Dear Families

It has been a busy week as usual at XP Gateshead this week with students working on SLCs, recording final product speeches from last term to go alongside the artwork for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, learning about colour mixing by painting carrier pigeons and much much more.

We have been really pleased with how our students have stepped up. During Friday’s community meetings with G29 and G30, it was great to hear students appreciating others for their courage, craftsmanship and quality. As you know, our expectations are high here at XPG, but as we regularly say

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

― Kurt Hahn

G30

Our year 7 students have had the privilege of working with experts in each of their expeditions this week. 

On Thursday we welcomed Rav Singh, the founder of ‘A little history of the Sikhs’ to XPG. Rav worked with our students on their current HUMAN expedition exploring the guiding question: ‘Why do we need to honour all those who made sacrifices during WWI?’, helping students to understand the experience of Sikhi soldiers.

 

On Friday, our students worked in our new Food Technology room with expert Trish Wright learning how to make a tomato sauce, a basic staple from which many other dishes can be made. This supports their current work in STEAM around nutrition and work towards answering their  guiding question: ‘Is survival sufficient?’. I hope families managed to get a taste of their delicious pasta and pizza dishes, or even better, have enjoyed a family meal this weekend prepared by our new experts.

A huge appreciation goes out to Trish and Rav for the work they have done with our students this week.

G29

Our Year 8 students are studying Macbeth as part of their current expedition with the guiding question: ‘What is power?’. Student are working to create an abridged performance of the play in drama sessions developing their physical, vocal, characterisation and directorial skills. This week they worked with an expert actress, writer and director Christina Berriman Dawson. We know from the work that Christina did with our G28’s last year the impact that this will have on the quality of G29’s Macbeth performance.

G28

Thank you to G28 parents who joined us for Thursday’s information evening. For those of you who couldn’t make it, the slides are here.

As we said during the information evening, we are working to finalise our KS4 curriculum offer. We welcome any questions or wonders from parents on this Google Form. We will respond to questions individually, and where there are common questions we will add these to our website under the frequently asked questions section.

Work on passage preparation is underway for Year 9 students. 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 use this Google Form to indicate your preference for a time slot for your child’s passage presentation.

What goes around…

Some lovely feedback this week from two places. Firstly we received a card from one of our neighbours with thanks for the hamper that was gifted to them by our students at Christmas.

Secondly, Mrs Downes has been using G28’s ‘What is Power?’ postcards with Primary Age children as writing stimuli to great effect!

 

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). 

Clubs and Extended Study

We will be running all after school clubs and extended study this week now that SLCs have been completed by the majority of students.

G29/G30 online safety with Northumbria Crime Prevention Team

On Tuesday 13th and Thursday 15th February, Northumbria Crime Prevention team will run an online safety session for our G29/G30 students. This will cover some key messages about how to keep safe online, in and outside of school which will include safe use of age-appropriate social media sites.

G28 Immunisations

On Wednesday 14th February school nurses will be in school to administer Meningitis ACWY, alongside the Td/IPV booster  immunisations to  G28 students that have permission. A letter regarding this was emailed to all G28 parents in December. If you have not yet given permission, please see the attached  letter with information and a link to the consent form. 

G30 Gurdwara Fieldwork 

On Thursday 15th February our Year 7 students will visit the  Gurdwara Siri Guru Singh Sabha in Newcastle to find out more about Sikhi and how temples operate as part of their expedition ‘Do your bit’. Please see the website post for more detailed arrangements.

Half term break starts Friday 16th February 

We come to the end of a six week half term on Friday 16th February and as always, we will finish at 1:30pm for our usual end of half-term degunge. 

We return to school on Monday 26th February 2024.

A reminder that dates for Presentations of Learning for the current expeditions are as follows:

• G30 – Tuesday 26th March in school
• G29 – Wednesday 27th March at Caedmon Hall above Gateshead Central Library
• G28 – Provisionally Friday 10th May in school

We will be able to confirm times for G30 and G29 at the end of this week.

As usual if you have any questions please contact your child’s crew leader in the first instance. Thank you as always for your ongoing support.

Julie Mosley

Dear Families

It has been great to see so many of you in person this week attending your child’s Student-Led Conference (SLC). Our students have shown real courage this week presenting their learning, especially G30 students where this has been their first time presenting a SLC. Exit ticket feedback from parents and carers has been full of praise and this will be shared with students as part of their SLC debrief where they will reflect on this experience against the rubric and set themselves targets for their next SLC.

Our G28 and G29 students enjoyed a NHS careers performance this week which gave them a real insight into possible careers from our region’s and the UK’s number one employer. Students really enjoyed the performance and found out more about the 350 possible careers and pathways available. More info on NHS careers can be found here.

As part of our curriculum, in year 9 all students complete a DofE Bronze Award. Our G28 students started their DofE work last term in the volunteering and skills section. 

We will be meeting G28 parents this Thursday 8th February to give more details about the DofE qualification and its four sections (Volunteering, Physical, Skills, and Expedition).

The week ahead

National Apprenticeship Week

This week is National Apprenticeship Week – a week aimed at raising awareness of work-based qualifications available from the age of 16. Apprenticeships are work-based qualifications available to your children from the age of 16.

There is a useful guide to apprenticeships for families from last year’s event which can be found here. General information for families can be found here on the government website.

SLCs for G30 and G29 

SLCs continue this week. These are key events for our students so please ensure you attend your appointment. This week we have had several appointments cancelled which have impacted on staff time and students who have been ready to present their SLC. Wherever possible please can we ask that cancellations or changes are made only in exceptional circumstances.

Information evening for G28 Families – Passage, DofE and GCSEs

This event will take place on the evening of Thursday 8th February at 5.30pm in school.

PE this week

• G30 (Year 7)
  • Both classes have PE on Monday this week.
• G29 (Year 8)
  • Both classes have PE on Tuesday 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 or baseball boots). 

Clubs and Extended Study

We will only be running after school extended study this week due to SLCs.

G30 experts in school – Thursday and Friday

On Thursday we will welcome Rav Singh, the founder of ‘A little History of the Sikhs’, to XP Gateshead. Rav will be working with our Year 7 students on their current HUMAN expedition exploring the guiding question: ‘Why do we need to honour all those who made sacrifices during WWI?’ and helping them to understand the experience of Sikhi soldiers.

On Friday, our students will work with Trish Wright, a Food Technology expert and friend of XPG, on their STEAM expedition which has the guiding question: ‘Is survival sufficient?’. Students will be working in our new Food Technology room getting skilled up in three basic cooking recipes which are the basis for many cost-effective family meals. There is not a need for families to provide ingredients for this. During half-term we will be encouraging students to try out recipes from Jack Munroe’s Bootstrap Cookbook, cooking at home with you. More information on this next week.

Looking Ahead

G28 Immunisations

On Wednesday 14th February school nurses will be in school to administer Meningitis ACWY, alongside the Td/IPV booster  immunisations to  G28 students that have permission. A letter regarding this was emailed to all G28 parents in December. If you have not yet given permission, please see the attached letter with information and a link to the consent form. 

G29/G30 online safety with Northumbria Crime Prevention Team

On Tuesday 13th and Thursday 15th February, Northumbria Crime Prevention team will run a session about online safety for our G29/G30 students. This will cover some key messages about how to keep safe online, in and outside of school which will include safe use of age-appropriate social media sites.

G30 Gurdwara Fieldwork 

On Thursday 15th February, we are delighted that, once again, our Year 7 students will visit the Gurdwara Siri Guru Singh Sabha. The Gurdwara is a Sikhi temple in the centre of Newcastle and our students will 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 Sikhi soldiers. More detailed arrangements will come in a separate website post later this week.

Half term break starts Friday 16th February 

We come to the end of a six week half term on Friday 16th February and as always, we will finish at 1:30pm for our usual de-gunge. We return to school on Monday 26th February 2024. Here’s our 2023/24 Calendar again for you to see term dates this year.

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

This week SLCs start for G30 and G29 students. This is an important moment for your children to share their progress with you.

We have talked with students a lot about culture this week. Our G29 students attended a performance of Macbeth at York – the conduct of our students was exemplary from beginning to end of the visit. Class 1 in particular have been praised for their work in class this week following the performance and the battle scene from the opening of the play is really coming together. Many of the peer appreciations in our community meeting this week were in praise of students’ efforts in Drama sessions.

G28 students have made a strong start to the academic year, our community meeting this week was full of appreciations for working hard and for students that are changing behaviours in a positive way – it is wonderful that this is noticed by students.

We also had a strong community meeting with  Year 7. G30 students showed great courage in making stands for our character traits and our culture. As families of G30 will know, and have seen from their first Presentation of Learning, our Year 7 have made such a brilliant start to their time at XP Gateshead. One of the strengths of our school model and of Crew is that students have a genuine voice in their school. Students this week made stands for our culture because they care, and because we sweat the small stuff.

Before looking at the week ahead, we just wanted to share some feedback from a Local Governing Committee visit this last week from Jane Sutton, who was looking at how inclusive our practices are – in particular how we support students with SEND.

This was a very positive visit, and has given us some important pointers on how we can further strengthen our offer. In particular our skilled learning coaches were praised for their knowledge and skills in the classroom.

However this feedback from conversations with our children is particularly impressive and indicates just how well students can articulate what our school is about.

“I was…  impressed and inspired by the students I spoke to. They were eloquent and confident to speak about the personal challenges they face due to their

additional needs and how these challenges are addressed by all the staff in school. They spoke about the strong relationships they were able to build with staff and that they felt they could talk to trusted adults. The support being provided for these students is clearly having a positive impact on their confidence and self-belief and they feel their needs are being met. They are proud of their achievements and credit the staff and school for this.

They spoke positively about the number of extended learning opportunities they were given such as fieldwork, clubs, common mission, theatre visits, Duke of Edinburgh Awards, Leader of your own learning activities and Crew activities.

They told me how they felt Crew was a great support to them. One student explained how she had delivered a presentation to her crew about her ASD/ADHD and the positive response she had to this.

She felt that this now enabled her to open up to her peers more which helped her.”

The week ahead

Tyne and Wear Museums Digital Curation Pilot Project

Our Year 7 climate leaders – Isaac, Elina, Freya, Molly, Lizzie and James – are working with Tyne and Wear Museums on a six week-long project to design some digital curation connected to decarbonisation and fossil fuels. They are meeting with curators from TWM each week on tuesday afternoons this term.

G28/G29 NHS Careers Performance this Thursday afternoon

A team from Performance in Education are working with G28 and G29 this week on Thursday afternoon during the school day to give them an insight into careers in the NHS. The NHS is one of the world’s largest employers, and is the number one employer in our region and the UK. More info on NHS careers can be found here.

Working with Trust this week

We continue to work with our colleagues in Trust to develop our practice. This week we will have a focus on PE, Assessment Information and Wellbeing.

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 Tuesday this week.
  • Class 2 have PE on Thursday this week

Looking Ahead

SLCs for G30 and G29

If you have not already done so, please make sure that you have booked an SLC slot, you should have received an email from our office@ email address. Please contact us if you have not received this.

Passage Presentations for G28

A reminder that passage presentations will take place during the day on Monday 11th March, and Tuesday 12th March. You will be given an opportunity to book a slot in a similar way as you have done for SLCs.

Information evening for G28 Families – Passage, DofE and GCSEs

This event will take place on the evening of Thursday 8th February at 5.30pm.

Julie Mosley

Principal

Dear Families

This week we have revealed the full details of our new expeditions for all cohorts.

G30

G30’s HUMAN expedition has the guiding question: ‘Why do we need to honour all those who made sacrifices during WWI?’.

This involves study of unheard voices of WWI; students will put together a radio broadcast narrating their own creative writing – this will be broadcast as part of remembrance later this year.

G30’s STEAM expedition has the guiding question: ‘Is survival sufficient?’. Students are studying nutrition & digestion, energy stores and transfer and separating mixtures through respective lenses of food poverty, fuel poverty and access to clean drinking water. Working with our partners Edberts House, students will put together food boxes to share with families in need, with a balanced set of recipes for a week.

A date for your diary – G30’s presentation of learning is scheduled for Thursday 28th March. More details to follow.

G29

G29’s expedition has the guiding question ‘What is Power?’. In this cross-curricular expedition students will explore the concept of “imbalance” and how this often leads to changes both in a social or historical setting but also in a scientific context, bringing them back to the idea of what power means in science, in the context of tectonic forces and in society..

This PoL will be anchored by performances of key scenes from the play.

A date for your diary – G29’s presentation of learning is scheduled for Wednesday 27th March. More details to follow.

G28

G28’s bumper 16-week long new expedition has the guiding question: ‘How can we continue to make progress on public health?’ Students are looking at public health over time since the Medieval Period and will write a report into health inequalities in Gateshead today, based on a variety of factors which contribute to our health including smoking, diet. Students will do the complex task of looking at the correlation between disease and deprivation.

G28’s PoL will be a ‘Cost of Living Conference’ which is scheduled to be held in school on Friday 10th May. Again more details to follow.

The week ahead

Staff Day – Monday 22nd January

Monday is the second of our staff days this half term. Our staff team will be working on school priorities as part of our ongoing school improvement plan. Students will not be expected to be in school on Monday.

G29 Theatre visit – Macbeth, York Grand Opera House Theatre – Tuesday 23rd January

Year 8 students are travelling to York to see a performance of Macbeth. This is the English Literature text for their current expedition. We are delighted to be able to provide this opportunity for our children.

See our website post for details on timings for the day and lunch requirements.

Local Governors Committee (LGC) meeting,  Thursday 25th January

On Thursday, we will have our Spring term LGC meeting. Our LGC is set up to provide support and challenge to XPG  leadership around the three dimensions of XP: Beautiful Work, Character Growth and Academic Success. 

Our LGC:

Andrea Mead	Chair	Headteacher , Specialist provision
Jane Sutton	Governor/Parent	Primary Link Advisor, Gateshead LEA
James Renwick	Governor/Parent	Y6 primary teacher
Elizabeth Shipley	Governor/Parent	Senior Clinical Psychologist
Phil Latham	Governor	CEO Endeavour Academies
Julie Mosley	Principal	XP Gateshead
Steph Oliver	Staff/Governor	Leader at Norton School, XP Trust

 

PE this week

• Due to the staff day, G30 (Year 7) do not have PE this week, we will attempt to rebalance this in a future week.
• G29 (Year 8)
  • Class 1 have PE on Friday this week
  • Class 2 have PE on Wednesday this week.
• G28 (Year 9)
  • Class 1 have PE on Thursday this week.
  • Class 2 have PE on Tuesday and Thursday this week (to account for the missed PE last week)

Looking Ahead

SLCs for G29 and G30

If you have not already done so, please make sure that you have booked an SLC slot for the SLCs which start from Monday 29th January.

Passage Presentations for G28

Passage presentations are an opportunity for students to reflect on their learning and their readiness to move on to the next phase of their education. Your children will present to a panel of you, their Crew Leader and a guest for e.g. governing body member or expert professional. Their presentation will reflect on their progress from Year 7 to now and will outline their thoughts about potential future pathways.

These passage presentations will take place during the day on Monday 11th March, and Tuesday 12th March. You will be given an opportunity to book a slot in a similar way as you have done for SLCs.

Information evening for G28 Families

As well as passage presentations which will feed into students making decisions about future studies at GCSE level, our Duke of Edinburgh programme will also accelerate over this coming term.

We are inviting all families of G28 students to attend an information evening where we can share our rationale and key dates for Passage, Duke of Edinburgh and GCSE studies with you, and of course importantly how you can support this process.

This event will take place on the evening of Thursday 8th February at 5.30pm.

Presentations of learning (PoLs)

As we grow as a school, it becomes increasingly challenging to schedule presentations of learning across cohorts. We have been delighted with your engagement with these PoLs as families and want this to continue. PoLs are an important part of our planned approach to character development and students demonstrating and leading their own learning.

Moving forwards, we are going to schedule PoLs earlier in the daytime – typically at around 4.30pm. This will make it more manageable for us to be able to staff these events. We recognise that may be more challenging for families to attend which is why we are giving as much notice as possible for dates. We will confirm the times for the upcoming PoLs mentioned above as soon as we can.

One of the things that we are really proud of and think makes us special as a school is the level of parental engagement and support that we get from you.

 

Julie Mosley

Principal

Dear Families

Last week we launched our new learning expeditions across all year groups and this week, students will have the big reveal with guiding questions and case studies unveiled.

More details of the types of activities that students have been carrying out in immersion can be found below.

Students have settled back into school and routines really well.

We also had lots of visitors to the school last week, including Trish Wright who is building on the work Mrs Tatters has done with us to get our food technology space kitted out and ready for Year 7 to start using this term. Other visitors included Chris Harte, who featured in Year 9’s film on migration. With Chris Harte were Martin and Val Westwell, who took time from a visit to the UK from Australia to come and see our school. Val is Deputy Principal of a ‘through’ school in Adelaide from nursery to sixth form, and Martin is CEO of the Department of Education for the whole of South Australia. Here is some of Martin’s wonderful feedback to our students and staff:

“One of the things that makes the school so remarkable is that, in many ways, it’s not out of reach of any school.

When ambassadors Ruby and Harris took us on the tour their pride in the school and their engagement in learning shone from them…

There was clear trust between students and educators, and an authenticity in every interaction. The fact that they led the tour without any teacher involvement really shows the students’ story is the school’s story.

The intentional connection to community and the enormous effort put into building and maintaining relationships with parents and the broader community were inspiring and it was clear the students gain a great from these authentic interactions and relationships, including a strong sense of purpose.

The general feeling of the school was of calmness and clear purpose, with a culture of high (self) expectation, improvement and mastery. The fact that on the first day of a new term, visitors could be dropped into a class discussion and the group respond so openly and thoughtfully was very impressive.

The power of ”crew” was really clear. Students referred to it frequently in a very positive way and I think see it as their anchor. It’s clearly authentic and intentional and its place in the timetable really reflects the importance it’s given.

Not only was the compassion so very apparent in every interaction and story, so was the generosity of students and staff. We are so very appreciative of this.”

Immersion

As you know the immersion is the part of the expedition where we generate curiosity about the topics that will be studied, and build background knowledge so that all students are able to contribute when we get into the formal study of learning targets through Case Studies.

This week in STEAM, G30 have been reading a range of texts including a focus on Station 11 by Emily St. John Mandel, set in a post-pandemic dystopia where life is both dangerous and tough. And yet… a band of people calling themselves The Travelling Symphony still tour in trucks converted into horse carts performing Shakespeare. They have also been considering how they might fare on a desert island with limited resources.

In their separate HUMAN expedition, G30 have studied the extent of the former British Empire, as well as reading a play called ‘White Poppies’ set during the earlier years of The Great War. When Tom Headley enlists underage in the Great War, he and his childhood friends head straight to the front line as tunnellers. Eighty years later, a young schoolgirl sets out to research her great grandparents as part of a Poppy Day project. She uncovers shocking truths.

G29 have been reading a Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson in STEAM, and making connections to practicals which emphasise changes in substances and systems. In HUMAN, students have been learning about tectonic hazards such as earthquakes and used a simulation to try to mitigate the impact of their devastating effects, for example by preparing a coastal village with protections against tsunamis. They have also carried out a gallery walk which contained many images of protestors in scenarios at home and abroad from today and from history. Finally, students have also started to read an abridged version of Shakespeare’s Macbeth in modern English. All will be revealed this week on how these pieces of the expedition puzzle fit together.

In their STEAM session, G28 have been In HUMAN G28 have been carrying out an investigation into health inequalities across the world and in our own Town. Students read a report by Alice Wiseman – Director of Public Health for Gateshead – which outlines the differences in average life expectancy and healthy life expectancy for people born in Gateshead contrasted with those born in areas that are typically more affluent. Students were shocked by the stark differences in outcomes and were able to put questions to Alice on Friday afternoon following their investigation.

With all of the above, students have been working hard at making connections between topics in anticipation of how our guiding questions will pull all of the ideas together for each learning expedition.

The week ahead

Theatre visit on Wednesday for some G28 students

We apologise for the short notice around this, however there is an exciting opportunity for which we received confirmation on Friday afternoon last week.

On Wednesday this week there is a performance of the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which includes a director’s commentary / Q&A session about interpreting and re-imaging the original gothic novella Robert Louis Stevenson for the stage.

Students will be asked if they would like to attend based on their HoWLs in drama sessions, and families will be informed tomorrow if you child will be attending.

The performance takes place on Wednesday 17th Jan in the afternoon. We will be travelling by minibus to and from the venue at Sunderland College and should be back in school for around 4.30pm. We will update the website with an arrival time on Wednesday afternoon.

SLC Preparation

G30 and G29 students will continue with their preparations for their Student-Led Conferences. Please can all G29 families ensure that they have completed this Google Form to help your child to prepare for the conference.

We invest a lot of time in giving students opportunities to reflect upon their learning and growth. A significant amount of Crew time is devoted to this in the run-up to SLCs. Please do ask your child about how their preparation is going.

We look forward to seeing you in the fortnight commencing January 29th. All families should now have received details of how to sign up for an SLC slot with the exception of Miss Diamond’s Crew – Miss Diamond is not in school during the weeks of SLC so more details for those families will follow this week.

Clubs and Extended Study

Clubs and supervised Extended Study sessions after school return this week. Here is our offer:

This week also sees the return of the regular setting of Extended Study work for students to complete using their iPads.

It is important that students get into good habits around extended study. Studies have shown that this has a positive impact on student progress, on average (+ 5 months), particularly with pupils in secondary schools. We recognise that it is not always possible for students (or staff) to have a quiet working space at home which is why we offer a space to work in school from 3.30-4.30pm Monday-Thursday. 

Our full rationale for Extended Study can be found here.

The two tables above are worth sticking to the fridge or saving as a screenshot on a device for quick reference!

PE this week

• G30 have PE on Monday.
• G29 have PE on Wednesday.
• G28 Class 1 have PE on Thursday. Due to the staff day, G28 Class 2 do not have PE this week. We will look to rebalance this in a later week.

Staff Days on Friday 19th and Monday 22nd January

This half-term’s staff days fall this week and next on Friday and Monday. Friday sees all staff heading to Doncaster for a focus on our teaching and learning model, and on Monday we will be working on school priorities as part of our ongoing school improvement plan.

Dear Families

Happy 2024! We hope you have had a great Christmas and a safe and restful New Year. 

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

Here’s some reminders to get a good start to term…

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 

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, 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

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

There will be no extended study or after school clubs running this week. After school sessions will all start again next week.

New Term – New Expeditions

A new term means new and exciting expeditions for our students. Immersion takes 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. 

Curriculum Updates 

There are some curriculum changes which continue to give our students a breadth and depth of experience at key stage 3. 

G30 are studying two new expeditions. As part of their studies for their new HUMAN and ARTS expedition, they will also be continuing with drama with a new text and also studying computer science to help them to organise and analyse data from an expert and learn to code.

G30 will also have a new STEAM expedition which will include some food technology and a really great final product that will have an impact on our local community.

G29 are studying one new expedition that combines HUMAN, STEAM and ARTS. This will include some really challenging drama and music, both of which will be instrumental to their final product and presentation of learning.

G28’s new expedition is a combined HUMAN, STEAM and ARTS expedition which will last into the Summer term as a 16-week expedition. This will include a challenging Presentation of Learning in school, and will pull together and build on learning from across Year 7 and 8.

G28 students will also be getting a greater insight into careers and guidance to start considering future decisions. We will also launch our KS4 curriculum offer with year 9 students and their families this term.

Student-Led Conferences G29 and G30

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 HoWLs (Habits of Work and Learning) and AP grades (Academic Progress). They will also share their progress around pledges set last term with you during the SLC and you will be able to ask questions around these. 

SLCs for G29 and G30 will take place this term in the two weeks commencing 29th January. In the coming weeks you will receive an SLC invite from your son or daughter’s crew leader.  

Passage Presentations G28 

Our Y9 students will give passage presentations in March.  Passage presentations are an opportunity for students to reflect on their learning and their readiness to move on to the next phase of their education. G28 students will provide evidence to an audience of family, Crew Leader and an XPG invited guest to demonstrate that they are ready to start their GCSE journey. 

In the coming weeks you will hear more about passage presentations from your son or daughter as they start preparing for this key passage at XPG.

Staff Days

A reminder that we have two staff development days this half term; Friday 19th and Monday 22nd January. As normal, students are not expected to be in school on these days.

 

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

Principal

XP Gateshead

Dear Families

What a final week of term we have had! Our students have continued to work hard and produce work of the highest quality and we couldn’t be prouder of them.

G30 ‘From the Ground Up’ Presentation of Learning – St Mary’s Church in Heworth

On Monday our Year 7 students took centre stage at St Mary’s Church in Heworth for their first presentation of learning. They really stepped up to the challenge;  sharing their work from this term’s expedition ‘From the Ground Up’ with the GQ: ‘What do the communities of NE England owe to the miners?’. It was difficult to believe that G30 students have been with us less than 4 months watching them share such high quality learning with eloquence and confidence. The quality of their script, songwriting, drama performance and art work along with the variety of inputs made for a culturally rich evening. 

G30’s final product will be a CD of the folk songs they have written. We will be recording this early next term so it will be ready for sales at the Miner’s Gala in the Summer term where we hope to see our students perform their songs to a larger audience. A huge well done to all of the staff and students who worked on this expedition – a stunning achievement and our first XPG music CD!

Here is just some of the feedback we have received from families who attended the evening:

I’m so proud of their confidence to stand up and talk about their learning.

Ten out of ten! Keep doing what you are doing.

I praise how confident the children were about the mines and miners, fantastic production. The children really went into great levels of description on the mining – it was really interesting.

The songs the children wrote were so thoughtful, they did an amazing job.

 

G29 ‘Being Human’ Presentation of Learning – XP Gateshead

On Tuesday, it was G29’s time to shine at their presentation of learning, where they answered the GQ:  ‘What does it mean to be human?’. The evening was in several parts:

• a public lecture with students presenting excerpts from their speeches responding to the guiding question
• a marketplace table discussion where students shared their individual learning journeys and work from this expedition
• …and finally, an unveiling of the final artwork which promotes organ donation. This will move to its permanent home at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead early next year.

Year 8 definitely stepped up! Listening to their responses to the guiding question and the learning they have experienced over this expedition was a privilege. It was especially impressive to see Year 8 students presenting to other parents for the first time. This is an important step up for them in terms of developing character and confidence.

Here are some of the quotes from our families:

Amazing to see the young people presenting so eloquently and with confidence.

It is so good to see the development from Year 7 to Year 8. So confident and informed. It is lovely to see students researching diversity and difference and the impact on society alongside their place and responsibility for this.

Great depth of knowledge and confidence, articulating that in a meaningful way to parents/carers.

I learned that everyone has their own interpretation of what is means to be human, and this is OK as it is a subjective topic.

G28 Charity work 

December has been a busy month of charity events. Thank you to all who have supported these events. Look out for updates from our Y9 Crews on how much they have raised with their charity work this term.

G29/G30 Community Support

We finished our term today visiting our neighbours delivering crew hampers put together by our Year 7 and Year 8 students. Our crews have spent time putting together hampers for the residents of the bungalows on Swards Road and Colepeth, sharing some of their beautiful work and treats for Christmas as a thank you to our neighbours. It was wonderful to see students get real pride from their acts of kindness and the joy they gave others.

So, a wonderful ending to a great term. 

I’d like to thank all of our wonderful staff who work relentlessly to support our students – we have a great staff crew at XP Gateshead. Our thanks also goes to Gateshead teams who support our work at XPG especially Suzanne, Cheryl and Michelle who keep us nourished, Carol, Karen, Jan and Marie who work hard to keep our school environment clean and tidy. 

Thanks also to you, our families, for all of your ongoing support. We couldn’t do what we do without this.

And the final one goes to our wonderful students who continue to shine, doing more than they thought possible and supporting each other to get to the top of the mountain.

Wishing you all a very happy festive season. We return on Monday 8th January at the normal time.

Julie Mosley

Principal

Dear Families

As we come to the end of term, we celebrate our expedition work with Presentations of Learning where our students publicly share their final products and answers to their guiding questions with an audience of peers, staff, families and invited guests.

Last week was the chance for our G28 students to share their work from this term’s expedition with the GQ: How are structures important in helping us to explain our world?. We also took the opportunity to premiere the film produced in last term’s expedition: Should I stay or should I go? We returned to Newcastle University where our students also got the opportunity of a campus tour and time with a student, Mary and Isaac  from ‘The 93% Club’ who shared their experience of attending University. What made it even more special was that Mary was one of XP Doncaster’s pioneer students! 

Our students took over the Farrell Centre at Newcastle University creating a living expedition over three floors! They shared their knowledge around art and architecture, atomic structures in science, including isotopes and radiation, structures in government and society and made connections to the anchor text for this expedition, Lord of the Flies. Standing back and listening to our students ‘lead the learning’ in every sense of the word was simply stunning and we all could not have been prouder of G28. 

The film premiere of ‘Should I stay or should I go’ (GQ: Is migration worth the risk?)  at the Herschel Lecture Theatre was another moment of real pride and an  emotional experience for students, staff and families alike.

Here is just some of the feedback we have received from families who attended the evening:

“I was really blown away by the young people at the PoL on 14 December at Newcastle University. There is an obvious pride and enthusiasm for their work, and they were not fazed in the slightest at talking to family members and visitors. Their knowledge and understanding of the subjects showed real depth of learning, and I could not have been more impressed. It’s almost impossible to get my child to tell me about his day, yet when he was there and given responsibility he didn’t come up for air.”

“Special mention to the young man who was talking about brutalist architecture by the bottom of the stairs to the top level. He has a brilliant future.”

“I wholeheartedly agree with taking the students to a university so they know what it is like and recognise it as a place for them too. I was the first in my family to go to Uni (Newcastle) and did not have a clue what to expect, and if I am honest it was a culture shock.  I also suspect that these visits benefit families that did not have these opportunities, to put them at ease and encourage their children to consider higher education.”

“Outstanding performance from G28! Such hard work, determination and knowledge shown in so many creative ways. A credit to all of them! Well done staff as well for inspiring!”

“Another amazing PoL from G28. The film the kids produced was amazing, they should be so proud, and such a relevant work. Talking to the kids about all their work was unreal as well, learning all about the Byker wall from a student was amazing. I love the piece of Art that the kids created. It needs a permanent home somewhere.”

“Blown away by our amazing kids once again. Great night at Newcastle University with G28 and a sneak peek for Evie (G30) for the future. The depth of knowledge these kids have and the way they present is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. The film in particular was stunning and gave real insight. Brilliant night! Well done everyone and thank you amazing staff.”

“Wow wow wow! Another amazing PoL from G28 the knowledge, presentation and confidence you all showed this evening was outstanding. The bonus was the film you all have had a hand in making you should all be proud of yourselves.”

We owe a huge thanks to all of the people who supported us and gave our students another opportunity to spend time at Newcastle University – Professor David Leat and his Masters in Education students, Mary Waring (former XP Doncaster student)  and Isaac Biddle from the 93% Club, Lorna Burn and all of the team at the Farrell Centre.

Our week ahead 

No Extended Study or after school clubs

This is due to the Presentations of Learning and Christmas events taking place this week.

PE sessions this week

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

• All G30 students (Year 7) have PE on Tuesday this week.
• All G29 students (Year 8) have PE on Wednesday this week.
• All G28 students (Year 9 )have PE on Thursday this week.

Presentations of Learning this week

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.

Students should dress smartly for these occasions.

G30 Presentation of Learning – Monday 18th December at St Mary’s Church in Heworth at 6pm.

G30 will be presenting their learning from their first expedition – What do the communities of NE England owe to the miners?

More information can be found here.

G29 Presentation of Learning – Tuesday 19th December at at XP Gateshead at 6pm.

G29 will be presenting their learning  from their current expedition – What does it mean to be human?

More information can be found here.

And finally…

Christmas events this week:

• Christmas Party event from Crew Angelou, Wednesday 20th December 4:30-6:30pm. Tickets are on sale tomorrow for £1.50.
• XPG Christmas Lunch will take place on Thursday 21st December
• Crew Franks’ Christmas Raffle in support of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation continues this week with tickets sold up until Thursday 21st December. Thank you to all who have bought tickets to support the raffle so far.

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].

Julie Mosley

Dear Families

It’s been another busy and productive week at XPGateshead. 

In these final weeks of term, rather than wind down, our students  step up in their work and dedication to craftsmanship and quality. They are working hard on their expedition’s final products, responses to their guiding questions and preparing for upcoming Presentations of Learning. This brings lots of challenges as you can imagine but I am so proud of the courage, determination and resilience shown by our students and staff on a daily basis.

This week’s Crew Day gave staff and students the opportunity to ‘tend to’ crew. Returning to agreed crew norms, developing team work, crew identity and wellbeing is key to our continued success. ‘If we get crew right, we get everything’ right at XPG, so it is vital we take the time to ‘cultivate crew’.

G30 students worked to research suitable people after whom to name their crews – people who have achieved great things and who display our character traits. Over the next couple of weeks, they will present their proposals to each other and vote for the person they want as their crew namesake. 

G29 started their work on looking at which charity their crew would like to support. Students put together their proposals and have started pitching their choice of charity. This work will be completed over the next couple of weeks and each Y8 crew will have elected a charity to support as part of their activism work.

Both G29 and G30 crews are also putting together hampers for our local community to introduce their crew, share some of their beautiful work and give a greater insight into the work we do at XPG. Hampers will also include some Christmas treats.

Our G28 students continued their activism work, looking at their strategic plans for charity work for this year which includes raising awareness of their charity. 

Our G28 pioneers also got a chance to try out our new Food Technology room as part of their crew day too which was really exciting. A huge thank you to Pamela Tatters who spent the day working with each crew training staff and students on the health and safety requirements in a kitchen alongside how to make flapjacks, shortbread and chocolate brownies. Our students had a fantastic session and their baked goods were delicious.

As part of our Christmas season, Crew Stanton ran a Christmas movie night on Thursday raising money for Tiny Lives charity. It was a great success thanks to the hard work and dedication of the whole crew.

Our next Christmas social event will be brought to us from Crew Angelou in support of their elected charity Young Minds. They are planning a Christmas Party to take place on Wednesday  20th December. Please see their website posts for more details.

 

Our week ahead 

Extended Study and Clubs

Our school offer of extended study and clubs will run Monday to Wednesday. On Thursday there will be no after school extended study or clubs due to the G28 Presentation of Learning.

PE sessions this week

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

• All G30 students (Year 7) have PE on Monday this week.
• All G29 students (Year 8) have PE on Wednesday this week.
• All G28 students (Year 9) have PE on Friday this week.

G28 Presentation of Learning –  Thursday 14th December, Newcastle University 6pm – 7:30pm.

How are structures important in helping us to explain our world? 

The evening will be in two parts:

G28 will be presenting their final product from last term’s expedition ‘Should I stay or should I go?’. This is a film made by our students which tells the stories of people who have migrated to or from the UK. This will take place at the Herschel Lecture Theatre in Newcastle University (where the PoL for ‘Do your bit’ took place in Y7).

G28 will also be presenting their learning from their current expedition at the Farrell Centre on Claremont Road.

Year 9 is an important year for students as they further consider pathways through education and training.

As you know, being on a pathway to university-readiness is an aim for all of our students. All young people must now remain in education or training until they are 18 years old. At XP Gateshead, we believe that university-level education is something that all children should consider regardless of their background.

As such, we have planned for part of the afternoon on Thursday to include a university experience including a campus tour and an insight into life as a university student.

See our separate post here for more details.

 

Looking ahead 

Presentations of Learning

We will be putting out separate posts with more information on these events for Year 7 and Year 8 tomorrow.

G30 – What do the communities of NE England owe to the miners?

• G30 will be presenting their learning on the evening of Monday 18th December at St Mary’s Church in Heworth at 6pm.

G29 – What does it mean to be human?

• G29 will be presenting their learning on the evening of Tuesday 19th December at XP Gateshead at 6pm.

 

Christmas Events

Christmas Party event

This has been organised by Crew Angelou as part of their charity work –  Wednesday 20th December 4:30-6:30pm.

XPG Christmas Lunch

This will take place on Thursday 21st December

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].

Julie Mosley

Principal, XP Gateshead

Dear Families

Hard work has continued as always in school this week. In crew, students have been working on their pledges around improving their HoWLs and academic performance. You will receive your child’s snapshot next week and your child will share their pledges with you so that you can see which areas they are targeting for improvement over the coming months.

Craftsmanship and quality is high on our agenda with Presentations of Learning for G28, G29 and G30 in the final two weeks of term. Our students will be working hard on their final products and preparing their responses to the guiding questions that they have been exploring all term. We cannot wait for them to share their beautiful work with you and know that, as always, they will impress with their compassion in supporting each other in the coming weeks, and the courage they will show when presenting their learning to the community. 

On Tuesday G30 students enjoyed working with our expert singer songwriter  Joe Solo on their folksongs which they will perform as part of their final product.

   

 

As you know, Mr Devitt graduated on Friday. Crew Parks gave him a great send off as he left site on Friday to attend his graduation ceremony with an impromptu guard of honour. 

Our week ahead 

Extended Study and Clubs

Our full after school offer is available this week with extended study and clubs running. 

PE sessions this week

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

All G30 students (Year 7) have PE on Monday this week.

All G29 students (Year 8) have PE on Wednesday this week.

For G28 students (Year 9)

• G28 Class 2 students have PE on Tuesday and Friday this week. This is to account for the session that was missed due to a staff day.
• Due to the Crew Day this week on Thursday, G28 Class 1 students will have an extra session of PE in a future week to accommodate this.

Crew Day – Thursday 7th December

Every term, we look to run a Crew Day which is an opportunity to ‘tend’ to crew and culture. Crew is our support network at XPG and key to the continued success of everyone at our school, we will revisit what it means to be crew and our responsibilities in getting everyone to the top of the mountain.

On Thursday, students will work with their crew and Crew Leader for the day developing their teamwork, crew identity and wellbeing.

In this week’s Crew Day:

G30 students will start their work on 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.

G29 will start their work on  looking at which charity they want to support. Students will be putting together their proposals and pitching to the rest of their crew their choice of charity.

G28 will continue their activism work, the awareness raising and charity work they are planning to carry out this academic year. 

Presentations of Learning – a reminder of dates for your diary

G28 – How are structures important in helping us to explain our world? 

G28 will be presenting their learning on the evening of Thursday 14th December in Newcastle. The venue for this is Newcastle University, with part of the evening being held in the Herschel Building Lecture Theatre – where we held our Do Your Bit PoL in Year 7. The other half of the evening will be in the Farrell Centre which is nearby on Claremont Road. We anticipate that the evening will start at 6pm and finish at around 7.30pm. More details to follow on which building to go to first.

G30 – What do the communities of NE England owe to the miners?

G30 will be presenting their learning on the evening of Monday 18th December at St Mary’s Church in Heworth at 6pm-7.30pm.

G29 – What does it mean to be human?

G29 will be presenting their learning on the evening of Tuesday 19th December at XP Gateshead at 6pm-7.30pm.

A reminder that on these evenings, students remain in school to rehearse and polish their presentations. For the events that take place outside of school, we will transport students to the venues. Families are then asked to take students home directly from the venue.

Public speaking and sharing of learning through PoLs are an important element of our school model, and so it is vital that every student has someone from their family that is able to attend and support them in developing their character and demonstrating their academic learning.

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].

Julie Mosley

Principal, XP Gateshead