Happy Christmas

As always, it has been a busy and fulfilling (and long) term with lots happening in and out of the classroom. Staff and students are all ready for a rest!

Chaplaincy news

All year groups have participated in a Christmas liturgy led by our chaplain, Mandy Baker. It was lovely to see so many students participating by reading. The theme this year was a reflection on the Christmas story and God's call to trust him as trapeze flyers must trust the catcher. God invites us to place our trust in Him: do not be afraid.

This year we collected 86 Christmas shoeboxes which were delivered to children in Romania.
Thank you to everyone who contributed.

Chaplaincy Team Commissioning The ten students on our Chaplaincy team were commissioned at Clifton Cathedral on Friday 30th November. Each member of the Chaplaincy team is also a member of another Chaplaincy group such as the year 10 and 12 CAFOD teams, altar servers, Eucharistic ministers, year 7 and 8 teams and the Christian Union group.

During this season of Advent, form 12CMD organised a ‘Festive Friday’ raising £107 for CAFOD World Gifts by selling hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows. All money raised went towards buying an emergency shelter that could make a life-saving difference to a family in urgent need. They also bought water for a family. This will provide families with a supply of safe water in their homes for drinking and cooking. Finally, they raised enough money to buy a goat to provide a family with milk which they can drink or sell; it will also produce free fertiliser that can be used to help grow crops. Many thanks to all who supported this event! 

Music department news
On 28th November Year 10 GCSE Music students Josh (drums) and David (bass guitar), accompanied 200 primary school children in the Junior Voices Project held in Gloucester Cathedral.

Llanthony Priory

A-level Music students performed a lunchtime concert on 7 December at the newly restored Llanthony Secunda Priory.  This included both a choral and instrumental re-working of the 13^th century Llanthony Carol, Edi Beo Thu Hevene Quene.  We then sang the carol at various points around the city, including the Quays, Eastgate Shopping Centre, the Cross and the Cathedral.

 

The day after Llanthony Priory saw the Chamber Choir performing with former St Peter’s student and Chinese X Factor winner, Mary-Jess Leaverland on her winter tour.

 

Carols by Candlelight

Our main event of the term, Carols by Candlelight, took place at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Stroud on Friday 14 December.  Students from all year groups took part and we were delighted once again to sing to a large and enthusiastic audience.  Through their generosity, we were able to support the church and make a significant donation to this year’s chosen charity, Young Minds.

To finish the term in festive style, the music department have been bringing Christmas cheer to one and all by busking around the site with carol singers on Thursday and Jazz Band on Friday!

A huge thank you to members of the music department and especially to Mrs Perfect for all their excellent extra-curricular work.

Oxbridge applications

Well done to the following students who applied for and have been interviewed for places at the following Oxford colleges:

Megan Cameron to study History at Christ Church College

Paul Pellissery to study History at St Benet’s Hall

Sam Harte to study Philosophy & Theology at Regent’s Park College

George Greaves to study PPE at Brasenose College

Finlay Stephens to study Engineering Science at St Edmund Hall

 

Maths news

Congratulations to the KS5 students who participated in the UK Senior Maths Challenge in November.  This national competition consists of challenging questions that encourage mathematical reasoning and precision of thought in addition to sound mathematical knowledge.  The following students were amongst the highest scoring nationally and so achieved awards as follows:

Silver:  Fran Smith

Bronze:  Max Stephenson, Ted Reece, Joshua Hensley and Lily Magri.

Well done to them all.

Careers advice and guidance

Recently thirty students from a range of year groups attended a presentation on Careers in Medicine as part of our Futures Programme. The speaker, Dr Giovanna Sheiybani, a Gastroenterology Registrar at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, talked to students about her medical training and career pathway which has included a variety of  teaching roles as well as being the Junior Doctor Forum Chair and the Local Negotiating Committee Junior Doctor rep for her Trust.

Giovanna, who is also a mentor to  medical students also conducted mock Interviews for those sixth form students who have applied to study medicine at university. We hope Giovanna’s presentation has helped to inspire our students to become the  doctors of the future.

 

Sporting news

Basketball success

Last week St Peter’s participated in the Gloucester Schools District basketball tournaments and hosted three of the events (Year 8, 10 and 11). The St Peter’s played brilliantly throughout the week and the work the pupils put into attending Monday morning sessions, lunch-time and after-school practices since the first week of term one really paid off with some excellent team performances. The overall results were as follows:

Year 7 - 3^rd Place
Year 8 - 1^st Place
Year 9 – 1^st Place (the year 9 team have qualified for the county finals in January when the winner progresses to the national rounds).
Year 10 – 1^st Place
Year 11 – 2^nd Place (lost final by 1 point)

Congratulations to the teams and thank you to the P.E. staff and, in particular, Mr Staynings for his work with them.

 

Football success

The year 7 boys progressed to the 6th round (last 32 in the country) and have an away tie in Plymouth during the first week of the new term. The boys have been excellent, beating Gordano school 5-4 in the last round in a very exciting game.

 

The year 8 boys have progressed to the 6th round (last 32 in the country) after a comprehensive 6-0 home victory against Bradley Stoke and they now await another home game against Sandwell academy in the next game.

 

The year 7 and 8 girls team have progressed to the 6th round (last 16 in the country) after a fabulous 4-1 away win in the 5th round. This is an amazing achievement for the girls as they have progressed further than any other team in the school’s history. They await the draw for the next round on January 14th.

 

 

Congratulations to year 10 student Mary McAteer who has again represented Wales in international football in against Portugal in Lisbon this week.  

 

Visit to Normandy, half term 2019

The Modern Languages department has launched their cross-curricular KS3 trip to Normandy in October half term 2019. Any year 7 or 8 students who are interested should speak to their MFL teacher for further details.  This is a great opportunity to visit the Normandy Landing Beaches and the Bayeux Tapestry, as to well as to sample local French delicacies.

 

Staffing news

Two members of staff are leaving us at the end of term:

Mr Dan Edwards is leaving us to take up a post as head of economics and business studies. We thank him for all his hard work in maths, economics & business and, in particular, for the enormous amount of his own time he has devoted to our students participating in the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme.

Mrs  Barker (modern foreign languages) is taking up a post producing training materials in an aeronautical company. She has contributed greatly to the languages department as well as to the progress team where she has organised the Scholar’s programme for several cohorts of our students.

Mrs Deborah Harrisson has been appointed to the maths and business & economics department.

Mrs Suzanne Lord has been appointed to the languages department.

A reminder that term starts on Monday 7^th January 2019 which is week 2.

We wish everyone a peaceful and a happy Christmas.

 

 

End of Term

Mass for Saints Peter and Paul and Awards Assembly

The Mass and awards assembly on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul went extremely well. A huge number of people contributed to its success but particular thanks go to the music department and, of course, to our chaplain, Mandy Baker, and to Monsignor Liam Slattery.

Natasha Burch, year 12, performed her A Level composition at both the Mass and the year 6 welcome liturgy. Sofia Hensley and Bethan Brito, year 7, sang ‘A Million Dreams’ from 'The Greatest Showman' in the awards ceremony. The year 9 band (Seb Rowe, David Copestake, Cyril Carvajal, Keyan Littleton, Josh Riches) performed ‘Some Might Say’ by Oasis during the awards ceremony. The music department collaborated with the PE Department to perform Stormzy’s ‘Blinded by your Grace’ featuring soloist Harry Matthews, rappers Hansen Castaneda and Pearse O’Neill alongside Mrs Donovan’s gymnasts during the awards ceremony.

All students in Year 8 spent 6 weeks designing and creating banners for the Mass and awards assembly. Each class made one banner using a quotation from the parable of the Sheep and the Goats.

This year’s banners were colourful and spread the message of God’s love into our community.

Other Chaplaincy News

The Year 7 Emmaus First Communion Group celebrated their First Holy Communion with Mgr Liam at St Peter’s Church.

Students having been walking a mile supporting the 'Share the Journey' CAFOD campaign, highlighting the experiences of refugees.

We have had Liturgies for Year 11 and Year 6 as they both prepare for the next stage of their future.

Year 9 shared their annual retreat days together with the theme ‘Stronger Together'.

At Sports Day the CAFOD group sold refreshments and raised £300 for the Help Madina charity in Sierra Leone.

We are preparing for our next IGNITE evening with 5 time world record holding football freestyler Daniel Cutting on Friday Sept 28^th at 6.30pm in the school hall. Tickets: £2.

The St Peter’s High School Jazz Band played at the Tuffley Festival - Saturday 7^th July 2018.
David Copestake – Year 9 Student and Jazz Band Bass Guitarist - writes:

Tuffley Festival took place at Tuffley Rovers F.C. on Saturday 7^th July 2018. Families came to enjoy the sun whilst watching a dog show, browsing pop up stalls and enjoying performances from dance troops, primary school choirs, scouts and guides and, of course, the St Peter’s High School Jazz Band.

The band features a range of amazing saxophonists, a fabulous trumpeter, a great pianist, some noisy electric guitarists, two incredible bass guitarists and a loud drummer! With our very important conductor, Mrs Perfect, we performed some jazzy tunes along with some popular songs like Havana, sung by year 11 student Avygayle Smith. Band members range from students in year 8, all the way up to year 13. We also have teachers in our band. It’s great to have so much musical talent packed into a band and we have a lot of fun doing what we do.

Even though we all missed the first five minutes of the football, it was a fabulous event with a lovely audience cheering us on.

-       

ABRSM Exam Results

Congratulations to year 13 student Hannah Soares for achieving Grade 8 Singing with Distinction this term. This follows a Distinction on Grade 8 Piano in the previous term! This completes another year of a 100% pass rate in our ABRSM Music exams for students in all years groups. Other notable results: Jessica Smith (year 13) and Robyn Marment (year 13) both achieved Grade 8 singing with merit.

Art Show

The end of year art show was a great success, showcasing the excellent work of students from year 7 to year 13.  Parents, guardians, governors, staff and students seized the opportunity to come and have a look at the work on display and were impressed by the skill, creativity and hard work of students this year.  The KS3 Best in show 2018 was won by Zuzanna Watorska for her detailed study of Francoise Nielly’s work.

The Schools Award in the Gloucestershire Apprenticeship Awards

We are delighted that St Peter’s won the Schools Award in the recent Gloucestershire Apprenticeship Awards. This is due to the hard work of our careers officer, Sarah Beeton, and her assistant Georgina Blackburn.

KS5 Educational visits

The Year 12 Politics trip to Westminster was a great success. The students were excellent and visited the Supreme Court as well as the Houses of Parliament. They also took part in an elections workshop in parliament which proved to be good fun for all.

The technology department took students to the New Designers Show in London.

The geography department took 22 A-Level Geographers to Snowdonia and the Quantock Hills to complete their physical geography fieldwork.  Students studied glacial landforms, compared glacial and fluvial sediments and tested the infiltration rates of the soil surrounding a river.  The students worked exceptionally hard, and members of the public commented that they were a credit to the school.  A-Level geography students are required to undertake 4 days of fieldwork; they also visit the suburbs of Gloucester and Brockenhurst in the New Forest for their human geography fieldwork.

The Duke of Edinburgh award scheme
The Silver DofE groups made a fantastic effort on their qualifying expedition in the Brecons, despite very hot weather and insect attacks. They showed great resilience and teamwork. We were delighted that their assessor said they were one of the most impressive groups he had assessed.

The Gold group completed their practice expedition in style at the same time and are well-prepared for the qualifying expedition, which they will do in Snowdonia next summer, when they return to school as Year 12 students. As always, a huge thank you to the staff who give up their weekends for the expeditions.

Summer schools

Well done to a number of our Year 12 students who have successfully secured prestigious university summer schools and other placements which will be of enormous value in themselves and also in applying to universities next year:

Megan Cameron will attend a summer school at Cambridge University and at John Locke summer school in France;

Orla Sheehan will attend summer school at Cambridge University;

Sam Harte will attend a summer school at Bristol University with the Sutton Trust;

Jordan Topping Allsopp will attend a STEM course with Liverpool University;

George Greaves has secured a week's placement in the UK parliament;

Paul Pellissery will be attending an UNIQ course with Oxford University.

Several students have also received invitations to a medical skills event at Cheltenham General Hospital.

The Brilliant Club

Last week saw twelve of our year 8 pupils graduate from the Scholars Programme in the Wills Memorial Hall at the University of Bristol. They each produced a university style essay on literary theories and all achieved a 2:1 or a first! They have worked above their academic level and have shown tremendous resilience and commitment. They have also discovered what university entails and been inspired by the experience.

The Institute of Physics

We are delighted that Mr Jones-Parry has been seconded by the Institute of Physics to conduct training which will benefit students from St Peter's as well as in other schools.


KS3 Elite History awards evening

Once again, students from across Key Stage Three amazed the history department with their incredible projects this summer. The selected students were given a local history project, investigating in Year 7 ‘The Death of Edward II’, in Year 8 the ‘Treatment of Heretics in Early Modern Gloucester’ and in Year 9 the ‘Involvement of Gloucester Soldiers in the First and Second World War.’ 

The work was showcased on Monday 16^th July, with the following students selected as winners:

Elite historian of year 7- Fergus O’Grady

Elite Historian for Year 8- Bethany Smart

Elite historian for year 9- Mary McAteer.

Overall winner of the Elite History project for Key Stage three- Benjamin Robinson-Baber.

Run to Wales

Year 9 students took part in a sponsored Run to Wales, raising funds for CAFOD. They were joined by former student, George Lloyd, who plays for Cheltenham Town. The students ran 126.6km, the equivalent to running from Gloucester to Swansea and raised £1, 500 for CAFOD. The whole event was a great team effort.

National success in tennis
The boys' tennis team again made the national finals in Nottingham and came 11th in the country. Thank you to Keiran Montagu and the other coaches for all their work with our tennis teams.

Sports Day

Sports Day on Monday was a great success. Thank you to students, staff and parents for their support.  There was a lovely atmosphere and it was delightful to see so many young people participating and displaying their talents. A big thank you to the PE department for all this work.

Year 10 news

Congratulations to the sixteen year 7 mentors who have been appointed and who helped our new year 7 students on their induction day.

After rigorous interview 5 students were chosen to participate in an accredited  STEM work placement.

The whole year group also participated in a STEM day. The students were guided by professionals within leading Science, Technology, Engineering and Math vocations as to how they might best access employment within these areas of work.

EAL

On Tuesday 10^th July 2018, the EAL COPE class planted a tree as part of their environment module of their qualification. They have been working on a variety of topics within the module and this week moved on to look at trees. Mrs Lange kindly donated the cherry tree to the class. The group had a lot of fun digging the hole and planting the tree into the ground. They have set up a rota between themselves and have been watering it daily. 

Insight

You can securely access your son or daughter's assessments, attendance, achievements, behaviour and other information, including exam timetables, updated in real time, through the web service Insight.  If you do not already have an account, email insight@sphs.uk.com 

Summer CampsThe annual Clifton Diocese Summer Camps have launched for 2018 and bookings are now being taken. This year, the camps have moved to a new location in Viney Hill in the Forest of Dean and are being held between 13-17 August (ages 7-11) and 20-24 August (ages 12-16). The camps promise to be weeks full of fun, faith and friendship. If you are interested in finding out more, or to book a place for your child, please visit http://livingyourfaith.co.uk or email livingyourfaith@hotmail.co.uk.

Staffing

The following members of staff are retiring at the end of term:

Mrs Eileen Lewis (maths)

Mrs Helen Stenson (data manager)

Mrs Mary Lally (maths)

Mr Jonathan Soar (teaching assistant)

Mrs Foster (teaching assistant)

Mr Gibbons (mental health nurse)

The following members of staff are leaving at the end of term:

Mrs Fernandez (MFL)

Mr Dill (P.E.)

Mr Rouffet (science)

Mrs George (MFL / ICT)

Mrs Larkin-Lawton (technology)

Ms Fearn (politics)

Ms Main (MFL)

Mrs O'Donnell (English)

Ms Brookes (science)

Mr Lawless (MFL).

We thank all staff who are leaving for their hard work at St Peter's and wish them well in the future.

Homework and assessment points next academic year

Thank you to those parents who completed the online survey on homework and assessment. Next year students in years 7, 8 and 9 will have an overview of homework stuck in to their planners to help them to manage their time. Further details of how each subject is setting homework can also be seen via a link on this page of the school website: https://www.stpetershighschool.org.uk/Teaching--Learning/Homework/  

We have made some changes to our assessment system for next year but assessment letters will still be sent home three times a year and will reflect assessments completed in class in test conditions, attitude to learning and whether or not students are making expected progress. The system will continue to use the new numerical GCSE system with final gradings from 9 (high) to 1 (low).  Staff will be assessing whether students have the age appropriate skills to progress to the GCSE grade range suggested by their KS2 results.  The target grade range is based on performance at primary school and is used to suggest the potential GCSE grade your son or daughter may attain.  We will be able to discuss this in more details at the September information evenings.

Uniform and hair styles

Please check the school website before allowing your sons or daughters to dye their hair, have tramlines cut in or extremely short hair and before purchasing new items of uniform.  In particular, trousers must not be skinny or clingy, socks should be black and at least ankle length (not trainer socks) and we have a specific school skirt which can be purchased at the uniform shops. 

Parking

May I remind you not to try to enter the bus bay at the end of school until 4pm after which there is no problem at all.  We have again experienced problems with some parents blocking driveways of local residents so I ask all parents and guardians to be sensitive to our neighbours.

We have had an extremely positive and challenging year and I am sure you would like to echo my thanks to all the staff for their hard work and commitment to your children. Thank you also for your support. We hope your sons and daughters enjoy the summer break and look forward to seeing them again in September.

June news

It's been another action packed half term so far and here are some of the highlights.

Music Department News

The Junior Concert took place on Wednesday 13 June. It featured a fantastic range of quality performances from our very talented KS3 musicians. One of the performers, Edward Cutting (Year 8), described the concert as ‘…an amazing event to perform in. It was an opportunity for any student from Year 7, 8 or 9 to perform a solo on their musical instrument, or as part of a larger ensemble. Before I began to play I was very nervous, but when I got up on stage and played my first note, I felt very relaxed and enjoyed every second of it! It was great to see all of the musical talent that we have at St Peter's showcased in one evening of entertainment. I can't wait until next year!

 
Our boys’ a capella group ‘Frontline’ performed at the G15 Celebration of Success evening on Friday 22 June at Gloucester Cathedral. They performed two songs which commemorated the 100^th anniversary of the First World War: ‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary’ and ‘Keep the Home Fires Burning’. The performance was excellent and a tribute to the work done by Mrs Perfect and the rest of the music department.

 

The Jazz Band will be performing at the Tuffley Festival on Saturday 7 July, 3pm at Tuffley Rovers FC; any support would be greatly appreciated. You can also follow the St Peter’s High School Music Department on Twitter @musicstpeters or via the school website www.stpetershighschool.org.uk/music for the latest news, photos, videos and more.

 

Year 10 Maths visit to the University of Bristol

Last week fifteen Year 10 mathematicians were entertained by two lectures from leading academics and then participated in an exciting maths team challenge with students from 12 different schools.

The lecturers were: Dr Jennifer Roger of Oxford University, who took great pleasure in de-bunking alarmist statistics quoted in the press, and Dr Katie Steckles of Manchester University, who taught them how to square root cube numbers in their heads as a party trick and delved into the hidden maths of technology. Thank you to the maths department for organising this.

The Brilliant Club update
Our twelve Year 8 students who are part of the Brilliant Club have all achieved a 2:1 or higher on their final assignment, an excellent achievement. They have worked extremely hard on this challenging extra-curricular assignment and have impressed the PhD tutor they worked with. They will be “graduating” at the University of Bristol on 4^th July and photos will follow. Thanks to Mrs Barker for her work with this group of students.

GROW / GAP Scheme

As part of the GROWS project, some of our Year 10 pupils made the most of their half term by taking part in a 4 day STEM and Cyber Experience delivered by The Gloucester Aspiration Programme (GROWS). Activities included programming a robot to carry out a challenge and a technology teardown – stripping apart common household technology to explore and discover its components and breaking into an iPad to decipher cryptic messages. All this culminated in a trip to the Cheltenham Science festival to listen to industry experts talk about careers in STEM, followed by time in the Discovery Zone getting ‘hands on’ with virtual reality, aeronautical engineering and much more!

Year 10 pupils (with others from the county) also took part in a 3 day Sports Science Experience delivered by The Gloucestershire Aspiration Programme (GAP). Human performance and nutrition was delivered at Hartpury College’s sports laboratories. Here students got their hands on and investigated their own lung function, muscular systems and exhausted themselves through the Wingate test. Biometric investigations at the University of Gloucestershire saw students compare the difference in forces produced by bare footed runners versus those wearing trainers and measure their own speed using Brower gates.

All this culminated in at trip the home of English rugby, Twickenham, where students took part in a session exploring the use of technology in today’s game, identifying different player positions by their GPS track, as well as viewing the pitch from the royal box!

 

GROWS are offering more taster experiences, this time in Crime Scene Investigation (Dead on Time), and Engineering (Engineer IT) for current Year 9 students during the summer holidays. More details can be found at grows.ac.uk or Facebook.com/growsgloucestershire.

EAL department Strawberry Tea and awards ceremony

On the 20^th June the EAL department held the Annual Strawberry Tea Party and EAL Award ceremony to celebrate the success of the students whose second language is English. The ASDAN course students made about 100 scones and cream teas in school that day as part of their course and then we invited all to join in, lower school and sixth form students alike.

For some students it marked the end of their time at St Peters before they move on to college courses next year. It gave them a chance to say thank you to their teachers and friends for all their help. Everyone enjoyed the sun soaked, warm  hearted event, marking the real successes and progress of these hard working and enthusiastic  students from all corners of the world. Thank you to the EAL staff for organising the event and for all they do with our students.

 

The Duke of Edinburgh scheme has been really successful this year.  46 students in year 9 successfully completed the expedition section of their Bronze Award. They completed a challenging two-day expedition in the Cotswolds. 36 students from years 9 to 11 have completed their Bronze Award this academic year.

Former student Alice Davies has completed her Gold Award and is looking forward to receiving it at St James’ Palace. Thanks to the staff who give up so much of their time at weekends to ensure that the scheme runs and benefits so many students.

 

Year 9 Run to Wales
On Friday 22^nd June, a group of year 9 students ran 126.6km in nine hours, the equivalent of running from Gloucester to the outskirts of Swansea. There were representatives from all eight year 9 forms and, on a hot day, they showed each lots of respect and support, were constantly upbeat and optimistic about the challenge, felt the enjoyment of coming together as a community and displayed their kindness by raising over £1500 for CAFOD. Thank you to head of year 9, Mr Hudson, for organising this challenge.

This Friday, 29th June, is the feast of Saints Peter and Paul and we will celebrate with a whole school Mass to which parents and friends are invited. In the afternoon will be our awards presentations followed by an early finish at 2.30. All buses other than the John Dix ones are able to collect students at 2.30. Students on the John Dix buses - and students whose parents wish them to remain in school until normal time - will of course be supervised. We are looking forward to another memorable day.