Ever so slowly, as we approach the end of a wet and mild October, the signs of autumn are encroaching upon us.  We are lucky enough to see these signs in our beautiful school environment, as shown in these two pictures taken this morning.

The changing colours of autumn brought to mind a poem (see especially the fourth line) that I have been using with pupils in Years 5 and 6 in my recent Philosophy for Children (P4C) classes this half term.

All the Colours of the Earth

Children come in all the colours of the earth
The roaring browns of bears and soaring eagles,
The whispering golds of late summer grasses,
And crackling russets of falling leaves,
The tinkling pinks of tiny seashells rumbling by the sea.
Children come with hair like bouncy baby lambs,
Or hair that flows like water,
Or hair that curls like sleeping cats in snoozy cat colours.
Children come in all the colours of love,
In endless shades of you and me.
For love comes in cinnamon, walnut and wheat,
Love is amber and ivory and ginger and sweet,
Like caramel and chocolate and the honey of bees,
Dark as leopard spots, light as sand
Children buzz with laughter that kisses our land
With sunlight like butterflies happy and free
Children come in all the colours
of the earth and sky and sea.

—Sheila Hamanaka

Enjoy the autumn half term break

Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher

Well done to the Year 6 pupils who managed to dodge the rain for most of the week during their outward bound residential at Fairthorne Manor.  Visit the Year 6 blog to see all the things they have been up to – especially if you are in Year 5 and want to start looking forward already to your adventurous week away in October 2020.  These opportunities are only possible through staff members going above and beyond both in extra organisation and in making arrangements to spend time away from their own families for the benefit of the pupil.  To that end, therefore, great thanks go to the following staff: Mrs Wibberly, Mr Pratley, Mr Land, Mrs Kift, Mrs Knight, Mr Crozier, Mrs Conlon, Mrs Jonas, Mrs King, Mrs Moore, Mrs Sumba.

Year 3 and 4 pupils celebrated Mass on Tuesday in Waterlooville, at Sacred Heart ad St Peter the Apostle.  It was a great occasion to welcome Fr Jeremy back from his annual holiday, and the pupils offered postcards expressing how they will commit to making our world a better place.  Thank you to the school staff who organised the mass, and an extra special thank you to volunteer family members who walked with the children to church.  These events cannot happen without the hard work of colleagues and the generosity of volunteers.

To round off the week, every pupil in the school on Friday said a separate decade of the Rosary to join in the movement of One Million Children Praying the Rosary and lend our support to Aid to the Church in Need.  Thank you to Oaklands’ lay chaplain Miss Keogh for organising and leading this special opportunity for prayer and reflection.

Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher

On Wednesday this week St Peter’s hosted a team of nurses and paramedics to teach children in Key Stage 2 how to perform CPR correctly (using manikins), how to put somebody in to the recovery position, and what to do in an emergency.  This event was part of the Re-start a Heart campaign, the learning programme for the children being ‘Call, Push, Rescue: How to save a life’.  It was a great opportunity to learn a valuable life skill, and thanks go to Mrs Pelling for organising the event.

Well done also to the pupils in class 5E who had a 2 night residential at The Sustainability Centre in Clanfield, though a slightly wetter stay than the other Year 5 class the week before.  Thanks go to Mrs Edge, Mrs Richardson, Mrs Taylor, Mrs Lavery and Mrs Crozier for staying away with the children to give them a great and memorable experience.

Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher

Well done to all the pupils who came to school on Friday dressed in bright and brilliant clothes.  Their efforts to ‘Brighten up the Harvest’ for CAFOD were great, and the funds raised will add to our annual donation to CAFOD.

Congratulations also to the pupils of Class 5SC who had their first off-site overnight residential in the wilds of … Clanfield.  The pupils spent 2 nights at the Sustainability Centre, where the undoubted highlights were the night walk on the gloriously clear Wednesday night, and then a campfire and rousing sing-a-long in the woodland hall on Thursday night.  Don’t worry, they all settled down to bed with hot chocolate, biscuits, and a reading of a chapter from Carrie’s War.  Great thanks go to the Year 5 staff team of Miss Stapley, Mrs Richardson, Mr Crozier and Mrs Osmond for arranging the trip and staying away from home with the pupils.  Visit the Year 5 blog for picture, and next week it is the turn of Class 5E, so pray for clear skies and good weather.