Students and staff
are looking forward to a well-deserved half term break.
Chaplaincy news
Year 7 and year 12 Retreats
The year 12 retreat
programme began in the first week of term, allowing students to get to know one
another in their form and year group. The days were well-received by the
students who were very responsive. Year 7 retreats also went extremely well
with both students and tutors finding the experience of a ‘day with a
difference’ very rewarding. The focus was on their worth as ‘God’s masterpiece.’
Masses for the start of the academic year
We began our
academic year officially with our start of year Masses celebrated by Monsignor
Liam Slattery. Our theme was ‘Rock Solid,’ providing a link between our ethos
and our ROCK values and award scheme (respect, optimism, community and
kindness). Both Masses were uplifting with a lovely prayerful atmosphere and excellent
student involvement including new altar servers and youth Eucharistic
ministers. Our head students read the prayers of the faithful and Year 7 pupils
- with their year 11 mentors - led the offertory procession.
Other events
Earlier in the
month Year 11 celebrated their patron saint, St Therese of Lisieux, with a Liturgy.
Film night – a showing of ‘The Greatest Showman’ was
successful and brought a variety of students from different year groups
together with some parents.
The Green Team worked with chaplaincy to
celebrate God’s Creation on St Francis of Assisi’s feast day. The activities
included younger students contributing to a collage of creation, pledges to be
better stewards of creation and some financial contributions to CAFOD world
gifts. We are most appreciative to the staff who provided music during the
break.
Wear it Pink: as usual we raised money for breast cancer
charities during last Friday’s Wear it Pink day and raised £380 for this
charity. (Our Wear it Pink day for prostate cancer takes place in February).
Cafod programmes for year 10 and 12
students
Fourteen
students from both Year 10 and Year 12 have joined the Young Volunteers and
Young Leaders Programme run by CAFOD.
Confirmation programme
Many of our students
are keen to be prepared to make their Confirmation with us and arrangements
will be made to facilitate this.
Lunch Time Groups
Rock Solid on
Monday break two, facilitated by the YFC team.
GLOW on
Thursday break two involves prayer activities
Don’t miss Guvna B
Double MOBO
award winning urban music star Guvna B is performing a live gig in school on
Friday 15th November. Tickets are on sale now for only £3. This is
an outstanding opportunity for our young people to be inspired by a positive
role model. Guvnor B is also an ambassador for the Prince’s Trust.
Languages visit to Normandy
This morning staff
and students set off on the languages visit to Normandy. They will visit the
D-Day landing beaches & museum; visit war graves; see the Bayeux Tapestry
(which some students have been learning about in history); use their language
skills by participating in a French market shopping challenge; and taste both
snails and frogs’ legs! Previous visits
have been a huge success and contribute to the school’s aim to educate pupils
culturally, morally, historically & linguistically. Thank you to the staff
who are taking the visit.
History and Politics visit to New York and
Washington DC
Early this morning students from Years 9 to 13 set off to visit New York and Washington DC on
a History and Politics trip. They will spend the
first three days of their visit in New York. Excursions include Ellis Island,
Liberty Island, the Rockefeller Centre, the 9.11 museum and a walking tour in
Harlem. In Washington DC the group will visit the Lincoln Memorial, the
Holocaust Museum and the American History museum. The focus of the 6-night trip is the history of
immigration, civil rights and the political system in the U.S.A and we look forward to hearing all about the visit on their return.
Japanese and Russian students visit St
Peter’s
St. Peter's has
been giving our students a chance to experience two very different cultures
this half term through our buddying scheme with foreign students. Early in
September, four of our year 11 students spent a week 'buddied' to a Japanese
student of a similar age. The visitors followed the timetables of our buddy students
for the whole week as well as spending break times trying to understand each
other and teaching each other different things about their respective cultures.
It was a great opportunity to learn about another part of the world and to see
how young people are similar, no matter where they are from.
In October we
welcomed fourteen KS3 Russian students to St. Peter's. Again, they were buddied
up with our students, this time from KS3, and again they went to all of their
lessons. Although this particular exchange was only for two days, once again it
enabled our students to learn about other countries and how other young people
are educated.
Both of these
visits were very successful. Thank you to Mr Lax for arranging them. He was pleased
and overwhelmed by the number of volunteers who wanted to be buddies. We hope
to have more exchanges over the year and we look forward to giving more students
the chance to be pair up with a visiting student. Every buddy has also gained
credit towards their Community ROCK Award badge.
History
department visit to the Gloucester History Festival
Over twenty year
11 students participated in the Gloucester History Festival, attending a talk
by leading historian Sam Willis (BBC4’s The Silk Road
and Britain’s Outlaws) who offered a fascinating new perspective on the
Spanish Armada and the Elizabethan Age, a vital part of the students’ GCSE exam
content this year. The talk was highly engaging and thought provoking, offering
an opportunity for the students to engage with the topic in an interesting
format. Several of the students were interviewed after the event and may be
used for promotional material for the festival next year. Thank you to Mr
Slaughter for organising this visit.
St. Peter’s student
Ruby Macklin meets and interviews David Cameron
Whatever their feelings about the man and his decision
to call a referendum, this was the headline event at this year’s Cheltenham
Literature Festival and the memoir that had everyone talking.
On Saturday 5th October, students
from the St. Peter’s, the University of Gloucestershire and other with local
schools and colleges, had the opportunity to go backstage to meet and interview
the former Prime Minister.
David Cameron
spoke to the BBC’s Sophie Raworth about his memoir ‘For the Record’ on the
first day of The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival. In
one of just two interviews ahead of his appearance, students from the
university’s Journalism BA course, and local schools and colleges were given
the opportunity to hold the former Prime Minister to account with questions on
the EU referendum, Brexit and climate change.
Students from St.
Peter’s were invited to enter a competition for places by letter, including the
question that they would like to pose to the former Prime Minister. Ruby
Macklin’s winning question was “What led to your interest in dementia research
and how will your support help to improve patient outcomes?” Mr Cameron was
delighted to be asked a question on this topic as he is very passionate about
this public health issue. He explained that he is very proud of helping to
drive dementia research up the international agenda, having used the UK’s
presidency of the G8 to shine a light on the devastating impact of the disease.
He hopes that we can find a cure through further fundraising and investment and
he is donating proceeds from his memoir to this cause. Ruby’s thoughtful
question certainly provided some respite from the inevitable questions on
Brexit! Ruby was thrilled to meet him and commented that he was funny and made
the students feel welcome and comfortable.
Ahead of the
interview, students from schools and colleges across the South West and the
West Midlands were invited to a special ‘Journalism and Interview Skills’
workshop with journalism staff, graduates and students from the university. The
session included how to ask the right questions, how to get the best out of an
interviewee and what to look out for in those all-important answers.
All of the
students, teachers and staff from the university then joined the festival
audience at The Centaur to hear David Cameron’s perspective on his time in
Downing Street, his personal life and, with just weeks to go till October 31st
deadline, his decision to call a referendum on Britain’s membership of the
European Union. Each student also received a copy of “For the Record” signed by
David Cameron himself. It was a memorable afternoon.
Music Department news
A big thank you to
all the students and staff (including almost forty Year 7 students!) who sang
as part of the school choir at the first two Masses of the school year. They
played a huge part in creating the prayerful and joyful atmosphere in both
Masses.
On Wednesday 16
October, a Chamber Choir of twenty students from St Peter’s High School
performed five movements from Howard Goodall’s ‘Eternal Light’ at Gloucester
Cathedral with other singers from Denmark Road High School and Gloucester
Choral Society alongside dancers from Ribston High School and the University of
Gloucestershire. Year 13 student, Harry Matthews, sang a beautiful solo as part
of the performance; this is available to listen to via our Music Department’s
website page or via the music department's or school’s twitter feed.
We are delighted
that Year 13 student, Romana Protsyshyn, has successfully auditioned for a Choral
Scholarship at Keble College, Oxford. We
wish her luck for the upcoming academic interview. Head student, Romana, has been a stalwart
of the Choir, Choral Society, Masses and musicals throughout her school career, including in her recent role as Wendy in Peter Pan.
Peter Pan
We have thoroughly enjoyed the whole school production of Peter Pan directed by Mrs Skyrme and produced by Mr Waring with Mrs Perfect as musical director. It is always lovely to see so many students involved, working together as a team and showcasing their talents. More on this production after half term. With photos!
Peter Pan
We have thoroughly enjoyed the whole school production of Peter Pan directed by Mrs Skyrme and produced by Mr Waring with Mrs Perfect as musical director. It is always lovely to see so many students involved, working together as a team and showcasing their talents. More on this production after half term. With photos!
Finally, a date
for your diary: St Peter’s High School’s Carols
by Candlelight at The Church of the Immaculate Conception in Stroud is on
Friday 13th December 2019.
Student Investor Challenge
Ninety-two students
have registered and are taking part in the Student Investor Challenge. This is
the ‘share game’, a national competition where students have to invest £200,000
of virtual money and play the stock market. This is the largest number of
students we have ever had taking part and we look forward to them learning more
about the stock market and making lots of virtual money!
Year 11 Amended Curriculum coffee morning
for Macmillan
As part of the Key
Stage 4 amended curriculum, students are working on the ASDAN Personal
Development programme. For a recent task, students had the challenge of
demonstrating that they could work as a team to organise a charity coffee
morning. The group decided to host a coffee morning in aid of the Macmillan
cancer charity.
As a group, they
discussed whom to invite and produced some original invitations using their IT
skills. They then planned which cakes everyone would make. Each student worked
hard to bake a variety of cakes. Every student had a
specific job on the day from setting up the room, welcoming guests, serving
drinks and cakes and helping each other to clear away at the end. Students were
able to demonstrate that they can use many of the key skills they have learnt
relating to team work, use of maths, communication and problem solving.
There were lots of
compliments from guests about the quality of the baking and the students were
delighted that they raised just over £45 for Macmillan.
Christmas card competition
This year we are running a Christmas card competition. We hope to receive designs from students of all ages. Details are below.
Family Festive Fun Fandango
FOSPA (the Friends of St Peter’s Association) are asking for your
support of the upcoming Family Festive Fun Fandango on Friday, 29th
November from 6-9pm.
The event will offer families and friends of St Peter’s the
opportunity to socialise through activities including a quiz and karaoke. They are
also working in partnership with the school’s new catering provider, AIP, to
offer some delicious food on the night.
Tickets will be available from the
school reception after half term and it would be great to see lots of friends and family there.
Coming up
Our Sixth Form Open Evening is on
Wednesday 27th November from 5.30 pm when students and parents can find out
about Key Stage 5 A-level and vocational courses, visit departments and talk to
staff.
Guvna B
Double MOBO award winning urban music star, Guvna B, is performing a live gig in school on Friday 15th November. Tickets are on sale now for only £3 (from reception or chaplaincy). This is an outstanding opportunity for our young people to be inspired by a positive role model. Guvnor B is also an ambassador for the Prince’s Trust.
We hope that students have an enjoyable and restful break and look forward to seeing them again on Monday 4th November which will be Week 1.
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