This afternoon we were able to hand over the fruits of your generosity.  Mr Patrick Binks and Fr John Lavers joined us for an assembly in which we donated our collection for the Apostleship of the Sea.  The assembly had, as you would expect at this time of year, a focus on Remembrance.  Particular attention was drawn to the service of seafaring personnel and members of the merchant marine who kept Britain safe and supplied during the two great global conflicts of the twentieth century, and to the many millions of service personal from 46 countries around the world who joined the UK in fighting tyranny and oppression.  We then noted how still today we rely on the service of the Royal Navy to protect shipping globally, and the work done by seafarers from foreign lands to provide us with food from around the world.  The donations will go to form Christmas care packages for sailors arriving in Portsmouth over the coming months.

Great thanks go to you and your families for their generous donations, and to Mrs Wilson for leading the campaign and coordinating the collections.

Mr R Cunningham

Headteacher

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.

Learning really came to life for our Year 5 classes this week, as they immersed themselves in a World War II evacuees day.  Hop across to the Year 5 blog to see some great images from the day.  Having such deep learning days really help pupils to understand topics across the curriculum, with learning in a subject like History being put to good use elsewhere in English, for example, through the study of classic novels such as Carrie’s War and The Silver Sword.  Great thanks go to the Year 5 teaching team of Mrs Edge, Miss Stapley, Mr Crozier, Mrs Richardson, Mrs Lavery and Mrs Osmond for leading the way on the World War II event, and to Mrs Gray and her team in the kitchen for serving up corned beef hash and tapioca!

Many families of Year 6 pupils will be looking at secondary school applications right now.  Don’t forget that the deadline for applications to start Year 7 in September 2020 is 31^st October 2019, and applications to Oaklands Catholic School and Sixth Form College need to be accompanied by a Supplementary Information Form.  All details can be found on Oaklands’ website.

St Peter’s Open School events for our intake of September 2020 get underway soon.  If you have family or friends who have children approaching school age, please do pass on the details below:

Tuesday 8th October 9.30-11.30 am
Wednesday 23rd October 1.15 -2.45 pm
Thursday 11th November 1.15 -2.45 pm
Monday 18th November 9.30 -11.30 am
Monday 25th November 6.00 –7.00 pm
No appointment necessary, just arrive for the start time of any of the dates listed here.

Applications open on 1^st November 2019 and close on 15^th January 2020.

Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher

The autumn term started with a series of wonderful events for the school on Tuesday 17^th September.  Fr Jeremy blessed our new building, to be known as The Unity Building dedicated to Saint Pope John Paul II.  In this he was joined by our 60 new Year R pupils who were also blessed as a welcome to the school.  Following that, Fr Jeremy celebrated Mass with Years 1 to 6 in full attendance and fine voice.  The message of the homily was that, like the Disciples in the boat during the storm on the Sea of Galilee, we should ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’, placing our faith in Jesus.  And to round things off, with members of the School Council representing the pupil body, Fr Jeremy blessed our new Prayer Garden.  This project has been 2 years in the making, and was funded through pupil enterprise projects, a grant from our local MP, and through generous donations from our local parishes, for which we are truly grateful.  Thanks also go to Mrs Edge and Mrs Turner who led the prayer garden project.

Visit the RE Blog to see more details and pictures from this wonderful event

Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher

We ended the week with some good news at St Peter’s when we were informed that we had achieved the first level of a national programme known as The Romero Award. The Romero Award is a programme designed to encourage schools to promote Catholic social teaching and justice, and recognise their endeavours in this field. By assessing how we promote Catholic social teaching in our curriculum, in our practical works and in our strategic vision, the Award is recognition of the work we already do, and provides a pathway for us to extend and deepen our commitment to social justice both locally and globally. Special thanks go to the staff who coordinated our submission for the Participator Level of the Award, Mrs Conlon, Miss Honeywell and Mr Land. You can read more about the Award via the following link: https://www.romeroaward.co.uk/

Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher

A very warm welcome back to all of the pupils and families who have returned to school this week. A special welcome goes out to new pupils and their families who have joined St Peter’s for the first time this week in Years 1 to 6. As ever, it was pleasing to see the pupils returning with great enthusiasm, and settling down to work straight away. The success of our transition days in July meant that as soon as our whole school worship was concluded on Thursday, the children went straight into productive lessons and hard work.

Hopefully all of the children will have a restful weekend, and return on Monday ready for a full week of learning, and the arrival of our new intake of Reception Year pupils.

Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher