Congratulations to our wonderful students that took part in the Great North Swim this weekend – half a mile around Lake Windermere.

What a fantastic achievement!

Great work.

Some outstanding work from Elina Donlan Jones this weekend in her role as Gothel in Rapunzel: The Prequel, performed by The Young Performers at The Customs House.

She looked amazing on stage and, we are told, delivered a captivating performance showing off an incredible singing voice.

A future West End star for sure!

Well done, Elina!

“This partnership has great motivation and determination to be the best, they are always working hard to continue perfecting their routine and because of this they have been very successful at all their competitions this past season and have constantly been improving their score. Keep up the hard work and let’s see what this competition season will bring!”

We invite XP Gateshead students and families to participate in this exciting Gateshead heritage project in conjunction with Refugee Week.

United Voices of Gateshead
Children and staff from Gateshead schools have worked together to create a collection of voice recordings that celebrate the wide range of dialects and languages spoken across the borough. These recordings help preserve the oral histories of Gateshead’s schools in 2025.
You are invited to take part by recording your own voice, helping to expand this project into a
community-wide celebration of Gateshead’s rich linguistic heritage. The recording will be anonymous (no names) and played during exhibitions at Gateshead Library and The Glasshouse.

Students will be contributing to this project during crew next week (if you would rather they did not, please speak to your child’s crew leader).

We would love this to open a dialogue within families about where different branches of your family tree may have come from. This is particularly relevant for G30 as they continue to consider the GQ ‘Is migration worth the risk?’

We would also love for the wider XPG community of parents and family members to be involved. All you need to do to be a part of this exciting local history project is to record yourself saying:

I live in Gateshead and my family are from _____________ .
We speak ____________ and English.

Example:
I live in Gateshead and my family are from Gateshead and Manchester.
We speak Geordie and English.

As you can see, you do not share your name or any other identifying characteristics in the audio. Just have your child audio record on their iPad and we can get this shared with the project organisers.

Please get in touch with Miss Tatters if you have any other questions.

It was an honour to spend time with Year 9 students at XP Gateshead as they held their second annual public health conference with a focus on the dangers of smoking and vaping on Friday. The conference was the culminating event to the learning expedition entitled, ‘You Give Me Fever’ where students had engaged in a thematic study of health, considering how approaches to, and learning about health has changed over time from the Medieval Period to the modern day. Students were challenged to answer the guiding question,

“How can we continue to make progress in public health?” 

In order to do this students focused on factors which can affect our health, such as wealth, poverty, science and technology and the role of the government. Combining what they studied in history and science this helped us to complete a human geography study of our local area. Students had investigated the difference in life expectancy in the local area by studying deprivation and its contribution to risk factors. Case studies blended English, History, Geography and Science to give the students a breadth of knowledge and understanding about key health issues, in particular smoking and vaping.

Student key note speakers eloquently outlined the causes and long term effects of smoking on health and related social issues. They articulated the desperate link between smoking and deprivation and presented some chilling and compelling research about the impact of smoking on reducing life expectancy and increasing the chances of life threatening diseases like cancer, respiratory illnesses and strokes.

XPG Year 9 students lead an expert question and answer session about the risks of smoking and what we need to do to address this public health issue.

After this thought provoking start, students conducted a question and answer session with local experts from local government and community health services. Questions ranged from:

Should smoking be banned?

Does social media contribute to participation and smoking? 

Have public health changes made a difference to health in our community of Gateshead?

What is the local council doing to address deprivation in our community?

Exchanges were frank, honest and solution driven. XP Gateshead students showing, yet again, that they are actively leading positive social change in their community.

The next phase of the Presentation of Learning involved all students hosting a stall where they articulated the report they had written that linked to their learning in the expedition. Reports were wide ranging, informative and extremely well written. Titles included:

• The Impact of Smoking on Respiratory Health
• The Tobacco Industry Playbook
• Is Smoking a Choice? The Link Between Poverty and Smoking As students presented their reports, invited guests were asked to consider a range of proposals such as, ‘Are smoking reforms having a positive impact on our communities?’ and to vote using a QR code. We were then invited back into the conference hall and students reflected on the answers given by the community.
  

  The wide range of expert reports produced by Year 9 students at XPG

  Students ended the conference with a call for the community, local authority and health professionals to collaborate more effectively to reduce the negative impact that smoking still has on the health and well being of the wider community in Gateshead. 

  After the conference I caught up with Georgia and Scarlet who spoke to about the importance of the work they had undertaken. I asked them why it was important to hold a Health Conference.

Georgia and Scarlet shared their thoughts with me about the importance of their work

Georgia commented:

“We showed the dangers and the impact of smoking and what it can do to yourself but also the people around you.”

And Scarlet built on this:

“Raising awareness and making sure people know the risks of smoking and if we are to continue to make progress as a society we need to address problems such as smoking.”

In conclusion, it was a privilege to be invited to an event that confirmed how our curriculum empowers and enables students to make a positive change in their communities. The level of understanding, confidence and quality of work was, quite simply, breathtaking. I made a pledge that the reports now need to be available for a wider audience to access and read. Our civic leaders and politicians must support and realise this important work and I know XPG students will not stop demanding this until they do!

G29 students have been working with determination this week as they put the finishing touches on their final product: a public health report exploring the impact of smoking and vaping on the local community. These reports represent weeks of research, collaboration, and thoughtful writing.

Next week, students will begin rehearsing for their Presentation of Learning (PoL) – XPGateshead’s second annual Public Health Conference. We are excited to welcome you to school at 13:30 Friday 9th May for an afternoon of youth-led activism, informed debate, and meaningful dialogue.

Please note: final product reports have not yet been printed, so students are encouraged to use this weekend to make any last-minute edits or improvements.

I would also like to take a moment to recognise G29 for the exceptional maturity they demonstrated during today’s ethics debate. As part of their Religious Studies and Ethics series, students tackled the complex question: “Should vaccinations be compulsory?” Our student team leaders – Arlo, Scarlett, Eleanor, and Seth – led their peers with confidence, and I was thoroughly impressed by the quality of the arguments presented across all teams. Their ability to approach sensitive topics with respect and insight is a credit to their growth and learning.

This week, G29 had the pleasure of attending two expert sessions as part of their current expedition ‘How can we continue to make progress in public health’

We were joined by Daisy, Rhiannon, and Kaat—three Doctors and Specialty Registrars in Public Health who work on reports that directly influence policy in Gateshead. Daisy and Rhiannon posed a thought-provoking question to the students: “Should women who smoke receive fertility treatment?” This sparked insightful discussions and encouraged students to think like decision-makers, weighing up the pros and cons of providing IVF on the NHS to people who smoke. The session inspired thoughtful, mature conversation and strengthened students’ ability to approach public health issues critically.

Kaat supported students in developing strategies to make their reports more engaging. She reminded them that it’s not just about accurate research and data—effective communication matters too. Students were encouraged to use linguistic devices to capture readers’ attention and make their reports as persuasive and accessible as possible.

All students have now begun writing their reports. I’ve recommended that each student spend at least one hour during the Easter holidays working on their section of the report. This will ensure we have ample time for critique and redrafting ahead of our Presentation of Learning (PoL) on 9th May.

Each student is taking the lead on a section of their group’s report, meaning they can make progress independently during the break without needing to meet with their group.

Below is an extract from the first draft of Brodie, Dakota, Hallie, and Leo’s report, entitled:

Lights, camera , smoke: How media fuels smoking? 

‘Eight of the ten films nominated for Best Picture at the 2025 Oscars contained tobacco imagery’ (Truth Initiative, 2025). Timothee Chalamet, who was a fan favourite to win the oscars earlier this year, smokes in his movie “A complete Unknown”. Chalamet plays a 1960’s Bob Dylan from New York City, where The Daily Mail states, ‘Timothee Chalamet wears a suede jacket and smokes a cigarette’ ( Kayhart, 2024).

Similarly to Chalamet, Cillian Murphy has smoked ‘3,000 herbal cigarettes per season as Tommy Shelby, despite not being a smoker himself’ ( Barker, 2024). This is important as it shows the effects that films can have on the public, and how despite Murphy not smoking himself,  his character is stated to be ‘rarely seen without a cigarette dangling from his lips’ ( Barker, 2024). Thomas Shelby is an important character in many people’s lives, his smoking habits could lead people to joining him.

Lily has also written a strong introduction for her group: Accessing the impact of public health reform

It’s no secret that smoking has been a common problem across the world for decades, centuries even. King James I of England was the first to publish his concern about smoking. James’s Counterblaste to Tobacco published in 1604 described smoking as ‘a custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs’ (James I 1604). 

Students also have their guiding question to complete if they find themselves at a loss for activities this early Easter break.

On Tuesday, G31 students presented their learning for their “Staying Alive” STEAM Expedition which had the guiding question “Is Survival Sufficient?”.

Students worked extremely hard throughout the expedition, considering the importance of food, water and warmth, and the challenges many face in accessing these resources. Students combined their knowledge from across their STEAM subjects to put together recipes that are both healthy and delicious, donating ingredients and designing recipe cards for each meal to display nutritional information and instructions on how to prepare the meals.

The students presented their work to staff from Edberts House which will be shared with members of our community. Absolutely stunning work, G31!

Thank you so much to all families who have supported this expedition by supporting students to try out recipes, and for making such kind donations that will make a difference to our community.