Dear Parents/Guardians
Welcome to week four of our final half-term at XP Gateshead.
This is a big week for us as we welcome our new cohort of “Year 7” (G29) students who will be joining us on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week for their transition days. Our current students will be acting as ambassadors on these days and it would be great if they could wear their XP tops to present our school in the best possible light.
We are really proud of our current students who have volunteered to support in crews and classes this week and who have organised lunchtime clubs and activities for our young visitors.
Can I also take a moment to say what a delight and a humbling experience it was to listen to our students as they completed their SLCs (Student Led Conferences) this week. We were all completely blown away by the quality of SLCs and the way in which students could talk confidently about their work and progress. Thank you as well to parents who supported SLCs and contributed really great questions in advance for students to respond to.
This week:
- Monday 27th June is staff development day – students are not expected to be in school and should return as normal on Tuesday 28th June.
- Transition Days Tuesday 28th and Wednesday 29th June – on these days we will be joined by our new cohort of students who will experience “crew” for the first time and will learn about their new school. Our current students will be acting as Ambassadors and have volunteered to support in crew and lessons and have also prepared lunchtime activities for our young visitors. Please note that there will be increased “drop off” traffic on these days so for our existing parents it may be a good idea to drop off and pick up just along the road or round the corner.
- Warm weather – As the weather is starting to get quite warm. (Summer is coming !) Please make sure your child brings a water bottle to school and also a cap or hat if they suffer from sunstroke, and/or sunscreen if they burn easily. This is to cover outside breaks and lunchtimes although PE lessons are also increasingly outside. We will issue kit lists for any field work.
- Thursday 30th June – Book Launch – We are really excited to be launching the first published book written by our students. This will take place at Seven Stories on the Quayside which is appropriate as this is the national centre for children’s books. Our students will be transported to Seven Stories after school on Thursday and we have asked that parents arrive at about 5pm to pick them up and stay for a coffee/chat in the cafe at Seven Stories.
- Visitor from the States – we look forward to welcoming Michelle Nevarre to XPG on Wednesday 29th June. Michelle is Principal of Polaris School in Chicago and she will be accompanied by Gwyn and Neil from the Trust.
- Parental Feedback – Please remember to complete our parents feedback form by clicking here. We would really love to know what you think about our school (what we do well and what we could do better) and in particular would like to get feedback on our SLCs.
Upcoming Events:
A reminder there is a G28 parents’ calendar here.
- There is a fantastic opportunity for students to get involved in our promotion of From The Ground Up at the Durham Miners’ Gala on Saturday 9th July. See Mr Said’s post for more details .
- The Presentation of Learning for our current learning expedition will take place on the evening of Tue 19th July. We will be sending more details on this in the coming weeks.
No Nuts in packed lunches please
We have students in our new cohort with a severe allergy to nuts and so we need to ask that no nuts or nut products be used in packed lunches from this point onwards. Thank you in advance for your support with this.
Extended Study this week
We will be setting extended study as normal this week and extended study sessions after school will resume as normal this week
PE sessions this week – Friday
Please note that PE will be on Friday for our current students (G28 cohort)
COVID testing
We have decided to remove the requirement to test students each Sunday evening given the current low level in cases and additional staffing that we now have available. This is in line with Government guidelines, however we would ask parents to continue to be vigilant and to test students if they or other family members of the family have symptoms. With your support we will continue to test students in school if they present with symptoms during the school day. We will also continue to keep windows open and to ensure our building is as ventilated as possible.
We do still have a limited supply of testing kits, so if you are in need and find it difficult to obtain tests, please do speak to your son or daughter’s Crew Leader.
As usual if there are any queries please do get in contact with your child’s Crew Leader.
Many thanks
Mark Lovatt
Principal