, active listening Crew games such as the Animal Freeze Song.
Beginning to play collaboratively or being “Teamwork Tigers”. Over the week we heard lots of children say; “You can play with me” or “I will help you” or “Can I play?” We are beginning to make new friendships.
Next week we begin our first ever learning expedition… how exciting! I wonder what it could be about?
