Students are having a great day, and we are making good progress in the schedule.
We expect for students to be ready to be picked up a little earlier than the published schedule at 4.00pm now.
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For those students taking part, the Google Maps link for the event tomorrow is here, at NISSAN SPORTS & LEISURE COMPLEX.
The postcode to use in a SatNav is SR5 3NS but this may take you to the plant. At the small roundabout once you have turned off the A1290, you turn right to get to the sports complex rather than left towards the plant.
Security at the site have a list of schools, so please let them know that you are dropping off students from the team at XP Gateshead. Mr Said will at the site from 8.30am.
Students can be dropped off any time between 8.30am and 9.15am
Students should be picked up at 4.30pm.
Dear Parents/Guardians
Monday 14th March is a staff development day and students return to school on Tuesday 15th March at the normal time.
Accelerated Reader
Students this week will begin to choose books from our recently launched Accelerated Reader platform. This is part of our reading strategy at XP Gateshead and students have already completed a baseline assessment which will be used to steer children towards the most suitable books to support and challenge their reading. Accelerated Reader tracks what students are reading and Crew Leaders use this to ensure that students develop as readers.
Learning Expeditions
Students will also continue with their expeditions – in Staying Alive, they will begin case study two and consider the importance of staying warm, different energy stores, insulation and how heat energy transfers through conduction, convection and radiation. In Do Your Bit students are beginning to work on their final product and we would encourage you to talk to your children about this. We will have details on the Presentation of Learning very soon.
Next Expedition planningÂ
During our staff development days we have been working to plan and resource our next learning expedition – Top secret ! (That’s not what it’s called by the way, we’re just not telling anyone what it’s about yet). Students will begin this expedition after our Easter break.
Robotics
Students will be entering their robot for the Robotics competition on Wednesday of this week and will make their own way to the competition. Mr Said has been in touch with parents about arrangements for the day but as a reminder:
- 8.30 – 9:15 Teams arrive at NISSAN Sports Complex
- 16:30 – Teams ready for collection
Good luck to our students! They have worked so hard developing our inaugural XP Gateshead entry, including building the robot from scratch, building the practice field and coding and testing the robot in a virtual environment. Also we’d like to give a special appreciation to Dr Steve Bunce who has been working with the students as part of their Common Mission time each week. There will be many experienced teams at the competition so this will be a great learning experience for our students.
Student Assessment Information and reflective narratives
Families have now received their child’s report containing information on attendance, academic progress and HOWLs. You will also have received a second document with your child’s reflective narrative describing their own learning journey and containing comments from their crew leader. Please let your child’s crew leader know in the first instance if you have any questions or wish to follow anything up.
Extended Study and after school clubs
Extended Study and after school clubs will be running as normal this week.
- TUESDAY: Extended Study
- WEDNESDAY: Extended Study
- THURSDAY: Sports / Extended Study / Minecraft
Lateral Flow Testing
Please complete these on Monday evening this week  in readiness for return to school on Tuesday 15th.
COVID infections are still high in the community and rising again. Given our scale, an asymptomatic case in school could cause issues if it were to spread, for example in terms of being able to staff the school. Please continue to support us with lateral flow testing each Sunday and Wednesday evening and make sure you enter results into our website on each of these occasions.
Now that the government has decided to remove the wearing of face coverings as one of the mitigation measures in schools, we are happy for students (and staff) to continue wearing masks if they feel more comfortable doing so.Â
If you require any extra LFT kits please let us know.Â
We will continue to keep doors and windows open for ventilation so students are advised to bring multiple layers to school to keep warm. This is how we look after each other – #wearecrew
Safeguarding Review
Thank you to our parents for your fantastic support and overwhelming positive feedback in response to our safeguarding review – some of the comments literally brought tears to our eyes. We also received a very positive report from the Trust team and as ever will be using any feedback we received to do even more to ensure our students are safe and happy at XP Gateshead.
Calendar dates
Our calendar can be found here.
As usual if you have any questions please get in touch with your child’s crew leader in the first instance.
Best wishes
Mark Lovatt
Principal
If your child is interested in music tuition, please ask them to collect a copy of this letter from Mr Said in school next week.
IMPORTANT: Due to Mr Said’s absence the deadline for returns of the letter has been extended to Tuesday 22nd March.
Students should speak to Mr Said in school for more details.
Today you will receive assessment information about your child’s academic progress and their habits of work and learning.
In the interest of saving paper, these will be emailed to you as a pdf along with a second document which contains your child’s personal reflection about the start that they have made with us at XP Gateshead.
If you would like a paper copy too, please contact your child’s crew leader.
You will remember the video below was shared in advance of the student-led conferences and serves as a summary explanation of our assessment protocols. It may be useful to watch this again when looking at the information with your child.
What is most important about this information is that it starts conversations about progress. Please do talk as a family about the information we have shared and your children have thought so carefully about in their reflective narratives.
Some questions that you might want to ask are:
– Why did you make those pledges?
– How are you getting on with those pledges? How do you know?
– What are the strengths that you bring to XPG, with your HoWLs and your skills and knowledge that are reflected in the AP information.
– What are you most proud of?
We are so proud of the strong culture that our students, your children, have created in such a short time.
We’re looking for Teachers/Learning Coaches at our schools in XP Doncaster!
We’re looking for Learning Teachers at XP Doncaster! –
Find out more here:
English Teacher
Maths Teacher
Learning Coach
This weekend Isla emailed Mr Devitt and Mr Said asking what our crew could do for the people of Ukraine, with some suggestions of her own.
Isla read some articles and thought really carefully about what was needed and how we could help. She then put together a presentation for our Crew which she delivered this morning. The Crew were really impressed with Isla’s compassion and agreed that we wanted to help.
Students in Crew Devitt/Said have agreed to contribute if they can, although this is not something that is an expectation. We have said that we will try to get donations together over the next week, up to Wednesday 16th March.
Where possible, in line with what Isla has found out and as recommended by Gateshead Council donations of the following would be welcome:
- Clean and winter-proof sleeping bags for children and adults
- First Aid Kits
- Dressing
- Clean Bedding
- Toiletries (not opened)
- Small baby nappies
- Baby wipes
- Colouring books
- Children crayons
- Children Art Accessories
- Clothing
- Clean Blankets
Donations in school will be passed to a local drop off point, and will be transported to Poland and given to the CARITAS charity foundation, who are providing crucial assistance to those fleeing to Poland.
TEENTECH are hosting another live event, similar to the event held on cyber security back in January. This event will be about animation.
In this session, students will be talking to leading people currently working in the animation industry both locally and nationally. They will talk about their work, how they got into their industry and what your students can do right now to hone their skills and experience.
Students will be looking at the entire process from concepts and ideas, storyboarding and pre-production, the production of animation (stop-frame and computer-based) right the way through to editing and post-production.
As it is a staff day, to join the event from home, students have a link shared with them by Mr Said in their STEAM Google Classroom.
The event will take place on Friday 11th March between 10.00am – 11.00am.
Students must follow the young persons agreement whilst attending and representing the school at the event.
The Young Musicians Programme
The YMP (Young Musicians Programme) is currently open for applications from children and young people aged 4 to 19 to start in September 2022. The closing date for the first round of applications is Friday 15Â April 2022.
YMP is open to all children and young people who are interested in music and want to learn, including those who want to become professional musicians.
The programme supports access to music study and is hosting an online open day on  Saturday 26 March. Students can register their interest at this link: YMP Open Day 2022 | Sage Gateshead. The open day is a brilliant way for parents and carers to learn more about our Young Musicians Programme.
There will be a presentation about the programme, introductions to our staff and tutors, a Q&A, and a tour around Sage Gateshead and the Music Education Centre.
If you have any questions please contact youngmusicians@sagegateshead.
Youth Music Advisory Board
For our students that are already 12 years old, there is an opportunity to apply to be part of steering group that will give young people in Gateshead a voice on music education in schools and as part of the wider music hub.
Instrumental Tuition at XPG
More information will be posted very soon on instrumental tuition for students at XPG.