It’s now all systems go at St Peter’s as we round off the second week of the autumn term.  The pupils in Year R have moved from stay and play and half-day sessions to completing whole days in ‘big school’.  They have all done very well, and I look forward to meeting them as they rapidly become valued members of the St Peter’s community.  Extra-curricular activities are well underway, with football on a Wednesday afternoon, Performance on a Thursday afternoon and Bounce Fit on a Tuesday afternoon to name but three activities.  Over the coming week more staff-led extra-curricular clubs will become available as colleagues complete welcome meetings and offer children lunchtime or after schools enrichment opportunities.  Small group music lessons have begun again, with recorder, keyboard, flute and guitar being ever popular, and Hampshire’s ‘Rock to the Beat’ club running on a Monday after school.  Any families interested in their child taking up instrument tuition should contact the school office for details.

And all of these activities take place around a busy school day with a packed curriculum and vibrant break and lunch times – is it any wonder our children come home exhausted and hungry at the end of each day!

Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher

Welcome back to all the pupils and families of St Peter’s for the start of the school year 2023-2024.

A special welcome goes to those who are joining us from other schools, and to our new intake of Early Years children who are starting in Reception.

In this coming year, we will be having a special focus on our school vision, “Walking hand in hand with God to make our world a better place”, and how that is central to the behaviours that we see in our Learning Circle.  Special assemblies each fortnight will focus on each of the Learning Circle behaviours across the school year, with a chance to celebrate how well the children are able to live out our school vision through demonstrating these behaviours.

Our school vision extends to a full mission statement,

“Walking hand in hand with God, loving Him, loving ourselves and loving each other, doing our best with the gifts he gave us to make our world a better place”.

I look forward to the children developing their God-given gifts in this coming school year, and working together as a community to take St Peter’s from strength to strength.

Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher

Congratulations to our end of year award winners 2023

Mrs Liz Holford – Chair of Governors

Noah – Early Years Governors’ Award

Willow – Key Stage 1 Governors’ Award

Jessica – Sportswoman of the Year

Evan – Mrs Daley Reading Award

Mr R Cunningham – Headteacher

Sidney – Sportsman of the Year

Hattie – House Captain for St Mother Teresa House (House Cup Winnings 2023)

Brooke – Key Stage 2 Governors’ Award

Ellen – Performer of the Year Award

Mr Mike Williams – Foundation Governor

Imogen – Vice House Captain for St Mother Teresa House (Sport Days Winning House 2023)

Wishing you all a restful and enjoyable summer break.

Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher

Congratulations to the pupils from St Peter’s who made their First Holy Communion at Sacred Heart and St Peter the Apostle during the month of July.

Our prayers, love and best wishes go to Calum, Fletcher, Lucas, Freya, Cohen, Molly, Kiean, Daniel, Braiya, Oliver, Isobel, Christina, Ella, Ava, Neto, Evelyn, Freddie, Maeve, Ethan, Ryan, Matthew, Phoebe, Elizabeth and  Isobelle.

Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher

Congratulations to our Year 6 pupils who staged an incredible show this week.  Their end of year performance was “Matilda! Junior”.  After just 7 weeks of audition, rehearsal, prop making, choreography, set management and a lot of learning of lines, all 64 pupils played a part in putting on an incredible showpiece.  The event was well attended by packed audiences on both nights, with refreshments sold by the Friends of St Peter’s PTA, to whom we are always grateful.

As well as the brilliant pupils, thanks in abundance go to Mrs Vega-Lopez for set design and stage management, and Mrs Wibberley for choreographing and directing the show.

Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher

The St Peter’s school community recently celebrated the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul to mark our Patronal Feast Day.

Monsignor Jeremy Garratt celebrated Mass for the whole school, and helped the pupils understand the work of these two great Saints of the Church by reminding them that just like us, neither of these figures were perfect in their lives or their faith, but worked hard to remain committed and spread the word of God.

We were also lucky enough to receive an icon of St Peter, the mosaic tiles of which were painted by different children of all ages across the school.  This gift will take pride of place within our school building.  And of course, because it was our Feast Day, lunch time after Mass saw ice creams for all to celebrate!

Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher

We must all pass on enormous thanks for a brilliant St Peter’s Fest this year.  The Friends of St Peter’s PTA, led so ably and impressively by Charmaine Bennett, provided us with a great summer celebration for the whole school community.  It was a wonderful evening of music, entertainment and attractions, and will have raised plenty of money for St Peter’s.  Thank you to everyone involved in setting up and running the evening, and then tidying up after the event, and of course thank you to all in the St Peter’s school community and beyond who supported the celebration of summer!

Over the same weekend, one of our two local parishes, Sacred Heart and St Peter the Apostle in Waterlooville, celebrated its centenary anniversary.  Mass was celebrated for this on Sunday 25^th June, providing a time to reflect on the presence of a Catholic parish in Waterlooville and the links over the past 60 years with our very own St Peter’s primary school.  This wonderful celebration was a joyous event, and comes ahead of the school’s own 60^th Diamond anniversary which we will mark in 2024.

Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher

The pupils at St Peter’s enjoyed traditional sports days this week, with Early Years and Key Stage 1 competing on Monday in the sun, and Key Stage 2 competing on Tuesday after the thunder, lightning and downpours that started the morning!  Our PE coaches from CM Sports set up an incredible circuit of sporting activities to test speed, agility and teamwork from the pupils first of all.  This was then followed by heats and finals of sprint races for each year group.

All of the activities earned points for the pupils, with the winning house set to be announced as part of our end of term awards.  Each sports day was attended by a throng of parents, carers and families to cheer on the young competitors.  Refreshments were provided by the Friends of St Peter’s PTA, for whose support we are always grateful.

Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher

Our Year 2 pupils recently celebrated an incredible, vibrant and colourful Pentecost worship.  All of the prayers and reflections used in the service were written by the pupils themselves, and were read out to a congregation of over 80 family adults with great confidence.

In keeping with a typical birthday celebration, the liturgy included singing and dancing by the pupils, and Fr Jeremy made each child feel special in his homily and blessing.

Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher

To celebrate the recent Feast of the Ascension, our Key Stage 2 pupils celebrated a special liturgy.  Children performed extracts from 3 of the Gospels, giving ‘personal accounts’ from the Evangelists of the works of Christ after His resurrection.

As soon as we returned from the Whitsun half-term break, it was all systems go for the pupils at St Peter’s.  Pupils in Years 2 and 3 had cricket coaching from the Chance to Shine charity.  Whilst the coaching came a bit too late for some of our pupils to be called up for this summer’s Ashes series, it was a great chance for them to have specialist coaching session.  Meanwhile, 12 pupils went with Mrs Pearson to the Hot Walls in Southsea to visit the art studios and investigate the many art installations that appear at various points along the seafront.  Year 6 are well underway in rehearsing for their end of year show, Matilda Junior, which will be performed to families towards the end of term.

And finally, our youngest learners in Year R set off on an intrepid trip this week.  They ventured down to Hilsea Lines for a Forest School day, learning lots about the outdoors and the environment.  Great thanks to the staff and parent volunteers who helped to make this trip possible – we look forward to expanding our forest school experience at St peter’s in the future.

Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher