Dear Parents/Carers
Welcome to our final week of this half term.
It has been great to see you all at Student-Led Conferences over the last two weeks and I’m sure that we can all agree that our students have worked really hard since their return to us in January. I have really admired their courage this term along with their craftsmanship and quality and it has been lovely to talk to so many proud students and parents.
This week our G29 students started their second case study in ‘Do Your Bit’. Having studied the outbreak of war, the second case study is called ‘The call of the Motherland’ which focuses on how the Commonwealth Countries (part of the British Empire at the time) were called upon to help the war effort and how their diverse cultures and religions impacted them on the battlefield.
To kick start the case study, students worked with experts from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and Newcastle University and worked as historians to discover the global scale of the war putting skills they have learned in Computer Science to the test.
Students also engaged with an expert from ‘A Little History of the Sikhs’ who talked to the students about how Sikhi soldier’s faith impacted on them and their battlefield experiences, in advance of the cultural fieldwork to the Gurdwara this week.
G29 also worked with an expert from Newcastle University on nutrition and digestion as part of their STEAM expedition with GQ “Is survival sufficient?”.
Our G28 students continue to work hard on their current expedition ‘What is Power?’ and last week the long awaited cast list for Macbeth was announced. Students will be performing an abridged version of Macbeth as part of their Presentation of Learning. This will be on the evening of Thursday 30th March. More details on this very soon.
This week:
Our usual programme of Extended Study and clubs are running this week with the exception of Chess Club on Thursday lunchtime.
PE sessions
As usual G28 students (Y8) will need a PE kit for Tuesday, G29 students (Y7) will need a PE kit on Wednesday.
Interviews for new staff
Interviews will take place across this week (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday). We have had lots of interest in the advertisement and are really looking forward to meeting the applicants at interview this week. As always, our staff and students are involved in the interviews to ensure we get the best teachers to join XPG Crew as we continue to grow.
LGC Meeting
Our Local Governing Body (LGC) Spring meeting takes place this week on Thursday 9th February.
Half Term and 1:30pm finish on Friday 10th February
Please remember that this is our last week of this half term and as always, we finish early to allow staff to de-gunge and replenish rooms and teaching spaces ready for next half term.
Thank you for your continued support throughout this half term and we hope everyone has a good holiday. We are looking forward to the next half term where we will continue to work hard on current expeditions and the final products and presentations of learning for these.
As usual if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact your children’s crew leader in the first instance.
Julie Mosley
Co-Principal