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Scarlett and Winnie in Year 7 completed the Great North Swim this weekend on Windermere – the biggest open air swimming event in the whole of the UK. What a fantastic achievement and evidence to us all that ‘there is more in us than we know’.
Great work Winnie and Scarlett.
Come and be a part of our beautiful Early Years community and help our students craft beautiful work like this…
It has been a busy first week back as usual and we have all quickly got back into working hard after the half term break. Our focus this term is ‘culture, culture, culture’ – making sure that we continue to build strong foundations which will support us as we grow and welcome new staff, students and families into our crew. The culture to ensure we build our character values, beautiful work and academic success.
Student-Led Conferences
Our students are working hard now preparing for their Student-Led Conferences which start next week.
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.
To help your child prepare for their SLC, in their email to you they asked that you complete this short Google Form. This gives you the opportunity to ask any questions about your child’s progress which they will then address as part of their conference. This form should have been completed last week. If you have not already done so, please complete the form now so your child can be well prepared for their SLC.
G30 Transition
Last week we met our new G30 families for an In-Person Information Evening. It was great to meet parents and carers and welcome them to our school and go through key messages for a great start in August. Thank you already to our G28/29 crew who have been supporting our new parents with any questions they have on the facebook page ‘Parents of XP Gateshead’. You know exactly how it feels at this stage and the many things to consider around the transition from primary to secondary. We really appreciate your support and the reassurance you can give, especially around the importance and positive impact of the Outward Bound experience.
I’d like to give a shout out to Jess B, Leon, Macie, Betsy, Will, Holly S and Lily for their stewardship on Wednesday. They stayed behind after extended study to help us set up for the evening, moving chairs and tables. Their compassion was much appreciated by myself, Ms Donlan, Miss Diamond and Mr Said.
G28 Expedition – “Is migration worth the risk?”
Students have this last week started to explore migration during the Tudor period and have learned from the work of Dr Miranda Kaufmann about people that came to England from Africa, including a musician – John Blanke – in the court of Henry VIII. As well as reading more on their anchor text ‘Of Mice and Men’, they have also been learning more about climate change. This will connect to their studies on migration as students learn more about how climate and the need for more sustainable energy generation can be a push or pull factor which impacts on migration. We have some fieldwork connected to this planned – more information on this soon.
G29 Expedition – “How does water shape our world?”
Students have been learning about river processes in preparation for upcoming fieldwork where they will test a hypothesis about the differences that they would expect to see in a river at various points in its course. This fieldwork will be on July 4th – more information on this soon. They have also been continuing to learn about humans’ relationship with, and impact on ecosystems. This last week we were visited by experts from Durham Wildlife Trust who helped students prepare for their upcoming fieldwork this week. Students are learning about water voles as a river species that is an indicator of the health of the ecosystem. They will be out in the field this week alongside experts, collecting scientific data which will be used to determine next steps in protecting this important species. More details below.
Thank you to all parents/carers who have signed up to attend a half day Youth Mental Health Aware training course (MHFA®). 28 parents have signed up for this course and we are able to offer 3 separate face to face sessions – Friday 23rd June am, Monday 26th June pm and Monday 3rd July twilight. Each course will run for 3.5 hours (including breaks) and has a maximum of 12 spaces. This week, we will email the parents who have signed up for the course with full details.
On Tuesday 13th June (G29 class 1) and Wednesday 14th June (G29 class 2) students will undertake a day of Fieldwork at Killhope Lead Mine museum collecting scientific data to support Durham Wildlife Trust water vole project . This will help students to study the distribution of an important, yet declining species and see the impact of habitat quality has on their population. Please see Mr Mead’s post for full details on timings and required kit for the day.
Please discuss this fieldwork with your children and remind them of our expectations to show our character traits and habits of work and learning both inside and out of school. We are developing a good working relationship with the wildlife trust and want this to continue.
PE sessions will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday this week – however there are some changes due to the fieldwork. Please note the following and make sure that your child has full PE kit:
Tuesday PE sessions for Y7 Class 2 and Y8 Class 2
Wednesday PE sessions for Y7 Class 1 and Y8 Class 1
Extended Study and clubs are running after school this week.
There are no Extended Study or after school clubs running next week due to SLCs.
Staff Development Days – Friday 23rd June and Monday 26th June 2023. Students are not expected to be in school on this day.
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
Adapting song/music @ Carcroft School
G28 Spanish Product @ XP Gateshead
We raised £34 for the Plover Pantry! @ Plover
Our new Year 7 students’ Outward Bound adventure begins on Tuesday 29th August. Students need to be arrive at school between 8.00am and 8.25am. The coach will depart later that morning.
We need all parents to complete a Participant Information Form by following the link below. The form must be submitted by Monday, July 3rd, 2023.
Outward Bound Participant Form
Students must bring a £10 deposit with them on the morning which will be handed back to them at the end of their adventure if there is no loss or damage to equipment. This is an important part of the process for the week, and teaches the students about join responsibility as a Crew.
Any medication for students must be in the original box, clearly labelled with your child’s name and details of regularity of administration and dose. This includes:
Please get in contact with [email protected] if your child will be bringing medication and we can provide you with a self-administration or permission to administer form.
Specialist equipment such as walking boots, tents, sleeping bags, hiking rucksacks and waterproofs will be provided by the centre.
The kit list for students is listed below. Please ensure that your child has all of these items.
If you are having problems sourcing these please get in touch with our office via [email protected] . Older clothes are far better for the week as they will get wet and or muddy.
On Tuesday 13th June (G29 class 1) and Wednesday 14th June (G29 class 2 ) students will undertake a day of Fieldwork at Killhope Lead Mine museum collecting scientific data to support Durham Wildlife Trust water vole project . This will help students to study the distribution of a important, yet declining species and see the impact of habitat quality has on their population.
We are leaving school by coach at 9.30am. So a normal school start time applies.
We expect to return to school between 3.15pm and 3.30pm (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. U/V levels are high so a sun hat and sunscreen are need too.
Students will be walking across fields and some uneven ground so comfortable shoes with a decent grip are recommended. Students must wear long trousers for this field work.
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.
A reminder that we are holding an In-Person Information Evening at our school this evening at 6pm. We expect the event to be finished by 7pm.
It is important that all families attend. We ask that you bring a maximum of two adults per family due to our temporary accommodation. This event is for parents and carers so children do not need to attend – which will also assist with our limited space in the temporary build.
Many thanks
Last term in Spanish, Year 8 students worked hard to produce a final product which celebrated and culminated their learning of vocabulary around free-time and holidays.
Welcome back! I hope you and your family have enjoyed the half term break. We are really looking forward to welcoming our students back tomorrow for the start of our final half term at XP Gateshead.
As always, we ask students and staff to dress appropriately and modestly. The vast majority of our students get this right every day but some of our students are making dress choices which are not appropriate and we have had to have conversations about what ‘modest’ means. I’m sure that you will agree when we say that we don’t want school to be a fashion show, we want our students to look like themselves and express who they are respectfully.
Our dress code states that
Dress should not be offensive, dirty, revealing, portray gang membership or sexualise the child. We should all be clean and hygienic and avoid overpowering perfumed products and the negative effect this has on others.
For a normal day within school, we do not think it appropriate or recommend that students wear:
This is not intended as an exhaustive list, but examples to illustrate how to dress appropriately.
Students having difficulty with finding appropriate clothing for any reason should speak with their Crew leader.
School opens at 8:00am every morning. Students should arrive between 8:00am and 8:25 am and there are spaces available for socialising, reading or completing extended study. Students must be on site for 8.25am for the call to Crew. Good punctuality is an expectation in all future careers and we do expect our students to be here on time every day. We appreciate your support with this.
As always, students need to bring a school bag with:
We welcome our new staff to XP this week for the start of their 5 week induction with us. Just like our students, on their first day at XP, new staff go on an outdoor adventure where they work together to explore the meaning and purpose of Crew. The 4 day residential provides the opportunity for staff to share experiences, step out of their comfort zones and be comfortable sharing their vulnerabilities in a safe and supportive environment which aligns with the concept that, ‘if it’s good enough for our kids, it’s good enough for us.’
Our transition work with our new G30 students continues. We have now met nearly all of our new families online and visits to primary schools have started
On Wednesday 6th June at 6pm, we will hold a ‘Transition Information Meeting’ in school for our new parents to share our ethos, expectations, Outward Bound planning and IPad scheme.
Mr Devitt returns to XP Gateshead this week after a successful school placement as part of his training course. All PE sessions will take place on Friday this week so students will need a PE kit on Friday. Next week, PE sessions will return to normal and all students will have 2 sessions of PE in school.
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. There is no Rock School this week however.
Thank you to all parents/carers who responded to the post about the opportunity to attend a half day Youth Mental Health Aware training course (MHFA®). We have had a good interest in the course (a sign up of 25 so far) so we will be running several training sessions (during school time) to meet this demand. If you are interested and have yet to sign up, please complete this form by the end of Wednesday 7th June 2023. When we have all responses, we will contact parents directly with course dates and details.
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
As you know we have Student-Led Conferences coming up. You should have received information on how to book an SLC slot. Please contact [email protected] if you have not had this information.
To help your child prepare for their SLC, in their email to you they asked that you complete this short Google Form. This gives you the opportunity to ask any questions about your child’s progress which they will then address as part of their conference.
Please can all families ensure that this form is completed by Wednesday 7th June so that your child can include this in their planning.
