Dear Parents/Guardians

Welcome to our final week at XP Gateshead before the Easter break

Expeditions

DO YOUR BIT – Presentation of Learning

Students are currently working hard on their final product for their expedition “Do your bit” as they build towards their Presentation of Learning. This will be held at the Herschel Building at Newcastle University on Thursday 31st March at 6pm.

If you have not already done so, please complete this Google Form to indicate how many family members you will be bringing to the Presentation of Learning. 

Please note that we will be asking all participants to take a LFT on Thursday before joining us as we will be in an indoor setting and we would not like anyone to be ill over the holiday.

Please add your own details to the COVID Testing Google Form in the same way as you would for your child. This information will be held securely and then deleted following the event.

We’d appreciate it if you could also delay testing your child from Wednesday evening until Thursday morning before school this week if at all possible, we know many of you do this already.

Thanks in advance for your cooperation. We are determined to be able to welcome you to the event in as safe a way for you and your children as is possible.

STAYING ALIVE

In “Staying Alive” students will begin case study three. Case study three is about access to clean water. This is particularly relevant with recent stories in the press about sewage in our national rivers and also, according to the World Health Organisation, about a quarter of the world’s population still lacking access to clean water. Students will be learning to separate mixtures and will attempt to produce clean water from a mixture of sand and salty water by filtration, evaporation and condensation.

The final product for this expedition will be created in the week after the Easter break. I am delighted to announce that we will be working with the local community based charity, Edberts House, to donate ingredients/recipe boxes that our students will create. We will ask families for small voluntary contributions to these boxes from families so that across our 50 students we have two food boxes which will each feed a family in need for a week. Following the Easter break our students will walk to Edberts House to deliver these packages and hear more about the great work that they do with families in need. This will be a great opportunity for students to see first-hand the impact that their social activism and learning has in their community. Of course, given the current rise in cost of living, contributions will be voluntary and if support is needed in contributing, please do speak to your child’s Crew Leader.

To assist in planning the above, we will be giving students access to recipes from Jack Munroe’s book – “Cooking on a Bootstrap” and we would encourage parents to cook some of these meals with their son or daughter during the Easter holiday. More information on all of this on Thursday evening.

Crew

In crew this week students will continue to research suitable people after whom to name their crews. These will be people who have achieved great things and who display our character traits of courage, integrity, respect, craftsmanship and quality, and above all compassion. Students will research and present possible contenders to the rest of their crew who will decide on their crew name. Among names I have heard students mention so far are – Zelensky, Marie Curie, Malala Yousafzai, and Kurt Hahn. Crew presentations and student voting will take place after Easter and we will let you know what students decide.

Common Mission

Our first official session of Common Mission will begin this Thursday morning. This is student choice led and students will be learning about subjects as diverse as Mandarin and creative writing, and forensic science to coding and sports and exercise. Students will be setting their own Learning Targets (with support from teachers) and will present their learning as normal in due course. Students will be completing the “my interests” part of the Junior Award Scheme for Schools (JASS) as part of their study.

Extended Study and after school clubs

Extended Study and after school clubs will be running as normal this week.

• MONDAY: Sports / Extended study
• TUESDAY: Extended Study
• WEDNESDAY: Extended Study
• THURSDAY: Sports / Extended Study / Minecraft

Lateral Flow Testing

Please complete a Lateral Flow Test with your child on Sunday evening, and again on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning and complete our test results sheet with the results before sending your child to school.

Covid infections are increasingly high in the community and given the size of our setting this really helps us to keep everyone safe and for our school to remain open.

We really do appreciate your support. Timely completion of the Google Form is really helpful to us. If you can imagine, at 8.30 when students arrive, if there are a number of students that need to be tested this has an immediate impact on our staffing and also means that students miss part of Crew, which is such an important start to the day.

Now that the government has decided to remove the wearing of face coverings as one of the mitigation measures in schools, we are happy for students (and staff) to continue wearing masks if they feel more comfortable doing so. 

If you require any extra LFT kits please let us know. 

We will continue to keep doors and windows open for ventilation so students are advised to bring multiple layers to school to keep warm. This is how we look after each other – #wearecrew

Calendar dates

Our calendar can be found here.

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

Early Finish Friday

Please note that we will be finishing early this Friday and students will leave school at 1.30pm. This is to enable us to thoroughly clean up rooms and to re-stock equipment so we are ready to go again when students return on Tuesday 19th March.

We look forward to seeing family members that are  joining us at our presentation of learning at Newcastle University on Thursday evening and I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our wider families, parents and students a Happy (and safe) Easter

 

Best wishes

Mark Lovatt

Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians

Welcome to another week at XP Gateshead

Expeditions

DO YOUR BIT – Presentation of Learning

Students are currently working hard on their final product for their expedition “Do your bit” as they build towards their Presentation of Learning to answer the guiding question “Why is it important we honour all those that sacrificed in WWI?”. This will be held at Newcastle University on Thursday 31st March at 6pm.

If you have not already done so, please complete this Google Form to indicate how many family members you will be bringing to the Presentation of Learning.

STAYING ALIVE

In “Staying Alive” students will complete their second case study which is about keeping warm, which is particularly topical in light of recent rises in fuel prices and heating bills. We will then begin case study three. Case study three is about access to clean water, again which is particularly relevant with recent stories in the press about sewage in our national rivers. Students will be learning to separate mixtures and will attempt to produce clean water from a mixture of sand and salty water by filtration, evaporation and condensation.

In both case studies we will be able to make connections to what many in Ukraine are enduring at the moment. These case studies are designed to help students to answer teh guiding question “Is survival sufficient?”.

The final product for this expedition will take place in the week after the easter break and I am delighted to announce that we will be working with the local community based Charity, Edberts House, to donate ingredients/recipe boxes that our students will create.

There will be more information about our ‘fight food poverty’ recipes soon, as we hope to encourage parents and children to try some of the recipes – watch this space.

Crew

In crew this week students will continue to research suitable people after whom to name their crews. These will be people who have achieved great things and who display our character traits of courage, integrity, respect, craftsmanship and quality, and above all compassion. Students will research and present possible contenders to the rest of their crew who will decide on their crew name. Among names I have heard students mention so far are – Zelensky, Marie Curie, Malala Yousafzai, and Kurt Hahn. Crew presentations and student voting will take place after Easter and we will let you know what students decide.

Robotics

Considering the short amount of time that our students have had their robotics kit, we are so proud of their efforts and achievements. In particular it was wonderful to hear of the way that they communicated with teams from other schools to agree strategies for the team challenges in the afternoon. At one point we were riding high in 7th place overall but in the end our students came 13th out of 16 entries. Look out NISSAN and Sunderland though because next year – “We’ll be back”.

HoWLs

This week teachers will be reviewing student Habits Of Work and Learning (HoWLs) as we update assessment information based on the learning behaviours in their lessons and communicate with students how well they are working hard, getting smart and being kind.

Staffing updates

From September 2022 and throughout the next year it will be unavoidable that some of my time is taken up preparing for our move into our permanent building in September 2023. As chunks of my time will be taken up working with the Department for Education, Architects and builders, the Trust have asked Mrs Mosley to share some of the Headteacher roles and functions. For this reason from next year we will operate a co-headship model with myself and Mrs Mosley sharing the role between us. Mrs Mosley will focus largely on continuing to develop staff and student crew and I will focus mainly on school strategy and performance. This change will take place from September 2022 and we will release more details about how this will work in practice later in the academic year.

Extended Study and after school clubs

• Extended Study and after school clubs will be running as normal this week.
• MONDAy: Extended study
• TUESDAY: Extended Study
• WEDNESDAY: Extended Study
• THURSDAY: Sports / Extended Study / Minecraft

Lateral Flow Testing

Please complete these this evening, and again on Wednesday.

COVID infections are still high in the community and rising again. Given our scale, an asymptomatic case in school could cause issues if it were to spread, for example in terms of being able to staff the school. Please continue to support us with lateral flow testing each Sunday and Wednesday evening and make sure you enter results into our website on each of these occasions.

We really do appreciate your support. Timely completion of the Google Form is really helpful to us. If you can imagine, at 8.25 once all students have arrived, if there are a number of students that need to be tested this has an immediate impact on our staffing and also means that students miss part of Crew, which is such an important start to the day.

Now that the government has decided to remove the wearing of face coverings as one of the mitigation measures in schools, we are happy for students (and staff) to continue wearing masks if they feel more comfortable doing so. 

If you require any extra LFT kits please let us know. 

We will continue to keep doors and windows open for ventilation so students are advised to bring multiple layers to school to keep warm. This is how we look after each other – #wearecrew

Calendar dates

Our calendar can be found here.

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

 

Best wishes

Mark Lovatt

Principal

 

Dear Parents/Guardians

Monday 14th March is a staff development day and students return to school on Tuesday 15th March at the normal time.

Accelerated Reader

Students this week will begin to choose books from our recently launched Accelerated Reader platform. This is part of our reading strategy at XP Gateshead and students have already completed a baseline assessment which will be used to steer children towards the most suitable books to support and challenge their reading. Accelerated Reader tracks what students are reading and Crew Leaders use this to ensure that students develop as readers.

Learning Expeditions

Students will also continue with their expeditions – in Staying Alive, they will begin case study two and consider the importance of staying warm, different energy stores, insulation and how heat energy transfers through conduction, convection and radiation. In Do Your Bit students are beginning to work on their final product and we would encourage you to talk to your children about this. We will have details on the Presentation of Learning very soon.

Next Expedition planning 

During our staff development days we have been working to plan and resource our next learning expedition – Top secret ! (That’s not what it’s called by the way, we’re just not telling anyone what it’s about yet). Students will begin this expedition after our Easter break.

Robotics

Students will be entering their robot for the Robotics competition on Wednesday of this week and will make their own way to the competition. Mr Said has been in touch with parents about arrangements for the day but as a reminder:

 

• 8.30 – 9:15 Teams arrive at NISSAN Sports Complex
• 16:30 – Teams ready for collection

Good luck to our students! They have worked so hard developing our inaugural XP Gateshead entry, including building the robot from scratch, building the practice field and coding and testing the robot in a virtual environment. Also we’d like to give a special appreciation to Dr Steve Bunce who has been working with the students as part of their Common Mission time each week. There will be many experienced teams at the competition so this will be a great learning experience for our students.

Student Assessment Information and reflective narratives

Families have now received their child’s report containing information on attendance, academic progress and HOWLs. You will also have received a second document with your child’s reflective narrative describing their own learning journey and containing comments from their crew leader. Please let your child’s crew leader know in the first instance if you have any questions or wish to follow anything up.

Extended Study and after school clubs

Extended Study and after school clubs will be running as normal this week.

• TUESDAY: Extended Study
• WEDNESDAY: Extended Study
• THURSDAY: Sports / Extended Study / Minecraft

Lateral Flow Testing

Please complete these on Monday evening this week  in readiness for return to school on Tuesday 15th.

COVID infections are still high in the community and rising again. Given our scale, an asymptomatic case in school could cause issues if it were to spread, for example in terms of being able to staff the school. Please continue to support us with lateral flow testing each Sunday and Wednesday evening and make sure you enter results into our website on each of these occasions.

Now that the government has decided to remove the wearing of face coverings as one of the mitigation measures in schools, we are happy for students (and staff) to continue wearing masks if they feel more comfortable doing so. 

If you require any extra LFT kits please let us know. 

We will continue to keep doors and windows open for ventilation so students are advised to bring multiple layers to school to keep warm. This is how we look after each other – #wearecrew

Safeguarding Review

Thank you to our parents for your fantastic support and overwhelming positive feedback in response to our safeguarding review – some of the comments literally brought tears to our eyes. We also received a very positive report from the Trust team and as ever will be using any feedback we received to do even more to ensure our students are safe and happy at XP Gateshead.

Calendar dates

Our calendar can be found here.

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

 

Best wishes

Mark Lovatt

Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians

Welcome to the start of another phenomenal week at XP Gateshead – It’s a busy and exciting week ahead for our students. Please note below the parent voice survey that we are asking all families to complete as part of our safeguarding review.

Expeditions

Students this week will have the opportunity to work with Marek Blonski on Wednesday 9th. Marek is the development Chef for Gateshead Council. This is part of our science expedition – “Staying Alive” which looks at what we need to survive and also asks the question – Is Survival Sufficient ? Marek will be sharing his background in being a Chef and the work he does across Gateshead Council. Part of this expedition is to learn about food poverty and students will put together food boxes with ingredients based on recipes of Jack Monroe – the “Bootstrap cook”. Marek will be sharing with students how to make meals from nutritious and affordable ingredients.

Trust visits – Safeguarding review and Parent Voice Survey

On Wednesday we will be joined by the Trust safeguarding team who will carry out a full safeguarding review. Every school in the Trust has a safeguarding review to ensure we are carrying out our statutory requirements and our students are safe. We look forward to the review and to any feedback we receive.

As part of this review, we are asking for all families to complete a short survey. your feedback is incredibly important to us and helps us to ensure that we continue to run an excellent school for your children.

Please complete this short Google Form and hit submit.

Extended Study and after school clubs

Extended Study and after school clubs will be running as normal this week.

MONDAY: Sports / Extended Study

TUESDAY: Extended Study

WEDNESDAY: Extended Study

THURSDAY: Sports / Extended Study / Minecraft

Lateral Flow Testing

COVID infections are still very high in the community and, given our scale, an asymptomatic case in school could cause issues if it were to spread, for example in terms of being able to staff the school. Please continue to support us with lateral flow testing each Sunday and Wednesday evening and make sure you enter results into our website on each of these occasions.

Now that the government has decided to remove the wearing of face coverings as one of the mitigation measures in schools, we are happy for students (and staff) to continue wearing masks if they feel more comfortable doing so. 

If you require any extra LFT kits please let us know. 

We will continue to keep doors and windows open for ventilation so students are advised to bring multiple layers to school to keep warm. This is how we look after each other – #wearecrew

Staff Days

Please note that this Friday (11th March) and the following Monday (14th March) are staff days and students will NOT be in school on these days. Staff days are to support staff in receiving statutory training and in preparing and resourcing expeditions throughout the year. Students will return to school after next weekend on Tuesday 15th March

Calendar dates

Our calendar can be found here.

 

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

 

Best wishes

Mark Lovatt

Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians

Welcome to the start of another phenomenal week at XP Gateshead – It’s a busy and exciting week ahead for our students.

Staffing Update

Simon Walters, our new member of staff, will be starting on Tuesday and will begin work in classes getting to know students and supporting their learning in the first instance. Simon is based at XP Gateshead and in due course will also be spending some time with colleagues in Doncaster, learning more about his new role as Educational Welfare Coordinator. We can’t wait to begin working with our newest member of our staff crew. 

Expeditions

There are a lot of exciting things happening expedition wise this week. We are hoping to confirm that Marek Blonski, our nutrition expert, will be working with students on Monday afternoon as part of our – Staying Alive expedition. The Durham Light Infantry “museum” will be working with students on Tuesday as part of our “Do your Bit`” expedition and students will be taking part in fieldwork on Friday with our visiting “expert” on commonwealth war graves as part of the same expedition.

Digital Leaders

Congratulations to our Digital leaders who will be travelling to Doncaster on Monday (early start 8am !) to take part in training with students from across the Trust as they prepare for their new role. Mr Said has already sent out details of this trip in a separate post. Students will need a packed lunch.

Trust visits

On Tuesday we will be joined by the Trust “Comms” team who will be curating students’ work, helping us to prepare final products, and putting up new displays of “beautiful” student work around the building. A big thanks to the team in advance for the hard work they will be doing on this – we are excited to see more of our students work on our walls.

Extended Study and after school clubs

Extended Study and after school clubs will be running as normal this week:

MONDAY: Sports / Extended Study

TUESDAY: Extended Study

WEDNESDAY: Extended Study

THURSDAY: Sports / Extended Study / Minecraft

Lateral Flow Testing

Until further notice – Please continue to support us with lateral flow testing each Sunday and Wednesday evening and make sure you enter results into our website on each of these occasions.

This is especially important now that the government has decided to remove “masks” as one of the mitigation measures in schools although we are happy for students (and staff) to continue wearing masks if they feel more comfortable doing so. 

COVID infections are still very high in the community. If you require any extra LFT testing kits please let us know. 

We will continue to keep doors and windows open for ventilation so students are advised to bring multiple layers to school to keep warm. This is how we look after each other  – We are Crew.

Calendar dates

Our calendar can be found here.

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

Best wishes

Mark Lovatt

Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians

Welcome back to the start of a new half term leading us up to the Easter break.

Staffing Update

I am delighted to report that before the half term break we successfully appointed three new members of staff in readiness for next academic year: a SEND coordinator, Maths/STEAM teacher, and a HUMAN teacher. Along with a Science/STEAM teacher we have already appointed, this means we are fully staffed from a teaching point of view for next year. We are looking forward to working with our new colleagues and they will start their staff induction with us in June. 

In addition, Simon Walters, our new Emotional Welfare Officer, will start his new role on March 1st.

In the coming weeks we will begin our recruitment of Learning Coaches for next academic year too.

Extended Study and after school clubs

Extended Study and after school clubs will be running as normal this week.

• MONDAY: Sports / Extended Study
• TUESDAY: Extended Study
• WEDNESDAY: Extended Study
• THURSDAY: Sports / Extended Study / Minecraft

 

Visit to Sikh Temple – Monday 21st February

Students have a fantastic start to our new term with a fieldwork visit to a local Gurdwara in Newcastle. Information on what students need for this visit has already been posted by Ms Tatters in an earlier post. This is part of an expedition entitled – “Do Your Bit” with a focus on the sacrifice made by ALL during the first World War.

Note that this is tomorrow morning, Monday 21st February. Further details have been provided by Ms Tatters,  expedition lead, in an earlier post. Please make sure that you have read this and are aware of arrangements for lunch.

Lateral Flow Testing

Until further notice – Please continue to support us with lateral flow testing your each Sunday and Wednesday evening and that you make sure you enter results into our website on each of these occasions

This is especially important now that the government has decided to remove “masks” as one of the mitigation measures in schools although we are happy for students (and staff) to continue wearing masks if they feel more comfortable doing so. 

COVID infections are still very high in the community. If you require any extra LF testing kits please let us know. 

We will continue to keep doors and windows open for ventilation so students are advised to bring multiple layers to school to keep warm. This is how we look after each other  – We are Crew.

Digital Leaders

Students will find out who has been successful in their application to become a digital leader on Monday. Excitingly, these students will also have an opportunity to visit our Doncaster secondary schools very soon to meet with their peers and learn more about their role.

Calendar dates

Our calendar can be found here.

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

 

Best wishes

 

Mark Lovatt

Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians

What an incredible two weeks of Students Led Conferences (SLCs) – I think you will agree that students have handled their first SLCs brilliantly and have reflected on their work and progress with integrity. It has also been fantastic to see parents face to face and to finally meet in school! A big thank you to all of our parents for supporting our first SLCs. We hope you enjoyed them as much as we did.

This coming week students will begin the first case study in their science expedition, Staying Alive with the guiding question, ‘Is Survival Sufficient?’ They will be studying digestion, nutrition, heat transfer, and separating mixtures amongst other things as we look at the food we need to survive, the importance of staying warm, and the importance of access to clean water. Underpinning our expedition will be a theme of social justice as we work with experts on nutrition and local organisations concerned with food poverty. Our final product will be a food box which will contain all the ingredients needed (plus recipes) to feed a family of four for a week. The recipes will be based on the food books by Jack Munroe who wrote ‘Cooking on a Bootstrap’ and ‘The Tin Can Cook’.

They will also be continuing with their HUMAN expedition, Do Your Bit, learning about the Sikhi faith and the involvement of Indian soldiers in World War I, ready for a fieldwork to a Gurdhwara following the February break – see below.

We will also be interviewing this week for teachers of Humanities and Maths and also for a SENDCo. Successful candidates will join us next year. 

Extended Study and after school clubs

Extended Study and after school clubs will be running as normal this week.

Half Term and early finish Friday

Please be aware that it is half term w/c 14th February and so as normal students will finish at 1.30pm this Friday (11th February) to allow staff to replenish resources and to degunge rooms and teaching spaces ready for after the half term holiday. Students will return to school at the normal time on Monday 21st February. 

Visit to Sikh Temple – Monday 21st February

Note that on the morning of Monday 21st February students will be visiting a Sikh Temple as part of their expedition “Do Your Bit” – further details will be provided in due course by Ms Tatters, the expedition lead. 

Lateral Flow Testing

Please continue to support us with lateral flow testing your each Sunday and Wednesday evening and that you make sure you enter results into our website on each of these occasions

This is especially important now that the government has decided to remove “masks” as one of the mitigation measures in schools although we are happy for students (and staff) to continue wearing masks if they feel more comfortable doing so. 

COVID infections are still very high in the community. If you require any extra LFT testing kits please let us know. 

We will continue to keep doors and windows open for ventilation so students are advised to bring multiple layers to school to keep warm. This is how we look after each other  – We are Crew.

Calendar dates

Our basic calendar can be found here, or the Google Calendar with additional important dates such as SLCs can be found here.

 

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

 

Best wishes

 

Mark Lovatt

Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians

This week students will continue to take a lead in their first Student Led Conferences (SLCs). One of the very powerful aspects of learning at XP is that students take ownership of their own learning and can articulate how well they are doing in terms of their Academic Progress with reference to pieces of work they are proud of and/or have found challenging as well as their HoWLs (Habits of Work and Learning). Students have been preparing hard for these and we are looking forward to meeting parents (face to face) and listening to students talk about their learning at XPG.

On Tuesday morning students will have the opportunity to work with an historian from a local University as part of their Humans expedition “Do Your Bit”. On Wednesday, Students will also find out what their new science expedition is called along with their new guiding question in our big “reveal”.

This week we will also hold our termly Local Governance Committee meeting which is an opportunity for local Governors to share and discuss the report of their visits which have taken place over the course of the term. We look forward to hearing what they have to say and welcome any feedback we receive.

I am also happy to report that we have appointed an Emotional Welfare Coordinator who will work in the classroom as a Learning Coach and in addition offer us some capacity to our safeguarding team and be available to work with families as need arises. We look forward to welcoming Simon Walters to our crew and he will start in his new role on March 1st.

Student-Led Conferences (continuing this week)

Parents should by now have received an invitation to attend their son/daughter’s SLC and also an email to sign up for a time “slot” via sign up genius. We are planning on holding these in school and face to face and it will be great to finally meet in person. To allow us to do this safely we ask that no more than two members of the same household attend and that parents stick closely to allotted time slots arriving no earlier than 5 m minutes before scheduled times. 

We would also like to remind parents that SLCs are formal events and your child will be following a script they have prepared in advance. Please allow them to speak without interruption and there will be an opportunity for questions at the end. Each SLC will take approximately 25 minutes.

In addition we ask that parents (and anyone else attending an SLC) bring a mask to the SLC and wear throughout the interview if at all possible. We will be in well ventilated rooms and socially distanced however this is an extra measure for everyone’s safety and well being.

Please contact crew leaders in the first instance if you have any problems signing up or any questions.

Lateral Flow Testing

This is especially important now that the government has decided to remove “masks” as one of the mitigation measures in schools although we are happy for students (and staff) to continue wearing masks if they feel more comfortable doing so. 

As we are returning to school on Tuesday this week we ask that parents conduct Lateral Flow tests with their children on Monday evening (and then again on Wednesday evening) this week and enter the results in our spreadsheet as normal.

We will continue to keep doors and windows open for ventilation so students are advised to bring multiple layers to school to keep warm. This is how we look after each other  – We are Crew.

Extended Study and after school clubs

Due to SLCs taking place there will be no extended study classes or after school clubs this week.

A reminder about PE sessions this week

Class 2 have a change in their timetable this week. For Class 2, PE will be on Wednesday 2nd February. Class 1 will have PE on Tuesday as usual.

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

 

Best wishes

Mark Lovatt

Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians

We have an exciting week ahead of us as students take part in their first Student Led Conferences (SLCs). One of the very powerful aspects of learning at XP is that students take ownership of their own learning and can articulate how well they are doing in terms of their Academic Progress with reference to pieces of work they are proud of and/or have found challenging as well as their HoWLs (Habits of Work and Learning). Students have been preparing hard for these and we are looking forward to meeting parents (face to face) and listening to students talk about their learning at XPG.

This coming week students will begin their immersion for a brand new science expedition – I wonder if they will be able to guess what it is about and what their new guiding question will be. They will watch a series of videos and read extracts from a book before trying to make links and connections around a common theme.

We will also (pending applications) be interviewing for an Emotional Welfare Coordinator who will work in the classroom as a Learning Coach and in addition offer us some capacity to our safeguarding team and be available to work with families as need arises.

Student-Led Conferences

Parents should by now have received an invitation to attend their son/daughter’s SLC and also an email to sign up for a time “slot” via sign up genius. We are planning on holding these in school and face to face and it will be great to finally meet in person. To allow us to do this safely we ask that no more than two members of the same household attend and that parents stick closely to allotted time slots arriving no earlier than 5 minutes before scheduled times. 

We would also like to remind parents that SLCs are formal events and your child will be following a script they have prepared in advance. Please allow them to speak without interruption and there will be an opportunity for questions at the end. Each SLC will take approximately 25 minutes.

We would also ask that parents (and anyone else attending an SLC) bring a mask to the SLC and wear throughout the interview if at all possible. We will be in well ventilated rooms and socially distanced however this is an extra measure for everyone’s safety and well being. We would also really appreciate it if family members could carry out a lateral flow on the day of attendance at the SLC.

Please contact crew leaders in the first instance if you have any problems signing up or any questions.

Lateral Flow Testing

This is especially important now that the government has decided to remove “masks” as one of the mitigation measures in schools although we are happy for students (and staff) to continue wearing masks if they feel more comfortable doing so. 

Covid infections are still very high in the community and so we would ask that you continue to support us with lateral flow testing each Sunday and Wednesday evening and that you make sure you enter results into our website on each of these occasions. If you require any extra LFT testing kits please let us know. 

We will continue to keep doors and windows open for ventilation so students are advised to bring multiple layers to school to keep warm. This is how we look after each other  – We are Crew.

Professional Development Days

Parents are reminded that we have Professional Development days for staff this week and next on Friday 28th and Monday 31st January. This is where staff receive ongoing professional development e.g. in pedagogical practises such as close reading techniques or training in mental health awareness in regard to young people. It is also where we have time to plan and resource new and ongoing expeditions and make contact with our “experts” or organise fieldwork. Students will not be in school on these days.

Our basic calendar can be found here, or the Google Calendar with additional important dates such as SLCs can be found here.

Extended Study and after school clubs

Due to SLCs taking place there will be no extended study classes or after school clubs this week or next.

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

 

Best wishes

 

Mark Lovatt

Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians

It has been another busy week at XP Gateshead and students have now started their HUMAN expedition called ‘Do your bit‘ with the guiding question:

“Why do we need to honour ALL those who sacrificed in WW1?”

Students have also continued to prepare for their SLCs and have been completing their portfolios. In Science we have been studying elements, mixtures and compounds which is important background knowledge for their science expedition which we will be introducing over the next couple of weeks.

This coming week we will host a visit from officers at Gateshead Local Authority who were instrumental in supporting us on opening our new school and we look forward to giving them an Ambassadors tour. We also welcome Neil Butler, Executive Principal of XP Trust, who will be with us on Thursday looking at performance and leadership. In addition, on Friday,  we will  welcome Steve Bunce who is an Apple certified educator to discuss the possibility of putting on an exciting tech/coding workshop with some of our students.

Student-Led Conferences

Parents should by now have received an invitation to attend your son/daughter’s SLC and also an email to sign up for a time “slot” via sign up genius. We are planning on holding these in school and face to face and it will be great to finally meet in person. To allow us to do this safely we ask that no more than two members of the same household attend and that parents stick closely to allotted time slots arriving no earlier than 5 m minutes before scheduled times. Please contact crew leaders in the first instance if you have any problems signing up or any questions.

Lateral Flow Testing

Please continue to support us with lateral flow testing each Sunday and Wednesday evening and that you make sure you enter results into our website on each of these occasions. If you require any extra LFT testing kits please let us know. This is how we look after each other – We are Crew.

Masks in classrooms

A reminder that students should bring a mask to school with them as an additional part of their daily kit.

As usual if you have any questions please contact your son or daughter’s Crew Leader in the first instance.

 

Mark Lovatt

Principal

XP Gateshead