WEEKLY FAMILIES’ UPDATE: W/C Monday 1st May 2023

By Julie Mosley1st May 2023

Dear Families

Our first case studies in our new expeditions started well last week.  On Monday, expedition guiding questions were revealed after much curiosity and speculation from our students. 

Our G28 students have one expedition this term, ‘Should I stay or should I go?’ with the  guiding question ‘Is migration worth the risk?’. Students will study push and pul factors of migration with specific case studies in India and using Of Mice of Men as an anchor text against the backdrop of the Great Depression in the USA. Students will also study energy production and how more sustainable processes can reduce forced migration, especially important as part of our curricular seam of the Climate Emergency. Students will interview migrants to hear and honour their stories as part of their final product for this expedition. More details in due course.

Our G29 students’ expedition is called ‘Hold back the river’ and has the guiding question, ‘How does water shape our world?’. In this cross-curricular expedition students will explore physical processes in rivers and coasts and the impact that this has on humanity. We will also look at the importance of rivers and coasts as habitats for species. Students will carry out important fieldwork, collecting live research data on oysters and water voles to help local conservationists to work out how better to protect these species and their habitats.

Transition for new students

Last week, we published our transition plans for our new G30 students and their families. 

As you know, we had a lot of applications for places this year and we are delighted to be welcoming the next cohort (G30) to our crew. We ask that you will support these new families too as they sign up to the ‘Parents of XP Gateshead’ facebook group. I’m sure you will remember what a big step starting secondary school felt like, so your friendly advice is most welcome.

Holiday dates consultation

Thank you to all who responded to the consultation on term dates put out on our website last week. Your comments gave a real insight into how families currently manage holidays and how having different term dates to other Gateshead schools affect our students. We will share our decisions for term dates 2023/24 and 2024/25 with you in the next week.

Beautiful work from Carol and Karen

We would like to congratulate our cleaners Carol and Karen who had an inspection last week and passed with flying colours. Their work was commended and they gained 100% in the grading. We are really lucky to have such a great support team at XP Gateshead who go over and above for our students and staff – true craftsmanship and quality!

This week

NEU Strike Action, Tuesday 2nd May – Y7 only in school.

When students are not in school they can work independently on extended study tasks. There will be extended study after school on Tuesday, but no sports due to the strike action.

PE sessions

Due to timetable changes and a shortened week, there are no PE sessions for students this week. 

Coronation Picnic, Friday 5th May

To mark the Coronation of His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen Consort we will be enjoying a picnic lunch on Friday, weather permitting. Our catering team, Suzanne and Cheryl, will be working their usual magic to make our lunch special. 

Looking Ahead:

Coronation Bank Holiday –  Monday 8th May.

School closed for all.

 

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

Beautiful work from Olivia, Connor and Lewis

By Martin Said28th April 2023

Olivia produced this stunning artwork on her iPad using the sketchbook app. She started out curious if she could represent the unusual colour of her eyes and then continued to match her skin tones and hair colour with some beautiful strokes of the digital brush. She has then gone on to do some more images of her family too. Amazing work Olivia.

 

Felling Magpies have done it again, winning the league with a game in hand after this week’s 11-1 win against Prudhoe. Connor scored two goals and was nominated as man of the match by the opposing team. Lewis had a few great shots but the keeper made some fantastic saves to keep him out. Great work boys!

Crew Angelou – Crew Day – Young Minds

By Darren Mead28th April 2023

Hello everyone!

During our Crew Day last week in Crew Angelou, we did some extensive research about our crew charity Young Minds. Young Minds is a UK based children’s mental health charity that provides things such as advice, a 24/7 text helpline and many articles made specifically for every child’s individual and unique struggles.

For example, there are multiple links that lead to information and advice on individual experiences and feelings. There is guidance for a myriad of experiences on the Young Minds website meaning hopefully everyone at our school and anyone else that may find it useful. Children will most likely be able to find a story or piece of advice they can relate to or use. Not only are there reassurances for different mental health issues but there is also information and advice for children struggling with their gender, sexuality, race, body and kinds of discrimination they may be facing.

There are also lot’s of resources for parents, carers and teachers! These are mainly focused around how to help and support a child in your care who is in need of it. If you feel that you will find it beneficial please check out the website.  YoungMinds | Mental Health Charity For Children And Young …YoungMindshttps://www.youngminds.org.uk

We are currently planning a fundraiser within our crew to raise money for Young Minds, so keep an eye out for those announcements. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Crew Angelou

New information snapshots

By Julie Mosley25th April 2023

This week, students be shown their new updated snapshots with attendance, HoWL and academic information. These will be shared with you at home soon.

Before we share these with you at home and in advance of SLCs (Student-Led Conferences), students will look at this information and make new pledges which will also be shared with you. This is an important part of students being leaders of their own learning. Students will then show evidence of their work towards these pledges in their next SLCs.

We will have more information on the next set of SLCs in due course. These will take place in the fortnight commencing 19th June.

XPG Year 6 Transition – Calendar of events 2023

By Martin Said24th April 2023

Dear Year 6 Families

We are delighted to be able to announce the calendar of transition events that we have planned to welcome your children and your family into our community at XP Gateshead.

More details on each of these events will follow in due course, but here is an overview of the activities so that you can plan ahead and discuss this with your child.

Online Family Meetings

This week we will send details of how to sign up for an online family meeting. Meetings will be in the fortnight commencing 15th May. These take place via Google Meet during the evening and are with a senior leader in the school. The meetings are a first chance for us to meet you and your child, to find out about them and discuss our expectations as a school. Your meeting will last up to 30 minutes.

Primary School Visits

We aim to visit every child in their Primary School starting from the week commencing 22nd May. This is done by members of our transition team and means that as well as seeing your child in an educational setting, they get to know another friendly face before they come to us.

In-Person Information Evening for parents/carers

We will be holding an In-Person Information Evening at our school on 7th June at 6pm.

It is important 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.

Due to the size of our temporary accommodation, we ask where possible that a maximum of two people from each family attend this event.

Transition Days at XP Gateshead

Your children will join us in school on Tuesday 4th July and Wednesday 5th July. Again more details of these days will follow in due course. Like a regular school day, students can arrive in school from 8:00am but need to be present by 8:25am. Our school day finishes at 3:15pm.

Your child will follow a typical day at XPG on both days which include some crew sessions, expedition sessions and a community meeting.

Meet your child’s Crew Leader

Following the transition days, on Thursday 6th July we will invite parents and carers into school in the evening to meet your child’s new Crew Leader. We expect all families to attend this event. We are proud of the strong relationships that we form with families at XP Gateshead and this is an important opportunity for you to begin to build that relationship with the person that will be the key adult for your child when they start with us. As well as our cross-curricular learning expeditions, our pastoral structure Crew is what sets us apart from other schools.

Information Gathering

A huge thanks to all of those families that have completed the Google Form to let us know about you and your child. We will also gather information from Primary Schools over the coming term so that we build a clear picture of your child and how we can support and challenge them to be the best version of themselves and see success.

 

In summary: