Curious about the XP Festival lineup?
Here’s a hint: students from every XP Trust school will be sharing their passions through vibrant art installations, dance, storytelling, and live music! This is a key moment in our XP Live programme, giving young people authentic opportunities to produce and perform work that has agency and legacy.
Get your tickets here!
Often, when you look back on the week past it is hard to believe that so much can be achieved in a week and this is definitely the case for last week. So much achieved – our final GCSE exams, G28 art and photography invigilation, G30 working with IntoUniversity, our G31 PoL, G28 art and photography exhibition and our first XPG Live!
A simply stunning week which showcased the arts at XPG. And as always, the power of crew!
If you haven’t read the blog ‘Just another day… at XP Gateshead‘ written by Andy Sprakes last week, please take the time to do this. It’s a beautiful read about the great work of our students and the power they have. We get the chance to see your children and their greatness every day and see how hard they are working to produce beautiful work, grow their character and be successful academically. We also get the chance to see and hear them challenging and supporting each other to be better and, like staff here, our students ‘sweat the small stuff’ and have high expectations of themselves and their peers.
There are always many to thank for the support they give to us at XP Gateshead and just last week the following individuals and organisations worked with our students and school. This week we thank:
This week we celebrate the work of our G28 Pioneers as their five years with us comes to the end. We have repeated the words of Kurt Hahn many times over the past 5 years to our G28 students
“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.”
Well G28 have definitely made us see it! They have worked alongside us to build our school and make our 3D curriculum aims (students produce beautiful work, develop their character and achieve academic success) a reality. As Pioneers, they have led the way, setting the bar time and time again as everything has been a first.
I often say that we have been building the boat, whilst sailing the boat and at times the boat has had holes in along the way but having a crew like G28 has allowed us to build our boat strong! And year on year they have led new crews joining us, modelling what it means to be a student at XPG, showing everyone what it means to be crew.
See the recent post for more information on this week for G28.
This week all Year 7 to Year 10 students will start work on a written reflection of the year which will be shared with you alongside their Crew Leader reflections and a final snapshot at the end of term.
On Tuesday of this week, a small group of students from Year 9 and Year 10 will be travelling via minibus during the school day to Durham University to take part in a ‘Girls into Engineering’ event. Students will need their regular kit and a packed lunch.
The students taking part are: G29: Winnie R. Scarlett S, Lyra A, Hallie W Eliza A-H, & G30: Evie N, Lily-Ann B.
On Wednesday of this week our Y7 students will be taking part in a fieldwork visit to study the River Tyne in support of their guiding question “How does water shape our world?”.
Students will carry out Geography fieldwork skills, including basic data collection techniques and observational skills, through practical activities and investigations in our local river environment. For more details please see Mrs Ross’ post here.
Students that are involved in our Festival of Arts were given a letter to take home. This letter has more details around the timings of the day. If you have any questions please contact Mr Said. Since this fieldwork ends outside of the normal school day, please ensure that the reply slips are returned promptly.
The forecast for the day is warm and sunny, so as well as a packed lunch (an optional packed tea / snacks) students will need suncream and as always a filled water bottle is needed too.
Thanks to all of the families that have indicated their thoughts around pathways for G30 students as they start GCSE and Level 2 courses. If you have not already done so, please let us know your thoughts by completing this form.
Staff will be meeting this week to finalise pathways for next academic year. Crew Leaders will then be in contact with families to confirm finalised pathways, or to pick up where additional conversations with families are needed.
Staff will be meeting this week to finalise pathways for next academic year. Crew Leaders will then be in contact with families to confirm finalised pathways, or to pick up where additional conversations with families are needed.
Our PE sessions this week are as follows. Please ensure that your child has their full PE kit.
Friday is the first of our staff days this half term, the second is on Monday 29th June. Our staff team will be planning for next year’s expeditions. Students will not be expected to be in school on Friday or Monday.
After school clubs and extended study will run on Tuesday and Wednesday this week only due to staff meetings on Monday and G28 Celebration event on Thursday.
Monday is the second of our staff days this half term (and the last this academic year).
We are really looking forward to welcoming our new G33 students into school on Tuesday 30th June and Wednesday 1st July for transition. Our new students will get a feel for XPG across these days where students will join us for two ‘regular days’ at XPG arriving from 8:00am for an 8:25am start and staying with us until 3:15pm. Our new Year 7 students will follow a typical day at XPG on both days which will include some crew sessions, expedition sessions and a community meeting.
As we come towards the end of the year, students will complete end of year assessments in all KS3 cohorts.
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
G28 Final Word presentations begin this coming Monday. We are incredibly proud to see our pioneers reach this significant milestone.
Parent/carer slots have now been fully booked. For your reference, the schedule for the week is as follows. Please arrive promptly so we can run to schedule.
Students are expected to stay to celebrate their whole crew and we warmly invite you to stay for the duration of your child’s crew presentation if your schedule allows, as this is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the entire crew community.
Final word will start with a message from the crew leader so please make sure your child is in on time to hear the start.
Please encourage your child to reach out to us if they need support or have any questions regarding their presentation. They may also find it helpful to connect with peers in their cohort for encouragement.
Remember, we are still a G28 crew! Students are welcome to attend the Final Word presentations of other crews.
Finally, please note that we will hold a concluding Community Circle on Friday, 26th June, at 2:00 PM (the day after prom). It is important for all students to attend as we come together to celebrate their achievements and success.
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.
Why is the seaside such a special place? @ Norton Infants
Duke of Edinburgh success @ XP School
Year 10 fieldwork to the Holocaust Museum @ XP East
Year 6 Heart Art @ Norton Juniors
Write to us at [email protected] – we want to hear about it, write about it and celebrate it!
On Thursday 25th June, join our Crew at XP Doncaster for a joyful celebration of creativity. Expect live music, powerful performances, and the beautiful work that defines our students. Grab your free tickets today!
On Wednesday, 24th June, G32 students will be heading out of school to carry out Geography fieldwork skills, including basic data collection techniques and observational skills, through practical activities and investigations in our local river environment.
This fieldwork will consolidate the students’ understanding of river geography, which they have been studying in class, and allow them to see the impact of human activity along the Newcastle and Gateshead Quayside. The planned activities are designed to meet National Curriculum standards while engaging our students in practical, meaningful geographical investigation through observation and field sketching.
We will be travelling by metro and on foot, so students will need:
Students need to be in school at the normal time of 8:25 am, ready to be briefed at 8:30 am, and leave at 8:50 am.
We expect to return to school no later than the normal school day but we will update our website should there be any delays.
Tomorrow Year 8 students will be involved in both their Presentation of Learning and the first hour of XPG Live. Both events are a celebration of Diversity & Belonging – one of our three curricular seams which also include: protecting out planet and making a stand for social justice.
The Year 8 PoL starts at 1.45pm.
XPG Live starts at 3.30pm and is open to all children from XP and their families.
More details of both can be found in this post.
Good morning
The link to purchase branded clothing has now been updated on our website. We are still using the same provider, however they have a new website and a new link to the shop.
It is not an expectation that students wear branded clothing, however in particular the branded polo shirts are useful for events such as presentations of learning.
More details of our dress code can be found here. This has also been updated with the new link to the branded clothing shop.
The direct link to the brnaded clothing shop is here:
https://romirosport.com/product-category/education/xp-gateshead/
“At XP, we build our community through activism, leadership and equity, sharing our stories as we go…”
This one ‘simple’ statement captures all of the work we do and the design of every aspect of our school:
Last week, as ever, there were many examples of staff and student work which brought this statement to life Here is just some of the great work from last week:
Last week G31 had a range of experts in school supporting them with preparation for their Presentation of Learning and their role in the first XPG Live event. A reminder that all Year 8 families are expected to be at school on Thursday afternoon and then other families can attend after school. For more details of those events please see this post.
On Wednesday, Dr Scott Boldt from The University of Cumbria and Big Picture joined our Year 8 students to help them to understand migration to and from and within the island of Ireland.
Our Chief Academic Officer, Andy Sprakes, has written about this fantastic opportunity for our students here.
Also on Wednesday experts from Phosphorus Theatre worked with Year 8 students in a drama workshop which explored the lived experience of refugees. Out students have used this to help them to devise pieces of drama which will be performed to families this Thursday.
On Friday of this week all Year 8 students worked with Kema Kay, a local writer, actor and musician to initiate the composition of a piece which will be performed on Thursday. Along with Rob Kitchen from Gateshead Music Hub, Kema supported our students to devise rap lyrics, using a piece of Punjabi music as a stimulus alongside ideas from their current expedition. This will be followed up tomorrow with another session with Haaji Ka Halva who will run expert workshops supporting our students to use music technology to further develop and remix the music that they have written.
As part of their continued preparation for Post 16 pathways and careers education, a group of our G30 students visited Northumbria University this week.
Our continued work with Newcastle University, Northumbria University and Durham University is indicative of our ambition for all students. A university pathway is something that all children should both consider and be prepared for.
On Friday last week we also had a native Spanish speaker in school, who worked with students throughout the day to help them to develop their speaking and listening. Thanks for Pedro for spending the day with us!
On Friday this week, G30 and G29 students spent the day at Gateshead College Academy for Sport. The day included access to a range of sports: cricket, rugby, football and athletics using the world class facilities at the college. Students met staff and student leaders from the college as well as participating in sports throughout the day.
This week our G28 students will sit their final GCSE exams.
We have continued to put timetable changes in place to allow focused revision sessions prior to exams and make sure that our Y11 students are fully prepared. These are in place for Spanish and Further Maths students during session 2 and 3 on Monday following the Science exam. All other students can leave site after the Science exam on Monday. Spanish students are able to leave site at the end of session 3 on Monday.
On Thursday this week, we have a moderation visit which will finalise the grades for G28’s photography and fine art GCSEs. A huge appreciation goes out to Ms Macphail and Mrs Carter who have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to help students to fulfill their potential as well as managing the logistics of moderation and the subsequent exhibition of the students’ work.
For G28 Families coming to school, we must emphasise that this work is still live GCSE work. Therefore there are some quite strict protocols that must be followed to ensure that all families can enjoy the artwork in a way which does not compromise the students’ hard work.
Another reminder that on Thursday we have three important events in school. Both the Year 8 Presentation of Learning in the afternoon and our first XPG Live event after school are a celebration of the diversity and belonging within our community. We hope to see as many of you there as possible. As part of XPG Live G28’s artwork is also being exhibited (as per the note above).
For more details of those events please see this post.
Our PE sessions this week are as follows. Please ensure that your child has their full PE kit.
After school clubs and extended study will run on Tuesday and Wednesday this week only due to SLCs and our XPG Live event.
We are really looking forward to seeing our Y11 students in school with their families across the week commencing Monday 22nd June to present their Final Words. Final Word is the last formal presentation that our students deliver at XPG. It provides students with an opportunity to reflect on their learning, celebrate their achievements, and consider how far they have grown their character at the end of their time at their XPG as well as their readiness to move on to the next phase of their education. As has always been the case with our G28 Pioneers, they will be the first students at XPG to complete Final Words and I am really excited to hear from all of our students and I couldn’t be prouder of them and their time with us at XPG. They have continued to set the bar showing us all that there is indeed more to us than we know!
Our G28 Celebration Evening (Prom) takes place on Thursday 25th June and the coach will be leaving from school to transport all students to Beamish Park Hotel at 6:30pm. The school site will be open from 5:30pm for students to get photos with others. The coach will be leaving Beamish Park Hotel at 10:30pm then arriving back at school at 11pm. Parents need to make arrangements to get their children home at this point.
We will have a final G28 community circle on Friday 26th June at 2pm in school with staff and students to appreciate our G28 Pioneers and their XPG journey. This will finish at around 3:15pm.
Friday is the first of our staff days this half term, the second is on Monday 30th June (these are our last staff days this academic year). Our staff team will be planning for next year’s expeditions as well as sharing their work this year in their Educator Led Conferences (ELCs – think SLCs for staff). On Friday we will also have our final G28 Community Meeting at 2pm.
Students will not be expected to be in school on Friday 26th, or Monday 29th June.
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
G30 (Einstein, Kahlo and Darling) are scheduled to arrive back at XPGateshead at 15.25.
We’ve have a fantastic day, get ready to greet some worn out students!
