G29 (New Year 7) Ullswater – IMPORTANT INFORMATION

By Martin Said29th June 2022

Dear Parents/Carers,
We are getting ready for our course with The Outward Bound Trust Howtown in Ullswater on Tuesday, August 30, 2022 – Friday, September 2, 2022.

 

Kit for the week

The kit list for the week can be found by clicking here. Please use the 5 day course as a guide.

 

Online Participant Form

We need all parents to complete a Participant Information Form by following the link below. The form must be submitted by Tuesday, July 19, 2022 to secure your child’s place.

Outward Bound Participant Form

– It should take around 10 minutes to complete and you will need to register an account to begin.
– You can find instructions, a video walkthrough and troubleshooting help here: How to complete the Participant Information Form
– The form is only supported on Chrome, Edge, Safari and Firefox browsers.
– Remember to enter the information for the person who will be attending the course.
Many thanks

G29 (New Year 7) Reminders for tomorrow

By Julie Mosley27th June 2022

We can’t wait to welcome our new students tomorrow!

Timings

Students can arrive between 8.00am and 8.25am. Please be conscientious if parking as we have residents on the street that need access to their properties at all times.

Students will finish at 3.15pm.

Kit

A reminder that in terms of kit your child will need:

  • a backpack or bag (with enough space to carry an A4 folder)
  • a water bottle
  • pencil case kit of: pen, pencil. ruler, eraser and pencil sharpener.

PE sessions on Wednesday

On Wednesday, your child will need to come in a suitable PE kit. We do have specific dress code for PE for once your child starts in August. However for Wednesday we ask that you simply make sure that your child’s clothing is appropriate for PE and modest.

G28 Weekly update for parents – W/C Monday 27th June 2022

By Mark Lovatt26th June 2022

Dear Parents/Guardians

Welcome to week four of our final half-term at XP Gateshead.

This is a big week for us as we welcome our new cohort of “Year 7”  (G29) students who will be joining us on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week for their transition days. Our current students will be acting as ambassadors on these days and it would be great if they could wear their XP tops to present our school in the best possible light. 

We are really proud of our current students who have volunteered to support in crews and classes this week and who have organised lunchtime clubs and activities for our young visitors.

Can I also take a moment to say what a delight and a humbling experience it was to listen to our students as they completed their SLCs (Student Led Conferences) this week. We were all completely blown away by the quality of SLCs and the way in which students could talk confidently about their work and progress. Thank you as well to parents who supported SLCs and contributed really great questions in advance for students to respond to. 

 

This week:

  • Monday 27th June is staff development day – students are not expected to be in school and should return as normal on Tuesday 28th June.
  • Transition Days Tuesday 28th and Wednesday 29th June – on these days we will be joined by our new cohort of students who will experience “crew” for the first time and will learn about their new school. Our current students will be acting as Ambassadors and have volunteered to support in crew and lessons and have also prepared lunchtime activities for our young visitors. Please note that there will be increased “drop off” traffic on these days so for our existing parents it may be a good idea to drop off and pick up just along the road or round the corner.
  • Warm weather – As the weather is starting to get quite warm. (Summer is coming !) Please make sure your child brings a water bottle to school and also a cap or hat if they suffer from sunstroke, and/or sunscreen if they burn easily. This is to cover outside breaks and lunchtimes although PE lessons are also increasingly outside. We will issue kit lists for any field work.
  • Thursday 30th June – Book Launch – We are really excited to be launching the first published  book written by our students. This will take place at Seven Stories on the Quayside which is appropriate as this is the national centre for children’s books. Our students will be transported to Seven Stories after school on Thursday and we have asked that parents arrive at about 5pm to pick them up and stay for a coffee/chat in the cafe at Seven Stories.
  • Visitor from the States – we look forward to welcoming Michelle Nevarre to XPG on Wednesday 29th June. Michelle is Principal of Polaris School in Chicago and she will be accompanied by Gwyn and Neil from the Trust.
  • Parental Feedback – Please remember to complete our parents feedback form by clicking here. We would really love to know what you think about our school (what we do well and what we could do better) and in particular would like to get feedback on our SLCs.

 

Upcoming Events:

A reminder there is a G28 parents’ calendar here.

  • There is a fantastic  opportunity for students to get involved in our promotion of From The Ground Up at the Durham Miners’ Gala on Saturday 9th July. See Mr Said’s post for more details .
  • The Presentation of Learning for our current learning expedition will take place on the evening of Tue 19th July. We will be sending more details on this in the coming weeks.

 

No Nuts in packed lunches please

We have students in our new cohort with a severe allergy to nuts and so we need to ask that no nuts or nut products be used in packed lunches from this point onwards. Thank you in advance for your support with this.

Extended Study this week

We will be setting extended study as normal this week and extended study sessions after school will resume as normal this week

PE sessions this week  – Friday 

Please note that PE will be on Friday for our current students (G28 cohort)

COVID testing 

We have decided to remove the requirement to test students each Sunday evening given the current low level in cases and additional staffing that we now have available. This is in line with Government guidelines, however we would ask parents to continue to be vigilant and to test students if they or other family members of the family have symptoms. With your support we will continue to test students in school if they present with symptoms during the school day. We will also continue to keep windows open and to ensure our building is as ventilated as possible.

We do still have a limited supply of testing kits, so if you are in need and find it difficult to obtain tests, please do speak to your son or daughter’s Crew Leader.

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

Many thanks

Mark Lovatt

Principal

Parent Voice and SLC Feedback

By Martin Said23rd June 2022

Good evening

All of us at XPG wanted to thank our families for your continued support in our SLCs this last two weeks.

It really is remarkable that your children are able to talk so eloquently and with integrity about their character growth and academic progress at XP Gateshead.

This is of course for the most part down to their hard work. Having you there as an audience is also such an important part of the process too, to drive up the quality of their work and offer support and challenge.

We’d like to use this moment as an opportunity to get feedback on the SLC process, and offer you the opportunity to give some general feedback too.

Here is a short Google Form where you can give your views. It should take no more than 5 minutes or so to complete. We’d really appreciate it if you could complete this and help us to continue to improve the SLC process and overall provision for your children.

Next stop, BOOK LAUNCH!

G28 Opportunity for children – Durham Miners’ Gala

22nd June 2022Martin Said

We are delighted to announce that we have secured a place at the Durham Miners Gala this year as part of the wider work we are doing to promote your children’s book ‘From the Ground Up‘.

On Saturday 9th July we will have a stall at the Racecourse in Durham as part of the wider celebration of mining commonly known as ‘The Big Meeting’. Typically attendance at The Big Meeting is around 200 000 people, so this really is a wonderful opportunity.

This will be a great chance for some of our students to talk to interested parties and no doubt the local press about their work on sharing the stories of our mining heritage.

Of course we will also make some sales of our book, the profits of which all go back into the school and providing a fantastic education.

Given that this is a Saturday, we are looking for families that are perhaps interested in coming along to the Gala for the day, and would also loan us your child for a few hours to help support at our stall.

Mrs Mosley and Mr Said will be there throughout the event to support the students.

If you or your child are interested, then please contact Mr Said for more details on timings etc.

[email protected]

G29 (New Y7) Parents – IMPORTANT REMINDER

By Julie Mosley22nd June 2022

We need all G29 parents to complete this Google form with details for your child’s lunch and to book Information Evening places.

Lunchtime arrangements

There are two options for lunch:

  • Students can bring in their own healthy packed lunch each day. Please ensure this is nut free as we have students in our community with severe nut allergies.

or

  • Students can try a school meal with us.

The menu is shown below:

Tuesday 28th June Wednesday 29th June
Main meal option

 

 Roast chicken, yorkshire pudding, creamed potatoes, vegetable medley and gravy

 

 Katsu chicken curry and rice
Vegetarian meal option

 

 Cheese omelette

 

 Mac & Cheese with garlic ciabatta
Jacket Potato

 

 With beans, cheese or tuna and salad

 

 With beans, cheese or tuna and salad
Dessert Flapjack Chocolate brownie

Information Evening for Parents/Carers

Finally, we are holding an Information Evening for Parents on Wednesday 29th June at 6pm. This meeting will last approximately one hour.

It is vital that at least one parent/carer attends this meeting.

A reminder as stated above that we need all G29 parents to complete this Google form with details for your child’s lunch and to book Information Evening places.

G28 Weekly update for parents – W/C Monday 20th June 2022

By Mark Lovatt19th June 2022

Dear Parents/Guardians

Welcome to week three of our final half-term at XP Gateshead.

Students are continuing with our current expedition  – What a Wonderful World with the Guiding question: What is our relationship with the natural world? They will be completing case study two which explores  our relationship with the natural world and the notion of interdependence. We begin to understand that we will need to change our relationship with nature if we are to continue to survive as a species.

This week:

  • Our new staff joined us last week and began their induction. This week they will continue to experience what an expedition is like from the point of view of students so they have a better understanding of expeditionary learning.  Next week they will be taking part in our transition days and helping us to welcome our new cohort of students.
  • Student-Led Conferences for your children will continue this week and I have to say what an absolute delight it has been to hear students talk so fluently and with such enthusiasm about their work, habits of work and learning and academic progress. We are looking forward to listening to students this week.
  • Staff development days are on 24th and 27th June. Students are not expected to be in school on these days.

Upcoming Events:

A reminder there is a G28 parents’ calendar here

  • Our book launch for From The Ground Up is on 30th June. We have seen the final printed copies and the book is stunning! More details can be found here including a Google Form to complete.
  • Transition for our new cohort of students joining us in August. Year 6 students will be joining us in school on 28th and 29th June. We are all looking forward to welcoming our new students, our G28 students will have a key role to play in these days as you would expect.
  • The Presentation of Learning for our current learning expedition will take place on the evening of Tue 19th July. We will be sending more details on this in the coming weeks.

COVID testing 

We have decided to remove the requirement to test students each Sunday evening given the current low level in cases and additional staffing that we now have available. This is in line with Government guidelines, however we would ask parents to continue to be vigilant and to test students if they or other family members of the family have symptoms. With your support we will continue to test students in school if they present with symptoms during the school day. We will also continue to keep windows open and to ensure our building is as ventilated as possible.

We do still have a limited supply of testing kits, so if you are in need and find it difficult to obtain tests, please do speak to your son or daughter’s Crew Leader.

No Nuts in packed lunches please

We have students in our new cohort with a severe allergy to nuts and so we need to ask that no nuts or nut products be used in packed lunches from this point onwards. Thank you in advance for your support with this.

Extended Study this week

We will be setting reduced extended study in this week to allow students to continue to prepare for their upcoming SLCs which take place this week and next. There will be no extended study sessions or after school clubs this week or next due to staff involvement in SLCs.

PE sessions this week – Tuesday

Please note that PE this week will be on Tuesday. 

 

Staff Development Days – Friday 24th and Monday 27th June

Please note – Students will not be in school on these days and will return as normal on Tuesday 28th of June.

We have staff development days this Friday and next Monday. This Friday our current staff will undergo training in Mental Health First Aid so we can better support our students and help to keep them safe. Our new staff will be planning for our Transition days. On Monday 27th All staff will be preparing resources and planning for our next expeditions to begin in Year 8.

 

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

 Many thanks

Mark Lovatt

Principal

G29 PARENTS: Arrangements for XP Gateshead Transition Days and Information Evening – Tuesday 28th and Wednesday 29th June

By Julie Mosley16th June 2022

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We are all really looking forward to our Transition Days at XP Gateshead and  getting the chance to meet all of our new students. On the evening of Wednesday 29th June, we will also hold an information evening for parents – more details below.

Your child will be spending two full days with us, meeting their new teachers and friends and getting a feel for their new school. 

Transition days Tuesday 28th and Wednesday 29th June

  • Timings of the days:  8:25am-3:15pm

Like a regular school day, students can arrive in school from 8:00am but  need to be present by 8:25am. Our school day finishes at 3:15pm.

Your child will follow a typical day at XPG on both days which include some crew sessions, expedition sessions and a community meeting.

The ‘essential kit’ students need to bring

  • a backpack or bag (with enough space to carry an A4 folder)
  • a water bottle
  • pencil case kit of: pen, pencil. ruler, eraser and pencil sharpener.
  • On Wednesday, your child will need to bring a suitable PE kit so they can sample an XPG PE session.

Lunchtime arrangements

There are two options for lunch:

  • Students can bring in their own healthy packed lunch each day. Please ensure this is nut free as we have students in our community with severe nut allergies. 

or

  • Students can try a school meal with us.

The menu is shown below:

Tuesday 28th June Wednesday 29th June
1st choice

Main meal 

 Roast chicken, yorkshire pudding, creamed potatoes, vegetable medley and gravy Katsu chicken curry and rice
2nd choice

Vegetarian meal

 Cheese omelette Mac & Cheese with garlic ciabatta
Jacket Potato With beans, cheese or tuna and salad With beans, cheese or tuna and salad
Dessert Flapjack Chocolate brownie

Lunch costs will be covered by XP Gateshead on both days if you choose a school lunch for your child. Please let us know your preferred option for lunch on the google form below.

Information Evening for Parents/Carers

Finally, we are holding an Information Evening for Parents on Wednesday 29th June at 6pm. This meeting will last approximately one hour.

It is vital that at least one parent/carer attends this meeting as we will share important information about the Outward Bound experience in Ullswater which will be your child’s first week at XP Gateshead starting August 30th. 

We have limited space in school so there is a maximum of 2 parents/carers only per family. Your son/daughter is not required to attend the Information Evening. 

Please let us know how many places you require on the google form below.

Google form to complete with details for lunch and Information Evening places.