Dear Parents/Carers
Happy 2023! We hope you have had a great Christmas and a safe and restful New Year. We are looking forward to welcoming students back tomorrow to the start of our new term at XP Gateshead.
Getting a good start…
Punctuality
School opens at 8:00am every morning. Students should arrive between 8:00am and 8:25 am and there are spaces available for socialising, reading or completing extended study. Students must be on site for 8.25am for the call to Crew. A calm start to the day is really important for students to settle into learning so we ask that parents support their child with this.
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
- Their AR reading book (please remember that as part of our reading strategy, we expect all students to read between 20-30 mins. each day)
- Headphones
- A healthy snack for break (no confectionery (sweets), fizzy drinks or energy drinks, nut products)
- A notebook
PE sessions
There are timetable changes for PE this week as there is no PE on the first day back.
- G28 students (Y8) will need their PE kit for Wednesday this week.
- G29 students (Y7) will need PE kit on Thursday this week.
Extended Study and Clubs
Clubs will all run this week along with extended study sessions every day except Friday. As usual, if a student attends an after school club or extended study session they must attend the full sessions until 4:30pm.
New Term – New Expeditions
A new term means new and exciting expeditions for our students. Immersion takes place this week and our students will be working hard to find out what their new guiding questions are and the challenges and new learning their expeditions will bring.
Curriculum Updates
There are some curriculum changes which continue to give our students a breadth and depth of experience at key stage 3.
G29 are studying two new expeditions. As part of their studies for their new HUMAN and ARTS expedition, G28 will be continuing with drama with a new text and also studying computer science to help them to organise and analyse data from an expert.
G29 also have a new STEAM expedition which will include some food technology and a really great final product that will have an impact on our local community.
G28 are studying one new expedition that combines HUMAN, STEAM and ARTS. This will include some really challenging drama and music, both of which will be instrumental to their final product and presentation of learning.
Student-Led Conferences
SLCs (Student-Led Conferences) replace the conventional parents’ evenings at XP Gateshead. During an SLC, your son or daughter will share their learning with you and their crew leader. You will have an opportunity to look at work from their portfolio and ask questions about their HoWLs (Habits of Work and Learning) and AP grades (Academic Progress) .
These SLCs will take place this term in the two weeks commencing 24th January. In the coming weeks you will receive an SLC invite from your son or daughter’s crew leader.
Over the coming weeks students will be working hard on their pledges and HOWLs in sessions. They will share their progress with you during the SLC and you will be able to ask questions around these.
Staff Days
A reminder that we have two staff development days this half term; Friday 20th and Monday 23rd January. As normal, students are not expected to be in school on these days.
As usual if you have any questions please contact your child’s crew leader in the first instance. Thank you as always for your ongoing support.
Julie Mosley
Co-principal