Marvellous Maps

As part of Hook Week we have created maps of Carcroft in the style of David Hockney. The children used tea bags to stain their paper and then used pictures of places in Carcroft and cut and arranged them. We think they look fantastic!

Guiding question

So the end of the week as come for hook week. The children have really enjoyed learning about Maya People and what they ate and drank in their time. The children then had ago at predicting what the guiding question will be . They didn’t get it right

How ever the guiding question is: What is the cost of a bar of chocolate?

Title : From bean to bar

Sharing our Stories: 19/04/2024

Beautiful Work This Week

Being Human – Beautiful Speeches from XP Gateshead

The G29 students speeches answering our guiding question “What does it mean to be human?” is now live on our website.

You can listen again and relive the POL speeches here!

This beautiful work is also available to visitors to the QE Hospital at the Windy Nook Entrance via a QR code on the art installation. This is important work matters, raising awareness of the importance of organ donation. A work that chimes with Olivias’ concluding remarks to our POL.

“…being human is about our social structures and relationships. How we connect, understand each other and have a sense of understanding and acceptance for ourselves and others.  We build our world through our memories and experience to decide where we want to go in the future. Humans grow through our community and others around us.”

XP Y9 Fieldwork to Thackray Museum

The Power of Change @ Carcroft

In Spring 2024, students from Years 5 and 6 at Carcroft School embarked on an Expedition to explore the 19th century’s impact on our lives today, examining whether its influence has been positive or negative. Students immersed themselves in the era by creating African pattern-inspired book bindings and sculptures. They delved into the work of British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonabare to understand cultural identity and globalisation. The history case study focused on the British Empire, particularly its effects on South Africa and the Zulu people, comparing Victorian society with Zulu society and discussing the legacy of these interactions. The science component of the Expedition related these historical impacts to the concepts of reversible and irreversible changes, using chemistry to draw parallels between the societal changes and scientific processes.

The Expedition’s culmination was an art exhibition-style event where students showcased sculptures inspired by Yinka Shonabare, reflecting on cultural identity and personal, cultural, or ethnic adaptation in an ever-changing world. This final product, along with literacy-based assessments and case study reflections, demonstrated the students’ learning and understanding of the 19th century’s influence. Throughout the Expedition, a diverse range of texts, including graphic novels and classic literature, enriched the students’ experience. Despite limitations on fieldwork due to economic conditions, video calls with South African residents offered insights into the lasting impacts of the British Empire on the Zulu people, enhancing the students’ global perspective and understanding of historical legacies.

Highlights from UKS2’s COL @ Plover

In the last week of term, students in UKS2 at Plover celebrated their work from their Expedition ‘The Power of Change’. Their guiding question was ‘How did the 19th century influence our lives today?’ and their final product explored significant locations in Doncaster, creating a history trail for members of the community to follow to learn more about the City’s history.

‘How will what I do today impact the world tomorrow?’ @ Norton Infants

Last term, students in KS1 at Norton infants explored ocean pollution – contrasting clean and polluted waters and their effects on wildlife, leading to local litter collection activities and artistic recycling projects, culminating in a family event promoting the reduction of single-use plastics. They delved into the science of this by examining the characteristics of living and non-living entities, focusing on animal needs and dietary types, and assessing human impacts on ecosystems, resulting in a detailed report on local fauna. Their geographical studies spanned identifying global continents, oceans, and specific habitats, enhanced by a narrative exercise based on “Somebody Swallowed Stanley.” Art skills were honed through various mediums in creating a sculpture and alternate story settings from “The Tin Forest.”

The students’ final product drew together learning from all three of these case studies. They created these activity booklets, which contain examples of beautiful artwork and written information, and include activities for children to complete – here’s a sample of their work below!

We would like to donate these booklets to local places so that children can complete them whilst they are out in our community! If this is something that you feel you would like copies of, we can send them to you! Please send an email to [email protected] and we will organise sending them to you!

Top of the Blogs

Wise Wednesday @ XP

Beautiful Work from Scarlett @ XP Gateshead

We are Sea Explorers @ Norton Infants

Class 7 found a time capsule @ Green Top

Ready Steady Cook @ Plover

New Reading Challenge @ Carcroft School

What is Power? @ XP East

‘Hats on for Hope’ @ Norton Juniors

Join our Crew!

We’re looking for Cleaners and a Cleaner in Charge to #JoinOurCrew at XP Doncaster – find out more and apply here!

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!

Book Talk – The Great Chocoplot

In our book talk lessons this week, we started a new book called “The Great Chocoplot” by Chris Callaghan. First, we started off by completing a jigsaw of the front cover. We then discussed what we thought the book may be about, whether the book would be a fiction or a non fiction book and how we know this. We came up with some fantastic ideas such as “the girl on the front cover might have stole a chocolate bar and they are investigating it. We then read some of the book, text marking any important information and words which we don’t understand. We read around the word and looked at the root word to unpick these words.

Blind food tasting

In expedition, we have tried different foods whilst our eyes were shut. We were given each piece of food and used our senses to see if we could figure out what it was. First, we touched the food to see what it felt like, then we smelt the food to see if there were any strong smells to identify and then we tasted it. We guessed tuna because of the smell but we struggled with avocado!

New Reading Challenge! Who will earn a golden ticket?

“I’ve got a golden ticket!” – Who will be able to say these 5 magical words by the end of Summer Term?! Crew Hamill have been challenged again to read at home and this time, there will be FIVE winners! The first 5 to reach the golden tickets at the top of our challenge, by reading 30 times, will receive a special reward (that may or may not involve a chocolate baking treat). It’s been so lovely to see the engagement from the children already in this challenge! Lots of children’s names are moving up the oompa loompas and heading towards golden victory!

Blind Taste Testing

Today, Crew Hamill continued their hook week investigations into our new expedition by kick starting our DT lessons for this half term with a blind taste test. We all had to close our eyes and were given a selection of different foods that were popular in Ancient Maya. We had no idea what these 5 items were until we had touched them, smelt them and tasted them. Some of us were super brave and made sure we tasted them all! However, lots of us instantly regretted tasting the last food item (chilli pepper!!) and had to run straight to the sink for a drink to cool our mouths down!