Here’s a selection of beautiful work from across the XP Trust!
To read about other stories from across the XP Trust, visit xptrust.org.
Crew Nightingale – kindness @ XP
Stitching up a colourful rainforest @ Norton Juniors
E29 Expert – mental health @ XP East
A Marvellous POL @ Norton Infants
Write to us at [email protected] – we want to hear about it, write about it and celebrate it!
Morning revision continues to be very impactful, here are some quotes from students who have been regularly attending:
‘Morning revision is good because it feels like an additional but relaxed lesson. It helps boost confidence for when we get into lessons.’
‘We are provided with the information we need to know. It is a good starting point for us to then do our own further revision.’
‘It is only 25 minutes in the morning and lots of students are at school at that time anyway so it is a good use of time.’
‘I felt much more confident going into this round of mocks because of these sessions. I found revision quicker and easier at home because I had something to build from.’
Morning revision starts at 8:05. On Tuesdays it is English Literature in G6 and on Thursdays it is History in G8. Until Christmas, Literature revision is A Christmas Carol and History revision is People’s Health. These sessions are laying good foundations for returning to these topics in the coming terms. We do not have enough time to fully re-teach texts and topics we have done previously, so this additional time is invaluable!
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.
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.
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.
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:
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 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.
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.
Our PE sessions this week are as follows. Please ensure that your child has their full PE kit.
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.
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.
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
Here’s a selection of beautiful work from across the XP Trust!
To read about other stories from across the XP Trust, visit xptrust.org.
Authentic Art making in Y8 @ XP
And sew it begins… @ Norton Juniors
E30 Explorer – A Debate Full of Energy, Respect and Brilliant Ideas @ XP East
G29 Geography – Has the regeneration of the Ouseburn been a success? @ XP Gateshead
Remembrance Day Celebration @ Norton Infants
Write to us at [email protected] – we want to hear about it, write about it and celebrate it!
On Friday 14th November, G29 geographers headed out to investigate their fieldwork question: Has the regeneration of the Ouseburn been a success?
Students began their route on Shields Road in Byker before walking down the bank towards the Ouseburn Valley. Starting here allowed them to consider whether regeneration has truly been successful if the surrounding areas still scored low on an environmental quality survey.
We were also joined by Dr Mike Jefferies, who shared his extensive knowledge of the history of the Ouseburn and helped bring the area’s past to life.
Below is one of the fascinating images Mike showed us, featuring the old dead house. This building once stood at the mouth of the Ouseburn—close to where the Cycle Hub is today. Historically, the dead house was used to retrieve bodies from the River Tyne.
Students have now reflected on their fieldwork question. Overall, they feel that the regeneration of the Ouseburn has been successful, but agree that more should be done to improve the surrounding area.
Due to crew day activities tomorrow breakfast club will be cancelled – sorry for any inconvenience caused.
On Monday 24th breakfast club will resume at the new time of 8.00 am and will run to 8.25.
The date for the Year 9 Presentation will now be Tuesday 9th December – starting at 4pm; this is the day before the date that had previously been advertised.
This is due to an error on our part in communication The Farrell Centre at Newcastle University. We are very sorry for any inconvenience to families that have already started to make arrangements for the evening.
The presentation will run from 4.00pm – 5.00pm. All families should head to the Farrell Centre, Eldon Pl, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RD, at 16.00. You will then be directed to the the correct building.
This means that the Year 10 Presentation of Learning will now be on Wednesday 10th December in school starting at 4.30pm. In this presentation of learning, students will take the role of teacher, leading mini-sessions on the content that they have learned as part of their expedition.
Also a reminder that:
Human revision continues tomorrow morning at 8:05am.
Tuesday sessions will now focus on A Christmas Carol.
Thursday sessions will now focus on People’s Health.
People’s Health is a history topic covered back in Y9 and our sessions will pick this up again after Christmas too, but morning revision is a great opportunity for students to get ahead and build a bit of confidence and lay some good foundations.
A Christmas Carol was the 1st text we studied at the beginning of Y10 so again, it will be great for students to start reminding themselves about this text again.
Fitness continues to run from 7:15am and breakfast is also available from 7:50
“There is more in us than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps for the rest of our lives, we will be unwilling to settle for less”
Every week we ask students to push themselves and step out of their comfort zones, as part of our relentless focus on the development of character alongside beautiful work and academic success. With this in mind, G28 have stepped up again in terms of their attitude and approach to their latest round of mocks, supported by Years 7 – 10 in their calm movement around the school to ensure that G28 could focus on the task at hand.
At XP we work to ensure that our students grow their character, create beautiful work and achieve academic success. We develop our curriculum so that learning is relevant, purposeful and authentic and we encourage our students to be compassionate citizens, expanding opportunity so that they can impact positively on others both in the school and in the wider community. We work hard to nurture and develop an understanding of how kindness, empathy and concern for others must define us, as both individuals and also as part of society, if we are to create a more just and compassionate world. Students work hard, so that they can get smart, so that they can go out into the world and be kind.
Here are some of the highlights from this last week:
G32 have this week completed fieldwork which supported their guiding question of “What’s the story of our community?” and their’ studies of the Industrial Revolution and the importance of coal in shaping life in the Northeast. The workshops encouraged speaking, listening, and historical investigation, helping students make meaningful connections between their Human studies and their work in STEAM where students have been building on their understanding of state changes and how George Stephenson applied these principles to experiment with the development of steam engines and machinery that powered the Industrial Revolution.
Students in G31 this week met with Mr Sadan Dhodari, Vice Principal of Nagarjuna Academy in Kathmandu. This expert session was focussed on Hindu beliefs and teaching about the value of life, what it means to live a good life and the afterlife in support of their guiding question: “What does it mean to be Human?”.
Excitingly, we have also discussed with Sadan. and the Principal Mr Sunil Sijipati, future partnerships, especially around our curricular seam of Protecting the Planet, which is a major focus of the curriculum at Nagarjuna, Nepal being particularly exposed to the consequences of climate change.
A group of students this week met with Ålliance Healthcare workers from the NHS this week to learn more about some of the roles in the NHS that are typically less well-known but just as integral to supporting us all to live healthy lives. Expert speakers included physiotherapists, podiatrists and a dietetic assistant.
Students in G29 braved the weather to complete fieldwork in the Ouseburn. They collected data to investigate the regeneration of the Ouseburn area in Newcastle. Students were joined by Northumbria University geographer Michael Jeffries, who provided valuable insight into the history and geography of the Ouseburn. In the coming weeks, students will analyse their findings and answer the fieldwork question: “Has regeneration had a positive impact on the Ouseburn?”
Following their mocks, G28 had a range of speakers in school on Friday morning from local Post-16 providers: Cardinal Hume Sixth Form, Gateshead College, Newcastle College and Newcastle Sixth Form College. These sessions prompted further thought and discussion from our students about next steps. More on this below, as G28 prepare for their 1:1 careers guidance interviews starting this week.
Over the next two weeks, all students in G28 will have a 1:1 meeting with Kathryn Burns, our Trust Careers Lead for impartial advice on their next steps at Post-16 and beyond into their career.
To support students in preparing for this, please continue to have conversations at home around your child’s next steps; you can use our Careers Website to start conversations. It is important at this stage in the academic year for all students in Year 11 to start preparing for and putting together applications. The message from all providers that spoke to students on Friday was to keep options open and put in multiple applications to a range of providers. We will reinforce this message and continue to support students through Crew.
G30 students will be carrying out fieldwork to support their guiding question “How can structures help us to explain our world?” Please Miss Jones’ post for further details.
G31 will this week have another expert session where they will have the opportunity to talk to individuals whose lives have been impacted by organ donation. This has been a wonderful session in previous years and really propels students to invest in the quality of their work to promote organ donation through their artistic final product.
This Friday will be a Crew Day for all cohorts from Year 7 to Year 11. Each cohort will have a different focus, ranging from supporting charities and local partners, to crew identity.
Each Crew Day is an opportunity to tend to Crew and return to the principle that: We are crew not passengers, strengthened by acts of consequential service to others.
This time invested reaps dividends not just in terms of strengthening Crews, but also in our wider Culture of Crew which is evident in classrooms on a day to day basis.
Our PE sessions this week are as follows. Please ensure that your child has their full PE kit.
Year 9 will be carrying out SLCs in the fortnight commencing Monday 24th November. If you have not already done so, you should receive an invitation to book a slot from your child’s Crew Leader.
We have staff days each term at XP so that our teachers can collaborate across the Trust to create and deliver the high quality curriculum that our students study. These are shown in blue on our calendar. 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.
As usual if you have any questions about your child please get in touch with your child’s Crew Leader in the first instance.
Julie Mosley
Here’s a selection of beautiful work from across the XP Trust!
To read about other stories from across the XP Trust, visit xptrust.org.
Crew Brunel: Back in Action! @ XP
A Splashing Success @ Norton Juniors
Weekly Update for Families @ XP Gateshead
Write to us at [email protected] – we want to hear about it, write about it and celebrate it!
