XP Gateshead

Dear Parents/Carers

Welcome back! We hope you have had a restful half term break and we look forward to welcoming our students back tomorrow.

Please note that this half term is shorter at 4 weeks. We break up for our Easter Holiday on Friday 28th March and return to school on Monday 14th April.

Our usual reminders for a good start back…

Punctuality

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. 

Daily kit list

As always, students need to bring a school bag with:

• A filled water bottle
• Pencil case including: pens, pencils, ruler, eraser and pencil sharpener
• A fully charged iPad 
• Their AR reading book (please remember that as part of our reading strategy, we expect all students to read between 20-30 mins. each day)
• Headphones 
• A healthy snack for break (no confectionery (sweets), fizzy drinks or energy drinks, nut products)
• A notebook

Dress code

A reminder that we ask students and staff to dress appropriately and modestly. Please note that for a normal day within school, we do not think it appropriate that students wear:

• Hats, hoods & coats inside school
• Revealing clothing, i.e. revealing the midriff, chest or upper thigh
• Noticeable make-up, including false eyelashes
• Valuable, sentimental or impractical accessories / jewellery. For example heavy chains, thick sovereign rings, or false nails
• Impractical footwear

As is always the case, we ask for your support in upholding our dress code. See link here to full details on our website.

The week ahead

National Careers Week

All students will be taking part in activities connected to careers in Crew this week, including a virtual careers fair.. For G29 this will form an important part of their Passage Presentations which includes a section on their future self.

You can access a guide for families to national careers week here, which has some really useful information on pathways after students leave XP.

G31 Students in the kitchen this week

Connected to their studies of nutrition and digestion, some of Year 7 will be in the kitchen this week. For more details see Mr Said’s earlier post here.

G30 Theatre Fieldwork

This is taking place on Thursday 6th March in the afternoon with a slightly later finish back at school. More details can be found here. 

PE this week

• G31 (Year 7)
  • Class 1 have PE on Tuesday this week.
  • Class 2 have PE on Wednesday this week
• G30 (Year 8)
  • Class 1 have PE on Monday this week.
  • Class 2 have PE on Friday this week
• G29 (Year 9) have PE on Thursday.
• G28 (Year 10) have PE on Thursday.

In line with our dress code, we expect students to arrive at PE lessons with a change of kit which is appropriate for the activity and all accessories removed. This includes sports trainers with non slip soles e.g. running shoes/astro turf (not plimsolls). 

Extended Study and Clubs

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.

Looking Ahead:

G30 Final Shipley Gallery Fieldwork

Students in G30 Class 2 will have their final work session at The Shipley on Tuesday 11th March, and G30 Class 1 will do likewise on Thursday 13th March. These will all be during the school day but students will need a packed lunch.

Staff Development Days

A reminder that we have two staff development days this half term; Friday 14th and Monday 17th March. 

Passage Presentations

The schedule for passage presentations has now been shared with families. Students will continue to work hard on their passage presentations this week and next. Please talk to your children at home about how their preparation is going and how they are demonstrating their readiness for GCSEs in sessions too: remember there will be feedback given on quality of reflection, quality of writing, integrity of reflection and organisation of the portfolio of evidence.

Monday 17th March is a staff day. Students will be welcome to arrive at school earlier than their passage presentation slot to do final preparations, and then should return home after their presentation. If students do not have a passage presentation, there is not a need for them to be in school on Monday 17th March.

Tuesday 18th March is not a staff day, however Year 9 teachers will be involved in passage presentations throughout the day so we will not be running a regular timetable for this day for Year 9 students. Students can come into school for the regular school hours or work from home where families give permission; we will be setting additional extended study to support students in their expeditions which students can access independently. Likewise, if students have a passage presentation on this day, and families give permission, then students can go home following their presentation.

Please note that Tuesday 18th March will be a regular timetable day for all of Year 7, 8 and Year 10.

More information on slots and attendance on these days can be found here.

Presentations of Learning

Below are the dates for our PoLs (Presentations of Learning) which will all take place before the end of this term (except Year 9). It is important to note that we expect for every child to have a family member there to support them.

Year 7 HUMAN – Why is it important to honour all those who sacrificed in WWI?

PoL on Tuesday 25th March in school at 4.30pm

Year 7 STEAM – Is survival sufficient?

PoL on Monday 24th March with experts from Edberts House (this is not an event that families attend, students will present their food packages to the workers at Edberts House)

Year 8 – What is Power?

PoL on Thursday 27th March at Caedmon Hall, above Gateshead Central Library at 5pm.

Year 9 – How can we continue to make progress on public health?

PoL on Friday 9th May in school from 2pm. This Presentation of Learning is in the form of a Public Health Conference, hosted by our students. Please note the earlier time for this.

Year 10 – Are we really free to choose?

PoL on Tuesday 18th March, venue and time to be confirmed.

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

Dear Families

We have come to the end of another half-term that has been packed with moments where our students have shone.

G31 have had their very first set of SLCs and have this last week started to consider how they will support families in need with food packages, building from their knowledge of nutrition and digestion. Miss Jamison has put out a separate post here with details on some recipes we’d love to see you try at home with your children too.

G30 have had a series of fieldwork as part of their art studies that has led them to the V&A in London, and this last week have worked with expert actress, writer and director Christina Berriman Dawson to support their preparations for their performance of Macbeth Don’t forget that they also have a theatre visit booked to see Christina in an excellent production: Champion, more details can be found here. This wonderful production was also featured on BBC Radio 4 this week too, you can listen here from 12 minutes 45 seconds onwards.

G29 have had a return to Newcastle University this week to delve into the archives of public health in our region, and also to carry out anatomical drawings under the guidance of experts  at the Hatton Gallery. This has been a really strong term for G29, who have been praised time and again for their conduct and how they have acted as ambassadors for the school at the production of our Sam, in how they are preparing for Passage and how they are motoring in lessons.

Following their TSLCs, G28 have this week been in G29 Crews supporting students in their preparations for passage. It’s great to see the leadership potential of all of our G28 students being harnessed. In addition student leaders have this term supported the G30 fieldwork to the V&A, leading ambassador tours and training younger students and running clubs. There are mock exams coming up in April which will become the focus in Crew following the break. We will post the revision guidance website in a separate post, which has guidance for how families can support revision – the work and expectations for which will step up when we return. Our pioneering Year 10 students really are incredible in terms of the way that they model our culture for our younger students, and it goes to show the impact that this has had on their peers when you look at what our younger students are achieving, in the case of G29 with direct support from Year 10s for passage.

Every visitor that comes to our school comments on how articulate, informed, knowledgeable and proud that our students are, and we could not be more proud of them.

Important dates for your diaries for next half-term

Fieldwork

G30 Theatre Fieldwork

This is taking place on Thursday 6th March in the afternoon with a slightly later finish back at school. More details can be found here. 

G30 Final Shipley Gallery Fieldwork

Students in G30 Class 2 will have their final work session at The Shipley on Tuesday 11th March, and G30 Class 1 will do likewise on Thursday 13th March. These will all be during the school day but students will need a packed lunch.

Passage Presentations

Most of these will take place on Monday 17th March and Tuesday 18th March during the day, and some limited slots after school on the following two days.

More information on slots and attendance on these days can be found here.

We will send out provisional time slots for families on Monday this week from the office@ email address so please keep an eye out for that.

Presentations of Learning

Below are the dates for our PoLs (Presentations of Learning) next term. It is important to note that we expect for every child to have a family member there to support them.

Year 7 HUMAN – Why is it important to honour all those who sacrificed in WWI?

PoL on Tuesday 25th March in school at 4.30pm

Year 7 STEAM – Is survival sufficient?

PoL on Monday 24th March with experts from Edberts House (this is not an event that families attend, students will present their food packages to the workers at Edberts House)

Year 8 – What is Power?

PoL on Thursday 27th March at Caedmon Hall, above Gateshead Central Library at 5pm.

Year 9 – How can we continue to make progress on public health?

PoL on Friday 9th May in school from 2pm. This Presentation of Learning is in the form of a Public Health Conference, hosted by our students. Please note the earlier time for this.

Year 10 – Are we really free to choose?

PoL on Tuesday 18th March, venue and time to be confirmed.

Easter Holidays

Please note that it is a shorter half-term coming up at 4 weeks. We break up for our Easter Holiday on Friday 28th March and return to school on Monday 14th April at the normal time. Our Easter holidays do not always align with other Gateshead school. The date of the religious holiday changes each year, however we need to be able to plan a consistent length for our expeditions in term 2 and 3. You can see more on our calendars on the trust website. These holidays do align much better in the following academic year.

Have a wonderful break with your children

So, it’s been another exciting and fruitful half-term.  Have a great half-term break and we look forward to seeing all of our students on Monday 3rd March at the normal time. 

Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support.

.Julie Mosley

Principal