Crew Webb HOWLing on Flexible Friday

Crew Webb showed their habits of work and learning during our Duke of Edinburgh session this week by working on their outdoor first aid skills. Students worked in teams to examine case studies of outdoor scenarios that they might face in future Duke of Edinburgh expeditions once Covid restrictions change. Once Crew Webb worked through the case studies, they prepared presentations demonstrating the steps they would take to provide first aid in each case. Great teamwork and beautiful work on a Friday afternoon!

 

So, crew Kahlo is back to full strength. We have welcomed another new student to our crew…Alex. He has well and truly fit in with our crew

When speaking to his teachers, it has been lovely to hear such wonderful feedback about Alex and how he has hit the ground running at XP. He has been working really hard and getting smart in his sessions. Here are a few things that his teachers have said about him:

Mrs. Sprakes (Spanish) – Alex shows COURAGE, he’s never done Spanish before but he’s come into Y8 and he’s giving it a real go. Awesome!

Mrs. Ibbotson (Hums) – Alex is doing great in Hums. He is always getting involved and has lots to say and input to the sessions. 

We created a crew display with our name ‘Crew Kahlo’ by adding colour to mindful colouring pages and laminated them. I think it looks great! Every member of crew also wrote a pledge that they feel is important to them to work towards in the run up to Christmas. Some of the pledges were:

  • to concentrate in lessons (Tammy)
  • to be kind (Alex)
  • to use integrity all the time (Max)
  • to remember things (Arthur)
  • to remember to bring my water bottle and equipment (Bryan)
  • to be more organised and to concentrate more (Olivia)
  • to help other people (Kearan)
  • to speak more in class (Billie – Lou)
  • to get my homework in on time (Jessy)
  • to ask more questions in class (Harrison)
  • to be in school on time (Callum)
  • to answer and ask more questions in class (Nida)

We will be checking in on these pledges throughout the term to hold each other to account and make sure we fulfil them.

The crew has also started to analyse their HoWL’s data this week. Looking at the marks they have received for ‘Working Hard; Getting Smart and Being Kind’ for each subject

Next week, we will be making pledges on how to improve our HoWLs as the year progresses.

We will be looking at how we can support each other as a crew to do this by giving kind, specific, and helpful feedback to each other.

We also celebrated a birthday. Happy Birthday, Olivia! Now officially a teenager! (Oh dear. Haha)

This week we have welcomed a new arrival to crew Kahlo. Introducing Kearan!

He fits in fantastically with our quirky little bunch and he has told crew that he is so so happy to be a student at XP and that really shines through!

Kearan’s teachers have been really impressed with his attitude and enthusiasm in sessions. He has just got stuck in and is thriving.  

Miss Ibbotson (Human) told me that Kearan is a superstar. She said that they have done an assessment this week and he just cracked on with it. He wasn’t worried at all. She said that he is awesome!

Miss Ridout (Science) said ‘Kearan has been amazing in my sessions!!! He is fab and should keep up the great work. He always gives amazing answers!’

What a cracking start! We are so happy to have you in crew Kahlo!

On another note…

I have noticed that this week has been especially difficult for a few members of crew Kahlo (and other pupils at XP) when it comes to their emotions and worries about the COVID-19 pandemic. Firstly, I would like to say that I really do feel for our students and I am super super proud of how they are handling our ‘new normal’ at school. 

The coronavirus has caused significant changes in our daily lives (at home and at school) and left us feeling stressed, anxious, and even afraid. The world has experienced pandemics before, but nothing quite like COVID-19. 

I have been trying my best to help my crew to stay positive and focus on the things we can control in order to make it through the coming days and months. 

We have had some really lovely crew discussions about how we can try to support each other when we are feeling a bit rubbish and worried about stuff. 

Here are some of the things that we thought were important:

  • We need to keep washing our hands while we are at school. 
  • We should be mindful when we are outside for break and dinnertime. There are still classes on so we shouldn’t be too loud and we should also be sensible and safe (not jumping on each other or playing silly games) 
  • Talk to each other about our feelings and worries. Especially in crew. 
  • Be understanding of other people’s feelings and realise that everyone’s circumstances are different. 
  • Remember that some things are out of our control and all we can do is be there for each other. 
  • Try to have fun… as we did in crew to blow off a little steam on Friday afternoon. We decided to have a bit of a dance-off and a giggle.
  • Focus on the positives. Remember to appreciate others and be kind to one another. Like crew did for their community meeting appreciations, which finished off our 5th week nicely.

Crew Webb’s academic success

With the new term and expedition now well under way our check in today was focused on sharing a piece of work from the last few weeks that we were pleased with or proud of.

It was great to see examples from Art, English and Spanish as well as History.

Here are Crew Webb’s choices:

Charlie shared his 3D mask making designs. He has used both his Ipad and more traditional techniques when developing his Steam Punk creation.

Tristan,  Loris,  Kyra, Sam and Eleanor shared their History assessment on living conditions in the Medieval Period.

Amber also picked her Medieval living conditions assessment but also some of her Spanish work that she had drafted and improved. It’s great to see Crew Webb getting smart through revision and redrafting.

Here is Lara’s beautifully annotated version of the poem Living Space 

Tom and Kyle choose their work from 2D and 3D art. Here is Tom’s view finder study and Kyle’s steam punk helmet on Boba Fett! Beautiful work boys!

Crew Kahlo are back!

It’s all go at XP after our time at home during the lockdown. It’s so good to have the crew back together again. I’m really proud of crew Kahlo for settling back into their school routine (even though they’re all a bit tired). Each and every member of crew has made a fantastic start to Year 8 and has received some lovely feedback from their teachers.

For our first day back we had a full day together to re-connect and catch up.

I was impressed with their mature attitudes towards the new rules that we have to follow to stay safe in school. They also let off a little steam by playing a few games outside to get some fresh air…

We discussed ideas for crew pledges to try and help each other when we need support

The crew has had some changes this week like our first whole school virtual community meeting:

We also had the introduction to ‘Wise Wednesdays’. For our first week, we were looking at ‘Understanding Identity’. We discussed how social and cultural factors help to shape our identity. It was a chance for the crew to explore who they were as people and think about how others see them. It was challenging for some members of the crew but they grappled with the tasks and supported each other. It was lovely to have the chance to speak to them all about ‘what makes them who they are’.

Well done for having a great start to Year 8!

Our last week as crew EJN

This week, crew EJN have been working on their crew name presentations that they will be showing Miss Robinson next week during their weekly crew hangout.

Crew have a few ideas about who they would like to be named after and why:

Crew have also been busy completing their home learning, creating some beautiful work.

These are for the nature page for their visual diaries:

 

Positive and motivational quotes for their visual diaries:

In other news, Olivia has been swimming in a river!!!

…and Jessy has a new dog called Callie.

We are back to school for a new term. Back to home learning and trying our best – having good days and bad days and just trying to get through and stay safe.

Crew EJN were ready for a break and a little time off last week. Luckily the weather was absolutely stunning!

This is what crew got up to:

Arthur went on lots of walks, met his grandad and took Dotty the dog for a walk and play. He had his first KFC in months (Its was delicious!) He went to Birkin fisheries for ice cream and a picnic and he saw lots and lots of ducklings. He also made a bug hotel for his garden by cutting lots of bamboo up and putting twigs around an old pop bottle in a plant pot. He also painted a pebble to say thankyou to the NHS. 

Brandan went to Cleethorpes for the day (social distancing of course) and sat and played on the beach. He also went to his sisters for the day where they had a new pool and a 7ft dinosaur sprinkler called Dino.

Tammy built a bird table and found an old colouring book to colour in. 

As well as being out in the sunshine, crew were still keeping busy with their home learning tasks.

Max has created some lovely artwork based on the artist Kandinsky

Crew EJN have also made a cracking start on their Visual Dairies for their new expedition called ‘Above all, compassion’. Here are their front covers

Im really proud of crew EJN and all their hard work. They have enjoyed their holiday and have got back to working hard with their home learning!

Well done crew!

That was this weeks quiz when we checked in today! It turns out they all know each other really well with Annie just missing out on top score as she couldn’t earn the bonus point for a question about herself.(Sorry Annie)
We also began to reminisce and share some of our top Crew memories. Crew Nightingale being five times winners of Sports Day, our own specific Crew Check ins as well as all the first academic achievements we made: SLCs, Passage Presentation and COLs and POLs.
I was also impressed that during the quiz so many of Crew were able to recognise a very blurry picture of Elliot from our time on Outward Bound in Year 7. I can’t believe that Outward Bound was 2015. Time seems to have flown by.
Hopefully these memories will help Crew as they begin to write reflections on their time in Crew for their final product a book called “How we did XP”.

One final thing I forgot to mention today, was that this week we mark the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth. Her legacy of improved hygiene and care for the sick lives on in the outstanding work the NHS does today.

Surprising revelations made by crew

This week we went back to basics a little for our crew google hangout. We discussed a few protocols like ‘microphones to be on mute unless you have been directly asked to speak’ and to put your hand up and wait if you have a question. I decided to go through this because our previous hangouts have been a little rowdy and off topic. When everyone talks at the same time, it’s really difficult to hear anyone.

Once the new rules had been established, we did our check in which was ‘What is the worst thing you have ever eaten?’. Now, this is where I was really surprised! There were some very unexpected answers. For example:

Broccoli, olives, ketchup (who doesn’t like ketchup!?), garlic, asparagus, shepherds pie, instant mash, coleslaw, tuna, Harry Potter dog food flavoured jelly bean and finally – a caterpillar and a worm!!

After those revelations, we looked at our crew tracker. This is where I have been keeping tabs on crew and their progress with their home learning tasks. I have shared this document with parents as well so they can see the work that is being completed and what needs to be done.

By talking about work that some members of crew have completed  – it really helps the other students understand the tasks and help each other (which has been really lovely to see)

We then moved onto a quiz which was made up of four rounds; general knowledge, films, music and capital cities. Jessy won with a massive 24 out of 25, with Arthur coming second with 21 and Tammy third with 20. Olivia has volunteered to prepare a quiz for next week and be the quizmaster. I wonder how many questions I will be able to answer!

REMEMBER – our crew hangout is every Tuesday at 12 noon and is compulsory. 

All but one crew member attended the last one, it would be SO good if we had every member of crew joining next week (and every week that we are in lockdown).

I would also like to say a big well done to Olivia, Arthur, Harrison and Max for joining Miss Vayro’s google hangout session for Hums on Mondays at 1.30 and also Nida for joining one.

Can ALL crew please ensure that they join Miss Vayro’s hangout EVERY MONDAY at 1.30 please.

This will help you with your expedition and also give you an opportunity to stay in contact with your classmates (which I think is really important).

Lastly for this week, I wanted to share some emails that I received from Mrs Collinson. She wanted to let me know that some members of crew EJN have been working really hard on their Spanish work:

Massive well done! Keep it up.

 

Earhart Crew Blog Review of the Week

Overall it was a very positive week for Earhart. We have some really notable members of Crew who have been working their socks off from day 1 of the lockdown period and have made massive efforts to do everything that has been asked of them. Mills, Charlotte, Lois Scarlett and Tyler get an extra pat on the back this week as they have completed all tasks but have also reviewed great feedback from their teachers about how well they are working through all of the online tasks set for them.

 

 

 

In the rest of Crew, we have definitely seen a lot of great progress in getting things done. Some of us were off to a slower start with work, (we don’t mind too much, we are living in a global pandemic after all!) there has been a marked increase in the amount work being produced and in the quality of it so I can’t wait to see what this week brings. There seems to be momentum building and if we can keep this up, we’ll be in the best possible shape when we finally do return to school!

We only had 4 members of Crew join us for our last hangout which was a little more disappointing. Mrs Robinson and I would really like to see a full house in our weekly hangouts so we can continue to help and support each other as Crew, with that in mind we have decided to make our Friday afternoon Crew sessions compulsory. We really want everyone to be present and in keeping with our Work Hard HoWL; arrive on time and prepared, and participate fully and mindfully. With that in mind, we’d like everyone to be a couple of minutes early to Crew (Fridays as 2pm) with their cameras on and mics off. This way, Crew will be as purposeful as possible.

In addition to this, Miss Robinson and I will be organising one to one tutorials for students via Google Hangout in order to support home learning and progress. Parents are very welcome to attend these sessions should they want to ask any questions or just check up on what work needs completing. To help with the organisation of this, Miss Robinson and I will be splitting Crew so we can give each students full attention (by splitting we mean just for tutorials etc, we’re still all Crew Earhart and will continue as normal!) We’ll be contacting students this week to organise a time to hangout:

Miss Robinson: Charlotte, Scarlett, Bradley, Alex, Bobby-Jack, Liam.

Mr Voltaire: Logan, Lois, Mills, Leighton, Tyler.

Keep up the hard work this week you lot and we’ll see you very soon!

We are Crew.

 

Footnote: Check out the baking from Mills this week for her own afternoon tea. She has kindly offered to bake me and Miss Robinson cake and fondant fancies every week until she leaves school and serve them with a brew! 🤪