Dear Families
Welcome back, we hope you have enjoyed the Easter Bank Holiday break.
We had a good start back to school last week and the vast majority of students have settled back with us quickly and, as always, have impressed us with their HoWLs, character values and their engagement in learning during last week’s immersion.
G28’s PoL – Are we really free to choose?
It was wonderful to see so many families last week for G28’s public debate at Newcastle Sixth Form College. Our students had a fantastic day on campus, getting a chance to use the great facilities on site and find out what’s available to them for post 16 study at the college.
It was great to see debating teams challenge each other around some key topics on democracy, feminism, genetics, social media, the right to protest and the persecution of minorities in Nazi Germany. The confidence shown by our students and their speaking skills conveying the deep understanding of content covered in this expedition was stunning.
G28’s Work Experience – w/c 30th June 2025
The slides that Mr Said spoke to during the PoL evening can be found by clicking here. Students will be introduced to the Placementt app in upcoming Crew sessions.
G31’s PoL – Why is it important to honour all those who sacrificed in WWI?
Like many of you I thoroughly enjoyed watching the pre-recorded G31 PoL last Thursday which was broadcast on Youtube. For those who haven’t seen it, watch the presentation online by clicking on this link.
A huge congratulations goes to all of our Year 7 students for their craftsmanship and quality in this work and special mention to our Digital Leaders who recorded this work.
New Term – New Expeditions for G31 and G30
Our Year 7 and Year 8 students were working hard in immersion last week, making connections between their studies in lessons, building background knowledge and developing curiosity.
Year 7 were studying freshwater species and their adaptations in STEAM, and in HUMAN were investigating how the power of water has been represented in literature and its symbolism in religion. In ARTS students were carrying out observational drawing of water settings using the grid method.
In HUMAN Year 8 have been looking at how migrants and refugees stories have been represented, and have looked at first-hand accounts of both refuge and migration. In STEAM, students have also been studying the island nation of Tuvalu and their pleas for richer nations to take more urgent action to tackle climate change. In ARTS students have looked at objects with sentimental value and building skills in using oil pastels to represent these objects.
This week their new guiding questions will be revealed along with the challenges and new learning this term’s expeditions will bring.
G29 Expedition ‘You Give Me Fever’
G29 continued to work hard on their current expedition ‘You Give Me Fever’’. Our students continued to look at public health over time and investigate health inequalities in Gateshead today, looking at the correlation between disease and deprivation. Preparations have now started in earnest for the Public Health Conference which this year is on the theme of tobacco and smoking.
G29’s Presentation of Learning will be a Public Health Conference, hosted by our students in school on Friday 10th May, 2pm.
We appreciate this is an earlier than normal start, however this has been carefully considered and will allow us to make use of professionals as part of the process.
We need your support
Monitoring online activity
There are a minority of students who took longer to settle last week and we have invested a significant amount of staff time picking up issues around friendships which have played out online outside of school. This is definitely not what we expect or want to spend time on and we ask for your support, as parents and carers, to monitor your child’s online communications outside of school hours.
As you know, character growth is a key component of our 3-Dimensional curriculum at XP Gateshead and we all (students, staff and families) have a responsibility to support the development of our character values of courage, craftsmanship and quality, respect, integrity and compassion.
I understand the challenges that being a parent or carer of a teenager brings and how difficult this can be, especially around social media and finding the right balance between privacy, monitoring and trust. Here are some useful links to support conversations with your teenager:
This week
G28 Mock exams – Fine Art, Tuesday 22nd April
This week marks the start of our mock exams with Fine Art students completing a practical mock exam in Art during the whole day on Tuesday. The mock exam for Photography students will take place in the final half-term.
The main mock exam session takes place between Monday 28th April and Thursday 8th May:
Students should continue the revision for their upcoming mocks. Staff have put together this revision website as a guide for families which has a wealth of information to help you to support your child right the way through to the final assessments in Year 11 next year.
You can access this any time by going to the XP Gateshead website and clicking on Parents – GCSE Revision on the menus.
G31 Fieldwork – Wednesday 23rd April
This fieldwork will take place in the Windy Nook Nature reserve on Wednesday morning – students will be back in school for the normal lunch time. The forecast is set to be dry and cool. Students will need to be prepared with:
- Regular full kit – including a water bottle
- Appropriate clothing for the weather including a coat
- Comfortable walking shoes or trainers
PE sessions this week
Due to the shortened four day week, our PE sessions this week are shown below. Please ensure that your child has their full PE kit.
- G31 students (Y7) have PE on Thursday this week
- G30 students (Y8) have PE on Wednesday this week
- G29 students (Y9) have PE on Thursday this week
Extended Study and Clubs
Extended study and after school clubs will be running this week.
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