XP Gateshead

Dear Families

Sometimes, when you look back on the week past it is hard to believe that so much can be achieved in a week and this is definitely the case for last week when we only had four days with our students!

We get the chance to see your children and their greatness every day and see how hard they are working to produce beautiful work, grow their character and be successful academically. We also get the chance to see and hear them challenging and supporting each other to be better and, like staff here, our students ‘sweat the small stuff’ and have high expectations of themselves and their peers.  This is not the norm in schools and I feel really proud of our school where staff and students work together building this culture, doing this as crew and not passengers.

G28 Fieldwork 

As part of their current expedition, ‘Hold Back the River’ our Year 9 students had an amazing fieldwork experience at the coast this week, studying the river at Seaton Burn and the Seaton Sluice coastline.  The fieldwork incorporated geography standards around map reading, fieldwork skills including data collection and analysis and also physical geography standards about river processes, giving students an opportunity to test a hypothesis about the long profile of a river, and the changes from the middle to the lower course. In addition students spent time on a solo, using their surroundings to help prepare them for writing standards in English language associated with poetry and connected to the literature pieces that they have been studying. Finally, they also spent time observing the dune ecosystems at Seaton Sluice, building on learning about biotic and factors and variation in biology, to look at the adaptations, abundance and distribution of species that thrive in the dunes.

G30 Fieldwork

Our Year 7 students carried out fieldwork along the River Tyne this week as part of their current expedition and guiding question ‘How does water shape our world?’

They packed so much into one day, including using the physical model of the river catchment at Newcastle Central Library to look at how features can affect the river catchment and flow of water, using their sharp vocabulary to discuss how changes to the landscape impact on the whole system. They also walked the length of the Tyne from the quayside to Felling Shore to study human geography standards, looking at the change in land use on both sides of the river along the section sampled.

G29 workshop – Climate Adaptability

Year 8 students continue to consider their guiding question,  ‘Is Migration worth the Risk?’,  as part of their current expedition, ‘Should I stay or should I go?.’ Last week they spent time with expert Gemma Sarigu from ‘Students Owning Sustainability’. The session fit into the wider expedition, where students are seeing how changes in climate are becoming an increasingly prevalent push factor which causes people to migrate. Protecting our planet is one of our curricular seams that runs throughout expeditions, and this session was important in addressing potential feelings of ‘climate anxiety’. Much of the session was spent considering opportunities that climate change poses in terms of developing technologies, careers and bringing people together.

G30 Art Workshops

Our final workshops with Bruce Tuckey for art students leaders took place this week. This involved students creating sculptures inspired by the works on the Tyne Riverside Sculpture Park. We will post images of the final products soon.

PE collaboration with Felling Cricket Club 

This week our Year 9 students enjoyed the chance to test their cricket skills at Felling Cricket Club. We are really lucky to have such facilities on our doorstep, allowing our students to experience expert facilities and give them a platform to play cricket locally outside of school. All year groups will be using this facility in the coming weeks and months. Special thanks to Mr Devitt, Danny Norman and Macolm Norman who have supported this collaboration.

This week

Like was said on our early look ahead last week, it’s another packed week!

G31 Year 6 Transition Days – Tuesday 2nd and Wednesday 3rd July

This week we meet our new G31 students for their transition days at XP Gateshead. We are really looking forward to getting to know our G31 cohort and for them to get to know each other. Please see the website post for full details on transition. 

Please note that for all students (including Year 6 students), our school day will start at the usual time of 8:25am each day with students able to arrive from 8:00am. Each day will end at 3:15am for all students (there are no clubs or extended study running on Tuesday or Wednesday).

G29 Crews working in the kitchen – Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th July

As part of the preparation for their presentation of learning on 17th July, this week Crew King and Crew Watson will be working in the kitchen this week to prepare dishes from around the world for the event.

• Crew King – Wednesday 3rd July, 
• Crew Watson – Thursday 4th July

The ingredients will be already sourced for students. In terms of safety, long hair must be tied back, and students should wear clothes that are OK to get dirty. 

Over the next week, each of our G29 Crews will be working in the kitchen to prepare dishes for the presentation of learning event where our students will be hosting and catering an evening to celebrate their learning through their expedition ‘Is Migration Worth the Risk?’ This celebration of learning will be held at XP Gateshead School on 17th July 2024.

G28 Duke of Edinburgh Kit Check – Wednesday 3rd July, 3:30pm

Students in G28 will carry out a full kit check in school in readiness for their assessed expedition which is taking place on Friday and Saturday this week. The kit check should take no more than 1 hour and students will contact families to let you know when they will be finished if they need a lift home from school.

G30 Fieldwork – Thursday 4th July

On Thursday, G30 will be carrying out an important fieldwork at the Durham University Biosciences Department to further study aquatic food chains – both under the microscope and by looking at the variety of species caught from the nearby pond. For Year 7, this will be their first visit to a University Campus which is a really important moment for our students. As you know, university-readiness is part of our mission at XP Gateshead, to ensure that our students are on a path to university if that is what they choose for their future.

Students should arrive at the regular time and will finish school at 3.15pm as normal. They will need their regular kit for the day, a packed lunch and will need to be prepared for the weather (the current forecast is mild, sunny spells with a chance of showers). Students that normally have a free school meal will be provided with a packed lunch.

G28 Assessed Duke of Edinburgh Expedition – Friday 5th and Saturday 6th July

This week our G28 Pioneers embark on their final assessed Duke of Edinburgh expedition. As you know, DofE (like Year 7 Ullswater Outward Bound) is an important aspect of our curriculum in challenging students to develop their character and push them beyond their comfort zone. As a school we invest a great deal of time, money and staff resources into helping all students to achieve the award. We expect all of our students to complete the DofE.

Students should arrive at regular time on Friday and will be transported to their Duke of Edinburgh drop off point in Wark, Northumberland. Students will then be staying at Greencarts Campsite, next to Hadrian’s Wall, before completing day two of the expedition and being collected in Acomb, Northumberland. Students can expect to arrive back to school in the late afternoon on Saturday the 6th May.

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The forecast is mild, sunny spells and showers. The kit list reflects these possibilities, please ensure that your child is equipped for sun, rain and changes in temperature.

PE sessions this week

Our PE sessions this week are as follows. Please ensure that your child has their full PE kit.

• G30 students (Y7) have PE on Monday this week
• G29 students (Y8) have PE on Wednesday this week
• G28 students (Y9) have PE on Thursday this week 

Extended Study and Clubs

Extended study and after school clubs will not be running this week due to transition, DofE preparation and staff Educator Led Conferences (think SLCs for adults – what’s good for our children is good for us!). 

Punctuality

Can I remind all families about the importance of good punctuality. A calm start to each day is really important for students to settle into learning and as you know, we ask all parents and carers to support their children with this, it is part of the XP Home School Agreement that every family has signed.

We are starting to see a small minority of students arrive after 8:25am without real justification. Please note that school opens at 8:00am every morning 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. 

Students have been given clear reminders about punctuality and I know that Crew Leaders have been in contact with families to remove barriers around punctuality. We monitor lateness closely down to precise time lost and where punctuality issues continue, students will make up lost time at the end of the week. 

Thank you as always for your ongoing support. 

As usual if you have any questions please contact your child’s crew leader in the first instance. 

Julie Mosley

Dear Families

We hope you have enjoyed the long and sunny weekend.  Last week we enjoyed some great work from students in and outside of school:

G29 Fieldwork

Students in G29 met with expert volunteers  from the Time to Help UK charity, who are supporting the Humanity Cartoon competition – a global competition using art to give voice to the stories of refugees. Students were able to talk to the experts about their own experiences of migration and analysed the many pieces of artwork to make inferences about the messages being conveyed. All of this in the wonderful surrounds of St Mary’s heritage centre.

Will, Arlo, Penny and Dakota then returned on Thursday to read the poem that is part of their final product, Home by Warsan Shire, as part of a day of performances connected to National Refugee Week.

G30 Art Workshop

We had the first of our workshops with the sculptor Bruce Tuckey for our Year 7 art leaders, who are creating sculptures in response to the riverside park of sculptures on the south bank of the Tyne. This week Bruce will be working with the remaining students in the leadership group from Year 7.

Art delivery to the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition

On Saturday, Miss Macphail travelled to London to deliver a very special piece of art to be exhibited in this year’s Summer Exhibition. 

Freya’s “Mr Pigeon” was delivered safely and will be shown in one of the most prestigious art galleries in the world. The Royal Academy is famous for showcasing new and established artists, bringing their work to a whole new audience. 

Saturday workshop ran by XPG students

Our student leaders from G29: Eliza, Nelly, Penny, Braydon, Reuben, and Harry met with migrant children at a Saturday school organised by our partners at the Comfrey Project and taught the children there how to make stop motion animation, using their learning from the creation of the final product for their current expedition.

Staff Days

On Friday and Monday, our staff have worked hard in school and with colleagues across the Trust planning next term’s expeditions.

‘At XP we build our community through activism, leadership and equity sharing our stories as we go.’

To fully realise these principles, at XP, we deliver our curriculum predominantly through cross disciplinary learning expeditions. These are standards based projects that are specifically designed to make connections between, and across, subjects to encourage deep, purposeful and memorable learning experiences for our young people. The careful planning of expeditions takes time and real craftsmanship and quality. Our staff have been considering each part of the expedition – immersions, guiding questions, case studies, work with experts, fieldwork and final products.

A special thanks goes out to Molly, Freya and Elina who gave up their time on Friday to update our toilet signs with an XP design by Ruby. Their work really does show that our students are crew not passengers.

At the start of the week we had a group of 15 teachers and leaders from XP Trust schools for a  day of learning at XPG. They were immersed in learning at XPG via Ambassador Tours, lesson visits and teaching and learning sessions with Mr Mead. 

Stand out moments revolved around ambassador tours which our students facilitated. The feedback about our students was simply stunning and worth sharing with you all

“The work you have done around culture is fabulous. The way the pupils articulated their educational offer was stunning”

“What an incredible day, your students blew us away. They are learning to be the most wonderful individuals who take pride in their learning and their school. The work you and your team have done at XPG is making a difference… they showed us… with their conduct and their integrity”

This week

Like was said on Friday, it’s a busy one!

G28 Fieldwork tomorrow

Year 9 students will be carrying out fieldwork to investigate the river Seaton Burn. Students will work together to collect data regarding the width, depth and velocity of the river. Students will also complete an activity connected to their poetry studies and will study species in the dunes at Seaton Sluice which are particular to that ecosystem. We will be travelling by coach to the venue for the day. The weather forecast is currently very warm, dry and sunny. The heat warning does not affect our region however students should be prepared for the hot and dry weather. All year 9 students will need:

• Their regular kit for the day
• Suncream and cap/hat
• A second pair of trainers, wellies or shoes that can get wet
• A large bottle of drinking water
• Ideally shorts rather than longer bottoms or leggings
  • bottoms or leggings that can be rolled up are OK
• Bug spray if required

We expect to be back to school at the normal time, traffic dependent so will post on the website if there are any delays.

Climate Action Plan and G29 workshops

Also on Tuesday, our Climate Action Plan leadership group will be working with our expert Gemma Sarigu to finalise their proposals for how the school could be more sustainable.

On Tuesday Year 8 students will also carry out a workshop with Gemma on climate adaptability, which will both feed into the action plan, and also connects to students’ learning about migration – with changes in climate becoming an increasingly prevalent push factor which causes people to migrate.

G30 Fieldwork – Wednesday 26th June

All Year 7 students will be carrying out fieldwork including data collection techniques and observational skills, through practical activities and investigations in our local river environment.

This will involve travel by Metro and walking between Newcastle and Gateshead. The weather forecast is currently warm with potential showers. As such students will need:

• Comfortable walking shoes or trainers
• appropriately dress for our current changeable weather including
  • hat and suncream
  • waterproof coat
• 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.

As usual, students need to be in school for 8.25am ready for their final briefing. We expect to return to school slightly later than the normal school at around 3:45 pm. We will update the school website in the event of any delays.

G30 Art Workshops – Thursday 27th June

The final workshop for art student leaders with Bruce Tuckey will be taking place on Thursday in school this week. This week it will be: Freya, Caleb, Lexi J, Lizzie, Olivia W, Amelia, Kayden, Josh, Lexi S, Evie, George, Danny, Holly, Lily-Mae S, Isaac and James. Students will be creating sculptures so should wear clothes which you do not mind getting dirty.

PE sessions this week

Some PE sessions will not run this week due to the staff day. PE time will be paid back in coming weeks with additional sessions and Crew Day

• G29 students (Y8) have PE on Wednesday this week
• G28 students (Y9)
  • G28 Class 1 have PE on Thursday this week.
  • G29 Class 2 have PE on Friday this week 
• G30 students (Y7) do not have PE this week due to the staff day today.