All of our G32 students will be heading to South Shields beach this Friday 3rd July to conduct a beach clean and carry out scientific activities as part of their fieldwork, in their expedition ‘How Does Water Shape Our World’. They have been learning about the impact of plastic pollution on our waters and in partnership with surfers against sewage, are going to take action by attempting to make our local coastline cleaner!
Students will be leaving directly from crew and travelling via metro to the beach. It is really important that students are prepared and they should be dressed appropriately for the activities and the weather – sportwear, trainers, sun cream and a light rain jacket just in case. They should bring a packed lunch to eat at the beach, along with plenty of water and a small amount of money if they would like to purchase an ice cream.
If you have any questions about the day, please contact your child’s Crew leader in the first instance.
The weather forecast for tomorrow is partly cloudy with highs of 21°C. There is a chance of a rain shower in the afternoon, but otherwise the day looks dry. Therefore, the G29 Crew Day at Sandhaven Beach will go ahead as planned tomorrow.
Students will need to arrive at school on time to be able to leave site promptly to get the metro in the morning. The should be dressed appropriately for the activities and the weather – sportwear, trainers and a light rain jacket just in case. They should bring a packed lunch to eat at the beach and a small amount of money if they would like to purchase an ice cream.
If you have any questions about the day, please contact your child’s Crew leader in the first instance.
Following the hard work that G29 have put into their mock exams and their SLCs this year, the G29 team will be running an additional Crew Day for the year group on Wednesday this week (1st July). As is the case for every Crew Day, this will be an opportunity for student to tend to Crew and build the foundations of support that will help them through Year 11 next year.
Weather permitting, the students will travel to Sandhaven Beach, South Shields via metro where Crew leaders have planned a series of creative activities, team building games and stewardship exercises for the students will get involved in. The entire day will take place during normal school hours. Students should bring a packed lunch and a small amount of money for an ice cream if they would like to buy one. Clothing should should be appropriate for walking and other active games (sportswear and trainers are ideal), as well as being appropriate for the weather.
The weather forecast is currently in flux for Wednesday, and there may be a mixture of sunshine and showers. Crew leaders will make a final decision on whether to travel to Sandhaven Beach on Tuesday evening in light of the most up-to-date weather forecast. Should the weather dictate that a trip to the beach would not be appropriate, G29 will stay in school and take part in an alternative Crew day designed to tend to Crew on site, sportswear and trainers will still be appropriate in this instance, but a packed lunch and money for an ice cream will not be required.
If you have any questions about the day, please contact your child’s Crew leader in the first instance.
Tomorrow (Tuesday 30th June) students will be going on fieldwork to the Discovery Museum to have a workshop and guided exhibition tour titled ‘Destination Tyneside‘. Students will work as historians interacting with and analysing primary source materials that documents migration to the North East over time. Students will then be guided around the exhibition space by another expert, following the stories of 5 individuals and connecting with our RS studies about the development of religious communities and the importance of diversity and belonging.
Students will eat their packed lunch at the Discovery Museum. We will then undertake some Geography fieldwork which we have already begun preparing for in the classroom by analysing secondary source material. Students will gather primary qualitative and quantitative data at 3 sites along Westgate Road to help them to answer the enquiry question ‘To what extent has migration created a unique character of place on Westgate Road?’
We will be travelling by metro and then in the afternoon walking Westgate Road; for this reason, students must be wearing appropriate, comfortable footwear (NO CROCS). The weather is mixed tomorrow, it will be warm but with some showers – students should bring a light waterproof jacket as well as a hat and suncream. A reminder that students must have a water bottle, a packed lunch, full pencil case and an iPad. If students are NOT dressed appropriately, they will be expected to use kit loaned from school.
We will be leaving school at 9am so it is important students arrive promptly to school. We will be back at school by 3:15pm.
Any questions, please direct to your child’s crew leader in the first instance.
GCSE results day is the 20th August. Students and families will be welcomed into school from 9am to collect their results. We look forward to seeing you there!
Results Day will be organised as follows:
Each Crew has a designated area within the Dining Area
Students can open their results envelope by themselves, with their crew leader or leave school to open them.
Crew leaders will have the results for their crew and can speak to students after they have received their results if they need to.
Results can be collected between 9am and 11.30am. School will be closed afterwards.
If students are not able to come to collect their results they must email Mr Mead ([email protected]) from their school email account and request their results be sent to them. Results will be emailed to their school account by the Central Exams Administrator.
If students have any concerns about their exam results they must email Mr Mead, Mr Said or Mrs Mosley outlining their concerns.
Official GCSE certificates arrive in School late October, students will be invited to a presentation evening in November to receive their certificates. .
Yesterday saw the third annual celebration of arts and culture across XP Trust and what a celebration it was! With temperatures soaring, students and partners braved the heat to deliver a festival rich in engagement, quality and community. Young people from every school across our Trust and other partners came together at XP Doncaster to perform and share their work. In addition, the Festival included a number of Presentations of Learning and input from one of our experts, artist (name) who co-created with visitors to the Festival a community piece of art that linked to the Year 8 Expedition ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go?
“With temperatures soaring, students and partners braved the heat to deliver a festival rich in engagement, quality and community.”
The stage arrived at 6.30am (thanks to James and Pete) and was swiftly assembled as was the sound system so that students could begin to perform in the early afternoon. The Festival was opened by Dave Evans, whose work on making this a reality is truly inspiring, who introduced Noah Hopewell, our opening act on keyboard, who provided the audience with two stunning performances. This was followed by the Daggers with an indie flavoured set. Next up was Jensen Dickens with a solo acoustic performance. He played and sang beautifully followed by the Velcro Hearts whipping up the audience with an assured performance of the Oasis classic. ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’.
We were then joined by students from XP Gateshead who had travelled down from the North East to perform. Five bands played a range of songs in a variety of styles – from ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ to ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go?’ After this there were a series of solo performances by students under the expert tutelage of Zawedde which were both moving and showed the progress the vocalist had made over the course of the year. Special mention must go to the two groups of dancers and cheerleaders who braved the heat of the mats in front of the stage to deliver their performances!
The vocal group Vox Pops then graced the stage and put on a performance of high quality, enhanced by the accompaniment of their backing band (take a bow Geoff, Dave Harvey and Jensen).
At 3pm the festival moved into its next phase as we opened our doors further to parents, partners and members of the community to enjoy Presentations of Learning from Year 7, 8 and 9, the context of this work elevated by delivery from the main stage. Year 7 culminated their expedition by answering the Guiding Question, ‘How Does Water Shape Our World’ with a pertinent and timely message about the need to be safe around open water which was supported by the fire and rescue service. Year 8 shared their work from ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go?’ which engaged with the compelling Guiding Question, ‘Is Migration Worth the Risk?’ showcased by the permanent and beautiful mural students created to raise the awareness of the challenges facing migrants and refugees alongside local artist Phil Padfield who also attended the Festival to engage our wider community in a graffiti art project linked to the expedition as part of the Festival. Also, Sacha Gray from Community Arts organisation ‘Right Up Our Street’ visited the festival to interview a group of Year 8 students about their work which will be installed, with the support of RUOS, to impact positively in the Balby Bridge estate in Doncaster highlighting the importance of art in bringing communities together. Year 9 held a village fete style experience for their PoL where different stalls covered the different aspects of their expedition that had focused on ‘Protecting Our Planet’. In addition, as part of the culmination of learning, students displayed to parents their learning about coding and programming micro:bits!
“Sacha Gray from Community Arts organisation ‘Right Up Our Street’ (RUOS) visited the festival to interview a group of Year 8 students about their work which will be installed, with the support of RUOS, to impact positively in the Balby Bridge estate in Doncaster highlighting the importance of art in bringing communities together.”
Next up were a visiting band from New College, INOCULUM, who treated our guests to some very heavy rock. After some further stunning vocal performances from Sara and Pixie. The XP Jazz Band took to the stage to bring a chilled out, sophisticated vibe to the early evening performances. This was followed by two rock bands from Norton (what a vocal performance from Logan!) and Carcroft that were quite simply breathtaking. This was interspersed with a high energy and vibrant performance by the Samba Bands from Plover and Green Top (so good they did it twice!!) Thank you to Tom and Harvey who have worked tirelessly with these students over just seven weeks to get them performance ready – remarkable!
The final part of the evening was fired up by sets from the long established band The Roses, followed by the Brackets and Crash Radio.There were some inspired performances of real high quality and range – it was humbling to see how much progress and how accomplished these bands have become over the course of recent years building on their experiences of being patriot of our year long XP Live performance opportunities. My particular favourite was Crash Radio’s rendition of the Sex Pistol’s ‘Anarchy in the UK’!!
The festival culminated with an awe-inspiring parade featuring all of our Primary Schools, resulting in African songs and dancing led by our old friend Xolani – who is amazing!! What a sight it was to behold young people from across our primary schools fully engaging in music and dancing. It was very moving and uplifting.
The festival was closed by our long term friends, partners and residents, Doncaster Youth Jazz Association. As always their Swing Band, that is just about to embark on a tour of Herten in Germany, completed the evening with sophisticated Jazz classics and upbeat swing versions of popular songs. It was a fantastic end to a wonderful day.
“weaving together community, character, and performance into a singular, elevating experience.”
The XP Trust Festival of Arts and Culture 2026 serves as a powerful testament to the transformative impact of our schools’ creative curriculum, weaving together community, character, and performance into a singular, elevating experience. By providing a stage for students from across the Trust to share their work, the festival actively builds essential life skills: nurturing the confidence and resilience required to conquer nerves and individual expression, alongside fostering the compassion and integrity needed to collaborate as Crew. The day acts as a pivotal bridge between students, parents, and partners, creating a shared space where academic milestones like Presentations of Learning meet the joy of collective performance, ultimately reinforcing a culture where students are inspired to pursue mastery, value belonging, and be made to see that there is more in them than they know.
My heartfelt thanks go to the staff, partners, and community members whose unwavering support made this our best festival yet. Particular thanks go to Claira Salter, staff at XPD and Trust staff who bore the brunt of stewardship and organisational duties. Seeing the growth, courage, and connection on display, from our youngest primary dancers to our graduating bands, has been truly humbling.
As we look back on an incredible day of community and celebration, I am already counting down the days until next year…
Our children have performed brilliantly today, and enjoyed performances from groups across our Trust.
We have departed Doncaster at 16.45, around fifteen minutes earlier than planned. We are now on our way home, tired and hot but enjoying an air conditioned coach.
Once we are out of the Doncaster area we will have a much better idea of an estimated arrival time in Gateshead.
