Dear Families
We welcomed all of our students and staff into school last week so for the first time, five year groups were all together. We are delighted by how our new G32 students have all settled into school and how students in other year groups have welcomed our new cohort, settled into their new classes and sessions and daily life of school. A Kurt Hahn quote that has continued to resonate with us over these last weeks is
“We are crew not passengers, strengthened by acts of consequential service to others”
We build our culture of crew at XP Gateshead so that all members of our school community are impelled to work together as a team, to pitch in, to help others. This happens in crew, in classrooms, during social times and at the start and end of the day.
Students are settling into their new classes, working with new teachers, new learning partners and getting used to new spaces. Unfortunately, we are still without a theatre space so are unable to have whole school community meetings in person at the moment. We’ve been pleased with how adaptable and mature our students have been especially during lunchtimes as we get used to another 50 students on site.
Last week saw the start of immersion for all new learning expeditions. Immersion is an opportunity for students to dip their toe into the content of the learning expeditions, to build background knowledge and generate curiosity about the guiding question for the expedition. Guiding questions are revealed to students at the end of each immersion.
G32 – Year 7
G32 started their week in Crews unpacking what they learned at Ullswater about ‘What it means to be Crew’ and considering how that is applied back at school with an additional question: “What will my learning be like at my new school?”
All Crews took time to curate their Outward Bound fieldwork and the individual journeys they had all taken along with the character traits they had demonstrated. They then spent time agreeing their crew norms and what they would look like, sound like and feel like in classrooms.
All G32 students have now set up their iPads and completed initial Google training as part of their induction to school. Students have resigned our ICT acceptable use agreement, which helps to ensure that students use technology appropriately and most importantly safely.
A fully charged iPad is now expected as part of daily kit for G32 students, as well as headphones. We advise against buying expensive headphones.
There is additional guidance for families here on setting up apple accounts to download additional apps, and also on how to set sensible boundaries at home using screen time functions and parental controls on your home Wifi router.
G31
G31 have completed their immersion which included study of the human body through the emotional true story of Peter the human cyborg and also Bill Bryson’s texts “The Body: A guide for inhabitants” and “A short history of nearly everything”. In a bumper week, they have been introduced to the text “Noughts and Crosses” by Malorie Blackman, studied various creation stories and considered what makes effective speeches. All of this has come to a focal point with their guiding question revealed to be “What does it mean to be Human?”
Students also carried out fieldwork at The Baltic gallery where they were toured the exhibits and took part in workshops which provoked thoughts connected to their guiding question around human creativity, conflict and how art can be used as an important form of expression.
On Friday they met with excerpts from the RVI in Newcastle which will be the home for their final product: artwork which promotes organ donation in children – a much-overlooked area in the national conversation around public health.
G30
G30 started their new expedition by learning about the geography and history of Russia around the turn of the 20th century. Connected to this, and to build further background knowledge they have also been studying the atomic bombs that were dropped at the end of WWII, and have seen further evidence of the power of the atom by learning about the impact of the Chernobyl meltdown in the former Soviet Union. They have also used Ken Loach’s film “I, Daniel Blake” to develop questions and curiosity about how societal and governmental structures can impact on the way that we live our lives.
On Thursday our G30 students participated in local fieldwork, collecting primary data to answer an enquiry question : “Are there inequalities on Gateshead High Street?”
G29
G29 have also found out their guiding question “To what extent does transformation benefit society??”
As part of their immersion, students first discovered what the Vikings were not, where they looked at some of the misconceptions that people have of them. They also investigated a ‘Viking Horde’ to discover what artefacts they had, what materials they were made from and what it tells us about Viking lives. This also led to students considering how objects can tell a story which connects to their GCSE Art projects. We also did some close reading of travel writing to provide pupils with a background knowledge of Scandinavia, whilst deepening their understanding of literary devices.
In Science immersion we began to explore the properties of metals and what makes them useful, and performed a simple extraction reaction that helped them revisit the reactivity series of metals.
In English, students have been considering conditions in workhouses such as that at Southwell to better understand the social and historical context of the novel ‘A Christmas Carol’.
G28
G28’s new expedition kicked off with a focus on History and explored Elizabeth’s famous quote ‘I have already joined myself in marriage to a husband, namely the kingdom of England. Better beggar woman and single than Queen and married’. Students also watched a mystery piece of Elizabeth’s famous speech at Tilbury to demonstrate what a passionate queen of England she was.
Students have also begun to read an abridged version of Romeo and Juliet in order to create a storyboard and character map to support their reading and analysis of the original text.
Our week ahead
G32 students (Year 7) have their first academic fieldwork this week
Year 7 students will continue with their immersion this week, continuing to develop curiosity around what their new guiding question could be.
This week students will carry out fieldwork focused on a geological and historical enquiry around the former Whitburn Colliery Pit.
Year 7 Class 1 Students will carry out this fieldwork on Wednesday 10th September with Year 7 Class 2 completing it on Thursday 11th. Please see the website post from Mr Said which details the kit needed, packed lunch requirements and timings for the day.
Year 7 PE sessions take place on Monday for Class 1 and Wednesday for class 2 this week so students need a full PE kit to change into on these days.
G28 Into University Sessions
On Tuesday this week, a cohort of our G28 students have their next session with Into University – who provide learning experiences designed to inspire young people to consider university, especially when they are from backgrounds that are underrepresented in the wider university population.
G31 Safety in the community
In light of the tragic events that struck our community last academic year, our younger students have an important session with the Tyne & Wear Fire Service on Wednesday this week. This session will highlight some of the risks that come from anti-social behaviour. Our Year 7 students will have a similar session later in this half-term.
PE Sessions this week
- G32 Year 7
- Class 1 have PE on Monday this week
- Class 2 have PE on Wednesday this week
- G31 have PE on Tuesday this week
- G30 have PE on Thursday this week
- Both G29 and G28 have PE on Monday this week
Meeting our expectations
Dress code
As you know at XP, we believe that:
- Children need to learn to express themselves responsibly.
- Children are not all the same, so they should not be forced to look the same.
- Families would rather spend their money on clothes that their children can wear inside and outside school.
We do not have a school uniform however we do have a dress code and we ask our students and staff to dress appropriately and modestly.
For a normal day within school, we do not think it appropriate that students wear:
- Hats, hoods & coats inside school
- Revealing clothing, i.e. revealing the midriff, chest or upper thigh
- Noticeable make-up, including false eyelashes
- Valuable, sentimental or impractical accessories / jewellery (eg. heavy chains, thick sovereign rings, or false nails)
- Impractical footwear (eg. sliders, flip-flops or high heels)
Please see our website post on dress code so you are aware of our expectations and can fully support these.
Punctuality
Can I remind all families that students need to be in school for an 8.30am start to sessions. They must arrive by 8.25am at the latest. There will be staff in school supervising so students can arrive from 8.00 am. The vast majority of our students had perfect punctuality last week but not all of them. Please support us with our high expectation around punctuality to school.
Extended Study
Teachers will start to set extended study this week and students will begin to build their extended study timetable.
After school extended study sessions will start next week and students attending these sessions must stay until the end of the session at 4.30pm. These sessions allow students to work with their peers and staff on extended study tasks in school where support is on hand.
We will be launching our new lunchtime and after school clubs programme by the end of September.
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].
Thank you as always for your ongoing support. Together we are stronger #WeAreCrew.
Julie Mosley
