During the Easter Holiday Grace passed her Grade D assessment in riding skills and horse care. Grace, her family, and we are very proud of her achievement.

Great work Grace!

Beautiful Work This Week

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwrxgw6lJI0

Being Human – Beautiful Speeches from XP Gateshead

The G29 students speeches answering our guiding question “What does it mean to be human?” is now live on our website.

You can listen again and relive the POL speeches here!

This beautiful work is also available to visitors to the QE Hospital at the Windy Nook Entrance via a QR code on the art installation. This is important work matters, raising awareness of the importance of organ donation. A work that chimes with Olivias’ concluding remarks to our POL.

“…being human is about our social structures and relationships. How we connect, understand each other and have a sense of understanding and acceptance for ourselves and others.  We build our world through our memories and experience to decide where we want to go in the future. Humans grow through our community and others around us.”

XP Y9 Fieldwork to Thackray Museum

https://youtu.be/6YLmdi8Ckzw

The Power of Change @ Carcroft

In Spring 2024, students from Years 5 and 6 at Carcroft School embarked on an Expedition to explore the 19th century’s impact on our lives today, examining whether its influence has been positive or negative. Students immersed themselves in the era by creating African pattern-inspired book bindings and sculptures. They delved into the work of British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonabare to understand cultural identity and globalisation. The history case study focused on the British Empire, particularly its effects on South Africa and the Zulu people, comparing Victorian society with Zulu society and discussing the legacy of these interactions. The science component of the Expedition related these historical impacts to the concepts of reversible and irreversible changes, using chemistry to draw parallels between the societal changes and scientific processes.

https://youtu.be/WqWfXorz724

The Expedition’s culmination was an art exhibition-style event where students showcased sculptures inspired by Yinka Shonabare, reflecting on cultural identity and personal, cultural, or ethnic adaptation in an ever-changing world. This final product, along with literacy-based assessments and case study reflections, demonstrated the students’ learning and understanding of the 19th century’s influence. Throughout the Expedition, a diverse range of texts, including graphic novels and classic literature, enriched the students’ experience. Despite limitations on fieldwork due to economic conditions, video calls with South African residents offered insights into the lasting impacts of the British Empire on the Zulu people, enhancing the students’ global perspective and understanding of historical legacies.

Highlights from UKS2’s COL @ Plover

In the last week of term, students in UKS2 at Plover celebrated their work from their Expedition ‘The Power of Change’. Their guiding question was ‘How did the 19th century influence our lives today?’ and their final product explored significant locations in Doncaster, creating a history trail for members of the community to follow to learn more about the City’s history.

‘How will what I do today impact the world tomorrow?’ @ Norton Infants

Last term, students in KS1 at Norton infants explored ocean pollution – contrasting clean and polluted waters and their effects on wildlife, leading to local litter collection activities and artistic recycling projects, culminating in a family event promoting the reduction of single-use plastics. They delved into the science of this by examining the characteristics of living and non-living entities, focusing on animal needs and dietary types, and assessing human impacts on ecosystems, resulting in a detailed report on local fauna. Their geographical studies spanned identifying global continents, oceans, and specific habitats, enhanced by a narrative exercise based on “Somebody Swallowed Stanley.” Art skills were honed through various mediums in creating a sculpture and alternate story settings from “The Tin Forest.”

The students’ final product drew together learning from all three of these case studies. They created these activity booklets, which contain examples of beautiful artwork and written information, and include activities for children to complete – here’s a sample of their work below!

We would like to donate these booklets to local places so that children can complete them whilst they are out in our community! If this is something that you feel you would like copies of, we can send them to you! Please send an email to [email protected] and we will organise sending them to you!

Top of the Blogs

Wise Wednesday @ XP

Beautiful Work from Scarlett @ XP Gateshead

We are Sea Explorers @ Norton Infants

Class 7 found a time capsule @ Green Top

Ready Steady Cook @ Plover

New Reading Challenge @ Carcroft School

What is Power? @ XP East

‘Hats on for Hope’ @ Norton Juniors

Join our Crew!

We’re looking for Cleaners and a Cleaner in Charge to #JoinOurCrew at XP Doncaster – find out more and apply here!

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!

During the Easter break, Scarlett and her team at Northern RFC won the under 14 county cup. What a fantastic achievement, well done Scarlett!

G29 have started immersion for their new expedition this term. In human they explored the poem Home by Warsan Shire and were challenged to describe what home means to them.

I have combined their “What home means to me” sentences into a word cloud of the keywords that came up again and again from our students that I wanted to share with you.

 

During the Easter break Emily and Macie took advantage of the opportunity to take part in the Health and Care Youth Academy, working alongside health professionals such as paramedics and nurses. This is a great way to learn more about careers and to get the edge when it comes time to apply for next stages in employment and training.

Well done girls!

During our G30 Presentation of Learning, students had to show lots of discipline backstage whilst waiting for their moment to shine on the stage. Savannah chose to work on some digital art – and created this beautiful rose. Great work Savannah.

Winnie and Evan in year 9 both took part in a brilliant day of racing at Northumberland and Durham County Teams swimming Championships at Sunderland, on 3rd March 2024.

They both represented Gateshead & Whickham for a fun-filled day of relay racing.

Both Evan and Winnie swam their absolute best, working incredibly well in their teams, to beat both individual PBs and predicted relay times, across almost every event.

Winnie’s team for the 200 freestyle relay are now county bronze winners. We are so proud of you both and your incredible results.

Reuben had a wonderful day this weekend learning to be a blacksmith. He loved the day learning new skills and creating 3 items from forged steel – a key ring, a wall hook and a blade letter opener!

This really is beautiful (hot) and intricate work. Amazing stuff Reuben.