Friday, 20 December 2019

Christmas 2019

Welcome to the last blogpost of 2019. Staff and students are looking forward to a well deserved break.


Chaplaincy news

Ignite evening with Guvna B
On Friday 15th November we had the wonderful privilege of welcoming double MOBO award winning urban music star and author Guvna B to our IGNITE event at St. Peter’s RC High school. Guvna B has appeared at the last two Flame conferences, the largest gathering of Catholic youth in the country, at Wembley Arena. He has also played many times at the Big Church Day Out and Soul Survivor. Taking a leap of faith, our chaplain, Mandy Baker, sent an invitation on social media last March which was picked up by Guvna B’s booking team and the rest, as they say, is history!

Ignite follows the pattern of Flame and uses amazing Christian speakers and performers to inspire the faith of young people. Guvna B was a truly inspirational artist who shared his faith story as part of the performance of his songs. His performance was a wonderful tapestry of high tempo and reflective songs. Guvna B took a real interest in the school and in the Ignite event, saying, ‘You have a really good thing going on here!’ He was supported by some of our own students - Avygayle Smith and Point Naught who shared their musical talent providing inspiration for our younger students to allow their gifts to be used in the community.

It was wonderful to see young people from Swindon, Trowbridge and local Christian youth groups joining our young people in praising God through Guvna B’s music. Guvna B is an inspirational role model for all young people and his book ‘Un-Popular Culture’ has a positive message encouraging young people to be a light and shine wherever they go. Catholic education seeks to educate the whole person, to give young people hope and bring people into community with people of all faiths and none. We hope that Ignite will continue to do this with prayer and much needed financial support. Also, don’t forget to check our Guvna B’s new single ‘Mazza’!


Liturgies for year saints
This term Year 9 and 10 have celebrated their year patron saints: St Agnes of Assisi and St Francis Xavier. We were reminded that as a Catholic community we stand on the shoulders of the saints, the giants of our faith tradition, who continue to inspire us with their lives of faith and charity.

Year of Communion
Advent marks the beginning of the Year of Communion in the Clifton Diocese. We were present at the service of Evening Prayer with Bishop Declan on Friday 22nd November to receive the latest booklet and resources.

Christmas shoebox appeal
98 Christmas Shoeboxes and £115 was donated as part of the Christmas Shoebox Appeal this year. Our boxes will go to children in Belarus. Thank you to all who contributed.


Primary Schools’ Chaplaincy Day and Posada
On January 13th 2020 we will be hosting a morning for the main Catholic feeder primary schools’ chaplaincy teams. During the morning we will be reflecting on the theme of Community. To start our refection a Nativity Posada is journeying around the schools and will return to St Peter’s High School for our Christmas Liturgy celebrations.

St Peter’s Primary School’s Advent Service
Ms Baker was delighted to be asked to lead an Advent Service at St Peter’s Catholic Primary school to mark the start of Advent; the theme was ‘prepare the way of the Lord’.

CAFOD World Gifts
The CAFOD groups in Year 10 and Year 12 are working hard to raise awareness of CAFOD World Gifts. Year 10 are selling the opportunity to send a ‘Secret Santa’ message with either a candy cane or brownies to friends and teachers. Year 12 have a challenge to purchase 2 toilet World Gifts. 40% of the world, more than 2.4 billion people, lack access to adequate sanitation. If you would like to donate to this cause, please send donations to Ms Baker in the Chaplaincy.

Thank you to Ms Baker for all her amazing work!


Music Department News

Peter Pan
The annual whole school musical, Peter Pan, was the collaborative brainchild of the Performing Arts Faculty (Music, Drama & Media). Approximately fifty students in Years 8-13 performed to a full and appreciative audience on the three nights preceding October half term. It was enormous fun and the students on stage and in the band were an absolute credit to the school.





 Percussion Club
A new extra-curricular music activity started in November: Percussion Club run by our drum teacher, Mr Sunderland.  Students in all year groups are welcome to attend on Mondays after school until 4.15pm.  Attendance has been excellent and we look forward to their first performance at the Senior Concert in February.


On Saturday 7 December, two Year 13 students, Romana Protsyshyn and Harry Matthews, were soloists for Handel’s Messiah with Evesham Community Choir.  They performed with real musicianship, confidence and panache.


We were also delighted to hear that Harry Matthews has successfully auditioned for a Gap Year Cathedral Choral Scholarship. Harry will spend the 2020/2021 academic year singing in the Choir of St David’s Cathedral, Pembrokeshire, a beautiful part of the country. Congratulations Harry!

Carols by Candlelight
The Choir has been extremely busy this half term preparing for the annual Carols by Candlelight event. On Friday 13 December, at the Church of the Immaculate Conception Stroud, a 70-strong choir performed to a packed audience. We were proud to showcase our Full Choir, Year 7 Boys’ Choir, Year 7 Girls’ Choir, Chamber Choir, soloists and readers. We are grateful for the extremely generous contributions given in the retiring collection and will be delighted to donate significant sums to the Church funds and to ‘Singing Medicine’, a charity which brings music to patients in the long-term wards of Birmingham Children’s Hospital.


The Chamber Choir was honoured to be asked to sing at the wedding of two former student Choir members - Hannah Mahon & Chris Thomas. Congratulations Mr & Mrs Thomas!

Congratulations to Year 7 student, Sophia

Congratulations to year 7 student Sophia who recently performed in her first major production, ‘Nativity’ at the Wales Millennium Centre, alongside Dani Dyer. Sophia thoroughly enjoyed playing evil student Maleificient. Well done Sophia!




Congratulations to Mrs Lee
On Friday 13th December Mrs Lee, head of maths, came second in the University of Bath Teachers’ Awards 2019 in the category of Learning for Life Award. This is for teachers who nurture students’ talent. The university states that “the awards recognise and celebrate teachers who have gone above and beyond to support your students; guiding them on their path to university; inspiring them to aim high; offering pastoral care to support their well-being and of course nurturing their talents by providing them with exceptional learning opportunities. Thank you for what you do, day in day out, not just from us but from them, your students themselves!”

Mrs Lee was nominated by year 13 student Lily Magri who said in her nomination that “she wanted to thank Mrs Lee especially for acting as a strong female role model within the world of maths and for giving her a love of the subject. Lily feels that all your support and encouragement has made a real and ongoing difference in shaping her future pathway and that you have had a genuine and lasting impact on not only Lily’s life but on the lives of all your students.” 

Mrs Lee attended the University of Bath Celebration Event and was presented with a Teachers' Award trophy. She was also given accommodation at a hotel for the evening. Lily also attended the event and surprised Mrs Lee with a video she had made including Lily’s reasons for nominating her and comments from other students also. 

Congratulations again to Mrs Lee and thank you to Lily Magri for what was clearly an excellent nomination. Lily is currently studying Maths, Further Maths and History and is aiming to study Maths and Computer Science, possibly at Bath University next year


Modern Foreign Languages News
Trip to Normandy
October half term seems like a long time ago now but lots of memories were created by 59 year 8 and 9 students who took part in the bi-annual cross-curricular trip to Normandy.  Students stayed at an old converted château, and enjoyed the culinary delights of frogs’ legs and snails amongst the more usual fare of croissants and fresh bread. Visits included the Normandy Landing Beaches at Arromanches, where the students were impressed with the 360 Cinema which gave them an insight into the D-Day Landings. Respects were paid at the British War Graves, and although it was a wet rainy afternoon, everyone was impressed by the splendour of the American Cemetery, where we listened to the Last Post as the flag was respectfully lowered.  Equally poignant was the German Cemetery, giving a different perspective to this time in history.  The visit to the Mont St Michel was quite an adventure – crossing the causeway by shuttle bus and trying not to get blown over by the blustery wind; everyone was impressed with the Cathedral and the narrow, cobbled streets. 

Although it is hard to pick a favourite (the Bayeux Tapestry? Bayeux Cathedral? Shopping??) many of the students said they really enjoyed practising their French when they undertook the Lunch Challenge – going to the local market to buy fresh produce to create a healthy lunch back at the château.  All in all it was a great trip, made even better by a wonderful email from the château staff complimenting us on our students’ behaviour and manners. Thank you to Mrs Beamish for organising the visit and to the staff who accompanied the students.




Performance by a Spanish Theatre Company
Year 9 students were recently treated to an afternoon of educational fun in the Drama Theatre when we welcomed the Onnatti Theatre Company to St Peter’s to perform their Spanish play, Primera Cita (First Date). The 2 actors captivated the students with their funny antics and slapstick-style comedy, ensuring the Spanish was clear and accessible for all students – even for some invited Year 10 students who had never previously learned Spanish! We hope that students will be motivated to consider Spanish as one of their future GCSE options, as well as realising the importance of having a second language.






Association for Language Learning 6th Form Lectures
On Wednesday 27th November 6th Form students studying A Levels in Modern Languages attended a lecture at Stroud High School. The lectures, delivered in conjunction with the Association for Language Learning and the University of the West of England, are designed to give students an idea of what studying languages at undergraduate level might be like. The French lecture, Le Bénévolat (Charity Work), the Spanish lecture, Monarquias y Dictaduras (Monarchy and Dictatorship) and the German lecture, Bayern (Bavaria) allowed students to hone their comprehension skills, whilst also giving them some ideas for their Independent Research Project for their A Level examination.

G15 Student group chair
Congratulations to Joanna Fajkowska who became the first St. Peter’s student to become the chair of the G15 student body. The G15 is a council of young people (aged 14 – 19) from the 15 secondary schools in Gloucester. They meet six times a year to focus on issues that are important to young people in the area including charity initiatives, visions and plans for Gloucester in the future and social as well as emotional issues.

Joanna had to deliver a 3 minute speech and was voted in by her peers. My informer tells me that Joanna won by a landslide and she will now chair the remaining 5 meetings. This is a great achievement for Joanna and it’s wonderful to see St. Peter’s represented so well amongst our neighbouring schools. Well done Joanna!

Democracy in action
A mock election took place last week with KS5 students representing the views of the key political parties. These were shared via poster campaigns and through presentations of key messages sent to tutor groups. This was a great opportunity for all students to learn more about democracy and to participate in the ballot. As is often the case, the school (and also overall G15 schools results) did not mirror the national results and are as follows:

St Peter’s votes:
1)     Labour Party (53% of votes) – 438 votes
2)     Conservative Party (15%) - 128
3)     Lib Dem Party (12%) - 100
4)     Green Party (11%) - 95
5)     Social Democrat Party (4%) - 33
6)     UKIP (3%) - 27
7)     Scottish National Party (1%) - 11
Total votes 832

Votes of G15 schools who participated:


Brexit Party
Conservatives
Green Party
Labour
Lib Dems
Holmleigh Park
24
113
72
372
114
Ribston Hall
0
126
76
224
95
Severn Vale
9
148
67
322
87
Chosen Hill
67
95
162
196
52
Gloucester Academy
1
15
12
62
4
St Peter’s
0
128
95
438
100
TOTAL
117
662
509
1663
493

Thank you to Ms Tilley for organising the mock election.

School Council
Democracy in action is also seen in the way in which the school council works with representatives of each form attending year council meetings led by members of the KS5 leadership team. Two elected members from each year group then attend the school council. In the most recent meeting members of the school council from year 7 to year 13 worked hard with Mr Lax and our chaplain, Ms Baker, to refine and update our school mission statement. Brilliant contributions were made by students of every age group. Their ideas will now be taken to the staff at the ethos inset day on Monday 6th January. (Students return to school on Tuesday 7th January 2020).



Green Teams and Global Climate Strike
Friday 29th November 2019 was a day of Global Climate Strike which saw many people and especially young students striking in order to get the attention of those in authority so that policies are changed to help us reach net zero emissions. Our Green Teams felt very strongly about these strikes and wanted to do something to show their support but without missing valuable lesson time. They produced campaign boards which were displayed on the fence outside St Peters so that anyone passing by can see that the students of the school supported the action and want to make a difference to the climate change movement.  The boards were made using cardboard from delivery boxes which had come into the school and will be kept safe until the next global strike day.
#globalclimatestrike #youthstrike4climate #gretathunberg
  
Clay club
The Art Department ran a lunchtime Clay Club to make some little owls to give as Christmas presents. Both staff and pupils attended and all said they really enjoyed creating their own unique creatures. Owls are now available to collect. Thank you to the art staff.



Sports News
Girls Football

Commiserations to the under 14 girls who were knocked out of the ESFA schools cup in the last 32. It was a fabulous achievement to get to this stage, the girls have had some excellent games in the process and scored an incredible number of goals (52 goals in five games!)

Boys Football
As the Christmas period arrives we have 5 teams progressing to the next stages of the national competitions, the highest we have ever had and an incredible achievement for the school. Congratulations to the Year 7 A and B teams, the Year 8B, Year 9 and year 10 teams who are all into the last 32 in the country.

We have played a total of 25 fixtures across the year groups and won 22 with nearly 150 boys representing the school along the way. We are looking forward to 2020! #greenarmylovesoccer

Cross country
Congratulations to the following students who represented the school in the Gloucestershire cross country meet. They ran in their respective year groups and some have now progressed to the next stage of the competition.

Country Cross country results:
Grace Clarke, Year 9 20th
Esther Rumsey, Year 8 28th
Poppy Jermyn, Year 7 18th
Todd Fieldhouse, Year 7  27th
Ralph Dodwell Year 7  2nd
Reuben Lowe Year 11 29th
Finlay Hawkins  Year 11 26th

Congratulations also to Amy Ross, Year 10, who has been selected to play netball for the Severn Stars Under 16 academy and to Elicia Kennedy, Year 11, who has progressed to Gloucestershire academy centre for hockey. 


We hope that you and your families have a peaceful and happy Christmas and look forward to seeing students on Tuesday 7th January 2020 (week 2).

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