Dear Families
We welcomed all of our students and staff into school last week so, for the first time, four year groups were all together. We are delighted by how our new G31 students have all settled into school and how students in other year groups have welcomed our new cohort, settled into their new classes and sessions and daily life of school. A Kurt Hahn quote that has continued to resonate with us over these last weeks is
“We are crew not passengers, strengthened by acts of consequential service to others”
We build our culture of crew at XP Gateshead so that all members of our school community are impelled to work together as a team, to pitch in, to help others. This happens in crew, in classrooms, during social times and at the start and end of the day
Students are settling into their new classes, working with new learning partners and getting used to new spaces. Unfortunately, we are still without a theatre space so are unable to have whole school community meetings in person at the moment. We’ve been pleased with how adaptable and mature our students have been especially during lunchtimes as we get used to another 50 students on site. Our older students in G28 and G29 enjoyed their first PE sessions last Thursday with Mr Devitt and Mrs Cadenas. Mrs Cadenas is an experienced PE teacher, personal coach and works with many schools and youth groups running sessions in dance, fitness, etc. She joins our staff crew on a part-time basis and will work with our older students in PE.
Last week saw the start of immersion for all new learning expeditions. Immersion is an opportunity for students to dip their toe into the content of the learning expeditions, to build background knowledge and generate curiosity about the guiding question for the expedition. Guiding questions are revealed to students at the end of each immersion.
G31
G31 started their week in Crews unpacking what they learned at Ullswater about ‘What it means to be Crew’ and considering how that is applied back at school with an additional question: “What will my learning be like at my new school?”
All Crews took time to curate their Outward Bound fieldwork and the individual journeys they had all taken along with the character traits they had demonstrated. They then spent time agreeing their crew norms and what they would look like, sound like and feel like in classrooms.
All G31 students have now set up their iPads and completed initial Google training as part of their induction to school. Students have resigned our ICT acceptable use agreement, which helps to ensure that students use technology appropriately and most importantly safely.
A fully charged iPad is now expected as part of daily kit for G31 students, as well as headphones. We advise against buying expensive headphones. It is worth noting that the newer iPads that G31 have do not have a regular 5mm headphone socket, so it may require purchasing an adapter such as the one linked here, to allow use of any existing headphones that you have.
There is additional guidance for families here on setting up apple accounts to download additional apps, and also on how to set sensible boundaries at home using screen time functions and parental controls on your home Wifi router.
G30
G30 have completed their immersion which included study of the human body through the emotional true story of Peter the human cyborg and also Bill Bryson’s text “The Body: A guide for inhabitants”. In a bumper week, they have been introduced to the text “Noughts and Crosses” by Malorie Blackman, studied various creation stories and considered what makes effective speeches. All of this has come to a focal point with their guiding question, revealed next week.
G29
G29 have started their new expedition by learning about the geography and history of Russia around the turn of the 20th century. Connected to this, and to build further background knowledge they have also been studying the atomic bombs that were dropped at the end of WWII, and have seen further evidence of the power of the atom by learning about the impact of the Chernobyl meltdown in the former Soviet Union. They have also used Ken Loach’s film “I, Daniel Blake” to develop questions and curiosity about how societal and governmental structures can impact on the way that we live our lives. At the end of the week students had a session with an expert from our partners at the Farrell Centre in Newcastle, who introduced them to their brief for a final product which will be influenced by their learning about physical and societal structures. Connected to their new guiding question “How are structures important in helping us to explain our world?”students will work on a design brief to produce a maquette of a new sculpture for Gateshead.
G28
G28 have also found out their guiding question “How did bonding help the Vikings forge a strong legacy?” for an expedition which will encompass content from their GCSE studies in History, English and Science. Students spent the week testing materials for their strength and have also been recalling their prior learning about Vikings, and tackling misconceptions about the nature of Viking society.
This expedition will also make connections to their English Literature texts, where this week students have been deepening their knowledge of the context of Dickensian Britain, which will all support in working on the guiding question “Why could ‘A Christmas Carol’ be thought of as the ultimate Christmas story?”
Our week ahead
G31 students (Year 7)
Students will continue with their immersion this week, thinking about what their guiding question could be, having considered the influences of the Romans and the Vikings on Medieval England and also the importance of coal as part of the Industrial Revolution.
This week students will carry out fieldwork focused on a historical enquiry into Anglo-Saxon and monastic life in the Northeast. The fieldwork will take place at St Bede’s Monastery, and Jarrow Hall Museum and Anglo Saxon farm and settlement in Jarrow.
Year 7 Class 2 Students will carry out this fieldwork on Monday 9th September with Year 7 Class 1 completing it on Tuesday 10th. Please see the website post from Mrs Ross which details the kit needed, packed lunch requirements and timings for the day.
PE sessions take place on Wednesday for both Year 7 classes this week so students need a full PE kit to change into on this day.
G30 students (Year 8)
G30 students will begin formal studies of the learning targets for their new expedition. This week they will begin reading “Noughts and crosses” in earnest, and move from creation stories to teaching and beliefs about the afterlife in Abrahamic faiths. Students will also start looking at ventilation and the lungs as part of wider learning about the respiratory system.
PE sessions take place on Monday for both Year 8 classes so students need a full PE kit on this day.
G29 students (Year 9)
Students will consolidate their learning from the film “I, Daniel Blake” by carrying out virtual fieldwork to the Byker Wall, the setting of the film. They will also start reading their anchor text “Lord of the flies”, a classic text which gives an insight into what could happen when conventional structures for children are removed. Connected to Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Chernobyl, students will also peer inside the structure of the atom to begin to be able to answer questions about the chemical and nuclear stores of energy therein.
PE sessions take place on Thursday for both Year 9 classes so students need a full PE kit on this day.
G28 students (Year 10)
G28 students will start to look at VIkings in Scandinavia and their trade relationships within their society and with other parts of the world. They will also build on their learning about the atom from Key Stage 3, and develop more refined mental models for chemical bonding of ionic and covalent molecules.
PE sessions take place on Thursday for both Year 10 classes so students need a full PE kit on this day. Students have one timetabled PE session in Year 10 and we will be encouraging all students to join an after school sports club or fitness activity as part of their continued wellbeing.
Meeting our expectations
Dress code
As you know at XP, we believe that:
- Children need to learn to express themselves responsibly.
- Children are not all the same, so they should not be forced to look the same.
- Families would rather spend their money on clothes that their children can wear inside and outside school.
We do not have a school uniform however we do have a dress code and we ask our students and staff to dress appropriately and modestly.
For a normal day within school, we do not think it appropriate that students wear:
- Hats, hoods & coats inside school
- Revealing clothing, i.e. revealing the midriff, chest or upper thigh
- Noticeable make-up, including false eyelashes
- Valuable, sentimental or impractical accessories / jewellery (eg. heavy chains, thick sovereign rings, or false nails)
- Impractical footwear (eg. sliders, flip-flops or high heels)
Please see our website post on dress code so you are aware of our expectations and can fully support these.
Punctuality
Can I remind all families that students need to be in school for an 8.30am start to sessions. They must arrive by 8.25am at the latest. There will be staff in school supervising so students can arrive from 8.00 am. The vast majority of our students had perfect punctuality last week but not all of them. Please support us with our high expectation around punctuality to school.
Extended Study
Teachers will start to set extended study this week and students will begin to build their extended study timetable.
After school extended study sessions will start next week and students attending these sessions must stay until the end of the session at 4.30pm. These sessions allow students to work with their peers and staff on extended study tasks in school where support is on hand.
We will be launching our new lunchtime and after school clubs programme by the end of September.
As usual if you have any questions about your son or daughter please get in touch with your child’s Crew Leader in the first instance or email general enquiries to [email protected].
Thank you as always for your ongoing support. Together we are stronger #WeAreCrew.
Julie Mosley
Principal