Good evening all!

It has been a fantastic first day here at Fairthorne Manor where the children have been blessed with two of their opening activities, a ‘Wide Games’ evening and a showering of sun throughout the day. The children’s torches were in full force tonight when each class played-off against each other in a set of fun games in the relative darkness of the Botley night sky!

Having settled in well to the evening routines already, the children have brushed their teeth and are presently in their rooms trying to rest-up before their first full day tomorrow. All quiet in Ben’s House as we type!!!

Come back tomorrow for further updates!!! A few photos for you below…

Until tomorrow…!

The Year 6 Team

You may be aware that the month of October is also ‘Black History Month’.

In recognition of this, our Year 6 pupils have begun reading ‘Journey to Jo’berg’, a modern classic written by Beverley Naidoo which tells the story of two young siblings who walk the long journey to Johannesburg in order to find their mother. It isn’t until they finally reach Jo’burg that they see up close what life is like for black citizens across South Africa—and begin to really question the unfair and dangerous laws of apartheid.

With apartheid having ended in 1994, we wanted the children to understand more about what life was like in South Africa before this date. Thankfully Miss Wibberley grew up in South Africa and was able to spend a valuable thirty minutes  explaining the laws of apartheid and answering the many questions the children raised.

They will now have a much greater awareness as they respond to their guided reading questions.

Singing is an important part of life at St Peter’s, so it is a pleasure for Year 6 to welcome Mrs Richardson, Head of Performing Arts at Oaklands, to lead our song practice sessions. Each week we will be focusing on some fun songs that involve singing in parts, while also learning about notation. The children are already showing much greater confidence in their own voices and enjoying the challenges Mrs Richardson is setting.

Have a great weekend!

The Year 6 Team

Many thanks to those parents who attended our welcome meeting on Monday – it was great to meet you all and we hope it was informative. Please see below for a copy of the slides we referred to. You may find the dates slide helpful for upcoming events.

WELCOME TO YEAR 6 2022

We have also sent home this week two important Fairthorne Manor documents -menu choices and water confidence – that need to be returned by Wednesday 21st September please. We will then pass this on to Fairthorne.

The children have settled into their new environment well this week and we look forward to sharing examples of their learning next week.

We will see the children next Tuesday.

The Year 6 Team

The Year 6 have had a fabulous week, the highlight of which has to be their brilliant performance of Oliver!

Having put some polish onto their individual parts in morning and afternoon shows for KS1 and KS2, the best was saved ’til last. At 6pm, in front of a full-house of over 300 people, our young thespians started as they meant to go on with a rousing rendition of ‘Food, Glorious Food!’ followed by other well known numbers such as ‘Consider Yourself’ and ‘Oom Pa Pa!’ We are sure that memories of this night will live long in the minds of all the Year 6 Pupils.

The same could be said for outstanding SATs results achieved by the pupils as a result of their skill sharpening and polishing throughout the year. From the table below, you can clearly see that the attainment of St Peter’s Year 6 pupils is exceptionally high, outperforming their peers both in Hampshire and nationally. They should really take heart, satisfaction and motivation from this as they progress on to Secondary School.

Stay cool this weekend ready for Funday Monday!

The Year 6 Team

On Thursday 7th July, fifty eight Year 6 pupils and 7 staff helpers undertook a NINE MILE walk to raise much needed funds for the Two Saints Homeless Charity. Starting from school, quiet roads were followed before they moved onto the Berewood Trail at Purbrook. This was where the main distance was laid down, walking past Berewood Primary before stopping at the picnic tables near the entrance to the Berewood Estate for lunch. We were met at this point by Rachel Mason from the charity who thanked the children and provided support in the form of sweets! The route then took the children to its furthest point, the park off Darnel Road. Despite having covered six miles at this point, they spent a very energetic ten minutes ridding themselves of all excess energy they may have had.

Needless to say, the walk home was a lot quieter!

At the moment, the total that has been raised through donations from friends and family is a staggering £1,554 (including gift aid). This will make a huge difference to the homeless community in our local area – a great cause for the Year Six Stewardship Project.

Some pictures of the day below:

Through the wilderness!

In good spirits!

Thank you for the use of your toilets, Actemium.

Up the hill…

The reward at the top!

A tired but satisfied bunch!

Have a restful weekend.

The Year 6 Team

Congratulations to all of our Year 6 children who have honed their cycling skills on the roads around St Peter’s this week.

Thanks to the time spent with dedicated instructors, they are all much more confident and safer cyclists!

We are so proud of the work the children have put into their Brazilian Carnival performance this afternoon. It was so good to see them all moving to the Samba beat in unison and showing such great independence and organisation.

Many thanks to all parents and family members who attended too.

Don’t forget Bikeability next week – PE kit, BIKE, HELMET and lock!

Have a restful weekend.

The Year 6 Team

We thought we would use this week’s blog to say a HUGE ‘THANK YOU” to the kind people who have donated to our sponsored walk on behalf of the Two Saints Charity. The totaliser already stands at an amazing £190!!

If  you have not managed to donate yet, you can find further details on the good work they have been doing to help prevent homelessness in the local community here:

https://www.twosaints.org.uk/about-us/

Mr Land and Mr Pratley look forward to seeing you at St Peter’s Fest tonight!

Have a great weekend!

The Year 6 Team

Words this week contributed by Ava Dawson, 6P.

This week the pupils have been developing their computer literacy skills  by using Microsoft Excel to create graphs that represented climate data in different locations in Brazil. They then drew conclusions and answered questions using their knowledge from their work.

Below we have some beautiful examples including a conclusion about analysing the data:

In other news, we are very excited to have launched the Just Giving webpage for the Year 6 charity walk on July 4th. We are extremely grateful for the generous donations already made. Please spread the word – copy of the letter below.

Dear Parents and Carers,

As part of our year 6 Stewardship Project undertaken in the autumn term, Homelessness in the Community, we are seeking to raise a significant amount of money for a local charity called Two Saints that supports homeless people. A member of this charity delivered a presentation to the Year 6 children in the autumn term, and this triggered a desire from the children to raise funds to aid homeless people in their community.

In order to raise money, the children and adults of Year 6, along with other adult school staff, will complete a sponsored walk of approximately 14km (8.5 miles). The walk will start from Queen Elizabeth Country Park, ascending and circumnavigating Butser Hill, before moving back down across the undulating terrain of the South Downs within the boundaries of QE Country Park.

Those of you who know the local area will appreciate that this is not a flat walk; we expect it to be an impressive challenge that the children will be able to accomplish with some determination and grit.  The Year 6 staff team recently navigated the route to conduct a pre-activity site visit, and believe that this experience will be both rewarding for the children as well as for the charity through any money raised.

Details of the Sponsored Walk are as follows:
Date: Monday 4^th July 2022
Time: Normal School Time
Equipment needed: Sturdy, comfortable trainers/walking shoes.
School PE kit, lightweight waterproof coat, rucksack, sun cream, hat, packed lunch and water bottle.

Charity Donations web page

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/st-peter-s-catholic-primary-school2?

Many thanks for your support.

The Year 6 Team

Have a great weekend Year 6!