Unlock your child’s musical potential at XP Gateshead!

9th July 2026Geoff

At XP Gateshead, we believe music has the power to inspire and shape young minds. Each year, we offer a unique opportunity for children with a natural flair for music to gain a place in Year 7 through our dedicated Musical Aptitude Admissions route. 

Whether your child already sings or plays an instrument, or simply has a keen ear for rhythm, melody, and pitch, this pathway recognises raw musical potential. 

With access to expert tuition, vibrant performance opportunities, and a culture that celebrates creativity, XP Gateshead is the perfect stage for your child to flourish musically and academically. Click here to see highlights from our recent annual XP Festival of Arts and Culture:

 

Apply now, and don’t miss this chance to join a learning community where talent is nurtured and passion takes centre stage!

Find out more here: https://xptrust.info/XPGMA

 

Year 6 Open Evening – Monday 28th September 2026 – Booking is now open

By XP Gateshead Office8th July 2026

We are pleased to announce that you can now book a place at our Year 6 Open Evening, which will take place on Monday 28th September at 5.45pm.

This is an event for families that are considering XP Gateshead as a destination school for their children in the next academic year (from September 2027).

IMPORTANT – Signing up to the event

Please take the time to read our prospectus before signing up to the event.

As we are anticipating a very high level of interest in these evenings, and due to our limited size and space in our current temporary building, you must sign up for this event to be able to attend. This was indicated in the secondary admissions booklet sent to you by Gateshead Council.

We are limiting the number of places to three places per family, including your child in Year 6.

Last year there were some families that could not be accommodated on the evening as they had not booked in advance. Due to our limited size, if you have not booked in advance, you will not be able to attend on the evening.

Please do not attempt to sign up if your children are currently in Year 5 or below. All of the above will mean that we can accommodate as many Year 6 families as possible.

We will post again if the event becomes fully booked.

You can book your place at this event by clicking on this link.

Julie Mosley

Principal

XP Gateshead

 

Weekly update for families – W/C Monday 7th September 2026

By Julie Mosley6th September 2026

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 G33 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. It was great to hear appreciations given in our first in person whole school community meeting on Friday by students from all year groups around our character traits. 

At the start of the year our focus is always culture, culture, culture and we all work hard to build a strong community where all staff and students support each other to be the best versions of themselves. Last week everyone stepped up to this challenge and it was great to see, feel and hear this from staff, visitors and our students. 

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Immersion and new expeditions 

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. 

G33 – Year 7

G33 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. 

G33 students have received their iPads. We hope setting these up has gone smoothly – any issues can almost always be sorted in 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 G33 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.

G32

G32 have started 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”.They have been introduced to the text “Noughts and Crosses” by Malorie Blackman, studied various creation stories and considered what makes effective speeches.

On Friday they met with experts from the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust which will be the home for their final product for this learning expedition.

G31

G31 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 Friday our G31 students participated in local fieldwork to build on the virtual fieldwork they completed in school, collecting primary data to answer an enquiry question : “Are there inequalities on Gateshead High Street?”

G30

As part of their immersion, G30 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. All of this supported by fieldwork to York Museum.

In Science immersion they have began to explore the properties of metals and what makes them useful, looking at simple extraction reactions 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’.

G29

G29 have started the year with a really sharp focus in lessons, building on the work in their first week back about readiness for the challenges of an exam year. In this term they will complete the content for most of their courses and then there will be an even greater focus on revision from January.

 

Our week ahead 

PE Sessions this week

Our PE sessions this week are as follows. Please ensure that your child has their  full PE kit.

  • G33 (Year 7),  have PE on Wednesday 
  • G32 (Year 8) have PE on Thursday 
  • G31 (Year 9) have PE on Tuesday 
  • G30 (Year 10) have PE on Wednesday
  • G29 (Year 11) have PE on Wednesday

 

Meeting our expectations

As you know, we are all crew at XPG and work together to ensure our students are successful in all aspects of school life.

Families have a key part to play in this and we ask for your support in getting our students into good habits, checking they have everything required each day and they come to school ready for learning. 

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 (e.g. sliders, flip-flops or high heels)

Can all families please read our website post on dress code so you are clear on our  expectations and can fully support these.

Kit List

It is really important that all students come to school ready and equipped to learn. As always, students need to bring a school bag with the following kit :

  • A backpack or suitable sized sized bag to carry equipment
  • A filled water bottle
  • Pencil case including: pens, pencils, ruler, eraser, pencil sharpener, purple pen and a gluestick
  • A fully charged iPad (G29, G30, G31, G32 from Tuesday, G33 on the day following their distribution to students) and headphones (ideally not expensive ones, for example here).
    • The newer iPads have a USB C headphone connection.
  • A notebook
  • A reading book

Students also need to bring a healthy snack for break time – no confectionery (sweets), fizzy drinks or energy drinks please as we do not allow these in school. Please note there are to be no nut products in snacks or packed lunches. 

Mobile Phone reminder

Mobile phones are not allowed in school. Phones should be switched off and in school bags each morning. Students are not allowed to use mobile phones during the day . If you need to contact your son or daughter please do so via the school office at [email protected] or on 0191 4814360. 

Punctuality

All 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. Can all families please support us with our high expectation around punctuality to school. Crew Leaders will contact if there are ongoing issues where students and families need additional support.

Extended Study 

Teachers will start to set extended study this week and students will begin to build their extended study timetable. We will publish our extended study timetable at the end of the week so that you can fully support your child with their learning. 

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.

Enrichment Clubs – lunch and after school 

We will be launching our new lunchtime and after school clubs programme next week and will be encouraging all students to get involved in an enrichment activity.

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

Our first week back…

4th September 2026Geoff Hewitt

At XP, our first week back looks a little bit different. Across our Trust, students and staff have been working hard to build and reestablish the most important part of our culture – Crew.

Sharing our Stories: 04/09/2026

4th September 2026Geoff Hewitt

Beautiful work this week

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.

Top of the Blogs

Class 12 | WW2 Crafts @ Green Top

Appreciating Kindness @ Plover

Crew McGlone – Tough Runner @ Carcroft School

Focus and Deep Thinking in Year 8 this week @ XP

Hook week day two @ Norton Infants

Crew week = complete! @ Norton Juniors

G29 first week back! @ XP Gateshead

Crew DCU @ XP East

Share your stories with us!

We now have a new dedicated news email so that you can send your stories, updates or ideas about potential news articles directly to us in Comms.

It might be something you or your students have achieved, a charity you’re supporting or anything at all that deserves a wider audience.

Write to us at [email protected] –  we want to hear about it, write about it and celebrate it!

G29 First Week Back!

By Emmy Tatters3rd September 2026

What a first week back G29 had!

The guiding question for G29 was ‘How can we nurture the best version of our future selves?’ As always, we utilised our first week back to reconnect with the principles of crew and what it means to be OUR crews. 

Throughout the week, students engaged in several activities that allowed them to explore their own self-regulation and cognition.

Students developed their cooking skills through a Ready, Steady, Cook! challenge where they all designed their own 2 course menus.

Each crew also headed out to Whickham Thorns to complete 5 challenges; a reminder of all that we can achieve when our crew have our backs.

They also began to explore different revision techniques and how to assess whether they are working effectively for them. Setting great revision habits from week 1!

I want to thank you for the strong start that G29 have made to this important year.

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to your child’s crew leader in the first instance.



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G30 First Week Back

2nd September 2026Emmy Tatters

What a first week back G30 had! 


The guiding question for G30 was ‘How can we ensure that our future selves will thank us for the next two years?’ As always, we utilised our first week back to reconnect with the principles of crew and what it means to be OUR crews. Throughout the week, students engaged in initiatives – challenges that they had to overcome together as a crew. Through engaging in these, students were able to identify the features of a strong initiative and design their own. 


Students also explored the importance of building strong habits from the outset to ensure we are all as successful as we can be in our GCSEs in Summer 2028. To help motivate students, they looked at possible post-16 pathways and courses. 

This led students to create a professional CV which encouraged them to identify their strengths and reflect on all of the incredible things they have already done in their time at XPG and out of school. 
Students also had the opportunity to engage in 2 workshops with external professionals. These sessions focused on developing public speaking skills and interview skills. 


Students were then able to utilise these skills in the culmination of the week; every student in G30 had a 1:1 interview with an external professional, largely aligned to the student’s future career interests. 
I do want to share some of the incredible feedback we received from these visits: 

  • ‘Engaging and thoughtful speaker’ 
  • ‘Great communication, eye contact, confident but with humility’ 
  • ‘Engaging – great two-way conversation’ 
  • ‘Excellent interview, you showed great courage and will handle an interview very well.’
  • ‘Came across as kind and someone who likes to help others.’
  • ‘Unbelievably articulate’
  • ‘All answers felt authentic.’
  • ‘Should be very proud of herself. This was a fantastic interview. She was thoughtful, well prepared and confident throughout.’ 

It was truly a delight to see the smiles on the faces of the students as they walked away from their interviews. Interviews are something all our students will have later in life so this really is an invaluable experience for them to have at this point in their schooling. 

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Students will work with the feedback they have been given through their Thoughtful Thursday crew sessions over the coming weeks.

I want to thank you for the strong start that G30 have made to this important year. 
If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to your child’s crew leader in the first instance.

G33 First Week Back – “What does it mean to be Crew?”

By Gayle Crowder2nd September 2026

What a great start to the new G33 students’ journey at XP!

Our guiding question for this week was: What does it mean to be crew?

On Tuesday morning our G33 students arrived for their first day at school and boarded the bus to Ullswater. For some students, getting on the bus was their first opportunity to show us their courage and for others it was an opportunity to demonstrate their compassion towards other members of their crew!

Throughout the week, students had many opportunities to demonstrate our character traits of respect, craftsmanship and quality, integrity, courage and compassion, and became more confident in recognising these traits in others. Crews completed a range of challenges such as jog and dip, rowing, abseiling, gorge walking, camping and many more… All of our crews worked together on the hike to the summit of Hallin Fell meaning that everyone made it to the top of the mountain.

Our final product was a presentation answering the guiding question ‘What does it mean to be crew?’. Both XP staff and the instructors at the Outward Bound centre were blown away by the presentations given by our four crews, with all students taking part. We certainly have some impressive public speakers in G33!

Outward Bound is so important because it gives them memories and moments that they have shown our character traits which they can return to when facing challenges in the future. This week, we are remaining in crews for the next couple of days to learn about what crew means in the classroom and in our school.

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Our first week with G33 was fantastic and we can’t wait to see what else they can achieve this year.

G31 Immersion Fieldwork

1st September 2026Rebecca Jones

On Friday, 4th September, G31 students will participate in local fieldwork. Class One will head out in the morning to build on virtual fieldwork they have completed in school, collecting primary data to answer the enquiry question : “Are there inequalities on Gateshead High Street?” They will return to school for lunch at the usual time of 12.30.

Class Two will follow the same schedule, completing the same fieldwork and returning to school by 15:15.

If we anticipate we will be late back a post will be put on the blog.

The weather is currently forecast to be cloudy with sunny spells. Students should bring their usual kit, including a waterproof jacket, comfortable shoes, and their normal school kit!

G31 TV Viewing: Chernobyl

By Stephanie Jamison1st September 2026

Later this week as part of our Immersion G31, students will be watching one or two episodes of the Sky Drama Chernobyl. This drama will provide some important context to the topic of radioactivity later in the current learning expedition. The film addresses several mature themes, including strong language, some non-sexual nudity and depictions of injury and sickness which reflect the consequences of radiation poisoning. The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has rated this film as suitable for viewers aged 15 and above.

If you have any concerns about your child watching this film, please feel free to contact your crew leader or myself at [email protected] by Thursday morning.Thank you for your understanding and support.

G32 – First Week Back – Up Where We Belong.

1st September 2026Tom Devitt

What a fantastic start for G32! Our guiding question for the week was:

How can we support each other to lead the learning of our new Year 7 Crew?

Case study 1: How can we welcome our new friends?

Case study 2: How can we teach our new friends about our culture?

Case study 3: How can we use our prior knowledge from expeditions 7.4 Hold Back The River to help us plan fieldwork that will enrich the learning experiences of our G33 students?

For our final products we planned a route to Hebburn Buddhist centre along the river tyne to compare and contrast two different Fieldworks. Students assessed risk, researched key information, and all coordinated their own crew picnic. Due to this fieldwork unfortunately being cancelled, students then travelled to Windy Nook nature reserve and carried out a geological field sketch, as well as creating an environmental piece of art that suitably represented their chosen crew name.

On top of this, students also spent time undergoing different initiatives to strengthen their crew bonds, as well as creating an introductory video for the new year 7s in order for them to make the transition in to secondary school as smooth as possible.

It was a great start! But only a start, I can’t wait to see this transferred into the classroom over the coming weeks.