On Friday, staff came together from across the Trust to plan our Learning Expeditions for the summer term. The day started with schools from across the Trust showcasing their Expeditions from the Autumn Term highlighting the quality of outcomes and opportunities for learners. Expedition Crews focussed on four key areas in terms of quality, namely:
- Products and their legacy
- The effective use of fieldwork and experts
- The quality of Presentations of Learning
- Learning Expeditions as comprehensive Models of Excellence
Following the presentations, Staff Crews critiqued their peers’ work, focusing on areas of success. Subsequently, they determined which elements of each Learning Expedition merited acknowledgement. Finally, the successful school Expedition Crews were nominated to receive a certificate of recognition.
Particularly memorable moments included the strong integrity shown by staff when assessing the quality of work, the specific commitments made to future improvements, and the rigorous and challenging discussions around how we evaluate and judge our work to ensure and enhance the consistency of the high quality we deliver. It is a mark of integrity and in the spirit of Crew when we hold each other to account and have shared expectations of high quality work. It was impressive to see and hear this.
The inspiring presentations on Learning Expeditions motivated staff across our schools as they planned their next expeditions for the summer term. It was encouraging to witness the thoughtful and critical discussions, focusing on connecting Case Studies with key deliverables. This process ensures that learners not only successfully address the Guiding Question for each Learning Expedition but also create a product with genuine purpose and lasting impact that clearly demonstrates their acquired knowledge and skills. Discussions also focussed on the power of critique, drafting and redrafting and how this improves the quality of student work and lends authenticity to completed work.
These sessions are always high energy and inspirational. Teams return to the design process and, together with key learning from the showcase sessions and the Curriculum Core practices, begin to construct their next expedition.
Staff use this time not only for design and planning discussions but also to ‘do the project first’ by developing a staff model product that aligns with the planned key deliverables. Take a look at some of the models created below:
In conclusion, the Expedition Showcase is far more than a simple review of past work; it is the critical engine that drives our collective commitment to excellence. By deliberately choosing to make our work public, we step into a space of rigorous and challenging discussion, holding ourselves and one another to account to ensure the highest consistency in the quality we deliver. This shared act of integrity and the spirit of Crew is what transforms inspiring presentations into specific, actionable and demonstrable commitments for future improvement. As teams return to the design process, they carry with them the knowledge that this powerful cycle of critique, drafting, and redrafting guarantees our learners will engage in high quality learning experiences and create products with genuine purpose, lasting impact, and unquestionable authenticity.
Andy Sprakes
Chief Academic Officer, XP Trust
