XP Gateshead

Beautiful Work This Week

Here’s a selection of beautiful work from across the XP Trust from this week. To read about other stories from across the XP Trust, visit xptrust.org.

Top of the Blogs

Family Learning @ Norton Infants

Class 9 Family Learning @ Green Top

Family Learning @ Plover

Why do we have a skeleton? @ Carcroft School

Digest This! @ Norton Juniors

A Visit from Brenda Dinsdale @ XP Gateshead

Cheerleading Festival @ XP

Share your stories with us!

We now have a new dedicated news email so that you can send your stories, updates or ideas about potential news articles directly to us in Comms.

It might be something you or your students have achieved, a charity you’re supporting or anything at all that deserves a wider audience.

Write to us at [email protected] –  we want to hear about it, write about it and celebrate it!

Following on from our visit by Samantha’s Legacy last week, we have offered an incredible opportunity by the charity to see a production of ‘Our Sam’, a dramatic performance of the ripple effects of Sam’s passing on her family, friends, and community. It explores themes of grief and lost potential.

This builds on the learning that students have been doing about the risks of carrying knives, and consequences of knife crime. We are delighted to be able to take all of Year 9 to see the performance along with their Crew Leaders.

We have worked with our local Violence Reduction Unit and students have discussed these issues before in Crew sessions, so we are confident that our students are mature enough to deal with the sensitive nature of the play.

We apologise for the short notice; we have just been able to confirm coach transport to the venue to get students back to school rather than using the metro at peak time which would have led to a later arrival back at school.

Students will be travelling to and from Whitley Bay Playhouse by coach and will eat lunch a little earlier in school. They do not require a packed lunch unless they normally do so.

Please note we will arrive back in school a little later than the usual finish time at 4.15pm.

Our train is currently running to time so we should be at Newcastle Central Station at 8.30pm, and then at school for around 9.15pm as planned.

We are looking forward to G30’s fieldwork to London over the next two weeks. This week it is Class 2 that will travel to the V&A museum on Tuesday.

Please make sure that if your child needs to take any medicine during the course of the day, that this is in their bag. It must be clearly labelled in the original packaging and that our office have been made aware if your child is self-administering.

A reminder that all students will need to bring with them:

• A packed lunch, packed tea and any healthy snacks – strictly no nuts please.
• Comfortable trainers or walking shoes.
• Clothing suitable for the weather – there will be a short walk from South Kensington Underground.
• Their regular kit, including a fully charged iPad and a water bottle and their reading book for the journey.
• We advise that students bring their mobile phone if they have one, charged and turned off in their bag.
• Students do not need to bring spending money for the fieldwork, although there is an opportunity to visit the gift shop.

Students can either:

• meet staff at XP Gateshead between 6.30am and 6.45am at the latest. Staff will then walk with students to Heworth Metro to travel by Metro to Newcastle Central Station.
• meet staff at Newcastle Central Station between 7.15am and 7.30am at the latest. Staff will be waiting inside the portico near the short stay car park to meet students.

We will update the website with our arrival time; the return train is scheduled to arrive back in Newcastle Central Station at 8.30pm.

 

We look forwards to seeing students bright an early on Tuesday morning!

Beautiful Work This Week

Here’s a selection of beautiful work from across the XP Trust from this week. To read about other stories from across the XP Trust, visit xptrust.org.

Top of the Blogs

Family Learning @ Norton Infants

Class 8 are artists @ Green Top

Our Expert Community Visitor @ Plover

What is humanism? @ Carcroft School

Table Mathematics @ Norton Juniors

G31 Expedition Reveal – Do Your Bit @ XP Gateshead

Share your stories with us!

We now have a new dedicated news email so that you can send your stories, updates or ideas about potential news articles directly to us in Comms.

It might be something you or your students have achieved, a charity you’re supporting or anything at all that deserves a wider audience.

Write to us at [email protected] –  we want to hear about it, write about it and celebrate it!

https://youtu.be/s-a5ct_w6G8

 

XP Gateshead is hiring! We’re seeking dedicated educators for History, English, and Arts. Join us in shaping the future of learning. Apply now:

• History & English Teachers: https://xptrust.org/were-looking-for-a-great-teachers-of-history-and-english-at-xp-gateshead/
• Arts Teacher: https://xptrust.org/were-looking-for-a-great-teacher-of-arts-at-xp-gateshead/
• Faculty Leader for Arts: https://xptrust.org/were-looking-for-a-great-faculty-leader-for-arts-at-xp-gateshead/

 

Join our Crew! XP Doncaster is looking for a Cleaner! Be part of a team that makes a difference every day. Apply now: https://xptrust.org/were-looking-for-a-cleaner-at-xp-doncaster/

This term, Year 7 students are embarking on the HUMAN and ARTS expedition “Do Your Bit!”. 

After an engaging immersion week—including activities like a gallery walk of WWI artefacts, the “notices and wonders” protocol, and reading the play White Poppies—students explored how art reflects the realities of war through WWI artists’ work. The week concluded with the reveal of the guiding question: “Why do we need to honour all those who made sacrifices during WWI?”

The expedition delves into the causes of WWI, the impact of propaganda, the “unheard voices” of war, the Commonwealth’s contributions, Sikh beliefs and their influence on soldiers, and the lasting effects of the war.

Case Studies and Anchor Texts
The expedition is divided into three case studies:

• The Call to Arms – Exploring the causes of WWI and propaganda’s role in recruitment, with creative writing tasks imagining the pressures of war.
• The Call of the Motherland – Examining the Commonwealth’s role through expert sessions and a fieldwork visit to Newcastle’s Sikh Gurdwara where they will experience how Sikhs meditate to connect their body and mind, fostering a deeper understanding of this spiritual practice as well as the practice of Sewa (selfless service to others) by preparing and serving Langar.
• The Call Home – Investigating WWI’s long-term effects, including PTSD, racism, and grief, with fieldwork at Heworth Cemetery.

The anchor text, War Girls: A Collection of First World War Stories Through the Eyes of Young Women, enriches the students’ understanding of the period.

          

 

 

 

 

 

Artistic Connections, Drama, and Crew
In drama, students are staging scenes from White Poppies, making directorial decisions. In art, they are exploring colour theory and composition while recreating WWI-inspired works by artists like CRW Nevinson and Otto Dix. During Crew, they are reading Michael Morpurgo’s Private Peaceful to understand the war’s impact on families and communities.

Celebration of Learning and Final Product
The expedition concludes with a live Presentation of Learning on 25th March at 4:30 pm. Students will present their learning, read extracts from their creative writing, and show some of their artwork, interspersed with dramatic performances of White Poppies. Their final product—a wartime-style radio broadcast featuring extracts from their creative writing to amplify WWI’s unheard voices—will air on Memory Lane Radio on Remembrance Sunday in November.