Happy Easter Sunday to all our students, families and friends who celebrate today.
Sharing our Stories: 17/04/2025
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
G31 Year 7 POL – Tonight! @ XP Gateshead
Eggsellent Effort Class 6 @ Norton Infants
Digging into our New Expedition @ Norton Juniors
Share your stories with us!
G31 Year 7 YouTube PoL this evening
A reminder that the pre-recorded PoL for this exhibition will be broadcast on Youtube this evening at 6pm to allow families to watch with their children at home.
You will be able to watch the presentation online as a family by clicking on the YouTube link below at 6pm tonight.
We’re looking for an awesome Maths Teacher at XP Doncaster!
Join Our Crew – Maths Teacher Vacancy at XP Doncaster
We’re currently looking for a talented and passionate Maths Teacher to join us at XP Doncaster. Our approach to education is different – through Crew, Expeditions, and a culture of compassion, we support our students to do work that truly matters.
If you’re an educator who wants to be part of something meaningful and collaborative, we’d love to hear from you.
Apply now: https://xptrust.org/careers-at-xp/current-vacancies/
XP Gateshead is looking for great teachers and leaders!
We’re excited to announce two fantastic opportunities to join the team at XP Gateshead.
We’ve got vacancies for:
Faculty Leader for Arts
Teacher of Art and Design
Teacher of English and History
Learning Coach (Teaching Assistant)
At XP, we do things differently. Our approach to education is rooted in Crew, beautiful work, and purposeful learning. If you believe in developing meaningful relationships with students, delivering real-world learning, and fostering creativity in every corner of the curriculum – we’d love to hear from you. XP Gateshead is part of the XP Trust family of schools, and we’re proud to offer an innovative, supportive and collaborative working environment.
Apply now and find out more: https://xptrust.org/careers-at-xp/current-vacancies/
Come and be part of something special. #JoinOurCrew
G28 reminders for this week and next…
Presentation of Learning at Newcastle Sixth Form College – Wednesday 16th April at 4.30pm
G28 will have their presentation of learning for their current expedition, which will take the form of a debate addressing themes associated with their guiding question: “Are we really free to choose?”. It is very important that you complete this google form so we can confirm all students will be safely escorted home at the end of the POL.
We will be travelling to Newcastle Sixth Form College in the morning by metro and then on foot. So students will need:
- Full kit including a charged iPad
- Comfortable walking shoes or trainers (the PoL is a formal event so students may want to bring a change of shoes)
- A packed lunch
- A waterproof coat – the forecast is cool but with a chance of showers.
We will also share details of work experience at the event, and we will be able to celebrate DofE bronze with students.
Fine Art mock examination – Tuesday 22nd April
Students in Fine Art will have a mock of the practical art exam during the whole day on Tuesday 22nd April. Students have been preparing for this in their art sessions. The mock for Photography will take place in the final half-term.
Revision
Students should continue the revision for their upcoming mocks.
Staff have put together this revision website as a guide for families which has a wealth of information to help you to support your child right the way through to the final assessments in Year 11 next year.
You can access this any time by going to the XP Gateshead website and clicking on Parents – GCSE Revision on the menus.
Happy Vaisakhi
Happy Vaisakhi’ to our Sikh friends at Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha and Rav Singh from Little History of the Sikhs.
Dear Families
Welcome back, we hope you have enjoyed your Easter break. We are really looking forward to welcoming our students back tomorrow for the start of our Summer term at XP Gateshead.
Passage feedback from G29 families
We would also like to gather feedback from G29 families following last term’s Passage Presentations so would appreciate your time in completing the following form.
You can give us your feedback by clicking here.
Our usual reminders for a good start back…
Attendance
Over the Easter break you may have seen the news article which listed XP Gateshead in the 15 best state secondary schools for attendance in the North East. This was based on attendance figures for the full academic year 2023/24.
You can read the article by clicking here.
We were really pleased to see our school named in this list but we still have work to do and continue to work hard XPG around attendance this year as it is vital to the life chances of our young people and their success.
We will continue to look closely at attendance and the ways we celebrate attendance and support those students and families who need to improve their attendance. We expect every student to be in school and want every young person to hit our 97%+ attendance target.
Attendance is an area we all work hard on together – students, parents/carers, Crew Leaders and our inclusion team. We appreciate your full support with this.
If, for any reason, your child is unable to attend school you must contact the school office before 8:25 am by telephone. This is a safeguarding procedure which has to happen on every day of absence.
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 Summer term and the weather is becoming warmer.
For a normal day within school, we do not think it appropriate that students wear:
- Hats, hoods & coats inside school
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- Revealing clothing, i.e. revealing the midriff, chest or upper thigh
- Noticeable make-up, including false eyelashes
- Valuable, sentimental or impractical accessories / jewellery
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- For example heavy chains, thick sovereign rings, or false nails
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- Impractical footwear:
- For example sliders, flip-flops or high heels.
Daily kit list
As always, all students need to be fully equipped for school and 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
This week
New Term – New Expeditions for G31, G30 and G28
A new term means new and exciting expeditions for our Y7, Y8 and Y10 students. Immersion will take 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.
G31, G29 and G28 Presentations of Learning to come
G31 Year 7 HUMAN – Why is it important to honour all those who sacrificed in WWI?
The recorded PoL for this exhibition will be broadcast on Youtube this Thursday 17th April at 6pm to allow families to watch with their children at home.
You will be able to watch the presentation online as a family by clicking on this link on Thursday.
The final product for this exhibition is a radio podcast and we are delighted that yet again, year 7’s work will be part of the Remembrance programming on the radio in November. More details to follow.
G28 – Are we really free to choose?
A reminder that students need to bring back their HUMAN books that were being used for revision over the break.
G28’s PoL will take the form of a debate on Wednesday 16th April at Newcastle Sixth Form College at 4:30pm.
Alongside the Presentation of Learning which is in the form of a debate, we will also be sharing important information with parents regarding work experience at this event as well as taking the opportunity to celebrate and award our students’ DofE success too.
Students will be using the campus earlier as part of the preparation for the PoL and also as part of their continued preparation for Post-16.
G29 Expedition ‘You Give Me Fever’
G29’s bumper 16-week long new expedition ‘You Give Me Fever’’ continues this term. Our students continue to look at public health over time and investigate health inequalities in Gateshead today, looking at the correlation between disease and deprivation.
G29’s Presentation of Learning will be a Public Health Conference, hosted by our students in school on Friday 10th May, 2pm.
This will be another step up for our students, hosting a conference , delivering keynote speeches with an audience including families and more. We appreciate this is an earlier than normal start, however this has been carefully considered and will allow us to make use of professionals as part of the process and end the week and expedition with a bang!
PE sessions this week
There will be changes to PE this week as unfortunately Mr Devitt has broken his ankle this weekend. We will put a plan in place and communicate that with families tomorrow. There is no PE tomorrow.
Extended Study and Clubs
As is usually the case at the start of a new term there will be no extended study or after school clubs running this week. After school sessions will all start again next week.
Easter Bank Holiday Weekend
Students will finish school at 3:15pm on Thursday 17th April and return to school on Tuesday 22nd April at the normal time.
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
G28 Families: The next half-term
Thanks once again to G28 families for your support this term in our first Teacher/Student-Led Conferences and your ongoing support for your children’s studies and growth.
Students must continue to work on revision over the two-week break in readiness for their mocks as will be the case in Year 11. It is important to build these habits now,
Fine Art mock examination – Tuesday 22nd April
Students in Fine Art will have a mock of the practical art exam during the whole day on Tuesday 22nd April The mock for Photography will take place in the final half-term. Students have been preparing for this in their art sessions.
If you have not already ordered an art pack for your child to use at home, and wish to do so you can still order (more information here) link although we would not then be able to start the fulfilment process for these orders until our first week back.
Revision and Mock examinations – from Monday 28th April
Mock GCSE examinations will be taking place in the two weeks commencing Monday 28th April. Students have been given guidance in Crew and in their subjects on how to revise and what content will be on the mocks.
The rest of the mock timetable is below:
Staff have put together this revision website as a guide for families which has a wealth of information to help you to support your child right the way through to the final assessments in Year 11 next year.
You can access this any time by going to the XP Gateshead website and clicking on Parents – GCSE Revision on the menus.
Students have been given four exercise books to use as part of their HUMAN revision over the break. These books will need to cared for and brought back to school when students return after the break.
Work Experience – Week commencing 30th June
This week students have been briefed on the arrangements for their Work Experience, which will take place in the week commencing 30th June. Students will be asked to make contact with potential employers and then we will get assurance that suitable arrangements are in place for the placement. We will give families fuller information at the upcoming Presentation of Learning on Wednesday 16th April.
Eid Mubarak to our Muslim students, families and friends of XPG.
