Today in expedition the children learnt about maya mask and why they used to wear them. Here are what the children made.













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Today in expedition the children learnt about maya mask and why they used to wear them. Here are what the children made.













Today marked the first day of our new expedition, and Crew White were fully immersed from the start. We travelled back to the Tudor period to begin building our historical knowledge and curiosity, asking big questions about what life was really like during this fascinating, and often brutal, time.
We were introduced to the intriguing figure of Hans Holbein the Younger, exploring how his portraits tell us so much about powerful people, status and life in Tudor England. The children were fascinated by how art can act as a historical source and reveal details that written records sometimes miss.
We also read about Tudor crime and punishment, discovering just how harsh and shocking the justice system could be. While some of the punishments were gruesome, this helped the children understand how fear and control were used to maintain order.
It was a gripping start to our expedition, sparking curiosity, thoughtful discussion and plenty of questions.
We are looking forward to our Tudor banquet on Thursday!












To hook into our new expedition we tried different types of chocolate. The children showed courage by trying new things even though some were very nervous!
In Crew Colclough, we have participated in a chocolate tasting master class. Pupils were given three different types of chocolate to taste. They used their senses to describe. We are excited to start our new expedition ‘From Bean to Bar’.







In Crew Colclough, we have completed our experience day to engage us in our new writing unit. We tasted red beans, maize and corn tortillas. The Ancient Maya diet consisted mainly of these foods. Crew Colclough demonstrated courage by trying new foods. We also created our own Mayan masks and explored why they were used.












Today we were looking at the timeline in Maya. We looked at what AD and BC stood for. AD stands for Anno Domini, which is Latin for in the year of the Lord. BC refers to the time before Jesus was born.





Crew Godley have been blasting off on an exciting journey through the Solar System! We have discovered fascinating facts about the planets and proudly created our own fact files, brought coding to life through fun Star Wars themed projects, and begun designing our very own solar systems. Watch this space to see our solar system evolve!


















Today we have explored our new text for spring. The text was written by Miss Colclough and is about a girl who falls down a tunnel and goes back in time to ancient Maya.
As part of our experience we made Mayan masks and tried their food!




A number of deaf and hearing pupils from Plover School and the ARChi team have been working collaboratively on a British Sign Language version of the Twelve Days of Christmas.
This is another example of diversity and belonging that runs through our schools and is a concrete example of our culture of Crew.
On behalf of XP Trust, we would like to wish everyone a peaceful Christmas and New Year.
Andy Sprakes
Chief Academic Officer
XP Trust
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.
Christmas Crafts @ Norton Juniors
G32 Reverse Advent @ XP Gateshead
A Very Special Visit from Santa @ Norton Infants
Write to us at [email protected] – we want to hear about it, write about it and celebrate it!