Dear Families
This week SLCs start for G30 and G29 students. This is an important moment for your children to share their progress with you.
We have talked with students a lot about culture this week. Our G29 students attended a performance of Macbeth at York – the conduct of our students was exemplary from beginning to end of the visit. Class 1 in particular have been praised for their work in class this week following the performance and the battle scene from the opening of the play is really coming together. Many of the peer appreciations in our community meeting this week were in praise of studentsβ efforts in Drama sessions.
G28 students have made a strong start to the academic year, our community meeting this week was full of appreciations for working hard and for students that are changing behaviours in a positive way – it is wonderful that this is noticed by students.
We also had a strong community meeting withΒ Year 7. G30 students showed great courage in making stands for our character traits and our culture. As families of G30 will know, and have seen from their first Presentation of Learning, our Year 7 have made such a brilliant start to their time at XP Gateshead. One of the strengths of our school model and of Crew is that students have a genuine voice in their school. Students this week made stands for our culture because they care, and because we sweat the small stuff.
Before looking at the week ahead, we just wanted to share some feedback from a Local Governing Committee visit this last week from Jane Sutton, who was looking at how inclusive our practices are – in particular how we support students with SEND.
This was a very positive visit, and has given us some important pointers on how we can further strengthen our offer. In particular our skilled learning coaches were praised for their knowledge and skills in the classroom.
However this feedback from conversations with our children is particularly impressive and indicates just how well students can articulate what our school is about.
βI wasβ¦Β impressed and inspired by the students I spoke to. They were eloquent and confident to speak about the personal challenges they face due to their
additional needs and how these challenges are addressed by all the staff in school. They spoke about the strong relationships they were able to build with staff and that they felt they could talk to trusted adults. The support being provided for these students is clearly having a positive impact on their confidence and self-belief and they feel their needs are being met. They are proud of their achievements and credit the staff and school for this.
They spoke positively about the number of extended learning opportunities they were given such as fieldwork, clubs, common mission, theatre visits, Duke of Edinburgh Awards, Leader of your own learning activities and Crew activities.
They told me how they felt Crew was a great support to them. One student explained how she had delivered a presentation to her crew about her ASD/ADHD and the positive response she had to this.
She felt that this now enabled her to open up to her peers more which helped her.β
The week ahead
Tyne and Wear Museums Digital Curation Pilot Project
Our Year 7 climate leaders – Isaac, Elina, Freya, Molly, Lizzie and James – are working with Tyne and Wear Museums on a six week-long project to design some digital curation connected to decarbonisation and fossil fuels. They are meeting with curators from TWM each week on tuesday afternoons this term.
G28/G29 NHS Careers Performance this Thursday afternoon
A team from Performance in Education are working with G28 and G29 this week on Thursday afternoon during the school day to give them an insight into careers in the NHS. The NHS is one of the worldβs largest employers, and is the number one employer in our region and the UK. More info on NHS careers can be found here.
Working with Trust this week
We continue to work with our colleagues in Trust to develop our practice. This week we will have a focus on PE, Assessment Information and Wellbeing.
PE this week
- G30 (Year 7)
- Both classes have PE on Monday this week.
- G29 (Year 8)
- Both classes have PE on Wednesday this week.
- G28 (Year 9)
- Class 1 have PE on Tuesday this week.
- Class 2 have PE on Thursday this week
Looking Ahead
SLCs for G30 and G29
If you have not already done so, please make sure that you have booked an SLC slot, you should have received an email from our office@ email address. Please contact us if you have not received this.
Passage Presentations for G28
A reminder that passage presentations will take place during the day on Monday 11th March, and Tuesday 12th March. You will be given an opportunity to book a slot in a similar way as you have done for SLCs.
Information evening for G28 Families – Passage, DofE and GCSEs
This event will take place on the evening of Thursday 8th February at 5.30pm.
Julie Mosley
Principal