Dear Families
As always, weeks go by at XP Gateshead and they are filled with high quality, beautiful work from our students and staff alike. The cold weather has brought its challenges but these have been made easier in a school community who support each other, showing compassion and care and it’s been wonderful to see this during delayed morning starts due to travel disruptions. A special thanks goes out to Kenzie, Connor, Ryan and Francis who helped us to grit our car park and paths, keeping students, staff and visitors safe on site.
Updates from the week in brief
It has been such a bumper week with Crew Day being a sharp focus and great way to end the week, but so much more has been happening too.
This week Year 11 students have started their 1:1 guidance meetings with Mrs Burns – Careers Lead across our trust. By Wednesday of this week every student will have had personalised guidance about Pos-16 and beyond.
Year 8 have carried out fieldwork this week at Byker Wall in quite challenging conditions. Despite this, the majority of students showed the resilience needed to make the most of the experience. Students worked with experts to gain an understanding of the importance of Byker Wall to Newcastle and how they have tended to the local community.
A Culture of Crew
On Friday we had our first Crew Day of the year which gave all crews the chance to ‘tend’ to and strengthen Crew, to support and challenge each other to be the best versions of ourselves and carry out some important work together. As you know, Crew is our support network at XPG and key to the continued success of everyone at our school.
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G32 students (Year 7) continued their work on researching suitable people after whom to name their crews – people who have achieved great things and who display our character traits of courage, integrity, respect, craftsmanship and quality, and above all compassion. I’m pleased to introduce our four Year 7 crews:
- Crew Booth – (Miss Bennett’s Crew)
- Crew Thomas Hepburn – (Mr Allan’s Crew)
- Thomas Hepburn was a leading figure in the Mining Trade Union Movement, and is the person for whom our school building was named.
- Crew Robson (Miss Ross’ Crew)
- Crew Swan (Mr Diamond’s Crew)
- Named for Joseph Swan, a prominent physicist and chemist and pioneer of electric lighting.
Year 7 have also taken up the advent challenge. Each Crew will create a ‘Reverse Advent Calendar’. The idea being that they will spend the next few weeks in the run up to Christmas, bringing donations for the Gateshead foodbank so that families across our region can have something to look forward to, and can spend the Christmas period knowing that they have been thought of and that people care.
It was great to see our Year 7 students working hard in crews to support each other through their presentation and the advent challenge throughout the day and hear their appreciation for each at the end of the day in our community meeting.
G31 students (Year 8) worked on their pitches for which charity they wanted their crew to support. I’m pleased to introduce our Year 8 chosen charities are:
It is a real testament to the strength of Crew when students share personal connections to charities and why they matter to them and their families. Students really step up when they know that their work matters and it was wonderful to listen to the reasons for the choices of charities in our community meeting.
Students also completed an initiative as a Crew to tackle an escape room, requiring strong communication, collaborative skills and a creative mindset to be successful.
G30 students (Year 9) had the chance to work in the kitchen alongside experts from Nourish Food School on Friday morning. Our visitors were full of praise for the hard work and commitment shown by all students and the high quality food they prepared. Students tried new flavours and for some, really pushed themselves out of their comfort zone in terms of tasting new foods. I hope that families enjoyed the stir fry that was made (if it managed to get home and not eaten before that).
Year 9 also spent time on preparing for their Student Led Conference (SLCs) which start next week, gathering together work to share with their families from different subject areas.
In the final community meeting of the day, G30 shared some of their work from the day on plans for charity events for their respective charities, connecting back to and developing the plans that they made in their first week back in September.
G29 students (Year 10) Crew Day attended to their wellbeing (mind, body, soul) alongside improving their skills of collaboration. Working successfully with others is key to success in school and beyond and as our students move towards GCSE the support of everyone around them is vital. Year 10 Crews enjoyed challenge sessions including badminton. cake decorating, creative expression and problem solving. Across the whole day, crew leaders observed how well they collaborated against success criteria set at the start of the day. I’m really looking forward to our community meeting on Monday when crews will find out final results.
Year 10 also spent some time on their Crew Day returning to thinking about Careers, and possible avenues for exploration around Work Placement which will take place in the Summer Term. Mr Said will talk to all Year 10 families about the practicalities of these placements in the upcoming presentation of learning.
G28 students (Year 11) came together for an inaugural XPG Traitors which started on Wednesday morning and has had us all guessing. After their hard work over the last weeks getting ready for a set of mocks, it was great to see our students relaxing and enjoying their time in crews together. As well as the conclusion of Traitors, students were also working together on activities which supported their preparation for this term’s PoL which will take place on Wednesday 17th December. Each crew was set a challenge to perform a key scene from An Inspector Calls and it was great to see the creativity they showed from drama performances to stop motion play dough modelling. This was a great opportunity for students to reconnect with plot and characters from the play and their work will be put together as a high quality revision resource for themselves and other students to use.
After a busy morning, Year 11 enjoyed a RSC screening of Romeo and Juliet which gave plenty of inspiration for their own acting endeavours.
For all of our students, Crew Day was an important reminder that:
“We are Crew, not passengers, strengthened by consequential acts of service to others.”
Christmas Advent Charity work
Christmas can be a challenging time for many people and every year at XPG we work together to show our care and support to others and support the work of local charities. Our advent challenges were launched on Friday so please talk to your son or daughter to get more details.
As you have seen above, our Year 7 Crews will be taking part in a ‘reverse advent’ food bank collection. Details will follow from Mrs Ross and the Year 7 team.
We have launched a shoebox Advent Challenge for our Crews in Years 8–11 to support the Children’s Heart Unit. Each crew have been asked to put together a shoebox of small comfort gifts—treats, toiletries and other thoughtful items that will be collected in the final week of term and delivered to the Children’s Heart Unit. We aim to gather boxes suitable for a range of ages and are especially keen to include some for parents, who we know often need just as much care and encouragement during long hospital stays.
Our week ahead
G30 Student Led Conferences
This week sees the start of SLCs for Year 9 students, which are taking place over the next couple of weeks. All families should have booked their SLC slot. Please contact [email protected] if you need more support with this.
PE sessions this week
Our PE sessions this week are as follows. Please ensure that your child has their full PE kit.
- G32 students (Year 7)
- G32 Class 1 students have PE on Monday
- G32 Class 2 students have PE on Wednesday
- All G31 students (Year 8) have PE on Tuesday.
- All G30 students (Year 9) have PE on Thursday.
- All G29 students (Year 10) have PE on Monday.
- All G28 students (Year 11) have PE on Monday.
Staff Days – Friday 287th November and Monday 1st December
We have a staff day this coming Friday and next Monday. The focus for these staff days are forward planning, especially our exciting new learning expeditions for term 2 from January. On staff days our students do not attend school and there is no expectation that they complete work beyond their regularly set extended study (homework). Students will find this work on Google classroom.
Looking ahead – important dates
G28 Teacher/Student-Led Conferences
Following their recent round of mocks, G28 students will begin the preparation needed to reflect on their progress and at their next round of Teacher Students Learning Conference (TSLC). Students will sit alongside their subject teachers to present their learning and share their revision plans and readiness for KS4 exams.
The system for booking slots will be shared soon. Slots will be available from 4pm – 7pm on each evening.
- G28 Class 1 will have their TSLCs on the evening of Thursday 4th December.
- G28 Class 2 will have their TSLCs on the evening of Monday 8th December.
POLs (Presentations of Learning) this term – dates for your diary
- G32’s PoL will be on the evening of Tuesday 16th December 2025 at St. Mary’s church in Heworth from 4:30pm until 5:45pm
- G31’s PoL will be on Thursday 11th December in school at 4.30pm
- G30’s PoL is on Tuesday 9th December – starting at 4pm at The Farrell Centre in Newcastle.
- G29’ PoL is on Wednesday 10th December at 4.30pm in school.
- G28’s PoL will be on Wednesday 17th December in school at 4.30pm
As usual if you have any questions about your son or daughter please get in touch with your child’s Crew Leader in the first instance or email general enquiries to [email protected].
Julie Mosley
