Post inside this category will show up on the front page
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.
A reminder that we are holding an In-Person Information Evening at our school this week on Wednesday 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.
As you know last term, as part of our Crew Day, students in G29 carried out fundraising for Toilet Twinning. This was connected to their learning from their expedition “Staying Alive” which included study of access to clean water.
This is a brilliant example of the 3-dimensional nature of our curriculum. We ask students to produce beautiful work, so that they develop their character and as a consequence see academic success.
The study of separating mixtures is part of the national curriculum. Studying this through expeditions brings this learning to life. Our students carried out practical investigations into separating mixtures, and learned about the need to filter and treat water from an expert in sewage treatment. Importantly, they also read a text about two children in rural Kenya, whose lives were markedly different due to the level of access to potable water. This was the driver for our Crew day: helping students to get a visceral insight into the daily experience of some children, asking them to show resilience, to support each other as a Crew whilst raising funds to make a difference.
Our aim for the day was to raise enough money to support one toilet block being installed in a place of need.
We are delighted to announce that, with your support, we have smashed that target!
Students raised a total of £1269 which has enabled us to twin our toilets with four sets of toilet blocks in schools in Malawi, Nigeria and Tanzania – one set for each Crew.
Thank you so much for your support, it is so important in helping our students see that they are important, that their work is truly important and has global reach.
The Second World War may feel like several lifetimes ago to some of us, but there are still thousands of people for whom it was a lived experience, something they will never forget.
Years 3 and 4 in all the Primary Schools across our Trust, have through their recent expedition Lest we Forget: How does war change Lives? examined the lives of local people and national figures – all of whom have stories that deserve to be shared.
Four beautiful books have been created, capturing times both traumatic and remarkable.
From Pat Grainger, who lives in the centre of Doncaster and remembers the Corn Exchange cellars being used as an air raid shelter, or Harry Hewitt who as a child helped the war effort by being a runner – delivering messages between the Home Guards.
The research for these books has been thorough, the original poetry and illustrations adding so much to the work that has become a valuable and treasured resource of stories from a time past, but part of our history and community.
My notes from today’s visit to @XPschool , with thanks to all of our hosts for such a warm and considered xperience, incl @gwynap @JamiePortman @SprakesA -will take some time over the weekend to reflect upon these 👇🏽 & consider the implications #learning #unlearning #compassion pic.twitter.com/9eT4BBZRai
— tjgolding (@tjgolding) May 25, 2023
Sharing our Expedition learning @ Carcroft School
Beautiful work from Olivia @ XP Gateshead
NJS walk to school week @ Norton Juniors
Is Migration worth the risk? @ XP
Y5 Football tournament @ Plover
Gateshead Council do an annual survey to get feedback on the school lunches that they provide. If you would like to give feedback, please follow this link.
We wanted to congratulate and express our pride in Lily in Y8 who is attending a training day with Band of Bugles at Durham ACF on Saturday.
Well done Lily!
We would like to share a training course opportunity we have for our parents/carers and gauge the level of interest in the course.
One in six children aged 5 to 16 were identified as having a probable mental health problem in July 2021 (Youngminds website).
As part of our commitment to supporting the wellbeing of our students, you may be aware that all of the current staff at XP Gateshead achieved the Mental Health First Aid qualification (two day training course) in July 2022. Our new staff joining us this year will also complete this course.
Youth Mental Health First Aid (MHFA®) courses are for everyone who works with, lives with or supports young people aged 8-18.
We are delighted now to be able to offer our parents/carers the opportunity to attend a half day (3 hours) Youth Mental Health Aware training course as part of our wellbeing programme. The training is designed by Mental Health First Aid England and delivered by Jane Nyberg, who has worked as a Mental Health Social Worker for over 30 years.
The introductory three hour session raises awareness of young people’s mental health.
It covers:
This course is available as either an online or face-to-face training session in school.
Learning takes place through a mix of presentations, group discussions and workshop activities.
We are looking to limit numbers to 12 people per course so that the instructor can keep people safe and supported while they learn.
Everyone who completes the session gets:
The course usually costs £125 but we are able to provide this free of charge. The only charge will be £15 to cover the cost of materials and course manual for each delegate.
We are only able to offer the Mental Health Aware course this academic year, so we would like to find out how many parents/carers would be interested in this opportunity. Please complete this form so that we can gauge the level of interest we have for this course.
Olivia in G29 has been enjoying our current expedition ‘Hold Back The River’ so much that she has been conscientiously looking for links to our guiding question, ‘How does water shape our world?’, everywhere and producing extended study that has not been set for her or requested. Olivia watched a film Avatar, The Way of Water and was so inspired by the water speech in that film that she then wrote her own poem. Olivia’s class 2 crew all agreed that both the speech from the film and Olivia’s own poem were examples of beautiful work linking so well with our expedition that we should share on our website.
Enjoy, and well done Olivia.
Avatar, The Way of Water Speech:
The way of water has no beginning and no end.
The sea is around you and in you.
The sea is your home before your birth and after your death
Our hearts beat in the womb of the world.
Our breath burns in the shadows of the deep.
The sea gives and the sea takes.
Water connects all things.
Life to death.
Darkness to light.
Olivia’s poem inspired by the speech:
Water runs through our veins cleansing the body and soul.
It is around and in us.
The blessing brings us the joy of life, family, friends.
Our hearts beat in unison with the life around us
as our passion burns within the deep ocean of life.
Water is our family before and after life.
It connects us all.
It’s our guardian and home.
Water is our world
We have one world and one chance to save it.
