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

Dear Families

We hope you have enjoyed your long weekend break, our staff have all been really busy at XP Gateshead planning our curriculum and next term’s expeditions. As you can imagine, there is a huge amount of time and effort spent on planning and preparing for our expeditions which include immersion, work with experts, fieldwork opportunities, guiding questions, anchor texts, high quality final products and presentations of learning. 

Thank you to all G28 families who have attended SLCs over the last two weeks. It has been great to read your exit tickets and see how proud you have been of your children who, once again, have stepped up to the challenge of presenting their work to you, sharing their progress and plans for next step development. We look forward to January now when we will have our next round of SLCs for G29 and G30 students. In advance of this we will have updated snapshots to share with you in the w/c 18th December.

Our week ahead 

Experts in school this week

G30 students will be working with our expert composer Joe Solo turning their mining community interviews into folksong.

Extended Study and Clubs

Our full after school offer is available this week with extended study and clubs running on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. 

Congratulations to Mr Devitt

As you may know, last year Mr Devitt was training in school to gain his full teaching qualification. Mr Devitt has his graduation ceremony this Friday. I know you will join us in congratulating Mr Devitt. We look forward to sharing pictures of Mr Devitt in his full academic gown and mortar board!

PE sessions this week

Due to our staff days and the above, G28 and G30 students will not have PE this week. We will look to rebalance this in a future week.

All G29 students (Year 8) have PE on Wednesday this week. Please ensure that your child has their  full PE kit.

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

Last week was another busy week for us at XP Gateshead. On Monday students were given the opportunity to listen to our remembrance broadcast on Memory Lane Radio. If you have not yet done so, please take some to listen to this wonderful piece of work from G29.

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

This week G30 students have interviewed more experts from the mining community: Alan Cummings, MP Ian Lavery, Jean Spence & Norman Strike, each with different perspectives on the turbulent times of the 1984 Miners’ Strike and our guiding question.

Students will continue to work with these interviews to turn them into folksong next week with our expert composer Joe Solo who will be working alongside the students to hone their work ready for their Presentation of Learning on the evening of Monday 18th December at St Mary’s Church in Heworth.

G29 – What does it mean to be human?

This week, students have begun to turn more of their attention towards their final product and how we can promote organ donation through our artwork and responses to the guiding question. Andrew Lowes, consultant in anaesthetics and intensive care and clinical lead in organ donation for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital talked to our students about the importance of organ donation and therefore how important their work will be in saving lives in the future. We were also thankful to have Prahalad Nadella in school to talk to students about how Hindu teachings and beliefs contribute to his view on what it means to be human. You will be able to see a temporary installation of the artwork and hear our students; speeches in response to the guiding question at their Presentation of Learning on the evening of Tuesday 19th December at XP Gateshead.

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

As well as their ongoing work to prepare for and host their SLCs, G28 students have been continuing in their studies of the structure of the atom, including reactivity, isotopes and radiation. Another area of study has been structures in government and society, with students making connections to our anchor text Lord of the Flies. On Friday students spent time preparing for a visit from Alice Wiseman – Director of Public Health for Gateshead who will talk to students about the structures that gave rise to the local response to the pandemic as well as the potential for careers in health. On the subject of careers, G29 students will also have some workshops with SOS connected to our school Climate Action Plan. The workshops this week will focus on Green Careers, an important and growing sector in the Local and National Labour Market.

G28 will be presenting their learning on the evening of Thursday 14th December. We should be able to confirm the venue for this event this week, once some final details have been arranged.

Climate Action Plan Launch

Congratulations to our Climate Action Plan Student Leaders from Year 7: Isaac, Elina, Molly, Freya & James; from Year 8: Reuben S; from Year 9: Hannah, Charlie, Harris &  Evan.

This group of students will be taking feedback from all students across the year to help develop a plan for how our school can be more sustainable.

Our week ahead 

Flu immunisations on Monday

Tomorrow morning nurses will be in school to administer flu vaccinations across all year groups for those students that have been given permission. These should be completed by lunchtime.

G28 Student Led Conferences

For the second week,  our Year 9 students will be presenting their SLC to families. 

Experts in school this week

As mentioned above G28 have Alice Wiseman in school tomorrow morning for their expedition. G28 also have their Careers workshops on Thursday.

On Tuesday, G29 will have experts on organ donation in school, some of whom have direct experience of the life changing impact of donation.

Staff Day on Friday this week and Monday of next week

We have a staff day this coming Friday. The focus for these staff days are forward planning, especially our exciting new learning expeditions for term 2 from January. Students are not expected to be in school on Friday and can work on their accelerated reader programme and any extended study – details of which are on Google Classroom.

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 1 students have PE on Thursday this week.
  • G28 Class 2 students would normally have PE on Friday this week but are not in school. We will look to rebalance this in a future week.

Extended Study and Clubs

Like last week, there are some changes to our clubs this week due to SLCs.

This mostly impacts on Thursday’s after school offer; there will be no Nature Club, Geography Club or Multi Sports due to G28 Crew Leaders taking part in SLCs.

Our new dance, multi sports and robotics clubs after school on Wednesdays and Thursdays continue.

If your child attends a sports club, they will need a full PE kit. For dance sessions, students can wear leggings, loose T-shirts and must be in socks or bare feet rather than trainers.

Remember, 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 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

What a great first week back it has been! Our students have returned well and quickly got back into the swing of things, working hard and enjoying the great learning opportunities they have had this week. We’ve had some amazing expert sessions in and outside of school which continue to feed into current expedition work around student response to their guiding questions.

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

Our year 7 students have worked with several experts this week. On Monday they worked with Alfie Joey who discussed how growing up in a mining community has coloured his life and what he thinks our communities owe to the miners. On Tuesday they worked with Mel and Geoff from our Comms team, respective experts in journalism and podcasting to prepare them for more interviewing members of the mining community. Students will take these stories and turn them into folksong.

On Thursday students went to St Mary’s Church, Heworth where they met with Reverend Lucy to learn more about the connection between the church and the Felling Pit Disaster and to see where they will carry out their presentation of learning in December.

G29 – What does it mean to be human?

This week Year 8 students carried out fieldwork at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Sheriff Hill. This fieldwork connected to the work students have been studying in STEAM sessions on gas exchange and circulatory  systems. Students enjoyed hands-on sessions  in the Respiratory Simulation Room and met the clinical lead for organ donation. They also got the chance to see the area where their final art product will be exhibited.

There has been some stunning artwork this week too from students, which will go towards the final product promoting organ donation in Gateshead Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

   

Climate Action Plan Launch

On Friday, all students met virtually with colleagues from SOS (Students Organising for Sustainability). SOS will be running workshops with all students across the year around their four foci:

• Decarbonisation (Year 9)
• Green careers (Year 9) 
• Adaptation and resilience (Year 8)
• Biodiversity (Year 7)

For example, soon Year 9 students will work on Energy Auditing our current building to determine how efficient it is, and make recommendations on their findings.

As a result of these workshops, a group of student leaders will develop a Climate Action Plan for our school. Students can apply to be part of this leadership group by clicking here. This will be shared with them through student notices too.

G29’s stunning Memory Lane Radio broadcast 

I think that the  biggest highlight of our week though must be our G29 radio  broadcast of unheard voices from WWI. This was played on Memory Lane Radio on Saturday 11th November at 11am as part of their Armistice Day programme. Listening to the beautiful voices and words of our students was simply stunning, their writing was powerful and really emotive. If you didn’t get the chance to tune in on Saturday, here is the recording:

I highly recommend you sit back and enjoy 30 minutes listening to their really important work. Well done to all students and staff involved in this piece of work.

Our week ahead 

G28 Student Led Conferences

This week and next, our Year 9 students will be presenting their SLC to families. 

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 1 students have PE on Thursday this week.
• G28 Class 2 students have PE on Friday this week.

Extended Study and Clubs

There are some changes to our clubs this week due to SLCs (see the schedule below). We are really pleased to add a further two sports clubs on Wednesdays where we will be working with external providers.

If your child attends a sports club, they will need a full PE kit. For dance sessions, students can wear leggings, loose T-shirts and must be in socks or bare feet rather than trainers.

Remember, 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 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

Welcome back after what I hope has been a restful and safe half term holiday.

We are looking forward to seeing all of our students again, raring to go and ready to continue their hard work on current expeditions.

As always, a return to school gives us all the opportunity to make a strong start in terms of getting into good habits and being organised. I would like to remind everyone of the importance of punctuality, attendance and being fully prepared for learning and ask for your support in this to make sure that all of our students are getting it right.

This week G28 parents will receive invites to upcoming SLCs. G29 and G30 students will finalise their studies in the part of our curriculum called “leading our own learning”. This is an hour each week on Thursday mornings where students can consolidate their learning if needed in literacy/numeracy or stretch themselves by following interests or skills. Our offer includes:

• Targeted Support* – Literacy, Numeracy, Life Skills
• Mandarin
• Fitness
• Creative writing
• Personalised research with a focus on ethics and worldviews or STEM.
• Art across time
• Theatre

If your child is in Year 7 or Year 8, please talk to them about what they are considering or feel that they need to become the best version of themselves.

Punctuality

All students need to be in school for an 8.30am start so they must arrive by 8.25am at the latest. A minority of students were regularly late for school last half term which impacted on the learning of others (staff and students). Please talk to your child about their punctuality and ensure that they are arriving on time every day. 

Attendance

At XPG we celebrate attendance and will support those students and families who need to improve their attendance. The snapshots shared with you last half term included attendance information and Crew Leaders will be talking with students and their families  about how important attendance is to academic achievement and success in school.

As you may have seen in the news over recent months, school attendance continues to be a concern across the country. At XPG, we were really proud of our attendance last year with attendance figures higher than local and national. There is no doubt that this was down to the hard work of all – students, parents/carers, Crew Leaders and our inclusion team. 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. 

In the winter months we are all more susceptible to mild respiratory illnesses including general cold symptoms. It is usually appropriate for parents and carers to send their children to school at these times but it can be tricky making these decisions. The following NHS guidance includes information which may be useful – NHS ‘Is my child too ill for school?’ guidance.

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

Being organised

As always, students need to bring a school bag every day with the following items. Please make sure your son/daughter is fully equipped for learning and contact us if there are any problems.

• A filled water bottle
• Pencil case including: pens, pencils, ruler, eraser and pencil sharpener
• A fully charged iPad (80%+)
• Headphones – ideally not expensive ones
• A healthy snack for break (no confectionery (sweets), fizzy drinks or energy drinks, nut products)
• A notebook
• A reading book (e-reader book, school library book or book from home)

Our week ahead 

Working with experts and fieldwork

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

Students will this week learn from an expert journalist to prepare them for interviewing members of the mining community. They will also work with a musician to help them to prepare for the writing of folk songs to honour these stories.

G30 students are also carrying out fieldwork to St Mary’s Church at Heworth to see the location of their PoL and also to see the site where their information and artwork boards honouring the Felling Pit Disaster will be located and hear from Reverend Lucy about the close relationship the church has to the disaster. Students will be walking to and from the site so will need to be prepared for the weather. They do not require a packed lunch as they will return to school for normal lunchtime.

G29 – What does it mean to be human?

Students will hear from members of the humanist community to hear their perspective on what it means to be human.

G29 Students are also carrying out fieldwork at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital connected to their studies in Science around organ systems in the human body. They will also meet our contact at the hospital who has commissioned their final product: artwork which promotes organ donation.  More details on this fieldwork can be found here. 

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 1 students have PE on Thursday this week.

   G28 Class 2 students have PE on Friday this week.

Extended Study and Clubs

Our clubs will all run this week (see schedule below) along with extended study sessions every day except Friday. If a student attends an after school club or extended study session they must attend the full sessions until 4:30pm. We are working with external providers to offer further sports sessions after school on Wednesdays and Thursdays and will update you as soon as we have more information.

G29 Remembrance Radio Broadcast 

We are extremely proud that the work of our G29 students from last year’s ‘Do Your Bit’ expedition,  “Why is it important that we honour all those that made sacrifices in WWI?” will be broadcast on Memory Radio as part of their Remembrance programming on 11th November. More details on how to listen will be shared in a separate post.

 

Like I have said at the start of this post, we are really looking forward to our next half term where we will be continuing to focus on our culture of beautiful work, character and academic success.

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

Welcome to the final week of this half term! 

It is hard to believe that we have only been together for 7 weeks having achieved so much!

The work of our Comms Team will bring this to light again this week when they return to XPG to install more new displays of our students from all three year groups. We are also hoping to agree final details for our external signage and look forward to the installation on site soon. 

There is more building work planned over the holidays as we get to the bottom of work required to ensure that our temporary space is of the high standard we need. Our huge thanks go out to the Gateshead teams who have continued to support us and the companies who have been contracted to carry out work on site. We are very lucky to be able to have the temporary space we have here at XP Gateshead.

G28 Crew Charity Events

This week saw the first of our Crew Charity events and Crew Stanton organised and ran a Halloween Disco for nearly 100 staff and students. They raised £245.81 for their chosen crew charity, Tiny Lives which is a charity in Newcastle that supports premature and unwell babies and their families. Our students loved the event with many dressing up for the occasion…

 

The night was a brilliant effort from everyone in Crew Stanton but I would like to praise standout work from Mason and Anya!

On Monday morning I will meet with representatives from all G28 crews to go through their plans for charity events in school this year.

G28 – How can structures help us to explain the world around us?

On Friday our local MP Ian Mearns worked with our G28 students as an expert for their current expedition. Our students had questions for Mr Mearns on Labour policy around social housing and also about his career as a politician.

Thomas Hepburn Memorial Service 2023

On Saturday 14th October some of our staff, students and families from G30 attended the annual memorial service for Thomas Hepburn at St Mary’s Church, Heworth. The service commemorates the life of Thomas Hepburn who spent his life working to improve the lives of miners and their families as well as being the founder of the Colliers United of Durham and Northumberland in 1825. 

It was a real honour to be invited to the ceremony where the acclaimed filmmaker, Ken Loach, spoke about Thomas Hepburn’s life and his fight for social justice as a leader of the first miners’ trade union. The service also featured readings from the local MP for Easington Grahame Morris, the Mayor of Gateshead, Cllr Eileen McMaster and the Reverend Lucy Moss. The Durham Miners Association Brass Band were wonderful and accompanied the service throughout.  Following the service, wreaths were laid at Thomas Hepburn’s grave and the Felling Banner group gave our students the great honour of laying their wreath.

Here’s a short film of the event made by Lonely Tower Film and Media.

Snapshots

Updated assessment information snapshots will be shared this week. For year 8 and year 9, these include HoWLs and academic progress. For Year 7 the first snapshot gives you an indication of HoWLs – we will put out a separate website post on Tuesday to help you to understand these snapshots.

Leaders of their Own Learning

Students in Year 7 and 8 have been considering how they can use our Thursday morning sessions to lead their own learning and become the best versions of themselves. Students have given us an initial indication of their preferences but please do discuss this at home. The sessions we have planned are:

• Targeted Support* – some students will be directed to these sessions
• Mandarin
• Fitness
• Creative writing
• Ethics and worldviews
• Personalised Research
• Art across time – learning about art history by making art
• Climate Action Plan
• Theatre – drama and performance
• French

These sessions will start on Thursday mornings after the half-term break.

Thursday morning sessions for Year 9 this year will have careers and Duke of Edinburgh as a focus.

Our week ahead 

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.

Extended Study and taster sessions for clubs

As usual, we offer extended study sessions, from 3:15pm – 4:30pm each day this week Monday-Thursday. 

Our taster sessions for clubs at lunchtimes and after school continue this week. Students will continue  trying some sessions to help with decisions on weekly clubs they will sign up to attend after the holidays.

Early closure this Friday

Don’t forget that that school finishes at the earlier time of 1.30pm this Friday. This is to allow us time to “degunge” and set up for the next half term. Please make arrangements to pick up your children at the school gate for 1.30pm this Friday. As always, please be conscientious of our neighbours if parking as it is always very busy when students all leave school at the same time.

We return to school on Monday 6th November 2023. 

G28 SLCs

Advance notice that Year 9 will be carrying out SLCs early in the next half-term in the fortnight commencing Monday 13th November. Crew Leaders will be in touch soon to give you the opportunity to book a slot.

 

Thank you for your continued support through this half term and we hope everyone has a good holiday. We are looking forward to the next half term where we will be continuing to focus on our culture of beautiful work, character and academic success. Students will be adding work to our “beautiful” work portfolios and getting ready for student-led conferences and presentations of learning which will be an opportunity for you to see some of the work your children have been doing – more on this later.

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