A scorching hot week has come to a wonderful end at St Peter’s. The children behaved impeccably in welcoming Fr Daniel Agber from St Edmund’s parish in Horndean to celebrate his first mass at the school. What better occasion for this than in celebration of the feast of Saints Peter and Paul? Fr Daniel enthused the pupils with a rousing homily, and all of this was done beneath 14 wonderful mosaics on the life of Christ that the pupils have produced over the course of the school year. The children most certainly deserved their ice cream treat at the end of mass.

During the week, the pupils were exceptional ambassadors for the St Peter’s community during our Section 48 Validation, and when the final report is released I will share that with families in a range of media.

As I write this, the tireless volunteers of the Friends of St Peter’s are setting up for what will no doubt be another wonderful St Peter’s Fest. This annual fund raiser is a great event, and helps to provide the school with the financial bonuses it needs to go the extra mile for our pupils.

And finally, the estate agent Fry and Kent’s Waterlooville branch is bursting at the seams with model houses made by our pupils. These models are on display for several weeks, so do call in to admire the children’s craft skills, and thanks to Mrs Pearson for coordinating this project.

Mr R Cunningham

Headteacher

On Thursday I took six pupils from Year 6 to St John’s Cathedral in Portsmouth. Each year there is a Diocesan Schools Mass, an occasion for the Bishop to celebrate Mass with staff and pupils from across the Diocese. It was a joyous occasion, and the special dedication of the Mass was our sister Diocese of Bamenda in Cameroon. Each school was asked to submit a prayer or blessing for the schools of Bamenda, which are currently closed due to domestic civil unrest. Some pupils from St Peter’s composed the following:

Our prayer for the schools in Bamenda

We pray together to God our Father in heaven that every child in Bamenda will be able to go safely to school every day. We pray that all children can learn, play and grow up in safe, happy schools.

Whichever school you go to, you are our brothers and sisters.

Whichever school year you are in, you are our brothers and sisters.

Whichever country you live in, you have a right to go to school.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Amen

All of the prayers and blessings submitted by the Portsmouth Diocese schools will be taken to Bamenda and shared with the schools there when the situation is safe enough to reopen the schools.

Many thanks to all who supported our wonderful Sports Day on Wednesday, and of course our thanks go to Miss Fleming for organising such a great event.

On Wednesday 27th June, a Section 48 Validation will take place at St Peter’s, so I would ask you to keep the pupils and staff of St Peter’s in your prayers over the coming week.

Mr R Cunningham

Headteacher

A very exciting time for pupils in Years 6 and 4 this week, as both year groups had off site visits which had added real enrichment to their learning.

Year 6 went to Westminster for a visit on Thursday. Having been captivated by the campaign against plastics as part of an English topic, and writing to Mrs May in the process, the pupils suggested a trip to the Houses of Parliament. This led on nicely from the recent visit to school by our local MP Alan Mak, who himself took time to welcome our pupils to his place of work. The pupils took place in a government workshop, and witnessed both the lower and upper Houses of Parliament in session. Many thanks to the Year 6 team of staff who organised this trip.

Year 4 stayed closer to home on Friday, and instead covered a distance over time rather than space. The pupils went to visit the Mary Rose exhibition hall in the Historic Dockyard. This is now a truly awe inspiring visit, one guaranteed to send chills up the spine as you walk amongst the artefacts in the heart of the vessel. The pupils’ workshop was called ‘Henry’s Heroes’, and looked at the different experience of a range of crew members on board the vessel on its ill-fated last voyage. Thank you to the staff and helpers who made this memorable trip possible.

Mr R Cunningham

Headteacher

I had a really exciting day today! I got to sit in the front of a real ambulance, and was allowed to switch on the lights and work the sirens. It was the full ‘Blues and Twos’ as we say in the trade. Then I got to go up and down on the ambulance tailgate. It was great, a real dream come true.

Well, okay, the truth behind my fun experience stretches a bit wider. St Peter’s was lucky enough to have a visit from a team of 4 paramedics and first responders, who spoke during assembly about their roles in helping people who find themselves in emergency situations. After a great interactive assembly with the team who are more used to delivering people to QA than taking part in Q&A, children from different year groups got the opportunity to tour four vehicles that were stationed in the north playground, pictured below. The paramedics and response staff gave great demonstrations, and the pupils learnt a lot about the vehicles and their equipment. Thank you to all the staff who helped to make this possible. For those year groups that did not get to visit the medical vehicles, we have a fire engine on site later in the month, and they will get to tour this instead. After I’ve done the lights, sirens and sprayed the fire hose of course!

Mr R Cunningham

Headteacher