Today I received over 55 letters addressed for my immediate and urgent attention. The writers of these letters communicated with passion, detail and vigour to prove their point. There was a near universal momentum of opposition to a staffing proposal that had recently been mooted. In these days of teacher shortages, with trained staff leaving the profession and recruitment to the vocation of teaching being an annual challenge, a pressure group was determined to stand resolute even in the face of a creative and high-impact staffing solution. You see, the pupils in Year 1 had intercepted and opened a letter addressed to me from non-other than the Big Bad Wolf. Having learnt his lesson from failing to gobble up the Three Little Pigs, he had instead written a letter of application to work at St Peter’s Catholic Primary School. For some reason, the Year 1 pupils did not think this would be a suitable appointment, and so set to writing persuasive letters to me to convince me not to employ the Big Bad Wolf. The quality of the children’s writing was excellent, in terms of their handwritten script, their use of spelling, punctuation and grammar, and in their deployment of highly persuasive language choices. So good was their work that I had to let them know that, after all, I would not let the Big Bad Wolf work at St Peter’s. Well done to the pupils of Turtle and Pufferfish classes, and well done and thank you to the Year 1 staff for coming up with such a stimulating and captivating written task for the pupils.

Mr R Cunningham

Headteacher

Today we said farewell to Mrs Anderson, who leaves St Peter’s after 11 years of work in the learning support department. Mrs Anderson has helped many children through in-class support, intervention work and extra-curricular learning clubs. Ever adaptable, Mrs Anderson most recently did extra work in the afternoons in the school office. Her career is far from over, though, as she takes up a new post immediately in her old stomping ground of the Naval Dockyard, and we all wish her well. It is on occasions like these that we are reminded of the excellent work done by the learning support staff in the school. They provide an essential teaching and learning supplement in the classroom, working with tireless enthusiasm to help all the children make progress. Moreover, they work hard in all areas of the school throughout the day to ensure that St Peter’s remains a happy and productive place for the pupils to learn, grow and thrive. So, goodbye and good luck Mrs Anderson, thank you for all you have done for St Peter’s, and thank you as ever to the great team that you leave behind, who will no doubt stay in touch with such a good friend and colleague.

Mr R Cunningham

Headteacher

The week had an exciting start for Year 2 pupils who set off for SeaCity Museum in Southampton on Monday as part of their learning on the Titanic. The pupils were shown, with the use of an ice cube tray, just how little water it took to tip the vessel beyond the point of no return once it had struck the iceberg and started to take on water on that fateful night in 1912. Pupils also did work looking at the different age ranges of the passengers on board, and then lined up to work as stokers in order to keep furnaces well fed for the steam powered propellers to work effectively. A great learning experience was had by all, and my thanks go to the staff for arranging the visit and to the many parents who volunteered their time to accompany the pupils on the trip.

In school, work has begun on a major mural project which will involve every pupil and member of staff contributing to collages which will reflect scenes from the life of Christ. As this project takes shape, we will give regular updates in advance of a grand launch in the summer term.

Mr R Cunningham

Headteacher

Welcome back to the spring term, and a Happy New Year to everyone. I hope that you all enjoyed the festive season, and that the Christmas holidays were not blighted by too many bugs, coughs and sneezes.

We are aware that there is still a lot of illness circulating, so in school we are encouraging the pupils to wash their hands more frequently than normal, and have provided ample tissues to be used once and thrown away in an attempt to limit the spread of germs. Do please check school and NHS guidance about the time required before a child can return to school after an illness.

The children have come back with plenty of new outdoor clothing that they received as Christmas presents, with unicorn hats being a popular favourite this year it would seem! Please can families make sure that all clothing is clearly named so that, if misplaced, it can be quickly returned to the owner. Equally, please do not allow your child to bring valuable items or electronic gadgets into school, as they can provide a distraction to learning and great upset if lost or damaged.

Finally, all families should have received the new plan for home learning this week. The intention is to help children focus on reinforcing core numeracy and literacy skills to benefit their work and progress in school. Teachers will set tasks for children to work on each week, and the programme will develop over the course of the term.

With my very best wishes for a peaceful and prosperous 2018.

Mr R Cunningham

Headteacher