Experience Days in Crew McLoughlin!

Over two Experience Days, Crew McLoughlin have been developing their creativity, confidence, and communication skills through a range of exciting activities. On the first day, they became wildlife reporters inspired by Sir David Attenborough, planning and performing their own mini rainforest documentaries. Working in pairs, they used expression, intonation, and body language to bring scenes of grooming, foraging, and danger to life. On the second day, pupils built on these skills by listening to a model monologue and experimenting with tone and expression. In groups of three, they explored the text, identifying powerful vocabulary and descriptive techniques before noting ideas for their own writing. It’s been a brilliant few days of teamwork, imagination, and expressive learning – Crew McLoughlin have truly brought their voices to life!

Exploring Animal Life Cycles in Crew McLoughlin

Today in Expedition, Crew McLoughlin explored the fascinating world of animal life cycles! Each student selected an animal of their choice and created a detailed life cycle to show how it grows and changes over time. From eggs to adults, students used creativity, research, and scientific thinking to illustrate each stage with clear explanations and colorful designs. It was wonderful to see their creativity come alive as they discovered how every animal’s journey is unique.

This Week’s Academic Crew

This week in Academic Crew, Crew McLoughlin took part in a lively Fraction Kahoot challenge to refresh their understanding of fractions, equivalent values, and mixed numbers. It was a fantastic way to revisit key math concepts in a fun and interactive setting, and we were so proud to see everyone showing focus, enthusiasm, and a positive attitude throughout the challenge!

Online Safety – fake or fact?

This week, Year 3 and 4 have started a new unit which will focus on online safety. Both crews focused on how to be able to identify fake information and decide whether information is opinion, beliefs or fact. We used Sky News Kids which has a section on fake news or fact and this really did open the children’s eyes to the fact you can’t believe everything you see online. We discussed the importance of using reliable sources for information or to fact check things when we are unsure.

Year 4 Book Club

Some pupils in Year 4 have been selected to participate in the Chapter One – Book Club. The first session was today and they throughly enjoyed themselves. This club will help to boost confidence and enjoyment in reading.

Sharing our Stories 17/10/2025

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

We are Scientists @ Green Top

Plover is proud to receive the ‘Choose Kindness’ award! @ Plover

Pumpkin Carving @ Carcroft School

Authors in the making! @ XP

Two NJS Teams enjoy success! @ Norton Juniors

Expert Visitor – Ed Miliband @ Norton Infants

Crew Peake – Shining stars! @ XP East

Congratulations to Hannah in G28 Crew Frank! @ 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!

Story Maps for the Lorax

This week, Crew McLoughlin have used story maps to plan their independent writing. They came up with lots of amazing different endings of how The Lorax might end. Using their story maps, they organised their ideas and thought carefully about how to bring the story to a happy ending. At the end of the lesson, a few brave volunteers stood in front of the class to share their wacky and wonderful alternative endings.