Crew is the foundation of XP Schools. In Crew, students reflect on their habits of work and learning, academic performance and their character traits.

Crew helps students to form positive relationships with their peers and supports and challenges them to be the best version of themselves.

To watch more videos about our approach to crew, click here. 

It is important to note that the induction through outdoor adventure at Ullswater Outward Bound in the first week of Year 7 is fundamental to establishing Crew, and so is not an optional part of our curriculum.

We believe that in education, we often underestimate our children. At XP Schools the work is highly academic and highly challenging, because "there is more in us than we know".

Every learning expedition involves the creation of beautiful work. Through critique and multiple drafts, students craft work that is thoughtful, accurate, precise, beautiful and beyond what they might have previously dreamed possible. 

They create portfolios which archive their beautiful work and speak to these during Student-Led Conferences - essentially parents' evenings flipped - where students present to their parents and Crew Leader for 30 minutes on their HoWLs, academic progress and character growth.

We want our students to know that they are important, because their work is important, so expeditions involve public exhibition of work, work that impacts on the community and elements of service learning.

Products are the way in which students show activism in its purest form. It is key that students create beautiful work that makes a difference to the world so that they can grow their characters and become active citizens.

Products enable our students to connect with the world beyond school. This elevates their work and allows them to become positive agents for social change.

Here are some examples of products created by our students at XP Doncaster and the stories behind them.