Dear parents, pupils, former pupils and friends of

St Peter’s School

Welcome to this rundown of the past school year, from

Trinity Term 2013 through to the end of Lent Term 2014.

Our publication’s new name is derived from the keys of

St Peter, featured in our School logo. We want to provide

pupils with unforgettable times in their primary school

years, and there have indeed been many special moments

over the course of twelve months, which will hopefully

serve to provide our children with happy memories that

will stay with them forever. I hope that you enjoy a

reminder of some of them in this issue of Key Moments.

St Peter’s School Alumni

Our first Alumni Coffee Morning took place in Trinity

Term 2013, when we welcomed back former pupils to the

School. When ‘bumping into’ former pupils I was always

amazed as to how, despite the years, they retained such a

strong sense of school loyalty. Many are in their more

senior years, and yet they still reminisce about their days

at St Peter’s School being so special to them. It was

decided therefore to start the process of building a branch

of the School’s organisation where past pupils can remain

connected to the School. We had over seventy guests

attend the first Coffee Morning and our database seemed

to increase very quickly after that! Alumni were invited

to visit the classrooms at last year’s Founders Day and

there then followed

another Alumni

Coffee Morning in

September to raise

funds for MacMillan

Cancer Care. Having

set up the initial

links, the data base

has now been passed to one of the Alumni members so

that this group can establish itself and plan next steps.

We extend a very warm welcome to all our former pupils,

whose names can be added to our data base following a

quick telephone call to the School. If you are aware of

other former pupils then please encourage them to get in

touch! Reconnecting the School’s past with its present

will surely benefit its future!

Library News

This year we have reorganised the school Library by

having a good ‘thinning out’ of old and damaged books.

These have been replaced by some fantastic new stock.

We should like to thank the PTAFA for helping to

purchase these and also to families who have kindly

sponsored books.

The addition of a brand new ‘computer librarian’ system

will allow all pupils to easily search for items as well as

issuing and returning books efficiently using a scanner.

New and existing stock has been re-barcoded and entered

onto the system. Some attractive shelving, posters and

beanbags have transformed the library into a bright and

more inviting area.

Pupils have been eager to use the School Library now that

it has been refreshed with lots of new books for them to

enjoy reading!

Poem Prize Winner for St Ps!

In Trinity Term 2013 the pupils in Key Stage Two were

invited to write a poem to encourage Sun Safety, linked to

a competition run by a company. The children were asked

to write a rap encouraging others to think about playing

safely in the sun. We were delighted in the last week of

the year to hear that Kitty Harley in 3JC had won the

competition. The prizes included £200 worth of vouchers

for Toy’R’Us for Kitty and a computerised weather

station for the school. The children in Year Three also had

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a very exciting afternoon run by the Sun Safety team

which included yet more vouchers won by the class! It

was a really exciting way to finish the last academic year.

St Peter’s School Choir

St Peter’s School Choir made their debut at the

MacMillan Service ‘Lights To Remember’ at Toller

Church in December 2013. We are very fortunate to have

Mrs Lee as accompanist for the Choir and this has

certainly raised the standard of vocal work that we can

achieve. The children have shown great commitment to

the Choir this year, singing with a purity and clear tone.

This wonderful sound was shared with a larger audience

when we sang in the Carol Service at the end of

Michaelmas Term. We are now busy getting ready for the

Kettering Eisteddfod. The children can ably tackle the

challenges of two part singing, injecting enthusiasm and

showing a real stage presence for such young performers.

You will read elsewhere in this issue about the

competitions we won in Kettering & District Eisteddfod

2014. After all that hard work, during Trinity Term we

are looking forward to widening our repertoire and

revisiting songs learned at the beginning of the year. We

can’t wait to sing at the Summer Concert and at Founders

Day!

Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs)

launched

Virtual Learning Environments or Learning Platforms

have been well received by pupils this year. Initial

interest in this online form of learning began with our

involvement in World Maths Day. It was evident from

data we were able to capture about World Maths Day

website usage, that many boys and girls were highly

motivated to work independently on line at home to

further their maths skills. To this end we decided to

subscribe to a VLE called Education City, which offered

pupils a range of homework activities in many subjects in

addition to maths. In September we plan to launch a

subscription to My Maths which will provide pupils with

further opportunity....and hopefully, further fun in

learning too!

3JC class of 2013 runners up in national

quilting competition

A splendid academic year 2012-2013 culminated in the

children in 3JC winning second prize at the National

Festival of Quilts in August 2013! The theme for the

competition was ‘Transport’ and our quilt was made by

every member of the class. First, dying the fabric, then

sewing the backing squares together and designing a

mode of transport and appliquéing their design on the

panel. The title of our quilt was ‘Traffic Jam’ and

everyone made a felt strawberry to fill the jam jar! Other

entries came for all over Europe as well as the UK and

Mrs Cruickshank was delighted to attend the show in

August to collect our certificate and prize money. Thanks

must also go to our visitor Mrs Foster (Mrs

Cruickshank’s mummy!) who helped with our stitching

and the vital job of threading needles.

Sunnylands Nursery

Trinity Term 2013 was marked by the exciting news that

our Nursery was to be renamed Sunnylands Nursery. The

uniform was redesigned and a logo reflecting the name

and ethos of the Nursery was introduced. The new name

comes from the name that the Timpson family gave to the

main house when they had it built in the late nineteenth

century. The Nursery has welcomed children since 1968

and this is the biggest change it has had since that time.

New promotional materials have also been produced and

our numbers have seen a steady increase. Sunnylands

Nursery is still the happy, vibrant place it has always been

and the children have continued to enjoy high quality pre

school education. The fun element is also evident,

underpinning the importance of children’s development

in key social skills, their confidence

in engaging physical activities and

their adeptness in working with

numbers, sounds and formative

writing. The Nursery’s new

mascot, Sunny Bear has a great

time with the children at

Sunnylands Nursery!

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Reception Highlights

In September as well as welcoming

our new smiley Reception Class teacher Mrs

Haynes, we also welcomed a delightful group of

children into Reception Class. It was lovely to see those

from Nursery greeting old friends when they arrived on

the first day, and making friends with our new children.

Since then we have been very busy working hard and

doing all kinds of exciting things:

In our Literacy lessons we have been thinking about

different forms of writing and ways of communicating.

We have composed descriptive seasonal poems, letters to

Father Christmas, and even speech bubbles for Noah.

During Numeracy lessons we have thought about which

3D shapes we see all around us, enjoyed learning our

song about the days of the week and have had fun

counting in twos as we line up to go to the lunch hall!

We have spent a lot of time being creative and thinking

about the world in which we live. Hunting for

‘minibeasts’ outside

with magnifying

glasses caused great

excitement and after

shining torches

through prisms in

order to see the

colours of the rainbow,

the children enjoyed

creating rainbow wall

hangings to decorate

the classroom. The

children have ‘painted’

pictures of Noah using their computer skills, thought

about how to stay healthy, and widened their knowledge

of traditions and celebrations in different communities.

Mrs Haynes hopes that the children are looking forward

to all that is in store

for Trinity Term.

Year One News

Michaelmas Term

brought with it a

freshly decorated

classroom with brand

new tables and chairs,

as well as a new class

of children to Year

One, including three

pupils new to St Ps.

Everyone settled in quickly and made friends, meaning

that the all important job of learning together could get

underway quickly. The children enjoyed learning about

old toys in History lessons. This was a topic which we

carried on after Christmas when we each made a

thaumatrope; an old toy giving the illusion of movement.

In Art and Design during Lent Term we had great fun

making paper dolls and designing new outfits for them.

We had some amazing creations and almost all of them

fitted the dolls! We hope that you will come and see these

designs on Founders Day!

In our Science topics about Forces we considered the

natural forces of wind and water. As a homework project

the children worked with their parents to design and build

a machine that would demonstrate the power of the wind.

I’m not sure who enjoyed this homework most- the

children or the parents- but we certainly had lots of

excellent models! An exciting time was had on the

playground when we tested the machines to see which

ones worked the best and discussed possible

modifications.

During the Lent Term when the weather was wet and cold

Year One enjoyed a series of dance lessons. It was a

pleasure to see the inhibitions of some of the children fall

away as the weeks progressed. We explored the idea of

the Antarctic and a particular favourite lesson was

moving like penguins. We then went to another part of the

world - moving like animals from the plains of Africa.

Tall giraffes drinking at water holes, lions stealthily

hunting their prey and zebras were just some of the

animals we ‘became’.

One of our many different literacy activities was

comprehension work based on the much-loved books

Farmer Duck by Martin Waddell and Peace at Last by Jill

Murphy. The children have really enjoyed these stories

and have learnt about writing questions and writing a

character description.

Homework Projects

Puppet Workshop

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In our numeracy lessons a favourite topic was data

handling where the children worked in pairs to collect

information on a tally chart before constructing a graph to

display their data. The children were thrilled when their

graphs appeared around the room and we used them to

answer a series of questions.

Work is so much more fun when you have created the

resources yourself from the beginning.

These are only a few highlights from what has been a

very busy and happy time in Year One!

Year Two News

Last year’s class finished their last term in Year Two

taking part in some very interesting science lessons,

learning about plants and animals. One particular

highlight was the exploring the grounds of St Peter’s and

discovering different examples of mini-beasts. We even

found a caterpillar which was just starting to make its

chrysalis there was great debate whether it would become

a butterfly or a moth! This interesting find inspired us to

keep our own Red Admiral caterpillars in class and

follow them through the different stages of their life. It

was a joyous day when five beautiful and delicate winged

butterflies were released to enjoy the next stage in their

lifecycle. In Literacy, pupils thought imaginatively,

writing stories about a mischievous puppy called Four

Breakfasts Fred who lives happily in four different

houses until the truth starts to unravel. All of the Year

Two children worked very hard to write a story with a

beginning, middle and an ending.

Our new class of Year two pupils started the year

showing a real keenness visit to work in the ICT suite in

the Key Stage Two building. They practised entering

their user names and passwords and then went on to

reinforce their learning in numeracy through the use of

Education City. A variety of skills were practised

including rounding up to the nearest 10, finding

multiples, and solving problems. Great fun was had,

especially when competing against other children around

the world or when singing along to the catchy times

tables songs. What jam packed lessons they were!

In Michaelmas Term RE lessons on Festivals and

Celebrations, pupils found out about different

celebrations celebrated around the world. The Japanese

Children’s Day was a particular favourite where children

learnt about the different customs and symbols associated

with this special day. This led to lovely art work were the

children made brightly decorated Koi Fish flags and

warrior hats which they wore very proudly. Another

favourite celebration was the Hindu celebration of Divali

were children heard about the story of Rama and Sita and

produced clay models of Diya Lamps in recognition of

the importance of light in this festival.

In Science we learnt about Forces and Movement. We

kick-started our topic by making our own rockets and

launched them to see which would travel the highest.

There was great excitement as countdowns were made

and rockets were forced into the sky with the help the

water and sodium bicarbonate reacting together. We went

on to investigate a variety of materials to see if they

would change shape through different examples of pushes

and pulls. We also had great fun investigating which ball

would bounce the highest and which car would travel the

furthest. In both investigations the children found out to

make each test “fair” we would have to have the same

starting point and method of measuring.

Pupils have been very busy designing their own hand

puppets in Design Technology lessons. Ideas amongst the

pupils have ranged from a wolf to bunny rabbits, a

princess and a Cartoon Turtle! During this creative

process, the children have learnt basic sewing skills such

as how to thread a needle and used either a blanket or

running stitch in order to join two pieces of fabric. They

were delighted to see how their original ideas develop

from a paper design into a finished product.

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As part of the History curriculum, Year Two identified

their favourite celebrities or heroes and explored the idea

of what it means to be famous today. The children have

then gone on to learn about the achievements of people

from the past such as Mary Seacole, Florence

Nightingale, Leonardo da Vinci and Sir Christopher

Wren. They supplemented their learning by carrying out

individual research into a famous person, which they have

presented in a variety of creative ways. All of the pupils

worked very hard and discovered many admirable

qualities in the people they chose. These projects are

proudly displayed outside our classroom for all to admire.

Come and see them on Founders Day!

Year Three News

The academic year is once again flying by and the current

3JC have proved to be a hard working group of students.

In October they composed and performed a delightful

poem on the theme of water for the Harvest Supper. In

November, after just eight weeks in Key Stage Two the

class performed an excellent assembly about the

importance of light, including music, poetry and

demonstrations of science experiments some using

kaleidoscopes we had made.

With the approach of Christmas we made decorations and

beautiful collage Christmas cards and sang and played our

class music with Year Four in the Carol Service.

Lent Term has seen us combining creativity with history

making Anglo-Saxon clay bowls, helmets and even

weaving cloth! We have also been busy writing stories for

the BBC Radio 2 ‘500 words’ competition.

ICT is a particular strength with the current 3JC; they

have produced some informative brochures about

different climates using Publisher and also entered data

into an Excel spreadsheet and produced various graphs.

Mrs Cruickshank looks forward to all that Trinity Term

promises to offer from this eager and energetic class!

Year Four News

The move from Year Three to Year Four denotes a point

in pupils’ experience of St Peter’s School where they are

no longer the ‘newbies’ of the Key Stage but are in effect,

the top class of lower Key Stage Two. There is a greater

expectation on pupils to take more responsibility for their

personal organisation, with the ‘in the background’

support of their teacher.

This year’s class quickly settled into a more independent

way of working and Mr Holmes reports that they have

eagerly engaged in all aspects of the curriculum. As with

all classes, in order to counterbalance the targets set for

all pupils, we also try to build in points where their

learning takes place off-site. Pupils love to be out and

about in their learning too!

In mid October Year Four travelled to Sidegate Lane

Landfill Site near Wellingborough and The Recycling

Centre and Waste Education Centre in Northampton. The

trip was a valuable part of the class’s Geography topic on

Pollution and recycling and allowed the children to see

just how much waste we create and how difficult it is to

dispose of. The children all enjoyed the trip and took

some valuable lessons away with them. They behaved

impeccably and were pleasantly surprised by their

introduction to the peregrine falcon which resides at the

landfill site!

Year Two Tennis Day

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In November, Year Four travelled to the village of

Gretton and then on to Rockingham Speedway as part of

their Geography topic for this term. The children were

looking at the effect a major development can have on

nearby local communities and they were able to see just

how close they are to each other and gather information

to inform their eventual decisions on the effects. They

behaved really well and were lucky enough to see cars

testing on the circuit!

At the end of this year the class will move into upper Key

Stage Two, and the preparations for formal assessments

and the eventual move to secondary schools will draw

even closer. We look forward to finding out what this

eager group of learners makes of the opportunities they

will move onto in Year Five!

Year Five News

Year Five have enjoyed linking their learning to ‘What’s

in the News’ this year. As a result of a BBC ‘Stargazing

Live’ programme in January and as part of our ‘Earth and

Beyond’ topic, we investigated the cause of the ‘Northern

Lights’ phenomenon which was visible in some parts of

Britain for a short period. This was of particular interest

as we had just completed a study of ‘Gases Around Us’ in

Earth’s atmosphere. Continuing our theme, we created

our own representations of the ‘Northern Lights’ in our

Art lesson, using pastels and chalks to achieve some

super blending effects. Additionally, the typhoon in the

Philippines coincided with our research of extreme

weather effects and allowed us to see the real effects of

such disastrous events as well as giving us the

opportunity to look at how Christian charities provide

vital aid in such situations.

Inspired by pictures of an exhibition of giant sculptures

showing different habitats, the class created a lovely

‘Autumn Surprise’ display in the classroom, using paper

mache and wire as a base for a range of woodland plants

and animals. We obtained a large tree branch, after some

winter storms in order to show off our models that

included a squirrel, an owl, badgers and hedgehogs as

well as a flying bat and dragonfly.

Of particular interest to the Year Five pupils this year has

been our ‘Children in World War Two’ topic. A visit to

‘Holdenby House Evacuation Centre’ taught us how

families were expected to adapt to the shortages of food

and threat of air raids and how the public supported the

‘war effort’ by careful rationing, taking in evacuees and

‘making do and mending’. We enjoyed making actual

wartime recipes, comparing a modern fruit cake to one

made using limited ingredients.

From what they had learnt, the class scripted their own

impressive, mini production: ‘Back to World War Two’

for their class assembly, including some authentic

wartime songs and bringing in most of their own

costumes and props from home.

We have so far had a hard working year punctuated with

plenty of added extras that serve to lighten the mood and

whet the appetite further for even more learning. Come

and see Year Five’s work on display during Founders

Day. We think you will be impressed!

Year Six Class News

The last year of primary school is special in so many

ways. Pupils have by now gained great social confidence

and are gearing up for formal end of Key Stage Two

assessments to prove what they know to themselves, their

parents and to their new schools. It is a time when

friendships become all the more important, as pupils

prepare themselves for a farewell to their primary school;

and the anticipation of new secondary schools underpins

the thoughts of teachers and pupils alike. There is a great

emphasis on exam preparation; revision and assessment

are core aspects for pupils. This is balanced well with the

responsibilities afforded to Year Six pupils, be that Sports

captain, House Captain, lunch table monitor, librarian, or

Year Five Making Easter Eggs

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simply the fact that other pupils see Year Six pupils as

embodying all that they perceive to be ‘senior’.

This year’s cohort have enjoyed a few special moments

designed to ease the natural tensions that exists within all

the responsibility they hold! A trip to the New Walk

Museum in Leicester offered a very informative and

interactive workshop on the Ancient Egyptian

civilisation. Pupils were able to handle artefacts that were

4000 years old.

Year Six also visited Newton Field Centre near

Geddington, for a day of outdoor learning that provided a

hands-on experience of river features, the invertebrates

that live in them and how water quality is measured.

Pupils measured meanders and river shape, calculated the

speed of river flow and even got into the river to collect

information with which to draw the river profile of the

River Ise. The beautiful church that has now been

renovated to house the Newton Field Centre provided a

warm welcome and the afternoon was spent identifying

river plants with photo keys and classifying invertebrates

into groups after close observation under the microscope.

Pupils also had the added advantage of looking at

adaptation through sketches they made of the various

invertebrates. The whole day provided our pupils with a

rich mix of cross curricular learning.

We wish our Year Six pupils well as they prepare for

their SATS and hope that they make the most of each day

of their last term at St Peters’ School.

Class-led School Assemblies

School assemblies led by classes are always well received

at St Ps. The pupils relish watching each other’s

presentations and the year’s assembly rota ensures that

each class takes its turn ‘at the front’. All manner of

topics are covered, often to link in with an aspect of the

curriculum being studied by the class concerned. What

makes class-led School assemblies all the more special is

of course the addition of a specially invited audience of

parents and family friends of the pupils!

Throughout the course of the current academic year we

have had a wide variety of class-led assemblies. Year

Three’s lively, informative and confident assembly about

Light and Dark, encompassed many facets of the

curriculum, with science demonstrations, art work,

creative writing, drama, a PowerPoint presentation and a

chance for us to hear how much progress the class have

made in playing ocarina.

Year Six’s class assembly is always made poignant by the

fact that this is the last Primary School Assembly that

these pupils present. This year we were treated to a

staggeringly in-depth study of the Ancient Greeks, which

helped remind pupils how much of an impact this ancient

civilisation had upon science, art, architecture,

philosophy, democracy and literature.

Each year our pupils particularly look forward to year

Four’s class assembly because Mr Holmes likes to use

this as an opportunity to weave in some drama, and this

year’s performance was as highly entertaining and

informative as ever. It is often through adding a

humorous element that children’s interest in a topic is

fuelled further: the amount of laughter from the audience

was equalled by the number of key facts contained within

the drama.

Year Five and Mrs Lee wrote their own play for their

class assembly! Pupils learnt about the difficulties that

British families and children had to overcome during

World War two, and a sense was also gained of the

togetherness that was found during times of hardship. We

were treated to a wonderful musical finale from the class

who sang and accompanied themselves on tuned

percussion, recorder and drum kit.

Our most recent assembly was a very special one in that it

came from our youngest pupils in Reception Class.

Together with Mrs Haynes they presented a lovely

assembly about The Daffodil. We found out about

different sorts of daffodils, were reminded about the

different parts of the daffodil, hear two lovely songs very

confidently sung, marvelled at some very sophisticated art

work created by the pupils. Reception Class also invited

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us to make small donations to support a charity which

uses the daffodil as its symbol: Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Thank you to everyone who helped the class raise nearly

£70!

We look forward to our remaining class-led school

assemblies from Year One and Year Two later in Trinity

Term!

Carol Service

Michaelmas Term 2013 finished with our annual Carol

Service at St Peter and St Paul Church, Kettering. The

readings were interspersed with musical items from all

pupils in the school. A beautiful rendition on ‘Silent

Night’ arranged for violin duet opened the service. Pupils

accompanied many of the carols with violins, recorders

and percussion and this added a very special dimension to

the music. Year Six pupil Tania Bizibani performed a

very moving vocal solo as Angel Gabriel. The uplifting

final carol ‘The Christmas Children’, sung by the whole

School, gave a particularly uplifting end to the service.

French at St Ps

In Nursery, we have had fun with our programme LCF

Babelzone on the interactive whiteboard. Mme Vert

reports that despite their years, the children always try to

be one step ahead of her; when they want to repeat their

favourite game, they just shout "encore”! Our members

of Sunnylands Nursery are learning a "Camembert" song

and will soon sample French cheeses and baguette. They

have made Mardi Gras masks and flying bells for Easter.

In Reception Class, we have learned songs related to all

our topics and followed the adventures of Loulou and

Marvin. KS1 children can introduce themselves in

French, greet each other and count in French. They are

aware of cultural difference with France and of how

French people celebrate various important dates. We have

made good use of a wide range of interactive

programmes on the whiteboard.

In Key Stage Two, we start reading and writing in

French, reinforcing some of the topics introduced in KS1

as well as adding new ones, using the interactive white

board in the French Room and the facilities offered by the

ICT suite. We have also expanded our knowledge of

French culture, with an exciting Key Stage Two French

Day, when we celebrated Epiphany, singing French

songs, crafting crowns and eating croissants with

"chocolat chaud".

French is a lively subject at St Ps.......we like to get the

pupils speaking French enthusiastically!

School Council

Once again, School Councillors and the classes they

represent have made a difference to others through the

fund raising they have undertaken. In Trinity Term 2013

nearly £500 was raised for the Guide Dog Association,

following various fund raising events led by School

Council using suggestions from pupils in the School. For

one week, lunchtimes took on a decidedly doggy design,

with activities run by school councillors and their classes,

such as Pin the Tail on the Guide Dog, a sponsored doggy

paddle and a ‘bring your (toy) doggy to school’

day...even the older pupils sacrificed their ‘cool’ to join

in! It was with great pride that School Councillors

handed over a cheque for £500 which will now help

support the training of a class of guide dog puppies called

Harley (a black Labrador), Fergie (a Golden Retriever

cross with Lab) and Flint, who is Fergie’s brother.

This year’s School Councillors are: Sam Buckenham &

Alice Champion (Year Three), Ruby Allan & Montague

MacPhee (Year Four), Alexander Bowie & Orla Drury

(Year Five) and Amber Wickremasinghe & India Chahil

(Year Six). They ran a fast and furious Cake Stall to

launch the frenzy of fundraising for Children in Need. A

wide variety of lunchtime activities were offered by

school councilors and their classes, supported keenly by

the class teachers. Year Three organised a Pudsey Drive,

School Council Cake Stall French Day Activities

9

Year Five ran a Jokeathon, Year Four dressed Mr Holmes

and Mrs Dreyer up as Pudsey, Year Six ran a Onesie

Disco and in Key Stage One and Reception Class, there

was a ‘Fancy Dress Teddy Bear Parade and Party’.

Following the fun, a total of £300 was raised for Children

In Need

During Trinity Term the School Council will finalise their

suggestions for playground markings in Key Stage Two

and be looking for a new project to run. Hopefully their

class councils will have plenty of ideas!

World Book Day 2014

On March 6th 2014 St Peter’s School celebrated World

Book Day. As always the children had excelled

themselves in dressing up as their favourite characters

such as Alice in Wonderland, The Cat in the Hat and The

Worst Witch. The event coincided with the arrival of

several boxes of exciting new books for the recently

reorganised Key Stage Two library. Pupils were invited

to select a favourite volume to sponsor and to have their

name displayed in a special plate in the front of the

chosen book.

Meanwhile, pupils had been collecting photographs of

themselves participating in some ‘Extreme Reading’

….or unusual reading situations! Reading whilst in a

rugby scrum and even sitting in the recycling bin were

amongst the most imaginative contributions and a

fantastic display of all entries added an extra attraction to

our book sponsoring event.

We completed our World Book Day fun by sharing some

of our best reads with classmates. We tried to bring in

some lesser known titles in order to give each other some

fresh ideas.

World Book Day was a lovely event with which to launch

our refreshed library and at the same time perhaps to

refresh our love of reading!

St Peter's Conker Championships.

Key Stage Two finished off the first half of Michaelmas

Term with our annual conker championships. The

participants had spent their playtimes during the week in

conker combat (of the friendliest type) with their

classmates to qualify as class champion and the right to

be in the finals.

Two semi-finals: Year Three champion, Aneesa

Wickremansinge vs Year Four champion, Reeve Lim and

Year Five champion, Casey Lim vs Year Six champion,

Tania Bizabani, resulted in a final between Reeve and

Tania which was eventually won by a very excited and

worthy champion in Tania. Well done to all who

participated in a wonderful fair and sporting competition.

First Aid Training for pupils

This year training was arranged for pupils in Year Four,

Year Five and Year Six, each class receiving their

training separately. Year Four practiced encountering

somebody injured and dealing safely with the situation,

recovery position and assisting the injured party and basic

bleeding and bandaging. Year Five pupils learnt how to

use the abbreviation DRSABC in order to remind us of

how to react if we should find an unconscious casualty.

Through re-enactment of a first aid situation, pupils first

checked around them for danger, then tried to get a

response from their patient in the first instance, before

shouting for assistance and then checking airways and

breathing. Year Six had a very intensive first-aid training

session that lasted for most of the day. Pupils actively

Mrs Haynes & Reception Class - World Book Day

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participated in the training and displayed their good

knowledge gained from previous year’s first aid training

at St P’s. The pupils took part in lively discussions and

displayed a real sense of pride and achievement at the end

of the day when they completed the course and felt

confident to be able to administer first aid should the

need ever arise.

Year One also

practised some

First Aid in their

PSHE lessons

KS2 Christmas Disco

School Club News

Knitting Club

The knitting club started in 2014 and is going from strength

to strength. We have good knitters and complete beginners.

The pupils help each other and Mme Vert spends a lot of

time retrieving stitches, unknotting wool and rectifying

very avant-garde works of art!

The beginners have made huge improvements in a very

short time. Mme Verte is hoping for a finished article from

each child in the near future. Any donations of unwanted

needles or thick wool are always welcome!

Design and Construction Club

During Michaelmas Term the Year One and Year Two

Children were able to attend Design and Construction Club

on Wednesdays. The children had good fun designing and

making their own kites. Their terrific designs ranged from

butterflies to brightly patterned diamond shapes. The all

worked hard and many children had good ideas on how to

fix their materials together and definite ideas of what their

finished product would be like. We also designed and

made our own Christmas stockings; this involved joining

two pieces of binca or felt together using a blanket stitch,

decorating them using a wide variety of seasonal materials.

There was a lovely friendly atmosphere amongst the group

who worked well together.

Guitar Club

The Guitar Club is a new venture at St Peter’s School. We

have nine pupils who attend the club on a Thursday

lunchtime and most of them practise regularly! We began

by learning to read guitar music notation so that we can

play a melody line and have now progressed to learning

chords. Some children are already playing the melodies

from the descant recorder books on their guitars and are

really enthused by being able to transfer their skills. The

long awaited debut of our guitarists will be at the Summer

Concert, when we are hoping to play a medley to show off

our skills.

The atmosphere was set in the

school hall, with Christmas lights,

a glittering Christmas tree, decorations and

plenty of Christmas spirit in the air as pupils

rushed in to enjoy this annual pre-Christmas

social event.

Most KS2 pupils attended this event and Mr

Holmes, Mrs Dreyer and Mrs Chapman had

just as much fun as the pupils dancing to the

latest music. The “competitions” held during

the disco provided good entertainment,

especially the ever popular 'limbo'. Cold drinks

and snacks were provided with the sole

intention of sending the weary dancers home

with a “second wind” so parents could enjoy

the high energy levels as well!

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Sewing Club

The children in Year One and Year Two have been

making embroidered book marks in Sewing Club this

term. They learnt a variety of stitches including running

stitch and cross stitch. They also mastered the art of

threading a needle. Mrs McCahill was very impressed

with the children’s patience and perseverance and how

willing they were to help and encourage each other when

they got in a pickle!

Board Games Club

After presenting a Key Stage Two assembly on activities

for winter evenings and how we now spend ‘social’ time

compared to a few years ago, Mrs Dreyer decided to offer

a board games club to hopefully revive and introduce

pupils to these activities again. The activities ranged from

traditional board games to more modern versions and the

pupils enthusiastically participated and even taught each

other! This is definitely a club that will run again during

the winter months next year!

Doodle Club

Children from Year One and Year Two were busy

doodling throughout Michaelmas Term! During the first

week we played a game of ‘doodle consequences’ which

resulted in much laughter as ‘people’ with very large ears,

tiny eyes and funny noses were created! We went on to

learn a ‘step by step’ approach to drawing a variety of

friendly monsters – quite a motley crew were produced!

Art and Craft Club

During Lent Term children

from Year One and Year

Two had a lot of fun

creating works of art using a

wide variety of materials.

The children began the term

by sculpting clay zebras

with legs and tails formed

from sticks which had been gathered from the school

grounds.

We made paper dragons to celebrate Chinese New Year,

and finally ‘magical minibeasts’ when the children

enjoyed going on a stone hunt outside, decorating their

chosen stones with collage materials to create imaginative

creatures.

Games Club

Key Stage One children have

enjoyed playing traditional

games such as Ludo and

dominoes during Lent Term.

Mrs Ward was impressed by

the children's sheer

determination as they

completed jigsaws of

different maps. Another mind boggling activity was

learning about tangrams and trying to use all seven shapes

to make a picture of a rabbit, swan, boat or a rocket.

Football Clubs

A mixture of Year One and Year Two pupils attended the

KS1 club, eager and excited to learn what to do with the

football. Lots of work has been done on using both feet to

move the ball up and down the pitch, developing an

understanding of ball control, moving the ball through

gates set up along the court and finishing with a shot into

goal. Mr Holmes has been very pleased by the huge

improvement in all the children's abilities during the

course of the clubs.

The KS2 club ran in the first half of Michaelmas Term

2013 and then resumed after Lent 2014 half term. The

boys and girls showed excellent commitment and

determination to learn new skills and demonstrated

enthusiasm and enjoyment through all their sessions. We

have worked on the basic skills of: ball control, passing,

shooting and some tackling, areas which underpin the

development of strong play.

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Netball Club

With a full netball calendar of ISA and friendly fixtures

booked we started our upper Key Stage Two Netball Club

as early as the first half of Michaelmas Term. It

was good to have a very large proportion of boys and

girls in Year Three and Year Four joining the lower Key

Stage Two club during Lent Term. In both sessions the

players worked with great enthusiasm to improve their

fitness, hone their skills and learn the finer points of

positioning and match play, skills that players put to good

use in matches played during Michaelmas and Lent

Terms.

Environment Club

In Environment Club Mrs Dreyer and club members have

been investigating the various habitats and wildlife

present in St Peter’s School. They have looked at current

environmental issues such as the global survival of bees

and will also be considering the planning and further

enhancement of our wild-life area, the pond and

surrounds. Energy saving and awareness within the

school buildings will also be an area of focus. The

Environmental Club is working towards achieving the

next level in Eco School

status in the future and

pupils are looking

forward to contributing

to this process

Gardening Club

Grateful thanks are

extended to the many

families who contributed

to the Morrison’s

gardening vouchers collection, which provided us with

plenty of seeds that we look forward to growing during

the course of the year. Recently, children took home their

very own school-grown cress, together with a boiled egg

and some bread, tasked with the challenge of making their

own egg mayonnaise sandwich to eat or serve for

someone else’s enjoyment. It is through opportunities

like these that we hope to instil a ‘grow your own’ and

‘make your own’ spirit among our children. Current

Gardening Club projects include the planting and

cultivation of large containers of Spring flowering bulbs.

We have also started to grow pumpkins in the hope of

some Halloween fun.

Craft Club News

Members of our weekly Craft Club started the year using

natural materials to create some lovely lavender bags and

corn dollies in keeping with our Harvest and Autumn

theme. The pupils had to make use of their sewing skills

to form the bags, as well as carefully plaiting the delicate

corn stalks without allowing them to break.

With a Christmas theme in mind, we produced a set of

decorations including spirals, clay candle-holders and

shadow pictures. The children were able to adapt their

own designs from initial ideas and stimuli or to follow a

suggested method if they preferred.

More recently we have explored techniques of wire

sculpture to model flowers, lettering, bracelets and

animals, adding beads, ribbon, coloured string and wool

to personalize our creations. We then extended our skills

to produce beautiful bouquets of paper flowers. The

children have been adding their own suggestions for

techniques they would like to investigate during the

coming term.

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Performing Arts

Kettering and District

Eisteddfod

What a great year we have had at Kettering and District

Eisteddfod! St Peter’s School Choir swept the board at

this year’s choir competitions. Their performances

showed great accuracy and mature sensitivity as well as

some incredible harmony singing. Although we were the

only school choir in our particular categories, St Peter’s

School Choir were awarded a very high 88 marks by a

most esteemed adjudicator, Andrea Calladine. They were

then judged against all the choirs in the other classes. As

they were awarded the highest choir marks in the

competition this year, they were also awarded the Corby

Male Voice Choir Trophy, as overall winners of the Choir

‘open’ competitions and The Leonard Shield as overall

winner of the Hymn Singing competitions.

Our Group Speakers also represented the School with

great aplomb and were awarded high marks in

recognition of their high standards. The Year Five &

Year Six group were awarded a very high 89 marks and

1st place. There was just one mark separating the

winners of the Year Three & Year Four Group Speaking

competition, with our entry being awarded 2nd place and

super adjudication comments.

Our Year Six instrumental ensemble came second in their

competition. Much to their delight, Year Four came 1st in

their competition, with Year Five in 2nd place!

There were numerous individual successes for pupils,

some manifesting themselves in 1st, 2nd or 3rd places but

there were also the personal triumphs, for instance, taking

part in a competition for the first time or conquering pre-

performance nerves to play or recite in front of a large

audience.

Ruby Allan won the ‘Verse Speaking 8 & Under’ and

Anaiya Paes who also acquitted herself well. Emily

Laskey was placed 3rd in the ‘Sight Reading 8 Year &

Under’. The following pupils took part in the first of two

‘Verse Speaking 6 Years & Under’: Jerome Birch, Bella

Sieunarine, Shonam George, Jude Taylor and Agastya

Ghosh. In the second of this age range’s competitions

Grace Irwin was awarded 1st place, James MacDonald

and Fred McCrone were placed joint 2nd and Beatrice

Furnell and Varnikaa Sengar were awarded 3rd place.

Well done also to Hamza Nauman, Naisha Pandey and

Bhuvan Botchu on their performances. Holly Styles won

the ‘Verse Speaking 9 Years and Under’ and Casey Lim

was placed 3rd. Well done to Esha Nath and Orla Drury

for gaining scores to be proud of too! Daisy Styles came

2nd in ‘Verse Speaking 7 Year & Under’ and Ali

Altunkaynak was 3rd. Well done also to Samuel

Buckenham, Ava Brammer, Thomas Holford, Aneesa

Wickremasinghe and Elliott Furnell, and also to our

‘Verse Speaking 10 Year & Under’ competitors, Helin

Altunkaynak, Isabelle Hall, Charlotte Millar-Politis,

Amber Wickremasinghe and Tania Bizabani who all

received commended marks.

The good news just kept rolling in with the results of the

various instrumental and solo vocal competitions too.

Montague MacPhee was declared winner of the ‘Vocal

Solo 8 & Under’. Tania Bizabani was 2nd in the ‘Vocal

Solo 9-10 Years’ and Casey Lim was in 3rd place.

Congratulations also go to their fellow competitors: Holly

Styles, Nicole Mukhtar and Isabelle Hall.

We live in hope that more local schools will join in with

the instrumental competitions at the Eisteddfod but once

again this year there was a lack of presence from other

schools, which is such a shame. Fortunately,

the concept of the adjudicator

giving detailed comments

about each performance and

competitors striving to get a

commended, distinction or

outstanding score keeps us all

focussed!

Our ocarina players were

certainly focussed this year,

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hard to learn their words, and it was lovely to see the

enthusiasm which the children clearly felt for their roles.

Even when we were not actually rehearsing, it was clear

that the play was uppermost in their minds. Our Angel

Gabriel (Victor Knight) was keen to impress, practicing

his graceful ‘flying’ at every opportunity! The children

sang and danced to a range of songs and at the beginning,

when Joseph (Freddie Brammer), Mary (Hirah Khalil)

and the donkey (Sidar Altunkaynak) were ‘plodding’

along to Bethlehem, Daniel Pigott did an excellent job of

creating the sound of the donkey’s hooves by

accompanying them on the wood block. The audience

enjoyed Gabriella Ponzetta’s beautiful solo singing of the

first verse from ‘Away in a Manger’, and we had an

energetic performance from all in ‘Three Kings Were

Riding’ with all those in Nursery and Reception bobbing

up and down on their ‘camels’.

December is always an exciting time in Key Stage One

and a highlight has to be the Christmas Concert, with the

chance to dress up and perform in front of parents. This

year the children told the story of the first Christmas.

Year Two children narrated the story in clear strong

voices whilst Year One provided the music to accompany

the acting which both classes took part in. The singing

this year was very good with the children memorising the

with both the key Stage One and Key Stage Two groups

being awarded a commended score. James Macdonald

won the Key Stage One Ocarina Solo competition with

Bella Sieunarine in 2nd place and Bhuvan Botchu in 3rd

place. Well done also to Fred McCrone, Naisha Pandey

and Agastya Ghosh. Sam Buckenham won the Key Stage

Two Ocarina Solo, with Daisy Styles 2nd and Thomas

Holford and Finlay Ward sharing 3rd place.

Casey Lim won the Pianoforte Solo 9 Years & Under’

and Kiran Conway came 2nd. Well done to our other

piano competition entrants: Ava Brammer, Bhuvan

Botchu, Reeve Lim and Ruby Allan for all receiving

commendations.

In ‘String Solo 8 year & Under’, Reeve Lim was 1st and

Grace Hillis was 2nd. Casey Lim was awarded a 1st

place and a very high score

of 87 for her ‘Violin Solo 9

Year and Under’. Reeve

Lim won the ‘Recorder Solo

8 Years and Under’ with

Naomi Cragg and Zana

Paynter sharing 2nd place.

Casey Lim was given

another 87 marks in the

‘Recorder Solo 9 year &

Under’ which she won, with Esha Nath in 3rd place. Joe

Allan won the ‘Recorder Solo 10 year & Under’ with

Helin Altunkaynak in 3rd place.

As if all of that wasn’t enough good news, three of our

pupils were asked to perform at Saturday’s Kettering

Eisteddfod Prize-winners Concert: Grace Irwin, Holly

Styles and Casey Lim.

Casey were awarded the G M Risibly Award in

recognition of the talent she has shown across a range of

competitions this year.

The School community is rightly proud of all the pupils

who took part in this year’s Kettering and District

Eisteddfod and grateful to the teachers and parents who

helped and encouraged the children. All the hard work

paid off!

Christmas

Concerts

Nursery and Reception

came together in a play

called ‘The Nativity’

which we all thoroughly

enjoyed. Each child in

Reception Class worked

15

words to songs which had been specially chosen to help

them to tell this important story. The final tableau is

always guaranteed to bring a tear to the eye with its

innocent simplicity, and this year was no exception.

Summer Concert 2013

The St Peter’s School Summer Concert 2013 took place

at the United Reformed Church, London Road, Kettering.

The pupils walked to the Church in the afternoon for a

short rehearsal and returned in the early evening for the

concert. Each class played pieces on ocarina or recorder

and also performed a class orchestral ensemble piece.

These items were interspersed by vocal solos, piano solos

and violin solos played by pupils who had been placed in

the top of their classes in the Kettering Eisteddfod. The

finale of the concert included songs from ‘The Sound of

Music.’ The song ‘Sing’ composed by Gary Barlow for

the Diamond Jubilee was also performed. This was a

magically uplifting way to conclude a wonderful

celebration of the musical talents of the pupils in Key

Stage Two.

Out and About

Summer Outing

Trinity Term 2013 saw Year One and Year Two trying

out a new venue for our summer outing. Kelmarsh Hall

gave us an exciting and very full day of activities. In the

morning we had a tour of the house, completing a quiz as

we learnt about the history of the site. As a break we

danced in the main hall! One of the rooms we visited had

priceless oriental antiques on the tables; this was a

moment when the teachers held their breath praying that

no one knocked them over! In the afternoon a fun art

activity saw the children designing wallpaper based on

ideas from the oriental room. At lunchtime we visited the

walled garden and ran around the grassy maze. Somehow

we also fitted in a cake decorating activity in the old

kitchens. This was a truly unforgettable and successful

day out.

Christmas Theatre Trip

This year pupils were treated to an exciting

stage version of the classic story written by

Kenneth Grahame : Wind in the Willows. The charming

tale of friendship and adventure was brought to life at the

Royal Theatre in Northampton.

The director Gary Sefton provided this festive treat and

the children thoroughly enjoyed the energetic acting and

fantastic scenery that featured a rotating turntable covered

with grassy hillocks rolling past the riverbanks, layers

and layers of Toad Hall, the Wild Wood, the Prison and

Courtroom, all moving incredibly quickly and

dynamically, with the cast jumping, rolling, diving and

climbing over staging and props throughout. To add to

the experience there were also bubbles and real ‘snow’

falling on the audience too.

It was definitely one of the many highlights this year and

even sparked the interest of some of our pupils to visit the

library and read the book as well!

Key Stage Two Residentials

The residential to Govilon delivered on expectations on

all fronts. Our Year Five and Year Six pupils spent a

week (20th to 24th May) at the Adventure Centre in

16

Govilon, Wales. The program was jam-packed with

physical activities from rock climbing, abseiling, 'bum-

sliding' to caving, bush craft and night hill walks. The

aim was to introduce the pupils to a selection of outdoor

activities that developed team building and physical skills

as well as helped them to overcome emotional challenges.

The chef made delicious meals and ‘seconds’ were

eagerly accepted. The adventures in the fresh mountain

air made everyone sleep like logs (Mrs. Dreyer changed

the clock in the Centre which added a few extra hours

sleep one night!) I am sure that this experience will stay

with the pupils and they can all look back with fond

memories on a time spent with their primary school

friends.

The Year Five and Year Six Residential this year will be

in an area of outstanding beauty: Shugborough Estate on

Cannock Chase in Staffordshire. We have been very

fortunate with this booking as it will be the first time that

any school outside the county is given the opportunity to

use the outdoor centre. Activities will include abseiling, a

BMX track, canoeing in the River Severn, night walking,

geo-caching, and much more – watch this space for

feedback next year!

St Peter’s School PTAFA

St Peter’s School Parents, Teachers and Friends

Association runs the social side of school life whilst

raising funds for additional or special equipment for the

children to use. The Officers for academic year 2013-

2014 are: Chairman - Mrs Rachel Furnell, Vice Chairman

- Mrs Sue Tye, Treasurer- Mrs Karen Cragg, Secretary-

Mrs Philippa Walshaw. Meetings are held half termly or

as necessary with elections of officers in Trinity Term

and the full AGM in the Michaelmas Term. Meetings

times and dates are posted on School notice boards, in the

bulletin and through information sent out in hard and soft

copy. Everyone linked with the school is welcome to

attend PTAFA meetings.

The last School year has seen the PTAFA pay the final

instalment towards the sports court refurbishment. This

facility is receiving plenty of use for lessons and matches

against other schools. Now that this long term funding

project is complete the PTAFA have quickly moved on to

find other ways of supporting the school further. We

have provided outdoor furniture for the playgrounds and

we have presented over two hundred new books,

significantly refreshing the School Library.

There have been plenty of social events set up by the

PTAFA, aimed to provide fun and fundraising

opportunities. Our Barn Dance in Trinity Term 2013 was

very well attended, despite the cool weather, but energetic

dances played and called by The Banana Band (made up

of the Loake brothers, past pupils from ‘some years’

back!) soon warmed everyone up along with some

delicious chilli.

September marked the start of a new academic year and

the new PTAFA committee’s first event was the much

awaited Harvest Supper, with catering provided by

everyone’s favourite chef, our own Mr Turner-Fountain.

The children entertained their parents with seasonal songs

and poems. The event was so popular this year that

tickets sold out quickly.

A dark November evening at our ever-popular and ‘much

imitated by others’ Ghost Hunt coaxed a dozen or so eerie

apparitions to haunt the School grounds, providing the

necessary challenge for our eager Ghost Hunters to locate

them. Mr Holford’s first outing as Ghost Meisster

(following in the expert footsteps of Mr Kilsby) was a

resounding success. A handsome sum was raised for the

funds and these were further swelled by the Christmas

Fayre which, thanks to a visit from the ‘Gentleman in

Red,’ came to the tune of nearly £1000.

These are just some of the events we have had. More fun

and games will take place during the year; details go out

in the form of posters, texts, email messages and letters

so look out and join in!

17

Year Three & Four Athletics at Brooke Priory

In March our team of Lower Key Stage Two pupils took part in an

inter-school competition at Brooke Priory School. Standing long

jump, throwing, 60m spirit and a longer 400m race made up some of

the events. Joshua Nyoni won both his throwing and 60m sprint

events and Millie Webb got first in her 400m race. The effort and

determination of all participants were particularly evident during the

relay races!

Tennis Festival

Our fabulous new courts were the venue for the Kettering Sports

Partnership Tennis Festival in June last year. Our Key Stage One team

comprising of Ali Alunkaynak, Ava Brammer, Samuel Buckenham,

Elliot Furnell, Thomas Holford, Mayam Quyyum, Daisy Styles and

Annesa Wickremasinghe took part in a series of tennis-skills themed

events in the morning, participating with great enthusiasm and

sportsmanship. In the afternoon teams from Year Three and Year

Four competed in a round robin of Mini-Red matches. Our Blue

Team (Casey Lim, Ruby Styles, Kiran Conway and Oliver Taylor)

and our Green Team (Millie Webb, Iris Kirk, William Middleton and

Asher Conway) all played some superb tennis. The St Peter's Green

Teams' performance secured them a place to represent Kettering at the

Level 3 County School Games at Moutlon College in July, where they

played to a very high standard, only losing in the semi-finals.

Cross Country

For more than ten years now on the first Saturday in October a St

Peter's School cross country team has set off to Shorne Hill Farm to

participate in the Brooke Priory Cross-Country competition. This

year our team consisted of Thao Mi Nguyen, Zana Paynter, Kiran

Conway, Asher Conway, Alex Bowie, Millie Webb, Alice Barton,

Blainne Conway and India Chahil. For first time runners the uneven

terrain and all its obstacles often prove to be quite an 'enjoyable'

challenge! For older, more experienced runners the longer route and

steep hills set a different demand to their fitness level! All our runners

took on the challenges with determination and enthusiasm. Special

congratulations are extended to Millie and Blainne who secured 8th

places in their competitions.

St Peter's School Swimming Gala 2013

Our pupils were once again able to use the School Gala to showcase

the progress they have made in swimming during the year. The

healthy competitive mindset of our supporting Mums, Dads and

grandparents spurred the swimmers on to perform with great

18

enjoyment and to display some fine performances in the

pool. Well done to Pitsford who were crowned St Peter's

School Swimming Gala 2013 champions!

Independent Schools Association (ISA)

Swimming Gala

Our trip to Walsall Tuesday 26th November to take part

in the Midland’s I.S.A. was hugely enjoyed by the pupils

involved. It was a great experience for all the children to

compete in a formal gala and especially this year’s, as

there were more schools and children participating than

we have previously seen – twenty eight schools and

some five hundred children. We had no qualifiers this

year for the nationals but all our pupils gave their utmost

in all their races and behaved impeccably throughout the

very long day.

ISA National Swimming final

After a very successful ISA Midlands Gala, Lewis-

Morgan Barton continued his excellent performance

when he represented the Midlands Team in the

Independent Schools National Swimming Gala. His

relay team secured a first place and the Midlands Team

won the overall Gala. We are proud and thrilled to

report that Lewis-Morgan continues to perform to a very

high standard in his secondary school!

Hockey at Brooke Priory

In October we kicked off the hockey season with our

first 'away' training session at Brooke Priory. Whilst the

upper Key Stage Two girls got the opportunity to

practise their game strategies during short matches, the

Years Three and Four girls participated in mixed team

play with pupils from Brooke Priory School and The

Peterborough School. This was a very useful session

indeed, our girls coming away with plenty of enthusiasm

for the game and ideas that they successfully

implemented in our own hockey sessions that followed.

Running Club

A jolly group of over twenty runners once again took

advantage of our lovely school grounds to enhance their

fitness levels during Running Club sessions! With

‘round the school’ relays and 'holiday home' games they

somehow always managed to end the sessions with a 'oh

no, has club finished!' Without them noticing, the

runners manage to significantly improve their fitness

levels - well done - your enthusiasm at the end of a long

school day never ceases to amaze Mrs Van Rensburg

2012-13 Netball season

Our High 5 squad of players started the season on a good

note when they beat Hawthorn 11-2 in a home

match. The following five Tuesday evenings they

competed in the Kettering League at Southfields School,

playing 3 to 4 matches per week. Good skill and a

positive attitude resulted in a good result of seven wins,

four draws and four lost. Congratulations on a super High

5 season!

Kettering District Athletics

In July, for the very first time a team of thirty two Key

Stage Two St Peter's School athletes participated in the

Kettering Sports Partnership District Athletics. The Quad

Kids athletics format ensured that all the participants were

given the opportunity to compete in the core disciplines of

athletics. The Year Five and Year Six athletes

competed in a 75 metres sprint, 600 metres run, vortex

howler throw and long jump, and all Year Three and Year

Four athletes competed in 50 metres sprint, 400 metres

run, vortex howler throw and long jump. The St Peter's

team performed very well in all events but it was in the

longer distances that they really shone!

ISA Regional 5-a-side Competition

We took seven of our football squad to this October

competition at The Pavilion in Birmingham. There were

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more teams than ever

in attendance this

year, some 210

footballers all eager to

do well. Our team

started with a 1-1

draw that was

thoroughly deserved

but we were

unfortunate to lose

our second match 1-0.

In the third game we

were playing one of

the best sides in the

competition, who had won their previous game against

our previous opponents 4-0 and who went on to compete

in the final. St Peter’s did outstandingly well, in only

narrowly losing 2-0, much to the frustration of our

opponents. All members of the squad behaved in an

exemplary manner both in terms of sportsmanship and

behaviour on and off the pitch too. Well done to them all!

Independent Schools Association Athletics

Regional & National Championships

A team of twenty four athletes, four boys and four girls

from Year Four, Year Five and Year Six set off to

Birmingham Alexander Stadium in June to participate in

the Junior Track and Field Athletics championships.

Twenty four schools took part in the competition and we

are very proud to report the following highlights; in the

600m races in their different year groups, Henri

Codling 3rd, Blainne Conway 4th and Holly Styles 5th

place, Joshua Nyoni 5th in Year Four boys throwing

event and Millie Webb 2nd in Year Four girls long

jump. Lewis-Morgan grasped the opportunity to

showcase his natural talent on this very big stage by

securing a first place in both the Year Six high jump and

the 80 metre sprint. Well done to all the team who,

despite the downpour, stayed positive and enthusiastic!

Lewis-Morgan was chosen to represent the Midlands team

at the National Championships. We are extremely proud

to report that at the National Championships Lewis-

Morgan won gold in the Year Six boys high jump and

bronze in the 80 metre race.

Tag Rugby

In March last year a team representing St Peter’s School

travelled to Tresham College to take part in a tag rugby

competition organised by the Kettering Schools Sports

Partnership, rescheduled from before half term, when we

were in the midst of a new ice age! Our team performed

with great skill and application to achieve three wins, two

draws and a very unlucky loss by one try. Congratulations

to all the squad who took part!

St Peter’s School tag-rugby squad travelled to Naseby for

a friendly just before Lent half term. Having previously

drawn against Naseby in a friendly football match we

knew they were a very quick and athletic group of

children but the squad were confident going into the

match. We had an added advantage in that Naseby had

never played a tag-rugby match before. Our team

improved throughout the game and won by 12 tries to 5

with almost all our players scoring at least one try. Mr

Holmes was bursting with pride at the end of the match

for both the players efforts and their exceptional attitude

and sense of fair play.

St Peter's team joining in the warm-up session during the

Level 3 School Games.

Year three and four athletics at Brooke Priory

20

Sports Day 2013

St Peter's Sports Day 2013 will certainly be remembered

for the numerous new records set! During the morning

session pupils in Key Stage Two took part in the field

events of javelin, shot put, discus, netball goal shoot,

standing long jump, standing triple jump, vertical jump

and standing ball throw. The following new records were

set: Henri Codling (Thorpe) threw 12.3m in the shot put,

Lewis Morgan Barton (Pitsford) set a record for 12.8m in

the standing ball throw, Kiran Conway (Thorpe) threw

11.6m to set a new Y3 & Y4 boys' shot put record, which

was then broken and a new one set by Montague

MacPhee (Grafham) and his 12.9m throw! Lewis Morgan

Barton increased the Y5 & Y6 discuss record he already

holds from last year, with a throw of 24.1m, also

increasing his record set last year in the vertical jump to

56cm. Toby Peel (Pitsford) set a new record for Y3 & Y4

standing ball throw with 10.1m and Torin Drury

(Grafham) now holds the Javelin Y5 & Y6 boys' record

with a throw of 20.98m. Zana Paynter (Pitsford) set a

new Y3 & Y4 girls' discus record with a 10.75m throw,

Lewis Morgan broke his own record for standing long

jump with a 2.3m jump, and he also beat the record he set

last year in standing triple jump with 6.42m. Oliver

Laskey (Thorpe) equalled the record he set last year in Y3

and Y4 boys' vertical standing jump with a jump of 35cm.

In the afternoon session Key Stage Two pupils took part

in sprint, hurdles, sack race, skipping race, relay races

and finishing with the exciting longer races. We applaud

all the runners, but especially Oliver Taylor (Pitsford) and

Holly Styles (Thorpe) who won the boys/girls long race

for Y3 & Y4. Well done to Blaine Conway (Pitsford) for

winning the Y5 & Y6 girls' long race and very special

congratulations to Henri Codling for not just winning but

setting a new record of I min 26 sec for the boys Y5 &

Y6 race. It was a proud moment for Thorpe team

members as they joined their Sports Captain Henri

Codling and their House Captain Louisa Kilsby in lifting

the cup donned with a yellow ribbon!

Summer Games 2013

A healthy competitive spirit amongst all the teams

resulted in very close match results and some draws at

our Summer Games afternoons in July last year! Despite

the surprise heat the children persevered and battled with

great determination in their kwik criket and rounders

matches. The final scores reflected this, with joint 3rd

place shared by Pitsford and Thorpe with 13 points,

runners up Rutland with 16 points and Grafham in first

place with 17 points.

Winter Games Day 2013

Winter Games afternoons were upon us before we knew it

last Lent Term and only three weeks into the second half

of term, we saw pupils giving their all for their houses. It

may have been nearly April but the weather allowed us to

feel that we were in the depths of winter. The children

alternated between Netball/Hockey and Tag-rugby/

Football over two afternoons and did themselves and their

parents and teachers proud with the excellent effort which

they all put into the sports. Our new courts proved ideal

for the Hockey and Netball matches, with the new surface

producing a much truer bounce and linear movement. The

grass pitches were in perfect condition for Football and

Tag-rugby and withstood two days of trammelling stud-

ded boots very well. The children improve year on year

and never cease to amaze the teachers with their enthusi-

astic participation and their burgeoning skills. Our Year

Six pupils led by example and captained and supported

the younger children with an understanding and empathy

which makes all our work throughout the school very

worthwhile. What a fantastic spectacle for all our parents

who attended!