Dear Families

It has been another busy week at XP Gateshead with some great work from students and staff alike. We have had several visitors in school this week who have all commented on how confident and articulate our students are when talking about their learning, the strength of relationships at XPG and the structures in place which mean our students are safe, are known, feel seen and valued.

Central to this is the nature and design of our curriculum, which is rooted in Crew, and learning through rigorous and challenging cross-curricular Learning Expeditions. As you know our 3-Dimensional curriculum has a relentless focus on beautiful work, character growth and academic success. We have seen that when children are supported and challenged to go beyond their comfort zones, to produce beautiful work beyond which they thought possible, then in turn they grow and become stronger in character. This sets them on a pathway to achieve well and enjoy academic success. In other words “There is more in us than we know…”

It is worth stating that all three dimensions of our model are of equal importance.  When choosing our school, the choice for families is for the whole of our curriculum, and not just one aspect. Our culture is built upon this curriculum and, at XPG, we ‘sweat the small stuff’ to make sure that our culture is strong – when mistakes are made (and they will be), students put them right and we support them to do this.

Staff CPD this week

Being the best version of yourself, doesn’t just apply to our students. As a staff we regularly take opportunities to continue our learning. Continued professional development (CPD) happens during collaborative planning time, our meetings using our internal expertise along with external experts. Last week gives an insight into the ongoing CPD that happens at XPG

Expert session on eating disorders

Last week we were lucky to have a session with Dr Fiona Trewe, a Principal Clinical Psychologist working in Leeds Community Children and Young People’s Eating Disorder Service. Fiona shared the work she does with families and young people living with eating disorders and how schools can have better conversations, support and education around healthy eating.

Training for our DofE team

In Year 9 all of our students complete the bronze award DofE so this year staff and students have been completing training required to achieve this. On Tuesday our DofE team (Mr Devitt, Miss Marshall, Miss Jones and Miss Tatters) successfully completed a day of XP Trust campcraft training. Next week this team will complete their Countryside Leader Award which means our staff are fully trained and ready to take G28 on their DofE expedition – the work is now about getting our students ready for this! Mr Devitt is leading this work making sure students have the skills and confidence needed. For more details see recent website post.

Gateshead training for schools around behaviour and communication 

Miss Blain and Mr Walters attended an afternoon of training at Gateshead Lifelong Learning Centre@Kingsmeadow last week on behaviour as a form of communication. As always, this training will be shared with wider teams.

Food menu development with Gateshead 

On Tuesday, 15 of our students from years 7 to 9 worked with catering leads from Gateshead giving their feedback on our current menu and insight into lunch menus for next year, including tasting some new dishes. This was a great experience for our students, not only having a voice on school lunches but working alongside experts, seeing how this is part of the planning process.

Update on permanent site for XPG

As you know, discussions on a permanent home for XP Gateshead have been ongoing between the Local Authority (LA) and the Department for Education (DfE). Decisions have now been made that our current site will be our permanent site and heads of terms and agreements are currently being worked through. Full feasibility studies will be carried out on the building so that plans can be put in place for future work. 

I’m sure, like us, you will be pleased with this decision. 

Current expeditions

Year 7 and Year 8 have now had their new guiding questions revealed.

G30  – “How does water shape our world?”

Students have this week started work on learning targets for their new expedition. They will look at the importance of water for life as well as physical processes around coasts and rivers with multiple pieces of fieldwork looking at human settlements around rivers, and also carrying out important conservation work for water-based species. More information here.

G29  – “Is migration worth the risk?”

Year 8 have also been introduced to their new learning expedition. Studies will include in depth analysis of push and pull factors that cause people to move, and study of the connection between the climate emergency and future patterns of migration. Again more information can be found here

G28  – “How can we continue to make progress on public health?”

It has been a busy week for G28. As well as starting research for their briefs as part of planning for our Public Health Conference, students carried out fieldwork which looked at the environmental evidence of deprivation and different parts of Gateshead, in order to support the arguments that they will make in the conference. G28 families, if you have not yet signed up for the conference, please do so here.

Connected to this fieldwork, and in support of their DofE expedition, students received training on map reading earlier in the week. G28 families will receive a letter via email today, and in print tomorrow with further information on the kit needed for their DofE expeditions.

This week

G31 Transition – Family meetings

Transition has started for our new G31 cohort. We are really looking forward to getting to know our new students and families this week as online family meetings take place for every child with their family. Families will receive invites to these meetings in the coming days.

Sessions from Northumbria Police Violence Reduction Unit

John Ord returns to XP Gateshead on Wednesday to run sessions with our students as part of our safeguarding work. He will run a session on Malicious Communication and the law around this with Year 9 students and a session for our Y7 students on knife crime awareness.

PE sessions this week

There are some changes to PE sessions for G30 this week due to staff DofE training.  Please ensure that your child has their  full PE kit for sessions.

• G30 students (Y7) have PE on Tuesday 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 be running Monday to Thursday as usual this week.

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

Dear Families

It has been a good start back to school and most students have settled back with us quickly and, as always, have impressed us with their HoWLs, character values and their engagement in learning. 

G30 Staying Alive

As part of rounding off last term’s expedition for Year 7, students had an expert session with Alice Roberts who is carrying out a PhD which aims to explore opportunities to improve the food and drink environment in UK secondary schools. Students will soon be gathering the ingredients needed for the food boxes which will be donated to families in need through our partners Edberts House.

G29 and G30 Immersion

This week has been immersion week for our Y7 and Y8 students marking the start of our new Summer expeditions. Both G29 and G30 students have been puzzling over what their new guiding questions will be after 5 days of immersion this week. 

G29 have been looking at a wide range of stimulus materials on the theme of people on the move including the poem Home by Warsan Shire, a briefing from a minister from the Pacific island of Tuvalu which addresses rising sea levels and the context that has led to the ongoing civil war in Syria. Their guiding question will be revealed this week.

G30 have spent the week looking at literature, in particular poetry associated with rivers and developing their knowledge of the water cycle. Mrs Ross has been particularly impressed with the connections that Year 7 have been making back to previous our expedition in term 1 which looked at the nature of the ground beneath our feet.

G30 had the reveal on Friday afternoon and now know that their guiding question for STEAM, HUMAN and ARTS this term is “How does water shape our world?”. Students will carry out three case studies focusing on how water is essential for life, how water shapes the world around rivers and also around coasts. There will be some great fieldwork this term too, more information on that to come.

G28 Expedition ‘You Give Me Fever’ 

Students are coming towards the end of this expedition, and are looking at the story of public health in the modern period and making connections between this and the pathology of non-communicable diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

As we have posted previously, we have asked all Year 9 families to sign up for the student-led Public Health Conference which is taking place in school on the afternoon of Friday 10th May.

You can sign up by clicking here. Please check your emails for more details on timings of the event etc.

Work on the grounds of the school site

Connor and Kenzie in G29 have been supporting Mr Walters to develop an area of the site which will be used for outdoor learning sessions. G28 will have some campcraft sessions soon as part of their DofE and G29 will soon be introduced to some elements of campcraft as part of an upcoming Crew Day. Thanks to Kenzie, Connor (and Mr Walters) for their hard work on preparing the ground here.

We need your support

Monitoring online activity 

There are some students who have taken longer to settle the week and we have invested a significant amount of staff time this week picking up issues around friendships which have played out online outside of school. This is definitely not what we expect or want to spend time on and we ask for your support, as parents and carers, to monitor your child’s online communications outside of school hours. 

As you know, character growth is a key component of our 3-Dimensional curriculum at XP Gateshead and we all (students, staff and families)  have a responsibility to support the development of our character values of courage, craftsmanship and quality, respect, integrity and compassion.

I understand the challenges that being a parent or carer of a teenager brings and how difficult this can be, especially around social media and finding the right balance between privacy, monitoring and trust. This term we will look to run some online safety sessions for families involving experts from the wider community. More information to follow.

Stewardship

Last week we drew attention to some of the areas around dress code where we most frequently challenge students. This week we would like to also ask for your support around chewing gum. Whilst it is not endemic in school, we have recently spoken in community meetings about chewing gum under tables and how this should not be something that our cleaners have to attend to.

We have made it very clear to all students that chewing gum is not to be brought into school as this is the most effective way to ensure it does not end up under tables. Where children are found to have brought chewing gum into school this we will arrange for them to do some stewardship work in school over a number of days. This reflects an important principle of our school and our restorative practices. Where mistakes are made in any regard, it is vital that these mistakes are put right. Doing acts of service in terms of stewardship helps students to understand the work that our staff and cleaners do in ensuring that we have a clean and hygienic environment for learning.

This week

G28 Geography fieldwork – Wednesday 24th April

G28 students will be completing important fieldwork to help them answer the geography enquiry question: “Why are there differences in life expectancy in Gateshead?” This will support the students creating a final report investigating health inequalities in Gateshead which will be shown at their presentation of learning.

Students will be in crews walking from Felling to Gateshead collecting primary data to answer their fieldwork question. Please see the website post for full details and the kit list required.

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 be running from Tuesday 23rd April onwards as we have some important whole-staff training taking place on Monday after school. 

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 Easter break.  We are looking forward to welcoming our students back tomorrow for the start of a new term at XP Gateshead.

Feedback from G29/G30 families 

We would like to gather feedback from G29 and G30 families following last term’s PoLs so would appreciate your time in completing the following questionnaires which include some school wide questions too:

If you are a G29/30 parent or carer please click here to complete the short form which should take no more than 5 minutes.

Our usual reminders for a good start back…

Punctuality

School opens at 8:00am every morning. Students should arrive between 8:00am and 8:25 am and there are spaces available for socialising, reading or completing extended study. Students must be on site for 8.25am for the call to Crew. A calm start to the day is really important for students to settle into learning so we ask that parents support their child with this.

Dress code 

Please refer to our website post for full details on our dress code. Can I remind parents of the following expectations around daily dress within school and ask for your full support around this as we move in to a new term. In simple terms we ask students to dress appropriately and modestly. We have highlighted some of the areas where students have been challenged more frequently last term around what is not appropriate/modest for school.

For a normal day within school, we do not think it appropriate that students wear:

• Hats, hoods & coats inside school

• Revealing clothing, i.e. revealing the midriff, chest or upper thigh

• Noticeable make-up, including false eyelashes

• Valuable, sentimental or impractical accessories / jewellery

• • For example heavy chains, thick sovereign rings, or false nails

• Impractical footwear:

• • For example sliders, flip-flops or high heels.

Daily kit list

As always, all students need to be fully equipped for school and bring a school bag with the below. Generally students do well in this regard and we can support if you are having problems sourcing these at home. iPad charge is the most frequent issue we deal with each morning. Whilst iPads are not needed for every session, they are needed daily, and without charge, this means that students are at a disadvantage.

• A filled water bottle
• Pencil case including: pens, pencils, ruler, eraser and pencil sharpener
• A fully charged iPad
• Their AR reading book (please remember that as part of our reading strategy, we expect all students to read between 20-30 mins. each day)
• Headphones 
• A healthy snack for break (no confectionery (sweets), fizzy drinks or energy drinks, nut products)
• A notebook

This week

New Term – New Expeditions for G29 and G30

A new term means new and exciting expeditions for our Y7 and Y8 students. Immersion will take place this week and our students will be working hard to find out what their new guiding questions are and the challenges and new learning their expeditions will bring.

G28 Expedition ‘You Give Me Fever’ 

G28’s bumper 16-week long new expedition with the guiding question: ‘How can we continue to make progress on public health?’ continues this term. Our students continue to look at public health over time and investigate health inequalities in Gateshead today, looking at the correlation between disease and deprivation.  We will update you with the rescheduled date for Geography fieldwork soon.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: G28’s Presentation of Learning will be a ‘Cost of Living Conference’ which is scheduled to be held in school on Friday 10th May, 2pm – 4pm.

This will be another step up for our students, hosting a conference , delivering keynote speeches with an audience including families and more. We appreciate this is an earlier than normal start, however this has been carefully considered and will allow us to make use of professionals as part of the process and end the week and expedition with a bang!

The theme for the conference relating to public health is ‘Healthy Food for All?’. Students will be working with and putting forward a case for change to local experts and politicians.  More details to follow.

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

As is usually the case at the start of a new term there will be no extended study or after school clubs running this week. After school sessions will all start again next week.

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

Here we are at the end of another fantastic term at XP Gateshead and what a term it has been! 

G30 and G29 Presentations of Learning

Over the last week we have enjoyed two amazing PoLs  and our students have dazzled sharing their learning for this term and answers to their guiding questions. 

Year 7 students presented their ‘Do Your Bit’ expedition on Tuesday in our school theatre. This was the first time we have used this venue for a PoL and G30 have set the standard. The depth of knowledge, quality of writing and drama performance was stunning. We were all so proud of the courage and confidence our students displayed sharing their learning to an audience.

Year 8 students presented their ‘What is Power?’ expedition at Caedmon Hall, Gateshead Central Library on Wednesday. We were all blown away by the quality and depth of their understanding – performances of Macbeth intertwined with insights into the meaning of the word power in society, science, history, geography and art. Our students’ artwork also took centre stage with every student creating an image about an aspect of social justice they feel strongly about.

   

This week’s PoLs have been a real challenge for our students and they have shown real courage in terms of presenting to an audience and being part of a drama performance. It has been wonderful to see the pride in our students today reflecting on the mountain they climbed this week, especially those who thought they couldn’t (and there were many). Students are definitely starting to see that there is more in them than they know!

Can I thank you all for your attendance and support at PoLs. We will share online feedback forms with G30 parents in the coming weeks so that we can collect your exit ticket feedback from the ‘Do Your Bit’ expedition.

Lego tournament success

On Tuesday, the Lego Robotics team competed in the regional First Lego League tournament. Our students had a great day competing with other young people in the region and came back with our first trophy (it’s not silverware, it’s made of lego).

We are really proud of our team –  Harrie, Lucy, George, Elina, Evan, Dylan and James

Celebrating Reading at XPG 

Our final community meeting of the term was full of celebrations as we got this term’s Accelerated Reader roundup. This term’s lottery winners were Rafa, Penny and Molly. We also gave a special appreciation to Leo, who in this shorter term was our one word millionaire. All crews have been challenged to up their game next term, for this term our champion Crews in each cohort were Darling, King and Parks!  

     

I am sure that you will all agree that our students have continued to rise to the challenge – they continue to work hard, get smart and be kind on a daily basis producing beautiful work, developing their character to achieve academic success.

Thank you so much for your continued support. 

We look forward to seeing you after the holiday on Monday 15th April at the usual time where we will be starting on our next exciting expeditionary adventures.

Happy Easter from all the staff crew at XP Gateshead.

Julie Mosley

Dear Families

Welcome to the final week of our Spring Term.

As always, the hard work continues here at XP Gateshead and we couldn’t be prouder of our students as they continue to strive for high standards and support those around them to do the same. Students have been working hard on termly assessments, completing their final products for expedition and getting ready for presentations of learning (PoLs). This week we look forward to seeing the culmination of G29 and G30 work in their PoLs.

Here are just some of last week’s highlights: 

On Wednesday afternoon Year 7 students continued to work with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) and then put theory into practice visiting St Mary’s Church to investigate war graves with expert Elizabeth Smith. 

Our thanks to Elizabeth and the CWGC for the rich opportunities they have given our students in this Human expedition, supporting them to answer their guiding question ‘Why should we honour all those who sacrificed during WW1’. A thanks also goes to Reverend Lucy at St Mary’s Church for her ongoing support of our work.

Our Year 8 students have been working hard on their Macbeth performances as part of the ‘What is Power?’ expedition. Our students are showing real courage and stepping up to the challenge of performing in front of an audience; it was great to hear students’ appreciation for the work of each other in our Friday community meeting.  This is another important moment in developing character, especially courage and we can’t wait for families to see the students’ work on Wednesday evening this week.

On Thursday, we enjoyed a live music performance from indie band The Mercians who are currently touring UK schools to promote their music and raise awareness of mental health issues and the importance of looking after yourself, seeking help through family, friends, teachers and organisations. 

I think it is safe to say that the band have got themselves a bigger fan base at XPG! Our students loved the gig and the chance to see live music. The band stayed around after the gig so students had plenty of opportunities for photos and signature collection – I’m not sure The Mercians have ever been asked to sign a croc before?!

Crew Parks were busy on Friday afternoon carrying out service learning connected to their charity ‘Trees for Cities’. They supported the planting of 200 trees  in the grassed areas just outside our school gates as part of a project with Gateshead Council and Durham Wildlife Trust. 

As you know, the DofE is part of our curriculum at XPG and all year 9 students will complete the bronze award. In readiness for this, Tom Devitt has been working with the team of staff who work alongside our students and on Thursday and Friday last week. This team completed two days of training to achieve the ITC Level 3 Award in Outdoor First Aid qualification. Congratulations to Tom Devitt, Rebecca Marshall, Rebecca Jones and Emmy Tatters!

The week ahead

G30 Steam expedition, working with Edbert’s House

On Monday, Miss Jamieson and a group of G30 students will be working alongside the team at Edbert’s House to find out more about their service they offer the community and do some cooking for the community kitchen.  The students will then share their insights and feedback to all year 7 students as new experts in the Steam expedition,  ‘Staying Alive’ with the guiding question: ‘Is survival sufficient?’. Edberts House are our partners for this expedition. Through their work they have identified families in need that we can support with our food boxes with a week’s worth of recipes from ‘Cooking on a Bootstrap’.

During the Easter break G30 students will be gathering the ingredients needed to put together for the food boxes. Where possible, we are asking for your support to each contribute a few ingredients so that together as a cohort of 50 we can put together two food boxes. More information on this from Miss Jamison later this week. 

Lego tournament

On Tuesday, we are taking a team to compete in the regional First Lego League tournament. Students involved will be travelling to Quorum Business Park by coach from school and returning during the school day, but will need a packed lunch. Look out for an email from Mr Said if your child is in the Lego team.

Energy audit and decarbonisation

On Wednesday, our Climate Action Plan leadership group will be meeting with Matt Fulford to learn about how energy audits can be carried out on buildings to assess how energy efficient they are, and what changes / investments could be made to make them more sustainable and cost effective in the long term.

In addition to this all G30 students will have a workshop with our Climate Action Plan expert Gemma Sarigu on decarbonisation which connects to their studies for ‘Staying alive’ as a more energy efficient future is one way that we know that as a nation we can tackle inequalities such as fuel poverty.

Presentations of Learning this week

G30 Presentation of Learning – Tuesday 26th March

Year 7 will be presenting their learning from their current HUMAN expedition Do Your Bit with the guiding question: “Why do we need to honour all those who made sacrifices during WWI?”

This Presentation of Learning will take place in our theatre space in school on Tuesday 26th March and will start at 4.30pm. We anticipate that we will be finished by 6pm. This is a formal occasion so students should dress appropriately for the event – our polo shirts are great for events such as these.

G29 Presentation of Learning – Wednesday 27th March

Year 8 will be presenting their learning from their current expedition “What is Power?” on Wednesday 27th March. This Presentation of Learning will take at Caedmon Hall, above Gateshead Central Library and will start at 4:30pm. We anticipate that we will be finished by 6pm. Students should dress in black, with as little branding as possible please – our polo shirts are suitable for this if students have them.

A reminder that students will stay in school until they present. If you want to provide healthy snacks or a packed tea, students will be given some time during the afternoon to get a break between rehearsals.

Presentations of learning are an integral part of our learning model for all students, they are important and planned points which allow students to showcase their beautiful work. These, like Students Led Conferences (SLCs) and Passage Presentations are key moments in the deliberate development of character for our young people and it is vital that parents, carers and families are present to support these events.

PE this week

Preparation for PoLs and a shorter week mean that we PE sessions are running for two cohorts this week (those who have had a reduced offer in previous week):

• G28 (Year 9) have PE on Wednesday this week
• G30 (Year 7) have PE on Thursday this week.

No Extended Study and Clubs

Easter Holidays

We break up for Easter holidays this Thursday 28th March and return to school on Monday 15th April. Please remember that, as always, our students finish at 1:30pm on Thursday to allow staff to de-gunge and replenish rooms and teaching spaces ready for the Summer Term.

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

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Julie Mosley

Principal,

XP Gateshead

Dear Families

G28 Passage Presentations

Without a doubt, this week has been one of the highlights of my time at XP Gateshead with G28 stepping up to, and indeed surpassing, the high expectations and demand of Passage Presentations. 

Over the past three weeks we have seen our Year 9 students work hard to produce beautiful scripts to tell their XP journey to date with integrity and how they have developed as a learner. Students have supported and challenged each other to show real craftsmanship and quality in their writing, lifting each other to produce work better than they thought possible. The spirit of Y9 crew and compassion has underpinned all of this work and the success students have achieved.

To stand and present to an audience takes real courage and maturity, as reflected by our panellists (families and experts alike)

“I honestly don’t think half the adults I know (including myself) could write such a structured, reflective piece of work and deliver it as well as you did” (Y9 Parent)

“The process allowed our daughter to showcase her learning at a high level, the awareness of what she has achieved, reflected back and been proactive in her learning is outstanding. Learning how to present formally in front of others and speak confidently to a range of visitors/new experts has allowed our daughter to experience first hand what the world of work will be like. It’s also been an opportunity for us to show her how proud we are of her hard work, determination and genuine loving character of a young lady which we have the pleasure of being with every day.” (Y9 Parent)

“The students articulated, with integrity and maturity, their respective positions on their learning journeys to teachers, parents and, more importantly, adults they had not met before. There are adults who do not have this insight or could communicate this to strangers in this way. This process was very similar to a postgraduate progress panel” (Expert panellist)

‘It was an absolute privilege to be able to be involved in this process. The emphasis and importance that has been placed upon this process for students was almost tangible. Students had all taken this process so seriously and had clearly spent a lot of time preparing. I particularly loved the involvement of families in the process. This was also such a huge moment for them too. Embarking on their GCSE’s and the commitment to this process and their learning was just wonderful to see, which all comes back to the culture which has been created at XPG” (Expert panellist)

The words of Kurt Hahn were never more true:

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

But I think Harris, one of our Y9 students captured this with his metaphor of a hike to describe his time at XP. 

“At the start, the mountains I climbed were new but not difficult. As time went on, the mountains became steeper and higher. However, it is nothing compared to the view at the top and is completely worth the climb.

I’m not going to stop climbing mountains moving forward and I look forward to the many views that are still yet to be seen. I will take rests when I need to but I am never going backwards.”

If there are any families still to give us feedback on the passage process, please can you do so by clicking here.

G29 Crew Charities announced

Inspiring activism in our students is central to our work at XPG. 

Following this week’s Crew morning where students put together their proposals for which charity they wanted to support and pitched these to the rest of their crew, each Y8 crew announced their chosen charities on Friday in our whole school community meeting. 

 

So we add another 4 G29 crew charities to our list:

• Crew Watson (SJA) – The Children’s Society
• Crew Attenborough (SBL) – World Wildlife Fund
• Crew King (EQU) – Birdline UK: Parrot Rescue
• Crew Nightingale (RMA) – Water Aid

Look out for future website posts from each crew to share their work and their charity plans for the future. 

We now have 8 charities in total championed by our students including our G28 charities:

• Crew Frank (MRS) – Bobby Robson Foundation
• Crew Stanton (ETA) – Tiny Lives
• Crew Angelou (DME) – Young Minds
• Crew Parks (TDE) – Trees for Cities.

G30 Crew names announced

Over the last few weeks, Y7 crews have been researching suitable people after whom to name their crews – people who have achieved great things and who display our character traits of courage, integrity, respect, craftsmanship and quality, and above all compassion. In Crew morning this week, students presented their contenders to the rest of their crew and final voting took place. 

In Friday’s community meeting new crew names were announced

Our G30 crews are 

• Crew Darling (formerly MRS)
• Crew Kahlo (formerly TMA)
• Crew Earhart (formerly KDO)
• Crew Einstein (formerly LDI)

So Grace Darling, Frida Kahlo, Amelia Earhart and Albert Einstein stand alongside our G29 crew’s namesakes Emma Watson, Martin Luther King, Richard Attenborough, Florence Nightingale and our G28 crew’s namesakes Anne Frank, Rosa Parks,  Maya Angelou, Elizabeth Stanton. 

The week ahead

G28 Geography fieldwork – Wednesday 20th March

G28 students will be completing important fieldwork to help them answer the geography enquiry question: “Why are there differences in life expectancy in Gateshead?” This will support the students creating a final report investigating health inequalities in Gateshead which will be shown at their presentation of learning.

Students will be in crews walking from Felling to Gateshead collecting primary data to answer their fieldwork question. Please see the website post for full details and the kit list required.

G30 Fieldwork with Commonwealth War Graves Commission – Wednesday 20th March

On Wednesday afternoon G30 will continue to work with expert Elizabeth Smith, from the CWGC. They will then visit St Mary’s Church to investigate the Commonwealth war graves,  putting theory work into practice. This is an authentic and rich learning experience and we are incredibly grateful to the CWGC for offering these opportunities to us and helping our students when it comes to answering the guiding question for our current expedition in Human ‘Why should we honour all those who sacrificed during WW1?’ Please see the website post for more details.

Music performance – Thursday 21st March

The Mercians will be performing on Thursday. ‘The Leicester-based indie band are currently touring UK schools to promote their music and raise awareness of mental health issues and the importance of looking after yourself, seeking help through family, friends, teachers and organisations’. 

We are also on the lookout for singers for our school choir. In July, our sister schools in Doncaster are hosting a music festival and our choir will be performing Year 7s mining songs as part of the afternoon of music and arts.

PE this week

• G30 (Year 7)
  • Both classes have PE on Monday this week.
• G29 (Year 8)
  • Both classes have PE on Wednesday this week.
• G28 (Year 9)
  • Class 1 have PE on Thursday this week.
  • Class 2 have PE on Friday this week. 

Extended Study and Clubs

Clubs will all run this week along with extended study sessions every day except Friday. As usual, if a student attends an after school club or extended study session they must attend the full sessions until 4:30pm.

Looking Ahead:

G30 Presentation of Learning – Tuesday 26th March in our school theatre at 4.30pm

G29 Presentation of Learning – Wednesday 27th March at Caedmon Hall at Gateshead Central Library at 4.30pm

Can I remind all families of the importance of attendance at PoLs. These, like Students Led Conferences (SLCs) and Passage Presentations are key moments in the deliberate development of character for our young people and it is vital that parents, carers and families are present to support these events.

Easter break

Our  last day of term is Thursday 28th March. As always, students will leave school at the earlier time of 1:30pm to allow for full de-gunge and set up for our new Summer term. We return to school Monday 15th April. Please see our 23/24 calendar for this year’s term dates.

 

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

It has been another great week at XPG last week. 

Without a doubt, this week has seen our G28 pioneering students step up to the challenge as they get ready for Passage Presentations taking place this coming week. 

Students have been working hard putting together writing, with deep reflection about their progress since joining us and their readiness for GCSEs. The presentations we saw today were very strong with such integrity and authentic voice from our students. We are delighted today that all students have either passed their passage presentations, or passed with conditions that need to be met over the coming weeks.

In preparing for passage, Year 9 really are demonstrating their readiness for the next stage in their education and their potential for greatness in the years to come. What a joy and honour it is to sit alongside families watching their children shine and talk so beautifully about themselves with such honesty.

This feedback from a panellist and member of our local governing committee really sums up what a special day it has been today:

“What an absolute privilege it was to be able to be part of the passage presentations this morning. The work that is being carried out within XP Gateshead is transformational in the young people’s lives within the school community. This was evident to see in the passage presentations that I was involved with, in terms of character growth and the journey that students are on with regards to being owners of their own learning. 

XP Gateshead is truly a very special place and it is these reflective processes that allow us to really take notice of the amazing work that happens every day within school. “

The week ahead

G28 Passage Presentations

Presentations continue on Tuesday during the school day and on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. A huge appreciation to our panellists for helping to make this a rigorous process and for their kind, specific and helpful feedback to our students. And of course thanks to you our families for supporting your children in this important work.

G29 and G30 Crew morning – Tuesday 12th March

On Tuesday morning whilst passages are taking place, our Year 7 and 8 students will spend time in their crews. Year 7 will complete work on choosing names for their Crews. Each Crew will be named after someone that has exemplified our character traits of courage, respect, integrity, craftsmanship and quality and above all… compassion.

Year 8 will finalise decisions on the charities with which they will be associated for the rest of their time at XPG. Again, this is such an important decision and the opportunity to be of service over a period of time to organisations doing great work helps our students to realise the positive impact that they can have on their community.

All Crews in Year 7 and Year 8 will also spend time attending to relationships within the Crew and returning to the importance of a strong culture. Crews have each planned different activities for the morning alongside work on charities and crew names.

Developing subject expertise 

Tom Devitt and Rebecca Marshall are returning to York University on Wednesday and Thursday this week to complete a four-day Secondary Science training course to develop their knowledge and understanding of Science in KS3 and KS4. At XPG, we invest in the professional development of our staff and are committed to building strong teams able to develop and deliver our expeditionary learning curriculum.

Alongside passage, this does mean that there are some changes to the timetable this week.

 PE this week

• Both G28 classes will have PE this week on Friday this week.
• Year 7 and Year 8 do not have PE this week.

Extended Study and Clubs

Clubs will all run this week along with extended study sessions every day except Friday. A reminder that if a student attends an after school club or extended study session they must attend the full sessions until 4:30pm.

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

It was great to see our students make such a strong start back to school last week after half term break. Students were immediately back to working hard, getting smart and being kind, stepping up to our high expectations in and outside of sessions. 

Behind all of our students is a dedicated staff crew at XP Gateshead as you know who are supported by teams at XP Trust, Gateshead LEA and in our local community. Here’s just a few examples from this week:

XPG staff crew

It was a busy start to the week with two full days of interviews. I am delighted to say that we have appointed two new teachers to our staff crew:

Hannah Simpson who joins us as a HUMAN teacher and Mohammed Azam  who joins us as a STEAM teacher. We are delighted with our new appointments and look forward to them joining us in June to start their induction with us. 

G28 Beautiful artwork exhibited at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead

This week the final product from the G28 Being Human expedition was installed at the QE Hospital at the Windy Nook Entrance. 

As well as seeing our students’ truly beautiful artwork of different organs, the installation includes a QR code which allows visitors to access G28 voices and their responses to the guiding question, ‘What does it mean to be human?’.

This is important work which matters, raising awareness of the importance of organ donation.  We could not be prouder of our students  and the adults who supported the ‘Being Human’ expedition, in particular Andy Lowes (pictured) at Gateshead NHS Foundation. 

This work is already garnering attention online:

“Incredible!”

“This is amazing!”

“Wow! This work is outstanding and will no doubt capture the interest of those passing by.”

“Such an important message.”

Most importantly it will save lives. If you have been inspired by our students’ work and want to sign up to become an organ donor – please click here.

Secondary school national offer day, 1 March 2024

Parents of Year 6 students will have received notification of secondary school places on Friday. XP Gateshead works with the Local Authority admissions teams to administer places. As in previous years, we received more applications than we can offer places and our admissions were determined by a random lottery administered independently by the Local Authority.

I’d like to thank all families who expressed an interest in our school and the work we do here. An appreciation too for our existing families and students for showing our school for the really special place that it is. Again we are massively oversubscribed with around eight applicants for every one place at the school.

For our new families, welcome to XP Gateshead and congratulations! We are delighted to have you and your children join our school. We will be sending out our welcome letters early this week and there will be separate website posts coming which will share all information around transition. 

For the time being, there are answers to many of our most frequently asked questions here.

Some key reminders .

Attendance

As we all know, attendance at school is of vital importance. We all understand that school attendance is vital to the life chances of young people and that being in school improves health, wellbeing and socialisation throughout life. Put simply if pupils are  not at school then they will not be learning and can easily fall behind in all areas of their development.

In order to support you and your child we keep a close eye on attendance and appreciate your full support with this. At XPG we celebrate attendance and will support those students and families who need to improve their attendance. We all work hard together to ensure school attendance is high – students, parents/carers, Crew Leaders and our inclusion team.

If, for any reason, your child is unable to attend school you must contact the school office before 8:30am by telephone. This is a safeguarding procedure which has to happen on every day of absence.

Please share any worries you have around attendance or punctuality with your childs’ Crew Leader. 

The week ahead

National Careers Week

This week is National Careers Week. Students in Year 9 have been thinking carefully about pathways and careers as part of preparation for their Passage Presentations.

Students in Year 7 and Year 8 will have a session in Crew this week which introduces them to our Careers Website and their Start Profile – a personalised website which will help them to think about their own pathways and readiness for the next stages of their education.

PE this week

• G30 (Year 7)
  • Both classes have PE on Monday this week.
• G29 (Year 8)
  • Both classes have PE on Wednesday this week.
• G28 (Year 9)
  • Class 1 have PE on Thursday this week.
  • Due to the staff day, G28 Class 2 do not have PE this week. We will look to rebalance this in a later week.

Extended Study and Clubs

Clubs will all run this week along with extended study sessions every day except Friday. As usual, if a student attends an after school club or extended study session they must attend the full sessions until 4:30pm.

Staff Day – Friday 8th March

Friday is the first of our staff days this half term, the second is on Monday 11th March. Our staff team will be planning for next term’s expeditions and this year’s curriculum priorities from our school improvement plan. Students will not be expected to be in school on Friday or Monday unless they are G28 students who have a Passage presentation on Monday. If students want to come to school on Friday to prepare for their passage, they must organise this through their Crew Leader.

G29 vaccination programme

This week parents of G29 students will receive information on HPV vaccinations which will take place in school Tuesday 7th May. There will be a consent form within the information which will need completing as soon as possible.

IMPORTANT – Passage Presentations next week

G28 are working hard on preparing for their passage presentation next week. They will be using Crew time and additional time in sessions to get ready for this important moment in their time at XP Gateshead.

Passage presentations are hugely important benchmark demonstrations of learning over multiple years that mark this pivotal transition from Key Stage 3 into Key Stage 4 and GCSEs. During the presentations, students will use their portfolios as a guide to articulate their progress and growth. These presentations are another means by which we help students to develop their character and hone their public speaking. The rubrics that will be used during the presentations can be found here.

Monday 11th March is a staff day.

Students will be welcome to arrive at school earlier than their passage presentation slot to do final preparations, and then should return home after their presentation. If students do not have a passage presentation, there is not a need for them to be in school on Monday 11th March.

Tuesday 12th March

This is not a staff day, however Year 9 teachers will be involved in passage presentations throughout the day so we will not be running a regular timetable for this day for Year 9 students. There are three options for Year 9 students on this day:

• Come into school for the full school day (including staying in school after a Passage Presentation).
• Come into school for a Passage Presentation and then leave with their family.
• Work on extended study from home.

Please can all G28 families use this Google Form to let us know what your child will be doing, and whether they will need a school lunch

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 had a restful half term break and we look forward to welcoming our students back tomorrow.

Our usual reminders for a good start back…

Punctuality

School opens at 8:00am every morning. Students should arrive between 8:00am and 8:25 am and there are spaces available for socialising, reading or completing extended study. Students must be on site for 8.25am for the call to Crew. 

Daily kit list

As always, students need to bring a school bag with:

• A filled water bottle
• Pencil case including: pens, pencils, ruler, eraser and pencil sharpener
• A fully charged iPad 
• Their AR reading book (please remember that as part of our reading strategy, we expect all students to read between 20-30 mins. each day)
• Headphones 
• A healthy snack for break (no confectionery (sweets), fizzy drinks or energy drinks, nut products)
• A notebook

Dress code

A reminder that we ask students and staff to dress appropriately and modestly. See link here to details on dress code from our website.

The week ahead

PE this week

• G30 (Year 7)
  • Both classes have PE on Monday this week.
• G29 (Year 8)
  • Both classes have PE on Wednesday this week.
• G28 (Year 9)
  • Class 1 have PE on Thursday this week.
  • Class 2 have PE on Friday this week

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. This includes sports trainers with non slip soles e.g. running shoes/astro turf (not plimsolls). 

Extended Study and Clubs

Clubs will all run this week along with extended study sessions every day except Friday. As usual, if a student attends an after school club or extended study session they must attend the full sessions until 4:30pm.

Interviews for New Staff

Interviews will take place this week (Monday and Tuesday). We have had lots of interest in our advertisements for new teachers and are really looking forward to meeting the shortlisted applicants at interviews this week. As always, our staff and students are involved in the interviews to ensure we get the best teachers to join XPG Crew as we continue to grow.

Ongoing expeditions and PoL dates for your diary

Our G30 students continue to work on their two expeditions until the end of this term.  Their STEAM expedition, ‘Staying Alive’ with the guiding question: ‘Is survival sufficient?’ and their HUMAN expedition, ‘Do Your Bit’ with the guiding question: ‘Why is it important that we honour all those that sacrificed in WWI?’.  The presentation of learning for this will be on Tuesday 26th March in our school theatre.  More details to follow in a separate post.

Our G29 students continue to work on one cross-curricular expedition this term with the guiding question and title of ‘What is Power?’. Their final presentation of learning for this expedition will be on Wednesday 27th March at Caedmon Hall at Gateshead Central Library. More details to follow in a separate post.

Looking Ahead:

Staff Development Days

A reminder that we have two staff development days this half term; Friday 8th and Monday 11th March. 

G28 Passage Presentations

The schedule for passage presentations has now been shared with families. Students will have additional prep sessions this week and next and all Crew sessions will be devoted to preparation too. Please talk to your children at home about how their preparation is going and how they are demonstrating their readiness for GCSEs in sessions too: remember there will be feedback given on quality of reflection, quality of writing, integrity of reflection and organisation of the portfolio of evidence.

Monday 11th March is a staff day. Students will be welcome to arrive at school earlier than their passage presentation slot to do final preparations, and then should return home after their presentation. If students do not have a passage presentation, there is not a need for them to be in school on Monday 11th March.

Tuesday 12th March is not a staff day, however Year 9 teachers will be involved in passage presentations throughout the day so we will not be running a regular timetable for this day for Year 9 students. Students can come into school for the regular school hours or work from home where families give permission; we will be setting additional extended study to support students in their expeditions which students can access independently. Likewise, if students have a passage presentation on this day, and families give permission, then students can go home following their presentation.

Please note that Tuesday 12th March will be a regular timetable day for all of Year 7 and Year 8.

 

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 have come to the end of another full and productive half-term and, as always, our whole community have worked together demonstrating courage, respect, craftsmanship and quality, integrity and above all… compassion.

Our students have continued to work hard across this half term and I’m sure that those who have seen children present Student Led Conferences this term, would all agree that our students continue to be challenged (and supported) to strive for beautiful work.  Thank you again for your support in SLCs, it is vital that our students share their progress regularly as ‘Leaders of their own Learning’.

It has been a busy final week and here are a couple of highlights:

Our G30 students visited the Gurdwara Siri Guru Singh Sabha on Thursday to find out more about Sikhi and how temples operate as part of their expedition ‘Do your bit’ which includes a focus on the experience of Sikh soldiers.

Students supported with sewa, a deliberate act of service which Sikhs believe demonstrates belief in their equality and the importance of all people. Students worked in the kitchen to prepare food for langhar which is when the temple provides food for the community, free of charge.

As Miss Jamison has posted, we have also asked if Year 7 students can try out some of the recipes from ‘Cooking on a Bootstrap’ at home with you over the half-term break.

Our G30 and G29 students have also had a workshop on malicious online communications from Jon Ord, from the Police and Crime Commissioner’s office.

Preparation for passage presentations is well underway for our G28 students and this week they have spent crew sessions with this as their focus. Having considered metaphors for their time at XPG, students are currently reflecting on their progress as writers and mathematicians using evidence from their portfolios across Year 7 and Year 8.

Please make sure that you have signed up (Google Form) for a time slot for Passage Presentation as we are at the stage of organising our expert panel guests. We would like to get all of these times out to families this weekend.

 

I think that we can all agree that it’s time now for a well deserved rest! Have a great half term break and we look forward to seeing all of our students on Monday 26th February. 

Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support. A special thanks for the mystery gift of creme eggs which arrived for all staff at XPG – it is very much appreciated!

Julie Mosley