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Category : Front Page News
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The school Immunisation team will be in school G28 HPV Vaccinationstomorrow morning to give HPV vaccinations to the students for whom they have consent. These consent forms were completed when the students were in year 7.
If you want to check that you have filled in a consent form or wish to give verbal consent, then please contact the school office on 0191 4814360.
For any absent students, there will be on-going catch-up sessions at a later date.
Thanks
Crew Frank are proud to announce that the total raised from our 7.1 Mile Sponsored Walk was £515.62. We are delighted to kick off our support for our chosen charity, The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, with such a fantastic contribution. We were super proud to be able to officially hand over a giant cheque that was designed for us by Ken Dobson of Studio Stunt Double and then printed by Adam Goodwin of Whittle Print. A huge thanks from us to both gentlemen who did this completely free of charge to support our school as we support many different charities. Unfortunately we had two of our Crew who were absent from school when Liz Luff came in to receive the cheque so missed out on seeing the cheque being handed over but we will be making sure they are in on future opportunities as we have lots of ideas for fundraising in the time ahead of us for what we feel is such an amazing charity that does fantastic work. Liz told us that Sir Bobby would be so proud to have us all on his team and would have loved the fact that we ‘went the extra mile’ when completing our walk (our original goal was 6 miles) as that was something he always tried to do.
Dear Families
Last week was another shorter week of four days for us but as always, we covered a lot of learning at XP Gateshead.
Assessment information snapshots
After seeing their updated snapshots, our students have highlighted areas of their work they want to improve. This may be around habits of work and learning (HOWLs) – work hard, get smart or be kind or academic performance. When walking around sessions last week and talking to students, it was great to hear them talk about the improvements they wanted to make and how this could look in sessions. I look forward to seeing their efforts and work to meet pledges in all sessions over the coming weeks.
As parents, you will be receiving an email from your child later this week and they will share their current snapshots with you along with their reflections and pledges. They will also invite you to their last SLC (student led conference) of the year and give you further details about this.
Visitors to our school
We had a lot of visitors in school last week. We welcomed Chris Harte. Chris is Government & Academic Engagement Lead for Google Education. Chris was in the UK from Melbourne, Australia to attend the Education World Forum and of all the schools in the UK chose to visit ours. Chris was also interviewed by Y8 students for their current expedition on migration, and discussed with them his experience of migrating to Australia over 13 years ago.
We also interviewed candidates for Safeguarding and Attendance Lead this week. Visits to XPG always start with an ambassador tour from students. They introduce our school, talk about expeditions, Crew and share their work and the work of others. During interviews, a students panel always takes place as well as feedback from students after sessions if candidates have been asked to deliver a lesson or run a discussion group with our students. Our students are key stakeholders in all aspects of our work here at XPG so their voice is important.
I wanted to share just some of the comments and feedback we received from visitors in school over the last week or so:
“I just wanted to send an email to thank you for your time today. I really appreciated your kindness, support and encouragement. In the time I spent with you I was able to see that XP Gateshead offers students a warm, personable environment in which they are at the heart of everything you do”
“I think your school is fantastic and the children are an absolute credit to the XPG. Would you pass on my thanks to those children involved in today’s interviews, and tell them to keep being their amazing selves”
“The depth of understanding students display when talking about their learning is stunning. Of all of the schools in the world that I have visited, this is where I would want to teach.”
“The maturity of how your students approach tasks is impressive – the quality of their questions, their listening skills and how they interpret information. It’s how they collaborate as a group, support and challenge each other’s thinking and as they told me, ‘share the air’. “
Beautiful Work from Miss Powers
Staff, like students, are always learning at XP Gateshead and looking ‘up and out’ to develop their own practice and the practice of others. Bonny Power was successful this week in securing a place with the Great North Maths Hub as a Secondary Mathematics Specialist. This is a great opportunity for Bonny and XP to be involved in mathematics development at a regional and national level – congratulations Bonny!
This week
PE sessions
As you know, Mr Currie will be covering PE sessions with our students whilst Mr Devitt continues his training placement in another secondary school. Sessions went well last week and students started a PE dance module.
All students will have a PE session on Mondays until Mr Devitt returns. To maximise time in each PE session, we ask that G28 (Year 8) come to school dressed in their PE kit on Monday so they are ready for a sharp start to the session. They will then be able to change into fresh clothes at the end of the session. G29 (Year 7) students will change to PE kit at the start of the session and will be able to wear this until the end of the day on Monday.
Year 7 Fieldwork
Mr Mead has posted an update on our website about important fieldwork for Year 7 following the expert session students had on oysters as a keystone species.
G29 Students are carrying out fieldwork on Wednesday 17th May and need to be in school at 8.10am and are expected to be back in school between 4.00pm and 4.30pm. More details can be found in Mr Mead’s post here.
Extended Study and clubs
Extended Study and clubs are running after school this week. On Tuesday we have hula fitness, Wednesday is our robotics club and Thursday is Nature Club and Rock School.
G30 Transition – Family Meetings
We look forward to meeting all of our new families over the next two weeks for their individual online meeting. This meeting will be a chance to get to know our new students and their families individually and share key information and our home school agreement.
LGC Meeting
Our Local Governing Body (LGC) Summer meeting takes place this week on Thursday 18th May.
Looking Ahead:
Half Term and 1:30pm finish on Friday 26th May
As usual, if you have any questions please contact your child’s crew leader in the first instance.
Thank you for your ongoing support.
Julie Mosley
Co-Principal
On Wednesday 17th May G29 students will undertake a day of Fieldwork at Sunderland Marina collecting scientific data to support the Wild Oyster Project. Students will also carry out surveys at Seaburn and Roker beaches. This will help students to study how the topography of the beach and land around impacts on the way that it is used and valued by people.
Students must be in school by 8.10am at the latest on this morning so that they can be registered before leaving.
We are leaving school by coach at 8.30am.
We expect to return to school between 4.00pm and 4.30pm (please check the website for updates during the day)
Students will need a packed lunch for the day. If your child receives a free school meal, we will provide a packed lunch.
The visit will be outdoors, so students need layers to keep warm. The forecast is dry but a waterproof outdoor coat is needed too.
Whilst at Sunderland Marina students will be working on the pontoons. Life jackets are provided during this work. Students will also walk from Roker Beach to Seaburn Beach. Comfortable shoes with a decent grip are recommended.
Students need to bring their regular kit for the day in a bag as there are exhibits in the site where students can take photographs and make notes using iPads for example.
The Wild Oyster Project have asked permission to take photographs. Permission slips have been issued. Please return them to Mr Mead at school.
Sharing our Stories: 12/05/2023
Beautiful Work This Week
A Christmas Carol: Year 11 Study Guide for GCSE – created by Year 11 at XP!
Students at XP in Year 11 have been preparing for their GCSE English Literature Exam studying a range of different texts. One of these was A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
As we learn predominantly through Learning Expeditions at XP Trust, students embarked on a Humanities based expedition entitled Is Charity Enough? Students studied A Christmas Carol whilst considering the work they had completed, and were continuing to study, as part of their GCSE History in the thematic module Health and Medicine through the Ages. Students focussed on A Christmas Carol considering what life was like particularly social conditions at the time the novella was written.
Students then began a detailed study of the Dickens classic by reading and writing about characters, themes and the intent of the novella. This was the foundation for the study guide that includes this content as well as beautiful artwork, interviews with Lucinda Hawksley (the Great Great Great Granddaughter of Dickens himself) as well as curators from the Dickens museum in London.
The result of this work is a fantastic guide for the students to use to help them in their GCSE revision as well as a beautiful product that reflects the students authentic voice and deep engagement with the text. However, this guide isn’t just for our students and their studies – it’s available to everyone studying A Christmas Carol at GCSE, as well as anyone else with a keen interest in Dickens!
You can buy your copy of the guide here!
All students in X25 were given a copy of the guide and further copies can be purchased through our website.
Beautiful Curation at Norton Campus!
Doncaster Minster – E27 Ethics
Top of the Blogs
LKS2 Recount Writing @ Carcroft School
Weekly update for families @ XP Gateshead
Investigating tectonic plates @ Norton Juniors
Year 8 Spanish fashion topic @ XP
Our Coronation crown winners @ Plover
Celebration Crew @ Norton Infants
Dear Parents/Carers
Here we are at the end of a second May Bank Holiday weekend. I hope you have enjoyed the additional family time over the past two weeks.
We have had lots of sponsor money collected over the past two weeks and we’re incredibly proud of the activism shown by our students. Our Year 7 Crew Day raised over £1200 for toilet twinning, which will install four sets of toilet blocks and clean water in villages in need. We have a similarly exciting announcement for you later in the week from Crew Frank about their fundraising for the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation. Thank you so much for your support!
Oyster Conservation
Our students continued to work hard in sessions last week and expeditions in each year group were well underway. G29 students enjoyed a fantastic expert session this week from the Wild Oyster Project. Students are carrying out conservation projects this term, collecting live data which will help scientists to protect both oysters and water voles. We will be giving more information soon on fieldwork to both oyster and water vole habitats.
Coronation Lunch
On Friday all of our students enjoyed a celebration picnic lunch to mark the Coronation. As usual, Suzanne and Cheryl pulled out all of the stops and we all enjoyed a great picnic lunch.
Term Dates
Last week, after consultation with all stakeholders, we also made the decision to change some of our term dates for 2023/24 and 2024/25. Our term dates have been updated on our website and are as follows:
XP Trust Calendar 2023/24 Gateshead schools
XP Trust Calendar 2024/25 Gateshead schools
Please note that we are awaiting publication of Gateshead Local Authority’s 2025/26 dates for final confirmation of our 2025/26 dates.
As was said in the website post last week, thanks to everyone for using their voice and adding their contributions.
This week
PE sessions
As you know from last week’s post, Mr Currie will be covering PE sessions with our students whilst Mr Devitt continues his training placement in another secondary school.
All students will have a PE session on Wednesday this week.
To maximise time in each PE session, we ask that G29 (Year 7) come to school dressed in their PE kit on Wednesday so they are ready for a sharp start to the session. They will then be able to change into fresh clothes at the end of the session. G28 (Year 8) students will change to PE kit at the start of the session and will be able to wear this until the end of the day on Wednesday.
Extended Study and clubs
Extended Study and clubs are running after school this week. On Tuesday we have hula fitness, Wednesday is our robotics club and Thursday is Nature Club and Rock School (in lieu of Monday being a bank holiday).
Staffing Update
As you are aware, we have been advertising two vacancies at XP Gateshead; a Safeguarding and Attendance Lead and a Learning Coach/Crew Leader. Interviews will take place on Thursday 11th May for the Safeguarding and Attendance Lead.
As usual, if you have any questions please contact your child’s crew leader in the first instance.
Thank you for your ongoing support.
Julie Mosley
Co-Principal
Dear Families
As you know, we put out a consultation to families about our term dates for the next two academic years.
We received 78 responses to our consultation, 36 from G29 families, 39 from G28 families and 2 from our new G30 families. These are shown here:
Thank you to those parents who shared details about the challenges they faced when our holiday dates have not lined up with Gateshead schools. It was very sobering to read how some parents have had to take unpaid leave from work to cope with mismatched holidays and how difficult some families were finding not having holiday time together. Some families shared the frustrations of their children being unable to spend time with friends from other schools during holidays or join local holiday clubs when term dates did not align.
In light of this consultation we have decided that, from the next academic year (2023/2024), we will better align our holiday dates with Gateshead Schools where possible. This means we will commit to changing our half term holiday breaks to align with other Gateshead schools. Please see our new XP Gateshead holidays in the diagrams at the bottom of this post.
As stated, there are some holiday dates that we cannot change – Christmas, Easter, Summer – this is due to the set length of term time we need for our expeditions. All XP Trust schools keep the Easter break in the same position to maintain the usual length of the term, around which we plan the content and calendars for the Spring and Summer learning expeditions.
We appreciate that changing dates at this stage may affect some families with holidays booked. We will honour these holiday dates and authorise any absence. Please contact us at [email protected] if you are in this situation.
So, for the next two years, our calendars are shown below. As soon as Gateshead LEA release 2025/26 term dates we will publish ours for 2025/26 with alignment of half term holiday breaks.
If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch at [email protected].
Thank you as always for your support.
Julie Mosley
Co-Principal
EL #BetterWorldDay 2023!
It’s @ELeducation‘s #BetterWorldDay! Here’s a beautiful example of how the community at Plover School are stepping up and doing their bit to make the world a better place with their Plover Pantry food bank.
Year 7 students at XP Gateshead carried out a day of fundraising! Working together in Crews, our students carried 5 litre bottles of water around as many laps of the 400m track as they could…
Be sure to follow #BetterWorldDay on Twitter to see schools around the world sharing their stories!
Sharing our Stories: 05/05/2023
Here’s a selection of beautiful work from across our Trust this week!
For more stories, make sure you visit http://xptrust.org/stories #WeAreCrew