Dear Families
Last week there was a lot of hard work from staff and students alike at XP Gateshead. Character growth alongside academic progress and beautiful work is at the core of our ‘Three Dimensional’ approach for students, staff and leadership, including governance. Our Crew Days last week and the DofE work undertaken by G29 students is key in terms of character development and Crew.
The Importance of Crew at XP Trust
Our design principles at XP Trust are summarised in one sentence:
We build our community through activism, leadership and equity, sharing our stories as we go.
Crew is integral to our school’s approach and has been designed with the above in mind as is articulated in our core practices document:
“The cultural heart of XP is expressed through the concept of Crew. This concept is pervasive and runs through everything we do from dedicated Crew sessions, through our curriculum, to the way we enable student and staff voice. Crew is our culture and promotes and sustains the building of community. Crew empowers our students and staff to be activists; to develop their leadership skills; and to be champions of equity. The measure of success in our Trust is weighed through service and kindness as well as the academic success of our children. Crew allows everyone associated with our Trust to become part of something bigger than themselves and fosters a sense of community and belonging, reflected in the stories we share with each other every day.”
G31 Crew Day – Walk for Water
G31 Crews carried out a day of fundraising at Gateshead International Stadium linked to their studies from the last learning expedition “Staying Alive”. This was part of the final case study in the expedition – ‘Water, water everywhere’. Working together in Crews, our students were challenged to carry 5 litre bottles of water around as many laps of the 400m track as they could.
The challenge gave students a small insight into the challenges that people in the world face just to get clean water for washing, drinking and cooking every day and raised awareness of how much we have in our country that we take for granted as a basic human right.
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We are really proud of our students who walked an incredible total distance of 70 km carrying 5 litres of water. We will post a separate update with the total amount raised – at the moment we are almost half way to raising the £2700 needed to install a water facility. All students worked really hard, and we had a great community meeting at the end of the day where students made appreciations for the encouragement shown to each other. Great work G31!
Of course the fundraising is in itself important, and we hope that with the funds raised we will be able to twin more of our school toilets with more facilities installed in Sub-Saharan Africa. Events like this in Crew day are also integral to the development of character and teaching your children that they are important, that they can do important work and make their community and the wider world a better place.
There is still time to donate – please click on this link if you would like to do so.
G30 Crew Day
As our Year 8 students develop and mature, we challenge them to get stronger together developing their leadership skills and charity work.
Crew Earhart and Crew Kahlo spent the day onsite working outdoors with their Crew Leaders and Outdoor Education expert Wayne Dobson High Tide Adventure Company. Throughout the day, crews undertook a variety of team building challenges looking at how to improve their communication, trust and crew culture to ensure all voices listened to and every student feels valued.
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Crew Darling and Crew Einstein stepped up to the challenge on Monday completing a sponsored 13 km walk along The Tyne from our school to Hebburn and back.
Crew Darling took the opportunity to gather sponsors to raise money for a special visit to the Farne Islands inspired by the legacy of Grace darling, the namesake of their Crew. Crew Einstein raised money from their sponsorship to support their chosen charity: anxious minds.
G29 Readiness for Duke of Edinburgh
All of our students complete a bronze DofE award in Year 9 and this, like our first week at Ullswater, is a compulsory part of our curriculum at XPG. The DofE programme aims to “develop the skills and attitudes young people need to become more rounded, confident adults. Qualities that colleges, universities and employers are attracted to” – aims that align with ours, developing in students “confidence, resilience, focus and motivation to achieve things they never thought they would”.
Across this year G29 students have been learning new skills, volunteering and getting physical. The final part of the award is a two day, one night expedition which our students have been planning and training for last week. Students completed a day of campcraft training on Monday and carried out their practice expeditions in Crews on Friday.
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As always, our students stepped up to the challenge. Their maturity and independence was commented on throughout the day – how they supported each other, managed the physical challenge, cooked and set up camp for each other and the thorough de-gunge carried out at the end of the day. We also managed to travel more sustainably on the Metro to get to Seaburn Metro where students then navigated across unfamiliar rural terrain back towards Brockley Whins. Students covered 9km with a significant climb at the start of the morning laden with their clothes, tents and cooking equipment.
Thank you to those who have made voluntary contributions to XPG DofE so far, this has helped support our purchase of a DofE loan kit for families struggling to be able to purchase the required kit. Every student was fully equipped on Friday, which is thanks to the commitment of all families in G29 as well as the kind donations we have received.
G28 Crew Day
Year 10 students headed to Tynemouth Longsands for their Crew Day, taking part in a range of activities including sports, art and stewardship. The day was planned to allow Year 10 students to unwind after their recent hard work across the mock exams, enjoy the outdoors, and reconnect with the spirit of Crew. Students really enjoyed taking time with their crew to reflect on collaboration, communication and how they support each other and how this can continue in the months to come.
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Staff Crew at XPG
New appointments
We are delighted to announce that we have now finished recruiting teaching staff for our final year of establishing the school to a full set of cohorts from Year 7 to Year 11. Joining our Staff Crew from August will be members of teaching staff in Spanish, Art & Design and HUMAN. Last week we also appointed two Learning Coaches to join our Staff Crew both of whom bring will real strength to our team.
Farewell to Mr Walters
Friday ‘s Duke of Edinburgh practice with G29 was a fitting end for Mr Walters’ time with XP Gateshead. Throughout his time with us Mr Walters has had relationships with students at the heart of his role, and he has been instrumental in supporting our work on outdoor education including the development of our school site. Mr Walters will be missed by all at XP, although we will continue to see him as a parent and wish him all the best in his important new role, supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our society.
This week
G31 and G30 Student Led Conferences (SLCs)
SLCs continue this week for our Year7 and Year 8 students.
SLCs, like PoLs, are key moments in the development of our students and it is vital that parents, carers and families fully support SLCs. It has been wonderful to hear of the pride our families, staff and students have felt following SLCs last week and we look forward to hearing more this week.
G28 Fieldwork – Monday 19th May
Year 10 will be visiting Newcastle University on Monday morning to participate in workshops about our Fuel Futures. Students will debate the use of renewable energy, study the factors that affect the placement of a wind turbine and look at engineering solutions to transport. This fieldwork supports their current STEAM expedition ‘Power to the People!’, where students will be working to answer the Guiding Question: How can we use the planet’s resources more sustainably? See post for more details
PE sessions this week
Our PE sessions this week are as follows. Please ensure that your child has their full PE kit.
- G31 students (Y7) have PE on Wednesday this week
- G30 students (Y8)
- Class 1 have PE on Tuesday and Wednesday this week
- Class 2 have PE on Tuesday and Friday this week
- G29 students (Y9) have PE on Thursday this week
- G28 students (Y10) have PE on Thursday this week
Extended Study and Clubs
Extended study and after school clubs will not be running this week due to G30 and G31 Student led Conferences.
G32 In-Person Information Evening, Thursday 22nd May at 6pm.
As part of our transition work, we have now met almost all our new students and their families online. This is a huge undertaking, as you can imagine but having 30 minute family meetings allows us to start getting to know our students well.
On Thursday at 6pm, we will hold an Information Evening for all of our new families in Year 6. It is vital that all families attend as we will give important information about the Outward Bound course that takes place for all students at the start of Year 7 as well as our iPad scheme. In addition, we will address some of the misconceptions about our school so that families are completely clear on what we are: ‘A mainstream school with a relentless focus on beautiful work, character growth and academic success’, and also what we are not. There will be an opportunity for you to ask us questions too of course.
Half term break starts Friday 23rd May
We come to the end of a six week half term on Friday 23rd May and as always, we will finish at 1:30pm for our usual de-gunge.
We return to school on Monday 2nd June 2025.
G29 Pathways Drop In Evening
On Tuesday 3rd June from 5pm we will be hosting a drop in for G29 families to discuss KS4 pathways with members of staff that are leading GCSE courses. See this post for more details.
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
