iPad Parental Contribution Scheme 2023

By Martin Said11th July 2023

As you know a school-managed iPad is part of the standard kit required of students in secondary schools across XP Trust. We have brokered a successful Parental Contribution Scheme to enable this for all our children for the last 4 years and continue to do this again for 2023/24.

The iPad scheme for September 2023 includes:

  • An iPad 9th Generation
  • A logitech keyboard and trackpad
  • AppleCare + for two years 
  • Jamf – (device management and security)
  • A glass screen protector

We will have a bank of Apple Pencils for use in Art and Design sessions. You are welcome to purchase an apple pencil of your own, should you wish, and we would recommend either:

  • Apple Pencil – Touch sensitive
  • Skriva – Not touch sensitive but does shade on the angle of the nib. 

The extended warranty is covered by Apple for the first two years. You handle your own claims through an app. Further information can be found here:

https://www.apple.com/uk/support/products/ipad/ 

There is a claim excess for broken screens at £29, we will supply a glass screen protector free of charge. This will be checked regularly by Crew Leaders as part of our kit checks. 

You can get support and make warranty claims here: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/apple-support/id1130498044

Loss or theft of the iPad needs to be covered by your personal home insurance.

Cost of the scheme

The total retail cost of these items bought separately would be ÂŁ598. Through our new purchase scheme the cost to you is ÂŁ451.

This balance will be applied to your Parent Pay account and you can manage your own payments. Here are a few options.

  • ÂŁ12.53 per month for 36 months (ÂŁ2.89 a week)
  • ÂŁ18.79 per month for 24 months (ÂŁ4.44 a week)
  • Pay the balance at any time within three years at comfortable amounts for your circumstances.
  • Speak with your child’s Crew Leader if you need financial support with this.

At the end of your child’s time in school the device can be kept by the family if the balance has been paid in full.

To order your child’s ipad, please complete this Google Form.

Weekly update for families – W/C Monday 10th July 2023

By Julie Mosley9th July 2023

Dear Families

We had a very successful week last week, managing two successful G30 transition days alongside G28 and G29 fieldwork days. We also enjoyed time with parents and carers  on our final twilight MHFAŽ course and on Thursday, our new Y7 Crew Leaders met with their new parent crew. 

G30 students worked with us on Monday and Tuesday to explore the guiding question ‘What will it take for me to be the best version of myself at XP Gateshead?’. They spent time in smaller Crews exploring our character values and making new friends then sampled sessions with us – Human, PE, Arts, Steam sessions in Science and Maths and Spanish. 

We were delighted with how well our new students settled into their new school and how well our G28 and G29 students supported their transition days. We are really looking forward to August when we welcome all three year groups together.

G28 undertook fieldwork on Monday  in Gateshead and Newcastle linked to their current expedition “Is migration worth the risk”. They spent time ‘looking at sustainable energy solutions in Gateshead, and also evidence of the migrations and conquests that have happened within our region since the times of the Romans. 

On Tuesday, our G29 students travelled to North Yorkshire to complete geography fieldwork connected to their current guiding question: “How does water shape our world?” . Students worked at a river site testing a hypothesis on the observable differences in the river as it runs its course. 

This week

Assessments

Our students continue to complete  assessments in sessions this week. This follows extended study revision tasks and preparation in sessions.

PE sessions

There are timetable changes this week which means some changes to PE sessions. Please note the following and make sure that your child has full PE kit:

  • Monday PE sessions for Y8 Class 1
  • Tuesday PE sessions for Y8 Class 2
  • Wednesday PE sessions for both Y7 classes

Extended Study and clubs

Extended Study and clubs are running after school this week. 

G28 working with experts

On Monday, as part of their expedition Should I Stay Or Should I Go, with the guiding question: ‘Is migration worth the risk?’ our G28 students will be interviewing people who have made the choice to migrate to and from our country this week. The Interviews will be part of their final product for this expedition which will be a feature length film to honour their stories which will be screened in the new academic year.

Mental Health First Aid Training for our new staff 

Once again, our new staff are completing a two day MHFA course. When completed, this will mean that all of our team will be fully qualified as MHFA. The MHFA courses we have run for both staff and parents enable us to recognise mental ill health and help find the support required for our young people. We are grateful to the expertise of Jane Nyberg for making this possible along with the support of Sophie Pegg.

Crew Day, Friday 14th July

On Friday our students will spend the whole day working with their Crew and Crew Leader. The focus for their final crew day is getting active as well as developing their team work, crew identity and wellbeing. For both Year 7 and Year 8 the school day will start and finish at the usual time. Students will need to be in their sports kit for the full day.

Looking Ahead:

Tuesday 18th July at 6pm

G29’s Celebration of Learning at Seven Stories in Newcastle. .

Thursday 20th July at 6pm

G28’s Celebration of Learning at XP Gateshead. 

See website post for more details of both of these events.

Friday 21st July – Last day of term

This is a 1:30pm finish for students to allow for degunge of the school before the Summer break.

 

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

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Julie Mosley

Co-Principal

Upcoming Celebrations of Learning for G29 and G28

By Martin Said7th July 2023

G29 Celebration of Learning

We are delighted to be able to confirm that G29’s Celebration of Learning will take place on Tuesday 18th July at Seven Stories in Newcastle.

Students will remain in school and we will transport students from school to Seven Stories. We would recommend the bring a healthy packed tea or snack to eat after school.

Families should arrive at 6pm. Students will be dismissed after the event to return home with you.

This event will be in two parts.

First will be a celebration of the work of students across the year, including:

  • The launch of their book ‘From the Ground up’
  • Articles written to promote conservation of important local species
  • Students’ radio play inspired by sacrifice in World War I
  • The film of students’ presentation at King’s Hall

Secondly, students will also present to you their learning from their current expedition Hold Back the River with the guiding question ‘How does water shape our world?’

Following this copies of your child’s local history book From the Ground Up will be available to purchase for ÂŁ10. All proceeds raised from book sales will go back into the education of your children.

G28 Celebration of Learning

G28’s Celebration of Learning will take place on Thursday 20th July in school at 6pm.

This event will also celebrate work from across the year, including your children’s Banksy-inspired postcards which address issues of social justice identified by your children as part of their last expedition – What is Power?.

Students will host you on a gallery walk, where they will be able to talk through their learning from across disciplines connected to push and pull factors that lead to migration, and the reality of the lived experience of migrants.

We will also share an excerpt of the film that students are making as part of their learning expedition Should I Stay Or Should I Go, with the guiding question: ‘Is migration worth the risk?’

This will be a longer feature length film which we will screen in the new academic year, and honours the stories of people that have made to choice to migrate to and from our country.

Formal occasions

A reminder that for these events we expect that families ensure that someone is there to support their child. We also ask that students dress formally for these events. Our XP polo shirts are suitable for these occasions.

Sharing our Stories: 07/07/2023

7th July 2023Geoff Hewitt

Beautiful Work This Week

Terrarium Expert at XP Doncaster

DofE Bronze Award Highlights

Beautiful Curation: A Picture Speaks A Thousand Words

A Christmas Carol Study Guide – now available online!

This week, the awesome guide created by our Year 11 Students has been published on the Charles Dickens Museum website as a free educational resource! You can find it amongst a plethora of different resources on Dickens’ work.

We’re looking forward to visiting the museum next week to celebrate the work the students have created.

READ MORE!

Beautiful Curation at Plover

Top of the Blogs

Finding doubles – outdoor maths @ Carcroft School

G30 Transition Days @ XP Gateshead

KS3 Girls Football Team do XP proud! @ XP

Well done Crew Marx @ XP East

EYFS Vehicles Celebration Event @ Plover

We completed our final expedition @ Norton Infants

Year 1’s awesome celebration of learning @ Green Top

Transition Days – Family event on Thursday

By Martin Said4th July 2023

 

What a delight it has been to welcome your children into their new school for the last two days. A reminder that on Thursday we have an event in school for adults from families at 5pm.

This is an opportunity to reinforce some really important messages, and to meet your child’s Crew Leader.

Children do not need to come to this event.

Weekly update for families – W/C Monday 3rd July 2023

By Julie Mosley2nd July 2023

Dear Families

Again, it has been wonderful to see families in school this week for Student-led Conferences. We have another important week ahead as we welcome the newest members of our community into school for the first time. We have important fieldwork this week too so a very exciting week in store. More details on all of this can be found below.

A particular highlight of this week has been the culmination of our anchor text for G28 students. Connected to their guiding question “Is migration worth the risk?” students have been reading Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck as their anchor text. This week students created a courtroom in order to determine “Was Curly’s wife responsible for her own death?”. Students each put their case forward and then voted as a jury. Impressively some students were given the role to argue for a position against which they themselves were personally opposed. It was wonderful to see how invested students were in this process and how important the ideas of social justice and also how women have been presented in literature are to our students. Great job G28!

This week

It is such a bumper week that we have organised this week’s update around each day in the week ahead:

Monday 3rd July

TRANSITION DAY 1:

We welcome our Year 6 – G30 students to school together for the first time. G28 and G29 should arrive at the usual time. G30 students will arrive from 8.40am. It is likely to be busy in terms of traffic in front of our school at the start and end of the day, so please be conscientious when parking and ask your children to be especially careful when crossing the road.

G28 Fieldwork:

On Monday G28 students have fieldwork in Gateshead and Newcastle. Connected to their expedition on migration they are looking at sustainable energy solutions in Gateshead, and also evidence of the migrations and conquests that have happened within our region since the times of the Romans. More details including the kit needed for this fieldwork can be found here.

Extended Study:

There is an extended study after school on Monday to support students in preparing for assessments, however due to the transition days we are unable to offer clubs on Monday.

MHFAÂŽ:

Monday is the last of our MHFAÂŽ course for parents in this round. Again this is being delivered by Jane Nyberg with Miss Pegg in G3 after school.

Tuesday 4th July

TRANSITION DAY 2:

We welcome our Year 6 – G30 students to school again. G30 students will arrive from 8.40am. Again it will be busy in terms of traffic so safety is the number one consideration.

G29 Fieldwork:

On Tuesday G28 students have fieldwork in north Yorkshire. G29 students must be in school by 8am. Connected to their expedition with the GQ: “How does water shape our world?” they are testing a hypothesis on the observable differences in a river as it runs its course. More details including the kit needed for this fieldwork can be found here.

PE for G28:

PE sessions will take place on Tuesday this week for G28 as normal. Please make sure that Year 8 have full PE kit for Tuesday.

Extended Study:

There is an extended study after school on Tuesday to support students in preparing for assessments, however due to the transition days we are unable to offer clubs on Monday.

Wednesday 5th July

School is closed to students on Wednesday 5th July due to the strike action. Students should work on the revision tasks that will be set by teachers through Google Classroom in preparation for end of year assessments. There is no PE for G29 this week due to the strike action.

Thursday 6th July

On Thursday we will run a regular school day, including clubs and extended study after school.

Friday 7th July

School is closed to students on Friday 7th July due to the strike action. Students should work on the revision tasks that will be set by teachers through Google Classroom in preparation for end of year assessments. 

G29 Rivers Fieldwork

By Emmy Tatters30th June 2023

 

Year 7’s current expedition ‘Hold Back the River’ has the guiding question, ‘How does water shape our world?’

During this expedition, our geography content is focusing on river characteristics from source to mouth, river processes, formation of landforms as well as the cause, impacts and responses of flooding. As part of this, we are applying the theory of river processes and characteristics to the field.

On Tuesday 4th July, students will visit Sheep Wash in the North York Moors, they will work together to collect data regarding the width, depth, velocity and load of rivers. We will also be capturing the beauty of a river by completing artwork. This data collection will allow us to accept or reject our hypothesis once we have analysed our data in our maths lessons.

Students will need to arrive at school no later than 08:00 so that the register and kit check can be completed before leaving school.

It is also essential that all students bring all kit on the kit list so that they are fully prepared for the fieldwork; this includes a packed lunch and plenty of water to drink. Students who receive free school meals will be provided with a lunch.

Students will need to ensure they have suitable walking boots/trainers as well as wellies or a pair of trainers they can get wet – we’ll be going in the river to collect the data!

If there are any problems in getting the appropriate kit for this, please email your child’s Crew Leader.

Students will be returning to school for 3:15pm (traffic dependent).

Kit List: 

Comfortable walking shoes (walking boots or trainers)

Wellies or trainers which can get wet in the river (water shoes if they have would be perfect)

Plenty of water (more than a normal school day, 1-1.5l)

Packed lunch

A waterproof jacket 

Suncream and cap

We recommend shorts or trousers which are easy to roll up to the knees for getting in the river. 

iPad for collecting data

Bug spray (if they need)

Any student who suffers from hay fever should take medication in the morning before school.

Any regular medications must also be brought.

 

Sharing our Stories: 30/06/2023

30th June 2023Geoff Hewitt

Beautiful Work This Week

Our students contribute to Deeper Learning 2023

XP Trust visits Chicago for EL’s conference

Student Showcase: Book your place!

Staff Crew at XP Doncaster: RDA

Top of the Blogs

Finding doubles – outdoor maths @ Carcroft School

Weekly update for families @ XP Gateshead

Kick off! @ Norton Juniors

Catch up with Crew Caldwell @ XP

Performance poetry @ Plover

Class 1 hard at work! @ Norton Infants

World Wellbeing Week @ Green Top

Final reminders and more information for Transition next week

By Martin Said30th June 2023

For year 6 students, each day will start at 9.00am with students able to arrive from 8.40am.

Each day will end at 3.15pm.

Lunches

Students can have a delicious school lunch or a packed lunch.If you have not already done so, please can you complete this form to let us know of your child’s dinner choices for each day.

 

Dress Code

Some students choose to come in their primary school uniform or PE kit, however this is not necessary. Students need to dress modestly and appropriately for a day of learning in school. More details of our dress code can be found here.

Students will be introduced to PE at XP on Monday, so we recommend trainers and clothing appropriate for sports on Monday so that a change of clothes is not needed.

 

Plans for the days

Our guiding question for the two days will be:

“What will it take for me to be the best version of myself at XP?”

Monday 3rd July

On Monday students will experience Crew, Humanities and English, PE and Art.

We will end the day with a Community Meeting where students will make appreciations to each other connected to our character traits of courage, respect, integrity, craftsmanship & quality, and above all compassion.

Tuesday 4th July

On Tuesday students will have another Crew session as well as Spanish and STEAM sessions in Maths and Science.

Again we will finish the day with a Community Meeting to celebrate the beautiful work and character of our newest students over the two days.

 

Thursday 6th July – Meet your child’s Crew Leader

Our ‘Meet the Crew Leader’ will be hosted in school. This is an important opportunity for families to meet their child’s Crew Leader and being forming the strong relationship that will be needed to support and challenge your child to become the best version of themselves. This event is for adults from families only, you do not need to bring your child to this event.

This event will start at 5pm on Thursday evening and is expected to last for around 45 minutes.

 

We are so excited to welcome G30 into their new school next week, and meeting you all again on Thursday.