G28 Weekly update for parents – W/C Monday 6th June 2022

By Mark Lovatt5th June 2022

Dear Parents/Guardians

Welcome to our final half-term of the academic year

We will be continuing with our new expedition  – What a Wonderful World with the Guiding question: What is our relationship with the natural world?

There are so many exciting things happening this half-term:

  • Our new staff join us, starting this week with an outdoor adventure together to learn  what it means to be Crew. Your children will see lots of our new staff from next week.
  • Student-Led Conferences for your children starting in the fortnight commencing 13th June.
  • The book launch for From The Ground Up. We have seen the proof that has gone to the printers and this is looking stunning! More info on this very soon.
  • Transition for our new students joining us in August. Year 6 students will be joining us in school on 28th and 29th June.
  • The Presentation of Learning for our current learning expedition will take place on Tue 19th July.

COVID testing – A reminder to test your children this evening

Please make sure you complete a Lateral Flow Test with your child this Sunday evening and complete our online form as usual for this evening.

Whilst Covid infections are still falling in the community, given the size of our setting this really helps us to keep everyone safe and for our school to remain open.

If you require any extra LFT kits please let us know. 

We will continue to keep doors and windows open for ventilation so students are advised to bring multiple layers to school to keep warm. This is how we look after each other – #wearecrew

Extended Study this week

Señorita Quested, Miss Tatters and Mr Walters are joining our new colleagues on their outdoor adventure this week as they have not yet had this important part of their training. We are therefore operating with fewer staff in school this week. This means that we are only able to run our extended study sessions after school but not our usual sports clubs.

PE sessions this week – Extra session this Thursday

In light of the above, students will have an additional PE session this week. For both classes this additional session of PE will be on Thursday. So all students have PE on both Tuesday and Thursday this week.

Google Forms for SLC preparation

Thanks to those parents that have completed the Google Form following the snapshots that were shared. We really do need these to be completed so that your child can use these to prepare for their SLCs. Crew Leaders will be in contact with you if the Google Form has not yet been completed.

As usual if there are any queries please do get in contact with your child’s Crew Leader.

 

Many thanks

 

Mark Lovatt

Principal

G28 PARENTS – SLC Invites and Google Form

By Martin Said24th May 2022

Good evening

You should now have received invites asking you to book a slot for your child’s next SLC (Student-Led Conference).

These will take place in the two weeks commencing 13th June and 29th June.

A reminder that students are working on pledges associated with their recent assessment information snapshot. We will share these pledges with you soon. Students will present their progress in these pledges as part of the SLC. More details of that process were shared in this post.

IMPORTANT – Google Form

In addition to presenting evidence of working on their pledges, we asked you to complete a Google Form to ask your child questions that you would like them to answer as part of their SLC, or for more information that you would like to see as part of their SLC.

It is really important that you complete this Google Form. This will help your child to plan what they would like to show you in their 25-minute conference.

The link to complete the Google Form is here.

We would be most grateful if the Google Form could be completed by the end of this week – Friday 27th May so that your child can get to work on including your requests in their SLC.

Bike shelter now installed in school – UPDATE

By Martin Said23rd May 2022

We now have a new bike shelter installed at the front of our school, so that we can monitor students’ bikes rather than them being stored around the side of the building where they are out of sight. Hopefully this will make the bikes as safe as possible whilst they are on site.

In the interim we will continue to allow storage around the side of the building but from the after the half-term break if students are to bring bikes to school then they must have a bike lock.

Of course in terms of safety students must have a bike helmet and please do check that your child’s bike is in good condition frequently.

G28 Weekly update for parents – W/C Monday 23rd May 2022

By Mark Lovatt22nd May 2022

Dear Parents/Guardians

Welcome to our final week before the half-term holiday

We have been continuing with our new expedition  – What a Wonderful World with the Guiding question: What is our relationship with the natural world?

This week we are all very excited about our fieldwork on Friday (23rd) where we will be exploring our local “green” corridor through a “geocaching” activity. Students will be outside for most of the day so will need:

  • Comfortable shoes for walking
  • Appropriate clothing for the weather, the forecast is currently fair and mild
  • Sunscreen
  • Hat
  • Water bottle
  • Regular school day kit in their school bag

We will be combining this event with crew picnics so don’t be surprised if your son/daughter has asked for a couple of extra items to be added to the shopping list this week!

Students will be leaving school at 2.15pm this Friday (see de-gunge notice)

Crew picnics

Crew picnics have been organised for Friday 23rd and take place when we go out to explore our local green corridor. These have been organised by students in their crews and your children may have already asked you about the food they have chosen to bring along as part of  their crew contribution this Friday. Please contact crew leaders if this raises any questions,  issues or concerns.

Student Assessment Information and SLCs – Dates for your diaries!

Last week we shared updated assessment snapshots with students, giving information around their HoWLs and academic progress.

Students are updating their pledges at the moment. We will then share these pledges and assessment information snapshots with you at the end of this week.

The next set of SLCs (Student-Led Conferences) will be taking place in the fortnight starting 13th June. In this SLC, students will show you evidence of how they are working on their pledges.

You will be able to book an appointment for your child’s SLC from this week. At this time you will also be able to ask your child questions about their assessment information snapshot. Your child will answer these questions as part of their SLC too.

As part of this process, students will be reflecting on their HoWLs every week in Crew on Thoughtful Thursdays.

Visitors from Holland

We are excited to be hosting 14 Dutch Teachers on Monday afternoon who are on an organised tour of innovative schools in the North of England. They will be joining us from 1.30pm on Monday afternoon and will hear from myself, Mr Said and a panel of students who will share and discuss their work. We will be making use of the dining room for their visit which is a large and well ventilated area and we will ensure there is minimal disruption to student learning.

Transition meetings with new families

We will be continuing 1:1 transition meetings with our new families this week and are looking forward to meeting new students and their parents. These meetings are opportunities to find out more about our new students who will be starting in September and for our families to ask questions to find out a bit more about XP Gateshead. In time, our newest families will be added to our Facebook Group so please do make them feel welcome. Our community is strong because we are crew.

New Staff appointments 

We have successfully appointed to our admin position last week and welcomed Faye Dobson to our crew. Faye will be joining us on June 6th initially in a part time capacity as she learns about our systems etc and then will be full time form the start of next academic year. We are now fully staffed for next year.

AR (Accelerated Reader)

A reminder that our students should be reading their  AR books for between 20 – 30 minutes each day and crew leaders will be checking on progress every Tuesday in crew. For students to be great learners, first they must be strong readers. Please encourage your children to talk to you about what they are reading and support them to read on a daily basis. We have been really impressed with the range of books students have chosen and will be looking forward to seeing how they do on their first book “quizzes”.

Lateral Flow Testing

Please  make sure you complete a Lateral Flow Test with your child this Sunday evening and complete our online form as usual. We will also be asking you to complete a LFT on the Sunday (5th June) evening before your child returns after the half term holiday.

Whilst Covid infections are still falling in the community, given the size of our setting this really helps us to keep everyone safe and for our school to remain open.

If you require any extra LFT kits please let us know. 

We will continue to keep doors and windows open for ventilation so students are advised to bring multiple layers to school to keep warm. This is how we look after each other – #wearecrew

Guidance for isolation following a positive test

Any student who has a positive Covid-19 test result should stay at home and avoid contact with people for 3 days. As long as they are well they may return to school following the three days. There is no longer a requirement for students to test negative on the day when they return to school.

2.15pm finish – Friday 23rd

As usual we will be finishing slightly earlier this Friday to allow for “de-gunge” and restocking of classrooms in readiness for the new term. This Friday since we are also out and about geocaching, students will leave school at 2.15pm

It has been a fantastic half-term and there is much to look forward to after the holiday including the launch of our students’ first book

Thank you for your continued support and have a great holiday. As usual if you have any questions please contact crew leaders in the first instance.

Kind regards

Mark Lovatt

Principal

G28 Parents – New assessment information snapshots shared

By Martin Said20th May 2022

We are delighted to be able to share with you today, your child’s latest assessment information snapshot. As with the previous snapshot, this gives details of your child’s attendance, HoWLs (habits of work and learning) and overall academic progress.

This video explains how your child is using this assessment information in this term.

Next Student-Led Conferences

Our next set of SLCs (Student-Led Conferences) will take place in the fortnight commencing 13th June. These SLCs will focus on the pledges that your child is making based on their most up to date assessment information snapshot. The booking system for slots for SLC and your child’s updated pledges will be shared with you in the w/c 23rd May.

In the meantime, we are asking you to complete a Google Form to ask your child questions that you would like them to answer as part of their SLC, or for more information that you would like to see as part of their SLC. This will help your child to plan what they would like to show you in their 25-minute conference.

Here is the link to complete the Google Form which is now accepting responses.

Please look carefully at the snapshot information that is shared with you here, and of course discuss this at home with your child. The questions and points you raise here will help them to plan what evidence and work they will present to you when you come into school for their SLC.

As part of their SLC your child will present their pledges and what actions are being taken to address any concerns, as well as reflecting upon and recognising areas of pride.

Of course, as usual if you would like to discuss your child’s academic progress and character development with us, please get in contact with their Crew Leader in the first instance.