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

Dear Parents/Guardians

I would like to start by commenting on how superb our students have been on their return. They have dived straight back into their work and have accepted new and ongoing mitigations such as wearing masks in classrooms, having windows open to improve ventilation, wiping down surfaces and using hand sanitiser without a murmur. They are truly an inspirational group of young people who are determined to do their best to look after each other and their families. 

Student-Led Conferences

It has been a busy first week back and students have been immersing themselves in the start of new expeditions and beginning to prepare for their Student Led Conferences (SLCs) which will take place in the two weeks commencing 24th January.

We will consider over the course of this week whether SLCs will be virtual or face to face however given the current situation with Covid and the transmissibility of this new variant we are currently leaning towards a virtual meeting. Students will be contacting you this week with an invitation to attend your son/daughter’s SLC and crew leaders will then contact you to arrange a suitable time for you to attend.

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.

New guidance around PCR testing

As per recent Government announcements, we have received confirmation from the Department of Education that should your child test positive for Covid via a Lateral Flow Test, they are no longer required to accompany this with a PCR test. Instead, they will be required to isolate immediately. If they do test positive, they may leave isolation after 7 days if they receive 2 negative Lateral Flow results 24 hours apart on days 6 and 7.

More details can be found here

‘Confirmatory PCR tests following a positive lateral flow device (LFD) test result are to be temporarily suspended from Tuesday 11 January. This will mean that anyone who receives a positive LFD test result will be required to self-isolate immediately and will not be required to take a confirmatory PCR test.

In line with the reduced self-isolation approach announced on 22 December, anyone who tests positive will be able to leave self-isolation 7 days after the date of their initial positive test if they receive 2 negative LFD results, 24 hours apart, on days 6 and 7.‘

Masks in classrooms

As you know, in light of a recent change to guidance issued by the DFE we are asking students to wear masks when they are in the school building and this includes in classrooms. Students should bring a mask to school with them as an additional part of their daily kit.

REMINDER: PE is now on a Tuesday

Please ensure students arrive with their PE kit each Tuesday.

 

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

Mark Lovatt

Principal

XP Gateshead

Dear Parents/Guardians

Happy 2022!

We hope you have had a great Christmas and a safe and restful New Year and we look forward to welcoming students back to the start of a new term at XP Gateshead.

Arrangements for the start of term 

Students should arrive at school on Tuesday 4th January by 8.25am as normal. We would ask that students complete a Lateral Flow Test on Monday evening and enter the result on our spreadsheet as normal. We really appreciate your support with this. It has been one of the things that has helped us to keep our community safe and our school open.

Covid Guidance – Department For Education

In line with DFE guidance we will also be completing additional “in school” testing on Tuesday morning and will inform students of arrangements when they arrive at school.

Masks in classrooms

Further and In light of a recent change to guidance issued by the DFE  we will be asking students to wear masks when they are in the school building and this will include in classrooms. Students should bring a mask to school with them although we do have a supply of spare masks if students require them. 

Ventilation

We will also be keeping classrooms and in door areas suitably ventilated so students should dress appropriately with additional layers of clothing to keep themselves warm.

Kit List

It would also be helpful to us if you would check with your son/daughter that they have everything they need to get back into learning such as pens, pencils, fully charged iPad etc. Please refer to our kit checklist here as a helpful reminder.

PE and after school sports clubs

In light of staffing changes PE will now take place weekly on a Tuesday with our first PE sessions starting on Tuesday 11th January. There will be no PE on our first day back. Additionally there will be no after school sports clubs in our first week back.  The regular academic Extended Study will go ahead as usual after school until 4.30pm this week.

Staffing Changes

As parents will know Mr Dobson has been offered a new job as an outdoor education lead in another school. While we are sad to see him go we understand that this is his passion and we pass on all our good wishes in his new role. This has necessitated some staffing changes. I am delighted to say that I will be taking over as crew leader for Mr Dobson’s crew and I am looking forward to getting to know this group of students and parents even better over the coming months. I hope to continue to be the crew leader for the rest of the academic year at least. Ms Victoria Downes will also join us in the short term to give us some additional capacity in the classroom. Ms Downes is a qualified English teacher who already knows our students well and has been volunteering with us each Thursday morning since we started. Additionally our own Mr Devitt will be leading PE in the school and teaching all of our PE sessions. In due course we will be advertising for a new member of staff who will replace Mr Dobson as a learning coach in the classroom.

New Term – New Expeditions

Obviously the ongoing situation re COVID and the new variant Omicron is of concern and we will be following DFE guidelines and reviewing the situation as we move forward. We will always act in the best interests of our students and will ensure their safety (and that of their families) comes first. Nevertheless a new term means new expeditions and we are looking forward to an exciting term of new learning and challenges for our students. This will involve the unveiling of new expeditions and also the beginning of student portfolios which will be a place to curate the beautiful work students complete.

Student-Led Conferences

SLCs (Student-Led Conferences) replace the conventional parents’ evenings at XP Gateshead. During an SLC, your son or daughter will share their learning with you and their crew leader. You will have an opportunity to look at work from their portfolio and ask questions about their AP grades (Academic Progress) and HoWLs (Habits of Work and Learning).

These SLCs will take place this term in the two weeks commencing 24th January. In around a week’s time you will receive an invite from your son or daughter’s crew leader. Whether these events will be in school or online is currently under review. We will update you as soon as possible about further arrangements for SLCs.

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

We’re all very much looking forward to welcoming our students back into school this week.

 

Mark Lovatt

Principal

XP Gateshead

Dear Parents/Guardians

We have had a busy final week of term with our first ever Presentation of Learning – sharing the story of our expedition “From the Ground Up”, work on final products, and end of term assessments.

As usual we couldn’t be more proud of our students who have stepped up to the mark and continued to be the best versions of themselves. We have also had Christmas jumper day, enjoyed our Christmas dinner, and delivered food donations to our local food bank. We are looking forward to new and exciting expeditions in the New Year.

Return to School

We will be returning to school on Tuesday 4th January and at the moment this is expected to be a normal school day and students should be in school by 8.25 am at the latest. We are however keeping a close eye on Covid and the new Omicron variant. Myself, Martin, and Julie will be meeting over the holidays and will update our website if anything changes in regard to the start of next term. We will notify you of any changes to the start of the school term by the evening of January 2nd at the latest.

On return to school in the New Year, and in line with Government guidelines, we will be testing all students with a lateral flow test on their first day back. In addition, we would also ask you to complete a lateral flow test at home on the evening of Monday 3rd January and add the result to our spreadsheet as normal. This will help us to ensure our community is safe and our school remains open.

Thank you

All that remains for me to say is thank you for your continued support, it is a pleasure and a privilege to be involved in the education of your children and we couldn’t do it without the hard work of our parents and families.

From all at XP Gateshead please have a Happy Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.

Best wishes

Mark Lovatt

Principal

XP Gateshead

Dear Parent/Guardian

Welcome to our final week of term and students have been working hard to get their Presentations Of Learning (POLs) ready for our live performance of everything they have been studying which will be broadcast at 5.30pm this tuesday (14th December)

This week we were visited by our local MP Ian Mearns. Ian is a strong advocate for education and among many other things, sits on the education select committee in the Houses of parliament. Ian was taken for a tour of the school by two of our student ambassadors. He commented on the calm atmosphere, high levels of student engagement, and on how well our student ambassadors could talk about “crew” and what this means to them. A big thank you from all at XP Gateshead for taking the time to visit us Ian and we hope to see you again soon.

The week ahead …

Presentation Of Learning (PoL) Tuesday 14th December

A reminder that all students are taking part in our Presentation of Learning for our Learning Expedition: From the Ground Up.

All students will need to stay in school until 7pm on Tuesday 14th December when the event ends.

We will be rehearsing throughout the afternoon, however we will build in a break before the event starts at 5.30pm. During this time, students can eat a healthy snack if they choose to, so we would advise that students bring in additional food for the evening on Tuesday.

This is a formal event, so the expectation is that students will dress smartly. Students can bring a change of clothes, or come dressed smartly for the day. This is the guidance from our dress code for such events:

“On occasion it will be appropriate for students to dress more formally. This helps prepare them in advance to enter the larger arena of the professional and business world and give them the mindset of the importance of the event and its audience. We will always give advance notice for such occasions.

At such events, students may wish to wear a shirt / blouse, trousers and shoes or a formal dress. Our branded polo shirts are appropriate for these occasions too.

Although we ask students to dress smartly, this should still be modest so please refer to the guidelines for daily work within school.”

Join us at 5.30pm on Tuesday by following this link;

Christmas Lunch and Christmas Jumper day Thursday 16th December

We have combined both of these events which will take place on Thursday 16th December. Students who have pre ordered a lunch will be served a Christmas lunch and All students will sit together and get to pull Christmas  crackers. We are inviting all of our students to wear a festive jumper on Thursday and to make a voluntary contribution of £1 which will be going to our chosen Charity this year which is “Save the Children”. We will have a selection of Christmas jumpers available for any students who wish to borrow one for the day.

 

Notification of change of Staff

Mr Dobson has been successful in his application for a new job as an outdoor education teacher. This is Mr Dobson’s passion and while we will miss him very much, we also know it represents an opportunity to use his skills and expertise doing something he loves – we all wish him well and are grateful for the fantastic founding work he has carried out on behalf of our students and our community. In addition to my role as Principal, I will be taking over his crew as crew leader from January and can’t wait to get to know this awesome group of young people a little bit better. We will be advertising for a replacement Learning Coach in the New Year.

Early closure of school on Friday 17th December

School will close to students on the last Friday of term at 1.30pm, this is so that staff can “de-gunge” classrooms and replenish resources in readiness for the start of term after the Christmas break. The new term will start on Tuesday 4th January 2022. This is a regular school day so students should arrive by 8.25am as normal.

Important dates

So that you can check upcoming dates for your diary, we have set up an ‘important dates for parents’ calendar which you can access here. We will post dates to fieldwork etc. on this calendar too. This is also linked from our xpgateshead.org homepage under the parents section of the menu.

Covid Testing

On return to school in January and in line with current Government guidance ALL students will receive a lateral flow test which will be carried out in school on the morning of Tuesday 4th January. We would advise however that in addition all students complete a LFT at home on the evening before returning to school and that you complete the spreadsheet as normal. This is about keeping our community safe and our school open.

Thank you for your support this term 

Finally can I just say thank you for your continued support. You have been awesome ! We have some exciting expeditions planned for the New Year which we can’t wait for students to begin. On behalf of all at XP Gateshead can i take the opportunity to wish you all a Happy Christmas and a peaceful and safe New Year

We will  return on Tuesday 4th January and as this will be a normal school day students should be with us by 8.25am

Happy Christmas and New Year

 

Mark Lovatt

Principal

XP Gateshead

Dear Parent/Guardian

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas – with our Christmas tree delivered by Buster the superdog.

We have 2 weeks of term to go until the Christmas Holiday and our students continue to work hard and smash it out of the park in terms of Being Kind, Getting Smart, and Working Hard. We have had our second HoWL (Habits of Work and Learning) information snapshot and will be entering Academic Progress grades before the end of term. This information will come to parents after Christmas in readiness for our Student Led Conferences which will be in the fourth week in January.

This week we have had a full review by the Trust Executive Team who commented on how well our students could talk about their school and how happy they are to be here. Students said that there was no bullying and students were kind to each other. They also said that they felt XPG was their school and they had a voice in how their school was being run, they were listened to and staff knew them well . The executive team also commented on how engaged students were in the classroom and on the high standard of work in student books. 

It’s been a week of reviews and we have also been visited by two members of our Local Governing Committee, Andrea Mead (our Chair) and Liz Shipley, who were looking at the development of Crew within the school.

We are really happy with the feedback we have received and couldn’t be more proud of the progress we have made in only 12 weeks -Hard to believe that we are a new school that didn’t exist before the Summer holidays !

The week(s) ahead …

Presentations Of Learning (PoL) Tuesday 14th December at 5.30pm

This week students will begin to prepare for their POL where they will piece together and present all of the work completed during the course of their expedition – “From the Ground Up”. Due to COVID we regret that this will need to be a virtual event. Students will broadcast their PoL live via Youtube on the evening of the 14th December. We will post details of how you can join us to celebrate the beautiful work produced by our students.

Local Governance Committee (LGC) visit

On Thursday 9th December, Phil Latham (CEO of Endeavour Trust) and member of our LGC will visit the school to report back to us on our curriculum and expeditions. We look forward to hosting the visit and hearing what Phil has to say.

MP visit (Ian Mearns)

Ian Mearns our local MP will be visiting this week. Ian has a special interest in Education and has sat in the past on the Education Select Committee in the House of parliament. I hear he was also a chair of Governors at Thomas Hepburn (the building we are now in). We can’t wait for our students to show Ian around and tell him all about XP Gateshead.

Early closure of school on Friday 17th December

School will close to students on the last Friday of term at 1.30pm, this is so that staff can de-gunge classrooms and leave no trace in readiness for the start of term after the Christmas break.

Important dates

So that you can check upcoming dates for your diary, we have set up an ‘important dates for parents’ calendar which you can access here. We will post dates to fieldwork etc. on this calendar too. This is also linked from our xpgateshead.org homepage under the parents section of the menu.

Covid Testing

Please remember to complete lateral flow tests for your child on Sunday and Wednesday evening and it is just as important that you ensure these results are entered into our website please. This is an important part of keeping our community safe and our school open and I really appreciate your help and support in this respect.

As usual please get in touch with crew leaders in the first instance with any questions or queries or just to tell us how things are going.

Mark Lovatt

Principal

XP Gateshead

Dear Parent/Guardian

Another superb week at XPG with our fantastic students excelling as always. This week students have been interviewing more experts in the community via TV screens in their classrooms. Students prepare carefully for these interviews so they ask good questions and get the most out of these sessions. This week they spoke to Alan Cummings, Secretary of Easington NUM lodge, as part of their expedition ‘From the Ground Up’ in which they are answering the guiding question – “What do communities in the NE owe to the miners?”. This week students have also interviewed Alfie Joey. Alfie is a local radio presenter, comedian, artist, and published author. He will be talking about his latest book “The Last Coal Miner” which was informed by his experiences of growing up in a mining family.

Students will be creating and publishing a book of historical enquiries of pits in the NE as well as art work, and summaries of the interviews they have done. Students have also been learning about online bullying in Crew and how to be an “upstander” rather than a “bystander”. Staff have also been busy planning and developing our next expeditions which will begin in January. We have a busy week ahead.

The week(s) ahead…

Executive Team review – On Monday, the XP Trust executive team will join us on site at XP Gateshead as part of a review around our Key Performance Indicators (KLIs). This is an opportunity for us to receive some really good feedback on the progress we are making, on what we are doing well, and on what we can do even better. We look forward to the Trust team joining us on Monday visiting us in crew and lessons and talking to staff and students about our school.

Local Governance Board (LGB) visit – On Thursday, two of our Governors will visit our school to look at “crew” and what this means in our school. They will talk to staff and students and will spend time with Mrs Mosley. Each term Governors visit and write a short Notices and Wonders report which is discussed at our next LGC meeting.

This week’s expert – This week our students will interview Norman Strike, a former Westoe collier who kept a diary during 1984 and has since published this as a book.

Habits of Work and Learning (HoWLs)

There has been a lot of work in crew sessions last week as students returned to their HoWLs and the pledges they made looking to see where they have improved in terms of Working Hard, Getting Smart, and Being Kind. Teachers will be updating this information and making their own assessments of student HoWLs in lessons. We will be sharing this information with parents in the weeks before Christmas.

Date for your diary! From the Ground Up ‘Presentation of Learning’

In the coming weeks students will be working on preparing for their Presentations Of Learning (PoL). This is where they break down the expedition they have been working on and each student will publicly talk about an aspect of this, from the science they have covered to the art work, or from the music they have created to the English and History that have underpinned this expedition.

Our Presentation of Learning for our expedition ‘From the Ground Up’ will be on the evening of Tuesday 14th December. At the moment we are still considering whether this can be an in person event, or an online event but it looks most likely to be online. Every student will take part in the Presentation of Learning on this evening and so will be in school until around 7pm. We expect all children to have one member of their family that can attend the event, whether in person or virtually.

So that you can check dates like these, we have set up an ‘important dates for parents’ calendar which you can access here. We will post dates to fieldwork etc. on this calendar too. This is also linked from our xpgateshead.org homepage under the parents section of the menu.

Student-Led Conferences

We will be making arrangements for our first set of student led conferences (SLCs) which will take place in January. This is where students are asked to present their work to parents and their crew leader and invited to talk about what they think they have done well and where they need to improve. Students will be supported to prepare for SLCs in crew sessions when we return after Christmas.

Extended Study

We have reviewed and organised extended study and shared with students what they can expect each week and from which subject. We have published our extended study timetable on our website here so you are also aware of what your son or daughter is working on at home. In school extended study sessions will continue each day as normal, Monday to Thursday from 3.15pm to 4.30pm for any students who need a bit of extra help or support or would like to get into the habit of completing work in school before going home..

Covid Testing

Please remember to complete lateral flow tests for your child on Monday and Wednesday evening and it is just as important that you ensure these results are entered into our website please. This is an important part of keeping our community safe and our school open and I really appreciate your help and support in this respect.

As usual please get in touch with crew leaders in the first instance with any questions or queries or just to tell us how things are going.

Mark Lovatt
Principal
XP Gateshead