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

Well done to the pupils in Year 5 who this week ventured far away from home for their first school residential experience. Children from Mrs Edge’s and Mrs Turner’s class travelled to Runway’s End in Aldershot for a 2 night stay. The pupils relished the chance to try new outdoor activities such as abseiling and canoeing, and indoor activities such as archery and caving. For many, it was their first experience of staying away from home without family members, so this really was a journey into the unknown in a variety of ways. The children also turned their hands to table setting, plus washing up and drying up after meal times, showing good team spirit and application. I hope all the pupils have a restful weekend, and my thanks go to Mrs Edge, Mrs Turner, Mrs Wibberly, Mrs Pearson and Mrs Knight who all gave up time to stay overnight with the children.

Finally, my assembly this morning was about how to stay safe on-line. As the nights draw in and the weather worsens, children may find themselves having more screen time, so do please take the time to talk to your children about how they can keep themselves safe in the virtual world.

Mr R Cunningham

Headteacher

This week at St Peter’s I have seen education at both ends of the age spectrum.

No sooner have we settled into the new school year, than we are holding open mornings for the next Reception Year intake for September 2018. It is always delightful to see new families visiting the school for the first time, many of them bringing their nursery age children to get a taste of ‘big’ school and what their future holds.

At the other end of the scale, Year 5 received a visit from a great great grandmother of one of the pupils, a lady who has just turned 100 years old. For me, this means that she was born just weeks before the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia (I’m still an historian at heart), but her visit to Year 5 was to regale the pupils with stories of her experiences during the Second World War.

Both of these events show how St Peter’s continues to work to celebrate the diversity of society, and bring to our pupils the full range of life experiences.

Mr R Cunningham

Headteacher

This week has seen as its centre of attention our Ofsted inspection on 27^th and 28^th September.  Every child in the school was a credit to their families, their teachers and the St Peter’s community.  The pupils’ behaviour, good manners and engagement with the members of the inspection team were all exemplary over the two days, so well done and thank you to all the children.  Furthermore, I must thank every single member of the school staff who showed their usual professional commitment to our learning community before then going that extra mile to prepare for the inspection.  The final report from the inspection will take several weeks to produce, so we will be able to publish the outcome towards the end of October.

On Monday, we received new from the Diocese of their intention to suspend the process of converting Catholic schools to become part of a series of Multi Academy Trusts.  For us at St Peter’s this simply means carrying on with business as usual, as we were not listed in the current or next round of anticipated conversions.  We will continue to work closely both with the Local Authority and our neighbouring Catholic Schools to drive forward school improvement and constantly develop the learning and progress of the children in St Peter’s.

My week ended on a high with a letter from Fr Jeremy expressing his appreciation of the Year 1 liturgy in school this week.  He wrote of how well prepared the children were to share the story of God’s creation, which was evidence of pupils’ learning and understanding in their RE lessons.

I hope you all have a restful weekend, as indeed will all of the staff here at St Peter’s!

Mr R Cunningham

Headteacher

Although it by now that we have never been away, and the crispness of September is making the summer holiday a receding memory, we ‘officially’ got the new school year underway on Tuesday with a whole school Mass.  Fr Jeremy celebrated Mass with Years 1 to 6, with a homily which focused on the importance of honesty and truthfulness. It was wonderful for us all to gather together in celebration and worship, re-establishing for 2017-2018 that school community spirit that makes St Peter’s such a strong family.

The busiest year group this week has, I think, been Year 6. On Thursday our Year 6 pupils spent the day at Purbrook Park School on a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) day, where teams took part in tasks to either build a rocket or transport tomatoes without damaging them. My thanks go to the Year 6 staff who took the children on the trip, and to the staff and students at Purbrook who hosted the event. Fresh from that day out, many of our Year 6 pupils then hot-footed it to Oaklands for their Open Evening. No sooner have we started this year than we’re looking ahead, and all families with children in Year 6 should have received information about applying to secondary school. We’ve lots to do before then, but it will be on us before we know it!

Mr R Cunningham

Headteacher