Dear Parents, Pupils and Guest Readers

Energy and enthusiasm is at the heart of this School’s

success. Leafing through the pages of Key Moments

reminds us of the vibrant and happy experience we build

for the children, investing our full involvement, team

effort and resilience into making every moment a ‘key

moment’. I hope that you enjoy reading over some of

the highlights of the last year at St P’s.

Yours sincerely

Maria Chapman MA(Ed) Headmistress

Time Travellers - Egyptian Day

The visit of professional historians Timepieces to the

School brought History topics to life for the pupils during

our Ancient Egypt Day! It was also fantastic to see the

effort put in by the children and teachers in dressing up

for the day.

Sunnylands Hall was transformed into the “Hall of the

Two Truths” during our History Day, making the occasion

special from the outset. The ‘temple’ was to be used for a

ceremony called the “Weighing of the Heart”, part of the

Ancient Egyptians’ religious beliefs about the soul’s

journey through two lifetimes. The children were

fascinated to hear of these ancient beliefs and about the

various gods in which the Egyptians believed. Pupils

participated by taking turns to read out details about the

lives of three Pharaohs: Rameses II who reigned for

seventy years; Hatshepsut who ruled for twenty years

until her brother came of age and Amenhotep IV,

husband of the more renowned Nefertiti, who tried

unsuccessfully to change the focus of Egyptian religion.

Before the High Priest of Anubis the God of the

ceremony, the children voted on whether each of the

three Pharaohs had led a good life or not. The children

were fascinated to see a feather outweigh two of the

hearts to allow them to pass to their next life and the

third heavier heart to be sent to be eaten by the god,

Ammit. Pupils also played games which were first

originated in Ancient Egypt. These included Sennet,

Snake, Scarab and Mancala, the games often calling for

the children to record their scores or positions on chalk

boards. Even music using ancient Egyptian rhythms was

played on the day. Thank you to the PTA for funding this

unforgettable History Day in Key Stage Two.

There are more pictures of the day on the back page

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Sunnylands Nursery Highlights

Sunnylands Nursery is enjoying a busy, vibrant year. All

our places are filled and the waiting lists for September

2018 and for 2019 are growing fast. The staff and

children have been working with topics based around

Seasons, Festivals

and the children’s

interests. This has

even involved lots

of tasting and

chopping of new

and unfamiliar

foods.

Our Nursery year began with a large number of new

children who have settled in and are progressing nicely.

Parents have the opportunity to leave reviews of the

childcare offered, on the Daynurseries.com website.

Some of the recent ones include some lovely comments;

‘Sunnylands have made a massive impact on my little

boy. It’s a 5-star Nursery.’

‘Sunnylands Nursery has made a wonderful impact on

my daughter’s life.’

‘Lovely positive nursery. She has learnt so much.’

We aim to ensure the next fifty years provide parents

with the quality of childcare they have come to expect

from our setting.

The summer holidays

were an opportunity to

have a brand new

Interactive White Board

fitted, part of the

ongoing scheme to

replace and upgrade the

nursery equipment and

resources.

We have also enjoyed visits from the dental hygienist

and the Police, which was a great ‘hit’ with the children,

especially when the siren was sounded!

Sunny Bear and Peter Bear have continued their

adventures, spending a week at a time with the

Sunnylands Nursery

children at their

homes. They have both

been taken to parties,

shopping, visits,

outings and swimming

or ballet lessons.

Several times they have seen the insides of washing

machines too and snuggled into lots of different beds. By

far the best experience Sonny Bear had was a trip to the

summit of Kilimanjaro!

The PTA gave Sunnylands a ‘tricycle made for two’ which

the children have used on a daily basis, with the

passengers enjoying it more than the driver, who has to

pedal for two!

A new, replacement, larger water tray with dams and

slopes is another favourite resource.

Trinity Term marks a landmark in St Peter’s School

history; The Nursery began in 1968 and it will be its

Golden Anniversary. The celebrations are planned to

include lots of activities on a golden theme. We are

looking forward to welcoming our visitors on Founder’s

Day to celebrate with us.

Reception Class Highlights

A lovely big group of children, with five who were new to

St Peter’s School, settled beautifully into Reception Class

last Autumn. Since then they have been very busy

working hard and having lots of fun along the way!

In our Literacy lessons we have been working on

developing excellent blending and segmenting skills with

the help of our puppet friend ‘Fred the frog’; the children

are becoming confident readers and keen writers,

learning how to write a sentence using well-formed

letters. We have spent a lot of time thinking about

different forms of writing and ways of communicating;

for example, we have written letters, cards, postcards,

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passports, speech bubbles, labels for daffodils and

instructions for how to take care of baby chicks. The

children have explored rhyme, learnt how to

differentiate between fiction and nonfiction books, and

explored various traditional and fairy tales, such as ‘The

Little Red Hen’

and ‘Sleeping

Beauty’. The

children

particularly

enjoyed writing

an imaginative

recipe for a

‘disgusting

sandwich’ which

could scare away the seagulls in the story ‘The

Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch’!

During Mathematics lessons we have created 2D shape

patterns by printing with 3D shapes, enjoyed learning

songs about number bonds, the days of the week and

months of the year, and have had fun counting in twos as

we line up to go to lunch in the Hall. Reception Class

pupils have created symmetrical butterfly pictures with

paint, weighed classroom objects with scales, and learnt

to identify ‘o’clock’ times on analogue and digital clocks.

The children were interested to learn how to count using

tally marks, find doubles to 10 with their fingers, identify

odd and even numbers by whisper counting the odd

numbers to 20 and share pirate treasure by halving the

hoard! They have especially enjoyed developing their

Mathematics skills outdoors; they used apples from our

orchard to print patterns with red and green paint, and

thought it was very exciting to fly their own paper

airplane creations, in order to measure which travelled

the furthest with a metre rule.

We have spent a lot of time thinking about the world in

which we live. During our ‘Nature Detectives’ topic, the

children enjoyed bird watching and looking around the

school grounds for signs that Autumn had arrived. They

were amused by the busy squirrels and enjoyed

collecting interesting leaves. They thought about the leaf

shapes and tried hard to identify which tree they came

from, before creating some fabulous rubbings and prints.

The children learnt and performed a poem about

squirrels in Autumn, and had a lot of fun creating collage

squirrel pictures, paper plate birds, firework prints and

clay divas. During our ‘Holidays!’ topic the children listed

facts about Victorian seaside holidays, designed a map

with a key, and enjoyed role-play activities in the

Reception Class ‘Travel Agents’. After learning about sea

life with the help of Blue Planet II, they made giant

tropical fish and stingray using marbling inks and a

variety of collage

materials. The

children then

carefully studied

paintings of the

sea by various

famous artists,

and JMW Turner

and were inspired to create a class ‘sea tapestry’ by

weaving strips of fabric into plastic mesh.

They particularly

enjoyed listening to

Mendelssohn ‘Fingal’s

Cave’, thinking about

how the music

represented the calm or

crashing sea waves.

Their representations of

the sea were placed by

them onto a very long

piece of wallpaper in

time to the music. The

children loved making a

huge Chinese dragon for Chinese New Year which they

danced with in time to some percussion instruments, and

they created beautifully delicate pictures of hyacinths for

our topic ‘Spring Time’. They also made funny Humpty

Dumpty split pin puppets, and using the interactive

whiteboard drew

pictures of holiday

scenes, learning also

how to use a

keyboard, mouse

and search engine to

find, save and label

pictures of daffodils.

I hope that the children are looking forward to Trinity

Term, when they will begin exploring their new topic

‘Castles’ and take part in exciting events, such as Sports

Day. Well done for your hard work so far Reception Class

members!

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Year One Highlights

Year One made a most enthusiastic start to the new

school year. Early on in the first term they sketched self-

portraits, thought about the question "where do I live?"

and labelled parts of the body in Science. Throughout

the year they have eagerly joined in with a little daily

activity involving the building of a ‘nonsense’ word to

help their phonic development, and they also have

talked about their ‘word of the day’ which is aimed to

expand their vocabulary. Year One children can now talk

about words like island, hurricane, rigid and vanish.

Children in Year One shared a humorous poem on

National Poetry Day called Sniff, Sniff, Sniff. They were

able to find the two rhyming words in each verse which

helped remind them about what a rhyming word was.

The children really rose to the challenge of learning

another poem so soon after learning one for the harvest

assembly. They performed their poem with such gusto-

Mrs Shakeshaft was proud of them all.

In November the class had been learning about the

Gunpowder Plot in their History lessons. They watched

some firework displays on the Internet before exploring

the colours and sounds of the bonfire and fireworks

using ribbons, pom poms and scarves during a dance

lesson. The favourite part of the dance was the finale

which was accompanied by lots of noises mimicking the

exploding fireworks. Making the noises was no problem!

When working on 3D shape in their maths lessons Year

One really rose to the challenge of making a box in which

to keep three model elephants. They concluded that the

box needed to be a cube shape and that because a cube

has square faces each group was given a square. They

took a box to pieces to help to work out how to draw the

net to make the box. Mrs Shakeshaft was very impressed

with the team work shown as she listened to the children

working out the problem. Each group completed the

challenge and the elephants were all safely housed!

Year One have also completed some history work on toys

where they were very surprised to learn that some of the

toys that they enjoy playing with have been around for a

very long time.

Science has also been a favourite subject this year with

lots of practical lessons. During one lesson the children

looked at a range of liquids. They considered which of

their senses were safe to use when trying to identify the

liquids. All of the different liquids were then poured

together and the children waited eagerly to watch them

separate out into stripes during the next few weeks.

Year Two Highlights

Year Two started the academic year excellently. They

showed fantastic attitudes to learning and enjoyed

finding out about variation in Science, exploring the

difference between animals and plants and sorting them

according to different characteristics. In their Maths

lessons pupils had been focusing on exploring number

bonds, place value and shape. They spent time learning

their number bonds to 10, 20 and 100 through fun

activities such as number bond tennis, playing games on

the interactive whiteboard and through activities written

in their books. They learned about how 2D shapes can be

symmetrical and whether they have right angles or not.

The children sorted 2D shapes into both Venn and Carroll

diagrams according to their differing properties, both

practically and using the interactive whiteboard. They

had to reason why they put the shapes into particular

areas on the diagrams using their mathematical

knowledge.

The topic for Year Two’s History was War and

Remembrance. They walked as a class with school staff

to the war memorial in Kettering town centre. The

children spent time looking at the poppy wreathes, flags,

crosses and names of all the soldiers that died in both

the first and second world wars listed on the memorials.

The class were very respectful of what they were

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drawing and

learning about.

They were also

able to join in

with a reflective

moment led by a

member of the

local clergy, with

a bugler playing

the poignant

‘Last Post'. This

trip bought the history to life for our children. Seeing the

names of all the soldiers really brought home the

meaning of Remembrance Day to them and established

firmly to them the reason why this is such an important

occasion.

Throughout Lent Term our Year Two pupils learnt about

the physical features of China in their Geography lessons.

They looked in atlases and on the globe to locate this

large country and identify its major cities, rivers and

mountains. They learnt about the Willow Pattern in their

Art lessons and designed a plate of their own – a project

which took over three weeks! They discussed how this

popular eighteenth century pattern was inspired by hand

painted ceramics

imported to

Britain from

China. The

children learnt

that although the

plates have

oriental

landscapes

painted on them,

the pattern was

actually invented

by an English

potter called

Thomas Minton

who wanted to

promote the sale of his pottery. Other Art projects

linked to their Geography lessons included panda

paintings, dragon stick puppets and a Spring blossom

collage. A new Science topic brought renewed interest

and enthusiasm for practical and everyday science. The

children identified the different materials that items such

as a cups, spoons and clothing are made from. Another

challenge was to sort a variety of items into just two

groups. This reinforced the children's use of scientific

language such as flexible, rigid, rough and smooth.

A favourite Science

lesson was a

practical

investigation into

‘How can the shape

of materials be

changed?’ This

involved the

children exploring play dough, paper clips, elastic band

and a bath sponge. They worked in small groups and had

great fun stretching, bending, twisting, squashing and

squeezing, and they were not fooled by the ‘odd item

out’ – a rock!

A major focus of English this term was writing a new fairy

tale, character descriptions and instructions for making a

Knickerbocker Glory. The children had great fun

exploring different characters and events for traditional

favourites such as Jack and the Beanstalk and Beauty and

the Beast. Inventing and describing their own fairy tale

characters enabled our children to practise using

adjectives and similes to write about the appearance and

personality of their witches, giants and princesses. One

of their favourite and most memorable English lessons

involved Mrs Ward brushing her teeth! This led to a

shared writing session where the focus was on the

importance of writing clear instructions and in the

correct sequence. The children learnt about imperative

verbs and adverbs of time and set out their writing using

a title, You will need and What to do sections.

In their Maths lessons, Year Two pupils enjoyed playing

shops to calculate change from £10 and £20, learning the

rounding to the nearest ten rhyme: ‘5 and above, give it

a shove, 4 or below, let it go!’ Talking about pizzas, cakes

and oranges was a more interesting way of learning

about halves, thirds, quarters and mixed fractions too.

The children practised telling the time on analogue and

digital clocks. They now use the clock in the classroom

rather than relying on their growling tummies to work

out when it is time for morning break snack or their

lunch! They also enjoyed learning about how many days

are in each month using their fists! Don’t panic – this

was just a simple representation that shows how the

knuckles are the months with 31 days and the spaces are

the shorter months. This led to a discussion about

February and why we have a leap year.

What a super group of young learners this class are! We

have enjoyed watching them grow in maturity and

stature and look forward to seeing them move up to Key

Stage Two in September.

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Year Three Highlights

Year Three have settled in well following their move into

Key Stage Two. They have familiarised themselves with

their new classroom, the building and the new routines

of being in Key Stage Two. They have been introduced to

all of the different topics and subjects which will be

covered over the year and are looking forward to

learning more about our world and about the history of

Britain.

As part of the Year Three History curriculum, they visited

Conkers Education Centre to travel back in time and see

what life would have been like as an Anglo Saxon.

Meeting Alfred the

Great was their first

port of call. He told

the children who he

was and what it was

like being a Saxon

and how he had

become King and

became known as

'The Great'. Saxon

names were

discussed and some

of the children were

able to earn their

own Saxon names. The children met an Anglo-Saxon

mother and learnt about how Saxons lived and worked

and the problems that they faced. They met traders and

learnt about what the Anglo-Saxons could buy and sell

and the importance of certain goods and weapons. They

enjoyed learning about the Norman Invasion and the

weapons that were used in the fighting. Pupils also

enjoyed some Saxon Entertainment, trying to solve

riddles and playing some traditional games that would

have been played at the time. Pupils thought it was great

to travel back in time and meet some Anglo-Saxons',

making more real their classroom learning.

Science continues to be an exciting and practical subject

at St P’s. Year Three have studied and investigated

Plants during part of their Science unit. An investigation

was conducted using grass seed, trying to calculate how

much seed is needed to cover a specific area. Each group

looked at different amounts of grass seed, differing

amounts of water and various seed placement. Their

results were carefully measured and recorded each

week. Pupils also considered types of roots, their

purpose and how different soils affect the growth and

direction of the roots of different plants. They were able

to study the different types of roots and how they vary

between plants. They also carried out an investigation

into whether plants need soil to grow at all, using a

hydroponic experiment and an onion.

Pupils have learnt about Light and Shadow, having

investigated opaque,

translucent and

transparent materials

using torches and

lamps to decide how

the materials could be

sorted. The children

were able to work

outside, observing how, as the sun moves around, the

shape and size of their shadows changed, depending on

the angle of the light source. They created a shadow

puppet show to demonstrate how the size of their

puppet changed depending on how close they were to

the light source.

During Maths lessons Year Three have investigated

measurements. In the classroom they looked at

estimating lengths of different objects and then

measuring them in metres, centimetres and millimetres.

They then moved outside to look practically at capacity.

The children practised filling up a variety of different

containers to specific millilitres. They then

worked together to add several containers

together and calculate the total capacity of

their water and then check their results

using a larger cylinder. Their final task was

to find out how much water they would

need to add to an existing container filled

with water to make one litre. It was a much

enjoyed lesson - even with wet hands!

The children continued with their Maths by looking at 2D

and 3D shapes and investigated their properties, using

Venn diagrams to organise

shapes into groups

depending on a specific

criteria. Children have

continued to improve their

knowledge of numbers,

doubling and halving odd

and even 2-digit numbers using cups to help show how

whole numbers can be halved and shared including using

fractions within the result. They have delved into 3-digit

numbers, furthering their understanding of how to add

and subtract larger numbers, with new methods of + and

- being introduced throughout the terms.

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Geography lessons have promoted much class discussion

and the children have been eager to find out about

volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis and other geographic

extremes during their Extreme Earth topic. During Art

lessons, they have practised some clay techniques in

order to sculpt a model of a volcano and will be looking

forward to erupting them. The children have

investigated what the earth is like underneath our feet,

creating a cross section model to show the different

layers. They have been fascinated to learn about

different weather conditions, different sites of weather

such as deserts around the world and how people

continue to live and work in some of these areas.

The children continue to be so enthusiastic about their

learning and are looking forward to everything life in Key

Stage Two has to offer them in their learning, friendships

and personal development.

Year Four Highlights

Year Four had a busy start to the year with two trips in

the first term and some very intense academic learning

mixed in with some “serious” scientific experimentation.

Their topic in Michaelmas Term was Human Nutrition

and the chance to replicate the digestive system was

something the pupils really enjoyed. They had to make a

chocolate spread sandwich and then cut and mash it up

As part of Michaelmas term's Geography topic Year Four

visited Kettering Recycle and Education Centre to find

out more about how waste disposal and recycling can

help to save our planet. The children had already started

to learn about the themes of re-use reduce and recycle in

lessons so this field trip helped them to put their learning

into perspective. They were shown around the facility by

the Waste Education Officer, Kirsten Grundy, who was

able to clearly explain about the various skips and their

purposes and how important it is to reduce the amount

of waste we send to

landfill. The video on

landfill that the

children were shown

brought home the

need for this

reduction.

The Geography field trip in the second half of

Michaelmas Term focused on the impact a development

such as Rockingham Speedway would have on the small

village of Gretton. In Gretton, our pupils looked to see

what types of houses were there and if there was any

new housing, as well as gauging the village’s proximity to

the speedway. They

visited the war

memorial just after

Remembrance Day

and were able to see

the poppy wreaths

and respectfully take

note of all the names

on the war memorial.

From relative quietude, the trip moved onwards to the

speedway where a veritable hive of activity was found as

it was a ‘race experience’ day so there were a lot of

sports cars on the track. There was temporary building

work going on, a car auction and lots of hustle and bustle

which provided an ideal opportunity for the children to

see just how Rockingham Speedway operates to make a

profit by diversifying its activities. The children impressed

Mr Holmes and Sarah Thompson, the communications

manager, with the quality of their questions about the

development of the speedway to the present day. Well

done to our young geographers for making the trip a

meaningful opportunity of enquiry.

Pupils in Year Four presented a lively, entertaining and

informative assembly to the rest of the School at the

beginning of Lent Term, all about King Henry VII and his

out-of control pet monkey! Well done to all the children

into a mush. The

addition of coloured

liquids to replicate saliva

and gastric juices

allowed them to create

a very strange looking

mixture which

eventually was “passed

through” a pop sock to

create the final element

of the digestive process.

8

and special mention for Daniel as he made a great job of

playing the part of the naughty monkey, with lots of

improvisation, both vocal and active.

Year Four‘s science topic ‘changing states’ provided

experimental opportunity to investigate how materials

can change state when subjected to changes in

temperature. The children had to investigate how to

successfully melt a block of ice that had a message

frozen inside it and each group chose a different

method: submerge in cold water, place on a radiator,

use their hands, blow on it, let hot water flow over the

ice. Mr Holmes demonstrated this one. The second

experiment entailed demonstrating how chocolate can

be melted to mix with rice crispies and allowed to cool

and solidify to make a cake of sorts.

There is plenty to look forward to in this class’s final

term as Year Four. They will be soon limbering up for

the added responsibility of being members of Upper Key

Stage Two, but for now they will relish the chance to be

the senior class in lower Key Stage Two!

Year Five Highlights

The transition to Upper Key Stage Two is always an

exciting one for pupils as they begin to take on additional

responsibilities as well as tackle even more challenging

work. Grom the outset, the members of this class have

been ‘up for it’ and eager to impress!

During Michaelmas Term as part of the Geography

curriculum, we increased they knowledge of the United

Kingdom, revising the names of the four countries’ major

towns, using the internet and atlases to locate the UK’s

major rivers and seas. This topic also spilled over into Art

lessons where Union Jack flags were created out of an

array of fabrics and art media. Mrs McCahill was very

impressed with all the artistic creations and admired the

skill, patience and perseverance shown by her pupils in

measuring and cutting fabric to the exact and correct

size.

In History, the topic on Ancient Greece sparked lively

debates between those in the class who favoured

cultural “Athenians” against those who would prefer to

be a fearless “Spartan.” The different states were

explored, including how their political systems differed

from each other. This was in addition to watching videos

and reading about the famous Greek battle of

“Marathon” in 490 against the Athenians and the

Persians. Greek architecture also featured in Art lessons

during Michaelmas Term and a variety of 3D pictures of

different types of columns used in Greek architecture

were produced. Other art work inspired by “Greek

culture” included wonderful masks, made after looking

at samples of pictures displaying a variety of masks worn

in this ancient period. Pupils went on to create paper

prototypes, before making the masks themselves using a

plastic base and Modroc. After three or four messy

weeks the final models were created and decorated to

high standards, all with their individual designs.

In English, Year Five pupils have been engaged in deeper

reading and have got to grips with some challenging

comprehension questions. Our focused texts for this

term included “The king in a carpark “which was based

on Richard III whose body was discovered in Leicester in

2015 and “Below Deck” - a fictional story which followed

a girl called Grace and her journey on the Titanic. This

story created lots of PHSEE related discussions on class

division and who should be saved first. Another highlight

was the pupils’ composition of dragon stories, inspired

after watching a short, animated story about a fierce

Dragon Slayer whose “stone heart” melted after slaying a

female dragon. This all happened after a merciless killing

which created three orphan baby dragons who

immediately adopted the Dragon Slayer as

their new parent and

changed his outlook on life

for the better. With

imaginations set on fire, pupils

settled down with great enthusiasm

and wrote their own dragon

stories. Some made Mrs McCahill laugh

out loud whilst others had very sad endings.

In November Year Five presented their Class Assembly

based on Remembrance, This was a thought-provoking

and highly informative School assembly, exploring the

history behind the outbreak of the First World War,

using a mix of research, drama and music.

There have had many fun practical Science lessons

during the first half of the school year. In the beginning,

9

pupils explored the different properties of materials,

where they predicted, tested and discovered for

themselves which materials were the strongest, most

waterproof, magnetic and flexible. They started to

become proficient in recording investigations and even

planned and carried out their own. They also learnt the

importance of listening to peers and that everyone’s

contribution or ideas is valid. The second half of

Michaelmas Term saw the class learning different

methods of separating materials. This culminated in the

fun task of trying to make dirty water clean again - or as

clean as they could

get it. The remit was

to rid the water of

mud, stones and

nails. This required

the children to apply

their knowledge and

put into practice the

separation methods

we had explored throughout the topic. During Lent

Term we explored the different “States of Matter” and

leant about the way the atoms in solids, liquids and

gases are arranged. We used a certain brand of

breakfast cereal to create our posters and displayed the

information in a colourful way.

During Lent Term in between rehearsals for the

production of Mystery at Magpie Manor, Street Dance

featured in PE lessons. Pupils were led step by step

through each routine until able to marry them all

together in to a sequence of dance. In Maths lessons,

Year Five pupils stretched their brains and mathematical

thinking through fraction investigations and quick-

thinking starters. They learnt about the properties of

quadrilaterals and polygons and racked their brains

when converting inches to centimetres and miles to

kilometres. English texts this term included a story titled

Wind Runner and the Hunt and a non-fiction article

which inspired pupils to write persuasive letters against

keeping wild animals as pets.

RE lessons have provided Year Five pupils with the

opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the

different faiths in our community. Studying Sikhism has

led them to discover many similar ideas that are

common to their own personal religions. They were

interested to find out more about the Sikh dining

tradition of “langar”, a custom whose origins lie with its

founder Guru Nanak who fed the hungry, stating that the

best bargain is the profit of selfless service to others.

Today Langar takes place in a communal kitchen found in

all Sikh Gurdwaras. The children watched videos

demonstrating this generous and selfless custom of

preparing and serving vegetarian food for anyone who

visits, whether they are old or young, rich or poor, Sikh

or non-Sikh, as the Sikhs teaching is that everyone is

equal in God’s eyes.

In Year Five History

lessons, pupils voyaged

back in time to the

Victorians and leant

about Queen Victoria

and her family,

considering Royal

residences and carrying out research into Victorian

inventors and inventions. The second half of the term

focused on Victorian Childhood where extracts from

Oliver Twist were read to gain an insight into Victorian

life for youngsters. To hone descriptive writing skills,

Victorian villains were word-painted with animal

sidekicks to accompany, using characters and extracts

found in Charles Dickens books to inspire descriptions

written in a “Victorian” style of language.

Victorian samplers were a starting point for Art lessons in

Lent. Using squared paper, pupils created designs which

included animals, cupcakes, fruit, dinosaurs and tanks.

The children became experts in threading needles,

sewing using cross stitch, counting squares to replicate

their plans accurately and finishing off stitches. Later in

the term, the style of cubism was studied and Year Five

pupils created still life pictures and portraits inspired by

this genre.

With one more term to go to get ready for that very

special Year Six position of responsibility, the boys and

girls of Year Five are certainly showing themselves to be

the senior-class-in-waiting!

Year Six Highlights

Our 2016-2017 cohort of Year Six pupils reached the

conclusion of their time at St. P’s with gusto! Before we

said farewell to them for their new schools, we first

watched them board a coach to adventures galore at

Shugborough! Joined by their friends in Year Five, they

eagerly, trying not to show any nerves, climbed the steps

of the coach for five fabulous days of experiences in the

knowledge that they were to create lasting memories

and special moments. Their full account can be relived in

the Residential 2017 article.

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Founder’s Day 2017 was not only a day on which to

bestow awards, but even more so, it was the time that

Year Six had been waiting for: the opportunity to impress

their families by showcasing their best work. Taking

centre-stage in the classroom were two large

development plans and model buildings. The boys and

girls pitted themselves against each other with one

mission: to design or rejuvenate an urban area, ensuring

that all amenities, economy, housing and access routes

were provided for. They unveiled their developments of

Sneedville and Gat-Tat-Ica with style. Canvas bags,

which had been printed, stitched, painted or created

from scratch, hung from the window frames. Walls were

covered with brightly designed collages based on the

work of Beatriz Milhazes and optical illusionists. This art

theme was continued on to the top landing of

Sunnylands which was adorned with the pupils’ artwork

inspired by artists such as Ting Tinga and Twins Seven-

Seven.

As Michaelmas Term arrived, we welcomed the Year Six

cohort of 2017-2018. Each pupil waited in eager

anticipation to discover which role and responsibility

would be conferred upon them.

An adaptation of ‘Oliver Twist’ awaited the new pupils of

Year Six upon their arrival back to St P’s after the

summer break. This classic text quickly grasped their

interest, and pupils’ reactions to life in a workhouse

showed great consideration. Each text they met was

discussed through deep questioning and thinking skills,

with pupils making wonderful developments to their

understanding and inference of texts. Children have

explored the life of those escaping slavery via the

Underground Railway in America, their eyes opened to

the plights of others. Ghost stories, adventure stories,

catchy poems and articles stretched their experiences

further, infiltrating their own written creations.

Mathematic lessons saw a combination of interactive

problem-solving and arithmetic expanding their already

sound skills to include algebra, shape translation, long-

division, ratio and data analysis.

Literacy and Mathematics have clearly taken precedence

in the run up to SATs, but creative approaches were

never far behind.

This year in Music saw a fresh challenge for our Year Six

pupils at St P's: the Ukulele! This term-long project saw

our senior pupils learning four chords and varying

strumming patterns, culminating in a performance at the

Christmas Fayre. The students wowed the audience with

their passion and skills!

Art lessons have encouraged pupils to experiment with a

range of textures and mediums. Their ‘BFG’ inspired clay

dream jars, saw an array of techniques, each trying to

create a solid and secure bowl. Year Six then developed

these into paintings to represent their dreams escaping

the jars.

At the start of Lent Term, the dull winter months were

banished and the vibrant, engaging colours of the

Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes filled the Year Six

classroom. Pupils watched an interview, where Milhazes

explained how she takes influences from the botanical

garden beside her studio in Rio de Janerio to create her

abstract collages based on circles and fluid lines. After

their initial interpretations, pupils created a more

detailed collage based on her thinking. The finished

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designs were amazing and the class are eager to present

them on Founders’ Day 2018!

In one of our key Science topics, Living Organisms, Year

Six pupils had great, gross fun investigating the

conditions that make bread go mouldy. They decided on

a range of scenarios to explore: leaving bread in its

packaging; adding moisture to the bread; placing a slice

of bread in a dark cupboard; leaving a slice out on a

plate; placing a slice in the freezer to name but a few.

Each day, pupils eagerly entered the classroom to check

the progress and to spy the tell-tale blue spots. As

anticipated, the moist bread turned mouldy extremely

quickly – surprising them with not just blue mould, but

yellow and red too! They soon

realised the reason why their

wet swimming towels and

costumes should not be left in

their PE kit bags all weekend!

Likewise, the children learnt

why it is not a good idea to

leave uneaten morning snacks

in their bags or boxes, as the

slice in the packaging turned

mouldy quickly too.

At the same time, pupils explored why we need to wash

our hands before handling food. Mrs Butler washed her

hands with soap and placed a slice of bread in the

sandwich bag. One slice was placed in a bag without

being touched as a control. The third slice was passed

around the class, where pupils (who had not washed

their hands and had been outside playing) touched and

held the bread; this too, was then placed in a sandwich

bag. The results were shocking! The bread known as

‘Dirty Bertie’ became covered in green mould and began

to break apart; whereas Mrs Butler’s slice only had a

small speck of blue. In comparison, the control slice

grew a small amount of blue mould. The conclusion –

wash your hands thoroughly!

Inspired by their History topic, Year Six’s final class

assembly at St Peter’s School took us to the land of

Ancient Egypt, where we joined Cleo and Tony on their

quest to discover exciting facts about this historic

civilisation. From flowing rivers and wrestling servants to

vying hierarchy and rapping mummies, they taught us

how difficult life was for a pyramid builder and how

everyone relied upon the River Nile for their existence.

We also learned that if you wanted to remain alive, you

must kneel and bow your head before the Pharaoh.

During Lent Term pupils explored the lifestyles of their

relations since 1948, investigating the work, home-life,

population, music styles, fashion and technological

developments of each decade. They made us all feel

rather old when they asked, ‘Who were the Beatles?’

In Geography, Year Six travelled to the realms of the

Amazon Basin, and followed rivers from their source

through the rapids to the widening channels before

reaching their mouths at the sea. Linked with our English

and PSHEE, we began to understand the impact of

flooding on communities and how it brings people

together. The children debated the creation of

reservoirs and the contrasting opinions it may evoke.

ICT and Computing has introduced the class to the

necessity of budgeting on small and large scales.

Entwined with PSHEE, the boys and the girls were

challenged to create and budget for the launch of a new

theme-park. Both groups had to devise a name, themed

areas, target audience, set-up costs and running costs.

Time out of the classroom was recently spent at the

Safety Centre, Hazard Alley at Milton Keynes (more of

which can be read about in its separate article). Prior to

Christmas, all pupils of Key Stage Two were taken deep in

to the jungle with Mowgli and his friends, as Year Six

joined the other classes for a Christmas Theatre trip to

the Royal Theatre in Northampton.

All indications point to Trinity Term being one to

remember with many exciting events ahead and the

chance to build more fantastic school memories.

CLUBS AT ST PETER’S SCHOOL

Mini Arty Crafty Club

At the beginning of Michaelmas Term the children in

Mini Arty Crafty Club enjoyed getting creative and used

the season as inspiration for

their 'Trees in Autumn' paintings.

They were very quick to get

stuck in with mixing paints and

sponge printing. Alternative

methods of painting included

blowing through straws and

using their fingers to add on the

tree trunks, branches and

fluttering leaves.

To mark the annual event of Bonfire Night the children

were introduced to the idea of using black paper to

create some night time pictures. They enjoyed

experimenting with different lines and shapes using oil

pastels to draw firework patterns.

Mini Eco Club

The Year One and Year Two members of

Mini Eco Club worked really hard during

Lent Term to explore how people can

help to protect the beautiful world in which we live. We

began by discussing how we all need to reduce the

amount of food packaging which we use, so that we do

not send as much to landfill because of the harmful

effect upon wildlife. The children then made posters to

display around school, giving information about a ‘Free

from Packaging’ week to be held at school. During that

week the children were asked to bring their snacks in

containers which would not need to be disposed of, but

could instead be washed and reused; snacks appeared in

Tupperware boxes and there was a strong presence of

fruit throughout the classes. Bins were spot-checked and

there was a dramatic reduction in waste, with some bins

containing none whatsoever!

After

Before

Our younger pupils relish their time after school, being

messy and creative at the same time! During Lent Term

they used stencils as a starting point to draw their own

pictures. There was also great excitement when they

could use brushes, cotton

buds and course their fingers

to paint a winter scene.

Robins can often be seen

around the school grounds

and these iconic British

garden birds were the focus of

another activity for the Arty

Crafty Club. The children

produced some mosaic robins

using paper, they then added

some pipe cleaners and the all

-important googly eyes to

bring their creations to life.

Following on from this triumph, Mini Eco Club spent time

thinking about ‘food miles’. We tasted a variety of fruit

and vegetables from all over the world and used a

special website to track how many miles, as the crow

flies, it had had to travel to get to us. We had a melon

from Brazil, carrots from Shropshire, sweet potatoes 12

from America, and many other interesting items.

Blueberries were eaten very quickly and Theone Garwe

was excited to find a new love for sugarsnap peas, but

celery was less popular! We had a wonderful time and

will continue to champion an eco-friendly way of life in

our school and extended community.

Mini Science Club

In the first Science Surprise Club session Mrs Burrows

and her group thought about how seeds grow into

plants and about what plants needed to grow: light,

nutrients, water and warmth.

Club members then checked on the seeds they had

previously planted in different locations, finding that

those planted and kept in the classroom and hall way

had germinated, but the seeds in the fridge, cupboard

and outside had not yet done so.

Summer Fun Club

Reception Class certainly enjoyed their "summer fun"

They all decorated a plant pot and then when it was dry

they filled it with compost and planted two sunflower

seeds. The pots were then taken home to be watered

and cared for. The children also had fun completing

jigsaw puzzles together. A favourite puzzle was a picture

of the solar system which saw children eagerly searching

for the next planet. Later on when the sun shone we

completed some outdoor games using hoops and balls.

Poetry and Play Club

Our first session started with some funny poems

including one about a smelly pair of socks! As the weeks

passed we looked at rhyming words and made up some

funny poems. Some of the Year Two children were eager

to read poetry aloud to their friends. The children also

enjoyed playing games and building with construction

toys. Although it was Friday the children always brought

lots of energy and enthusiasm to this club!

Key Stage One Puzzle Club

Puzzles help to develop thinking skills and patience as

well as team spirit when

working together. In one Puzzle

Club session the children

enjoyed spotting the ten

differences between two

pictures-who would find them

first? Mudiwa was particularly

good at this visual challenge

and he kindly pointed out some

of the differences to his friends.

Some of the children took up the challenge of working

together to complete an 80 piece jigsaw within a time

limit, which made this very exciting. At first our puzzlers

didn't think they were going to succeed but team work

quickly kicked in and all their sections were joined

together. Hey presto - the picture was finished! 13

14

KS1 Gardening Club

Our first group of pupil gardeners this year planted pots

of mixed daffodils as well as three troughs of pansies.

Gardening Club has a fantastic new area in which to

work, with a new garden shed for our use and two new

raised beds.

Later in the

year, members

of Gardening

Club planted

pots with new

spring bulbs. They also received

some seed potatoes which they

chitted -the process of

encouraging the seed potatoes to

sprout before planting. Our

young horticulturists also planted

and grew garlic and broad beans.

Beat Bugs Club

Beat Bugs gave their debut performance at the PTA

Harvest Supper 2017. They meet once a week during a

lunchtime activity, when they sing and add percussion

accompaniment. We were all amazed as to how much

can be achieved in a short space of time!

Chess Club

Chess Club at St P’s continues to be a popular and lively

club. Children have enjoyed competing against each

other. After a reminder of the rules of different pieces

they have continued to learn about specific moves and

tactics to improve their techniques. We have some

aspiring Grand Masters who are mightily enthused with

the challenge of competing against each other. They

have looked at some of the famous matches which have

taken place and attempted to incorporate some of those

winning moves and strategies.

As the children have evolved in their ‘chess mastery’

they have decided to create their own versions of chess.

Some of the children have put together numerous

boards to create a super game with pieces being able to

move from one board through to the others. Games will

often last for the entire club session with the winner

being decided by how many pieces they have left at the

end in some cases. Others have decided to be quite

creative with the rules and have enjoyed changing the

rules during the game with much amusement from

everyone playing.

Cookery Club

During Michaelmas Term a group of junior bakers

attended Cookery Club led by Mr Fountain, with Mrs

Fray’s assistance. Culinary creativity was in abundance,

with projects such as the

chocolate truffles and small

decorated Christmas cakes.

Golden Time Singalong Club

During the Autumn term, Golden Time Singalong Club

members learned a collection of songs about owls,

15

hedgehogs, healthy foods and other seasonal tunes. The

children have been very keen and enthusiastic to learn a

variety of new songs, which encourage social and

emotional wellbeing, such as 'We all need

encouragement', 'We can make a difference', ‘Build up',

and 'We can sing'. Also, we have had fun with songs like

'Let's go fly a kite!'

As we welcome in the warmer weather, so too shall our

songs reflect the sunnier days!

Early & Late Club

This club has become very popular over the many years

it has been running. All age ranges from Nursery to Year

Six have made this a precious meeting place to either

meet up with friends or complete homework if they

want to. Three new computers have been added to

make this room a great area to play the many games that

are on the system. The children love coming to Early Late

Club to either start their day off or finish it up with a

mixture of work, rest and play.

Language Lab Club

Key Stage Two pupils attending this Friday lunchtime

club use interactive programs to further practise their

French skills. They all have a student log in and can use

the programme at home too. Children can progress at

their own pace, choosing the topics they focus upon.

Tennis Club

Tennis Club gave another year of opportunity for

children to learn and improve their tennis, always with

fun at the forefront. The children regularly worked on

the basic skills to play

the game and had

regular opportunities

to play and compete.

The pupils in

attendance should be

delighted with their

efforts!

Maypoling Club

Maypoling has returned to St Peter’s! Mrs Haynes, Mrs

Shakeshaft and some delightful children from 1KS and

2SW thoroughly enjoyed reviving the tradition of

maypole dancing. They began by learning a little about

the history of it, and discovered that the dance as we

know it today is thought to have originated in the

eighteenth century! They learnt how to hold the braids

and to skip in time to a drumbeat; the challenge being to

move in clockwise and anticlockwise directions, whilst

working hard to stay equidistant from each other. The

children also learnt a dance without getting into too

much of a tangle!

KS1 Multi Skills Club

This club gave our pupils in

Year One and Year Two the

chance to explore their physical

and tactical self. Children took

part in a variety of different

games all aiming to help

develop different skills.

Regardless of whether the

pupils were learning to work as

a team to avoid falling into ‘the lava’ or trying to improve

their hand eye co-ordination by catching two balls at

once, they always had fun!

Lego and Construction Club

In the words of the children, the ‘best club ever’ took

place in the Art Mobile every Thursday lunchtime. This

club allowed the children of Key Stage Two to take part

in fun practical activities, creating, improving and

evaluating a

wide range

of Lego

creations.

It was

interesting

to observe

and listen to

children

sharing their ideas and creating imaginary stories to go

with their Lego models. Other activities involved Knex

and 3d jigsaws. Both of these require team work and the

children worked co-operatively in groups to problem

solve, follow instructions and locate the next essential

piece to their constructions. Projects included building a

Knex Roller Coaster and a 3D Jigsaw Model of London

Bridge.

KS2 Lunchtime Sports Practices

Much of our lunchtime practices have taken place on the

tennis courts. This has proven popular with our players.

The challenge of a harder surface is that the children

have to move and control a much faster ball. They have

been focusing on moving and passing the ball in pairs, up

and down the length of the courts. Placing defenders in

calculated positions has required our players needing to

work out the best time to pass the ball. Passing the ball

skilfully has been a big focus in lunchtime tag rugby

practices this term. Pupils are trying to be tagged less by

using their team mates more! Some pupils like to throw

the odd dummy to see if the defenders can be evaded!

Tag Rugby Club

We have a very well attended Saints Tag-rugby club this

year with nearly twenty children participating. This has

been a great chance for our pupils to hone the tag-rugby

skills they have already acquired during Games lessons in

readiness for ISA competitions. Despite having to alter

dates because of the weather, the Saints community

development department have been eager to

accommodate the changes in order not to disappoint our

players.

A Good Morning Mile!

A new innovation for Key Stage Two this year has been

the introduction of a twice weekly “Morning Mile” on

the paths around the school playing field. There was a

very good turn-out of Key Stage Two pupils (and

parents!) for our first one. The weather was kind and the

children happy and enthusiastic as they completed the

seven and a half laps of the circuit. Mr Holmes reports

that there is a consistent number of between twelve and

fifteen children attending the walks each week and that

we have only had to cancel a few because of the

weather. Research suggests that gentle exercise before

school can assist learning development in children as

well as obvious health benefits and is as good for the

adults taking part as the children!

Art & Craft Club in Key Stage Two

Art and Craft Club

attracted many

enthusiastic pupils

during this half term

and there was a

lovely buzz of

creative excitement

as the children

designed and made

their own

bookmarks - linking

in with World Book

Day. It is always pleasing

to see how you can explain a craft and give

the children the same basic materials to work with and

yet each child’s piece turns out differently - individual

flair and interpretation always demonstrated! The

children also enjoyed learning the basics of quilling which

they incorporated into some lovely Mother’s Day cards.

Samba Club

The music of Brazil came to St Peter’s School during

Trinity Term! Key Stage Two children had the

opportunity to learn about this style of carnival music in

16 Mrs Palmer’s Samba Club. Pupils attending it discovered

facts about all the different percussion instruments and

even played four different ostinatos at one time!

Running Club

Running Club was once again, very popular this year with

nearly thirty regular participants enjoying a variety of

new running activities introduced by Mr Burrows. These

ranged from a mixture of short and longer distances to

running set distances but with a profound change of

pace during sections of the course. Thursday afternoon

weather in the

first part of

Lent Term was

far from kind,

which meant

that much of

our Running

Club sessions

took place in

Sunnylands Hall, so it was with great delight that the

runners were able to get outside for their final Running

Club of this academic year.

SPORT AT ST PETER’S SCHOOL

Brooke Priory Cross Country

Once again Shorne Hill was the host for this year’s cross

country event. As always, it proved to be a very well

organised and friendly experience for all those taking

part, both participants and families. The weather held

and the ground was firm for the runners. Our team of

runners was raring to run and all of them gave their usual

100%. Each of the races contained more than fifty

runners, with schools from all over the region attending.

The children’s excitement was wonderful to see! All our

children finished their races, an achievement in itself as

the course finishes with a long run uphill before

launching yourself over barriers. Tasmin Crabtree gained

St Peter’s ‘best finish’ of 12th in her race!

Netball proved as popular as ever at St Peter’s School

with lots of children regularly attending practice sessions.

Our Year Five and Year Six team took to the court in the

Kettering Schools competition and during the three

weeks of play they amassed eight victories and two

defeats. The team did a superb job and achieved 3rd

place in the competition!

ISA Netball

Our full to brimming sport calendar began with a trip up

to Staffordshire to compete at the Independent Schools

association regional netball tournament. The children

worked hard all day during seven long matches and

showed they can pass and move the ball as well as any

team. On the day it seemed the ball just wasn’t keen to

find the net for us which meant that the team, who

played excellently, finished fifth. The highlight of the day

was a 6-0 win and the team lost out twice in other games

by just a single point.

Swimming Gala

Our Swimming Gala saw a change of format with children

entered into races based on their personal best times

rather than year group and gender. The competition

proved very exciting with many close finishes and it was

super to see some of the younger pupils put in great

swims against older opponents. On the day it was

Grafham who took the victory in the house competition.

There was also the introduction of the Year Six medley

medal race which sees pupils compete in back stroke, 17

breast stroke and front crawl. The first winner of this

new race was Aneesa Wickremasinghe. Well done to all

our swimmers and especially to our Year Three team,

making their debut.

Tennis Festival

St Peter’s School once again opened its gates to local

Kettering Schools for the area’s Tennis Festival. Our

children did superbly well throughout the day. Those in

Year One and Year Two took on a series of sporty and

tennis-themed challenges. Guided by Mrs Burrows they

were

deservedly

placed

second and

third.

Our Year Three and Year

Four teams had the title

to defend! They did well

picking up victories and

many excellent results.

Though the competition

was particularly difficult this year, delightfully after two

very close wins over Isham then Hawthorn we held off

threat and held on to the title!

Summer Games Day

Summer Games Day was played

out in glorious June sunshine and

offered the pupils in Key Stage

Two the chance to display their

bowling, batting and fielding

skills. The leader board was

updated throughout the day and

it gradually became evident that

Pitsford seemed to be the

strongest team. Despite a final

game defeat, they took victory

with 14 points, having won four

games and lost two. Grafham

18

could not regain the heights of previous competitions

and they finished fourth on 10 points from two wins and

four defeats. Thorpe and Rutland shared second place,

having both won and lost three matches on 12 points.

This was a very tight contest and some excellent skills

were displayed. The children fully deserved all the

ensuing plaudits

for their

determination and

efforts throughout

the day. Pitsford

became the final

Summer Games

champions of our

old house system!

ISA Swimming Gala

St Peter’s School were delighted to take the plunge at

Walsall for the ISA Midlands Region Swimming Gala. The

pupils showed they were ready to compete and in many

cases they had to be ready for quite a while waiting for

their race or races! The swimming gala is a very big event

with nearly thirty schools entering and it is delightful to

know that some of the very best of that swimming

comes from our very own pupils. Numerous top

performances were put in by our boys and girls and they

should be delighted with how well they did. Special

mention this year goes to Grace Hillis because she won

the Year Five girls freestyle race, clocking a time just over

eighteen seconds for the twenty five metre sprint. This

gave Grace the chance to represent the Midlands at the

national competition where she raced at the Olympic

pool and incredibly, being placed fifth nationally!

ISA Athletics

Our budding athletes

travelled to the Alexander

Stadium for ISA Midland’s

Athletics championships.

With twenty nine schools

taking part, it was the

largest ISA Midlands

athletics competition to

date. Weather conditions

didn’t make for an easy day but our children were all

heroes to cope with challenging conditions: wind, rain,

low temperatures. They showed such enormous

enjoyment and sense of fun in all their different sports.

We had one first place on the day with Aneesa

Wickremasinghe gaining a first place in her 6oo metre

heat. Cyrus Birch came sixth in the Year Six shot-put and

Fred McCrone was seventh in the Year Five long jump.

All the children gave a super effort.

ISA 5-a-side Football

This year’s first football competition took place at the

Wye Valley Leisure Centre on the outskirts of

Kidderminster. Mr Holmes and Mr Burrows took a mini-

bus of two excited teams to a very well-organised event

held on all-weather 5-a-side pitches. The weather was

very favourable and the children, although a little

overawed to begin with,

gave 100% effort at all

times.

The under 11 team

(Matthew Kaye, Joshua

Thorp, Theo Garwe,

Calypso Sellekaerts,

and Simon Sieunarine)

came sixth in their group and showed improvements in

every match, though being unlucky not to have scored

more goals and points. The Under 9 team (Donnell

Chaonza, Oscar Potts, Mika Chahil, Aryan Nath, Oliver

Daw and Mushana Mabhurukwa) showed terrific

determination throughout their competition and

managed to register a draw and a win by the end of their

set of games. Well done to our two teams!

ISA U11 Tag Rugby

It was with great relief that we finally got to participate

in a competition after all the poor weather we had

endured throughout March and so the under 11 Tag-

rugby squad travelled to the Midlands ISA competition.

Once again the competition was held at Princethorpe

College in Warwickshire and our ten children were eager

to enjoy their last day of Lent Term expending lots of

energy on the field of play. The weather was cold and

overcast but stayed dry and the children kept warm with

a lot of running. We were on second and the luck of the

draw had us playing four consecutive matches in the first

round which meant a lot of tired legs by the end.

matches some of whom were a little nervous - and

some very tight games. Despite this, our team continued

to put 100% into all their games and played with a sense

of enjoyment and fair play, which was a joy to see.

KS1 Games Lessons

Games lessons in key stage one have been all about fun

and sport, with Mr Burrows leading the way! The

weather hasn’t always been our friend but pupils have all

had a good time and learnt plenty along the way. Lessons

have been varied, with throwing and catching games

kicking off the year,

followed by hockey then

problem solving activities.

The children have a real

excitement and enthusiasm

when it comes to trying

new games and sports and

are showing super

potential. They are our

future-teams and we think

they will be strong!

KS1 Winter Games

Our Winter Games event in Key Stage One gave children

the opportunity to display throwing, catching and

teamwork skills as they played zoneball. Zoneball is a

game similar to netball where if you have the ball then

19

you can’t move.

It differs to

netball because

you throw the

ball to a team

mate in a zone

rather than

through a hoop.

All the children

did well - they

began to play

competitively and

special praise went to the winning team called the Lions.

SPORTS DAY

We had wonderful weather for our Sports Day in June. It

was not quite as hot as anticipated, though hot enough!

With pupils sun-creamed, be-hatted and well-provided

with water, Key Stage Two began a round robin of field

events in the morning. The children all worked incredibly

hard throughout their eight activities to try to beat their

own personal bests and perhaps

to even break a school record or

two. That was exactly what Theo

Garwe, Grace Hillis and Calypso

Sellekaerts achieved in their discus discipline. Theo set a

new record of 17.8 metres, adding nearly two metres to

the previous record. Grace was equally impressive in

setting a new record of 12.2 metres and this was

matched less than an hour later by Calypso Sellekaerts,

giving us joint record holders in Year Four. Calypso also

set a new record in the Shot Put of 11.4 metres and

Tasmin Crabtree set a new triple jump record of 5.54

metres. Well done to all our new record holders!

Foundation Stage

and Key Stage One

children joined in

with the Sports Day

fun during the

afternoon. The

staff kept the

children cool and

hydrated with

water sprays and 20

lots of ice cool drinks. After lots of practise, the children

tried to follow lane discipline, some more accurately

than others! Well done to everyone who took part and

especially to all those children for whom this was their

first Sports Day at St Peter’s School with Sunnylands

Nursery. A big ‘thank you’ is extended to our Foundation

and Key Stage One parents who supported on the day.

After a brief lunch break, the Key Stage Two children

were eager to get on with their races! All races were

completed successfully with great enthusiasm and a

huge sense of fun from the participants, the spectators

and the staff. We had debated the sagacity of running

the longer races in the anticipated high temperatures but

we were fortunate that the sun was hiding behind cloud

cover at just the right time. We also knew that the

children would have been most disappointed had we not

made the decision to run the races!

In the Year Five and Year Six long run, Fred Mc Crone

only decided to enter the race with ten seconds to spare

but he went on to win it in a very close and highly

competitive finish with Aneesa Wickremasinghe. In the

Year Three and Four race we had another new record as

Simon Sieunarine took a second off the previous best

time which had

stood for five

years.

It really was a very

special day. Well

done to Grafham

who took the last

title under the old

House system.

21

SPECIAL DAYS

Children in Need Fun and Fundraising

Children at the School did a fantastic job joining in with

various events in November to raise money for a wide

variety of children’s charities. This was a school-wide

fundraising effort involving all the classes from Reception

to Year Six. All enjoyed taking party in some novel and

fun activities during the course of the week. Our Key

Stage One children took part in a “dress up teddy”

competition, as well as a “Find Pudsey’s Treasure”

competition where Joshua Laskey, Evie Hall and Harry

Richardson proved themselves to be our lucky hunters!

The younger children in Key Stage One were all seeing

spots by the end of the week because lots of them paid

50p to add spots to their uniform!

Anyone expecting the School Council and its classes to

come up with sensible fundraising ideas for Children In

Need would have been sorely disappointed! The ‘dress

up your vegetable’

competition bought with it

much mirth and some very

interesting entries! Children in Key Stage Two enjoyed a

“Pudsey Drive” - a variation of the popular “Beetle Drive”

where the fast and furious dice rolling sent all staff

supervising into a dizzy spin! A very well attended

Lunchtime Disco gave our eager dancers great delight.

Finding very well hidden Pudseys around the School

Grounds was another challenge which children enjoyed

taking part during the course of the week. There were

lots of kind donations for our Key Stage Two Children In

Need Raffle and tickets were sold to many hopeful

children – always a very popular Children In Need event

at St Peter’s! A Cake Sale finished off a perfect Children

In Need week. The sweet treats made Mr Fountain and

families who donated cakes were much appreciated, as

the photograph proves.

Well done to the children and their parents who helped

the school to raise a large sum of money to help our

worthwhile and valued children’s charities. Over £250

was raised!

St P’s joins in with Comic Relief

A rollcall of ‘bonkers events’ took place for Red Nose

Day! For a minimum donation of £1 pupils wore all

manner of Comic Relief merchandise to School:

deelyboppers, wristbands, red noses (of course!), badges

and Comic Relief t-shirts. Pupils were invited to take on

the St P’s Comic Relief Challenge of (cue drumroll) ….…

Dress Up Your Potato (or any other fruit/veg). Serious

competitiveness took over as children created the cutest,

funniest and silliest entries. Children in KS1 and KS2

were invited to write down a joke which went into the

SILLY HAT OF JOKES. A lunchtime disco for KS2 filled the

hall with music, laughter and extremely energetic

dancing! And finally, there can surely be no fundraising

without the mention of cakes, and on this special

22

occasion all thoughts of ‘lo-sugar, no sugar’ were

abandoned as families baked for Comic Relief for our Red

Nose Cake Stall. A fabulous total of £303.13 was raised!

World Book Day 2018

St Peter’s School welcomed the likes of Skulduggery

Pleasant, Hermione Granger, Jim from ‘The Pirates Next

Door’, Tom Gates, Katniss Everdeen, Mary Poppins, The

Cat in the Hat and many, many more to Key Stage 2 for

World Book Day. Other pupils wrapped up snug and

warm for the snow in their favourite pjs and dressing

gowns for our ‘bed-time story’ after lunch. The teachers,

never too shy to shy away from joining in the fun,

disguised themselves as The Queen of Hearts, Bert and

The Snow Queen, or

bared their legs to join

the slumber-party.

After an initial show of

characters, the pupils

were split in to their

houses and went on to

enjoy a carousel of

events led by each year

teacher.

Mr Burgham discussed

what was needed to

create a short story.

The children looked at a

variety of pictures to

support their ideas to

find characters, settings,

objects, movements

and animals. They

considered different

sentence starters and

how descriptions and

emotions were really

important to reel in the

reader. The stories

ranged from adventure

and action to fantasy

and reality. They

enjoyed being able to

work in groups or on their own and produced some

fantastic short stories.

Mr Holmes showed the children a selection of DC and

Marvel graphic novels from the 1960s to the present day

and discussed the collaborative nature of their creation

with: writers, pencillers, Inkers and letterers needed to

produce a graphic novel. The children then worked in

groups to practice their drawing and colouring skills to

create and name their own super hero and took a short

template comic strip home to see if they could create

their own short story in comic book form.

Mrs McCahill shared with the children Colin Thompson’s

book titled “Castles” which leads children into a

fantastical world where castles are created out of thin

air, flourish under the sea and grow overnight in the back

garden. This was followed up with a book making activity

where children created their own imaginative castles and

faraway lands. They illustrated these with descriptive

sentences which brought the castles to life.

Mrs Butler led the pupils in discovery of new locations

and characters – from meeting the infamous Minotaur in

Alan Gibbon’s ‘Shadow of the Minotaur’, to The Pied

Piper of Hamelin; and exploring the run-down garage in

David Almond’s ‘Skellig’ and a fantasy cottage in the

woods. After reading the passages and discussing their

detail, pupils then drew their own interpretations,

commenting on the skill of the author to create a vivid

image in their minds.

Mrs Eyles led a story telling session for all the classes in

Key Stage Two in Sunnylands Hall. The children listened

to a variety of stories from India. Many of the stories

were thousands of years old and had been passed down

orally from one generation to the next.

National Poetry Day

Once again this year, we chose to celebrate National

Poetry Day a week later, rather than try and squeeze it

into our Harvest Festival celebrations. Instead, our

pupils presented poems at School Assembly last week,

and showed very adeptly how poetry needs to be lifted

off the page and brought to life by it being spoken. The

theme of National Poetry Day this year was ‘Freedom’

and many classes chose to explore poems linked to this

subject.

Sunnylands Nursey

World Book Day

23

Reception children took their inspiration for their poem

from the cheeky squirrels they can see outside their

classroom. They talked about how wonderful it would

be to have the freedom to simply collect acorns and

scamper from tree to tree all day long. The children also

talked about the rhyming words within the poem and

how to say it aloud with a strong beat. They memorised

their poem in only a couple of days!

Year One shared a humorous poem called Sniff, Sniff,

Sniff. They were able to find the two rhyming words in

each verse which helped remind them about what a

rhyming word was. The children really rose to the

challenge of learning another poem and they performed

it with such gusto! Mrs Shakeshaft was proud of them all.

Year Two pupils chose to present a poem all about stars.

In class they had thought about how stars have the

freedom to fly through the sky in space. We all like

looking at the stars in the night time sky, looking for

constellations and if we are lucky, seeing a shooting star.

Our poem is called 'The Falling Star' by Sara Teasdale.

In the run-up to our Poetry Assembly, pupils in Year

Three talked about what it meant to be free and the

physical and emotional barriers which prevent people

from being free. They looked through looked through

lots of the poems from the Freedom book and discussed

which ones they enjoyed the most. The first poem the

children choose was Barrier by Rachel Rooney. They

particular liked the repetition of the words and the shape

of the poem. The second poem was the Owl and the

Pussy-Cat by Edward Lear. Pupils remembered this from

when they were younger and that it was a famous poem.

The poem the class eventually decided on was

‘Seventeen Caterpillars’ by Sally Crabtree.

Year Four presented two poems. ‘Free as the Wind’ by

Liz Brownlee demonstrated how assonance and

consonance were used by the poet to conjure up images

and sounds of the wind. Three Haikus by a nineteenth

century Chinese poet called Issa were then read, Mr

Holmes reading the original and the pupils giving the

translation. It was fascinating to hear how both the

Chinese original and the English translation displayed the

almost musical elements of poetry.

Year Five recited a simple yet beautiful and thought

provoking poem entitled "Leisure" written by W. H.

Davies in which the poet wonders whether it is worth

leading a life which provides no free time.

National Storytelling Week

We love the opportunity to share our love of reading at

St. P’s. To celebrate National Storytelling Week, the

teachers donned their theatrical voices and shared

stories with Key Stage Two. Mrs Butler started the week

in assembly by reading one of her favourite fairy tales,

'The Wild Swans': a story of resilience, love, bravery,

determination and of putting others above ourselves. In

the assemblies that followed, the children were treated

to the delightfully funny yet shocking antics of 'Awful

Auntie' by David Walliams, read by Mrs McCahill, Mrs

Eyles and Mrs Butler. In classes, teachers also took the

opportunity to read to their own class.

These activities certainly whetted the appetite of the

pupils and staff for the arrival of World Book Day!

Remembrance Assembly

Armistice Day is on the 11th of November and is also

known as Remembrance Day. It marks the day World

War One ended, at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th

month in 1918. There is also Remembrance Sunday every

year, which falls on the second Sunday in November. The

Year Five children marked this occasion by presenting an

assembly which asked children to think about how we

remember everyday things in our day to day life. This led

on to introducing and reminding us all that the poppy is

worn at this time of year to remember the time when

the guns were finally silenced and to recognise the

24

bravery and courage of soldiers around the world in the

past and today, and most importantly the desire for

peace between all countries. The class presented a little

play in which characters

travelled back in time to

portray which countries were

involved, what it was like for

soldiers in the trenches, school children and working

women. This was completed with a prayer and the

children singing Stille Nacht as a reminder of the

Christmas Day Truce between the opposing armies.

Big School Birdwatch

Before half term, Year One pupils took part in the Big

School Birdwatch. They were keen to learn to identify

common garden birds, regularly checking on the poster

in the classroom. Together with Mrs Shakeshaft they

went out to observe the birdlife on our beautiful school

grounds and they tried hard to stay very quiet!

Mrs Shakeshaft

reports that

they were lucky

to spot quite a

lot of activity

and also to hear

some birds that

weren’t seen.

The highlight of

the birdwatch

was a robin

sitting in the top

of a tree singing

loudly, and all

the children

were truly

mesmerised!

Computer Science Week

As part of Computer Science Week, the children in Key

Stage Two were presented an assembly by Mr Burgham.

Computer Science continues to be an important part of

education and knowing the history behind this special

day and what the future of Computer Science holds for

children was an important message for them. Pupils

found out about a pioneer of computer coding, Rear

Admiral Grace Hopper and her amazing achievement in

creating a machine to turn English into computer code or

Algorithms and why it was her that we have to thank for

the term ‘debugging’. Pupils watched a clip of Admiral

Hopper demonstrating the use of wires to illustrate how

in one billionth of second (a nanosecond) an electronic

signal can travel almost twelve inches. The idea was to

show something physically so that they could understand

something which was difficult to visualise.

We discussed other famous computer scientist such as

Bill Gates, Alan Turing and Mark Zuckerberg and how

their achievements have changed the way we think and

do many of our everyday activities. It was an important

assembly to explain to children about the advances in

computer science over the past decades and to remind

them that some of them might well be future pioneers

within the computer science industry.

Upper Key Stage Two

General Knowledge Challenge

Our Upper Key Stage Two pupils relished the opportunity

to take part in the SATIPS annual General Knowledge

Challenge. They racked their brains to answer one

hundred questions based on Geography, Books, TV and

Films, Religion, Mythology, Music, Art, as well as

questions on random topics. Some of the questions they

were faced with included: “What Asian food is made

from mashed Soya Beans?” “A lion holding a sword

appears on the flag of which country?” and “What job

does Skulduggery Pleasant have?” Teachers, too, tried to

answer as many

questions as they could,

but the modern music

world questions caused a

few puzzled expressions!

Writing Competition

Following on from its

successful launch last

year, our pupils from

Upper Key Stage Two

were yet again invited to

partake in a writing competition this year. Faced with a

series of six options, budding writers were encouraged to

select a title which they found interesting and that

matched their preferred writing style. The choices this

year were: imaginative writing which culminated in a

given ending; fantasy writing which continued a given

opening; science-fiction which had a specific last line; a

formal letter to the school’s Chair of Governors asking

for support in a charity event; a persuasive speech

regarding a current political point; and an

25

autobiographical piece describing an event that changed

their whole life in an important way. Although pupils

may plan their ideas and conduct any necessary research

at home, all entries and drafts had to be written during

supervised lunchtimes. This well-attended opportunity

was voluntary and those participating each deserve

praise for their commitment and dedication. Entrants

are eagerly awaiting the announcement of the Year Five

and Year Six winners during this year’s Founder’s Day in

July.

STEM in Reception

At St Peter’s School we believe that it is essential to have

high expectations of all children, and our youngest are no

exception. Reception Class are flying the flag for working

to achieve a world-leading education for all young

people in science, technology,

engineering and maths. The latter

is taught on a daily basis, with

children learning a myriad of new

skills; from measuring with

weighing scales, to finding

fractions with shapes. Science is

explored through ‘Understanding

the World’, and one of the

children’s favourite activities this

year was learning about materials

in order to conduct a floating and

sinking experiment; we were

excited to find that materials

containing air were the most

likely to float! Reception

frequently access elements of technology and

engineering, by using various gadgets, including the Bee

Bots and interactive whiteboard, and construction toys.

During Trinity Term the children will begin exploring the

topic ‘Castles’, when they will work in teams to build

three types of mini catapults using different sets of

materials and building instructions. They will then

compare the success of their creations! This will give the

children the opportunity to explore STEM ‘in the round’.

STEM in Key Stage One

Over the last year, the children in Key Stage One have

worked on some projects which involve aspects of STEM

education. Year Two have designed and built vehicles

thinking about axles and wheels. They have also made

moving dragon puppets as part of their China work.

The theme for National Science Week 2018 has been

‘change’; and the children attending STEMsation Club

marked the occasion with a series of messy

investigations about ‘changing materials’. Making

cornflour slime was particularly popular! The children

worked together

in small groups

of twos and

threes to

measure the

correct amount

of cornflour and

water which

they mixed

together before

getting their hands dirty by pressing and stretching the

gloop. Some experiments were more successful than

others which led to discussions on how to improve their

investigations if they were to be repeated. An

alternative investigation involved making a fizzy mess by

mixing an acid such as vinegar or lemon juice together

with an alkali such as sodium bi-carbonate and food

colouring in order to create a “fizzy” but colourful

chemical reaction. Some children decided to take this

idea further to see if they could use the fizzy mixture to

create a rocket. We all decided that we needed more

cornflour to make better slime and smaller containers to

create better rockets. This was a fun, ‘hands on’

practical session with plenty of ideas shared and

discussed.

Lower Key Stage Two STEM Day

During Trinity Term, while Year Five and Year Six pupils

cavorted in the rare Welsh sunshine, pupils in Year Three

and Year Four took on the guise of not quite mad

scientists but certainly inquisitive and happy ones! The

day got off to an “eggsilerating” start with children

working in small groups to design and make packaging

that would protect an egg which would be later dropped

from a height. They enjoyed investigating the table

containing all the possible materials they could choose

for their packaging (foam, cardboard boxes, tubes, sticky

tape, gloves, old socks etc.) before drawing designs and

labelling them. It was pleasing to observe the variety of

ideas between the groups. Some groups focused purely

on the packaging whilst others included a parachute in

their design to soften the fall! There was plenty of

discussion and the children worked well as part of a team

in their groups. Excitement reached a peak when Mr

Burgham concluded the activity by dropping each

group’s egg package from a height in the playground and

then the awaited results …which group’s egg would

survive without being broken? There were indeed some

successful packages and teachers led the children’s’

conversations towards gravity, forces and materials. A

section of the day explored different habitats and pupils

enjoyed the delights of our outdoor environment classroom.

Pupils discovered skaters, newts and water beetles!

26

Other activities

included working in

groups using dried

spaghetti and

marshmallows to

create the tallest

tower or a

construction capable of holding a 20g weight , pond

dipping - which was a first for some children - and

creating a range of designs using coloured crayons and

leaves.

Confucius is quoted as saying “I hear and I forget. I see

and I remember. I do and I understand’. This attitude to

learning underpins good science teaching at St P’s. The

Science Day offered an extended opportunity to learn

actively and in mixed year groups. The children had a lot

of fun and worked well as a team. At the same time they

were busy learning, making scientific predictions, testing,

asking questions, clarifying and evaluating. Great work,

children!

Upper Key Stage Two Stem Day

Upper Key Stage Two’s STEM Day took place in the

second half of Michaelmas Term. It kicked off with an

engineering challenge. Pupils were divided in to five

groups of mixed

ages, and once a

team name had

been decided,

each group

allocated the roles

of each person:

Facilitator, Reporter, Materials Manager, Presenter,

Reader and Timekeeper. All groups became problem-

solvers and were set the same task: To design and build a

prototype of a museum about Ancient Greece in the

town of ‘STEM-a-lot’, utilising columns instead of walls.

Pupils developed their five ‘P’ skills, problem-solving –

planning – perseverance – patience – presentation, to

engineer an

answer, whilst

reinforcing

their

measurement,

geometry and

mathematical

shape

knowledge.

Teams collaborated brilliantly, valuing the ideas of all

team members to make successful prototypes. The

approaches differed between groups: some used tall,

thin columns, whilst others used stout columns or

combined four columns together to make one reinforced

support.

The day took a musical route later on, when both classes

worked together with Mrs Palmer to create a backing

beat using a computer programme. They overlaid this

with a prepared rap about Greek Gods and Goddesses.

This was performed to Lower Key Stage Two at the end

of the day. A fantastic and fun-filled day was had by all,

with Upper Key Stage Two pupils enjoying the

opportunity to work together in teams to create three

different outcomes. Staff and pupils were immensely

proud of their results and we look forward to combining

Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths with other

subjects in future projects throughout the School.

Computing and Coding

Computing is an important part of our curriculum at St

P’s because it helps children to develop problem-solving

skills, logic and creativity.

In Reception Class, the interactive white board is used by

pupils who press the screen to select different tools to

draw with in order to create some mini masterpieces!

They can also access the internet using the class

computer and understand how a keyboard and mouse

operate. For instance, they were recently able to type

and search for images of daffodils;

copy and paste the image into a

Word document and type their own

name. In Reception Class the

children are also introduced to

coding through using Bee Bots,

programming directions into them to ensure a safe

pathway.

In Key Stage One, children continue to build their

confidence using computers. They improve their

keyboard and mouse skills, logging on successfully to

their own working area, using Paint to create pictures

which demand good use of mouse control. With support

they are able contribute towards creating presentations

with PowerPoint, using the internet to search, copy and

insert images, also exploring the options that changing

the font, colours and size of their typing gives the overall

presentation.

Internet safety is an essential aspect of computing. In all

year groups, there is consistent awareness-raising about

appropriate use of the internet and information is also

provided about the risks and vulnerabilities attached.

We have recently given parents the chance to attend an

internet safety workshop at St Peter’s School.

Throughout Key Stage Two, pupils improve and develop

their core computer skills throughout the curriculum as

well as during discrete computing sessions. They use the

internet to research information, learning about which

sites give accurate information and which might provide

less reliable information. There is a continuation of word

processing skills and a greater understanding of how

presentations can be adapted, changed and improved for

the intended audiences has also a large focus. The

children also explore how spreadsheets work and what

uses they have, including being able to input formulas

and calculate different calculations within spreadsheets.

Coding is an important part of the computing curriculum

and in Key Stage Two pupils have been utilising Purple

Mash, Espresso Coding and Scratch to develop and

improve their understanding of how and why coding is

important. Being able to understand how codes work,

how to sequence codes to complete a specific task and

being able to debug and explain why a program or code

is not working is all part of the fun of learning about

coding. As the children gain in confidence, they will be

able to write their own programs and design and create

simple games for others to test and play.

Together, we continue to experiment, develop and

improve our coding and computer skills here at St P’s to

enable the children to have a better understand of

computers and computer science.

27

THE ARTS AT ST PETER’S SCHOOL

Extra-curricular Excellence

We are so pleased to have

welcomed staff from NMPAT to join

our music teaching team at St

Peter’s School. Instrumental tuition

at the school has flourished! This

year a number of pupils have started to learn to play

flute or clarinet with Ms Carter, violin continues to thrive

under the tutelage of Miss Allen and we are delighted to

have formal singing tuition provided by Mr Taylor.

Keenness for piano lessons at the school continues with

Mrs Walters coming in nearly every day. There have

been some super exam results from her pupils too!

Towards the end of the last academic year, Tabitha Fray,

Grace Hillis, Calypso Sellekaerts and Bella Sieunarine

auditioned for entry to various county ensembles and we

are very proud that they all gained places. Over the

course of this year they have taken part in a wide range

of concerts taking place in many special venues including

the Derngate Theatre and Cripps Hall.

Speech and Drama lessons with Mrs Arnold are ever-

popular and pupils gain so much from the presentation

skills developed. The work towards English Speaking

Board assessments takes dedication and much practice

and home support. Each year we learn of the successes

of pupils taking these prestigious assessments.

Ballet lessons are popular at St

Peter’s School. Miss Chatwin is

very pleased that a small group

of St P’s pupils who were

recently entered for Grade 1

ballet examinations did very

well indeed: Sanjita Kurapati,

Grace Hillis and Tabitha Fray all

received distinctions. Well done

girls!

Extra-curricular activities

provide that extra dimension to

learning and we are eager to support pupils’ interests by

offering these optional activities at St Peter’s School.

Music Medalists

Congratulations to Upper Key Stage Two pupils who put

in the practice and worked hard to achieve formal

recognition of their recorder playing skills from the

Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM).

Copper medallists were: Tabitha Fray, Dalitso Mlia,

Calypso Sellekaerts, Theodore Garwe, Tasmin Crabtree, 28

Sanjita Kurapati, Grace Hillis, Chloe Potts, Amelie Watts,

Kitty Loak, Harriet Dunn, Jerome Birch, Simon Sieunarine

Bronze medallists were: Naisha Pandey, Varnikaa Sengar,

Bella Sieunarine. These pupils achieved their Copper

medals last year and took on the challenge of the next

level.

Well done to all our medallists – it takes hard work and

dedicated practice to get these awards!

A new instrument to learn in Year Six!

This year saw a fresh

challenge for our

Year Six pupils: the

Ukulele! This term-

long project saw our

senior pupils

learning four chords

and varying

strumming patterns,

culminating in a fine

performance at the

Christmas Fayre

St Peter’s School Art Gallery

This is situated in Sunnylands’ Hall, continues to be a

place for the children to shine. With the addition of

many newly purchased picture frames, it is positively

bursting with

wonderful

creations, from

Henry Shaw’s

colourful abstract

work made with

torn paper and oil

pastels, to Jacob

Laskey’s careful pencil study of a bird and Ayanna

Malhotra’s depiction of a beautiful countryside scene.

The shelves provide space to

display three-dimensional work,

such as Izzy Watt’s giant marble-

inked fish and the striking masks

made by Tabitha Fray and Dalitso

Mlia. We hope that you are able to

visit from time to time, to see the

changes which we make to the

displays throughout the academic

year.

Key Stage Two Summer Concert

Our Summer Concert took place on a day where the

weather saw a glimpse from every season! But never

underestimate the power of music, because the warmth

and sunshine emerged through it as we listened to pupils

singing, playing instruments and presenting

compositions. The photographs here were taken at the

dress rehearsal during which, in 90 minutes, Mrs Palmer

and the children completed one run through before

presenting a fantastic evening of entertainment.

A song called ‘Belonging’, written by pupils in Year Five

and Year Six opened the Concert.

Class items

followed,

interspersed with

some vocal and

instrumental solos.

St Peter’s School

Choir brought the

first section of the

concert to a close with some beautiful tuneful

harmonies.

The Concert’s Finale was a medley of songs from ‘The

Journey’ by Chris Hazell. Key Stage Two took us on a car

journey….through song. The whole Key Stage sang ‘Time

to Go’. They were off!! We got in our car and went past

lots of motorway cones. Year Four told us about life on

the road from the cones perspective. Year Five sang their

song about the surrounding nature with such passion

and understanding. In the distance, the railway could be

heard and Year Three did an excellent job depicting this

in their song. We finally got to Blackpool and complete

with armbands, beach balls and even an inflatable

mobile phone, Year Six told us about a typical day in the

northern holiday resort!

Finally, Key Stage Two joined forces to sing the moving

balled ‘Where do we go from here?’ Well done children,

on a fantastic and memorable concert.

At St Peter’s School we are keen to recognise the talents

of every student and the Summer Concert was a great

way to display the range of musical skills that the

children have. This year’s Summer Concert will

showcase the work of pupils and instrumental teachers

at the School. We look forward to hearing pianists,

violinists, a cello player, flautists, clarinetists and singers

later in Trinity Term

Each and every participant enjoyed some sort of

personal success at this year’s Eisteddfod. Undertaking

the responsibility of learning a poem or preparing a piece

of music to be performed on a stage in front of an

adjudicator and an audience is no mean feat and all of

our pupils who took part in our local arts festival truly

deserve our admiration and respect, as do the teachers

who prepared them so well. Many of the competitions

only had St Ps competitors in them, but that brought

with it an extra pressure, because if the adjudicator felt a

First place certificate could not be awarded then a

Second or Third place could be given instead! It is a

great pity that other schools do not support this local

event better.

29

In Piano competitions, Grace Hillis won the 14 & U

competition, Rupert Fray was 2nd in the 7 & U, Dalitso

Mlia was 2nd and Tabitha Fray 3rd in the 8 & U, Naisha

Pandey was 2nd in the 12 & U and 3rd in the 11 & U.

Simon and Bella Sieunarine were awarded first place in

the piano duet 10 & U. Well done also to Teegan

Edwards and Isabelle Aldwinckle, Tasmin Crabtree,

Theodore Garwe, Maya Sieunarine and Sanjita Kurapati,

who also took part in piano competitions.

Only pupils from St Peter’s School took part in Eisteddfod

ocarina competitions this year. In Key

Stage One ocarina solo Theone Garwe

was placed 1st and Maya Sieunarine and

Mya Churchill were equal 2nd. Sidar

Altunkaynak and Rupert Fray were joint winners of the

Key Stage Two solo ocarina competition.

Theone Garwe was awarded 1st place in the Solo Strings

8 & U competition with her violin solo, Dalitso Mlia was

1st in the 9 & U category, playing ‘cello, and in the 10 &

U class Grace Hillis was 1st and Naisha Pandey was 2nd

with their violin solos. Grace was also 1st in the 9 & U

woodwind/brass/recorder solo, Calypso

Sellekaerts was 2nd, each playing

recorder, and Theodore Garwe was

equal 3rd with his euphonium solo.

Heidi Crabtree won the 10 & U recorder

competition, with Naisha Pandey and Varnikaa being

placed equal 2nd. Grace Hillis gave an impressive violin

recital and was awarded a 1st place for it. Well done

also to Harriet and Tabitha for their achievement in the

wind/recorder competition.

In the singing competitions there were a few more

competitors from other schools, yet St P’s pupils took the

main positions! Calypso Sellekaerts was placed 1st, Grace

Hillis was 2nd and Bella Sieunarine was 3rd. Grace Hillis

won a further three vocal solo competitions of different

categories!

Success continued to flood in throughout the course of

the Speech & Drama competitions. Sophie Walshaw was

1st and Franklin Fowler 2nd in solo verse speaking 5 & U.

Well done also to Geraldine Mlia, Ola Onakoya and

Khamsin Sellekaerts. Kabeer Jain was 1st and Jack

Wallington 2nd in the solo verse speaking 6 & U. Well

done to Angel Kuveya, Ethan Armstrong, Mya Churchill,

Theone Garwe, Kye Mateyo and Maya Sieunarine. Sidar

Altunkaynak won the 7 & U category. Well done to

Teegan Edwards, Rupert Fray and Georgiana Barton.

Sophia Armstrong was 3rd in the 8 & U class. Well done

to Aryan Nath, Oliver Daw, Donnell Chaonza and

30

Mushana Mabhurukwa. Grace Hillis was joint 3rd in the

U9’s solo verse speaking. Well done also to Dalitso Mlia,

Tabitha Fray, Calypso Sellekaerts, Harriet Dunn and

Simon Sieunarine. Bella Sieunarine won the 10 & U solo

verse speaking competition- well done to Naisha Pandey

and Varnikaa Sengar. Harriet Dunn won the 10 & U sight

-reading competition and Sidar Altunkaynak was 2nd in

his age category. St Peter’s School Group Speaking teams

(Y3 & Y4 and Y5 & Y6) were runners up in both their

competitions and received very pleasing adjudications

for their performances.

On Saturday evening it was with great pride that Mrs

Chapman watched six of our winning pupils perform at

the Kettering Eisteddfod Prize Winners Concert: Sophie

Walshaw, Kabeer Jain, Sidar Altunkaynak, Bella

Sieunarine, Grace Hillis and Calypso Sellekaerts. This was

a most formal event with local dignitaries in attendance.

Our pupils performed with great aplomb wearing their

school uniform (on a Saturday night!) with pride. Thank

you boys and girls. On top of the prizes already awarded,

special recognition awards were presented to Grace Hillis

and Calypso Sellekaerts. Wow!

‘Well done’ to all St P’s pupils who took part in

competitions. ‘Thank you’ to all families, teachers and

school staff who supported this year’s Eisteddfod

entrants.

Mystery at Magpie Manor

Congratulations to the cast of thirty seven Key Stage Two

31

pupils for the highly polished set of performances given

just before half term. Each evening

was punctuated by

resounding applause and

laughter. The comedy timing,

acting and singing skills

shown by the cast was of

high calibre, the children

putting their hearts and souls

into each performance and

collectively truly being ‘the

stars of the show’! The set,

the costumes, the makeup,

the music, the drama, the props,

supervising the sometimes exuberant cast during

rehearsals, and over fifteen hours of weekend rehearsal

to top up weekly Production Club rehearsals ….….all of

this came from the dedication, enthusiasm & sheer

goodwill of staff at the School, which is also noteworthy.

It is hoped that the children will always remember with

great fondness the experience of being part of a

production at St P’s.

Pupil Wellbeing and

Pastoral Care at St Peter’s School

Evidence shows that across the UK, mental health issues

in children are increasing while child wellbeing is

deteriorating. Young people today have to navigate a

complex and ever-changing world, facing challenges and

pressures in numerous aspects of their life. Over the

course of their education, children spend over 7,800

hours at school. With such a huge amount of time spent

in the classroom, St Peter’s School provides an ideal

environment for promoting good emotional wellbeing

and identifying early behaviour changes and signs of

mental distress. The social and emotional skills,

knowledge and behaviours that young people learn in

the classroom can help them to build resilience and set

the pattern for how they will manage their mental health

throughout their lives.

Here at St P’s we believe in fostering the essential

components of emotional wellbeing such as good

relationships, self-discipline, self-confidence, self-

efficacy, communication skills, positive mind set and

attitude. Alongside our PSHEE (personal, social, health,

emotional & economic awareness) curriculum we hold

regular assemblies throughout the year focusing on such

topics as kindness, empathy, jealousy, friendship issues

and bullying to name but a few! Mrs Chapman and other

staff deliver Anti-Bullying guidance to help keep our

children aware of what sort of behaviour is acceptable at

school and what the course of action is when bullying is

identified. We also welcome external visitors to the

school so that children have the opportunity to hear

guidance from ‘other voices’ too.

Children have taken part in lessons on how to develop a

positive mind-set and how to develop a healthy attitude

to some of the more negative elements of life. They are

encouraged to be self-disciplined and to take an

appropriate level of responsibility for their own learning.

They are given responsibilities and we recognise the

importance of hearing our “student voice”. Children at

St Peter’s are given, through the School Council, a chance

to have their ideas on how to make the school an “even

happier place,” listened to and implemented.

Children are encouraged to talk to staff if they are feeling

unhappy or anxious about anything. Pastoral Leaders at

St P’s handle a wide range of issues that children share

with them; these range from resolving friendship issues

and anxieties, to comforting children who are dealing

with bereavement and family break ups. Every

classroom has a Worry Bug

where children can post

any worries that they may

not find easy to talk about

and these are monitored

and regularly checked.

Emotional wellbeing is a

clear indicator of academic

achievement, success and

satisfaction in later life and

at St Peter’s School we recognise its paramount

importance in the healthy development of your children.

Learning Support and Multisensory Teaching

It is well recognised that we all have different ways in

which we learn and remember information. Some

children find it easier to learn when information is

presented to them visually for e.g. with the use of video

clips, mind maps, diagrams and concrete apparatus.

Some children find it easier to process auditory

information; they are able to listen to a teacher talking

and absorb the spoken word and retrieve the facts

necessary for a later task without much difficulty.

Another way in which some children learn is by

interacting with the material on a tactile and kinaesthetic

level, for example using the sense of touch and fine and

gross motor skills.

32

Multisensory techniques are frequently used for children

with learning differences. Multisensory teaching

techniques and strategies stimulate learning by engaging

students on multiple levels. They encourage students to

use some or all their senses to:

Gather information about a task

Link information to ideas they already know and

understand

Perceive the logic involved in solving problems

Learn problem solving tasks

Tap into non-verbal reasoning skills

Understand relationships between concepts

Store information for later recall

During Learning Support sessions at St Peter’s a wide

variety of multisensory resources are used. These

resources are regularly updated so that we are providing

any students who are experiencing barriers to their

learning with an engaging method in which they can

learn more effectively. Children interact with computer

programs such as Wordshark and Numbershark using

both visual and auditory senses. They use a very

engaging tool called STILE for all aspects of sentence and

word construction as well as comprehension activities.

This resource involves moving tiles into a specific pattern

as they answer a series of multi- choice questions;

thereby using visual and sensory motor skills to learn and

retain information.

One of our newest pieces of equipment is a Smart Chute.

This resource, pictured above, is rather like a post-box.

The idea is that the children post cards with questions on

them for e.g. 5 x7 into the top of the chute, attempt to

answer the questions and then self -check when the

chute flips the card over with the correct answer. It is

used in our learning support sessions to help improve

rapid recall of times tables facts; the children say the

tables question (auditory), use fine motor skills to post

the question into the chute and then see the answer

visually thereby engaging three senses rather than one.

We also have Smart Chute working memory cards.

Recently we have started using a multisensory reading/

writing/spelling scheme called Wordblaze which is widely

used in learning support sessions. The Wordblaze

Assemblies That Make You Think

School Assemblies are an important time. The School

community comes together to share and celebrate news

about our sports matches and arts achievements.

However, the main thrust of this valued time is in order

to think about topics linked to social, moral, spiritual and

cultural development including citizenship and British

values.

We have thought about Democracy and pupils have

considered the democratic processes they are involved

in when electing School Councillors. In one School

Assembly, pupils considered the meaning of the word

‘peace’, exploring how they can play a part in being

facilitators of peace at home, at school, at work and at

play. In another they heard about two women, Mary

Seacole and Rosa Parks, who are now regarded as

historically significant for taking what they believed was

a right course of action that brought no harm to others.

Later in the year, we looked at the Suffrage Movement,

to link with the current centenary of votes for women.

The children were very interested to learn that it was

only women over 30 who owned a certain amount of

property that were first given the vote and that it was

not until 1928 that women were given equal voting

rights to men, being able to vote at 21. The voting age

was lowered to 18 in 1970.

School Assembly time is a good place to keep exploring

the theme of Anti-Bullying, providing pupils with

assertive techniques and a deeper understanding about

how their words, looks and actions can cause

unhappiness to others. Children benefit from gaining an

understanding of the difference between being assertive

in play and being controlling of others.

33

VISITS and VISITORS

Kelmarsh Hall

During a much anticipated and sunny day in Trinity Term,

Key Stage One and Reception Class set out for a day out

at Kelmarsh Hall. They travelled by

coach and were met by the

education team who led a busy

day full of a wide variety of

activities. First the children

explored the walled garden in

small groups hunting for plants

some of which they had the opportunity to taste such as

broccoli and celery. Others they could smell like mint

and rosemary. Some of the children had never seen what

the plants looked like and finding a carrot in the ground

was not as easy as when it is cooked and on a plate! The

children decorated a plant pot and planted a sunflower

seed to take home. In another crafty activity they

designed a potato bug which they also took home.

A favourite part of the

day started with a walk

around the grounds,

exploring the many

paths and hidden places.

Then a bug hunt using a

variety of equipment to

catch the bugs-all of

whom were safely

returned to their homes

after being examined.

Finally a race, to determine who could beat the leader

up the hill and back to the house!

Later that afternoon a coach load of weary but very

contented children arrived back at St P’s complete with

the things they had made and lots of stories to tell their

parents.

Dance Workshop in KS1

A Jazz Dancing Workshop was arranged for the children

in Key Stage One during Lent Term. The session was run

by a qualified dance teacher and her tuition had been

purchased using Sainsbury’s Active Kids Vouchers, which

school families kindly donate each year. The session

began with a thorough body warm up with stretches for

the neck, shoulders, arms, legs and core muscles. The

dancing involved moving together in a line using jumps

and side strides with quarter and half turns. Then there

were air claps, skipping and leaping in time to familiar

pop tunes that helped the children keep the beat. The

children enthusiastically attempted a circular move

involving lots of changing hands from left to right whilst

moving round. This was completed with various degrees

of success but soaked up loads of enthusiasm!

A grand finale saw a

dance involving all the

moves they had been

practising before some

cooling down stretches.

The children came away

exhausted but very

content as they had all

tried their best to

coordinate their moves

with the music.

Bringing Together Past & Present

Mr. Sanders presented the school with four wonderful

pictures: three of William Timpson, and one of

Sunnylands House, upon which the pupils have enjoyed

mapping the developments of the school we have today.

Upper Key Stage Two Trip to the Safety Centre

Upper Key Stage pupils had a wonderful day at Safety

Centre, Hazard Alley in Milton Keynes, evidenced by the

comments overheard from them, such as “Oh wow! This

is so cool!”, “This is a trip to remember”, “a life-learning

experience”, “informative and fun”, “realistic” and “the

best trip!”

In one session, our Year Five and Year Six pupils learnt

essential safety and life-saving skills such as how to make

an emergency phone-call and place a person in a

recovery position. They were urged to become more

aware of their surroundings and the daily hazards in

their homes and on the streets.

This was followed by an interactive workshop on internet

safety when our children learnt how to protect personal

information and counteract cyber-bullying. They created

some fantastic safety raps to show off their new cyber

safety knowledge. Children were also reminded of the

importance of

not playing

games rated to

be suitable for

sixteen and

eighteen year

olds and they

were alerted

to the age

restrictions for social media.

Halloween & Bonfire Night ‘Stay Safe’ reminder

Earlier in the year welcomed our local Police Community

Support Officer, PCSO Mike Bowes, to our school

assembly, where he brought to us very important

information and reminders regarding our safety at

Hallowe’en and Bonfire

Night. Encouragingly,

our pupils are always

able to suggest key

safety points, as well as

asking relevant

questions. This annual

visit is vital in

maintaining the safety of

our pupils, whilst still

allowing them to have

some fun!

Rev Helen Wakefield-Carr leads Harvest Festival

In September, we were delighted to welcome Rev. Helen

to lead our Harvest

Assembly. Pupils

always look forward

to her visits for she is

a vibrant speaker and

a colourful character

too, who always

engages our pupils so

well with her lively

delivery. Rev. Helen

told us a story about

a pumpkin who

realised that the best

way to thrive and be happy was to give to others. Her

backcloth was the Harvest Table, made up of produce

which some School families so very kindly donated. The

food collected was used to make up Christmas hampers

which were then donated to Home-Start, Kettering, a

charity which helps families in need with young children.

Our Head Boy and Head Girl met with a representative

from the Charity to hand over the food. Thank you to

families who donated.

Magistrate’s Visit to Upper Key Stage Two

Upper Key Stage Two pupils welcomed magistrates Mrs

Burch and Mr Brown to St Peter’s School. They led a

most informative session for our pupils, outlining the role

of a magistrate and explaining the different levels of

justice. During Trinity Term, Year Six pupils study ‘Crime

and Punishment since Roman times’, comparing and

contrasting punishments and noting which are still used

today, so this visit fitted perfectly with their curriculum.

Year Five and Six pupils

took part in a scripted

mock trial about a case of

alleged cyber bullying,

which linked in with our

PSHEE. Prosecution and

defence cases were heard

by the Bench, oaths were taken, witnesses were called

and a judgement was made. This was an excellent

opportunity for pupils to exercise their critical thinking

skills, when aspects of the case were ‘paused’ so that

pupils could talk about the various stages of their

considerations. The pupils asked thoughtful questions

showing their moral compasses, and also their

compassion. The defendant had been having a hard time

- our jury also understood that reasons for actions are

not necessarily excuses for actions. 34

CHRISTMAS AT ST PETER’S SCHOOL

This is such a special time for children! The simple joy

with which they

approach this time

of year helps many

of us entrenched

in life’s routines

and duties to also

feel the spiritual

significance of this

important time.

Christmas Theatre trips also took place for children in

Reception to Year Six. They saw some fabulous classic

stories this year: The Jungle Book and The Wind in the

Willows. These trips are always eagerly awaited events

for our pupils!

This year’s Christmas Concerts presented by pupils in

Sunnylands Nursery, Reception Class, Year One and Year

Two were simply enchanting!

35

Carol Service

Our Carol Service ended Michaelmas term in a formal,

contemplative and joyful fashion with beautiful music

making, fine readings, meditative prayers and excellent

behaviour from all of our pupils who congregated in the

Church of St Peter and St Paul in Kettering.

Here are a few photographs from our very short

rehearsal which took place on the day before the

service…

HELPING OTHERS

Fundraising for Lakelands Hospice

Lakelands Hospice in Corby provides care for those with

life-limiting illnesses. The hospice constantly needs

financial help in order to meet the needs and demands of

the local community. They do not receive any

government funding and rely totally on fundraising

events and charitable donations. For a number of years,

St Peter’s School pupils have held a Fruity Treats

fundraiser in Sunnylands Hall to raise money for the

hospice - and this year was no different! Parents and

children contributed some wonderfully creative and eye

catching treats which were then sold after school and a

total of £119 was raised for this important local facility.

Just before half term one of our Caretaking Team, Mr

Turner, took part in the annual dancing competition

Strictly Corby to raise further funds for the hospice. He

was runner up in the final and raised an incredible

£9,995.17 Wow!

Cubby and Friends

Head Boy Matthew

Kaye and Head Girl

Bella Sieunarine shared

a lovely book with

Reception Class pupils

recently.

Cubby and Friends has been written by former pupil

David Palmer, all about the adventure he had with his

toy bear from his childhood. Copies of the book can be

purchased from Bear With Me, 24 Market Street

Kettering, all proceeds going to ‘Kidney Research UK’ and

‘Live Life, Give Life’.

St P’s supports Sport Relief

We started our Sport Relief activities with a Swim the

Channel challenge which required 1344 lengths of

Kettering Swimming Pool to be swum by way of an

‘accumulative swim’ involving our pupils in Years Two to

Year Six. After having added up all their lengths the total

amount the children swam was 2222 lengths! If you

convert this into miles that is 34.7m and is considerably

more than the 21 mile Channel. Indeed, it is the

equivalent of swimming from Kettering to Coventry! The

children did a great job for a truly worthy cause.

A Morning Mile for Sports Relief took place each day of

Sports Relief Week at St P’s. We had some very

dedicated stalwarts turn out every morning!

The central event of our Sports Relief Week involved

pupils throughout the School and even some in

Sunnylands Nursery setting out on a mile-long Sports

Relief course on our School field. Many pupils pushed

themselves to complete much more than one mile –

many managed

three miles or

more! As you can

see from the

photographs,

some pupils

decided to complete

their miles in a

number of ways!

A massive £522 was raised for Sport Relief. Thank you to

all families who supported this event. You are fantastic!

36

37

READING AT ST PETER’S SCHOOL

Pre-reading skills development at Sunnylands

Learning phonics begins in Sunnylands Nursery. Books

are always available for the children to enjoy. The ‘Share

a Book Scheme’ runs throughout the terms and the

parents can engage with their children at home using a

nursery library book each week. World Book Day

provides an opportunity for the children’s favourite

stories to be read, along with the fun of dressing-up!

(see picture on page 22)

Up, up and away….with Reading Cloud!

In January, pupils in

Upper Key Stage Two

received the exciting

news that they were

now members of a

secure St Peter’s School

reading community

called Reading Cloud. This exciting development in our

reading habits at St. P’s, enables them to write reviews

about books they have read and blog about what they

are reading, as well as make recommendations for books

they would like to see on our KS2 Library’s shelves.

Pupils can receive suggestions about authors who may

interest them, based on their current loans and searches.

For the love of reading…

Reading is a much valued element of pupils’ time at St

Peter’s School. From the magical images in picture books

to the reality of news articles and the deeply described

settings and characters in long novels, our pupils enjoy

them all. Teachers share their own passion for reading

with their classes, with opportunities given to read aloud

to pupils in assemblies or in a spare five minutes before

lunch or the end of the day. Classic novels, adaptations,

modern stories and even comic-strips have been shared.

The welcoming Key Stage Two library, overlooking the

South Lawn, houses a plethora of genres and subject

matters. Through our online reading community Reading

Cloud, pupils have the means to return and issue their

own books as well as post reviews of books read.

The pleasure and analysis of a wide range of written

genres has been invigorated and deepened through

pupils’ comprehension studies. Each week, they are met

with a new or continuing text based on similar themes.

They read the texts aloud, or can listen to them in an on-

line format, then answering three key questions: one

looking question, which shows a recall of the text; one

clue question, which encourages the reader to look at

the hidden text or implied events; and one thinking

question which asks the reader to consider why a

character may act in particular manners, or why an event

occurred, or to place themselves in the situation for

empathy. Teachers spend time discussing these

questions and provide many other prompts for deep

class responses and sharing of ideas.

In collaboration with this, each year group follows a story

throughout the entire year within their grammar lessons,

with each week providing a chapter that embeds strong

writing exemplification. Classes have a book that they

are reading together and to each other.

Our students share a strong passion for reading, each

child having a reading book of their own. It is most

wonderful to see a book being passed around a class,

with friends sharing their favourite stories or recent

‘read’ with others. Even when we have to tell a child to

put a book down in class, it is still encouraging to see

that they have been ‘hooked on the book’ they are

currently immersed in.

Headmistress’s Interview with the Head Boy and

Head Girl

At our last Founders Day the announcement was made

that a Head Boy and Head Girl had been selected. During

some years both roles will be instated and at others

times it may be that one role will be invested. The first

recipients of these prestigious positions of responsibility

were to be Matthew Kaye and Bella Sieunarine. As these

two pupils now approach their final term ‘in office’, Mrs

Chapman spoke to them about the experience they have

had over the course of the year.

Bella said she was surprised to have been chosen as

Head Girl and Matthew said that he was flabbergasted at

the announcement! Mrs Chapman explained to them

that they had precisely been chosen because of the

modesty it was felt they would bring to their new

positions. When asked what had been the most

enjoyable aspect of being Head Boy/Girl, Bella said that

she felt very proud of being invested with such a role of

trust and Matthew said it felt a real honour. He said that

the challenge of the role was to do a good job

representing the School and its pupils and being slick

about it too.

Mrs Chapman asked what sort of lasting memories

Matthew and Bella had during their time at St Peter’s

School. Matthew said that although he joined the

school in Year Four he really felt that he had so many

happy memories of the place already and he had been

pleased to make so many friends so quickly. Bella said

that starting in Reception Class meant that she had so

many great memories it was tricky to know which ones

to draw upon but the one that was closest to her heart

was having an item of her work printed in an early issue

of Key Moments.

Members of the School Council with the Headmistress

everyone else and not above them.

The advice our

current Head

Boy and Head

Girl give to

future

incumbents is:

always

remember that

you are on an

equal footing

with all the

pupils. You

may wear a

special badge

but you are still

equal to

Eco Committee

We welcomed Zavier Warne, Rupert Fray, Angel

Kuveya, Tasmin Crabtree, Aryan Nath, Joshua Thorp

and Harriet Dunn to their positions of responsibility

as Eco Committee members. Last year’s Eco

Committee finished off the year by presenting the

School with an Eco Code to follow, so this year’s

new committee members will be taking on the task

of monitoring the Eco Code’s implementation.

Mrs Chapman thinks these are incredibly wise words!

We look forward to Bella and Matthew completing their

year as Head Boy and Head Girl with their Founders Day

Vote of Thanks.

The School Council

This year’s School Council has continued the sterling

work of last year’s elected members. They have led the

way in raising funds for Children In Need, and have also

ensured that all classes and pupils views are requested

and considered carefully before final decisions are

taken. School Councillors are currently looking into

ideas for supporting Kettering General Hospital’s George

the Giraffe Appeal, aimed to raise funds for a new

incubator for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. They

will be consulting their Class Councils and hopefully

taking lots of fundraising ideas to School Council

Meetings.

38

We will look after the World because

We will make a better job of recycling paper, glass, foil, tins

We will find more ways to reuse things

We will pick up litter

We will make better use of our playground and class bins

We will use water carefully

We will turn off lights in empty rooms

We will learn more about how to look after our world

ST PETER’S SCHOOL PTA

Thanks to the sterling work of a small group of parents, a

large number of PTA events have taken place with the

support of staff at the School, aimed to provide fun and

school find-raising opportunity.

Over the last twelve

months there has

been an Easter

Bunny Drive, a

Father’s Day Gift

Workshop and one

more recently for

Mother’s Day

Also a very well attended PTA Harvest Supper, the ever

All parents of pupils at the School are automatically

members of the PTA. If you have not helped out at an

event before, please consider doing so, because the

future of PTA events really does depend upon parents

getting involved and lending a hand. Support your PTA

because you are part of it!

39

popular Ghost Hunt

and the Christmas

Fayre.

The money raised

from these events

has helped towards

the funding of many

School projects over

the years - including

this year’s Egyptian

History Day

(see front cover)

40

MORE PICTURES FROM KEY STAGE TWO’S EGYPTIAN DAY

Weighing the heart