We would like to gather feedback from all of our families around future XPG term dates 2023/24 and 2024/25.
Please click here for more information about our consultation, and how you can give your views.
The deadline for responses is Friday 28th April.
What a great first week back we have had! Our students have settled back into school quickly and, as always, have impressed us with their HoWLs, character values and their engagement in learning.
This week has been immersion week for all of our students marking the start of our new Summer expeditions. Both G28 and G29 students have been puzzling over what their new guiding questions will be after 4 days of immersion this week.
As part of their new expedition G29 students have been learning about keystone species and carried out fieldwork in our local nature reserve at Windy Nook – there will be a separate post on that coming soon. They have also been learning about major rivers in the world and beginning to build background knowledge about drainage basins and key vocabulary. In Arts they have been studying the work of an artist Jason de Caires Taylor, who creates sculptures that are placed under the sea to become artificial reefs, where life can take hold. Students will find out their expedition title and guiding question this week.
Immersion for G28 has involved hearing stories from people that have been displaced in modern times, and also looked back to the great depression in the USA and the dust bowl, building background knowledge for their new anchor text ‘Of Mice and Men’. Students were particularly puzzled by the connections between this and light waves in science, and the creation of paper prints in Art. All will be revealed this week!
On Friday, our students and staff enjoyed a great Crew Day. Crews took time to ‘tend to’ Crew and culture as well as start their activism work with charities.
Our G29 (Year 7) Crews completed the ‘Walk for Water’ covering a huge distance around the Gateshead Stadium track. What was most impressive was the support and encouragement the Crews showed each other throughout the challenge. Here are just some snippets from Friday and there will be a longer post coming this next week with details of the amount raised. We have asked if sponsorship forms could come back into school by Wednesday of this week please.
In total students completed 702 laps around the track with water, that’s over 280km! What a great effort.
Our Year 8 our crews started the work with their chosen charities:
Each crew is posting an update on our website to share the work they did on Friday and their charity plans for the future. Again. Here’s a couple of photographs from a fantastic day of hard work:
As usual G28 students (Y8) will need a PE kit for Tuesday, G29 students (Y7) will need a PE kit on Wednesday.
When students are not in school they can work independently on extended study tasks. There will be extended study after school on Thursday, but no sports due to the strike action.
We have had several parents approach us over time to share the challenges caused when our holidays do not align to other Gateshead Schools. We have discussed these challenges at our Spring Term LGC (Local Governing Committee) and we have investigated possibilities for term dates with the CEO of XP Trust. On Friday, I shared our proposals with all of the other XP Trust School Leaders at our Heads Network and on Monday I’d like to share these proposals with you and gather your feedback. Please look out for this post on Monday. I would like to get feedback from all of our families so everyone’s voice can be considered in our decisions around future term dates.
School closed for all.
When students are not in school they can work independently on extended study tasks.
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
Welcome back! We hope you have enjoyed your Easter break and we are looking forward to welcoming our students back tomorrow for the start of a new term at XP Gateshead.
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.
As always, students need to bring a school bag with:
As always, we ask students and staff to dress appropriately and modestly. See link here to details on dress code from our website.
A new term means new and exciting expeditions for our students. As always, 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.
As part of their immersion, students in Year 7 will be taking part in an afternoon of fieldwork in our local nature reserve at Windy Nook. Students will eat lunch in school as normal on these days. There are no special requirements for this apart from sensible clothing suitable for the weather. Fieldwork will take place on Wednesday afternoon for Class 1 and Thursday afternoon for Class 2.
There is a slight change to PE this week for Year 7 Class 1. As usual Y8 students will need a PE kit for Tuesday, Y7 Class 2 students will need a PE kit on Wednesday and Y7 Class 1 will need a PE kit on Thursday.
On Friday our students will spend the whole day working with their crew and Crew Leader. The focus for these days will be charitable work as well as developing their team work, crew identity and wellbeing. For both Year 7 and Year 8 students will start and finish the school day at the usual time, and are planning Crew picnics. Each student is asked to bring something for the picnic, so your children should be able to inform you of the plan for their Crew and what they have suggested that they bring.
Linked to their work on ‘Staying Alive’ students are carrying out a day of fundraising to twin our toilets. Toilet twinning is a charity that installs toilets, clean water supplies and hygiene kits in areas in some of the world’s poorest countries.
The challenge for our students will take place at Gateshead International Stadium, using the running track. We will transport students to and from the stadium.
As well as raising funds, the challenge is intended to bring home how difficult it is for some children in the world where they do not have access to clean water near to where they live. During their expedition last term students have read about two children whose daily lives were very different simply because of how far they had to go to get water to survive.
Working together in Crews, our students will aim to carry 5 litre bottles of water around as many laps of the 400m track as they can. Students will seek sponsorship based on how far they can carry water collectively as a Crew. Sponsor sheets will be given to students tomorrow. For every £60 raised a toilet or clean water tap can be installed in an area of need, transforming the lives of those in that community. If we can raise £240 as a community, then we can twin our toilets with a whole toilet block!
Clubs will all run this week along with extended study sessions every day except Friday. As usual, if a student attends an after school club or extended study session they must attend the full sessions until 4:30pm.
As you may be aware, the NEU teachers union ballotted and agreed two further days of strike action this term on Thursday 27th April and Tuesday 2nd May 2023. As a leadership team, we will do our best to minimise disruption to child’s education and we 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
Here we are at the end of another fantastic term. What a term it has been! I am sure that you will all agree that our students have continued to rise to the challenge.
Over the last week we have enjoyed two amazing PoLs which took place at two amazing venues in our region:
Year 7 students presented their ‘Do Your Bit’ expedition at the Kings Hall, Newcastle University. We were all so proud of the courage and confidence our students displayed sharing their learning to an audience of over 200.
Year 8 students presented their ‘What is Power?’ expedition at Caedmon Hall which is part of Gateshead Central Library. We were all blown away by the quality and depth of their understanding – performances of Macbeth intertwined with insights into the meaning of the word power in society and the scientific definition of the word power. Our students’ Banksy inspired artwork also took centre stage with every student creating an image about an aspect of social justice they feel strongly about.
Can I thank you all for your attendance and support at PoLs. The work our students do is beautiful and important work. I think Oliver in Y8 summed it up wonderfully on behalf of our students last night when he said
“We are learning that we are powerful and we can make a difference”
They really are and they really can!
As usual if you have any questions please contact your child’s crew leader in the first instance.
We look forward to seeing you after the holiday on Monday 17th April at the usual time where we will be starting on our next exciting expeditionary adventures.
Have a great holiday and thank you so much for your continued support.
Happy Easter from all the staff crew at XP Gateshead.
Julie Mosley
Co-Principal
Welcome to the final week of our Spring Term.
As always, the hard work continues here at XP Gateshead and we couldn’t be prouder of our students as they continue to strive for high standards and support those around them to do the same. Students have been working hard on termly assessments, completing their final products for expedition and getting ready for presentations of learning. It has been great to see them step up to all challenges set with real courage and determination.
Here are just some of last week’s highlights:
Our Year 8 students have been working hard on their Macbeth performances as part of the ‘What is Power’ expedition. Each group of students spent time working alongside our expert: professional actor and director Christina Dawson, who shared her experience of performing Macbeth to students and coached them in theirs. Our directors worked closely with Christina to understand their role in guiding their actors and critiquing performances. It was great to hear so many appreciations for the work of the directors in our Friday community meeting.
Every term, we look to run a crew day which is an opportunity to ‘tend’ to crew and culture. At these times students will work with their crew and Crew Leader for the day developing their team work, crew identity and wellbeing. There will be a Crew day in the first week back after the Easter holidays on Friday 21st April. Last week our crews started work on planning this next crew day which will focus on charitable work for both Year 7 and Year 8. More on our Crew Days in a separate post later this week.
On Wednesday, XP Gateshead took to the football field again and our team competed at Cardinal Hume. Again students showed great courage, respect and above all compassion. Whilst both games ended in defeat, Mr Devitt has told us that the team are developing all of the time and the first point is not far away.
Our footballers conducted themselves extremely well again and were great representatives of XPG. It was great to hear in our community meeting the praise and appreciation being given to students for their resilience, commitment, support and care for each other. A special mention to last week’s team captain Corbyn who did a great job leading his team and organising kit clean after the match.
Georgia and Connor from G29 carried out some important fieldwork to honour our commitment to visit Heworth cemetery after the original fieldwork for the whole year grioup was postponed due to the snow. Georgia and Connor visited the graves of men and women who died in The Great War and whose stories they had learned about as part of our work with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. They also laid the poppy pebbles at those graves and many more as a mark of respect.
In terms of highlights, Friday night was a very special occasion and saw our G29 students present their learning for the HUMAN expedition ‘Do Your Bit’. The opportunity to present in the beautiful and historic King’s Hall at Newcastle University was amazing and we thank Professor David Leat and his colleagues at the University for allowing our students to have such an honour. It is an important point of equity that already all of our students have visited a university campus and we hope that many more may return to this same room to receive their degrees in the years to come.
Our students showed real courage in presenting to an audience of over 200 and we could not be prouder of them. Thank you to all of the staff that have worked with students across this expedition and to all the families that attended.
G28 presentation of learning for ‘What is Power?’ will take place on Thursday 30th March starting at 5.30pm. The venue for the presentation of learning is Caedmon Hall in Gateshead which is part of the Central Library.
More details will follow about how to let us know who is attending this event. However it is important to note that whilst we will transport students to the Central Library on Thursday, transport is not provided at the end of the event.
Our usual programme of Extended Study and clubs are running this week on Monday and Wednesday.
Extended study and Hula/Fitness will not run after school on Tuesday. This is to allow staff to attend an after school Grief training session with St Oswalds Hospice.
Extended study and clubs will not run after school on Thursday. This is to allow staff to support Year 8 in preparing for their presentation of learning on this evening.
As usual G28 students (Y8) will need a PE kit for Tuesday, G29 students (Y7) will need a PE kit on Wednesday.
We return to school 17th April. Please remember that, as always, our students finish at 1:30pm on Friday to allow staff to de-gunge and replenish rooms and teaching spaces ready for the Summer Term.
Thank you for your ongoing support. What a term it has been! We hope you enjoy a wonderful and well-earned break with your children.
Julie Mosley
Co-Principal
Even though last week was a shorter week for our students, they really packed in lots of learning. Students are challenged in every session and are expected to work hard, get smart and be kind. In every lesson I visit, students rise to this challenge and are pushing themselves and their peers to meet the high standards set. We continue to be really proud of our crew.
Here’s are just some of last week’s activities:
A group of our Year 7 students visited our local partners Edberts House on Tuesday to find out about the work that they do in our community. This is part of their learning expedition Staying Alive with the guiding question ‘Is Survival Sufficient?’.
They shared their learning with the rest of Year 7 in Friday’s Community Meeting and were joined by Mark Harrison from Edberts House. Together they were able to remind G29 why their work on the food boxes is so important and discuss the brilliant work that is done by Edberts House.
Students in G29 continue to work hard on their scripts ready for their presentation of learning this week. As always, every student will take part in this presentation and craftsmanship and quality will be high on the agenda. I’m sure, like us, you can’t wait to see your child present their work on Friday 24th March at the King’s Hall in Newcastle University.
We were delighted this week to receive an incredibly generous drum kit donation from the Scott Johnson Foundation. This foundation was set up in memory and honour of Scott, who tragically lost his life whilst working with Radiohead in Toronto in 2012.
Scott’s wonderful parents, Sue and Ken Johnson travelled from Doncaster to deliver the kit then spent time with some of Y8 drummers talking music and setting up the kit. We are all extremely grateful to Ken and Sue and the Scott Johnson Foundation. We now have a drum kit which will beat for the lifetime of XP Gateshead.
On Monday we welcome Charlotte Osgerby from Carers Trust, Tyne and Wear. Charlotte will speak to both of our year groups about the work she does with Young Carers in Gateshead.
We are now moving into our final weeks of this term and working hard on final products and getting ready for PoLs (presentation of learning).
You can support your child over the next few days by getting them to practise their scripted question responses.
The presentation of learning for ‘Do Your Bit’ takes place at 6pm on Friday 24th March at King’s Hall, Newcastle University.
More details will follow about how to let us know who is attending this event. However it is important to note that whilst we will transport students to the University on Friday afternoon, transport is not provided at the end of the event. We suggest using public transport to attend the event if this is possible for your family. Haymarket Metro station is just a short walk away from the University.
Like Student-Led Conferences, these events are important rites of passage for our students, and are part of a planned approach to develop character through public exhibition of learning. As is detailed in our home-school agreement, it is an expectation that at least one family member attends events like these for every child. Please speak to your child’s Crew Leader if you have any issues.
Our usual programme of Extended Study and clubs are running this week.
As usual G28 students (Y8) will need a PE kit for Tuesday, G29 students (Y7) will need a PE kit on Wednesday.
G28 presentation of learning for ‘What is Power?’ will take place on Thursday 30th March starting at 5.30pm. The venue for the presentation of learning will be Caedmon Hall in Gateshead which is part of the Central Library.
Last day of term Friday 31st March – Easter Holidays with return to school 17th April. Please remember that, as always, our students finish at 1:30pm to allow staff to de-gunge and replenish rooms and teaching spaces ready for the Summer Term.
As always if you have any queries please get in contact with your child’s Crew Leader.
Julie Mosley
Co-Principal
Welcome back after a long weekend and my apologies for the delay in this week’s update.
As a Staff Crew we have worked hard during our two staff days planning curriculum. Teams have spent time collaboratively planning new expeditions for term 3 which will start after Easter with immersion weeks for both G29 and G28. We also took the time to look at our final three weeks of this term which include assessments and Presentations of Learning for all students. We are really looking forward to our PoLs and delighted that these will be taking place in professional surroundings.
As a reminder,
Year 7’s (G29) presentation of learning for their current HUMAN expedition, ‘Do Your Bit’ will be on Friday 24th March at Newcastle University in the King’s Hall – a space that was used as a military hospital during WWI.
Year 8’s (G28) presentation of learning for their current expedition ‘What is Power?’ will be on Thursday 30th March starting at 5.30pm. The venue for the presentation of learning will be Caedmon Hall in Gateshead which is part of the Central Library.
A group of our Year 7 students are going to our local partners Edberts House today to find out about the work that they do in our community. This is part of their learning expedition Staying Alive with the guiding question ‘Is Survival Sufficient?’.
Edberts House will help us to pass on the food boxes that students will put together to families in need. The group of students will present back to the whole of Year 7 in this week’s community meeting on Friday.
Our programme of Extended Study and clubs are running this week.
PE sessions – G28 students (Y8) will need a PE kit for Tuesday, there will be no PE sessions for G29 students (Y7) due to strike action.
NEU Strike Action – we are unable to open school for all students on both strike days so we are opening as follows:
When students are not in school they can work independently on extended study tasks.
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
Students have worked hard this week both in and outside of sessions. It has been great to see so many students attending extended study sessions this week and I look forward to seeing more. Extended study is set in all subjects each week so after school sessions are a great way for students to work in a supportive environment alongside peers to ensure all deadlines are met. It also takes away any arguments at home if work is completed here at the end of the day!
As part of extended study, we expect all of our students to read for 20-30 minutes every day. This week Miss Tatters ‘rebooted’ Accelerated Reader with G28 and G29 after feedback from parents, staff and students. Clear expectations have been shared with students and a termly reading challenge set.
This week’s Crew and Expedition updates give an insight into how our curriculum at XP Gateshead takes the national standards and develops these into a curriculum with social justice at its heart.
Activism is one of our design principles at XP, and you can see in the work that students are doing that we address important values such as tolerance, respect and democracy and ask our students to produce beautiful work. Through this out students are agents for positively improving themselves, their community and the wider world;
Over the last few weeks, Y7 crews have been researching suitable people after whom to name their crews – people who have achieved great things and who display our character traits of courage, integrity, respect, craftsmanship and quality, and above all compassion. This week, students presented their contenders to the rest of their crew and final voting took place.
In Friday’s community meeting new crew names were announced.
Our G29 crews are
So Emma Watson, Martin Luther King, Richard Attenborough and Florence Nightingale stand alongside our G28 crew’s namesakes Anne Frank, Rosa Parks, Maya Angelou, Elizabeth Stanton.
Our Y8 crews have been looking at which charity they want to support. Students have been putting together their proposals and pitching to the rest of their crew. There has been some really sensitive discussions with lots of crew support as students have shared their personal stories around choice of charities.
Next week, G28 crews will announce their chosen charities and will start planning future awareness and fundraising events to support their charity.
G29 – Do your bit
This last week students in G29 have been digging deep into some of the language of official communications in Liverpool which dehumanised ethnic minorities around the time of the Race Riots of 1919. This is part of their third Case Study, which looks at the treatment of women and ethnic minorities following their important role in The Great War. Students have also started writing their creative narratives which are written from the perspective of lesser heard voices of the war. This writing will be shared in their PoL on Fri 24th March.
G29 Staying Alive
G289 Students have been looking at energy stores and transfers and are developing their understanding of the concept of energy, useful language when discussing energy and the important principle of the conservation of energy. They will connect this to their wider work in supporting local charities in this expedition by considering the impact of the cost of living crisis and fuel poverty in the UK today.
G28 What is Power?
Students in G28 have been learning about forces, an important building block in being able to explain the scientific meaning of the word power. They have also been starting to learn how to work with wood as a resistant material to build backdrops for the set for their performance of Macbeth.
Students have also been learning about the feudal system, and the power structures within Medieval society, as a precursor to the peasants’ revolt, which speaks to those without power making a stand for their rights as citizens.
This week students in G28 have also been refining designs for their digital stencil graffiti artwork, all of which highlight causes that are important to the students and give voice to those that have less power in society. These designs will be collated in a set of postcards which will be able to be purchased from the school. Students will decide this week where they would like to donate the funds raised. We had a beautiful community meeting on Friday where students discussed the potential options for where our work could make a difference.
Our usual programme of Extended Study and clubs are running this week.
As usual G28 students (Y8) will need a PE kit for Tuesday, G29 students (Y7) will need a PE kit on Wednesday.
Staff days
A reminder that Friday 10th and Monday 13th March are our staff days this term. Students are not expected in school on these days. See link here for this year’s term dates.
As normal, students are not expected to be in school on this day.
As you may be aware, the NEU teachers union have balloted and agreed further strike action on Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th March 2023. As a leadership team, we will do our best to minimise disruption to child’s education and we 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
We had a good first week back to school and our students have settled back into learning.
A focus for the whole community this week has been respectful communication. Respect is one of our character traits and this, along with compassion, is central to how we communicate with each other.
At XP Gateshead we have a zero-tolerance approach to sexism, racism, homophobia and sexual harassment. This behaviour is never acceptable and it will not be passed off as ‘banter’, ‘just having a laugh’ or ‘part of growing up’.
We spent time on Friday in our community meetings discussing with students their ideas on what was and what was not respectful communication. We will combine all of this work and produce an agreed XPG student charter for how we communicate with each other respectfully. Our charter will be shared on our website when complete.
We are incredibly lucky to have a great support team here at XPG. We have an amazing cleaning team from Gateshead services who work behind the scenes from 6am every morning. Karen and Carol are a key part of our crew who show craftsmanship and quality everyday and really care about our school, staff and students. Our catering team, Suzanne and Cheryl are another two members of the crew who do an amazing job for us all on a daily basis, caring deeply about all staff and students. Look at what we enjoyed this week to celebrate Pancake Day on Tuesday and our Friday treats to get ready for the big game this weekend:
On a final note of appreciation, I’d like to thank the mystery family who sent a special delivery our way this week for the whole team. It was very much appreciated by us all!
School will be fully open on Tuesday even though some of our staff will be on strike. We respect the right for our staff to strike and we support their action.
There will be no PE on Tuesday for Year 8.
Our usual programme of Extended Study and clubs are running this week. Please check in with your son/daughter about their extended study and make sure that they are up to date with their work and meeting deadlines. Daily reading must form part of their plans and we expect all students to read their Accelerated Reader texts for 20-30 mins each day. They should be regularly quizzing on Accelerated Reader as they complete their books, please ask them about this.
Staff Development Days
A reminder that we have two staff development days this half term: Friday 10th and Monday 13th March. 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
Co-Principal
Welcome back! We hope you have had a restful half term break and we are looking forward to welcoming our students back tomorrow.
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.
As always, students need to bring a school bag with:
We ask students and staff to dress appropriately and modestly. See link here to details on dress code from our website.
As usual G28 students (Y8) will need a PE kit for Tuesday, G29 students (Y7) will need a PE kit on Wednesday.
Clubs will all run this week along with extended study sessions every day except Friday. A reminder that if a student attends an after school club or extended study session they must attend the full sessions until 4:30pm.
Our G29 students continue to work on their two expeditions until the end of this term. Their STEAM expedition, ‘Staying Alive’ with the guiding question: ‘Is survival sufficient?’ and their HUMAN expedition, ‘Do Your Bit’ with the guiding question: ‘Why is it important that we honour all those that sacrificed in WWI?’. A reminder that the presentation of learning for this will be on Friday 24th March at Newcastle University in the King’s Hall – a space that was used as a military hospital during WWI.
Our G28 students continue to work on one cross-curricular expedition this term with the guiding question and title of ‘What is Power?’. Their final presentation of learning – including an abridged performance of Macbeth – will be on Thursday 30th March at Caedmon Hall at Gateshead Central Library. More details to follow in a separate post this week.
As you may be aware, the NEU teachers union have balloted and agreed a further strike action on Tuesday 28th February 2023. As leadership, we will do our best to minimise disruption to child’s education and we will update you in due course.
We have two staff development days this half term; Friday 10th and Monday 13th March. As normal, students are not expected to be in school on these days.
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
Co-principal
