XP School

Friday 10th July all students will be taking part in Sport day in their crews.

Students will need a packed lunch, water bottle, PE kit and suncream.

Any questions please ask crew leaders.

This week, we were incredibly proud of our Cheerleading Squad, Xplosion, who delivered some truly fantastic performances.

Their routine was nothing short of incredible, showcasing their talent, dedication, teamwork, and enthusiasm. Every member performed with confidence and energy, inspiring everyone who watched.

Behind every performance is hours of hard work, practice, and commitment, and it was wonderful to see all of that effort come together so successfully. The squad represented our school with pride and demonstrated excellent sportsmanship throughout.

A huge congratulations to all of our Xplosion cheerleaders on their amazing achievements this week. We are so proud of you and can’t wait to see what you accomplish next. Well done, Xplosion!

Year 7 Rounders Tournament

This week, our Year 7 students took part in an exciting Rounders Tournament, competing against several schools from across Doncaster.

The team demonstrated excellent teamwork, determination, and sportsmanship throughout the competition. Every player gave their best effort, showing resilience, enthusiasm, and a positive attitude in every match.

It was fantastic to see our students representing the school with pride, supporting one another, and developing their skills while enjoying the experience of competitive sport.

We are incredibly proud of all the students who took part and would like to congratulate them on their outstanding effort and commitment. Well done to everyone involved!

Whats coming up next week

Wednesday 8th July Year 8 rounders tournament away Hall Cross back at XP at 5.15

This is a brief reminder that E29 (Year Ten pupils from XP East) will be participating in fieldwork to Bradford Literature Festival on Friday 3rd July. Pupils will need a packed lunch (one will be provided for those on free school meals) and should be at school on time as the coach will depart at 8.45am. Our arrival back at school is hoped to be 3.15-3.30pm but this will depend on the event finishing on time, and the traffic on the way home. Please refer to the letter emailed home on June 10th for more details.

Miss Cross

Yesterday saw the third annual celebration of arts and culture across XP Trust and what a celebration it was! With temperatures soaring, students and partners braved the heat to deliver a festival rich in engagement, quality and community. Young people from every school across our Trust and other partners came together at XP Doncaster to perform and share their work. In addition, the Festival included a number of Presentations of Learning and input from one of our experts, artist (name) who co-created with visitors to the Festival a community piece of art that linked to the Year 8 Expedition ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go? 

“With temperatures soaring, students and partners braved the heat to deliver a festival rich in engagement, quality and community.”

The stage arrived at 6.30am (thanks to James and Pete) and was swiftly assembled as was the sound system so that students could begin to perform in the early afternoon. The Festival was opened by Dave Evans, whose work on making this a reality is truly inspiring, who introduced Noah Hopewell, our opening act on keyboard, who provided the audience with two stunning performances. This was followed by the Daggers with an indie flavoured set. Next up was Jensen Dickens with a solo acoustic performance. He played and sang beautifully followed by the Velcro Hearts whipping up the audience with an assured performance of the Oasis classic. ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’. 

We were then joined by students from XP Gateshead who had travelled down from the North East to perform. Five bands played a range of songs in a variety of styles – from ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ to ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go?’ After this there were a series of solo performances by students under the expert tutelage of Zawedde which were both moving and showed the progress the vocalist had made over the course of the year. Special mention must go to the two groups of dancers and cheerleaders who braved the heat of the mats in front of the stage to deliver their performances!

The vocal group Vox Pops then graced the stage and put on a performance of high quality, enhanced by the accompaniment of their backing band (take a bow Geoff, Dave Harvey and Jensen).

At 3pm the festival moved into its next phase as we opened our doors further to parents, partners and members of the community to enjoy Presentations of Learning from Year 7, 8 and 9, the context of this work elevated by delivery from the main stage. Year 7 culminated their expedition by answering the Guiding Question, ‘How Does Water Shape Our World’ with a pertinent and timely message about the need to be safe around open water which was supported by the fire and rescue service. Year 8 shared their work from ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go?’ which engaged with the compelling Guiding Question, ‘Is Migration Worth the Risk?’ showcased by the permanent and beautiful mural students created to raise the awareness of the challenges facing migrants and refugees alongside local artist Phil Padfield who also attended the Festival to engage our wider community in a graffiti art project linked to the expedition as part of the Festival. Also, Sacha Gray from Community Arts organisation ‘Right Up Our Street’ visited the festival to interview a group of Year 8 students about their work which will be installed, with the support of RUOS, to impact positively in the Balby Bridge estate in Doncaster highlighting the importance of art in bringing communities together. Year 9 held a village fete style experience for their PoL where different stalls covered the different aspects of their expedition that had focused on ‘Protecting Our Planet’. In addition, as part of the culmination of learning, students displayed to parents their learning about coding and programming micro:bits!

“Sacha Gray from Community Arts organisation ‘Right Up Our Street’ (RUOS) visited the festival to interview a group of Year 8 students about their work which will be installed, with the support of RUOS, to impact positively in the Balby Bridge estate in Doncaster highlighting the importance of art in bringing communities together.”

Next up were a visiting band from New College, INOCULUM, who treated our guests to some very heavy rock. After some further stunning vocal performances from Sara and Pixie. The XP Jazz Band took to the stage to bring a chilled out, sophisticated vibe to the early evening performances. This was followed by two rock bands from Norton (what a vocal performance from Logan!) and Carcroft that were quite simply breathtaking. This was interspersed with a high energy and vibrant performance by the Samba Bands from Plover and Green Top (so good they did it twice!!) Thank you to Tom and Harvey who have worked tirelessly with these students over just seven weeks to get them performance ready – remarkable!

The final part of the evening was fired up by sets from the long established band The Roses, followed by the Brackets and Crash Radio.There were some inspired performances of real high quality and range – it was humbling to see how much progress and how accomplished these bands have become over the course of recent years building on their experiences of being patriot of our year long XP Live performance opportunities. My particular favourite was Crash Radio’s rendition of the Sex Pistol’s ‘Anarchy in the UK’!!

The festival culminated with an awe-inspiring parade featuring all of our Primary Schools, resulting in African songs and dancing led by our old friend Xolani – who is amazing!! What a sight it was to behold young people from across our primary schools fully engaging in music and dancing. It was very moving and uplifting. 

The festival was closed by our long term friends, partners and residents, Doncaster Youth Jazz Association. As always their Swing Band, that is just about to embark on a tour of Herten in Germany, completed the evening with sophisticated Jazz classics and upbeat swing versions of popular songs. It was a fantastic end to a wonderful day.

“weaving together community, character, and performance into a singular, elevating experience.”

The XP Trust Festival of Arts and Culture 2026 serves as a powerful testament to the transformative impact of our schools’ creative curriculum, weaving together community, character, and performance into a singular, elevating experience. By providing a stage for students from across the Trust to share their work, the festival actively builds essential life skills: nurturing the confidence and resilience required to conquer nerves and individual expression, alongside fostering the compassion and integrity needed to collaborate as Crew. The day acts as a pivotal bridge between students, parents, and partners, creating a shared space where academic milestones like Presentations of Learning meet the joy of collective performance, ultimately reinforcing a culture where students are inspired to pursue mastery, value belonging, and be made to see that there is more in them than they know.

My heartfelt thanks go to the staff, partners, and community members whose unwavering support made this our best festival yet. Particular thanks go to Claira Salter, staff at XPD and Trust staff who bore the brunt of stewardship and organisational duties. Seeing the growth, courage, and connection on display, from our youngest primary dancers to our graduating bands, has been truly humbling. 

As we look back on an incredible day of community and celebration, I am already counting down the days until next year…

Andy Sprakes 

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

Green Top Summer Fayre @ Green Top

Fun in the sun @ Plover

Yorkshire Wildlife Park @ Carcroft School

A Celebration of Humanity, Harmony, and Heritage @ XP Gateshead

Independent learners leading their own learning @ Norton Infants

Pythagoras at XP @ XP School

Football Stars selected to represent Doncaster @ 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 comms@xptrust.org –  we want to hear about it, write about it and celebrate it!

Hands-on math in action! 📐 Today in session 3, XP students took their learning outside to label right-angled triangles. They then put Pythagoras’ theorem to the test, successfully calculating missing sides on the triangles they drew.

Excellent work well done!

TICKETS HERE!

We can’t wait to welcome our community to the XP Festival tomorrow! To ensure the day runs smoothly for our entire Crew, here are a few quick logistics:

Weather

Currently (at 7.00am Wednesday 24 June) there is an Amber warning in place by the Met Office and temperatures are expected to reach approximately 30 degrees at some points during the Festival. 

As we are expecting hot weather please make sure that:

• You are appropriately attired – loose fitting lightweight, loose-fitting garments made from natural fibres like cotton or linen, which allow air to circulate and keep your body temperature regulated are recommended. Wear a hat or bring a parasol to keep you out of direct sunlight.
• You bring suncream and regularly apply this as extra protection against sun burn.
• You keep hydrated throughout the Festival – feel free to bring your own water to drink. Food drinks and ice lollies will be available on the Festival site
• You use sheltered areas on site and gazebos to avoid direct sunlight
• If you start to feel the effects of the hot weather, check in with a steward and/or access the First Aid provision on site which is clearly signed and we can ensure you cool down in an air-conditioned space, if required.
• You listen carefully and follow any Health and Safety announcements from the main stage.

Refreshments and Food

Food and drinks will be available from 4pm through Relish. Please note this is an alcohol free event. 

Seating

There is no designated seating. You are welcome to bring your own portable chairs or picnic blankets so you can sit comfortably and enjoy the performances.

Parking

Parking for the festival is completely free if you use Doncaster Rovers Car Park 3. Accessible parking is available – please ask a Steward on arrival. 

Support

This event is free, but we will welcome donations on the day to support future XP Live Events. Your contributions help us continue to provide authentic, creative platforms where our young people can craft beautiful work and share their stories.

See you tomorrow! 

On 3rd July, our Year 8 students will be taking part in an exciting fieldwork visit to We Care Into the Future at the Doncaster Dome – a highly regarded careers event that introduces young people to the huge range of opportunities available within health and social care.

We Care Into the Future has become one of the region’s most successful and well-recognised careers events, welcoming thousands of students from schools across Doncaster and Bassetlaw. The event is widely seen as a benchmark for early careers engagement within the NHS, and we are delighted that our students will have the opportunity to be part of it.

We hope the day will spark new interests, raise aspirations and give students a deeper understanding of the many ways they could make a difference through a career in health and social care.

Students will be leaving school at 1pm, lunch will be earlier as a result (12pm).

Students will return to school from the Dome at 14:45 so will leave school at normal time, there will not be a need to make alternative arrangements.