Dear Families
As we come to the end of term, we continue to 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. Here is a lovely note of thanks from the Dickens society who attended G28’s PoL a couple of weeks ago.
Thank you for inviting myself and my fellow Dickensians, Chris McLoughlin and Chris Robson to discuss and share with your pupils our love of Charles Dickens and A Christmas Carol.
They were open, receptive, challenging and keen to share their thoughts with us on the narrative and characters within the book.
Having attended your event on Wednesday it was wonderful to listen to various crew members share excerpts from their essays addressing, with confidence, the expedition question “is charity enough”? A Christmas Carol deals with huge emotive themes of hunger, ignorance, poverty, greed and isolation along with family, love and happiness. As 14 and 15 year olds, they handled these with maturity and understanding.
It was heart-warming to hear our words reflected back in depth showing they listened to us and used our conversations as a catalyst to undertake more indepth research.
Your students did you proud and are a credit to themselves and their school.
I wish all the students every success with their exams and thank you for the opportunity to be involved in some small way.
As Tiny Tim says “God bless us, every one!”
Yours,
Anne and all my fellow Dickensians in the N.E. branch of the Dickens Fellowship.
Last week was the chance for our G29 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 returned to Newcastle University where our students also got the opportunity of a campus tour and time with ‘The 93% Club’ ( a students’ society for young adults who have come from state schools) who shared their experience of attending University.
We are very sorry but there is an issue with our website at the moment which means we can’t post images. We will put out another update at the end of the week with some more images, or there were some posted here at the end of last week.
Our students took over the Farrell Centre at Newcastle University and also showcased work at the Great North Museum creating a living expedition. They shared their knowledge around art and architecture, atomic structures in science, 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 G29. We will post a link to the final product of the oral histories of Trinity Square Car Park in January – we had more experts in on Friday being interviewed to contribute to this important piece of local history.
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.
Our week ahead
As always, we will be working hard until the end of Friday at XP Gateshead and students will be continuing to complete work on end of term assessments, final products, answers to GQ’s (guiding questions) and preparing for presentations of learning.
Presentations of Learning this week
A reminder that students will stay in school until they present. If you want to provide healthy snacks, students will be given some time during the afternoon to get a break between rehearsals.
Students should dress smartly for these occasions.
G31 Presentation of Learning – Monday 16th December at St Mary’s Church in Heworth at 4.30pm.
G31 will be presenting their learning from their first expedition – A Whole New World. More information can be found here.
G30 Presentation of Learning – Wednesday 18th December at XP Gateshead at 4.30pm.
G30 will be presenting their learning from their current expedition – What does it mean to be human? This presentation of learning is taking place in school, so please arrive from 4.15pm.
G28 Presentation of Learning – Thursday 19th December at XP Gateshead at 4.30pm.
G28 will be presenting their learning from their current expedition – Raiders and Invaders. More information can be found here
No Extended Study and Clubs this week
We are not running our extended study offer or clubs this week due to Presentations of Learning 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 8) have PE on Monday.
- For G31 students (Year 7)
- G31 Class 1 students have PE on Tuesday.
- G31 Class 2 students have PE on Wednesday
- All G29 students (Year 9) have PE on Thursday.
- All G28 students (Year 10) have PE on Thursday.
And finally…
Christmas events this week:
- Crew Watson’s Christmas Bric-a-Brac event takes place during lunchtime, Monday 16th December. Students will be able to purchase gifts for a loved one and get it wrapped too! Full details here.
- XPG Christmas Lunch will take place on Tuesday 17th December. There will be a vegetarian option for Christmas lunch but none of the usual deli options on this day. If your child does not want a Christmas lunch, please provide a packed lunch on Tuesday. We are really looking forward to our whole school community having lunch together on Tuesday, it’s always a special one thanks to the hard work of our kitchen team. We’d love to see students in Christmas jumpers if they do have them too!
Early closure this Friday
Don’t forget that school finishes at the earlier time of 1.30pm this Friday. This is to allow us time to “degunge” and set up for the next term. Please make arrangements to pick up your children at the school gate for 1.30pm. As always, please be conscientious of our neighbours if parking as it is always very busy when students all leave school at the same time.
We return to school on Monday 6th January 2025.
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
Principal, XP Gateshead
This Tuesday is our annual Christmas lunch. There is a turkey or vegetarian option. The usual menu is suspended for this day.
There is an issue with our website so we cannot post images at the moment, but you can view the menu for Tuesday by clicking here.
We’d love to see lots of Christmas jumpers on Tuesday too where that’s possible.
Dear Parents and Carers,
Our Raiders and invaders POL takes place from 4.30pm on Thursday 19th December. Doors will open at 4.15 pm so that the lessons can start promptly at 4.30pm. Yes, you read that right… lessons. Our PoL will take the form of taught lessons where students will teach you about an aspect of Viking History and the science of metallic materials from our expedition.
We are asking you to sign up for two sessions. Your child will be able to tell you which session they have planned and are carrying out. This will be the first choice you make on the form, but the second session in the evening that you will attend. This means you will be with your child at the close of the evening and be able to take the “Are you smarter than a Year 10? “ challenge, competing against your child!
Our DT and IMedia students have designed a kiosk and the interactive quiz as part of their studies, so please also take the opportunity to ask them about their work.
The sign up is below and we will confirm your choice with you in the evening. We will cap the sessions at 15 people.
Class 1 Sign up
Class 2 Sign up
We are looking forward to seeing you!
The G28 Team
Crew Frank would like to appreciate everyone who attended their Christmas Quiz last night. Your enthusiasm and generosity helped make the event a resounding success!
Thanks to your participation, Crew Frank raised an impressive total of £70.00. Every penny will be donated to the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, a charity dedicated to funding cutting-edge cancer research and supporting those affected by the disease.
Thank you once again for helping us spread holiday cheer and support such an important mission. Crew Frank wishes you all a joyful festive season and looks forward to seeing you at future events!
Sharing our Stories: 13/12/2024
Beautiful Work This Week
Here’s a selection of beautiful work from across the XP Trust over the last week! To read about other stories from across the XP Trust, visit xptrust.org.
Top of the Blogs
Get your groove on for a great cause! @ XP East
Share your stories with us!
We are excited to offer parents the opportunity to order a tote bag with their child’s artwork on. I have attached some pictures of some that were created this week at the craft event.
G28 students are going to undertake the production of these bags and guarantee the 1st 30 orders will be ready by 20th December (making it the perfect Christmas gift for family members).
We know from the craft event this week that this will take a great deal of time which G28 students will be giving up at social times and after school. As a result, we are charging £5 for the bags and the money raised will go towards helping to fund the Silver Duke of Edinburgh expeditions.
If there is appetite for it, we will reopen orders in the new year but due to time constraints we can only at this stage guarantee the 1st 30 orders will be done in time for Christmas.
To order a bag you must use this Shopify link. It will show as sold out once 30 orders have been made. It is crucial that you leave a note on your order with your child’s name, Crew and the artwork you would like printed on the bag. Without this, we will not be able to create your bag and therefore it may not be ready by 20th December.
If the artwork you are requesting is digital, it is very easy; your child simply needs to share the piece of work with Miss Tatters.
If it is a physical piece, it is very important to us that the student artwork is kept safe and secure. For this reason, we are asking your child to follow these steps once you have ordered a bag.
- Inform your child you have ordered a bag and which piece of work you have requested.
- The student will then collect the piece of artwork from their folder during their next art lesson (or at break or lunch)
- They will bring the artwork to G8 and place it in the purple folder on the teacher desk (ensuring their name is on the work either on the back or by attaching a post-it note). Without this, we will not be able to proceed the order.
- When the bag is printed, we will hand the bag and the original artwork back to the student who will need to return the artwork to their art folder immediately.
We are really excited to be able to showcase the student work in this way and get it out into the community!
Crew Watson are raising money for The Children’s Society, a charity who fight for the hope and happiness of young people when it’s threatened by abuse, exploitation and neglect.
Crew Watson will be hosting a bric-a-brac sale in the sports hall for students at lunchtime on Monday 16th December where they will be able to purchase a gift for a loved one and make a difference to the lives of children and young people in the UK.
There are lots of gifts available to buy, ranging in price from 50p to £4 (most things are no more than £2.50).
We will also be providing a Christmas wrapping service which will cost 50p per gift.
We would very much appreciate any support you can give to our event and are pleased to be able to provide the opportunity for students to purchase affordable gifts for their loved ones.
Thank you to everyone who came along to the Christmas Craft event last night. Beautiful work was created showing real craftsmanship and quality. It was a fantastic atmosphere and lots of festive fun was had!
You all helped to raise approximately £180 for Tiny Lives, for which we are very appreciative.
Check out the beautiful crafts that were created!
Important Information for the G29 Presentation
We are excited to welcome you to the G29 presentation tomorrow! Here are the key details:
- Start Time: The presentation begins at 3:45 PM.
- Venue Information:
- If you are a Class One parent, please arrive at The Great North Museum.
- If you are a Class Two parent, please arrive at the Farrell Centre.
At 4:14 PM, we will ask all parents to switch venues. You will spend approximately 30 minutes at each location visiting the students’ market stalls, where they will share their learning through engaging explanations.
Parking and Transportation:
- Parking is available further north on Claremont Road.
- Both venues are within walking distance of Haymarket Metro Station for those using public transport.
Student Arrival and Activities:
Students will arrive at the Farrell Centre and The Great North Museum at 11:00 AM to prepare for their presentations. During the day, they will also participate in a university campus tour and a talk by the 93% Club, a society dedicated to promoting university access for state-educated students.
Students will need a pack lunch due to the early arrival time at the University. If you child receives free school meals this will be provided.
Preparation:
G29 students have been working diligently to finalize their market stalls and are eager to showcase their efforts.
We look forward to seeing you tomorrow and sharing in the celebration of their hard work and achievements!
