Thanks to our families for your support this term, the last couple of weeks of Presentations of Learning (PoLs) are always a special time, giving students an opportunity to present the best versions of themselves to their families. We have had fantastic feedback from all who attended the PoLs in Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 and look forward to showcasing on our website where we will curate each expedition and link to our final products.

We have already posted about previous PoLs but I just wanted to give one final praise to G28 whose Presentation of Learning took the form of taught lessons about their studies with families as students. What an incredible PoL, with our students really stepping up in terms of confidence, warmth and engaging families in their learning. Absolutely stunning!

Staffing Changes for the New Year

There will be one change of staffing in Year 8 and Year 9. Mr Azam is going to be teaching Year 8 Class 2 as has been the case this term, and he will also now teach Year 9 Class 1. Ms Marshall will now teach Year 8 Class 1 and will continue to teach Year 9 Class 2. This will allow for more collaboration within the Maths team in school, which also includes Mrs Mosley.

There are also a few events that we want to bring to your attention in the next term.

Student-led Conferences: Year 7 and Year 8

Year 7 and Year 8 will be carrying out Student-Led Conferences in mid January. Student-Led Conferences give children the opportunity to share the information that they feel best reflects their learning journey and reflects on this question ‘Am I moving towards where I need to be?’. SLC’s ensure that they reflect on all the elements of the Narrative for Success including attendance, HoWLs and Academic Progress.

Invites to choose a slot for families will be sent when we return to school. SLCs for Year 7 and Year 8 will take place in the fortnight commencing 27th January.

London: Victoria & Albert Museum Fieldwork for Year 8

As part of their new learning expedition Year 8 students will be carrying out important fieldwork at the V&A (The Victoria & Albert Museum in London). This is in partnership with the Shipley Art Gallery in Gateshead. Students will travel to London and back in a day by rail, and will work with experts at the museum to help put together artistic responses to their new guiding question.

• Year 8 Class 1 will travel to London on Tuesday 28th January
• Year 8 Class 2 will travel to London on Monday 3rd February

There will be enough SLC slots for families to avoid your child’s slot being close to the London visit.

Passage Presentation Preparation for Year 9

When they return to school, Year 9 students will begin to prepare to carry out Passage Presentations. These will take place on Monday 17th March and Tuesday 18th March during the daytime in school and last for one hour. We will be able to share more information about these important rites of passage, as well as the  Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award and our Key Stage 4 offer of GCSEs and other courses as part of an information for all families.

This information evening will take place on Wednesday 15th January at 5:30pm.

Student/Teacher-led conferences for Year 10

Students in Year 10 will for the first time take part in Student/Teacher-led conferences. These are shorter conferences than SLCs where students will sit alongside each of their subject teachers to share their progress with you on their new Key Stage 4 courses.

These are scheduled to take part in the week commencing Monday 10th February, with an evening for each Class in Year 10. We will post more details when we return, including assessment information and an opportunity for you to ask questions in advance of these conferences.

Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our students and families a very Merry Christmas and restful holiday period. We return to school on Monday 6th January 2025 and look forward to another successful New Year at XP Gateshead.

Julie Mosley

Principal, XP Gateshead

Dear Families

It’s been another busy and productive week at XP Gateshead. 

In these final weeks of term, rather than wind down, our students  step up in their work and dedication to craftsmanship and quality. They are all working hard on final products, responses to their guiding questions and preparing for upcoming Presentations of Learning. This brings lots of challenges as you can imagine but I am so proud of the courage, determination and resilience shown by our students and staff on a daily basis.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

G28 Engineering/Technology students

Our G28 students spent the morning at Royal Grammar School on Wednesday, in preparation for a day of manufacturing on Friday this week during the school day. The students have been designing a plinth to hold an iPad so that it can become an interactive kiosk. This is going to be used by our G28 Interactive Media students as part of their design work on an interactive quiz associated with their Viking studies.

A big appreciation to Dr Bunce from RGS, who also works with our digital leader and LGO robotics team, for helping to facilitate these days!

G29 First Aid Training

On Wednesday our Y9 students were involved in first aid training as part of their DofE skill development. Sam Clark from First Aid Schools was blown away by the maturity shown by all of our students and their response to all challenges set. Our students now know some basic principles of assessing an emergency situation, contacting emergency services and how to perform basic skills required to sustain life while awaiting their arrival. They are now more prepared to handle various emergency situations including administering CPR and using a defibrillator.

G28 PoL – Is Charity Enough?

On Wednesday afternoon our Y10 students welcomed new members of our community into our school. Our students put on an Afternoon Tea full of homemade goods along with Christmas treats which really demonstrated the power of connection and community. It was wonderful to see the smiles and hear conversations between our students and older members of the community. Please see the website post for more details and some extracts of students’ answers to the guiding question.

G31 Fieldwork

Students in G31 have been studying Gateshead’s and the North-East’s place in the UK since 1066. There current studies see them learning about the industrial revolution and our coal mining heritage. On Friday they carried out fieldwork to St Mary’s Church in Heworth and saw the memorial to the Felling Pit Disaster – which will feature in their songs as part of their PoL next week.

The Week Ahead

G29 PoL at Farrell Centre and Great North Museum, Wednesday – Newcastle University 3:45pm

We are really looking forward to seeing our Y9 present their learning this week at Newcastle University. They will be sharing their responses to the guiding question from this expedition – How are structures important in helping us to explain our world? Their work will be part of the ‘Concrete Dreams’ exhibition at the Farrell Centre and their art work will be exhibited at the Great North Museum.

Students will be travelling over to Newcastle in the morning, so will need a packed lunch on Wednesday. They need to be prepared for the weather as they will also have a campus tour as part of their day.

Families should arrive at the Farrell Centre /Great North Museum in Newcastle University Campus at 3.45pm. We will put out a separate post tomorrow with information on which families will be starting in which location. Parking is available further north on Claremont Road, or the two sites are within walking distance from Haymarket Metro Station.

Christmas Charity Events

On Tuesday Crew Stanton are running an after school Christmas Crafts session to raise funds for their charity ‘Tiny Lives’. On Thursday Crew Frank are hosting a Christmas quiz and all funds raised will go to their chosen charity ‘The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation’.

   

PE sessions this week

Our PE sessions this week are as follows. Please ensure that your child has their  full PE kit.

• All G30 students (Year 8) have PE on Monday.
• For G31 students (Year 7)
  • G31 Class 1 students have PE on Tuesday.
  • G31 Class 2 students have PE on Wednesday
• All G29 students (Year 9) have PE on Thursday.
• All G28 students (Year 10) have PE on Thursday.

PoLs next week

• G31’s PoL will be on the evening of Monday 16th December at St. Mary’s church in Heworth at 4.30pm.
• G30’s PoL will be on Wednesday 18th December in school at 4.30pm.
• G28’s PoL will be on Thursday 19th December in school at 4.30pm.

Degunge Next Week – Friday 20th December

A reminder, especially for families of Year 7, that students finish at the earlier time of 1.30pm on the final day of term to allow for staff to de-gunge classrooms and restock class supplies in readiness for the start of the new term.

As usual if you have any questions about your son or daughter please get in touch with your child’s Crew Leader in the first instance or email general enquiries to [email protected].

Julie Mosley

Dear Families

Over the next few weeks we will be fully into preparation for Presentations of Learning (PoLs). As stated in our core practices:

At XP we make our work public. One of the most important ways we do this is through PoLs. They are used as an opportunity for students to showcase their learning from their most current learning expedition. PoLs enable students to grow their character and further embed their learning through presenting their work in front of a range of authentic audiences and in a variety of contexts. In addition, students develop oracy skills by presenting to different audiences and in different contexts which builds confidence and further allows students to grow their character whilst developing key skills.

We look forward to seeing all families at the following Presentations of Learning for their children:

• G31’s PoL will be on the evening of Monday 16th December at St. Mary’s church in Heworth at 4.30pm.
• G30’s PoL will be on Wednesday 18th December in school at 4.30pm.
• G29’s PoL will be on the evening of Wednesday 11th December at the Farrell Centre and Great North Museum in Newcastle University Campus at 3.45pm.
• G28’s PoL will be on Thursday 19th December in school at 4.30pm.

Staff Days

On Friday our support staff were trained in First Aid, part of our ongoing training programme to ensure that we can support students. This week Year 9 have the opportunity to receive similar training as part of the Duke of Edinburgh award in readiness for their outdoor expeditions later this academic year.

   

Our teaching staff spent the day at Newcastle University discussing connections that can be made with the University and researchers to further contextualise our expeditions, connect with cutting edge research and also continue to raise aspirations for students about their future and possible pathways.

Today we have spent the day focussed on long term planning, in particular future expeditions and our wider support and pastoral provision for all students.

The Week Ahead

G29 Student Led Conferences

This week sees the second week of SLCs for Year 9 students. All families should have booked their SLC slot. Please contact [email protected] if you need more support with this.

G31 Expert in school tomorrow

Tomorrow students in G31 will meet Bill Elliott a local folk singer who is supporting students in their preparation for their presentation of learning. Next week students will work with Bill to complete their folk song compositions.

G28 In School PoL on Wednesday

On Wednesday afternoon, G28 will host their PoL connected to their studies of A Christmas Carol. This is an afternoon tea for members of the community that typically experience loneliness, especially around Christmas, all of which connects to their GQ: “Is charity enough?”

Families of G28 please note that this event will finish at around 4pm.

G29 First aid training on Wednesday

All G29 students will have First Aid Training on Wednesday this week. This is in preparation for their DofE expeditions later in the academic year.

PE sessions this week

Our PE sessions this week are as follows. Please ensure that your child has their  full PE kit.

• For G30 students (Year 8)
  • Due to the staff day there is no PE session this week.
• For G31 students (Year 7)
  • G31 Class 1 students have PE on Tuesday.
  • G31 Class 2 students have PE on Wednesday
• All G29 students (Year 9) have PE on Thursday.
• All G28 students (Year 10) have PE on Thursday.

As usual if you have any questions about your son or daughter please get in touch with your child’s Crew Leader in the first instance or email general enquiries to [email protected].

Julie Mosley

Dear Families

• The Venerable Bede
• Humphry Davy
• Thomas Hepburn
• Catherine Cookson
• David Price

A special thanks to Dave Evans, Geoff Hewitt and Rob Kitchen for working with our Year 7 students throughout the day.

Crew Day

On Friday we had our Crew Day which gave all crews the chance to ‘tend’ to and strengthen the crew, to support and challenge each other to be the best versions of self and carry out some important work together.  As you know, Crew is our support network at XPG and key to the continued success of everyone at our school. 

G31 students continued their work on researching suitable people after whom to name their crews – people who have achieved great things and who display our character traits of courage, integrity, respect, craftsmanship and quality, and above all compassion. I’m pleased to introduce our four Year 7 crews:

• Crew Pankhurst – (Mr Azam’s Crew)
• Crew Curie – (Mrs Diamond’s Crew)
• Crew Shakespeare (Miss Jamison’s Crew)
• Crew Windsor (Mr Parry’s Crew)

G30 students worked on their pitches for which charity they wanted their crew to support, including presentations from G28 students who encouraged them to consider the charities with whom they were already working.

I’m pleased to introduce our Year 8 chosen charities are:

• Anxious Minds – Crew Einstein
• Daisy Chain – Crew Kahlo
• Sands – Crew Earhart
• The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation – Crew Darling (we are delighted that they will pair up with Crew Frank in G28 to support this charity.

G30 also had some time working with our LEGO robots to work on their collaborative, design and coding skills, creating robot hoppers which were then raced competitively.

G29’s Crew Day gave over time to students to work together as a Crew to prepare for charity events for their respective charities, connecting back to the plans that they made in their first week back in September. Crew Attenborough spent much of the day in the kitchen as they will be carrying out a charity event at G28’s presentation of learning later this term. More on this soon.

G29 also spent some of the day working on preparation for their SLCs (see below).

For Year 8 and 9, Crew Day was an important reminder that:

“We are Crew, not passengers, strengthened by consequential acts of service to others.”

G28’s Crew Day attended to wellbeing – mind, body and soul. Our students enjoyed sessions including:

• A Badminton Crew challenge
• Orienteering
• Advice on habits of mind that will support the step up to GCSE
• Yoga

Community Meeting

There was great excitement in our community meeting at the end of the day with Year 7 and 8 this week as students announced their crew names and crew charities. We also collected and shared appreciations from all crews: 

I will share appreciations with you when we collect them so you can see the character values our students appreciate in each other each week. 

Saturday with the Stemettes

On Saturday some of our students joined the Stemettes Vision Panel in Newcastle. This event ‘Dream, Listen, Connect’ gave young women the opportunity to hear from a panel of role models pursuing careers in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics). Our Year 9 students enjoyed the opportunity to listen and ask questions to a panel of experts and meet other young people interested in STEAM careers. Ms Marshall, Ms Jamison and I were incredibly proud and impressed with the dedication our students showed to their learning and contributions on the day from Eleanor, Scarlett, Winnie, Penny, Olvia, Lily, and Lyra.

XPG Ofsted Report

As you know we had our first Ofsted Inspection 15th and 16th October 2024. We emailed this out to all parents and carers last week. If you haven’t seen the report yet, here it is.

There have been changes to how Ofsted report back to schools this year. A main change is that there is no final judgement for overall effectiveness, just gradings around the four areas of quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management. We are delighted with our written report which talks about what it is like to attend our school, what we do well and the area which has been identified for improvement. Please sit back and enjoy the read – this report belongs to us all and is a testament to the hard work of our staff, students and families. 

Our week ahead 

G29 Student Led Conferences

This week sees the start of SLCs for Year 9 students. All families should have booked their SLC slot. Please contact [email protected] if you need more support with this.

G28 Preparation for PoL

G28 continue preparations for their PoL for their studies of A Christmas Carol. This is an afternoon tea for members of the community that typically experience loneliness, especially around Christmas, all of which connects to their GQ: “Is charity enough?”

This week students received invites to the PoL for members of the community that may experience loneliness at this time of year. Each student has been asked to invite one person to the event. More details can be found on the printed invite.

Crew Frank are cooking in the kitchen tomorrow morning, and Crew Parks on Wednesday. Students do not need to bring ingredients, but it is worth wearing clothes that are older. Long hair needs to be tied back in a bobble please.

PE sessions this week

Our PE sessions this week are as follows. Please ensure that your child has their  full PE kit.

• For G30 students (Year 8)
  • G30 Class 2 students have PE on Monday.
  • G30 Class 1 students have PE on Thursday.
• For G31 students (Year 7)
  • G31 Class 1 students have PE on Tuesday.
  • G31 Class 2 students have PE on Wednesday.
• All G29 students (Year 9) have PE on Thursday.
• All G28 students (Year 10) have PE on Thursday.

Staff Days – Friday 29th November and Monday 2nd December

We have a staff day this coming Friday and next Monday. The focus for these staff days are forward planning, especially our exciting new learning expeditions for term 2 from January. On staff days our students do not attend school and there is no expectation that they complete work beyond their regularly set extended study (homework). Students will find this work on Google classroom.

Looking ahead – important dates

POLs (Presentations of Learning) this term – dates for your diary 

• G31’s PoL will be on the evening of Monday 16th December at St. Mary’s church in Heworth at 4.30pm.
• G30’s PoL will be on Wednesday 18th December in school at 4.30pm.
• G29’s PoL will be on the evening of Wednesday 11th December at the Farrell Centre and Great North Museum in Newcastle University Campus at 3.45pm.
• G28’s PoL will be on Thursday 19th December in school at 4.30pm.

As usual if you have any questions about your son or daughter please get in touch with your child’s Crew Leader in the first instance or email general enquiries to [email protected].

Julie Mosley

Dear Families

I look back on last week with a real sense of pride for the work our students are doing and the people they are becoming. The words of Kurt Hahn ring truer and truer every day

“There is more to us than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps for the rest of our lives, we will be unwilling to settle for less” 

On Monday, we observed our two minute silence for Remembrance Day.  This was signalled by Devin with a solo bugle call and a huge amount of courage . Students were also given the opportunity to listen to our remembrance broadcast on Memory Lane Radiothe opportunity to listen to our remembrance broadcast on Memory Lane Radio. If you have not yet done so, please take some to listen to this wonderful piece of work from G30.

At XP we work to ensure that our students grow their character, create beautiful work and achieve academic success. We develop our curriculum so that learning is relevant, purposeful and authentic and we encourage our students to be compassionate citizens, expanding opportunity so that they can impact positively on others both in the school and in the wider community. We work hard to nurture and develop an understanding of how kindness, empathy and concern for others must define us, as both individuals and also as part of society, if we are to create a more just and compassionate world. 

Our G31 students had an expert session with Clare Price who told us about the extraordinary life and character of her husband David, about whom G31 will be writing a folk song. This is one of a series of songs about local figures of importance in our region’s story. As we have said before, David was a friend of XP and instrumental in the story of our school. A huge appreciation to Clare for bringing lots of David’s possessions and speaking so beautifully about a wonderful man.

At the end of the week our students took part in conversations with several organisations working regionally, nationally and internationally. These each exemplify how our approach to personal development means that students develop in confidence over time, are confident to speak to a range of audiences and can hold their own in discussion about important issues of our time.

Our G29 students had an expert session with Kate Osborne Member of Parliament (MP) for Jarrow and Gateshead East as part of their current expedition  ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ and working to answer a guiding question ‘How are structures important in helping us to explain our world?’. As part of their work students have been looking at political structures in Government and been investigating housing policy of the Labour Party and other major political parties in the U.K. Our Year 9 really took the opportunity to ask Kate questions in discussions that covered climate action, sustainability, housing policy, immigration along with more personal questions around Kate’s passion for politics and the North East.

On Friday, Koen Timmers visited XP Doncaster to share his work involving young people and schools across the world on Climate Action. Koen set up the Take Action Global project and The Climate Action Project – with 5.3 million kids from 127 countries taking part. He has been nominated for the Bill Gates for the top ten Global Teacher Prize twice. Students from XPG Climate Action Group joined an online meeting with staff from across the Trust to hear Koen talk about his work and how XP schools could get involved. Our students will be updating our wider staff team in the near future about the The Climate Action Project and considering how XPG can get involved.

Our final example of activism in our students came from a group of G28 students who were amazing young delegates at a Humanist Conference on Poverty. The event brought together key individuals and organisations to share best practice: politicians, funders, schools, charities – including recipients of North East Humanists’ own microgrants scheme, and ‘Support and Grow’ who provide invaluable support in their local community. Our students’ maturity and contributions were praised by other delegates from many of the organisations present. 

Our week ahead 

G31 Music

Students are working with experts on Tuesday on the materials that will become the lyrics, harmonies and melodies for their folk songs. G31 families can look forward to hearing these live at St Mary’s church in our presentation of learning. They will then be recorded professionally and published to all of the big streaming sites. By the end of the academic year, all of G31 will be published songwriters.

G29 Expert

G29 are hosting an expert Michelle Bell who is Assistant Director of BCT (Byker Community Trust). This connects to their studies around structure of government and habitations and how these interact as well as modernist and brutalist art and architecture.

Michelle’s career in social housing spans 26 years that started at Newcastle City Council in 1995, followed by roles in Your Homes Newcastle and Homes England. Michelle joined the BCT project team in September 2011 and in July 2012 when BCT was formed, she became responsible for heading up Property Services within BCT.

G28 Preparation for PoL

G28 will this week start preparation for their PoL for their studies of A Christmas Carol. This is an afternoon tea for members of the community that typically experience loneliness, especially around Christmas, all of which connects to their GQ: “Is charity enough?”

Crew Stanton are baking tomorrow morning, and Angelou on Wednesday. Students do not need to bring ingredients, but it is worth wearing clothes that are older. Long hair needs to be tied back in a bobble please.

Crew Frank are baking on Monday 25th November, and Parks on Wednesday 27th next week.

Crew Day – Friday 22nd November

Every half term, we look to run a Crew Day which is an opportunity to ‘tend to and build’ crew and culture. Crew is our support network at XPG and key to the continued success of everyone at our school, we will revisit what it means to be crew and our responsibilities in getting everyone to the top of the mountain. In this week’s Crew Day:

G31 students will start their work on researching suitable people after whom to name their crews – people who have achieved great things and who display our character traits of courage, integrity, respect, craftsmanship and quality, and above all compassion.

G30 will start their work on  looking at which charity they want to support. Students will be putting together their proposals and pitching to the rest of their crew their choice of charity.

G29 will continue their activism work, the awareness raising and charity work they are planning to carry out this academic year. 

G28 students will focus on wellbeing and looking after their ‘mind, body and soul’. 

On Friday, students will work with their crew and Crew Leader for the day developing their team work, crew identity and wellbeing.

PE sessions this week

Our PE sessions this week are as follows. Please ensure that your child has their  full PE kit.

• All G30 students (Year 8) have PE on Monday..
• All G31 students (Year 7) have PE on Wednesday.
• All G29 students (Year 9) have PE on Thursday.
• All G28 students (Year 10) have PE on Thursday.

G29 SLCs

Year 9 will be carrying out SLCs in the fortnight commencing Monday 25th November. We will be in touch in the next couple of days to give you the opportunity to book a slot.

Looking ahead – important dates

Staff Days – Friday 29th November and Monday 4th December

We have staff days each term at XP so that our teachers can collaborate across the Trust to create and deliver the high quality curriculum that our students study. These are shown in blue on our calendar. On staff days our students do not attend school and there is no expectation that they complete work beyond their regularly set extended study (homework). Students will find this work on Google classroom.

POLs (Presentations of Learning) this term – dates for your diary – all now confirmed

• G31’s PoL will be on the evening of Monday 16th December at St. Mary’s church in Heworth at 4.30pm.
• G30’s PoL will be on Wednesday 18th December in school at 4.30pm.
• G29’s PoL will be on the evening of Wednesday 11th December at the Farrell Centre and Great North Museum in Newcastle University Campus at 3.45pm.
• G28’s PoL will be on Thursday 19th December in school at 4.30pm.

As usual if you have any questions about your son or daughter please get in touch with your child’s Crew Leader in the first instance or email general enquiries to [email protected].

Julie Mosley

Dear Families

What a great first week back it has been! Our students have returned well and quickly got back into the swing of things, working hard and enjoying the great learning opportunities they have had this week. We’ve had some amazing expert sessions in and outside of school which continue to feed into current expedition work supporting our students in their response to their guiding questions.

G31 – How can stories influence and shape communities?

Work has started on our final product of folk songs – more below about an expert visitor this week. Students also have been continuing to learn about our region’s history including the reformation during the reign of Henry VIII and have also been continuing to learn about the particle model in science which was harnessed during the industrial revolution – another stop on our history of Gateshead and its place in Britain.

G30 – What does it mean to be human?

Our Year 8 students had a fantastic week, carrying out fieldwork at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Sheriff Hill and interviewed Humanist experts in school. The fieldwork connected to the work students have been studying in STEAM sessions on gas exchange and circulatory  systems. Students enjoyed hands-on sessions  in the Respiratory Simulation Room and met the clinical lead for organ donation. They also got the chance to see the area where their final art product “Reflecting Humanity” will be exhibited. 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Our students enjoyed their session with a Humanist expert who spoke to them about the Humanist belief that we have one life and therefore should ensure we make the most of our time on Earth by living the best life possible for ourselves and others, including future generations. As is always the case, the experts praised the high quality questions and discussions they had with our students and the maturity they demonstrated.

G29 – How are structures important in helping us to explain our world?

This week our Year 9 students worked alongside experts from Newcastle University making audio recordings of the built environment which will be manipulated so that they can be used as part of the audio installation that students will produce as part of the ‘Concrete Dreams’ exhibition at the Farrell Centre. In addition to the audio for the soundscapes that have now been recorded, students will be interviewing members of the community to collect oral histories of the iconic original car park on the Trinity Square site.

   

G28 – How did bonding help the Vikings forge a strong legacy? / Is charity enough?

Students this week were able to make connections between both of their learning expeditions in Year 10.

In Science they have been carrying out a required practical which requires the preparation of a pure, dry sample of a soluble salt from an insoluble oxide or carbonate using a Bunsen burner to heat dilute  acid and a water bath to evaporate the solvent. Students also reinforced the importance of: using appropriate heating devices safely, using appropriate apparatus and techniques, including a suitable choice of reactants and the safe use of equipment to purify mixtures. All of this is leading to students being able to analyse viking artefacts, based on connecting their properties to their chemical structure and internal bonding.

In HUMAN students had an expert session with local members of the Dickens Society, who were able to help students to make connections between themes in the book of charity, community and bonds, and also root these in the context in which Dickens was writing A Christmas Carol. More information soon on how students will put their learning to use in an event in school for our community designed to tackle loneliness at Christmas and beyond!

G30’s stunning Memory Lane Radio broadcast 

I think that the  biggest highlight of our week though must be our G30 radio  broadcast of unheard voices from WWI. This was played on Memory Lane Radio on Sunday 11th November at 11am as part of their Armistice Day programme. Listening to the beautiful voices and words of all 50 of our students was simply stunning, their writing was powerful and really emotive. If you didn’t get the chance to tune in on Sunday, here is the link to the recording.

I highly recommend you get a cup of tea, sit back and enjoy the 55 min programme.

Our week ahead 

PE sessions this week

Our PE sessions this week are as follows. Please ensure that your child has their  full PE kit.

• All G30 students (Year 8) have PE on Monday..
• For G31 students (Year 7)
  •  G31 Class 1 students have PE on Tuesday.
  • G31 Class 2 students have PE on Wednesday.
• All G29 students (Year 9) have PE on Thursday.
• All G28 students (Year 10) have PE on Thursday.

Extended Study and Clubs

Our clubs will all run this week (see schedule below) along with extended study sessions every day except Friday. Our before-school fitness and running clubs on Tuesday and Thursday will start at the earlier time of 7.45am this week.

For a small school, we offer a wide selection of enrichment opportunities to our students and this week we are adding Mandarin Club to the list. Please encourage your child to get involved in our clubs (lunchtime or after school) to explore their interests or find new ones. Being active or creative, learning new things and being part of a team helps connect us and boost our mental wellbeing.  

Working with experts, fieldwork and PoLs

G30

Our year 7 students are this week meeting with Clare Price, who is the wife of David Price OBE who sadly passed away in May this year. David was a friend and advocate of XP Gateshead and was a renowned figure in the world of education. As part of their final product, students in year 7 are writing folk songs about important local figures from our region’s history – and one of those songs will be about David. We look forward to being able to perform our songs to you in December at our PoL in St Mary’s church in Heworth

G28 – RS Conference: ‘Poverty – a Humanist Concern’  

A group of our year 10 students are attending a conference on Friday. The purpose of the event is to bring together key individuals and organisations to share best practice: politicians, funders, schools, charities – including recipients of North East Humanists’ own microgrants scheme, and ‘Support and Grow’ who provide invaluable support in their local community. 

Families of children that are attending have been contacted by Mrs Ross.

POLs (Presentations of Learning) this term – dates for your diary – all now confirmed

• G31’s PoL will be on the evening of Monday 16th December at St. Mary’s church in Heworth at 4.30pm.
• G30’s PoL will be on Wednesday 18th December in school at 4.30pm.
• G29’s PoL will be on the evening of Wednesday 11th December at the Farrell Centre and Great North Museum in Newcastle University Campus at 3.45pm.
• G28’s PoL will be on Thursday 19th December in school at 4.30pm.

As usual if you have any questions about your son or daughter please get in touch with your child’s Crew Leader in the first instance or email general enquiries to [email protected].

Julie Mosley

Dear Families

Welcome back after what I hope has been a restful and safe half term holiday.

We are looking forward to seeing all of our students back this week, raring to go and ready to continue their hard work on current expeditions.

As always, a return to school gives us all the opportunity to make a strong start in terms of getting into good habits and being organised. I would like to remind everyone of the importance of punctuality, attendance and being fully prepared for learning and ask for your support in this to make sure that all of our students are getting it right.

Punctuality

All students need to be in school for an 8.30am start so they must arrive by 8.25am at the latest. A minority of students were frequently late for school last half term which impacted on the learning of others (staff and students). Please talk to your child about their punctuality and ensure that they are arriving on time every day. 

Attendance

At XPG we celebrate attendance and will support those students and families who need to improve their attendance. Snapshots will be shared with you this half term which include attendance information and Crew Leaders will be talking with students and their families  about how important attendance is to academic achievement and success in school.

As you may have seen in the news, school attendance continues to be a concern across the country. At XPG, we were proud of our attendance last year with attendance figures higher than local and national. There is no doubt that this was down to the hard work of all – students, parents/carers, Crew Leaders and our inclusion team. We all understand that school attendance is vital to the life chances of young people and that being in school improves health, wellbeing and socialisation throughout life. 

In the winter months we are all more susceptible to mild respiratory illnesses including general cold symptoms. It is usually appropriate for parents and carers to send their children to school at these times but it can be tricky making these decisions. The following NHS guidance includes information which may be useful – NHS ‘Is my child too ill for school?’ guidance.

Please share any worries you have around attendance or punctuality with your childs’ Crew Leader. We will be in contact with families where attendance or punctuality is a concern and put supportive improvement plans in place.

Being organised

As always, students need to bring a school bag every day with the following items

• A filled water bottle
• Pencil case including: pens, pencils, ruler, eraser and pencil sharpener
• A fully charged iPad
• Headphones – ideally not expensive ones
• A healthy snack for break (no confectionery (sweets), fizzy drinks or energy drinks, nut products)
• A notebook
• A reading book (e-reader book, school library book or book from home)

As you know, we ask for very few financial contributions from families but I would like to request that the following items are added to the kit list to support us in our spend on resources

• A gluestick
• A purple biro pen
• A highlighter pen

Please make sure your son/daughter is fully equipped for learning and contact us if there are any problems.

Our week ahead 

Working with experts and fieldwork

G30 – What does it mean to be human?

G30 Students are carrying out fieldwork at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital connected to their studies in Science around organ systems in the human body. They will also meet our contact at the hospital who has commissioned their final product: artwork which promotes organ donation.  More details on this fieldwork can be found here. 

G30 also have sessions with our longstanding humanist experts, who will help student to build on their learning about the golden rule of humanism, and uncover more about the Humanist belief that we have one life and therefore should ensure we make the most of our time on Earth by living the best life possible for ourselves and others, including future generations.

G29 – How are structures important in helping us to explain our world? 

G29 students are working alongside experts this week to make audio recordings of the built environment which can then be manipulated so that they can be used as part of the audio installation that students will produce as part of the ‘Concrete Dreams’ exhibition at the Farrell Centre.

G28 – Is charity enough

Connected to their studies of Dickens’  A Christmas Carol, G28 students will have a sessions with experts from the local Dickens society, giving students more contextual knowledge about Dickens’ life and how this informed the theme of charity in this novella and his other writing.

PE sessions this week

Our PE sessions this week are as follows. Please ensure that your child has their  full PE kit.

• All G30 students (Year 8) have PE on Monday..
• For G31 students (Year 7)
  •  G31 Class 1 students have PE on Tuesday.
  • G31 Class 2 students have PE on Wednesday.
• All G29 students (Year 9) have PE on Thursday.
• All G28 students (Year 10) have PE on Thursday.

Extended Study and Clubs

Our clubs will all run this week (see schedule below) along with extended study sessions every day except Friday. Our before-school fitness and running clubs on Tuesday and Thursday will start at the earlier time of 7.45am this week.

Important dates for your diaries for next half-term

PoLs are used as an opportunity for students to showcase their learning from their most current learning expedition. PoLs enable students to grow their character and further embed their learning through presenting their work in front of a range of authentic audiences and in a variety of contexts. In addition, students develop oracy skills by presenting to different audiences and in different contexts which builds confidence and further allows students to grow their character whilst developing key skills. We expect for every child to have a family member there to support them.

Below are the dates for our PoLs (Presentations of Learning) next term. 

• G31’s PoL will be on the evening of Monday 16th December at St. Mary’s church in Heworth. Start time is to be confirmed but we expect at around 5.30pm.
• G30’s PoL will be on Wednesday 18th December in school at 4.30pm.
• G29’s PoL will be on the evening of Wednesday 11th December at the Farrell Centre in Newcastle University Campus. Start time is to be confirmed.
• G28’s PoL will be on Thursday 19th December in school at 4.30pm.

As usual if you have any questions about your son or daughter please get in touch with your child’s Crew Leader in the first instance or email general enquiries to [email protected].

Julie Mosley

Dear Parents/Carers

We have come to the end of another full and busy half term and, as always, our whole community have worked together demonstrating courage, respect, craftsmanship and quality, integrity and above all compassion.  We have continued to work hard across this first half term, welcoming new students and staff,  continuing to build our culture through crew. 

As you know, an Ofsted team visited us this week for our first inspection. It has been a very positive experience for us at XPG. It is a challenge for an Inspection team to get a real understanding of our school and expeditionary curriculum since we do some things differently at XPG! Our lead inspector Hannah Millett, really took the time to do this and led the inspection with integrity, care and compassion.

The verbal feedback given at the end of the inspection was stunning. The commitment, passion and care that staff, students and governors have for the work we do here at XPG has shone through. Ambition was commented on several times across the inspection – the ambition we all have (adults and children) to change lives and our communities.

A special thanks to all of those families who took the time to respond to the Ofsted parental survey. We get to see the final statistics on each question but don’t see the written comments you make so thank you to those who took the time to share their lovely comments with us too.

We should receive our draft report after the half term break and hope to get our final report published before the end of November. I really look forward to seeing this and sharing it with you all.

Important dates for your diaries for next half-term

PoLs are used as an opportunity for students to showcase their learning from their most current learning expedition. PoLs enable students to grow their character and further embed their learning through presenting their work in front of a range of authentic audiences and in a variety of contexts. In addition, students develop oracy skills by presenting to different audiences and in different contexts which builds confidence and further allows students to grow their character whilst developing key skills.

Below are the dates for our PoLs (Presentations of Learning) next term. It is important to note that we expect for every child to have a family member there to support them.

• G31’s PoL will be on the evening of Monday 16th December at St. Mary’s church in Heworth. Start time is to be confirmed but we expect at around 5.30pm.
• G30’s PoL will be on Wednesday 18th December in school at 4.30pm.
• G29’s PoL will be on the evening of Thursday 12th December at the Farrell Centre in Newcastle University Campus. Start time is to be confirmed.
• G28’s PoL will be on Thursday 19th December in school at 4.30pm.

Have a wonderful break with your children

So, it’s been an exhausting one,  and I think that we can all agree that it’s time now for a well deserved rest!  Have a great half term break and we look forward to seeing all of our students on Monday 4th November at the normal time. It will be week 3 on the lunch menu when we return.

Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support.

.Julie Mosley

Good afternoon

Today we received notice that XP Gateshead will be inspected by Ofsted tomorrow and on Wednesday.

Below is a letter which includes a link that you can follow to give feedback to Ofsted on our school.

We are delighted to have the opportunity to demonstrate the great work that your children do with us, and strongly encourage as many families as possible to take the time to complete the parentview survey.

We look forward to the next two days, and thank you all for your continued support.

#wearecrew

Kind regards

Julie Mosley

A families’ guide to inspections can also be found by clicking here.