At most secondary schools, teachers have little time to really get to know their pupils. But at this state academy, pupils are divided into small tutor groups of 12 or 13, known as a “Crew”
In their first week, Crews go on an adventure training course in Wales with their team-mates and bond over mountain hikes, abseiling and kayaking
Back in Doncaster, they meet each other and their Crew leader every day to discuss their emotional wellbeing and educational progress
Poncia, for example, has been with her class since they joined XP five years ago
She knows all their families and has helped them through psychological traumas, academic challenges and behavioural problems
There are no uniforms at the school and pupils do not have to stay in their classrooms throughout their lessons. When they are doing their own research, they can work on laptops in the open-plan common room rather than in rows at desks
Most radically, the traditional curriculum has been torn up
There are no history, geography, chemistry, physics, biology, English or maths classes
Students instead learn through academically rigorous interdisciplinary “expeditions”, based on real-life issues
They pick up all the knowledge they need to meet the requirements of the national curriculum and take their exams, but the education is delivered through a prism that makes it seem relevant to their lives
It seems to work
🧑🤝🧑 The school is 11 times oversubscribed, with 550 applications for every 50 places
👨🎓 In 2018, Ofsted judged XP to be outstanding in all categories.
🙋♀️Attendance is way above the national average and so are exam result
Caiden, (second left) whose father works in maintenance for a hotel, says the school has shown him the point of education
“Instead of trying to build you all into the same person, they try to build you how you want to learn”
The students the Times met are all articulate, engaged and animated by their studies
Summer has just recorded a TEDx Talk about the pressures on young people and is putting the finishing touches to her first novel, which the school is helping her to publish
XP was founded by Gwyn ap Harri and Andy Sprakes, two teachers from Doncaster, after researching similar successful models in the United States
“We thought, how could we go back and carry on doing what we were doing when we’ve seen what’s possible for our kids?”
Creativity and curiosity should not be the preserve of the middle classes or private schools, they insist
“Some people want working-class kids to conform. We want them to be able to express who they are and have the same chances as everybody else” thetimes.co.uk/article/no-uni…
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Slovakia’s populist prime minister, Robert Fico, has been injured in a shooting and taken to hospital, according to local reports ⬇️ thetimes.co.uk/article/slovak…
🔺 UPDATE: Slovakia’s populist prime minister, Robert Fico, is in a life-threatening condition after being shot in the street ⬇️
🔺 EXCLUSIVE: The police investigation into Angela Rayner is examining multiple allegations and is not merely limited to potential electoral law offences ⬇️ thetimes.co.uk/article/angela…
At least a dozen officers at Greater Manchester police are investigating the Labour deputy leader over where she lived in the 2010s and the sale of her former council house in Stockport
They are examining tax matters and other issues on top of the question of whether Rayner gave false information for the electoral register when she lived between two former council houses in Stockport in the 2010s
🔺 EXCLUSIVE: top universities recruit foreign students on low grades
Young Britons need straight As to get into Russell Group institutes. But their international classmates may have bought their way in through secret routes thetimes.co.uk/article/cash-f…
Foreign students can buy their way on to highly competitive degree courses with as little as a handful of C grades at GCSE. The courses require British students to have A or A* grades at A-level
Representatives of the elite Russell Group universities were secretly filmed discussing the “back door” routes used to recruit overseas students, who pay much higher fees than their UK counterparts
Ukrainians are resorting to extreme lengths to flee the war as Zelensky wants to lower that age of conscription to 25 as casualties mount in the war with Russia ⬇️ thetimes.co.uk/article/ukrain…
More than 17,100 Ukrainians have been detained by the DPSU trying to leave the country illegally since the Russian invasion thetimes.co.uk/article/ukrain…
Those numbers look set to climb as a contentious new bill seeks to mobilise another 500,000 men for military service
🔷 Could the China outbreak be the start of a new pandemic?
The simple answer is, almost certainly not — but we don’t know for sure
This is how the first days of a new pandemic would look, and the World Health Organisation has already made a request to China for more information on “clusters of pneumonia in children”
In the next few days, 29 motorists will receive warning letters from police reprimanding them for exceeding the speed limit on the cramped streets of a Cornish village
Despite being accused of breaking the law — one of the cars was logged doing 36mph in a 20mph limit — these drivers will not be fined, will receive no points on their licences, and will not be asked to attend a driver awareness course