Dear Families
What a final week of term we have had! Our students have continued to work hard and produce work of the highest quality and we couldn’t be prouder of them.
G30 ‘From the Ground Up’ Presentation of Learning – St Mary’s Church in Heworth
On Monday our Year 7 students took centre stage at St Mary’s Church in Heworth for their first presentation of learning. They really stepped up to the challenge; sharing their work from this term’s expedition ‘From the Ground Up’ with the GQ: ‘What do the communities of NE England owe to the miners?’. It was difficult to believe that G30 students have been with us less than 4 months watching them share such high quality learning with eloquence and confidence. The quality of their script, songwriting, drama performance and art work along with the variety of inputs made for a culturally rich evening.
G30’s final product will be a CD of the folk songs they have written. We will be recording this early next term so it will be ready for sales at the Miner’s Gala in the Summer term where we hope to see our students perform their songs to a larger audience. A huge well done to all of the staff and students who worked on this expedition – a stunning achievement and our first XPG music CD!
Here is just some of the feedback we have received from families who attended the evening:
I’m so proud of their confidence to stand up and talk about their learning.
Ten out of ten! Keep doing what you are doing.
I praise how confident the children were about the mines and miners, fantastic production. The children really went into great levels of description on the mining – it was really interesting.
The songs the children wrote were so thoughtful, they did an amazing job.
G29 ‘Being Human’ Presentation of Learning – XP Gateshead
On Tuesday, it was G29’s time to shine at their presentation of learning, where they answered the GQ: ‘What does it mean to be human?’. The evening was in several parts:
- a public lecture with students presenting excerpts from their speeches responding to the guiding question
- a marketplace table discussion where students shared their individual learning journeys and work from this expedition
- …and finally, an unveiling of the final artwork which promotes organ donation. This will move to its permanent home at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead early next year.
Year 8 definitely stepped up! Listening to their responses to the guiding question and the learning they have experienced over this expedition was a privilege. It was especially impressive to see Year 8 students presenting to other parents for the first time. This is an important step up for them in terms of developing character and confidence.
Here are some of the quotes from our families:
Amazing to see the young people presenting so eloquently and with confidence.
It is so good to see the development from Year 7 to Year 8. So confident and informed. It is lovely to see students researching diversity and difference and the impact on society alongside their place and responsibility for this.
Great depth of knowledge and confidence, articulating that in a meaningful way to parents/carers.
I learned that everyone has their own interpretation of what is means to be human, and this is OK as it is a subjective topic.
G28 Charity work
December has been a busy month of charity events. Thank you to all who have supported these events. Look out for updates from our Y9 Crews on how much they have raised with their charity work this term.
G29/G30 Community Support
We finished our term today visiting our neighbours delivering crew hampers put together by our Year 7 and Year 8 students. Our crews have spent time putting together hampers for the residents of the bungalows on Swards Road and Colepeth, sharing some of their beautiful work and treats for Christmas as a thank you to our neighbours. It was wonderful to see students get real pride from their acts of kindness and the joy they gave others.
So, a wonderful ending to a great term.
I’d like to thank all of our wonderful staff who work relentlessly to support our students – we have a great staff crew at XP Gateshead. Our thanks also goes to Gateshead teams who support our work at XPG especially Suzanne, Cheryl and Michelle who keep us nourished, Carol, Karen, Jan and Marie who work hard to keep our school environment clean and tidy.
Thanks also to you, our families, for all of your ongoing support. We couldn’t do what we do without this.
And the final one goes to our wonderful students who continue to shine, doing more than they thought possible and supporting each other to get to the top of the mountain.
Wishing you all a very happy festive season. We return on Monday 8th January at the normal time.
Julie Mosley
Principal