More footage will be coming from the comms team who had a range of cameras capturing performances on the day.
In the meantime, here are excerpts of the footage taken by our students on the day.
Dear Families
Welcome to our final weekly update of this academic year. It is another exciting week for us at XPG with our final presentations of learning for each expedition, our final Crew Day of the year which is a Sports Day on Thursday. We will share updates from these events with you over the next week.
There was great work achieved as always last week and our students continued to work hard, get smart and be kind even as end of term tiredness kicked in. Seeing students work together supporting each other to be their best versions, leaning in on crew and culture was a real strength. Here are a some of the highlights from our week:
A cohort of our G28 students worked with experts to investigate pathways to University on Tuesday. These sessions were organised by our partners Into University, who provide learning experiences designed to inspire young people to consider university, especially when they are from backgrounds that are underrepresented in the wider university population.
On Tuesday it was great to welcome back our G32 families to a final transition meeting of the year. Like our students, our new ‘family crews’ circled up and got to know XPG staff, each other along with some of the protocols we use at XPG. Can I thank all families for their time on Tuesday, especially our already established families who were on hand offering advice , guidance and support to new families.
Here is a link to a post with the slides from the event.
G30’s sculptural artwork from Term 2’s expedition “What is Power?” is now being exhibited at The Shipley Art Gallery. On Thursday, all G30 students and staff involved in the expedition walked to the Shipley Gallery where they were presented with design certificates from the V&A.
We would encourage all families to visit the Shipley Gallery with your children to see their work… and so much more over the Summer.
On Friday Mr Said and Mr Parry travelled to Doncaster with Eve Walker (our visiting dance teacher) alongside our performers. The groups have been working on performances over the last term and put on a fantastic show, including performances from our cheer group, dance group, two rock bands and our singing group.
Video and photographs were captured by our Comms team in Doncaster at the event which will be shared later in the week. Mr Said will put some footage from students’ cameras together tomorrow. Much more to follow!
Recruitment has continued over this half-term and on Thursday we appointed Miss Hannah Young who will be joining us as a Learning Coach/Crew Leader in the new term.
This week we will be saying goodbye to three members of staff:
As is always the case, it’s sad to see staff leave our school but we will always be grateful for the work they have done and the part they have played in shaping our school and its culture whilst they have been with us. I know that as parents and carers you will join me in thanks to these staff for the care and compassion they have shown to your children.
This event will take place in school and will include a hosted gallery walk where students will discuss their learning from across this last term around the guiding question “How does water shape our world?”. This will start at 4.30pm in school. More details here.
The final presentation of learning for G28 will be available online at 6.30pm on Tuesday, and includes student perspectives on a sustainable energy future in answer to the guiding question: “How can we use the planet’s resources more sustainably?”. More details of how to join will be posted in a separate post.
This event will take place in school on Wednesday, 16th July at 4:30 PM. Students will be presenting their learning around the guiding question “Is migration worth the risk?”. More details here.
The final presentation of learning for G29 will be a live stream on Youtube at 5pm, which includes poetry inspired by nature and in response to the guiding question: “What is our relationship with our natural world?”. More details of how to join will be posted in a separate post.
We are looking forward to our final Crew Day of the year this week and crews are getting organised with their sign ups for Thursday’s events. Crew Days allow us time to build and tend to our culture and celebrate the greatness of our crews; this time the theme is sport and physical challenge.
Sports Day will involve a range of activities with healthy competition within each cohort between Crews. Students should come dressed in full PE kit for the day. A reminder of PE kit can found by clicking here.
There will only be PE sessions for Years 7 and 8 this week due to Sports Day. Our PE sessions this week are as follows, please ensure that your child has their full PE kit.
ALL students will need a full PE kit for Sports Day on Thursday.
Due to the Presentations of Learning this week we are not running clubs or extended study this week.
We break up for Summer holidays this Friday 18th July and return to school on Tuesday 26th August. Please remember that, as always, our students finish at 1:30pm on Friday to allow staff to de-gunge and replenish rooms and teaching spaces ready for the new academic year.
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].
Thank you for your ongoing support
Julie Mosley
As I said just weeks ago, when you look back on the week past it is hard to believe that so much can be achieved in a week and this is definitely the case for last week when we only had four days with our students!
We achieved so much last week with Staff days, Transition Days, Fieldwork, Experts working in school, attending Local and National Conferences and our DofE bronze final expedition. To hear staff and students talk with genuine care for each other, our culture and the school we are building together is unique and I have been lucky to hear, see and feel this many times over this last week.
On Friday 27th and Monday 30th June our staff team spent time together planning upcoming expeditions for the Autumn term. This included working with colleagues across Trust planning with expedition teams and subject teams, visiting other provisions to learn from others with expertise in SEMH, autism and regulation strategies. As you know we are a small staff at XPG and the quality curriculum that we offer our students to support and challenge them to produce beautiful work, grow in character and see academic success is down to the hard work, commitment and quality of our staff.
On Monday 30th June, Martin Said and I attended the Whole Education Summer Conference 2025. Whole Education is a network of educators and leaders who are committed to providing a holistic education for our young people, nurturing well-rounded individuals by developing not only academic knowledge and skills, but also character, socio-emotional well-being, and the ability to thrive in life, learning and work. This year’s conference took place over two days exploring the theme of “Better for Everyone”. Martin and I attended the first day which explored all aspects of a whole education in how we can build an education system that allows everyone to thrive in a transforming world. The conference was also a tribute to David Price OBE, a close friend and supporter of XPG. David passed away earlier last year after a lifetime devoted to children and education – David was a staunch believer that children are capable of far more than they are often given the opportunity to achieve. As families of G31 know, as part of their Year 7’s first expedition. David and his work was immortalised in the song they wrote and performed: “The Power of Us”. The opening tribute of the conference to 1200+ delegates from all over the world started with the song by our G31 – as you can imagine, this was an incredibly emotional and special moment to be part of; to hear and see the effect of our student’s beautiful work on others.
On Thursday, Ms Marshall and I had the privilege of attending the MTIC Conference with 11 students from G29 and leaders from Schools, Colleges, Universities and Industry partners from the North East who came together to consider the challenge around maths education in our region. Our students opened the conference at the Common Room in Newcastle with a keynote speech and then joined in with table discussions alongside education leaders. Our students also enjoyed time with Archivists from the Common Room in the afternoon considering how we can further develop our expeditions at XPG and draw on the historical wealth of engineering greatness we have in the North East.
The work of our students was truly beautiful and every person in the room was blown away by their insight into education and their response to the question ‘What makes a great education?’
Alison Shaw, who organised the conference shared the following feedback after the conference
“Thank you for being a key part of what I think participants felt to be a useful day yesterday – you, your staff, your visitors and, especially of course, XP students – made a wonderful contribution.
I will be in touch on a more individual basis in due course, but I would immediately this morning like particularly to thank Dakota, Scarlett, Reuben, Eliza, Brodie and Winnie for their remarkable opening keynote address. They delivered it with exceptional wisdom, insight and poise and it spoke to every single parent and teacher in the room, to the business and political leaders and to other students from across the region. They provided a perfect start to the day and I am ever grateful to them for doing so. I hope they will remember it as a positive and formative experience. My warmest thanks to Eleanor, too, whose willingness to pick up an unexpected and exposing responsibility showed a wonderful level of resilience and responsibility. I am so grateful to them all.
Thank you, for committing the time and the energy of XP Gateshead and the wider Trust. I very much look forward to continuing to work with you”
We finally got to meet our new cohort of students last week and G32 got to know each other on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday last week. Transition Days were a huge success and it was great to see new friendships form, confidence grow and smiles on the faces of our new students. G32 enjoyed two full days in school which included crew along with sessions in Spanish, PE, Art, Human, Science and Maths. At the end of each day it was great to circle up for community meetings with all 50 students and hear their appreciations to each other and their answers to the guiding question we had set for transition days ‘What will it take for me to be the best version of myself at XP Gateshead?’
The work of student leaders across transition days was exceptional from supporting sessions and end of day community circle to running clubs at break and lunch time. The vast array of student-led social time sessions is a testament to our students and the warm welcome they gave to our new year group – basketball, dance, book club, music, robotics, arts and crafts, football.
On Monday students from Year 9 and 10 were welcomed to our partners Ryder Architecture for a studio tour, introduction to the work of an architect and the chance to sit in on a team meeting. All students that visited took lots from the experience. We are very grateful to the team at Ryder for organising this for our students.
On Thursday the EKS Big Band (Herten Big Band, Germany) consisting of 50-70 students, mostly from grades 9 and 10, performed at XPG for our students and staff. Their repertoire included songs from the genres of jazz, rock/pop, rock ‘n’ roll, oldies, film music, and musicals. Every year the Big Band undertakes concert tours to other European countries (Greece, Great Britain, France, etc.) so we were incredibly lucky to have them perform for us at XPG.
On Friday, G31 enjoyed an amazing day at Durham University to further study aquatic food chains as part of their current expedition, “How does water shape our world?” Our students worked alongside scientists and postgraduate students in the lab using microscopes to look at a variety of aquatic species.
On Friday and Saturday our G29 students embarked on their final assessed Duke of Edinburgh expedition. As you know, DofE (like our Year 7 Ullswater Outward Bound experience) is an important aspect of our curriculum in challenging students to develop their character and push them beyond their comfort zone and I’m delighted to say that G29 smashed it! Weather conditions were challenging with wind and rain but our students and staff showed remarkable resilience
Students covered a huge distance of over 22 km across country, whilst being supervised remotely. All students that took part have now successfully completed the assessed expedition section of their award, and all that remains before they can be signed off to be awarded bronze is to complete the de-gunge in school tomorrow morning.
There were many highlights from across the two days. Seeing students support each other and battle through pain and the challenge of such distance with a significant amount of kit on their back and tough weather conditions reminds us of how important the Duke of Edinburgh scheme is – not just in terms of the accreditation of the bronze award but most importantly in showing students that there is more in them than they know, and that tackling challenges as a Crew is always more successful.
Thank you to all staff and families who have supported our G29 students to successfully complete their bronze DofE qualification and the time they have invested in this (inside and outside of school hours) – Miss Marshall, Miss Jones, Miss Quested, Miss Blaine, Mr Devitt, Mr Said and Mrs ap Harri. A special thanks and congratulations to Miss Marshall for his leadership of the G29 DofE at XP Gateshead.
I’m sure that it is clear to all families that Crew is as important to staff as it is to students and I feel grateful and privileged to be part of such a great staff crew. Huge thanks go out to all staff this week for their continued care and support of every student at XPG.
This week we welcome back our G28 students from their work experience placements. We are looking forward to hearing from them and all they have achieved last week in the variety of placements they had.
As we come towards the end of the year, students will continue to complete end of year assessments in all KS3 cohorts. Year 9 will have some of their core examinations in the hall / room g6 in the type of conditions that they will experience as part of their GCSEs. This will assist us in continuing to develop and practise providing access arrangements for those students that need them. Students have been briefed by their teachers on the nature of the assessments that they will complete in the coming weeks.
The core assessments in GCSE-style conditions for G29 students will be carried out during the second half of this week.
Our ‘Meet the Crew Leader’ will be hosted in school. This is an important opportunity for families to meet their child’s Crew Leader and begin forming the strong relationship that will be needed to support and challenge your child to become the best version of themselves. This event is for adults from families only, you should not bring your child to this event.
This event will start at 5pm on Tuesday evening next week and is expected to last for around 45 minutes.
G30’s sculptural artwork from Term 2’s expedition “What is Power?” is now being exhibited at The Shipley Art Gallery. To recognise this, all G30 students will be taking part in a celebration of learning at the Shipley this week on Thursday this week during the school day.
Students will be walking to The Shipley Art Gallery and will return in time for a regular school lunch. The forecast is currently sunny spells and warm. Students in G30 will therefore need:
Please note that this is different to the presentation of learning with families for their current expedition which will be in the final week of term on the evening of 16th July in school. Families do not need to attend this Thursday, however we would encourage all families to visit the Shipley Gallery with your children to see their work… and so much more!
On Friday this week students taking part in the annual XP Trust Festival of Arts will be travelling to Doncaster by coach. Students should arrive at school at the normal time. The journey time is around 2 hours 30 minutes. If your child needs to take travel sickness medication, please make sure that you make our office aware by contacting [email protected] . Your child will need to bring a packed lunch and any healthy snacks plus any equipment that is needed for their performance.
Our Dance facilitator has asked if at all possible if the dancers could be in black leggings with plain T-shirts in rainbows colour of either red, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Music performers will know if they are choosing to bring their own instrument.
We will depart Doncaster at around 5.30pm and expect to be back at XP Gateshead at around 8pm. A packed lunch can be made up for your child if they usually have a free school meal.
Our PE sessions this week are as follows. Please ensure that your child has their full PE kit.
After school clubs and extended study are cancelled this week and next due to ELCs (Educator Led Conferences) and PoLs (Presentations of Learning). More information on Presentations of Learning will be posted by each individual expedition lead teacher. This week’s update has been somewhat of a bumper edition!
As usual if you have any questions please contact your child’s crew leader in the first instance.
Thank you as always for your ongoing support.
Julie Mosley
Often, when you look back on the week past it is hard to believe that so much can be achieved in a week and this is definitely the case in the final half term of Summer when every week is full – time with new staff in school, ongoing expert sessions and fieldwork, final assessments of the year, Y6 transition, G29 DofE, G28 work experience, PoL’s, the list goes on… and we are also looking ahead planning for the next academic year.
We get the chance to see your children and their greatness every day and see how hard they are working to produce beautiful work, grow their character and be successful academically. We also get the chance to see and hear them challenging and supporting each other to be better and, like staff here, our students ‘sweat the small stuff’ and have high expectations of themselves and their peers. G29, G30 and G31 community circles this week were full of honest reflection from students and staff, which is only possible in a culture where everyone feels safe to use their voice.
A new member of staff who joined community meetings this week and shared her reflections at the end of the week, stated that:
“One of the most impactful experiences has been seeing the compassion in crew and the crew community sessions. Amazing and inspiring”.
Like our student crew, a strong staff crew is key to our success at XPG. Over this half-term we have some of our new staff joining us for induction in readiness for the new term. Last week we were delighted to appoint Mrs Stefanie Dickson as another Learning Coach to our team. We have one more round of recruitment for a Learning Coach position which is ongoing and then all posts will be filled and we have a complete team in place..
As part of our growth, I am delighted that we have appointed Michelle Ross and Saoisre Blain as Phase Leaders this year. Phase Leaders lead and support Crew Leaders in the implementation of our narrative for success for every student at XPG. Mrs Ross will lead our Transition/Year 7 phase and Miss Blain will lead our Year8/9 phase.
This week our Year 7 students enjoyed working with expert John Hayton from Durham Wildlife Trust. John gave them an insight into the nature of conservation work and why it is important to protect and maintain biodiversity. On Wednesday students headed out to Whitley Bay to carry out an ecological field study looking at interdependence of species within that ecosystem and the importance of freshwater and saltwater to those species. Whilst there, our students supported the work of our partners Surfers Against Sewage carrying out a beach clean as an act of service in our community.
Student Led Conferences started this week which gave our Year 10 students a chance to share their response to recent mock exams, their updated snapshot with HoWL and attendance information and the plans they have moving forward in readiness for Year 11 success. Students, Crew Leaders and families also took the opportunity to talk about plans for their upcoming work experience. It has been great to talk to students and families following SLCs and hear such confidence and ownership over their learning and clearly plans for success next year. Thank you to all families who have attended SLCs so far.
This week all Year 7 to Year 9 students will start work on a written reflection of the year which will be shared with you alongside their Crew Leader reflections and a final snapshot at the end of term. Year 10 students will complete a reflection around work experience and families will have a final chance to ask questions of Crew Leaders following this.
On Wednesday of this week G29 students will be taking part in a fieldwork visit to the Ouseburn to explore interdependence within ecosystems. They will be working with expert ecologist Dr. Mike Jeffries, a lecturer from Northumbria University. Please see the website post for more details.
Thanks to all of the families that have indicated their thoughts around pathways for G29 students as they start GCSE and Level 2 courses. If you have not already done so, please let us know your thoughts by completing this form.
Staff will be meeting this week to finalise pathways for next academic year. Crew Leaders will then be in contact with families to confirm finalised pathways, or to pick up where additional conversations with families are needed.
Our PE sessions this week are as follows. Please ensure that your child has their full PE kit.
Friday is the first of our staff days this half term, the second is on Monday 30th June. Our staff team will be planning for next year’s expeditions. Students will not be expected to be in school on Friday or Monday.
After school clubs and extended study will run as normal this week.
“At XP, we build our community through activism, leadership and equity, sharing our stories as we go…”
This one ‘simple’ statement captures all of the work we do and the design of every aspect of our school:
“What do we do to survive, sustain and thrive… ?”
How are we actively contributing to building a better world… ?
“How are we moving towards where we want to be … ?”
“What do we need to be the best version of ourselves… ?”
“How are we doing the right things, in the right way, with the right tools, and how can we show this to our community… ?”
Last week, as ever, there were many examples of staff and student work which brought this statement to life and it was great to hear staff’s reflections during Friday’s staff crew on work they were proud of and wanted to share with others from the week. Here are just some examples of the great work from last week:
We were also lucky this week to have a visit from a great educator and friend, Jill Flack who is visiting the UK from Melbourne, Australia. Jill has extensive classroom teaching experience in Australia, USA, UK and Sweden, teaching in pre-schools, primary, secondary and University settings. It was a real joy to have Jill in school with us sharing her knowledge, energy and wisdom.
Here is her email of thanks which is extended to you too.
Dear Gateshead XP students, Staff and School Community,
This week I had the privilege and pleasure of visiting your school.
It was a pleasure as I am a long time Educator and passionate about what educational opportunities can do to enrich our lives. I always love to see students, teachers and school communities at work but it was also a privilege because I was able to experience the optimism and enthusiasm for learning that is evident in your school.
Ambassadors Katie and Bella proudly explained and pointed out the features of learning at Gateshead XP as they showed me around. Small groups of students chatted with me about their own experiences and the staff I talked to reflected the positive tone and aspiration that I had heard from everyone throughout the day.
The development and benefits of working together in crews is certainly a feature and the pride in developing academically and personally is a joy for any educator to hear.
Your curriculum, its design and the way it is offered and experienced seems to me to acknowledge the need for a change in the way schools can meet the needs of a contemporary world.
Thankyou for openly sharing with me your thoughts, ideas and hopes for the education offered at your school and best wishes to all of you as you continue to grow and develop.
As you know G31 are studying a learning expedition with the guiding question: “How does water shape our world?”. In science students have been looking at ecosystems which connect to the river and coastal environments and processes that they also have studied in Geography. There are two important pieces of work for G31 this week which will support them to develop their answer to their guiding question:
On Monday our Year 7 students will be working with John Hayton from Durham Wildlife Trust. Given that students have been learning about the importance of water within ecosystems and the interdependence of species, John will work with the students to dissect owl pellets to give them an insight into the nature of conservation work and why it is important to protect and maintain biodiversity.
The above workshop has been organised by SOS as part of our student leadership group’s work on sustainability. Students that have been part of our Climate Action Plan have their final session on Thursday this week. They will finalise their presentation on how our school can be made more sustainable in a range of areas such as energy consumption, resources and waste management etc. They will then present this to Mrs Mosley so that it can be brought to our Local Governing Committee where actions can then be agreed. We are thankful to our partners and the experts at SOS who have supported this important work.
G31 have fieldwork to Whitley Bay this Wednesday. See Mr Devitt’s post for more details. Students will need:
SLCs start for our Year 10 students and their families this week. Students have worked to prepare for their conference and will be ready to share their response to recent mock exams, their updated snapshot with HoWL and attendance information and the plans they have moving forward in readiness for Year 11 success, they will also talk through their work experience planning. Please can I remind all families that SLCs, like PoLs, are key moments in the development of our students and it is vital that parents, carers and families fully support SLCs.
Here is the link to ask questions of your child if you have not already done so. You should have now received a link to sign up for a time slot from your child’s Crew Leader. Please contact [email protected] if you do not receive this.
Students dancing at our festival of arts will continue to have their Tuesday morning prep sessions with our expert Eve from Phoenix Dance. Students will need their PE kit to change into for these sessions each week.
Our PE sessions this week are as follows. Please ensure that your child has their full PE kit.
After school clubs and extended study will run as normal this week.
Friday is the first of our staff days this half term, the second is on Monday 30th June (these are our last staff days this academic year). Our staff team will be planning for next year’s expeditions. Students will not be expected to be in school on Friday or Monday.
As usual if you have any questions please contact your child’s crew leader in the first instance. Thank you as always for your ongoing support.
Julie Mosley
We’ve enjoyed a good first week to our final Summer half term.
It was great to hear appreciations, apologies and stands from students and staff in our community meetings last week and all agreed on with the work we needed to do going forward to ensure we hold true to our character values every day – consistently high levels of respect for others, encouraging each other to be the best we can be, positively committed to our own education and that of those around us. Community meetings are a really special place to be, hearing students hold each other to account within a safe and supportive environment is unique and our students show sensitivity and maturity beyond their years.
There’s been high quality work in and out of sessions as usual. We’ve had great work in sessions as usual this week as well as in G31 and G30 SLCs, work alongside experts in Science in G31 and G30 PE, G31 Geography fieldwork along the River Tyne, G28 mock results and information evenings for our G29 families.
Thank you to all families who came along to our drop in evening last week. This was an opportunity to meet staff and students to ask questions about our Key Stage 4 pathways. Can all G29 families please complete this form to let us know your thoughts, and if you have any remaining questions. This is not a final choice for your child at this stage, this will be confirmed through your child’s Crew Leader.
A calm start to the day is really important for students to settle into learning and this happens in Crew each morning. Students must be on site for 8:25am for the call to Crew and be ready to start sessions at 8:30am. Crew is inextricably linked to our Narrative for Success and these routines and practices in Crew ensure that students are safe and are set up to succeed at the start of every day at school. Poor punctuality affects a student for the rest of the day and as you will agree, good punctuality is needed in all future jobs. It is vital that we are building the habit of excellent punctuality now. We ask all parents to support this and this half term Katy Horne our Safeguarding and Attendance Lead is working with Crew Leaders to support any key students and families who are struggling with punctuality.
Over this half-term we will have some of our new staff joining us for induction in readiness for the new term. We are now fully staffed in terms of teaching and have one more round of recruitment for Learning Coach positions which is ongoing.
Today you will be sent an email with a summary of the mock papers that students sat, along with a link to ask questions of your child and their Crew Leader in advance of their SLC. Crew leaders will be sending out invites to SLCs through Google Calendar.
We will also continue the drive to support students in ensuring that they are ready and organised for their work placements. Students should now be inputting details of their placements into the placementt app. There are students in each crew trained to support peers if they need help on this.
Inevitably, there are some placements for students that have not been able to be organised where we had hoped that this would be possible.
If there are any families from organisations or with contacts in any sectors of employment that could support Year 10 students with a placement in the week of Monday 30th June, please do get in contact with Mr Said on [email protected] .
On Monday Year7 class 2 will be heading out of school to carry out Geography fieldwork and investigations in our local river environment Newcastle and Gateshead Quayside. Please see last week’s post for full details of timings, kit required including a packed lunch.
This week our Year 10 students will be going to the Victoria Tunnels at Ouseburn to conduct fieldwork for their ‘History All Around Us’ Local Site Study module for their History GCSE. This module encourages students to work as historians to investigate a site of significance in their area which has seen significant change in its use over time.
Students will be travelling by metro to Newcastle but also walking the above ground route before touring the tunnels. For this reason, students must be wearing appropriate footwear. Students should be appropriately dressed for our changeable spring weather, optimistically a hat and suncream but the forecast is showing a chance of rain so a raincoat will be required.
On both fieldworks, students will be back in time for lunch so there is no need to bring a packed lunch (unless this is the norm for them).
We will be leaving school at 8:30am so students must arrive by 8:15am at the latest to allow registration and be ready to leave the site promptly at 8:30am.
The tunnels are tall enough that students will be able to stand at their full height, and there is space for students to be able to pass each other if necessary. See this link for more details.
As you know, each year we have a festival of arts at which students from across the Trust are able to contribute with creative performances. Again this year we will be taking a group of students to Doncaster to contribute to the festival. To help our dancers to prepare for this, each Tuesday over the coming weeks an expert from Phoenix Dance Theatre will be working with the group. This will happen during the school day on Tuesday; those students that are part of the dance group will need an appropriate change of clothes as per regular PE sessions.
This year we will take just over 30 students to perform in bands, to dance and sing as part of the festival.
Our PE sessions this week are as follows. Please ensure that your child has their full PE kit.
After school clubs and extended study will run this week.
As usual if you have any questions please contact your child’s crew leader in the first instance. Thank you as always for your ongoing support.
Julie Mosley
We hope you and your children have had a great break and look forward to welcoming students back for the final half-term of this academic year with lots to look forward to! This half-term we will welcome our Year 6 G32 students into school for the first time supported by student leaders from G31, G29 will be making important decisions on their pathways into Key Stage 4, G28 will be taking part in their work placements and students of Spanish will have speaking exams to prepare for – for all students we have a Sports Day on our next Crew Day too!
Can I remind all families about the importance of students attending school everyday. School attendance is vital to the life chances of young people and being in school improves health, wellbeing and socialisation throughout life. Put simply if pupils are not at school then they are not learning and quickly fall behind in all areas of their development. Term time holidays are not authorised at XP Gateshead. Let’s all work hard together to ensure school attendance is high – students, parents/carers, Crew Leaders and XPG inclusion team.
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. A calm start to the day is really important for students to settle into learning so we ask that parents support their child with this.
Please refer to our website post for full details on our dress code. Can I remind parents of the following expectations around daily dress within school and ask for your full support around this as we move into our final Summer half term and warmer weather.
For a normal day within school, we do not think it appropriate that students wear:
As always, all students need to be fully equipped for school and bring a school bag with:
Starting tomorrow G30 will be using what they have learned about Indian Classical Music to create fusion Bhangra dance tracks using their iPads and school Macbooks. All students must have their headphones for these sessions – these are part of their regular day to day kit.
Tomorrow we have experts working with a group of G31 leaders to take samples from our school pond, which was a product of G30’s work in the same expedition next year.
Our digital leaders are working with Martyn Soulsby from Clickview, an Edtech company that specialises in providing educational video content to schools to support learning. Our digital leaders will work with Martyn in the afternoon to plan a CPD session which will then be delivered to staff after school from 3.30pm.
On Tuesday at 5pm, we are hosting a drop-in event in school for families that would like to talk to Key Stage 4 course leaders, to support them and their child to make decisions about the subjects that will be studied in year 10. Please see Mr Said’s post here for more details.
On Wednesday afternoon this week, G28 will receive the results from their mock examinations. Crew Leaders will be with students when they receive their results to provide support and guidance, and help students to consider how best to communicate their next steps based on these results as part of their upcoming Student-Led Conferences.
Due to the ongoing SLCs for G30 and G31, and our first week back from the break there are no after school clubs or extended study this week. They will return next week, w/c 9th June.
From the w/c 9th June G28 families will be invited into school by Crew Leaders for G28’s next SLCs with a focus on mock results, readiness for Year 11 and work placements.
Each Tuesday from 10th June, students that are dancing as part of the XP Trust Arts Festival in July will have a weekly session during the school day with an expert to choreograph and rehearse a routine which will be performed at the festival. All students that are taking part in the festival were given permission slips at the end of last term, including musicians and dancers. Please can you make sure that these are returned to school as soon as possible.
As usual if you have any questions please contact your child’s crew leader in the first instance. Thank you as always for your ongoing support.
Julie Mosley
Last week there was a lot of hard work from staff and students alike at XP Gateshead. Character growth alongside academic progress and beautiful work is at the core of our ‘Three Dimensional’ approach for students, staff and leadership, including governance. Our Crew Days last week and the DofE work undertaken by G29 students is key in terms of character development and Crew.
Our design principles at XP Trust are summarised in one sentence:
We build our community through activism, leadership and equity, sharing our stories as we go.
Crew is integral to our school’s approach and has been designed with the above in mind as is articulated in our core practices document:
“The cultural heart of XP is expressed through the concept of Crew. This concept is pervasive and runs through everything we do from dedicated Crew sessions, through our curriculum, to the way we enable student and staff voice. Crew is our culture and promotes and sustains the building of community. Crew empowers our students and staff to be activists; to develop their leadership skills; and to be champions of equity. The measure of success in our Trust is weighed through service and kindness as well as the academic success of our children. Crew allows everyone associated with our Trust to become part of something bigger than themselves and fosters a sense of community and belonging, reflected in the stories we share with each other every day.”
G31 Crews carried out a day of fundraising at Gateshead International Stadium linked to their studies from the last learning expedition “Staying Alive”. This was part of the final case study in the expedition – ‘Water, water everywhere’. Working together in Crews, our students were challenged to carry 5 litre bottles of water around as many laps of the 400m track as they could.
The challenge gave students a small insight into the challenges that people in the world face just to get clean water for washing, drinking and cooking every day and raised awareness of how much we have in our country that we take for granted as a basic human right.
We are really proud of our students who walked an incredible total distance of 70 km carrying 5 litres of water. We will post a separate update with the total amount raised – at the moment we are almost half way to raising the £2700 needed to install a water facility. All students worked really hard, and we had a great community meeting at the end of the day where students made appreciations for the encouragement shown to each other. Great work G31!
Of course the fundraising is in itself important, and we hope that with the funds raised we will be able to twin more of our school toilets with more facilities installed in Sub-Saharan Africa. Events like this in Crew day are also integral to the development of character and teaching your children that they are important, that they can do important work and make their community and the wider world a better place.
There is still time to donate – please click on this link if you would like to do so.
As our Year 8 students develop and mature, we challenge them to get stronger together developing their leadership skills and charity work.
Crew Earhart and Crew Kahlo spent the day onsite working outdoors with their Crew Leaders and Outdoor Education expert Wayne Dobson High Tide Adventure Company. Throughout the day, crews undertook a variety of team building challenges looking at how to improve their communication, trust and crew culture to ensure all voices listened to and every student feels valued.
Crew Darling and Crew Einstein stepped up to the challenge on Monday completing a sponsored 13 km walk along The Tyne from our school to Hebburn and back.
Crew Darling took the opportunity to gather sponsors to raise money for a special visit to the Farne Islands inspired by the legacy of Grace darling, the namesake of their Crew. Crew Einstein raised money from their sponsorship to support their chosen charity: anxious minds.
All of our students complete a bronze DofE award in Year 9 and this, like our first week at Ullswater, is a compulsory part of our curriculum at XPG. The DofE programme aims to “develop the skills and attitudes young people need to become more rounded, confident adults. Qualities that colleges, universities and employers are attracted to” – aims that align with ours, developing in students “confidence, resilience, focus and motivation to achieve things they never thought they would”.
Across this year G29 students have been learning new skills, volunteering and getting physical. The final part of the award is a two day, one night expedition which our students have been planning and training for last week. Students completed a day of campcraft training on Monday and carried out their practice expeditions in Crews on Friday.
As always, our students stepped up to the challenge. Their maturity and independence was commented on throughout the day – how they supported each other, managed the physical challenge, cooked and set up camp for each other and the thorough de-gunge carried out at the end of the day. We also managed to travel more sustainably on the Metro to get to Seaburn Metro where students then navigated across unfamiliar rural terrain back towards Brockley Whins. Students covered 9km with a significant climb at the start of the morning laden with their clothes, tents and cooking equipment.
Thank you to those who have made voluntary contributions to XPG DofE so far, this has helped support our purchase of a DofE loan kit for families struggling to be able to purchase the required kit. Every student was fully equipped on Friday, which is thanks to the commitment of all families in G29 as well as the kind donations we have received.
Year 10 students headed to Tynemouth Longsands for their Crew Day, taking part in a range of activities including sports, art and stewardship. The day was planned to allow Year 10 students to unwind after their recent hard work across the mock exams, enjoy the outdoors, and reconnect with the spirit of Crew. Students really enjoyed taking time with their crew to reflect on collaboration, communication and how they support each other and how this can continue in the months to come.
We are delighted to announce that we have now finished recruiting teaching staff for our final year of establishing the school to a full set of cohorts from Year 7 to Year 11. Joining our Staff Crew from August will be members of teaching staff in Spanish, Art & Design and HUMAN. Last week we also appointed two Learning Coaches to join our Staff Crew both of whom bring will real strength to our team.
Friday ‘s Duke of Edinburgh practice with G29 was a fitting end for Mr Walters’ time with XP Gateshead. Throughout his time with us Mr Walters has had relationships with students at the heart of his role, and he has been instrumental in supporting our work on outdoor education including the development of our school site. Mr Walters will be missed by all at XP, although we will continue to see him as a parent and wish him all the best in his important new role, supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our society.
SLCs continue this week for our Year7 and Year 8 students.
SLCs, like PoLs, are key moments in the development of our students and it is vital that parents, carers and families fully support SLCs. It has been wonderful to hear of the pride our families, staff and students have felt following SLCs last week and we look forward to hearing more this week.
Year 10 will be visiting Newcastle University on Monday morning to participate in workshops about our Fuel Futures. Students will debate the use of renewable energy, study the factors that affect the placement of a wind turbine and look at engineering solutions to transport. This fieldwork supports their current STEAM expedition ‘Power to the People!’, where students will be working to answer the Guiding Question: How can we use the planet’s resources more sustainably? See post for more details
Our PE sessions this week are as follows. Please ensure that your child has their full PE kit.
Extended study and after school clubs will not be running this week due to G30 and G31 Student led Conferences.
As part of our transition work, we have now met almost all our new students and their families online. This is a huge undertaking, as you can imagine but having 30 minute family meetings allows us to start getting to know our students well.
On Thursday at 6pm, we will hold an Information Evening for all of our new families in Year 6. It is vital 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.
We come to the end of a six week half term on Friday 23rd May and as always, we will finish at 1:30pm for our usual de-gunge.
We return to school on Monday 2nd June 2025.
On Tuesday 3rd June from 5pm we will be hosting a drop in for G29 families to discuss KS4 pathways with members of staff that are leading GCSE courses. See this post for more details.
As usual if you have any questions please contact your child’s crew leader in the first instance. Thank you as always for your ongoing support.
Julie Mosley
Another week of great work at XP Gateshead, even though we only had 4 days in school!
Our second annual Public Health Conference, ‘Is Public Health Going Up in Smoke?’, took place last Friday hosted by our Year 9 students. G29 students brought their final products: a public health report exploring the impact of smoking and vaping on the local community to the attention of local councillors, health professionals, invited experts and families. We enjoyed an afternoon of youth-led activism, informed debate, and meaningful dialogue which really showed what young people are capable of when supported and challenged to engage with important issues such as health in their community.
The conference was an in-depth look at inequality in health outcomes and life expectancy in Gateshead viewed through the specific lens of smoking and vaping. This is just one aspect of what our Year 9 students have been studying as part of a longitudinal expedition looking at the people’s health since 1250 in the UK. To be ready for the conference students had to read widely and internalise data to be able to defend propositions when quizzed by delegates. After keynote speeches and expert panel interviews written and presented by our students, Year 9 then ran marketplace information stalls and important discussions around public health.
On Monday, Crew Day takes place for G28, G29, G30 and G31. We will take time to reaffirm the importance of Crew, building positive relationships through shared experiences and challenges. Students at XPG are ‘Crew not passengers’ and it is vital that we continue to build our crews and culture strong as this is the bedrock of our work at XPG.
G31 students will participate in a fundraising effort to support Walk2Water. This event will take place at Gateshead International Stadium from our arrival at around 9am, until departure after lunch time. Families are also welcome to come and support students’ efforts and cheer on students should they wish! We are asking families and friends of XP Gateshead to support the efforts of G31 to help us reach the required total by donating, if they can, using the Enthuse platform linked here.
Students will start school at the regular time. We will be travelling to the stadium on foot and by metro and returning during the school day so students will finish at the regular time of 3.15pm.
Year 7 students will need a packed lunch for the day and to come prepared for all weathers and for walking a distance. See post for full details.
Our year 8 students will be working in their crews getting stronger together.
Crew Darling and Crew Einstein will be offsite taking part in a 7-mile walk along Hebburn Riverside and back, with a cultural visit to the Buddhist monastery, which will help consolidate the students’ learning from our first learning expedition of the year, Being Human. Crew Darling are taking the opportunity to gather sponsors from their walking efforts to raise money for a special visit to the Farne Islands inspired by the legacy of Grace darling, the namesake of their Crew.
Crew Earhart and Crew Kahlo will be onsite working outdoors on team building including den building with their Crew leaders and Wayne Dobson, an expert in Outdoors Education: High Tide Adventure Company.
Year 8 students will need a packed lunch for the day or their agreed crew picnic contribution and be prepared for outdoor activity and weather.
Our Year 9 students will spend Crew Day carrying out campcraft training in readiness for their DofE bronze practice expedition on Friday 16th May. G29 Crew Leaders will be checking their crews to ensure students have all the required kit and are fully prepared. Please see the recent post for more details on the practice and final expeditions along with the kit needed.
Our Year 10 students are heading to Tynemouth Longsands for their Crew Day, where they will take part in a range of activities including sports and art. After working incredibly hard over the past two weeks during their mock exams, this day is a well-deserved opportunity for students to unwind, enjoy the outdoors, and reconnect with the spirit of Crew.
Students will start and finish school at the regular time and will need a packed lunch for the day. Some Crews have organised a Crew Picnic please ask your child about this. See post for full details.
SLCs start for our Year 7 and 8 students and their families this week. Students have worked hard to prepare for their conference, preparing to share their recent work, evidence of work around the pledges they have shared and responses to the questions parents and carers have asked to be addressed in the conference. Please can I remind all families that SLCs, like PoLs, are key moments in the development of our students and it is vital that parents, carers and families fully support SLCs.
You should already have received an email from your child with an updated snapshot and a link to ask questions of them in advance of the SLC. Here is that link if your child has not yet sent that on to you. You will also receive a link to sign up for a time slot from your child’s Crew Leader. Please contact [email protected] if you do not receive this.
There are some changes to PE sessions this week due to Crew Day and G28’s DofE practice expedition . Please ensure that your child has their full PE kit for sessions.
Extended study and after school clubs will not be running over the next two weeks due to G31 and G30 Student led Conferences.
Please note that Thursday and Friday lunch options will swap this week. Please see our menu for details (we are on week 1).
If you have any questions please contact your child’s crew leader in the first instance.
Thank you as always for your ongoing support.
Julie Mosley
Principal
Here we are at the end of our first May Bank Holiday weekend. I hope you have enjoyed the additional family time this weekend.
Last week saw a lot of hard work from students across all year groups and a highlight for me was the way all of our students have supported G28 mock exams which started last week. Our Year 10 students have approached their mocks with real maturity and commitment and we couldn’t be prouder of them. Their courage is admirable as they had their first real experience of GCSE exam papers and conditions and they deserve full congratulations. We will be working with them to make sure they understand that this is the start of their journey and we will be supporting them all the way. In the coming weeks after marking and moderation takes place, we will share the mock results with students along with our predictions at this stage for their final outcomes next year.
I also want to congratulate our year 7, 8 and 9 students for their support of year 10 this week. On Thursday an exam paper was set to finish after 3:15pm and the whole school exited the site in silence to make sure students in exam spaces were not disturbed. This really showed the respect and compassion students at XPG have for each other, knowing that as a community we all support each other to get to the top of the mountain!
We have enjoyed meeting many of our new students and their families this week online. Family meetings will continue this week. This is all part of us getting to know our new students and their families as much as possible before they start with us on Tuesday 26th August 2025. Our transition timeline is shown below and, as you can see, after our family meetings, we will start our visits to feeder primary schools to meet our new students in person and their current teachers.
Our Year 7 and 8 students have started their preparation work for SLCs which take place over the fortnight beginning Monday 12th May. G31 and G30 parents will be receiving emails from their child which includes the pledges they have made to improve their work and a request for questions which students will prepare responses to as part of their SLC. Please note that we expect all families to attend SLCs. These, like PoLs, are key moments in the deliberate development of character for our young people and it is vital that parents, carers and families are present to support these events.
You should have already received an email with an updated snapshot from your child and a link to ask questions of them in advance of the SLC. Here is that link if your child has not yet sent that on to you.
You will also receive a link to sign up for a time slot from your child’s Crew Leader this week. Please contact [email protected] if you do not receive this.
This week we have held a Year 9 community meeting to talk through our finalised KS4 offer.
Slides with more information on the nature of the courses in our offer can be found here.
As you can see from the timeline below, over the coming weeks, students will get more details around courses from subject experts to support their choices and families will be involved in discussions ready for finalising choices with Crew Leaders after Summer half term.
On Tuesday 3rd June we are inviting all G29 families into school in the evening to meet with subject teachers of GCSE courses. This is so that families can talk to our staff about their child’s suitability for courses based on their motivation, capability and capacity.
Our Year 9 students will be hosting an inaugural Public Health Conference on Friday 9th May. We will be opening our doors to families and delegates from 1.30pm. Please use the pedestrian gate if arriving on foot, or push the bell on the vehicle gate if using our car park. Car parking spaces on site are limited, so if parking on the street please be considerate of our neighbours.
The event starts at 2pm and we expect to be finished at around 4.15pm.
There are some changes to PE sessions this week due to the bank holiday and mock exams. G28 (Y10) students will not have their usual PE sessions. G31, G30 and G29 students PE sessions are shown below, please ensure that your child has their full PE kit for sessions.
Extended study and after school clubs will be running Tuesday to Thursday this week.
Every half term, we look to run a Crew Day which is an opportunity to ‘tend’ to 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.
We will put out separate posts this week for each year group to give further details of each Crew Day and the kit needed for each year group.
Our Y9 students will be carrying out their DofE bronze practice expedition on Friday 16th May. This will take place offsite for most of the day with the final part taking place on our school site until 4:30pm. This is part of getting them ready for the final assessed expedition which will take place on Friday 4th July – Saturday 5th July. Please see the recent post for more details on the practice and final expeditions along with the kit needed. G29 Crew Leaders will be checking their crews to ensure students have all the required kit and are fully prepared.
Students should arrive at school for the normal time on the morning of Friday 16th May. They will travel by Metro with their packed rucksacks and complete a 10km walk whilst carrying their gear. They will return to school by Metro in the afternoon and students will practise setting up camp, cooking a meal, pitching a tent and re packing their bags independently. We expect the day to conclude at around 4:30pm to allow time for these tasks. Students will be expected to stay beyond 4:30pm if necessary to complete all activities and the spirit of crew and stewardship will be vital – it is essential that all students complete the practice expedition successfully to ensure they are fully prepared for the final expedition.
As a school, we fully fund DofE and last year allocated a significant budget for start-up costs (tents, sleeping bags, backpacks, etc). We would also like to add to this kit over time and be able to loan hiking boats, waterproof coats and trousers to support families who are not in the position to be able to buy these items for their children.
We have been approached by several parents over time who have wanted to make voluntary financial contributions to the school to support XP Gateshead and the work we do in learning expeditions and other activities. We have decided to open up an option on Parent Pay ‘XPG Voluntary School Donation’ to allow for any parent/carer to be able to make a contribution if they would like to. At the moment, we will use contributions to build our DofE loan kit so that all students have access to the required kit and this will be in place for Year 9 students. We also welcome kit donations from Year 10 families who want to add to our loan kit for this year’s expedition.
If you have any questions please contact your child’s crew leader in the first instance.
Thank you as always for your ongoing support.
Julie Mosley
Principal
