Sharing our Stories: 18/07/2025

18th July 2025Geoff Hewitt

Beautiful Work This Week

Here’s a selection of beautiful work from across the XP Trust from the last two weeks of term! It’s been filled with all kinds of wonderful things from all of our schools. To read about other stories from across the XP Trust, visit xptrust.org.

Top of the Blogs

Why the Arts Matter at XP – Our Festival Highlights @ XP Trust

Year 6 leavers party 2025 @ Green Top

EYFS Sports Day @ Plover

Prom 2025 @ Carcroft School

At the Coalface: POL @ Norton Juniors

Climate Change Through Data @ XP

Crew Rosa Parks @ XP East

G29 What a Wonderful World POL @ XP Gateshead

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 [email protected] –  we want to hear about it, write about it and celebrate it!

From all of us here at XP – have a great summer break! We’ll be back in the new term with more beautiful work to share!

Why the Arts Matter at XP – Our Festival Highlights

18th July 2025Andy Sprakes

At XP, we believe education should help young people discover who they are, what they stand for, and how they can make a difference. The arts are at the heart of this.

Through music, dance, drama, and visual art, our students learn to collaborate, express themselves, and craft work of real depth and beauty. These aren’t “extras” to the curriculum – they are essential experiences that develop the character traits we value above anything else: courage, craftsmanship, respect, and compassion.

Last Friday, we celebrated these values at our second XP Festival of Arts & Culture – a day filled with music, dance, and art from across all the schools in our Trust. Every primary school showcased their dancing skills in collaboration with Phoenix Dance Company, alongside cheerleaders and singers from across the Trust.

The afternoon culminated in a show-stopping parade led by the New York Brass Band, bringing everyone together for an unforgettable rendition of Kool and the Gang’s “Celebration”. The evening carried the energy forward with live music from XP Doncaster and XP Gateshead students, alongside local bands and professional artists.

Our students were phenomenal – both on stage and in the audience – showing once again the power of Crew in action.

A huge thank you goes to the XP Doncaster and Plover staff who stewarded and supported the event. It was a powerful example of what’s possible when we create spaces for young people to thrive.

Here’s to next year!!!

In Crew,

Andy Sprakes

STEM Visit

16th July 2025Laura Hamill

We LOVED our visit from Dr Caragh Whitehead (aka ‘Erik’s Mum’) today! It was so interesting to learn all about the different types of science and learning that it is not always about big experiments but sometimes simply being interested in the world. We also learned that plants are used to make so many every day items that we may not have previously realised! Did you know plants help to make citronella candles and they’re even used in medicines?! It was great to get hands on and be able to explore the plants more for ourselves, using microscopes and our sense of smell to look at plants in more detail.

Firefighter Visit

16th July 2025Laura Hamill

We loved the firefighter visit yesterday – particularly looking around the fire engine and being able to sit inside it! Some of us had a bit of a shock when the sirens unexpectedly came on. Can you spot the faces of those that were most shocked?!

STEM in the real world!

16th July 2025Kate Thompson

Todays theme of the day was STEM in the real world. We discovered that STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. We started the morning by building a bridge. We started by designing our bridge and then we constructed it using straws and tape. We then tested whether our bridge was fit for purpose.

We then tried to construct a building which was at least 15cm high which would withstand an earthquake. We designed our building first and then constructed it using cocktail stick and mini marshmallows. We also designed a boat with only a piece of foil. We had no other materials and it had to float.