Achievement Responsibility Love Diversity

St Peter’s PressOCTOBER 2019

Their hard work and dedication towards their studies has been commendable, and we are proud of their achievement.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank staff, parents and family members who have worked really hard to ensure that every student achieved their full potential.

St Peter’s is only the start of their journey - we all wish them the very best for the future.

S Gabriel - Headteacher

CONGRATULATIONS CLASS OF 2019CONGRATULATIONS TO CLASS OF 2019 ON ACHIEVING SOME IMPRESSIVE EXAMINATION RESULTS, AT A TIME WHEN EXAMINATIONS ARE BECOMING MORE DEMANDING.

St Peter’s High School is celebrating the success of an amazing polyglot. A polyglot is someone who can speak several languages and student Matteo Maniscalo certainly fits this description. Last summer Matteo took GCSE exams in Portuguese , Italian , Spanish and French and passed all of them ! Matteo’s family have Portuguese and Italian origins and he grew up speaking those languages at home. At St Peter’s he learned French and just to top that off he studied Spanish in his free time!

So we would like to say to Matteo congratulations! felicitaciones! parabéns! congratualazioni! felicitations!

Next summer we will have many more brilliant linguists taking exams in language combinations such as Portuguese and Spanish, Italian and Spanish as well as Polish and Spanish. If you consider yourself a polyglot get in touch with the language department and let them know.

POLYGLOT’S AMAZING SUCCESS!

ST PETER’S PRESS | OCTOBER 2019PAGE 2

It is with great sadness that we announce the sudden and untimely death of our Chair of Governors Mr William (Bill) Egerton.

Bill was a founding Governor of St Peter’s and had seen the school grow, from its inception in 1999, into one of Manchester’s most successful schools. He became Chair in 2014 when he succeeded Canon Stewart Ansbro. His accomplishments have been many, but none more so than steering the school through its many successful Ofsted inspections. He worked tirelessly to ensure that the children in the local area received the excellent education they deserved and was a regular visitor to the school supporting events and the work of teachers and students, sharing his extensive experience and knowledge.

Bill’s commitment to his community is evidenced by his lifetime of service. Bill was leader of Manchester City Council from 1982-84. He became a Justice of the Peace in 1985 and served as Chairman of Manchester Magistrates Bench for three year. He was a city councillor for 28 years and held the position of the City’s Lord Mayor in 1992/3. He was appointed an Honorary Alderman City of Manchester in 2007 and was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant Greater Manchester in 2004. He was also Chair of Governors of St Willibrords’s Primary School and Deputy Chair of St Anne’s Ancoats Primary School.

Bill’s selfless dedication to others and devotion to his Catholic faith led to one of the highest honours

bestowed by the Catholic church, the award of the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in March 2013.

Bill will be remembered with great affection and gratitude by his fellow Governors, the students, parents, staff and friends of St Peter’s.

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends of St Peter’s,

Welcome to our autumn term newsletter. I hope you enjoy this snapshot of life at St Peter’s. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our parents and carers for the continued support in regards to raising standards. St Peter’s students returned to school in September looking exceptionally smart and dressed for success in their uniform.

We close for half term on Friday 18 October and re-open on Monday 28 October 2019.

Yours sincerely

S Gabriel - Headteacher

MESSAGE FROM THE HEADTEACHER

SCHOOL MASS TIMESMonday, Wednesday and Friday,

12.35 pm and 1.35 pm Parents and Carers Welcome

MR WILLIAM (BILL) EGERTON - RIPCHAIR OF GOVERNORS

THE SCHOOL LIBRARY IS OPEN EVERY MORNING FROM 8:00AM AND AFTER SCHOOL UNTIL 4:00PM. DO ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILD TO USE THIS WONDERFUL RESOURCE.

ST PETER’S PRESS | OCTOBER 2019PAGE 3

MyEd is the free parent app that gives you a multitude of communication and information features to stay in touch with what is going on at school. The app gives you direct access to your child’s attendance, timetable, absence records, achievements, behaviour and much, much more. You will also see that we update and change the information in the app as the school year moves along.

Once you have installed and opened MyEd, search for St Peters RC High School and follow the simple instructions to identify yourself.

We hope you enjoy using the app and find it a useful source of information.

HAVE YOU DOWNLOADED OUR SCHOOL APP YET?

In 2013 the Department for Education announced important changes regarding the taking of any leave of absence during term time. Please be reminded of the following:

With effect from September 2013 Headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. THIS INCLUDES HOLIDAYS.

All requests for any exceptional leave of absence must be made in writing to the Headteacher who will consider each individual case.

Any such requests must be made well in advance of the dates of the requirement and before any arrangements are made.

Each parent/carer can be fined up to £120 (per student) by the Local Authority for taking their child out of school during term time without the consent of the Headteacher.

In some circumstances students will be removed from the roll and therefore lose their school place. They will then have to find another school.

We sincerely hope that all parents will support St Peter’s on this matter and recognise the benefits that increased attendance will have on attainment.

Further information can be found on the St Peter’s website: www.stpetershigh.com under ‘Policies/info’ Attendance.

A REMINDER: NO HOLIDAYS DURING TERM TIMEUNAUTHORISED ABSENCE

With effect from September 2015 the Department for Education will classify any student who achieves less than 90% attendance as ‘persistently absent’. It is therefore essential that all students keep their personal attendance above 90% throughout the school year.

The whole school attendance target for the 2019/2020 school year is 97%, which is the minimum each individual student should aim to achieve.

INDIVIDUAL PUPIL ATTENDANCE

ST PETER’S PRESS | OCTOBER 2019PAGE 4

Last year in the English faculty we ran a Young Writers writing competition called ‘Poetry Escape’ for students in Years 7 and 8. Students wrote poems about issues that were important to them and to society. Students wrote about various topics such as; mental health issues, bullying, family, war, illness and the environment.

We had a total of 122 students selected to be published by Young Writers!

A massive well done to all of the students that were selected! Keep an eye out for other competitions in the English faculty this year!

POETRY ESCAPE

This term, a number of Year 11 students took part in the Narrative 4 story exchange project with David Savill, the Creative Writing Course Leader from the University of Salford. The aim of Narrative 4 is to ‘harness the power of story exchange to equip and embolden young adults to improve their lives, their communities and the world.’  

One of the students who took part, Senior Prefect Davina Adesanya, said: ‘I feel honoured that I was able to share my story and listen to other stories as part of the exchange.’

All students felt the session developed their creative and thinking skills, which will be beneficial in their GCSE Language exams. Mrs Cunningham and Miss Chapman were also honoured to take part in the  emotional and powerful session and are excited to share the ideas and strategies explored with all Year 11 students this

year as they prepare to become successful writers and succeed in their writing exams! Well done to all of the students who took part.

NARRATIVE 4 STORY EXCHANGE

Year 7 and Year 8 will begin a new homework system when they return after the half term break. Each student will be given a homework booklet, which will contain all of the homework that they need to complete that half term, as well as a calendar to help them to organise their work. Each subject has provided tasks that are ordered in terms of level of challenge – students should attempt the harder work whenever they can in order to push themselves in their learning. If students have any questions about the new system, they should ask their form teachers for help.

HOMEWORK

As part of our continued ‘Healthy Eating’ initiative. every student is again welcome to eat breakfast in the Dining Room free of charge. This project is expected to continue to run throughout this academic year. There is a lot of research to link improved academic performance of students and increased levels of concentration to eating a healthy breakfast before school.

Students are expected to use the facility respectfully by clearing up after they eat, not using mobile ‘phones and not wearing their coats (which are the current expectations).

Students are joined by staff during breakfast creating a really positive and sociable environment each morning.

BREAKFAST CLUB