St. Peter’s Church of England Middle School

NEWSLETTER www.stpetersceschool.org

June 2017 Left: Sports day

Right: Year 8 in the school garden

Dear Parents/Carers, It is my pleasure to be writing to you once again during a busy and fun packed term. Our students have had some wonderful experiences and successes as you will see from the pages of this newsletter. In early May the Year 6 students got down to the task of completing their SATs examinations. Over the course of four days the students tackled Reading, Spelling, Punctuation and grammar and Mathematics. I was fortunate enough to be able to support one group each morning and I can assure you that each paper, whilst a challenge, was met with admirable determination. My thanks to Ms Mehta and Miss Nunez for their support of both classes. This month, Year 8 students are completing their end of year examinations. The exams set within the core subjects have been standardised across the four Middle schools within Windsor. Results of these exams will be sent to the destination schools of all of our Year 8 students. My thanks to Mrs Sayer for her organisation of the exam week. On Friday 9th June we temporarily switched venues, with the whole day being spent at Thames Valley Athletics Centre. All students had the opportunity of participating in a range of athletic events, including the classics: egg and spoon and sack race. It was lovely to see the students being roared on by so many parents and I’m very proud to say that a number of long standing school records were broken. Congratulations to Stuart House who won the overall competition. My thanks to Mr Kirkby for his organisation of the day. News of our sporting success continues with the wonderful Year 7 football team. Having made their way through to the final of the Slough Schools’ FA Cup, they beat St Bernard’s 2-1. There is much more detail to be found later on but I would like to acknowledge the role that Mr Imbastari plays in organising and motivating our footballers. Well done to all! The month of May also saw our Year 8 students depart for the annual French Trip. Lead by Mrs Sayer and supported by Mr Imbastari, students spent a wonderful week away sampling the delights of northern France whilst also developing their language skills. A very busy and worthwhile trip and I have received exciting reports from all involved. Lastly from me a reminder to please avoid parking across the access driveways of our neighbours during drop off and collection and do please refrain from turning in the entrance to the Alms Houses. Your ongoing support in this matter is greatly appreciated. I shall look forward to writing to you once again in our final newsletter of the academic year. Andy Snipp Head of School Please see our Website and www.facebook.com/stpetersoldwindsor for latest news, information and downloads

young writers' passion and we are all proud of it.

Music School Production This year we will be performing the musical "Grease" (the junior, age-appropriate version) in July. Sponsorship:For schools to perform any official show, there is a fee to pay to the owners of the show. "Grease" is particularly costly but it's a show that will suit the amazing performing arts talents we currently have in St Peter's. The ticket sales will not cover the cost by quite a margin, so this year I am inviting any individuals, friends and families of the school and local business, small and large, to sponsor our production. Any business who sponsor may have their name mentioned in the programme. So, any contribution (£50 - £500) will be gratefully accepted to meet the £1,000 fee to the licencing company. Our students will make this an amazing production - so it will be a show well worth sponsoring! Thank you. Mrs Foakes

Poetry competition winners 'Once upon a dream' was a poetry competition for Key Stage 2 and Young Writers received entries in excess of 35,000. This competition was organised to encourage students to develop their creative writing skills and love for poetry. Our young writers were selected after a detailed consideration. The selection criteria was quite tough . The poems are scheduled for publication in 'Berkshire Bards' on 30th June 2017. Congratulations to: Katie Beale, Eloise Hall, Seth Thomson, Obi Ijeomah, Roxanne Rejnisz and Ellie-Mai Worthington.

Busta Rhyme Key Stage 3 entered ‘busta rhyme’ competition and six of them from our school have been selected for 'young writers '. As you all know our aim is to encourage students to develop their creative writing skills,'busta rhyme' has fuelled our talented

Their work will be published in a book and school will receive a complimentary copy of the book. Congratulations to Imogen Clark, Mariam Ahmed, Agatha Thomson, Sofia Cardoso and Lydia Sampson.

News from our school library As a result from sales from the Travelling Book Fair last term, we have received over £200 of excellent new books in our library this term. The books will be a great help towards improving the literacy skills of our students as well as being great fun to read! You can visit and keep a record of your child’s reading routine from the comfort of your home. Simply download the ‘iMLS’ app on your PCs and smart phones and check the latest arrivals as well. Enjoy! If you need further information regarding iMLS, please contact Mrs Hussain, [email protected].

Plant Fascination Day On Thursday 18th May a handful of people from each year group went on an amazing science trip which was a great experience to try new opportunities. In the morning we had talks with Dr. Brian Ferry and Prof. Laszlo Bogre. In our group we started the day off studying genes, then we studied seeds. We then went on a nice long walk through the woods to the greenhouse which was very enjoyable. After that we had a peaceful picnic in the grounds and in the afternoon we saw a beehive which was very busy making honey. We met Brian Ferry again to study herbarium which are pressed plants from years before - but the best activity by far was the plant drawing with Kerry Lemon who is a very talented nature-loving artist. She showed us ways to recreate drawings using patterns like triangles, dots, lines and lots more. By Jasjotika Singh and Evie Lewis-Dhaliwal

Maths The United Kingdom Maths Trust Junior Maths Challenge was held at St Peter's School on Thursday 27th April. The following Year 8 students qualified to represent St Peter's in the challenge: Midha Hussain, Olatz Bulson-Roman, Eleanor Elmes, Ella Clarke, Jai Gill, Rosie Thomas, Scarlett O'Shaughnessy, James Wingrove, Laura Arnold and Ross Conboy. The completed assessments were sent to UKMT and we have received the results. Congratulations to Eleanor who will receive the Best in School certificate and is the only student to receive the silver certificate. Scarlett, Olatz, Midha, Laura and Ross all receive a bronze certificates. This means that these six students were in the top 40% of mathematicians in the country. Around 1,200 of the highest scorers are invited to participate in the Junior Mathematical Olympiad. Unfortunately nobody made it through this year but an outstanding result for our first attempt in this event. Well done to all students in Year 8 who took part in the Challenge.

Garden Thank you to all the staff and students for your support and contributions towards the garden party. We sold all the plants that the children had seeded and raised £108.50 plus a few more pennies with IOUs for future garden purchases. That in conjunction with completing the RHS Campaign for schools Level 3, qualifying for £150 of plants and the £50 donated by the PTA means that we now have funds to make our garden even more beautiful in the future. Most importantly though it gave the children an opportunity to run an event independently and have enormous fun in doing so. Special thanks goes to our Head Gardeners Rose Arbery, Scarlett Stone, Sarah Newell and Samuel McCreanor for all their hard work in restoring the garden, completing the composting project to reach RHS Level 3 and making this event happen. With support from other volunteers they have transformed the garden since we started a year ago and if you would like to see their hard work do pop in for a visit.

Hot off the press! We are now selling St Peter's organic fertilizer made in the garden from worm juice. It comes in 500ml bottle which can produce 5L of organic fertilizer for your garden. If you would like to place an order with the school office we will deliver it to Reception where you can pick it up and make a donation towards the school garden.

Year 8 Globe Theatre Trip On Friday the 17th of March 2017, the Year 8s went on a school trip into London. This was to see a performance of the 'Taming of the Shrew' at the famous Globe Theatre. We arrived just in time for lunch which we ate sat outside on the Southbank overlooking the River Thames, this was really nice. Then it was time to go to the Globe, we were handed a ticket and I was excited that my seat was in a box, I felt like royalty. It was a really cool theatre, it was like stepping back in time to the Shakespearian era. I liked the fact that you could get a 360 degree view of the performance and the beautiful theatre. I enjoyed the play as it had a modern twist. The stage and set were simple but very effective. The actors were really good, it was very well performed and it made me laugh. Overall I had a fantastic time and would highly recommend a visit to the theatre. By Flynn Edwards

Football News St Peter's Year 5 Football Tournament

Joshua Jayasingh, Devindar Vaid, Imogen Clark and Samuel McCreanor who looked after our visiting schools and all helped make this event such a success. Thanks also to the PTA for providing snacks and refreshments for all the teams and Old Windsor Tigers Kem Ardali for providing equipment to help us stage this event.

Slough Schools FA Cup Year 7 Champions

St Peter’s held its first home football tournament for Year 5. We had an A team, B team and C team participate so well done to all the boys who took part. S Special congratulations to the Year 5 A team who won the competition beating St Edward’s in the final. The boys topped their group remaining unbeaten in the group stages and then beat Bishopsgate in the semi-final. On route to the final they scored 16 goals and conceded none. A fine performance from with Zaki Sfendla scoring both goals in the 1-0 wins in the semi-final and final. Selfless play from Jaye Long, Jack Hollick and Louis Hunter assisted in the goals. A magnificent defensive display from Captain Charlie McCreanor, Joseph Rodgers and Harvey Keegan meant that clean sheets were kept in every match. It was a fine day and we would like to say thanks to all staff especially Mr Doore, Mr Kirkby and Mrs Rycraft Richards for running the teams.

Also a big thanks to the following Year 7 boys Oliver Lewis, Zinedine Sfendla, Leo Ardali, Finlay Jones, Caleb Berry, Oliver Hunter, Ethan Tullett and Jack Stevens for officiating all the matches and the Year 8 sports ambassadors Lydia Sampson, Ella Clarke, Midha Hussain,

Congratulations to the Year 7 football team who were crowned Slough Schools FA Cup Champions. They beat St Bernard's Grammar School 2-1 in a most exciting match. A fine performance from the whole squad including superb defensive play from our goalkeeper Ethan Tullett, defenders Oliver Lewis, Hayden Newell, Dominic McLeod Smith, Oliver Hunter, tenacious midfield tackling and passing by Leo Ardali, Tapiwa Haruvisi, Jack Stevens, Finlay Jones and great hold up play and shooting from our attackers Zinedine Sfendla and Caleb Berry. To hold out for most of the game against an unbeaten St Bernard's team was an outstanding achievement. They attacked with wave after wave of football but were repelled with brave and courageous defending from the entire squad and only scored midway through the second half to go 1-0 up. The St Peter's boys never let their heads drop and remained in fellowship and trusted each other to come back from this deficit. It was only in the last 5-10 minutes when St Peter's started to dominate and after coming close, a superb turn and shot from Zinedine resulted in the ball hitting the bar. Tapiwa reacted the quickest and headed the ball into the goal, equalising for St Peter's. The clock was counting down for extra time when St Peter's were awarded a corner. Finlay Jones (man of the match) went across and from the corner kick audaciously curled the ball over everybody and into the far corner to the surprise of all. The match then restarted and after less than a minute the referee blew the final whistle sparking jubilant celebrations from the whole team and all our supporters.

A special thanks to all staff and parents who came to watch and support our boys especially Ryan Jones who has coached the boys all year Who would have thought lightning could strike twice in three years for the smallest school in the district. Champions, Champions, Ole, Ole, Ole!

Gamelan workshop All the Year 5, 7 and remaining Year 8 students enjoyed their one hour lesson on authentic Javanese gamelan instruments, expertly led by Russel from Inspireworks. The students learned how gamelan music is constructed with a core melody that they memorised and then decorated with patterns, while learning to work as a team by listening and concentrating hard. The students appreciated having the opportunity to use the proper instruments and enjoyed improving their ensemble performing skills.

Sports day new school records Sports day was a great success with a number of school athletics records being broken. Well done to: Jessica Tambling, Year 5, 75m; Jack Hollick, Year 5, Javelin; Lilianna Nhamburo, Year 6, 75m; James Haydock-Wilson, Year 6, 75m and 150m; Oliver Wright, Year 6, Shot; Ella Clarke, Year 8, 200m; York House, Year 8 girls Relay.

Year 5-8 Ultimate Frisbee Competition Congratulations to our students who came first and second in the Ultimate Frisbee Competition held at The Windsor Boys’ School on Tuesday 13th June.

Let’s talk about Safeguarding This week’s spotlight is on eating disorders. Eating Problems Everyone eats differently but if you take eating to extremes you could have an eating problem. What is an eating problem? Lots of people have different eating habits and forgetting to eat for a day or having a blow-out aren’t signs of an eating problem, nor is occasionally going on a diet. Trying to control what or how much you eat very strictly or eating and then making yourself sick (bulimia) are signs that you could have an eating problem. Eating problems are common and can affect anyone of any body shape or lifestyle. They can be triggered by a number of things but you can often develop an eating problem when other parts of your life don’t feel right. Worry or stress can trigger eating problems as can the feeling of being out of control in other areas of your life. Being able to control how much or what you eat can give you back that feeling of order. Singers Demi Lovato and Zayn Malik have both spoken openly about having eating disorders and what they did to get better. Symptoms of eating problems Some eating problems such as Anorexia and Bulimia are serious mental health conditions that need professional help to diagnose and treat. Some eating problems are signs of normal eating behaviour but they happen more often or to an extreme degree:

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Losing appetite

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Eating when not hungry

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Obsessing about body image

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Eating only certain types of things or following a ‘fad’ too closely

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Fear of gaining weight

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Dramatic weight loss or gain

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Being sick

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No longer enjoying eating socially or leaving the table quickly (to be sick or hide food)

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Focusing on buying or cooking food for others

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Feeling secretive

Just because you experience one or more of these symptoms, it doesn’t mean you’re definitely affected by an eating problem but if they are affecting everyday life, talk to your GP to get a full diagnosis. What to do about eating problems Take the first step – if you think you are affected by an eating disorder talk to someone you trust. It’s often hard to accept that you might have an eating problem but young people who have suffered from one always say that beginning to talk is the start of their road to recovery. Sometimes learning to eat normally again can be hard work so speak to your GP who can help with diet. They may also suggest talking therapies for you and your family to help with the issues that have triggered the eating problem. Understanding that you are not alone is really important and there are a lot of groups around the UK where you can go to talk with young people who have shared the same experience as you. This can really help you begin your recovery. The above information is from www.youngminds.org.uk, other usefully websites include www.nhs.uk/Livewell/eatingdisorders/Pages/eating-disorders-advice-parents.aspx https://www.helpguide.org/articles/eating-disorders/helping-someone-with-an-eating-disorder.htm

Grease Rehearsal Schedule