Monday- Athletics 3.30-4.30

Wednesday- Rounders fixture away 3.30-5.15.

Thursday- Cheerleading practice 3.30-4.30. No cricket practice.

Mark Your Calendars: The XP Trust Arts Festival is Coming!

We are absolutely thrilled to announce that all of the incredible pieces highlighted here—along with an expansive collection of stunning work from across our primary and secondary schools—will be officially curated and showcased as part of this year’s XP Trust Arts Festival on June 25th.

Our students have poured their hearts, minds, and immense effort into these creations, embodying our core value of craftsmanship. The festival will be a true celebration of their dedication, and we cannot wait to share these beautiful products with our wider community.

Whether you are a parent, a student, a neighbor, or a supporter of the arts, please join us on June 25th to witness firsthand what happens when we hold our young people to high expectations and encourage them to share their stories as they go.

See you there!

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

Crew Walton Wildlife Park @ Green Top

Handwriting champion of the week @ Plover

Expedition – Science @ Carcroft School

Beautiful work from Harry in Year 10 @ XP Gateshead

Crew Nightingale Hunt for a Rainbow in the Rain! @ Norton Infants

Moving Together @ XP School

A settled and productive afternoon @ 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!

Welcome to the first update of our journey! This week marked the official launch of our brand-new intervention programme, designed specifically to support, challenge, and empower a select group of Year 9 young men as they prepare for the road ahead.

Our ultimate destination? A grueling, high-energy Inflatable 10K in Bakewell on the 26th of September! But before we can tackle the physical obstacles waiting for us in September, we had to lay the groundwork for how we operate as a team.

Here is a look inside our very first session.

Part 1: Setting the Foundation & Facing the Facts

We kicked off the week by pulling back the curtain on exactly how the course will look over the coming months. Because this programme requires vulnerability, honesty, and grit, our very first task was to establish our ‘rules of engagement’. The boys actively collaborated to set out their own norms and expectations, deciding together how they will respect, support, and hold one another accountable.

Once the boundaries were set, we dived into some vital conversations about the current landscape of education for young men. We looked closely at the key issues they face today:

• The Attendance and Engagement Link: How feeling like you don’t fit in can lead to pulling away from school.
• Behavior as Communication: Realizing that challenging behaviors often come from unmet mental health needs or a lack of tools to express emotions.
• The Mind-Body Connection: How physical health isn’t just about looking fit—it is directly tied to mental resilience, focus in the classroom, and entering their upcoming GCSEs with a positive, confident frame of mind.

Part 2: From Individuals to a Team

You can’t build a community just by talking about it—you have to experience it. In the second part of our session, we shifted from theory to action, putting our physical health and teamwork to the test.

The focus was entirely on group dynamics, leadership, and communication. Through a series of team-based challenges, the boys quickly realised that individual strength means very little if you can’t communicate under pressure. We saw early leaders step up, quiet voices find their confidence, and the beginnings of a genuine brotherhood start to form. They learned firsthand that to move fast, you might go alone—but to go far, you have to move together.

Driving Toward the Big Question

Every sweat-breaking circuit, every deep debate, and every mile we log between now and September is driven by one central, guiding question:

“How can we move together to create a community where every young man makes a positive contribution, feeling like he belongs and can be himself?”

Week one proved that these young men are more than ready to answer that call. They showed up, they engaged, and they took their first steps toward redefining what it means to lead.

Stay tuned for next week as we bring in external experts and start breaking down the internal barriers affecting youth wellbeing. Bakewell, we’re coming for you!

Want to know more about our upcoming milestones or the expert partners joining us? Keep an eye on our weekly blog updates!

I was invited into to the official relaunch of Embrace today — our dedicated hub designed to support wellbeing, foster connections, and provide a safe, structured environment during social times.

We are only a few days into the relaunch, and we are already seeing a massive, positive shift in how students utilise their lunchtimes. While unstructured free time is important, it can sometimes feel overwhelming or isolating for students. By providing a well-structured shared space, Embrace has bridged the gap.

We are already noticing;

1. A Sanctuary for Wellbeing

Navigating the school day can be draining for some of our students. Embrace offers a calm, regulated environment where students can decompress, take a breath, and reset before their afternoon classes. It has quickly become a cornerstone of our daily mental health support.

2. Meaningful Social Interactions

Because the space is structured with intentional activities, board games, and relaxed seating arrangements, breaking the ice is easy. We are seeing students from different year groups sit down together, share, and build new friendships that might never have formed.

3. Reduced Social Anxiety

The environment naturally invites participation, giving everyone a clear sense of belonging and a safe place to land. Staff and Students – Next time you pass by during lunch, take a peek inside!

As we enter the final few weeks of year 7 (where did that year go?) I just wanted to make sure that everyone in my crew continues to bring their device every day fully charged as well as having the required equipment. I’ve noticed a real decline in students having a reading book on them at the start of session 1. Please make sure items like pencils pens etc are in their bags and that they are not bringing in energy drinks or sugary snacks and sweets.

We are working hard in lessons to get ready for this year’s arts festival, hopefully you come along and see just how much beautiful work has been produced during this recent terms work.

Today, witnessing our X29 (Year 10) students lead their TSLCs across the school with their subject teachers sat alongside them, was an amazing event!

With just 12 months between now and the culmination of their Key Stage 4 journey, today wasn’t just an ordinary check-in. It felt like a pivotal moment for our students as they begin to step into the final stretch toward their GCSEs.

Student Ownership

The “buzz” in the Lorax space this evening was unmistakable. It was the sound of authentic student voice in collaboration with their subject teachers.

What makes Student Led Conferences at XP so powerful is that adults don’t talk about the student; the student lead their narrative. Observing our students look their parents and subject teachers in the eye to articulate exactly their performance in mocks, where they stand academically and what they have identified they now need to be working on is incredibly moving.

Students gave sharp, honest, and self-aware reflections, identifying:

• Their Successes: Celebrating the beautiful work they’ve crafted, the progress in their Habits of Work and Learning (HoWLs), and the concepts they have thoroughly mastered during their recent learning expeditions translated in their recent mock exams.
• Areas to Focus Upon: Pinpointing the exact topics, exam techniques, and revision gaps they need to close. Hearing students confidently say, “I need to push my revision into higher-tier content,” and ‘” need to revise the key topics we studied in Year 9 which support the GCSE content” shows a level of maturity.

Culture is built together. Today simply would not have been possible without the shared culture of support for our students by both parents and staff.

The Final Countdown: 47 Weeks to Go

As positive as today was, it also served as a reality check. The clock to the GCSE exams is officially ticking.

Between now and the morning of their very first GCSE exam in May 2027, our X29 students have approximately 47 weeks.

The message leaving today’s TSLCs was loud and clear: Consistent, structured revision starts now.

Engagement in Sparx and Tassomai, utilising your Pinpoint booklets, reviewing your poetry anthologies, re reading your core texts, practicing 18 mark questions. I heard loads of other great tips from the staff tonight.

A pdf of our XP and XP East Study Guide is found below – check out some great tips, we’ll hand out tangible copies at our Y11 evening in September.

#WeAreCrew

https://drive.google.com/drive/search?q=study%20type:pdf

Mrs Salter

Monday 15 June – XP East
Tuesday 16 June – XP School

As part of their Power and Prejudice expedition, E29 (Year 10) students will be taking part in fieldwork at the National Holocaust Museum. This visit will support their learning as they explore the Guiding Question:

“How does ideology impact people’s lives?”

Travel Arrangements

Students will depart school at 9:15am and are expected to return at approximately 3:15pm. Please note that return times may be affected by factors outside of our control, such as traffic. Any updates to arrival times will be shared via the school website.

What Students Need to Bring

Students should bring:

• A packed lunch
• A water bottle
• A pen

Students who are entitled to free school meals will be provided with a packed lunch by the school.

Questions?

If you have any questions about the fieldwork, please contact Shannam at shannam@xpschool.org or speak to your child’s Crew Leader.

Monday- Athletics practice 3.30-4.30

Wednesday- Rounders practice 3.30-4.30 and Cricket fixture away return to school for 5.15pm

Thursday- Cheerleading practice 3.30-4.30 and girls badminton fixture away return at 5.15pm. ~No cricket practice due to fixture.