No.16 13 May 2022
SummerTerm
ST PETER’S 8-13 NEWSLETTER It’s hard to believe we’re at the end of the third week of term already. Please remember that tomorrow is an Exeat so no Saturday School. The sports teams have been making the most of the good weather with mixed, girls and boys cricket teams all playing in fixtures against other teams. The U13 and U12 boys have both made it through to the next round of their respective national cricket tournaments. The rescheduled HMC swimming championships saw our U9 girls crowned as overall champions! The U9 boys were 2nd, the U10 girls 3rd, U10 - boys 4th, U11 girls 2nd and U11 boys 7th. A fantastic day and thank you to Mr Maycock and his team for organising, and to all the children who competed. Congratulations also to Charles, Raya, Alice, Clara, Clara and Phoebe in J5 who have all qualified for the World Schools Swimming Championships to be held in London at the Olympic Aquatic Centre. To celebrate Cincode Mayo day we had a Mexican feast for lunch. A delicious chipotle chicken and sweet potato soup to start, then shredded chicken Tinga with arroz Rojo and for dessert, Mexican rice pudding! Some of the Pupil Ambassadors have been writing welcome postcards for children coming to York through the York City of Sanctuary programme. We are also supporting the charity by collecting stationery & books to donate to these children when they arrive. Our J1s have been cooking as part of their Lifeskills programme, with J4 starting after the exams. The inter-house chess competition starts at the beginning of May. We had a visit from one of the reviewers of The Good Schools Guide this week, where he met with children and staff and has already had telephone conversations with some parents. It is always good to be able to explain to someone how we integrate our one school set of four pillars (qualifications, skill, interests and values) into the middle section of the child’s journey through St Peter’s, building on the thematic curriculum at 2-8 and exposing the children to an increasing number of specialist teachers. This also allows us to make the most of our specialist facilities, giving the children opportunities to grow in independence and confidence as they move around the school for lessons and are taught by a variety of teachers, in our preparations for them to move to the senior school. The curriculum in J4 and J5 has been devised in consultation with the senior school Heads of Department to ensure there is a seamless transition and that the children have the skills and knowledge that each senior school department is looking for in their subject. There is also a comprehensive transfer process between Year 3 and J1, and J5 into 3rd Form, which takes place this half term. This helps to ensure that the children hit the ground running in September as they move into a new section of the school. St Peter’s 8-13, York, YO30 7WA www.stpetersyork.org.uk Registered Charity Number: 1141329
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Our Seven Key Values are Friendship, Trust, Wisdom, Compassion, Endurance, Humility, Hope Collaboration and Empathy...
In the past when drawing up the class lists we have asked the children to list the names of up to five other children who they would like to be in a class with the following year. We then used this as the basis for putting together the classes. This often causes angst for some of the children, as they find it hard to put down a list of names for a number of reasons. It also means that some classes can be dominated by a large group of children who are already close friends, making it difficult for others to feel included and the dynamics for learning are not always ideal. We have decided that we will adopt the same process as used at St Peter’s 2-8 and 13-18, thus having a one school approach, and use staff professional judgement to put together the class lists to ensure that each class has a mix of gender balance and interests. This will enable the pupils to be placed in their best learning environment and will also allow them to embrace new friendships as they move through school. The class lists will be sent out towards the end of the summer term. We started our end of year exams yesterday – the same week that Year 6s across the country are doing their SATS exams. The purpose of these is to give the children the chance to ty out different ways to revise to find out what works best for them, along with familiarity with sitting a timed exam in a formal way. This is done in age specific ways with the J5s in the Shepherd Hall in a similar fashion to when they will sit GCSEs. The pupils at the senior school who are sitting their GCSE exams just now last sat formal exams in J5, due to the Covid restrictions, and it will be that experience which is helping them at the moment. In J1 and J2 it is much more low-key and just done in their classroom during a normal lesson. I’ve been really proud of the way the children have gone about preparing for the exams. We will then give them their feedback before Half term so that they can enjoy the mid-term break without having to revise or worry about exams. In case you ever wondered what exam invigilators get up to when you’re busy scribbling your answers, you can find out here! As we start planning for the end of term, it is worth reminding you that Speech Day and Prize Giving will be back to our usual format – held in the sports hall with all children, staff and parents. It is on Thursday 7th July, 10.45-12.00 but you will need to be seated by 10.30. J5 parents can also attend the J5 Leavers’ Service in the Chapel which is 8.45-9.15. There will then be refreshments in the Shepherd Hall for any J5 parents who are intending to go to Speech Day. Our guest speaker will be Jackson Ogunyemi, better known as “Action Jackson”! Andy Falconer Head
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St Peter’s 8-13 Learning Habits Collaboration, Creativity, Curiosity, Embracing Challenge, Empathy, Flexible Thinking, Initiative, Perseverance