Dear Families

Again, it has been wonderful to see families in school this week for Student-led Conferences. We have another important week ahead as we welcome the newest members of our community into school for the first time. We have important fieldwork this week too so a very exciting week in store. More details on all of this can be found below.

A particular highlight of this week has been the culmination of our anchor text for G28 students. Connected to their guiding question “Is migration worth the risk?” students have been reading Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck as their anchor text. This week students created a courtroom in order to determine “Was Curly’s wife responsible for her own death?”. Students each put their case forward and then voted as a jury. Impressively some students were given the role to argue for a position against which they themselves were personally opposed. It was wonderful to see how invested students were in this process and how important the ideas of social justice and also how women have been presented in literature are to our students. Great job G28!

This week

It is such a bumper week that we have organised this week’s update around each day in the week ahead:

Monday 3rd July

TRANSITION DAY 1:

We welcome our Year 6 – G30 students to school together for the first time. G28 and G29 should arrive at the usual time. G30 students will arrive from 8.40am. It is likely to be busy in terms of traffic in front of our school at the start and end of the day, so please be conscientious when parking and ask your children to be especially careful when crossing the road.

G28 Fieldwork:

On Monday G28 students have fieldwork in Gateshead and Newcastle. Connected to their expedition on migration they are looking at sustainable energy solutions in Gateshead, and also evidence of the migrations and conquests that have happened within our region since the times of the Romans. More details including the kit needed for this fieldwork can be found here.

Extended Study:

There is an extended study after school on Monday to support students in preparing for assessments, however due to the transition days we are unable to offer clubs on Monday.

MHFA®:

Monday is the last of our MHFA® course for parents in this round. Again this is being delivered by Jane Nyberg with Miss Pegg in G3 after school.

Tuesday 4th July

TRANSITION DAY 2:

We welcome our Year 6 – G30 students to school again. G30 students will arrive from 8.40am. Again it will be busy in terms of traffic so safety is the number one consideration.

G29 Fieldwork:

On Tuesday G28 students have fieldwork in north Yorkshire. G29 students must be in school by 8am. Connected to their expedition with the GQ: “How does water shape our world?” they are testing a hypothesis on the observable differences in a river as it runs its course. More details including the kit needed for this fieldwork can be found here.

PE for G28:

PE sessions will take place on Tuesday this week for G28 as normal. Please make sure that Year 8 have full PE kit for Tuesday.

Extended Study:

There is an extended study after school on Tuesday to support students in preparing for assessments, however due to the transition days we are unable to offer clubs on Monday.

Wednesday 5th July

School is closed to students on Wednesday 5th July due to the strike action. Students should work on the revision tasks that will be set by teachers through Google Classroom in preparation for end of year assessments. There is no PE for G29 this week due to the strike action.

Thursday 6th July

On Thursday we will run a regular school day, including clubs and extended study after school.

Friday 7th July

School is closed to students on Friday 7th July due to the strike action. Students should work on the revision tasks that will be set by teachers through Google Classroom in preparation for end of year assessments. 

As you are aware, the NEU teachers union have balloted and agreed further strike action on Wednesday 5th and Friday 7th July.

We have continued to do our best to minimise disruption to your child’s  education during strike action. As a leadership team, we have covered sessions to allow the school to remain open. However, there is not the capacity to do this in these two instances. This means that we are not able to offer full provision to a single year group as we have in the past.

After discussions with relevant stakeholders and leaders at XP Trust, I am able to inform you that we will be closed to both Year 7 and Year 8 on Wednesday 5th and Friday 7th July. 

When students are not in school they can work independently on extended study tasks and ongoing revision for end of year assessments.

Dear Families

It’s been great to see families in school this week for Student-led Conferences. Our students continue to step up to the challenge of being ‘Leaders of their Own Learning’, sharing their work with their family, discussing their progress in terms of academic learning targets and HOWLs. Students are in charge of the SLC, they take the driving seat, learning to advocate for themselves and share the information that they feel best reflects their learning journey and the question ‘Am I moving to where I need to be?’. This is an important aspect of students leading their own learning.

It has been wonderful to see and hear the pride from families following SLCs, and to read feedback from parents:

“I just wanted to say thank you. My son has had a great year and is so much happier. You’ve given him confidence and I have watched him grow. It is an absolute pleasure to watch.

Please pass on my thanks to everyone, especially Mr Mead. My son’s love of all things Science is just shining through.”

“I really like the SLC process, empowering the students to take ownership of their own learning and being accountable for the positives and negatives within this.”

SLCs are graded against two aspects – quality of work and quality of presentation. Here is the rubric to assess our students, give feedback and areas for development for future SLCs.

As part of XP Trust monitoring and evaluation, we had an external school review last Thursday. This gave us the opportunity to see how we are doing and inform us of areas for development against the current Ofsted framework . It was a really positive experience for us, and the outcome was totally consistent with our school self-assessment which is a great baseline for our work moving forward. When we get the full written report, I will share further feedback with you.

During these staff days on Friday and tomorrow our staff team are continuing to work together, looking forward and planning new Autumn term expeditions for Y7, 8 and 9. As you can imagine, there are lots of elements to consider when planning expeditions – learning targets, assessment opportunities, case studies, experts, fieldwork, guiding texts, etc. All of this ensures that your children continue to get a great deal from our curriculum.

It wasn’t just our staff learning together on Friday, we had our first Youth Mental Health First Aid (MHFA®) course for parents. It was great to see parents working with Jane Nyberg – who has worked as a Mental Health Social Worker for over 30 years – to gain their Youth Mental Aware certificate. The training raises awareness of young people’s mental health and covers:

• Some of the common mental health issues affecting young people, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders and psychosis
• Understand some of the issues young people living with mental health issues may experience
• Ways to support young people with a mental health issue and relate to their experiences

We are offering two further face-to-face sessions – Monday 26th June pm and a twilight session on Monday 3rd July. Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions about this course.

This week

Staff Development Day – Monday 26th June

This is our final staff day of the year. As always, students are not expected to attend school.

Extended Study and after school clubs 

There are no Extended Study or after school clubs running this week and next week due to SLCs. 

PE sessions

PE sessions will take place on Tuesday for Year 7 and Wednesday for Year 8 students this week. Please make sure that your child has a full PE kit.

 

Looking Ahead:

G30 Transition

Our Transition Days for Year 6 children will now be on Monday 3rd and Tuesday 4th July. Our current G28 and G29 students will be involved in transition and will help us work to settle our new students into our school and our culture. Like last year, they will be key to the success of our transition.

G28 Fieldwork – Monday 3rd July

As part of answering their guiding question “Is migration worth the risk?” students have been studying climate change as a push factor for migrants, something that will become a greater issue in the decades to come. Students are learning about energy production, including renewables and fossil fuels. Students will visit Gateshead Energy Centre, a world-leading energy project which is an example of how innovations in technology and science can be part of the solution to reducing our carbon footprint. During this fieldwork students will also look at evidence along the quayside of the influence of other cultures in the architecture of buildings.

G29 Fieldwork – Tuesday 4th July

Students in Year 7 have the guiding question “How does water shape our world?”. Next week they will be carrying out an enquiry to address some important standards from Geography. Students will make predictions about what they would expect to happen to physical features of a river as it moves through its course. They will then take measurements of these features to test their hypothesis. 

More details on both pieces of fieldwork will come in separate posts this week. It is worth noting that for both, students will be out of school for the full day. So Year 8  will need a packed lunch on Monday 3rd July and Year 7 will need a packed lunch on Tuesday 4th July – students that normally have free school meals will be provided with a lunch.

Strike Action – Wednesday 5th and Friday 7th July

We will be posting important information regarding strike action on these days later today.

 

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

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Julie Mosley

Co-Principal

Dear Families

We’ve all been working hard this past week and our students have been focussed on their SLC preparation ready for upcoming conferences. You should now have booked an SLC slot. Please contact [email protected] if you have not had information on booking an SLC slot or are having any difficulties. 

Fieldwork and Year 7 Expedition – Hold back the river

Year 7 showed great character in their fieldwork this week. On Tuesday Bailey felt unwell on the coach and then pushed through for the rest of the day. On Wednesday all staff that accompanied the fieldwork came back full of praise for the way that Class 2 dealt with the problems with the coach. Most importantly, many of our students saw water voles which are an indicator of the health of the ecosystem, and all students have collected important data which will help the scientists at Durham Wildlife Trust to protect these wonderful creatures.

Year 7 have also started work on their 3D artwork which will be layered seascapes inspired by photographs of our local coastline, which students visited in previous fieldwork to Roker and Seaburn. Connected to their work on rivers, students are about to look at cases of flooding and will write informative articles which will be great practice for their final articles on conservation of oysters and water voles – all part of answering their guiding question: “How does water shape our world?”

Year 8 Expedition – Should I stay or should I go

Connected to their studies of migration and the guiding question “Is Migration Worth the Risk?”, this week a group of our student leaders for this expedition visited the Comfrey Project in Gateshead. Students learned about the work that the project does with people seeking asylum and refugees living in the north east. The organisation uses horticulture-based activities to help people to feel connected to and feel part of the local community – and will be an important partner in the remainder of this expedition.

Dress Code

Student voice is very important to us at XP Gateshead. Students have asked questions of our dress code in a community meeting, and have communicated that they would like more clarity and a voice in ensuring our dress code is as fair as is possible. Crews have each named a person that will join a working group on our dress code. Conversations will start this week. Of course we will keep you updated as parents before any changes are made to the guidance in our dress code.

This week

G29 Knife Crime Awareness Session

After a successful session with our Y8 students. John Ord from Northumbria Police Violence Reduction Unit will run a session for our Y7 students on the dangers of knife crime on Tuesday.

PE sessions

PE sessions will take place on Tuesday for Year 7 and Wednesday for Year 8 students this week. Please make sure that your child has full PE kit.

Extended Study and after school clubs 

There are no Extended Study or after school clubs running this week and next week due to SLCs. 

Staff Development Day – Friday 23rd June

We have a staff day this week where we will spend time on expedition planning. We will be looking at our first Autumn expeditions for G28, G29 and G30 and working together to plan assessments, case studies and fieldwork. As always, students are not expected to attend school.

Youth Mental Health First Aid (MHFA®) courses

On staff day, we welcome a group of parent learners on site for the first of our 3 MHFA courses. We have been delighted at the level of interest in this course, with 28 parents signed up. We are offering 3 separate face to face sessions – Friday 23rd June am, Monday 26th June pm and a twilight session on Monday 3rd July twilight. 

Moving forward, we would like to offer a learning opportunity each half term for parents and carers around pertinent concerns linked to teenagers. We are looking to bring in expertise from wider support agencies in Gateshead to make sure we are accessing all of the support on offer in our community.

Looking Ahead:

Staff Development Day – Monday 26th June

This will be our final staff development day of this academic year. Students are not expected to be in school on this day.

Strike Action

As you may be aware from news announcements this weekend, the NEU teachers union have balloted and agreed strike action on Wednesday 5th and Friday 7th July 2023. We will do our best to minimise disruption and will update you in due course.

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

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Julie Mosley

Co-Principal

Dear Families

It has been a busy first week back as usual and we have all quickly got back into working hard after the half term break. Our focus this term is ‘culture, culture, culture’ – making sure that we continue to build strong foundations which will support us as we grow and welcome new staff, students and families into our crew. The culture to ensure we build our character values, beautiful work and academic success.

Student-Led Conferences

Our students are working hard now preparing for their Student-Led Conferences which start next week.

You should now have booked an SLC slot. Please contact [email protected] if you have not had information on booking an SLC slot or are having any difficulties. 

To help your child prepare for their SLC, in their email to you they asked that you complete this short Google Form. This gives you the opportunity to ask any questions about your child’s progress which they will then address as part of their conference. This form should have been completed last week. If you have not already done so, please complete the form now so your child can be well prepared for their SLC.

G30 Transition

Last week we met our new G30 families for an In-Person Information Evening. It was great to meet parents and carers and welcome them to our school and go through key messages for a great start in August. Thank you already to our G28/29 crew who have been supporting our new parents with any questions they have on the facebook page ‘Parents of XP Gateshead’. You know exactly how it feels at this stage and the many things to consider around the transition from primary to secondary. We really appreciate your support and the reassurance you can give, especially around the importance and positive impact of the Outward Bound experience.

I’d like to give a shout out to  Jess B, Leon, Macie, Betsy, Will, Holly S and Lily for their stewardship on Wednesday. They stayed behind after extended study to help us set up for the evening, moving chairs and tables. Their compassion was much appreciated by myself, Ms Donlan, Miss Diamond and Mr Said.

G28 Expedition – “Is migration worth the risk?”

Students have this last week started to explore migration during the Tudor period and have learned from the work of Dr Miranda Kaufmann about people that came to England from Africa, including a musician – John Blanke –  in the court of Henry VIII. As well as reading more on their anchor text ‘Of Mice and Men’, they have also been learning more about climate change. This will connect to their studies on migration as students learn more about how climate and the need for more sustainable energy generation can be a push or pull factor which impacts on migration. We have some fieldwork connected to this planned – more information on this soon.

G29 Expedition – “How does water shape our world?”

Students have been learning about river processes in preparation for upcoming fieldwork where they will test a hypothesis about the differences that they would expect to see in a river at various points in its course. This fieldwork will be on July 4th – more information on this soon. They have also been continuing to learn about humans’ relationship with, and impact on ecosystems. This last week we were visited by experts from Durham Wildlife Trust who helped students prepare for their upcoming fieldwork this week. Students are learning about water voles as a river species that is an indicator of the health of the ecosystem. They will be out in the field this week alongside experts, collecting scientific data which will be used to determine next steps in protecting this important species. More details below.

Youth Mental Health First Aid (MHFA®) courses

Thank you to all parents/carers who have signed up to  attend a half day Youth Mental Health Aware training course (MHFA®). 28 parents have signed up for this course and we are able to offer 3 separate face to face sessions – Friday 23rd June am, Monday 26th June pm and Monday 3rd July twilight. Each course will run for 3.5 hours (including breaks) and has a maximum of 12 spaces. This week, we will email the parents who have signed up for the course with full details.

This week

G29 Fieldwork 13th and 14th June

On Tuesday 13th June (G29 class 1) and Wednesday 14th June (G29 class 2) students will undertake a day of Fieldwork at Killhope Lead Mine museum collecting scientific data to support Durham Wildlife Trust water vole project . This will help students to study the distribution of an important, yet declining species and see the impact of habitat quality has on their population. Please see Mr Mead’s post for full details on timings and required kit for the day.

Please discuss this fieldwork with your children and remind them of our expectations to show our character traits and habits of work and learning both inside and out of school. We are developing a good working relationship with the wildlife trust and want this to continue.

PE sessions

PE sessions will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday this week – however there are some changes due to the fieldwork. Please note the following and make sure that your child has full PE kit:

Tuesday PE sessions for Y7 Class 2 and Y8 Class 2

Wednesday PE sessions for Y7 Class 1 and Y8 Class 1

Extended Study and clubs

Extended Study and clubs are running after school this week. 

Looking Ahead:

There are no Extended Study or after school clubs running next week due to SLCs.

Staff Development Days – Friday 23rd June and Monday 26th June 2023.  Students are not expected to be in school on this day.

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

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Julie Mosley

Co-Principal

Dear Parents/Carers

Welcome back! I hope you and your family have enjoyed the half term break. We are really looking forward to welcoming our students back tomorrow for the start of our final half term at XP Gateshead.

Our usual reminders for a good start back…

Dress code

As always, we ask students and staff to dress appropriately and modestly. The vast majority of our students get this right every day but some of our students are making dress choices which are not appropriate and we have had to have conversations about what ‘modest’ means. I’m sure that you will agree when we say that we don’t want school to be a fashion show, we want our students to look like themselves and express who they are respectfully.

Our dress code states that

Dress should not be offensive, dirty, revealing, portray gang membership or sexualise the child. We should all be clean and hygienic and avoid overpowering perfumed products and the negative effect this has on others.

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

• Noticeable make-up, including false eyelashes

• Valuable, sentimental or impractical jewellery

• False nails 

• Impractical footwear including high heels, open-toed sandals etc

• Hats, hoods & coats inside school

• Revealing clothing, i.e. crop tops, transparent leggings or hot pants

This is not intended as an exhaustive list, but examples to illustrate how to dress appropriately. 

Students having difficulty with finding appropriate clothing for any reason should speak with their Crew leader.

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.  Good punctuality is an expectation in all future careers and we do expect our students to be here on time every day. We appreciate your support with this.

Daily kit list 

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

• A filled water bottle. This is a must for the start of every day especially in the warmer weather.
• Pencil case including: pens, pencils, ruler, eraser and pencil sharpener
• A fully charged iPad. This should be done at home so students are fully prepared for their day ahead.
• Their AR reading book (please remember that as part of our reading strategy, we expect all students to read between 20-30 mins. each day)
• Headphones 
• A healthy snack for break (no confectionery (sweets), fizzy drinks or energy drinks, nut products)
• A notebook

This week

We welcome our new staff to XP this week for the start of their 5 week induction with us. Just like our students, on their first day at XP, new staff go on an outdoor adventure where they work together to explore the meaning and purpose of Crew. The 4 day residential provides the opportunity for staff to share experiences, step out of their comfort zones and be comfortable sharing their vulnerabilities in a safe and supportive environment which aligns with the concept that, ‘if it’s good enough for our kids, it’s good enough for us.’

Family Meeting for G30 (New Year 7) parents

Our transition work with our new G30 students continues. We have now met nearly all of our new families online and visits to primary schools have started

On Wednesday 6th June at 6pm, we will hold a ‘Transition Information Meeting’ in school for our new parents to share our ethos, expectations, Outward Bound planning and IPad scheme.

PE sessions

Mr Devitt returns to XP Gateshead this week after a successful school placement as part of his training course. All PE sessions will take place on Friday this week  so students will need a PE kit on Friday. Next week, PE sessions will return to normal and all students will have 2 sessions of PE in school.

Extended Study and clubs

Extended Study and clubs are running after school this week. On Tuesday we have hula fitness, Wednesday is our robotics club and Thursday is Nature Club. There is no Rock School this week however.

Youth Mental Health First Aid (MHFA®) courses

Thank you to all parents/carers who responded to the post about the opportunity to attend a half day Youth Mental Health Aware training course (MHFA®). We have had a good interest in the course (a sign up of 25 so far) so we will be running several training sessions (during school time) to meet this demand. If you are interested and have yet to sign up, please complete this form by the end of Wednesday 7th June 2023. When we have all responses, we will contact parents directly with course dates and details.

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

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Julie Mosley

Co-Principal

Dear Families

Welcome to the final week of another half term. It looks like Summer is finally on its way and I hope you have enjoyed the sun this weekend.

This week has been a busy one again and our students have enjoyed some great learning experiences.

To celebrate National Numeracy Day on Wednesday, our Year 8 students undertook numeracy Crew Challenges. Miss Power had devised a great chocolate slab challenge which incorporated work covered this year on ratio, sequences and geometry. Crews were challenged with design, planning and making tasks which required high levels of cooperation and clear communication. 

As we say,’ if we get Crew right, we get everything right’ at XP so time to challenge ourselves  as a crew, develop our skills and take time to reflect on experiences is key to the ongoing success of Crew. 

In the words of Kurt Hahn: “We are crew, not passengers, strengthened by acts of consequential service to others” The culture of crew impels all members of a school community to work together as a team, to pitch in, to help others.

On Wednesday our G29 students enjoyed a day of fieldwork on the NorthEast coast. They worked with the Wild Oyster Project to gather data from crates where oysters are being bred. This data will help the scientists at the research station gather evidence for the importance of oysters as a keystone species. Students will be writing articles about the importance of oysters later in their expedition. In the other part of the fieldwork students carried out a survey of two contrasting beaches to see how the topography of each beach had impacted on the way that it was used by humans.

It is also worth noting the courage shown by our Year 8 students who got HPV vaccinations in school this week. Several of our students were concerned about injections but all supported each other and we had an incredibly successful vaccination session. The immunisation team were overwhelmed with the crew of staff and students at XPG and thought our school was a real pleasure to work in. I’d like to extend this thanks to parents too for all of your support around vaccinations.

This week

PE sessions

All students will have a PE session on Monday this week. To maximise time in each PE session, we ask that G28 (Year 8) come to school dressed in their PE kit on Monday so they are ready for a sharp start to the session. They will then be able to change into fresh clothes at the end of the session. G29 (Year 7) students will change to PE kit at the start of the session and will be able to wear this until the end of the day on Monday.

Young Carers drop-in  session

On Tuesday we welcome Charlotte Osgerby from Carers Trust, Tyne and Wear. Charlotte will  be available; at lunchtime to talk to our students and support our Young Carers at XPG.

G28 Knife Crime Awareness Session

On Wednesday, John Ord from Northumbria Police Violence Reduction Unit will run a session for our Y8 students on the dangers of knife crime.

Youth Mental Health First Aid (MHFA®) courses

One in six children aged five to 16 were identified as having a probable mental health problem in July 2021 (Youngminds website). As part of our commitment to supporting the wellbeing of our students, we would like to offer our parents/carers the opportunity to attend a half day Youth Mental Health Awareness training course.This course is certified by Mental Health First Aid England and would be fully funded by us (apart from session materials). Please look out for the website update coming later this week where you will be able to register your interest and preference on course dates in the Summer term.

G30 Transition 

We have enjoyed meeting many  of our new students and their families this week online. Family meetings will continue this week. As part of our transition, we are ready to start our visits to feeder primary schools. 

Half Term and 1:30pm finish on Friday 26th May

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

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Julie Mosley

Co-Principal

Dear Families

Last week was another shorter week of four days for us but as always, we covered a lot of learning at XP Gateshead. 

Assessment information snapshots

After seeing their updated snapshots, our students have highlighted areas of their work they want to improve. This may be around habits of work and learning (HOWLs) – work hard, get smart or be kind or academic performance. When walking around sessions last week and talking to students, it was great to hear them talk about the improvements they wanted to make and how this could look in sessions. I look forward to seeing their efforts and work to meet pledges in all sessions over the coming weeks.  

As parents, you will be receiving an email from your child later this week and they will share their current snapshots with you along with their reflections and pledges. They will also invite you to their last SLC (student led conference) of the year and give you further details about this.

Visitors to our school

We had a lot of visitors in school last week. We welcomed Chris Harte. Chris is Government & Academic Engagement Lead for Google Education. Chris was in the UK from Melbourne, Australia to attend the Education World Forum and of all the schools in the UK chose to visit ours. Chris was also interviewed by Y8 students for their current expedition on migration, and discussed with them his experience of migrating to Australia over 13 years ago.

We also interviewed candidates for Safeguarding and Attendance Lead this week. Visits to XPG always start with an ambassador tour from students. They introduce our school, talk about expeditions, Crew and share their work and the work of others. During interviews, a students panel always takes place as well as feedback from students after sessions if candidates have been asked to deliver a lesson or run a discussion group with our students. Our students are key stakeholders in all aspects of our work here at XPG so their voice is important. 

I wanted to share just some of the comments and feedback we received from visitors in school over the last week or so:

“I just wanted to send an email to thank you for your time today. I really appreciated your kindness, support and encouragement. In the time I spent with you I was able to see that XP Gateshead offers students a warm, personable environment in which they are at the heart of everything you do”

“I think your school is fantastic and the children are an absolute credit to the XPG. Would you pass on my thanks to those children involved in today’s interviews, and tell them to keep being their amazing selves”

“The depth of understanding students display when talking about their learning is stunning. Of all of the schools in the world that I have visited, this is where I would want to teach.”

“The maturity of how your students approach tasks is impressive – the quality of their questions, their listening skills and how they interpret information. It’s how they collaborate as a group, support and challenge each other’s thinking and as they told me,  ‘share the air’. “

Beautiful Work from Miss Powers

Staff, like students, are always learning at XP Gateshead and looking ‘up and out’ to develop their own practice and the practice of others. Bonny Power was successful this week in securing a place with the Great North Maths Hub as a Secondary Mathematics Specialist. This is a great opportunity for Bonny and XP to be involved in mathematics development at a regional and national level  – congratulations Bonny!

This week

PE sessions

As you know, Mr Currie will be covering PE sessions with our students whilst Mr Devitt continues his training placement in another secondary school. Sessions went well last week and students started a PE dance module. 

All students will have a PE session on Mondays until Mr Devitt returns. To maximise time in each PE session, we ask that G28 (Year 8) come to school dressed in their PE kit on Monday so they are ready for a sharp start to the session. They will then be able to change into fresh clothes at the end of the session. G29 (Year 7) students will change to PE kit at the start of the session and will be able to wear this until the end of the day on Monday.

Year 7 Fieldwork

Mr Mead has posted an update on our website about important fieldwork for Year 7 following the expert session students had on oysters as a keystone species.

G29 Students are carrying out fieldwork on Wednesday 17th May and need to be in school at 8.10am and are expected to be back in school between 4.00pm and 4.30pm. More details can be found in Mr Mead’s post here.

Extended Study and clubs 

Extended Study and clubs are running after school this week. On Tuesday we have hula fitness, Wednesday is our robotics club and Thursday is Nature Club and Rock School.

G30 Transition – Family Meetings

We look forward to meeting all of our new families over the next two weeks for their individual online meeting. This meeting will be a chance to get to know our new students and their families individually and share key information and our home school agreement. 

LGC Meeting

Our Local Governing Body (LGC) Summer meeting takes place this week on Thursday 18th May.

Looking Ahead:

Half Term and 1:30pm finish on Friday 26th May

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

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Julie Mosley

Co-Principal

Dear Parents/Carers

Here we are at the end of a second May Bank Holiday weekend. I hope you have enjoyed the additional family time over the past two weeks.

We have had lots of sponsor money collected over the past two weeks and we’re incredibly proud of the activism shown by our students. Our Year 7 Crew Day raised over £1200 for toilet twinning, which will install four sets of toilet blocks and clean water in villages in need. We have a similarly exciting announcement for you later in the week from Crew Frank about their fundraising for the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.  Thank you so much for your support!

Oyster Conservation

Our students continued to work hard in sessions last week and expeditions in each year group were well underway. G29 students enjoyed a fantastic expert session this week from the Wild Oyster Project. Students are carrying out conservation projects this term, collecting live data which will help scientists to protect both oysters and water voles. We will be giving more information soon on fieldwork to both oyster and water vole habitats.

Coronation Lunch

On Friday all of our students enjoyed a celebration picnic lunch to mark the Coronation. As usual, Suzanne and Cheryl pulled out all of the stops and we all enjoyed a great picnic lunch. 

Term Dates

Last week, after consultation with all stakeholders, we also made the decision to change some of our term dates for 2023/24 and 2024/25. Our term dates have been updated on our website and are as follows:

XP Trust Calendar 2023/24 Gateshead schools

XP Trust Calendar 2024/25 Gateshead schools

Please note that we are awaiting publication of Gateshead Local Authority’s 2025/26 dates for final confirmation of our 2025/26 dates.

As was said in the website post last week, thanks to everyone for using their voice and adding their contributions.

This week

PE sessions

As you know from last week’s post, Mr Currie will be covering PE sessions with our students whilst Mr Devitt continues his training placement in another secondary school. 

All students will have a PE session on Wednesday this week.

To maximise time in each PE session, we ask that G29 (Year 7) come to school dressed in their PE kit on Wednesday so they are ready for a sharp start to the session. They will then be able to change into fresh clothes at the end of the session. G28 (Year 8) students will change to PE kit at the start of the session and will be able to wear this until the end of the day on Wednesday.

Extended Study and clubs 

Extended Study and clubs are running after school this week. On Tuesday we have hula fitness, Wednesday is our robotics club and Thursday is Nature Club and Rock School (in lieu of Monday being a bank holiday).

Staffing Update

As you are aware, we have been advertising two vacancies  at XP Gateshead; a Safeguarding and Attendance Lead and a Learning Coach/Crew Leader. Interviews will take place on Thursday 11th May  for the Safeguarding and Attendance Lead. 

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

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Julie Mosley

Co-Principal

Dear Families

Our first case studies in our new expeditions started well last week.  On Monday, expedition guiding questions were revealed after much curiosity and speculation from our students. 

Our G28 students have one expedition this term, ‘Should I stay or should I go?’ with the  guiding question ‘Is migration worth the risk?’. Students will study push and pul factors of migration with specific case studies in India and using Of Mice of Men as an anchor text against the backdrop of the Great Depression in the USA. Students will also study energy production and how more sustainable processes can reduce forced migration, especially important as part of our curricular seam of the Climate Emergency. Students will interview migrants to hear and honour their stories as part of their final product for this expedition. More details in due course.

Our G29 students’ expedition is called ‘Hold back the river’ and has the guiding question, ‘How does water shape our world?’. In this cross-curricular expedition students will explore physical processes in rivers and coasts and the impact that this has on humanity. We will also look at the importance of rivers and coasts as habitats for species. Students will carry out important fieldwork, collecting live research data on oysters and water voles to help local conservationists to work out how better to protect these species and their habitats.

Transition for new students

Last week, we published our transition plans for our new G30 students and their families. 

As you know, we had a lot of applications for places this year and we are delighted to be welcoming the next cohort (G30) to our crew. We ask that you will support these new families too as they sign up to the ‘Parents of XP Gateshead’ facebook group. I’m sure you will remember what a big step starting secondary school felt like, so your friendly advice is most welcome.

Holiday dates consultation

Thank you to all who responded to the consultation on term dates put out on our website last week. Your comments gave a real insight into how families currently manage holidays and how having different term dates to other Gateshead schools affect our students. We will share our decisions for term dates 2023/24 and 2024/25 with you in the next week.

Beautiful work from Carol and Karen

We would like to congratulate our cleaners Carol and Karen who had an inspection last week and passed with flying colours. Their work was commended and they gained 100% in the grading. We are really lucky to have such a great support team at XP Gateshead who go over and above for our students and staff – true craftsmanship and quality!

This week

NEU Strike Action, Tuesday 2nd May – Y7 only in school.

When students are not in school they can work independently on extended study tasks. There will be extended study after school on Tuesday, but no sports due to the strike action.

PE sessions

Due to timetable changes and a shortened week, there are no PE sessions for students this week. 

Coronation Picnic, Friday 5th May

To mark the Coronation of His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen Consort we will be enjoying a picnic lunch on Friday, weather permitting. Our catering team, Suzanne and Cheryl, will be working their usual magic to make our lunch special. 

Looking Ahead:

Coronation Bank Holiday –  Monday 8th May.

School closed for all.

 

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

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Julie Mosley

Co-Principal