Dear Year 6 Families
We are delighted to be able to announce the calendar of transition events that we have planned to welcome your children and your family into our community at XP Gateshead.
More details on each of these events will follow in due course, but here is an overview of the activities so that you can plan ahead and discuss this with your child.
Online Family Meetings
In the coming weeks we will send you details of how to book an online family meeting. Meetings will be in the fortnight commencing 28th April. These take place via Google Meet during the evening and are with a senior leader in the school. The meetings are a first chance for us to meet you and your child, to find out about them and discuss our expectations as a school. Your meeting will last up to 30 minutes. We will send details of how to book an appointment to you on 24th March.
Primary School Visits
We aim to visit every child in their Primary School in the summer term. This is done by members of our transition team and means that as well as seeing your child in an educational setting, they get to know another friendly face before they come to us.
In-Person Information Evening for parents/carers
We will be holding an In-Person Information Evening at our school on 22nd May at 6pm.
It is vital that all families attend as we will give important information about the Outward Bound course that takes place for all students at the start of Year 7 as well as our iPad scheme. In addition, we will address some of the misconceptions about our school so that families are completely clear on what we are: ‘A mainstream school with a relentless focus on beautiful work, character growth and academic success’, and also what we are not. There will be an opportunity for you to ask us questions too of course.
Transition Days at XP Gateshead
Your children will join us in school on Tuesday 1st July and Wednesday 2nd July. Again more details of these days will follow in due course. Like a regular school day, students can arrive in school from 8:00am but need to be present by 8:25am. Our school day finishes at 3:15pm.
Your child will follow a typical day at XPG on both days which include some crew sessions, expedition sessions and a community meeting.
Meet your child’s Crew Leader
Following the transition days, on Tuesday 8th July we will invite parents and carers into school in the evening to meet your child’s new Crew Leader. We expect all families to attend this event. We are proud of the strong relationships that we form with families at XP Gateshead and this is an important opportunity for you to begin to build that relationship with the person that will be the key adult for your child when they start with us. As well as our cross-curricular learning expeditions, our pastoral structure Crew is what sets us apart from other schools.
We start school earlier than other schools in the local authority to allow for the Outward Bound experience. Our first day of term for year 7 is Tuesday 26th August 2025. More info on our term dates can be found by clicking here.
We are really excited to get to know our newest students and their families over the coming months.
Welcome to our community and crew at XP Gateshead!