Dear Families
We’ve enjoyed a good first week to our final Summer half term. It was great to hear appreciations, apologies and stands from students and staff in our end of week community meetings last week and all agreed on with the work we needed to do going forward to ensure we hold true to our character values every day – consistently high levels of respect for others, encouraging each other to be the best we can be, positively committed to our own education and that of those around us. Community meetings are a really special place to be, hearing students hold each other to account within a safe and supportive environment is unique and our students show sensitivity and maturity beyond their years.
There’s been high quality work in and out of sessions as usual.
G28 Grappling with depth / time graphs in the app Geogebra
Text coding rich and challenging non-fiction related to our guiding question “Is migration worth the risk?”
Reducing our carbon footprint whilst finding out more about Gateshead innovative solar and geothermal energy centre.
Great work from Ethan and Katie N in year 9 on graphs including trigonometric and exponential functions.
We have also enjoyed some real success this week…
National Writing Competition Success
We were delighted to find out that every one of our entries in a national writing competition were chosen to be published in a Young Writers Anthology with their short stories on the theme of ‘Mission:Catastrophe’. Eliza, Leo and Lyra will be published authors again and we can’t wait to add this book to our shelf. Very few schools have a 100% success rate within national competition so this really does show the quality of writing of our students. We look forward to seeing more entries in the next competition which has a poetry focus.
Stewardship and outdoor space development
We owe a huge thanks to Mr Walters, Connor, Kenzie and David for their stewardship work. Over the last few months, they have been working hard to clear an outside space and create a fire pit crew area. As you can see, they are nearly there and are set to work next week constructing a wood store. They will also get the opportunity to try out the fire pit and enjoy a well deserved marshmallow treat and identify any issues which need improvement before Crews start making full use of the area.
I’d also like to thank families who have supported this development with materials.
PE Kit
Just like last week’s update to Parents, we spent time reminding students of our expectations around attendance, punctuality, dress code and daily kit. One thing that has needed more reminders on is our PE kit expectations
“In line with our dress-code, we expect students to arrive at PE lessons with a change of kit which is appropriate for the activity and all accessories removed. As a guideline we recommend the following:
- Black T-shirt
- Black Shorts or leggings
- Tracksuit (top and trousers for use in winter)
- Sports trainers with non slip soles e.g. running shoes/astro turf (not plimsolls or Converse-style baseball boots)
- Black football / hockey socks”
This week
Assessment Fortnight for all students
End of year assessments will take place over the next couple of weeks, starting on Wednesday this week. Extended study has focussed on revision. These assessments will check on students’ knowledge from the whole of the academic year. Information on how well your children have done in these assessments will be incorporated into the final set of snapshots that will be shared in July. Maths end of year assessment will take place in the fortnight commencing 2nd July.
Assessments for G28 and G29 will take place in the sports hall, to get students accustomed to the environment that they will use for their GCSE examinations. Assessments for G30 will take place in classrooms.
G28 Assessment timetable
- Wednesday 12th June AM Geography 1 hour (Calculator)
- Monday 17th June AM History / RE 1 hour
- Tuesday 18th June PM English Language 1 hour
- Wednesday 19th June AM Spanish 1 hour (Reading / Listening)
- Thursday 20th June AM Science 75 mins
G29 Assessment timetable
- Thursday 13th June AM Geography 1 hour (Calculator)
- Friday 14th June AM Spanish 1 hour (Reading / Listening)
- Tuesday 18th June AM English Language 1 hour
- Wednesday 19th June PM History / RE 1 hour
- Thursday 20th June PM Science 75 mins
G30 Assessment timetable
- CLASS 1 & 2: Friday 14th June AM RE 30 mins
- CLASS 1 & 2: Monday 17th June AM English 45 mins
- CLASS 1: Tuesday 18th June AM History 30 mins
- CLASS 2: Tuesday 18th June AM Spanish 1 hour
- CLASS 1: Wednesday 19th June AM Spanish 1 hour
- CLASS 2: Wednesday 19th June AM History 30 mins
- CLASS 1 & 2: Thursday 20th June AM Geography 1 hour
- CLASS 1 & 2: Thursday 20th June PM Science 1 hour
G28 Pathways
Information on the pathways and courses in our offer can be found here. As was posted earlier this week, we are offering a drop-in session for families who would like more support and advice from teachers and Crew Leaders on Tuesday 18th June between 5pm and 6pm.
New staff induction
Our two newest staff members join us this week in school having completed the first week of their induction which mirrors the Outward Bound adventure that all students do when they start in Year 7. This week the focus of induction for Miss Simpson and Mr Azam will be our teaching and learning model, and the structure of learning expeditions.
Art workshops with a professional sculptor
A group of Year 7 students will be carrying out workshops over the coming weeks with Bruce Tuckey inspired by the Riverside Sculpture Park between Gateshead and Dunston along the Tyne. This will involve a walk along the sculpture park this Thursday during the school day to launch the partnership.
Students will need a packed lunch. We apologise for the shorter than usual notice for this. The event had initially been organised with another school participating but they have had to cancel. The Arts team at Gateshead Council know that we are studying rivers at the moment and so offered us the chance to take part.
We will post a list of Year 7 students involved and more details tomorrow.
PE sessions this week
- G30 students (Y7) have PE on Monday this week
- G29 students (Y8) have PE on Wednesday this week.
- For G28 students (Y9):
- G28 Class 1 have PE on Thursday this week
- G28 Class 2 have PE on Friday this week.
Extended Study and Clubs
As has been discussed above, the focus in extended study is on preparation and revision for assessments. We would appreciate your support at home in discussing your child’s preparations and quizzing them on what they know. Like any formal assessment, there may be some level of anxiety from some children. We are communicating to students in school that whilst the amount of content in these assessments is wider than typically at the end of a term, they should treat them in the same way in terms of preparing and knowing that they have given their best. More details of the tasks set for revision can be found on Google Classroom.
Looking Ahead to next week
Staff day
Friday 21st June is the first of our staff days this half term.
Assessment weeks continue into next week too.
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
