XP East Review 2026: Distinctive, character-led secondary with a clear improvement agenda

XP East is designed around a small-school model, with daily “crew” groups, a topic-led curriculum built around learning expeditions, and a strong emphasis on character, craftsmanship, and community contribution. Opened in 2017 as part of the XP School Trust, it sits alongside its sister school on the same Doncaster site, and shares the trust’s core approach to relationships and project-based learning.

The most recent full inspection picture is mixed. In June 2024 the school was graded Requires Improvement overall, but with Outstanding judgements for behaviour and attitudes, and for personal development, alongside Good sixth form provision. That combination tends to translate into a school where students feel known and safe, routines are clear, and enrichment is taken seriously, while the academic curriculum is still being tightened to lift exam outcomes.

On results, the data points to a broadly mid-range GCSE profile in England, paired with a sixth form that is currently weaker on A-level outcomes. The school is not complacent about this, and external monitoring in 2025 recorded concrete work on curriculum planning, assessment, and reading, with further improvement still required.

The defining feature of XP East is the “crew” model, small pastoral groups that meet daily and are intended to ensure every student is known well. In practice, that creates a relational culture where staff and students share a common language around conduct, responsibility, and contributing to others. This matters for families weighing up fit, because crew is not an add-on, it is a central organising idea that shapes daily routines and the way adults and students speak about learning, behaviour, and belonging.

Behaviour is a headline strength. Students are expected to treat one another and staff with respect, and there is a strong norm that mistakes are addressed directly, including apologising and putting things right in community spaces. That creates a calm feel day-to-day, and it also frees up time for learning, because lessons are less likely to be derailed by low-level disruption.

The wider culture is also deliberately outward-looking. The curriculum uses themed expeditions intended to help students make links between subjects and connect learning to real-world issues and employment. That can suit students who learn best when they can see a purpose to what they are studying, and who enjoy producing tangible work rather than only writing essays or completing test papers.

Leadership is structured at trust level, and the school’s principal is Claira Salter, who also leads the neighbouring XP School. She was appointed in April 2022. This matters because the improvement work since 2024 is strongly tied to consistency across subjects, common lesson routines, and clearer progression in knowledge and skills, all of which tend to depend on stable leadership and high-quality staff development.

FindMySchool’s GCSE ranking places XP East in a broadly mid-range position across England. Ranked 1825th in England and 7th in Doncaster for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data), it sits in line with the middle 35% of secondary schools in England (25th to 60th percentile).

The underlying GCSE measures reinforce that mixed picture. An Attainment 8 score of 44.4 suggests that overall attainment is not at the stronger end of the England distribution, and the Progress 8 score of -0.33 indicates students, on average, make less progress than similar students nationally from their starting points. Entry to the English Baccalaureate is an area to watch: 21.7% achieved grade 5 or above across the EBacc combination, and the school’s EBacc average point score is 4.11.

For families, the practical implication is this. The school’s culture and personal development may feel stronger than its exam outcomes, and the academic direction of travel matters as much as the headline baseline. The post-2024 focus has been on clearer sequencing, stronger assessment practice, and improving reading, which are the kinds of levers that usually feed through into outcomes over time.

A-level outcomes are currently the weaker part of the published data. Ranked 2400th in England and 12th in Doncaster for A-level outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data), performance sits below England average. The A-level grade distribution shows 16.67% at A and 16.67% at A to B combined, against England averages of 23.6% at A* to A and 47.2% at A* to B.

That said, the sixth form model here is unusual and needs reading in context. Provision is delivered largely through two external specialist settings, which may suit particular students very well, but also means that the published sixth form outcomes reflect a specific cohort and offer rather than a conventional large A-level sixth form.

Parents comparing local options should use the FindMySchool Local Hub pages and the Comparison Tool to view GCSE and sixth form performance side-by-side, because the local spread can be wide, even within the same local authority.

XP East has chosen a curriculum model that foregrounds connected learning. Expeditions are intended to bring subjects together under a theme, with students producing finished work that demonstrates what they have learned. At its best, this approach helps students understand why knowledge matters and how it can be applied, rather than experiencing lessons as isolated compartments.

The challenge, and it is an important one, is ensuring that this model consistently builds the specific knowledge and exam-ready skills required in core subjects. The inspection evidence points to variability in assessment and feedback, and to students not yet achieving as well as they could in external examinations.

Since the 2024 inspection, the trust and school have put significant emphasis on tightening curriculum progression. Subject “planning for progression” documents set out the knowledge students should learn, and staff training has focused on consistent lesson routines, including the ACDC structure (activate, construct, demonstrate, consolidate). The intended implication for students is greater clarity, more consistent expectations, and fewer gaps that remain unnoticed until late in the course.

Reading is another central strand of the improvement work. The school has refined its reading programme, with more deliberate text choices, greater attention to vocabulary, and more precise identification of what support weaker readers need. For families, this is worth asking about directly on a visit: what additional support looks like for students who struggle to decode and comprehend, and how progress in reading is tracked over time.

The sixth form offer is structured differently from most school sixth forms. Students typically attend off-site provision delivered through two specialist partners, including a work-skills focused setting and a creative pathway option that includes music technology and related courses. This can be a genuine advantage for students who want a more applied or creative route post-16, particularly if they are motivated by professional environments, project deadlines, and real-world briefs rather than a purely classroom-based sixth form.

On destinations data, the published cohort is small, which can make percentages swing sharply year to year. For the 2023/24 leaver cohort (15 students), 27% progressed to university, 7% to further education, and 7% into employment. Apprenticeships are shown as 0% in the same cohort.

The most useful way to interpret this is not as a fixed “typical” pathway, but as an indicator of how varied the post-16 and post-18 routes can be in a small, specialist model. Families considering sixth form should ask for the most recent destination breakdown that the school can share, and how guidance is tailored for different aims, university, work, creative industries, or mixed routes.

Admissions for Year 7 are coordinated through Doncaster’s local authority process, with the national closing date listed as 31 October 2025 for September 2026 entry, and offers released on 02 March 2026.

XP East and XP School use a Fair Banding Assessment for applicants. This is a multiple-choice non-verbal reasoning test used to allocate applicants across five ability bands, with the explicit aim of creating a balanced intake. There is no pass or fail, and it is not designed as a selective entrance test. The practical implication is that preparation looks different from grammar school tutoring. Familiarity with the format may help some children feel calmer, but the purpose is representative intake rather than picking only the highest scorers.

For open events, the local authority’s published schedule for the last Year 7 admissions cycle listed a September open evening for XP East, which is consistent with the wider Doncaster pattern. If you are applying for a future cycle, it is sensible to expect open evenings to sit in early autumn, with exact dates published each year by the local authority and the school.

Competition for places can be significant across Doncaster, and the local authority explicitly warns that a number of schools fill up each year. Families shortlisting should use FindMySchoolMap Search to sanity-check travel time and practical daily logistics, especially if you are weighing up multiple options across the borough.

Pastoral structures are anchored in crew. Students meet daily in their group, and the programme is intended to cover relationships, character, wider world themes, and personal development alongside academic routines. In schools that do this well, it reduces anonymity and helps adults notice small changes early, attendance dips, friendship friction, or confidence issues, before they become entrenched.

Personal development is consistently described as a strength, with students encouraged to contribute to the wider community and to take on responsibility for the culture they create. Examples include structured community meetings, character education themes, and a broad set of opportunities beyond exams.

Support for students with special educational needs and disabilities is described as comprehensive, and there is also a group of students accessing alternative provision, with the school aiming to keep those students connected to the wider personal development programme. For parents of students with additional needs, the key question is how academic support and crew-based pastoral support work together, and how the school maintains oversight when provision is delivered partly off-site.

XP East’s enrichment is closely linked to its curriculum identity. Rather than treating extracurricular life as separate from learning, the school’s model places a high value on students producing real work for real audiences. In the inspection evidence, that includes creative products emerging from expeditions, and student work displayed in local museums and sold through bookshops. The implication for students is that quality matters because the audience is wider than the classroom, which can be a strong motivator for students who thrive on purpose and authenticity.

Induction experiences are also distinctive. The school has used team-building expeditions for Year 7, including outdoor trips to the Welsh mountains, which signals a deliberate focus on cohesion and shared challenge at the start of secondary. Families should ask how this is structured each year, what supervision looks like, and how inclusivity is ensured for students who are less confident outdoors.

There is also evidence of sustained work on wider-world themes. Students have participated in climate conference activity focusing on sustainability, and sixth form students have contributed to community action projects across a range of settings, including Yorkshire Wildlife Park and Doncaster Racecourse, as well as supporting forest school developments at local primary schools. This kind of programme tends to suit students who want their learning to be connected to place and community, and it can also support confidence, communication, and presentation skills.

On sports and clubs, XP Trust describes after-school opportunities that can include football, rugby and hockey delivered with support from Doncaster Rovers staff, alongside music and computing clubs. Extended study and after-school activity runs after the formal day on most weekdays, which can be helpful for families who want structured time for homework and clubs rather than an immediate finish.

The trust’s published information indicates a school day that runs from around 8.00am opening, with formal sessions starting at 8.30am and finishing at 3.15pm, and the site remaining open later on most weekdays for extended study and clubs. As a secondary school, wraparound care is typically framed as supervised study and clubs rather than primary-style childcare, and parents should confirm the current weekly timetable and expectations for attendance at after-school sessions.

For travel, the school is positioned close to central Doncaster transport links. The trust notes it is a short drive from Doncaster railway station and walkable for many families, with clear guidance for taxi drop-offs.

• Academic outcomes are still catching up with the model. The school’s culture and enrichment are strong, but published progress measures and the inspection narrative indicate that exam performance has not yet matched the ambition of the curriculum in all subjects. Families should ask what has changed since 2024, and how success is being measured term by term.

• The curriculum structure is not for every learner. Learning expeditions and cross-curricular themes can be motivating, but some students prefer more traditional subject separation and repetitive exam practice. It is worth probing how core GCSE knowledge is built and revisited, especially in English and mathematics.

• Sixth form is specialist and partly off-site. That can be a real positive for the right student, but it is a different experience from an on-site A-level sixth form with large subject choice. Parents should confirm exactly which pathways are available and how pastoral oversight is maintained.

• Admissions include banding assessment. There is no pass or fail, but your child will need to sit the Fair Banding Assessment, and families should be comfortable with a process designed to balance the intake rather than select purely by score.

XP East will suit families who value a strong behaviour culture, structured personal development, and a curriculum that aims to connect learning to real audiences and real issues. The crew model and expedition approach can be a powerful fit for students who want relationships, purpose, and a sense that their work matters beyond the classroom. The main decision is whether you are confident in the school’s academic improvement trajectory, because the published data shows outcomes that still need to strengthen, particularly post-16. For families aligned with the model, the experience can be distinctive; for those seeking a more conventional route, it may feel like a mismatch.