The week had an exciting start for Year 2 pupils who set off for SeaCity Museum in Southampton on Monday as part of their learning on the Titanic. The pupils were shown, with the use of an ice cube tray, just how little water it took to tip the vessel beyond the point of no return once it had struck the iceberg and started to take on water on that fateful night in 1912. Pupils also did work looking at the different age ranges of the passengers on board, and then lined up to work as stokers in order to keep furnaces well fed for the steam powered propellers to work effectively. A great learning experience was had by all, and my thanks go to the staff for arranging the visit and to the many parents who volunteered their time to accompany the pupils on the trip.

In school, work has begun on a major mural project which will involve every pupil and member of staff contributing to collages which will reflect scenes from the life of Christ. As this project takes shape, we will give regular updates in advance of a grand launch in the summer term.

Mr R Cunningham

Headteacher

Welcome back to the spring term, and a Happy New Year to everyone. I hope that you all enjoyed the festive season, and that the Christmas holidays were not blighted by too many bugs, coughs and sneezes.

We are aware that there is still a lot of illness circulating, so in school we are encouraging the pupils to wash their hands more frequently than normal, and have provided ample tissues to be used once and thrown away in an attempt to limit the spread of germs. Do please check school and NHS guidance about the time required before a child can return to school after an illness.

The children have come back with plenty of new outdoor clothing that they received as Christmas presents, with unicorn hats being a popular favourite this year it would seem! Please can families make sure that all clothing is clearly named so that, if misplaced, it can be quickly returned to the owner. Equally, please do not allow your child to bring valuable items or electronic gadgets into school, as they can provide a distraction to learning and great upset if lost or damaged.

Finally, all families should have received the new plan for home learning this week. The intention is to help children focus on reinforcing core numeracy and literacy skills to benefit their work and progress in school. Teachers will set tasks for children to work on each week, and the programme will develop over the course of the term.

With my very best wishes for a peaceful and prosperous 2018.

Mr R Cunningham

Headteacher

Happy Christmas from all the staff at St Peter’s.

Thank you to all the volunteers who have helped with learning, trips and special events over the year.

Thank you for the many cards, gifts and good wishes that have been sent in for the staff.

Have a restful and peaceful holiday.

Mr R Cunningham

Headteacher

Well done and thank you to the school choir, who have finished off their festive tour this week.  Having sung at the Oaklands Christmas Craft Fayre and the St Peter’s Carol Service, they gave their last performance of the season at the Rowan’s Hospice.

Performing to Rowans volunteers during their Christmas party, the choir led by Miss Hill and Mrs Spurgeon set a wonderful seasonal tone.  The performance was also a chance to present a donation of £295.00 from St Peter’s to the RowansHospice, which came from the Carol Service collection.

Mr R Cunningham

Headteacher

The past week at St Peter’s has seen the annual taking place of some traditional events, and the start of what I hope will become a secure fixture in the pupils’ learning calendar.

As we enter Advent, the whole school walked to the church of the Sacred Heart and St Peter the Apostle on Tuesday for the traditional Advent service.  This was a chance for each year group to present the work they have been doing in RE lessons as part of their understanding about Advent. Wednesday saw the pupils in Year R present a wonderful Nativity play. The audience, packed with proud parents and grandparents, were amazed at just how much the children had grown in confidence over just three months at St Peter’s.

In terms of new traditions, Friday 1^st December saw a deep learning day through the whole school for STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. Devoting the full day to a single project allowed the pupils to really investigate, trial and assess their learning in a range of scientific challenges. Be sure to ask you child what their year group worked on, and watch out for the next STEM day on 2nd February 2018.

On Wednesday 13th December at 6:00pm, the school has its Key Stage 2 Carol Service at the church of the Sacred Heart and St Peter the Apostle.  This is a chance for the older children in the school to present a congregational celebration of the coming festive season.  Everyone is invited to this Carol Service, and we look forward to seeing many of you there.

Mr R Cunningham

Headteacher

Plenty of varied activities for pupils her at St Peter’s in the last week.  A selection of Year 6 pupils gave a wonderful assembly about a project they carried out at the Living Well Centre at the Rowans Hospice.  My thanks go to Mrs Pearson for organising the project, and to the staff and volunteers of the Rowans who facilitated it.  At the other end of the spectrum, our Year R pupils set out on their first school trip this week.  They walked to (and back from!) Waterlooville library, adding to the love of books that Mrs Domblides is already instilling in them.  Thank you not only to the St Peter’s and Waterlooville library staff for arranging the visit, but also to the family volunteers who helped to supervise the pupils on the journey.

And speaking of volunteers, we have launched an appeal in November’s newsletter for parents, carers or relatives of pupils in school who may be able to offer up to 90 minutes a week to either hear children read or play maths games with pupils.  Please see the latest newsletter for details of how to contact Mrs Pelling and offer your services as one of your early New Year’s resolutions!

Mr R Cunningham

Headteacher

Well done this week to lots of pupils who have flown the flag for St Peter’s in the most wonderful of ways. On Saturday 18 November, 43 pupils from the school choir performed at Oaklands to raise the curtain on their Christmas Craft Fayre. They made a wonderful impression with a superb range of festive carols and songs, and I must particularly thank the choir leader Miss Hill as well as the families who brought their children along to take part.

During the week, Years 5 and 6 celebrated Mass at Sacred Heart and St Peter the Apostle. The pupils in Year 6 rocked the church with the liveliest rendition of Salve Regina that you will ever hear outside of a stage performance of Sister Act, and Year 5 impressed Monsignor Jeremy with their knowledge of the Angelus. It is not often one says this, sadly, but this really was a ‘fun’ Mass in which to participate. My thanks go to the volunteers who helped the children walk to church, and especially the Year 5 and 6 staff who prepared the children so well for the celebration.

Finally, a public thanks to all of the teaching staff here at St Peter’s for their work over two nights this week for Parents’ Evenings. It was great to see such high parent attendance, representing the shared commitment we all have to the children’s learning and progress.

Mr R Cunningham

Headteacher

There has been plenty going on this week in all year groups at St Peter’s. Pupils from Years 5 and 6 had presentations and workshops with members of the Fire and Rescue service looking at personal safety, and Year 6 pupils then extended their work with the emergency services by taking part in a Junior Citizenship morning at Fort Purbrook.

On Tuesday morning we hosted the last of our open morning events for prospective pupils starting in September 2018. It was lovely to see so many new families visiting the school, all of whom were bowled over by their pupil guides and the work that children were doing in all of the classes. We have one more open event, on Monday 20^th November between 6:00pm and 7:00pm, for parents who wish to see the school environment or have a conversation with a member of the Senior Leadership Team about their child starting school in the next academic year.

The contrast to these very young children was shown in our current Year R pupils celebrating their first liturgy in the school hall on Monday. They were wonderful at speaking clearly, singing loudly and praying earnestly, all after such a short time in school. There is no doubt that the Reception children are now fully fledged members of the St Peter’s community.

Finally, well done to Daniel in class 3LS and Poppy in 3H, both of whom wrote wonderful pieces of persuasive writing trying to convince me to buy a woolly mammoth to help control unruly children! Their reward was to each receive a toy woolly mammoth to name and serve as a class mascot.

Mr R Cunningham

Headteacher

The school hall hosted two very different events today, which represented the diversity of experience that children have here at St Peter’s. Friday 10 November started with Mr Crozier leading a whole school assembly on Remembrance. Knowing that so many of our children who are in uniformed clubs outside of school, such as the Cubs and Brownies, will be taking part in Remembrance Parades this weekend, the assembly was a great chance for the pupils to be reminded of the historic origins of our national acts of Remembrance. Other children will doubtless pause before sports matches they are playing in at the weekend, whilst church services in our area will have some form of dedication to the fallen. At school, we will complete our tribute to the Glorious Dead, as is written on the Cenotaph in Whitehall, with a whole school service of Remembrance and worship on Monday 13 November.

Then, in stark contrast, we had a return visit from The 2 Steves, authors Steve Barlow and Steve Skidmore. Thanks to arrangements made by the wonderful school librarian Mrs D, The 2 Steves worked with a range of children to bring storytelling and madcap adventures to life. I would strongly recommend a visit to their website for anyone looking to buy early Christmas presents which children will love reading on Boxing Day morning, just when you need peace and quiet the most!

Mr R Cunningham

Headteacher

Welcome back to school for the second half of the autumn term.

The children have done exceptionally well at making a hard working start after their October break. Distractions like the clocks changing, any Halloween activities or the prospect of firework displays have not put the children off their learning in the classroom, so well done to them all.

As usual, we need to turn our attention to appropriate clothing as autumn takes hold and prepares us for winter. Please make sure that the children all have a named coat to wear to school, with hats or gloves as appropriate when the weather gets colder. Of particular importance is to make sure that children have something bright or reflective on their bag or outdoor clothing for when the school run starts to get darker later in the term.

Finally, don’t stop reading here. Take a look at the class blogs for a taste of what the children have been learning recently, as well as our subject and family liaison blogs. These are a quick and easy way to keep up with all of the educational activities the children are undertaking each week in school.

Mr R Cunningham

Headteacher