Today, our Year 7 students took part in an important session with Laura, a Community Safety Officer from Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue Service, focusing on anti-social behaviour and arson.
The session explored the very serious consequences of arson, including the dangers posed by both fire and smoke. Students were reminded that young people can sometimes underestimate just how quickly a fire can become dangerous and the potentially devastating consequences for individuals, families and communities.
The session also focused on the challenges of peer pressure and how young people can respond when they are encouraged to become involved in something they know is wrong or that makes them feel uncomfortable or unsafe. Students discussed strategies for removing themselves from difficult situations and the importance of seeking help from a trusted adult.
We would strongly encourage parents and carers to talk to their young person about today’s session this evening. Having these conversations at home is an important way of reinforcing the seriousness of the messages students have heard today and helping them feel confident about making safe choices.
Gateshead Music Hub are looking for young people aged 13-18 to join Reverberate, Gateshead’s Youth Music Advisory Board.
Students that apply do not need to play an instrument or receive music lessons to take part. Gateshead Music Hub are keen to hear from any young people who are passionate about music, whether they enjoy listening to music, attending gigs, creating playlists, producing music, running social media, organising events, or simply have ideas about what music opportunities should exist for young people in Gateshead.
Reverberate gives young people the chance to:
Shape music opportunities for young people across Gateshead
Meet like-minded young people
Develop leadership and event management skills
Organise and influence real music projects and events
Last year, Reverberate members received £1,000 to plan and deliver a youth-led music night at Downcast Studio as part of Shape Festival. There is funding in place to support another youth-led event this year, giving members the opportunity to be involved in planning and delivering it from the start.
At the start of each academic year we normally experience an increased volume of traffic, especially as new Year 7 students get used to making their way to and from school and more of our younger students travel to and from school by car.
When parking close to the school gates we ask that families consider our neighbours and ensure that you do not block any drives, and also ensure that space is left in the road to allow safe passage of cars, cycles and other vehicles.
Most importantly, whilst there are traffic calming measures such as speed bumps on Swards Road and Colepeth, we have had recent reports of vehicles travelling in excess of 20 miles per hour close to the school. We would appreciate if families could consider their speed. Before and after school many of our children cross the road or leave via cycles; as motorists we can all reduce the risk of an accident by reducing our speed.
Of course we will continue to stress the important of safe crossing and cycling with our children too.
A reminder that Newcastle College and Newcastle Sixth Form College have their first Open Evening event this week on Wednesday between 4.30pm and 7pm at the Rye Hill Campus.
More details on how to reserve a slot at Newcastle College can be found here.
More details on how to reserve a slot at Newcastle Sixth Form College can be found here.
A reminder that we are also hosting an event at XP Gateshead on Thursday 15th October at 6pm to support all G29 families to understand and navigate the options at Post-16 for your children.
On Wednesday 30th October, G31 students went on the second fieldwork trip of their expedition, ‘Another Brick in the Wall’. Students completed a regeneration workshop at the Farrell Centre and visited an exhibition showcasing social housing around the world. Students saw the compassion of affordable housing in the UK compared to countries like China, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
The workshop encouraged students to work in groups as town planners to design a sustainable town. This built on their work regarding healthy high streets, which they previously investigated in Gateshead.
The other half of the day featured an architecture walk conducted by Miss Macphail. She encouraged students to consider what structures form a community as they visited local community buildings and analysed why those structures are successful. Students can use this learning to help them to think about how we could give back to our own community.
G31 POL will be held at the Farrell Centre on the evening of Tuesday 1st December from 3:30pm to 5:30pm (Newcastle University Campus).
On Thursday 8th October, G29 Geographers will be taking part in their second compulsory fieldwork visit of the GCSE course, to Seaham.
This fieldwork is compulsory for students GCSE fieldwork.
The focus of the day will be the enquiry question: “How is erosion changing the coastline at Seaham?”
At school, students have already begun researching this by utilising GIS to map coastal erosion from 2008 to 2023, discovering losses of roughly 3 meters in certain areas. I encourage you to explore this with your child at home if a computer is available, as tablets can occasionally be tricky to use for this!
To be properly prepared in addition to normal kit, students will need:
A packed lunch
A waterproof jacket
Suitable footwear (sports trainers or walking boots)
The weather is currently sunny with clouds and 12°C but it may be windy at the coast so please ensure students are wearing warm clothes.
We aim to return to school by 3:30pm. However, as trains from Seaham to Heworth only run once per hour, it is possible that we may not arrive back until around 4:30pm. If there are any delays to our expected 3:30pm return, an update will be posted on the school blog.
Sparx Maths extended study platform is now back up and running and students should start their assignments today, due for Thursday next week (unless explicitly told otherwise by their class teacher). Students need to log on by selecting XP Gateshead as their school (note that this is a change from XP School which was previously used to log in).
Tassomai (the extended study platform for Science) was launched with students on Monday – who have all checked they’re able to log in last week. Expectations and Frequently Asked Questions can be viewed on the slideshow linked here (also accessible via students’ Google Classroom). You should receive emails to remind you about your child’s progress towards their weekly goal (due each Monday at 8am).
