On Wednesday, 26th June, G30 students will be heading out of school to carry out Geography fieldwork skills, including basic data collection techniques and observational skills, through practical activities and investigations in our local river environment.

This fieldwork will consolidate the students’ understanding of river geography, which they have been studying in class, and allow them to see the impact of human activity along the Newcastle and Gateshead Quayside. The planned activities are designed to meet National Curriculum standards while engaging our students in practical, meaningful geographical investigation through observation and field sketching. Additionally, our students will have the opportunity to work with an expert from Tyne Rivers Trust, looking at the Interactive River model in Newcastle Central Library.

We will be travelling by metro and on foot, so students will need:

  • Comfortable walking footwear and to be appropriately dressed for our changeable spring weather (optimistically a hat and suncream but also a raincoat).
  • A packed lunch. (This will be provided for students who are entitled to free school meals if they request one.)
  • A backpack with a pen, pencil, rubber, and iPad. Most bags are not waterproof, so we suggest putting kit inside a plastic bag inside the rucksack.

Students need to be in school at the normal time of 8:25 am, ready to be briefed at 8:30 am, and leave at 8:40 am.

We expect to return to school slightly later than the normal school day but no later than 3:45 pm. We will update our website should there be any delays.

 

 



Beautiful work from Scarlett and Hallie

Scarlett and Hallie recently  played in the Darlington all stars summer football tournament today and their team, Cleveland Hall U13 girls, finished in second place. An amazing achievement for the team.

Fantastic effort girls, well done!

Help us to upgrade our library!

We would love to be able to upgrade our library space, which is integral to our reading strategy and promoting a love of reading with our students. Students are engaging really well with reading and we would like to make the space more inviting, invest in a proper library monitoring system and invest in a wider range of books. Our library is completely student led and run during social times and the student librarians would really appreciate your support.

One thing we’ve tried to do is use the library space to provide students with recommendations to delve deeper into their expeditions by reading associated texts. This idea of having themed displays and recommendations is something we’d love to develop further.

The National Book Token programme are taking nominations for schools to win a grant to invest in their libraries (scroll down on the website to place your nomination). We are asking all families, students and friends of the school to please nominate XP Gateshead for this prize.

Thanks for your support,

Miss Tatters and the XPG student librarians

G28 Presentation of Learning

On Thursday 18th July at 6.00pm a video will be shared for G28’s presentation of learning. This video will have the audio of the student’s descriptive writing over images of beautiful work they have done as part of 9.3 Hold Back the River. This link will go live on the website which will allow people to comment as they are watching.

We recognise the commitment G28 parents have shown this year by coming into school on numerous occasions to support their child’s learning which has contributed to our decision to have G28’s final presentation of learning as a video.

We can’t wait to see you in the comments!

 

 

G29 FieldWork Today: Update

The weather forecast is suggesting that we will have showers, please remind students to bring a waterproof coat.

 

Reminder that class 2 students are due to return to school at 3.30pm.

FAMILIES: Important safeguarding update from Northumbria Police

Northumbria Police have shared the following update with us about messaging sent out last week on their behalf:

On Friday, March 22, communication was shared about a report of a group on a social media messaging app containing inappropriate content aimed at young people.

Although this messaging was shared in good faith, some of the details had at that point not been verified.

We would therefore ask you to please not reference this, including on social media.

As always, we would also ask that you continue to take an interest in your children’s use of social media and if you do have concerns that you report these to the police.

Officers take matters such as this extremely seriously and are investigating the report of the social media group.

XPG February half term

Please note that we break up for half term on Friday 16th February. We return to school on Monday 26th February.

We have another week in school next week.

Please make sure that you refer to the relevant Gateshead-based calendar on our website 2023/24 Calendar.

 

Big Garden Birdwatch - Love LambethLove Lambeth

In preparation for the RSPB Big Garden BirdWatch this weekend, XPG Nature club set up a bird feeder in our grounds and went off to practise some bird identification. Despite the fading light we managed to spot Great Tits,Blue Tits, Black birds, Carrion Crows, Magpies, Feral and Wood Pigeon. However, our highlight was a small flock of Siskins, small finches that visit the UK in the winter from Northern Europe. We spotted them  eating one of their favourite foods, the seed of Alder trees. 

Siskin (Spinus spinus) - British Birds - Woodland Trust

The 2024 big garden birdwatch for the RSPB will be happening from the 26th – 28th of January. Getting involved in the big garden birdwatch is great as it helps scientists keep track of which birds need help and what not so much. All you have to do is watch out your window for one hour  and record what types of birds land in your garden. To find out more and sign up, click the link below 

https://www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happening/big-garden-birdwatch

G28 and G29 Science Assessment Update

The Assessments for Science will take place during the following sessions next week.

G28 Class 1- Tuesday session 3

G28 Class 2- Tuesday session 2

G29 Class 1- Thursday session 3

G29 Class 2 -Thursday session 3

 

Topics for revision can be found on this post

 

Thanks

 

Mr Mead