XP Gateshead

Dear Families

Happy 2024! We hope you have had a great Christmas and a safe and restful New Year. 

We are looking forward to welcoming students back tomorrow to the start of our new term at XP Gateshead.

Here’s some reminders to get a good start to term…

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. A calm start to the day is really important for students to settle into learning so we ask that parents support their child with this.

Dress code

Please refer to our website post for full details on our dress code. Can I remind parents of the following expectations around daily dress within school and ask for your full support around this as we move in to a new term 

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:

• For example sliders, flip-flops or high heels.

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

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.
• For G28 students (Y9) 
  • G28 Class 1 have PE on Thursday this week
  • G28 Class 2 have PE on Friday this week.

Extended Study and Clubs

There will be no extended study or after school clubs running this week. After school sessions will all start again next week.

New Term – New Expeditions

A new term means new and exciting expeditions for our students. Immersion takes place this week and our students will be working hard to find out what their new guiding questions are and the challenges and new learning their expeditions will bring. 

Curriculum Updates 

There are some curriculum changes which continue to give our students a breadth and depth of experience at key stage 3. 

G30 are studying two new expeditions. As part of their studies for their new HUMAN and ARTS expedition, they will also be continuing with drama with a new text and also studying computer science to help them to organise and analyse data from an expert and learn to code.

G30 will also have a new STEAM expedition which will include some food technology and a really great final product that will have an impact on our local community.

G29 are studying one new expedition that combines HUMAN, STEAM and ARTS. This will include some really challenging drama and music, both of which will be instrumental to their final product and presentation of learning.

G28’s new expedition is a combined HUMAN, STEAM and ARTS expedition which will last into the Summer term as a 16-week expedition. This will include a challenging Presentation of Learning in school, and will pull together and build on learning from across Year 7 and 8.

G28 students will also be getting a greater insight into careers and guidance to start considering future decisions. We will also launch our KS4 curriculum offer with year 9 students and their families this term.

Student-Led Conferences G29 and G30

SLCs (Student-Led Conferences) replace the conventional parents’ evenings at XP Gateshead. During an SLC, your son or daughter will share their learning with you and their crew leader. You will have an opportunity to look at work from their portfolio and ask questions about their HoWLs (Habits of Work and Learning) and AP grades (Academic Progress). They will also share their progress around pledges set last term with you during the SLC and you will be able to ask questions around these. 

SLCs for G29 and G30 will take place this term in the two weeks commencing 29th January. In the coming weeks you will receive an SLC invite from your son or daughter’s crew leader.  

Passage Presentations G28 

Our Y9 students will give passage presentations in March.  Passage presentations are an opportunity for students to reflect on their learning and their readiness to move on to the next phase of their education. G28 students will provide evidence to an audience of family, Crew Leader and an XPG invited guest to demonstrate that they are ready to start their GCSE journey. 

In the coming weeks you will hear more about passage presentations from your son or daughter as they start preparing for this key passage at XPG.

Staff Days

A reminder that we have two staff development days this half term; Friday 19th and Monday 22nd January. As normal, students are not expected to be in school on these days.

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

Principal

XP Gateshead

Dear Families

What a final week of term we have had! Our students have continued to work hard and produce work of the highest quality and we couldn’t be prouder of them.

G30 ‘From the Ground Up’ Presentation of Learning – St Mary’s Church in Heworth

On Monday our Year 7 students took centre stage at St Mary’s Church in Heworth for their first presentation of learning. They really stepped up to the challenge;  sharing their work from this term’s expedition ‘From the Ground Up’ with the GQ: ‘What do the communities of NE England owe to the miners?’. It was difficult to believe that G30 students have been with us less than 4 months watching them share such high quality learning with eloquence and confidence. The quality of their script, songwriting, drama performance and art work along with the variety of inputs made for a culturally rich evening. 

G30’s final product will be a CD of the folk songs they have written. We will be recording this early next term so it will be ready for sales at the Miner’s Gala in the Summer term where we hope to see our students perform their songs to a larger audience. A huge well done to all of the staff and students who worked on this expedition – a stunning achievement and our first XPG music CD!

Here is just some of the feedback we have received from families who attended the evening:

I’m so proud of their confidence to stand up and talk about their learning.

Ten out of ten! Keep doing what you are doing.

I praise how confident the children were about the mines and miners, fantastic production. The children really went into great levels of description on the mining – it was really interesting.

The songs the children wrote were so thoughtful, they did an amazing job.

G29 ‘Being Human’ Presentation of Learning – XP Gateshead

On Tuesday, it was G29’s time to shine at their presentation of learning, where they answered the GQ:  ‘What does it mean to be human?’. The evening was in several parts:

• a public lecture with students presenting excerpts from their speeches responding to the guiding question
• a marketplace table discussion where students shared their individual learning journeys and work from this expedition
• …and finally, an unveiling of the final artwork which promotes organ donation. This will move to its permanent home at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead early next year.

Year 8 definitely stepped up! Listening to their responses to the guiding question and the learning they have experienced over this expedition was a privilege. It was especially impressive to see Year 8 students presenting to other parents for the first time. This is an important step up for them in terms of developing character and confidence.

Here are some of the quotes from our families:

Amazing to see the young people presenting so eloquently and with confidence.

It is so good to see the development from Year 7 to Year 8. So confident and informed. It is lovely to see students researching diversity and difference and the impact on society alongside their place and responsibility for this.

Great depth of knowledge and confidence, articulating that in a meaningful way to parents/carers.

I learned that everyone has their own interpretation of what is means to be human, and this is OK as it is a subjective topic.

G28 Charity work 

December has been a busy month of charity events. Thank you to all who have supported these events. Look out for updates from our Y9 Crews on how much they have raised with their charity work this term.

G29/G30 Community Support

We finished our term today visiting our neighbours delivering crew hampers put together by our Year 7 and Year 8 students. Our crews have spent time putting together hampers for the residents of the bungalows on Swards Road and Colepeth, sharing some of their beautiful work and treats for Christmas as a thank you to our neighbours. It was wonderful to see students get real pride from their acts of kindness and the joy they gave others.

So, a wonderful ending to a great term. 

I’d like to thank all of our wonderful staff who work relentlessly to support our students – we have a great staff crew at XP Gateshead. Our thanks also goes to Gateshead teams who support our work at XPG especially Suzanne, Cheryl and Michelle who keep us nourished, Carol, Karen, Jan and Marie who work hard to keep our school environment clean and tidy. 

Thanks also to you, our families, for all of your ongoing support. We couldn’t do what we do without this.

And the final one goes to our wonderful students who continue to shine, doing more than they thought possible and supporting each other to get to the top of the mountain.

Wishing you all a very happy festive season. We return on Monday 8th January at the normal time.

Julie Mosley

Principal

Dear Families

As we come to the end of term, we celebrate our expedition work with Presentations of Learning where our students publicly share their final products and answers to their guiding questions with an audience of peers, staff, families and invited guests.

Last week was the chance for our G28 students to share their work from this term’s expedition with the GQ: How are structures important in helping us to explain our world?. We also took the opportunity to premiere the film produced in last term’s expedition: Should I stay or should I go? We returned to Newcastle University where our students also got the opportunity of a campus tour and time with a student, Mary and Isaac  from ‘The 93% Club’ who shared their experience of attending University. What made it even more special was that Mary was one of XP Doncaster’s pioneer students! 

Our students took over the Farrell Centre at Newcastle University creating a living expedition over three floors! They shared their knowledge around art and architecture, atomic structures in science, including isotopes and radiation, structures in government and society and made connections to the anchor text for this expedition, Lord of the Flies. Standing back and listening to our students ‘lead the learning’ in every sense of the word was simply stunning and we all could not have been prouder of G28. 

The film premiere of ‘Should I stay or should I go’ (GQ: Is migration worth the risk?)  at the Herschel Lecture Theatre was another moment of real pride and an  emotional experience for students, staff and families alike.

Here is just some of the feedback we have received from families who attended the evening:

“I was really blown away by the young people at the PoL on 14 December at Newcastle University. There is an obvious pride and enthusiasm for their work, and they were not fazed in the slightest at talking to family members and visitors. Their knowledge and understanding of the subjects showed real depth of learning, and I could not have been more impressed. It’s almost impossible to get my child to tell me about his day, yet when he was there and given responsibility he didn’t come up for air.”

“Special mention to the young man who was talking about brutalist architecture by the bottom of the stairs to the top level. He has a brilliant future.”

“I wholeheartedly agree with taking the students to a university so they know what it is like and recognise it as a place for them too. I was the first in my family to go to Uni (Newcastle) and did not have a clue what to expect, and if I am honest it was a culture shock.  I also suspect that these visits benefit families that did not have these opportunities, to put them at ease and encourage their children to consider higher education.”

“Outstanding performance from G28! Such hard work, determination and knowledge shown in so many creative ways. A credit to all of them! Well done staff as well for inspiring!”

“Another amazing PoL from G28. The film the kids produced was amazing, they should be so proud, and such a relevant work. Talking to the kids about all their work was unreal as well, learning all about the Byker wall from a student was amazing. I love the piece of Art that the kids created. It needs a permanent home somewhere.”

“Blown away by our amazing kids once again. Great night at Newcastle University with G28 and a sneak peek for Evie (G30) for the future. The depth of knowledge these kids have and the way they present is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. The film in particular was stunning and gave real insight. Brilliant night! Well done everyone and thank you amazing staff.”

“Wow wow wow! Another amazing PoL from G28 the knowledge, presentation and confidence you all showed this evening was outstanding. The bonus was the film you all have had a hand in making you should all be proud of yourselves.”

We owe a huge thanks to all of the people who supported us and gave our students another opportunity to spend time at Newcastle University – Professor David Leat and his Masters in Education students, Mary Waring (former XP Doncaster student)  and Isaac Biddle from the 93% Club, Lorna Burn and all of the team at the Farrell Centre.

Our week ahead 

No Extended Study or after school clubs

This is due to the Presentations of Learning and Christmas events taking place this week.

PE sessions this week

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

• All G30 students (Year 7) have PE on Tuesday this week.
• All G29 students (Year 8) have PE on Wednesday this week.
• All G28 students (Year 9 )have PE on Thursday this week.

Presentations of Learning this week

A reminder that students will stay in school until they present. If you want to provide healthy snacks or a packed tea, students will be given some time during the afternoon to get a break between rehearsals.

Students should dress smartly for these occasions.

G30 Presentation of Learning – Monday 18th December at St Mary’s Church in Heworth at 6pm.

G30 will be presenting their learning from their first expedition – What do the communities of NE England owe to the miners?

More information can be found here.

G29 Presentation of Learning – Tuesday 19th December at at XP Gateshead at 6pm.

G29 will be presenting their learning  from their current expedition – What does it mean to be human?

More information can be found here.

And finally…

Christmas events this week:

• Christmas Party event from Crew Angelou, Wednesday 20th December 4:30-6:30pm. Tickets are on sale tomorrow for £1.50.
• XPG Christmas Lunch will take place on Thursday 21st December
• Crew Franks’ Christmas Raffle in support of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation continues this week with tickets sold up until Thursday 21st December. Thank you to all who have bought tickets to support the raffle so far.

As usual if you have any questions about your son or daughter please get in touch with your child’s Crew Leader in the first instance or email general enquiries to [email protected].

Julie Mosley