Learning 8-13

Resilience is at the heart of our approach to learning at St Peter’s 8-13, inspired by our Learning Habits and Growth Mindset. The children are encouraged to see mistakes as a crucial part of the learning journey, and adapt to change with an open mind and a willingness to learn. This approach has enabled our pupils to overcome the many challenges they have faced this year, creating a seamless transition between learning at home and in the classroom.

Satellite Libraries Satellite libraries were introduced at St Peter’s 8-13 this year to make sure that our pupils could still benefit from the fantastic range of books available in the Library.

Although classes were unable to visit the Library for much of the year, they still had access to a great selection of books thanks to Mrs Locket’s new ‘satellite’ libraries. Mrs Locket created a small ‘satellite’ library for each class bubble. Each bubble had a trolley with around 200 - 300 books, and Mrs Locket carefully chose the books to ensure that they were age specific and covered a range of subjects. We are delighted that our pupils have still been able to benefit from the joys of reading during these challenging times.

Vikings! In the autumn term, J1 pupils enjoyed spending the day as Vikings in a replica Viking settlement based at Murton Park. The unique educational environment formed part of the history curriculum on their study of Invaders and Settlers. During the course of the day, they were farmers, hoeing the field and craftsmen making clay oil lamps. Children were even able to dress up in period-appropriate costumes and carry out a range of activities including collecting firewood and grinding wheat to make bread.

Guard training was given to help the new settlers protect the village from marauding Saxons. Our pupils certainly took a ‘Viking’ to the day!

Back at school, J1 celebrated with a special Viking Day, acquiring new skills including weaving, making flatbreads and creating Viking inspired jewellery. Spelling Bee Success Three pupils from St Peter’s 8-13 reached the national final of the Modern Languages National Spelling Bee this year.

Isabelle, Sophie and Will secured their places in the final after competing in the Yorkshire and The Humber regional finals. Isabelle achieved first place in the German competition, Sophie achieved first place in the French competition and Will came third in the Spanish competition.

This amazing achievement is testament to many hours of dedicated learning and practice. Latin and Classics Miss Downes awarded merits to several J4 Latin pupils to celebrate their ingenuity and innovation. The pupils translated a short scene of the play ‘In Basilica’ in class and were given two weeks to create their own visual interpretation of the play. The pupils edited and recorded their videos at home via Zoom or Teams, with innovative results.

Sam and Charles made a video in full toga costume with the background edited to show them in a lawcourt, whilst Elliotte, Heidi and Lexi produced a video with costumes and an appearance from Heidi’s dog, which they managed to record ‘speaking’ using an app to edit the video. Congratulations also go to Arthur (J3) who entered a national competition with Athena’s Owls to write a new account of a famous Greek myth from the point of view of one of the mythical monsters. Arthur won the 8-13 age category!

Becky’s Book Review Well done to J5 pupil Becky who had a book review published by Books Up North in March.

Becky, a member of the Books Up North Kids’ Review Panel, wrote a compelling review of Jonathan Stroud’s book The Outlaws Scarlett & Browne. Set in a broken, future England, the story is the first title in a fantasy teen series with a feisty female heroine.

Becky’s review vividly brings to life the central characters and cleverly explores the central themes of the book, without revealing the plot. According to Becky, “if you enjoy comedy, mixed with thrilling action, this is the book for you.”

Sarah Tyson, from Books Up North, said: “Jonathan’s book is not published yet but after reading Becky’s brilliant review we’re sure you’ll add it to your reading list!”

Young readers who would like to join the Books Up North Kids’ Reviews panel should visit booksupnorth.com

Minecraft and Matza Bread From Minecraft to Matza bread, pupils at St Peter’s 8-13 used some innovative learning techniques to fully immerse themselves in the curriculum during lockdown.

Our Saturday Enrichment Programme gave pupils the opportunity to choose their own activities from horse riding to draughts. Other pupils used their Saturday mornings to respond innovatively to the curriculum, from baking cakes inspired by the journey of a river for Geography to cooking dishes inspired by European dishes for Modern Foreign Languages.

The teachers also encouraged the children to think outside the box when learning from home. As part of their work on Sikhism in Religious Studies, J1 and J2 designed their own Gurdwaras. They were given their brief in the form of an architect’s letter and have used drawing, LEGO and models to bring their plans to life. One of the pupils even used Minecraft to create their designs!

Meanwhile, J3 pupils cooked delicious food associated with the festivals they had been studying in their lessons on Judaism, including potato Latkes and Matza bread, whilst other children made impressive models of Sukkot booths.

Well done to all pupils for adapting so positively to new ways of learning. Enterprise Project Our talented pupils at St Peter’s 8-13 are very proud of their finished designs for their Enterprise Project. Our pupils worked in groups to create a product, adding a design using sublimation techniques. They then made adverts and sold the products online. Project ideas included embroidered jellyfish keyrings, hand-painted flower place mats, and mugs with hand drawn designs.

The Enterprise Project celebrates ingenuity and business sense, giving our pupils an experience of what the world of business is like. This project allowed them to show creativity, co-ordination with others, people management, and analysis and decision making... Skills that our young people will need to thrive.

Each year, the team with the best collaboration, design ideas, advert and profit margin wins. The profits are used to supplement the project the following year, and the rest are given to charity.

Science Week Our annual Science Week returned in the summer term, with a series of exciting activities and tasks for the pupils. Science Week usually involves all pupils at St Peter’s 8-13, but this year we restricted the activities to J5 to comply with Covid-19 restrictions and to ensure that the J5s could enjoy their final Science Week. The chemistry challenge involved making a rainbow fizz and creating some chemical rockets, whilst the physics challenge required the pupils to use their knowledge of stable shapes to build a tower from spaghetti and marshmallows. Ms Miller also did a lesson of ‘explosions’ to demonstrate to each class - including the whoosh bottle and methane bubbles.

Mindfulness in Schools Our J4 pupils have been taking part in the mindfulness programme throughout the year, including during lockdown. Mr Draper led the 10-week .b (Dot B) course, which was created by the Mindfulness in Schools Project. The pupils have learnt different strategies including how to be mindful and how to cope with everyday stresses and distractions. They have undertaken simple practices whilst sitting, walking, standing, or moving, bringing mindful awareness into everyday life. This has enabled them to bring calm and focus to the start and end of their lessons and activities in school. The pupils have even started to lead short mindfulness sessions in their classes and are continuing to practise mindfulness each week as part of the PSHE programme.