Dear Parents/Carers

Welcome to our final week of this half term.

It has been great to see you all at Student-Led Conferences over the last two weeks and I’m sure that we can all agree that our students have worked really hard since their return to us in January. I have really admired their courage this term along with their craftsmanship and quality and it has been lovely to talk to so many proud students and parents.

This week our G29 students started their second case study in  ‘Do Your Bit’. Having studied the outbreak of war, the second case study is called ‘The call of the Motherland’ which focuses on how the Commonwealth Countries (part of the British Empire at the time) were called upon to help the war effort and how their diverse cultures and religions impacted them on the battlefield.

To kick start the case study, students worked with experts from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and Newcastle University and worked as historians to discover the global scale of the war putting skills they have learned in Computer Science to the test.

Students also engaged with an expert from ‘A Little History of the Sikhs’ who talked to the students about how Sikhi soldier’s faith impacted on them and their battlefield experiences, in advance of the cultural fieldwork to the Gurdwara this week.

G29 also worked with an expert from Newcastle University on nutrition and digestion as part of their STEAM expedition with GQ “Is survival sufficient?”.

Our G28 students continue to work hard on their current expedition ‘What is Power?’ and last week the long awaited cast list for Macbeth was announced. Students will be performing an abridged version of Macbeth as part of their Presentation of Learning. This will be on the evening of Thursday 30th March. More details on this very soon.

This week:

Our usual programme of Extended Study and clubs are running this week with the exception of Chess Club on Thursday lunchtime.

PE sessions

As usual G28 students (Y8) will need a PE kit for Tuesday, G29 students (Y7) will need a PE kit on Wednesday.

Interviews for new staff

Interviews will take place across this week (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday). We have had lots of interest in the advertisement and are really looking forward to meeting the applicants at interview this week. As always, our staff and students are involved in the interviews to ensure we get the best teachers to join XPG Crew as we continue to grow.

LGC Meeting

Our Local Governing Body (LGC) Spring meeting takes place this week on Thursday 9th February.

Half Term and 1:30pm finish on Friday 10th February

Please remember that this is our last week of this half term and as always, we finish early to allow staff to de-gunge and replenish rooms and teaching spaces ready for next half term. 

Thank you for your continued support throughout this half term and we hope everyone has a good holiday. We are looking forward to the next half term where we will continue to work hard on current expeditions and the final products and presentations of learning for these.

As usual if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact your children’s crew leader in the first instance.

Julie Mosley

Co-Principal

Dear Parents/Carers

It has been great to see so many of you in person this week attending your child’s Student Led Conference (SLC). Our students have shown real courage this week presenting their learning, especially G29 students where this has been their first time presenting a SLC. 

The feedback from parents and carers collected on exit tickets has been full of praise:

‘My son has changed so much in his confidence. It was amazing to see his confidence, lack of nerves and how he just got on with it in what could have been a stressful time for anyone. I am super proud of him, I had a tear in my eye’ (G29 parent)

‘A really high standard of work and honest appreciation of areas to improve which is hard when the standards is consistently high’ (G28 parent)

‘We could see that she cares about her learning and that she enjoys learning through expeditions. A thoughtful presentation that she’d clearly spent a great deal of time planning’ (G29 parent)

‘More articulate and able to answer questions with authenticity but also not afraid to point out where she struggles to remember the content or context. Well prepared, good engagement and eye contact throughout. Well done!’ (G28 parent)

‘His confidence gets better every time and to present without looking at a script is brilliant!’ (G28 parent)

‘At a standard I would admire in work colleagues. Excellent! We recognise the nurture and support that has gone into getting him here.’ (G29 parent)

We will be sharing the feedback with students as part of their SLC debrief where they will reflect on this experience against the rubric and set themselves targets for their next SLC.

This week:

SLCs and Extended Study

Extended Study and clubs are not running this week to allow for SLCs to take place. School will end at 3:15pm for all students apart from those with SLCs on that evening.

Safeguarding Review

On Friday we will be joined by Trust colleagues who will work with us to complete a peer safeguarding review. Every school in the Trust has regular  safeguarding reviews to ensure we are carrying out our statutory requirements and our students are safe. We will be looking at attendance, our work with students on how they keep themselves safe, staff training and our work with families. 

As part of this review, we are asking for all families to complete a short survey. Your feedback is incredibly important to us and helps us to ensure that we continue to run an excellent school for your children.

Please complete this short Google Form and hit submit.

We look forward to the review and to any feedback we receive.

NEU strike action – Wednesday 1st February.

School will be fully open on Wednesday even though some of our staff will be on strike. XP Trust respects the right for our staff to strike and we support their action. 

There will be no PE on Wednesday for Year 7.

Looking ahead:

Growing our Staff Crew

You may be aware that we are looking to appoint new staff to our growing team. Our first adverts have gone out for teachers and we will be shortlisting applications this week for interviews during the final week of this half term. Our students will be involved in the interviews as always along with our staff.

Half Term and early finish on Friday 10th February

Please be aware that it is half term for one week from w/c 13th February and so as normal students will finish at 1.30pm on Friday 10th February to allow staff to replenish resources and to de-gunge rooms and teaching spaces ready for after the half term holiday. Students will return to school at the normal time on Monday 20th February.

Thank you as always for your ongoing support.

Julie Mosely

Co-Principal

W/C Monday 16th January 2023

Dear Parents/Carers

Student Learning Conferences (SLCs) have continued to be a real focus for all students over the last week and there has been lots of hard work put into preparations for these. Students have been gathering their work together, organising books and portfolios, and planning how they present their learning. This work will be ongoing over the next two weeks and students will be supporting each other to ‘get to the top of the mountain’ working together both in and outside of Crew time to share their experiences and coach each other.

We are really looking forward to seeing our students shine in their SLCs and the feedback they receive from you. When you sign in for your SLC at reception, please remember to take an exit ticket for completion afterwards.

As a staff, we have enjoyed professional learning across our two staff days. Our focus has been around two key aspects of our school:

• Quality first, and inclusive, teaching
  • How do we ensure that we limit cognitive load in the way that we present materials to students?
  • How do we ensure that we maximise the impact and productivity of the first five minutes of sessions?
  • How do we ensure that we sequence ideas and lessons in a way that makes the most of what we know about how learning happens?
• Developing crew to ensure a continued strong school culture 
  • How do we foster strong relationships with all of our students?
  • How do we build and tend to Crew as we grow?
  • How can we solve problems through restoration and relationships?
  • Delivering a high quality RSHE curriculum.
  • How can we optimise Crew Reads on Tranquil Tuesdays?

This week:

Extended Study and clubs are not running this week to allow for SLCs to take place. School will end at 3:15pm for all students apart from those with SLCs on that evening.

To allow students time to prepare for their SLCs, we have reduced the amount of extended study work set again this week and next. Reading for 20-30 minutes each day is still expected.

Looking ahead:

Strike Action

As you may be aware, the NEU teachers union have balloted and agreed strike action on the following dates: Wednesday 1st and Tuesday 28th February 2023.

The NEU are striking around the following reasons:

• Recruitment and retention of staff 
• Underfunding of education by the current government
• Wage increase for staff which is below the rate of inflation

As leadership, we will do our best to minimise disruption to child’s  education and we will update you in due course.

As usual, thank you for your ongoing support. Please get in touch with your child’s Crew Leader if you have any questions.

Julie Mosley

Co-Principal