Today is a historic day for XP Gateshead and we couldn’t be prouder of our pioneering G28 cohort, who have received their GCSE results.
Five years ago, G28 students walked through our doors, joining us as pioneers and they have helped us build XP Gateshead from the ground up. From day one, they have worked alongside us building a strong culture, showing us all exactly what it means to be Crew.
We have repeated the words of Kurt Hahn many times over the past 5 years and the actions and behaviours of G28 have embodied them.
“There is more in us than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps, for the rest of our lives, we will be unwilling to settle for less.”
Year on year they have been the role models for new crews joining us, showing everyone what it means to be a student at XPG.
Indications are that students have been awarded grades well above national expectations of attainment in almost all areas. Today’s GCSE results are a testament to the phenomenal hard work and effort of our pioneering students and staff who have shown a determined and unwavering work ethic and commitment to doing beautiful work across the last five years. We also want to pay tribute to the outstanding support and trust we have received from all of our G28 families.
Compared to national and local averages, our students’ results place us in the top third of school consistently across subjects, with phenomenal attainment in particular in English Language, Geography, Religious Studies, Photography, Sports and Interactive Media.
We also have a very high proportion of students achieving grades 4s and 5s in Maths and English, with strong performance overall in students achieving 5 or more GCSEs at grade 7 too.
This is all the more remarkable to say that students work in mixed ability classes, and have studied an expeditionary curriculum right the way through to their final exams.
At XP, we absolutely do get our kids to pass exams, but we know that academic achievement is only one measure of success.
Through our cross-subject expeditionary curriculum, students have enjoyed an engaging, creative and rich learning experience. This has allowed our students to engage with the world and create beautiful work that really matters and that has made a difference to them and to their community.
For example, our students in G28:
- Are published authors, having published a local history book on our mining heritage which was launched at Seven Stories, the national centre for children’s literature.
- Have fed families for a week with recipes designed to be nutritious and easy to make with budget ingredients.
- Are published podcasters, having written and recorded about unheard voices of WWI such as women on the home front and soldiers from Commonwealth countries such as India. This was broadcast on a national radio station – Memory Lane Radio – as part of their remembrance services.
- Produced a geocaching route, encouraging families to enjoy our local green spaces together whilst learning about species that are protected in the local green plan.
- Have written and delivered public speeches about what it means to be human.
- Performed Macbeth at Caedmon Hall to an audience of over a-hundred people, with supporting presentations around science and chemical changes.
- Produced a film that honours and shares the stories of migrants to and from our country which was showcased at Newcastle University.
- Produced a sculpture which was exhibited at The Farrell Centre, the national centre for Architecture at Newcastle University and later exhibited at Gateshead Library.
- Hosted a public health conference challenging local leaders such as politicians and health professionals to do more on the challenges of healthy eating and health inequalities in our region.
- Written poetry which reflects our relationship with the natural world.
- Taught lessons to invited guests as part of a presentation of learning.
- Engaged in debates about challenging topics such as eugenics and the role of the public in Germany in the rise of Nazism at Newcastle Sixth Form College.
- Hosted and catered for an afternoon tea, tackling loneliness in elderly members of our community.
- Developed a sustainable energy plan for the future, drawing upon their learning from Science.
- Supported charities associated with their Crews through events in school. Crews Stanton, Frank and Aneglou have raised £1000s for the Tiny Live, Bobby Robson Foundation and Young Minds respectively. Crew Parks are responsible for the fields of saplings in the grounds outside of our school as part of their work with Trees for Cities.
- Exhibited their artwork as part of our first XPG Live – all students in G28 have studied either fine art or photography.
- Directed and performed in a production of Romeo and Juliet using our school building to create a piece of immersive theatre
- Carried out high quality fieldwork and cultural experiences including professional performances of plays such as I Daniel Blake, worked at our local universities and Post-16 providers, carried out ecological studies and conservational work in local green spaces such as Windy Nook Nature Reserve. There is so much more that we could list!
As adults, we are judged by who we are and the quality of our work. The work we do is three-dimensional. This is why we focus relentlessly on character growth and beautiful work as well as academic success. Qualifications will get you through the door. Who you are and the quality of your work will get you the job, the place at university, the start up business loan.
Our founding G28 students leave us today with the qualifications they need for their next steps, but more importantly, with the character and values to succeed in the wider world. They understand that they are important, because they have done work that matters, and improves their community. We are so incredibly excited to see where their stories take them next, knowing they are empowered to become agents for positive social change, ready to protect the planet, stand for social justice and cultivate diversity and belonging wherever they go.
A massive thank you to our phenomenal staff, our trusting families, and our community for walking this pioneering path with us.
And to G28, our first-ever graduating Crew: you have set the foundations at XP Gateshead and we could not have asked for a better Crew of young people to start this journey with.
Congratulations, and thanks to you all G28.
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(This is me on Good Friday on a training run pointing over to Hallin Fell and our camp spot. I am hoping for better weather come May…)
