Dear Families
Another week of great work at XP Gateshead, even though we only had 4 days in school!
Last week there was a lot of hard work from staff and students alike at XP Gateshead. Character growth alongside academic progress and beautiful work is at the core of our ‘Three Dimensional’ approach for students, staff and leadership, including governance.
The Importance of Crew at XP Trust
Our design principles at XP Trust are summarised in one sentence:
We build our community through activism, leadership and equity, sharing our stories as we go.
Crew is integral to our school’s approach and has been designed with the above in mind as is articulated in our core practices document:
“The cultural heart of XP is expressed through the concept of Crew. This concept is pervasive and runs through everything we do from dedicated Crew sessions, through our curriculum, to the way we enable student and staff voice. Crew is our culture and promotes and sustains the building of community. Crew empowers our students and staff to be activists; to develop their leadership skills; and to be champions of equity. The measure of success in our Trust is weighed through service and kindness as well as the academic success of our children. Crew allows everyone associated with our Trust to become part of something bigger than themselves and fosters a sense of community and belonging, reflected in the stories we share with each other every day.”
If we get crew right, we get everything right!
Our Crew Days each half term give us a chance to revisit character development. They allow us to take time to reaffirm the importance of Crew, building positive relationships through shared experiences and challenges. Students at XPG are ‘Crew not passengers’ and it is vital that we continue to build our crews and culture strong as this is the bedrock of our work at XPG.
On Friday students across Y7, 8, 9 and 10 spent time together revisiting the importance of crew, taking time to tend to, challenge and build crew with a different focus for each year group. Our Y11 students will get a chance for their final crew day before the half term.
G32 Crew Day – Walk for Water
G32 Crews carried out a day of fundraising on Friday completing the Walk for Water challenge linked to their studies from the last learning expedition “Staying Alive”. Across the day, many students walked the equivalent of approximately 10 miles, carrying 5-litre bottles of water around repeated 170-metre laps of the school yard. Each crew worked together to carry five 5-litre bottles for the entire course, taking turns and supporting one another every step of the way. For more details, see the website post.
There is still time to donate – please click on this link if you would like to do so. Thank you to everyone who donated, encouraged and cheered our students on today. They should all feel immensely proud of what they have achieved.
G31 Crew Day
As our Year 8 students develop and mature, we challenge them to get stronger together developing their leadership skills and charity work. Throughout the day they prepared for charity bake sales in school this week, and then in the afternoon worked together as crews to create natural art in Windy Nook Nature Reserve. If you take a walk through there, you will see our students’ work before nature reclaims it over the coming months.
G30 Crew Day
On Friday our Year 9 students worked in Crews exploring the Windy Nook Green Corridor to answer the question: “What is our relationship with the species on our doorstep in the local green corridor?” The day combined an ecological survey, environmental stewardship, and navigational challenges.
Across this year G30 students have had additional crew sessions learning new skills, volunteering and getting physical. Our curriculum at XPG is set up to develop the skills and attitudes young people need to become more rounded, confident adults. Qualities that colleges, universities and employers are attracted to and will not only strengthen the character of our students, but will strengthen their CVs too.
G29 Crew Day
Crew Day for our Year 10 was all about getting ready for their work experience placements taking place this week.
Our students enjoyed a morning session with the great Alfie Joey (writer, comic, artist/cartoonist and BBC Radio Presenter) who talked about the power of public speaking and how best to present yourself in new situations.
Following their morning keynote, students spent the day preparing themselves for the world of work. In anticipation of work experience starting next week, students spent time discussing and researching workplace norms and participating in roleplay to familiarise themselves with employment situations. They took responsibility for contacting their new temporary employers to confirm and finalise details of their placements.
A game of rounders at the end of the day gave students the chance to enjoy time together in their crews.
We also saw a pancake party for Crew Attenborough to celebrate Sir David’s 100th birthday and a home-made pizza party in Crew Stanton (G28).
This week
G28 GCSE exams
This week our Y11 students face a full week of GCSE exams:
- Monday 11th May English Literature component 1 (Romeo & Juliet, Poetry)(am)
- Tuesday 12th May Religious Studies Paper 1 (am), Science – Biology (pm)
- Wednesday 13th May Geography Paper 1 (am)
- Thursday 14th May Mathematics Paper 1 (am)
- Friday 15th May History Paper 1 (am)
A huge thank you to staff and students alike for their hard work and the support they have shown each other. I know that our students have really appreciated the staff support and the timetable changes in place to allow focused revision sessions prior to exams.
Good luck to all of G28 – you have got this!
G29 Work Experience
This week the majority of our Y10 students are on work placements.
This is an important rite of passage for our students and we wish them every success. We would like to thank the families and organisations that are supporting our students this week too.
If there are any queries about your child’s placement please call the school office or email Mr Said [email protected]
Students that have not yet secured placements, or have placements in different weeks must attend school as normal for the week. Tomorrow students will be carrying out media production training with Mr Hewitt which will support their studies in the current Year 10 HUMAN expedition. Following this there are a range of activities across the rest of the week.
G32 and G31 Student Led Conferences (SLCs)
SLCs start for our Year 7 and 8 students and their families this week. Students have worked hard to prepare for their conference, preparing to share their recent work, evidence of work around the pledges they have shared and responses to the questions parents and carers have asked to be addressed in the conference. Please can I remind all families that SLCs, like PoLs, are key moments in the development of our students and it is vital that parents, carers and families fully support SLCs.
You should already have received an email from your child with an updated snapshot and a link to ask questions of them in advance of the SLC. Here is that link if your child has not yet sent that on to you. You will also receive a link to sign up for a time slot from your child’s Crew Leader. Please contact [email protected] if you do not receive this.
PE sessions this week
Our PE sessions this week are as follows. There are some changes due to exams so check the days carefully. Please ensure that your child has their full PE kit.
- G32 students (Y7)
- Class 1 have PE on Thursday this week
- Class 2 have PE on Wednesday this week
- G31 students (Y8) have PE on Tuesday this week
- G30 students (Y9) have PE on Monday this week
- G28 students (Y11) have PE on Monday this week
Extended Study and Clubs
Extended study and after school clubs will not be running this week due to exams and G32, G31 Student led Conferences.
As usual if you have any questions please contact your child’s crew leader in the first instance. Thank you as always for your ongoing support.
Julie Mosley
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