Dear Year 6 Families

We are delighted to be able to announce the calendar of transition events that we have planned to welcome your children and your family into our community at XP Gateshead.

More details on each of these events will follow in due course, but here is an overview of the activities so that you can plan ahead and discuss this with your child.

Online Family Meetings

In the coming weeks we will send you details of how to book an online family meeting. Meetings will be in the fortnight commencing 28th April. These take place via Google Meet during the evening and are with a senior leader in the school. The meetings are a first chance for us to meet you and your child, to find out about them and discuss our expectations as a school. Your meeting will last up to 30 minutes. We will send details of how to book an appointment to you on 24th March.

Primary School Visits

We aim to visit every child in their Primary School in the summer term. This is done by members of our transition team and means that as well as seeing your child in an educational setting, they get to know another friendly face before they come to us.

In-Person Information Evening for parents/carers

We will be holding an In-Person Information Evening at our school on 22nd May at 6pm.

It is vital that all families attend as we will give important information about the Outward Bound course that takes place for all students at the start of Year 7 as well as our iPad scheme. In addition, we will address some of the misconceptions about our school so that families are completely clear on what we are: ‘A mainstream school with a relentless focus on beautiful work, character growth and academic success’, and also what we are not. There will be an opportunity for you to ask us questions too of course.

Transition Days at XP Gateshead

Your children will join us in school on Tuesday 1st July and Wednesday 2nd July. Again more details of these days will follow in due course. Like a regular school day, students can arrive in school from 8:00am but need to be present by 8:25am. Our school day finishes at 3:15pm.

Your child will follow a typical day at XPG on both days which include some crew sessions, expedition sessions and a community meeting.

Meet your child’s Crew Leader

Following the transition days, on Tuesday 8th July we will invite parents and carers into school in the evening to meet your child’s new Crew Leader. We expect all families to attend this event. We are proud of the strong relationships that we form with families at XP Gateshead and this is an important opportunity for you to begin to build that relationship with the person that will be the key adult for your child when they start with us. As well as our cross-curricular learning expeditions, our pastoral structure Crew is what sets us apart from other schools.

We start school earlier than other schools in the local authority to allow for the Outward Bound experience. Our first day of term for year 7 is Tuesday 26th August 2025. More info on our term dates can be found by clicking here.

We are really excited to get to know our newest students and their families over the coming months.

Welcome to our community and crew at XP Gateshead!

A warm welcome to all of the Year 6 families that have been lucky enough to be offered a place at XP Gateshead for your child to join Year 7 in August 2025.

There is not a need to contact us at this point in time, but please do check your emails as we will soon send you information about our enrolment process including some forms for you to complete online.

You will no doubt have lots of questions, but rest assured, all of these will be answered over the coming months of transition. At XP Gateshead we spend a lot of time getting to know our students and families prior to starting with us and we have a range of transition activities planned to allow this to happen. Our wider transition programme will include:

• an online meeting with you and your child as a family
• primary school visits from an XP members of staff
• transition days in the summer term in early July

We will publish a timeline of these events soon.

Our website xpgateshead.org contains a wealth of information and should be a start in answering your questions, in particular the frequently asked questions section is useful for new parents. Please do also look at our calendars so that you can see our term dates and staff days for the next academic year and beyond.

It is really important that you subscribe to our website by entering your email contact in the section on our front page as this will update you with an email every time we post some new information.

This is what the box to subscribe looks like:

It can be found on the right hand page of our website homepage on a laptop or computer, and at the very bottom of the screen if you are viewing the website your phone or a tablet.

Families can be added to our private Facebook group for families of XP Gateshead once we have carried out the online family meetings.

Should you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact [email protected] .

Thank you again for choosing XP Gateshead, we really look forward to working with you and your child over the next five years.

Julie Mosley

Principal 

XP Gateshead

Please arrive from 5.45pm this evening. You will be signed in based upon the surname of your child:

• If you the surname of your child begins with A-C you will be in GROUP 1
• If the surname of your child begins with D-H you will be in GROUP 2
• If the surname of your child begins with I-N you will be in GROUP 3
• If the surname of your child begins with O-Z you will be in GROUP 4

There is very limited parking available on our site so please be considerate of our neighbours if parking on the street. Please do not park in front of dropped kerbs or pathways across the verge as many of the residents are elderly and require easy access to their homes from the street.

Our Open Evening this week is now fully booked

Due to high demand and our limited size and space in our temporary building, we have had to limit the number of places at the event. If you have not registered to attend, please do not turn up on the evening as unfortunately we will not be able to accommodate you.

More information about our school

Our website is also a valuable source of information and will give you a real flavour of the rigour of XP and our relentless focus on academic success, character growth and beautiful work.

We put together an information website for families that were are not able to attend last year which you can find here:
https://sites.google.com/xpgateshead.org/xp-gateshead-online-open-eve/home

Frequently asked questions can be found here:
https://xpgateshead.org/category/faq/

Please take the time to read our prospectus too.

 

Julie Mosley

Principal

XP Gateshead

 

We are pleased to be able to announce more details for our Open Evening on Tuesday 1st October at 5.45pm.

This is an event for families that are considering XP Gateshead as a destination school for their children in the next academic year (from September 2025).

IMPORTANT – Signing up to the event

Please take the time to read our prospectus before signing up to the event.

As we are anticipating a very high level of interest in these evenings ,and due to our limited size and space in our current temporary building, you will need to sign up for this event to be able to attend which was indicated in the secondary admissions booklet sent to you by Gateshead Council.

We are limiting the number of places to three places per family, including your child in Year 6.

Last year there were some families that could not be accommodated on the evening as they had not booked in advance. Due to our limited space, if you have not booked in advance, you will not be able to attend on the evening.

Please do not attempt to sign up if your children are currently in Year 5 or below. All of the above will mean that we can accommodate as many Year 6 families as possible.

You can book your place at this even by clicking on this link.

Julie Mosley

Principal

XP Gateshead

 

 

We are pleased to be able to announce more details for our Open Evening on Tuesday 1st October at 5.45pm.

This is an event for families that are considering XP Gateshead as a destination school for their children in the next academic year (from September 2025).

IMPORTANT – Signing up to the event

As we are anticipating a very high level of interest in these evenings ,and due to our limited size and space in our current temporary building, you will need to sign up for this event to be able to attend which was indicated in the secondary admissions booklet sent to you by Gateshead Council.

We are limiting the number of places to three places per family, including your child in Year 6.

Last year there were some families that could not be accommodated on the evening as they had not booked in advance. We will also ask primary schools to pass on this message this week, specifically about the need to book and restrictions on how many family members can attend. Please do not attempt to sign up if your children are currently in Year 5 or below. All of the above will mean that we can accommodate as many Year 6 families as possible.

If you are interested in our school and have not already done so you can subscribe to get updates from our website by looking for this button on our homepage:

We will post an updated version of our prospectus later this week, along with the booking form for the event.

Julie Mosley

Principal

XP Gateshead

 

After school your child’s iPad behaves exactly like any other iPad. During the day we manage the iPads so that only certain apps are available.

In order to download apps at home that you have agreed your child can have, you will need an Apple ID. If you do not have one, you can find instructions on how to set one up here.

If you have separate Apple ID’s – for example if your child already has an apple device – you can link Apple ID’s in a family sharing group. More info on that can be found here.

Screen time and other parental controls are also available. You can find guides to these here.

For additional protection we recommend that you filter what your children can access at home using your own Wifi. Most hubs for your Wifi at home will have settings that will also restrict content. Log in to your broadband provider account and search for parental controls.

iPad required set up

Screen protector

The screen protector must be installed to keep the Applecare warranty  on the iPad valid, please do this first to ensure the most successful installation. 

You can follow the written guide below or use our instructional video here. Please note the password for this year is not enrolment as stated in the video, it is summer2024 

https://youtu.be/Ai-GkrT-Wb4

Don’t unbox the iPad until you are ready to install the screen protector. 

Make sure you have lots of space and a clean dust free flat surface before you start. 

1. Remove the screen protector from its case and the iPad from the box.
2. Take care not to touch the iPad screen before installing the screen protector. 
3. If any dust particles fall on the screen you can remove them with the stickers in the toolkit.
4. Very carefully remove the protective film from the screen protector, take care as the screen protector is made of glass. 
5. Using the paper tab on the protector, remove the plastic protective film protection.
6. Align the cutout  for the home button and applying a small amount of pressure to the middle of the protector touch it down to the middle of the screen. 
7. If there are any air bubbles under the protector you can push these to the side using the polishing cloth. 

Installing the iPad in the logitech keyboard case 

This is really nice and easy, open the case from the box, align the camera on the rear to the top right of the case and clip it in.

First time login

1. Select English as your language
2. United Kingdom as your region (this is really important)
3. Select “Set up Manually” from the bottom of the page
4. Select your Wi-Fi
5. Enter the password and tap “join” and then “next”
6. Wait while the iPad activates (this may take a few minutes)
7. A screen with the title “Apps & Data” will appear – select “Don’t Transfer Apps & Data”
8. A new screen will appear with the title “Remote Management” – click “Next”
9. A page with a login box will appear
10. Add your username. This is the start of your school email address. Eg. if your email address is [email protected]

Then then username would be firstname.surname31 

(We apologise if the surname is not the preferred surname – these were set up using the information provided from your application to the school during Year 6. These usernames will only need to be used once.)

1. The default password this year is “summer2024”
2. The next page will ask you to click to “Enroll this device” tap the blue button
3. The next screen will ask you to “Enable Location Services” please make sure this option is selected. 
4. Your enrolment is now complete and default applications will now start to download. 

Students can be dropped off at XP Gateshead school from 8am on Tuesday 27th August 2024.

We will be leaving school at around 10.am to travel to Outward Bound, Howtown Centre, Penrith CA10 2ND on Ullswater.

The journey to Howtown will take approximately 2.5 hours by coach and we do not intend to stop at a service station.

Students must bring a packed lunch in a plastic bag and this will be eaten on arrival at the centre. Meals will then be provided from that evening onwards.

All students need to bring their belongings in a suitable bag (e.g. a holdall or small suitcase) with their names displayed on a tag or written on the bag. Students may want to bring a small bag, wallet or purse to bring smaller personal items with them on the coach.

We expect to be back at school around 3.30pm on Friday, but will update the school website if there any delays.

Personal Kit List:

• 1 large bag or suitcase to take kit on the coach
• 2 bin bags –  to store wet and dirty clothes
• 1 pair of trainers for getting wet – these trainers will definitely get wet so it is important that you have a second pair.
• A second pair of trainers to stay dry for day to day wear – these are likely to get muddy so preferably not new.
• 3 sweatshirts, jumpers, hoodies or fleeces – Fleeces are ideal as they dry quickly but any of the other items are a good substitute. You should include at least one warmer fleece for your expedition.
• 3 pairs of trousers – Lightweight trousers (not denim) such as walking trousers, leggings or tracksuit bottoms.
• 3 T-shirts – Aim for tops that cover shoulders from the sun.
• 1 long-sleeved base layer/top 
• 1 pair of shorts – Not denim
• 1 pair of nightwear/pyjamas
• 1 set of casual clothes for around the centre
• 7 sets of underwear including socks – This is a minimum number. Trainer socks aren’t recommended as they may cause blisters.
• At least 2 pairs of thick walking socks
• Sunhat, sunglasses, suncream – don’t bring expensive sunglasses, suncream needs to be at least factor 30.
• 1 set of warm hat and gloves
• At least 1 towel – Quick drying microfibre towels are great. You will need a towel for showering and on activities, so bring at least one.
• Watch with alarm if possible
• 1 set of swimwear plus t-shirt and shorts for use in water
• Toiletries – including soap, toothbrush and toothpaste, blister kit, plasters, insect repellent, lip salve, hand sanitiser, wet wipes. Please note that aerosols are prohibited on the Outward Bound site.
• 1 pair of flip slops or sandals – optional
• £10 deposit

Some of the activities will involve getting wet at some point, so please make sure your son/daughter has plenty of spare dry clothes to change into.

XP School Trust and Outward Bound encourage students to bring magazines and/or books for them to read in their dormitories at night before lights out.  Each bed has a light allowing students to read whilst not disturbing other students in the room.

Medicine

If your son/daughter needs travel sickness tablets please ensure they take them before we depart school.

If your son/daughter needs to take medication during the course of the trip, or has travel sickness tablets for the return journey, please ensure the medication comes in its original packaging along with instructions for when the medicine needs to be taken and your son’s/daughter’s name written clearly on it.  All medication except inhalers must be handed to your crew leader before departing from school. 

All medication must have been documented on the medical consent form and signed.

Money

A refundable £10 deposit is required for each student for the use of the Outward Bound’s specialist activity/safety equipment. This must be handed to crew leaders before departure  in a sealed envelope with your son’s/daughter’s name on it. 

Communication

The signal for mobile phones can be unreliable. Students will not be allowed to take their phones with them on their daily activities. They will be handed into crew leaders and left securely on site. The students will have access to their mobile phones at a specified point in the evening. If you need to get hold of a member of staff and/or get a message to your son/daughter please telephone the appropriate Outward Bound centre:

Howtown Centre Phone: 017684 86272

Please contact myself or your crew leader if you have any further questions.

 

Martin Said

[email protected]

A reminder to all of our Year 6 families that our ‘Meet the Crew Leader’ will be hosted in school tomorrow. This is an important opportunity for families to meet their child’s Crew Leader and begin forming the strong relationship that will be needed to support and challenge your child to become the best version of themselves. This event is for adults from families only, you should not bring your child to this event.

This event will start at 5pm tomorrow evening and is expected to last for around 45 minutes.