We have some incredible news to celebrate! Between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026, participants of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award at XP School achieved something truly remarkable.
Our young people dedicated over 1800 hours to volunteering in their local community! This equates to anestimated Social Value Created for the 2 schools combined of over £13,000.
The DofE Award encourages young people to challenge themselves, build new skills, and make a tangible difference in the world around them. Over the past year, our students took that mission to heart, giving their time, energy, and enthusiasm to support local causes.
A massive Thank You to every student who fully participated, as well as the staff, leaders, and families who supported them along the way! You’ve shown that when given the opportunity, our youth truly have no limits.
Here’s to another fantastic year of making a difference!
As another fantastic academic year comes to a close, it’s the perfect opportunity to reflect on what has been an incredible year for Physical Education across XP and XP East. From outstanding sporting achievements to unforgettable experiences and opportunities, our students have continued to demonstrate what it truly means to Work Hard, Get Smart and Be Kind.
This year has been packed with success, participation and personal growth. Students have represented the schools across a wide range of sports, consistently demonstrating determination, resilience and excellent sportsmanship. Whether competing in football, badminton, netball, cheerleading, athletics, cricket or rounders, our young people have worn the XP and XP East badge with pride.
Beyond lessons and fixtures, our students enjoyed a range of unforgettable experiences this year. A fieldwork visit to Manchester City watch high level football, while our first-ever ski trip challenged students to step outside their comfort zones, building confidence, resilience and independence. We also had the opportunity to visit Leeds Rhinos, where students experienced the excitement of professional netball. Back at school, we proudly hosted our first Trust Sports Day, bringing together students from across the Trust for a fantastic day of competition and teamwork, before rounding off the year with our first-ever Sports Awards Evening, celebrating the commitment, achievements and character shown by our students throughout an incredible year.
One of the biggest highlights throughout the year has been the increasing number of students choosing to take part in extracurricular clubs and fixtures. It has been fantastic to see so many students staying active, trying new sports and developing their confidence both on and off the field. The commitment shown by students before school, after school and during competitions has been exceptional.
Our Sports Leaders have also played a vital role throughout the year, supporting events, officiating competitions and acting as positive role models for younger students. Their leadership, organisation and enthusiasm have helped make many events a huge success while developing valuable skills that will benefit them long into the future.
Beyond competition, PE at XP and XP East continues to focus on developing healthy, active lifestyles. Students have embraced challenges, supported one another and shown that success isn’t just measured by winning but by effort, improvement and teamwork. It has been inspiring to watch students push themselves outside of their comfort zones and celebrate each other’s achievements.
None of this would have been possible without the incredible dedication of our PE staff, who continually go above and beyond to provide opportunities for every student to succeed. We would also like to thank parents and carers for their ongoing support throughout the year.
Finally, a huge congratulations goes to every student who has represented XP and XP East this year. Whether you competed in one fixture or twenty, attended every club, achieved a personal best, represented your school with pride or simply found the confidence to try something new, you have all contributed to making this an unforgettable year for PE.
We are incredibly proud of everything our students have achieved. This year has been full of ‘firsts’ that have laid the foundations for an exciting future, and we can’t wait to build on this success next year by providing even more opportunities to learn, compete, explore and thrive through PE.
Make sure you are all ready and prepared for our Academic year of 2026/2027 by having you your PE t shirt ordered and ready.Order here
Have a fantastic summer, and we’ll see you all ready for another exciting year of PE!
From learning how to stay safe over the summer and understanding the importance of water safety, to exploring democracy, employment, finance and the world of work, students across XP Doncaster have continued to engage in thoughtful and meaningful learning through Wise Wednesdays in Crews this term. This newsletter celebrates some of the beautiful work taking place in Crews, reflects on the final term of the academic year and provides a preview of the exciting topics students will be exploring when they return in August…
A huge thank you to our Crew Leaders for creating safe spaces where students can discuss challenging topics, share different viewpoints and learn from one another!
As part of our current expedition, 8.3: Inside the Code, our Year 8 students have been exploring the invisible systems that keep our modern world communicating. But building encrypted networks and powering communication hubs requires energy—and lots of it.
To explore how we can power our future sustainably, we were incredibly lucky last Tuesday to welcome an expert guest into the classroom: Ian Barnes, the Renewable Manager at AE Spinks.
Mr. Barnes spoke to our students about the critical realities of climate change and how we can use environmentally friendly methods to heat our homes. He gave the class a deep dive into the world of heat pumps—a technology currently revolutionising renewable energy across the UK.
Our students got some fantastic “insider facts” about the industry. Mr. Barnes explained the practical realities of his day-to-day role, including the logistics of fitting heat pumps into different types of housing—explaining exactly what makes an installation straightforward, and what makes it tricky. He also shared his overarching mission: to massively increase the number of heat pumps operating across the UK to help reduce our collective carbon footprint.
Learning about engineering is one thing, but actually doing it is another! Following the talk, the students put on VR headsets to step directly into a virtual installation site.
Taking on the role of a heat pump engineer, students had to physically navigate the virtual environment to build, wire, and install their very own heat pump systems. It was an incredible way to bring complex, invisible engineering right into the classroom, allowing students to apply their problem-solving skills in real time.
A massive thank you to Ian Barnes and AE Spinks for taking the time to visit us, sharing their expertise, and letting our students experience the future of green engineering in virtual reality!
At XP East, we believe that creativity is a powerful tool for learning, expression, and personal growth. Our Visual Arts Aptitude route offers a unique opportunity for Year 7 students with a natural flair for creativity to gain a place at a school where the arts are truly valued.
This pathway is open to all children, no prior art training or experience required, just a passion for drawing, designing, and thinking creatively.
Through an inspiring curriculum, expert support, and dynamic extra-curricular opportunities, students will develop their talents across a range of visual art disciplines. If your child loves to create, imagine, and explore the world through art, this is the perfect chance to help them shine. Click here to see highlights from our recent annual XP Festival of Arts and Culture
Apply now and let their creativity take centre stage! Find out more about this here: https://xptrust.info/XPEVA
To ensure a balanced intake of students across all ability levels, all applicants to an XP secondary school must sit a Fair Banding Assessment.
This multiple-choice test focuses on non-verbal reasoning and helps us place students into one of five ability bands. There is no pass or fail, and results are used solely to support a broad and representative admissions process.
Completing the assessment is a key part of the application and must be done to be considered for a place.
Please ensure your child is registered by 31st October 2026 and prepared to attend the assessment on 21st November 2026.
