Dear Families

We’ve all been working hard this past week and our students have been focussed on their SLC preparation ready for upcoming conferences. You should now have booked an SLC slot. Please contact [email protected] if you have not had information on booking an SLC slot or are having any difficulties. 

Fieldwork and Year 7 Expedition – Hold back the river

Year 7 showed great character in their fieldwork this week. On Tuesday Bailey felt unwell on the coach and then pushed through for the rest of the day. On Wednesday all staff that accompanied the fieldwork came back full of praise for the way that Class 2 dealt with the problems with the coach. Most importantly, many of our students saw water voles which are an indicator of the health of the ecosystem, and all students have collected important data which will help the scientists at Durham Wildlife Trust to protect these wonderful creatures.

Year 7 have also started work on their 3D artwork which will be layered seascapes inspired by photographs of our local coastline, which students visited in previous fieldwork to Roker and Seaburn. Connected to their work on rivers, students are about to look at cases of flooding and will write informative articles which will be great practice for their final articles on conservation of oysters and water voles – all part of answering their guiding question: “How does water shape our world?”

Year 8 Expedition – Should I stay or should I go

Connected to their studies of migration and the guiding question “Is Migration Worth the Risk?”, this week a group of our student leaders for this expedition visited the Comfrey Project in Gateshead. Students learned about the work that the project does with people seeking asylum and refugees living in the north east. The organisation uses horticulture-based activities to help people to feel connected to and feel part of the local community – and will be an important partner in the remainder of this expedition.

Dress Code

Student voice is very important to us at XP Gateshead. Students have asked questions of our dress code in a community meeting, and have communicated that they would like more clarity and a voice in ensuring our dress code is as fair as is possible. Crews have each named a person that will join a working group on our dress code. Conversations will start this week. Of course we will keep you updated as parents before any changes are made to the guidance in our dress code.

This week

G29 Knife Crime Awareness Session

After a successful session with our Y8 students. John Ord from Northumbria Police Violence Reduction Unit will run a session for our Y7 students on the dangers of knife crime on Tuesday.

PE sessions

PE sessions will take place on Tuesday for Year 7 and Wednesday for Year 8 students this week. Please make sure that your child has full PE kit.

Extended Study and after school clubs 

There are no Extended Study or after school clubs running this week and next week due to SLCs. 

Staff Development Day – Friday 23rd June

We have a staff day this week where we will spend time on expedition planning. We will be looking at our first Autumn expeditions for G28, G29 and G30 and working together to plan assessments, case studies and fieldwork. As always, students are not expected to attend school.

Youth Mental Health First Aid (MHFA®) courses

On staff day, we welcome a group of parent learners on site for the first of our 3 MHFA courses. We have been delighted at the level of interest in this course, with 28 parents signed up. We are offering 3 separate face to face sessions – Friday 23rd June am, Monday 26th June pm and a twilight session on Monday 3rd July twilight. 

Moving forward, we would like to offer a learning opportunity each half term for parents and carers around pertinent concerns linked to teenagers. We are looking to bring in expertise from wider support agencies in Gateshead to make sure we are accessing all of the support on offer in our community.

Looking Ahead:

Staff Development Day – Monday 26th June

This will be our final staff development day of this academic year. Students are not expected to be in school on this day.

Strike Action

As you may be aware from news announcements this weekend, the NEU teachers union have balloted and agreed strike action on Wednesday 5th and Friday 7th July 2023. We will do our best to minimise disruption and will update you in due course.

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