European Day of Languages 2012 On Wednesday 26th September, the whole school celebrated the European Day of Languages with a range of activities. All week Year 7 and Year 8 said their registers using numbers from a foreign language such as Japanese, Dutch and Italian. Year 7 students were also invited to take part in a Languages Treasure Hunt where they had to identify greetings in 30 different languages. Teachers were allocated a greeting to use during lessons and students had to listen to their greeting and clues to match the languages with their speakers. Congratulations went to Jonathon Wilson, Rhiannon Simpson and Zoe Michaels who managed to correctly identify all 30 languages. The 3 lucky winners and runners up were presented with prizes and a certificate in assembly. In addition, a French café was organised for Year 7 and Year 10 selling orange juice, brioche and pains au chocolat. All money raised was donated to the Macmillan Nurses charity. Key Stage 3 language lessons were designed to broaden students’ linguistic horizons and to help them make connections between different languages via a carousel of activities including ‘It’s All Greek To Me’ which introduced students to the Greek alphabet and the ‘Zookeeper Challenge’ which encouraged students to look at similarities between some European languages. Staff participation was not confined to languages teachers. Staff from other curriculum areas had the chance to show their linguistic credentials by incorporating languages themes into lessons from classroom instructions to using the French alphabet in music. Many thanks to all staff and students who took part.
Year 10 students enjoying the French café
A Trip to Poland By Jonathan Siney and Dominic Burrows As part of the GCSE History course, a number of pupils have the opportunity to take an educational and emotional trip to Poland for an unforgettable experience. We began our journey to Poland firstly by coach, which took us to the airport where we caught a 2 hour long plane flight to Poland. By the time we had arrived in our new home for the next 3 days, called the Chopin hotel, we had already caught a glimpse of typical Polish tradition in the style of buildings and environment.
A group photo opportunity in Krakow The first day of our trip was great, as we enjoyed a walking tour of Krakow, being able to see the old buildings which made up the majority of the city, as well as the castle, all
holding different stories about Krakow`s past. Later, we travelled to Schindler’s museum and the Holocaust survivors talk at the Galicia museum, which enabled us to relate to a real life story experienced by the survivor himself. On our second day, we were involved in the more emotional aspect of the trip as we arrived in Auschwitz concentration camp, and were able to look around and witness the places which caused so much anguish in World War 2. It was a very emotional day, but we all learned and could picture the scenes that we had only seen on pictures in the classroom, which helped us to understand the scale and real atmosphere inside the concentration camps. After, we had free time in Krakow shopping centre where we could relax and socialise after what had been a very informative and interesting day. On the 3rd day we travelled to the salt mines on the way to the airport, where we were able to witness the huge scale of the mines under the ground carved out by hundreds of years of hard labour by the miners when Krakow was a main exporter of salt. The tour was very interesting and gave us a balance of both the war itself and its effect on daily processes and jobs. Some quotes from pupils; “I’ve learnt so much more about the war and life during the war” “I have learnt much more than we did in class”
“The most memorable moment was seeing all the belongings that had been taken off the prisoners” “Visiting Auswitchz Museum and seeing the extent of how many people were involved” We all had a great time in Poland, with memorable sights and experiences which we are now able to share with others. We all learned lots on the trip, with the important message from the Holocaust survivor staying with us forever : We cannot forget about what happened and the trauma that was caused, and must do all we can to prevent it from happening again in the future.
The Old Jewish Synagogue in Krakow – the wall is made from the gravestones broken by the Nazis.
A guard tower at Birkenau
Geography trip to Bowness Earlier on in the year, all the year 11 Geography pupils participated in a field trip to Bowness in order to prepare for the controlled assessment which we are required to complete as part of our GCSE. A few months ago we went to Castleton, in the Peak District, in order to collect all the information that we needed for our assessment. While in Castleton we carried out many different activities, these included: going on scenic walks to analyse the landscape, vehicle counts and completing annotated sketches of some tourist attractions. On the way to Castleton, we were all given a fieldwork booklet that contained all the activities which we had to carry out before returning back to school. When we arrived, we headed up to Peveril Castle where we each drew an annotated sketch of Castleton, we then headed back down into the centre of the village and were given a time limit, in that time we were able to pick the order which we completed the tasks, as well as having a break for our lunch. In order to complete some of the tasks, we had to talk to the tourists, for example, one of the tasks was a tourist questionnaire and another was a car-tax disk survey to find out where people had travelled from. I think these tasks made the trip more interesting as it added variation and were different from all the other activities as they were about analysing the surroundings, which meant us working individually most of the time. I think that all of the pupils enjoyed the trip and it gave us a valuable insight to the subject of tourism, therefore helping us with the class work later on in the year.
Geography Prefects October 2012
Seeing ‘Stars’ in the LRC! A canopy of ‘star’ themed poetry hung from the ceiling in the LRC to celebrate National Poetry Day on Thursday, 4th October. Pupils were also invited to pen a poem on the theme of ‘stars’; and to say their efforts were out of this world would be no exaggeration! Prizes were awarded to winning entries from Ben SimpsonYear 7,Rachel McNamara Year 8 and Oliver Ellsworthy Year 9 at a special lunchtime celebration in the LRC.
As well as a school-wide display, all poetry by pupils and poets was collated into a booklet which was made available in Reception. Visitors to school have remarked how much they have enjoyed reading both published poets and our budding ‘stars’.
Our Day Out Report On Friday 19th and Tuesday 23rd of October St Peter’s Catholic High School performed Willy Russell’s famous musical production ‘Our Day Out’. The story focusses on a young group of school kids from a deprived section of Liverpool who go on a very rare school trip. These kids are members of the ‘progress class’ at the school which makes the trip even more exciting to them. Despite it not being the most popular of musicals it was seen by many as one of the best plays St Peter’s has ever performed. In addition all cast members found the play extremely enjoyable to put on and were very upset when it came to a finish, including myself. Words can’t describe how much hard work went into this production. Throughout every rehearsal there was a huge amount of effort was put in from the ‘techies’, music and drama department. A special mention should go to Mrs R Sangster, who did an absolutely amazing job of directing the production. When it came to the nights of the performances the show was faultless. It was refreshing to see all the energy and excitement from the members of the cast transferred into the performance to make the play that little more spectacular. St Peter’s Headteacher, Mr McGlown stated, ‘It was great to see our wonderful students behaving so badly and then realising that they were just acting! Thank you to everyone for such a superb show‘. Comments from audience included the following: ‘‘the drama included in the play was magnificent and the comedy even better’’, “The best school production I have ever seen, a pleasure to watch’’. Evidently, the show was a great success and thoroughly enjoyed by many cast, staff and audience.
Liam Roach (Reilly)
The BTEC/GCSE Performance Evening As part of both the BTEC and GCSE courses for Music at Key Stage 4, the first performance evening of the year is always the most nerve-wracking for both performers and crew alike. The BTEC groups are set the task of planning and creating a music evening, taking on roles such as promoters, sound engineers, stage managers, backstage and some performers, all of which can be used as the practical evidence for their coursework. This evening is also a fantastic opportunity for the GCSE classes to perform their exam material, as well as an excuse for the newcomers in year 10 to gain some experience performing for a large audience. On the 4th October after weeks of planning and preparation by the year 10 BTEC classes, it was finally the performance night. We started planning weeks before by allocating job roles to everyone, we had to make sure everyone was doing something for the show and it needed everyone to run it as smoothly as possible. In preparation for the roles we would undertake, we prepared job descriptions and got to work on preparing lists, documents, basically whatever we needed! The classes designed posters for marketing and tickets to sell as we had to work to a tight budget. All the while, the performers were busy rehearsing and getting ready for their big night! When it came to the night, before the show there was a lot of setting up to do, microphones, cables, planning where everything was going on stage, setting up amps, the lot.
Eventually, the audience started arriving, they took their seats and the show started with the year 11 GCSE & BTEC class' performances. We were treated to a variety of pieces on different instruments and speaking to a number of the audience it was clear that one highlight was Tulio Xavier, a guitarist from the GCSE class who played a piece that left his hands a blur on his instrument. The second half showcased the year 10 classes, it was their first performance evening so a few people were very nervous, but they were fine once they started. A highlight from the evening was Liam Roach and Elizabeth Simms with a beautiful rendition of Broken Strings leaving most of the audience with goose bumps! Everyone performed well and sounded great, and I look forward to the next performance evening. Sophie Gavin
The Holocaust By Luke O’Rourke
In late 2012, the students and teachers at St Peters Catholic High School packed themselves into the school drama theatre and met Harry Bibring, a survivor of the Holocaust. Mr. Bibring told them his remarkable story and gave the audience an emotional experience they will never forget. This is the story of Harry Bibring. Harry was born on 26th December 1925 in Vienna. In 1939, before the “Anschluss” (a union between Germany and Austria), Harry and his family were living in a flat in the 6th district in Vienna. They had a good standard of living and were relatively happy. His father had a menswear business in Vienna’s 15th district. After the “Anschluss” Harry had to leave the Gymnasium which was where he went to school and was allocated to go to a secondary school which was chosen to have all the Jewish children who had to leave the Gymnasiums. After a coordinated attack on the Jews known as Kristallnacht, Harry’s family was locked out of their flat for a week and they had to stay in a flat which used to house about 50 Jewish women and children in one place. His father was taken to jail on his way to work on 10th November and released at about the same time that the rest of the family was allowed to return to their flat. Harry’s father's business was looted and destroyed on the 10th November and it was when they all got back to the flat that his parents decided they had to leave Vienna. At first the family was planning to go to Shanghai but Harry’s father was robbed on his way to the travel agent trying to buy tickets. It was then that it was decided that Harry and his sister would come to England on the Kindertransport and the plan was that their parents would follow as soon as possible. Sadly that never happened. Harry’s father died of a heart attack on the van when they tried to take him away in November 1940. His mother then lived with her sister in lodgings until they were both deported first to Izbica and then to Sobibor in about June 1942. Towards the end of the war in early 1945, Harry met Muriel through her brother, who he had met about six months earlier and was a good friend. Until then Harry lived in various lodgings but when Muriel's mother heard that he was fending for himself in strangers’ houses she asked him to live with her. That enabled Harry to get to know Muriel better and they got engaged in 1946 and married in 1947 and had a long and happy relationship. This story he told us all had different effects on us personally, and for me after everything he had been through in life, I thought he was one of the bravest, inspirational people I had ever had the privilege to meet. As a year group Harry’s story really made us all understand how badly Jewish people were being treated during the Holocaust and it got to us all even though some of
us didn’t show it. Our whole school cannot thank Harry enough for coming in and talking to us about his experiences and we all respect him very highly.
GCSE PE Outdoor Activity Days 2012 In September, we as PE GCSE students were given the opportunity to visit Scotsmans Flash in Poolstock to take part in Kayaking as part of our GCSE PE assessment. , We were split into groups of 8, with an instructor and our teachers supervising. During the day we were taught various techniques and skills to help us on the water and to take forward into our GCSE Practical Performances. We were given various activities to complete such as paddling forwards and backwards, launching, stopping, capsizing and rescuing. This was a really enjoyable day even if we did end up cold and very very wet! In addition, in October, we were given the chance to take part in climbing activities at the North West Face Indoor Climbing Centre Warrington. On the day of our visit we were taught to tie a ‘figure of eight’ knot, how to low level traverse, , belay, perform an abseil and we also got the opportunity to climb a wall of our choice. The walls varied in level of difficulty but with the support of friends, our instructor Keith and our teachers we all made it up to the very top. In November, we were taken to Haigh Hall, to do Orienteering. This is another area we can use as part of our GCSE PE. The afternoons consisted of us learning how to map read and pick suitable route choices. We were also taught how to measure distances, and learnt vocabulary such as ‘Aiming off’ and ‘Attack points’ that will help in our final assessment. We were given the task of orienteering around the park from one control point to the other finding the quickest and shortest route. Some points proved extremely hard to find and resulted in some groups getting lost! On the whole, I think these GCSE days have been extremely successful! All pupils have found them to be enjoyable because of the friendly atmosphere, as well as it also being educational. We have also learned lots of new activities that will help us with our Practical Performances and our exams. Brogan Kay 11.5
Christmas at St. Peter’s…Gangnam Style! Christmas can be a fairly busy time of the year for anyone, but for the staff and pupils of St. Peter’s Catholic High School, it was an incredible finish to our first term. A number of weeks before Christmas, the school was asked to provide a band for the switching on of Orrell lights, opposite the school entrance. Councillor Murphy of Orrell has worked for years to make the event, a showcase of the good work in the community, a reality and the school was very excited to be part of it. The school band played a number of carols and soloist Aimee Flanagan performed a few songs, most notably the Christmas hit ‘The Power of Love’. On Thursday 13th December the school renewed the old tradition of visiting a local parish and performing a carol concert for the congregation. The hard work of the children was evident in the quality of the performances commented on by Mr. McGlown later in the evening. The evening consisted of monologues, two pupil choirs and the school band. Before the event began the school band played a montage of wellknown Christmas carols for the congregation already gathered. The choir began with ‘Angel Gabriel’, ‘Bells Ring Out’ and included many other pieces such as ‘We Three Kings’ and ‘Today a Child is Born’. The staff choir also made an appearance on the night with their rendition of ‘Away in a Manger’ in four part harmony. The evening was brought to a close with ‘O’ Come All Ye Faithful’ and Mr. McGlown in his closing speech wished everyone a Merry Christmas. We were very pleased to be a part of the spectacular Christmas concert our school presented for the last day of term, before the Christmas holidays. We really enjoyed it and we think everyone else did. There were many talented performances including the ‘Gangnam Style’ video produced by a Year 11 team. That was pretty much the whole school's highlight, (ours anyway!) although Aimee Flanagan's voice was amazing! She sang ‘The Power of Love’ with her friend, Isla Oxton-Grant, accompanying her on the piano. Their performance gained a huge round of applause and was really well deserved. The staff performance of ‘Feed The World’ was also very funny, we were amused at the fact any voice just popped up with a random member of staff singing their hearts out. Throughout the celebration everyone was singing and dancing to the amazing choir and school band who had worked incredibly hard towards this event. They performed their own interpretations of classic Christmas songs like ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ by Mariah Carey. It was all finished off with the great rendition of the classic ‘White Christmas’ by Bing Crosby performed by the Year 10 GCSE Music class. We would like to say thank you to everyone who worked on the celebration, that includes the band, choir, technicians, the music teachers who arranged the band and Carl the School Chaplain. We would also like to thank the teachers who took part in the celebration, making it a great day, and a big well done to the people who made the ‘Gangnam Style’ video/. Finally a massive thank you to all the students who watched and took part in making it an amazing day, this couldn’t have happened without everyone involved, thank you all! Jacobo Barnes and Connor Spratt Year 10
Mathematics FSMQ FSMQ is an additional Maths qualification aimed at Gifted and Talented Mathematicians who plan to take the subject to ‘A’ level. For the third year running, we are offering this additional Maths qualification to pupils with a keen interest in the subject and several Year 10 pupils have already expressed an interest in the course which will begin shortly after Easter. The course is specifically designed to bridge the gap between GCSE and ‘A’ level so that pupils leaving Saint Peters and studying Maths at college, can go there with confidence knowing that they are well and truly prepared for their subject.
Year 11 pupils are already well on the way with the course which Mr Kirton runs after school one evening a week. David Jones was one of the first pupils to follow the course and a member of the infamous class in which half the pupils achieved A* in the November of their Year 11. David was invited back into school recently to give a lesson to the Year 11 group on A level Calculus and is planning to support the group as they approach their summer examination. Mr. Callaghan who taught David in Years 10 and 11 described David as a “bright and inquisitive young man with a real enthusiasm for the subject. David grew in confidence as the course progressed and really seemed to enjoy the intellectual challenge that this subject presented.
David is pictured here leading the lesson.
Spelling Bee After two very successful years of participation in the Modern Languages Spelling Bee, team Saint Pierre once again entered this prestigious national competition with high hopes. However, this year we took on the extra challenge of entering the German competition as well as the French one! Ya! Back in January, Year 7 classes began their preparation for the Spelling Bee by practising the French and German alphabet and spelling words they had already learned since September including months, numbers, colours and classroom objects. They played language games, tested each other and generally became very competitive leading up to the Stage 1 class competition. They also welcomed the mentoring they received from Year 8 Emma-Jayne Ramsey, last year’s national finalist who made it through the stages to compete at Cambridge University! This involved a high pressure timed spelling test where every pupil was given only one minute to spell correctly as many words as possible with the aim of finding the best three spellers in each class to go through to the Stage 2 School Competition. Pupils were first given the word in English, had to translate it into French or German then spell it using the letter sounds accurately... not an easy task! These victorious competitors were then given an additional list of fifty more words consisting of school subjects, higher numbers, family members and personality adjectives. We held the School Competition in the lecture theatre where the brave participants performed in front of an audience made up of the whole year group. Scary! The performances were confident and very impressive but unfortunately we had to narrow them down to just four; two French finalists Elizabeth Weeks and Andrew Owen and two German finalists Rebecca Grady and Oliver Derbyshire. These lucky and dedicated spellers were now entered in the Regional Competition of Stage 3. This was held at Manchester Metropolitan University in March and yes, they had to learn another fifty words for it! After lots of practice and training with their teachers they were ready for the challenge that awaited them. Our confident contestants travelled to the university by train, where they found themselves mingling with university students and lecturers, as well as fellow Year 7 competitors. The competition was tough for both languages with participants performing at a very high standard. Although our team did so well and represented our school brilliantly in their behaviour, they were each pipped at the post and did not go through to the Stage 4 National Competition. All Year 7 class teachers were very proud of their pupils’ determination and positive attitude towards the competition and feel that their pupils have developed not only their language skills and pronunciation but their general literacy skills too. All pupils received a certificate of participation, with special certificates and prizes presented to the various stage winners in a dedicated assembly to mark the achievements of Year 7. Well done and here’s to next year!
PHOTO BELOW:
Team Saint Peter’s at the Regional Final at Manchester Metropolitan University – Elizabeth Weeks, Andrew Owen, Oliver Derbyshire and Rebecca Grady.
Diary of a Mathematician
Monday 18th February 2013.
Get up. No breakfast – no need. Uniform? Not ‘til next Monday. Packed lunch? No need. Mustn’t miss the school bus. Big day ahead. School bus arrives. Get on bus. Chat with friends. Get off the bus. Wave goodbye to my mates as they go into school. I’m off. Up Howards Lane, Turn left onto Orrell Road and disappear into the distance. Truanting? Nah. I’m off to the Mount Hotel for a five day intensive Maths course. I’m looking for that Grade ‘C’
Nineteen of our year 11 pupils were given a real opportunity for some last minute preparation for their Maths GCSE. The school provided a course tailor made for pupils on the C/D borderline, to give them that little boost which might just make the difference between achieving a grade ‘C’ or just missing out. Mr McGlown had seen the course run successfully in his previous school and when he suggested he would be supportive of a similar programme with our Year 11 pupils, the Maths Faculty were keen to take this further. In an attempt to make this course a special week for the 19 pupils, Mr McGlown and Mr Callaghan decided that rather than run the course in school with all the daily distractions, running it at the Mount Hotel would help to make this a special week. And what a special week it turned out to be!
Pupils began the day with breakfast in the hotel lounge before making their way to the Rivington suite for their morning’s work. This was to be their ‘home’ for the next five days. The first day began with a test to establish the starting point from which each pupil would begin. A team of five tutors would then be working with the pupils throughout the week and this would culminate in a further test at the end of the week to measure their progress. And what progress they made! Five days of Maths, Maths and more Maths might sound like hard work. It certainly was demanding but our pupils acquitted themselves well and many of them made outstanding progress. Each day they grew in confidence and there was a real buzz and energy about the place. Their class teachers visited throughout the week to support them and give them encouragement.
Hotel staff and staff from the company providing the course were extremely impressed with our young men and women. In particular, with their maturity and their level of motivation. We won’t quite know the impact of all the hard work those nineteen pupils did until the results come out on 18th April, but each boy and girl in the group can be proud of their efforts and proud of the fact that everybody they had contact with during the week was highly impressed with them.
On the week beginning 17th February, the Year 8s began an exciting trip to Savio House Retreat Centre in Cheshire, consisting of four houses, including the cottage and main house.
When we arrived everyone was excited for the day that lay ahead. The Savio house staff introduced themselves to us and mentioned something exciting about themselves. Following this, we took part in a number of games and had
some free time where we could take part in different activities, including circus activities, ping pong and snooker. After the games we settled down to some lunch with lasagne on the menu followed by a walk around the village, feeding the ducks, stopping to enjoy the river and walking right next to lots of sheep. Going back we enjoyed our dinner and did a Salesian good night. While at Savio we learned that spending time with others allows us to see God within them.
On the Tuesday morning, everyone woke up bright and early for the day ahead. Starting the day with a good breakfast, morning prayer and sing along followed by a break. Subsequently we had a reconciliation which everyone was part of. Reconciliation is when we think about the things we have done wrong and allows us to improve. This was a very prayerful and also relaxing experience. I have not really done this kind of activity before but I found it very calming. Later we had lunch, an afternoon activity, a sing along, mass preparation and an evening meal. During the celebration of Mass people took part in either music, drama, art or dance. Every performance was brilliant and the dance was exciting, especially when a few of us completed the Harlem shake! Afterwards we celebrated by partying which everyone enjoyed. To finish for the day we wrote in our journals and took part in night prayers. On the final morning I was very tired, and did not really want to go home. We all woke up and enjoyed breakfast. We did something next called Affirmation.
Affirmation is when we try to say something positive about each person in our group. This was very uplifting and helped us to see all the good things about ourselves. Everyone then went into small groups, did a final liturgy and had lunch. Everyone was disappointed to go home. Our trip to Savio House was a very uplifting experience which I would definitely recommend in the future. We have already asked Mr Keenan to book this for Year 8 again next year and also another activity like this for Year 9. I have learned that prayer and believing in God can be fun and exciting. We would strongly recommend this experience to everyone.
By Rachel McNamara and Kim Beardmore
Urban Redevelopment: A Geographer’s point of view As part of our GCSE Geography course, we visited Manchester, using it as an example of urban redevelopment. We looked at where the infamous Hulme Crescents had once been, rife with crime and vermin and how the area has been redeveloped since. It ranged from new security systems such as sensor controlled gates, to zoned parks in which dogs were unable to gain access to the infants’ play area. The whole area had been at the forefront of a massive urban improvement. Liverpool One was another example of redevelopment we visited. A once run down and neglected area had been transformed into a myriad of different coloured shops. The area was vibrant and lively, just like Michael Swan as he spotted the Everton club shop, he was as giddy as a three year old in a sweet shop! Anyway, an entire set of new features were present, such as a shopping complex, apartments, a nearby museum and a flight of stairs leading to a large outdoor picnic area. The redevelopment had done the area a world of good. Ryan McCracken 10.5
The LRC Celebrates World Book Day
Thursday 7th March was the date for this year’s World Book Day. A poster competition based on the work of artist Simon Drew was supported by many members of the lunchtime Art Club. Posters were created by pupils, who gave a humorous twist of a book title or author’s name, resulting in a gallery to celebrate the world of books. Rosie and Amy (Year 8) collaborated to take first prize followed by Tizzie and Ellie (Year 8) who came second and Lorna (Year 7) won third prize.
The following Wednesday, the LRC hosted a visit from Liverpool based poet and storyteller Levi Tafari. The theme of his performance was ‘Building Bridges’ between people and diverse groups in society. Levi performed to classes during English lessons and also gave a lunchtime performance that was open to all year groups. Reaction from the pupils was positive which contributed to a very successful occasion.
Stepping out of the boat… On the 8th April 2013 St. Peter’s engaged in a Mission Week organised by the Animate team hailing from Lowe House in St. Helens. The Mission comprised of a week of activities based around the theme of ‘Stepping out of the boat’ with our school saint in mind. It was filled with a variety of activities that allowed us to explore the theme in depth and share our faith experiences. Mission Week was a fantastic experience. Meeting Father Simon and the Animate team was a huge privilege as they were so genuine and honest. The Animate Team allocated time to every year group on a number of different days, to make us fully understand the meaning of the Mission in an easy and enjoyable way. Every morning during the Mission, the Animate Team ran "Breakfast with God" where anybody could come along; to socialise, sing and have time to reflect. Each Year Group had the chance to experience interactive sessions in the Drama Theatre which were fun and really made us think about ourselves and others. We did lots of different things in class during the week, based on the theme of Stepping out of the boat. At the end of the week we had a final mass in the sports hall. This was really enjoyable and the whole school got involved, especially when father Simon started to sing. We are grateful for the wonderful opportunity that they gave us.
Niamh Lynch
Year 11 RFL National Champion Schools Final 2013 By Nathan Lawrenson St Peter’s hung on for a last gasp win to cap a rollercoaster five years on a high, lifting the Year 11 Champion Schools’ trophy at Widnes Vikings’ Stobart Stadium on Wednesday. Their opponents, South Holderness of Hull had twice fought back from a ten point deficit but the narrow victory was confirmed ninety seconds from time through Kyle Shelford’s penalty goal. Despite having already lifted the Wigan Schools Cup and the North West Regional Cup, St Peters went in as marginal underdogs but started at lightening pace; scoring two tries inside the first ten minutes through Phil Atherton and Shelford. South Holderness hit back instantly to tie scores for the first time but Atherton powered over again to put Peter’s back in the lead at the break. Dec Kay re-instated a two try margin with a second-half score but South Holderness replied again, taking the score to 20-20. With full-time approaching, it looked as if the trophy was to be shared until Shelford coolly converted a penalty to achieve a victory which will live long in the memory of the St Peter’s team. St Peter’s has always been actively involved in schools rugby league at a local, regional and National level and has had a strong reputation for many years. The RFL Champion Schools tournament is the world's biggest Rugby League knockout competition and one of the greatest success stories for the sport. Open to every secondary school in England, Wales and Scotland – the tournament has seen over 27,000 students take the field this year.
Wigan Cross Country. On Tuesday 13th November we took a group of Y7-11 pupils to the Wigan Cross Country Championships at Leigh Sports Village. All the pupils involved competed very well and gave us their best. We had some fantastic results with the Y10+11 boys winning team gold, the Y7 girls winning team silver and the Y8+9 girls winning team bronze. We also had some excellent individual results with Charlotte Newsham claiming individual gold in the Y8+9 girls race and Aaron Molloy claiming individual silver in the Y10+11 boys race. In addition to these two superb results we also have the following: Y7 girls Amber Fairhurst – 14th Y7 boys Daniel Clare - 10th Y8+9 Girls Louise Ainscow – 12th Y10 +11 Girls Toni Clayton – 7th Brogan Kay – 9th Y10 + 11 Boys James Waterworth – 4th Jack Leyland – 5th All of these pupils have been selected to represent Wigan and Leigh in the Greater Manchester cross country championships, which is a brilliant achievement. Finally, as a result of the pupils effort and determination to finish the race and compete to their best St Peters were the overall Wigan Schools Cross Country Champions!!!!!! A massive well done and congratulations to all that were involved!
Centre Parcs Wigan Schools Badminton Tournament On Tuesday 20th November we took 5 teams of our best badminton players and year 10 leaders to the local round of the Centre Parcs National Schools badminton tournament at Robin Park. The teams consisted of Year 11, 9 and 7 Boys and Years 10 & 11 girls. All pupils had to play a combination of singles and double games. All games were up to 21. Other schools in the tournament included Shevington, Standish and Hawkley Hall.
All pupils displayed excellent talent during games. There were some close matches but the pupils showed determination and strength to win through and gain victory. The year 7 boy’s team showed real potential as they had to play mainly against year 9 pupils. The year 10 leaders were in charge of organizing and umpiring all games. They showed fantastic knowledge of the rules and controlled and scored all well. Without them this tournament could not have happened. Well done to all those involved. Overall Final results Year 11 Boys and Girls Overall winners and now progress onto the county competition Year 10 Girls 4th Position Year 9 Boys: 3rd position Year 7 Boys 4th position
Centre Parcs Greater Manchester County BadmintonTournament Key Stage 3 Girls Competition: Tuesday 15th January 2013 Key Stage 4 Girls and Boys Competition: Tuesday 22nd January 2013 Following their success in the Wigan school badminton tournaments we took 3 teams to the George Carnal leisure Centre in Manchester. St Peter’s were assigned to a pool alongside 3 other schools from the Greater Manchester area. Pupils played 5 games per match, a mixture of singles and double up to 15. The Key stage 3 girls teams played some excellent badminton, winning some of their matches against Bramhall High and Woodhey School but unfortunately didn’t manage to qualify for the semi finals. At Key stage 4 girls teams showed excellent skill, determination and team work to win the majority of their games and all 3 matches against Elton, St Thomas More and St Ambrose Barlow making it through to the semi final. The girls were give a very tough draw in the semi final and played Altrincham Grammar school. The girls fought hard, to win many points against a very tough opponent. Unfortunately the girls didn’t win their match and were unable to go forward to the final. Considering the excellent standard of badminton played on the day this was an excellent achievement by the girls and for this they should be congratulated. The boys were given an extremely tough pool and played matches against Burnage High and Fred Long worth. The speed at which they played was fantastic, they showed excellent technique and battled hard to win some of
their games. Some were very closely won battles. .Unfortunately the boys didn’t manage make it through to the semi finals as the standard of the competition was so high but they should definitely be very proud of their effort for making it through to such a prestigious competition. Well done to all.
Voyage scolaire en France st
On Friday 21 June 2013 40 very excited year 7, 8 and 9 pupils set off for a whirlwind day trip to France. Accompanied by five members of staff and a school governor, the pupils prepared their blankets and pillows to get comfy for the overnight journey down to Dover. After quite a calm ferry crossing we arrived on French soil and travelled the 30 minutes to our destination, Boulogne Sur Mer, a quaint but bustling coastal town near Calais. First stop was the sea front café for our traditional petit déjeuner à la française which consisted of fresh baguette, croissants, orange juice, jam and a very welcome hot chocolate to combat the miserable rainy weather! With full stomachs, we made our way to the historic quarter, the walled old town which was full of charm and interest despite the persistent drizzle. Groups made their way around the ville fortifiée, along its narrow cobbled streets, surrounded by its impressive ramparts which provided great views of Boulogne. We stopped at places of interest such as the incredible castle dating back to 1231, the beautiful Notre Dame cathedral and of course plenty of souvenir shops. It has to be said that the sweet shop was probably the most popular destination on the tour! After a short journey to collect our picnic lunches from Flunch, a French “Subway”, we arrived at the Escargotière, the Snail Farm! We ate our lunches then went out into the farm to meet the snails! As it turned out, it was a good job we had our lunch first... we learned some pretty interesting but unpleasant facts about our slimy friends! For example did you know that relatively speaking, a snail would win a 100m race against a human? Snail slime is used in the production of throat syrup and face cream? Snails have about 17 000 teeth? And that a snail is both male and female?! Wow! However, these impressive facts did not stop about half of us eating some when we had our tasting session! Emmanuel, the snail farmer, told us that snails are actually very expensive and are a delicacy in France and they are certainly not eaten every day in French households. He also showed us a very rare snail shell from a snail he had kept as a pet. Its shell spiral ran anticlockwise rather than clockwise and if alive it would have been worth about €30 000! He had prepared three very exquisite samples for us to try which were all very traditional but also contained high quality ingredients used in local restaurants. We tried snails with blue cheese and walnuts, one with a raspberry vinegar and butter sauce and finally the famous parsley and garlic butter snails. All three were presented in an edible biscuit snail shell, very haute cuisine! Any snails that were left were devoured by Mr Wormald! This was a great experience and we were surprised by how much French we actually understood and helped Mrs Widolf and Miss Swindells to translate the facts into English. Back on the coach, we travelled to Cité Europe, a huge hypermarket with a massive supermarket. We had some time to look around and buy presents for our families and ourselves too. French supermarkets are different though, with some vegetables we hadn’t seen before, a huge variety of sweets and a very smelly cheese isle! Feeling a little bit sleepy now, we got back on the coach to travel to Calais ferry port. By this point, the sun had come out and we had a very sunny crossing back to England, with a chance to go on deck with some of the teachers. For a lot of us, this was our first taste of going abroad and we enjoyed it a lot. Apart from being tired we had a great time, absorbed the French ambience and had chance to practise some of the French we have learned in lesson. Thanks to the staff that came with us!
Having breakfast in the cafĂŠ
Who wants snails?!
At the snail farm
Les escargots! The 13th Century castle
3, 2, 1 eat! The snail dishes
Finally some sun‌ on the way home!
Y10 Geography Residential Field Trip to Dorset It was in an effort to avoid the traffic that we had planned such an early (6:30am) start from St Peter’s on Friday 5th July, with Mr Makin (and Mrs Harvey) driving the minibus down to Swanage in Dorset. Goodbyes were said and students and staff started to organise themselves onto the minibus (with one student having particular difficulty escaping from his mum’s embrace). We had arrived at Warwick Services at 9.30am and students took the opportunity to have a full KFC fried chicken breakfast. We continued our journey past Southampton, through The New Forest and eventually arriving in Swanage just after 1pm. We were welcomed to Leeson House by Matt, one of the instructors at the centre. After a brief introductory tour of the centre (students being particularly impressed by the pool and table tennis tables) and a quick activity in the classroom, Matt led us on a short walk down to the rocky beach at ‘Dancing Ledge’. Here, we learned a little more about what makes the coast here a World Heritage Site. We spent an hour or so fossil hunting and watching people climbing, coasteering and abseiling. On our return it was time for our evening meal, which was really very good, although one student had hoped to have the advertised Lasagne, as he’d never had it before! However he was still pretty content with a large roast dinner. Friday evening was spent in the tourist areas of Swanage along the beach and amongst the shops. Here, students took up the opportunity to taste the local ice creams and slushes. Afterwards, we finished off the day with a series of table tennis and pool tournaments. We were all kind enough to let Joe win both competitions. The next day was led by the manager of the centre, Barry. After a short session in the classroom, he took us down towards the Jurassic Coast at Lulworth via the army’s tank firing ranges. At Lulworth Cove, we walked amongst some impressive sea cliff scenery and saw evidence of some huge recent rock falls along the coast. We studied Lulworth Cove, Stairhole Caves and Durdle Door; all mightily impressive and stunning landscapes. All of these sights were really useful in helping our students understand coastal landforms & processes and should really help them in their exam in 2014. In the afternoon, we stopped for some more ice cream and a few of Barry’s dinosaur jokes. We were on the ‘Jurassic’ Coast after all! Q: What do you call a blind dinosaur? A: A ‘Do-you-think-he-
saw-us’! AND Q: What do you call a blind dinosaur’s guide dog? A: A ‘Do-you-think-he-saw-us-rex’!! After this we returned to Leeson House for a bit of a break from the sunshine. Another pool tournament ensued! After a rest and a freshen-up, we then went to the beach North of the town of Swanage. Here the students spent some time studying the changing character of the beach and worked on improving their field work techniques in preparation for their controlled assessment in Year 11. In the evening, after dinner (Sam got his first taste of Lasagne), Mrs Harvey drove us to Portland Harbour to see Chesil Beach. Here students enjoyed some typical games whilst on a pebble beach; watching students trying to avoid the waves crashing onto the beach being one. There were some winners and losers in this game. One of the losers being one student’s dad, whose shoes had been borrowed for the trip. Following this, we had a quick visit to the ‘bright lights’ of Weymouth. Sunday started with an early ‘get up’ and a trip to 8:00am mass in the local church. Students all behaved impeccably well in church, (as they did throughout the trip). The rest of the morning was spent with Matt, studying the changing characteristics of the River Corfe as it moves down its course, focusing particularly on the methods used to collect the data; again in preparation for their Year 11 controlled assessment. The journey home was uneventful and straightforward; apart from the students on the minibus trying to make friends with everyone on the M6 by waving at people as they passed. The students were returned to their parents/ carers safe and sound by about 7:45pm on Sunday evening. Mr M Makin July 2013.
Rugby League World Cup In the past couple of weeks the Art, Geography and RE departments have been allowing some lucky classes to learn about the different countries taking part in the Rugby League World Cup. In Art they have made a piece with numerous people contributing by colouring in rugby balls to match the colours of the participating countries flags. The students doing projects in Geography have looked at the countries different climates, native animals, exports and main industries. They produced numerous posters to display this information. RE have also done a similar project by looking at the different religions and beliefs the people in the countries have.
I hope all students taking part enjoyed these projects and remember the World cup will be running from Saturday 26th October to Saturday 30th November with a selection of matches being played in the North West. By Jack Seddon