Applying for a place at XP – Fair Banding Assessment

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To ensure a balanced intake of students across all ability levels, all applicants to an XP secondary school must sit a Fair Banding Assessment. 

This multiple-choice test focuses on non-verbal reasoning and helps us place students into one of five ability bands. There is no pass or fail, and results are used solely to support a broad and representative admissions process.

Completing the assessment is a key part of the application and must be done to be considered for a place. 

Please ensure your child is registered by 31st October 2025 and prepared to attend the assessment on 22nd November 2025.

Find out more here: https://xptrust.info/XPTFBA

If your child has an aptitude in music, find out how to apply for a musical aptitude place at XP here: https://xpschool.org/unlock-your-childs-musical-potential-at-xp-school/

Unlock your child’s musical potential at XP School!

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At XP School, we believe music has the power to inspire and shape young minds. Each year, we offer a unique opportunity for children with a natural flair for music to gain a place in Year 7 through our dedicated Musical Aptitude route. 

Whether your child already sings or plays an instrument, or simply has a keen ear for rhythm, melody, and pitch, this pathway recognises raw musical potential. 

With access to expert tuition, vibrant performance opportunities, and a culture that celebrates creativity, XP School is the perfect stage for your child to flourish musically and academically. Click here to see highlights from our recent annual XP Festival of Arts and Culture https://youtu.be/-tcB979lD_g

Apply now, and don’t miss this chance to join a learning community where talent is nurtured and passion takes centre stage!

Find out more here: https://xptrust.info/XPMA

X31 Admiral Maths ‘Being Human’ update

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Admiral have been further developing their mathematical skills by revisiting their Vitruvian Man ratio drawings. Previously, each student calculated the ratio of their head to their body to represent themselves in the style of the Vitruvian Man. Building on this, students deepened their understanding by learning how to use scale to create even more accurate representations. They carefully chose which parts of the body to measure, using this data to enhance the precision of their drawings.

As a class, we connected this work to our expedition theme, Being Human. Students engaged in thoughtful discussions about identity, historical beliefs around human proportions, and how shape played a role in these ideas. They reflected on how perceptions of human identity and physical ideals have evolved over time.

Their effort, creativity, and attention to detail were outstanding. They demonstrated excellent craftsmanship and produced work they can be truly proud of!

What’s coming up in PE

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Another amazing enrichment week for PE. The netball teams were preparing for their next match which was great to see.

Next week W/C 13th October

Wednesday- Year 7,8 and 9 netball match away return to school at 5.15pm. Please tick your name off.

Wednesday- Boys football practice 3.30-4.30

Thursday – Cheerleading practice and girls football practice. 3.30-4.30

Thursday Year 7 boys football away return to school at 5.30. Please tick your name off.

Any questions please email.

Crew Lovelace

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Even as GCSE preparation ramps up, everyone is taking it in their stride and showing real maturity, supporting each other, calling out positive behaviour, and celebrating those who go above and beyond.

Here are a few well-deserved praises from this week:

💬 From Miss Cross (English):
“I really enjoyed working with Alfie, Bentley, and Lewis (from another crew) today. Your recall of key events from the novel was excellent!”

💬 From Miss Mountain (Maths):
“Amazing attitude and effort from Finlay whilst rearranging formulae — really impressed with your work today!”

💬 From Miss Warwick (Spanish):
“Lovely work from Seb researching a Spanish-speaking celebrity and creating a fantastic fact file!”

🌟 A special shoutout to Jess, who received 10 praises this week and is currently top of the leaderboard — well done!

As we head into the final week of term, we’ll also be having a big push on keeping phones in bags to help everyone stay focused and finish the term strong.

Keep it up, Crew Lovelace, so proud of the effort, teamwork, and positivity you’re showing every single day!

X28 Skipper – Poetry Power!

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Year 11 must be feeling poetry fatigue at this point in the term. They have ploughed through seven weeks of finishing the poetry anthology and still have another week to go.

They are approaching every session with a positive mental attitude and are working hard to ensure they have plenty of detailed annotations to revise from. The quality of your work and the effort you are putting into session is fantastic and shows how much you care about your GCSEs.

Well done!

Keep up this fantastic work guys. I know it is a slog but it will be worth it I promise!

Mrs Desborough

Important Safeguarding Notice: Children’s “Spy” Books

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Parent/Carer Information

Important Safeguarding Notice: Children’s “Spy” Books

We want to make you aware of a recent issue affecting some popular children’s books by Andrew Cope, including the Spy Dogs, Spy Cats, and Spy Pups series.

Some editions of these books include a printed web address at the back. This link used to go to the author’s website, but the domain is no longer under his control. It has since been taken over by another party and now leads to inappropriate adult content.

The publisher, Puffin, has paused sales and distribution of the books and is working with schools, libraries, and retailers to remove copies from circulation. They have stressed that the website has no connection to the author or publisher.

What this means for you:

  • If your child has any Spy Dog, Spy Cat or Spy Pups books at home, please check the back for website links and make sure they do not try to visit the site.
  • It is safe for children to continue reading the stories themselves — the concern is only with the outdated link.
  • We recommend talking with your child about the importance of not following web addresses in books without checking with an adult first.

We will continue to share updates from the publisher as more information becomes available.

Creating Beautiful Work

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Beautiful work and amazing products are an integral part of our story at XP but equally important are the ways that we achieve that work and those products.

Our students are encouraged to draft and redraft, to refine their ideas, to not accept work that isn’t excellent. In the Arts team this year we’ve seen exactly that with students starting new courses and new expeditions and being given new opportunities to excel.

None of the pictures above show finished products, instead we can see the beauty of the creative process. For some that means painstakingly drafting and redrafting photoreal images using only pencils. For others it may be that a session sharing ideas on the whiteboard is the best way to make progress. Creating models and maquettes in a range of materials can be the catalyst that a student needs to make their creative vision into a beautiful final product. What looks at first glance to be a random collection of scraps can be actually a carefully curated abstract vision. A messy workbench will finally reveal a beautiful relief sculpture.

We celebrate our students creative work not only for the final curation but for the whole process of exploration, experimentation, and growth that leads them there — the ideas tried, the risks taken, and the skills developed along the way.

PE update

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Last week our Y7’s/8s have continued receiving coaching from Club Doncaster and Doncaster knights rugby, which has seen students engaging with the wider community and developing further opportunities outside of school. This week is as follows:

Wednesday – Boys football practice/netball practice. 3.30-4.30

Thursday – Cheerleading practice and girls football practice. 3.30-4.30

Bronze and Silver DofE – Celebration of Learning

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C28 and C29 Celebration of learning update

DofE Update

We are currently working hard behind the scenes to finalise and approve all student awards on the eDofE system. This process takes time as each section is carefully checked and verified to ensure students receive the recognition they deserve.

Once this is complete, we will share further details about our upcoming Celebration Event, where students’ hard work and achievements will be formally recognised.

Thank you for your patience and continued support, we’re looking forward to celebrating together. This is likely to be after half term.

Mrs Watson