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Becky’s Book Review Well done to J5 pupil Becky who had a book review published by Books Up North in March.
Becky, a member of the Books Up North Kids’ Review Panel, wrote a compelling review of Jonathan Stroud’s book The Outlaws Scarlett & Browne. Set in a broken, future England, the story is the first title in a fantasy teen series with a feisty female heroine.
Becky’s review vividly brings to life the central characters and cleverly explores the central themes of the book, without revealing the plot. According to Becky, “if you enjoy comedy, mixed with thrilling action, this is the book for you.”
Sarah Tyson, from Books Up North, said: “Jonathan’s book is not published yet but after reading Becky’s brilliant review we’re sure you’ll add it to your reading list!”
Young readers who would like to join the Books Up North Kids’ Reviews panel should visit booksupnorth.com
Minecraft and Matza Bread From Minecraft to Matza bread, pupils at St Peter’s 8-13 used some innovative learning techniques to fully immerse themselves in the curriculum during lockdown.
Our Saturday Enrichment Programme gave pupils the opportunity to choose their own activities from horse riding to draughts. Other pupils used their Saturday mornings to respond innovatively to the curriculum, from baking cakes inspired by the journey of a river for Geography to cooking dishes inspired by European dishes for Modern Foreign Languages.
The teachers also encouraged the children to think outside the box when learning from home. As part of their work on Sikhism in Religious Studies, J1 and J2 designed their own Gurdwaras. They were given their brief in the form of an architect’s letter and have used drawing, LEGO and models to bring their plans to life. One of the pupils even used Minecraft to create their designs!
Meanwhile, J3 pupils cooked delicious food associated with the festivals they had been studying in their lessons on Judaism, including potato Latkes and Matza bread, whilst other children made impressive models of Sukkot booths.
Well done to all pupils for adapting so positively to new ways of learning. Enterprise Project Our talented pupils at St Peter’s 8-13 are very proud of their finished designs for their Enterprise Project. Our pupils worked in groups to create a product, adding a design using sublimation techniques. They then made adverts and sold the products online. Project ideas included embroidered jellyfish keyrings, hand-painted flower place mats, and mugs with hand drawn designs.
The Enterprise Project celebrates ingenuity and business sense, giving our pupils an experience of what the world of business is like. This project allowed them to show creativity, co-ordination with others, people management, and analysis and decision making... Skills that our young people will need to thrive.
Each year, the team with the best collaboration, design ideas, advert and profit margin wins. The profits are used to supplement the project the following year, and the rest are given to charity.
Science Week Our annual Science Week returned in the summer term, with a series of exciting activities and tasks for the pupils. Science Week usually involves all pupils at St Peter’s 8-13, but this year we restricted the activities to J5 to comply with Covid-19 restrictions and to ensure that the J5s could enjoy their final Science Week. The chemistry challenge involved making a rainbow fizz and creating some chemical rockets, whilst the physics challenge required the pupils to use their knowledge of stable shapes to build a tower from spaghetti and marshmallows. Ms Miller also did a lesson of ‘explosions’ to demonstrate to each class - including the whoosh bottle and methane bubbles.
Mindfulness in Schools Our J4 pupils have been taking part in the mindfulness programme throughout the year, including during lockdown. Mr Draper led the 10-week .b (Dot B) course, which was created by the Mindfulness in Schools Project. The pupils have learnt different strategies including how to be mindful and how to cope with everyday stresses and distractions. They have undertaken simple practices whilst sitting, walking, standing, or moving, bringing mindful awareness into everyday life. This has enabled them to bring calm and focus to the start and end of their lessons and activities in school. The pupils have even started to lead short mindfulness sessions in their classes and are continuing to practise mindfulness each week as part of the PSHE programme.
Learning 13-18
It has been another challenging academic year at St Peter’s, once again requiring our teaching staff to find innovative ways of delivering our varied and inspiring curriculum both remotely and in the classroom. The pupils have embraced new approaches to learning and their academic progress has been extraordinary despite the challenges they have faced.
Poetry Competition As part of our National Poetry Day celebrations, the St Peter’s Library and English Department organised a poetry competition for all pupils at St Peter’s 13-18. The competition was linked to the MFL Department’s activities for European Day of Languages and to the Lessons for Life Department’s work with World Mental Health Day. Congratulations to the winners Niamh, Max, Beth, George and Abigail. Booker Prize Debate Pupils and staff at St Peter’s School, York, hosted their own Booker Prize Debate on 17 November.
Upper Sixth pupils and staff members gathered in the Library to hear shortlisted books being heartily defended by Upper Sixth pupils and teaching staff. Each book was represented by two Upper Sixth pupils and a member of the English Department. Audience members were then asked to cast their vote to determine the winning book. This year’s winning book was Who They Was by Gabriel Krauze, defended by Issy, Khushi and Miss Todd. Issy and Khushi each received copies of the officially shortlisted titles to add to their own personal book collections. They also received copies of the novel Who They Was signed by Gabriel Krauze, after the author read about their success at the St Peter’s School Booker Prize Debate on Twitter! Lessons for Life Lessons for Life have been introduced this year, designed to better prepare our pupils for the next steps in life after school. Lessons for Life is a bespoke programme, both encapsulating but going beyond statutory PSHE provision. All pupils spend six weeks focusing specifically on Mental Health and Wellbeing, with a lean towards learning practical skills necessary to develop positive mental health themselves and identify the first signs of poor mental health in themselves and others.
Making every moment count Our Maths pupils have performed exceptionally well this year, making every moment count. They performed exceptionally well and made it to the top 5%
of all teams entering!
Jimmy and Thomas from Third Form have been nominated to join the prestigious York Mathematical Excellence Club in recognition of their mathematical skills. York Mathematical Excellence Club (y=mx+c) provides coaching and support for the most able young mathematicians in the city.
At the start of November, 52 of our most able maths pupils attempted the UKMT Senior Maths Challenge. 41 of those pupils achieved either gold, silver or bronze results, which places them in the top 60% of all participants nationally. Of those 52, the top 11 pupils managed to progress to the next round of either the Kangaroo or Olympiad round.
The results from last year’s Intermediate Maths Challenge further rounds have also arrived, after a delay due to lockdown. 3 pupils took part in the Grey Kangaroo, achieving one merit and two qualifications. 5 pupils took part in the Pink Kangaroo, achieving two merits and 3 qualifications. The best 3 intermediate pupils took on the challenge of the prestigious Olympiad round, which is reserved for the top 1,500 pupils in the country, obtaining one merit and two distinctions. Finally, in October a group of Lower Sixth pupils entered the annual Ritangle competition, hosted by Integral Maths. Ben, Hugo, Theo, Josh and Wilf successfully completed all preliminary rounds in October and worked throughout November and December to successfully complete 24 challenging maths problems. They performed exceptionally well and made it to the top 5% of all teams entering! School Trips School trips made a welcome return this year. Our Geography pupils returned to the field in the autumn term, exploring York and the Yorkshire coastline to collect data for an investigation they had designed. The pupils chose to investigate urban and coastal landscapes close to York, from Bootham to Bridlington. They investigated a variety of phenomena from pollution patterns in York to environmental damage on the sand dunes at Bridlington. Our Geography pupils also enjoyed trips to Dalby Forest and Bridlington in the summer term, a welcome opportunity to stretch their legs after the spring term lockdown.
In the summer term, our Upper Sixth English pupils ventured to Windsor to see
which places them in the top 60%
of all participants nationally 41 of those pupils achieved either gold, silver or bronze results
Hamlet performed at the Theatre Royal. They thoroughly enjoyed the play and the opportunity to enjoy one last trip together before leaving St Peter’s.
Biology Fourth Form pupils really got to the ‘heart’ of the subject in their biology lessons in the spring term. Every year Fourth Form pupils dissect lambs’ hearts as part of their GCSE biology curriculum, giving them an important insight into the anatomy of the human heart.
It wasn’t possible for pupils to dissect hearts at school this year due to ongoing lockdown restrictions. Instead, six willing pupils offered to dissect hearts at home whilst their classmates observed the dissections on Zoom. Pupils and parents liaised with their local butchers to source the hearts and the dissections took place on kitchen tables and worktops, instead of the biology lab. Following the lesson, a St Peter’s School parent commented: “I’ve been eavesdropping on the heart dissection lesson and I’ve never seen my son so engaged. Well done to Mr Stephen covering remote biology. Awesome job.” Laurentius Lectures We launched our Laurentius Lecture series this year with a series of fascinating lectures delivered by pupils in the Lower Sixth. The Laurentius Lecture series provides an opportunity for Academic Scholars at St Peter’s to share ideas on topics that are of interest to them. Pupils deliver a short lecture of fifteen minutes to their peer group, the Head Master, the Head of Scholars and members of staff with a particular speciality in a given area, followed by questions from the floor.
This year’s programme showed a breadth and variety of interests from Sustainability, Neuroscience, Law, Artificial Intelligence and Veterinary science through to aspects of Music, Fine Art, Linguistics, History, Literature and Design. Bon Appetite! The Modern Foreign Languages Department delivered a series of cultural events for our pupils in the summer term. Our Lower Sixth pupils enjoyed a tapas-tasting session in May, our Third Form pupils participated in Zumba-style sessions to Spanish music, and our Fourth Form pupils indulged in a French picnic for breakfast. Fourth Form were also invited to a Spanish Cultural Evening in June, which included talks, salsa dancing and continental cuisine. Although foreign travel remains challenging, it has been wonderful to see our pupils engaging with different cultures through the curriculum.
Supreme Essay Writing Skills Lower Sixth pupil Justin was awarded second place in The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom’s Essay Writing Competition this year.
Justin chose to focus on ‘Does the law do enough to balance the right to religious freedom against the possibility of unjustified discrimination?’ He developed a clear thesis focused on two relevant Supreme Court cases, Bull v Hall and Lee v Ashers Baking Company, and his essay was judged by the Judicial Assistants who work at the Court.
Justin, who boards at St Peter’s School, explained how the unexpected lockdown gave him the opportunity to do more research than he could have done in normal school days. Justin spent a month and a half researching his chosen subject, formulating his arguments and writing the essay, alongside his A Level studies in English, Mathematics, Politics and Religious Studies.
Exam Results
2021, 56.8% of GCSE results were awarded at grades 9-8
52% 56.8%
2020, 52% of GCSE results were awarded at grades 9-8
2019, 46% of GCSE results were awarded at grades 9-8 46% The cancellation of exams in summer 2021 again presented teachers and pupils with unforeseen challenges including the introduction of Teacher Assessed Grades.
Pupils and teachers have all adapted to new ways of learning and the staff at St Peter’s worked tirelessly to ensure the assessment process was carried out to the highest standards.
Our Fifth Form and Upper Sixth pupils have achieved so much over the last two years under the most difficult circumstances. We applaud their maturity, resilience and whole-hearted commitment to their studies which they have continued to demonstrate throughout these challenging times. This year’s results are a fitting reward for all their hard work.
GCSE Results 56.8% of GCSE results were awarded at grades 9 and 8, with 75.7% at grades 9 to 7 and 99% at grades 9 to 4 (grade C and above). Mr Walker said: “I am incredibly proud of our Fifth Form pupils. They already make a valuable contribution to life at St Peter’s and we look forward to seeing their skills, values and interests develop further as they progress to Sixth Form.”
91% 2021, 91% of A Level and equivalent Pre-U examinations awarded at A*–B
2020, 92% of A Level and equivalent Pre-U examinations awarded at A*–B 92%
85% 2019, 85% of A Level and equivalent Pre-U examinations awarded at A*–B A Level Results 91% of A Level results were awarded at A* to B, and almost all pupils achieved grades from A* to C. 37% of all grades were awarded at A*, with 13 pupils achieving all A* grades and 15 pupils achieving four or more A Levels at A*/A. Mr Walker said: “Possibly more than any other year, I want to recognise the efforts of all of our Upper Sixth pupils. They have worked extraordinary hard over the last two years, coping with all the trials the global pandemic has brought them. In spite of, or perhaps because of, the situation they have faced, these young people have achieved a huge amount and I hope they will go on to lead fulfilled lives after school.”
