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Careers learning as part of our curriculum
Careers learning as part of our curriculum
All learning expeditions at XP Gateshead include fieldwork, working alongside experts, and the creation of authentic products. This connects directly to our design principle of ‘activism’ and provides students with an authentic and purposeful opportunity to engage with experts and in environments outside of school to further enhance their learning.
Fieldwork offers students the opportunity to work purposefully alongside professionals or in professional contexts which provides deep authenticity to the learning that takes place, as well as, providing integrity, accuracy and expertise to the work they engage with. In addition, through fieldwork experiences students understand and consolidate how the learning they do in school connects to and is enhanced by fieldwork.
Every learning expedition includes a public-facing final product which all students create. These products pull from learning across the expedition and are curated in our community. This provides real purpose and clarity to our students' learning.
All of the experts we engage with, all of the fieldwork opportunities and products that are part of our expeditions, are available to all.
Through this work, students develop passions which inform their thoughts about future education, training and careers.
Y7: A Whole New World
How can stories shape and influence communities?Y7: A Whole New World
Students work as musicians alongside a songwriting expert to produce folk music which is published online.
Students work as geologists alongside an expert to analyse local rocks in the field.
Students work as interviewers and researchers to gather stories about important people from our region.
Students reflect on their growth in terms of beautiful work, character growth and academic success to prepare a presentation in their first Student-Led Conference.
Y7: First Week in School
Y7: First Week in School
Students develop their character through an Outward Bound adventure.
Y7: Do Your Bit
Why is it important that we honour all those that sacrificed in WWI?Y7: Do Your Bit
Y7: Staying Alive
Is survival sufficient?Y7: Staying Alive
Students work as creative writers to record a podcast about untold stories of WWI which is broadcast from a local radio station.
Students visit a university campus to prepare for a Presentation of Learning.
Students engage with a local charity to support their work with local families in need.
Y7: Hold Back the River
How does water shape our world?Y7: Hold Back the River
Students carry out fieldwork at a University Campus to investigate aquatic species.
Student work as researchers in the field alongside experts to gather data on river and coastal species.
Students engage with a charity to raise funds for water facilities in a low income country.
Y8: First Week Back
Y8: First Week Back
Students work as planners to risk assess and plan fieldwork which will be carried out by their Year 7 peers.
Y8: Being Human
Is survival sufficient?Y8: Being Human
Students work as artists to produce public artwork which promotes organ donation.
Students carry out fieldwork at the local NHS hospital in role as emergency responders.
Students work as speech writers to deliver a speech to a large audience.
Students reflect on their growth in terms of beautiful work, character growth and academic success to prepare a presentation for their Student-Led Conference.
Y8: What is Power?
Y8: What is Power?
Students work as artists to produce postcards which tackle issues of social justice.
Students work as actors and directors alongside an expert to put together an abridged performance of a Shakespeare play.
Students carry out fieldwork to the local energy centre to investigate more sustainable energy production and potential careers.
Y8: Should I stay or should I go
Is migration worth the risk?Y8: Should I stay or should I go
Students work as caterers alongside an expert to cater for a large event.
Students work as researchers and interviewers with experts to tell the stories of migrants.
Y9: First Week Back
Y9: First Week Back
Students develop their character through an introduction to Duke of Edinburgh Award.
All students in Year 9 carry out the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award.
Y9: Another brick in the wall
How can structures help us to explain our world?Y9: Another brick in the wall
Students work to a design brief for the Farrell Centre (national centre for architecture)
Students carry out a presentation of learning on a University Campus.
Y9: You give me fever
How can we continue to make progress on public health?Y9: You give me fever
Students work as geographers on fieldwork to investigate how environmental factors can corroborate GIS and ONS data about life expectancy in Gateshead.
Students engage with local politicians, health professionals and the charitable sector to organise and host a Public Health Conference.
Y9: Passage Presentations
How can we continue to make progress on public health?Y9: Passage Presentations
Students work to a design brief for the Farrell Centre (national centre for architecture)
Students carry out a presentation of learning on a University Campus.
Y9: Passage Presentations
How can we continue to make progress on public health?Y9: Passage Presentations
Students reflect on their growth since Year 7, their aspirations and potential pathways to put together a Passage Presentation about their readiness for GCSE which is given to family members, staff and professional partners including employers.
Preparation for this includes engagements with employers and providers of Post-16 education.
Following this, students are given guidance and support to make decisions about their KS4 Pathways.
Y10: First Week Back
Y10: First Week Back
Students carry out fieldwork to the local Careers centre to consider Post-16 pathways.
Students synthesise their work from Passage and futher growth in Year 9 to put together a CV. This forms the basis of 1:1 interviews with an employer from a sector connected to their long-term ambitions.
How do different subjects prepare me for careers?
How do different subjects prepare me for careers?
Employability Skills - how do we develop these at XPG?
Employability Skills - how do we develop these at XPG?
How could you talk about these skills if you were asked by an employer?
Communication
At XPG we have tight discussion protocols and linguistic stems which support students in developing high levels of oracy.
All students present to a range of audiences in different venues and for a range of purposes across their time.
Students are given the repsonsibiltiy to ensure that they present themselves well for more formal occasions such as Presentations of Learning, SLCs and Passage Presentations.
Confidence
Character Growth is one part of our 3D curriculum.
Development of character through challenges that require students to step out of their comfort zones are carefully planned and sequenced: from outdoor learning starting at Outward Bound and moving to Duke of Edinburgh, or public speaking which gradually increases the level of challenge and complexity so that students stand out from their peers in interviews for the next stage of their education, employment or training.
Reliability
At XPG we talk about integrity every day. As one of our 5 character traits we teach students the importance being someone who is true their word and can be relied upon.
Students are given responsibility, and this is honoured through weekly community meetings where students will appreciate each other, apologise for mistakes and make stands for our character traits to ensure that our community remains strong.
Problem Solving
Learning at XP Gateshead is connected. Students work with experts in the field to solve problems and produce solutions and beautiful work that is indistinguishable from the work of experts.
In Crew, students work together on initiatives that develop their problem solving skills, whether that be designing and carrying out fundraising acitvities for their chosen charity or navigating their way through the Duke of Edinburgh Award.
Motivation
Our 3D curriculum at XPG is in service of students becoming the best versions of themselves.
At XPG we talk to each other about our aspirations, and our curriculum seams help students to realise that they are important, because their work is important because it is authentic, challenging and improves the communities around them.
Learning at XPG is purposeful. Students are mortivated to be successful for themselves and their peers.
Teamwork
In both Crew and academic sessions students understand the importance of collective success. Students can talk about their mission being to ensure that everyone is successful.
Students work together in support of each others' success every day, whether that is in honest conversations in Crew about how well they are each performing, or as a shoulder partner in an academic session.
Students come together to produce startling results such as a public health conference or performances of a Shakespeare play.
Fundamental to this is the spirit of Crew. We are Crew not passengers, strengthened by consequential acts of service.
Leadership
The responsibility for a students' success is firmly handed to our students. Students a XPG are leaders of their own learning.
Students reflect weekly on their habits of work and learning and make pledges which demonstate leadership in their own progress.
There are leadership opportunities across the school, within the curriculum in leading on aspects of our authentic and public work, as ambassadors in school or as peer support.
Emotional Control
Crew provides a safe place where students can reflect upon and share challenges that they have around their emotions. Our Wise Wednesday programme of PSHE and RSHE helps students to be more self-regualting and aware of where they need support, and strategies to give them more control over their repsonses.
Due to our deliberate size, students at XP Gateshead are known very well and staff provide support to ensure that students become more emotionally literate and can manage themselves better over time.
Financial Management
As well as discrete sessions on Financial Management as part of our Wise Wednesday programme, students at XPG develop these skills through their initiatives as a Crew and also through our regular curriculum, for example in budgeting for their repsonses to a brief.
Creativity
Every learning expedition make connections between other disciplines and the creative arts. Our students create art and responses to authentic briefs that are beautiful and accurate and considered.
Creativity is at the heart of our curriculum - if you ask our students where their creative work is they will tell you that it is curated in museums, in galleries, in hospitals and more.
Attention to Detail
Craftsmanship & Quality is one of our 5 character traits at XPG.
A relentless focus on quality means that students continually assess and improve the quality of their work through the use of models, reflection, critique, rubrics, and work with experts. Through revising and redrafting their responses in service of the creation of beautiful work, students come to value craftsmanship and quality.
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