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 and 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:

Crew Day – XPG Sports Day

We enjoyed our final Crew Day of the year last week with a sport and physical challenge to the day. Our Sports Day involved a range of activities with healthy competition within each cohort between Crews and the quality of work across all crews and rounds was stunning – designing crew mascots for a given country, recreating famous sporting images, crew rounders, dodgeball and athletics.

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G28 students completed one last major physical exertion carrying out a walk for water. Students were supported throughout the day by ambassadors of the Charity Time to Help. They even brought their mascot the water drop! They also gave students the opportunity to visit Kenya by the power of VR to see a village where their well’s had an impact.

Excitement was high as winners were announced in our whole school community meeting in the afternoon. The winners were:

G30 – Crew Einstein

G29 – Crew Watson

G28 – Crew Parks walked the greatest distance in the walk for water

Thanks so much to all families that have donated to the appeal.

Freya is now a published artist!

As you may have seen, our Year 7 student, Freya and her family travelled down to the Royal Academy of Arts to see her artwork curated in the gallery. Well done Freya!

Working with the Comfrey Project

A group of Year 8 students carried out some volunteering work with our partners at the Comfrey Project in Bensham last week, volunteering in their garden. 

“The Comfrey Project provides a safe, welcoming place for people who have fled conflict and persecution to improve their physical and mental wellbeing, develop new skills and put down roots in their new community.

Their approach is based on the use of horticulture-based activities including gardening, bee-keeping, cooking, crafts and construction, to improve people’s lives.”

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XPT Festival of Arts 

On Friday Mr Said travelled to Doncaster with Miss Wall our visiting dance teacher and our choir, rock band and dancers. The groups have been working on performances over the last term and put on a fantastic show, performing twice. The afternoon performance was to our primary school students and staff, and then the evening performance was to families from across the schools in Doncaster. Just as we finished our first set the heavens began to open, and as our rock band took to the stage for their second performance the area in front of the stage was quite quiet given the rain. However by the time our rock band had finished they had pulled the crowd back in, and they stayed for our choir and dancers. So many colleagues came to find us to say how impressed they were with our children, and how thankful they were that we had been able to be part of the festival. Well done to all of our performers who have put in a massive amount of effort, not least their long shift on Friday! Beautiful work. A special thanks to Lauren for her support with our Dancers across the whole year too.

This week

G30 Celebration of Learning, Tuesday 16th July 4:30-6:00pm

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?”. Students will also present important updates on their final products from across the year, including their radio broadcast with excerpts of their Creative Writing from term 2 and their folk songs from term 1. More details in Mrs Ross’ post here.

We are delighted to announce that we have copies of the CD with Year 7 students’ music available for families to purchase. We have a limited initial print of 50 copies available, although more will be printed soon. If you wish to purchase your child’s music on CD, then please bring £5 to the event on Tuesday evening.

Due to the limited initial print, it will be limited to one copy per family. When the second print run is done, you will be able to purchase more copies in the new academic year for other family members. This really is a fantastic product, and every penny raised will go back into funding your child’s exciting learning expeditions next year.

G29 Presentation of Learning, Wednesday 17th July 4:30-6:00pm

This event will also take place in school. Students have been working in the kitchen to prepare food so that we can eat an afternoon tea influenced by dishes from across the world, together with our migrant guests. Students will also perform a poem set to their artwork. Following the interval, we will screen the film made by our G28 students which includes the stories of some of our migrant experts. We are really looking forward to hosting you in school – more details in Miss tatters’ post here.

G28 Presentation of Learning, Thursday 18th July 6.00pm

The final presentation of learning for G28 will be a live stream on Youtube, which includes excerpts of poetry and captures their learning from across this term on their expedition: Hold back the river. We will post details of the link to follow to join the stream later in the week.

PE sessions this week

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

• G30 students (Y7) have PE on Monday this week
• G29 students (Y8) 
  • 8-1 have PE on Tuesday this week
  • 8-2 have PE on Thursday this week
• G28 students (Y9) have PE on Thursday this week 

No Extended Study and Clubs

Due to the Presentations of Learning this week we are not running clubs or extended study this week.

Summer Holidays

We break up for Summer holidays this Friday 19th July and return to school on Tuesday 27th 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

Dear Families

We achieved so much last week with Transition Days, Fieldwork, Experts working in school, Educator Led Conferences and our DofE bronze final expedition. Community meetings on Friday were a real joy, both in school with G30, G29 and out in the field with G28. To hear staff and students talk with genuine care for each other, our culture and the school we are building together is unique. As you know we are a small staff at XPG (19 in total including several part time staff) and the quality curriculum and extra-curricular activities 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 and commitment of our staff. 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.

G31 Transition Days

We finally got to meet our new cohort of students last week and G31 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. G31 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?’

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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 – board games, mindful arts, rounders, basketball, dance, book club, choir, music, robotics, arts and crafts, football.

G30 Fieldwork working with Durham University Biosciences Department

On Thursday, G30 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 in the lab using microscopes to look at a variety of species and then also identified species  from the nearby pond. One of the many highlights of the day for G30 students was observing a leech give birth, a moment Caleb and others will never forget and one many of us will never be lucky enough to see!

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For Year 7, this was their first visit to a University Campus (with more to come) which was a really important moment for our students. As you know, university-readiness is part of our mission at XP Gateshead, to ensure that our students are on a path to university if that is what they choose for their future. Special thanks to Miss Jamison who organised this fieldwork opportunity for our students.

G29 Crew King and Crew Watson working in the kitchen 

As part of the preparation for their presentation of learning on 17th July, Crew King and Crew Watson worked in the kitchen last  week to prepare dishes from around the world for the event.

Crew King prepared samosas and spring rolls and Crew Watson prepared Lamington’s from Australian and Nigerian meat pies. Mrs Tatters, our expert who supported students was again blown away by the quality of work shown, some of which was of “shop-bought standard”.

This week, more Crews in G29 will take to the kitchen to prepare their dishes for the Celebration of Learning event where our students will be hosting and catering an evening to celebrate their learning through their expedition ‘Is Migration Worth the Risk?’. This celebration of learning will be held at XP Gateshead School on 17th July 2024. More information to come.

G29 Expert – Eira Hegarty

On Friday our G29 students met Eira Hegarty, a final year medical student who has spent time volunteering for Refugee Community Kitchen in Calais. This was a great opportunity for our students to get first-hand information about the scale and level of challenge around what is a very complex and emotive issue of our time. As always, our students were prepared with great questions. The session was really insightful and important to students’ current expedition, and will further help students to determine for themselves ‘Is Migration Worth the Risk?’.

G28 Assessed Duke of Edinburgh Expedition 

On Friday our G28 Pioneers 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 G28 smashed it! 

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Students covered a huge distance of over 20 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 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. We had a beautiful community meeting on Friday evening where the midges were able to listen to wonderful praises for character – our students really do notice each other’s brilliance.

Thank you to all staff who have supported our G28 students to successfully complete their bronze DofE qualification and the time they have invested in this (inside and outside of school hours) – Miss Tatters, Miss Jones, Miss Marshall, Mr Walters, Mr Mead, Mr Said, Mrs Dobson. A special thanks and congratulations to Mr Devitt for his leadership of our first DofE at XP Gateshead.

Educator Led Conferences

Think Student Led Conferences and then think SLCs for adults and that’s an Educator Led Conference (ELC). As you know, at XPG ‘if its good enough for our students, it’s good enough for the adults’. This starts with induction and an outward bound experience for staff looking at the importance of crew and then each year, every member of staff shares their learning to an audience of their peers as part of our professional engagement process. So far we have enjoyed ELCs from Mr Said, Miss Jamison, Mrs Donlan, Mrs Diamond, Mr Mead, Miss Jones, Mrs Ross and we are really looking forward to this week’s ELCs which include our new staff, Miss Simpson and Mr Azam who move towards the end of their induction.

This week

PE sessions this week

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

• G30 students (Y7) have PE on Monday this week
• G29 students (Y8) 
  • 8-1 have PE on Tuesday this week
  • 8-2 have PE on Wednesday this week
• G28 students (Y9) have PE on Friday this week 

Crew day – XPG Sports Day, Thursday 11th July

This week we have our final Crew Day of the year. As is always the case, this day will be about building crew but 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 PE kit for the day. A reminder of PE kit can found by clicking here.

As part of their day G28 students will build on their excellence from DofE last week and do one last major physical exertion this year – because there is more in them than they know. As well as their sporting activities in the afternoon, the morning will be spent carrying out a walk for water, sharing the load between their Crew to complete 6km as a Crew

Our partners for this challenge are the Comfrey Project in Gateshead, who have supported us with our migration expedition in Year 8 for the last couple of years – the funds raised through the website timetohelp.org.uk will be passed to the organisation Walk for Water.

For each £2700 raised for the charity, a toilet block can be installed in a rural area of Africa. We realise G28 parents have supported crew charities a lot throughout year 9, please only give what you can. Anything we raise will be helpful in contributing towards installing important sanitation in a place of need.

On average, women and girls in developing countries walk 6 kilometres (approximately 3.5 miles) a day, carrying 20 litres (about 42 pounds/20 kgs) of water. It is common for this journey to take more than 15 hours a week in some areas. We want to build empathy in our students for people who don’t have access to clean water, and help them to understand the hardship that some people face just to be able to drink, clean and cook every day.

We hope you will support by clicking on this link to donate!

G31 Transition – Meet the Crew Leader, Tuesday 9th July 5pm

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 and is expected to last for around 45 minutes.

XP Trust Festival of Culture and Arts

Our choir, dancers and rock school students will be travelling down to Doncaster on Friday to be part of the inaugural festival. They will be performing in a line up that includes performers from across all of our schools in the trust. Our students will perform twice throughout the day, once for an audience of our primary school children, and again later in the day for a wider audience of families and our older children from the secondary schools on Doncaster.

This is the first festival of its kind in the trust, and in future years we intend to expand the scale of the festival to include performances that will take place on our school site.

Good luck to our performers this week!

Extended Study and Clubs

Extended study and after school clubs will not be running this week due to staff Educator Led Conferences and Transition event ‘Meet your Crew Leader’. 

Extended study and after school clubs will not be running next week due to Presentations of Learning. 

Dress code

As you know, our dress code asks students and staff to:

Please dress appropriately and modestly.

I ask for your support again around dress code, especially in the warmer weather where a minority of students are not getting it right in terms of modesty and wearing clothes that are revealing.  While we understand that students prefer to wear shorts in the nicer weather of the Summer Term, it is important that these remain modest and not reveal the upper thigh. Shorts for both girls and boys should reach at least mid-thigh without having to be constantly pulled down. Additionally, cropped tops and vest tops that reveal the chest or midriff are not appropriate for school.

Thank you as always for your ongoing support. 

As usual if you have any questions please contact your child’s crew leader in the first instance. 

Julie Mosley

Dear Families

Sometimes, 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 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.  This is not the norm in schools and I feel really proud of our school where staff and students work together building this culture, doing this as crew and not passengers.

G28 Fieldwork 

As part of their current expedition, ‘Hold Back the River’ our Year 9 students had an amazing fieldwork experience at the coast this week, studying the river at Seaton Burn and the Seaton Sluice coastline.  The fieldwork incorporated geography standards around map reading, fieldwork skills including data collection and analysis and also physical geography standards about river processes, giving students an opportunity to test a hypothesis about the long profile of a river, and the changes from the middle to the lower course. In addition students spent time on a solo, using their surroundings to help prepare them for writing standards in English language associated with poetry and connected to the literature pieces that they have been studying. Finally, they also spent time observing the dune ecosystems at Seaton Sluice, building on learning about biotic and factors and variation in biology, to look at the adaptations, abundance and distribution of species that thrive in the dunes.

G30 Fieldwork

Our Year 7 students carried out fieldwork along the River Tyne this week as part of their current expedition and guiding question ‘How does water shape our world?’

They packed so much into one day, including using the physical model of the river catchment at Newcastle Central Library to look at how features can affect the river catchment and flow of water, using their sharp vocabulary to discuss how changes to the landscape impact on the whole system. They also walked the length of the Tyne from the quayside to Felling Shore to study human geography standards, looking at the change in land use on both sides of the river along the section sampled.

G29 workshop – Climate Adaptability

Year 8 students continue to consider their guiding question,  ‘Is Migration worth the Risk?’,  as part of their current expedition, ‘Should I stay or should I go?.’ Last week they spent time with expert Gemma Sarigu from ‘Students Owning Sustainability’. The session fit into the wider expedition, where students are seeing how changes in climate are becoming an increasingly prevalent push factor which causes people to migrate. Protecting our planet is one of our curricular seams that runs throughout expeditions, and this session was important in addressing potential feelings of ‘climate anxiety’. Much of the session was spent considering opportunities that climate change poses in terms of developing technologies, careers and bringing people together.

G30 Art Workshops

Our final workshops with Bruce Tuckey for art students leaders took place this week. This involved students creating sculptures inspired by the works on the Tyne Riverside Sculpture Park. We will post images of the final products soon.

PE collaboration with Felling Cricket Club 

This week our Year 9 students enjoyed the chance to test their cricket skills at Felling Cricket Club. We are really lucky to have such facilities on our doorstep, allowing our students to experience expert facilities and give them a platform to play cricket locally outside of school. All year groups will be using this facility in the coming weeks and months. Special thanks to Mr Devitt, Danny Norman and Macolm Norman who have supported this collaboration.

     

 

This week

Like was said on our early look ahead last week, it’s another packed week!

G31 Year 6 Transition Days – Tuesday 2nd and Wednesday 3rd July

This week we meet our new G31 students for their transition days at XP Gateshead. We are really looking forward to getting to know our G31 cohort and for them to get to know each other. Please see the website post for full details on transition. 

Please note that for all students (including Year 6 students), our school day will start at the usual time of 8:25am each day with students able to arrive from 8:00am. Each day will end at 3:15am for all students (there are no clubs or extended study running on Tuesday or Wednesday).

G29 Crews working in the kitchen – Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th July

As part of the preparation for their presentation of learning on 17th July, this week Crew King and Crew Watson will be working in the kitchen this week to prepare dishes from around the world for the event.

• Crew King – Wednesday 3rd July, 
• Crew Watson – Thursday 4th July

The ingredients will be already sourced for students. In terms of safety, long hair must be tied back, and students should wear clothes that are OK to get dirty. 

Over the next week, each of our G29 Crews will be working in the kitchen to prepare dishes for the presentation of learning event where our students will be hosting and catering an evening to celebrate their learning through their expedition ‘Is Migration Worth the Risk?’ This celebration of learning will be held at XP Gateshead School on 17th July 2024.

G28 Duke of Edinburgh Kit Check – Wednesday 3rd July, 3:30pm

Students in G28 will carry out a full kit check in school in readiness for their assessed expedition which is taking place on Friday and Saturday this week. The kit check should take no more than 1 hour and students will contact families to let you know when they will be finished if they need a lift home from school.

G30 Fieldwork – Thursday 4th July

On Thursday, G30 will be carrying out an important fieldwork at the Durham University Biosciences Department to further study aquatic food chains – both under the microscope and by looking at the variety of species caught from the nearby pond. For Year 7, this will be their first visit to a University Campus which is a really important moment for our students. As you know, university-readiness is part of our mission at XP Gateshead, to ensure that our students are on a path to university if that is what they choose for their future.

Students should arrive at the regular time and will finish school at 3.15pm as normal. They will need their regular kit for the day, a packed lunch and will need to be prepared for the weather (the current forecast is mild, sunny spells with a chance of showers). Students that normally have a free school meal will be provided with a packed lunch.

G28 Assessed Duke of Edinburgh Expedition – Friday 5th and Saturday 6th July

This week our G28 Pioneers embark on their final assessed Duke of Edinburgh expedition. As you know, DofE (like Year 7 Ullswater Outward Bound) is an important aspect of our curriculum in challenging students to develop their character and push them beyond their comfort zone. As a school we invest a great deal of time, money and staff resources into helping all students to achieve the award. We expect all of our students to complete the DofE.

Students should arrive at regular time on Friday and will be transported to their Duke of Edinburgh drop off point in Wark, Northumberland. Students will then be staying at Greencarts Campsite, next to Hadrian’s Wall, before completing day two of the expedition and being collected in Acomb, Northumberland. Students can expect to arrive back to school in the late afternoon on Saturday the 6th May.

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The forecast is mild, sunny spells and showers. The kit list reflects these possibilities, please ensure that your child is equipped for sun, rain and changes in temperature.

PE sessions this week

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

• G30 students (Y7) have PE on Monday this week
• G29 students (Y8) have PE on Wednesday this week
• G28 students (Y9) have PE on Thursday this week 

Extended Study and Clubs

Extended study and after school clubs will not be running this week due to transition, DofE preparation and staff Educator Led Conferences (think SLCs for adults – what’s good for our children is good for us!). 

Punctuality

Can I remind all families about the importance of good punctuality. A calm start to each day is really important for students to settle into learning and as you know, we ask all parents and carers to support their children with this, it is part of the XP Home School Agreement that every family has signed.

We are starting to see a small minority of students arrive after 8:25am without real justification. Please note that school opens at 8:00am every morning 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. 

Students have been given clear reminders about punctuality and I know that Crew Leaders have been in contact with families to remove barriers around punctuality. We monitor lateness closely down to precise time lost and where punctuality issues continue, students will make up lost time at the end of the week. 

Thank you as always for your ongoing support. 

As usual if you have any questions please contact your child’s crew leader in the first instance. 

Julie Mosley

Dear Families

We hope you have enjoyed the long and sunny weekend.  Last week we enjoyed some great work from students in and outside of school:

G29 Fieldwork

   

Students in G29 met with expert volunteers  from the Time to Help UK charity, who are supporting the Humanity Cartoon competition – a global competition using art to give voice to the stories of refugees. Students were able to talk to the experts about their own experiences of migration and analysed the many pieces of artwork to make inferences about the messages being conveyed. All of this in the wonderful surrounds of St Mary’s heritage centre.

Will, Arlo, Penny and Dakota then returned on Thursday to read the poem that is part of their final product, Home by Warsan Shire, as part of a day of performances connected to National Refugee Week.

G30 Art Workshop

We had the first of our workshops with the sculptor Bruce Tuckey for our Year 7 art leaders, who are creating sculptures in response to the riverside park of sculptures on the south bank of the Tyne. This week Bruce will be working with the remaining students in the leadership group from Year 7.

Art delivery to the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition

On Saturday, Miss Macphail travelled to London to deliver a very special piece of art to be exhibited in this year’s Summer Exhibition. 

Freya’s “Mr Pigeon” was delivered safely and will be shown in one of the most prestigious art galleries in the world. The Royal Academy is famous for showcasing new and established artists, bringing their work to a whole new audience. 

Saturday workshop ran by XPG students

Our student leaders from G29: Eliza, Nelly, Penny, Braydon, Reuben, and Harry met with migrant children at a Saturday school organised by our partners at the Comfrey Project and taught the children there how to make stop motion animation, using their learning from the creation of the final product for their current expedition.

Staff Days

On Friday and Monday, our staff have worked hard in school and with colleagues across the Trust planning next term’s expeditions.

‘At XP we build our community through activism, leadership and equity sharing our stories as we go.’

To fully realise these principles, at XP, we deliver our curriculum predominantly through cross disciplinary learning expeditions. These are standards based projects that are specifically designed to make connections between, and across, subjects to encourage deep, purposeful and memorable learning experiences for our young people. The careful planning of expeditions takes time and real craftsmanship and quality. Our staff have been considering each part of the expedition – immersions, guiding questions, case studies, work with experts, fieldwork and final products.

 

A special thanks goes out to Molly, Freya and Elina who gave up their time on Friday to update our toilet signs with an XP design by Ruby. Their work really does show that our students are crew not passengers.

At the start of the week we had a group of 15 teachers and leaders from XP Trust schools for a  day of learning at XPG. They were immersed in learning at XPG via Ambassador Tours, lesson visits and teaching and learning sessions with Mr Mead. 

Stand out moments revolved around ambassador tours which our students facilitated. The feedback about our students was simply stunning and worth sharing with you all

“The work you have done around culture is fabulous. The way the pupils articulated their educational offer was stunning”

“What an incredible day, your students blew us away. They are learning to be the most wonderful individuals who take pride in their learning and their school. The work you and your team have done at XPG is making a difference… they showed us… with their conduct and their integrity”

 

This week

Like was said on Friday, it’s a busy one!

G28 Fieldwork tomorrow

Year 9 students will be carrying out fieldwork to investigate the river Seaton Burn. Students will work together to collect data regarding the width, depth and velocity of the river. Students will also complete an activity connected to their poetry studies and will study species in the dunes at Seaton Sluice which are particular to that ecosystem. We will be travelling by coach to the venue for the day. The weather forecast is currently very warm, dry and sunny. The heat warning does not affect our region however students should be prepared for the hot and dry weather. All year 9 students will need:

• Their regular kit for the day
• Suncream and cap/hat
• A second pair of trainers, wellies or shoes that can get wet
• A large bottle of drinking water
• Ideally shorts rather than longer bottoms or leggings
  • bottoms or leggings that can be rolled up are OK
• Bug spray if required

We expect to be back to school at the normal time, traffic dependent so will post on the website if there are any delays.

Climate Action Plan and G29 workshops

Also on Tuesday, our Climate Action Plan leadership group will be working with our expert Gemma Sarigu to finalise their proposals for how the school could be more sustainable.

On Tuesday Year 8 students will also carry out a workshop with Gemma on climate adaptability, which will both feed into the action plan, and also connects to students’ learning about migration – with changes in climate becoming an increasingly prevalent push factor which causes people to migrate.

G30 Fieldwork – Wednesday 26th June

All Year 7 students will be carrying out fieldwork including data collection techniques and observational skills, through practical activities and investigations in our local river environment.

This will involve travel by Metro and walking between Newcastle and Gateshead. The weather forecast is currently warm with potential showers. As such students will need:

• Comfortable walking shoes or trainers
• appropriately dress for our current changeable weather including
  • hat and suncream
  • waterproof coat
• A packed lunch. (This will be provided for students who are entitled to free school meals if they request one.)
  A backpack with a pen, pencil, rubber, and iPad. Most bags are not waterproof, so we suggest putting kit inside a plastic bag inside the rucksack.

As usual, students need to be in school for 8.25am ready for their final briefing. We expect to return to school slightly later than the normal school at around 3:45 pm. We will update the school website in the event of any delays.

G30 Art Workshops – Thursday 27th June

The final workshop for art student leaders with Bruce Tuckey will be taking place on Thursday in school this week. This week it will be: Freya, Caleb, Lexi J, Lizzie, Olivia W, Amelia, Kayden, Josh, Lexi S, Evie, George, Danny, Holly, Lily-Mae S, Isaac and James. Students will be creating sculptures so should wear clothes which you do not mind getting dirty.

PE sessions this week

Some PE sessions will not run this week due to the staff day. PE time will be paid back in coming weeks with additional sessions and Crew Day

• G29 students (Y8) have PE on Wednesday this week
• G28 students (Y9)
  • G28 Class 1 have PE on Thursday this week.
  • G29 Class 2 have PE on Friday this week 
• G30 students (Y7) do not have PE this week due to the staff day today.

As you know we have another staff day on Monday next week, where we will be continuing to plan for learning expeditions in our next academic year.

It is a particularly packed week next week with fieldwork and expert sessions. We will post our usual weekly update, however for next week it is important to note:

Tuesday 25th June

Year 9 students will be carrying out fieldwork to investigate the river Seaton Burn. Students will work together to collect data regarding the width, depth and velocity of the river. Students will also complete an activity connected to their poetry studies and will study species in the dunes at Seaton Sluice which are particular to that ecosystem. We will be travelling by coach to the venue for the day. The weather forecast is currently warm, dry and sunny spells.

All year 9 students will need:

• Their regular kit for the day
• Suncream and cap/hat
• A second pair of trainers, wellies or shoes that can get wet
• A large bottle of drinking water
• Ideally shorts rather than longer bottoms or leggings
  • bottoms or leggings that can be rolled up are OK
• Bug spray if required

We expect to be back to school at the normal time, traffic dependent so will post on the website if there are any delays.

 

Also on Tuesday, our Climate Action Plan leadership group will be working with our expert Gemma Sarigu to finalise their proposals for the how the school could be more sustainable.

 

On Tuesday Year 8 students will also carry out a workshop with Gemma on climate adaptability, which will both feed into the action plan, and also connects to students’ learning about migration – with changes in climate becoming an increasingly prevalent push factor which causes people to migrate.

Wednesday 26th June

All Year 7 students will be carrying out fieldwork including data collection techniques and observational skills, through practical activities and investigations in our local river environment.

This will involve travel by Metro and walking between Newcastle and Gateshead. The weather forecast is currently warm with potential showers. As such students will need:

• Comfortable walking shoes or trainers
• appropriately dress for our current changeable weather including
  • hat and suncream
  • waterproof coat
• A packed lunch. (This will be provided for students who are entitled to free school meals if they request one.)
  A backpack with a pen, pencil, rubber, and iPad. Most bags are not waterproof, so we suggest putting kit inside a plastic bag inside the rucksack.

As usual, students need to be in school for 8.25am ready for their final briefing. We expect to return to school slightly later than the normal school at around 3:45 pm. We will update the school website in the event of any delays.

Thursday 27th June

The final workshop for art student leaders with Bruce Tuckey will be taking place on Thursday in school this week. This week it will be: Freya, Caleb, Lexi J, Lizzie, Olivia W, Amelia, Kayden, Josh, Lexi S, Evie, George, Danny, Holly, Lily-Mae S, Isaac and James. Students will be creating sculptures so should wear clothes which you do not mind getting dirty.

Looking Ahead

Our Transition Days for Year 6 children are on Tuesday 2nd and Wednesday 3rd July.

Each day will start at 8.25am with students able to arrive from 8.00am.

Each day will end at 3.15pm.

We look forward to welcoming our 50 new G31 students into school.

Dear Families

We enjoyed another great week last week and as always, it is great to see students pushing themselves and each other to be successful.

End of year assessments started last week for some subjects and I have been really pleased to see our students step up to the challenge showing real maturity and focus. Assessments continue (see last week’s post for details) and extended study continues to focus on revision this week.

On Thursday, we held an online whole school community meeting for all students and looked at the learning journey students have been on this year. It’s really important to stand back and reflect on journey and it is impressive to see just how much our students have achieved this year. Our students are working 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.

Student Leadership 

“At XP, we build our community through activism, leadership and equity, sharing our stories as we go…”

This week we have seen multiple examples of great student leadership at work.

Year 7 Art student leaders carried out fieldwork with artist Bruce Tuckey in preparation for creating sculptures inspired by the Riverside Sculpture Park between Gateshead and Dunston along the Tyne.

A team from our Digital Leaders have been working alongside the XP Trust Comms Crew, taking on the role of professional sound technicians to carry out the important work of recording and editing the final folk songs written and performed by G30 students as well as recording final products for all cohorts including the G30 Do Your Bit radio performance, and poetry recitals from G28 and G29.

Mr Hewitt’s feedback on the day was extremely positive and complimentary:

“Could you pass on to all the students that I worked with yesterday that they were amazing and true professionals. I have many great days at work and this was one of the best days at work I’ve had.”

Crew Stanton’s Charity work this week organising and running a Football Tournament for the whole school was a huge success and enjoyed by students, staff and families alike. The work put in by this crew was stunning – advertising, organising teams and fixtures, ticket sales, refreshments including BBQ goods. The rain didn’t dampen the spirits of our teams or the spectators! A great example of activism from our students, making the world a better place.

Our Climate Action Plan student leadership group continued their work on developing a set of proposals for how we can make our school more sustainable including actions connected to: green spaces and trees, paper waste, rewilding, energy efficiency, food and food waste and raising awareness. Leaders will present to their peers our DfE project manager at the end of the academic year. They will also run a ‘teach the teacher’ session on what they have learned about sustainability. Again huge thanks to our experts at Students Owning Sustainability, in particular Gemma Sarigu.

Our student leaders in performance have been continuing to work hard to prepare for their show in Doncaster as part of the XP Trust Festival of Arts on Friday 12th July. XP Gateshead will have representation from our dancers, choir and rock band.

This week

Assessment Fortnight for all students continues

G28 Assessment timetable

• Monday 17th June AM History / RE 1 hour
• Tuesday 18th June PM English Language 1 hour
• Wednesday 19th June AM Spanish 1 hour (Reading / Listening)
• Thursday 20th June AM Science 75 mins

G29 Assessment timetable

• Tuesday 18th June AM English Language 1 hour
• Wednesday 19th June PM History / RE 1 hour
• Thursday 20th June PM Science 75 mins

G30 Assessment timetable

• CLASS 1 & 2: Monday 17th June AM English 45 mins
• CLASS 1: Tuesday 18th June AM History 30 mins
• CLASS 2: Tuesday 18th June AM Spanish 1 hour
• CLASS 1: Wednesday 19th June AM Spanish 1 hour
• CLASS 2: Wednesday 19th June AM History 30 mins
• CLASS 1 & 2: Thursday 20th June AM Geography 1 hour
• CLASS 1 & 2: Thursday 20th June PM Science 1 hour

Maths end of year assessment will take place in the fortnight commencing 2nd July.

PE sessions this week

Some PE sessions will not run this week due to assessments. PE time will be paid back in coming weeks with additional sessions and Crew Day

• G30 students (Y7) have PE on Monday this week
• G29 students (Y8):
  • G29 Class 1 have PE on Tuesday this week.
  • G29 Class 2 do not have PE this week 
• G28 students (Y9) do not have PE this week 

G28 Pathways

Information on the pathways and courses in our offer can be found here. As was posted earlier last week, we are offering a drop-in session for families who would like more support and advice from teachers and Crew Leaders on Tuesday 18th June between 5pm and 6pm.

G29 Fieldwork – Wednesday 19th June

On Wednesday of this week all G29 students will be carrying out fieldwork at the Glasshouse in Gateshead connected to their guiding question “Is migration worth the risk?” As part of national refugee week, students will visit a hosted art exhibition led by volunteer refugees. They will explore art inspired by refugee journeys to gain greater understanding of what these people faced and the factors that caused them to migrate to the UK.

Students will leave school at 9.15am and return to school for a slightly later lunch than is usual at 12.45pm. This means that you do not need to provide a packed lunch unless your child usually has a packed lunch.

Students will travel by Metro and on foot so comfortable walking shoes or trainers will be needed, as well as being prepared for the weather. The current forecast is mild and cloudy with sunny spells.  There is little chance of rain at the moment.  Suncream is needed as students will be walking during the middle of the day.

G30 Art workshop 1 – Thursday 20th June

The first workshop for art students leaders with Bruce Tuckey will be taking place this Thursday in school this week. All 24 of the student leaders will take part over the coming weeks. This week it will be: Ethan, Adam, Elina, Molly, Parisa, Joe, Lily-Ann B. Layla E. Students will be creating sculptures so should wear clothes which you do not mind getting dirty.

Staff Day – Friday 21st June

Friday is the first of our staff days this half term, the second is on Monday 24th 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.

Looking Ahead 

Staff day

Monday 24th June is the second of our staff days this half term (and the last this academic year).

We are also expecting an Ofsted visit this final half-term and are really looking forward to the opportunity for our students to shine and showcase their brilliant learning, beautiful work, development of their character and academic success. We will let you know as soon as we are given the indication that we will be inspected and post an update on this website.

As part of the inspection process, Ofsted will ask for your views. It has been a privilege to listen to the things that you have told families in Year 6 about our school which has been fed back to us through our transition process. 

We are very aware of the trust that you place in us as families as a new school that is yet to be inspected. There are many stakeholders of our school including Ofsted, our governors and staff. As families you are equal partners in developing and sustaining our community so that it benefits the most important stakeholders of all: our children.

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

Dear Families

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 end of week 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.

G28 Grappling with depth / time graphs in the app Geogebra

Text coding rich and challenging non-fiction related to our guiding question “Is migration worth the risk?”

   

Reducing our carbon footprint whilst finding out more about Gateshead innovative solar and geothermal energy centre.

     

Great work from Ethan and Katie N in year 9 on graphs including trigonometric and exponential functions.

We have also enjoyed some real success this week…

National Writing Competition Success

We were delighted to find out that every one of our entries in a national writing competition were chosen to be published in a Young Writers Anthology with their short stories on the theme of ‘Mission:Catastrophe’. Eliza, Leo and Lyra will be published authors again and we can’t wait to add this book to our shelf. Very few schools have a 100% success rate within national competition so this really does show the quality of writing of our students. We look forward to seeing more entries in the next competition which has a poetry focus.

Stewardship and outdoor space development

We owe a huge thanks to Mr Walters, Connor, Kenzie and David for their stewardship work. Over the last few months, they have been working hard to clear an outside space and create a fire pit crew area. As you can see, they are nearly there and are set to work next week constructing a wood store. They will also get the opportunity to try out the fire pit and enjoy a well deserved marshmallow treat and identify any issues which need improvement before Crews start making full use of the area.

I’d also like to thank families who have supported this development with materials.

PE Kit

Just like last week’s update to Parents, we spent time reminding students of our expectations around attendance, punctuality, dress code and daily kit. One thing that has needed more reminders on is our PE kit expectations

“In line with our dress-code, we expect students to arrive at PE lessons with a change of kit which is appropriate for the activity and all accessories removed. As a guideline we recommend the following:

• Black T-shirt
• Black Shorts or leggings
• Tracksuit (top and trousers for use in winter)
• Sports trainers with non slip soles e.g. running shoes/astro turf (not plimsolls or Converse-style baseball boots)
• Black football / hockey socks”

 

This week

Assessment Fortnight for all students

End of year assessments will take place over the next couple of weeks, starting on Wednesday this week. Extended study has focussed on revision. These assessments will check on students’ knowledge from the whole of the academic year. Information on how well your children have done in these assessments will be incorporated into the final set of snapshots that will be shared in July. Maths end of year assessment will take place in the fortnight commencing 2nd July.

Assessments for G28 and G29 will take place in the sports hall, to get students accustomed to the environment that they will use for their GCSE examinations. Assessments for G30 will take place in classrooms.

G28 Assessment timetable

• Wednesday 12th June AM Geography 1 hour (Calculator)
• Monday 17th June AM History / RE 1 hour
• Tuesday 18th June PM English Language 1 hour
• Wednesday 19th June AM Spanish 1 hour (Reading / Listening)
• Thursday 20th June AM Science 75 mins

G29 Assessment timetable

• Thursday 13th June AM Geography 1 hour (Calculator)
• Friday 14th June AM Spanish 1 hour (Reading / Listening)
• Tuesday 18th June AM English Language 1 hour
• Wednesday 19th June PM History / RE 1 hour
• Thursday 20th June PM Science 75 mins

G30 Assessment timetable

• CLASS 1 & 2: Friday 14th June AM RE 30 mins
• CLASS 1 & 2: Monday 17th June AM English 45 mins
• CLASS 1: Tuesday 18th June AM History 30 mins
• CLASS 2: Tuesday 18th June AM Spanish 1 hour
• CLASS 1: Wednesday 19th June AM Spanish 1 hour
• CLASS 2: Wednesday 19th June AM History 30 mins
• CLASS 1 & 2: Thursday 20th June AM Geography 1 hour
• CLASS 1 & 2: Thursday 20th June PM Science 1 hour

G28 Pathways

Information on the pathways and courses in our offer can be found here. As was posted earlier this week, we are offering a drop-in session for families who would like more support and advice from teachers and Crew Leaders on Tuesday 18th June between 5pm and 6pm.

New staff induction

Our two newest staff members join us this week in school having completed the first week of their induction which mirrors the Outward Bound adventure that all students do when they start in Year 7. This week the focus of induction for Miss Simpson and Mr Azam will be our teaching and learning model, and the structure of learning expeditions.

Art workshops with a professional sculptor

A group of Year 7 students will be carrying out workshops over the coming weeks with Bruce Tuckey inspired by the Riverside Sculpture Park between Gateshead and Dunston along the Tyne. This will involve a walk along the sculpture park this Thursday during the school day to launch the partnership.

Students will need a packed lunch. We apologise for the shorter than usual notice for this. The event had initially been organised with another school participating but they have had to cancel. The Arts team at Gateshead Council know that we are studying rivers at the moment and so offered us the chance to take part.

We will post a list of Year 7 students involved and more details tomorrow. 

PE sessions this week

• G30 students (Y7) have PE on Monday this week
• G29 students (Y8) have PE on Wednesday this week.
• For G28 students (Y9):
  • G28 Class 1 have PE on Thursday this week
  • G28 Class 2 have PE on Friday this week.

Extended Study and Clubs

As has been discussed above, the focus in extended study is on preparation and revision for assessments. We would appreciate your support at home in discussing your child’s preparations and quizzing them on what they know. Like any formal assessment, there may be some level of anxiety from some children. We are communicating to students in school that whilst the amount of content in these assessments is wider than typically at the end of a term, they should treat them in the same way in terms of preparing and knowing that they have given their best. More details of the tasks set for revision can be found on Google Classroom.

Looking Ahead to next week

Staff day

Friday 21st June is the first of our staff days this half term.

Assessment weeks continue into next week too.

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

 

Dear Families

Welcome back, we hope you have enjoyed your half term break.  We are looking forward to welcoming our students back tomorrow for the start of our final half term at XP Gateshead.

Our usual reminders for a good start back…

Continue reading →

Dear Families

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 G28 students is key in terms of character development and Crew.

The Importance of Crew at XP Trust

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.”

G30 Crew Day – Walk for Water

G30 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. Money raised will be put towards twinning our school toilets with a set that have been installed in an area of need, transforming a community. 

The challenge gave students an 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 a total distance of 252.8km carrying 5 litres of water. We will post an update later this week with the total amount raised. 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. Jacob in Crew Earhart was a particular standout, both in terms of his own physical effort, but also in the support that he showed to students from all crews. Great work G30!

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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.

G29 Crew Day 

As our Year 8 students develop and mature, we challenge them to develop their leadership skills in Crews and individually. Students were challenged with several tasks across the day. 

Firstly, a Lego SPIKE robotics innovation unit challenged students to design and code a robot that could mobilise without wheels, using their iPads to code the robot and making adjustments to the design based upon testing. The kits will stay in school as part of a wider partnership with LEGO funded through SAGE. Special thanks to our robotics club members and Dr Bunce who runs the club as they contributed additional kit, training and carried out a trial run of the challenge. We will make further use of the kits to support STEAM learning in the terms and years to come.

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Crews also spent time planning how they could make an artefact in final half-term which will raise awareness of their chosen Crew charities. This is an important part of their work ahead of Crew fundraising which will take place in Year 9 and forms part of their first-week back in August.

Special thanks go to G29 for their stewardship work in our outdoor areas. As you know, it has been agreed in principle that our current site is to be our permanent site and work is underway to look at building requirements. We are a long way off getting our final school building and site but that does not mean we can not improve our environment. So G29, along with Mr Walters and our gardening club, have done a huge amount of work already. Please keep an eye out for Mr Walters and his shout outs for donations of gardening equipment on our Parents of XPG Facebook group.

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G28 Duke of Edinburgh Practice Expedition

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 G28 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. Students made excellent time during the day and it was a joy to hear of the levels of maturity, support and skill shown in navigating, hiking, setting up camp and cooking – all of which stands them in good stead for their assessed expedition in July in Northumberland. All students completed a 6.5km route across unfamiliar terrain with backpacks laden with their clothes, tents and cooking equipment.

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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 Callerton Parkway and Airport for our circular route across country.

Thank you to those who have made voluntary contributions 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 G28 as well as the kind donations we have received.

This week

G29 and G30 Student Led Conferences (SLCs) 

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.

G28 New Learning Expedition

G28 start a new learning expedition this week with a very quick immersion and then into learning targets proper from Tuesday. We will post more details of the expedition including the guiding question next week once it has been revealed to students.

PE sessions this week

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

• G30 students (Y7) have PE on Monday this week
• G29 students (Y8) have PE on Wednesday this week.
• For G28 students (Y9) 
  • G28 Class 1 have PE on Thursday this week
  • G28 Class 2 have PE on Friday this week.

Extended Study and Clubs

Extended study and after school clubs will not be running this week due to G29 and G30 Student led Conferences.

G31 In-Person Information Evening, Thursday 23rd May at 6pm.

As part of our transition work, we are nearly there in meeting all of 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.

Half term break starts Friday 24th May 

We come to the end of a six week half term on Friday 24th May and as always, we will finish at 1:30pm for our usual de-gunge. 

We return to school on Monday 3rd June 2024. 

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

Dear Families

Another week of great work at XP Gateshead, even though we only had 4 days in school! 

Misconceptions continue around the work we do at XPG and, at times, there is a lack of understanding about the academic rigour of our work. Developing literacy is a key aspect of activism and empowerment for all learners. Students need to be great readers and communicators to become effective and positive agents for social change. Therefore, we provide lots of opportunities to read and understand difficult text, as well as to infer and interpret complex ideas and meanings in, and through engaging with texts.  All of our students read and write extensively and present their work publicly to a variety of audiences. Literacy unlocks learning and access to all areas of curriculum – reading, writing, speaking and listening.

    

XPGPHC – Healthy Food for All?

Our inaugural Public Health Conference last Friday hosted by our Year 9 students was entitled ‘Healthy Food for All?’ and was a great example of what our young people are capable of when supported and challenged to engage with rich texts in readiness to present their learning.

   

The conference was an in-depth look at inequality in health outcomes and life expectancy in Gateshead viewed through the specific lens of food inequality. 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 have 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. As you can see from the examples unpacked below the image, students are grappling with big questions which require sophisticated knowledge which comes from their studies and wide reading:

Nutrition and Social Media: The Risks –  As the popularity of social media grows, who is moderating the advice that is shared? How do we know who to trust? In a world where anyone can present themselves as an expert, how can we make safe and healthy choices and where can we find reliable and professional nutritional advice? Explain how to identify reliable sources. Explain the risks of taking nutrition/diet advice from social media and how to keep yourself safe when using social media for guidance on nutrition. 

The Cost of Obesity – Estimates show that the current social annual cost of obesity in the UK at around £58 billion, equivalent to around 3% of the 2020 UK GDP. Use data to describe the scale of the problem, comment on what you think about this based upon what you research and suggest better ways to spend this money and improve the nation’s health

Food Policy: Free School Meals extension? – In the UK, anyone who receives government benefits or has a household income less than £16,190 per year, is entitled to free school meals. However, there are other countries in the world who offer universal free school meals until the age of 16. Should the Free School Meals programme be extended in the UK and what would the impact be on public health? Explain the current FSM guidance and the impacts of free school meals on nutrition and health. Give examples from other countries about possible benefits and summarise what the data you find suggests would have the best impact on public health.

   

Our students are challenges to present on complex topics, to an audience beyond the classroom and demonstrate presentation skills that will set them apart from their peers in the next stage of their education or training.

A special thanks to all of our experts from the day:

• Councillor George Kasfikis – Felling Ward
• Ruth Sharrock – Consultant respiratory physician and lung cancer lead at QE Gateshead.
• Lesley Ann Watson – Gateshead Food Bank
• Alice Wiseman – Director of Public Health for Gateshead

 

What an amazing group of young people exploring health inequalities and how to solve it! Calling for action to ensure everyone has access to healthy food https://t.co/BeRQIff8mk

— Alice Wiseman (@AliceWiseman11) May 11, 2024

This week

Crew Day – Monday 13th May

On Monday, Crew Day takes place for G28, G29 and G30 to take time to reaffirm the importance of Crew building positive relationships through shared experiences and challenges. Students at XPG are ‘Crew not passengers’.

G30 (Year 7) will be carrying out a walk for water at Gateshead Stadium. As part of their studies for their Spring expedition ‘Staying Alive’ students learned about the processes by which water can be purified, and the lengths that many people in the world go to each day to get water to cook, drink and wash. Students will be raising funds to support Toilet Twinning by taking part in a challenge as a crew to collectively carry 5 litres of water as far as is possible around Gateshead athletics track. See website post for further details of how to sponsor your child and kit needed.

G29 (Year8) will be taking part in a carousel of activities including a design and coding challenge using our Lego robotics kits, a plan for raising awareness of their chosen crew charities and some stewardship around the green areas of our school site. See website post for further details and kit needed for the day.

G28 (Year 9) will be carrying out campcraft training in readiness for their DofE practice expedition. At the end of the day on Monday they will also be carrying out a full kit check and bag pack from 3.30pm – 4.30pm. See website post for further details and kit needed for the day.

G29 and G30 Student Led Conferences (SLCs)

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. 

PE sessions this week

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.

• G30  students (Y7) have PE on Wednesday this week.
• G29 students (Y8) have PE on Wednesday this week.
• G28 students (Y9) have PE on Thursday this week

Extended Study and Clubs

Extended study and after school clubs will not be running over the next two weeks due to G29 and G30 Student led Conferences.

G28 DofE Practice Expedition – Friday 17th May 

Our Y9 students will be carrying out their DofE bronze practice expedition on Friday. This will take place offsite for most of the day with the final part taking place on our school site until 7pm. Students should arrive at school for the normal time, we will travel by Metro to the start of the circular practice hike near Callerton Parkway, then return to school by Metro in the afternoon where students will practise setting up camp and cooking an evening meal. We expect the day to conclude at around 7pm.

This is part of getting them ready for the final assessed expedition which will take place on Friday 5th July – Saturday the 6th July. Please see the recent letter for more details on the practice and final expeditions along with the kit needed. 

Supporting families with DofE kit – XPG Voluntary School Donation

As a school, we fully fund DofE and have 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 future generations of Year 9 students.

Thank you to those families who have offered to support our work and for their generosity.

…and to all families for doing what you can to support your children to produce beautiful work, develop character and see academic success.

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