Spring has sprung at St Peter’s
Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher
Supporting Ukrainian refugees
It is no exaggeration to say that in appealing for essential items to aid those fleeing from war in Ukraine, donations flooded in from the St Peter’s community. Under the direction of Mrs Pearson, the generous contributions were sorted into various labelled boxes by pupil volunteers. Boxes and bags were then loaded onto the minibus and delivered to the charity Stella’s Voice in Havant, https://stellasvoice.org.uk/ , from where they will make their way to those refugees fleeing Ukraine.
As one would expect, St Peter’s children and their families were extremely generous. However, it is worth noting that as well as donations from our school community we had several donations from members of the wider community who have no direct links to our school but heard that we were collecting. This is a true testament to word of mouth and to the power of community solidarity that reaches out to those in need.
Thank you to everyone for the contributions to this cause, and please continue to pray for peace, reconciliation and justice in eastern Europe.
Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher
Please pray for the restoration of peace
Ever and All Loving God,
As we follow news of the mad progression to war,
we pray and we plead for a change of hearts and minds, for de-escalation,
and for dialogue instead of bombardment, violence and aggression against innocent people.
All peoples are Your children. And Your children find themselves on both sides of the current confrontation. Ukrainian and Russian families will suffer the loss of brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, children and grandparents, homes, neighbourhoods, and ways of life.
But You are a God of peace and love, not war and bloodshed. Though the things that make for peace may be hidden from the eyes of those driving the march to war, we pray that those eyes may be opened and that peace may yet prevail.
We pray also that the world may never look away, that we always remember the situation in Ukraine is real. It kills, maims, and destroys and will generate more deaths and more injured, more tears and pain, more fears and hatred.
We make this desperate prayer secure in Your love, through Jesus, our Lord, Amen.
Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher
Author visit to St Peter’s
Pupils in Years 5 and 6 had a great combined event this week when they were lucky enough to receive an author visit from Polly Ho-Yen. Polly used to be a primary school teacher who would get up early before work to pen stories (I don’t know where she found the energy!), and is now a full-time author. After a general presentation, Polly then did writing workshops with each class in Years 5 and 6. Pupils in Years 5 and 6 have studied Polly’s book Boy in the Tower, ‘a fable of fear and hope, loneliness and friendship’, and were able to get signed copies at the end of the day.
Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher
Groundhog Day
O you who descended into the earth,
and rose again with the dawn,
Open our eyes to light,
even the cold crisp light of winter.
Let it awaken in us irrational hope,
the unreasonable possibility of spring in the depth of winter,
the possibility of kindness in a world desperate for warmth.
God of the meantime,
Let us huddle together while we wait,
let us nestle and dream, reach out to each other
and comfort each other in the warmth of our prayers.
Amen
We then reminded ourselves, with optimism, of the words of the 30th Psalm,
Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
Please keep the St Peter’s school community in your prayers over the coming weeks of winter … and spring.
Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher
Cyber safety education
St Peter’s takes its commitment to teaching pupils about cyber-safety very seriously. In November, pupils from our Cyber Ambassadors scheme prepared and presented to classes information on how to protect personal details and be conscious of their digital footprint when using resources on-line. The power of this message came from the fact that the pupils, whilst supported by adults in the school, researched their own resources to use in the presentation. This meant that the content was relevant to what interests children when using the internet for playing games and watching videos on-line.
This week, we built upon this education with presentations for year groups from Lee Hayward, who works as a cyber-safety consultant to local schools. The focus of his presentation was twofold; firstly helping the children to spot the signs and dangers of fake social media content, and secondly to be wary of befriending individuals on-line who may play the same games or visit the same sites on the internet. The importance of keeping on-line safety education up to date is that the virtual world is constantly changing itself, meaning that we will continue to bring in support and advice to help our pupils become responsible and safe citizens of the internet world.
Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher
Water into wine (even in dry January)
Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher
Out and about
It has been a busy week for school trips this week at St Peter’s. The Year 5 classes went to Winchester Science Museum as an introduction to their science topic of space, taking the opportunity whilst there to explore other topics of scientific interest. Our youngest learners in the Reception Year also went boldly forward by taking their first group trip to Waterlooville Library. As they walked from school into town, they received many compliments from members of the public about how polite and well-behaved they were. And finally, 20 children from Years 2 to 6 went to Chichester Festival Theatre to watch a performance of ‘Fantastically Great Women who Changed the World’. These children were drawn out as prize winners from all those who completed our autumn term reading challenge. It is not small undertaking to plan an off-site trip for children, so great thanks must go to colleagues who prepare these adventures, and the many family adult volunteers who give up their time to support with supervision.
