Key Stage 1 Crew Challenge

Our KS1 crews took part in a Humpty Dumpty crew challenge to mark our Norton Campus science week. We investigated materials to see which one would make the best jacket to protect Humpty Dumpty when he fell from the wall. After investigating the materials we voted for the ones we thought would offer the most protection. We also discussed how we could make the test fair and made predictions for the results.

Sharing our Stories: 28/03/2024

Beautiful Work This Week

Sign Language Week at Green Top

Last week was Sign Language week in the UK – so all the students at Green Top have made this video, singing and signing the song ‘True Colours’ as part of the celebration!

‘If We Plant Trees…’ – Legacy @ NJS

As part of their awesome POLs this week, every single Year 3 and 4 child has planted a tree at Norton Junior School, with support from Murphy’s and their Roots Programme.

They also celebrated their product from last term (more on this next time!) and unveiled their awesome digital artwork, made from images of recycling – this will be on display in school after the Easter break!

Plover’s Eco Garden!

KS1 at Plover have just finished their Expedition ‘The Blue Planet’. Their final product has provided a lasting legacy for the community – a lovely eco garden that will develop across future Expeditions to provide a range of habitats and food sources for a variety of insects, birds and mammals.

Students dedicated the trees to community heroes who have helped to improve the lives of people across Intake and Doncaster at their POL yesterday – including Mrs Ogle and Dame Rosie Winterton!

Highlights from KS1 and LKS2’s COL @ Green Top

On Friday, KS1 and LKS2 at Green Top celebrated their learning for their two Expeditions – ‘The Blue Planet’ and ‘There Is No Planet B’

The celebration included an interactive art gallery, a visit from Reptile Rendezvous and showcasing awesome family learning.

Top of the Blogs

Weekly Update for families @ XP Gateshead

Finding the magic in Science @ Norton Infants

KS1 Artists @ Green Top

Action Packed @ XP

Danum Read Aloud @ Plover

UKS2 Celebration of Learning @ Carcroft School

Easter Hamper Day @ XP East

The French Revolution at Campsmount @ 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!

Hoppy Easter!

Wishing you all a ‘Hoppy Easter’…

We had a very special visitor today… Easter Bunny dropped off a chocolate egg for us to take home! It was very exciting…

Finding the magic in science…

This week in reception the children have been scientists. We have been learning about how things grow and how we care for plants. We planted our very own cress seeds. It’s been great watching them grow…

We wanted to find out about how plants absorb water. We carried out the ‘celery colour change’ experiment. We discovered that tiny tubes transport the water and it moves up into the celery.

Finally we investigated things that change state. We made predictions about things that melt and things that won’t melt. The children enjoyed passing around the ice and feeling it changing state. The excitement continues tomorrow when we will be melting chocolate and making something yummy!

Expedition Reflection

Class Five sounded like real experts this morning. They were using their rubric to answer our guiding question ‘How will what I do today impact the world tomorrow?’ and being supported by their crew to mark down what they think they achieved in their answers.

Great work Class Five

Sharing our Stories: 22/03/2024

Beautiful Work This Week

Beautiful Activism at Plover

As part of their Expedition ‘Once Upon a Time’, students in EYFS at Plover have raised money to provide boxes of books to local community organisations, including Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospital Trust. They posted this update on their social media this week from their Children’s Ward, thanking students for their generous donation.

Genius of Steam and Speed

Across the Trust we have always researched and celebrated Doncaster’s railway story through expeditions. Lots of our students’ work is already out there in the community – including railway stations and parks. Our latest book, Rail City, is also on sale in Waterstones and the Danum Gallery, Library and Museum.

On the 23rd April a remarkable new exhibition – Gresley: Genius of Steam and Speed – will open at DGLaM, featuring artifacts, letters and stories about the man who engineered the Flying Scotsman and the Mallard in Doncaster.

Students from the Trust will be co-creating an audio guide which will be accessible through an app for the exhibition. We will also be helping to create rail related resources for the summer holiday programme of children’s events at DGLaM.

More on the story in the Doncaster Free Press here

Top of the Blogs

Crew Parks Tree Planting @ XP Gateshead

Easter Maths Hunt @ Norton Infants

Class 6 read anywhere, any table, any chair… @ Green Top

Crew Tubman Year 10 Beautiful Work @ XP

Festival of Football @ Plover

The beat goes on @ Carcroft School

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!

NIS – Poetry Jam 📚😊

Over the past few weeks the children have been learning poems in our ‘Tranquil Tuesday’ crew sessions. This afternoon we all performed our poems to one another. The children were amazing! It was so lovely to hear lots of poems and to see so many happy faces 😊 . Well done everyone!

The Easter Story

At the beginning of the week Nursery read “We’re going on an Egg Hunt” by Laura Hughes. The story explores fun themes of bunnies finding Easter eggs and encountering various springtime animals along the way. Nursery then began to explore the real meaning of celebrating Easter, learning about the crucifixion of Jesus and that Easter Sunday is not just the day that we all enjoy chocolate eggs, but is traditionally known as the day that Jesus rose from death and appeared to his friends and mother. The children grappled with the child friendly version of the story and explored themes of Jesus having “magic spiritual powers”. We played pass the parcel to consolidate the children’s understanding of the story and to see what they could remember using biblical props such as coins, fish, bread and a cross as the prizes inside the bag.

Both Nursery groups did very well at remembering and responding to the story, showing great empathy and compassion towards Jesus. Well Done, beautiful work!