We have just begun the season of Advent, a time of preparation, excitement and anticipation and the start of a new year in the Church. A great deal has happened so far this term and we are delighted that so many enriching events and activities have taken place to aid our students' development.
Chaplaincy News
In September our full-time chaplain,
Ms Baker, led four retreat days for Year 12 students which were held in the Pavilion. Students worked with their tutors and had the opportunity to meet key people in the school, including Mrs Layhe, the Principal, our four head students and staff from Student Support Services. They explored our ethos and Catholic values and there were also sessions on team building and wellbeing. Each day ended with a short service. The days also enabled new students to get to know those who had been at St Peter's previously.
We celebrated our start of the year Masses (in two halves) with Monsignor Liam Slattery on Friday 24th September. This was the first time we had been able to join together in person since September 2019, meaning that our year 7 and 8 (as well as many of our year 12) students had not experienced a large School Mass in the barn before. Our theme was ‘Our Community Built on the Rock’ and both Masses were wonderful occasions with brilliant attentiveness and respect demonstrated by students. Our four head students read the prayers of the faithful and, as usual, our students - led by the music department - contributed magnificently to the occasion through their beautiful playing and singing. Of course, we finished with our unofficial school hymn, Sing it in the Valleys!
In October Ms Baker led four days of retreats for our Year 7 students, focusing on the theme ‘We are God’s Masterpiece,’ a phrase taken from St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. The students participated with great enthusiasm. As part of the day students brought in and shared the story behind objects that were special to them. The reflected on their uniqueness, value and giftedness in God’s sight. They also explored the wonder of God’s creation and our responsibility to be good stewards of our planet. Students played the CAFOD Climate Game and participated in CAFOD’s ‘Eyes of the World’ campaign for the COP 26 conference.
The day
gave everyone much food for thought.
So far this year students have raised over £1000 for the Wear it Pink cancer charity, have contributed well over 100 shoeboxes (with the help of one of our parent's colleagues!) and we have also raised money for Children in Need.
Music Department News
The team started the academic year with a
brand-new venture: Music Champions. After months of virtual performances, the
staff wanted to kickstart live music again and were delighted by the response. Five
weeks of auditions took place with over 60 students taking part, some in
several different categories. After much deliberation, the team settled on 20
finalists and the Grand Final took place on Thursday 21st October in the Main
Hall. Again, this was the first time we
had been able to gather together in the hall in person since the whole school production
in October 2019. We were delighted to welcome back two former music students,
Hannah Thomas and Avygayle Smith to be our adjudicators alongside the Creative
Director of The Music Works, Ben O’Sullivan.
Every student performed wonderfully in a wide range of genres which made the adjudication extremely difficult. Thank you also to members of FOSPA, the Friends of St Peter’s Association, who provided refreshments.
The final Champions listed below were awarded the fantastic prize of two hours in a recording studio at the newly created Music Hub: https://www.themusicworks.org.uk/
Junior Adjudicators’ Prize: Sophia Guarino (Music Theatre Vocals
category)
Junior Audience Prize: Maisie Matthews & Ruby Wager (Ensemble
category)
Senior Adjudicators’ Prize: Florence Gates (Classical Piano category)
Senior Audience Prize: Josh Barsellotti/Matias Beales/Ben
Luces/Hubert Sokolowski (Ensemble Category)
More recently, twenty students from Years 7-9 were chosen to represent us in a public performance with the Multi-Story Orchestra and professional soloists at GL1 Leisure Centre on Friday 19th November. They performed Our Future in Your Hands, a new piece which focuses on the global youth protest against climate change. Well done to all who represented us:
Our various Choirs
are busily preparing for our annual Carols
by Candlelight event on Tuesday 14th December. It will feature the main
School Choir, Senior Boys’ Choir, Senior Girls’ Choir, KS3 Choir, soloists,
readers and congregational carols.
Please come and join us (we will of course comply with any updated government
guidance which may follow)
To find out even
more about what our musicians get up to, please subscribe to our YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/MusicStPeters
and like our videos. You can also follow us on Twitter: @musicstpeters
UKMT Senior Maths Challenge
This month St
Peter’s A level mathematicians entered the UKMT Senior Maths Challenge which is
a highly regarded national competition. A large group of sixth formers tackled
the tricky maths problems (all to be solved without a calculator), enhancing
their thinking skills as the questions are often ‘outside the box’.
We are delighted that St Peter's gained 5 UKMT Bronze certificates and that the Best in School and Silver certificates went to Amelia King for a superb effort. Well done Amelia! All participating pupils are commended with positive SIMS and a UKMT certificate which will be presented soon. Edward Cutting won the Best in Year 12 Title, only missing a Silver Certificate by 2 points. Bronze certificate scores were also achieved by Jamie Fulford, Samarth Khurana, Patrick Riggall and Steven Smith. Well done all!
Parliament Week 1st – 7th
November
In the first week
back after October half term, St. Peter’s students experienced a range of
events relating to Parliament Week. The week was designed to introduce all
students to the concept of Parliament, democracy and the role of MPs. They
undertook various activities such as a 360 degree tour of the House of Commons,
being MP for a week, a Parliament Quiz, running debates on topical issues in
the manner of Parliament, and reading diary excerpts from former MP Chris Mullins.
The week finished with a visit by County Councillor Andrew Miller (pictured below) who spoke to
our Key Stage 5 politics students plus a select number of year 11 pupils. The
week has enhanced students’ understanding of fundamental British values and our system of government. Thanks to Mr Lax for
his lead on this very useful series of activities.
Careers Day, November 26th 2021
St. Peter’s hosted our latest and most ambitious Careers Fair on Friday 26th November. 36 employers and providers attended to speak to our year 13, 12, 11 and 10 students during the morning.
Our exhibitors ranged from engineering companies to construction, the armed forces, hospitality providers and others whilst we had a range of universities and other HE institutions covering courses such as drama, law, music and sport and, finally, colleges offering post-16 courses. As well as attending the fair, students were able to listen to one of 7 careers talks delivered by the experts in their field. Talks ranged from careers in the civil service and army to apprenticeships and T levels and all students attended at least one of these.
Local MP, Richard Graham, visited the school for the fourth time, spoke to many
of our students and even offered the chance of work experience in his office
for interested students. He is pictured below:
The morning was a huge
success with feedback from the exhibitors telling us what we already know –
that our students are amazing! They said our students were very well prepared, proactive,
had done their research, were attentive and polite. Speaking to several
students since, it’s clear that some now have firm ideas on their careers path
whilst others now have more questions and ideas to research. This was a wonderful
morning. Huge thanks for the mammoth organisational task go to Mrs Sarah
Beeton, our Careers Lead and to Mr Lax.
Older computers in
H1 have been replaced with new, more energy efficient models. The computers are
120% faster than the previous models and are much more energy efficient.
Art 1 and Art 2 also
now have wide desking with 4 high specification computers each for use with art
lessons. Thank you to IT Services.
Extra-curricular activities
We
are delighted that a large number of our students are attending the wide range
of clubs on offer at break, lunch or after school. All students are encouraged
to attend at least one club per week.
We
are similarly pleased that sports fixtures have resumed this academic year with
numerous fixtures taking place for football, hockey, netball and rugby teams.
U16
Girls Football
Our U16 girls played
a very tough fixture recently and progressed through to the last 16 in the
National Cup! The girls were a credit to
the school, showing perseverance, determination and really showing us what it
means to be a member of the #greenarmy. Well done girls!
