Weekly Update for Families – Friday 22nd May 2026

By Julie Mosley22nd May 2026

We come to the end of another strong half term where our students and staff have continued to embody the core principles of XP Gateshead: Working hard, Getting smart, and Being kind in service of Beautiful Work, Character Growth and Academic Success.

This is testament to the strength of our Crew culture and the high expectations we set.

A Note on Our G28 Pioneers

Our G28 Pioneers (Year 11) have continued to lead the way, showing maturity, determination, and resilience as they navigate their GCSE exams. They are now half-way through their final exams and to thank them for their efforts and dedication, we celebrated this half way point with fresh pizza and ice lollies out in the sun.

Staff will once again be offering revision sessions during the May Half Term break to ensure they are fully prepared for the final push.

Expedition Highlights and Community Impact

  • Year 10 (G29): Students approached their first GCSE mock exams with admirable courage and commitment. They have started to reflect on their progress to date and look at next steps. These will be shared in their upcoming SLCs. They successfully completed a week of work experience in diverse fields such as engineering, retail, and education, receiving positive feedback from employers across the region.
  • Year 9 (G30): Students culminated their ‘You Give Me Fever’ expedition by hosting a powerful Public Health Conference at the start of this half term, where they shared their expertise on health inequalities and created leaflets on alcohol dangers for local health centres. Their work is now well underway with this term’s expedition ‘What a wonderful world’ and already completed a geographical study around the Ouseburn.
  • Year 8 (G31): Our students returned from a successful Crew Day where they developed leadership skills and prepared for charity bake sales, as well as engaging in important fieldwork at Windy Nook Nature Reserve. They are now immersed in their new expedition, ‘Is Migration worth the risk?’. In the rest of this term Year 8 will play a central role in our first XPG Live Festival in school. More on this very soon.
  • Year 7 (G32): Students recently completed the demanding ‘Walk for Water’ Crew Day challenge, where they walked approximately 10 miles carrying 5 litre water bottles to raise funds, showing immense courage and compassion. This charity work aligned to their last expedition. This term’s  expedition, ‘How does water shape our world?’ is well underway with upcoming fieldwork improving local beach environments, and also studying our local river The Tyne.

Across Years 7 and 8, Student Led Conferences (SLCs) have continued, serving as vital moments in the deliberate development of character and seeing our students’ confidence and maturity grow.

School Culture and Community

The strength and spirit of our school culture are continually recognised; a recent visitor was “completely blown away” by the commitment students show to their learning and to each other. The investment in Crew remains our most important work, as it is the bedrock of our school culture and ensures that, as a community, we all support each other to get to the top of the mountain. This term we have also successfully navigated our first JCQ exam inspection and continued our transition work with our new G33 (Year 6) families.

We return to school on Monday 1st June 2026 at the normal time.

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

Heading into Half Term: Essential Water Safety Advice for Our Families

By Michelle Ross22nd May 2026

It’s the half term break and it’s great to see that the weather forecast is looking exceptionally warm and sunny. However, while we want all of our students and families to have a wonderful, relaxing time enjoying the sunshine, we also want to ensure everyone stays safe.

Historically, hot school holidays see a significant increase in accidental drownings in inland waters and along the coast. It is a tragic reality that around 402 people lose their lives to drowning across the UK and Ireland every single year—and these tragedies are preventable. Alarmingly, around 44% of these accidental drownings happen between May and August, often when people are trying to cool off in the heat. Furthermore, more than 46% of those who drowned never even intended to enter the water in the first place.

To help keep our young people safe, we ask that parents and carers take a few moments to read through this factual safety guide. Many of our students will have gone through this information with their Crew leaders but should also take the time to look again.

The Hidden Dangers of Open Water Swimming

When the weather is hot, local rivers, lakes, canals, and quarries look incredibly inviting. However, open water holds major hidden hazards that even strong swimmers cannot anticipate:

  • Unexpected Depth: Open water is often far deeper than it appears from the surface, making it easy to drop out of your depth instantly.

  • Undercurrents: Strong, invisible undercurrents can quickly drag a swimmer under the water and keep them trapped beneath the surface.

  • Hidden Debris: Below the surface lie hidden objects such as sharp rocks, fallen trees, broken glass, and abandoned rubbish (like shopping trolleys). Jumping or diving into these can cause severe head and spinal injuries, or trap your limbs.

  • Weeds and Undertows: Swimmers can easily become tangled and trapped in underwater weeds. Swimming near structures like weirs is incredibly dangerous, as the powerful undertow offers little chance of escape.

  • Pollution: Natural open waters can contain harmful bacteria and pollution that can cause serious illness if swallowed or if it gets into open cuts.

Understanding the #1 Danger: Cold Water Shock

The single biggest safety issue with jumping into open water in the UK is Cold Water Shock.

Even on a scorching hot day, water temperatures in UK rivers, lakes, and reservoirs remain very cold—often hovering around 12°C or lower. Cold water removes heat from the human body 32 times faster than cold air.

When a person jumps into cold water, the body experiences an automatic, uncontrollable physical reaction known as cold water shock. This includes:

  • An immediate gasp for air, followed by rapid breathing (up to 1000% greater than normal), which often leads to accidentally inhaling water directly into the lungs.

  • Sudden muscle cramps and a dramatic reduction in physical coordination, making it impossible to swim.

  • A sudden spike in blood pressure and heart rate, which can trigger cardiac distress.

Cold water shock peaks within the first 1 minute. If a person panics and thrashes around during this critical minute, they are at an incredibly high risk of drowning rapidly.

How to Survive: Float to Live

If your child or family member gets into difficulty or falls into cold water, they must fight their natural instinct to swim or thrash about. Instead, remember the life-saving advice: Float to Live.

  1. Fight your instinct: Do not try to swim or struggle.

  2. Lean back: Tilt your head back and extend your arms and legs like a starfish.

  3. Gently move: If needed, gently scull your hands or move your feet to help stay afloat.

  4. Concentrate on breathing: Focus entirely on staying calm and controlling your breathing through the initial 1-minute shock phase.

  5. Call for help: Only once the breathing is controlled should you attempt to swim to safety, call out for help, or continue floating until rescue arrives.

What to Do If You See Someone Else in Trouble

If you see someone struggling in the water, never jump in to save them. Many secondary drownings occur when well-meaning family members or friends enter the water and become victims themselves.

Instead, follow these steps immediately:

  • Shout for help and Call 999: Ask for the Fire and Rescue Service if you are inland, or the Coastguard if you are at the beach.

  • Reach: If it is safe to do so, try to reach the person from the bank using a long stick, pole, clothing, or a scarf. Always crouch or lie down flat on the ground so you aren’t accidentally pulled into the water yourself.

  • Throw: Look for designated rescue equipment (like a lifebuoy or throw line). If none is available, throw anything that floats (an inflated football, a plastic container, etc.) to help the person stay above water until emergency services arrive.

A Collective Responsibility

Water safety education is vital: statistics show that around two-thirds of UK adults surveyed have never had formal water safety education, and only 30% of parents feel very confident that their child knows how to stay safe around water.

Please talk to your children openly and factually about these risks. If they want to swim, please guide them toward safe, supervised environments like public swimming pools or lifeguarded beaches where they can stay within their depth and enjoy the hot weather safely.

Have a wonderful, restful, and safe half term break!

Sharing our Stories: 22/05/2026

22nd May 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

London – picnic lunch, Thames River cruise and London Eye @ Green Top

We are performers @ Plover

Festival of Sport @ Carcroft School

Weekly Update @ XP Gateshead

Fieldwork to the Deep @ Norton Infants

Being Crew, Showing Courage and Confidence for Exams! @ XP Doncaster

Ancient Greek Pottery @ Norton Juniors

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!

G33 Music Tuition in Year 7

By Martin Said22nd May 2026

G33 join XP Gateshead in the first year of our music specialism.

To support this, we are funding instrumental tuition for all of our incoming Year 7 students, in partnership with Gateshead Music Hub.

Please use this form to tell us more about your child’s previous musical experience and their preference for music tuition moving forwards.

G33 Ullswater Outward Bound

By Martin Said21st May 2026

Ullswater Outward Bound – For all G33 Families

Our new Year 7 students’ Outward Bound adventure begins on Tuesday 25th August 2025. Students need to be arrive at school between 8.00am and 8.25am. The coach will depart later that morning.

Participant Form

We need all parents to complete a Participant Information Form by following the link below. The form must be submitted by Monday, July 6th, 2026.

Outward Bound Participant Form – Click here

– It should take around 20-45 minutes to complete and you will need to register an account to begin. You can use existing Microsoft, Google, X or Facebook accounts to login if you choose.
– You can find instructions, a video walkthrough and troubleshooting help here: How to complete the Participant Information Form
– The form is only supported on Chrome, Edge, Safari and Firefox browsers.
– Remember to enter the information for the person who will be attending the course.

Returnable Deposit

Students must bring a £10 deposit with them on the morning which will be handed back to them at the end of their adventure if there is no loss or damage to equipment. This is an important part of the process for the week, and teaches the students about join responsibility as a Crew.

Medication

Any medication for students must be in the original box, clearly labelled with your child’s name and details of regularity of administration and dose. This includes:

  • Inhalers
  • Epipens
  • Travel sickness pills
  • Painkillers
  • Antihistamines

Please get in contact with [email protected] if your child will be bringing medication and we can provide you with a self-administration or permission to administer form.

Kit List

Specialist equipment such as walking boots, tents, sleeping bags, hiking rucksacks and waterproofs will be provided by the centre.

The kit list for students is listed below. Please ensure that your child has all of these items.

If you are having problems sourcing these please get in touch with our office via [email protected] . Older clothes are far better for the week as they will get wet and or muddy.

  • 1 large bag or suitcase to take kit on the coach
  • 2 bin bags –  to store wet and dirty clothes
  • 1 pair of trainers for getting wet – these trainers will definitely get wet so it is important that you have a second pair.
  • A second pair of trainers to stay dry for day to day wear – these are likely to get muddy so preferably not new.
  • 3 sweatshirts, jumpers, hoodies or fleeces – Fleeces are ideal as they dry quickly but any of the other items are a good substitute. You should include at least one warmer fleece for your expedition.
  • 3 pairs of trousers – Lightweight trousers (not denim) such as walking trousers, leggings or tracksuit bottoms.
  • 3 T-shirts – Aim for tops that cover shoulders from the sun.
  • 1 long-sleeved base layer/top 
  • 1 pair of shorts – Not denim
  • 1 pair of nightwear/pyjamas
  • 1 set of casual clothes for around the centre
  • 7 sets of underwear including socks – This is a minimum number. Trainer socks aren’t recommended as they may cause blisters.
  • At least 2 pairs of thick walking socks
  • Sunhat, sunglasses, suncream – don’t bring expensive sunglasses, suncream needs to be at least factor 30.
  • 1 set of warm hat and gloves
  • At least 1 towel – Quick drying microfibre towels are great. You will need a towel for showering and on activities, so bring at least one.
  • Watch with alarm if possible
  • 1 set of swimwear plus t-shirt and shorts for use in water
  • Toiletries – including soap, toothbrush and toothpaste, blister kit, plasters, insect repellent, lip salve, hand sanitiser, wet wipes, talcum powder (for your feet), etc.
  • 1 pair of flip slops or sandals – optional

G33 Family Information Evening

By Martin Said21st May 2026

Thanks to all of those families that attended – we are really excited for the next five years of working with you to help your children produce beautiful work, grow in character and see academic success.

There were a number of families that were not at the event. We will be in touch to organise another evening.

To be clear, our Home School Agreement makes clear the expectation that families invest in their child’s education. This includes the expectation that someone from the family attends important events like last night.

We are visiting Primary Schools to meet your children over the coming weeks. In the meantime:

  • Please ensure that you have subscribed to our website – look for the subscribe box and enter your email.
  • If you are a Facebook user, you can ask to be part of the “Parents of XP Gateshead” support group.
  • The Outward Bound participant form will be posted on our website later today.
  • The Music Tuition preference form will be posted on our website tomorrow.
  • The iPad scheme sign up will be posted on our website in the coming weeks.

The slides from last night can be found below:

Weekly Update for Families – W/C Monday 18th May 2026

By Julie Mosley17th May 2026

Dear Families

Another week of great work at XP Gateshead from staff and students alike.

Our G28 Pioneers are continuing to lead the way and set the standard for all students with their approach to GCSE exams. They have continued to show real maturity, determination and resilience and we could not be prouder of them. The spirit of crew has been strong across the whole school with the rest of our students showing respect and being mindful when moving around the school when the exams are taking place. 

This week we had a successful JCQ exam inspection. These inspections are unannounced and check a school’s compliance with exam regulations. This was a successful visit and we were praised for the quality of our work. A huge thank you and congratulations go to Mr Mead who is our Exams Officer, Mr MacDonald who provides exam admin support, our three new invigilators and our staff for their craftsmanship and quality. 

On Friday, our Year 11 students received their leavers hoodies and it was great to see them worn with pride during Friday’s History exam. Thank you to Mrs Dobson who coordinated the purchase of hoodies this year and Lily and Hannah for their work in distributing them.

G29 students return to us on Monday after a successful week on work experience and we are really looking forward to hearing all about their time in the workplace.

Students have experienced a range of placement in fields such as the charitable sector, engineering, architecture, retail, finance, education and more.

We have had positive feedback from employers and families. Thanks once again to all of the organisations and families that have supported this process.

As mentioned earlier this week, those students that did not manage to secure placements have been working in school this week on virtual work placements alongside training in  tech and media production. We will continue to work with families and organisations to organise placements for the next half-term, ideally in the week of 29th June.

This week

G28 GCSE exams

Exams continue for our Y11 students with another full week

  • Monday 18th May
    • Science – Chemistry Combined Paper 1 (1hr 15, am)
  • Tuesday 19th May
    • English Lit – Christmas Carol, An Inspector Calls, Unseen Poetry (2hr 30, am)
  • Wednesday 20th May
    • Religious studies – Component 2 Christianity (1 hr, pm)
  • Thursday 21st May
    • English Language – 20th Century Fiction Reading, Creative Writing (1hr 45, am)

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. 

Good luck again to all of G28 – keep on keeping on, you have definitely got this!

Like we did across the Easter holidays, we will be offering May Half Term Revision sessions for our Y11 students which will take place during morning and afternoon sessions.

Students who would like to attend revision sessions will need to arrive for the start of the advertised times in the morning and/or afternoon as the reception desk will not be staffed throughout the day. Students will also need to bring a packed lunch if necessary, they will be permitted to leave site between sessions if they are working across the day, however this is just a thirty minute break.

I am sure that G28 families will want to join me in thanks once again to the staff who have offered their holiday time to run revision sessions for our students. 

G29 return to school

This week students will return to sessions and start preparation for their upcoming SLCs in Crew. SLCs will take place in the fortnight commencing 1st June, and will include reflections from students on their work placements as well their mock grades.

Mock grades will be shared with students on Wednesday of this week.

Working with Northumbria University

On Monday experts from Northumbria University will be working with G29 students to look at study skills. We will be following up on sessions like these as we move towards GCSEs so our Y10 students are fully prepared for academic success next year.

A group of Year 9 students will also be working with our partners from Northumbria University in a session designed to promote thinking about university-life and study.

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.

G30 Ouseburn Fieldwork – Wednesday 20th May

On Wednesday 20th May, G30 students will be taking part in a fieldwork visit to the Ouseburn to explore interdependence within ecosystems.

The current forecast predicts sunny weather, with a chance of showers and temperatures of around 20°C. Please ensure your child comes fully prepared with:

  • A full water bottle
  • Rain jacket
  • Suncream
  • A sun hat
  • Their full school kit
  • Packet lunch

For more details please see Miss Jones’ website post.

G32 and G31 Student Led Conferences (SLCs) 

SLCs continue this week for our Year 7 and Year 8 students.

SLCs, like PoLs, are key moments in the development of our students and it is vital that parents, carers and families fully support SLCs. It has been wonderful to hear of the pride our families, staff and students have felt following SLCs last week and we look forward to hearing more this week.

Mr Said will be in contact with families of Crew Windsor with details for their SLCs which will take place in person in school following the half-term break.

G33 In-Person Information Evening, Wednesday 20th May at 6pm.

As part of our transition work, we have now met almost all our new students and their families online. This is a huge undertaking, as you can imagine but having 30 minute family meetings allows us to start getting to know our students well.

On Wednesday at 6pm, we will hold an Information Evening for all of our new families in Year 6. It is vital that all families attend as we will give important information about the Outward Bound course that takes place for all students at the start of Year 7 as well as our iPad scheme. In addition, we will address some of the misconceptions about our school so that families are completely clear on what we are: ‘A mainstream school with a relentless focus on beautiful work, character growth and academic success’, and also what we are not. There will be an opportunity for you to ask us questions too of course. Please see the website post for more details.

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
  • G29 students (Y10) 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, G32 and G31 Student led Conferences and G33 In-Person Information Evening.

Half term break starts Friday 22nd May 

We come to the end of a six week half term on Friday 22nd May and as always, we will finish at 1:30pm for our usual de-gunge. 

We return to school on Monday 1st June 2026. 

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

Year 6 Families – Important Information Evening on Wednesday 20th May at 6pm

By XP Gateshead Office15th May 2026

A reminder that we are holding an In-Person Information Evening at our school on Wednesday 20th May at 6pm.

It is vital that all families attend as we will give important information about the Outward Bound course that takes place for all students at the start of Year 7 as well as our iPad scheme and music specialism.

In addition, we will address some of the misconceptions about our school so that families are completely clear on what we are: ‘A mainstream school with a relentless focus on beautiful work, character growth and academic success’, and also what we are not. There will be an opportunity for you to ask us questions too of course.

Your children do not need to come to this event. We would prefer for children to remain at home where possible due to our limited space.