XP Gateshead

Dear Parents/Carers

It’s been a short but busy week at XPG. Our students have been working hard in sessions this week and have spent time getting themselves organised around the extended study planner we shared with you last week. Crew Leaders will continue to support students with time management,  managing workload and meeting deadlines. We know for some, this can be a challenge and it has been great to see so many of our students attending after school extended study sessions.

As a reminder, here is our extended study planner:

This week has seen the first of our staff days for this term. We have two staff days each term at XP so that our teachers can collaborate across the Trust to create and deliver the high quality curriculum that our students study. On Friday we worked as a staff crew focusing on how we build our culture and community at XPG. We carried out some Outdoor Education work which will set us in good stead for future student learning opportunities and Year 9 DofE challenges.

On Monday we will complete the second of our staff days and our whole staff team are heading to Doncaster to take part in a XP Trust wide teaching and learning training event. 

On staff days our students do not attend school and there is no expectation that they complete work beyond their regularly set extended study (homework). Students will find this work on Google classroom.

This week: 

Monday 26th September – Staff Development Day

Students are not expected to be in school.

Back to school – Tuesday 27th September

Please note PE sessions this week:

G28 students (Y8) will need a PE kit for Tuesday 27th September.

G29 students (Y&) will need a PE kit on Wednesday 28th September. 

Students need to have a full change of kit for PE please. 

Extended Study 

Sessions run until 4:30pm every day except Friday when all students leave the site at 3:15pm.For full details of our rationale for extended study, please click here.

Clubs

This week we will launch our extra-curricular clubs programme (lunchtime and after school) with our students. This will be done on Thursday and forms part of our JASS award. We will publish the full schedule on our website and more details about the JASS award after we have shared it with our students. 

Reminders

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 
• Headphones – ideally not expensive ones
• A healthy snack for break (no confectionery (sweets), fizzy drinks or energy drinks, nut products)
• A notebook

Cycling to school

We are really pleased to see so many of our students cycling or scooting to school. 

Can I remind parents that if  students are to bring bikes or scooters to school then they must have a bike lock. In terms of safety, students should also have a bike helmet. Please check that your child’s bike is in good condition frequently.

Please note that electric scooters (e–scooters) are not allowed in school. This includes all other  ‘powered transporters’ too such as hoverboards and electric unicycles.

Looking forward, dates for your diary: 

XPG Open Evenings for prospective students, 12th and 13th October. 

We will be asking for student involvement in these evenings – they are our ambassadors and our best advertisements! More details will follow as we get closer to the events.  

Last day of term Friday 14th October

On Friday 14th October students will finish the school day at 1.30pm, this allows staff to de-gunge classrooms and ensure all necessary resources are in place for the start of the new half-term.  We return to school at the regular time on Monday 31st October 2022. 

 

This year’s terms dates can be found on XP Trust Calendar 2022/23

On a final note, thank you to G29 parents who have been in touch with us this week with feedback on how their children have settled into XP Gateshead. One parent commented:

“The transition from primary to secondary has been so smooth we have to sometimes remind ourselves that it has taken place at all. My daughter seems to be so happy, has made lots of friends, is enjoying the work, is organising herself (including setting her own alarm in the mornings and packing her own bag!)”

This is great feedback and exactly how we want our students and families to feel. Please do continue to support each other on our Parents’ Facebook group and as always if you do want to get in touch about your child, please contact their Crew Leader in the first instance. 

 

Thank you as always for your ongoing support. 

 

Julie Mosley

Co-Principal

Dear Parents/Carers

It’s been another busy and exciting week at XPG. Our students have been working hard both in and outside of sessions as we continue to build our community and strengthen our character values of courage, respect, craftsmanship and quality, integrity and, above all, compassion.

This week immersion came to the end for both year groups and after lots of wondering and suggestions, students in G28 and G29 enjoyed the big reveal to find out their expedition guiding questions.

Our G28 students are now well underway with their new expedition, Being Human. The guiding question for this expedition is ‘What does it mean to be Human?’

Our G29 students found out about their first expedition on Thursday. The expedition is called ‘From the Ground Up’ and our students will be studying the guiding question ‘What do the communities of North East England owe to the miners?’

Our staff were also working hard this week and, as well as their usual planning and teaching, they successfully completed their Youth Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) qualification. We are really proud now that as a staff, we have 12 members of our team fully qualified as MHFA. The course enables staff  to recognise mental ill health and help find the support required. 

We care deeply about our students safety and wellbeing at XP Gateshead and this includes families too! As a group of schools in XP Trust, we have created a website XP Cares: Wellbeing Hub. We hope that this is a useful site for both students, parents and carers and a ‘one stop shop’ for your wellbeing needs, making it as easy as possible to find the support available to you. 

This week: 

Monday 19th September – Bank Holiday

Back to school – Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 

Please note that PE sessions will resume this week:

G28 students (Y8) will need a PE kit for Tuesday 20th September.

G29 students (Y7) will need a PE kit on Wednesday 19th September. 

Friday 23rd September – Staff Development Day

Students are not expected to be in school.

Extended Study 

Extended study sessions started well this week. Sessions will run until 4:30pm every day except Friday when all students leave the site at 3:15pm. Like all of our after school provision, students who attend extended study must attend full sessions until 4:30pm. Please contact your son/daughter’s Crew Leader if there is an issue with this.

Our extended study timetable is as follows:

Initially G29 students will be set more Times Table Rockstars, with less Hegarty Maths Memri set to account for this.

For full details of our rationale for extended study, please click here.

Clubs

Please note that because of the shortened three day week, we have decided not to start our extra-curricular clubs (lunchtime and after school) this week. Clubs will start on Tuesday 27th September and we will be publishing a full schedule next week. 

 

Reminders

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 
• Headphones – ideally not expensive ones
• A healthy snack for break (no confectionery (sweets), fizzy drinks or energy drinks, nut products)
• A notebook

Looking forward, dates for your diary: 

Monday 26th September – Staff Development Day.

Students are not expected to be in school.

XPG Open Evenings for prospective students, 12th and 13th October. 

We will be asking for student involvement in these evenings – they are our ambassadors and our best advertisements! More details will follow as we get closer to the events.  

 

Thank you as always for your ongoing support. 

Julie Mosley

Co-Principal

Dear Parents/Carers

Another great week for us at XPG as we brought all of our students together in school this week. We are building a great community, with staff and students going the extra mile this week to make sure everyone was settled, felt supported and cared for in our school. Our shared responsibility of ‘getting each other to the top of the mountain’ has really been apparent in the compassion shown by all.

Our G29 students spent the first part of last week working with their Crews getting familiar with routines and considering what Crew looks like in school. We launched our first Crew Read ‘Seedfolks’ with them which will support with their understanding around what makes a successful community and iPads were distributed along with initial Google training which will continue this term to ensure our students make best use of the collaborative technology we have. On Thursday G29 started immersion into their new learning expedition and enjoyed a great day of fieldwork at the National Coal Museum on Friday.

This week G29 students will continue their immersion which builds curiosity and background knowledge in readiness for the first case studies. Year 7 students will find out the guiding question to their new expedition later this week.

Our G28 students demonstrated great leadership skills last week and really supported us in settling in our new Y7 students. We couldn’t have been more proud of them. 

G28 have been fully immersed in their new learning expedition last week and will find out the guiding question for the expedition tomorrow. There has been some brilliant thinking around what this could be in sessions so we look forward to the big unveil tomorrow!

Our week ahead 

Extended Study

From Monday 12th, we will offer extended study sessions until 4:30pm. 

Sessions will run every day except Friday when all students leave the site at 3:15pm. Teachers will start to set extended study this week and sessions after school allow space and time for students to complete extended study with the support of peers and staff on hand.

Please note that our extra-curricular clubs (lunchtime and after school) will not start until next week. More details will follow on this.

Mental Health Training

As part of our commitment in providing the best support for our young people, all of our staff will complete Day 2 of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training this week. Following this we will have 11 fully trained MHFA staff in school, this will be a real achievement and acknowledges the importance we place on our Narrative for Success at XP Trust.

PE this week

As part of Mr Devitt’s ongoing professional development he is out of school this week. As such there are no PE sessions this week. PE sessions will return in the week beginning 19th September.

Reminders

Immunisation letters

All consent forms need to be completed and returned to Crew Leaders by tomorrow. 

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 
• Headphones – ideally not expensive ones
• A healthy snack for break (no confectionery (sweets), fizzy drinks or energy drinks, nut products)

It would be great if students could also bring in a notebook and a reading book. This won’t become essential kit yet to allow time for students to gather these.

Looking forward, dates for your diary

Monday 19th September – Bank Holiday

Friday 23rd September and Monday 26th September – Staff Training Days

 

Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

XP Gateshead would like to pass on our condolences and pay our respects to the Queen’s family on the sad news of her passing. She was a remarkable woman who performed her duties with grace and dignity. Queen Elizabeth brought a sense of constancy through a changing times and the world is a lesser place without her. 

Thank you for your service Ma’am.